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Wednesday - Tuesday, July 8-14, 2015
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Top rebel slain a blow to PHL communist rebellion
Davao, Philippines (AFP) Monday 6/29/2015 – The Philippine military has shot dead an infamous communist guerilla leader in a blow to one of the world’s longest-running Maoist insurgencies, authorities said Monday. New People’s Army (NPA) commander Leonardo Pitao was killed in a mountainous hamlet near the major southern city of Davao on Sunday by army special forces, the military said. “He’s an NPA idol, and now they will see how the long arm of the law finally caught up with their leader,” Major-General Eduardo Ano said of the rebel leader also known as “Commander Parago”. “This is not only going to be a big setback; this is going to be what you call the fall of the NPA in the Davao region,” Ano told reporters. A woman believed to be Pitao’s medic was also killed as the monthslong operation targeting the most famous guerrilla leader in the main southern island of Mindanao ended, a military statement said. The 46-year-old rebellion has claimed tens of thousands of lives and impoverished large areas of the country. The insurgency’s armed force is now estimated at less than 4,000 fighters, about half of which on Mindanao. The military says the group sustains itself by extorting from businesses. The military said Pitao, described by the local press as about 57 years old, commanded the 700-strong Pulang Bagani Command. He had several standing arrest warrants for various crimes ranging from murder to robbery, the military statement said. In 1999 Pitao’s unit abducted Brigadier-General Victor Obillo, head of an army engineering unit building roads in remote, impoverished areas influenced by communist guerrillas. Pitao was arrested later that same year, after Obillo and his military aide were freed unharmed. However the guerilla leader was released less than two years later as part of the government’s efforts to hold peace talks with the insurgents, which have so far been unsuccessful. In 2009, Pitao’s 20-year-old daughter, who was not accused of being a guerrilla, was abducted by unknown gunmen and later found murdered in Davao. Her murder was never solved. The NPA blamed the security forces for the unsolved killing, and said it would hold the then-president Gloria Arroyo’s administration responsible. The military rejected the allegation. Pitao’s killing followed the detention earlier this month of Adelberto Silva, described by the military as the “highest-ranking” leader of the NPA’s mother organisation the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Last year the government arrested CPP chairman Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma Tiamzon, the party’s secretary-general.
Binay did not promise they would not steal from gov’t – Chiz MANILA, July 2 (Mabuhay) – Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero found something lacking from Vice President Jejomar Binay’s speech where he attacked the Aquino government: He never promised that he would not steal public funds. “Sa dami ng sinabi nya. Wala syang sinabi na hindi sya o sila magnanakaw,” (He said a lot of things. He did not say that he, or they, would not steal) Escudero said, referring to Binay’s speech during the launching of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) as a political party. “Wala syang binanggit ni isang salita ukol sa ‘tuwid na daan’ at sa pagtiyak na gagalangin at papangalagaan nila ang kaban ng bayan,” (He never said anything about the ‘straight path’ or made any assurance that they would respect and protect the government coffers) the senator added. Escudero then asked: “Paano nila gagawin ang lahat ng sinabi niyang plataporma kung hindi naman makakarating sa ating mga kababayan ang pera na dapat ay para sa kanila at hindi sa bulsa ng tiwali?” (How could they deliver what they said on their platform if funds for our countrymen would not reach them and not get into the pockets of the corrupt.) In his speech, Binay criticized the Aquino administration for not doing enough to benefit Filipinos. “After five years, so many are still without jobs, hungry, ill and with no one to turn to, youths who cannot go to school, rampant crime and illegal drugs in the community. Poverty is widespread,” Binay said. “The nation asks: ‘Where is the government?’” the Vice President continued. Reacting to Binay’s question thrown at the Aquino administration, Escudero said: “Ngayon lang ba nawala ng gobyerno nung umalis sya? Nung nandun sya, pano?” (Did the government only become absent when he left? What about when he was still part of it?) Binay was part of the Aquino government for five years as head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and as presidential adviser on OFW concers. Malacañang criticized the vice president for being “silent” during his stay in the Cabinet of President Benigno Aquino III, saying Binay should have spoken up if he had seen something wrong. He never did. (MNS)
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Beijing’s South China Sea runway ‘nearly complete’ Beijing, China (AFP) Thursday 7/2/2015 – Beijing has nearly completed building a 3,000-metre (9,800-foot) airstrip on a reef in disputed waters in the South China Sea, where tensions are mounting with its neighbors, a US think-tank said. A satellite picture taken on Sunday showed that China was paving and marking the runway on Fiery Cross Reef and an apron and taxiway have been added, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said on its website. Beijing’s project to build artificial islands and facilities on various reefs and outcrops in the Spratly islands only became publicly known in recent months but construction has since been rapid, raising tensions with both its neighbours and Washington. The South China Sea is home to strategically vital shipping lanes and is believed to be rich in oil and gas. Washington is concerned China’s efforts carry a military dimension that could undermine America’s naval and economic power in the Pacific, and has weighed sending warships and surveillance aircraft within 12 nautical miles – the normal territorial zone around natural land – of the new artificial islands. A lake in the middle of Fiery Cross Reef has been filled in and it has a partially-developed port with nine temporary loading piers, CSIS said. Personnel could be seen walking around and two helipads, up to 10 satellite communications antennas and one possible radar tower were also visible, it added. Washington wants Beijing to halt construction and militarisation, which “the Chinese show no indication of willingness to do”, Bonnie Glaser of CSIS said. She anticipated a short-term lull in construction as summer is typhoon season in the South China Sea while China’s President Xi Jinping is due to visit the US in September and “the Chinese are attaching priority to having a successful summit”. But she expected activity would pick up again later. The runway will be long enough for the People’s Liberation Army to land any of its aircraft on the island, analysts say. Arthur Ding, an expert on China’s military at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, said the airstrip would “definitely improve or enhance some-
what China’s military capability in the South China Sea”, including being able to deploy jet fighters to the island, although they would need “sophisticated logistical” support. Other neighbouring countries have also built artificial islands in the area, he pointed out. But the speed and scale of China’s works were much faster, he told AFP, and whatever it does “definitely will have a serious repercussion on the South China Sea and the regional order”. ‘Occupied islands’ Fiery Cross Reef, once little more than coral, is now 2.74 square kilometres (1.06 square miles) in size, Washington-based CSIS said. China has reclaimed land on seven different reefs totalling an estimated 12.8 square kilometres, it added. At one of the sites, South Johnson Reef, CSIS said Beijing has added a small port with two loading stations, two helipads on the reef and up to three satellite communications antennas. It also had a “large multi-level military facility” with two possible radar towers being built, along with up to six security and surveillance towers, and four possible weapons installations. Beijing claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, including areas close to the coasts of other littoral states, locking it into disputes with several neighbors, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam. It also has a long-running row with Japan over islands in the East China Sea. China’s foreign ministry said this week that some of the land reclamation works in the Spratlys had been recently finished on schedule, and facilities would be built mainly for civilian purposes, but “necessary military defense requirements will also be fulfilled”. Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing on Thursday that she was “not aware” of details of the latest CSIS report. In a commentary Thursday China’s official Xinhua news agency said that Beijing remained committed to dialogue and the peaceful settlement of disputes, stressing that it had refrained from forcefully taking back “occupied islands”. But it warned: “Expecting China to sit idly by as other countries rush to occupy South China Sea islands is unrealistic and unthinkable.”
China ‘trying to hack into everything’: Clinton Glen, United States (AFP) Saturday 7/4/2015 – Hillary Clinton accused China on Saturday of “trying to hack into everything that doesn’t move in America” and stealing government information, in strongly worded comments likely to irk Beijing. Clinton, a former secretary of state who is making another tilt at the White House in 2016, pulled no punches in remarks to Democratic supporters at a campaign event in New Hampshire. James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, said last month that China was the “leading suspect” in a massive breach affecting personal data of millions of US government employees. Beijing dismissed the charge as “absurd logic.” Clinton, the current frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said: “They’re trying to hack into everything that doesn’t move in America... stealing huge amounts of government information all looking for an advantage. “Make no mistake, they know they’re in competition—and they’re gonna do everything they can to win.” The US has in recent years blamed several hacks on Beijing, including some it says were carried out by members of the Chinese military. Cybersecurity specialists say the breach of data on at least four million current and former US federal employees appeared to be part of a Chinese effort to build a database for espionage.
At the same event, Clinton said that engagement was the best option when it comes to confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We have to be much smarter in how we deal with Putin and how we deal with his ambitions,” she said. “I’ve dealt with him. I know him. He’s not an easy man. “But I don’t think there is any substitute other than constant engagement.” Relations between Moscow and Washington are at their lowest ebb since the Cold War over Russia’s actions in neighboring Ukraine. Moscow denies backing pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country. Despite the tense ties, Putin sent a message earlier to US counterpart Barack Obama to mark Independence Day in the United States, saying that relations between Moscow and Washington were key to ensuring global stability, and calling for dialogue based on “equality and respect.” Clinton also touched on Iran, which is thrashing out the fine details of a deal with world powers over its nuclear ambitions. She warned, however, that even if an accord is sealed, “Iran’s aggressiveness will not end.” “They will continue to be the principle state sponsor of terrorism,” Clinton said. “They will continue to destabilize governments in the region and beyond.
Europe’s impossible dilemma: Let Greece stay or let it go? By Danny Kemp
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) Sunday 7/5/2015 – Europe faces a near impossible choice between giving debt-laden Greece a chance or pushing it out of the euro and risking global turmoil, analysts said Sunday, after Greek voters overwhelmingly rejected international creditors’ terms. Berlin, Paris and Brussels all warned in the runup to Sunday’s referendum that a ‘No’ vote to the EU-IMF reform demands was a ‘No’ vote for the single currency and a return to the drachma. Some analysts say the cold reality of a possible “Grexit” may make some leaders agree with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that the shock result does not necessarily have to mean a break with Europe. “EU member states will give Greece another chance, but there is very little time and this will really be the last chance,” Nicolas Veron of the Bruegel think-tank in Brussels told AFP. He said a Greek exit from the 19-country currency union could come about “very rapidly” if action was not taken quickly. The referendum result – a rejection of more austerity after five years of pain for Greece, came as a surprise to many European governments—because “lots of people were relying on the rationality of the process, and confused their desires for reality,” he added. The creditors face a difficult choice between trying to avoid the risk of contagion from a Greek euro exit – plus the political and symbolic implications of the loss of a historic European nation from the club – or sticking to their austerity guns. ‘Prepare for drachma’The radical leftist government led by Tsipras and his Syriza party has been at loggerheads with its creditors since it was elected in January on a tough anti-austerity platform.
Talks broke down last week when the eurozone refused to extend Greece’s bailout past June 30, and there are still few signs that the other 18 members of the currency club are willing to compromise. Eurozone leaders are to hold a special summit on Tuesday in Brussels which could well be the last chance to reach some kind of deal before the European Central Bank cuts off emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greece’s struggling banks. Slovakia’s Finance Minister Peter Kazimir poured cold water on the chances of success, saying that the “nightmare of the ‘euro-architects’ that a country could leave the club seems like a realistic scenario after Greece voted ‘No’ today.” “I think it’s going to lead to Grexit,” Pieter Cleppe of the Open Europe think-tank told AFP. “The EU doesn’t want to be seen as the one pulling the trigger. But that shouldn’t be the only reason for not pulling it—I think it would be irresponsible not to prepare for drachma if you think it’s impossible to get a deal with the eurozone finance ministers. “And I think that’s going to be very hard, so why keep pretending and wasting precious time, when you risk social breakdown.” He said that without an extension of ECB funding “there is no other way than to provide a parallel currency.” Pandora’s Box Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis insisted on Sunday night that a parallel currency was not on the table and that Athens could strike a deal, but that will take hard work, analysts said. Pouring more money into the black hole of Greece’s finances will not be popular with voters in other eurozone countries, particularly in the more hardline Baltics, Finland and the Netherlands, said Anne Laure Delatte, an economist at the French Institute for Scientific Research.