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| Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a family photo ceremony prior to the BRICS Summit plenary session in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS |
Sound and steady growth of China-Russia relations benefits BRICS and the world:
Global Times editorial
On Tuesday local time, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kazan, Russia, by special plane to attend the 16th BRICS Summit at the invitation of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. On the afternoon of the same day, President Xi held talks with President Putin in Kazan. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, coinciding with the inaugural year of "Greater BRICS Cooperation." The third meeting between the two heads of state within this year has garnered global attention. Kazan, a city rich in history and culture, will not only witness the first leaders' meeting following the historic expansion of the "BRICS family," but will also add a new chapter to China-Russia friendship.
During the meeting with President Putin, President Xi stated that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is chaotic and intertwined; however, the profound friendship between China and Russia, built on generations of mutual support, will remain unchanged, as will our great power responsibilities to benefit our peoples. There are high expectations that, under the strategic guidance of head-of-state diplomacy, the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era between China and Russia will continue to progress steadily, and that our cooperation will enhance the practical cooperation of BRICS, injecting more stability and certainty into the turbulent global situation.
This is President Xi's tenth visit to Russia in his capacity as President. Since 2013, President Xi and President Putin have met over 40 times in various settings, establishing a strong working relationship and a deep personal friendship. The two leaders have maintained close communication on strategic issues such as bilateral relations, international situations and global governance, providing relentless momentum for the high-level development of China-Russia relations and setting a global example for major power interactions.
The summit in Kazan is the first meeting of BRICS leaders following the expansion of the group and is also the largest and highest-level diplomatic event hosted by Russia this year. The Chinese side actively supports the Russian side in fulfilling its duties as the rotating chair. This aligns with the expectations of "Global South" countries.
With the cooperation of China and other BRICS partners, Russia has held over 200 events to help new members integrate more quickly into the BRICS family. This is a natural reflection of the strategic trust and traditional friendship between China and Russia, sending a positive signal of the independence of their relationship, free from external interference. It also demonstrates China's responsible role as a major power.
We have noticed that some Western media outlets have extended their hostility toward Russia to this Kazan Summit, repeating their old tactics of smearing China-Russia cooperation and creating external noise by hyping bloc confrontations.
The new paradigm of major-country relations established by China and Russia plays a positive role in various multilateral platforms, including BRICS, and this is an undeniable fact. For instance, China and Russia promoted the historic expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS mechanisms, strengthening the unity of developing and "Global South" countries and contributing to improving the global governance system. This has been clearly recognized by the international community.
Amid the complex and turbulent international situation, the stable development of China-Russia relations, as two major developing countries and permanent members of the UN Security Council, not only meets the needs of both nations but also helps maintain the unity and overall interests of "Global South" countries. Furthermore, as the two largest neighboring countries in the Eurasian continent, the harmonious relationship between China and Russia is good news for the region and the world.
It is important to emphasize that the China-Russia relationship is characterized by non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party, which forms the foundation of cooperation between the two nations. This nature of the China-Russia relationship has not changed across various cooperation mechanisms, including BRICS. In this sense, it can be said that while the BRICS mechanism is a non-Western cooperation framework, it is not an "anti-Western alliance." It does not pursue narrow camp confrontations and is fundamentally different in nature from "small circle diplomacy," such as the Five Eyes Alliance and the G7. Only those who still harbor Cold War mentality would view the independent and autonomous cooperation between China and Russia, as well as multilateral cooperation like BRICS, as a "counterattack against the West." In fact, they have already fallen behind the times.
China and Russia are good neighbors and good friends, and they are also important partners within the BRICS nations. In the face of the current complex and intertwined international situation, an increasing number of countries have come to recognize the importance and necessity of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation. On the path toward a more equal and orderly multipolar world and inclusive economic globalization, China and Russia have many partners. The countries of the "Global South" are moving forward together, and the winds of the "Greater BRICS Cooperation" are stirring up infinite possibilities for South-South cooperation.
The BRICS countries, including Russia, are like-minded friends and partners who stand together through thick and thin. China sincerely hopes that the Kazan Summit will be a complete success and is committed to promoting consensus among all parties, conveying positive signals of unity and cooperation, and advancing strategic collaboration and practical cooperation in various fields among BRICS nations. This will create more new opportunities for the "Global South" and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind. In this sense, the connotation of the new type of international relations between China and Russia, as well as their relationship as neighboring major powers, will become even richer.⍐
"This is an association of states that work together based on common values, a common vision of development and, most importantly, the principle of taking into account each other's interests," -Putin
BRICS' share of global GDP is forecast to rise to 37% by the end of this decade while the share accounted for by the Group of Seven major Western economies will decline to about 28% from 30% this year, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.
On the eve of the BRICS summit, Putin met with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for informal talks that went on until midnight at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin will play host to Russia’s biggest gathering of world leaders since the invasion of Ukraine and use the BRICS summit to show the U.S. and its allies that he’s no pariah.
With Russian troops advancing in eastern Ukraine and evidence of growing war fatigue among some of Kyiv’s allies, the Kremlin is seizing its opportunity to cast Putin as standing up to the West in attempting to reshape the global order. The U.S. and its Group of Seven partners dismiss the argument, though it’s a message that resonates with some countries of the emerging world.
Leaders of 32 countries, as well as top officials of regional organizations and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, will attend the three-day summit starting Tuesday in Kazan, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are due to join Putin alongside leaders of the new BRICS members, Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia. Putin plans bilateral meetings with many of them, as well as with guests such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday canceled his plans to attend the summit after suffering a head injury in an accident at his home. Officials said he’ll participate by video link.
Even as the grouping attracts growing interest as a political and economic counterweight to the West, tensions are simmering over its direction and influence. Members are split over efforts to reduce reliance on the dollar as a global reserve currency, and on the wisdom of continued expansion of the group.
While BRICS favors greater use of national currencies in bilateral trade, members including India reject attempts to promote China’s yuan as an alternative reserve currency.
Russia has produced a summit report outlining possible changes to cross-border payments among BRICS countries aimed at circumventing the global financial system, though it acknowledges the proposals are mainly to promote discussion. They include developing a network of commercial lenders to conduct transactions in local currencies as well as establishing direct links between central banks.
Still, other BRICS states don’t have the same incentives to escape the dollar-based system as Russia, whose economy is straining under sweeping sanctions imposed over Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia wants to push for a de-dollarized payment system at the summit, which China regards as too ambitious, said Wang Yiwei, director of Renmin University’s Center for European Studies in Beijing.
The meeting is the first since BRICS agreed to extend membership to six additional nations at last year’s summit in South Africa. But Argentina pulled out under its new President Javier Milei and Saudi Arabia has remained non-committal.
Nations ranging from Malaysia and Thailand to Nicaragua and NATO-member Turkey are eager to join BRICS, though there’s unlikely to be an agreement on enlargement at the Russia summit.
India is against further expansion for now and supports a category of “BRICS partner countries” without voting rights because it wants to steer the group away from becoming an anti-U.S. body dominated by China and Russia, Indian officials said on condition of anonymity because the issue is sensitive.
Brazil and South Africa support India’s view, said officials in the two countries. Any bid to dilute South Africa’s influence by inviting Nigeria or Morocco into BRICS will be resisted, said the South African officials.
The UAE completely rejects any attempt to present BRICS membership as a sign that the Global South is in opposition to the West, according to a person familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified discussing internal policy. The Gulf state has very good relations with countries in the West including the U.S., according to another official.
BRICS “expansion is a clear sign that the global balance of power is shifting,” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a Hong-Kong based economist who’s a senior research fellow at the Bruegel think tank. “But the future of the grouping is uncertain, given its heavy economic dependence on China and the deteriorating sentiment toward China among its members.”
Jim O’Neill, the Goldman Sachs economist who first coined the BRIC acronym in 2001, said expansion had made the group “highly political.” He told a forum in London in November: “I am not sure what fruitful purpose it serves other than being a club that the U.S. is not a part of.”
BRICS’ clout is growing. Its nine members account for 26% of the world economy and 45% of the world’s population versus the G-7’s 44% of global gross domestic product and 10% of its inhabitants. Brazil will host next month’s G-20 summit, following India’s presidency last year and ahead of South Africa’s in 2025.
Putin stayed away from last year’s BRICS summit after South Africa warned it would have to comply with an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine issued by the International Criminal Court in March last year.
While the warrant has limited Putin’s travels, the gathering of so many foreign leaders in Russia underscores the readiness of many, particularly from Global South states, to continue meeting him in defiance of the U.S. and its allies.
The fact so many countries want to join BRICS indicates growing demand for international ties independent of the West, said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a think tank that advises the Kremlin.
“For now, everyone just wants to see what it can gain from this,” he said⍐.
Exclusive: US pressures India for quick accountability in Sikh separatist murder plot
WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - U.S. officials have told their Indian counterparts they want a speedy result and more accountability after their investigation into Indian involvement in a foiled murder plot against a Sikh activist in the United States, according to a U.S. official.
Security issues in Starlink’s satellite-based internet service
Starlink is set to enter Sri Lanka and India
October 22, 2024 Daily News LK
Some experts have warned countries about the security risks associated with the Starlink satellite-based internet service.
Starlink, a subsidiary of the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), based in California, US, is to set up shop in Sri Lanka and India soon. While the deal with Sri Lanka is through, with the company getting a Sri Lankan license effective from August 12, 2024, the deal with India only recently crossed a major hurdle: a decision on the way spectrum will be awarded.
It was only recently that India decided to assign spectrum (or electromagnetic frequencies) on the basis of an “administrative decision” and not an “auction.” This decision came shortly after the Starlink owner, Elon Musk, criticised the auction route proposed by Mukesh Ambani, his rival in India. Ambani owns the Indian telecom giant, Reliance Jio.
Musk had argued that it is international practice (as per the International Telecommunication Union regulations) to award the spectrum administratively rather than by auction. But Reliance Jio’s Ambani argued in favour of an auction “to ensure a level playing field.”
The Indian Telecom Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, rejected Ambani’s plea. He announced that spectrum would be allocated administratively “as per Indian laws,” and that its pricing will be “determined by the telecom watchdog.” Scindia further said that deviating from this approach to conduct an auction would set India apart from the rest of the world.
Huge Indian market
Thus, Musk won hands down, and Ambani lost a huge market. The Indian internet market is projected to show a 36% annual growth. The market is expected to reach US$ 1.9 billion by 2030. India now has 42 million wired broadband internet users and 904 million telecom users on networks like 4G and 5G. India is the world’s second-biggest telecom market after China.
However, internet penetration is still inadequate. Penetration stood at only 52.4% in 2024. There are still 25,000 villages without internet, and even within cities, many areas don’t have fibre-based fast internet connections.
Therefore, it can be argued that satellite-based internet will definitely help provide internet coverage to every part of India. But there are attendant security risks.
Security risks
Indian nationalists are worried that India’s security may be compromised, given Starlink’s close links with the American armed forces. Telecommunication is a very sensitive domain in India. India has barred Chinese telecom companies from entering this sector, fearing penetration into Indian systems.
Sensitivity to security is so great that a permit is needed even to use a satellite phone. Sometime ago, The Hindu reported that a fisherman from Kerala and a foreigner were arrested for using a satellite phone, the former out in the open sea and the latter in a remote area on land.
As per Indian social media, nationalists ask the following questions:
“Would India be able to control Starlink when India-US relations deteriorate? Would Starlink cease its services on the orders of the US Government? Would Indian regulators be able to keep an eye on the use of the Starlink system and ensure that it is not used for espionage or for tampering with vital Indian communications?”
At present, India-US relations are troubled. The US has alleged the involvement of Indian intelligence personnel in an attempt to murder a US citizen of Indian origin, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in New York last year. In India, Pannun is a banned Sikh separatist and terrorist. But in the US, he is a citizen whose rights are inviolable. The case is now in a New York court, and an Indian suspect is in custody in the US.
In addition, India has differences with the US over Ukraine, Iran, Russia, QUAD, and now Bangladesh too. Indo-US relations could deteriorate. In that case, the question that is asked is: What role could Starlink play given its links with the US military?
Technical Threats
In his paper entitled “Cyber Threat Landscape Analysis for Starlink: Assessing Risks and Mitigation Strategies in the Global Satellite Internet Infrastructure,” Karwan Mustafa Kareem of the University of Sulaimani in Iraq, says that the technical dangers from Starlink are the following: There could be Denial-of-Service (DoS); Man-in-the-Middle (MitM); Jamming; Spoofing; and Physical tampering.
Kareem emphasises the importance of encryption algorithms, authentication protocols, and intrusion detection systems in safeguarding satellite networks against unauthorised access and data breaches.
He stresses the need for continuous monitoring and threat intelligence sharing to detect and respond to emerging threats effectively. Countries using Starlink satellite-based internet service have to make sure that they have all these safeguards in place, Kareem says.
India had asked Starlink about its shareholders to know if any country in India’s neighbourhood with which it was at odds was on the list. India was particularly worried about China and Pakistan, the latter believed to be in cahoots with China. Starlink replied that no neighbourhood entity is a shareholder.
Links with US Military
SpaceX and Starlink have very close ties with the US military. Websites like www.spacenews.org have regularly reported the growing ties between SpaceX/Starlink and the various arms of the US military.
In March 2017, the US Air Force announced that it had awarded SpaceX a US$ 96.5 million contract to support the launch of a next-generation global positioning system satellite called GPS III.
In February 2019, the US Air Force’s Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation Office signed a US$ 28 million contract with SpaceX requiring the company to conduct military service demonstrations and verification using the Starlink constellation.
In May 2019, Defence Experimentation Using the Commercial Space Internet, or DEUCSI, tried out the Starlink satellite broadband services and demonstrated download speeds of 610 megabits per second into the cockpit of a C-12J Huron twin-engine turboprop aircraft.
In May 2020, the US Army said it would experiment using Starlink broadband to move data across military networks.
In October 2020, SpaceX received a contract worth more than US$ 149 million from the Space Development Agency (SDA), tasking the company with building a new satellite for the US military capable of tracking and providing early warnings of hypersonic missile launches.
SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket carrying more than 20 tons of payload into Low-Earth Orbit. Controlled recovery and soft landing of the first stage of the rocket and its reuse were achieved, greatly reducing launch costs. SpaceX has also undertaken the development and launch of the Dragon spacecraft.
Yan Jiajie and Yu Nanping say in their September 2024 paper in the Journal of International Security Studies that each Starlink satellite can transmit high-definition pictures and videos it takes over a war zone to front-line commanders.
The huge amount of data collected by UAVs over the battlefield will no longer need to be compressed locally, but will be transmitted in raw form directly to a command centre on the other side of the earth via Starlink, and then analysed by supercomputers to extract useful data and analyse the battlefield situation more precisely, enabling commanders in the war zone to make decisions more quickly and accurately.
Precision Targeting
On January 3, 2020, the US used a UAV to take out Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. On November 27 of the same year, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of Iran’s nuclear programme and its chief nuclear scientist, was assassinated near Tehran.
“These actions were made possible by the global high-speed communication and space-air coordination capabilities achieved via satellite networks. If Starlink is used on a large scale in the military field in the future, it will further enhance the US military’s satellite communication and unmanned combat capabilities, and be a threat to the national security of rival States,” Yan Jiajie and Yu Nanping point out in their paper.
They also say that the growing deployment of Starlink satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) will give the company control over a large amount of data, challenging the security of other countries.
Analyst Zhou Yuzhe points out that since the International Telecommunication Union’s principle for obtaining orbits and spectrum is “first come, first served,” Starlink will corner large amounts of orbital and spectrum resources, leaving less room for others.
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| Palestinians, who took refuge at Nuseirat refugee camp due to Israeli attacks, wait in queue to receive food, distributed by a charity organization in Gaza City, Gaza on October 18, 2024. [Moiz Salhi - Anadolu Agency |
The ‘Generals' Plan’ in Gaza: A genocide by starvation
October 18, 2024 by Jamal Kanj jamalkk MEMonitor
George Orwell’s dystopian foresight could easily find new expressions in the ongoing Israeli wars of genocide in Gaza and Lebanon. Much like “war is peace”, the Biden administration and the European Union have contributed to creating phrases such as “aggression is self-defence,” “murder is collateral damage”, “safe areas are death traps” and “humanitarian aid is a starvation diet.”
After enduring a full year of Israeli terror, extreme torment and military occupation, fear never conquered Gazans. Despite the complete Israeli blockade – abetted with the help of the Egyptian regime – and the stark imbalance in military power, Gaza’s collective resistance, by all means necessary, remained steadfast and resilient.
Notwithstanding the above, Benjamin Netanyahu has not succeeded in achieving any of his declared objectives. For instance, less than seven per cent of the freed Israeli captives were recovered by force. Perhaps because the Israeli prime minister’s undeclared Zionist objectives, such as land grabs in the West Bank under the shadow of the Gaza genocide, took precedence over pursuing a proven venue for the release of Israeli prisoners.
Netanyahu’s war success can be only measured by Israel’s scale of vengeance, as the toll of the murdered and injured has reached 150,000. Gaza has been turned into a living hell. A war that pervasively and systematically diminished Gaza’s economic capacity, following an 18-year blockade that crippled the economy and forced upon it an ever-increasing sense of dependency.
Yet, Israel failed to bring any part of Gaza into submission. As a result, several Israeli generals, led by former national security adviser Israeli Maj-General Giora Eiland, contrived a new approach, the “Generals’ Plan”, to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza.
The Generals’ Plan is not exclusively a military strategy but rather an orchestrated noncombatant action, euphemistically termed to mask its true intention: genocide and ethnic cleansing through starvation. It calls first for the complete isolation of northern Gaza from the rest of the Gaza Strip. Second: compartmentalise northern Gaza into separate quarters and declare each section a war zone, forcing civilians to leave or become legitimate military targets.
The initial phase, which began in early October, blocked aid trucks from reaching the north and then segregated the Jabalia camp from its surroundings. In other words, genocide by attrition, one quarter at a time, in a slow motion.
As part of the Generals’ Starvation Plan, Israel bombed the only UN distribution center in Jabalia camp on Monday, murdering ten civilians queuing to receive food aid. Since last October, around 400,000 civilians remain in northern Gaza out of the original 1.2 million. Many refuse to evacuate despite the unbearable conditions. They know from historical experience that evacuation is an Israeli alias for ethnic cleansing. Once they leave, they may never return, as happened in 1948. They also saw what happened to those who evacuated, many were killed as they “moved south”, while others were murdered in the Israeli death traps, otherwise known as designated “safe areas.”
The Biden administration has been whitewashing Israeli use of starvation as a method of warfare since 9 October, 2023 when the Israeli minister of war declared “no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed.” However, on Tuesday, a little over a year after the minister’s declaration, the American secretaries of state and defence sent Israeli officials a letter giving them another grace period of 30 days to allow food aid into north Gaza or risk a restriction of US military assistance to Israel.
The new warning feels like a classic case of a déjà vu. In April 2024, the Biden administration issued a similar warning to Israel ahead of a report that was being prepared by American officials examining Israel’s violation of the Leahy Law, particularly subsection 6201(a). The law stipulates that the US should not provide assistance to any country that “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”
Following that warning, US government agencies and officials concluded that Israel was blocking American humanitarian aid to Gaza. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) notified the State Department of Israel’s “arbitrary denial, restriction and impediments” of American aid to Gaza residents. In addition, the State Department’s refugee bureau issued a similar opinion stating that “facts on the ground indicate US humanitarian assistance is being restricted.”
Even after those palpable reports from the two US agencies, the Israeli Sayanim and American Secretary of State, told Congress on 10 May that Israel does not restrict “the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance” in Gaza.
Empowered by Washington, the Generals’ Starvation Plan aims to block the delivery of medical aid, food, fuel and water to the besieged quarter, currently Jabalia camp where more than 20,000 people live. This is part of what appears to be a gradual genocide, while creating the illusion of allowing aid trucks into the northern area, as the US ambassador informed the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
The entry of aid trucks does not guarantee the delivery of food to the starving population. It means that Israel retains complete control over what section is fed and who is left to starve. It also confirms that American officials continue to be Israel’s willing enablers to carry on with its Generals’ Starvation Plan in a systematic and phased mini-genocide⍐.
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