Regime collapse in Myanmar’s Rakhine

Ethnic armed organisations are inching their way towards the complete expulsion of junta forces in the state.

Border Guard Bangladesh personnel detain Myanmar Border Guard Police seeking refuge at Whaikhyang on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, 7 February 2024

 (AFP via Getty Images)

Published 11 Jul 2024 Myanmar

Myanmar’s raging civil conflict marked another precedent in recent weeks, with the revolutionary forces seizing the country’s premier beach resort and its neighbouring airport. The Arakan Army (AA) announced in recent days that after weeks of heavy clashes with junta forces, it had overrun Thandwe airport and the entire region around Ngapali Beach, with its string of high-end hotels, in Southern Rakhine State. This was just the latest stage in a long war that has seen an ethnic armed organisation come close to expelling all security forces of the military State Administration Council (SAC) from an entire state.

The AA resumed its 15-year armed resistance in late 2023, after an uneasy “humanitarian ceasefire” in late 2022. This was in response to its participation in Operation 1027, which started in late October 2023 in Northern Shan State – a Blitzkrieg operation by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, of which the AA is a founding member – that seized much of the territory from the China border to the north-western territory of Mandalay. The AA had clearly been regrouping its forces and had roughly synchronised its own western offensive.

As it has since the 2021 coup, the SAC reacts to losing territory with savage scorched earth tactics.

The Rakhine offensive has been stunningly successful, although brutal. The Myanmar military has lost major base areas in strategically important Paletwa in neighbouring Chin State, along with key central Rakhine State townships including the symbolic capital of the old Kingdom of Arakan, Mrauk U. The Myanmar Army Western Command headquarters in Ann Township is increasingly vulnerable, as Southern Rakhine State also falls to the AA.

As it has since the 2021 coup, the SAC reacts to losing territory with savage scorched earth tactics. When the military was forced out of Pawktaw, it levelled the town with a combination of naval bombardment, air strikes, and artillery barrages. SAC forces have perpetrated a number of atrocities, including the torture and murder of more than 70 civilians in the village of Byine Phyu north of Sittwe, and the almost complete destruction of Sin Gaung village close to Ngapali Beach in June, with drone strikes, airpower and navy shelling

.

One of the challenges of taking areas in Rakhine State is the administration of stateless Rohingya (Aashaa/Wikimedia Commons)

The offensive has also dramatically overrun two strategically important townships on the border with Bangladesh – Buthidaung in late May, and almost completely now, the town of Maungdaw. There are serious concerns that the AA’s success could inflame communal tensions between ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya Muslims, who make up a majority in both townships. Tensions are already high as the SAC forcibly recruits, and in some cases induces with weapons and cash, Rohingya men to join the Myanmar army.

Buthidaung was largely destroyed by fire in May, with unverifiable allegations that the AA engaged in arson attacks. The AA responded with the plausible assertion that the fires were sparked by SAC airstrikes. In June, the AA issued a warning to residents of Maungdaw to evacuate, as the SAC “has prepared extensively for urban warfare”.

The AA have long declared their political aspiration of gaining “confederation” status, rather than full autonomy from Myanmar.

Since the start of 2024, the SAC border security complex has gradually collapsed, with the majority of bases along the border with Bangladesh and India being overrun. In several cases, hundreds of soldiers and Border Guard Police have fled into Bangladesh and India. In addition, the Myanmar army has suffered several hundred casualties and similar numbers have surrendered to AA forces according to independent sources such as the Myanmar Peace Monitor. When the AA surrounded Military Operation Command No. 15 in Buthidaung in May, there was dramatic footage of hundreds of bedraggled troops, some being carried on stretchers and including families and Rohingya pressganged into service, surrendering to the AA.

One of the subsequent challenges of taking these areas, however, is the administration of stateless Rohingya, of which close to one million remain in mostly northern townships. Allegations of abuse of power and heavy-handed exercise of authority have abounded, not just from the Rohingya community but also Rakhine and other ethnic minorities. A recent report by the Center for Arakan Studies states that “(a)nalysing the far-reaching impact of these activities, due to rapid administrative expansion and unclear territorial boundaries, it’s challenging to determine exactly how much land the Arakan Army controls. However, it appears they have de facto authority over 50 to 75 per cent of Rakhine State.”

Over several years, the AA and its political wing, the United League of Arakan, and the “Arakan Authority” have attempted to extend administrative, judicial and basic services. This has entailed a combination of reverse engineering SAC bureaucratic systems and personnel, plus the creation of new networks of participatory local governance, creating hybrid systems with a strong AA influence. Formerly SAC schools, for example, continue to operate but students sing the AA anthem and salute the Rakhine flag. The AA humanitarian system was crucial in responding to the destructive Cyclone Mocha in 2023.

The AA have long declared their political aspiration of gaining “confederation” status, rather than full autonomy from Myanmar. However, the group’s unprecedented military achievements may well see the expulsion of all Myanmar military forces from Rakhine State by the end of the year. The next challenge will be keeping them out.

 

Musk’s Neuralink eyes more test subjects for its brain tech

By

 AFP   JULY 11, 2024

Elon Musk on Wednesday said his Neuralink startup is “moving on” to a second test patient as its tech for linking brains and computers improves.

Musk and members of the Neuralink team fielded questions during an update streamed on X, formerly Twitter, discussing where it is on the path to making its brain implants commonplace.

“We’re only just moving now to our second Neuralink patient,” Musk said. “But we hope to have, if things go well, high single digits this year.”

Musk’s neurotechnology company in January installed a brain implant in Noland Arbaugh, which the billionaire head of Tesla and X touted as a success.

Arbaugh was left paralyzed from the shoulders down by a diving accident eight years ago. 

Since the implant operation, he has told of playing chess and the video game “Civilization,” as well as taking Japanese and French lessons by controlling a computer screen cursor with his brain.

Musk and members of the Neuralink team detailed fixing an issue that saw Arbaugh’s ability to move a computer cursor with his mind greatly reduced.

Neuralink’s technology works through a device about the size of five stacked coins that is placed inside the human brain by a robotic surgeon.

Threads connecting the implant to Arbaugh’s brain had “retracted,” becoming less effective at picking up signals.

Threads will be implanted deeper in the brain and at varying depths, with ramped-up precision to maximize effectiveness, according to the Neuralink team.

Musk promised “it’s only going to get better from here.”

One goal is to escalate the bandwidth of the link between the brain and computer, allowing more data to move faster, according to Musk.

“Quite important for human-AI symbiosis is just being able to communicate at a speed AI can follow,” Musk said of brains being connected to computers with artificial intelligence.

Musk envisions Neuralink implants going beyond restoring sight to the blind to giving people infrared or ultraviolet vision or letting them share concepts with others telepathically.

“We want to give people superpowers,” Musk said. “Not just that we’re restoring your prior functionality, but that you actually have functionality far greater than a normal human.”

Musk spoke of developing an automated process in which Neuralink’s surgery robot could quickly install custom implants in people seeking “upgrades.”

“It’s very sort of ‘Cyberpunk’ or ‘Deus Ex,’ if you play those games,” Musk said of the idea.

“An exciting possibility long term also is to take parts of the Optimus humanoid robot and combine that with a Neuralink – you could have basically cybernetic superpowers,” he said.

Musk cofounded Neuralink in 2016.

The ambition is to supercharge human capabilities, treat neurological disorders like ALS or Parkinson’s, and maybe one day achieve a symbiotic relationship between humans and AI.

Musk is not alone in trying to make advances in the field, which is officially known as brain-machine or brain-computer interface research.

Musk's Neuralink says tiny wires of brain chip in first patient now stable

A smartphone with a Neuralink logo displayed is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken on May 15, 2024.

REUTERS

JULY 10, 2024 

The tiny wires of Neuralink's brain chip implant used in the first participant in a trial run by Elon Musk's company have become "more or less very stable", a company executive said on Wednesday (July 10).

The company had in May said that a number of tiny wires inside the brain of Noland Arbaugh, who is paralysed from the shoulders down due to a 2016 diving accident, had pulled out of position.

"Once you do the brain surgery it takes some time for the tissues to come in and anchor the threads in place, and once that happens, everything has been stable," said Neuralink executive Dongjin "D.J." Seo.

So far, Arbaugh, based in Arizona, was the only patient to have received the implant, but Musk said he hopes to have participants in the high single digits this year.

The company is now taking risk mitigation measures such as skull sculpting and reducing carbon dioxide concentration in the blood to normal level in patients, the company's executives said in a live stream on social media platform X.

"In upcoming implants, our plan is to sculpt the surface of the skull very intentionally to minimise the gap under the implant... that will put it closer to the brain and eliminate some of the tension on the threads," Matthew MacDougall, Neuralink's head of neurosurgery, said.

Neuralink is testing its implant to give paralysed patients the ability to use digital devices by thinking alone. The device works by using tiny wires, which are thinner than a human hair, to capture signals from the brain and translating those into actions such as moving a mouse cursor on a computer screen.

Musk said during the livestream that the device doesn't harm the brain. The US Food and Drug Administration, in initially considering the device years ago, had raised safety concerns, but ultimately granted the company a green light last year to begin human trials.


So far, the device has allowed Arbaugh to play video games, browse the internet and move a cursor on his laptop by thinking alone, according to the company's blog posts and videos.

Neuralink is also working on a new device that it believes will require half the number of electrodes to be implanted in the brain to make it more efficient and powerful, the executives said.

 

July 11, 2024

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MBtv: 12-year-old Thai skateboarder gears up for Olympic debut

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 MBeditor

At an indoor skatepark in central Bangkok, 12-year-old Vareeraya Sukasem gazes down the concrete ramp and in one smooth swift motion, propels her pink skateboard towards her target -– a steel handrail. The young Thai skateboarder, who will be one of the youngest athletes t

 

Aid workers ‘cannot access’ many areas of war-battered Sudan: Red Cross

By

 AFP  JULY 11, 2024

Large parts of war-torn Sudan are inaccessible to aid workers, a Red Cross official said Wednesday as devastating fighting between the army and paramilitaries rages on.

“There are plenty of areas we cannot access, sometimes because they are very dangerous, and sometimes we do not receive permission,” said Pierre Dorbes, a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“Improving access will help millions of people,” Dorbes told journalists in Port Sudan, the Red Sea city where the army, government and UN agencies are now based.

War has raged since April 2023 between the regular army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has left tens of thousands dead and displaced more than ten million people, according to the United Nations.

A recent UN-backed report said nearly 26 million people, or slightly more than half of the population, were facing high levels of “acute food insecurity”.

Volunteer groups in some areas consumed by the violence have set up communal kitchens, supported by international organisations.

“We provide about 2,000 meals a day, and this number is increasing daily,” Esmat Mohamed, who supervises one such initiative in the capital Khartoum, told AFP.

But international groups face logistical hurdles in transferring funds to volunteers on the ground, said one employee requesting anonymity for security reasons.

In the town of Dilling, near the South Sudan border, Kinda Komi is one of the volunteers providing meals to those in need.

“Since the start of the war, no food aid has reached the town, and the roads connecting it to the rest of the country have been cut due to the clashes,” she said.

According to her, “half of those in need leave without receiving meals.”

Tenuous Taliban control gives life to al-Qaida, Islamic State

July 10, 2024 
By Jeff Seldin

 Afghanistan Taliban officials attend a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan October 5, 2021.

WASHINGTON —

Taliban efforts to solidify the group’s control over Afghanistan are bringing a measure of peace and stability to its residents, but intelligence gathered by United Nations member states suggests the reprieve is not likely to last.

A report issued late Wednesday by the U.N. sanctions monitoring team warns that Afghanistan will almost certainly remain a source for insecurity with terror groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State either finding safe haven or finding ways to exploit the Taliban’s weaknesses.

“The country continues to be perceived as permissive or friendly territory by terrorist groups,” the report warns. “Continued Taliban tolerance of a range of terrorist groups, based across many Afghan provinces, sets the conditions for terrorism to project into neighboring States.”

Al-Qaida, in particular, continues to thrive, taking advantage of its long-term ties to the Taliban despite being forced to keep a low-profile.

Al-Qaida expansion

U.N. member states contend al-Qaida has used the past year to reorganize and recruit, building out its network of training camps and safe houses across at least five Afghan provinces, including bases in the eastern city of Jalalabad and offices in Kabul.

The expansion has also attracted more al-Qaida operatives, including some that the U.N. report described as “experienced instructors” from outside of Afghanistan, whose mission is “to enhance the security of dispersed cells.”

The report further alleges that de facto al-Qaida leader Saif al-Adel, believed to be in Iran, has sent ethnic Arab operatives to the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan to improve training and facilitate communication with the group’s core leadership.

Other key al-Qaida figures in Afghanistan have also found added safety thanks to the Taliban.

Taliban protection

Abu Ikhlas al-Masri, an al-Qaida commander captured in 2010 and held in a prison at Bagram air base until U.S. forces left in 2021, was placed in protective custody, the report says, "reflecting Taliban concerns that foreign intelligence agencies were looking for him."

Two other al-Qaida officials, described in the report as “weapons engineers,” were also given protection by the Taliban, while an al-Qaida official from Libya was reportedly given an Afghan passport and a position at the Interior Ministry.

“The intent behind these activities is not clear, nor are the consequences for the group’s capabilities, but the activities cause significant concern,” the report says of al-Qaida.

US assessment

The U.N. assessment stands, in some ways, in contrast to assessments shared late last year by the United States.

“Al-Qaida is at its historical nadir in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and its revival is unlikely,” National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid said in a statement marking the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S. that killed almost 3,000 people.

On Anniversary of 9/11 Attacks, US Says Al-Qaida in Afghanistan all but Dead

But such views are at odds with the picture put together by the U.N., which maintains al-Qaida has between 30 and 60 senior officials in Afghanistan, along with hundreds of fighters and almost 2,000 family members.

Islamic State-Khorasan

While al-Qaida may be seeing the start of a revival thanks to the Taliban rule of Afghanistan, the intelligence shared in the new U.N. report finds the Islamic State terror group is coming under pressure.

U.N. member states "credit Taliban efforts to counter the threat from [IS-Khorasan],” it says. “But [they] question the Taliban’s counter-terrorism capabilities and have concerns about continued [IS-Khorasan] recruitment and dispersal.”

The result, according to the report, is an Islamic State affiliate that is slowly positioning itself to undermine Taliban rule while actively carrying out attacks as far afield as Iran and Russia.

IS-Khorasan capacity “remains strong,” according to the report, noting the group’s deadly attacks in Kerman, Iran, this past January and on a Moscow concert hall this past March.

World Braces for Islamic State to Build on Moscow Attack

IS-Khorasan spreading

The intelligence suggests IS-Khorasan has expanded into a number of adjacent Central Asian states.

IS-Khorasan “is using Afghan nationals to conduct attacks in Pakistan, Pakistani nationals to conduct attacks inside Afghanistan, Tajik nationals to conduct attacks in Iran (Islamic Republic of) and the Russian Federation and has used a Kyrgyz national to carry out an attack in the Taliban’s heartland of Kandahar,” the U.N. report says.

The terror group also appears to be growing in parts of Afghanistan.

“[It] has strengthened in northern regions of Afghanistan, increasing recruitment within Tajik and Uzbek communities and stockpiling arms and explosives in remote mountainous areas," according to the report.

And one of the U.N. member states warned it sees indications IS-Khorasan may be preparing to try to reestablish territorial control in some areas.

IS undercover

Other intelligence shared with the U.N. by its member states raises concerns that IS-Khorasan may be preparing to take down the Taliban from within.

The report says there is evidence that IS-Khorasan operatives have infiltrated the Taliban’s Interior and Defense ministries, as well as its General Directorate of Intelligence.

There is also concern that the group is finding ways to hide its true presence.

The report estimates IS-Khorasan has 2,000 to 3,500 fighters, with members of other IS affiliates in Afghanistan helping to swell that number to as many as 6,000.

But U.N. member states allege the group is embedding its fighters in as many as four other terror groups, including some that get training and welfare benefits from the Taliban-run government.




IS special forces

There is also some evidence to suggest IS-Khorasan has set up a special operations force in Iran.

According to two U.N. member states, the force is made up of mostly Tajik and Uzbek nationals, charged with carrying out attacks on Shia shrines, clergy and Iranian police.

One of the two U.N. member states said the force could have as many as 300 fighters and appears to be operating along Iran’s borders with Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Iraq.

Central Asia

As with the U.N. assessment of al-Qaida’s fortunes in Afghanistan, the U.N. assessment of a large and possibly growing IS presence in the country also runs counter to some U.S. assessments, which see a much smaller footprint.

But more recent U.S. intelligence estimates have raised concerns about the ability of IS-Khorasan to project power into Central Asia and beyond.

A top U.S. counterterrorism official last month warned that IS appeared to be trying to take advantage of changing migration patterns that are sending more Central Asians to the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

Treasury Department sanctions unveiled last month also pointed to the involvement of an IS operative in Uzbekistan and the emir of the IS affiliate in the Republic of Georgia in a plot to smuggle operatives to the U.S.

Global reach

Some analysts say the additional details in the U.N. report are evidence that IS-Khorasan, also known as ISKP, remains on a worrisome trajectory.

“ISKP intensified its Central Asia outreach after the U.S.-withdrawal from Afghanistan and rolled out Tajik and Uzbek media arms in 2022,” according to Lucas Webber, a research fellow at the global intelligence firm, The Soufan Center.

“This initiative continues to expand,” he told VOA, pointing to the introduction of a new IS Tajik language magazine days after the group’s terror attack in Moscow.

And there are other worrisome signs.

“There has been an uptick in ISKP-linked arrests throughout Central Asia in the last few months,” Webber added, saying that could indicate the recent high-profile attacks could be “just the start of what the group has planned.”

One of the last holdouts, Australia weighs nuclear power pivot

The cooling towers of the Saint-Laurent-Des-Eaux nuclear power plant site near Orleans, France, in 2023. Long a nuclear-power holdout, Australia is now debating a switch that could see the country end its decadeslong resistance to the energy source. | REUTERS

BY BEN WESTCOTT
BLOOMBERG
Jul 11, 2024


Australia, one of the world’s last major nuclear power holdouts, is debating a pivot that could see the country end its decadeslong resistance to the energy source.

With less than a year until Australia heads to the polls, the Liberal National Coalition parties are making nuclear power a central plank of their policy platform to oust the current Labor government, driven in part by their historic opposition to renewables and by recent polling that shows more Australians are open to nuclear energy than ever before.

If they win the election due to be held by May next year, the coalition pledges to build nuclear reactors in seven locations in Australia by 2050.

"Only with a balanced mix of technologies, including renewables, zero-emissions nuclear and gas will Australia have any hope of reaching net zero by 2050, while remaining an economically prosperous economy,” the coalition's energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said in an interview.

There’s a long way to go, even if the coalition pulls off a win.

While Australia is one of the world’s top sources of uranium, energy experts say there’s a reason why Australia has never embraced nuclear energy. Beyond the historic hangups stemming from the testing of atomic weapons in the region, any new policy would need to overturn laws that currently ban the use of nuclear power, overcome local resistance and factor in the formidable costs of building new reactors, all while creating a whole new domestic nuclear industry to build, operate and support the reactors.

But Australia’s potential turn to nuclear power is in line with a global trend, with climate change and increasing geopolitical frictions forcing a global rethink about energy security and efforts to reduce emissions.

South Korea has recently reversed course, Japan is pushing to restart idled reactors, the United States is experimenting with smaller reactors and China is looking at adding as many as 10 reactors a year.

This has left Australia as part of a shrinking group of developed economies who don’t use, have never used and have no current plans to develop nuclear power.

The coalition’s proposal comes at a time when the share of renewables as part of the country’s energy mix has doubled from about 16% in 2016 to more than 32% in 2022. With abundant land and readily available renewable resources, experts question the cost of deploying nuclear reactors, with many current projects worldwide running into delays and plagued by cost overruns.

According to 2024 research from Australia’s leading research body CSIRO, nuclear was the most expensive energy option available at present.

"It will not be possible to have nuclear at least by 2040,” said Dr Asma Aziz, a senior lecturer in power engineering from the School of Engineering at Edith Cowan University. "We don’t have clarity on the cost, safety is an issue and I don’t know how many people would want to live near a nuclear plant.”

Opposition Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton claims they could have the first reactors up and running within 10 years. But a report prepared during a conservative government in 2006 estimated that it would likely take 15 years to build a viable nuclear power plant in Australia.

The incumbent Labor government points to these factors when highlighting its opposition to the coalition’s proposals. Energy Minister Chris Bowen said that the coalition’s nuclear plans would provide "at best 4% of Australia’s energy needs.”

"Nuclear energy is too slow to keep the lights on, too expensive to be economic and deliver affordable energy, and too risky for Australia’s energy needs,” Bowen said in a statement.
Testing times

Australia has a long and fraught history with nuclear power. Starting in the mid-20th century, nuclear weapons testing left a bitter taste in many Australians’ mouths and sparked a protest movement that endures to this day.

The United Kingdom conducted 12 major nuclear weapons tests across three sites in Australia in the 1950s, often without informing citizens of the risks and without the permission of the Indigenous communities on whose land they were testing.

This was followed by nuclear tests by the French government in the Pacific starting in 1966, far closer to Sydney than they were to Paris.



Australia is part of a shrinking group of developed economies who don’t use, have never used and have no current plans to develop nuclear power. | REUTERS

The tests created a fierce anti-nuclear movement across the country, which long campaigned for a ban on uranium mining altogether. Attempts to build a nuclear reactor in Jervis Bay on Australia’s eastern coastline were met with fierce protests and eventually abandoned.

In 1998, then center-right Liberal Party Prime Minister John Howard banned the development of nuclear power in Australia as part of a deal with the pro-environment Greens Party. The ban remains in place.

As recently as 2011, 62% of Australians said they were opposed to nuclear power, compared to just 35% in favor, according to a Lowy Institute survey.

However there is some indication that Australians’ attitudes to nuclear power might be evolving. A poll by Essential Research in April 2024 found more than 50% of Australians were supportive of Australia developing a nuclear industry.
Nuclear option

Eyeing that shift, the Liberals are planning to head to the next election with lifting the ban on nuclear power as a major part of their platform.

So far, Liberal leader Dutton has only released broad details of his plan. Seven nuclear power plants would be built in Australia over the next 2½ decades, with the reactors to be located at sites of decommissioned coal generators. Dutton said the first two plants could be operating by 2035.

The nuclear plants themselves would be state-owned, funded with public money rather than through the private sector. However, details such as the final cost of the policy, the planned energy mix and how future governments would bridge the transition to nuclear power are unclear.

"We are at a fork in the road in Australia and the path we venture down in pursuit of net zero will determine the sort of country we are mid-century,” O’Brien said in an interview.

Supporters of the coalition’s policy point to the shift by other large economies to re-embrace nuclear as a reliable and tested source of energy to take Australia to its net zero targets by 2050.

Brandon Munro, executive chairman of uranium development company Bannerman Energy, said he believes that nuclear power would be "absolutely essential for Australia’s long-term competitiveness and prosperity.”

"I think it’s naive to contemplate deep decarbonization of industrial processes without such an important tool, particularly when most other industrial countries are moving stridently toward an increased use of nuclear power,” he said.
Climate wars

But not everyone agrees, and some have accused the coalition of picking nuclear as just the latest salvo in Australia’s decadeslong political feud over climate change, a final push by the center-right parties to avoid giving in to a renewables-led future.

Australia is one of the world’s largest per capita greenhouse gas emitters and also one of the biggest exporters of coal and gas. As a result, the country has seen savage political contests over the past two decades on how to tackle rising emissions, which have led to the toppling of governments and the unseating of prime ministers.

"The coalition have allowed their ideological opposition to wind and solar to get in the way of smart policymaking and investment in Australia,” Energy Minister Bowen said, adding that Australia needed more energy capacity now and not in over a decade’s time.

Many had hoped the debate had finally been decided after the May 2022 election. Climate change was a decisive issue at the vote, seeing a swathe of pro-green energy independent lawmakers elected and the coalition, which had long been accused of dragging its feet on the renewable transition, kicked out of power.

After entering office, new Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese implemented the country’s first emission targets and attempted to ramp up the transition to renewable energy. However, investment has yet to pick up and the coalition has ramped up its attacks on the energy transition.

Critics point to the lack of detail from the opposition about how Australia would bridge any gap between aging coal power and a potential nuclear future without major investment in an alternative power source such as renewables.

Ian Lowe, energy expert and emeritus professor at Griffith University in Queensland, said the policy could have been an attempt by parts of the Liberal Party to extend coal and put off a switch to renewables even further.

"It’s an act of desperation to appease those in the coalition ranks who don’t accept the science of climate change,” he said.

Gen Z consumers rely on parents amid inflation squeeze

People make their way through midtown New York at the start of a work day in New York, US, on June 18, 2024.
PHOTO: Reuters file

PUBLISHED ONJULY 10, 2024

Gen Z adults in the US face increasing financial challenges because of inflation and rising living costs, with 46 per cent relying on financial assistance from their parents and families, according to a report by Bank of America published on Wednesday (July 10).

Half of the 1,091 people aged 18 to 27 surveyed by the bank were not on track to buy a home in the next five years. Respondents were polled in April and May, with the survey weighted to meet national population benchmarks, including gender and race.

The survey showed 46 per cent of young people were unprepared to save for retirement and 40 per cent were not ready to start investing in the next five years.


"When I talk to young people, especially Gen Z, I tell them to set a budget and stick with it," said Holly O'Neill, Bank of America's president of retail banking.

Of those polled, 67 per cent are making lifestyle changes to offset growing living expenses. The shifts include budgeting, cutting back on restaurant meals, staying home instead of attending events, and shopping at cheaper grocery stores.

Emergency savings were another pain point, with 57 per cent of Gen Z respondents lacking enough money to cover three months of expenses.

 

China issues white paper on marine eco-environmental protection

China11-Jul-2024  CGTN

  

The white paper titled "Marine Eco-Environmental Protection in China." /China Media Group

China's State Council Information Office on Thursday released a white paper titled "Marine Eco-Environmental Protection in China" to demonstrate China's conservation efforts and achievements in marine eco-environmental protection.

Besides the preface and conclusion, the white paper consists of seven parts: "Improving Marine Eco-Environment for Harmonious Coexistence Between Humans and the Ocean," "Coordinating Marine Eco-Environmental Protection," "Systematic Governance of the Marine Eco-Environment," "Science-Based Conservation and Restoration of Marine Ecosystems," "Strengthening Supervision and Administration of the Marine Eco-Environment," "Advancing China's Green and Low-Carbon Maritime Development" and "Carrying Out All-Round International Cooperation on Marine Eco-Environmental Protection."

China is a firm advocate for and an active participant in protecting the marine eco-environment, which is vital to its initiatives to build a beautiful China and a strong maritime country, the white paper noted.

Over the years, China has given priority to eco-environmental conservation and pursued systematic governance. It has coordinated development and protection efforts, and supported high-quality development with high-level protection, striving to build a marine eco-environment of harmonious coexistence between humans and the ocean, the document added.

Thanks to hard work over the years, China's marine eco-environment has shown overall improvement, with marked increase in the capacity of ecosystem services and functions in certain sea areas, according to the white paper.

"These achievements are a testament to the country's commitment to marine eco-environmental protection," it said.

The white paper said China has demonstrated its commitment as a responsible major country by actively promoting international cooperation in protecting the marine environment, faithfully fulfilling its responsibilities and obligations under international conventions, and contributing Chinese solutions and strength to the global governance of the marine environment.

(With input from Xinhua)

WWIII

NATO declares US ballistic missile defence base in Poland mission ready

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference, during Nato's 75th anniversary summit, in Washington, US, July 10, 2024.

Reuters
PUBLISHED ONJULY 10, 2024

WASHINGTON — A new US air defence base in northern Poland, designed to detect and intercept ballistic missile attacks as part of a broader Nato missile shield, is mission ready, the western military alliance announced on Wednesday (July 10).

Speaking on the sidelines of a Nato summit in Washington, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said the readiness of the base was an important step for transatlantic security in the face of a growing threat posed by ballistic missiles.

"As a defencive alliance we cannot ignore that threat. Missile defence is an essential element for NATO's core task of collective defence," he added, noting ballistic missiles had been widely used in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.


The system, dubbed Aegis Ashore, is based at the northern Polish town of Redzikowo and capable of intercepting short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles, according to NATO.

The allied missile defence shield is meant to protect European citizens, territory and forces against ballistic missile attacks.

Other key elements of the shield include a second Aegis Ashore site in Romania, along with US navy destroyers based in the Spanish port of Rota and an early-warning radar situated in the Turkish town of Kurecik.

Nato says Aegis Ashore is purely defencive. About 200 military personnel are stationed at the two interceptor sites in Poland and Romania, with the base in the Romanian town of Deveselu operational since 2016.

PROVOKING CHINA

NATO in the Indo-Pacific, Where 'East is East…'

While NATO focuses Europe, it is increasingly aware that "tougher strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific could have a direct impact on European security."

 July 11, 2024
By Jim Przystup

A banner at the entrance to the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium (©Reuters)

"East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet," wrote Rudyard Kipling in 1892. That was then, this is now. The AP4, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand are now participating for the third time at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit.

How did this come about? Not by accident. But thanks to the catalytic roles played by the "no limits" partners, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, with a supporting cast of Kim Jong Un and the Mullahs in Teheran.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters the Prime Minister's Office on July 9. (©Sankei by Ataru Haruna)

A Pivotal Quad meeting

At the video Quad meeting of March 3, 2022, Quad leaders met to discuss the international crisis brought about by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They also discussed the possible spillover effects of the European crisis on stability and security in the Indo-Pacific. Their joint statement reaffirmed their commitment to "a free and open Indo-Pacific in which the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states is respected and countries are free from military, economic and political coercion."

Following the meeting, Prime Minister Kishida added "We've agreed that changes in the status quo, like this (Russia's invasion of Ukraine) should not be allowed in the Indo-Pacific region."

At the same time, Liz Truss then UK Foreign Secretary told the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, "Conflict anywhere threatens security everywhere. The Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are indivisible." Standing together, the UK, the United States, the G7, the European Union, Canada and Japan "will face down aggression around the world – from the South China Sea to Eastern Europe."

Speaking during his July 2023 visit to Ukraine, President Yoon Suk-yeol observed: "War in Ukraine has reminded us all that a security crisis in one particular region can have a global impact."

From Indo-Pacific allies, dollars and defense equipment have flowed to Ukraine.

Japan's Engagement in Ukraine

Underscoring Japan's commitment, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also traveled to Ukraine. On March 21 2023, Kishida visited Bucha, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and invited him to attend the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. Japan's financial support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion has totaled more than $12 billion USD.

Japan has also provided Ukraine with non-lethal defense equipment. Since the invasion, Japan has provided bulletproof vests, helmets, mine detection equipment, and technical training. It has given humanitarian and reconstruction assistance as well.

In December 2023, the Kishida government amended Japan's arms export control law to allow the export of Patriot missile systems to the United States. That allowed the United States, in turn, to supply Ukraine from its stock of Patriot missiles. And, at the June 2024 G7 Summit in Italy, Japan and Ukraine concluded a long-term bilateral security agreement, committing to consultations should Russia again attack Ukraine.

South Korean President Yun Seok-yeol on June 25 (©Kyodo)

South Korea Follows Suit

Like Prime Minister Kishida, President Yoon visited Ukraine in July 2023. The Republic of Korea, while maintaining its policy of not providing weapons to countries actively engaged in hostilities, has transferred over 100,000 artillery rounds to the United States. That allowed the United States, in turn, to supply Ukraine from its stocks replenished by South Korea.

South Korea also supplied Ukraine with non-lethal defense equipment. For example, body armor, helmets, and de-mining equipment. Humanitarian assistance to Ukraine totaled $150 million in 2023, up from $100 million in 2022.

At the same time, President Yoon signaled that South Korea's support for Ukraine could move beyond humanitarian and financial assistance. In an April 2024 interview with Reuters, Yoon said, "If there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the law of war, it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support."

Australia and New Zealand

Elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, in April 2024, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles traveled to Ukraine. There, he announced a new $100 million military support package ー $50 million for short-range air defense systems, $30 million for unmanned drones, and $15 million for helmets and other defense equipment. The new package brings Australia's military support for Ukraine to $880 million and total support to over $1 billion.

And New Zealand likewise has pledged over $100 million to support Ukraine since Russia's invasion. That includes $77 million for military training and equipment.

It has deployed 97 defense personnel to Europe to assist in the training of Ukrainian forces. It provided another $21.93 million in humanitarian assistance. Along with those, it pledged $5.2 million to support human rights monitoring and legal processes.
Europe in the Indo-Pacific

Even as Russia's invasion of Ukraine moved to advance Indo-Pacific engagement with Europe, the Euro-Atlantic community has been moving toward greater engagement in the Indo-Pacific.

Over the past half-decade, European security documents all focus on the importance of stability in the Indo-Pacific to European security and prosperity. They highlight the mounting challenges posed by China to the regional order in the Indo-Pacific and to the broader rules-based international system. In order, they are the French Indo-Pacific Strategy, 2018; Germany's Policy Guidelines for the Asia-Pacific, 2020; the Netherlands' Indo-Pacific Guidelines, 2020; the European Union's Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, 2021; and the UK's Integrated Review Refresh, 2023.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO's newest head of state, and his wife enter Downing Street on July 5 in London. (©Stephan Rousseau/PA/Kyodo)

UK 'Tilt' Toward Asia

The UK in its 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defense, Development and Foreign Policy announced a "tilt" toward deeper engagement with the Indo-Pacific and a commitment to established a "persistent presence" in the region. This was underscored by the deployment of HMS Queen Elizaeth carrier strike group to the region.

Two years later, in 2023, The UK's Strategic Review Refresh noted: "Tensions in the Indo-Pacific are increasing and conflict there could have global consequences greater than the conflict in Ukraine."

In his forward to the Refresh, Prime Minister Sunak wrote "Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine…combined with China's more aggressive stance in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, are threatening to create a world define by danger, disorder and division ー and an international order more favorable to authoritarianism."

Also in January 2023, the UK signed a reciprocal access agreement with Japan to facilitate defense cooperation. The Prime Minister's press office referred to the agreement as "The most important defense treaty between the UK and Japan since 1902." That date refers to the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

In expanding Indo-Pacific engagement, the UK has also joined with the United States and Australia in the AUKUS strategic partnership. Likewise, it is cooperating with Italy and Japan in the development of the 6th generation fighter aircraft.
France's Pacific Strategy

France's Defense Strategy toward the Indo-Pacific assessed that "The scale of China's action and ambitions redefines a whole set of balances and military relations in the Indo-Pacific." The strategy encouraged European partners "to get more involved in this region where they have interests." It warns that "tougher strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific could have a direct impact on European security. "

France subsequently joined with Australia in an agreement to strengthen defense cooperation. Under it, they would provide mutual support for deployments as well as operational engagement and intelligence sharing. With Japan, France also agreed to a new series of joint exercises in response to challenges in the South China Sea.

British, French, Germany and Dutch navies have deployed naval vessels to the Indo-Pacific. They are engaged in training with regional counterparts with a view toward enhancing interoperability.

NATO's Broadening Focus

The 2024 NATO Summit makes the security focus of NATO and individual European allies clear. Its attention will, for the foreseeable future, remain on the challenges posed by Putin and the on-going conflict in Ukraine. But the growing diplomatic and security engagement with the Indo-Pacific can have significant normative value and enhance diplomatic deterrence. In particular, NATO's stated opposition to the use of force or coercion to change the status quo.

As Prime Minister Kishida observed during his 2023 Summit meeting with President Marcon, "From now on, the security of Europe and that of the Indo-Pacific are inseparable."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also recently noted that "Increasingly partners in Europe see challenges halfway around the world as being relevant to them, just as partners in Asia see challenges halfway around the world in Europe as being relevant to them."

The Twain have met.

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Author: James J Przystup
Senior Fellow, Japan Chair, The Hudson Institute