Iraq parliament approves PM’s anti-corruption plan People have protested over ity of services, especially power BAGHDAD—Iraq’s parliament them. “All Iraqi politicians offi- outages that leave just a few services and corruption before, on Tuesday unanimously approved Prime Minister Haider al- cially support reform and the hours of government-supplied but the demonstrations failed to Abadi’s reform programme fight against corruption but they electricity per day. T h o u - bring about significant change. aimed at curbing corruption and all engage very heavily in cor- sands of people have turned out Protestors’ demands were given reducing government waste that ruption,” said Zaid al-Ali, author in Baghdad and various cities in a boost on Friday when Sistani, has sparked widespread anger of “The Struggle For Iraq’s Fu- the Shiite south to vent their an- who is revered by millions, ture.” ger at the authorities, putting called for Abadi to take “drastic and weeks of protests. Abadi on Sunday proposed a series of measures to combat corruption, streamline the government and improve services after weeks of protests and a call from Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for drastic change. “It was unanimously approved,” parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi announced to applause after the vote, which was held without a debate as soon as the plan was read. Of 328 members of parliament, 297 attended the session, Juburi said. Juburi had urged MPs to sign off on the reforms proposed by Abadi, which have already been approved by the cabinet. But he said that a complementary plan containing even more reforms was needed, and that Abadi should sack ministers who are guilty of negligence and corruption. The second plan was also read and approved by parliament, and the session — most of which was taken up by the reading of The anti-graft plan was unanimously approved by 297 members of parliament. the two plans — ended some 30 “They have to say that they pressure on them to make measures” against corruption, minutes after it began. The approval is a victory for support reform, but they will changes. Various parties and saying that the “minor steps” he Abadi, but the question now be- work against it.” Amid a major politicians have sought to align had announced were not enough. Abadi rolled out the reform comes how thoroughly the mea- heatwave that has seen tempera- themselves with the protesters’ sures will be implemented, and tures top 50 degrees Celsius (120 calls for reforms to benefit from programme two days later. One what politicians and other offi- degrees Fahrenheit), protesters the movement and mitigate the of the most drastic of Abadi’s proposals, which were approved cials may do to try to thwart have railed against the poor qual- risk to themselves.
Missing college girl killed by schoolmate BEIJING—Beijing police con-
by the cabinet on Sunday, was the call for the posts of vice president and deputy prime minister to be eliminated “immediately”. On Tuesday, Abadi described the vice president and deputy premier positions as “one of the entrances to corruption.” The
firmed a college girl who went missing over the weekend was killed by a male schoolmate after a failed rape attempt. In an interview with Xinhua, police gave her surname as Zhou and said she was a student from the Communication University of China. A WeChat message saying she was missing spread among students and users. The message identified her as Zhou Yunlu, who majored in acting and was in the second year of her graduate studies before her death. Beijing police acted on a missing-person report from the university late Monday and arrested a male suspect named Li, 23-year-old. Li told police that he killed Zhou after he failed to rape her. Zhou reportedly was performing in a role for a crew organized by Li.—Xinhua
U.S. F-16 jet crashes in S. Germany, pilot ejects BERLIN—A U.S. F-16 fighter jet
plan also calls for the elimination of “political and sectarian quotas” for senior officials, for increased oversight to prevent corruption, and for services to be improved, among other measures.—AA
crashed in a forest in southern Germany during a training flight on Tuesday but the pilot managed to eject safely, police and U.S. Air Force officials said. The accident occurred at 09.38 a.m. (0738 GMT) near Engelmannsreuth in the north of Bavaria state, a spokesman for the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base near Trier said. The pilot safely ejected and jettisoned fuel tanks over an unpopulated area, he added.—Reuters
ISIL attacks Syrian opposition China sentences near Turkish border former executive to 18 years in jail
BEIRUT—ISIL has launched a new offensive
against Syrian opposition north of Aleppo, gaining ground near the Turkish-Syrian border in an area where Turkey and the United States aim to create an area free of the armed group. Dozens of combatants have been reported killed on both sides during fighting in and around the town of Marea, 20 km (12 miles) south of the border with Turkey, where ISIL suicide attackers detonated four car bombs overnight. The attack on Marea followed the capture of a nearby rebel-held village, Um Hosh, by ISIL fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights and a rebel commander said. The opposition commander said it was the most fierce ISIL attack in the area in several months. “There is fierce fighting,” he added, declining to be identified for security reasons. “The situation in northern Aleppo is bad.” The Observatory, a UK-based group that reports on the war using sources on the ground, said at least 25 rebels and eight ISIL fighters were killed in Marea. Late last month, the United States and Turkey announced their intention to provide air cover for opposition and jointly sweep ISIL
Opposition commander said it was the fiercest ISIL attack in the area in several months.
from a strip of land near the border. The envisioned buffer would deny ISIL its last remaining access to the frontier with Turkey after a string of defeats by the Kurdish YPG militia drove it from border positions further east. In a statement dated Tuesday, ISIL said its fighters had attacked two buildings in Marea and killed nearly 50 members of an “apostate” group that opposes it. The opposition commander said the targeted ones were from a group operating under the banner of the “Free Syrian Army”. The al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, an enemy of ISIL, on Monday announced its withdrawal from frontline positions against the group north of the city of Aleppo. The group criticized Turkey’s plan to create a buffer, saying it served Turkey’s interests rather than the fight against President Bashar al-Assad. Thought it opposes ISIL, the Nusra Front last month attacked rebels trained as part of a U.S.-led program to bolster insurgents viewed as moderate enough to fight the ultrahardline group. Nusra said the U.S.-trained rebels were working for American interests. ISIL, which controls wide areas of Iraq and Syria, has also launched a new attack against Syrian government forces stationed at an air base east of Aleppo in recent days.—AFP
BEIJING—A court in Shanghai 12 million yuan in illegal inin eastern China has sentenced Wang Zongnan, former chairman of state-owned Bright Food Group Co., to 18 years in jail for embezzlement and bribery, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. While Wang led state-owned companies Shanghai Friendship Group Co and Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co Ltd from 2001 to 2006, he embezzled more than 195 million yuan ($30.84 million) to set up companies to invest in properties for personal gain, Xinhua said in its report on the court proceedings. Wang illegally earned more than 1.2 million yuan, it also said. The court also found Wang accepted more than 2.69 million yuan in bribes, Xinhua said in its report. Wang, who was officially charged last August, was one of China’s most high profile state executives. At Bright Food, Wang helped put the governmentowned group on the global map with several acquisitions, including the 2012 acquisition of a majority stake in British cereal maker Weetabix. Wang’s case is an example of the Chinese government’s crackdown on corruption. In addition to sentencing Wang to 18 years in prison, the court also seized 1 million yuan in personal assets and ordered Wang to return more than
come. Wang could not be reached for comment. Shanghai Bright, Shanghai Friendship, now Shanghai Bailian Group, and Lianhua Supermarket did not respond to telephone calls requesting comment. Xinhua’s report on the court proceedings said Fosun Group, a subsidiary of Chinese investment company Fosun International Ltd , was named by the court. In 2003, Wang’s parents bought two villas in Shanghai developed by Fosun at below market prices, Xinhua’s report said. The villas, which were purchased for 2.08 million yuan in total, were sold for 14.8 million yuan several years later, Xinhua said. The court also found Wang used his position to seek benefits for Fosun Group after Friendship Group set up a joint entity with Shanghai Fosun High Technology (Group) Co, a Fosun subsidiary, Xinhua said in its report on the court proceedings. In an emailed statement on Tuesday, Fosun said it “never sought to inappropriately benefit from cooperation with Friendship Group and never delivered benefits to Wang Zongnan.” Fosun also said it believed the sale price of the villas was appropriately discounted.— Xinhua
Yemen war escalates BRUCE RIEDEL
S
AUDI Arabia and its Gulf allies are escalating the war in Yemen. The Houthi rebels and their allies show no sign of bending to the will of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin AbdulAziz Al Saud after more than four months of war. The grim struggle in Yemen goes on with a frightful toll for the Yemeni people. Summary? Print The Yemeni people are paying a frightful toll as Saudi Arabia and its allies escalate the war in the country. Author Bruce RiedelPosted August 7, 2015 The Saudis and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are pouring arms into Aden, Yemen’s second-largest city, and expanding their foothold there to the north. They seized a large Soviet-built air base north of Aden at Al-Anad. The air base is on the main road to Taiz, the next Saudi military objective. In Taiz, forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi claim to control much of the city, Yemen’s third-largest and the historic second capital of North Yemen. The UAE has deployed over 1,500 of its own troops to the Aden front, the first time the coalition has placed its own ground forces into the battle. The Saudis have trained Hadi loyalists and equipped them with tanks and other armored vehicles to open another front in Marib governorate in the northwest of the country. The Saudi gains so far have been outside the Zaydi Shiite heartland of the Houthi rebels. Sanaa remains firmly in the rebels’ control. The leader of the Zaydi Houthi rebels, Abdul-Malik alHouthi, gave a speech this week to his followers, promising, “We are in a great battle in which we must use all our efforts.” He acknowledged the Saudis and their allies had retaken the southern port of Aden but said, “The enemy threw all their weight to gain a limited achievement.” Houthi accused the Saudis and their ally, Hadi, of working with both Israel and the Islamic State (IS) to take Aden. He called for an internal Yemeni political solution to the war. In an interview, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh went further and called Hadi a traitor for backing the Saudis who should be tried for treason. Saleh called his former deputy “an enemy of all Yemenis” who should be tried for war crimes in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Saleh went on to blast the new Saudi leadership for abandoning the wise policies of the late King Abdullah, who died in January. The new leadership “is no longer a sisterly or friendly country but rather an aggressor against our Yemeni people.” Meanwhile, the Yemeni people are heading toward a humanitarian disaster as the war continues. Some aid is now moving into Aden, but the rest of the country is desperately short of water, food and medical supplies. Both sides have sabotaged efforts to arrange short cease-fires to allow temporary relief; 20 million people are at risk. The strong words of defiance from Houthi and Saleh suggest they are not cowed by Saudi air power. Their forces retain control of most of what used to be North Yemen. The Saudis, Hadi and alQaeda have control of the ports of what used to be South Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Hadi have Aden; al-Qaeda has Al-Mukkala. Even as the Yemen war intensifies, IS is stepping up its efforts to destabilize the kingdom. After a series of attacks on Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the Saudis arrested over 400 suspects linked to the terror group. Saudi officials later said more than three dozen Saudis had died and over a hundred were wounded in clashes with the suspects, suggesting some intense fire fights. The IS challenge is not yet as dangerous as the al-Qaeda threat inside Saudi Arabia a decade ago, but it appears to be getting worse, not better. The IS infrastructure in the kingdom calls itself the Nejd Vilayet of the Caliphate. It claimed credit for a suicide bombing in Abha near the Yemeni border this week that killed a dozen members of an elite Interior Ministry SWAT team. But the kingdom’s top priority is Yemen. The king has embarked on the most ambitious foreign policy project in the kingdom’s modern history, and he and his son need a victory. Inside the kingdom, growing doubts about the Yemen war are circulating quietly. The king’s ambitious son, Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, is derisively called the “little general” behind his back for his role in starting the war. The emphasis on Yemen explains the muted Saudi reaction to the Iran nuclear deal. Riyadh fears the deal will strengthen Iran and end sanctions permanently. But the Saudis cannot fight the deal when they need the support of its key arms suppliers — especially the United States and the United Kingdom — to fight in Yemen. The Saudi media has stressed that Washington has given assurances of support in fighting Iran’s allies, including the Houthis, and new arms sales. Quiet acceptance of the nuclear deal and sanctions relief for Iran is the price Riyadh has to pay to win in Yemen. Prince Salman visited Egypt and Jordan this month to rally support for the war. He remains the public face of the conflict at home. The media trumpets the victories in Aden and Taiz as proof his strategy is working. The king is in Morocco after extensive medical tests in France. A great humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in the Arabian Peninsula. The international community appears powerless to help the Yemeni people or, even worse, indifferent to their fate. The richest countries in the Arab world are waging war and a blockade against the poorest nation in Arabia with no end in sight. For its part, the United States has committed to accelerating arms deliveries to the kingdom and the Gulf states, which helps them continue the air and naval blockade. Without the Americans and British regarding supply of munitions, logistical assistance, diplomatic protection in the UN and other support, the Saudis would be much constrained in the war. The world is failing Yemen. —Courtesy: Al Monitor [Bruce Riedel is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Gulf Pulse. He is the director of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution. His new book, “JFK’s Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA and the Sino-Indian War,” will be published this fall].
Libertarians Skeptical of American World Role DALIBOR ROHAC
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EGARDLESS of the party in power, liber tarians are notoriously unhappy about US foreign and defense policy, skeptical of any active role that America can play in the world. Senator Rand Paul, for example, tried to formally end the US war in Iraq, proposed an end to military aid to Israel, and encouraged Americans to “fight back” against the National Security Agency’s invasion of their privacy. In 2011, he lambasted the intervention in Libya as unconstitutional, and questioned whether the US presence in Afghanistan was “vital to our national security interest.” Lately, however, perhaps in the interest of electability, the presidential hopeful has toned down his rhetoric, once indistinguishable from his father’s. In March, he decided to sign Senator Tom Cotton’s letter to Iran’s leaders, while his father, the former Republican congressman and two-time presidential candidate Ron Paul, mocked the letter’s signatories: “They’re terrified that peace might break out.” Skeptical of prospective deals with Iran, Rand Paul also supports military action against the Islamic State, albeit on a limited scale. Although many of these “evolutions” may be tactical, many libertarians seem disappointed, if not dismayed, by Senator Paul’s shift. He’s gone “full warmonger,” according to Antiwar.com’s Justin Raimondo. Matt Welch of the libertarian Reason magazine admits that he “[does] not fully understand, let alone agree with, the senator’s position supporting a limited bombing campaign against ISIS” but prefers to close ranks and does not want to dwell on
“how the candidate falls short on foreign policy.” Questions about law and freedom have haunted societies for centuries, and as past thinkers have concluded, self-limitation seems to be essential to living in a world that prizes both. Besides a political calculus, aiming at the Republic nomination, Paul’s change of heart may also be a result of a clash with reality. Perhaps the senator is beginning to understand what many in the libertarian movement still refuse to see—namely, that a wholesale rejection of any active role for American foreign policy is unwise and reckless, and would ultimately jeopardize libertarian principles of individual freedom. The resolute skepticism about the appropriate role of the United States in the world appears to be in the libertarian DNA—and in that of the US as well, Thomas Jefferson having established the foreign affairs philosophy of the new nation in 1801 with his famous prescription, “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.” Yet in practice, of course, even Jefferson’s presidency involved an activist vision—doubling the nation’s size with the Louisiana Purchase, sending warships to the shores of Tripoli in pursuit of the Barbary pirates, and putting 100,000 militiamen on war footing in a maritime dispute with the British. The rejection of an active foreign policy is an idée fixe of American libertarians not always shared by freemarket intellectuals overseas who agree with them on other matters. In the wake of the events in Ukraine, for instance, three young Eastern European free marketers, Egle Markeviciute, Alexandra Ivanov, and Irena Schneider, set up a website named “I Don’t Support Ron Paul” to distance their version of the libertarian
movement from Paul’s quietist and ultimately proRussian claims about the conflict, which were featured prominently on Russia Today, Sputnik News, and other openly Putinist outlets. The trio rejected the connection between libertarianism and non-interventionism, insisting instead that “compelling arguments can be made for both advocates of globalist and non-interventionist foreign policy positions.” Jefferson’s statements notwithstanding, the practical arguments for non-interventionism used by American libertarians rely less on the wisdom of the founders than on the realist theory of international relations. Realism came into prominence after World War II and gained momentum in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly through the work of the late Berkeley professor Kenneth Waltz, along with statesmen such as Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft, whose intellectual agendas otherwise have very little overlap with libertarianism or classical liberalism, properly understood. Looking back to the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, realists assume that states do and should use power to narrowly, and without emotion, pursue their interests within an anarchic international system. Theirs is a bleak world of countervailing threats, domination, and spheres of influence. Similar to libertarians, prominent contemporary realists, such as John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, have been very vocal in their criticism of the War on Terror and America’s other recent military engagements. Many foreign policy realists and libertarians argued against a more muscular Western response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. At the heart of the realist argument is the notion that because
Ukraine matters more to Russia than to the West, a stronger reaction to its invasion of the Crimea and subsequent war against Ukraine is not in the US interests and would disturb the balance of power in the region—a notion that is at the heart of many realist arguments. The libertarians generally agree: “Escalating a potentially endless conflict serves no one’s interest,” wrote Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. Unlike foreign policy idealists who focus on human rights, democratization, and other such issues, realists see conflicts such as that in Ukraine as the result of previous disturbances to the existing balance of power. The West supposedly encroached upon Russia’s sphere of influence through NATO’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999, through successive enlargements of the alliance, and finally through the EU’s association agreement with Ukraine. In such a view, Russia was acting in its basic interests when it reaffirmed its dominance within its traditional sphere of influence and needs to be accommodated, rather than fought through sanctions or military deterrence. The libertarians agree. As Bandow puts it, “A diplomatic solution might be unsatisfying, but Ukraine is in a bad neighborhood and, like Finland during the Cold War, suffers from constraints not faced by other nations. The situation isn’t fair, but Congress can’t change geopolitical reality.” Yet it is simplistic for the libertarians to buy President Vladimir Putin’s line that the US and its European allies have gotten what they had coming from trying to “encircle” post-Soviet Russia. NATO’s military capability in Europe has been reduced dramatically since 1989. For many of
those post–Cold War years, moreover, NATO treated Russia as an important partner, not as an adversary. In addition to the Partnership for Peace agreements in 1994 and 2002, the NATO-Russia Council was created to address issues of mutual interest. The Group of 7 was extended to accommodate Russia, a move out of proportion relative to Russia’s modest role in the world economy. But realism should make libertarians suspicious for reasons other than its shoehorning of facts to fit its “theory.” In Human Action, a 900-page treatise Rand Paul has listed as one of five “must-read classics in the cause of liberty,” the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises ridicules thinkers who deal with the actions of “humanity as a whole or with other holistic concepts like nation, race, or church,” instead of using individuals as the basic unit of analysis. Realism, by treating states as unitary agents pursuing their interest and ignoring how they arrive at decisions about foreign policy, falls exactly into this trap. Realism ignores a large research program on the frontier of economics and political science developed in the 1960s to investigate the links between individual choices and collective decisionmaking, known as the theory of public choice. Many public choice scholars, such as the Nobel Prize–winning economist James Buchanan, also happened to be advocates of free markets and were actively engaged in the libertarian movement. The main insight of their work is that no clear link exists between individual choices and decisions made by political communities. —Courtesy: WA [Dalibor Rohac is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington. Follow him on Twitter: @DaliborRohac]