2 December 2011 — Stop NATO
- Russia: U.S.-NATO Missile Plans Upsets Global Balance Of Power
- Netherlands: NATO Trains European, Mideast, Asian, Caucasus Partners
- Pakistani Military Chief Gives Order To Retaliate Against NATO Attacks
- Chinese Diplomats Condemn NATO Attack, Offer Pakistan Condolences
- NATO’s Angels Of Death
- NATO Shoots Pakistani Civilians Dead Near Afghan-Pakistan Border
- China Welcomes Russia-Pakistan Alliance
- Persian Gulf: Washington Arming Anti-Iran Coalition
- NATO North Atlantic Council One-Sidedly Targets Kosovo Serbs
- Kosovo Serbs Build Three More Barricades To Block NATO
- State Department Oversees Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline
- West Pushes Anti-Russian Caspian-To-Balkans Pipeline
- Clinton In Myanmar: All About China
Russia: U.S.-NATO Missile Plans Upsets Global Balance Of Power
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/01/61324148.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
December 1, 2011
Russia’s response to US anti-missile program
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev believes the US plans for an anti-missile network in Europe violate the balance of power in the world.
Mr. Medvedev stated this when he and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with their supporters in Moscow, on the eve of parliamentary elections which will take place on Sunday.
Dmitry Medvedev announced that President Obama had said to him that he, Obama, did not intend to sign any documents which would officially confirm that the US anti-missile program in Europe was not aimed against Russia.
Thus, Russia has to take some kind of measures in response, Mr. Medvedev said. In particular, a radar station will be built in Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost city.
The Russian president also added that if Russia fails to reach an agreement with the US on the scale of the latter’s anti-missile program within the next 8 to 10 years, Russia will take other measures like deploying strategic offensive nuclear forces on its borders.
‘However, we still have quite a lot of time to reach an agreement,’ Mr. Medvedev concluded.
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Netherlands: NATO Trains European, Mideast, Asian, Caucasus Partners
http://www.aco.nato.int/brunssum-trains-pfp-and-mediterranean-dialogue-countries.aspx
North Atlantic T&reaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
December 1, 2011
Brunssum trains PfP and Mediterranean Dialogue countries
-Students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and Jordan attend the course.
-JFC Brunssum, the Netherlands is one of three NATO operational level commands in NATO Allied Command Operations (ACO) and serves as the higher headquarters for ISAF in Afghanistan, with ISAF as a primary mission and NATO Article 5 Operational Planning, Baltic Air Policing, Military Cooperation and NATO Response Force (NRF) among other major activities.
Monday, 21 November a Deployed Joint Forces Headquarters (DJF HQ) Training event started at NATO Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) Headquarters Brunssum.
Over two weeks 21 staff officers from 11 Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries and one Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) country will learn the principles of the DJF HQ (Deployable Joint Force Headquarters) organization with its latest updates.
‘Jordan is part of the Mediterranean Dialogue with NATO, a partnership we greatly appreciate. Our armed forces participate in peacekeeping missions and this course provides me, as a battalion commander, necessary experience to work in an international environment,’ Colonel Mekhled Suheim from Jordan said.
The training aims to prepare the participants to work as augmentees in a Deployable Joint Force Headquarters (DJF HQ) environment…
‘As I’ve attended tactical level Partnership for Peace course in Sweden last year and participated in several exercises in France, Germany and in other countries, I came with the expectation to learn more on the NATO command structure and procedures at the operational level.
‘I’m also looking forward to develop[ing] a full understanding on how NATO is transforming itself, as we in Switzerland are in the process of transforming our armed forces as well. I’m impressed by NATO’s experience to develop, as a constantly learning organisation, and how NATO is implementing its practical experience gained with operations such as ISAF, to its future planning,’ Colonel Felix M. Huber from Switzerland added.
Based on an operational scenario, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) guidance and UN resolutions, the staff officers had to develop their assessments and deliver situational awareness briefings.
Students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and Jordan attend the course.
Military Cooperation and outreach task aims to broaden and strengthen the Alliance by establishing enduring relationships and effective cooperation mechanisms with Partner Nations.
JFC Brunssum, the Netherlands is one of three NATO operational level commands in NATO Allied Command Operations (ACO) and serves as the higher headquarters for ISAF in Afghanistan, with ISAF as a primary mission and NATO Article 5 Operational Planning, Baltic Air Policing, Military Cooperation and NATO Response Force (NRF) among other major activities.
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Pakistani Military Chief Gives Order To Retaliate Against NATO Attacks
The Nation
December 2, 2011
Kayani declares war on ‘Nato aggressors’
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Thursday suspended the command and chain system to counter any aggression on borders.
Reliable sources said General Kayani suspended the command and chain system in order to enable the senior officers on the posts to take appropriate action if Pakistani forces come under attack.
The Chief of the Army Staff issued these orders on Wednesday night according to which the Pakistani military officer in the area will be responsible for retaliation against any aggressors in that particular area and he will be provided all kind of assistance that he will ask for.
The sources further said the decision would, however, be applicable to eventualities involving NATO troops. The sources added that General Kayani also ordered troops to counter any aggression with full force and defend the motherland against any assailant and for that they do not need to wait for any orders from the high command.
He also said that the Pakistan Air Force should have taken action when NATO helicopters violated the Pakistani airspace and attacked Pakistani checkposts in Mohmand Agency last Saturday, the sources maintained.
He further said the Air Force could not be called in as the communication system at the checkpost was destroyed in the Nato attack, the sources said.
Kayani ordered officers to utilise all resources at their disposal to give a befitting reply to the aggressors and they should not be spared.
The Army Chief also praised the jawans of the Azad Kashmir Regiment deployed at the border checkposts.
This was the first time after the occupation of Afghanistan by allied forces that a Pakistani army chief, fed up with continuous border aggression, has issued such orders.
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Express Tribune
December 2, 2011
Kayani’s bold move: ‘Pakistani troops will return fire if Nato attacks again’
By Kamran Yousaf
‘The focus of forces at the Afghan border was to take action against militants…but now they will also be keeping an eye on future Nato strikes,’ Brig (retd) Mehmood Shah.
ISLAMABAD: In a development that pushes US-Pakistan relations further into the realm of uncertainty, the army has authorised its local commanders deployed near the Afghan border to retaliate against any future incursions by Nato forces.
The decision to review the chain of command of security forces stationed at the western border was taken by the army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, after consultations with his top commanders in the wake of Nato strikes on the weekend, said a military official.
The change means that from here on in the US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan will also be treated as a potential threat, commented former Federal Administered Tribal Areas secretary Brig (retd) Mehmood Shah.
‘Until now the focus of security forces at the Afghan border was to take action against militants and stop cross border infiltration but now they will also be keeping an eye on future Nato strikes,’ Brig Shah added.
Defence analyst Lt General (Retd) Abdul Qayum was of the view that local commanders will now not have to seek approval from their chain of command to return fire at Nato fighter planes if they carry out ‘hostile manoeuvres on our soil.’
The fresh directives have been conveyed by General Kayani in a letter circulated among the concerned military quarters.
Another military official disclosed that a proposal is under consideration to re-equip the troops along the border with Afghanistan to stop any future violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.
If Nato forces refuse to give firm guarantees to stop incursions, the security forces may be deployed on the eastern border (Indian border) where they will have the necessary airpower to thwart any misadventure, the official added.
However, the latest move is being seen by many as an attempt by the military brass to pacify the growing anger among the lower-cadre of the army over the Nato strikes and also use it as pressure tactic.
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Chinese Diplomats Condemn NATO Attack, Offer Pakistan Condolences
http://ftpapp.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=167965&Itemid=2
Associated Press of Pakistan
December 1, 2011
Chinese diplomats condemn NATO attack, offer condolences
LAHORE: An eleven-member Chinese high-level diplomatic delegation which called on Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa on Thursday offered condolences for martyred soldiers and condemned the Nato-led aggression at a Pak checkpost.
Led by Executive Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ma Keqing, the delegation also exchanged views on various matters of mutual interest with Governor Punjab. Executive Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ms Ma Keqing said that disputes should be solved with respect while respecting the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan.
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NATO’s Angels Of Death
The Nation
December 2, 2011
Nato’s angels of death
By M. A. Niazi
The firing by Nato helicopters on a Pakistani check post, killing no less than 24 Pakistani soldiers, has created even more difficulties in a troubled relationship, and should have helped bring home to the USA’s friends in government that the massacre took place because of the country’s participation in America’s war on terror.
The Pakistani government, both its elected component and the permanent bureaucracy, are doing their best to repair the relationship, but the USA has been used to cheap repairs.
There is a precedent: the Nato helicopter attack last year, which led Pakistan to suspend the supply route to Afghanistan, but it reopened on receipt of an apology. It seems that the Pakistani and American sides are presently negotiating a price. That is an unstable basis for a relationship that is supposed to be as broad as the USA claims it has with Pakistan.
However, it is, perhaps, illustrative that the rulers in Islamabad consider the relationship they enjoy with the USA as outweighing the lives of Pakistani soldiers.
Pakistani soldiers, too, need to consider what they are getting into. The attack is the second, and, probably, will not be the last. The apologies, if at all they come, will bring no soldiers back to life.
There is also the question of how far the alliance, which is supposed to be directed against the terrorists, actually does so. After all, it now seems that the USA, whose helicopters did the killing, is trying to play catch-up in the number of Pakistani armed forces personnel killed. The armed forces are thus involved in a two-front war, both against the militants and their supposed allies. If the Indian threat is factored in, it becomes a three-way threat the armed forces are faced with, and which they must act against. The angst among the public is because there is a realisation that this is an impossible task.
Be that as it may, the story that the USA has initially come up with merely feeds into American prejudices, of Nato helicopters firing on militants fleeing to a Pakistani check post for protection, thus proving, once again, that Pakistanis are providing support to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
That the story is untrue, more so, raises the possibility of the USA trying to send a message to Pakistan, such as the implacability of its hostility, once it regards Pakistan as a hostile State. The catch in that is that the USA’s basis of remaining in Afghanistan – the Karzai regime – is weak and could collapse at any time. It certainly does not control the border territories, which are known as Yaghestan, and are as inhospitable on the Afghan side of the Durand Line as on the Pakistani, and where the incident occurred.
The USA at least has conceded that Pakistan has a large number of dead soldiers on its hands, and should realise, as it must have, since it has not yet made the claim, that the local commander is at fault. For this to happen, there should have been a multiple failure, all along the chain of command, of the information that Pakistani check posts were not to be fired at.
Thus, Pakistanis pointing the finger at the Isaf Commander, and the US general commanding its forces in Afghanistan, are justified. However, blaming him leads to an even more frightening prospect: The general is in constant touch with the political leadership, both of Nato, through its Secretary General, and of the USA, through both its Defence Secretary and President. However, there is a catch: The Isaf Commander is an American general, and will only take covert instructions from the President, not from Nato. Either he received instructions, or he thinks the US President too weak to harm him. The incumbent, General John Allen, might remember that his predecessor’s predecessor, General Stanley McChrystal, was sacked for being disrespectful to the President, and might have calculated that Obama would not like to sack another commander in Afghanistan.
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NATO Shoots Pakistani Civilians Dead Near Afghan-Pakistan Border
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011122story_2-12-2011_pg7_2
Daily Times/Agence France-Presse
December 2, 2011
Two Pakistanis ‘killed by NATO’ in Afghanistan
QUETTA: Two Pakistanis were gunned down by NATO forces in Bibi Jan area, a bordering area of Afghanistan on Thursday. Balochistan Levies confirmed the incident by saying that two Pakistani were shot dead in Afghanistan in Helmand on Thursday morning.
According to sources, the two men went to visit their relatives living in the Brabcha area inside Afghanistan from Chagai when NATO forces opened fire on them, killing both instantly. They were identified as Abdullah and Muhammad Usman, residents of the Chagai district.
According to the spokesperson of Frontier Corps (FC), the firing incident took place inside Afghanistan. Separately, seven Pakistani workers have been kidnapped in an area troubled by the Taliban near the Afghan capital Kabul, police said Thursday. The Pakistanis – engineers and workers assigned to a hospital construction project in Logar province – were returning to their accommodation after work when they were snatched at gunpoint on Wednesday. ‘They were going home from work. Along the road, their minivan was stopped by unidentified gunmen, their driver was forced out of the car and all were taken away to an undisclosed location,’ Logar police chief Ghulam Sakhi Roghliwani said. The abduction comes as Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan and the United States are at a low after NATO killed 24 Pakistani troops on Saturday.
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China Welcomes Russia-Pakistan Alliance
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011122story_2-12-2011_pg7_15
Daily Times
December 2, 2011
China welcomes Pak-Russia’s candid relations
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is China’s best friend internationally secondly to Russia, said Professor Zhou Rong, Chief of South Asia Bureau of the Guang Ming Daily of China. Speaking at a roundtable discussion organized by the Institute of Regional Studies here on Thursday, he maintained that China would welcome an improvement of the relationship between its two best friends.
He argued that since India had become a world sought-after country and was gravitating towards the US, the Russians would also be interested in mending fences with the Pakistanis…
He cautioned against the Pak-US relationship being based on incongruent and at times divergent interests.
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Persian Gulf: Washington Arming Anti-Iran Coalition
http://rt.com/news/us-anti-iran-coalition-799/
RT
December 1, 2011
Is Washington arming anti-Iran coalition?
The Pentagon is selling 4,900 smart-bomb kits to the United Arab Emirates in what many see as a move to equip an armed military bloc against Iran. Meanwhile, the EU is cutting all diplomatic channels with the troublesome country.
The Pentagon has addressed Congress over a large arms deal with the UAE worth some $304 million. The proposed arms package will allow the UAE to convert its unguided bombs into high-accuracy missiles.
At least 600 of the bombs to be converted are of the hard-target penetrator class also known as ‘bunker-busters,’ which are capable of penetrating two meters of concrete-steel constructions.
The Pentagon sees the deal as a chance to ‘improve the UAE’s capability to meet current and future regional threats.’ The upgraded weaponry would give the country ‘one of the most capable air forces in the region, thereby serving US interests by deterring regional aggression,’ its Wednesday statement said.
The United Arab Emirates already has a fleet of F-16 fighters capable of carrying those bombs. Moreover, it already has several hundred smart missiles in stock that were earlier supplied by the US.
The UAE is a major purchaser of US weapons, but it is not the only one in the region. According to media reports Washington is actively arming other Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait to build a unified counterweight to Iran.
Iran’s nuclear program is clearly unacceptable to the US and its allies. But a direct military strike is something that seemed a measure of last resort until recently.
Speculation about the US forming a Middle East coalition is growing amid concerns that Iran is becoming a diplomatic outcast as European countries recall their ambassadors to Iran one by one.
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NATO North Atlantic Council One-Sidedly Targets Kosovo Serbs
http://www.aco.nato.int/statement-by-the-north-atlantic-council-on-present-situation-in-kosovo.aspx
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
December 1, 2011
Statement by the North Atlantic Council on present situation in Kosovo
Today, we discussed the situation in Kosovo with our partners in KFOR.
NATO Allies and KFOR partners are deeply concerned about the recent developments in the northern part of Kosovo, which we continue to monitor carefully. The use of violence against KFOR is unacceptable and we deplore it. NATO and our KFOR partners welcome President Tadic’s statement of 29 November, which must be followed by concrete actions. We urge all parties to exercise restraint and cooperate fully with all international actors on the ground to ensure freedom of movement without delay.
NATO Allies and KFOR partners fully support Commander KFOR…NATO and our KFOR partners commend KFOR’s coordination with EULEX in this regard.
NATO Allies and KFOR partners call on Belgrade and Pristina to continue their constructive participation to the EU-facilitated dialogue.
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Kosovo Serbs Build Three More Barricades To Block NATO
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=12&dd=01&nav_id=77575
B92/Politika/Danas
December 1, 2011
N. Kosovo Serbs build three new barricades
Barricade in the village of Jagnjenica (Tanjug)
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: Even though President Boris Tadi? called for removal of barricades, northern Kosovo Serbs have built three new barricades in the village of Jagnjenica.
A barricade in the village of Dudin Krš has been reinforced.
Daily Politika writes that the local Serbs are keeping watch at all 19 barricades in northern Kosovo.
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Northern Kosovo Serbs ‘disappointed’ in Tadi?
The northern Kosovo Serbs are disappointed by Tadi?’s call to remove the barricades, Zubin Potok Mayor Slaviša Risti? said on Wednesday. Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Panti? has said that the call is confusing and that he believes that it is a result of pressure from Brussels.
They told Politika that they would call an emergency joint session of four northern Kosovo Serb municipalities on Thursday in order to discuss the president’s request.
Daily Danas, on the other hand, writes that the northern Kosovo Serbs are ready for alternative resistance measures if the government decided to implement some temporary measures against them. The daily has learned that criminal charges against Belgrade team chief Borislav Stefanovi? will be filed by the local Serb representatives as soon as details about today’s talks with Priština in Brussels are made public.
The daily also added that the northern Kosovo Serb representatives will most likely request a parliament session so the MPs could discuss a change of the state policy which was announced by Tadi?.
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State Department Oversees Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline
http://en.trend.az/capital/energy/1963909.html
Trend News Agency
December 1, 2011
Department of State: U.S. supports Turkmenistan’s initiatives to ensure energy security
H. Hasanov
Turkmenistan, Ashgabat: The U.S. supports Turkmenistan’s initiative on ensuring global energy security, U.S. Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said in Ashgabat, the Turkmen government said on Thursday.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov received the senior U.S. official.
The U.S. diplomat said that the U.S. supports Turkmenistan’s international initiatives aimed at seeking optimal solutions to urgent problems, ensuring global energy security.
In particular, Blake stressed that ‘United States appreciates the leadership of Turkmenistan in ensuring stability and sustainable development in the Central Asian region and, in particular, on supporting the socio-economic reconstruction of Afghanistan’.
He also said that ‘the U.S. government welcomes Ashgabat’s leading role in promoting the project of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline’.
At the same time ‘huge importance of the transnational project, designed to become a reliable link between the states of the region, to promote their effective economic integration…’ was stressed.
The Asian Development Bank actively promotes this project funding the preparation of its feasibility study.
The basic document to advance the TAPI project is an inter-state agreement to start implementation of the TAPI, signed at a high level in Ashgabat in December 2010.
At this stage, the parties interested in the project agree on the security of transit and decide issues of funding and fuel prices.
The length of TAPI can hit more than 1,700 km, its design capacity 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. The cost is estimated at $7-8 billion.
The source of raw materials in addition to the Dovletabad field will be Yoloten field, one of the world’s super-giants with reserves of 21.2 trillion cubic meters of gas…
The report also says that Blake conveyed U.S. President Barack Obama’s and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s greetings, as well as congratulations on the upcoming 20th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and the United States.
As Blake said ‘the U.S. attaches great importance to developing cooperation with Turkmenistan, which is a reliable, responsible and long-term partner’.
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West Pushes Anti-Russian Caspian-To-Balkans Pipeline
http://en.trend.az/capital/energy/1964274.html
Trend News Agency
December 1, 2011
TAP keen to provide cost-effective delivery of Azerbaijani gas to Europe
A. Badalova
-The TAP is a natural gas pipeline project intended to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into western Europe. The project is aimed at enhancing security of supply as well as diversification of gas supplies [displacing Russian gas] for the European markets.
Azerbaijan, Baku: The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is keen to ensure the safe and cost-effective transport of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas to European countries, as well as to support Greece to assume its role as a key European energy player, Natural Gas Europe reported referring to a TAP official.
‘TAP has all the credentials allowing it to uphold and fulfill its commitment, which has been very consistent from the beginning of this project,’ External Affairs and Communications Director for TAP, Michael Hoffmann, said in an interview to Natural Gas Europe.
According to Hoffmann, TAP has many advantages over the current competition with other pipeline projects, the most critical of which is the scalability of the pipeline.
At the moment the gas which will be produced during the second stage of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development is considered as the main available source for the projects within the Southern gas Corridor.
It is therefore logical to develop the pipeline in line with the Shah Deniz schedule, to be ready when they are ready, Hoffmann believes.
However, he believes that there will be additional volume in the future. So, one needs a pipeline that can be easily scalable to provide much larger throughput.
‘TAP is the only pipeline which can meet this specific requirement,’ Hoffmann said.
TAP’s initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, while it has full scalability to 20 bcm.
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The TAP is a natural gas pipeline project intended to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into western Europe. The project is aimed at enhancing security of supply as well as diversification of gas supplies for the European markets.
The total length of the pipeline is about 800 kilometers.
TAP’s shareholders are EGL of Switzerland (42.5 percent), Norway’s Statoil (42.5 percent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 percent).
On Oct. 1, TAP along with the other pipeline projects (Nabucco, ITGI) submitted their final proposals to the Azerbaijani side, which review them in accordance with previously announced criteria.
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Clinton In Myanmar: All About China
http://rt.com/news/clinton-myanmar-visit-china-623/
RT
December 1, 2011
Clinton in Myanmar: All about China?
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Video
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The US Secretary of State is on the first official visit to Myanmar in 50 years, seen as an effort to push for democratic reforms. But experts believe the true aim of the trip is to pressure China and weaken its influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The visit follows a decision by President Barack Obama in late November to open the door to the politically-isolated country, following recent progress in terms of political and economic reforms by the ruling military.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore believes the timing of the visit could not have been better taking into account a number of concessions by Myanmar’s new government.
‘If we look back, during the past five to eight months Myanmar has done drastic change domestically, especially in terms of pushing for more reforms,’ he told RT. ‘We saw the elections last year in November, after that we also saw the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition from the NLD [National League for Democracy]. For the past few months we have seen the release of political prisoners and even a decision to suspend a project with China on a dam. These are key developments in Myanmar, so this is why I think it is a very crucial timing, especially when Myanmar has been awarded the chairmanship of ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asia Nations], which will be in 2014. It could not be a better time.’
Myanmar, known as Burma until 1989, is under US and international sanctions, a situation which gave its neighbor China an opportunity to extend its influence. The country is now experiencing an unusual diplomatic revival.
Washington has sought to isolate Burma since the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) came to power in 1988. In 1990 the US withdrew its ambassador from the country, following the annulment of election results…
On Monday, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping proposed that China and Myanmar bolster military cooperation during a meeting with Myanmar’s Commander of the Armed Forces. Min Aung Hlaing visited China with a two-day visit earlier this week, just before the trip by the US Secretary of State
Commenting on the US diplomatic efforts, Pavin Chachavalpongpun says the true aim of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Naypyidaw is to trim down Beijing’s growing dominance in the region.
‘If we look into a larger geopolitical context, this is about competition with the rise of China in this part of the world, especially in Myanmar,’ he told RT. ‘At least this has shown the Chinese that what we have seen in Myanmar – being an isolated country heavily relying on China alone – is no longer true. I think Myanmar has reached out to other powers from outside the region, as much as in the region, for example, to India, to ASEAN and other organizations. And now towards the US. I think, from Myanmar perspective, this is kind of diversifying its own foreign policy options. So I think China will have to bear this in mind. This is in the interest of the US government to have to come and to have to maintain its strategic alliance with a country in this region.’
The only other US secretary of state to visit Myanmar was John Foster Dulles – in 1955 to then-Burma.
Two years earlier, in 1953 US Vice President Richard Nixon made a two-day visit to Burma.
The US then tried to bring Burma into the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, a planned Southeast Asian version of NATO. The US-backed organization aimed to block the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, but it did not last long and was dissolved in 1977 after multiple members lost interest and withdrew.
Nixon was greeted by demonstrators carrying anti-US signs with such slogans as: ‘Burma not a place for Yankee warmongers’ and ‘Uncle Sam out!’
Dr. Pak-nung Wong from the Chinese University of Hong Kong explained to RT why China regards Clinton’s visit as a possible threat to its strategic interests in the region.
‘This threat is posed from two angles,’ he said. ‘Number one: China has been contributing more than 70 per cent of foreign direct investment to Myanmar. And if the US is able to open up Myanmar and bring in more Western capital, that means Myanmar would have more opportunities and more bartering power to try to level the dominance and the influence of Chinese investors and capital as a result. So the Chinese government is seeing this visit as an opening of more unpredictability in the Myanmar market’.
‘Number two,’ he went on, ‘it is bringing more uncertainly regarding regional security. China has been importing more than 80 per cent of its oil through the Malacca Strait which is a choke point between Indonesia and Singapore. China has been working closely with Myanmar to build a pipeline from the coastal port of Kyaukryu directly to the Chinese city of Kunming. And that project has been very smooth in the past. However, the visit of Clinton and opening up Myanmar to Western countries may pose certain insecurity and uncertainty to this particular project.’
The New Dark Age 
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