India, Pakistan at Brink of (Nuclear) War

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

 

Both countries are nuclear-armed and border China.

India has vowed it will use “all instruments at its command” in response to Pakistan’s alleged role in a deadly bombing that occurred in Kashmir on Friday.

The World Transformed and No One in America Noticed

 

The world transformed and nobody in the West noticed. India and Pakistan have joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The 17 year-old body since its founding on June 15, 2001 has quietly established itself as the main alliance and grouping of nations across Eurasia. Now it has expanded from six nations to eight, and the two new members are the giant nuclear-armed regional powers of South Asia, India, with a population of 1.324 billion and Pakistan, with 193.2 million people (both in 2016).

In other words, the combined population of the SCO powers or already well over 1.5 billion has virtually doubled at a single stroke.

What will India’s role be in the SCO?

Next month the heads of state of India and Pakistan will attend, for the first time as full members, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, being held in Qingdao, China. Pakistan was already engaged with SCO member states through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Joining the SCO will reinforce Pakistan’s position and integration into the region.

However, regarding India, there are few clarifications needed. What will India’s role be in the SCO? How well can India integrate into the SCO? What are the expectations?

India, Pakistan join China and Russia-led security bloc

 

Asian rivals India and Pakistan on Friday formally joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security bloc spearheaded by China and Russia, despite bilateral tensions bubbling over Kashmir.

Leaders of the largely symbolic body — including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping — formally signed off on the sub-continent duo’s accession at the annual SCO summit in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.

Russia says to sign S-400 air defence deal with India

Russian President Vladimir Putin will seal a deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an upcoming visit to deliver Moscow’s most advanced air defence system, the Kremlin said Thursday.

“An agreement on the delivery of S-400 ‘Triumph’ anti-missile defence systems and other deals will be signed as a result of the talks,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying, without specifying a timeframe.

Pakistan warns of “water war” with India if decades-old treaty violated

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Pakistan would treat it as “an act of war” if India revoked the Indus Water Treaty regulating river flows between the two nations, Pakistan’s top foreign official said on Tuesday.

Tension has been mounting between the nuclear-armed neighbours since at least 18 Indian soldiers in the disputed Kashmir region were killed this month in an attack that New Delhi blames on Pakistan.

Major Attack on Indian Army in Kashmir Puts South Asia on Crisis Footing

Indo-Pakistani tensions have been heightening over the last several months, but Sunday’s attack on an Indian Army base in Kashmir that left 17 soldiers dead has put the region in crisis mode.

The attack took place near the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Indian and Pakistani Kashmir and marks the most deadly attack against Indian security forces in over two decades. In 2002, a terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Jammu, Kashmir that killed over 30 (mostly family members of Indian Army officials), nearly led to war between Pakistan and India.

China and India look to strengthen relationship

The two nations pledge to work together in hosting upcoming G20 and BRICS summits, and to cooperate more on economic and security matters

China and India vowed to enhance their bilateral ties and to cooperate in hosting the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit in Hangzhou as well as another meeting between emerging-market nations.

The pledge was made at a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday.

ISIS Sets Its Sights on the East

In 2014, this photo of Muslim ISIS supporters in India’s Tamil Nadu state went viral on Twitter.

 

• This month’s ISIS manifesto claims India as part of Islamic Caliphate and, referring to the recent resurgence of Hindus in the country, states: “a movement of Hindus is growing who kill Muslims who eat beef.”
• ISIS flags and insignia are regularly displayed at protest rallies and religious gatherings in the Muslim-majority province of Kashmir.
• Indian officials seem just as afraid of calling Islamist terror by its rightful name as their Western counterparts. Instead, they appear to be trying to distract the public by throwing money at ineffective social welfare programs. Perhaps these officials hope the public will think that at least “something” is being done.

The Islamic State (ISIS) is apparently planning to subjugate and conquer the ancient civilizations of the East as part of its worldwide jihad.

India’s War on Terror: Solution is Self-Defense, Not Consensus

• Instead of eliminating the invaders, Nehru made a deadly mistake: He took the matter for mediation to the United Nations.
• UN member states have never even been able to agree on a definition of terrorism. Some of the states, such as Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, overtly or covertly practice, promote or fund terrorism.
• Emboldened by international and Indian inaction, Pakistan has continued masterminding terror strikes against India.
• New Delhi might do well bear in mind a central message from the history of wars: The dialogue of peace and non-violence alone is futile with those who understand only the language of power and punishment.
• India, like Israel, would do better to fight its own war on terror.

In the wake of the recent coordinated terror strikes in Paris on November 13, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has made a fresh appeal for a concerted global strategy to fight terrorism. In his opening remarks at the ASEAN-India Summit in Kuala Lumpur on November 21, he said, “Terrorism has emerged as a major global challenge. … we should see how we can enhance our cooperation at the regional and international level, including through support for adoption of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.”

The Other Asian Powerhouse

Indian Border Security Force personnel walk through a market area in Amritsar on October 21.

 

Why is India leaning toward the East?

The Trumpet has long said that India—with its population of more than 1.2 billion people—is almost certain to join the Asian bloc that the Bible says will congeal in the end time.

A look at India’s history, its recent direction, and specific Bible prophecies reveal why.

SCO expanding

India and Pakistan will now be out of the grips of Western influence.

 

In Ufa on June 10 a summit of the heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) states will be held, which currently includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Mongolia, India, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan have observer status. According to official information, the leaders of the SCO member states will adopt the strategy of development of the organization until 2025. By the way, the expansion of the unit has been officially declared for the first time. The new members of the SCO will soon be India and Pakistan. The issue of Iran, which has been seeking an opportunity to join the alliance for nearly 10 years, will be considered only after the lifting of all international sanctions from the country.

“One of the most important decisions that goes beyond the SCO summit is to connect Iran, which applied for it. It was decided to return to it after the conclusion of the negotiations on the nuclear program. If the UN Security Council sanctions are lifted, then Iran can actively join our cooperation,” presidential aide Yury Ushakov said in an interview to the TV channel Russia 24. He also admitted that it had already been decided to include India and Pakistan in the union. Thus, the SCO has become one of the largest economic organizations in the world.

SCO-BRICS: A Big Summit in Ufa

The summit next month will reveal much about the future of Russia’s Eurasian dream.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis there has been a clear shift in the tectonic plates of global geopolitics. An increasingly assertive Russia and China are challenging the U.S.-dominated order in a myriad of ways, but the actual contours of the emerging multipolar world are still hazy. On the one hand, as Huiyun Feng describes in her recent article for The Diplomat, the two opposing sides seem to be set. The Russia-China Entente and its coterie of Eurasian autocracies seems to be a genuine, lasting phenomenon. Meanwhile, the G-7 is unified in its opposition to Moscow, while the United States has reinforced its Pacific alliances with Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Australia. On the other hand, the path of middle powers such as India, Iran, Brazil, Turkey, and Indonesia remains uncertain. Despite prodding from the United States none of these countries joined Washington in imposing sanctions against Russia and all are interested in profiting from China’s evolving “One Belt, One Road” initiative.

Contain China

NEW DELHI/COLOMBO/BERLIN (Own report) – Today, Tuesday, German Minister of Defense Ursula von der Leyen will begin several days of talks in New Delhi on questions of military and arms policies. India’s new armament projects are the immediate reason for von der Leyen’s visit. India wants, among other things, to construct German submarines under license, and Berlin is seeking a more intensified cooperation in foreign and military policy. This visit will prepare numerous agreements, within the framework of the German-Indian government consultations, scheduled for October. It takes place in the context of India’s efforts to roll back China’s influence in the Indian Ocean – an effort Berlin supports. Sri Lanka is a current point of contention of this power struggle. Over the past few years, this strategically important island nation has begun to ally itself closely with Beijing. To avoid a too strong dependency on China, the new Sri Lankan government – in office since January – is seeking to reduce its ties to China and strengthen relations to the West. Last week, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, welcomed his Sri Lankan counterpart in Berlin, to reinforce Germany’s position in Sri Lanka – in light of the power struggle with Beijing.

Belt and Road may establish China as genuine superpower

Following a trip to Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia in early May, President Xi Jinping of China received the visiting Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. Beijing is stepping up efforts to push its “Belt and Road” initiatives, as these countries are all key players in China’s Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road plans and have signed economic cooperation deals involving huge sums.

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Through its Silk Road Fund and the planned Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China has also established a mechanism similar to the Marshall Plan and the Bretton Woods system that helped the United States build a dominant position after World War II.