South China Sea Dispute Analised

http://www.newsbharati.com/ South China Sea Dispute Analised.



Ash Carter: US Will Keep Patrolling South China Sea

"Aggressive" actions by China and other countries in the South China Sea to claim territory will not dissuade the United States from its longstanding naval patrols in the region, Defense Sec. Ash Carton told ABC.



"Well, what we're doing is what we have done for decades," Carter said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week."  "That's a reflection of the U.S. military presence in this region, and we're strengthening that with President Obama."

American strength has kept peace and stability in the region with no NATO or security structure, he said. "That's the reason we're out here."

China's action of building and claiming islands in the region is widely viewed as an "aggressive act" in the region, The United States is challenging China and other countries making such claims, to prevent them from using the islands for military purposes.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made that assurance, Carter said, and the United States intends to see he keeps the promise.



"For our point, we'll continue to sail, fly and operate where international law permits as we have done for decades, Carter said.

Russia in Syria- Jets Hit ISIS Compund near Aleppo with precision Ammuni...

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Russia in Syria- Jets Hit ISIS Compund near Aleppo with precision Ammunition.



Serving or former Russian soldiers have been geolocated in Syria, bloggers have said today, suggesting the Kremlin's operation stretches well beyond it's air campaign.



The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of Russian investigative bloggers, used social media to locate serving or ex-soldiers in the country.



CIT's investigation seems to provide further proof of a Russian ground presence after images from social media accounts appearing to show military personnel in locations across Syria were revealed in September.

Meanwhile, the US-led air campaign against Islamic State militants, which ground to a near halt in late October, has intensified, with 56 strikes carried out from October 30 to November 6, focussing on the towns of Mar'a, al Hawl, al Hasakah and Dayr az Zawr.



Russia first launched air strikes to support President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's four-year civil war on September 30, but has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of mounting a ground operation.



It has instead said it will limit its help to military trainers, advisers and deliveries of military equipment.



US security officials and independent experts last week said Moscow had increased its forces in Syria to 4,000 personnel from an estimated 2,000.



A US defence official said multiple rocket-launcher crews and long-range artillery batteries were deployed outside four bases the Russians were using.

Sunday's report by CIT said social media had been used to geolocate three Russian serving or former soldiers in Syria.



Russia's military jets are based in Latakia in western Syria, far from where the three men were geolocated, which included locations near Hama, Aleppo and Homs.



'Although we still don't have indisputable evidence of Russian servicemen taking a direct part in the fighting on the ground in Syria, we believe the situation observed contradicts the claims of Russian officials that Russian troops are not taking part and are not planning to take part in ground operations,' CIT said.



The bloggers published screenshots from a social media account apparently belonging to Ayas Saryg-Ool, a soldier it said served in Russia's 74th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, and from an account appearing to belong to Vladimir Boldyrev, who it suggested was a Russian marine from the 810th Separate Marine Brigade.



It showed both of them had recently posted pictures with geolocation tags in Hama Province.

Russia in Syria- Attack Helicopters Hit ISIS Fighters in Idlib

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Russia in Syria- Attack Helicopters Hit ISIS Fighters in Idlib

Confirmation of Attack on Russian Jet May Strengthen Putin’s Resolve in Syria

Moscow The main bell in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg tolled 224 times on Sunday, once for each victim of the destruction of a Russian charter flight in Egypt a week ago.



Although President Vladimir V. Putin and his aides at first indignantly dismissed suspicions of a terrorist act, the Kremlin has since then clearly come to grips with the idea that a bomb was probably involved in the crash: Late Friday it suspended all travel by Russians to Egypt, and initiated an emergency airlift that by Sunday had repatriated 11,000 Russians, by government count.



Should an attack be confirmed — and particularly if the Islamic State’s claim that it bombed the plane in revenge for Russia’s intervention in Syria turns out to be true — analysts and other experts expect that it will only strengthen Mr. Putin’s resolve to become more deeply involved in the Middle East.



Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE



Consensus Grows for Bomb as Cause of Russian Jet Crash, Officials SayNOV. 8, 2015

F.B.I. to Help Russia Investigate Plane Crash in EgyptNOV. 7, 2015

A cafe in Cairo. The questioning of a prominent journalist on Sunday raised alarms about attempts to suppress domestic dissent as the Egyptian government grapples with questions about the crash of a Russian passenger jet.Egyptian Military Files Charges Against Investigative JournalistNOV. 8, 2015

Police officers inspected vehicles entering the Sharm el Sheikh airport on Saturday.Gaps in Egyptian Airport Security Face Scrutiny After CrashNOV. 7, 2015

First, Mr. Putin said the Russian Air Force’s bombing campaign in Syria was partly intended to help dismantle the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which includes up to 7,000 fighters from Russia and the former Soviet Union. One worry is that they might return to wage a terrorist war in Russia. An attack against a civilian airliner would confirm that Russian interests were already being threatened — and might cause Russia to begin targeting the Islamic State more aggressively.



Photo



Mourners at the service. Since the attack, the Kremlin has suspended all travel by Russians to Egypt and repatriated 11,000. Credit Elena Ignatyeva/Associated Press

Second, Mr. Putin’s Syrian intervention has been taken as an attempt to show that Russia is again become a global power capable of tackling the world’s most intractable problems. Reversing course after the first setback, however violent, would undercut that image.



Third, the Russian leader has painted the West, and the United States in particular, as quick to abandon its Arab allies since the dawn of the Arab Spring in 2011 and its chaotic aftermath. Syria, now beleaguered, has been Russia’s only Arab ally for decades, but Mr. Putin has also been courting President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt. A terrorist attack by enemies of the Egyptian government will most likely strengthen, not diminish, that effort.



Ever since the Russian Air Force began bombing targets in Syria at the end of September, Mr. Putin has repeated the theme that it is better to attack terrorists on their home territory. His response in the face of any terrorist attack will probably be to double down, analysts said. But he is still likely to avoid committing ground forces, which polls show remains highly unpopular among Russians.



“If it was a terrorist act, that pushes the stakes higher and makes this Syria operation more costly,” said Vladimir Frolov, a political analyst. “It also proves the point that terrorists have to be destroyed before they come to our own land.”

The problem, he said, is that “Russia’s current strategy cannot defeat the Islamic State.”Russia deployed more than 50 combat aircraft in Syria, along with some 4,000 troops. About half of them were already there as advisers and technicians, while most of the rest are ground forces needed to protect the pilots and various bases.



Advertisement



Continue reading the main story

The strategy as laid out by Mr. Putin was that the Russian Air Force would bolster the weakened military forces under President Bashar al-Assad, allowing them to strengthen their hold on Syria and then to take on the Islamic State strongholds in western Syria, using Syrian and allied ground forces.



Alexei Makarkin, an analyst at the Center for Political Technologies, saw two main options for Russia. One, he said, was that “Russia can intensify the Syria operation, send more troops and volunteers to support Assad.” That move, he said, would probably worsen already strained ties with the West.

Taliban Fighters Killing Each Other Over Leadership Issues- Sources

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Taliban Fighters Killing Each Other Over Leadership Issues- Sources.



Taliban killing each other over succession in group

Taliban insurgents loyal to rival leaders have been fighting in a southeastern province of Afghanistan, where about 50 men on both sides have been killed in two days, an Afghan official said Sunday.

Fighters in a breakaway faction led by Mullah Mohammad Rasool have been joined by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, according to Mohmand Nostrayar, governor of the Arghandab district of Zabul province.

Rasool was elected "supreme leader" of the Taliban last week by a faction that does not support Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who assumed power after the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar. The Afghan government announced in July that Mullah Omar had been dead for two years, precipitating a leadership crisis in the group that has waged a 14-year insurgency against Afghan and U.S.-led forces.

Analysts have long pointed to divisions within the Taliban, but this is the first time a rivalry has burst into the open.

It is unclear how much support there is for Rasool, a veteran Taliban official. A Taliban commander loyal to Mansoor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said Rasool's faction had joined forces with ISIS gunmen because it didn't have the numbers otherwise. Al Qaeda had previously pledged support to Mansoor.

"It is obvious that Mullah Rasool's group can't face Akhtar Mansoor alone so they need ISIS. We said that before and now it has been proven," he said.

The ISIS group, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, has been slowly building a presence in Afghanistan. The group controls a number of districts in the eastern Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan, and established a presence in Zabul province earlier this year.

Zabul provincial governor Mohammad Anwar Ishaqzai said the bodies of seven people who had been kidnapped in neighboring Ghazni province had been found late Saturday night in Arghandab. Most were kidnapped six weeks ago, he said, though one disappeared six months ago.

The four men and three women were all Hazaras, an ethnic minority who are predominantly Shiite, he said, and all had been beheaded. He blamed ISIS for the kidnappings and killings.

South China Sea- Ash Carter-US Defense Secy, Visited Aircraft Carrier in...

http://www.newsbharati.com/ South China Sea- Ash Carter-US Defense Secy, Visited Aircraft Carrier in SCS.

Pentagon chief visits US carrier in disputed South China Sea, blames Beijing for tension

U .S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter flew to a U.S. aircraft carrier transiting the disputed South China Sea on Thursday and blamed China for rising tension in the region on a visit sure to infuriate Beijing.



Carter's visit to the USS Theodore Roosevelt with Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein came just over a week after the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, challenged territorial limits around one of China's man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago with a so-called freedom-of-navigation patrol.



China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan have rival claims.



"Being here on the Theodore Roosevelt in the South China Sea is a symbol and signifies the stabilizing presence that the United States has had in this part of the world for decades," Carter told reporters as the carrier sailed about 150 to 200 nautical miles from the southern tip of the Spratlys and about 70 nautical miles north of Malaysia.

Asked about the significance of his visit at such a time, he said: "If it's being noted today in a special way, it's because of the tension in this part of the world, mostly arising from disputes over land features in the South China Sea, and most of the activity over the last year being perpetrated by China."

The warship was "conducting routine operations while transiting the South China Sea", Carter said on Wednesday after a meeting of defense ministers from Southeast Asia in Malaysia, a forum marred by the U.S.-China disagreements over the sea lane.

Beijing has rebuked Washington over the patrol while China's navy commander has warned that a minor incident could spark war in the South China Sea if the United States did not stop its "provocative acts"."China has consistently respected and safeguarded all countries' freedom of navigation and overflight enjoyed under international law," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday when asked about the Carter carrier visit before it took place."...What we oppose is waving the banner of freedom of navigation to push forward the militarization of the South China Sea and even provoke and endanger other countries' sovereignty and security interests. In this aspect, we hope the relevant actions and intentions of the U.S. can be made open and above board."



The U.S. Navy plans to conduct patrols within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands in the South China Sea about twice a quarter to remind China and other countries about U.S. rights under international law, a U.S. defense official said on Monday.



U.S. defense officials have said Carter would not be on any warship carrying out such patrols.



"Teddy Roosevelt's presence there and our visit is a symbol of our commitment to our rebalance (to Asia) and the importance of the Asia-Pacific to the United States," Carter said on Wednesday.



Read MoreVague maritime rules increase conflict risk

In July, Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was on board a Boeing P-8 surveillance plane as it carried out a seven-hour flight over the South China Sea.



Swift said his flight was routine, but it drew a rebuke from China. In May, Beijing called a U.S. P-8 surveillance flight carrying a CNN team over the South China Sea "irresponsible and dangerous".



The 10-member Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) scrapped a joint statement to be issued after their meeting on Wednesday because they were unable to agree on whether it should refer to the South China Sea dispute or not.



The United States had lobbied for inclusion of a reference, while China had argued it had no place in the statement. Carter and his Chinese counterpart attended the meeting.

U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Washington believed that the U.S. commitment to freedom of navigation was welcomed by ASEAN.



"People want the United States to be present, people want to know that the United States is going to be a stabilizing force ... but they also want us to have a good relationship with China," said Rhodes, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.



The United States says it takes no position on the South China Sea claims.



China denies it's impeding freedom of navigation or overflight in the waterway.



Read MoreHow China's military buildup threatens the US