23 - 29 October 2017

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2 23 - 29 October, 2017 T A Editorial www.NewDelhiTimes.com ◆◆ By NDT Special Bureau @NewDelhiTimes info@newdelhitimes.com ◆◆ By Tarek Fatah Author & Columnist, Canada @TarekFatah tarek.fatah@gmail.com NEW DELHI TIMES US struggles to accept the Russia - China Partnership he US and the EU slapped sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Crimea in 2014 to make its energy sector struggle for cash and partners but Russia betrayed such desperation. Kremlin-controlled Russian energy major Rosneft struck a deal with US Company ExxonMobil and six years down the line followed it up with alternate support from CEFC China Energy by divesting 14.16 per cent stake. As Russia and China quietly built business bonds, Chinese companies signed joint ventures across Russia’s energy sector and snapped up stakes. Even the new-found political friend Saudi Arabia has entered into corporate agreements with Russia. Moscow turning to Beijing for friendship and finance are born out of necessity and geopolitical expediency. Russia no more views New York and London banks as the only source of finance. When oil prices hit rock bottom, Russia struck a production- reduction deal with the world’s crude-exporting superpower Saudi Arabia to reverse the slide. While sanctions prompted the agreements, business realities cemented the Chinese and Saudi corporate Photo Credit : Shutterstock partnerships. For Chinese energy companies, neighbour Russia offers vast energy and power resource in the proximity to fuel China’s growth. There are benefits for the Russians also. Rather than sourcing oil and gas from far east and pumping across as many as 11 time zones through 7,000km of frozen tundra, forests and mountains to supply Europe, Russia will prefer a major customer next door in China, flush with cash to invest in capex-heavy drilling projects. Chinese companies have already invested more than $14bn on Russian energy projects over last year and half including stakes in Russia’s largest oil company, petrochemical group and gold company. CEFC is lining up $500m in energy-to-aluminium business EN+ as part of the company’s $1.5bn listing in London. The long-term Chinese strategic thinking seeks access to the resources through partnerships lasting decades. Moscow shares Riyadh’s concern that crude prices hitting $50-a-barrel in future could compel more efficient and less expensive drilling, pumping and refining. For the Kingdom’s state-owned hydrocarbon giant Saudi Aramco, Russia offers potential partnership on how to extract more for less. The spate of corporate agreements signed between Aramco and Gazprom Neft during Saudi King’s recent state visit to Moscow ensures ‘this could just be the beginning’ towards exploring vast potential. Saudi Arabia is seeking ways in which companies from both countries can work together. When western sanctions in 2014 imperilled Novatek (Russia) and Total (France) - owned Arctic LNG project in Russia’s northern Yamal peninsula, Chinese finance rescued it with a $12bn package. Now Russia seeks Saudi investment for its second project, Nord Stream 2. The Gazprom is building gas pipeline to Europe financed by five EU energy companies for half of project cost and seeks balance financing from the Asia- Pacific Region. European energy companies have long been Russia’s go-to partners and financiers for major energy projects but that relationship is fast changing. Even South, Vietnam and Ukraine are turning towards Russia, after disillusionment with the US and UK. The US foreign policy over last decades predating Trump, whether in the Baltic or Middle East or North Africa, has left many stranded as wars for ‘Regime change’ destabilized countries like Libya, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the region. Europe, flooded with refugees displaced from war ravaged countries, is now gravitating towards to the Russia-China axis. Many Western European countries are showing signs of increasingly flirting with and cozying up to China and Russia. Australia has been clearly tilting eastward, dependent as its economy is on trade with China. Disenchanted with America’s foreign wars, its people voted for Trump. As he pursues his unique brand of foreign policy with even more vigour than his predecessors, the future does not augur well for World Peace. It has needlessly pushed Russia and China to closer collaboration. The US hegemony and the dominance of finances of the West are clearly on the wane. The policy has even pushed traditional US ally Saudi Arabia into the arms of Russia! How Pakistan fooled America and Islamists fooled Canada s much as the liberal media is painting a picture of Joshua Boyle and his American wife Caitlin Coleman as victims who suffered years of torment, torture, and rape and murder of their child at the hands of the Taliban, there is something in that story that raises additional questions that do not add up. Non-Muslim journalists today are so scared of being labelled racist, simply for asking the right question that it seems the most obvious loopholes in a story are avoided. The first question to Boyle and Coleman should have been, “when did you convert to Islam?” and who had the honour of introducing both of them to take the ‘shahadah’ (oath of allegiance to Allah and Prophet Muhammad). For me two things sprang out from the first two days of TV coverage following the socalled rescue of the family by the Pakistan Army after being asked by the Americans to do so. The first was the overnight change in Boyle’s appearance. He had changed from his Afghan or Pashtun appearance into a moustacheless beard, which is a trademark of any political Islamist’s Salafi or Wahhabi bent of mind. (Of course, some orthodox, but non-political clerics of Islam also wear the same facial hairstyle.) Then it was the change in accent by Boyle depending on his audience. When he first spoke in Pakistan, his accent was a mix of Arabic English and Pakistani terminology. However, when speaking to the western media, Boyle shifted to a distinct American pronunciation and by the time he landed in Canada, his inflection had changed again to a more familiar Canadian nuance. It wasn’t just his mastery of accents that created doubt about his version of events. His description of himself as a ‘pilgrim’ was missed by most who didn’t know most Muslim places of pilgrimage are in Arabia, Turkey, Iran and India, not in the valleys of Wardaq where he claims he went to a sense of mission — to help people, “to fix things,” as he told CBC’s Susan Armiston. When Armiston very gently, almost as if speaking to a child, asked Boyle why he wanted to go to Afghanistan with a pregnant wife, his reply was to portray his move not as an error of judgment, but as an act of sacrifice to do “things that nobody else is doing, so I think I have to do it.” What things? He didn’t elaborate. The fact that Afghanistan’s Wardaq province has been a Taliban dominated area since the time the jihadi bandits came to power seemed to have had no bearing on Boyle and Caitlin to move there. So far Caitlin has demonstrated everything a Taliban-type Muslim woman would be expected to do. She switched from her black burqa to a stylized Egyptian Hijab and then kept her mouth shut, letting her husband do the talking for her. No reporter asked Boyle if he had any connections in Afghanistan with Afghan Al- Qaeda leftovers linked to his once Egyptian father-in-law Ahmed Khadr or remnants of his former brother-in-law, the millionaire terrorist Omar Khadr. Perhaps one day someone will dare to write about the wedding of Joshua Boyle and Zainab Khadr or how the two met and who conducted the wedding ceremony or even where it took place. As for the story of the ‘rescue’ by Pakistan Army, the former head of the Afghan Intelligence Amrullah Saleh had this to write in the Indian Express, headlined: Donald Trump is taken in by Pakistan’s deceitful acts “These stunts by Pakistan have often worked in the past, thereby creating a Pavlovian pattern of success and reward from Washington and other capitals who have from time to time needed Pakistan in the geostrategic great game that has unfolded in South Asia since 1947. “It is an open secret in Kabul that the US- Canadian couple and their family that was recently rescued had been kept in Waziristan for some time, in the exact same part of Pakistan where the Pakistan Army only recently declared Mission Accomplished of its Zarb-e-Azb operation and sent all the bad and unwanted terrorists to Afghanistan. So when they were released as a result of a well-planned, well executed surgical operation in which only four tyres of a vehicle were punctured, we all laughed.”
23 - 29 October, 2017 3 T S Editorial ◆◆ By Dr. Ankit Srivastava Editor - in - Chief @AnkitNDT ankits@newdelhitimes.com ◆◆ By NDT Somalia Bureau @NewDelhiTimes info@newdelhitimes.com NEW DELHI TIMES India and EU should jointly navigate a changing world he European Union and India are celebrating 55 years of diplomatic relations. The 14th EU-India Summit held in New Delhi on 6 October 2017 reviewed the bilateral relationship across regional and international challenges. However, the India- European Union trade pact and the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), were stalled over leaders’ disagreement on whether the protection of foreign investments will constitute part of the BTIA or a stand-alone treaty. India has allowed numerous bilateral investment treaties with EU states to lapse from 2015 to bring those in line with a model treaty. The joint statement on terrorism was a positive outcome. It called for ‘decisive and concerted actions’ against Pak terrorists and enhancing cooperation at multilateral and bilateral interactions, reflecting the EU’s recent face-off with terror. Indian skilled workers to EU states face barriers like salary thresholds, recognition of qualifications, visa fees, and social security. The recent rise of populism and protectionism in Europe has aggravated it further. The EU blocks Indian workers but wants open market and greater access for its automobiles, wines and spirits. It can’t have the cake and eat it too. Liberalisation of services must go hand in hand with the liberalisation of the goods market. Highly protective of citizens’ rights on data online, the EU is also not granting ‘data secure’ certification to India for crossborder transfer of personal data to facilitate IT companies’ services. India of course needs to align its laws to the EU standards to secure appropriate certification. The 1994 EU-India Cooperation Agreement provided the platform for political, economic and sectoral cooperation while the EU- India Strategic Partnership (2004), the EU- India Joint Action Plan (2005), Summits, ministerial-level, expert-level, sectoral meetings, regular parliamentary exchanges like visit of committees from the European Parliament to India in February 2017 have developed the partnership further. The Joint statement of the 13th EU- India Summit on 30 March 2016 in Brussels with Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker and Narendra Modi participating, gave a new momentum to the Strategic Partnership. The EU-India Agenda for Action 2020 provides the practical roadmap for the next five years covering political, security, human rights and global issues like climate change. The Sustainable Development Agenda-2030 and sectoral policy cooperation in energy, environment, ICT, research and innovation, and people-to-people contacts take it further. Tusk and Juncker referred to India and the EU as the ‘world’s largest democracies’. India- EU bilateral goods and services trade rose to €100 billion in 2016. Transformational developments since the Brussels summit has shaken the EU’s identity as the world’s single largest market: Brexit; key elections in France and Germany; rifts between eastern and western European countries on core EU values, the election of Trump and consequent American retreat from leadership role, while pro-EU leader French President Macron presses for a stronger EU post Brexit. India’s foreign policy has also evolved since the fall of the Soviet Union, moving gradually from a philosophy of non-alignment, self-identification with the developing world, and mistrust of the West to a closer alignment with the U.S. and EU. The lack of economic development has bogged India down. India and the EU brace for a ‘rules-based’ ‘multipolar’ international order as the U.S. is reneging on several international deals to ‘decertify’ the Iran nuclear deal and withdraw from the Paris Accord the EU is too keen to uphold. Despite USA absence, ascent of Russia and China offers hope of a multipolar world order. Thankfully, India’s dynamic, pro-business, pragmatic leadership promises to ‘create an India that none could talk down to in the international stage.’ As Indian market opens up to foreign investors, new EU leadership must strengthen and rebalance the strategic partnership to conclude the FTA with India for sustained cooperation in areas like energy, climate change, human rights, and peace and security, maritime security and counter piracy. The EU should goad India - a responsible, big, democratic power - to become more assertive in managing international crises for world peace and stability. India is economically and politically important for the EU, to be chosen among the ten strategic partners. India is EU’s 10th largest trading partner and also a privileged partner on innovation issues like energy or scientific research. The EU is India’s largest trade partner and both hold commonly shared values. The EU shares India’s concern on China’s political and economic dominance; the summit declaration on freedom of navigation is pointer. Europe is concerned with inexpensive Chinese steel flooding global markets. Belt Photo Credit : Shutterstock and Road Initiative and inroads into Eastern and Central Europe through infrastructure investments by developing heterogeneous relationship with EU member states worries EU, hence the need for greater India-EU bonding. All twenty-eight EU Member States have resident diplomatic missions in Delhi but strategic partnership has not gained critical mass. The most important bilateral agenda - The India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) – is not concluded yet even after twelve rounds of negotiations through seven years. Following the EU-India Joint Action Plan, the EU should deepen the political relationship through cooperation on foreign policy, security and human rights; finalize FTA, enhance cooperation on key areas like energy, science and technology, environment, mobility, skills development, urban development, education, cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts. What is the pocket of Somalia’s new Prime Minister? omalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, famously known as Farmaajo, appointed a new Prime Minister on February 23, 2017, Hasan Ali Khayre. After more than quarter of a century spent in conflict and terrorism, the President spared no time in appointing the Prime Minister as to focus on the country’s development and rightly so under a new government. The President via twitter declared the appointment of the Prime Minister on 24 February, 2017 a day after his inauguration adding, “I request you to work with him”. He announced it just before his trip to Saudi Arabia. This was his first trip as the leader of Somalia. The announcements filled the streets of Somalia with crowds chanting songs and firing automatic weapons into the sky. This trip was being observed as marking a change in Somalia’s regional alliances. Mohamed Sheikh Abdi, a Somali political analyst remarked before the trip that: “Having travelled to Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip as a president, the new Somali president is breaking the long tradition by Somali leaders who have paid their very first foreign trips to Ethiopia, which is called by many as the Mecca of Somali leaders”. The trip was an indication that the new President favours an alliance with Arab countries, which other countries have not yet done. During his visit, Farmajo met King Salman of Saudi Arabia. The two leaders discussed aspects of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in order to further enhance relations in all fields. Since then Farmanjo has paid two more visits to Saudi Arabia, most recent one in September 2017. Farmajo said after the visit that the talks with King Salman were fruitful and the two countries made progress on strengthening bilateral ties. The new Prime Minister, Hasan Ali Khayre has a dual Somali-Norwegian nationality, who was previously employed by British energy exploration from Soma Oil and Gas. Mr. Khaire was born in central Somalia and has degrees from the University of Oslo and the Edinburgh Business School in Scotland. Khaire has also worked as a primary school teacher in Norway and was a regional director of the Norwegian Refugee Council before working as an executive director for Soma Oil and Gas, which is a private UK company founded in 2013 to pursue oil and gas exploration opportunities in Somalia. He spent about two and a half years as Africa director for the British energy company Soma Oil and Gas. The UK based oil explorer, chaired by the Baron Howard of Lympne, Michael Howard, the former conservative party leader was once accused of corruption by the British authorities. Although, the charges were dropped by the Serious Fraud Office, who abandoned its bribery investigation after failing to find enough evidence to prosecute. At the time of his appointment, Mr. Kaire in a video message accepted the nomination and promised to form a government that represents the Somali people and the authenticity of Somali. He was selected out of the 21 possible candidates for the post. He was considered appropriate to tackle violence, corruption, and hunger which were disturbed because of the civil war. A dual US- Somali citizenship and a reputation as a technocrat added to his selection for the position.Khaire is expected to strengthen the unstable central government and improve the situation of the country which is struggling with the severe draught and Islamist militancy. Even the new President vowed to prioritize the security in the country. Khaire resigned from the job as the executive director for Africa to take up the job of Prime Minister. He is said to be in his late 40s and is new to politics. However, the president confirmed that he was qualified for the position. The President said, “He is someone who deserves the post, who has the experience and knowledge and most importantly, he is someone that I can work with.” This was a requirement as several former rifts between previous presidents and prime ministers have forced the Somali governments to collapse. Khaire’s appointment is also seen as balancing the clan interests in this Horn of Africa. He is a member of the Hawiye clan, as is former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was defeated in the election by the now President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. Mohamed is with the Darod clan. www.NewDelhiTimes.com
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