#Indian cyberwarfare

[shilpi2024sharma]

Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi

It is crucial to hire the Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi given the rapidly changing cyber threat scenario. Discover in-depth information about their success in addressing cybercrime matters, legal acumen, and areas of experience. Count on the finest to safeguard your online rights!

The challenges of cybercrime are growing along with the digital domain. Locating the best legal assistance in Delhi is essential. This post takes you into the realm of cyber law specialists, walking you through the subtleties and knowledge of Delhi's Top Cyber Crime Attorney.

Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi: Safeguarding Your Digital World

In an era where our lives are intertwined with the digital realm, the rise of cybercrime poses a significant threat. As technology evolves, so do the tactics of cybercriminals. Delhi, being a technology hub, requires the expertise of the Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi to navigate the complex legal landscape associated with cyber offenses.

Understanding Cyber Crimes

The Evolution of Cyber Threats

Cyber threats have evolved from simple hacking attempts to sophisticated cyber-attacks, including ransomware, phishing, and identity theft. Understanding these threats is the first step toward effective legal defense.

Impact on Individuals and Businesses

Cybercrimes not only jeopardize personal information but also pose a severe risk to businesses. The Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi must comprehend the far-reaching consequences of these offenses.

Necessity of Cyber Crime Legal Experts

The digital landscape demands specialized legal knowledge. A cyber crime lawyer is equipped to interpret complex technical aspects and ensure a robust legal defense.

Qualities of the Best Cyber Crime Lawyer

Technological Acumen

The legal expert must possess a deep understanding of evolving technologies to effectively counter cyber threats. Continuous learning and adaptation are key in this dynamic field.

Analytical Skills

Analyzing digital evidence requires sharp analytical skills. The Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi excels in dissecting complex data to build a compelling case.

Our Expertise are in: -

· Fraud and financial crimes

· Cyber terrorism

· Cyberextortion

· Cyberwarfare

· Computer as a target

· Computer as a tool

· Obscene or offensive content

· Harassment

· Drug trafficking

Our Case Processing in India: -

· Supreme Court of India

· Delhi High Court

· All District Courts

Experience in Cyber Forensics

Cyber forensics is the backbone of cybercrime investigations. A seasoned lawyer employs forensic techniques to trace digital footprints and gather admissible evidence.

Legal Framework in Delhi

Cyber Laws in India

A strong foundation in Indian cyber laws is essential. The lawyer should be well-versed in acts like the Information Technology Act, providing the legal framework for cyber-related offenses.

Relevance in the Digital Age

As our lives become more digital, cyber laws gain prominence. The Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi understands the relevance of these laws in the contemporary context.

Noteworthy Cyber Crime Cases in Delhi

Highlighting past cases showcases the lawyer's experience and success in navigating the legal complexities associated with cybercrimes.

How to Choose the Right Lawyer

Assessing Specializations

Not all lawyers are equipped to handle cybercrime cases. Evaluating the lawyer's specialization ensures that they possess the specific skills required.

Checking Track Record

A proven track record in successfully handling cybercrime cases instills confidence. Past successes are indicative of the lawyer's competence.

Initial Consultation Tips

An initial consultation provides insight into the lawyer's approach. Look for effective communication, transparency, and a client-centric attitude.

Role of Cyber Crime Lawyers in Investigations

Collaboration with Law Enforcement

Cyber crime lawyers often collaborate with law enforcement agencies. This partnership is vital for gathering information and building a strong case.

Gathering Digital Evidence

Adept at digital forensics, these lawyers can extract and analyze digital evidence crucial for establishing guilt or innocence.

Courtroom Strategies

Presenting a case in court requires strategic acumen. The Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi employs effective courtroom strategies to ensure a favorable outcome.

Success Stories: Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi

Notable Cases Handled

Highlighting specific cases provides a glimpse into the lawyer's achievements and capabilities in handling diverse cybercrime scenarios.

Positive Case Outcomes

Successful resolutions and positive case outcomes demonstrate the lawyer's prowess in securing justice for their clients.

Client Testimonials

First-hand accounts from satisfied clients serve as a testament to the lawyer's commitment and effectiveness in handling cybercrime cases.

Challenges Faced by Cyber Crime Lawyers

Rapidly Changing Cyber Landscape

Adapting to the swiftly evolving cyber landscape poses a constant challenge. The best lawyers stay ahead by staying informed and updated.

Legal Loopholes and Ambiguities

Cyber laws may have loopholes or ambiguities that cyber crime lawyers must navigate skillfully. This requires a nuanced understanding of legal intricacies.

Balancing Privacy Concerns

The lawyer must strike a delicate balance between upholding privacy rights and pursuing justice, especially in cases involving sensitive information.

Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi

Overview of Services Offered

The Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi provides a comprehensive array of legal services, from case consultations to representation in court.

Client-Centric Approach

Prioritizing client needs ensures a supportive and collaborative legal process, fostering trust and confidence.

Commitment to Legal Excellence

A commitment to legal excellence is non-negotiable. The best lawyers consistently deliver high-quality legal services.

Cyber Crime Prevention Tips

Strengthening Digital Security

Providing practical tips on enhancing digital security empowers individuals and businesses to proactively protect themselves.

Educating Employees and Individuals

Awareness is the first line of defense. The article emphasizes the importance of educating individuals and employees on cybersecurity best practices.

Proactive Measures

Encouraging proactive measures ensures that readers actively engage in securing their digital presence, preventing potential cyber threats.

Collaboration with IT Experts

Importance of Technical Consultation

Collaborating with IT experts enhances the lawyer's ability to comprehend intricate technical details, strengthening the overall legal strategy.

Building Strong Legal-Technical Partnerships

A synergistic partnership between legal and technical experts ensures a holistic approach to cybercrime defense.

Key Benefits for Clients

Highlighting the benefits of collaboration assures clients that they are receiving comprehensive and effective legal support.

Industry Recognition and Awards

Acknowledgments and Accolades

Recognition from the industry and awards signal the lawyer's standing as a reputable and accomplished professional in cyber law.

Contributions to Cyber Law Development

Active contributions to the development of cyber laws showcase the lawyer's commitment to shaping a robust legal framework.

Impact on Legal Community

Positive influence within the legal community underlines the lawyer's role in fostering growth and knowledge exchange.

Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi Perspective

Insights on Cyber Crime Trends

Sharing insights on emerging cyber crime trends demonstrates the lawyer's proactive approach to staying ahead of the curve.

Future Challenges and Preparedness

Discussing future challenges and preparedness indicates the lawyer's foresight and commitment to staying relevant in the face of evolving cyber threats.

Vision for a Secure Digital Future

A lawyer with a vision for a secure digital future inspires confidence in clients and the community at large.

FAQs: Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi

Legal Fees and Consultation Charges

Legal fees vary, usually based on the complexity of the case. Consultation charges may be nominal or part of the overall legal fees.

Average Duration of Cyber Crime Cases

The duration varies, depending on the complexity of the case. Some cases may be resolved swiftly, while others may take an extended period.

Confidentiality Measures

Maintaining client confidentiality is paramount. The best cyber crime lawyers implement robust measures to safeguard client information.

Cross-Border Legal Challenges

Handling cases with international implications may pose challenges, requiring the lawyer to navigate complex legal jurisdictions.

Handling Emerging Cyber Threats

Top lawyers stay informed about emerging threats, allowing them to adapt their legal strategies to counter evolving cybercriminal tactics.

Recent Legislative Changes Impacting Cyber Law

Cyber laws evolve, and lawyers must stay updated on recent legislative changes to provide effective legal counsel.

In conclusion, the Best Cyber Crime Lawyer in Delhi plays a pivotal role in safeguarding individuals and businesses from the growing threat of cybercrime. By understanding the nuances of cyber laws, possessing technical acumen, and embracing a client-centric approach, these legal experts stand as pillars of defense in the digital world.

Read More: www.bestcybercrimelawyer.in

#best cyber crime lawyer in Delhi #cyber crime lawyer in Delhi #best cyber crime lawyer in Noida #best cyber crime advocate in Delhi

[jerseydeanne]

IF China starts a war the first thing they will do is take out all the major power grids. Now were are you going to plug your car in and charge your phone. Seriously kids today have no idea. Ukraine are asking for generators hundreds of them are needed to power hospitals, clinics, shelters and homes all generators run on fuel FFs

Thank you for this!

Just substitute China or Russia.

We are not being paranoid; this is real.

Many CTs are looking for older vehicles without chips. Once a weapon like this is deployed, it makes transportation impossible. Weapons such as this will send us back to the dark ages.

The powers that be have been talking for years about updating the grid and its vulnerability.

Klaus Schwab said that power supplies will be hit by cyberwarfare. Unless this guy is physic, I say this is his plan for the US. They aren't hiding anything and aren't attacking CT, so things must be moving smoothly. Kitty anon from England says the same is happening there.

Many people are jealous worldwide and resent us for our comfortable lifestyle. I listened to one Indian billionaire on a WEF podcast where he said we must bring the US down. We should not be the leader of the free world.

We, the people, want nothing to do with the rest of the world. Fight your own damn battles! Let us keep our borders, and you keep yours. Fences make good neighbors.

I believe there is something in the bible about borders.

The first thing you do in starting any war is taken out communications, so Anon is spot on. Then you take out airfields.

The United States is loaded with resources that must be protected. Just in case the young people aren't being taught this, the United States is the world's bread basket. Joe Biden stated that Ukraine and Russia are false.

When Kitty and I did our deep dive into REE, we found that a mine out west with rare earth elements was closed down. Did you guys know we need these for advanced weapons and space? Did you know we have to buy this stuff from China?

Don't anyone dare give up your gun? That's why the other countries are scared to death of us. We have a private army willing to fight to the death for our freedoms.

Why do you think they are indoctrinating our kids with WOKE BS? It's making our country weak.

Quid Pro Quo Joe and the other honey trap victims are doing the bidding for CCP and the Great Reset. They are willing to let our country fall, that's tyranny, folks, and it's written in the constitution that we must fight against it.

Thank you for the ask!

Love, JD 😜💋🤘🏻🙏

#Anon #China #russia #ukraine #EMP #high energy weapons #Joe Biden #CCP #US #cars #cell phones

[blockgeni]

Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang just completed a five-day trip to India during which he visited four cities, dined with tech leaders and researchers, snapped a lot of selfies, and had a private discussion on the AI industry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Huang admitted to surviving entire workdays on spicy masala omelettes and cold coffees due to his overbooked agenda in India. Although Huang was received like a head of state, the trip was entirely for business purposes. The 1.4 billion-person South Asian nation represents an exceptional prospect for Nvidia, whose graphics chips are essential to the development of artificial intelligence systems. India might develop into a source of AI expertise, a location for chip manufacture, and a market for Nvidia's products as the US tightens its restrictions on the export of high-end processors to China and the globe looks for an alternative electronics manufacturing base. Huang discussed retraining large segments of the workforce and developing future AI models using Indian data and talent during a meeting with top researchers in Delhi, according to several attendees. Huang also expressed his strong belief in the engineering talent of India, notably in graduates from its top engineering universities, Indian Institutes of Technology, to an executive in Bangalore, the country's tech powerhouse. Huang stated at a press conference in Bangalore that you have the information and the talent. This will be one of the world's largest AI markets, continued Huang. Nvidia and India both have a stake in accelerating the nation's ascent in the field of artificial intelligence. High-end microprocessors cannot be sold to China, which represents a fifth of Nvidia's sales, because to concerns that the chips could be used to create autonomous weapons or engage in cyberwarfare. According to Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, India is the only market that is still open, so it is understandable that Nvidia would want to stake a number of bets there. Although Indian engineers play a significant role in the digital workforce, the nation is still a long way from acquiring the cutting-edge capabilities required to produce the sophisticated chips made by Nvidia. However, India hopes to expand its electronic manufacturing industry and use AI to strengthen its digital economy. In order to entice companies like Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and Intel Corp., the nation is pouring billions of dollars in subsidies into building chip manufacturing facilities. Nandan Nilekani, chairman of Infosys Ltd. and the primary designer of the fundamental components of the vast digital public infrastructure of the nation, stated that India is strategically important to the future of Nvidia. Large business companies and the government are both putting a lot of effort into developing AI infrastructure. That is fantastic news for Huang, according to Nilekani, who had dinner with the chip billionaire while he was in town. The billionaire Taiwanese-American visited the prime minister's house in Delhi. Modi revealed that they discussed "the rich potential India presents in the world of AI. Throughout the journey, Huang and Nvidia observed indications of this potential. Huang's multi-city tour included an announcement from Reliance, the largest conglomerate in India and the company that Mukesh Ambani, a billionaire, owns. Jio Platforms will develop the nation's AI computing infrastructure. Nvidia said in a release that the AI cloud will utilize its full complement of supercomputing technology. In addition to developing and running cutting-edge AI supercomputing data centers, Reliance and another sizable conglomerate, Tata, will also provide AI infrastructure as a service to be used by researchers, businesses, and startups, according to Nvidia, without providing further information or releasing a timetable. To the extent that this month, Apple will sell India-made

iPhone 15 smartphones on launch day, India has had some success in persuading industry heavyweights Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to move contract electronics manufacturing from China. It is now focusing on semiconductors, having some chip design experience but no prior experience with semiconductor foundries. The majority of state-of-the-art chips, including those created by Nvidia, are produced in Taiwan. To reach its current levels of manufacturing competence, the nation spent billions over many years. India wants to catch up, but it is having trouble developing into an AI hub. According to Sashikumaar Ganesan, head of the computational and data sciences division at the Indian Institute of Science, neither the nation's exascale computing capacity, which can perform one billion billion calculations per second, nor its pool of skilled AI programmers are currently available in the country. Ganesan, one of those invited to Huang's meeting with AI experts, stated that in addition to building AI infrastructure, we also need to establish a workforce skilled in high-performance computing. However, K. Krishna Moorthy, CEO of industry association India Electronics and Semiconductor Association, noted that the market for high-end technologies in India is rapidly maturing. Nvidia's graphics processing units, or GPUs, are in extremely high demand as a result. According to Moorthy, the government needs data security, data privacy, and data localization as India's digital economy expands. To construct an AI cloud infrastructure, this could require over 100,000 GPUs. The nation is home to telecom behemoths like Reliance's Jio, which daily collects billions of data points from its 500 million mobile phone users and hundreds of millions of retailers. According to Moorthy, the 1.4 billion Indians who generate data could position the nation for the upcoming stage of digital growth. Huang is aware that this will mark the beginning of the next round of development for chips that support AI. With four engineering centers in India, including ones in Bangalore and the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon, Nvidia already has its second-largest talent pool behind the US, with 4,000 engineers. Huang addressed town hall meetings while he was there and emphasized the significance of maintaining competitiveness in a market for AI that is quickly evolving. His take on the proverb "hunt or be hunted" was repeated while he was speaking to the staff: "Either you are running for food or running away from being food." Source link

[techrise]

#AI #Cyber Partnership #India-Australia #India-China rivalry #Indian Cybersecurity #Indian cyberwarfare

[newstfionline]

Monday, February 22, 2021

Global vaccine inequality and intellectual property rights (Washington Post) As the coronavirus pandemic rages, World Trade Organization representatives have periodically gathered around a virtual table and clashed over how to more equitably increase global access to vaccines. On one side are the United States and other mainly wealthy Western democracies, where the major pharmaceutical companies developing key vaccines and related medical technologies are based. They want to maintain the status quo, in which the trade secrets of their vaccines—i.e. intellectual property—remain in their hands to preserve profits and the incentive for future development. On the other side are South Africa and India, leading the charge on behalf of the vast number of countries without any—or a limited supply of—vaccine doses and other equipment for fighting the virus. They argue that the rest of the world cannot keep waiting for the lifesaving shots, which Western countries have monopolized by buying up existing supplies and pre-purchasing future rounds. Given the gravity of the global public health crisis, the latter camp wants to resort to an emergency waiver mechanism, whereby the intellectual property rights for making vaccines and related medical supplies would be temporarily suspended, which would lead to production and distribution ramping up more equitably in factories worldwide.

The Boredom Economy (NYT) Mark Hawkins is an expert on being bored. When he was getting his counseling degree, he was fascinated by articles on the therapeutic benefits of boredom. He has written a book whose title is “The Power of Boredom.” In his spare time, he likes to sit on his couch and stare out the window. Yet during the pandemic, even Mr. Hawkins, 42, who lives in British Columbia with his wife, has at times gotten bored of being bored. There are many readily available ways to assess how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the economy. The pandemic has decimated the labor market, driving the unemployment rate to 6.3 percent in January, nearly twice what it was a year earlier. Restrictions on activities led Americans to spend less money, pushing the savings rate to extraordinary heights. As people have fled to places with more space and fewer people, home prices have surged. Another way the pandemic has had an impact on the economy is by making people bored. By limiting social engagements, leisure activities and travel, the pandemic has forced many people to live a more muted life, without the normal deviations from daily monotony. The result is a collective sense of ennui—one that is shaping what we do and what we buy, and even how productive we are. “Because we’re spending so much time in the home, we’re investing more in the home,” said Marshal Cohen, the chief retail analyst at the NPD Group, a market research company. “And the things that we’re investing in are things to keep ourselves busy.”

Parts fall from sky in plane scare (AP) David Delucia was settling back into his airplane seat and starting to relax on his way to a long-awaited vacation when a huge explosion and flash of light interrupted an in-flight announcement and put him in survival mode. The Boeing 777-200, headed from Denver to Honolulu on Saturday with 231 passengers and 10 crew aboard, suffered a catastrophic failure in its right engine and flames erupted under the wing as the plane began to lose altitude. As Delucia and his wife prepared for the worst, people in this Denver suburb reacted in horror as huge pieces of the engine casing and chunks of fiberglass rained down on a sports fields and on streets and lawns, just missing one home and crushing a truck. The explosion, visible from the ground, left a trail of black smoke in the sky, and tiny pieces of insulation filled the air like ash. The plane landed safely at Denver International Airport, and no one on board or on the ground was hurt, authorities said. But both those in the air and on the ground were deeply shaken.

Why a predictable cold snap crippled the Texas power grid (Reuters) As Texans cranked up their heaters early Monday to combat plunging temperatures, a record surge of electricity demand set off a disastrous chain reaction in the state’s power grid. Wind turbines in the state’s northern Panhandle locked up. Natural gas plants shut down when frozen pipes and components shut off fuel flow. A South Texas nuclear reactor went dark after a five-foot section of uninsulated pipe seized up. Power outages quickly spread statewide—leaving millions shivering in their homes for days, with deadly consequences. It could have been far worse: Before dawn on Monday, the state’s grid operator was “seconds and minutes” away from an uncontrolled blackout for its 26 million customers, its CEO has said. Such a collapse occurs when operators lose the ability to manage the crisis through rolling blackouts; in such cases, it can take weeks or months to fully restore power to customers. Monday was one of the state’s coldest days in more than a century—but the unprecedented power crisis was hardly unpredictable after Texas had experienced a similar, though less severe, disruption during a 2011 cold snap. Still, Texas power producers failed to adequately winter-proof their systems. And the state’s grid operator underestimated its need for reserve power capacity before the crisis, then moved too slowly to tell utilities to institute rolling blackouts to protect against a grid meltdown, energy analysts, traders and economists said. Texas is the only state in the continental United States with an independent and isolated grid. That allows the state to avoid federal regulation—but also severely limits its ability to draw emergency power from other grids.

Trump Ally Violated Libya Arms Embargo, U.N. Report Says (NYT) Erik Prince, the former head of the security contractor Blackwater Worldwide and a prominent supporter of former President Donald J. Trump, violated a United Nations arms embargo on Libya by sending weapons to a militia commander who was attempting to overthrow the internationally backed government, according to U.N. investigators. A confidential U.N. report obtained by The New York Times and delivered by investigators to the Security Council on Thursday reveals how Mr. Prince deployed a force of foreign mercenaries, armed with attack aircraft, gunboats and cyberwarfare capabilities, to eastern Libya at the height of a major battle in 2019. As part of the operation, which the report said cost $80 million, the mercenaries also planned to form a hit squad that could track down and kill selected Libyan commanders. Mr. Prince, a former Navy SEAL and the brother of Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s education secretary, became a symbol of the excesses of privatized American military force when his Blackwater contractors killed 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007. In the past decade he has relaunched himself as an executive who strikes deals—sometimes for minerals, other times involving military force—in war-addled but resource-rich countries, mostly in Africa.

Violence flares as protests over jailing of Spanish rapper extend into fifth night (AP) Protesters threw bottles at police, set fire to containers and smashed up shops in Barcelona on Saturday in a fifth night of clashes after a rapper was jailed for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in his songs. The nine-month sentence of Pablo Hasel, known for his virulently anti-establishment raps, has sparked a debate over freedom of expression in Spain as well as protests which have at times turned violent. Protesters attacked shops on Barcelona’s most prestigious shopping street, Passeig de Gracia, while newspaper El Pais reported that others had smashed windows in the emblematic Palau de la Musica concert hall. Demonstrators hurled projectiles and flares at police, who fired foam bullets to disperse the crowd.

With heavy hearts, Italians mark year of COVID-19 outbreak (AP) With wreath-laying ceremonies, tree plantings and church services, Italians on Sunday marked one year since their country experienced its first known COVID-19 death. Towns in Italy’s north were the first to be hard-hit by the pandemic and put under lockdown, and residents paid tribute to the dead. Italy, with some 95,500 confirmed virus dead, has Europe’s second-highest pandemic toll after Britain. Experts say the virus also killed many others who were never tested. The number of new coronavirus infections has remained stubbornly high despite a raft of restrictions on travel between regions, and in some cases between towns. In addition, gyms, cinemas and theaters have been closed and restaurants and bars must shut early in the evening. Nationwide there’s a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.

Protesting Indian farmers vow to amass more supporters outside capital Delhi (Reuters) More than 100,000 farmers and farm workers gathered in India’s northern Punjab state on Sunday in a show of strength against new farm laws, where union leaders called on supporters to amass outside the capital New Delhi on Feb. 27. Tens of thousands of Indian growers have already been camped outside Delhi for nearly three months, demanding the repeal of the three reform laws that they say will hurt them and benefit large corporations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which introduced the laws last September, has offered to defer the laws but refused to abandon them. Both sides have met for several rounds of negotiations but failed to make any headway, and farmers’ unions have vowed to carry on the protests until the laws are rolled back.

North Korea’s economy is ravaged by sanctions and pandemic isolation (Washington Post) Kim Jong Un is angry, and he’s lashing out. North Korea’s last economic plan failed “tremendously,” he complained. And his inner circle lacked an “innovative viewpoint and clear tactics” in drawing up a new one, Kim told the ruling Workers’ Party last month, yelling and finger-pointing at frightened-looking delegates. His economy minister, appointed in January, has already been fired. It’s not altogether surprising. North Korea is suffering its worst slump in more than two decades, experts say. It’s a combination of international sanctions and especially a self-imposed blockade on international trade in attempts to keep the coronavirus pandemic out. A shortage of spare parts usually supplied from China has caused factories to close, including one of the country’s largest fertilizer plants, and crippled output from the country’s aging power plants, according to news reports. Electricity shortages, long a chronic problem, have become so acute, production has even halted at some coal mines and other mines, Kim himself admitted in mid-February. “Without imported materials, raw materials and components, many enterprises stopped, and people, accordingly, lost their jobs,” Alexander Matsegora, the Russian ambassador to North Korea, told the Interfax news agency.

Myanmar protesters gather, undeterred by worst day of violence (Reuters) Huge crowds marched in Myanmar on Sunday to denounce a Feb. 1 military coup in a show of defiance after the bloodiest episode of the campaign for democracy the previous day, when security forces fired on protesters, killing two. The military has been unable to quell the demonstrations and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes against the coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others, even with a promise of new elections and stern warnings against dissent. Tens of thousands of people massed peacefully in the second city of Mandalay, where Saturday’s killings took place, witnesses said.

Israel to issue badges as proof of vaccination (AP) Israel unveiled a plan on Saturday to allow people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend cultural events, fly abroad and go to health clubs and restaurants. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the plan at a news conference on Saturday night, saying those who have been vaccinated will be able to download the “green badge” in the coming days. Netanyahu said the government could not keep unvaccinated residents from places like medical clinics, pharmacies and supermarkets. But he said other services would be allowed only for those who have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

#headlines #news

[indianarrative1]

China has flagged Iran and Saudi Arabia as its bridgeheads for expanding its influence in the Middle East, taking advantage of Tehran’s international isolation and Riyadh’s focus on nuclear energy.

Faced with renewed pressure from the United States, which has attempted to disrupt Iran’s economic lifelines, including critically important oil and gas exports, and much more, Iran has reached out to China for support.

China, in turn, has grabbed the strategic opening, keeping in mind, its larger ambition of drawing the Middle East in its orbit of influence.

In June, Iran approved a quarter century blue print of strategic collaboration with China, with bold economic and security dimensions, worth around $600 billion. Under the pact, energy hungry China will buy Iranian oil, Tehran’s primary export, for 25 years, at highly concessional rates. In return for assured energy supplies, China will revive Iran’s moribund economy, which would be integrated in a China-centred ecosystem, covering trade, finance, investments, and market access. China would also cyber-network Iran, piloted by the telecom giant Huawei, especially in the 5G domain.

Specific infrastructure projects, the foundations of Iran’s new economy, would include airports, high-speed railways and subways. China would also develop free-trade zones in Maku, in north western Iran; in Abadan, where the Shatt al-Arab river flows into the Persian Gulf, and on the gulf island Qeshm, the New York Times reported.

China plans to establish a joint commission for developing weapons and tap Iranian talent for scientific research, including cyberwarfare. This initiative is expected to anchor China’s military presence in the Middle East, bolstered by an unprecedented ability to gather intelligence in the region. In going ahead with the deal, China, for the first time, would become a frontline player seated in the Middle East cockpit, empowered to seriously influence the region, which includes Israel, Iran’s arch-foe.

China’s military ambitions in the Middle East also stood out with its participation in 2019, in a trilateral naval exercise in the Indian Ocean, with Iran and Russia as partners.

China’s massive outreach to Iran, fully recognizes Tehran as a geopolitical pivot—a country whose importance is derived by its sensitive geographical location. Iran sits on the doorstep of South Asia, Central Asia and Europe. Its external orientation has a major spill over impact, across a large geographical space, across contiguous regions.

China views Iran as a launch pad for spreading the Beijing centred Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive transcontinental connectivity project, meant to launch China’s rise as an unrivalled great power.

China wants to extend the $ 62 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a part of BRI in more than one direction. In the north, it has already announced its intent to stretch CPEC to resource rich Afghanistan, which has massive reserves of lithium, the feedstock for the electric car revolution that China wants to lead. Already, the Afghan Taliban are in deep conversation with the Chinese for projects that can be kick-started after a new government takes over in Kabul, following the ongoing US brokered reconciliation talks between Taliban and the Afghan government.

In case Iran agrees, CPEC can also be extended westwards from Pakistan’s contiguous Baluchistan province through which a large section of the corridor passes. In case that happens, Tehran will inch closer to being co-opted in the rapidly expanding Chinese political orbit.

China has also gate-crashed into the inner core of Iran’s rival-in-chief, Saudi Arabia, by agreeing to partner with Riyadh in the nuclear arena – a zone where most countries are reluctant to enter. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohamed bin Salman has been quoted as saying in 2018 that in case Iran develops a nuclear bomb, Riyadh will also follow suit.

Blinded by its ambition to bulldoze into the Middle East, China is reported to have shared technology to enrich uranium—the feedstock for a bomb. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with China’s help , has built a facility for the extraction of uranium yellowcake, a potential precursor to fuel a nuclear reactor. The plant is located near the remote desert city of Al Ula, the daily reported. The presence of the site, which has not been publicly acknowledged has raised serious concerns that Saudi Arabia, engaged in a seething and violent geopolitical rivalry with Iran, in several regional theatres including Yemen, Lebanon and Syria, may be engaging in the nuclear weapons programme with the support of China.

Uranium when lowly enriched is used in electricity generation, but when refined to purity above 90 per cent, it can be used to making the core of an atomic bomb.

The Saudi Energy Ministry has “categorically” denied to the Wall Street Journal that the Kingdom has built a uranium ore milling facility. But he acknowledged that Chinese companies have been contracted for the exploration of uranium within Saudi Arabia.

The recent interaction between China and Saudi Arabia can be traced to a 2012 agreement for the peaceful development of atomic energy. Subsequently, Riyadh has signed agreements with China National Nuclear Corp and China Nuclear Engineering Group Corp.

China and Saudi Arabia have been partners in beneath- the- radar covert collaboration in the past. In 1988, Saudi Arabia bought Chinese DF-3 Silkworm ballistic missiles, which have been reportedly embedded with the Kingdom’s Strategic Rocket Forces (SRF).

Two years ago, the Washington Post had reported, based on analysis of satellite pictures, that Saudi Arabia was making a missile factory near the central Saudi town of Al-Watah.

#China India

[newsoreo]

Amid LAC face-off, Army to study lasers, robotics & AI for warfare | India News - Times of India

Amid LAC face-off, Army to study lasers, robotics & AI for warfare | India News – Times of India

[ad_1]

NEW DELHI: The Army is undertaking a major study headed by a senior lieutenant general on advanced “niche and disruptive warfare technologies”, which range from drone swarms, robotics, lasers and loiter munitions to artificial intelligence, big data analysis and algorithmic warfare. Sources on Friday said the aim of the “holistic study”, which comes amid the ongoing military confrontation…

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#artificial intelligence #augmented reality #Big Data #Breaking news #Cyberwarfare #Google news #India #India news #India news today #Indian Army #LAC face-off #Today news #virtual reality

[political-affairs]

Cyberwarfare in China

The nature of cyberwarfare in the People's Republic of China is difficult to assess. Government officials in India and the United States have traced various attacks on corporate and infrastructure computer systems in their countries to computers in the People's Republic of China. However, "It is nearly impossible to know whether or not an attack is government-sponsored because of the difficulty in tracking true identities in cyberspace."[1][2] China has denied accusations of cyberwarfare,[3] and has accused the United States of engaging in cyberwarfare against it, which the US government denies.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] 

A number of private computer security firms have stated that they have growing evidence of cyber-espionage efforts originating from China, including the "Comment Group".[11] In May 2014 a Federal Grand Jury in the United States indicted five PLA Unit 61398 officers on charges of theft of confidential business information from U.S. commercial firms and planting malware on their computers.[12][13]According to former United States National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, the NSA has conducted espionage on Chinese universities, businesses and politicians since 2009. Chinese targets included hundreds of organizations and individuals, including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and were among the 61,000 of hacker attacks carried out by the United States globally.[14][15][16]

Organization

Washington, D.C.-based analyst James Mulvenon says that the organization of Chinese operations in cyberwarfare is very clandestine and decentralised, organized around a constantly changing hybrid of official, civilian, and semi-civilian groups.[17] Nationalist groups, he says, such as "patriotic hacker associations", are often used as "foot soldiers" or "proxies".[17]While China has long been suspected of cyber spying, on May 24, 2011 the People's Liberation Army announced the existence of their cyber security squad.[18]

By nation

Australia

In May 2013, ABC News claimed that the People's Republic of China hacked plans for the headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.[19]

Canada

Officials in the Canadian government claim that Chinese hackers have comprised several departments within the federal government in early 2011, though the Chinese government has refused involvement.[20]

India

Officials in the Indian government have alleged that attacks on Indian government networks, such as that of the Indian National Security Council, have originated in China. According to the government, Chinese hackers are experts in operating up botnets.[21]Fears of Chinese cyberespionage have resulted in the blocking of deals with Chinese telecoms, like Huawei, due to their ties with the Chinese military.[21]

United States 

The United States has accused the People's Republic of China of implementing cyberwarfare and cyberespionage against American interests, accessing the networks of important military, commercial, research, and industrial organisations. A Congress advisory group has declared China "the single greatest risk to the security of American technologies"[22] and that "there has been a marked increase in cyber intrusions originating in China and targeting U.S. government and defense-related computer systems".[22] According to the Washington Post, China allegedly manipulates security exploits existing in websites, sending out hijacked email attachments with malicious software. Intrusion is especially worrying since the intruder can control the hijacked computer from a remote location, with the ability to steal important files, monitor the user's activity, and read the user's email.[23] 

Users are typically unaware that they are being spied; the infected attachment is disguised as a mundane topic from a familiar contact, fooling the user into unwittingly setting off a program that silently infects the person's computer.[24] Traces of the malware are hidden by rootkits, which prevent the person from being aware that data is being stolen.[24]In January 2010, Google reported on targeted attacks on its corporate infrastructure originating from China "that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google". Apparently, the Gmail accounts of two human rights activists were compromised in the raid on Google's password system.[25] American security experts connected the Google attack to various other political and corporate espionage efforts originating from China, including espionage against military, commercial, research, and industrial corporations. Obama administration officials have called the cyberattacks "an increasingly serious cyber threat to US critical industries".[23]

In addition to Google, at least 34 companies have been attacked. Reported cases include Northrop Grumman, Symantec, Yahoo, Dow Chemical, and Adobe Systems.[26] Cyberespionage has been aimed at both commercial and military interests, especially areas in which China lags. Technology companies have claimed that China has sought out source code,[27] along with general information on weapon systems, to develop the software that China needs in both its economic and military pursuits. The source code was stolen using vulnerabilities found in Adobe Reader, which the hackers used to spread malicious software.[27] Chinese cyberattacks have emphasized what senior US Government officials have said is an increasingly serious cyber threat to US critical industries.

China has denied accusations of cyberwarfare,[3] and has accused the United States of engaging in cyberwarfare against it, accusations which the United States denies.[4] Wang Baodong of the Chinese Embassy in the United States responded that the accusations are a result of sinophobic paranoia.[3] He states that, "China would never do anything to harm sovereignty or security of other countries. In conformity with such national policies, the Chinese government has never employed, nor will it employ so-called civilian hackers in collecting information or intelligence of other countries. Allegations against China in this respect are totally unwarranted, which only reflect the dark mentality of certain people who always regard China as a threat."[3]Diplomatic cables highlight US concerns that China is using access to Microsoft source code and 'harvesting the talents of its private sector' to boost its offensive and defensive capabilities.[28]

As of March 2013, high level discussions continued.[29]

Stuxnet

Although the vast majority of experts have concluded that the Stuxnet virus targeting Iran originated from Israel,[30][31][32] which is known to engage in cyberwarfare, American cyberwarfare expert Jeffrey Carr has implicated China as one of the possible states where Stuxnet could have originated. His rationale is that the countries Stuxnet targeted happened to be rich in resources such as copper, gold, and iron ore, that are especially important for China in a period of high economic growth.[33] However, China has also been a victim of the Stuxnet virus. The virus has reportedly infected millions of computers in the nation, wreaking much havoc, because the virus can control industrial machinery.[34]

IP hijacking

In late November 2010, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman said the department was aware that Internet traffic was rerouted briefly through China earlier in the year. The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission charged in its annual report that state-owned China Telecom advertised erroneous network routes that instructed "massive volumes" of U.S. and other foreign Internet traffic to go through Chinese servers during an 18-minute stretch on April 8. China's Foreign Ministry condemned the commission's report, while China Telecom separately denied the charge that it "hijacked" U.S. Internet traffic.[35]

#United States #People's Liberation Army #National Security Agency #India #Edward Snowden #Chinese University of Hong Kong #China #Australian Security Intelligence Organisation

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[jeffwhorton]

Could Cyberwarfare or Cyber-Terrorists Potentially Force a Nuclear Power Plant to Meltdown?

Technology Discussion: Could Cyberwarfare or Cyber-Terrorists Potentially Force a Nuclear Power Plant to Meltdown?      

From the NPR Website:

Russia Hacked U.S. Power Grid — So What Will The Trump Administration Do About It?

March 23, 20185:00 AM ET

Brian Naylor in 2018.

BRIAN NAYLOR

The U.S. government says Russian government hackers have targeted and gained access to U.S energy computer networks.

Rich Pedroncelli/AP

When President Trump phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his re-election Wednesday, Trump made no mention of one of the latest irritants between Russia and the West — his administration's announcement that Russia successfully hacked the U.S. power grid.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a joint alert last week: "Russian government cyber actors" have been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, nuclear and commercial facilities, since at least March 2016.

The announcement came the same day that the U.S. imposed sanctions against 19 Russian individuals and five entities for interfering in the 2016 election and for other cyber-intrusions.

NATIONAL SECURITY

U.S. Security Officials Uncertain Of How To Address Infrastructure Vulnerabilities

James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert and vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the news that Russia penetrated the energy grid does not exactly come as a surprise.

"The Russians have been doing this for years," Lewis said. "The change is that the U.S. government came out and said the Russians hacked the utilities."

The government informed electric companies last summer that Russia undertook what DHS calls a "multistage intrusion campaign" against the utilities, using common hacking techniques such as malware and spear-phishing. The hackers were able to to gain access to at least one power plant's control system.

The Department of Homeland Security was able to reconstruct screenshot fragments of a human machine interface that was accessed.

US-CERT/Department of Homeland Security

"They were not simply looking around that system and reconnoitering it," Joel Brenner, head of counterintelligence under the Director of National Intelligence in the Obama administration, told NPR. "They were placing the tools that they would have to place in order to turn off the power. That's a serious vulnerability for us, and we're not anywhere near ready to deal with it."

The Russians have targeted other countries' electrical grids, most notably Ukraine in 2015, disrupting power for more than 200,000 people.

Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute, which represents the nation's electric companies, said U.S. power companies have tried to learn from that attack.

Can Americans feel confident the U.S. grid is protected?

For more information visit click here:  Russia Hacked U.S. Power Grid

In 2011 an earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a Tsunami some 45-feet in height, which damaged the cooling system at the plant, triggering a meltdown.

Following a major earthquake, a 15-metre tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident on 11 March 2011. All three cores largely melted in the first three days.

Fukushima Accident - World Nuclear Association

www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and...of.../fukushima-accident.aspx

The Japanese evacuated some 100,000 people from the area, which prevented deaths or reports of major illnesses (yet). So, I probably should have done a lot more research, right? Well, that probably is true. But in my defense, in Cybersp@ce we’re talking about New York. Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC), the power plant on which Indian Lake was based, is a three-unit nuclear power plant station located in Buchanan, New York, just south of Peekskill. It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 36 miles (58 km) north of Midtown Manhattan. Imagine trying to evacuate 8.5 million people! Again, if you live in the greater New York area you can relax, a little. The Indian Point plant is scheduled to shut down in 2022, largely in part to concerns over a “natural disaster” devastating New York. Reading between the lines I have to imagine that means man-caused disaster…oh, how impolitic of me, we don’t use Obama double-speak anymore. Please allow me to restate; I have to imagine they are worried about terrorism attacks on the plant more than they are natural disasters, since earthquakes in New York are well, not something we see every day.

So, we’ve established that loss of secondary systems, like the programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which control the pumps that keep the reactors cool could, in fact, possibly lead to a meltdown. So back to the original question, Could Cyberwarfare or Cyber-Terrorists Potentially Force a Nuclear Power Plant to Meltdown?  I’ll have to leave a definitive answer to that question to the experts. It certainly would appear to be possible, given the amount of concern by so many knowledgeable people. I spent decades in the IT field and I can say, with some confidence, that sometimes it’s not only a good idea to unplug from the Internet, it can be the difference between life and death.

“—and the local sheriff’s office informed us only moments ago that they have done all that they can do to evacuate the area, given the extremely congested roadways which are already virtually nothing but parking lots. The National Guard is also being deployed, although few believe they will be able to evacuate so many in such a brief period of time. If you’ve just joined us, we have some very important, late-breaking news. New York City, along with the Department of Homeland Defense, held a joint press conference just fifteen minutes ago, announcing that a serious problem was detected at the Indian Lake nuclear power plant only two hours ago. The problem, which has been closely monitored since, is reported to be a problem with the coolant system at the plant, a problem which could very well lead to a meltdown. While not yet calling such a meltdown imminent, the government has issued an evacuation for anyone living or working within thirty miles of the Indian Lake nuclear power plant, warning of a deadly threat from radiation fallout facing anyone within the evacuation zone. We’ve invited Dr. Marcella Blanco to join us; she is an expert with the CDC. Welcome, Dr. Blanco, thank you for joining us.”

“Thank you for having me.”

“Dr. Blanco, if both reactors do somehow melt down, how bad will it be? Will it result in many deaths?”

“Absolutely. Early estimates from a decade ago suggested that at least one hundred thousand people would receive a fatal dose of radiation. That area has seen a significant amount of growth over the past decade, however, so the number has climbed to perhaps as high as one hundred twenty-five thousand people.”

The anchor sat silently, looking stunned for a moment. It was one of those rare moments of silence on live television when no one speaks. One of the producers must have yelled at her through her earpiece because she suddenly jolted out of it.

“Excuse me, Dr. Blanco, but you’re saying over one hundred twenty-five thousand people are going to die tonight?”

Her face was still pale, white as a sheet.

“Well, if both reactors melt down, as many as one hundred twenty-five thousand people would likely be exposed to a fatal dose of radiation, yes. Depending on their level of exposure, death could take days, weeks, possibly even months to occur.”

“If someone cannot get away in time, is there anything they can do?”

“Anyone who is within ten to twenty miles of the plant and is unable to leave should get inside and as far underground as possible. But let me please reiterate that this is a very serious danger to everyone in the area. If at all possible, everyone within a thirty-mile radius should evacuate immediately. Please don’t wait until it’s too late.”

“Thank you, Dr. Blanco.”

“You’re very welcome.”

The news anchor turned to face the camera.

“Next up, we have Jason Michaels, a former consultant to the Department of Homeland Security. Welcome Mr. Michaels, it’s great to have you with us today.”

“Thank you, Michelle; it’s great to be here, though I wish it were under better circumstances of course.”

“Of course,” she repeated. “So, Jason, do you have any idea what happened at the plant; was it some kind of equipment failure?”

“From what I’m told, Michelle, at approximately 2:05 p.m. today, the systems at the plant that control the water used for cooling the control rods in both reactors suddenly shut down, but only after sending instructions to the programmable logic controllers to close all valves in the cooling system. At this time the PLCs continue to be unresponsive and all valves remain closed. Once the super-heated water evaporates, the rods will be exposed, and the reactors will melt down. I’ll tell you something else, too…the most disturbing aspect of this disaster is that the shutdown appears to have been done intentionally by someone, remotely.”

“So, the system was shut down remotely. Why would someone with the power company have done that intentionally, while the plants are still in operation; isn’t that dangerous?”

“Very. Apparently, the systems were not shut down by anyone at the plant though. Based on all the information I’ve been able to gather, everyone associated with the Indian Lake plant denies having anything to do with what’s happened. My contacts told me that the system wasn’t designed like that anyway. That’s why this was, in my opinion, an act of terrorism.”

“Wow, that is really frightening!” exclaimed the anchor, staring in disbelief. “How could an unauthorized person access the water control system remotely? Why would that even be possible?”

“I asked that same question. It seems that the company installed the remote access capability, so they would be able to activate the water control pumps remotely in the event of some kind of accident, in case there was no one able to do it at the plant itself. Unfortunately, with so many systems connected to the Internet these days, it’s possible—let me stress possible—that someone hacked in, circumvented the considerable security, and shut them down remotely.”

“But wouldn’t it require substantial resources to be able to pull something like that off without being caught?”

“Yes, it would. Typically, only nation states have the kind of access to the resources needed to pull something like this off, not to mention the skills. It might be possible that an individual could do this I suppose, but I don’t see how.”

“Does the DHS have any idea where the attack originated?”

“Well, as you noted earlier, I no longer work at the DHS. A source of mine does still work there, however, and they called me thirty minutes after they learned the systems had been shut down.”

“What did they tell you?”

“They told me that they had traced the IP address of the intruder.”

“To where?” asked the anchor.

“China.”

Excerpt from Cybersp@ce, Cybsesp@ce Series Book One

In my 2013 novel, Cybersp@ce, the Indian Lake nuclear power plant in New York is attacked. Fictional programmable logic controllers that supposedly control the reactor coolant system are hacked and disabled, eventually resulting in a reactor meltdown, and the subsequent release of radiation that results in the deaths of 100,000 people. Relax; it’s fiction, or is it?

In 2011 an earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a Tsunami some 45-feet in height, which damaged the cooling system at the plant, triggering a meltdown.

Following a major earthquake, a 15-metre tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident on 11 March 2011. All three cores largely melted in the first three days.

Fukushima Accident - World Nuclear Association

www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and...of.../fukushima-accident.aspx

The Japanese evacuated some 100,000 people from the area, which prevented deaths or reports of major illnesses (yet). So, I probably should have done a lot more research, right? Well, that probably is true. But in my defense, in Cybersp@ce we’re talking about New York. Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC), the power plant on which Indian Lake was based, is a three-unit nuclear power plant station located in Buchanan, New York, just south of Peekskill. It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 36 miles (58 km) north of Midtown Manhattan. Imagine trying to evacuate 8.5 million people! Again, if you live in the greater New York area you can relax, a little. The Indian Point plant is scheduled to shut down in 2022, largely in part to concerns over a “natural disaster” devastating New York. Reading between the lines I have to imagine that means man-caused disaster…oh, how impolitic of me, we don’t use Obama double-speak anymore. Please allow me to restate; I have to imagine they are worried about terrorism attacks on the plant more than they are natural disasters, since earthquakes in New York are well, not something we see every day.

So, we’ve established that loss of secondary systems, like the programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which control the pumps that keep the reactors cool could, in fact, possibly lead to a meltdown. So back to the original question, Could Cyberwarfare or Cyber-Terrorists Potentially Force a Nuclear Power Plant to Meltdown?  I’ll have to leave a definitive answer to that question to the experts. It certainly would appear to be possible, given the amount of concern by so many knowledgeable people. I spent decades in the IT field and I can say, with some confidence, that sometimes it’s not only a good idea to unplug from the Internet, it can be the difference between life and death.

Follow this link for more information.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/nuclear-power-plants-vulnerable-hacking-attack-cyber-nightmare-united-nations-a7479546.html

Follow my blog by following this link and entering your contact information: http://www.hortonlibrary.com/?page_id=148

Visit my website: at www.hortonlibrary.com

[From Blog Post #1028, July 25, 2018] 

Read more posts by Author Jeff W. Horton by clicking on the link below...

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/blog-the-horton-post

#Jeff W. Horton The Horton Library Books Cyberwarfare Cyberterorism

[indiandefencenewscoin-blog]

As India Suits Up for Cyberwarfare, Conventional Military Ops Should be Part of the Plan: Lt Gen DS Hooda

As India Suits Up for Cyberwarfare, Conventional Military Ops Should be Part of the Plan: Lt Gen DS Hooda

In April, media reports announced the appointment of Rear Admiral Mohit Gupta as the head of the new Defence Cyber Agency (DCA) being raised for the Indian military.

Admiral Gupta’s work is cut out for him as, starting from a virtual scratch, he will have to build an organisation capable of warfighting in the cyber dimension. Two of his crucial tasks will be to develop a doctrine that integrates…

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[techrise]

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[mideastsoccer]

Players’ Skewed Maps complicate Eurasia’s 21st Century Great Game

By James M. Dorsey

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr.

The United States and China are playing Eurasia’s 21st century Great Game from different but equally skewed maps. While the US map appears to be outdated, the Chinese map portrays a reality that is imagined.

If the skewed realities of both China and the United States have one thing in common, it is in strategist Parag Khanna’s mind the fact that neither realizes that the Great Game’s prize, a new world order, has already been determined.

“We are living – for the first time ever -- in a truly multipolar and multicivilizational order in which North America, Europe and Asia each represents a major share of power,” Mr. Khanna says in his just published book, The Future is Asian.

While the United States sees the Great Game as an as yet open-ended battle for influence in Europe and Asia and looks at Russia as a European rather than a Eurasian power, China overestimates what its future position, aided by its US$1 trillion infrastructure and energy-driven Belt and Road initiative, is likely to be.

The skewed perceptions of both the United States and China create spaces for multiple other powers like Russia and various Middle Eastern states to carve out positions of their own.

China, nonetheless, alongside Russia has one advantage. In contrast, to the United States, it adopts the notion put forward by former Portuguese Europe minister Bruno Macias that the number of the world’s continents is shrinking from seven to six. Increasingly, Europe and Asia no longer see their common landmass as two separate continents and are gravitating towards what Mr. Macias calls a “supercontinent.”  

Mr. Khanna implicitly acknowledges Mr. Macias’ notion by concluding that contrary to perceived Chinese expectations “ultimately, China’s position will be not of an Asian or global hegemon but rather of the eastern anchor of the Asian – and Eurasian – mega-system.”

China’s perceived other advantage, its economic and financial muscle, in the juggling for position on the new supercontinent is also proving to be its Achilles Heel.

The belief that the driver of the Belt and Road is geopolitics rather than economics is bolstered by predictions that none of China’s Indian Ocean port projects have much hope of financial success.

A Financial Times study last year concluded that 78 countries targeted by China for project development are among the world’s most risky economies. On a scale of one to seven, the highest level of country risk, Belt and Road countries ranked 5.2, a significantly higher risk than the 3.5 average for emerging markets. They had a median rating by Moody’s, the credit rating agency, that was the equivalent of non-investment junk investment grade.

The risk was reflected on the balance sheets of major Chinese state-owned companies that build, operate and invest in many Belt and Road projects. The study reported that China’s top internationally active construction and engineering contractors were almost four times more highly leveraged than their non-Chinese competitors.

In a bid to avert a financial crisis, the government has ordered state-owned companies to reduce their debt burden, in part by attributing greater importance to the viability of overseas projects.

The risk to China is not purely economic. It is also geopolitical and reputational. Increasingly, China is forced to focus short term less on the Great Game itself and more on countering the negative effect of a growing perception that China’s projection of the Belt and Road as a mutually beneficial proposition is more fantasy than fact.

A growing number of countries, like Pakistan, Malaysia, Myanmar and Nepal, question the benefits of Belt and Road projects and are resisting China’s often onerous commercial and funding terms.

Ironically, China’s immediate rivals in efforts to maintain its status and ensure that it does not lose hard-won ground are not the United States, India or Japan but its newly assertive, geopolitically ambitious friends in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as Iran.

That is nowhere truer than in Pakistan, a Belt and Road crown jewel, where Saudi Arabia and the UAE have exploited to their advantage Chinese irritation with Pakistani demands to shift the emphasis of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) from infrastructure and energy to agriculture, job creation and the enabling of third-party investment, primarily from countries in the Gulf.

Chinese chagrin has been evident in China’s hesitancy to respond to Pakistani requests for help in averting a financial crisis.

Filling the gap, massive Saudi and UAE aid and investment to the tune of US$30 billion in balance of payment support, deferred oil import payments and investment in the troubled Pakistani province of Balochistan that borders Iran has helped the government of Imran Khan avoid asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cap in hand to bail it out.

China fears that Pakistan’s mounting dependence on Saudi Arabia and the UAE coupled with a US campaign intended to curb Iran’s regional projection potentially complicates the security of its massive US$45 billion plus investment that to a large extent targets Balochistan.

The United States and Saudi Arabia see Balochistan as a possible launching pad for possible efforts to destabilize the Islamic republic by stirring unrest among its Baloch population and other ethnic minorities.

Increased Saudi and UAE influence in Balochistan could, moreover, suck China into the escalating maelstrom of the two countries’ rivalry with Iran.

Ironically, Saudi and UAE investment has at the same time shielded China from potentially embarrassing disclosure of the financial terms of CPEC-related projects that the IMF was demanding as part of any bailout. Media reports said that Pakistan had informally told the IMF that it would be paying China US$40 billion over 20 years for US$26.5 billion in Chinese funding of CPEC-related projects.

The impact of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, like much of the rest of the Middle East, goes far beyond Balochistan. It also puts its mark elsewhere on the Eurasian supercontinent. In the words of analyst Galip Dalay, the Middle East or West Asia will, for better or for worse, shape each other.

“The contemporary Middle East is no longer the geopolitically US-centric space that the Europeans once knew. Europe can respond in several ways: proceed with its largely ad-hoc, incoherent and crisis-driven policies of recent years; continue to be incorporated into someone else's game plan, as with the French-German involvement in the Russian-led Astana (peace) process for Syria; or craft a more coherent policy towards the region, with a strong emphasis on democratisation, reform, good governance, inclusion and reconciliation… If Europe doesn’t engage and invest in the transformation of the Middle East, regional developments will dramatically transform it, whether through radicalism, refugees, terrorism, xenophobia or populism. Interactions between Europe and the Middle East will be transformative, for better or for worse.,” Mr. Dalay said.

The Middle East is similarly crucial to the success of China’s Belt and Road with Iran and Turkey representing key nodes that further the rise of Eurasia through Chinese-funded rails that link the Atlantic coast of Europe to the People’s Republic.

The Middle East’s impact is one facet of a bigger game in which world and regional powers are competing for position in Mr. Khanna’s multipolar and multicivilizational order.

Robert Malley, a former Obama National Security Council official and head of the International Crisis Group argues that autocratic and authoritarian leaders are testing the limits of the Great Game as the power of Western nations erodes and embattled concepts of multilateralism no longer serve to constrain them.

“As the era of largely uncontested U.S. primacy fades, the international order has been thrown into turmoil. More leaders are tempted more often to test limits, jostle for power, and seek to bolster their influence—or diminish that of their rivals—by meddling in foreign conflicts… Having annexed parts of Georgia and Crimea and stoked separatist violence in Ukraine’s Donbass region, Russia is now throwing its weight around in the Sea of Azov, poisoning dissidents in the United Kingdom, and subverting Western democracies with cyberwarfare. China obstructs freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and arbitrarily detains Canadian citizens… Saudi Arabia has pushed the envelope with the war in Yemen, the kidnapping of a Lebanese prime minister, and the gruesome murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul. Iran plots attacks against dissidents on European soil. Israel feels emboldened to undermine ever more systematically the foundations of a possible two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mr. Malley said.

By implication, Mr. Malley was suggesting that efforts to push the envelope were enabled by the US’ failure to recognize that Europe and Asia were becoming one supercontinent.

That failure was mirrored in the U.S. National Security Strategy published in 2017 by the White House and a study by Rand Corporation in 2018 designed to conceptualize current geopolitics as an era of intensifying international competition.

Rather than recognizing an increasingly evident divergence of interests between the United States and Europe, the study suggested that the US would continue to have the opportunity, if it chooses, to lead a predominant coalition of value-sharing democracies and other largely status quo states to help preserve stability.”

The study appeared to downplay any divergence by reducing differences to “identity-fuelled nationalism” that aims to recapture (countries’) “rightful place” in world politics,” a reference to Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as well as European nations grappling with the rise of nationalist, populist and far-right forces and a Middle East that is shaping Europe through highly emotive issues such as migration, political violence and religious identity.

The US focus on Russia as a European rather than a regional power with global ambitions also means that it underestimates Moscow’s play in the Middle East despite its military intervention in Syria.

Russia national security scholar Stephen Blank argues that President Vladimir Putin’s strategy in the region is rooted in the thinking of Yevgeny Primakov, a Middle East expert and linguist and former spymaster, foreign minister and deputy prime minister, who like Mr. Khanna envisioned the emergence of a multi-polar, multi-civilizational world with Eurasia at its centre.

Mr. Primakov saw the Middle East as a key arena for countering the United States that would enable Russia, weakened by the demise of the Soviet Union and a subsequent economic crisis, to regain its status as a global and regional power and ensure that it would be one pole in a multi-polar world.

By identifying the region as a preferred battleground, Russia benefitted in the words of historian Niall Ferguson from the fact that its significant oil reserves made it “the only power that has no vested interest in stability in the Middle East.”

Mr. Blank argued that “in order to reassert Russia’s greatness, Primakov and Putin aimed ultimately at strategic denial, denying Washington sole possession of a dominant role in the Middle East from where US influence could expand to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),” a regional grouping of post-Soviet nations.

They believed that if Russia succeeded it would force the United States to concede multi-polarity and grant Russia the recognition it deserves. That, in turn, would allow Mr. Putin to demonstrate to the Russian elite his ability to restore Russia to great power status.

Syria offered Russia the opportunity to display its military prowess without the United States challenging the move. At the same time, Russia leveraged its political and economic clout to forge an alliance with Turkey and partner with Iran. The approach constituted an effort to defang Turkish and Iranian influence in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Similarly, Russia after brutally repressing religiously inspired Chechen rebels in the 1990s, was proving to be far defter than either China or the United States at promoting politically pacifist or apolitical Islam in a complex game of playing all sides against the middle.

Russian engagement runs the gamut from engaging with militants to cooperating with Muslim autocrats to encouraging condemnation of the kind of Islam adopted by partners such as Saudi Arabia.

Said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center and a former Russian military officer: “Russia is not the Soviet Union. It does not see the Middle East as a region that it can dominate. Displacing the United States from the leading position in the Middle East is way above Russia’s capacity, and keeping the region in its sphere of influence is way above Russia’s resources. Russia has certainly benefited from waning U.S. interest in the Middle East as, absent an active America, Russia can act with more confidence and ease.”

Describing Russia as “a lonely power,” Mr. Trenin went on to say that the difference between Russia and the Soviet Union was that the “Soviet Union was heavily engaged around the Middle East in spending money on an ideological and geopolitical project, the Russian Federation is active in the region trying to make money. The Soviet Union was about an idea. Russia’s idea is about Russia itself.”

In the Great Game’s jostling for position, Mr. Trump’s America First approach mirrors Mr. Trenin’s portrayal of Russian policy. That leaves China tied up in the contradictions of a policy that is packaged in assertions of lofty ideals but like the United States and Russia is in effect first and foremost about the pursuit of Chinese interests.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. James is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title and a co-authored volume, Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa as well as Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa and recently published China and the Middle East: Venturing into the Maelstrom

#China (PRC) #china #United States #Trump #Russia #putin #europe #pakistan #saudi #saudi arabia #uae #Belt and Road Initiative

[amitku92]

22-09-2018 (Important News Clippings)

22-09-2018 (Important News Clippings)

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Date:22-09-18

For Greater Use of Plastic Waste In Roads

ET Editorials

Road construction provides a solution to the problem of plastic waste. Of the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic produced over the last 70 years, less than 10% has been recycled. That proportion can go up dramatically, with the use of discarded and waste plastic in road construction. India generates about 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste every day, only 7,000-9,000 tonnes is recycled. To increase the recycling rates, in 2015, the central government made the use of plastic waste in road construction mandatory — shredded waste plastic is mixed with bitumen at high temperatures.

Not all plastic can be used, the guidelines list plastic film (carry bags, cups), hard foam, soft foam and laminated plastics (packaging for biscuits, chocolates and chips). Several Indian cities — Pune, Indore, Surat, Chennai — are already constructing roads using the plastic-bitumen mix. These roads are longer lasting, and do not develop cracks and potholes, which account for one-tenth of the road deaths in the country. Depending on the quality of tar, plastic waste can replace 10-30% of conventional material. Some municipalities such as Surat are now working on designs to increase the volume of plastic waste that is used. More research and new products should be a focus, such as the prefabricated roads being tried out in the Netherlands. New uses, such as railway platforms, must be explored.

There are multiple benefits to mixing plastic waste into bitumen. Plastic gets recycled, instead of going into the stomachs of stray animals or the ocean bed, there is saving on the cost of bitumen, and roads enable smoother rides, reducing fuel consumption and emissions, while also becoming safer and more durable. Once recyclable plastic finds a ready use, its value will go up and households will sort the stuff from other waste.

Date:22-09-18

Punish Those Who Fabricate False Cases

ET Editorials

Rocket scientist Nambi Narayanan had his career cut short, life disrupted and life experience stretched to the prison, where he spent 50 days, because of wrongful police action, political expedience and slow judicial procedure. He was arrested in 1994 and the case against him was dismissed in 1998. Twenty years later, the Supreme Court has ordered the government of Kerala to give him Rs 50 lakh as compensation, half the amount recommended by the National Human Rights Commission earlier. Narayanan got a raw deal, but rawer still has been the experience of another, Delhi-based, scientist at the Department of Electronics, Dr Narayan Nerurkar, who was accused, in 1987, of leaking official documents of a military nature. The case against him was dismissed by a trial court 31years later. In the evening of his life, he has the satisfaction of seeing his name cleared, but has no clue if the CBI plans to appeal against the dismissal of the charges against him or if the department plans to give him his back pay and pension.

These are but two examples of miscarriage of justice, individual suffering and national loss because the victims were scientists working for government projects. It can be nobody’s case that every prosecution that fails is an act of mala fide. But some are. Some stem from lack of application of mind. Whatever motivated the prosecution, the consequence has been to shatter the lives of innocent people and their families. They must be compensated. It is equally important to act against those who initiated mala fide action resulting in the prosecution and those in a position of authority who went along, without application of mind. If only the police personnel responsible for fabricating cases and their superiors are given exemplary punishment, even after retirement, would future fabricators of false cases be deterred.

Compensation for victims and punishment of those who misuse state power resulting in grave injustice to those they were duty-bound to protect and serve, and both delivered with dispatch — this is the way to uphold justice and advance democracy.

Date:22-09-18

We are the World

India is increasingly picking up international issues that have huge domestic policy implications

Seema Sirohi , [ Seema Sirohi is a senior journalist, who writes on foreign policy and India’s place in the world. ]

Ask any American diplomat of a certain vintage and they will recount with increasing tetchiness how India “never” votes with the US at the UN. They love brandishing India’s voting record at inopportune moments with relish. Old habits die hard but the ground reality of Indo-US relations has changed so much, India’s voting record is not the main talking point any more. It’s about cooperation, confabulation and creating consensus this year. India is set to join the US in co-hosting an important meeting along with a select group of countries on the drug problem in yet another show of bonhomie.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s first official act may well be a handshake with Donald Trump as he welcomes her on Monday morning to the meeting. Trump is personally invested in the issue: the US is in the throes of a massive opioid crisis with more than 49,000 dead in 2017, a 10% increase. He declared it a national public health emergency last year. It makes all the sense for Swaraj to come forward and co-host the event — India too has a serious drug addiction problem, especially in Punjab.

India and US also cooperated — more surprisingly given the issue — to break a month-long stalemate on a political declaration on tuberculosis. It will allow poor countries to use WTO-authorised compulsory licensing provision for life-saving drugs in a public health emergency. Even though it’s been a tough bilateral issue, Indian diplomats helped craft language acceptable to both the US and developing countries. Good vibes made it possible.

As Swaraj glides through the UN meeting and greeting her many counterparts, she can break out of the subcontinental straitjacket. For one, India doesn’t have to play the tit-for-tat game on Kashmir with Pakistan because Imran Khan is not coming and New Delhi’s slot for the speech is before Islamabad’s. It means Swaraj can and should float above it all. Should Shah Mehmood Qureshi succumb to the habit and raise Kashmir, India’s Permanent Mission, headed by the sharp Syed Akbaruddin, is full of young, able diplomats who will correct the record in a “right of reply” with a deft turn of phrase. Or two.

On a Higher Chair

With Pakistan out of her hair, Swaraj can go more visibly into real estate left vacant within the UN system. UN’s peace and security agenda is stalled because the great powers can’t or won’t cooperate on Syria or Yemen or Afghanistan. Big reforms — expansion of the Security Council — are going nowhere. In the absence of US leadership, China and Russia are trying to come in but they don’t have the political clout or the money to make a real go of it. In short, everyone is looking for a new agenda and trying to guess the new normal. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is promoting a few causes — climate change, digital cooperation, peacekeeping — while trying to stay out of Trump’s considerable hair.

India has a prominent role in all three, which Swaraj can highlight. The International Solar Alliance birthed by India and France to promote clean energy was endorsed by the UN and has 70 members today. It’s taken off as one of the best and cheapest answers after more than two decades of aggravating debate on how and why the west should transfer green technology to those who need it.

Similarly, India has a seat at the table at Guterres’ first high-level panel on “digital cooperation” to address the “dark side of innovation”. Senior Indian diplomat and ambassador Amandeep Singh Gill was named executive director of the new initiative. The panel will look into cybersecurity threats, risk of cyberwarfare, spread of hate speech, privacy violations and other important issues. It must ensure the digital future is inclusive and tech superiority isn’t allowed to become a new form of colonisation.

Unlike in the past when India rallied around issues with little or zero domestic impact, it’s picking issues today that have huge domestic policy implications. Climate change, rampant pollution, disease, drugs and digital turmoil all have profound implications for an average Indian. India has also racked up solid points on South-South cooperation, especially with its contribution of $150 million for a development fund for the least developed countries. In just one year, 22 projects in 25 countries are underway.

Right Priorities

The fund comes without conditions and allows countries to design their own projects — no highly paid consultants jetting in from western capitals eating up a good chunk of the money. From Liberia to Chad to Benin to Grenada to Palau, plenty of local needs are being met. If India’s success in Afghanistan is any indication, the development fund will create genuine goodwill that debt-trap diplomacy can’t. Expect the West’s disunity to surface when Trump talks about Iran. Russia and China will chuckle. But the field remains open until members can arrive at a new normal.

Date:22-09-18

रेटिंग दी जाए तो युवाओं में बढ़ेगा निजी क्षेत्र का आकर्षण

दिवाकर झुरानी , ( फ्लेचर स्कूल, टफ्ट यूनिवर्सिटी, अमेरिका )

भारतीय सरकारी नौकरी बहुत पसंद करते हैं। लोकनीति- सीएसडीएस सर्वे बताता है कि सरकारी नौकरी का यह आकर्षण वक्त के साथ बढ़ा ही है। सरकारी जॉब को तरजीह देने वाले २००७ में ६२ फीसदी थे, जो २०१६ में ६५ फीसदी हो गए। इसी अवधि में प्राइवेट जॉब को तरजीह देने वाले १३ फीसदी से घटकर ७ फीसदी हो गए। एक कारण जॉब सिक्योरिटी है। ४५ फीसदी युवाओं ने यह बात मानी है। दूसरी वजह सरकारी नौकरी के लिए अतिरिक्त सामाजिक सम्मान है। फिर सरकारी जॉब जो निश्चितता और वर्कलाइफ देतेप्रतीत होते हैं, निजी क्षेत्र उसकी बराबरी नहीं कर पाया है।

कुछ लोगों ने शिकायत की कि निजी क्षेत्र कर्मचारियों पर काम का बहुत दबाव डालता है, कुछ ने कहा कि वहां काम करने का अच्छा माहौल नहीं होता और कुछ नेकम तनख्वाह की शिकायत की। एक संकेतक कर्मचारियों का छोड़कर जाना है। हम सुनते रहते हैं कि कोई व्यक्ति एक कंपनी छोड़कर दूसरे में चला गया। सार्वजनिक क्षेत्र में ऐसे कितने लोगों को हम जानते हैं? जाहिर है कि निजी क्षेत्र वह जॉब संतुष्टि नहीं दे पा रहा है, जो सार्वजनिक क्षेत्र दे रहा है। लेकिन, हम सब जानते हैं निजी क्षेत्र में रोजगार की कहीं ज्यादा संभावनाएं हैं। फिर निजी क्षेत्र की सारी ही कंपनियों में कर्मचारियों के प्रतिकूल माहौल नहीं है। कुछ में तो शानदार कार्य-संस्कृति, फायदे और कॅरिअर में तरक्की के अवसर मौजूद हैं। लेकिन, आम धारण गलत होने से इन कंपनियों को भी श्रेष्ठ कर्मचारी नहीं मिलते। फिर निजी क्षेत्र के प्रति कर्मचारियों में आकर्षण बढ़ाने के लिए क्या करना चाहिए?

एक तरीका यह है कि सरकार स्वतंत्र एजेंसी नियुक्त करें, जो कर्मचारियों संबंधी मानकों पर कंपनियों को रेटिंग दे। यह उसी तरह होगा जैसे सरकार विश्वविद्यालयों को रेटिंग देती है। इससे कर्मचारियों को यह जानने में मदद मिलेगी कि जॉब सुरक्षा, वेतन, कार्य-संस्कृति, पेंशन आदि मानकों पर कौन-सी कंपनी बेहतर है। इससे उनका जॉब सेटिस्फेक्शन बढ़ेगा, क्योंकि वे अपनी पसंद की कंपनी में काम कर रहे होंगे। आगे जानेका रास्ता भारत की सारी कंपनियों की सालाना एम्प्लायर रेटिंग प्रकाशित करना है। ऐसी रेटिंग प्रणाली कर्मचारी, सरकार व निजी क्षेत्र सभी के लिए फायदेकी बात होगी। कर्मचारी फायदे में होंगे क्योंकि बेहतर प्रतिभाओं को आकर्षित करनेके लिए कंपनियां कार्य-संस्कृति में सुधार लाकर अधिक रेटिंग प्राप्त करनेकी कोशिश करेंगी। सरकार को यह फायदा होगा कि निजी क्षेत्र के प्रति असंतोष घटने से सरकारी नौकरियों की मांग घटेगी। यहां तक कि निजी कंपनियां भी फायदे में होंगी, क्योंकि उन्हें ऐसेकर्मचारी मिलेंगे, जो उनके साथ काम करनेके लिए उत्सुक होंगे, वे अधिक संतुष्ट होंगे और छोड़कर जाने वालेकर्मचारियों की संख्या घटेगी तथा नई प्रतिभा तलाशनेकी लागत भी घटेगी। भारत की आर्थिक वृद्धि बढ़ानेके लिए उच्च उत्पादकता निर्णायक है। कई शोध अध्ययनों सेसिद्ध हुआ है कि जॉब संतुष्टि के साथ उत्पादकता बढ़ती है। एक कॉमन एम्प्लायर रेटिंग सिस्टम सही कर्मचारियों को सही कंपनियों से जोड़ने में मदद करेगी।

Date:22-09-18

रुपए की फिसलन थामने के जतन

सरकार डॉलर की मांग घटाने हेतु चाह रही है कि गैरजरूरी आयात कम करें। लेकिन यह बीते जमाने का टोटका है। इससे बात नहीं बनेगी।

विवेक कौल , (लेखक अर्थशास्त्री हैं, जिन्होंने ईजी मनी ट्रायलॉजी लिखी है)

इस वित्तीय वर्ष की शुरुआत यानी अप्रैल 2018 में एक डॉलर का मूल्य 65 रुपए से थोड़ा अधिक था। लेकिन अब 19 सितंबर को डॉलर का मूल्य 73 रुपए से ऊपर बंद हुआ। सभी जानना चाहते हैं कि आखिर ऐसा क्यों हो रहा है? इसे समझने के लिए एक उदाहरण तो सब्जियों और फलों के ऊपर-नीचे होते दाम हैं। प्याज कभी 20 रुपए किलो बिकता है और कभी 70-80 रुपये किलो तक भी चढ़ जाता है। प्याज 70-80 रुपए किलो तब बिकता है, जब किन्हीं वजहों से उसकी आपूर्ति घटती है, परंतु मांग बनी रहती है। यही बात अन्य सब्जियों और फलों पर भी लागू होती है।

लगभग यही बात रुपये और डॉलर पर भी लागू होती है। जब कभी डॉलर की मांग बढ़ जाती है, तब रुपये का मूल्य गिर जाता है। विश्व व्यापार प्रणाली डॉलर के बलबूते पर चलती है। देश निर्यात करके डॉलर कमाते हैं और फिर उससे ही आयात करते हैं। भारत निर्यात से ज्यादा आयात करता है। इसकी वजह से हर साल व्यापार घाटा होता है। अप्रैल से अगस्त 2018 के दौरान भारत का व्यापार घाटा 80.5 बिलियन डॉलर रहा। इस वित्तीय वर्ष में 136 बिलियन डॉलर का कुल निर्यात हुआ, पर आयात हुआ 216.5 बिलियन डॉलर का। इसका मतलब यह हुआ कि निर्यात से भारत ने जितने डॉलर कमाए, वे आयात के दाम देने के लिए पर्याप्त नहीं। अब प्रश्न उठेगा कि हमारे पास डॉलर आ कहां से रहे हैं? एक तो विदेशी निवेशक डॉलर लाते हैं। यह निवेश या तो प्रत्यक्ष विदेशी निवेश यानी एफडीआई के रूप में होता है या फिर विदेशी पोर्टफोलियो निवेश के रूप में। जब विदेशी निवेशक प्रत्यक्ष विदेशी निवेश के रूप में डॉलर लाते हैं, तो उस पैसे से या तो कंपनियां खरीदी जाती हैं या नई कंपनियां बनाई जाती हैं। पोर्टफोलियो इन्वेस्टमेंट वाला पैसा शेयर बाजार और ऋण बाजार में लगाया जाता है।

लेकिन यहां पर यह भी ध्यान रहे कि विदेशी निवेशक डॉलर बाहर भी ले जाते हैं। इस साल अप्रैल से जुलाई के बीच विदेशी निवेशक के���ल 4.2 बिलियन डॉलर देश में लाए। इसे शुद्ध निवेश कहा जा सकता है। यह 2014 से अब तक की सबसे कम रकम है। अब विदेशी निवेशक ऋण बाजार से अपना पैसा निकाल रहे हैं। उन्होंने यह पैसा अमेरिका और योरप से बहुत कम ब्याज दरों पर उठाकर भारत में लगाया था। तब भारत में ब्याज दरें अधिक थीं, इसलिए कमाई की गुंजाइश थी। चूंकि अब अमेरिका और योरप में ब्याज दरें बढ़ सकती हैं, इसलिए विदेशी निवेशक भारत से डॉलर निकाल रहे हैं। यह सिलसिला कुछ समय तक कायम रह सकता है। डॉलर का एक और स्रोत सेवाएं हैं। हमारी इन्फॉर्मेशन टेक्नोलॉजी कंपनियां विदेश में अपनी सेवाओं से डॉलर कमाकर भारत लाती हैं। इसी तरह विदेशी पर्यटक भारत आते हैं, तो डॉलर रुपए में बदल कर खर्च करते हैं। इस सबसे कुल 25.9 बिलियन डॉलर अप्रैल से जुलाई के बीच देश में आया। यह पिछले साल के मुकाबले 10 प्रतिशत अधिक था।

डॉलर का एक और बड़ा स्रोत रेमिटेंस भी है। जो भारतीय देश से बाहर काम करते हैं, वे अपने घर पैसा डॉलर के रूप में भेजते हैं। इस साल अप्रैल से जून के बीच रेमिटेंस के जरिए देश में 17 बिलियन डॉलर रकम आई। यह पिछले साल के मुकाबले 18.4 प्रतिशत अधिक थी। इसके बावजूद ये सब डॉलर 80.5 बिलियन डॉलर के व्यापार घाटे को पाटने के लिए काफी नहीं और इसीलिए डॉलर की मांग बढ़ रही है और उसके मुकाबले रुपये का मूल्य गिर रहा है। भारतीय रिजर्व बैंक ने इस गिरावट को रोकने की काफी कोशिश की। मार्च के अंत में रिजर्व बैंक का विदेशी मुद्रा भंडार करीब 399 बिलियन डॉलर था। अगस्त के अंत तक वह 376 बिलियन डॉलर पर आ गया। इसका मतलब यह हुआ कि रिजर्व बैंक ने अपने मुद्रा भंडार से डॉलर बेचकर और रुपया खरीदकर डॉलर की आपूर्ति बढ़ाने की जो कोशिश की, उससे रुपए का गिरना बंद तो नहीं हुआ, लेकिन गति थोड़ी धीमी जरूर हुई।

व्यापार घाटा बढ़ने की बड़ी वजह है अंतरराष्ट्रीय बाजार में तेल के दामों का बढ़ना। भारत में तेल की जितनी खपत होती है, उसका 80 फीसदी से अधिक हिस्सा आयात होता है। चूंकि अंतरराष्ट्रीय बाजार में तेल अमेरिकी डॉलर में बेचा जाता है इसलिए जब भी तेल के दाम बढ़ते हैं, तो भारत में अमेरिकी डॉलर की मांग बढ़ जाती है। इस साल अप्रैल से अगस्त के बीच कच्चे तेल का औसत दाम करीब 72.9 डॉलर प्रति बैरल रहा, जबकि पिछले साल इसी अवधि में वह 49.6 डॉलर प्रति बैरल था। इसकी वजह से तेल आयात पर हुआ खर्च अप्रैल से जुलाई के बीच 59 फीसदी बढ़कर 39.1 बिलियन डॉलर हो गया। चूंकि भारत निर्यात से पर्याप्त डॉलर नहीं कमाता, इसलिए विश्व बाजार में तेल का दाम जब भी बढ़ेंगे, रुपये का मूल्य गिरेगा। पिछले कई सालों से भारत का निर्यात बढ़ नहीं रहा है। वर्ष 2011-12 में कुल निर्यात 306 बिलियन डॉलर था और 2017-18 में यह 303 बिलियन डॉलर रहा। कच्चे तेल के अलावा भारत का गैर तेल आयात भी बढ़ रहा है और उससे भी डॉलर की मांग बढ़ रही है। इस वर्ष अप्रैल से अगस्त तक हमारा गैर तेल आयात 57.6 बिलियन डॉलर रहा। यह 2014-2015 के बाद सबसे अधिक रहा।

आखिर किया क्या जाए, ताकि रुपए को डॉलर के मुकाबले गिरने से बचाया जा सके? नि:संदेह यह नहीं हो सकता कि रिजर्व बैंक डॉलर बेचता रहे और रुपए को गिरने से बचाता रहे, क्योंकि उसके पास असीमित डॉलर नहीं हैं और यह जाहिर ही है कि अप्रैल से अगस्त के बीच डॉलर बेचकर भी रुपए में गिरावट को रोका नहीं जा सका। सरकार डॉलर की मांग कम करने के लिए यह चाह रही है कि गैरजरूरी आयात कम किए जाएं। लेकिन यह 1970-80 के दशक का टोटका है। इससे बात बनने वाली नहीं है। भारत जो तमाम वस्तुएं आयात करता है, जैसे कच्चा तेल, इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स एवं रक्षा उत्पाद, सोना आदि वह भारत में बनता ही नहीं। अगर इन चीजों का देश में आना महंगा हो जाएगा, तो मुद्रास्फीति की दर बढ़ सकती है। इसके अलावा तस्करों की चांदी हो सकती है। यह सही है कि भारतीय देश से बाहर घूमने-पढ़ने में बहुत अधिक पैसा खर्च कर रहे हैं और इससे भी डॉलर की मांग बढ़ रही है। लेकिन आखिर इसे रोका कैसे जा सकता है?

मौजूदा माहौल में डॉलर की आपूर्ति बढ़ाने के लिए बेहतर होगा कि प्रत्यक्ष विदेशी निवेश को और खोला जाए। मल्टीब्रांड फॉरेन रिटेलिंग में सौ फीसदी विदेशी निवेश की अनुमति देने पर भी विचार किया जा सकता है। इसके अलावा निर्यात बढ़ाने की भी गंभीर कोशिशें होनी चाहिए। कुछ अर्थशास्त्रियों का विचार है कि भारत सरकार को अनिवासी भारतीयों के लिए एक बांड जारी करना चाहिए। एक शॉर्टकट के रूप में यह एक अच्छा विचार है, लेकिन हमारी सरकार जब तक संरचनात्मक कारणों पर ध्यान नहीं देगी, तब तक डॉलर के मुकाबले रुपए की कमजोरी बरकरार ही रहेगी।

Date:21-09-18

आ गया अध्यादेश

संपादकीय

नरेन्द्र मोदी सरकार द्वारा तीन तलाक पर अध्यादेश लाना पहले से तय था। जिस तरह सरकार तीन तलाक के विरु द्ध कानून बनाने के प्रति अडिग थी उसमें यही चारा बचा था। लोक सभा में पारित होने के बावजूद राज्य सभा में रु क जाने के बाद सरकार के पास अध्यादेश का ही विकल्प बचता है। अच्छा होता कि यह संसद में पारित हो जाता। तीन तलाक का जैसा दुरूपयोग हो रहा है, उसे न रोकने का अर्थ है, कानून के राज की अस्वीकृति। महिलाओं के साथ अन्याय हो और सरकार और समाज उसके साथ खड़ा नहीं हो, इस कुप्रथा को रोकने के लिए कदम नहीं उठाया जाए तो इसका अर्थ यही होगा कि हमारे अंदर मनुष्यता नहीं है। सर्वोच्च न्यायालय द्वारा अवैध करार दिए जाने के बावजूद मिनटों में तीन तलाक देकर महिलाओं को घर से बाहर निकालने की क्रूरता जारी है।

पिछले साल जनवरी से 13 सितम्बर 2018 तक देश में तीन तलाक के 430 मामले संज्ञान में आए हैं। इनमें 229 मामले 22 अगस्त 2017 के उच्चतम न्यायालय के फैसले के पहले के हैं और 201 मामले फैसले के बाद के हैं। साफ है वहशी मानसिकता वाले सर्वोच्च न्यायालय का आदेश मानने को तैयार नहीं है। पीड़ित महिला जब थाने पहुंचती है तो थानेदार स्वयं को कानून के अभाव में लाचार पाता है। अध्यादेश के बाद कम-से कम छह महीने के लिए तो कानून अस्तित्व में आ गया है। अब पत्नी को मौखिक, लिखित या इलेक्ट्रॉनिक माध्यमों से तलाक देना गैरकानूनी होगा। तीन साल की सजा और जुर्माने का प्रावधान है। नाबालिग बच्चे के पालन-पोषण की जिम्मेदारी पीड़िता को मिलेगी और पीड़िता और नाबालिग बच्चे के भरण-पोषण के लिए उसका पति मजिस्ट्रेट द्वारा तय पैसे देगा।

हालांकि इसमें मजिस्ट्रेट को जमानत का अधिकार दे दिया गया है जो ठीक ही है। मजिस्ट्रेट को पति-पत्नी के बीच समझौता कराकर शादी बरकरार रखने का भी अधिकार होगा। इस तरह यह काननू कठोर और उदार दोनों चरित्र ��िये हुए है। तलाक के बाद यदि मजिस्ट्रेट के समझाने से पति मान जाता है और पत्नी उसके साथ जाने को तैयार हो जाती है, इससे बेहतर बात कुछ हो नहीं सकती। पहले इसके लिए भी कोई तंत्र उपलब्ध नहीं था। हालांकि मुस्लिम समाज में तलाक हो जाने पर हलाला के बाद ही पूर्व पति के साथ निकाह की कुप्रथा है। इसे रोकने के लिए भी कानून बनाए जाने की जरूरत है ताकि अगर पति-पत्नी समझौता कर साथ आते हैं तो उनके सामने ऐसी कोई बाधा न रहे।

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Trump’s Volatility in Asia Distresses a Longtime U.S. Ally: Australia

By Damien Cave, NY Times, May 1, 2017

DARWIN, Australia--South Korea, Japan and the United States have grown accustomed to North Korea’s diatribes, but Pyongyang recently threatened a new target with a nuclear strike: Australia.

During a visit by Vice President Mike Pence to Sydney, the North warned Australia to think twice about “blindly and zealously toeing the U.S. line” and acting as “a shock brigade of the U.S. master.”

Australian and American troops have fought side by side in every major conflict since World War I, and there are few militaries in the world with closer relations: 1,250 United States Marines recently arrived in Darwin for six months of joint exercises; the two countries share intelligence from land, sea and even outer space; and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is slated to meet President Trump on Thursday on an aircraft carrier in New York.

But North Korea’s threat against the country, far-fetched as it might seem, is an example of how Australia’s most important military alliance faces a new challenge: the risk that President Trump will draw the nation into a conflict or other unexpected crisis that destabilizes the region, angers its trading partners or forces it to side with either the United States or China.

“The question is: What might America drag Australia into?” said Ashley Townshend, a research fellow at the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney. “That’s a very scary thought for Australians, many of whom perceive Donald Trump to be an erratic and highly self-interested commander in chief.”

Mr. Trump has already embarrassed Australia once, with an abrupt phone call to Mr. Turnbull that seemed to dismiss Australia’s historic role as a friend who often gives more than it gets. Now his unpredictable approach is fueling a national debate about Australia’s relationship with the world, and especially the United States. Last week, Paul Keating, a prime minister during the Clinton years, reignited discussion by arguing that Australia must end its status as a “client state.”

Australia is essentially caught between two powers: China, its largest trading partner, and the United States, its faithful ally, with a military connection that has been strengthened by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more recent agreements to gradually expand the American footprint in Darwin.

What Australia and the United States are now trying to work out is how to manage that military momentum in an increasingly tense part of the world. If the military is a hammer in the Trump era, at what point does every dispute start to look like a nail?

“It’s always important that there’s a balance between the military and the diplomatic--because of the scale of the military,” Mr. Keating said in an interview. “In both economic terms and in strategic terms, they squeeze diplomacy out.”

Darwin, a humid, crocodile-infested coastal city at the northern end of this vast country, captures the past, present and future of Australia’s alliance with the United States.

Japan attacked the city on Feb. 19, 1942, killing 235 people, and residents are quick to point out that the raids were led by the same commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor 10 weeks earlier.

Within a few months, Darwin became a hub for counterstrikes from bombers flown by Americans. A pocket guide for arriving American troops set the tone: “You’re going to meet a people who like Americans and whom you will like.”

During the Cold War, the relationship expanded.

Kim Beazley, a former defense minister and ambassador to the United States, cited the rise during the 1960s of three joint installations to maintain contact with American submarines in the Indian Ocean and provide infrared detection of Soviet capabilities, increasing the warning time for a potential Soviet strike to 30 minutes from 15.

Those installations and the ones that followed--especially Pine Gap, a joint Australian-American spy base that helps provide battlefield intelligence and early warnings for missile launches around the world--”are never talked about, but they’re really the guts of the alliance,” Mr. Beazley said.

On the ground in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, Australian troops are also peers in battle, said Lt. Col. Brian S. Middleton, commanding officer of the Third Battalion, Fourth Marines--the American unit that just moved into Darwin for six months of training with the Australians.

As part of the American pivot to Asia, the long-term plan, negotiated under the Obama administration, is to send up to 2,500 Marines to Darwin--the largest deployment of United States forces to Australia since World War II. “It’ll make us more effective in whatever conflict we end up serving in together,” said Kelly Magsamen, the Pentagon’s top Asia-Pacific policy official at the end of the Obama administration.

Other American officials said that in space, missile defense and cyberwarfare, the Australians are all in. Australia is working with the United States to relocate a special radar that helps better track satellites. The Australian military is also making a big push in innovation in undersea warfare and drones in the air and underwater.

And in many cases, that means purchases of American equipment. An Australian defense planning report last year laid out a $20 billion increase in the annual military budget by 2025, including money for fighter jets, surveillance technology, submarines, surface ships and other equipment.

Australians are embedded at every level of the American military. Australian Air Commodore Phillip Champion’s story is common: He first worked with the Americans as a young pilot in the early ‘80s, flying surveillance aircraft, and later as a commander all over the world, including Afghanistan.

“We’ve grown up together,” he said in an interview by phone from Hawaii, where he has been posted to the United States Pacific Command since January. “We trust each other and know we can operate together.”

Still, there have been challenges. In a discussion last year about the cost of the Marines in Darwin, the Australians came in with a data-heavy presentation asserting that United States Marines eat more than typical Australian soldiers, and therefore strain sewage systems more, and argued that the Americans should pay more of the costs of improving wastewater lines on military bases. The proposal stunned even the lead Australian negotiators, who quickly dropped it, according to American defense officials.

The toughest issues have involved China, the crucial lever of influence with North Korea and the region. Some American officials have urged Australia to engage in robust freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, where China has set up bases on disputed islands, but the Australians have resisted.

Last year, American officials also expressed alarm about a port in Darwin that local officials leased to a Chinese company for $361 million, possibly making it easier to collect intelligence on American and Australian forces stationed nearby.

“China is the elephant in the room for both of us,” Ms. Magsamen said. “We need to have a more frank and structured discussion amongst ourselves about how to manage that relationship.”

Allan Gyngell, who ran Australia’s intelligence agency from 2009 to 2013, argues in a new book, “Fear of Abandonment,” that Australia’s foreign policy is still driven by worries about being left isolated, without the promise of security from a powerful friend: first Britain, now the United States.

Mr. Keating, the former prime minister, is among those urging a more independent foreign policy in which Australia accepts China as the region’s dominant power.

In the discussion last week at the Lowy Institute, a think tank in Sydney, Mr. Keating said Australia should say no to the United States more often--as France and Canada do--especially on issues that affect Australia’s relationship with China.

Those who reject this argument include John Howard, the prime minister who followed Mr. Keating and was in Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. In an interview at his modest office, with worn carpets and military memorabilia, Mr. Howard warned against being “mesmerized by China” and said his Liberal Party, which is the more conservative of the country’s two largest parties, had “pulled off the daily double.”

“We deepened our relationship with the U.S.--and China became our biggest customer,” he said.

He added that too many Australians were jumping to conclusions about President Trump. “He’s different,” Mr. Howard said. “Whether he’s good different or bad different is not the point; the world has to get used to him.”

In Darwin too, there are divisions. Luke Bowen, who heads an economic development agency for the Northern Territory, which includes Darwin, would like to see even more American troops and equipment move in to the area, possibly from the Philippines.

“It’s a priority for us to make the fit as comfortable as possible,” he said. “It’s not just about the Australian presence. It’s about the combined presence.”

But Justin Tutty, who works with a watchdog group that monitors the impact of the American Marines, said he was worried about “a one-sided relationship” in which the Americans lay out the priorities.

“The overinvestment in ‘interoperability’ ties us closer to our larger foreign partner’s attack formation, and reduces our capacity to act, relate and think independently,” he said.

Last week for Anzac Day, commemorating Australians and New Zealanders who died in battle, American Marines and Australian soldiers marched through Darwin’s streets together. Later, there were friendly games of rugby, and infantrymen shared war stories.

“The Australians have been fighting in the same places we’ve fought for over 100 years,” said Colonel Middleton of the Marines. “When we operate with the Australians, we learn as much from them as they learn from us.”

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