Day: June 8, 2024

The coming week or two could determine Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s political fate and reshape the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s Gaza war.

That is, if Mr. Netanyahu fails to comply with war cabinet member Benny Gantz’s demand that the prime minister produce a plan for the post-war administration of Gaza by June 8;and Mr. Gantz makes good on his threat to resign.

Mr. Netanyahu has refused to spell out a post-war plan as long as Israel has not destroyed Hamas, in part because he fears his ultra-nationalist and ultra-conservative coalition partners will collapse the government if he proposes anything short of total Israeli control of the Strip.

The Biden administration, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and senior Israeli military commanders share Mr. Gantz’s frustration.

If Mr. Gantz resigns, he will likely be joined by fellow war cabinet member and former Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief of staff Gabi Eisenkot.

Mr. Gantz has good reason to stand by his ultimatum. A recent Israeli opinion poll;suggests that while he would still win an election, continued presence in the government is beginning to cost him.

The poll showed Mr. Gantz at 38 per cent, down from his 46 per cent high in January, while Mr. Netanyahu’s numbers increased to 30 per cent, up from 24 per cent six months ago.

While Mr. Netanyahu would still lose in an election, the poll suggests Mr. Gantz can ill-afford to risk his popularity further.

“Mr. Netanyahu is gradually recovering in the polls, and the gap between him and Mr. Gantz has almost closed. In the most recent surveys…, Mr. Netanyahu outperformed all his rivals. While his coalition is far from clinching victory, the latest polls suggest a deadlock. Israel’s political system allows one side to prevent the other from establishing a government,;potentially triggering a few more rounds of elections,” said Israeli commentator Amit Segal.

One of four scenarios is likely to unfold depending on what Mr. Gantz decides and was probably part of US President Joe Biden’s decision to officially announce his Qatar and Egypt-backed ceasefire plan in a bid to pressure both Hamas and Israel:

• Mr. Netanyahu could stall until his address to the US Congress on July 24.

• Mr. Netanyahu could dump his most militant ultra-nationalist and ultra-conservative coalition partners, represented by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who oppose a ceasefire deal that would lead to the release of Hamas-held hostages.

Instead, Mr. Netanyahu could form a government cooperating with Mr. Gantz, opposition leader Yair Lapid, and two religious coalition partners,;Shas and United Torah Judaism, who favor a ceasefire and hostage deal.

• Mr. Netanyahu decides to roll the dice and call for snap elections if Messrs. Gantz and Eisenkot resign.

• Messrs. Gantz and Eisenkot resign, leaving Mr. Netanyahu even more beholden to Messrs. Ben Gvir and Smotrich.

“If the National Unity Party makes good on its threat to bolt Netanyahu’s coalition, he will;lose the flak jacket that has protected him from even greater criticism abroad… (The government will lose the kosher certificate that helped it look responsible and balanced, and less extreme, messianic and racist.” said Israeli columnist Yossi Verter.

Messrs. Ben Gvir and Smotrich sought to limit Mr. Netanyahu’s space in ceasefire negotiations with tens of thousands of their supporters marching on Jerusalem Flag Day through Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter to celebrate Israel’s conquest of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

Participating in the march, Mr. Ben Gvir said it sent Hamas a message that “Jerusalem is ours.”

Referring to one of the gates to the old city, of which the Muslim Quarter is part, and the Temple Mount that hosts the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, Mr. Ben Gvir asserted that the “Damascus Gate is ours. The Temple Mount is ours, and, God willing, complete victory is ours.”

Militant Ben Gvir followers attacked Palestinian residents and journalists, chanting “Death to the Arabs,” “May your village burn,” and “Shuafat is up in flames,” a reference to an East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood.

A Gantz-Eisenkot walk-out that would make Mr. Netanyahu even more dependent on Messrs. Ben Gvir and Smotrich would increase pressure on Mr. Gallant, the defence minister, to follow suit and complicate Mr. Biden’s support for Israel.

“I know there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely… Some are even in the government coalition. And they’ve made it clear: They want to occupy Gaza, they want to keep fighting for years, and the hostages are not a priority to them…. I’ve urged the leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal, despite whatever pressure comes,” Mr. Biden said as he put forward his proposed ceasefire deal that appears to be based on a draft endorsed by Mr. Netanyahu.

In effect, Mr. Biden was cautioning Mr. Netanyahu not to allow for a situation in which he increases rather than reduces his dependency on Messrs. Ben Gvir and Smotrich.

At the same time, Israeli analysts suggest that in Mr. Netanyahu’s mind, potential International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants for the arrest on war crime charges of the prime minister and Mr. Gallant is turning the continuation of the Gaza war into a liability rather than an asset that would ensure he remains in office.

The United States and 16 other countries whose citizens were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 increased pressure on Mr. Netanyahu with the release of a joint statement calling on Israel and Hamas to conclude a ceasefire deal.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council, with Mr. Netanyahu potentially at a crossroads, appears to have delayed discussing a resolution that would endorse Mr. Biden’s ceasefire plan.

The United States initially circulated a draft resolution;in support of the plan that was likely to be vetoed because it put the onus of acceptance on Hamas. That would be more difficult to do with an Israeli government void of most “adults in the room.”

With the United States less vulnerable because of its stubborn support of Israel than many assume, Mr. Netanyahu may believe that he can use his Congressional speech to get away with whatever fallout a departure of Messrs. Gantz and Eisenkot would have.

Mr. Netanyahu may be right that the United States feels less pressured to tighten the screws on Israel with deeds rather than words.

To be sure, the US has lost moral standing because of perceived double standards in its approach towards the Ukraine and Gaza wars. US diplomats preaching human rights and the rule of law would likely be laughed out the door.

Nevertheless, Gulf states and various Asian nations still see the United States as the only security game in town.

Moreover, support for Israel has barely cost the United States economically, except for food franchises like Starbucks which suffer from boycotts in several Middle Eastern countries.

In late May, a previously unknown group, Ashaab al-Khaf (People of the cave), attacked several US food outlets in Baghdad, including KFC and Chilli House.

Even so, countries like Saudi Arabia;and the United Arab Emirates;prefer cooperating with the US over China on technology, including artificial intelligence.

This has not stopped Gulf states from investing in Chinese technology.

The UAE’s G42 artificial intelligence holding company concluded a partnership with Microsoft in April after agreeing with the ;US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security that it would pare back its presence in China or face potentially punitive sanctions.

Mr. Netanyahu’s problem is that Mr. Biden’s frustration with the Israeli prime minister and his ultra-nationalist and ultra-conservative partners has little to do with the cost of US support for Israel and potentially more with an emerging historic shift in what was once a “special relationship” between the United States and Israel.

Said prominent Middle East analyst Hussein Ibish: “The rift between the Israeli government and Mr Biden, and indeed between Israel and the US, over Gaza…appears to be widening at every phase. This is not…an ordinary rift… It has…all the makings of the beginning of the end of the ‘special relationship’ that has existed between the two countries since the late 1960s. And, as things stand, it’s only likely to get worse over time.”

More flights from the same #Azerbaijan Air Force IL-76 below (reg. 4K-78129) at least 10 flights to/from Nakhichevan exclave to mainland through Georgia. So far a very active month, if flights continue at this pace worth following up on. https://t.co/kfHwUo6FxT pic.twitter.com/kTxh1hoQMP

— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) June 9, 2024

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Ukrainian Drone hits Russian Base in North Ossetia .. Sending a Message.  Daily Kos

Arab and Muslim Americans face a critical moment on Nov. 5. If Joe Biden wins the US presidential election, they lose. Donald Trump might not be a great alternative, but he may be their only choice.

Pro-Israel political action committees pour millions of dollars into the campaign funds of both Republican and Democratic candidates and officials — a system where money means more than ethics.

Israel’s lobbying is unrivaled in its ability to influence and inform Congress, while efforts by the Arab world and the Arab American community do not even come close to having the same impact. There are no comparable pro-Arab PACs, so the pro-Israel lobby has the political football field all to itself.

Another major factor is that most Israelis understand American culture and society far better than most Arabs or Muslims. As a consequence, they better understand the nuances of American politics, fueling Israel’s political successes.

For Arab and Muslim Americans, this creates a quagmire in the country’s two-party system that is difficult to navigate. When it comes to America’s Middle East policies, especially on Palestine, there is no substantive difference between Republicans and Democrats, or even most major third-party candidates.

That is ironic considering that Arabs and Muslims share many of the same conservative values as the Republican Party, although they often lean toward Democratic candidates who embrace issues of freedom, justice, and compromise between Israel and Palestine.

As a consequence of all of this, all three leading candidates for president — Biden, Trump and third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — support Israel’s interests over those of the Arab and Muslim worlds, making voting in November a difficult choice.

But if you set aside the political rhetoric of each candidate and instead look at the consequences of victory for each of them, you can see a clear and effective political path emerge for Arabs and Muslims. They have no choice but to support Trump, despite his past policies (whether exaggerated or not) and the virulently extremist anti-Arab and anti-Muslim rhetoric of his Republican Party’s leadership.

We have all heard the extremist rhetoric of some GOP politicians, like former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley or Reps. Max Miller and Brian Mast. Haley’s hatred toward Arabs and Muslims was reflected in her decision last month to write the words “finish them” on an American-made artillery shell before it was used by Israel on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Do not forget. The people in Gaza are not just Palestinian. They are Arabs too.

Meanwhile, Miller called for turning Gaza “into a parking lot” and Mast compared “Palestinian civilians” to “Nazi civilians” in a speech following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. All have received major funding from the pro-Israel lobby.

But the bigger problem is that Arab and Muslim voters cannot afford to reverse course on the “#AbandonBiden” movement, which has proven effective in nearly every Democratic presidential primary.;

After eight months of funding and supporting Israel’s carnage in Gaza, which has taken more than 36,000 lives and probably far more, Biden’s sudden call for Tel Aviv to embrace a ceasefire rings hollow. His support for Israel has come at the cost of 36,000 lives.

For Arab and Muslim Americans, Biden must lose. If he wins, it means these communities will have proven to be politically ineffective. He could then continue to ignore their concerns.

If Trump wins, we know the Republican Party will be fraught with disarray. More importantly, the competition between the two parties will remain intense. Arab and Muslim voters will have even greater value to both sides in that case.

The Arab and Muslim vote will have more political value in a Democratic loss than in a Democratic win. In a Democratic win, they will be taken for granted. In a Republican win, they will have an opportunity to strengthen their voice beyond the handful of “progressives” who champion Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim rights, while also strengthening their position with the Democrats who succeed Biden.

Morally, Biden is worse for Arabs and Muslims than Trump. Four years of Trump’s antagonism does not even come close to eight months of Biden supporting Israel’s brutal carnage.

Do Arab lives matter? If they do, then Arabs and Muslims must vote based on strategic reasoning and planning, not on gut-wrenching emotion.

There was some hope that Kennedy, as a political outsider, might pursue an alternative agenda to balance out the interests of Israel and Palestine. However, restricted by limited funding, opposition from the mainstream news media, and the rejection of his own family, Kennedy has apparently decided he cannot risk isolating himself from the pro-Israel community, which can do far more harm to him than the ineffective pro-Arab American community.

Arab and Muslim voters have one goal in the presidential election on Nov. 5. That is to prove that they cannot be taken for granted, as President Biden and his party have done. They must prove their value by showing Democrats the consequences of the party shunning their needs, as Biden has done during Israel’s war on Gaza.

It is better to elect Trump, an inconsistent politician and convicted felon who they may be able to reason with, than to allow Biden and the Democrats to realize that they do not need to listen to the concerns of the country’s Arab and Muslim communities.

India, Japan and South Korea are strengthening their navies to respond to China’s increasing power in the region. Analysts note this move comes after China launched its new and more advanced Fujian aircraft carrier—a crucial naval vessel that facilitates the takeoff and landing of aeroplanes, and serves as a strategic hub for coordinating sea operations—which uses electromagnetic catapults to launch fighters more often.

Electromagnetic catapults on aircraft carriers use powerful magnets and electricity to launch planes. Imagine a giant slingshot. But, instead of rubber bands, it uses magnetic force to propel the aircraft forward at incredible speeds. This technology allows for faster, safer and more efficient launches.

Weighing 80,000 tons,;Fujian;is larger than any carrier operated by India or Japan. This naval vessel is fitted with three electromagnetic catapults for launch of aircraft. The;Fujian;will be capable of deploying up to 70 aircraft, including J-15 fighter jets.;Although the Fujian is much larger than carriers built by the UK, France and India, it is still conventionally powered. In contrast, all US Navy carriers and France’s;Charles de Gaulle;carrier are nuclear powered.

Fujian and China’s Fleet

China currently possesses two aircraft carriers, the;Liaoning;and the;Shandong. Both these are conventionally powered and use a ski-jump ramp—a curved platform that helps aeroplanes take off from a shorter distance by giving them a boost upward—for launching aircraft. Each carrier weighs around 60,000 tons.

By 2035, China plans to have six aircraft carriers, which would make it the second-largest navy capable of operating globally after the US, which currently has 11 carriers.

Former Indian naval officer C Uday Bhaskar, who is now director at New Delhi’s Society for Policy Studies and an honorary fellow of India’s National Maritime Foundation, said China’s assertiveness was putting pressure on Asian nations to build on their naval capabilities. China is viewed as a cause for concern by some Asian countries, including India. Bhaskar said China’s efforts to change the current order could soon turn into a threat.

India’s Naval Capabilities

In May, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had announced India’s plan to start building its third aircraft carrier soon. Analysts believe this is necessary for the Indian navy to keep up with China’s growing capabilities.

India’s Navy currently operates two 45,000-ton aircraft carriers—the;INS Vikrant;and the;INS Vikramaditya. Both carriers are conventionally powered and use ski-jump ramps to help aircraft take off. These vessels run on conventional power. The;INS Vikrant;is India’s first home-built carrier, constructed by Cochin Shipyard Ltd, while the;INS Vikramaditya;was purchased from Russia and has been in service since 2014.

The;INS Vikrant;can carry up to 30 aircraft, including MiG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31 helicopters and MH-60R multi-role helicopters. It also supports the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopters and Light Combat Aircraft (Navy). India is in talks with France to buy 26 Rafale-M carrier jets because there are not enough MiG-29Ks. Additionally, India is working on developing its own twin-engine deck-based fighter.

The;INS Vikramaditya;can carry more aircraft than the INS Vikrant—up to 36, including 26 MiG-29K fighters and 10 Kamov helicopters. These Kamov helicopters are used for advanced electronic warning and anti-submarine warfare.

Japan and South Korea

Bhaskar also said Japan and South Korea were looking for ways to engage with China to achieve peaceful coexistence. He explained that these countries were strengthening their navies as a precaution, to prepare for potential future conflicts.

Japan’s Fleet Capacity

In April, Japan revealed that it had upgraded its first aircraft carrier, the;Kaga. Originally launched in 2017 as a helicopter carrier, it has now been modified to carry Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters.

In 2026-’27, the;Kaga;will undergo another series of hull modifications to better carry fixed-wing aircraft. The;Kaga‘s sister, the;Izumo, which was put into service in 2015, will also undergo modifications till 2027. After this, both will have the capacity to carry 12 fighter jets and 16 helicopters. Originally designed as helicopter carriers, both ships can now be upgraded to carry fixed-wing fighter jets if required.

South Korea’s Program Delay

In October 2020,;Jane’s Defence;reported that, due to the increasing naval strengths of nearby nations, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff urged for accelerating the aircraft carrier construction plans.

Subsequently, South Korean officials initiated the first meeting to lay the groundwork for building a next-generation aircraft carrier. The meeting was described as ‘the first step’ towards acquiring ‘core technologies’ necessary for designing and constructing a light aircraft carrier, a process likely to be completed by 2024.

At the start, the project aimed to construct a 40,000-ton carrier capable of operating F-35B jets with short take-off and vertical landing capabilities.

In December 2023,;Naval News;stated that the South Korean Ministry of National Defense’s mid-term defence plan for 2024-2028 did not provide specific plans or a schedule for the proposed aircraft carrier. However, it did mention that the carrier project would be pursued later on. Additionally, the South Korean government’s 2024 budget proposal did not allocate funds for the carrier programme.

Over time, the project has become more ambitious. The newest design for the proposed carrier includes a catapult launch system and a larger size, with a displacement of up to 70,000 tons.

And The Global Landscape…

There are a total of 21 aircraft carriers in operation globally, with the US possessing 11. China, India, the UK and Italy each have two carriers, while France and Russia have one each. Despite China’s latest carrier, the;Fujian, the US maintains a qualitative advantage, notably with its;Gerald R Ford-class carrier, which boasts a displacement of 100,000 tons.

Criticisms point out of diversity, which is the strength, and forget culture, which is the real growth engine

It is a real shame that England is missing from the European elections. It would teach us that for decades now, democracies have been voting on the basis of a ‘no’ vote. The yes doesn’t make it. They have an accessory function. 

It is a fact that governments change, majorities are nullified, but electoral campaigns are exalted in denial, and Clement Attlee is the forerunner of all government “nos”. On the eve of the negotiations to divide up the world after the Second World War, the Labour leader replaced Churchill who, more than any other Western leader besides De Gaulle, had won the Second World War morally for the West. Moral merits did not prevent him from losing the empire that was ceded to Washington – the African colonies, the Asian colonies had only long since been liberated.

And it was an Englishman, Lord Keynes, who sanctioned the advent of His Majesty the Dollar and the decline of the pound as a handmaid in the secret suites of Bretton Woods. The pound was partially redeemed by an adequate development of tax havens. But Stalin’s surprise at the resumption of negotiations for the division of the world, suspended for the elections, when he did not find Winston with a cigar and bowler hat, and sat next to Attlee, of the “never seen before” series, is historic. And it is no coincidence that the historical picture of that partition of the planet remains the one with Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, naturally seated because Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had polio but had forgotten for twelve years of his presidency to tell that to the American voters and who only discovered it a couple of decades later.

Therefore, in modern democracies, “no” reigns. It’s easier to pronounce and if consolidated with an integrative f..k it’s easier to capitalize on electoral votes. ;

Returning to the risk of saying no to Europe, in Italy a serious danger was Paolo Savona, past enfant gatè, very much gaté and a little enfant, diverted in time to Cosob before it developed Plan B for the euro, an unimaginable economic and political disaster. 

To the promoters of the “no” virus, it must be reminded that Europe is by far the most extraordinary cultural and political entity that world diplomacy has managed to produce, it is not far-fetched to say, in the centuries, as many as have passed since the disintegration of the Roman Empire. Critics fail to notice that Europe has abolished borders, abolished internal wars, cancelled petty geo-nationalistic diatribes, created a single currency and invented Erasmus, a wonderful initiative of circulation between students invented by the formidable Sofia Corradi, “Mamma Erasmus” and in any case all eighteen-year-olds should be guaranteed forever free movement on European railways.;

A small detail to reiterate to the critics: all without wars, but with culture. Once upon a time, Metternich said that Italy was a geographical expression, confusing territories with culture.  In this mistake was displaced by Kissinger a very modest diplomat, unsuccessful in almost all his gimmicks, famous more for massacres than for political constructions. Suffice it to say that his greatest genius was the opening to China – something for which we are all grateful – but seen as an anti-Soviet function that in the space of half a century has turned into a solid Russian-Chinese alliance and the greatest American economic antagonist. For him, too, Europe was a geographical expression – world order restored – ignoring the immensity of this continent’s cultural richness.

Culture, like it or not, is the soul of progress. Today, with the Internet, with artificial intelligence, knowledge is on its way to becoming the true measure of the wealth of nations (GDP Knowledge) by supplanting the old, retro, troglodyte GDP, as the most populous country, in the world India has already decided to do. 

Friends of the no, Europe has a variety of cultural reserves that do not exist elsewhere with the sole exception of India and Africa. That is the greatness of Europe, but none of the candidates in the elections exalts it.;

This immense wealth of Europe is the envy of all. From America, which is unable to talk to other powers because it still lives on the remnants of power monopolists.; Envied by Russia, which aspires, and has the right, to be part of it politically, but which, besieged on all sides, has had to take refuge in Asia, the most tragic of diplomatic nonsense according to Brizinsky. Envied by China, which knows it can’t do without it, and lands there with the New Silk Road.

Enough of the no’s. Praise to the bureaucracies that have consolidated a common thought about dates and its mass consumption. Praise to the legal entities that are creating a common pattern. But above all, praise for the diversity of political vision that allows us to hypothesize an Orban, a Scholz, a Le Pen, with whom one can disagree, but which allow us to develop a richer planetary political dialectic. Europe is alive because of its diversity.;

Let’s make peace with Russia, its expulsion from the European cultural context is ridiculous, clearly saving Atlantic security. Open up to Africa, which is the real future of Europe. Why did China settle in Africa?; And open up to Draghi without ifs and equivocations.

Diversity is the unifying element of Europe. Let’s savor it and be proud of it.;

East Asia is home to a portion of the world’s most imaginative and quickly creating innovations, the region is likewise undermined by a few potential emergencies that could crash its encouragement and improvement. 

The limitation on the flexibility of discourse and flexibility of development in Hong Kong is as it were one sign and the chance for the popularity-based political system in Taiwan is essentially one more. To settle issues, individuals of various foundations and societies should cooperate and examine thoughts straightforwardly.

Analysis of the development in East Asia

The solidness of East Asia is at risk as competition for military assets increases among nations like Japan, South Korea, and China. 

The improvement of China, a nation that has a quickly growing economy, and forceful international strategies have changed the international circumstances nearby and represent the best danger in East Asia. Authorities in a few close by countries are currently confronted with a new and troublesome issue because of this pattern. They need to strike harmony through coordinated effort collaboration and “support” against uncertainty about China’s future way of behaving. 

The progress of East Asia is not select to China and India, even though getting the greater part of the concentration on the planet news. As Japan’s perspective on dangers from its rivals shifts, neighborhood protection from a more forceful position in Northeast Asia has disappeared. Japan presently likes to play a more forceful and “ordinary” part, and this affects Japan’s security plan. Expanding enthusiasm in China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as developing antagonism among these states over agitated land clashes, may have sweeping outcomes; however, what those results will be is as yet unsure.

To defend the Japanese Self-Defense Forces from voyage rockets and air-to-surface rockets, the protection service of Japan has fixed generally $355 million (40.3 billion yen) for parts of the Patriot surface-to-air rocket framework, and generally $91 million (10.3 billion yen) to get a surface-to-air rocket framework.

Not only this, the United States and China have become more cutthroat regarding overall strength, and the two countries have endeavored to enroll doctrinal companions as they continue looking for power. Biden has decided to counter China’s tactical extension by supporting U.S. associations in the area. Nevertheless, Beijing, Moscow, and Pyongyang have seen an intersection of needs and further developed cooperation as a net consequence of US endeavors to extend relations with Seoul and Tokyo. This multitude of changes highlights the development of an international ternion whose objective is to decrease the United States’ strength nearby and advance a multipolar world request.

To counter China’s developing forcefulness, the United States has as of late changed its international thoughtfulness regarding the Indo-Pacific, beginning with Obama’s “turn to Asia” in 2011. This methodology planned to brace key and business relations with partners nearby, especially Japan. Worried about China’s lead, the Trump government once again introduced the Quad, a security settlement containing the United States, Australia, India, and Japan. Notwithstanding his devotion to the Quad, Biden coordinated culminations at which world policymakers set out to expand their cooperation on issues like immunizations, environmental change, innovation, and inventory network strength.

Biden’s new Indo-Pacific system accentuates close participation with “significant Asian partners” including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and Vietnam. The U.S. government is viewed as a hindrance by specific partners who have conflicted with Beijing over its maritime or geological desires. As per Sean King, VP of the Park Strategies political consultancy in New York, “Maybe America’s greatest international benefit, aside from our furnished hardware and men, is our wide alliance web of popularity-based legislatures that can work as power supporters in any contention.” In this present circumstance, Washington would maintain that Seoul and Tokyo should consent to the likelihood that American powers positioned in those nations would be enacted in case of contention including Taiwan.

The security of Northeast, Southeast, and South Asia are progressively personally entwined in what may be viewed as a well-being nexus, by which the improvement of China has played a huge role. Notwithstanding, the US plan of “realigning” towards the Asia-Pacific and China’s discernment that it should turn into a maritime power and construct hostile to get to/region disavowal arms abilities to discourage the US armada from the area are the main impetuses in the tactical contest. The US realignment plan has set a few legislatures nearby in a circumstance where they should make sense of their essential direction between the United States and Beijing.

Inside a consistently changing security design, three key international areas of interest are an issue today: the East China Sea (ECS), the South China Sea (SCS), and the Korean Peninsula. Cross-waterway ties between Taiwan and the central area of China.

;It has for quite some time been viewed as a huge focal point for savagery nearby, even though starting around 2008 threats have cooled. This might empower Taipei to take a more forceful part in normalizing relations in other Asian flashpoints. The cooling of cross-waterway ties could likewise demonstrate a justification for more prominent issues in the East and South China Seas, as Beijing finds validity through outer strategy in a period of expanding populism at home. In the East and South China Seas, positive energy, rival regional attestations, battle over marine assets (oil, gas, and fish), armed force modernization, and heightening vital battle between the area’s primary superpowers (especially the United States and China) are the chief reasons for contact.

China’s declaration of an ADIZ over a large portion of the ECS has just raised concerns, and some think that it is just an issue of minutes until Beijing broadcasts an ADIZ over the South China Sea too. In the Korean Peninsula, the position has gotten more perilous with the Kim Jung Un tyranny. On the atomic issue, Pyongyang today shows that it wants to surrender its atomic stockpile. Besides, further, development has been obstructed by a deficiency of catalysts and clashing targets among the key partners.

ASEAN’s responsibilities to local steadiness have been huge yet additionally exceptionally specific, restricted, and not even close to the finish, particularly while considering ASEAN’s status as a “provincial power” or predominant player versus different players and primary plans. Especially, ASEAN’s most prominent accomplishments lay in the association’s ability to bring along different state-run administrations, those that might convey critical worries regarding each other and those whose hierarchical linkages have been negligible.

East Asia associates the Southeast Asian and Northeast Asian regions, and ASEAN has effectively situated itself at the focal point of worldwide safety efforts nearby. As ASEAN’s standing expanded, it began to have a more noticeable impact on provincial and global well-being outside Southeast Asia.

To advance serene cross-line information transmission and lift financial development, ASEAN has delivered Model Contractual Clauses for Cross Border Information Flows.

The APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules system is a possibility for East Asian nations since it strikes a split the difference between web networks and information security and protection. Information security and move decisions that are too severe might be kept away from assuming encoding and other mystery programming applications are broadly utilized.

Conclusion

Although East Asia is often highlighted for its impressive economic development and increasing intraregional interconnectedness, the area also encounters a set of non-economic difficulties that have significant consequences for international security. These include a shifting distribution of forces within the area and the introduction of an increasing number of international dangers to security. These trends endanger not just the safety of single nations in the area but also the area’s capacity to continue expanding economically. The longer the area goes without a tool to address these difficulties, the more likely it is that they will spread to the worldwide structure and cause disruption. 

References

• Dong, Jean https://thediplomat.com/2024/04/reconceptualizing-asias-security-challenges/ April, 2024
• Diego Cerdeiro,  https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2022/10/27/asia-and-the-world-face-growing-risks-from-economic-fragmentation

President-Elect Prabowo  Subianto of Indonesia aims to contribute to the resolution of the Russian-Ukraine War leveraging Indonesia’s diplomatic history in regional conflicts. Indonesia values independence and active participation in mediating disputes and promoting peace, which has yielded positive outcomes in conflicts like the South China Sea dispute, Moro in the Philippines, and the Cambodian conflict.

President-Elect Prabowo recently engaged with Ukrainian Volodymyr President Zelensky at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and has been invited to attend a conference in Geneva on June 15 2024 on resolving the Russian-Ukraine conflict. This paper will explore President Prabowo’s potential peace proposals drawing inspiration from Indonesia’s past diplomatic efforts as well as recent initiatives of President Joko Widodo and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto with the ultimate goal of proposing a comprehensive conflict resolution strategy to contribute to the cessation of hostilities.

An outstanding example of Indonesia’s proactive foreign policy is its involvement in the South China Sea dispute. Indonesia advocates for peaceful negotiations and adherence to international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Indonesia organizes dialogues and facilitates discussion among the involved parties in the conflict highlighting the importance of maintaining regional stability and avoiding military confrontations.  These efforts have effectively reduced tensions and fostered a cooperative atmosphere among the claimant countries.

In the context of the Moro conflict in the Philippines, Indonesia has played a role significant in facilitating peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). As part of the International Monitoring Team Indonesia promotes actively confidence-building measures between parties and ensures compliance with ceasefire agreements. A breakthrough occurred in 2014 with the signing of a peace accord ending decades of conflict and creating the conditions necessary for the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. Indonesia furthermore has also played a pivotal role in fostering peace during the Cambodian conflict by participating in the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991. Through effective diplomatic efforts Indonesia successfully involved diverse factions and international stakeholders in comprehensive negotiations resulting in the resolution of the conflict and the establishment of a democratic administration in Cambodia.;

In June 2022 President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) visited Russia and Ukraine on a diplomatic mission to promote peace. Jokowi emphasized the importance of dialogue and diplomacy during his visits offering Indonesia’s support in facilitating peace discussions.; One significant proposal put forth by; Jokowi was the establishment a of humanitarian corridor ensure to the safe passage of civilians and aid. Jokowi also advocated for economic incentives suggesting the of creation a joint economic zone promote to collaboration and ease tensions between the two nations.

During the inaugural Shangri-La Dialogue in 2022, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto proposed a ceasefire and the establishment of a demilitarized zone supervised by United Peacekeeping Nations forces. Prabowo stressed the importance of a party neutral overseeing the ceasefire agreement and ensuring compliance on both sides. He proposes to address socioeconomic disparities and political grievances by implementing development programs and infrastructure projects in conflict-affected areas. To facilitate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine it is crucial to establish a demilitarized zone along the conflict’s front lines monitored by United Nations Peacekeeping Forces.; This zone would minimize clashes and accidentally provide a secure space for negotiations. Additionally, a humanitarian corridor should be created to facilitate the passage of civilians and the delivery of aid. International humanitarian organizations should oversee this corridor to ensure its and effectiveness impartiality.;

Enhancing collaboration and interdependence between Russia and Ukraine through joint economic zones and development programs could foster economic cooperation. These initiatives would focus on improving living conditions employment and economic growth conflict conflict-affected areas. This would reduce incentives for continued hostilities.;

To address grievances and promote democratic governance it is crucial to support political reforms in both Russia and Ukraine. This may involve strengthening political institutions promoting transparency and accountability safeguarding human rights.; By addressing these underlying causes and promoting sustainable development. Prabowo’s approach holds the potential to pave the way for lasting peace in the region. Indonesia’s independent and proactive foreign policy provides a foundation solid for President-Elect Prabowo’s proposals to end the Russian-Ukraine War.

In conclusion, by leveraging the initiatives of President Jokowi and Défense Minister Prabowo a strategic approach including a ceasefire demilitarized humanitarian zone corridor, international mediation peace conference, economic cooperation political and reforms could lead to a sustainable resolution. Indonesia with its diplomatic understanding and commitment to peace can play a pivotal role in resolving this significant conflict. Through sustained engagement and cooperation with international allies Indonesia can contribute to establishing peaceful coexistence and stability in the region.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.

References

• AP News. (n.d.). AP AUDIO: Zelenskyy in Manila to promote peace summit, which he says China and Russia are trying to undermine. Retrieved June 8, 2024, from https://apnews.com/article/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelenskyy-philippines-president-ferdinand-marcos-jr-switzerland-peace-summit-713a05c244d01f1258e3bb4f67ec3b5c
• PBS NewsHour. (n.d.). Zelenskyy visits Philippines to promote peace summit, which he says China and Russia are trying to undermine. Retrieved June 8, 2024, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/zelenskyy-visits-philippines-to-promote-peace-summit-which-he-says-china-and-russia-are-trying-to-undermine
• United States Institute of Peace. (2024). How Might Prabowo Navigate Conflict & Competition in Indonesia’s President? Retrieved June 8, 2024, from https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/02/how-might-prabowo-navigate-conflict-competition-indonesias-president

When Claudia Sheinbaum swept to victory in Mexico’s presidential election, she gave the country of more than 120 million people a woman leader and a Jewish leader for the first time.; The former mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum’s election makes Mexico by far the biggest country to have a Jewish head of state.;

Only Israel (9.5 million) and Ukraine (38 million) currently have Jewish leaders. But President Javier Milei of Argentina has increasingly shown public interest in Judaism and even expressed intentions to convert to Judaism.;

Sheinbaum, 61, had Jewish grandparents who immigrated from Lithuania and Jewish grandparents who left Bulgaria to escape the Holocaust. Like her parents she is not religious but she has never become something else.;

Some people question her Jewishness. Local Jews say she is not involved in Mexico’s Jewish community. Yet she does not identify as a Catholic or any other religion and she faced some antisemitism on the campaign trail when her detractors characterized her as not fully Mexican.

So what makes a person Jewish? Although Jewish people usually, but not always, share a common gene pool, they are not a race because any non-Jew who converts to Judaism will be recognized as being Jewish by all those rabbis who share a commitment to the same denomination of Judaism as the rabbi who did the conversion.;

For example, a few years ago a Korean American woman, Angela Buchdahl, was named Senior Rabbi of Manhattan’s Central Synagogue. She is the first Asian-American senior rabbi of one of North America’s largest (2,400 families) Reform synagogues.

Born in South Korea in 1972, Rabbi Buchdahl, and Chinese American Reform Rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin, rabbi of Temple Sinai in Oakland, California. exemplify the new, ethnically and racially diverse face of the worldwide Jewish community, which now includes between 300-500,000 non-Jews who have become Jewish – formally by conversion or informally by acculturation into the Jewish people and its culture.

Orthodox Rabbis would not accept these two Reform Rabbis because (1) they do not want to accept any Jewish woman as a Rabbi, (2) they do not want to accept any Reform Rabbis as Rabbis, and (3) because they do not want to accept Reform converts to Judaism in general. They only want to maintain a monopolistic control over Judaism.

When it comes to Jews who are non-religious or even anti-religious, they are considered secular or cultural Jews, unless they are converts to another religion. Orthodox Jewish law still considers even apostates to be Jewish because for over fifteen centuries Jews were frequently subjected to persecutions and forced conversions, which meant that thousands of Jews who were baptized still believed in the One God of Israel.;

What might be considered the Jewish Nation? Like most nations, Jews have a national language, a shared history, which is much longer than most nations, and a style of cooking and thinking that is as distinctive as that of many other nations.;

What they have lacked for most of their 4,000 year history is an independent State in one geographical area. However, states come and go (Yugoslavia) and go and come (Poland and Israel) so having a state is not the most important aspect of being a nation.;

More important is that the majority of Jews do not view “Jews for Jesus” or Messianic Jews as belonging to the Jewish community.;

The answer to the question of ‘what are Jews?’ is that since Judaism and the Jewish People are so deeply intertwined they cannot and should not be separated. Individual Jews act in all kinds of ways, but the historical community is a blend of Jews: by birth (genes), belief, behavior and belonging (including converts to Judaism).

New genetic studies show how over the centuries many non-Jews have entered the Jewish community and many Jews have, voluntarily or not, left the Jewish community. Today we can answer the complex question: are all present day Jews really the biological descendants of the Jews who inhabited the Land of Israel 3,000 years ago? The answer is: Yes and No.

Genetic analysis does support the historical record of Middle Eastern Jews settling in North Africa during Classical Antiquity, actively proselytizing and marrying into the local populations, and, in the process, forming distinct populations that stayed largely intact for more than 2,000 years.;

The study, led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, states: “Our new findings define North African Jews, and enhance the case for a biological basis for Jewishness” However, as anyone who has been to present day Israel knows, Jews come in many different shades and looks because even in the diaspora, and even against the will of the ruling religious authorities, Jews quietly welcomed converts into the Jewish community.;

Conversion to Judaism in Europe was outlawed for over 12 centuries; and converts to Judaism were always in great danger.

For example, Count Valentine Potocki, a young Polish nobleman went to Paris to finish his education, There he met a Jewish teacher and asked him to teach him Hebrew. After some time Potocki decided to become Jewish and went to Amsterdam where it was safer to convert to Judaism. Later he and his family went to Israel.; But Potoki became homesick and took the dangerous step of returning to Poland.;

He settled in the Vilna district of Belarus posing as a born Jew and spent all his time studying Torah. When the police found out he was a convert he was arrested and sent to Vilna where the bishop tried to save his soul with reason, followed by torture, and then by being burned alive in the center of Vilna in 1749.

The rabbinical rule that one should not refer to any Jew’s convert status is evidence of the desire of Jewish leaders to keep proselytizing and conversion activities secret from the ruling religious authorities.

Now genetic analysis showed that modern-day Sephardic (Greek and Turkish), Ashkenazi; (Eastern European) and Mizrahi (Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian) Jews that originated in Europe and the Middle East are more related to each other than to their contemporary non-Jewish neighbors, with each group forming its own cluster within the larger Jewish population.

Further, each of the four geographical groups’ genes demonstrated Middle-Eastern ancestry, plus varying degrees of inclusion of converts to Judaism from the surrounding populations. This is true even though two of the major Jewish populations — Middle Eastern and European Jews — were found to have diverged from each other approximately 2,500 years ago.

The current study which extended the analysis to North African Jews, the second largest Jewish Diaspora group, found that they also were more related to each other than to their contemporary non-Jewish North African neighbors.;

The current study also included members of Jewish communities in Ethiopia, Yemen and Georgia. In all, the researchers analyzed the genetic make-up of 509 Jews from 15 populations along with genetic data on 114 individuals from seven North African non-Jewish populations. 

North African Jews exhibited a high degree of endogamy, or marriage within their own religious group in accordance with Jewish custom. Ethiopian and Yemenite Jewish populations also formed distinctive genetically linked clusters, as did Georgian Jews. 

Yet some converts to Judaism, and their genes, have always entered the Jewish gene pool. In the west today, many converts to Judaism are descendants of ex-Jews in previous generations who are now returning to the Jewish People, and bringing many non-Jewish genes with them.;

This unusual form of religious conversion, as a result of reincarnation, is a special aspect of Kabbalah: the Jewish mystical tradition. Unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, Kabbalah does not teach that reincarnation (gilgul) occurs over the course of millions of years to millions of different sentient species.;

According to;Kabbalah, only the souls of self-conscious moral creatures like human beings reincarnate; and they reincarnate only when they have not fulfilled the purpose of their creation.;
Since Judaism is an optimistic religion, most Kabbalists teach that most people can accomplish their life’s purpose in one or two lifetimes.;

A few souls may take 3-5 lifetimes or more. The bright souls of great religious figures like Moses or Miriam can turn into dozens of sparks that can reincarnate several times.;

The souls of Jews whose children have been cut off from the Jewish people, either through persecution or conversion to another religion, will reincarnate as one of their own no longer Jewish descendants.;

These descendant souls will seek to return to the Jewish people. A majority of people who end up converting (or reverting) to Judaism and the Jewish people, have Jewish souls from one of their own ancestors. However, their genes are mostly from their non-Jewish ancestors.;

So can Jews be part of a Nation, and a Religion, and a Race? Yes they can; and most Jews are all three.; ; ;