Monday, October 30, 2023
Press
Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
China’s cautious, curious Middle East game - Washington Post
When it comes to Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, China is taking a back seat. President Xi Jinping’s first public comments about the course of the conflict, which has captured global attention and diverted the energies and focus of the Biden administration, came almost two weeks after it began. Xi showed more political restraint than his autocratic fellow traveler Russian President Vladimir Putin, who in a recent speech said his “fists clench and eyes tear up” when he sees...
Will China beat the United States back to the moon? It’s possible. - Washington Post
The stakes of the modern moon race are different from the Cold War contest between the Soviet Union and the United States, where the goal of the sprint to plant a flag in lunar soil was to claim moral and technological dominance for a political system. That motive still exists in the U.S.-China rivalry, but now both countries are working toward building an enduring presence on the moon and in...
Myanmar’s pro-democracy forces can win. They need our help to do so - Washington Post
Nov. 8 marked the third anniversary of elections in Myanmar, whose results were overturned by a military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. The coup set in motion some of the largest, most diverse protests in the country’s history, which subsequently led to a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Today, the junta is prosecuting a war of terror, marked by airstrikes against civilians, the blocking of humanitarian aid to the...
Chinese Authorities Issue Arrest Warrants for Criminal Kingpins in Myanmar’s Kokang Region - The Diplomat
Chinese police have issued arrest warrants for several members of a junta-aligned crime family that it believes is closely involved in online scamming operations in northeast Myanmar, as resistance forces continue to make gains across the region. According to the CyberScamMonitor account on X (formerly Twitter), which cited warrants from the Wenzhou City Public Security Bureau in Zhejiang Province, Chinese police are seeking the arrest of...
Myanmar fighting blocks key trade routes with China - Agence France-Presse
A surprise offensive by Myanmar ethnic armed groups has blocked two strategically vital roads to the country's biggest trading partner China, choking cross-border commerce and denying the cash-strapped junta taxes and foreign exchange. Fighting has raged across northern Shan state for two weeks, displacing almost 50,000 people, according to the United Nations, and posing the most serious military challenge to...
Half of Afghan Population Below Poverty Line: World Bank Economist - TOLO News
Several World Bank top economists voiced worries during a discussion at the US Institute of Peace over the deterioration of Afghanistan's dire economic conditions. Some economists added that half of Afghanistan's population currently lives below the poverty line. “We see that in terms of monetary poverty, we still have half of the population that in 2023 is consuming below the...
Taliban success emboldens Pakistani militants, and deadly attacks surge - Washington Post
The attackers descended in the early morning from the steep mountains that tower over Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. Gunfire echoed in the valleys as Pakistani Taliban fighters stormed Pakistani military posts. By the time the fighting stopped hours later, four soldiers and 12 militants were dead. The Sept. 6 attack, described by officials in Pakistan as a cross-border assault from Afghanistan, stunned a Pakistani leadership that had thought...
About 90,000 people displaced by Myanmar conflict: UN - Al Jazeera
About 90,000 people have been displaced in Myanmar due to the intensifying conflict between the country’s military rulers and an alliance of ethnic armed groups, the United Nations said. “As of 9 November, almost 50,000 people in northern Shan were forced into displacement,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update on Friday. A further 40,000 people have been...
Losing ground to rebel alliance, Myanmar junta faces biggest test since coup - Reuters
A rebel alliance has overrun parts of northern Myanmar, including areas bordering China, with resistance to the military junta notching its most significant win since the 2021 coup, according to a rebel commander, diplomats and analysts. The fiercest fighting has been near Myanmar's border with China in northern Shan state where three powerful ethnic armed groups have combined to lead an...
What Swirls Beneath Research Activity of Chinese Ships in the Indian Ocean? - The Diplomat
On October 31, Sri Lankan and Chinese researchers on board the Chinese research vessel Shi Yan 6, which recently docked at Colombo port in Sri Lanka, began two days of “marine scientific” research off the Sri Lankan coast. The docking of the Shi Yan 6 a few days earlier had stirred strong responses from India and the United States. The same thing happened last year when another Chinese ship...