Thursday, March 19, 2009
Ex-Chinese Spy Urges Washington to Press Beijing
Iranian Defector Tipped West to NK-Syrian Nuke
An Iranian defector reportedly informed the West that Iran was financing a North Korean-Syrian nuclear arms program. Click here for the AP report, and here for a translation of the article in the Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung on which the AP story is based. The author of the NZZ article, Hans Ruhle, a former chief of the Planning Staff in the German Defense Ministry, claims a 12-man Israeli commando unit carried out a reconnaissance mission at the Syrian nuclear reactor that was later destroyed by the Israel Air Force.U.S. and Iran Expected to Meet Under SCO Cover
Dateline USA....
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?
It certainly seems that way in Washington. For years, the United States ridiculed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Today, however, the U.S. State Department--America's version of a foreign ministry--confirmed that it is sending a senior diplomat to Moscow next week for the organization's conference on Afghanistan.
Iran will also attend the meeting and U.S. officials do not rule out interaction with Iranian officials.
The Shanghai group, made up of Russia, China and four Central Asian states, was founded in 2001 as a way to counter U.S. influence in the region.
The invitation to the U.S. to attend the Moscow gathering next week, among several other non-member countries, is being seen as a conciliatory gesture toward the new U.S. administration.
China Confidential analysts also see an invitation--to appeasement.
At a news briefing, State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. will be represented at the March 27 meeting by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Patrick Moon.
Welcome Opportunity
Wood said the U.S. welcomes the opportunity to join Shanghai group members in a conversation about how to stabilize the Afghan situation.
"The reason why we think it is important to go to this conference is because it is about Afghanistan and how the international community can try to better the situation on the ground, to better coordinate our activities, see what types of things we can do together to make things better for the people of Afghanistan," said Robert Wood. "So we view it as important, even though we are not a member, we are not an observer, we were invited and look forward to attending and hopefully we can get something constructive out of this."
In addition to Russia and China, the Shanghai group includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran has permanent observer status along with India, Pakistan and Mongolia. Afghanistan will attend as part of a contact group with the organization.
In 2005, the U.S. sought, but was denied observer status in the Shanghai group, which has been critical of U.S. military operations in Central Asia.
The Wall Street Journal, which reported on U.S. plans to take part in the Moscow meeting, said it would set the stage for the first direct encounter between U.S. and Iranian officials under the Obama administration, which says it wants dialogue with Tehran.
Crossing Paths
Wood said there were no plans for a specific meeting but said U.S.-Iranian interaction could nonetheless occur.
"There are no plans for any substantive meetings with Iran," he said. "It is not unusual for U.S. and Iranian officials to cross paths during a multi-lateral meeting. So I am not going to rule anything in, or anything out. It is a conference about Afghanistan and its neighbors. Iran is certainly a neighbor of Afghanistan. And so we will see. But as I said there are no planned substantive meetings with the Iranians."
The Moscow meeting is a prelude to a U.N.-organized international conference on Afghanistan, which will be co-hosted by the Afghan government and the Netherlands, at the Hague March 31. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend that meeting and there is also expected to be high-level Iranian participation.
Direct diplomacy with Iran is underway. Instead of preserving the peace, the policy will make war inevitable--on Iranian terms.North Korea May Launch Several Missiles
A Case of Digital Imperialism?
China Confidential will be four years old on April 10. The blog is well known (click here for the Wikipedia entry), widely referenced, especially regarding North Korea and Iran, and read daily by people across the globe. Among other achievements, China Confidential broke a story (in concert with China Law Blog) about a crackdown on foreign law firms in China that was picked up within minutes by the Wall Street Journal, and accurately predicted North Korea's missile and nuclear tests. The editor has been interviewed--live--on BBC radio concerning North Korea. Our oil and gold coverage has for the most part also been spot-on, as has our analysis of Islamist Iran--a menace this reporter has followed since 1979--and Islamism, in general.
But none of the above matters, apparently, to Britain's Financial Times newspaper. Incredibly, it has named its new, high-priced, China-focused, digital newsletter ... China Confidential. The mighty, mainstream media outlet took the name without asking our permission, or offering us payment.
How very British--as in arrogant and imperialist. The old colonial masters of Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Africa and Palestine would be pleased. No need to trifle with a lowly blog; simply take what you want or think you need!
Is FT's use of the China Confidential name legally permissible? Maybe. One assumes the paper's lawyers properly advised the publishers. This much we do know: glomming another publication's name is highly unusual, terribly unethical--and awfully foolish. FT's new newsletter will almost certainly have to deal with intellectual property rights in China. As anyone who has read a newspaper in the last 10 years knows, China is notorious for rampant IP piracy and counterfeiting. FT's deliberate use of our name, while perhaps legal, would seem to undermine the paper's credibility on IP matters.
Friday, 20 March 2009
A man who claims to have been a Chinese spy has appealed to the United States to stand up to Beijing. Read about it here.
The lunatic leaders of the world's worst dictatorship--a true hell on earth--may launch several missiles next month in addition to the Taepodong-2 capable of reaching Alaska. Click here for the story.
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