The Times of India (October 3rd, 2010) echoing an article by Selig Harrison (New York Times, August 27th, 2010) reports that there might be 10 000 Chinese troops in the region of Gilgit-Baltistan, North Pakistan). The Indian newspaper also mention the delivery of 17 Chinese Thunder Jets fighters as well as precision guides missiles. The report has been denied by Pakistani and Chinese authorities. After these latest sources the presence of Chinese workers in North Pakistan is mainly for humanitarian purposes and road reconstruction, in the aftermath of the massive floods and landslides that affected the area.
In an audio recording, the second in 2 days, Bin Laden, noting that while the General Secretary of the UN, Ban Ki Moon, has visited the sites of these natural catastrophes, expresses his dismay at the fact that "no Arab leader came to witness the disaster despite the short distances and claims of brotherhood".
Would the Jihadist in Chief begin to wonder about Islam's multisecular inability and failure to create solidarity reflexes even between - not speaking about members of the human species - Muslims and Muslim States.
If the tree is to be judged from its fruit, the most patent failure of Islam is to have been unable to transcend the clanic cultural structure, to be in fact merely a hypostasis of it, to have conceived the Umma as a bunch of clans where what, eventually, really matters is the internal solidarity not even of nations but of clans.
The Times of India (October 5t, 2010) reports that the caretaker government of Nepal has "finalized a draft for an extradition law paving the way for an extradition treaty with India. ... which would allow India to seek extradition of individuals from third countries. In the light of ISI activities in Nepal India has been pressing Nepal for [such] a revised extradition treaty". Reminds me that a staff member of the US Ambassy in Kathmandu I met on a flight Delhi-Kathmandu had told me about the uneasiness of the USA with the porosity of the Indo-Nepalese Terai border and the laxity of controls, at Tribhuvan airport, of direct flights from Pakistan to Kathmandu.
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Sunday 3 October 2010
China to build rail link to AfPak, Uzbekistan
The Times of India (October 1st, 2010) reports "After bagging crucial road, rail and infrastructure projects across India's neighbourhood, China is now set to enter Afghanistan [...] brokering a massive political and business deal that will result in rail links between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia." A 700 km line would run through the Taliban infested areas to the Aynak copper mines while connecting them with Kabul and sea ports in two neighbouring countries, Iran (Bandar Abbas) and Pakistan(Gwadar).
If it does so, China - already controlling waterways and one port in Myanmar (Sittwe), East of India, to provide a shortcut and direct access to the Bay of Bengal, and avoid having to convey freight from Western China to Shanghai or Hong Kong and then through the Malacca straights - as well as in Hambantota, Sri Lanka (natural gaz refinery and fuel storage facilities), will achieve her aim of strategically not only bypassing but also encircling India while provinding easy access to Africa and the West.
Let's hope that China is not as presumptuous and naive about Islam as the West has been. First she seems to bet on the success of American pacification effort in Afghanistan and North West Pakistan. Second easing communication between Afpak and Central Asia will also end up do so not only for freight but also for travellers, tourists and - why not ? - militant islamists. If China has shown that she can think for the long term, the need of natural resources, power and influence, plus tht to escape what it feels as being cornered by the US and NATO, should not have her forget that Islam thinks at the scale of History and unwillingly feed the seeds of islamic insurgency in Sinkiang, Chinese Turkestan, on her own territory.
If it does so, China - already controlling waterways and one port in Myanmar (Sittwe), East of India, to provide a shortcut and direct access to the Bay of Bengal, and avoid having to convey freight from Western China to Shanghai or Hong Kong and then through the Malacca straights - as well as in Hambantota, Sri Lanka (natural gaz refinery and fuel storage facilities), will achieve her aim of strategically not only bypassing but also encircling India while provinding easy access to Africa and the West.
Let's hope that China is not as presumptuous and naive about Islam as the West has been. First she seems to bet on the success of American pacification effort in Afghanistan and North West Pakistan. Second easing communication between Afpak and Central Asia will also end up do so not only for freight but also for travellers, tourists and - why not ? - militant islamists. If China has shown that she can think for the long term, the need of natural resources, power and influence, plus tht to escape what it feels as being cornered by the US and NATO, should not have her forget that Islam thinks at the scale of History and unwillingly feed the seeds of islamic insurgency in Sinkiang, Chinese Turkestan, on her own territory.
China tightens Rules in NW Sinkiang
Read New York Times October 19, 2008 article by Edward Wong "Wary of Islam, China Tightens a Vise of Rules".
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