09 Jul 2010 8ak: Having fallen behind China in securing oil, India will find itself having to do high risk deals with rogue nations. Just one indication, is its attempt to build a closer relation with Iran while U.S. backed nations are getting ready to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, possibly wiping out a large section of its air force in the process.
Colin Clark from Dodbuzz.com reports that Saudi Arabia has given permission to Israel to cross its airspace to strike Iran. At the same time, according to Asian Age, Iran has invited Indian companies to invest in power plants and refineries it is planning to disinvest and double trade to US$30 billion by 2015.
As European nations refuse to re-fuel Iranian national carriers, India is signing a Civil Aviation agreement with Iran. To get an insight in to where Iran is going watch:
The proposed Israeli strike is over Iran's nuclear weapons development program. By simultaneously, approving Pakistan's right to have nuclear weapons as a deterrent Adm Mike Mullen showed the hypocritical behaviour of the U.S. that other countries are most worried about. Its okay to have nuclear weapons if you appear to toe the U.S. line even if you are the source of global terrorists.
29 Jun 2010 8ak: Here is the controversialarticle from Rolling Stone magazine profiling General Stanley McChrystal, the man leading American forces in Afghanistan. His words against the war strategy and Obama Administration led to him being fired. The role and ethics of the embedded journalist Michael Hastings in being questioned. The key was whether the comments the general made were supposed to be on or off the record. Either way, they exposed a huge disconnect between the Pentagon and President Obama over the role of America in Afghanistan.
As Obama acknowledges that key terrorists have found safe sanctuary in Pakistan (and at the same time CNN reports that 3 new F-16s have just been delivered to Pakistan), he sees little sense in spending trillions and commit to a couple of decades of costly (in money and lives) American presence in Afghanistan that the COIN strategy would require. A key aspect of the COIN strategy was to win the hearts and minds of people but given that a majority of the population is openly hostile to the American forces, this strategy has failed as well.
On Jun 16, 8ak had reported that Britain had also fired its top general in Afghanistan. With a key war in Marja to wrest control of the area from the Taliban continuing to go nowhere, the future in Afghanistan is looking bleak. Something that Pakistan will take full advantage of.
16 June2010 8ak: Britain’s senior most serving military commander, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup has been axed before his term was to end in April next year. The Sun reports that the decision, which is expected to have far reaching political consequences, was announced by Defence Secretary Liam Fox on Sunday. Sacking of Sir Stirrup has not surprised the security experts, as his performance in Afghanistan was seen as far from satisfactory and was dogged by the failure to provide the requisite equipment to the British troops in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Chinese news agency Xinhua reports the British Defence Secretary denying charges that Sir Stirrup had been sacked. According to the news report, Liam has said that the services' professional head, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, had not been sacked, but he would be replaced early, leaving his post in the autumn some months earlier than his retirement in the spring of next year.
Current Army head General Sir David Richards or vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nicholas Houghton are favourites for the top job. The Ministry of Defence's top civil servant Sir Bill Jeffrey will also get the elbow. The Mirror reports that the Chief has been made a scapegoat and criticized the new government of politicizing the armed forces.
Update Jun 8: Iran on a wave of executions. Hanging 13 people on a single day with no international media to cover the executions. See here
.05 Jun 2010 8ak: A year after the abortive revolution, a documentary on the life of a 26 year old Iranian girl shot down by Iranian troops for protesting in the streets has gone viral. Directed by the British award-winning film-maker Antony Thomas, For Neda is a project by Mentorn Media and HBO.documentaries.
A year after the repression of demonstrations to protest the re-election of President Ahmadinejad, the face of an angel Neda is a symbol of hope in a free Iran. The agony of the young woman aged 26 years in Tehran, June 20, 2009 - filmed by mobile phones and broadcast worldwide via the Internet - has made her heroine and martyr of an abortive revolution. This image quickly became an icon just as that of Chinese standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, twenty-one years earlier (30 May 1989).
On the occasion of an anniversary that generated new street protests in Tehran, various documentaries are being broadcasting on television channels on the life of Neda Agha-Soltan, what her fight was about and who killed her. Britain's Monica Garnsey directed the first 52-minute film which will was released in November last year: An Iranian Martyr. It reviews the circumstances of the death of Neda with testimony from her boyfriend, Caspian, and the one that has squeezed the flow of blood leaking from the breast of the young woman, Arash Hejazi, both forced to leave Iran since.
The suppressive regime has tried everything in order to erase all traces of this death that threatened the Islamic Republic. Denying all responsibility in the killing, the authorities said that Neda was not dead and lived in Greece. Then he accused the CIA and finally the BBC correspondent in Tehran for having killed her.
Great story about the risks the director and Neda's family took in filming the story on Telegraph (UK). On a separate note the paper also covers Iran's surprising quite on the Turkish-Aid-Boat to Gaza issue claiming the Iranian government has lost so much credibility that any protest it could organise would quickly turn in to anti-government protests. Watch the movie to see why the election announcement date was the day God died in Iran.
02 June 2010 8ak: In a measure of enhanced cooperation between France and India, the air forces of two nations will hold the fourth edition of Garuda exercise in June. Times of India reports that Garuda – IV will commence on 14 June and conclude on 25 June at Istres airbase in France. In Mar 2010 8ak had reported that the IAF is expected to field its most advanced combat aircraft, Russian made Su-30s, in the fourth edition of the ‘Garud’ exercise. The transport fleet will be represented by the Russian Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft and the Il-78 mid-air-refueller.
The French side is expected to field its latest Rafale fighters and various versions of the Mirage-2000 fighters. The IAF has been participating in joint exercises with several air forces across the globe at regular intervals. Prominent among these air forces are UK, French and US. The first Indo-French exercise was held in 2003 at the Gwalior air base and the second one was organised in France in 2005. The third was held at Kalaikunda air base in 2007.
The timing of the exercise is crucial as India is set to ink a US$2.2 billion deal for the upgrade of 52 Mirage-2000 aircraft it bought in the 1980s from France. As part of the deal first six aircrafts would be upgraded in France and the rest would be done in India. The critical deal was stuck for over two years primarily due to the difference in opinion on the price quoted by the French manufacturers Dassault Aviation, Thales and MBDA. It is believed that the original price quoted by the companies for the upgrade was US$58 million per aircraft but after tough negotiations the price has been reduced to US$43 million a unit. Sources say that the Israelis were very keen to do the upgrades at a lower cost but obviously this would not go down well with neither the original equipment manufacturer, Dassault Aviation, nor the French government.
The upgrade will include new avionics including an advanced navigation system, new mission computers with increased capacity and processing speed, helmet-mounted displays, glass cockpits, internal electronic warfare suites and, better armaments & weapon systems making the aircraft battle-worthy for another 15 years. 8ak had earlier reported that the deal has been approved by the Indian government after French President Sarkozy personally threw his weight behind the deal.
Apart from the French air force, IAF will also hold the 'Indradhanush' series exercise with the British Royal Air Force would be held at the Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal in October.
02 Jun 2010 8ak: Live coverage of the Israel's flotilla attack on Al Jazeera. 8ak reader has sent a link if you want to sign a petition to the UN to urge Israel to end the Gaza blockade.
UN Chief Ban Ki Moon has asked Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza strip after its boarding of a Free Gaza flotilla of ships went horribly wrong as Israeli's shot 9 people dead. The flotilla was carrying people from 37 countries including prominent people such an ex-US Ambassador. Aljazeera reports that Israeli forces, against international laws, boarded the flotilla 65 km off the Gaza coast in international waters. The activists used rods to beat the first commando who boarded the boat and this the Israeli's say is the reason that it was okay for them to retaliate. The boarding in international waters they say is to stop the supply of arms and ammunition to Hamas in Gaza and they reserve the right to board ships in international waters.
The Syrian government has also condemned the actions of the aggressive Jewish state as several Syrian cities have witnessed mass demonstrations denouncing the Israeli aggression on the Freedom Flotilla with aid to Gaza in the international waters.
The pressure on Israel for their actions is also mounting as the French government has demanded the immediate release of the boats and of all the civilians who were on board the ill fated ship as nine French nationals have also been held in the Israeli raid reports Hindustan Times.
In the wake of severe international criticism, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his nations attack on the aid convoy after his meeting with Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper. Vancouver Sun reports that the Israeli PM has defended the Monday attack on grounds that his soldiers were "mobbed, clubbed, beaten and stabbed" when they boarded a ship that refused to go to a dock for a weapons search.
In the meantime, Jerusalem post reports that all of the equipment on board the ship was examined Tuesday and the majority of it was loaded onto trucks headed to the Kerem Shalom border crossing, hence there was no shortage of equipment and aid sent to Gaza by the international community in spite of the aid.
After severe criticism, Reuters reports Israel has decided on Tuesday to free hundreds of foreign activists detained aboard a Turkish-backed aid flotilla to Gaza, including some it had threatened to put on trial. But one Irish boat is still making its way to the Gaza coast... all eyes on what Israel will do next. Already some sites are reporting a pending war with Lebanon and Fox News says that the Obama administration has abandoned Israel, comparing their support to Israel with China's support to North Korea. Other sides report that Israel's actions in Gaza strip are the core reason for radical Islam's ability to recruit people like Faisal Shahzad the Times Sq Bomber.
Would a similar situation happen in India, if an international road convoy were headed to Kashmir?
