Robert Patman, professor of international relations at the University of Otago, said New Zealand’s views on non-nuclear security are shared by the majority of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members and also the Pacific Island states.
“Even if New Zealand joined AUKUS in a non-nuclear fashion, technically, it may be seen through the eyes of others as diluting our commitment to that norm,” Professor Patman said.
Sharing defence information
Professor Patman explained that “pillar 1” of AUKUS is about providing nuclear-powered submarines to Australia over two or three decades, and “pillar 2” is to do with sharing information on defence technologies.
“We haven’t closed the door on it, but it’s a considerable risk from New Zealand’s point of view, because a lot of our credibility is having an independent foreign policy.”
Professor Robert Patman . . . the Pacific may not view New Zealand joining AUKUS favourably – if it is to happen in the future. Image: RNZ Pacific
Asked about New Zealand’s potential membership in AUKUS, Blinken said work on pillar 2 was ongoing.
“The door is very much open for New Zealand and other partners to engage as they see appropriate,” he said.
“New Zealand is a deeply trusted partner, obviously a Five Eyes member.
“We’ve long worked together on the most important national security issues.”
New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the government was exploring pillar 2 of the deal.
Not committed
But she said New Zealand had not committed to anything.
Mahuta said New Zealand had been clear it would not compromise its nuclear-free position, and that was acknowledged by AUKUS members.
Patman said that statement was reassurance for Pacific Island states.
“[New Zealand is] party to the Treaty of Rarotonga,” he said.
“We have to weigh up whether the benefits of being in pillar 2 outweigh possible external perception that we’re eroding our commitment, to being party to an arrangement which is facilitating the transfer of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.”
He said New Zealand had also been in talks with NATO about getting access to cutting-edge technology, so it was not dependent on AUKUS for that.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The U.S. Senate passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act in an overwhelming bipartisan vote on Thursday after rejecting Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ push for a 10% cut to military spending. Just 11 senators, including Sanders (I-Vt.), voted against final passage of the sprawling NDAA, which would authorize a record $886 billion in military spending for the coming fiscal year…
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday during a visit to Papua New Guinea that Washington was not seeking a permanent military base in the Pacific island nation under a new defense deal.
The United States and Papua New Guinea signed a defense cooperation agreement in May that gives the U.S. military “unimpeded access” to develop and deploy forces from six ports and airports, including the Lombrum Naval Base.
The deal has been criticized by some in the Pacific nation for being overly accommodative to American interests and possibly upsetting for China, a major trading partner. But Austin on Thursday stressed U.S. commitment to the sovereignty and autonomy of Papua New Guinea.
“I just want to be clear, we are not seeking a permanent base in PNG,” Austin said during a joint press conference with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape.
“Our goal is to strengthen PNG’s ability to defend itself and protect its interests.”
The agreement, signed on May 22, is part of Washington’s efforts to counter Beijing’s growing influence in the Pacific.
China, over several decades, has become a substantial source of trade, infrastructure and aid for developing Pacific island countries as it seeks to isolate Taiwan diplomatically and build its own set of global institutions.
Last year, China signed a security pact with Solomon Islands, alarming the U.S. and its allies such as Australia and underlining the heightened geopolitical competition in the region.
Marape on Thursday said the defense cooperation agreement, which is yet to be ratified by Parliament, formalized the ad-hoc relationship that Papua New Guinea already had with the U.S. military.
Papua New Guinea was building its defense capabilities to keep the country safe, including from illegal fishing and transnational crime, “not for joint war preparation.”
“I want to give assurance to everybody here that this is not about setting out for war, but setting a presence for nation building in PNG and this part of the Pacific,” he said.
Austin is on his way to Brisbane, Australia where he and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet their Australian counterparts for the annual Australia–U.S. Ministerial Consultations.
‘Door open’ to AUKUS
Blinken on Wednesday visited the tiny Pacific kingdom of Tonga, where the U.S. opened a new embassy in May, and touched down for a series of meetings in New Zealand on Thursday.
At a press conference in Wellington, Blinken said that the “door is very much open” for New Zealand to engage with the second pillar of the AUKUS security pact between the U.S., Britain and Australia.
“New Zealand is a deeply trusted partner … We’ve long worked together on the most important national security issues. And so as we further develop AUKUS, as I said, the door is open to engagement.”
One of the primary goals of AUKUS is a plan for the Australians to acquire nuclear-powered submarines to help America police the Indo-Pacific super region.
The second pillar focuses on cooperation in advanced military technology.
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the country is exploring the full extent of pillar two opportunities under AUKUS, but stressed that Wellington was “not prepared to compromise or change our nuclear-free position.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) is briefed by Maori elder Kura Moeahu before a Maori welcoming ceremony at Parliament in Wellington on July 27, 2023. [AFP]
The U.S., United Kingdom and France carried out more than 300 nuclear detonations in the Pacific from 1946 to 1966 as part of their weapons programs.
The testing hardened public opinion against nuclear weapons in New Zealand, which banned visits by nuclear-propelled warships in the mid-1980s and later passed legislation making the country a nuclear-free zone.
New Zealand’s refusal to allow the port call of USS Buchanan in 1985, after the ship would not confirm if it had no nuclear weapons onboard, resulted in Washington downgrading its diplomatic relationship with Wellington. The U.S. suspended its security guarantee under the trilateral ANZUS treaty, effectively freezing New Zealand out.
Diplomatic ties between the two nations have found common ground in regional security interests in recent years, especially over China’s growing assertiveness.
When asked about China’s police and security agreements with Solomon Islands, Mahuta on Thursday said that New Zealand respected Honiara’s sovereignty, but the “lack of openness and transparency” surrounding them had raised concerns.
“We will continue to push on the Solomon Islands [Prime Minister Manasseh] Sogavare to make clear what the full extent of those arrangements are so we can assess what that means for our region,” she said.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Harry Pearl for BenarNews.
French president Emmanuel Macron says he will forge ahead with processing a new statute for New Caledonia, replacing the 1998 Noumea Accord.
New Caledonia held three referendums on independence from France under the Noumea Accord, and all resulted in a vote against it.
But the last referendum result, held in December 2021, is disputed, as it was boycotted by the indigenous Kanak people due to the devastation caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
The main body of the independence movement has been quiet during the trip, waiting to see what was put on the table.
Islands Business correspondent Nic Maclellan told RNZ Pacific that Macron, speaking in Noumea yesterday, threw out a challenge to them.
He said independence leaders, particularly from the Caledonian Union party, the largest pro-independence party boycotted the president’s speech.
“Macron threw out a challenge to them, basically saying that the French state would forge ahead with the process to introduce a new political statute for New Caledonia, replacing the Noumea Accord, the framework agreement that’s lasted for three decades,” Maclellan said.
The President of the New Caledonia territorial government, Louis Mapou, did welcome Macron.
“[The French President] talked about the reform of political institutions. A major step which won large applause from the crowd was to unfreeze the electoral rolls for the looming provincial and congressional elections to be held in May next year,” Maclellan said.
“That will allow thousands more French nationals to vote than are currently able to under under the Noumea Accord.
“And he basically said that he would be moving ahead to review the Constitution in early 2024.
“The Noumea Accord is entrenched in its own clauses of the French constitution, so there needs to be a major constitutional change. He suggested he was going to move forward pretty strongly on that.”
French President Emmanuel Macron hugs a ni-Vanuatu child in Port Vila today . . . historic visit to independent Pacific states. Image: Vanuatu Daily Post
Rebuilding the economy Maclellan said Macron also talked about the future role of the French dependency around two key areas.
The first was about rebuilding the economic and social models of New Caledonia, addressing an inequality, particularly for poor people from the Kanak indigenous community, questions of employment.
He said a major section of his speech focused on the nickel industry, and the need to solve the energy crisis that powered nickel with improved productivity in this key sector.
France 1 television, the state broadcaster, reports Macron confirmed more than 200 soldiers for the armed forces of New Caledonia.
But there will also be the creation of a military “Pacific academy, right here, to train soldiers from all over the region”.
Emmanuel Macron is also visiting Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
France has deployed Rafale jet fighters during a military ceremony in New Caledonia, marking President Emmanuel Macron’s first official day in the Pacific.
Macron arrived in Noumea overnight on a visit aimed at bolstering his Indo-Pacific strategy and reaffirming France’s role in the region.
The historic five-day trip includes a visit to Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. It is the first time a French president has visited independent Pacific Islands, according to French officials.
A big focus will be asserting France’s role in what Macron has called a “balancing force” between the United States and China.
France assumes sovereignty for three Pacific territories: New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna.
However, not everyone was happy about the presidential visit.
New Caledonia was politically divided and seeking a way forward after three referendums on independence.
Referendum boycott
The outcome of all three polls was a “no” to independence but the result of the third vote, which was boycotted by Kanaks, was disputed.
Rallies were expected during the French President’s visit.
Local committees of the main pro-independence party the Caledonian Union have called for “peaceful” but determined rallies.
Their presence will be felt particularly when Macron heads north today to the east coast town of Thio, as well as when he gathers the New Caledonian community together tomorrow afternoon for a speech, where he is expected to make a major announcement.
About 40 percent of the population are indigenous Kanak, most of whom support independence. Pro-independence parties, which have been in power since 2017, want full sovereignty by 2025.
Macron is expected to meet with all sides in Noumea this week.
A large delegation has joined Macron on his visit, including Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
Foreign minister in Suva Colonna will also travel to Suva, Fiji today, the first visit of a French foreign affairs minister to the country.
She will meet with the Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and the Pacific Islands Forum Deputy Secretary General Filimon Manoni.
The move was to “strengthen its commitment in the region”, French officials have said.
Meetings have also been set with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape when the delegation travels there on Friday.
France has investments in PNG to develop its gas resources under French-owned multinational oil and gas company TotalEnergies.
Vanuatu chiefs appeal Emmanuel Macron will be in Port Vila on Wednesday.
Vanuatu’s Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs want Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau to let President Macron know that the Mathew and Hunter Islands belong to Vanuatu and are not part of New Caledonia.
Tanna chief Jean Pierre Tom said ni-Vanuatu people were expecting his visit to be a “game changer and not a re-enforcement of colonial rule”.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
En vol vers la Nouvelle-Calédonie, accueilli par nos Rafale qui viennent confirmer que la France est une puissance de l’Indo-Pacifique ! pic.twitter.com/yj8r1PHOMi
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The federal government keeps creating new offices to allegedly combat misinformation in the US and abroad, but are any of these agencies actually doing anything good? The answer to that question is fairly obvious, and it is clear what these government agencies are actually doing. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a […]
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Journalist and critic of Israeli apartheid Antony Loewenstein wrapped up his New Zealand tour with another damning address in Auckland last night but was optimistic about a swing in global grassroots sentiment with a stronger understanding of the plight of the reoressed 5 million Palestinians. He says that for more than a half century the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has given the Israeli state invaluable military experience in “controlling” a population.
By Antony Loewenstein
The Israeli defence industry inspires nations across the globe, many of which view themselves as under threat from external enemies.
The Taiwanese foreign minister, Joseph Wu, recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that: “Every aspect of the Israeli fighting capability is amazing to the Taiwanese people and the Taiwanese government.”
Wu explained that he appreciated how Israel protected its own country because, “basically, we [Taiwan] have barely started. The fighting experiences of Israel are something we’re not quite sure about ourselves. We haven’t had any war in the last four or five decades, but Israel has that kind of experience”.
Wu also expressed interest in Israeli weapons, suggesting his country had considered their usefulness in any potential war with China.
“Israel has the Iron Dome,” he said, referring to Israel’s defence system against short-range missiles. “We should look at some of the technology that has been used by the Israelis in its defence. I’m not sure whether we can copy it, but I think we can look at it and learn from it.”
It isn’t just Taiwan imagining itself as akin to Israel. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in April 2022 that his vision for his nation was to mimic “the Jewish state“.
Two months after Russia’s illegal invasion of its territory, Zelensky, who is a long-time supporter of Israel, argued that “our people will be our great army. We cannot talk about ‘Switzerland of the future’ — probably, our state will be able to be like this a long time after. But we will definitely become a ‘big Israel’ with its own face.”
Zelensky went on to explain that what he meant was the need in the future to have “representatives of the armed forces or the national guard in all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas; there will be people with weapons.”
The Women’s Bookshop’s Carole Beu with author Antony Loewenstein at his book signing in Auckland last night. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report
The Palestine laboratory This admiration for Israel is both unsurprising and disturbing. The praise for Israel almost always completely ignores its occupation of Palestinian territory — one of the longest in modern times — and the ways in which this colonial project is implemented.
When Taiwan, Ukraine or any other country looks to Israel for innovation, it’s a highly selective gaze which completely disappears the more than five million Palestinians under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
The Palestine Laboratory . . . uncovers how Israel has used the occupied Palestinians as the ultimate guineapigs.
The appeal of the Palestine laboratory is endless. I’ve spent the last years researching this concept and its execution in Palestine and across the globe.
My new book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, uncovers how Israel has used the occupied Palestinians as the ultimate guineapigs when developing tools of repression, from drones to spyware and facial recognition to biometric data, while maintaining an “enemy” population, the Palestinians, under control for more than half a century.
Israel has sold defence equipment to at least 130 countries and is now the 10th biggest arms exporter in the world. The US is still the dominant player in this space, accounting for 40 percent of the global weapons industry.
Washington used its failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a testing ground for new weapons. During the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, the war has been a vital “beta test” for new weapons and sophisticated forms of surveillance and killing.
But Israel has a ready-made population of occupied Palestinians over which it has complete control. For more than five decades, Israeli intelligence authorities have built an NSA-level system of surveillance across the entire occupied Palestinian territories.
In the last decade, the most infamous example of Israeli repression tech is Pegasus, the phone hacking tool developed by the company NSO Group. Used and abused by dozens of nations around the world, Mexico is its most prolific adherent.
I spoke to dissidents, lawyers and human rights activists in Togo, Mexico, India and beyond whose lives were upended by this invasive, mostly silent tool.
Israeli state and spyware However, missing from so much of the western media coverage, including outrage against NSO Group and its founders who were Israeli army veterans, is acknowledgement of the close ties between the firm and the Israeli state.
NSO is a private corporation in name only and is in fact an arm of Israel’s diplomacy, used by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Mossad to attract new friends in the international arena. Despite being blacklisted by the Biden administration in November 2021, the company still hopes to continue trading.
Unregulated Israeli spyware . . . a global threat.
My research, along with that of other reporters, has shown a clear connection between the sale of Israeli cyberweapons and Israel’s attempts to neuter any potential backlash to its illegal occupation.
From Rwanda to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to India, Israeli spyware and surveillance tech are used by countless democracies and dictatorships alike.
Beyond Pegasus, many other similar tools have been deployed by newer and lesser-known Israeli companies, though they’re just as destructive. The problem isn’t just Pegasus — it could close down tomorrow and the privacy-busting technology would transfer to any number of competitors — but the unquenchable desire by governments, police forces and intelligence services for the relatively inexpensive Israeli tech that powers it.
Perhaps the most revealing was the deep relationship between apartheid South Africa and Israel. It wasn’t just about arms trading, but an ideological alignment between two states that truly believed that they were fighting for their very existence.
In 1976, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin invited South African Prime Minister John Vorster, a Nazi sympathiser during the Second World War, to visit Israel. His tour included a stop at Yad Vashem, the country’s Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.
Israel’s then President Reuven Rivlin (right) welcomes his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte at the presidential compound in Jerusalem on 4 September 2018. Image: MEE/AFP
When Vorster arrived in Israel, he was feted by Rabin at a state dinner. Rabin toasted “the ideals shared by Israel and South Africa: the hopes for justice and peaceful coexistence”. Both nations faced “foreign-inspired instability and recklessness”.
Israel and South Africa viewed themselves as under attack by foreign bodies committed to their destruction. A short time after Vorster’s visit, the South African government yearbook explained that both states were facing the same issue: “Israel and South Africa have one thing above all else in common: they are both situated in a predominantly hostile world inhabited by dark peoples.”
A love of ethnonationalism still fuels Israel today, along with a desire to export it. Some arms deals with nations, such as Bangladesh or the Philippines, are purely on military grounds and to make money.
Israel places barely any restrictions on what it sells, which pleases leaders who don’t want meddling in their actions. Pro-Israel lobbyists are increasingly working for repressive states, such as Bangladesh, to promote their supposed usefulness to the West.
Israel and the global far right But Israel’s affinity with Hungary, India and the global far right, a group that traditionally hates Jews, speaks volumes about the inspirational nature of the modern Israeli state. As Haaretz journalist Noa Landau recently wrote, while explaining why Netanyahu’s government defended the latest arguably antisemitic comments by Elon Musk about George Soros:
A Palestinian flag at the Auckland venue for author Antony Loewenstein’s address about his new book The Palestine Laboratory last night. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report
“The government’s mobilisation in the service of stoking antisemitism is not surprising. It is the fruit of a long and consistent process in which the Netanyahu government has been growing closer to extreme right-wing elements around the world, at the expense of Jewish communities it purports to represent.”
It’s worth pausing for a moment to reflect on this undeniable reality. Israel, which claims to represent global Jewry, is encouraging an alignment between itself and a hyper-nationalist, bigoted and racist populism, regardless of the long-term consequences for the safety and security of Jews around the world.
Israel has thrived as an ethnonationalist state for so long because the vast bulk of the world grants it impunity. European nations have been key supporters of Israel, willing to overlook its occupation and abuse of Palestinians.
According to newly declassified documents from the files of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, between 1967 and 1990 it’s clear that West Germany was becoming more critical of Israel’s settlement project in Palestine, but the main concern was protecting its own financial interests in the region if a regional war broke out.
In a document written on 16 February 1975 to the deputy director of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Western Europe, Nissim Yaish, before Israel’s Foreign Minister Yigal Allon’s visit to West Germany, Yaish explained the thinking in his country’s diplomatic bureaucracy:
“There is unanimity that this time such a war will have a far-reaching impact on all its affairs internally and externally and that it could wreak a Holocaust on the German economy. Based on this attitude, West Germany is interested in rapid progress toward a [peace] agreement.”
Western silence But there has rarely been any serious interest in pursuing peace, or holding Israel to account for its blatantly illegal actions, because the economic imperative is too strong. Even today, when another Nakba against Palestinians is becoming more possible to imagine, there’s largely silence from Western elites.
Germany has banned public recognition of the 1948 Nakba and criminalised any solidarity with the Palestinian people. Germany is also keen to buy an Israeli missile defence system, confirming its priorities.
This is why Israeli apartheid and the Palestine laboratory are so hard to stop; countless nations want a piece of Israeli repression tech to surveil their own unwanted populations or election meddling support in Latin America or Africa.
Without a push for accountability, economic boycotts and regulation or banning Israeli spyware — the EU is flirting with the idea — Israel can feel comfortable that its position as a global leader in offensive weapons is secure.
This article was first published in the Middle East Eye.
China’s military schools are stepping up their recruitment of recent high school graduates in a bid to upgrade the armed forces’ capacity to wage high-tech warfare, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense.
“We will be recruiting an extra 2,000 high school graduates this year, making a total intake of 17,000 … for 2023,” a training and education official from the ruling Communist Party’s Central Military Commission said in a Q&A article posted on the ministry’s website.
A total of 27 military schools will be recruiting, including 10 linked to the People’s Liberation Army, five from the navy, four from the airforce and one from the rocket corps.
In addition, four People’s Armed Police universities will be seeking fresh college-level recruits, along with two colleges training people for the Strategic Support Force, the space, cyber, political, and electronic warfare branch of the PLA, the official said.
“Choose a military academy and dedicate your youth without regrets,” the article says. “For a drop of water to make waves, it has to pour itself into rivers, lakes and the ocean.”
“Let your youthful dream become part of the torrent of a strong army.”
Recruiting problems?
The move has prompted widespread speculation online that China’s military schools are struggling to find recruits.
Two lengthy blog posts hosted on Sina.com and on Netease said military schools are slashing their minimum high school graduation – or gaokao – test scores, citing this year’s minimum for male applicants in the western province of Qinghai as evidence.
“Has interest in military academies gone cold?” wrote one blogger, citing a slew of admission data relating to Inner Mongolia.
Cadets applaud as U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta addresses them at the PLA Engineering Academy of Armored Forces in Beijing in 2012. Credit: Larry Downing/Reuters
“Compared with the data of previous years, there is a downward trend across the board in minimum scores required by military academies this year,” another blogger wrote on the Sohu.com platform, citing government figures that Radio Free Asia was unable to confirm.
The military is also boosting the number of linguists it recruits for language-degree courses, and diversifying the number of professional and technical categories that prospective students – who must also pass stringent fitness requirements and a political review – can apply for.
Minimum gaokao scores listed for applicants from the western province of Qinghai to the National University of Defense Technology by educational service website Gaokao 100 showed a minimum gaokao score of 411 for male applicants in STEM subjects, short for science, technology, engineering and math.
A similar listing posted last year for Qinghai applicants to the same university on the Xin Gaokaowang educational services site showed a minimum gaokao score of 489 for male STEM subject applicants, suggesting a significant relaxation of requirements.
Test scores
China’s military schools typically recruit far fewer women than men, and often have higher minimum scores for female applicants.
Minimum test score requirements vary widely across China depending on an applicant’s location and choice of major, and change every year.
In 2020, candidates who applied to the National University of Defense Technology’s Strong Foundation Program could get shortlisted with gaokao scores ranging from 613-659 depending on where they lived.
In 2021, candidates for the same program needed scores ranging from 621-686, while candidates for the same program needed scores ranging from 566-625 in 2022, suggesting an easing of requirements.
A list of minimum scores for 2023 was posted by another educational website, GaokaoKZX.com, on June 27, but later removed. A copy of the page still available via Google Cache showed this year’s minimum scores ranging between 562 and 629, broadly similar to last year’s range.
While online reports said the university’s minimum score for regular applicants from Ningxia Autonomous Region was just 514, Radio Free Asia was unable to verify any of the reported ranges independently.
Calls to the admissions office of the National University of Defense Technology in the central city of Changsha as well as to admissions offices at the Naval Engineering University and the Dalian Naval Academy rang unanswered.
‘Risk of war’
While the Ministry of Defense called on young people to “shoulder the heavy responsibility of our times and the hope of the nation,” experts and commentators said the possibility of a military invasion of Taiwan could be putting some students off.
A recent graduate of Shanghai’s Fudan University who gave only the surname Zhang said many of the better-off families in China shun military academies.
“Firstly, rich people in China don’t let their kids apply to military schools, or to become teachers … or even doctors practicing in China because the life is too hard and the return on investment is too low,” Zhang said. “This is especially true for military academies.”
“Another thing is that the risk of war has gotten pretty high during the past couple of years,” she said.
“Once you enter a military academy, you are a member of the armed forces. If there’s a war, former serving members of the armed forces are the first to be recalled,” says a person with inside knowledge of the Chinese military. In this picture, Chinese People’s Liberation Army cadets conduct bayonet drills at the PLA’s Armored Forces Engineering Academy in Beijing in 2014. Credit: Greg Baker/AFP
Sydney University of Technology professor Feng Chongyi said he believes this is a key concern for many parents helping their sons and daughters plan their future.
“Sending your kid to join the military when war is coming is tantamount to sending them to their deaths,” Feng said.
Military academies started to find it hard to recruit students after 2019, Wu Chien-chung, associate professor in the general education center of Taipei’s University of Ocean Science and Technology wrote in a July 7 commentary for Radio Taiwan International.
“This is related to the Chinese government’s toughening policy towards Taiwan and the possibility of large-scale military conflicts in the Indo-Pacific region,” Wu wrote.
‘Winning wars’
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who chairs the Central Military Commission, has said the People’s Liberation Army must be capable of “winning wars.”
“The leader says this in a speech every New Year, and there are wolf warrior diplomats everywhere underlining this bottom line, saying they’ll never give up on the ‘unification’ of Taiwan by force,” Feng said.
A person with inside knowledge of the military who asked to remain anonymous said that there are lifelong obligations that come with military service in China.
“Once you enter a military academy, you are a member of the armed forces,” said the person, who gave only the nickname Xiao Song. “If there’s a war, former serving members of the armed forces are the first to be recalled.”
“Another is that if you can’t put up with the hardship of service, you will be punished under the social credit system for leaving the army,” she said.
Shizuoka University professor Yang Haiying said the fear of war could well be putting applicants off.
“Young people aged 18, 19, and 20 are all only children right now, and their parents’ darlings,” Yang said. “No-one’s going to let them become cannon fodder.”
Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Gu Ting for RFA Mandarin.
A new report from The Intercept has revealed that the Pentagon is scrolling through social media trying to identify people making mean tweets about military generals. They claim they’re doing this for safety reasons, but they’re actually trying to keep tabs on anyone that is critical of the US war machine. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: […]
Fierce fighting between Myanmar’s military junta and an ethnic rebel group in the country’s northern Kachin state has raged for 13 days in a village close to the rebels’ headquarters, people living near the area told Radio Free Asia.
The headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, is in Lai Zar, and the military attacked Nam Sang Yang village, roughly 9.6 kilometers (six miles) away, on July 2.
The ethnic army has been aiding anti-junta local militias and publicly supporting the shadow National Unity Government – made up of former civilian leaders and other junta opponents – since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup that overthrew the democratically elected government.
The fighting is the latest spasm of violence in Myanmar’s civil war, which pits the country’s military against an array of ethnic armies and civilians-turned-fighters that call themselves the People’s Defense Force.
Sources told RFA that the fighting has been a daily occurrence, as junta forces attempt to take Nam Sang Yang, while the KIA defends it. They are waiting for forces from another armed ethnic group, the Arakan Army, or AA, to enter the fray.
Nam Sang Yang lies at about the halfway point between the cities of Myitkyina and Bhamo, and taking it is the key for the junta to regain control of the road that connects them, Col. Nawbu, a KIA soldier in charge of news and information, told Radio Free Asia’s Burmese Service.
“The fighting started in early July, and the junta troops got reinforcements from Bhamo and Mytkyina,” he said. “I think they are about a hundred strong, but that’s not an exact number. We cannot say for sure what strategies the enemy is using.”
Nawbu said that he thought the junta’s aim was to retake the section of the road, but had no idea if they also had plans to try to also take Lai Zar the KIA headquarters.
“Anything is possible,” he said. “That’s the nature of war. That’s why we are on high alert.”
10 battles
At least 10 separate battles have been fought over the past 13 days, with junta troops employing heavy artillery on a daily basis, Nawbu said. Casualties have occurred on both sides, but he was not able to confirm exact details.
Nawbu expects the fighting to intensify and continue for several more days as the military reinforces its troops.
Fighting along the road will be fierce, as members of both the AA and KIA are stationed there to defend against the junta, residents said.
Residents of Nang Sang Yang village, Waingmaw township, Kachin state, try to flee the fighting between Myanmar junta forces and Kachin Independence Army, July 6, 2023. Credit: RFA
Since July 3, the road has been closed by soldiers on either side, and resources are running low in Lai Zar, where the KIA makes its headquarters, a resident of the town, who refused to be named, told RFA.
“Many goods are out of stock here… there will be no food and essentials left in my store by the end of this month,” she said. “I have to try to make sure I have something to sell.”
Prices in Lai Zar are rising as items are harder to come by, the resident said.
Due to the fighting, people traveling to and from Myitkyina and Lai Zar have been trapped, and more than a thousand Nam Sang Yang residents have fled to Myitkyina, Waingmo and Lai Zar since the fighting began.
Airstrikes
Residents said the junta launched air strikes on nearby Ma Dee Yang village on the night of July 7, and they also fired heavy artillery in areas around Lai Zar.
“I think the fighting will get more intense according to what I recently heard,” a resident of Lai Zar said on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “They are still fighting now.”
The Lai Zar resident said that he could hear gunshots and heavy artillery shelling targeting the areas surrounding the town.
“These are sounds that are terrifying elderly people, children and pregnant mothers,” he said.
We often hear the sound of heavy artillery shelling areas near Lai Zar. We hear gunshots off and on. The sounds of those shelling are terrifying for elderly people, children and pregnant mothers.”
Win Ye Tun, social affairs minister and the junta’s spokesman for Kachin state, told RFA that he did not know the situation of the fighting.
“I don’t know about the battle. As I said before, we are helping people who have fled from there … providing them with rice, oil, money and we also visit them to check on them,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hla Kyaw Zaw, an expert on Myanmar affairs, said that the junta is focusing on KIA-controlled areas because they suspect that the KIA is helping militia groups called Public Defense Forces, or PDFs, formed by citizens opposed to military rule.
“Since the junta troops took a beating in Sagaing and other fronts, they might think that KIA is strongly backing the PDF in those regions,” he said. “But I think [the junta] won’t be able to besiege Lai Zar.”
Having the areas near its border controlled by ethnic groups could be strategically beneficial to China, he said.
“China is trying to influence both sides to solve the problems by peaceful means as much as it can. It is the way I see it. Especially the ethnic areas next to its border, China won’t let them down.”
Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
America’s Lawyer E60: Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign seems to be going under faster than any other campaign at the moment, and the Florida governor has no idea how to get things turned around. If you’ve ever spoken out about the US military, then you can bet that the Pentagon is keeping tabs on your social […]
During a major summit in Lithuania, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine is “closer than ever” to joining NATO, but the military alliance is resisting calls to give Kyiv a timeline to membership. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is attending the NATO summit and is meeting with President Biden and other world leaders. This comes as a number of nations have announced new military assistance for Ukraine. “The main condition for Ukraine membership [to NATO] is an end to this war,” says Andreas Zumach, defense correspondent for the left-wing German daily Die Tageszeitung. We also speak with CodePink’s Medea Benjamin, who has just returned from a visit to Ukraine, where she says people are “being fed a daily diet of irrational expectations” by the government about how Ukrainian forces are winning the war. The truth, she says, is “there is a stalemate on the ground,” and calls for countries to come to the negotiation table.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
About halfway through the interview Biden said something about China that’s worth flagging, because the claim he makes is self-evidently false, and it’s not the first time he’s made it.
Describing the conversations he’s been having with China’s President Xi Jinping, Biden said the following:
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“We’re going to put together the Quad which is India, Australia, the United States and Japan. I got a call from him [Xi] on that. He said why are you doing that. I said we’re not doing that to surround you, we’re doing that to maintain stability in the Indian Ocean and in the South China Sea. Because we believe the rules of the road about what constitutes international air space, international space and the water should be maintained.”
“But what he was really upset about was that I insisted that we — we reunite the Qu- — so-called Quad. He called me and told me not to do that because it was putting him in a bind. I said, All we’re doing — we’re not trying to surround you, we’re just trying to make sure the international rules with air and sea lanes remain open.”
So of course the US is trying to surround China, as evidenced by the mountains of US war machinery that are being moved into areas surrounding China. Biden can babble all he wants about wanting to secure sea lanes and protect international waters, but only a drooling idiot would believe the world’s most powerful empire is militarily surrounding its top geopolitical rival as an act of defense.
And Beijing is under no illusions about this. Xi said in a speech earlier this year that “Western countries — led by the U.S. — have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression against us, bringing unprecedentedly severe challenges to our country’s development.”
So Biden isn’t trying to fool the Chinese government with his “We’re not trying to surround you” schtick — he’s trying to fool you. He’s trying to fool the western public and the allies of the United States, who would get spooked if the US president openly admitted to a deliberate campaign of militarily encirclement against an economic superpower they all trade with extensively.
You simply cannot understand the geopolitics and major conflicts of the 2020s without understanding that the US empire has been actively amassing military threats in the immediate surroundings of its top two rivals — China and Russia — that it would never tolerate anyone else amassing anywhere near the United States. The single dumbest thing the US empire asks us to believe nowadays is that surrounding its two biggest foes with war machinery is a defensive action, rather than an act of extreme aggression.
The best advice I can offer about US-China tensions is to ignore the words and watch the actions. Ignore what officials say about wanting peace and not trying to surround China and supporting the One China policy etc, and just watch all the US war machinery that’s being rapidly added to that region. The US empire is better at international narrative manipulation than any power structure that has ever existed in human history, but what they can’t spin away is the concrete maneuverings of solid pieces of war machinery, because they are physical realities and not narratives.
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All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon, Paypal, or Substack, buying an issue of my monthly zine, and following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.
A terrifying revolving door has emerged between intelligence agencies and social media companies. Also, the Federal Trade Commission has proposed a new rule to BAN non-compete clauses for workers. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. Mike Papantonio: There’s a, this terrifying revolving door […]
Seven Burmese garment workers and union activists will face trial on incitement charges in a military court for advocating for a pay raise at a factory that supplied Inditex, the owner of the Spanish retailer Zara, a labor activist said Friday.
The case has put a spotlight on the plight of workers in Myanmar’s troubled garment sector. Several companies have exited the country since the February 2021 military coup and subsequent deterioration in labor conditions.
Inditex is reportedly set to make a phased exit from the country after the arrests of the five garment workers and two union activists in June. They worked at a Chinese-owned factory operated by Hosheng Myanmar Garment Company Limited in Yangon division. They formed a union in April to bargain for better conditions.
An activist affiliated with the union, declining to be named for safety reasons, told RFA that the seven accused are still being held at Hlawga police station in Shwepyithar Township.
On Friday, despite a scheduled hearing, the activist was told that the seven would remain in custody awaiting a trial for incitement. If convicted, they face up to two years in prison under section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s penal code.
“Before setting up the trade union, the working conditions had many rules – no complaints, forced overtime, very low salary,” the activist said. “The factory doesn’t like the trade union, so that’s why the seven trade union members were dismissed.”
The activist said the trial of the seven will be held behind closed doors at a military court in Shwepyithar Township in Yangon. The township is under martial law.
RFA has reached out to Inditex for comment.
Workers lack recourse from labor abuse
Nearly 500,000 people are employed in Myanmar’s garment sector, but labor activists say the military takeover has diminished regulatory oversight of factories. They say workers have less ability to negotiate with their employers and lack recourse in cases of labor abuse. But faced with economic instability, some feel they have no choice but to accept any job available.
In the last two years, as Myanmar has sunk into civil conflict and international condemnation of the military junta has grown, Inditex and other European brands have decided to quit the Southeast Asian country, including Primark, C&A, and the UK-based Tesco PLC and Marks & Spencer.
Since December, the European Union and international retailers have funded the Multi-stakeholder Alliance for Decent Employment in Myanmar, or MADE, to provide more accountability for conditions in factories that supply garments for export, expanding on a previous project. Roughly 380,000 garment jobs are directly reliant on EU trade.
Workers in a Yangon, Myanmar, factory stitch clothes in 2015. Nearly 500,000 people are employed in Myanmar’s garment sector. Credit: AP file photo
Labor activists have called for the program to be axed, claiming brands still present in the country have not been able to ensure worker protection in factories. Out of 37 brands linked to labor violations in Myanmar factories since the coup, Inditex was reported to be linked to the highest number of alleged abuse cases, followed by H&M and Bestseller.
One rights group found that freedom of association was “nearly non-existent” and that business-military collusion was found in 16% of cases. At Hosheng, soldiers were recorded telling workers there were no unions under military rule.
In April, the 16-union Myanmar Labour Alliance sent a letter to EU leaders requesting that the program be defunded. It said that training for workplace coordination committees provided by MADE would undermine union efforts and allow management to conduct elections which would threaten existing unions.
‘We don’t have any legal mechanism’
The alliance reported that since the coup, 53 union members and activists were murdered and 300 were arrested. Khaing Zar Aung, a representative of the alliance and president of the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar, told RFA that brands had no capacity to oversee working conditions on the ground.
“What mechanism do we have?” she asked. “We don’t have any legal mechanism applicable.”
However, the EU has also remained firm in their stance on the program.
An EU spokesperson told RFA in a statement that funding for MADE provides ways for workers to file complaints about workplace conditions, “as well as facilitating dialogue between employers, workers and international stakeholders.”
While acknowledging the constraints on freedom of association, the spokesperson wrote: “Nonetheless, the EU and the Multi-stakeholder Alliance for Decent Employment in Myanmar (MADE) partners believe that the interests of workers are best served if EU companies continue to source from the country, as long as this is done responsibly.”
“When large international retailers exit, this will inevitably lead to a loss of jobs, regardless of how the retailer goes about this,” Jacob A. Clere, a team leader of the MADE project, told RFA. He said retailers are currently being enrolled in MADE for 2023, with the first cohort to be finalized this coming month.
“We estimate that between 130 and 170 facilities could collectively be covered by those who initially joined MADE in 2023.”
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Special for RFA.
Junta troops opened fire on street vendors in Sagaing region’s Wetlet township, killing seven and critically injuring another six, locals told RFA Friday.
An army convoy opened fire on market stallholders as they headed to Shwe Pan Kone village around dawn Thursday according to a resident who didn’t want to be named for security reasons.
“They are ordinary civilian vendors who come to Shwe Pan Kone village,” said the local.
“They came by cars and motorbikes which were fired on by a junta column … between Shwe Pan Kone and Tha Ma Yoe villages. They were brutally murdered.”
The local said he didn’t know why the column opened fire on civilians.
Residents identified the dead – four women and three men – as 57-year-old Hnin Hlaing; 46-year-old Pwe Li; 40-year-old Aye Nu Win, 30-year-old Phyu Phyu San; 62-year-old Thein Hlaing; 55-year-old Poe Lwin; and 27-year-old Lwin Moe.
The six critically injured included a 29-year-old pregnant woman and a 65-year-old man.
The daughter of Hnin Hlaing, told RFA she was shocked by the attack.
“My mother sold vegetables, Losing my mother is a great loss,” she said.
“An innocent civilian was shot, not just one gunshot, she was hit by many bullets.”
The dead were cremated on Thursday, locals told RFA.
They said the injured are being treated at the clinics set up by the shadow National Unity Government, which has given the equivalent of U.S.$50 to families of the dead and $25 to the injured.
Residents said the army column continued onto Tha Ma Yoe village, capturing around 30 locals, who had not been heard from as of Friday afternoon.
Tha Ma Yoe was also raided by the junta in March this year, with troops torching many of the houses there.
The junta has not issued a statement on the latest attack and RFA’s calls to its Sagaing region spokesperson, Saw Naing, went unanswered Friday.
At least 3,750 pro-democracy activists and civilians have been killed since the February 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
Anyone who is capable of honest self-reflection and critical thinking understands that the “self-made man” is a myth of our culture; that anyone who amasses a fortune does so on the backs of many other people whose work made it possible, and found the opportunity to do so because of the circumstances they happened upon by chance of birth, conditioning and sheer dumb luck.
And it’s worth highlighting that this is also true of all other personal circumstances, including those that people in this slice of the online community might take pride in. One doesn’t for example become aware of the manipulations of the powerful and the deceptions of the media because they are particularly smart and virtuous, they do so because they were lucky enough to find information from others which helped them form this understanding, and because their personal conditioning allowed them to take that information in and let it inform their worldview.
Similarly, one doesn’t wind up opposing capitalism because of any personal specialness or righteousness; one finds themselves opposing capitalism because they happened upon socialist ideas after having meandered through a life which gave them the conditioning necessary for them to seriously consider those perspectives and take them on board. If their life had unfolded differently, through no fault or virtue of their own, they never would have happened upon those ideas, or if they had they would not have been receptive to them.
I said “Anyone who is capable of honest self-reflection and critical thinking” above, but even those gifts come upon us largely by sheer dumb luck, brought to us by other people in the form of information and conditioning throughout our lives.
My point is we’re all just kind of muddling our way through this thing, and our successes and failures (by whatever metric we measure success and failure) are due more to the unfolding of humanity’s collective consciousness than any brilliance or defectiveness on our own part.
Obviously we must all try to do our very best with the hand that we were dealt in life, but it’s probably a good idea to harbor some compassion for those who don’t get it as right as we do in our eyes. We were all born into a world saturated with propaganda and dominated by abusive systems, and ultimately the degree to which we are able to see our way around in that world says as much about how good or bad we are as a seed landing on rich or sandy earth says about the quality of the seed.
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Compare the way US empire managers shriek about the faintest whispers of the possibility of a Chinese military training facility in Cuba with their self-righteous indignation at the suggestion that Russia and China have any business opposing US activities in Ukraine and Taiwan.
This is why you can just dismiss empire simps who decry the notion of spheres of influence regarding Russia and China and insist Ukraine and Taiwan have every right to become US proxies if they want. That simply ignores reality, as evidenced by US attitude toward the same thing.
Demanding that Russia and China tolerate behavior from the US that the US would never tolerate from Russia or China is just demanding that the world subjugate itself to the US empire, yet you’ll see people who call themselves “anti-imperialists” doing exactly that all the time.
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The west loves Ukraine so much that for years to come its children will be getting their limbs blown off by undetonated cluster munitions and being born severely deformed due to depleted uranium rounds.
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I’m sorry I sincerely cannot for the life of me take seriously the position that the problem with the world’s most evil and murderous military is that it has gotten too “woke”.
The position is absurd on multiple levels. Like oh no, a “woke” US military won’t be able to win wars, like all those wars the non-woke US military was winning in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rightists bitch about America’s “woke military” claiming that a rainbow flag war machine will be too soft to win wars, when really they’re just mad they lost the culture war. They lost it so badly that even their last hyper-masculine institution can’t afford not to be inclusive.
In reality, US military recruitment is hurting too bad for them to be able to reject anyone, and the reason for those recruitment struggles has nothing to do with “wokeness”. It’s because being in the US military sucks balls and everyone knows it.
Nobody honestly believes a trans drone pilot can’t kill disobedient foreigners like anyone else. When rightists whine about America’s “woke military”, they’re really whining about LGBTQ people being accepted even in the last places they’d have ever expected them to be accepted.
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Conservatives are everything they used to make fun of liberals for being: whiny, easily offended crybabies who run around looking for nonsense excuses to feel offended and act like victims. They’re a bunch of ridiculous, permanently triggered culture warriors and drama queens.
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The deepest and most worthy rabbit hole you can possibly dive into is the question of identity. Not gender identity or racial identity or what ideological -ist or -ism you identify with, but the nature of identity itself.
Deeply investigating the nature of self in your own actual experience will lead to a radical transformation in the way life is experienced and lived, because it turns out it’s not happening in the way our minds, our culture and our language tell us it’s happening. At the end of the rabbit hole it is discovered that there is no “I” anywhere to be found in your actual experience, and that it was just an unquestioned assumption that we built unhelpful psychological constructs around due to a fundamentally erroneous premise.
Once this is seen life gets a lot less stressful and a lot more enjoyable, because it’s experienced as happening freely on its own without happening to anyone who could be diminished or damaged by its outcomes. In the end we discover that the ego can be transcended not by heroic feats of saintly austerity or by living in an ashram in India for decades, but by simply examining the nature of the ego and finding out if it actually exists in the first place.
This is something you can verify in your own personal experience, and you should never take my word for it or the word of anyone else. The rabbit hole’s right there, right now. If you’re open to the possibility of losing yourself and your whole world in your quest for truth, hop in.
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All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon, Paypal, or Substack, buying an issue of my monthly zine, and following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.
New York, July 6, 2023 — The Israel Defense Forces must investigate the July 3 attack that destroyed an Al-Araby TV crew’s equipment, make public its findings, and take immediate measures to ensure journalists’ safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
On July 3, Al-Araby TV reporter Amid Shehadeh and camera operator Rabi Munir were covering an Israel Defense Forces operation against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when an IDF vehicle shot at their equipment, destroying a transmitter and knocking a camera off a tripod, according to a statement posted to Twitter by Al-Araby TV, a Qatari broadcaster.
The two journalists took shelter in a house a few feet away with two photographers from the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency and a third from Ruptly, a Russian state-owned video news agency based in Germany, according to The New Arab, which did not identify those other journalists by name. The journalists remained trapped until they were escorted out of the house by the Red Cross and Red Crescent and evacuated by ambulance to a hospital, according to Al-Araby TV’s statement, which did not say whether the journalists sustained injuries.
The IDF’s two-day operation, which killed 12 according to the United Nations, was the latest in a series of military incursions into the northern West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp after attacks by Palestinian militants. Last May, the Israeli military killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering a raid in Jenin.
“The Israeli military’s destruction of Al-Araby TV’s news equipment while the broadcaster’s journalists hid in fear shows how the military has continued to imperil reporting on its actions,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna. “The IDF must prevent troops from attacking journalists and their gear, investigate those responsible for this incident, and hold them to account.”
In video footage of the incident published by The New Arab, shots are heard and the crew’s transmitter is seen in flames.
“This direct attack, recorded and documented by media outlets, reveals a blatant targeting of journalist crews and their equipment for no reason other than deliberately harming journalists, hindering their work, and disrupting their coverage. This action represents a clear violation of international human rights norms and standards that guarantee the safety of journalists,” said the Al-Araby TV statement.
In a previous incident in Jenin, on June 19, Hazem Nasser, a camera operator for Jordan’s Al-Ghad TV, was hospitalized with serious injuries after he came under IDF fire while he was reporting on fighting between Israeli forces and militants, according to The Associated Press and a statement by the local Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. An AP journalist at the scene witnessed the military directly shoot at the journalist, who was clearly identified as press.
The Israeli military told AP that it was “unaware of fire aimed at medics and journalists” and was looking into the incident.
In a separate incident on June 8, two photojournalists, Momen Somrain and Rabi al-Munir, were shot by IDF soldiers with rubber bullets while they were reporting on the demolition of a terrorism suspect’s house in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
CPJ emailed the IDF spokesperson for North American media but did not receive a reply.
In May 2023, CPJ published “Deadly Pattern,” a report on the Israeli military’s killing of 20 journalists in 22 years – and how no one has been held accountable for those deaths.
New York, July 6, 2023 — The Israel Defense Forces must investigate the July 3 attack that destroyed an Al-Araby TV crew’s equipment, make public its findings, and take immediate measures to ensure journalists’ safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
On July 3, Al-Araby TV reporter Amid Shehadeh and camera operator Rabi Munir were covering an Israel Defense Forces operation against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when an IDF vehicle shot at their equipment, destroying a transmitter and knocking a camera off a tripod, according to a statement posted to Twitter by Al-Araby TV, a Qatari broadcaster.
The two journalists took shelter in a house a few feet away with two photographers from the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency and a third from Ruptly, a Russian state-owned video news agency based in Germany, according to The New Arab, which did not identify those other journalists by name. The journalists remained trapped until they were escorted out of the house by the Red Cross and Red Crescent and evacuated by ambulance to a hospital, according to Al-Araby TV’s statement, which did not say whether the journalists sustained injuries.
The IDF’s two-day operation, which killed 12 according to the United Nations, was the latest in a series of military incursions into the northern West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp after attacks by Palestinian militants. Last May, the Israeli military killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering a raid in Jenin.
“The Israeli military’s destruction of Al-Araby TV’s news equipment while the broadcaster’s journalists hid in fear shows how the military has continued to imperil reporting on its actions,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna. “The IDF must prevent troops from attacking journalists and their gear, investigate those responsible for this incident, and hold them to account.”
In video footage of the incident published by The New Arab, shots are heard and the crew’s transmitter is seen in flames.
“This direct attack, recorded and documented by media outlets, reveals a blatant targeting of journalist crews and their equipment for no reason other than deliberately harming journalists, hindering their work, and disrupting their coverage. This action represents a clear violation of international human rights norms and standards that guarantee the safety of journalists,” said the Al-Araby TV statement.
In a previous incident in Jenin, on June 19, Hazem Nasser, a camera operator for Jordan’s Al-Ghad TV, was hospitalized with serious injuries after he came under IDF fire while he was reporting on fighting between Israeli forces and militants, according to The Associated Press and a statement by the local Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. An AP journalist at the scene witnessed the military directly shoot at the journalist, who was clearly identified as press.
The Israeli military told AP that it was “unaware of fire aimed at medics and journalists” and was looking into the incident.
In a separate incident on June 8, two photojournalists, Momen Somrain and Rabi al-Munir, were shot by IDF soldiers with rubber bullets while they were reporting on the demolition of a terrorism suspect’s house in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
CPJ emailed the IDF spokesperson for North American media but did not receive a reply.
In May 2023, CPJ published “Deadly Pattern,” a report on the Israeli military’s killing of 20 journalists in 22 years – and how no one has been held accountable for those deaths.
An Australian human rights author and poet has accused successive federal governments of “deliberately aiding and abetting” the 1969 annexation of West Papua by Indonesia and enabling the “stifling” of the Melanesian people’s right to self-determination.
In reaffirming his appeal last May for a royal commission into Australia’s policies over West Papua, author and activist Jim Aubrey alleged Canberra had been a party to “criminal actions” over the Papuan right to UN decolonisation.
In a damning letter to Governor-General David Hurley, Aubrey — author-editor of the 1998 book Free East Timor: Australia’s culpability in East Timor’s genocide, also about Indonesian colonialism — has appealed for the establishment of a royal commission to examine the Australian federal government’s “role as a criminal accessory to Indonesia’s illegal annexation of West Papua and as an accomplice” to more than six decades of “crimes against humanity” in the region.
Author and activist Jim Aubrey . . . “Indonesian thugs and terrorists wanted the Australian government’s collusion … and the Australian government provided it.” Image: Jim Aubrey
The killings were – like many others in West Papua – were carried out with impunity. Papuan human rights groups claim the Biak death toll was actually 150.
In his document, Aubrey has also accused the Australian government of “maliciously destroying” in 2014 prima facie photographic evidence of the 1998 Biak massacre.
“At the request of the Indonesian government in 1969, the Australian government prevented West Papuan political leaders from travelling to the United Nations in New York City to appeal for assistance to the members of the General Assembly,” Aubrey claimed.
“They wanted to tell the honourable members of the UN General Assembly that the Indonesian military occupation force was murdering West Papuan men.
‘Crimes against humanity’
“They wanted to tell the honourable members of the UN General Assembly that the Indonesian military occupation force was raping West Papuan women.
“These crimes against humanity were being committed to stifle West Papua’s cry for
freedom as a universal right of the UN decolonisation process.
“Indonesian thugs and terrorists wanted the Australian government’s
collusion … and the Australian government provided it.”
The 68-page open letter to Australian Governor-General David Hurley appealing for a royal commission into Canberra’s conduct . . . an indictment of Indonesian atrocities in West Papua. Image: Screenshot APR
Aubrey has long been a critic of the Australian government over its handling of the West Papua issue and has spoken out in support of the West Papua Movement – OPM.
In a separate statement today about the Biak massacre, OPM leader Jeffrey Bomanak called on Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape to “remember his Melanesian heritage and his Papuan brothers and sisters’ war of liberation against Indonesia’s illegal invasion and occupation of half of the island of New Guinea”.
Mehrtens has been held captive by West Papuan pro-independence rebels in the Papuan highlands rainforests since February 7. The rebels demand negotiations on independence .
‘150 massacred’
“On July 6, 1998, over 600 Indonesian defence and security forces tortured, mutilated and massacred 150 West Papuan people for raising the West Papuan flag and peacefully protesting for independence,” said Bomanak in his statement.
About the Australian government’s alleged concealment in 1998 — and destruction in 2014 — of a roll of film depicting the victims of the Biak island massacre, Bomanak declared: “We are your closest neighbour, the Papuan race across Melanesia.
“We did not desert you in your war against the Imperial Japanese Empire on our ancestral island, and many of your wounded lived because of our care and dedication.”
In Aubrey’s statement accusing Canberra of “collusion” with Jakarta, he said that at the Indonesian government’s request, the Australian government had prevented West Papuan leaders William Zonggonao and Clemens Runaweri from providing testimony of Indonesian crimes against humanity to the United Nations in 1969.
“If this is not treacherous enough, another Australian government remained silent about the 1998 Biak island massacre even though that federal government was in possession of the roll of film depicting the massacre’s crimes.
“The federal government in office in 2014 is responsible for the destruction of this roll
of film and photographs printed from the film,” claimed Aubrey.
Aubrey’s 68-page open letter to Governor-General Hurley is a damning indictment of Indonesian atrocities during its colonial rule of West Papua.
As China’s influence rises in the Pacific Islands, PNG Prime Minister James Marape is worried that the China-Solomon Islands Security Agreement will lead to the Solomon Islands surpassing PNG’s dominant position in Melanesia.
So the Marape government decided to negotiate separately with the US and Australia on two separate agreements they wished to conclude last May.
The US rapidly resolved negotiations and the PNG-US Defence Cooperation Agreement was officially signed before Australia had even concluded its draft Bilateral Security Treaty.
Marape has defended the US-PNG agreement several times in Parliament, while raising some constitutional concerns on an Australia-PNG treaty during his meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
PNG has chosen the US to be the first defence partner, although Australia is PNG’s closest neighbour and long-time partner.
Advance draft of treaty
To its advantage, the US had acquired an advance draft of the Bilateral Security Treaty and knew Australia intended to be PNG’s first security partner.
The US discovered that PNG would not cooperate with other countries in the Pacific Islands security area without Australia’s approval.
So the US then made adjustments to the Defence Cooperation Agreement, revising or deleting articles that concerned PNG in order to settle the agreement ahead of its treaty with Australia.
It was planned that the negotiation between Australia and PNG would be finished in April, but the US intervened and asked PNG to pause the talks with Australia and work on its own Defence Cooperation Agreement first.
The US made commitments during the negotiation with PNG to step up its security support and assistance and cover shortfalls in assistance that Australia had not fulfilled.
Marape and his cabinet had arrived at the belief that Australia was not fully committed to assisting PNG develop its defence force.
There was apparently an internal report revealing that Australia’s intent was not to enhance and elevate some areas of security cooperation but to ensure PNG continued to rely on Australia for all its security needs.
Australia’s process paused In its negotiation, considering that Australia was trying to prevent US dominance in the Pacific Islands region, the US asked PNG not to share the Defence Cooperation Agreement with Australia.
As a result, Australia’s negotiation process with PNG was paused.
The PNG government, frustrated by empty promises, considered the PNG Defence Force would never be developed in cooperation with Australia, so decided instead to work with a more powerful partner.
PNG knows that its own geopolitical position is becoming of increasing importance, but believes Australia has never respected its position. So PNG decided to use this opportunity to reduce its dependence on Australia.
It also seems the US has supported the Marape government in stifling opposition in PNG to assure the Defence Cooperation Agreement can be implemented smoothly.
For example, Morobe Governor Luther Wenge was initially opposed to the agreement but joined Marape’s Pangu Party and supported it after Marape gave K50 million to his electorate development fund.
Wenge later publicly criticised Australia, saying it did not want PNG to develop its own defence force.
Long mutual history
Australia is PNG’s long-term partner and closest neighbour and we have a long mutual history in economic, political and security cooperation.
My colleagues and I believe that Marape should not betray Australia because it has been tempted by the US, which seems to have intervened to dilute or even ruin our bilateral relationship.
Even though Marape explained to Australia that the Defence Cooperation Agreement would not affect the bilateral relationship, there is no doubt that the relationship with the US will have priority.
So Marape has tightened his control over the mainstream media, social media posts have been deleted for no reason and voices opposing the Defence Cooperation Agreement cannot be heard.
We hope some influential media and Australian friends will help us to protect PNG’s national interest and our bilateral relationship with Australia.
This correspondent’s anonymous article was first published by Keith Jackson’s PNG Attitude website and is republished here with permission.
No government likes to be called out for human rights abuses and it’s uncomfortable to do so, particularly when the abuser is either a friend or a country with which we have strong economic links.
In our relations with China, this is a difficult issue for us.
However, we should always expect our government to speak out for human rights and the case can be made that Chris Hipkins was too soft on his visit to China last week. The impression was of a laid-back Prime Minister failing to convey any of the serious concerns expressed by credible and principled human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
It seems New Zealand is leaving the heavy lifting on human rights to Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta who, in her own words, had a robust discussion with China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on these issues earlier this year.
An Australian report said she was “harangued” from the Chinese side, although this was denied by Mahuta.
Hipkins, as Prime Minister, has our loudest voice and he should have publicly backed up our Foreign Minister.
If we want to be regarded as a good global citizen, we have to speak out clearly and act consistently, irrespective of where human rights abuses take place. This is where New Zealand has fallen down repeatedly.
Looking the other way
We have been happy to strongly condemn Russia and announced economic and diplomatic sanctions within a few hours of its invasion of Ukraine but we look the other way when a country guilty of abuses is close to the US.
In regard to the longest military occupation in modern history, Israel’s occupation of Palestine, we have been weak and inconsistent over many decades in calling for Palestinian human rights.
It hasn’t always been like that.
In late 2016, the National government, under John Key as prime minister, co-sponsored a United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSC2334 – NZ was a security council member at the time) which was passed in a 14–0 vote. The US abstained.
The resolution states that, in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israeli settlements had “no legal validity” and constituted “a flagrant violation under international law”. It said they were a “major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace” in the Middle East.
Video shows the moment journalists said they were directly fired at by Israeli soldiers whilst they were covering the raid in Jenin refugee camp pic.twitter.com/OBQ5aS5c0A
Because Israel has elected a new extremist government that has declared its intention to make illegal settlement building on Palestinian land its “top priority”. Early this week it announced plans for 5000 more homes for these illegal settlements, which a Palestinian official described as “part of an open war against the Palestinian people”.
Israel shows world middle finger
Israel is showing Palestinians, and the world, its middle finger.
At least nine people have been killed and scores wounded in the latest Israeli military attack on Palestinians in what is being described as a “real massacre” in Jenin refugee camp.
UNSC 2334 didn’t just criticise Israel. It called for action. It also asked member countries of the United Nations “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967″.
In practical terms, this means requiring our government and local authorities to refuse to purchase any goods or services from companies (both Israeli and foreign-owned) that operate in illegal Israeli settlements.
A map showing the location of the Jenin refugee camp in Israeli Occupied Palestine . . . 5.9 Palestinian refugees comprise the world’s largest stateless community. Map: Al Jazeera/Creative Commons
This ban should also be extended to the 112 companies identified by the UN Human Rights Council as complicit in the building and maintenance of these illegal Israeli settlements.
The government should be actively discouraging our Superannuation Fund and KiwiSaver providers from investing in these complicit companies but an analysis earlier this year showed the Super Fund investments in these companies have close to doubled in the past two years.
Some countries have begun following through on UNSC 2334 but New Zealand has been inert. We have not been prepared to back up our words at the United Nations with action here.
West Papua deserves our voice
Following through would mean we were standing up for human rights for everyone living in Palestine. We could expect our government to face false smears of anti-semitism from Israel’s leaders and their friends here but we would receive heartfelt thanks from a people who have suffered immeasurably for 75 years.
Palestinians are the largest group of refugees internationally — 5.9 million — after being driven off their land by Israeli militias in 1947-1949. Every day, more of their land is stolen for illegal settlements while we avert our gaze.
The Indonesian military occupation of West Papua and Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara also deserve our voice on the side of the victims.
Standing up for human rights is not comfortable when it means challenging supposed friends or allies. But we owe it to ourselves, and to those being brutally oppressed, to do more than mouth platitudes.
These peoples deserve our support and solidarity. Let’s not look the other way. Let’s act.
John Minto is national chair of Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa. This article was first published in The New Zealand Herald but is republished with the permission of the author.
It is the Republican Party’s job to expand the US military, rob and oppress the working class, serve US plutocrats, facilitate ecocidal capitalism, and foment division among the electorate. It is the Democratic Party’s job to do these same things while blaming it on Republicans.
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One of the weirdest things to happen last year was the entire western political/media class deciding to start pretending Ukrainian Nazis aren’t Nazis based on literally nothing whatsoever, just because it’s convenient, and a substantial portion of the population playing along.
Part of the problem is that westerners live in a pre-revolutionary society that we’ve been duped into believing is a post-revolutionary society. We self-righteously look down at our noses at other nations and pity their lack of freedom and political sophistication, when in actuality we’re all deeply enslaved and the global south is the only place where anything real has been happening politically.
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The Wall Street Journal has a new article out about how US war veterans are no longer recommending their kids join the military, which is cutting the war machine off from an important recruitment “pipeline” because the children of military families make up the majority of military recruits.
I’ve seen a lot of right wingers sharing the article with comments to the effect of “hurr hurr, that’s what you get for having a woke military,” but they plainly didn’t read the article, because it lists many factual and entirely valid reasons why military families have stopped steering this new generation toward military careers, and none of them have anything to do with “wokeness”. Here are some excerpts:
“After the patriotic boost to recruiting that followed 9/11, the U.S. military has endured 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan with no decisive victories, scandals over shoddy military housing and healthcare, poor pay for lower ranks that forces many military families to turn to food stamps, and rising rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.”
“Deeper problems soldiers report include moldy barracks, harassment, lack of adequate child care and not enough support for mental health issues such as suicide.”
“Families or those who live off base can find expenses outstrip income. More than 20,000 active-duty troops are on SNAP benefits, otherwise known as food stamps, according to federal data.”
Recruiters are struggling to meet their goals, partly due to veterans not recommending their kids enlist because it’s a shitty job no loving parent would wish upon their children, and partly because the US war machine can’t compete with Carl’s Jr.
One recruiter is quoted as saying “To be honest with you it’s Wendy’s, it’s Carl’s Jr., it’s every single job that a young person can go up against because now they are offering the same incentives that we are offering, so that’s our competition right now.”
I view these as positive developments. Hopefully everyone stops enlisting in the world’s most murderous military.
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Everyone got mad at the Boy Scouts of America because they groomed boys for sexual molestation when they were supposed to be grooming them to murder impoverished foreigners in the US military.
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Ask who benefits from the continued emphasis on electoral systems that never succeed in bringing about real change.
Ask who benefits from the continued emphasis on culture wars over class war.
Ask who benefits from people being continually herded into two mainstream political factions which both support empire, oligarchy and authoritarianism.
Ask who benefits from the mass media continually focusing on the misdeeds of nations their government doesn’t like while ignoring their own government’s abuses of the needful, the marginalized and the disobedient.
Ask who benefits from ordinary people being too busy getting the bills paid to learn about what’s going on in the world.
Ask who benefits from those who ask these questions being labeled crackpots and conspiracy theorists.
Ask who benefits from the widespread assumption that how things are is the only way they can be.
Ask who benefits from the widespread assumption that the status quo is inevitable and resistance is futile.
Ask who benefits from your beliefs about what’s possible and what’s impossible.
Ask who benefits from each of your beliefs about the world.
Ask who benefits from each of your beliefs about humankind.
Ask who benefits from each of your beliefs about yourself and how you should be.
Ask who benefits from these beliefs not just among the powerful, but among the people you know in your own life. Who put that belief in your mind, and why might they have done so?
Any time you are presented with a narrative about how things are in a way that asks you to believe it, question who would benefit from that belief, whether it’s a large-scale narrative about the world, or a small-scale narrative about yourself and your own life.
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