Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Source- Eurasia Review Author- Syed Badrul Ahsan / South Asia Mirror Pakistan’s politicians are quite a sight these days: they are hopping mad; they are huffing and puffing. They simply have no idea what to do about Bangladesh. After all, the sovereign nation which was once their eastern province, has had the audacity to send their ageing, Bengali-speaking loyalists to the gallows one after the other. These five men who have faced justice have not merely been proven to have committed crimes against humanity in 1971. In a larger way – and that is why Pakistanis like Sartaj Aziz have gone apoplectic – the evidence against the five collaborators is also a clear reflection once again of the guilt of the state of Pakistan itself. The war crimes trials remind Sartaj Aziz of the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, in the name of Islam, in Bangladesh. The discomfort is palpable. Of course we have always known that. Pakistan’s leaders and people have also known

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons Source- Eurasia Review Author- Michael Lelyveld China’s growing debt levels have continued to raise doubts about the country’s financial management after warnings that shadowy lending practices are putting banks and investors at risk. The government has waged a publicity campaign to calm financial concerns since March, when two international bond rating agencies lowered outlooks for China to “negative” from “stable,” citing slow reforms and faster loan growth. The findings by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P’s) and Moody’s Investors Service were followed by a warning from Fitch Ratings in April that debt levels had become “a mounting source of systemic vulnerability.” The government dismissed the reports last month after announcing that China’s gross domestic product rose at a 6.7-percent rate in the first quarter, keeping within the official target range. The results proved that the rating agency “pessimism”

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Leon Panetta Source- Eurasia Review Author- Alireza Rezakhah Zachary Schreiber correctly predicted a drastic fall in global oil prices two years ago and is now issuing warnings over a financial catastrophe in Saudi Arabia. He has recently projected that Saudi Arabia will become bankrupt in terms of its financial structure because the country is facing two threats, that is, very high costs in the face of plummeting oil prices. Schreiber says that Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly suffering from high debts right now. According to his report, Saudi Arabia needs an oil price of over 100 dollars per barrel in order to make the ends meet. Schreiber has also noted that Saudi Arabia’s extravagant social programs are at loggerheads with reducing oil prices. The foreign exchange reserves of Saudi Arabia’s central bank previously stood at about USD 600 billion, but Saudis had totally squandered about USD 140 billion of those reserves between late 2014 an

Gwadar Port ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Umar Gondal) Source- Eurasia Review Author- Alvin Cheng-Hin Lim It has just been over a year since Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during his inaugural state visit to Pakistan in April 2015. What has been the progress of the construction of the megaproject since then? Zhang Baozhong, the chairman of China Overseas Ports, the company that will run the Pakistani port of Gwadar, stated in late April 2016 that Gwadar will commence full operations by the end of 2016. Gwadar is essential to CPEC as it will connect CPEC with shipping on the Arabian Sea; and being close to the Straits of Hormuz, will serve as a strategic gateway for Middle Eastern oil shipments to be transported overland to China via CPEC’s planned oil pipelines. Logistics will be transformed by CPEC, as container ships that today have to make the “the nearly 13,000 km sea voyage from Tianjin to the Persian Gulf t

Chinese DF-41 ICBM ( Credits- YouTube) Source- Eurasia Review Author- Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan Earlier this month, China tested its longest range intercontinental ballistic missile, DF-41.  This solid-fueled road mobile missile, tested on April 12, is considered more advanced than earlier Chinese missiles of the ICBM-class such as the DF-31 and is reported to have the range to hit any part of the US mainland.  Commenting on the test, US Strategic Command Commander Adm. Cecil Haney noted that China’s testing of missiles carrying multiple, independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) reflect a growing focus and investment in both conventional and strategic forces.  The DF-41 is certainly one of the newer missiles and may be considered as more potent, but is it a game changer in the Asia Pacific theatre? The news about the testing was first reported by Bill Gertz in Washington Free Beacon on April 19.  While there were reports that suggested that DF-41 developme

South China Sea Dispute ( Credits- VOA) Source- Eurasia Review Author- Felix K. Chang Ever since China declared an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea in late 2013, many wondered whether China would do the same over its claims in the South China Sea. Early this year, the United States began to publicly warn China that it would not recognize a Chinese ADIZ over the South China Sea. Given the timing of its admonition, Washington seemed like it was preparing for a Chinese reaction to a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on a Philippine case against China’s South China Sea claims, which is expected in May. China’s declaration of an ADIZ over the East China Sea caught many off guard. Perhaps to prevent a recurrence, the United States chose to signal China in advance. Naturally, China’s defense ministry retorted that Beijing had every right to establish an ADIZ over the South China Sea. After all, Beijing considers the area within its “n

USS John C. Stennis ( Image credits- Flickr / United States Navy) Source- Eurasia Review Author- MINA  China has denied a US request for an aircraft carrier group led by USS John C. Stennis to make a port visit to Hong Kong, the US State Department said on Friday, confirming earlier media reports. Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said another US warship, the USS Blue Ridge, was currently in Hong Kong on a stop-over and the US expected that to continue. Urban added that the request for a Hong Kong visit by the carrier and its strike group, which have been patrolling the South China Sea, was recently denied, despite a “long track record of successful port visits to Hong Kong.” The Chinese government, as well as the country’s embassy in Washington did not comment. The warship requested a port call permit early on Thursday. The South China Morning Post newspaper, citing the Chinese Foreign Ministry, reported that port calls by US warships and m

Silk Route (Image credits- Wikimedia Commons) Source- Eurasia Review Author- Alvin Cheng- Hin Lim China-bashing has predictably reemerged as a familiar theme in the current 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, with the frontrunners of both parties attacking China for having committed a myriad of alleged outrages against U.S. interests.1 Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, is of special interest, as she had prominently accused China of engaging in neocolonialism in Africa during her 2011 visit to Zambia in her position at the time as U.S. Secretary of State.2 The Chinese have not forgotten this slight, and the state-owned Xinhua news agency recently published an opinion piece critiquing Clinton’s accusation of China’s alleged neocolonialism, concluding that: “Accusing China of being a neo-colonialist in Africa puts the biased West in an absurd scenario where the robber acts like the cop.”3 As I recounted last year, China has indeed been very active with its va

Shahab-3 Ballistic Missile Source- Wikimedia Commons / Hossein Velayati) Source- Eurasia Review Author- Reza Nasri After the conclusion of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a major change has taken place in the legal status of “Iran’s missile activities,” which has received less attention from critics of President Hassan Rouhani at home. Before JCPOA, Iran’s missile activities were considered “illegal” both from the viewpoint of the “international law” and from the standpoint of the United States’ domestic legal system and within both legal frameworks, “violators” were exposed to heavy punishments. However, following the nuclear agreement, Iran’s missile activities have been rendered “legal” within framework of international law and are now considered illegal solely under domestic laws of the United States (which no country, including Iran is obligated to follow suit with). This development is considered a