Global Issues and Updates

Deprived of basic safety equipment like  bulletproof  gear,  Indian Army  has finally received 7,500  helmets  after losing hundreds of soldiers in  close encounters  with terrorists and rival troops in recent decades. New Delhi (Sputnik) – In total, the Indian Army ordered 158,279 helmets under fast-track purchase plan. The second batch of 30,000 helmets is expected to arrive by the end of this year, and the rest will be delivered by mid-2019. However, the 1.3 million-strong Indian Army needs more than 300,000 such helmets for its infantry. Read more...

In a major change to the country's procurement policy, the Indian Defense Ministry has authorized its regional command unit to purchase arms and ammunition required for a short and intense war. New Delhi (Sputnik) – The prevailing practice is that the Army has to wait for the Defense Acquisition Council's decision for such purchases, which is a time-consuming process. Now, the vice-chief of army staff can order 46 kinds of ammunition, spares for 10 weapons platforms like infantry combat vehicles through the emergency purchase route. The step has been taken to make up for the major gap in the availability of critical arms and ammunitions required for an intense war of 10-15 days. Read more...

A year after the July 15, 2016, coup attempt, Turkey’s military — the once mighty pillar of a secular, Muslim-majority state with the second-largest standing force in NATO — has lost its Kemalist oomph. The generals who survived the massive purges following that fateful night are so terrified of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s avenging wrath that they rolled their troops inside Syria — a prospect they once resisted — without a whimper. The massive purges that began shortly after the failed coup has seen hundreds of thousands of civil servants, judges, security officials, and employees of state-run institutions fired. Their positions are being rapidly filled, often by under- or unqualified replacements Read more....

India has rejected China's offer to mediate and help resolve the Kashmir issue, insisting talks will only take place with Pakistan without the intervention of another nation. China had said it was willing to play a "constructive role" in improving relations between India and Pakistan, especially after the increased hostility along the Line of Control, a de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir valley between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. However, talking to reporters on Thursday, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs turned down China's offer. "We are ready to talk Kashmir with Pakistan, but no third party mediation," Gopal Baglay said. "Our stand is absolutely clear Read more...

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Qatar's envoy to Gaza said Tuesday Doha was committed to funding projects in the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, despite pressure from Saudi Arabia and others who accuse it of supporting extremism. Speaking in Gaza City alongside a top UN official, Mohammed al-Amadi said Qatar would continue to fund projects in Gaza, despite the "siege" imposed by Saudi Arabia and its allies in recent weeks. Read more...

GAZA CITY — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is turning the screws in the Gaza Strip, pursuing a high-risk campaign to squeeze his own people so hard that they might force the Islamist militant movement Hamas to surrender control. The 82-year-old leader’s Palestinian Authority,   Read more....

In a interview for BBC World's HARDtalk, President Erdogan Read more...

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Government forces fired shotgun pellets and tear gas Wednesday in the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir as residents carried the body of a young rebel killed with two other militants during a gunbattle with Indian troops in the disputed region. The gunfight began overnight after Indian troops raided western Radbugh village following a tip that militants were hiding there, said police Inspector-General Muneer Ahmed Khan. He said the gunbattle lasted through the night and the three rebels were killed early Wednesday. Authorities imposed a curfew in downtown Srinagar, anticipating protests and clashes opposing Indian rule because two of the dead men were natives of the Read more...

The week-long series of war games will involve a total of 16 ships -- including the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz, India's INS Vikramanditya, a reconditioned Russian-built aircraft carrier, and Japan's JS Izumo, a helicopter carrier with an emphasis on anti-submarine warfare -- as well as two submarines and more than 95 aircraft. Rising China The buildup of naval power in the region comes at a time of increased tensions between India and China. China has steadily increased its naval presence throughout the Indian Ocean in recent years, part of an assertive blue-water strategy that aims to extend the country's operating ability far from Chinese shores. According to an IndiaSpend analysis of publicly Read more...

China has dispatched its naval forces to the Horn of Africa to set up an  army base in Djibouti, where several global players have a military presence. Members of China's People's Liberation Army marked the incident at a ceremony at a naval base in the southern Chinese port of Zhanjiang on Tuesday, the Chinese Defense Ministry  announced  on its website. Read more..

Some of the smallest countries in the world continue to dominate the list of the world's richest countries, an analysis by  Global Finance Magazine  shows. Read more....

N o surprise here: as it has for the last century, the United States remains the most powerful country on earth. America’s dynamic economy, its constitutional stability (even as we watch the Age of Trump unfold), its deep bench of strong allies and partners (including 5 of the 7 top powers listed below), and its overwhelming military superiority all ensure that the United States sits secure in its status on top of the greasy pole of international power politics. Read more...

The US has  deployed  the Patriot missile system to  Lithuania  to be used in NATO military drills, the first time the advanced missiles have been sent to the Baltics near Russia's border. The long-range anti-aircraft missile battery was brought to the Siauliai military airbase on Monday, ahead of the Tobruk Legacy exercise, and will be withdrawn when the exercise ends on July 22, a Lithuanian defense ministry spokeswoman told Reuters. Read more...

China is running a  hundred-year marathon . It has an unwritten, unofficial, 'secret' plan to supplant the United States as the world's most powerful nation by 2050 – the hundredth anniversary of Communist party's proclamation of the People's Republic of China. To win this marathon,  ying pai  (hawks) in China have drawn lessons from their millennia-old rich history, especially the Warring States period, which culminated in seven feuding states coming together to form one nation under the Qin dynasty. While the prevalent strategic thought in China today is steeped in such militaristic values, it projects itself and its history as one inspired by Confucian pacifism.  Wai ru,  nei fa  (on the outside, be benevolent; on the inside, be ruthless) is its watchword. Read more..

The rush to conspiracy on the part of China is in some ways understandable. There is no obvious reason why the Chinese embassy in Belgrade should be bombed, especially by an all-seeing and all-powerful American military. Simple stupidity simply can’t be the cause; terrible acts such as the bombing of the Chinese embassy must have equally terrible causes, such as a mysterious, racist, imperialist urge to once again humiliate the great Chinese people. Yet to what end? There was no logical reason to intentionally bomb the embassy and provoke China, nor was there a great swelling of anti-Chinese feeling in America that would have provoked such an act. Ultimately, the conspiracy explanation lacks Read more...

The U.S. State Department has  declared  Syed Salahuddin, the Pakistan-based chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, as a "global terrorist," and imposed new sanctions aimed at suppressing his organization, one of the major militant groups fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir. Read more....

German defense authorities have finally ordered the start of withdrawal of troops from a base in southern Turkey after the two countries failed to settle disputes on how Berlin could access the base. Read more....

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan summoned India's deputy high commissioner in Islamabad Sunday after five civilians were killed by "unprovoked" Indian fire across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region. In a separate 'goodwill gesture' it also released scores of Indian fishermen held for illegal fishing in its territorial waters. Read more..

For the past three weeks it has sometimes seemed, from India media reports and aggressive statements coming out of Beijing, that there has been a distinct possibility of a Himalayan border war breaking out between the two countries, 55 years after India suffered a humiliating military defeat in the area at the hands of its larger Asian neighbor in 1962. Read more...

The U.S. has begun a series of what has been described as the most complex war games with Asian allies India and Japan. All three are engaged in regional power struggles with rival nations. Read more....

What is the G20? Founded in 1999 to give developing countries a more powerful voice in the global economy, the summit brings together industrialised and emerging economies. The group makes up 85 per cent of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of its population. When it was first started, only finance ministers and central bank governors met at G20 summits. Read more...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Army sergeant who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and is now stationed in Hawaii has been arrested on charges of providing material support to Islamic State extremists, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday Read more...

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up his three-day visit to Israel, a visit to a beach with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday made waves on social media after the two were pictured taking a barefoot stroll in the Mediterranean Read more...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. response to North Korea's latest missile launch (all times EDT): Read more...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Two U.S bombers have flown over the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. Air Force said on Friday, asserting the right to treat the region as international territory despite China's claim to virtually all of the waterway. Read more...

Diplomats  from Russia,  Iran , and Turkey have failed to reach agreement on final details regarding so-called "de-escalation zones" in parts of war-torn Syria. Read more...

China Wednesday urged India to immediately withdraw its border troops that have crossed into Chinese territory and correct its mistakes with practical actions Read more...

Truth may be concealed for a while, but not forever, said Chinese  Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang at the regular press conference on June 29, 2017. Lu's response came after Indian Army Chief Bipin Rewat's remarks on the latest standoff between Chinese and Indian  border  troops, saying there was no incursion into India, which is different from previous Indian media reports about the Chinese army's intrusion at the Sikkim section read more..

German lawmakers from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) have  blocked  a billion-dollar deal to lease advanced Heron-2 drones from Israel, citing the  capability  of the unmanned  aerial  vehicles to carry weapons Read more...

China has supplied a batch of weapons to the Philippines to support President Rodrigo Duterte's crusade against Islamist terror groups in Marawi, after Duterte proclaimed that he would seek assistance from sources other than the United States. Read more..

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