cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2813194

• Russia started producing new long-range attack drone last year, intelligence sources say
• More than 2,500 Garpiya drones were produced in the year to July, intelligence shows
• New Russian-made drone has Chinese engines and parts, documents indicate
• Garpiya would reduce Russian reliance on Iranian drones, expert says

Russia started producing a new long-range attack drone called the Garpiya-A1 last year using Chinese engines and parts, which it has deployed in the war in Ukraine, according to two sources from a European intelligence agency.

The intelligence – which included a production contract for the new drone, company correspondence on the manufacturing process and financial documents - indicated that IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned weapons maker Almaz-Antey, produced more than 2,500 Garpiyas from July 2023 to July 2024.

The existence of the new Russian drone incorporating Chinese technology has not been previously reported. IEMZ Kupol and Almaz-Antey did not respond to requests for comment.

The two intelligence sources said that the Garpiya, which means Harpy in Russian, has been deployed against military and civilian targets in Ukraine, causing damage to critical infrastructure as well as both civilian and military casualties.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2806863

The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region.

The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait.

Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the one issued on Wednesday and another in April 2022.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2787282

Archived link

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has castigated fellow EU member states that do business with China, saying his own country is an example of surviving “without Russian gas and Chinese contracts”.

[...]

“As we see our partners and friends in Europe signing new contracts with China, we warn of the dangers of those contracts... We are an example that it is possible to survive without Russian gas and Chinese contracts,” the Lithuanian foreign minister told a press conference.

[...]

According to Landsbergis, the EU should have a common strategy towards China. “As is often the case in Europe, 27 states create 27 different interests. Our opponents are able to exploit this,” he insisted.

[...]

“Our team is carrying a message of concern to Europe about increasing partnership between China and Russia. China’s support for Russian defence industrial base, its efforts behind the scenes to support Russia in its battlefield aims in Ukraine have been devastating and concerning,” Campbell said.

[...]

Meanwhile, [United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt] Campbell said that Lithuania was the country that had come under the most pressure from China when it allowed Taipei to open a representative office under the name of “Taiwan”.

[...]

[Edit typo.]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2778153

Uyghur human rights group calls out UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for his weak response to China’s genocidal policies

Archived link

In a pointed response to the statement delivered by Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the 57th session of the Human Rights Council, Justice For All‘s Save Uyghur Campaign strongly criticizes his failure to address the egregious human rights abuses committed against the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Chinese-occupied East Turkistan.

On August 31, 2022, after a multi-year assessment, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concluded that “serious human rights violations have been committed” in East Turkistan. Justice For All is outraged that, after two years, the Chinese government not only defies the OHCHR assessment’s findings but also steadfastly refuses to implement the High Commissioner’s urgent recommendations.

These include the immediate release of all individuals arbitrarily detained, an end to all forms of intimidation and reprisals against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in East Turkistan and abroad, and a thorough investigation into allegations of horrific human rights abuses, including torture, sexual violence, forced labor, and forced medical treatment. This blatant disregard for human dignity and international norms is absolutely unacceptable.

Mr. Türk’s remarks included only two fleeting references to China’s oppressive policies, failing to capture the systemic and targeted atrocities that the Uyghur community has faced. Türk stated, “Despite some important advancements, 30 years after the universal commitments on women’s rights in Beijing, the shadow of patriarchy still looms large,” and “In China, undue restrictions on civic space continue to be imposed in the name of national security and social stability.” These statements are grossly inadequate when addressing the severity of the situation, which includes gender-based violence against Uyghur women such as forced sterilizations, abortions, sexual abuse, and forced marriages to Han-Chinese individuals, as well as the mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs in concentration camps, prisons, and forced labor camps across East Turkistan.

[...]

Moscow has funnelled billions of dollars to its army, soldiers, their families and weapons makers to sustain its military campaign -- a spending splurge that helped it defy Western hopes that sanctions would push it into economic collapse.

But after warning for months that the economy was overheating, the country's Central Bank has lately started mentioning the possibility of another, possibly more challenging development: stagflation.

"The shortage of (labour) resources may lead to a situation where economic growth slows down, despite all the efforts to stimulate demand, with all that stimulus accelerating inflation," Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said over the summer.

"In essence, this is a stagflation scenario, which can only be stopped at the cost of a deep recession," she warned.

'De-modernising'

Stagflation -- a period of low or stagnant growth accompanied by high inflation -- would present a fresh headache for the Kremlin, which has until now navigated the economic fallout of its offensive on Ukraine better than most believed possible.

Moscow has increased government spending by almost 50 percent since sending troops into Ukraine, pushing up growth and wages.

Unemployment is at a record low and consumer confidence is its highest in 15 years.

But an exodus of both skilled and unskilled workers -- who fled mobilisation or joined the army -- has created millions of unfilled vacancies. Sanctions on Western technology have also hit productivity and damaged supply chains.

"In the long-term these demographic factors and technological issues will result in very low economic growth," Ruben Enikolopov, a Russian professor at the Barcelona School of Economics, says.

"There is a high probability of a stagflation scenario in 2025 and the years after. It's not a certainty, but high likelihood," he added.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2755986

Archived link

China must reprioritize economic growth and reforms and boost investor confidence by leveling the playing field for all companies in the country, a European business group said Wednesday.

With “business confidence now at an all-time low” over lagging domestic demand and overcapacity in certain industries, the annual European Business in China Position Paper called on China to open its economy and allow a more free market to determine resource allocation. It also recommended introducing policies to boost domestic demand.

Profit margins in China are at or below the global average for two-thirds of the companies surveyed earlier in the year, according to the paper published Wednesday by the European Chamber of Commerce in China.

[...]

Many European businesses are deciding that the returns on investments in the world’s second-largest economy are not worth the risks, due to issues including China’s economic slowdown and a politicized business environment.

“For some European headquarters and shareholders, the risks of investing in China are beginning to outright the returns, a trend that will only intensify if key business concerns are left unaddressed,” Jens Eskelund, president of China’s European Union Chamber of Commerce, said in a message at the beginning of the paper.

[...]

Israel, Hezbollah and other Lebanese groups have exchanged more than 9,613 attacks between October 7 and September 6.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2752431

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy have arrived in Kyiv on a joint visit as Ukraine continues to press for the right to use US and British long-range missiles against Russia.

The two men travelled together to the Ukrainian capital after talks in London. They are due to meet President Volodymr Zelensky, who has repeatedly called on Washington to loosen the limits on US-supplied weapons.

Blinken said one of their goals was to "hear directly from the Ukrainian leadership" about their "objectives and what we can do to support those needs".

Earlier, US President Joe Biden said his administration was "working" on whether to lift the restrictions.

The policy will come under further scrutiny when UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets Biden at the White House on Friday.

Ukraine's Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, thanked Lammy for the UK’s military support for Ukraine throughout the war.

But he added: “We hope that long-range equipment for strikes on the territory of our enemy will be reached and we will have it and we hope for your help and support in this issue.”

[...]

Russia is using media and cultural initiatives to attract African journalists, influencers, and students while spreading misleading information.

These events are being promoted by African Initiative, a newly founded Russian media organisation which defines itself as an “information bridge between Russia and Africa”. It inherited structures previously set up by the dismantled Wagner mercenary group and is believed by experts to have links with the Russian security services.

Registered in September 2023, a month after Wagner’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash, African Initiative has welcomed former employees from his disbanded enterprises.

Its efforts have been particularly focused on the three military-run countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

[...]

Alongside cultural events on the ground, African Initiative maintains a news website with stories in Russian, English, French, and Arabic, as well as a video channel and five Telegram channels, one of which has almost 60,000 subscribers.

[...]

Stories on the African Initiative’s website suggest without evidence that the US is using Africa as a production and testing ground for bio-weapons, building on long-discredited Kremlin disinformation campaigns.

One story echoes the Kremlin’s unsubstantiated claims about US bio-labs being relocated from Ukraine to Africa. Another maintains without evidence that US bio-labs on the continent are increasing, claiming that “under the guise of research and humanitarian projects, the African continent is becoming a testing ground for the Pentagon”, suggesting that secretive biological experiments are being conducted.

While Prigozhin’s propaganda efforts targeted mainly France, African Initiative “targets Americans to a greater degree,” says researcher Jedrzej Czerep, head of the Middle East and Africa Programme at the Polish Institute of International Affairs. “It’s far more anti-American.”

[...]

In June, a group of bloggers and reporters from eight countries were invited for a seven-day “press tour” of the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. The trip was organised by Russian state media and Western-sanctioned Russian officials, and the journalists visited African Initiative’s headquarters in Moscow.

"Africa wasn’t getting much information [about the war]," Raymond Agbadi, a Ghanaian blogger and scientist who studied in Russia and who participated in the “press tour”, told the BBC. "Whatever information we were getting was not convincing enough for us to understand what the war was really about.”

American influencer Jackson Hinkle, a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has spread multiple false claims about Ukraine, was also on the visit.

[...]

[Four midwives] had been identified by a non-governmental organisation as being behind the murder of baby girls in the district of Katihar where, under pressure from the newborns’ parents, they were killing them by feeding them chemicals or simply wringing their necks.

Hakiya Devi, the eldest of the midwives I interviewed, [said] at the time she had killed 12 or 13 babies. Another midwife, Dharmi Devi, admitted to killing more - at least 15-20.

It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of babies they may have killed, given the way the data was gathered.

But they featured in a report published in 1995 by an NGO, based on interviews with them and 30 other midwives. If the report’s estimates are accurate, more than 1,000 baby girls were being murdered every year in one district, by just 35 midwives. According to the report, Bihar at the time had more than half a million midwives. And infanticide was not limited to Bihar.

Refusing orders, Hakiya said, was almost never an option for a midwife.

“The family would lock the room and stand behind us with sticks,” says Hakiya Devi. “They’d say: ‘We already have four-five daughters. This will wipe out our wealth. Once we give dowry for our girls, we will starve to death. Now, another girl has been born. Kill her.’

“Who could we complain to? We were scared. If we went to the police, we’d get into trouble. If we spoke up, people would threaten us."

The daily English lessons that Shabana [not her real name] attends are the highlight of her day. Taking the bus in Kabul to the private course with her friends, chatting and laughing with them, learning something new for one hour each day - it’s a brief respite from the emptiness that has engulfed her life since the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

In another country, Shabana* would have been graduating from high school next year, pursuing her dream to get a business degree. In Afghanistan, she and all teenage girls have been barred from formal education for three years.

Now even the small joys that were making life bearable are fraught with fear after a new law was announced saying if a woman is outside her home, even her voice must not be heard.

“When we got out, we’re scared. When we’re on the bus, we’re scared. We don’t dare to take down our masks. We even avoid speaking among ourselves, thinking that if someone from the Taliban hears us they could stop and question us,” she says.

The BBC has been in Afghanistan, allowing rare access to the country's women and girls - as well as Taliban spokespeople - reacting to the new law, which was imposed by the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada.

The law gives the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Ministry – the Taliban’s morality police - sweeping powers to enforce a stringent code of conduct for Afghan citizens.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2746839

The motion, introduced by Andrew Wallace MP in the lower house of the Australian parliament called out China’s systematic cultural assimilation of Tibetans. It affirmed the Tibetan people’s rights to freely choose their economic, social, cultural, and religious policies without external interference. It highlighted the right of religious communities to select their own leaders, including the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama, without Chinese government intervention.

While moving the motion, Representative Wallace stated, “The Chinese Communist Party is not content with simply trying to wipe out the culture of Tibet and Tibetans; they also want to remove their religious background. The CCP wants to control who will become the successor to the Dalai Lama. Australia’s parliament stood in solidarity, united by the convention that we cannot remain silent in the face of evil.”

Susan Templeman MP, Co-Chair of Parliament Friendship of Tibet, seconded the motion, urging Chinese authorities to release the Panchen Lama and reiterating Australia’s stance against interference in selecting the next Dalai Lama. Dr Daniel Mulino- MP and Hon. Dr David Gillespie- MP also spoke in support, highlighting the forced assimilation of Tibetan children and suppression of religious and cultural practices in Tibet.

[...]

In response to these concerns, the Australian Parliament called on China to re-engage with representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama to establish genuine autonomy for Tibetans within China, repeal discriminatory legislation, end arbitrary detention and family separation programs, remove restrictions on Tibetan culture and language, and allow access to Tibet for independent human rights observers.

The motion also referenced recent international developments, including United Nations reports on the assimilation of Tibetan children through residential schools, the European Union’s resolution on the forced abduction of Tibetan children in December 2023, Canada’s resolution supporting Tibet and the United States ‘Promoting a Resolution to Tibet-China Act’ passed in June 2024. The motion reaffirmed Australia’s concern over China’s assimilationist policies, which include forced labour programs, the coerced separation of Tibetan children from their families, detention for peaceful political expression, and the suppression of religious practices.

The database began with In the Dark’s reporting on the killings of civilians in Haditha, Iraq, on November 19, 2005. That morning, a squad of Marines, led by Sergeant Frank Wuterich, was hit by an improvised explosive device, which killed a beloved lance corporal. In the hours that followed, Marines killed men, women, and children on the street and in nearby houses. Four of those Marines, including Wuterich, were charged with murder. Three of their cases were later thrown out, and, when Wuterich went to trial, he was allowed to plead guilty to a single count of negligent dereliction of duty. A judge demoted Wuterich in rank. “Essentially a parking ticket,” Wuterich’s lawyer, Haytham Faraj, said of the sentence. “It’s meaningless.”

Archived version

China is providing Russia with “very substantial” military support in exchange for key technological capabilities, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday (10 September) after talks with EU and NATO counterparts.

“We’re seeing coordination, diversification and efforts at the highest levels of both governments to try to both hide and protect certain elements of this worrisome collaboration,” Campbell told a group of reporters, including Euractiv, in Brussels.

“What the Chinese are providing – and we have provided our colleagues here in Europe, both in NATO and EU venues [with information] – [is] direct support for Russia’s defence industrial base,” Campbell said.

American killed in West Bank was longtime activist ‘bearing witness to oppression’, friends say

Ayşenur Eygi ‘was not a naive traveler – This experience was the culmination of all her years of activism’, says professor

by Sam Levin in Los Angeles Sat 7 Sep 2024 00.48 BST

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, at her graduation from the University of Washington earlier this year (Eygi family/International Solidarity Movement/AP)

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old American activist killed while protesting in the occupied West Bank, was remembered by friends and former professors as a dedicated organizer who felt a strong moral obligation to bring attention to the plight of Palestinians.

"I begged her not to go, but she had this deep conviction that she wanted to participate in the tradition of bearing witness to the oppression of people and their dignified resilience," said Aria Fani, a professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, which Eygi attended. "She fought injustice truly wherever it was."

Fani, who had become close with Eygi over the last year, spoke to the Guardian on Friday afternoon, hours after news of her death sparked international outrage. Eygi was volunteering with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement when Israeli soldiers fatally shot her, according to Palestinian officials and two witnesses who spoke to the Associated Press. Two doctors told the AP she was shot in the head. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it was investigating a report that troops had killed a foreign national while firing at an "instigator of violent activity", and the White House has said it was "deeply disturbed" by the killing and called for an inquiry.

Eygi, who is also a Turkish citizen and leaves behind her husband, graduated from UW earlier this year with a major in psychology and minor in Middle Eastern languages and culture, Fani said. She walked the stage with a large "Free Palestine" flag during the ceremony, Fani said.

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi (top) at her graduation (Courtesy of Aria Fani)

The professor said the two met when he was giving a guest lecture in a course on feminist cinema of the Middle East and he spoke of his own experience protesting in the West Bank in 2013.

"I had no idea she would then be inspired to take on a similar experience," he said, recounting how she reached out to him for advice as she prepared to join the International Solidarity Movement. "I tried to discourage her, but from a very weak position, since I'd already done it myself. She was very, very principled in her activism in this short life that she lived."

In her final academic year, she devoted significant time "researching and speaking to Palestinians and talking about their historical trauma", Fani said. "She was incredibly well-informed of what life was like in the West Bank. She was not a naive traveler. This experience was the culmination of all her years of activism."

She fought injustice truly wherever it was

Aria Fani, University of Washington in Seattle

Eygi was an organizer with the Popular University for Gaza Liberated Zone on UW's campus, one of dozens of pro-Palestinian encampments established during protests in the spring, he said. "She was an instrumental part of ... protesting the university's ties to Boeing and Israel and spearheading negotiations with the UW administration," Fani said. "It mattered to her so much. I'd see her sometimes after she'd only slept for an hour or two. I'd tell her to take a nap. And she'd say: 'Nope, I have other things to do.' She dedicated so much, and managed to graduate on top of it, which is just astounding."

He warned her of the violence he had faced in the West Bank, including teargas, and he feared deeply for her safety: "I thought, worst-case scenario, she'd come back losing a limb. I had no idea she'd be coming back wrapped in a shroud," he said.

Eygi had also previously protested the oil pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation, and was critical of Turkish nationalism and violence against Kurdish minorities, Fani said: "She was very critical of US foreign policy and white supremacy in the US, and Israel was no exception."

Carrie Perrin, academic services director of UW's psychology department, told the Seattle Times in an email that Eygi was a friend and a "bright light who carried with her warmth and compassion", adding: "Her communities were made better by her life and her death leaves hearts breaking around the world today."

Ana Mari Cauce, the UW president, said Eygi had been a peer mentor in psychology who "helped welcome new students to the department and provided a positive influence in their lives".

Fani said Eygi had been deeply dismayed by the UW administration's handling of campus protests, and that he hoped her killing would encourage campus administrators across the country to end their crackdowns on pro-Palestinian activism.

Eygi's killing drew immediate comparisons to the 2003 killing of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American, also from Washington state, who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer while protesting the military's destruction of homes in Rafah with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

ISM said in a statement that the group had been engaged in a peaceful, weekly demonstration before Israeli forces shot Eygi: "The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with force from the Israeli army stationed on a hill."

Eygi's family released a statement on Saturday through the ISM, calling for an independent investigation to "ensure full accountability for the guilty parties", and remembering Eygi as a "loving daughter, sister, partner, and aunt".

"She was gentle, brave, silly, supportive, and a ray of sunshine," her family said. "She wore her heart on her sleeves. She felt a deep responsibility to serve others and lived a life of caring for those in need with action. She was a fiercely passionate human rights activist her whole life -- a steadfast and staunch advocate of justice."

Fani and a colleague spoke earlier about the irony of her killing garnering an international response, he said: "She wanted to bring attention to the suffering of Palestinians. And if she were alive right now, she'd say: 'I got that attention because I'm an American citizen, because Palestinians have become a number. The human cost has been strategically hidden from the American public and certainly from the Israeli public.' ... Obviously this is not the outcome she would have wanted, but it is just so poetic, in such a twisted, stomach-churning way, that she went this way."

The professor recounted the musicality in the way Eygi spoke, and said he used to joke that he wanted to study her voice: "She was so easy to talk to and truly an embodiment of the meaning of her name, Ayşenur, which is 'life and light'. She was just an incredibly beautiful person and good friend and the world is a worse place without her."

"The Bibi Files”, a new documentary by filmmakers Alexis Bloom and Alex Gibney, features never-before-seen footage of Israeli police interrogating Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his family and his inner circle on corruption allegations. The documentary was screened as a work-in-progress at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival on Monday, hours after a Jerusalem court rejected a petition by Netanyahu to block the screening.

Iranian authorities have reportedly arrested on false charges, threatened, or harassed the family members of dozens of people killed, executed, or imprisoned during the protests over the last two years, Human Rights Watch said today. Two years after the outbreak of the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, Iranian authorities continue to silence and punish family members demanding accountability for violations against their loved ones.

BBC Persian reported on August 16, 2024, that the Nazarabad criminal court in Alborz province in northern Iran sentenced Mashallah Karami to 8 years and 10 months in prison on charges of “participation in money laundering” and “obtaining property through illegitimate means.” Karami’s son, Mohammad Mehdi Karami, was executed on January 7, 2023, for participating in the protests. His father is also facing a fine and the confiscation of his assets as part of his sentence. Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani, his lawyer, said in an interview with Shargh Daily newspaper that the funds and assets were public donations to support Karami, though none of the donors had sued for repayment.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2721391

Archived link

China's government has been systematically uprooting hundreds of Tibetan villages and nomads from their ancestral lands. It has been forcibly relocating them to centralized settlements under the guise of "poverty alleviation" and environmental protection.

This mass relocation campaign has accelerated dramatically since 2016. It is eroding Tibetan culture, disrupting traditional livelihoods, and leaving many relocated families impoverished and dependent on government subsidies.

• Over 930,000 rural Tibetans have been relocated since 2000. A staggering 76% of these relocations occurred just since 2016.

• The Chinese government frames these relocations as voluntary poverty reduction efforts. However, evidence suggests they are often coercive and driven by Beijing's political agenda to assimilate Tibetans and tighten control over the region.

• Many of these relocations involve moving entire villages hundreds of kilometers from their original homes. Authorities refer to the relocated Tibetans as "border guardians," essentially turning them into civilian sentries along China's contested frontiers with India, Nepal, and Bhutan. More insidiously, they serve as a form of "demographic engineering," permanently altering the population of contested areas to strengthen China's territorial claims.

• A local government document indicated some villagers may receive around 20,000 yuan (less than $3,000 USD) per year for relocation. A few earn extra income from border patrol work. But for many, the relocations mean a complete loss of economic self-sufficiency.

• The mass relocations are just one component of China's broader efforts to reshape Tibet. Increased surveillance, restrictions on religious practices, and Mandarin-language education policies all serve to undermine Tibetan identity and autonomy.

• The government's heavy-handed approach demonstrates a fundamental disregard for the value of cultural diversity. It undermines the rights of minority populations to maintain distinct ways of life. This cultural erasure, masked as progress, is a form of soft ethnic cleansing that threatens to permanently alter the rich tapestry of ethnicities within China's borders.

• International law prohibits forced evictions, making China's coercive relocation program a clear violation of human rights. The mass displacement of Tibetan communities threatens to irreparably damage Tibetan culture and identity. That way, Tibetan identity is in the hands of the Chinese party-state and is eradicated under different policy directives.

Far from alleviating poverty, these forced relocations are creating a class of displaced impoverished Tibetans. They have been made dependent on state subsidies and cut off from their traditional livelihoods and cultural roots.

"The unique Chinese style of imperialism and colonialism" as Beijing might like to call it if it succeeds, sees Tibet as its first prey and victim. However, the big, ambitious Chinese dream of expansion doesn't stop there. You can see what is happening in Southern Mongolia and Eastern Turkistan (aka the Uyghur Autonomous Region). Every neighboring people and nation of Communist China could face the same destiny unless the world is consciously watchful.

One-fifth of children Israel has killed in the West Bank in the last quarter century have been killed in the past year.

UN offers to monitor any eventual cease-fire in Gaza

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2716799

Instead, state media and officials highlight Xinjiang’s economic development as evidence of the success of past policies, promoting a Chinese concept of human rights that prioritizes the right to development and survival as fundamental. The [Chinese Communist Party] CCP views development as a pre-condition for the realization of human rights [...]

The economic development in Xinjiang is undeniable [yet] it remains questionable how much Uyghurs and other minorities genuinely benefit from these projects and what the true cost of this development is.

[...]

The CCP’s focus is on showcasing the achievements of China’s approach to human rights through the promotion of development, with Uyghurs increasingly highlighted not only in the context of poverty alleviation, but also as representatives of a minority group benefiting from Chinese development policies and as symbols of a unified Chinese identity.

[...]

In recent years, the Chinese government has sought to paint a positive image of Xinjiang by showcasing Uyghur heritage and culture as a major attraction for tourists. Uyghurs are often depicted dancing, celebrating Muslim festivals, and wearing their traditional clothes.

[...]

While the display of cultural heritage is prominently featured in the portrayal of Xinjiang’s development, Uyghur culture is clearly subordinate to Chinese culture. As Pan Yue, director of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, states, Chinese culture serves as the binding element to create a unified Chinese identity, with ethnic minorities seen as “contributors to Chinese culture.” When officials describe Chinese identity as an inclusive umbrella term, it actually refers to a tightly controlled portrayal of ethnic minority cultures, limited to showcasing the success of a unified Chinese nation. This is not only achieved through external propaganda but (unsurprisingly) also through repressive policies aimed at assimilating and Sinicizing ethnic minorities.

[...]

While Chinese state media showed images of Uyghurs celebrating Eid al-Fitr (the end of Ramadan), the reality has been that Muslims could not freely practice their religion.

[...]

Schools and training institutions were prohibited from offering religious services to students. They were also required to distribute surveys asking students about their family’s habits, including whether they fast. Lectures on maintaining social order and stability, as well as health-related topics emphasizing regular meals, were scheduled during the hours of breaking the fast. These measures and restrictions were not only directed at Uyghurs, but also targeted Muslims in other provinces, such as Gansu.

[...]

Beijing invites journalists, politicians and researchers from various countries to “see Xinjiang with their own eyes” on carefully orchestrated tours designed to internalize and spread images and stories of improved living conditions and the preservation of Uyghur heritage to an international audience. As the Chinese government faces reputation damage from allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, the portrayal of a flourishing economy alongside a pro-active construction of a unified Chinese identity acts as a strategy to win the “hearts and minds,” particularly in Arab countries and the Global South. This narrative aims to project a message of a rapidly developing, diverse yet united Xinjiang under CCP leadership, contradicting Western accusations and presenting an alternative model to Western concepts of human rights and development.

Political decision-makers in Europe and beyond should be mindful of the intertwined reality of economic development and forced assimilation when addressing the situation in Xinjiang. What the Chinese state media share in hundreds of articles as a success story of human rights in Xinjiang is, in fact, a CCP-approved narrative. This narrative selectively preserves certain cultural aspects to showcase the success of China’s concepts and values, particularly emphasizing the prioritized role of the right to survival and development as central to human rights. Recipients of this narrative should recognize that the concepts of “normalization” and “maintaining social stability” for development primarily serve the interests of the CCP, not those of the Uyghurs and other minorities. Ultimately, they [Uyghurs] only benefit from Xinjiang’s development as long as they conform to the image that the CCP crafted for them.

Archived link

This year, in February, China became the first country in the world to give diplomatic recognition to the Taliban that seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Even as the international community was taking note of it, Beijing’s motive behind deepening its engagement with the Taliban started unravelling like sloughing off skin by a snake in the summer.

China has been eyeing Afghanistan’s mineral deposits for years. Therefore, soon after Beijing gave diplomatic recognition to the Taliban, the first thing that the East Asian country did was to execute its projects related to mines and minerals in Afghanistan.

In July, China’s state-backed Metallurgical Group Corp (MCC) laid the foundation of a copper mine plant in Logar province of Afghanistan. The Metallurgical Group Corp was awarded the contract in 2007 but the Chinese company made no progress since then.

Hence, when the Chinese company decided to set up the copper mine plant, residents of Kabul and Logar province saw it as a recipe for disaster instead of welcoming the upcoming copper mine plant. They feared that development without proper management would prove to be calamitous for the poverty-ridden country.

While mining would cause severe pollution, the large amount of water that will be required to run the project is expected to cause a huge problem for the inhabitants as the region is arid with water being scarce there, Nikkei Asia, quoting experts, said.

[...]

China’s bad reputation for waste management and environmental abuses adds grist to people’s fear in Afghanistan. Chinese companies involved in the mining sector in Africa and other parts of the world have poor records of maintaining quality environmental safeguards.

[...]

Even in Indonesia, China’s neighbour in Southeast Asia, companies from the East Asian nation have been accused of causing huge environmental damage. A report from the US Geological Survey said that Indonesia is known for proven reserves of 21 million metric tons of nickel, a key component for lithium-ion batteries.

As per the London-based Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), Chinese companies involved in nickel production in Indonesia have caused air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, flood, deforestation, and biodiversity loss, as well as loss of livelihood in the Southeast Asian country.

[...]

Given such a pathetic display of disregard by China-owned mining companies for the environment and lack of technical expertise by the Taliban government, worries among ordinary people of Afghanistan over the looming impact of the copper mining by the Chinese company on public health and environment have intensified. More so in the background of the fact that the Chinese mining company has, as per Nikkei Asia, reneged on several elements of the contractual agreement with Afghanistan.

[...]

For instance, the Chinese company has refused to lay a railway line from Bamiyan in Afghanistan to Khyber Pass in Pakistan despite it being the specific issue of the contractual agreement. In fact, for the Taliban government, nothing is as important as business and investment. Analysts say it will not pressure the Chinese company to go by rules and contractual agreements as long as it brings money and investment to Afghanistan.

[...]

Experts maintain that any mishandling of the mining project by the Chinese company has the potential to bring inevitable disaster to the region. Despite this, ordinary Afghans cannot lodge complaints against China or prevent their country from facing negative consequences because all that the Taliban government wants at present is revenue and the flow of foreign direct investment in the country.

Archived version

China's Defense Ministry said that naval and air forces will participate in the "North-Joint 2024" exercises in the skies and around the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.

"This exercise aims to deepen the strategic cooperation level between the Chinese and Russian militaries and enhance their ability to jointly deal with security threats," the ministry said.

The two sides will send naval fleets to "relevant sea areas of the Pacific Ocean" for a joint maritime patrol, and China will also participate in Russia's "Ocean-2024" strategic exercise. China's Defense Ministry did not specify when the drills will take place.

Warning: This story contains distressing details from the start.

“This is like doomsday for me. I feel so much grief. Can you imagine what I’ve gone through watching my children dying?” says Amina.

She’s lost six children. None of them lived past the age of three and another is now battling for her life.

Seven-month-old Bibi Hajira is the size of a newborn. Suffering from severe acute malnutrition, she occupies half a bed at a ward in Jalalabad regional hospital in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province.

“My children are dying because of poverty. All I can feed them is dry bread, and water that I warm up by keeping it out under the sun,” Amina says, nearly shouting in anguish.

What’s even more devastating is her story is far from unique - and that so many more lives could be saved with timely treatment.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2686498

The spectre of conflict continues to haunt the South China Sea. After months of harassing Philippine naval vessels near the contested Second Thomas Shoal, Chinese maritime forces are now squeezing in Philippine Coast Guard vessels near the Sabina Shoal. In yet another troubling sign of China’s growing aggressiveness, Chinese Coast Guard forces intentionally rammed into and collided with the Philippine flagship vessel, BRP Teresa Magbanua, on multiple occasions.

Eager to remind the Philippines of its preponderance of force in the contested waters, China has parked the largest armada yet in the Spratly group of islands area. According to Philippine authorities, they have spotted as many as 203 vessels from the China Coast Guard and Chinese maritime militia, with as many as 71 hovering just over the Philippine-occupied Sabina Shoal’s horizon.

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Nevertheless, the Philippines is also paying a heavy cost, with China steadily degrading the Southeast Asian nation’s limited pool of high-calibre patrols vessels. Beijing’s swarming and “mission kill” tactics also saw Filipino personnel injured. Thus, there is an urgent need for key allies, especially Washington and Tokyo, to expeditiously provide practicable and effective assistance, including cutters, fast boats and recently-retired warships. Moreover, it’s also high time to review the Philippine-US Mutual Defence Treaty, which has singularly failed to deter China’s “grey zone” tactics in the South China Sea.