media review: Is India being pressured by the West using the human rights claims?

media review: Is India being pressured by the West using the human rights claims?

    Sunday, September 24, 2023   No comments

India and Canada are in a diplomatic crisis at this point, and now made more intense with the US government declaring its support for Canada and reportedly providing the Canadian government with intelligence about the assassination case. Indian media reacted to the US involvement. Like the Guadian newspaper three years ago, Indian media started to produce the list of assassinations undertaken by the US government in other sovereign nations and on official of sovereign nation states.  

The Tribune asked: Look who’s talking, US reveals its bias, double standards:

BACKING Canada’s efforts to vilify India over allegations of its involvement in the killing of pro-Khalistan terror accused Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the US — that inveterate global policeman — has stated that no country can get any ‘special exemption’ for such actions. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said: ‘We will defend our basic principles and consult closely with allies like Canada as they pursue their law enforcement and diplomatic process.’ But has India sought any exemption, special or otherwise? Obviously not. New Delhi has not only rejected Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s claims as ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’ but also asked Ottawa to share relevant evidence, if any. There’s a bigger question: Does the US have the moral authority to grant such an exemption, even if unsolicited, considering its own unenviable history of adventurism in foreign lands? The answer is again an emphatic no.

 

Why and how is Beijing becoming the Mecca of Geopolitics?

Why and how is Beijing becoming the Mecca of Geopolitics?

    Sunday, April 09, 2023   No comments

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira says Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lulu will meet with his Chinese counterpart in a few days, to exchange views on the war in Ukraine in particular.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula will head to China on Tuesday, after his visit was postponed due to pneumonia, to restore his country to the international arena.

This official visit of the Brazilian president to his country's largest trading partner was scheduled to take place between March 25 and 31, but doctors recommended that it be postponed due to "mild pneumonia" from which he has now recovered.

On Friday, Lula will meet his counterpart Xi Jinping to "exchange views on the war in Ukraine" in particular, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told AFP and other international news agencies.

This official visit to China is the fourth for the Brazilian president, who began his third term in January, after being president from 2003 to 2010.

The Brazilian president promised to return his country "to the heart of the new global geopolitics", after the isolation it experienced during the rule of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

In Beijing, Lula hopes to play again the role of mediator who contributed to reaching the nuclear agreement between Iran and the United States during his second term (2007-2010).

Brazil, like China, refused to impose sanctions on Moscow, and at the end of January it had drawn up a still vague proposal regarding the mediation of several countries in the war in Ukraine.

The Brazilian president said at the time that he was "confident" of the chances of success of this proposal, expressing his hope to "establish" the group of countries after his return from China.

On March 25, Celso Amorim, the Brazilian president's senior adviser on international affairs, met in the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is visiting Brazil on April 17.

"To say that the doors are open (to peace talks) would be an exaggeration, but to say that they are closed is also not true," Amorim told CNN Brasil, on Monday, when asked about the outcome of the meeting with Putin.

However, the Kremlin ruled out "any prospect of a political settlement" mediated by China, despite the consensus expressed by Putin and his counterpart Xi during the latter's visit to Moscow at the end of March.

Before his meeting with Xi on Friday in Beijing, Lula will head to Shanghai on Thursday to attend the inauguration of former leftist President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016) as head of the New Development Bank, also known as the "BRICS Bank".

In 2006, during his first term, the "BRICS" group of emerging economies was created, which includes Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa.

Lula's visit to China will mainly deal with international political issues, as the economic aspect was dealt with a week ago, during the date previously set for the visit, when more than 500 Brazilian company heads, from most of the industrial agricultural sector, traveled to the Asian country.

More than 20 cooperation agreements have been signed, one of which allows their trade deals to be conducted directly, exchanging the yuan for the riyal and vice versa instead of relying on the dollar. Bilateral trade volume reached 150 billion dollars last year, with 89.7 billion dollars of Brazilian exports to China.

On his way back to the country, Lula will head to the UAE on Saturday for a one-day official visit.

At the conclusion of the "G20"... India refuses to condemn the Russian military operation in Ukraine

At the conclusion of the "G20"... India refuses to condemn the Russian military operation in Ukraine

    Saturday, February 25, 2023   No comments

India refused to condemn the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, and had reservations about including the condemnation in the final statement of the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 countries, which was held yesterday and today in New Delhi.

And the Indian Ministry of Finance stated, in a statement: “Most of the members decisively condemned the war in Ukraine, and affirmed that it causes great human suffering and exacerbates imbalances in the global economy … but there are other visions and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.”

She added, "While noting that the G-20 is not a forum for resolving security issues, we realize that security issues may have significant repercussions on the global economy."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov intends to participate in the meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Twenty, which is scheduled to be held on March 1 and 2 in New Delhi, according to what was announced by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, earlier this month.

Zakharova pointed out that during the event, issues of capacity-building, reform of international institutions, and strengthening the positions of developing countries in the collective decision-making process will be discussed.

She added, "It is expected that there will be a busy schedule of bilateral meetings for Lavrov, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers. Work is underway to prepare these contacts. We are talking about countries such as China and Brazil, and of course the host country."

In addition to participating in the G20 Foreign Ministers' Council, Lavrov will be in New Delhi from March 1-3, as part of a working visit during which he will hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Subramaniam Jaishankar, and after that he will participate in the international "Raisinya Dialogue" conference.

India holds the G20 presidency from last December until November 30, 2023.

The G20 summit started on February 24 in Bangalore, the technological capital of India, to agree on the challenges posed by the global economy in the atmosphere of war in Ukraine, and high inflation with the recovery after the "Covid-19" epidemic.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for reform of international institutions, including the World Bank, on the first day of the G20 financial summit in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

The meeting takes place exactly a year after the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, and amid disagreements among the G20 participants on this issue.

Media Review: India's economy has surpassed that of the United Kingdom in terms of size, making it the fifth largest in the world

Media Review: India's economy has surpassed that of the United Kingdom in terms of size, making it the fifth largest in the world

    Monday, September 19, 2022   No comments

India succeeded this year by taking advantage of the events surrounding it and getting as far as possible from the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by European countries on Russia, so that its economy exceeded the United Kingdom and made it the fifth largest economy, knowing that this transgression is not the first time, as India, the former British colony, has already emerged as the fifth The strongest economy in the world, surpassing Britain and France in 2019, according to a report by the World Population Review Center, based in the British capital, London.

Weeks ago, the International Monetary Fund revealed in its latest figures that just a decade ago, India's GDP was the eleventh in the world, but with 7% growth expected for 2022, India's economy has surpassed that of the United Kingdom in terms of size .

According to the International Monetary Fund, the growth of the Indian economy was accompanied by a period of rapid inflation in the United Kingdom, which led to a cost-of-living crisis and the risk of a recession, according to what the Bank of England predicted.

The IMF also explained that this situation, along with a turbulent political period and Brexit, led to Indian production exceeding the United Kingdom in the last quarter of 2021, with the first of 2022 offering no change in the arrangement.

Looking ahead, the International Monetary Fund expects India to overtake the UK more until 2027, making India the fourth largest economy by then, and leaving the UK in sixth place.

On an adjusted basis, using the dollar exchange rate on the last day of the first quarter, India's economy in "nominal" monetary terms in the quarter ending March was $854.7 billion. On the same basis, the UK economy was at $816 billion.

Reasons for the growth of the Indian economy

And the newspaper "The Guardian" revealed that one of the main reasons for the rise of India's economy is its ability to develop its manufacturing sector.

The newspaper considered that India has already benefited from a large educated middle class, which contributed to the development of the information technology and pharmaceutical sectors on a global level.

It also has strong consumer demand, which accounts for about 55 percent of the economy, compared to less than 40 percent in China, according to the newspaper.

Indian President Modi's market reforms, which included lowering the corporate tax from 35% to 25%, and opening India to more foreign investment, have also contributed to the liberalization of entrepreneurs.

The same context was reported by the American newspaper "The New York Times", which attributed this growth to a set of government policies, including increased public investment, forgiveness for debtors, credit guarantees that helped keep inflation relatively under control, and time the public from economic shocks.

Good relations with Moscow and Brussels in the service of the economy

In the same article, The New York Times noted that India's purchase of discounted oil from Russia, contrary to the wishes of Western allies, helped prevent the country's energy prices from rising.

India's neutral stance on the war in Ukraine has also allowed the volume of trade between India and Russia to rise by nearly 120% this year, according to Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov.

Indian Ambassador in Moscow Pavan Kapoor also noted that the volume of trade between Russia and India has been growing in size and scope in recent months. He added that companies in both countries are working to overcome obstacles to closer cooperation posed by sanctions.

India has moved towards enhancing exchange with partner countries using local currencies, which will strengthen its currency, and is currently working with Moscow on taking bilateral measures to expand the use of national currencies in mutual settlements.

Likewise, India has boosted its purchases of Russian crude over the past six months, while the United States has repeatedly urged New Delhi to support setting a price ceiling for Russian oil, which the latter has not agreed to.

Data in July showed that India's imports of crude oil from Russia jumped to a record level of about 950,000 barrels per day in June, which constitutes about 20% of the total imports of the third largest consumer of crude in the world.

On the other hand, India decided, in June, to resume negotiations with the European Union after a 9-year hiatus, with the aim of concluding a free trade agreement at the end of 2023.

The European Union is India's third largest trading partner, and the value of exchanges between them amounted to about 120 billion euros in 2021.

Britain retreat

The decline in Britain's global ranking, according to the "Bloomberg" website, is an uncomfortable development for Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose country is facing the highest inflation rate in four decades, with the risks of economic recession rising.

The latest official data showed that the British economy grew less than expected in July, raising the risk that the country may have already entered a recession, with demand for electricity falling due to a sharp rise in energy fees, and the construction sector affected by a jump in the cost of raw materials.

Warnings of recession, inflation and economic problems in Britain continue daily, and recently, for example, British government experts warned that the country would plunge into a deeper energy crisis, within a year, without an immediate plan to improve homes and dramatically reduce demand for gas.

Iran to obtain full membership in The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

Iran to obtain full membership in The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

    Wednesday, July 13, 2022   No comments

After signing its first memorandum of obligations in Uzbekistan at this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held in Samarkand in September, Iran's accession to the full membership of the Euroasia-spanning organization will be finalized by April 2023, the Iranian Embassy in China disclosed to the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Earlier, Russia media outlet Sputnik reported on Monday that Iran is slated to join the SCO as a full-pledged member state this year and a memorandum of Iran's obligations as a SCO member will also be signed in Samarkand, citing a foreign ministry statement of the organization's rotating chair Uzbekistan.

As a country that has been long sanctioned and isolated by the US-led West, Iran, by joining the SCO that accounts for 40 percent of the world's population and 28 percent of global GDP, could expect a breakthrough in its geopolitical and economic status quo, observers said. 

Iran has also approached the SCO with a proposal to create a new single currency for carrying out trade among SCO members, in a push to counter the increasing weaponization of the US dollar-dominated global financial system, CGTN reported in June.

Tehran has also officially submitted its application to become a member of the BRICS group as of late June, three members of which are also part of the SCO - China, Russia and India, following a similar move by Argentina

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.

The SCO's main goals are as follows: strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other areas; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region; and moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.

The organisation has two permanent bodies — the SCO Secretariat based in Beijing and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent. The SCO Secretary-General and the Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO RATS are appointed by the Council of Heads of State for a term of three years. Vladimir Norov (Uzbekistan) and Jumakhon Giyosov (Tajikistan) have held these positions, respectively, since 1 January 2019.

Currently:

• the SCO comprises eight member states, namely the Republic of India, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan;

• the SCO counts four observer states, namely the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Belarus, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Mongolia;

• the SCO has six dialogue partners, namely the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Republic of Turkey, and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Days before Putin's visit to Tehran, Iran inaugurates the North-South International Corridor

Days before Putin's visit to Tehran, Iran inaugurates the North-South International Corridor

    Tuesday, July 12, 2022   No comments

Days after India called on Iran to activate the road, rail, and sea transportation systems linking Mumbai to Saint-Petersburg and less than one week before Russia's president lands in Tehran, Iran runs train south inaugurating the transport systems that will link India to northern Europe.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe. 

Last week, India urged Iran to activate the 7,200 km International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), The Tribune newspaper reported.

With this development, India's trade with Russia is set to take a turn toward becoming much cheaper and faster as the two nations are planning to establish a corridor that passes through Iran and facilitates transport between them.

The INSTC is a transportation network that includes sea, road, and rail routes and links Russia and India, with Moscow and New Delhi seeking to activate the route due to them upping their bilateral trade by up to $13 billion in the last quarter of 2021. The trade even increased in terms of oil and other commodities.

Several central Asian countries will benefit from trade via the INSTC, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

Dry runs have shown transit time decreasing by up to 25 days from 40-45 days on this route, which would cut transportation costs by 30%. The INSTC is also not under any sanctions since it is an alternative to the Suez Canal, and it is not dominated by Western countries.

Iran declared on Thursday its readiness to employ its capacities to contribute to the establishment of sustainable peace in the South Caucasus region, which includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. 

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, called for establishing agreements that will lay down the groundwork for an increase in the volume of economic exchanges between the two neighboring countries considering their significant potential.

"Interestingly, all 18-odd countries touched by the INSTC route have never been active backers of unilateral sanctions announced periodically by the West," The Tribune reported. Trade links within the region have been disrupted due to the unilateral sanctions imposed on Russia and Iran.

Meanwhile, The Economic Times reported that Russia had started transporting container trains to India through the eastern branch of the INSTC.

The INSTC, if activated, could become an alternative to traditional routes such as the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Bosporus strait.

India also called on Iran to include its Chabahar Port to be brought under the INSTC, which would provide sea access to Afghanistan and emerge as a commercial transit hub for the region.

India has highly close ties with Iran, mainly due to New Delhi's dependence on Iranian crude oil despite the US sanctions on Tehran. The Islamic Republic also enjoys pivotal geographic importance, as it provides an alternate route to Afghanistan and Central Asia without India having to resort to Pakistan, a nation whose ties with New Delhi are frayed.

Moscow and Tehran sign a comprehensive agreement in the field of transport

Moscow and Tehran sign a comprehensive agreement in the field of transport

    Friday, April 29, 2022   No comments

Iranian Minister of Roads Rostam Qasemi, who led a delegation to Moscow, concluded a comprehensive agreement on railway cooperation between Iran and Russia, at the conclusion of his talks with the Russian Minister of Transport.

During the talks, which were also attended by members of the delegations of the two countries, Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Soliev, referring to the expansion of relations between the two countries, expressed his hope that the signing of the agreement would further expand bilateral cooperation in the field of transportation.

He said that the north-south railway corridor can be the basis for expanding cooperation between Russia, Iran, Central Asia and the Caucasus, and there is a need to sign a contract to implement this huge project, expressing the hope that the Rasht-Astara railway section will be completed with joint cooperation.

Vitaly Soliev said: In addition to joint efforts in the construction of this section, we can cooperate in its use and exploitation, which is of particular importance along the North-South railway.

The Russian Minister of Transport indicated that his country views the Islamic Republic of Iran as a hub for trade and transit in the region, and said: With the completion of the railways, especially the Rasht-Astara section, northern Europe will be linked to the Indian subcontinent, which will lead to huge transit revenues for the countries. Located along the route, including Iran and Russia.

The Iranian Minister of Roads also said that Iran is interested in developing and expanding cooperation with its neighbors, explaining that Iran shares its borders with 15 countries, and in the meantime, Russia is important to us as an important neighbor with historical ties.

Qassemi added: If Iran and Russia work closely together, the US and Western sanctions against the two countries will have no effect, explaining that every trade needs to develop the transportation field, and it is possible that any agreement between the two countries will be signed in the transportation field.

The Minister of Roads said: The exports between the two countries and Russian exports to other countries via Iran can be agreed upon and implemented in the shortest possible time, explaining that among the railways, the Rasht-Astara railway is very short and economical, and if the two countries cooperate in completing this section. The volume of exchange and transit of goods between the two countries will increase significantly.

In conclusion, Rostami stressed the possibility of increasing cooperation between Tehran and Moscow in both Chabahar and Shahid Rajaei port.

India: "Our purchases in a whole month may be less than what Europe buys in one afternoon"; US: "an increase in human rights violations by some officials in India"

India: "Our purchases in a whole month may be less than what Europe buys in one afternoon"; US: "an increase in human rights violations by some officials in India"

    Tuesday, April 12, 2022   No comments

US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held "frank" video talks, which did not seem to succeed in bringing the two countries closer together on the Russian military operation in Ukraine, which is destabilizing their relationship.

At the beginning of the virtual meeting, the US president praised the "deep relationship" between the two countries, expressing his desire to "continue close consultations" in light of the military operation in Ukraine.

For his part, the Indian Prime Minister described the situation in Ukraine as "extremely worrying", noting that India supports negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, which Washington views with much pessimism.

After the meeting, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters that "it is important to urge all countries, especially those that have influence on Russian President Vladimir Putin, to stop military operations."

"It is also important that democracies speak with one voice to defend the values ​​we share," he added.

On the other hand, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to a journalist who asked him why his country did not condemn the Russian military operation, saying: "Thank you for your advice and suggestion, but I prefer to do it my way."

After the White House said Biden had warned Modi that it would not be "in India's interest to speed up" its purchases of Russian energy exports—something that would partly offset the decline in Western purchases of these exports—the Indian foreign minister's response took a very sharp tone.

"Our purchases in a whole month may be less than what Europe buys in one afternoon," the minister told reporters.

For her part, US presidential spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, later, that "the president has made it clear that he does not believe it is in India's interest to accelerate or increase its imports of Russian energy," which so far represents a very small part of its purchases, or "other raw materials." .

Psaki stressed that Washington is ready to "help" India to "diversify" its energy sources.

The Biden administration wants to strengthen US alliances in the Asia-Pacific region to confront China, especially the re-launch of the so-called "Quad" alliance between the United States, India, Australia and Japan.

The disagreement shifted the conversation to another topic often used as pretext to frame conflict: human rights.

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, announced that the United States is monitoring what he described as "an increase in human rights violations by some officials in India," in a rare direct criticism from Washington of the human rights record in the Asian country.

These statements come after US President Joe Biden's video talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, which did not succeed in bringing the two countries' positions on the war in Ukraine closer, and continue to destabilize their relationship.

In a joint press briefing with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar, and Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh today, Blinken emphasized: “We communicate regularly with our Indian partners on these shared human rights values, and for that, we are monitoring some developments. Alarming situation in India recently, including the increase in human rights violations by some government, police and prison officials.

Blinken did not elaborate. Singh and Jaishankar, who spoke after Blinken at the press briefing, did not comment on the human rights issue.