PLAN Commissioned Y-8GX6 (Y-8Q) ASW Aircraft (High New 6) with the North Sea Fleet

To some, the lacking of a dedicated turboprop anti-submarine like the US P-3 Orion is the area of greatest deficiency for the PLAN, especially in the neighborhood filled with advanced nuke and AIP equipped subs. If High New 6 platform is proven to be successful, we expect to see more of them in the future. After all, the PLAN has three fleets and they can all use additional ASW assets. 

 

From The "Anatolian Eagle-2015"

World no closer to Cold War-style nuclear standoff, Putin tells global media chiefs

Russia’s deployment of 40 additional nuclear ballistic missiles in response to the US military buildup in Europe doesn’t mean the world is at greater risk of a nuclear war, President Vladimir Putin told the heads of global news agencies.

A combination photo shows the Yars land-based mobile missile system and the Abrams tank.

The Russian head of state held a late-night meeting with top executives from 12 foreign news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Most of the event was held behind closed doors and not recorded.

 

The extra deployment is necessary to protect Russia and is a response to a growing threat from the West, Putin explained as EFE, a Spanish news agency, later quoted him as saying. Pentagon is reportedly considering placing additional American heavy weapons, including artillery, in Europe. Washington says it is needed to protect its NATO allies from an aggressive Russia. 

“Russia is not an aggressor and does not favor increasing the level of tension… but is obliged to respond to Western actions targeting Moscow,” EFE cited Putin as saying, without using direct quotes. The meeting was apparently held under so-called Chatham House rules, where participants’ comments cannot be reported directly without their express permission. 

“The increase in belligerent rhetoric between Russia and the US does not mean the world is at greater risk of nuclear confrontation,” the agency added, summarizing the Russian leader’s response. 

Putin also commented on the seizures of Russian state property in European countries, intended to enforce a Hague court ruling to pay billions of dollars in damages to shareholders of the now-defunct oil giant Yukos. The Russian president said Russia cannot fail to react to the asset seizures, but would not elaborate, saying it was up to lawyers to come up with a solution. 

He added that the arbitration court’s decision to order Russia to pay $50 billion in compensation is based on the European Energy Charter, which Russia has not ratified. It makes the decision unlawful, because the court was acting beyond its jurisdiction, Putin said, according to EFE. 

Commenting on the recent G7 summit in Bavaria and the statement by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Russia was not welcome in the group, Putin implied that Harper would act as instructed by Washington on this issue.

"I don't want to offend anyone, but if the United States says Russia should be returned to the G8, [Canada's] prime minister will change his opinion," Putin told The Canadian Press. 

Putin reiterated his calls for Western powers to pressure the government of Ukraine to stick to its obligations under February’s Minsk peace agreement, a ceasefire deal between Kiev and rebels in the east of the country, which appears to have completely broken down in the past few weeks. The Russian president also said that the government of Petro Poroshenko must stop the economic blockade of the rebels in the east, implement constitutional reform and call local elections in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, AP reports. 

Putin denied allegations by Kiev and its foreign backers that Moscow is sending troops and weapons to eastern Ukraine. He said that once Kiev stops trying to solve the crisis by force, and the Ukrainian government returns to seeking a political resolution to the crisis, the rebels would no longer need to take up weapons to defend themselves. 

In response to other questions, Putin defended Russia’s right to host the FIFA 2018 World Cup, insisting that the country had won the right to host the event fairly. He said that people claiming that the selection was marred by corruption in FIFA should present the evidence of their allegations. 

Source: RT News

Is India's Main Battle Tank Finally Doomed?

Last week, the Indian Army released a global request for information (RFI) inviting responses by 31 July to develop a multi-purpose Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) in order to replace older license-built Soviet-era main-battle tanks (MBTs).

“The Indian Army is planning to design and develop a new generation, state-of-the-art combat vehicle platform for populating its armored fighting vehicle fleet in the coming decade. This vehicle, which will be called the future ready combat vehicle (FRCV), will form the base platform for the main battle tank which is planned to replace the existing T-72 tanks in the Armored Corps,” the RFI reads.

The Indian military envisions the FRCV system as a platform for as many as 11 different tracked vehicles, including light tracked, wheeled, bridge layer and trawl tanks, self-propelled howitzers (SPH), air defense guns, artillery observation post and engineering reconnaissance vehicles, and armored ambulances.

Additionally, the RFI notes that the FRCV “should be in the ‘Medium Tank’ category” and should “match contemporary MBTs in engagement ranges, all weather day/night fighting capability, depth of penetration and variety of ammunition.” The Indian Army wants the new FRCV ready for induction by 2025-27 – a deadline that almost certainly will have to be extended given India’s defense procurement track record.

Consequently, in the meantime, India will do well to continue upgrade its 1900 strong T-72 MBT force. New Delhi has so far failed to successfully mass-produce an indigenously developed modern main battle tank.

The recent RFI could also very well ring the final death-knell for India’s indigenously developed third generation Arjun MK-I main battle tank – a poorly designed vehicle (e.g., too much heavy armor versus too little horsepower) that encountered repeated delays due to a flawed procurement and testing process. Almost eighty percent of the 124-strong Arjun MK-I tank force is currently grounded due to more than 90 technical issues.

India has been working on an improved version of the Arjun, the MK-II, which has done very well in comparative trials with license-built Russian tanks such as the T-90M. It displays more than 93 improvements over the older version and contains 60 percent locally manufactured components. However, a decision to indigenously develop a new anti-tank missile to be fitted onto the MK-II will, in all likelihood, delay the induction of the upgraded platform.

Saudi Arabia: America’s Military Proxy, Waging War on the Middle East and Iran

Today seeing a barrage of news accumulating about another special friend, Saudi Arabia, aka Britain’s biggest arms market last year, an overview of the last quarter follows.

At the closing session of a two-day Arab League summit held in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt’s president el-Sisi announced that some Arab leaders had agreed to form a united military force to combat the “challenges” the region is facing. A high-level panel would work under the supervision of Arab chiefs of staff to work out the structure and mechanism of the force: roughly 40,000 elite troops, backed by jets, warships and light armour.

At the time, a Saudi-led coalition was already pressing ahead with air strikes against positions of Houthi fighters and their allies in Yemen. The United States voiced support for the intervention and sent two warships to assist with the naval blockade, but it was criticised by the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. Saudi Arabia had been moving heavy equipment and artillery near its border with Yemen, following the Houthis seizure of the central city of Taiz.

A month later FT View described this ongoing military action as ‘an increasingly aggressive proxy war with Iran in the Middle East, backing Sunni regimes and trying to counter Iranian influence in Syria, Iraq and Bahrain. Several months of war in Yemen have already claimed more than 2,000 lives. The FT writer’s advice:




[T]he Saudi leadership should think again. In Yemen, Riyadh has given a brutal demonstration of its air power and marshalled a range of Arab nations to back its effort. But air strikes have not weakened the Houthis and a political settlement remains beyond reach. Nor has Saudi Arabia much cause for celebration in its fight against Iran across the region. The kingdom can claim some victories, notably the return of a military-backed government in Cairo. But its lavish funding of proxies has not yielded stability in Syria, Iraq or Libya.







On May 10th the FT Review reported that the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator for Yemen said that “indiscriminate bombing” contravened international humanitarian law, but Riyadh says the naval blockade was ordered by the legitimate Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbu Hadi — in exile in Riyadh — and cited a UN Security Council resolution calling for an arms embargo against the Houthis.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been described as “catastrophic” by the UN with 20 million civilians – 80% of the population – in need of aid. In May and June there were accounts of the suffering caused by the Saudi-led blockade of the country in place since late March, which has nearly exhausted:
dwindling supplies of fuel, staples such as rice, medicines and other basic goods are so scarce in north Yemen that prices have risen as much as tenfold, according to Oxfam
fuel shortages, which pose a grave threat to Yemen’s water and electricity supplies, as well as to its transport network.

On June 7th the BBC reported that peace talks between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the government will take place in Geneva on 14 June. UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on all parties to enter the talks in good faith and without pre-conditions. Its Middle East Editor, Sebastian Usher, says that the government – now mostly in exile in Saudi Arabia – and the rebels have confirmed that they will attend the peace negotiations.

But as Owen Jones says, after giving a devastating account of brutality and injustice, such allies “are up to their necks in complicity with terrorism, but as long as there is money to be made and weapons to sell, our rulers’ lips will remain stubbornly sealed”.

Copyright Political Concern 2015

Putin says Russia beefing up nuclear arsenal, NATO denounces 'saber-rattling'

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was concerned about an anti-missile defense system near its borders, after announcing that Russia would add more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to its nuclear arsenal this year.

"We will be forced to aim our armed forces ... at those territories from where the threat comes," Putin said.

Putin made his comments a day after Russian officials denounced a U.S. plan to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO member states on Russia's border. Putin said it was the most aggressive act by Washington since the Cold War a generation ago.

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern over Putin's missile announcement and said no one wanted to see backsliding "to a kind of a Cold War status."

Kerry told reporters at a news briefing that Putin's stance could be posturing but he added, "Nobody should hear that kind of announcement from a leader of a powerful country and not be concerned about what the implications are."

Tension has flared anew between Russia and Western powers over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis, in which pro-Russian separatist forces have seized a large part of the country's east after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in early 2014.

The European Union and United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia. But Washington and Moscow are still bound by a 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that caps deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 each and limits the numbers of strategic nuclear missile launchers to 800 by 2018.

"More than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems will be added to the make-up of the nuclear arsenal this year," Putin, flanked by army officers, said in a speech at an arms fair west of Moscow.

ICBMs have a minimum range of more than 5,500 km (3,400 miles). Putin gave no more details of which missiles were being added to the nuclear arsenal.

Putin said later on Tuesday that Russia wanted Ukraine to repay the $3 billion bailout bond under former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych according to an agreed repayment schedule.

Putin said he thought the Minsk peace deal on Ukraine was balanced and fair and that if Russia did not agree with its contents it would not have signed it.
Source: Reuters 

World’s 10 Most Powerful Militaries - A Global Firepower Ranking Biased On Inheritant Ethics

The folks at Global Firepower ranked the world’s 10 most powerful militaries. They examined the defence forces of 68 countries in order to compile the rankings, taking into account manpower, land systems, air power, naval power, resources, logistics, finances and geography covered. They measure 40 different stats about a country, including number of aircraft carriers, available manpower, and labor force, to produce a Power Index, in which lower numbers equal more firepower.

World’s 5th biggest armed force, Pakistan army is not in the ranking. What’s the reason? I don’t know. Anyway, check out the world’s top 10 most powerful militaries, with some accompanying stats.

If anyone wanna examine then please visit folloeing link: http://www.globalfirepower.com/

Pakistan eager to secure first ever-order for the JF-17 at Paris Air Show

PARIS: All eyes will be on the sky at the International Paris Air Show with flying displays by around 40 aircraft each day, including fighter jets such as Pakistan’s new JF-17 Thunder, France’s Rafale, and Ukraine’s Antonov 178.

PAF JF- 17 Aircraft parked at Le Bourget.

Pakistan is eager to secure its first-ever order for the JF-17 at the international event as Canada’s Bombardier is particularly hungry for sales, after its new C Series aircraft struggled through development delays and difficult market conditions.

Airbus has also confirmed it will display its A400M military transport plane for the first time since a fatal crash in Spain last month caused by a massive engine failure.

With air passenger numbers set to double to six billion annually by 2030, the world’s premier air show in Paris will next week focus on green issues even as the aircraft sales war remains centre stage.

The Paris Air Show brings together some 315,000 visitors and 2,260 exhibitors from 47 countries, with much of the attention focused on which big manufacturers, particularly Airbus and Boeing, will land the most orders.

But the event happens to be hosted in the same Le Bourget venue outside Paris that will welcome world leaders later this year as they try to hash out a global deal to curb greenhouse emissions.

So it is little surprise that this year’s air show, running June 15 to 21, will put a special focus on environmental issues and innovations.

Top industry officials, government ministers and environmental experts will meet on June 18 to discuss air travel’s impact on the climate, and there will be a week-long exhibition on the subject called “The Sky of Tomorrow”.

“Building planes that emit less and less CO2 remains a leading challenge for the aeronautic industry,” said Marwan Lahoud, president of GIFAS and one of the event’s organisers.

“The Paris Air Show will be the chance to see the results and innovations achieved by manufacturers direct from the source,” he added.

Attendees will include Nobel peace prize co-laureate Philippe Ciais of France’s Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, and a host of top air industry honchos.

The air industry’s contribution to climate change is complex and controversial.

Although planes are thought to be responsible for only around two percent of global greenhouse emissions, some researchers have found that the different types of gases released and their high altitude may have more powerful short-term effects.

The industry’s global mouthpiece, the International Air Transport Association, has set a target of being carbon neutral by 2020 and halving CO2 emissions by 2050, primarily through increased use of cleaner fuels.

But an EU attempt to impose a tax on the most polluting airlines collapsed in 2012 in the face of opposition from Chinese, Indian and American companies.

Despite that, many firms are seeking to cash in on the trend for greener technologies.

Airbus will show off its prototype, all-electric plane, the E-Fan, at next week’s air show.

And EGTS International will demonstrate its “Green Taxiing” system that allows planes to taxi on the ground without the main engines, using a back-up power unit to drive motors on the wheels.

But while many visitors are looking up, industry insiders will have their eyes firmly on the bottom line, watching the all-important competition for sales among the big manufacturers.

The industry needs between 300 and 400 sales next week to keep its production lines ticking over through 2020, said Ben Moores, a senior analyst at IHS Aerospace, Defence and Security.

Airbus chief Fabrice Bregier said 2015 may not break records, but was set to be a good year with “several hundred” orders lined up.

Boeing’s Randy Tinseth said the Seattle-based company had “a lot of things in the pipeline on the mid and long-haul planes.”
Airbus narrowly pipped its US rival at the last show in 2013, registering $39.3 billion in confirmed sales to Boeing’s $38 billion.

That year’s show saw a total of $115 billion in orders for the industry as a whole.

The commercial aviation sector remains buoyant, breaking records last year with 2,888 orders, according to Deloitte Global, a consultancy.

But the defence sector is struggling, it said, led by declines in the United States which has shed 168,000 jobs since 2010.

Paris is a particularly important venue for smaller companies that have fewer chances to show off their wares.

The show opens to the public on June 19 for the final three days.

Chang Bogo-class submarines for Indonesia

Chang Bogo class submarines of Indonesian Navy under construction in S. Korean Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. It's based on German Type 209/1200 submarines.

The Republic of Korea submarine ROKS Lee Eokgi (SS 071) leads a formation of U.S. and coalition forces during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010 exercises.

DSME signed a contract with Indonesia on for the supply of three Improved Chang Bogo class submarines. These submarines will be equipped with Atlas Electronic CSU 90 hull-mounted passive and active search-and-attack sonar and flank sonar arrays, Indra's Pegaso RESM system and Aries low-probability of intercept radar, L-3's MAPPS integrated platform management systems and Sagem's Sigma 40XP inertial navigation systems. These subs will be of 1400 tons displacement.

The Chang Bogo class submarines are armed with 8 bow 533 mm torpedo tubes and 14 torpedoes. The ships are also armed with Sub-Harpoon missiles and can be armed with 28 Mines in place of Torpedoes and Harpoon. The class is armed with SUT - Surface and Underwater Target Torpedoes.

Class overview and general characteristics of the "Type 055 Advanced Destroyer" of PLAN!

 

Source: Wikipedia

Bangladeshi Air Force's (BAF) Let L-410UVP-E20 turboprop transport aircraft

Bangladesh preparing to receive first of three L 410 transports

Czech manufacturer Aircraft Industries has completed the first of three L 410UVP-E20 twin-turboprop transport aircraft for the Bangladeshi Air Force (BAF). The aircraft, 3011/OK-JPG (c/n 3011), was being flight tested before delivery at the company's factory in Kunovice in late March.

The current BAF transport fleet includes three Antonov An-32s, two of which were delivered in 1990 and the third in 1995, and four 1960s-era ex-US Air Force Lockheed C-130B Hercules, delivered from 2002. In 2012, the US Congress was notified of a possible sale of four ex-USAF C-130Es to Bangladesh, but nothing further has been heard of that potential deal.

From: Jane's

India got worried even at economic development!

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “very strongly” raised the issue regarding China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during his recent visit to Beijing, and termed the project “unacceptable”.

“Prime minster during his visit took up the issue very firmly and spoke very strongly that the CPEC going through PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) is unacceptable,” Swaraj said at a press conference.

Further, Swaraj communicated Modi’s concerns regarding the $46 billion project, and said that the Indian government had summoned a Chinese envoy to apprise over the corridor that is to run through Pakistani Kashmir.

The external affairs minister added that an Indian envoy in Beijing had also raised the same issue.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan in April, the 3,000 kilometre-long CPEC was announced.

Source: The Express Tribune 

The Type 055 Destroyer: A True Multi-Role Surface Combatant For Peoples Liberation Army Navy

The Type 055 destroyer is a class of guided missile destroyers being developed in China for the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force. There have been two versions of the Type 055, the first one was a much earlier proposed destroyer design that was eventually cancelled, and the other is a modern design using the same "Type 055" designation according to many internet claims, which has yet to be verified by official or independent sources.

Computer Generated Graphics of Type 055 destroyer.

The Type 055 was originally a proposed project in the late 1960s order titled “Recommendations on Building Oceanic Escort Ships”, but its progress was seriously delayed due to political turmoil in China at the time, namely, the Cultural Revolution. It was not until more than half a decade later in 1976, the year the Cultural Revolution ended, was the requirement of the ship finally completed and issued. At the time of its appearance until its final cancellation, the Type 055 was the second air defence ship of PLAN, after the Type 053K Jiangdong class frigate. The standard displacement of Type 055 design was in excess of 8000 tons.

Even as the requirement was completed, it was flawed with unrealistic standards that were way beyond the scientific, technical, and industrial capabilities of China at the time due to the influence of the Cultural Revolution. For example, the sea-keeping requirement mandated that the ship should be able to navigate anywhere in the world except polar regions, but this conflicted with combat requirement: China lacked the capability to develop any multifunctional radar, so separate radars were needed for different tasks. The Type 518 radar was needed for long range early warning / surveillance, the Type 381 radar was needed for 3-D air search / track, and each gun and missile needed its own fire control radars. In addition, there was need for navigation, surface search, and helicopter control radars as well. The Type 518 radar itself would effectively negate any possibility of meeting the sea-keeping requirement because its antenna of 8.5 meter diameter weighed 4.5 ton, and must be installed on a mast of at least 25 meters, thus severely restricting wind scale and sea state allowed for safe navigation of the ship. However, reducing the weight of radar antenna would lead to the great decrease in performance, thus not meeting the combat effectiveness requirement.

The problem is further exasperated by the problem of the ship being top heavy: due to the fact each electronic system was single function only, numerous of them were needed to meet the original requirement, resulting in a total of 22 radars and 33 communication gears, which in addition to heavy weight, also generated the problem of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) problem, so bad was the EMC problem that the missile control system could not function properly when everything was turned on, potentially causing missiles to be accidentally launched.

After the Cultural Revolution ended, the strenuous design requirements of the Type 055 that was settled during the Cultural Revolution went through re-evaluation, as with most projects of that period, and difficulties revealed in the design requirement review caused the criteria to be drastically revised and scaled back. There was later a modernisation plan to adopt British subsystems including combat data system, Sea Dart surface-to-air missiles (SAM), and Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B high-speed gas turbines propulsion system used on the Type 42 destroyer. However efforts to incorporate British systems did not materialize, and just like the Type 051S destroyer, the Type 055 project was finally cancelled in the early 1980s, under the order of then commander of PLAN Liu Huaqing.

Since late 2012, Chinese internet websites circulated discussion of a new class of PLAN destroyers was being designed as the successor of the highly successful Type 052D destroyer, using the same "Type 055" designation as the cancelled project from the 1960s.

Photos appearing on Chinese websites in 2014, revealed that a Type 055 shore integration facility was being constructed at the Ship Design and Research Center (701 Institute) of CSIC at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology. The mock-up facility has been extensively used for testing of electronics and systems for the destroyer program, and shown to be integrated with a Type 346/348 series radar and an enclosed mast similar to Advanced Enclosed Mast/Sensor on European ships. There is speculation that the Type 055 may also have an L-band radar installed on the aft section of the ship similar to the SMART-L system. The class is expected to be armed with 112 to 128 vertical launch missile cells that can fire antiship missiles, ASW missiles, land-attack cruise missiles or SAMs.

In late December 2014, a photograph appeared on the internet indicated the first cut of steel ceremony at a Chinese shipyard. If the image is accurate, construction of the first unit has begun.

U.S. media sources have speculated that the Type 055's power and strength could make it on-par with the latest U.S. Navy Aegis warships. Some U.S. sources predict the Type 055 could carry 128 missiles, be able to carry out in-depth strikes through cruise missiles to protect its task force's airspace, and might be equipped with electromagnetic railguns and laser weapons in the future. The semi-official PLA Daily, published an article however stating the class is not a "game changing" vessel as it's not much larger than contemporary Russian, Japanese, or American destroyers, and will only be equivalent to the U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyer or Japanese Atago-class destroyer.

 

Source: Wikipedia

Did USA provocating a war with China regarding Soth China Sea disputes?

The Pentagon in the third week of May sent a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane near Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea — called the East Sea by Vietnam. The Fiery Reef is in the archipelago called the Spratly Islands by the U.S., the Nanchan Islands by China and the Truong Sa Islands by the Vietnamese.

 As the U.S. surveillance plane approached the area of the reef, a Chinese radio dispatcher warned: “Foreign military aircraft, this is the Chinese Navy. You are approaching our military alert zone. Leave immediately!” (Los Angeles Times, May 21)

The U.S. military replied that the plane was over international waters, even though it was close to 12 miles from the reef. “I am a military aircraft conducting lawful activities,” added the U.S. plane. The Chinese warned the spy plane off eight times, to no avail.

The U.S. surveillance flight came less than a week after the USS Fort Worth, a Navy littoral combat ship designed for near-shore operations, passed close to the islands, where the Chinese are dredging sand and building up five reefs.

Provocation part of planned campaign

These were deliberate provocations staged by the Pentagon as part of a planned campaign to escalate Washington’s military pressure on the People’s Republic of China. It is the implementation of the so-called “Asian pivot” announced by President Barack Obama.

According to a May 12 article in the British paper The Guardian, “Ash Carter, the defense secretary, had requested options that included sending ships and aircraft within 12 nautical miles of reefs that China has been building up in the disputed Spratly Islands. …

“‘We are considering how to demonstrate freedom of navigation in an area that is critical to world trade,’ [a] U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that any options would need to be approved by the White House.”

To unfold such a plan under the banner of defending “freedom of the seas” is ludicrous. For one thing, the U.S. is one of the few countries that has not signed the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, although it participated in drafting much of the language.

This is a reflection of the imperialist arrogance and presumptuous, great-power chauvinism of Washington. The Pentagon regards the Pacific as a “U.S. lake.” What else could explain the military challenging China’s right to build up islands a few hundred miles from its shore, when California is more than 6,000 miles away? What right has the U.S. ruling class to have its Navy conduct patrols in the Pacific region to “ensure freedom of the seas,” but not allow China to promote its interests in the region?

The answer is that it has no right, except the right based on military force by a power that has devastated Asia, beginning with the U.S. intervention in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1898-1900 followed by the slaughter in the Philippines in 1898-1902 and colonization of that country — to say nothing of the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II, the brutal Korean War, the genocidal Vietnam war, the bombing of Laos and Cambodia, and the CIA-backed massacre of a million people in Indonesia in 1965-66.

Council on Foreign Relations unveils new strategy

The Council on Foreign Relations is the think tank of a major section of the U.S. ruling class. Its members include former Defense secretaries, former heads of the State Department, generals, admirals, ruling-class military intellectuals, strategists, etc.

In April the CFR released a report titled “Revising U.S. Grand Strategy Toward China,” written by Robert D. Blackwill; Henry Kissinger, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy; and Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The core of the report is summarized as follows:

Strengthen the U.S. military. “Congress should remove sequestration caps and substantially increase the U.S. defense budget. … Washington should intensify a consistent U.S. naval and air presence in the South and East China Seas” and “accelerate the U.S. ballistic-missile defense posture” in the Pacific.

Expand Asian trade networks. “U.S. grand strategy toward China will be seriously weakened without delivering on the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement]. A major push by the White House for ratification should therefore begin immediately in the new Congress, including seeking trade promotion authority.”

Create a technology-control regime. “Washington should pay increased attention to limiting China’s access to advanced weaponry and military critical technologies.” The United States should encourage its allies “to develop a coordinated approach to constrict China’s access to all technologies, including dual use.”

Implement effective cyber policies. Washington should “impose costs on China that are in excess of the benefits it receives from its violations in cyberspace … increase U.S. offensive cyber capabilities … continue improving U.S. cyber defenses” and “pass relevant legislation in Congress, such as the Cyber Information Security Protection Act.”

Reinforce Indo-Pacific partnerships. “The United States cannot defend its interests in Asia without support from its allies” and “should build up the power-political capabilities of its friends and allies on China’s periphery.”

The report has the earmarks of the campaign that was devised to bring down the USSR. It is formulated by former Cold Warriors. It aims to promote military encirclement, which would divert economic resources and disrupt national economic planning. During the time of the USSR, the U.S. set up a wide blockade on technology transfer, with the aim of depriving the Soviet Union of modern economic tools for national development. And, of course, Washington fashioned global alliances such as NATO directed at the USSR. What is being proposed by the CFR is a milder version of the Cold War full-court press. But the goal is clearly to undermine the People’s Republic.

The problem for the imperialists is that China already has the technological and industrial capability to withstand such a campaign, should it be implemented. But the important point is to be aware of the aggressive thinking in the highest imperialist circles concerning China. And to note that the recent provocations are not just arbitrary or momentary. They are part of a longer-range plan.

U.S. views Russia and China differently

Washington regards China as a hostile class power — unlike Russia, which is a fully capitalist country with imperialist investments and an upstart oligarchic ruling class. Created on the ruins of the nationalized economy of the Soviet Union, it is looking for its place in the sun of imperialism. Wall Street and the Pentagon have a different idea. They want to take Russia over. Thus Russia is in conflict with the U.S. imperialists on many fronts, and the oppressed countries can and should take full advantage of this.

But China is more or less a compromise of socialism with capitalism. The socialist foundation must be defended against counterrevolution. The planning principle and state-owned enterprises dominate the economy, although it is riddled with capitalism and corruption. The Communist Party of China, the state banks and big state industries are combatting the current economic slowdown and trying to advance employment.

China is managing this slowdown while economic stagnation and recession are plaguing the capitalist world. This includes Russia, which is in the grip of an economic crisis, with its gross domestic product, sales and wages falling — unlike China, where wages are rising.

The goal of U.S. and European capitalism is to destroy the state enterprises in China, privatize them, undermine the Chinese Communist Party and politically enthrone the capitalist class.

Both China and Russia must be defended against imperialism when they are under attack. But no one should overlook the difference between a distorted socialist country with capitalist inroads and a state fully in the hands of an exploiting class.

China ignores Vietnam’s sovereignty in island dispute

While the overriding threat in the Pacific right now is the provocation by U.S. imperialism against China, the fact that China is expanding into territory long claimed by Vietnam and within Vietnamese territorial waters must not be lost sight of.

China may have legitimate commercial and defense interests in building up the Spratly Islands/Truong Sa Islands. But it is incumbent upon China, both as a great power and as a country with claims to socialism, to defer to Vietnam and to work out territorial relations under conditions that are mutually acceptable and agreed upon.

It is one thing to expand military and commercial positions to be better able to protect against imperialist incursions. It is another thing to expand territorial claims far beyond any legally recognized boundaries and disregard the territorial claims of Vietnam, or the other nations that have claims on the islands, including the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Acting in a high-handed manner with respect to small nations, especially with respect to a sister socialist country like Vietnam, both demeans China and increases the space for U.S. imperialism to create divisions and conflict.

Washington is fishing in troubled waters by sending its military into a contested region. It has no business in these waters. Its aggressive military and political maneuvers that foster division are meant to serve imperialist purposes and should be shunned by China first of all.

Pakistan's counter against Indian Civil Nuclear deal with US

Islamabad: Pakistan and the US officials will meet on Monday for discussing nuclear issues as a part of the strategic dialogue between the two countries. 

The Pakistani delegation led by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry has already arrived in Washington.Foreign Office Spokesperson Qazi Khalillullah confirmed to Online on Sunday that the Pakistani delegation for nuclear talks with the US left Saturday night for Washington. He however, declined to go into keen details of the talks between the two countries over the key issue. Nevertheless, diplomatic sources on condition of anonymity told Online that the focus of the talks are no doubt non-proliferation but informal and off the media talks on civil-nuclear assistance are to be held aiming to convince the US to ink a deal similar to the one Washington signed with India.

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry is leading senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Strategic Plans Division at the talks. While the US side is being led by RoseEileneGottemoeller, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. State Department has already rejected media suggestions that Saudi and Pakistani officials had met recently to discuss nuclear cooperation.

“I’m not sure I would presume that was the topic of discussion, and I don’t think we have concern about it,” the State Department spokesperson told reporters two weeks ago while responding to a question. The 2014 Nuclear Security Summit held in the Hague on March 24 and 25, also witnessed praising of Pakistan nuclear safety by international community including the US state department and President Obama himself.

In 2013, the world started praising the steps Pakistan was taking to make its nuclear program safer.
The sources said that as the safety issue about Pakistan is no more doubted in the world, quite sure of the extraordinary steps taken by Islamabad for safeguarding its nuclear program as a responsible state, so it is right time to address the civil-nuclear deal with a country like US which also fully understand the energy crises of the country. “So in this sense it could be comprehensive talks,” they added.

The talks are part of the strategic dialogue process, which includes six working groups for economy and trade, energy, counter-terrorism and law-enforcement, defense and nuclear non-proliferation, and education, science and technology. The strategic dialogue was delayed due to Salala incident and episode of Osama bin Laden in 2011. Nevertheless, the two countries managed to get back on track and improve the bilateral ties. “Immediate result in connection to civil nuclear cooperation is not expected but this could be a step forward,” said an officialwho was not authorized to talk to media. 

 

From, The Nation