Cinmpring kici

Rabu, 10 Juli 2019

US wants military coalition to patrol waters off Iran, Yemen - Aljazeera.com

The United States says it is working to form a military coalition to protect commercial shipping off the coast of Iran and Yemen amid heightened tensions in the region following attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf.

Under the proposal, a coalition of nations would safeguard strategic waters in the Gulf area and the sea between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday.

"We're engaging now with a number of countries to see if we can put together a coalition that would ensure freedom of navigation both in the Straits of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab," said Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dunford said the Pentagon had developed a specific plan, and that he believed it would be clear within a couple of weeks which nations were willing to join the effort.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has blamed Tehran and its proxies for several attacks on tankers in the Gulf in the past few months.

A fifth of the world's oil exports passes through the area.

Al Jazeera's John Hendren, reporting from Washington DC, said that Trump has said "the US should not pay for this, it should be an international military force".

"But the move presents the potential for conflict with Iran. After all it's only weeks after the US almost launched military strikes on Iran," Hendren said.

War of words

The downing of a US surveillance drone by Tehran almost brought the two foes to the brink of war. Trump had authorised military strikes on Iran in retaliation but pulled back from launching them.

Washington slapped new sanctions on top Iranian leaders, including the supreme leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, in the wake of the drone shootdown.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have grown since last year when Trump unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal that put a cap on Tehran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

The crisis has escalated in recent days as Washington and Tehran have engaged in a war of words over Iran's decision to pass the uranium enrichment limit set by the 2015 accord.

Tehran has asked the other parties to the nuclear deal - France, Britain, China, Russia, the European Union and Germany - to find ways to export its oil, a major source of revenue for its crippled economy that has been choked off by the new sanctions, or it will scale up its nuclear programme.

Trump has said the US will not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons, with its close ally in the region, Israel, threatening to bomb Iran.

"We want to deny this regime the revenue it needs to export revolution, to run an expansionist foreign policy that drives a lot of the sectarian violence that we see in the Middle East," Brian Hook, the US special representative to Iran, told Al Jazeera.

'US position not softened'

Al Jazeera's Hendren said the US position had not softened, as Iran announced it would violate the nuclear enrichment levels it agreed to under the nuclear deal.

"So the standoff intensifies and the potential for conflict only increases," he said.

Mark Esper, the acting secretary of defence, raised the issue last month with allied officials at NATO headquarters, but no nations were ready to commit to participating. Esper said at the time that the plans would have to be further refined.

Dunford said he discussed the matter on Tuesday with Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and that plans were coming together.

"We're getting ready now to move out," Dunford told a small group of reporters at Fort Myer, Virginia. "We have a pretty clear concept of what we want to do."

He suggested that the project could begin with a small coalition.

"This will be scalable. So with a small number of contributors we can have a small mission and we'll expand that as the number of nations that are willing to participate identify themselves," he said.

Iran has denied it was behind the recent attacks on commercial tankers in the Gulf.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard issued a new threat against US bases and aircraft carriers stationed in the region, saying they would be destroyed if they made a mistake.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/military-coalition-safeguard-waters-iran-yemen-190710020439304.html

2019-07-10 07:03:00Z
CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFsamF6ZWVyYS5jb20vbmV3cy8yMDE5LzA3L21pbGl0YXJ5LWNvYWxpdGlvbi1zYWZlZ3VhcmQtd2F0ZXJzLWlyYW4teWVtZW4tMTkwNzEwMDIwNDM5MzA0Lmh0bWzSAW5odHRwczovL3d3dy5hbGphemVlcmEuY29tL2FtcC9uZXdzLzIwMTkvMDcvbWlsaXRhcnktY29hbGl0aW9uLXNhZmVndWFyZC13YXRlcnMtaXJhbi15ZW1lbi0xOTA3MTAwMjA0MzkzMDQuaHRtbA

US wants military coalition to safeguard waters off Iran, Yemen - Aljazeera.com

Dunford said the Pentagon had developed a specific plan, and that he believed it would be clear within a couple of weeks which nations were willing to join the effort.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has blamed Tehran and its proxies for several attacks on tankers in the Gulf in the past few months.

A fifth of the world's oil exports passes through the area.

Al Jazeera's John Hendren, reporting from Washington DC, said that Trump has said "the US should not pay for this, it should be an international military force".

"But the move presents the potential for conflict with Iran. After all it's only weeks after the US almost launched military strikes on Iran," Hendren said.

War of words

The downing of a US surveillance drone by Tehran almost brought the two foes to the brink of war. Trump had authorised military strikes on Iran in retaliation but pulled back from launching them.

Washington slapped new sanctions on top Iranian leaders, including the supreme leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, in the wake of the drone shootdown.

The crisis has escalated in recent days as Washington and Tehran have engaged in a war of words over Iran's decision to pass the uranium enrichment limit set by the 2015 accord.

Trump has said the US will not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons, with its close ally in the region, Israel, threatening to bomb Iran.

'US position not softened'

Al Jazeera's Hendren said the US position had not softened, as Iran announced it would violate the nuclear enrichment levels it agreed to under the nuclear deal.

"So the standoff intensifies and the potential for conflict only increases," he said.

Dunford said he discussed the matter on Tuesday with Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and that plans were coming together.

"We're getting ready now to move out," Dunford told a small group of reporters at Fort Myer, Virginia. "We have a pretty clear concept of what we want to do."

He suggested that the project could begin with a small coalition.

Iran has denied it was behind the recent attacks on commercial tankers in the Gulf.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/military-coalition-safeguard-waters-iran-yemen-190710020439304.html

2019-07-10 06:29:00Z
52780329653952

Selasa, 09 Juli 2019

The US just sold over $2 billion worth of arms to Taiwan — and Beijing isn't happy - Business Insider

donald trump gun Richard Ellis/Getty Images

The State Department has approved $2.2 billion worth of arms sales to Taiwan, the largest military sale since Trump took office.
The US has historically backed Taipei, but its latest show of support could threaten the tentative truce between the two superpowers.
China has always claimed control of Taiwan but has never ruled it, while the US is committed to help Taiwan defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act.
Read more stories on Markets Insider.

The US State Department has approved a $2.2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, a deal that could threaten a tentative truce struck between the US and China in the countries' trade war.

The Trump administration's largest arms sale so far underscores its commitment to Taiwan, which was formalized in 1971 under the Taiwan Relations Act. The deal comes as tensions between China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and the US remain high. The two superpowers recently struck a tentative truce to hold off on further escalation in their ongoing trade war and resume negotiations.

"It's a gross interference in China's internal affairs and harms China's sovereignty and security interests," said Geng Shuan, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.

"China urges the US to ... immediately cancel the planned arms sale and stop military relations with Taipei to avoid damaging Sino-US relations and harming peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," Geng added, Al Jazeera said.

Beijing has become increasingly annoyed with the Trump administration over its Taipei relations. On Thursday, Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen is due to land in New York for a two-day visit. The US has previously granted Taiwan stop-overs but they have generally been much shorter than two days, indicating a change in Washington's approach to Taipei.

Likewise, US administrations have denied or delayed sales of arms to Taiwan. But Trump has very much chosen a different approach, with a more flexible view of Taiwan's needs.

All guns blazing

The deal includes the sale of 108 Abrams tanks, 250 Stinger missiles, and related equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency — which handles foreign arms sales — said on Monday.

However, Taiwan may have misspent its money. Tanks aren't suitable for Taiwanese roads or the mudflats where a Chinese invasion would likely take place, the FT reported, citing analysts.

Critics of the purchase argued electronic warfare should be the priority, in order to upset the early stages of a Chinese attack.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-sold-taiwan-over-2-billion-of-arms-china-trade-talks-2019-7

2019-07-09 14:54:20Z
52780329014341

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says extradition bill 'is dead' after weeks of protests - POLITICO

This story is being published as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post. It originally appeared on scmp.com on July 9, 2019.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor gave her strongest pledge yet on Tuesday morning when she declared the highly unpopular extradition bill that sparked several mass protests was “dead”, changing from an earlier script that it “will die” in 2020.

Story Continued Below

While protesters had demanded a full withdrawal, Lam stressed her stance on Tuesday had already been definitive.

Speaking before the weekly meeting with her advisers in the Executive Council, Lam described the government’s work in amending the law as a “complete failure."

The chief executive acknowledged there were lingering doubts that the government could restart the amendment process within the Legislative Council’s current term, which ends in 2020.

“There is no such plan, the bill is dead,” Lam said.

She admitted her stance on Tuesday did not differ much from when she announced last month that the legislative process would be suspended, adding: “In some sense, even if [the bill] is withdrawn today, it can be retabled at Legco within three months.”

The bill would have allowed Hong Kong to transfer suspects to jurisdictions it lacks extradition agreements with, including mainland China. Critics feared it would remove the legal firewall between the city and the mainland, exposing suspects to opaque trials across the border.

Lam, however, stood firm on not setting up a top-level probe into clashes between police and protesters.

She said the Independent Police Complaints Council would launch an investigation, and that all parties involved in the demonstrations, including protesters, police, media and onlookers, could provide information.

There have been widespread calls for a judge-led commission of inquiry (COI) to be set up, with former chief justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang the latest to add his voice, in a commentary asking for such a commission that was published in the Post on Tuesday.

"While I respect [Li’s] views … I’m afraid on this particular issue of an independent COI, the view has been taken for the IPCC to perform this role,” Lam said.

Lam also touched on the 2014 Occupy movement, during which protesters had called for the implementation of genuine universal suffrage.“Five years ago, we finished Occupy Central, we moved on, without addressing those fundamental problems,” Lam said. “But this time I don’t think we can continue to ignore those fundamental and deep-seated problems.”

Asked if she would restart discussions on political reform, Lam said she was “not targeting a particular issue."

She added: “It could be economic problems, it could be livelihood issues, it could be political divisions in society.”

The chief executive also said she was “willing to engage in an open dialogue with students without any preconditions."

Student leaders from eight universities said they would only talk to Lam if she agreed to their two conditions on Friday: meet them in a town hall-style open meeting and promise to exonerate protesters.

Lam reiterated that the government did not call a protest on June 12, during which there were violent clashes between police and protesters, a “riot."

She also said it would be against the rule of law to grant an amnesty to arrested protesters “at this stage," without investigations and prosecutions.

The weekly Exco meeting was the first at the Chief Executive’s Office since June 11. A meeting last week was held at Government House, while two others were canceled due to the recent protests.

Among protesters’ demands are that all references to clashes on June 12 as a riot be retracted.

“In the coming three years, there must be officials stepping down to fulfill the accountability system,” Tien told a radio show, referring to the time left for the current administration.

Tien, however, refused to say who he had in mind.

Speaking on the same program, Liberal Party lawmaker Felix Chung Kwok-pan said it was not possible for Lam to step down at the moment. He also suggested that if ministers were to quit, it would be difficult to find others to replace them.

“Given now how hot the kitchen is, which is almost burning, who would be willing to join and work for the government?” Chung said.

Instead, he suggested changes in Exco.

“Exco is one of the most important advisory bodies for the chief executive … Now there are problems, should there be changes in Exco? At least there is action to show the government is not only saying it will change or listen,” he said.

Tien, a lawmaker of the Roundtable group, also suggested that Exco members should not have background links to political parties and should remain politically neutral.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Cheung

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/09/hong-kong-extradition-bill-carrie-lam-1402272

2019-07-09 13:52:00Z
52780327996319

Hong Kong's Carrie Lam Says Extradition Bill Is 'Dead,' But Protesters Press On - NPR

Enlarge this image

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Tuesday the effort to amend an extradition bill was dead, but it wasn't clear if the legislation was being withdrawn as protesters have demanded. Vincent Yu/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Vincent Yu/AP

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday the extradition bill that prompted weeks of street demonstrations is "dead," admitting that the government's handling of it was a "total failure."

The measure would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China to face trials in courts controlled by the Communist Party, sparking fears of politically-motivated prosecutions targeting outspoken critics of China.

The backlash to the bill has prompted the most serious challenge to the Beijing-controlled government of Hong Kong since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

In mid-June Lam responded to huge protests by suspending the bill, but that move failed to mollify critics, who continued to demonstrate against the bill and call for Lam's resignation.

And in the face of Lam's declaration, Hong Kong protesters leaders are not satisfied, saying the bill should be formally withdrawn.

Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong wrote on Twitter that Lam telling the country the bill is dead is a "ridiculous lie," since she did not invoke federal powers necessarily to really kill the bill. Plus, Wong said the Hong Kong leader has not committed to not re-introducing the bill at a later date, which protesters are demanding.

Activists like Wong are also urging Lam for an independent investigation into some of the forceful tactics Hong Kong police used against demonstrators, which by some estimates reached around 2 million people at the height of the protests. Riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse crowds blocking roads.

Angry demonstrators hurled bricks and bottles in the clashes with police that Lam at one point called "organized riots."

But on Tuesday, Lam said those who object to the extradition bill have nothing to fear.

She said she realizes there are "lingering doubts about the government's sincerity or worries about whether it would re-start the process in the legislative council," yet, she emphasized: "There is no such plan. The bill is dead."

Under Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" formula of government, the territory retains freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China. Demonstrators fearing an erosion of those freedoms and are talking of extending their protests.

Police are still searching for suspects who disrupted the 22^nd anniversary of the city's handover from Britain to China, storming he Legislative Council and vandalizing the property.

Hong Kong demonstrator Katherine, 26, who only agreed to talk if her last name was not revealed, told NPR's Julie McCarthy, that the destruction of the property paled in comparison to what she claims the government is trying to destroy: the rights of Hong Kong people.

China, she said, is not the enemy.

"But they are someone hindering our development, hindering our evolution to a more civilized society," she said.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/09/739780546/hong-kongs-carrie-lam-says-extradition-bill-is-dead-but-protesters-press-on

2019-07-09 11:09:00Z
52780327996319

Protesters firm as HK says extradition bill 'dead' - Al Jazeera English

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwg6cXHUKTg

2019-07-09 10:54:37Z
52780327996319

Hong Kong leader says China extradition bill is ‘dead’ but declines to withdraw it - The Washington Post

HONG KONG — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday said a bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China is effectively “dead” and conceded that her government’s work on the issue was a “complete failure,” responding to sustained public anger over a proposal that sparked massive protests in the city over recent weeks.

Still, she declined to formally withdraw the bill from the legislative agenda or meet protesters’ other demands, such as an independent inquiry into police use of force in quelling demonstrations.

The Hong Kong government has “put a stop to” the legislative process around the bill, she said, dismissing fears that the legislature will restart the process at a later date.

“I reiterate here, there is no such plan,” she said. “The bill is dead.”

The battle over the extradition bill has posed a serious test of Lam’s leadership — and a challenge for Beijing — as Hong Kongers have publicly resisted what many here perceived as an attack on the territory’s cherished freedoms and autonomy. Protesters have occupied major roads and confronted riot police in a series of clashes.

[Hong Kong leader offers apology after second massive march against extradition proposal]

The crisis has exposed deep concerns about the Hong Kong government’s legitimacy and worries over Beijing’s increasing control of the financial hub.

Lam said her decision to suspend rather than withdraw the bill and her refusal to meet other demands have “nothing to do with my own pride or arrogance.” Instead, they are “practical” responses that will allow Hong Kong to move ahead, she said.

She appealed for Hong Kongers to trust her administration.

“Give us the time and room for us to take Hong Kong out of the current impasse,” Lam said.

Her comments Tuesday were the first since she held a 4 a.m. news conference after protesters occupied Hong Kong’s legislature on the anniversary of the former British colony’s 1997 handover to China.

The swelling movement in Hong Kong has grown to encompass a widespread sentiment that the territory’s government does not work for its people but exists to advance an agenda set by Beijing. Lam has said that her government will work to seek out voices of the young, who have driven the most radical protest tactics in recent weeks, and reiterated her promise for a more open style of governance.

[Protesters storm Hong Kong streets over China extradition bill]

Other pro-Beijing voices have acknowledged that an end to Hong Kong’s recurring political crises — another erupted in 2014 over calls for universal suffrage — would not be possible without an overhaul of the political system. The city’s leader is selected by a 1,200-person committee out of a pool of candidates approved by Beijing, and only half of its 70-seat legislature is directly elected.

“The government needs a radical shake-up, both in its mind-set, and its policies and systems, or Hong Kong’s days as a vibrant, and above all, safe, city of Asia will be numbered,” wrote Regina Ip, a pro-Beijing lawmaker and member of Hong Kong’s cabinet, in an opinion piece for the South China Morning Post newspaper.

Lam detailed no such changes Tuesday, but she acknowledged that both the extradition-bill protests and the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations have exposed rifts in Hong Kong society.

“This time, I don’t think we could continue to ignore those fundamental and deep-seated problems,” she said.

Like her predecessors, Lam has become emblematic of the problem for many who have taken to the streets in Hong Kong, angered by her responses to the discord. At one point, she compared governing to parenting and said she could not give in to her son’s demands every time. Those comments prompted chants during rallies of “Carrie Lam is not my mother!”

The chief executive has declined to step down, but on Tuesday she reiterated an earlier public apology.

“I have tendered my most sincere apology for the disturbances and tensions and confrontations caused by our work,” she said, later adding that she has the “passion and the sense of duty to serve the Hong Kong people.”

[For China, a growing conundrum: What to do about Hong Kong?]

Bonnie Leung, a leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, a group that planned some of the protests, said Lam’s comments were not new and did not meet demands.

“The same thing being said over and over again doesn’t make it any better or mean anything more,” she said.

In Hong Kong, withdrawing a bill that has already been planned for the legislative agenda involves a separate legal process.

“However, she only said the bill is ‘dead.’ We cannot find the word ‘dead’ in any of the laws in Hong Kong, or in any legal proceedings in the Legislative Council,” Leung added, referring to the city’s lawmaking body.

Joshua Wong, a prominent young activist, added in a tweet that Lam’s declaration was a “ridiculous lie.”

“The crux does not lie in the word play, whether ‘suspend’ or ‘withdraw,’ I think the key is whether she would promise not to initiate the bill again during her term,” he wrote. “She has to make it clear.”

Masks, cash and apps: How Hong Kong protesters find ways to outwit the surveillance state

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/hong-kong-leader-says-china-extradition-bill-is-dead-but-not-fully-withdrawn/2019/07/09/edf2ec2e-a1ef-11e9-a767-d7ab84aef3e9_story.html

2019-07-09 10:30:00Z
52780327996319