Síntesis informativa -15 de noviembre 2018
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Lawmakers Push Trump to Act Against China on Uighur Detention
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in Washington are trying to compel the Trump administration to take strong measures against Chinese officials for their mass repression of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in China.
Legislators introduced companion bills on Wednesday in the House and Senate following months of discussions on how to punish China for its treatment of the Uighurs, including sanctioning specific officials and limiting sales of products from American companies to certain Chinese state agencies. The push comes as China’s treatment of the Uighurs has come under increasing scrutiny by Western news organizations and international agencies.
The bills would put more pressure on the Trump administration to take action on what international officials and scholars say is China’s worst collective human rights abuse in decades. In Washington, administration officials are already starting to take a much harder line on China, including on trade, human rights and its military buildup in the Pacific.
Senior American officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, say Chinese officials are holding hundreds of thousands — and perhaps more than one million — Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims in internment camps across the northwest Central Asian border region of Xinjiang. Reports have emerged of torture, starvation and death in the camps, with officials forcing detainees to renounce standard Islamic practices and swear fealty to the Communist Party.
With Small Steps, Palestinians and Israelis Try to Tackle Gaza’s Ills
JERUSALEM — Last year, when the Trump administration was still trying to entice the Palestinians into peace talks with Israel through cooperation rather than coercion, it encouraged the two sides to team up on small-scale infrastructure projects as a way to rebuild trust while improving conditions in the here-and-now.
Deep in the Negev Desert, a group of Israeli and Palestinian civilians did just that. They hammered out creative ways to bring solar power, sewage treatment and clean water to the impoverished Gaza Strip, where the lights are out more than they are on, the aquifers are befouled, and raw sewage has been pouring into the Mediterranean — sometimes overwhelming a nearby Israeli desalination plant with pollution.
Their plans were aimed at creating jobs, improving public health and, above all, sustaining hope in a place where that is in short supply. But in the time it took them to see to the nuts and bolts — business plans, site selection, Israeli military approvals, and the hiring of engineers and workers in Gaza — the political context changed radically.
Trump to Raise North Korea Sanctions With Chinese Leader, Pence Says
President Trump is likely to bring up the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea when he meets with President Xi Jinping of China this month, Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday.
Mr. Pence, who is in Singapore for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit meeting, was responding to reports that China might be easing sanctions against North Korea, which would be a blow to the American-led effort to economically isolate the North over its weapons programs.
“We believe China is doing more than they’ve ever done before,” Mr. Pence said. “The president is grateful for that.”
But he added that he expected Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi to discuss the issue of “enforcement of those sanctions — and really the unique role that China can play in ensuring” the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Macron’s Response to Trump: ‘I Do Not Do Policy or Diplomacy by Tweets’
PARIS — The French president responded Wednesday evening to President Trump’s scathing personal attack on him, declining to lash out and instead taking the long view.
In a television interview on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which President Emmanuel Macron was visiting, he made clear that he was not going to respond in kind, but hew to both countries’ longstanding common interests.
“I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets,” he said.
“At each important moment in our history we have been allies, and between allies there is respect and I do not want to hear the rest,” he said after detailing French-American mutual support since 1776, when the Marquis de Lafayette fought with the struggling 13 colonies in the Revolutionary War — an alliance that has lasted through today’s war on terrorism.
U.S. Levels Sanctions on 17 Saudis for Alleged Involvement in Khashoggi Killing
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced sanctions on Thursday against 17 Saudis accused of involvement in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident and journalist.
The sanctions come just hours after Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor announced that he was requesting the death penalty for five people suspected of involvement in the killing, which took place in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
Although the new Saudi explanation of the killing, as well as the associated charges, appeared to contradict previous statements from both the Saudi government and senior Trump administration officials, the twin announcements in Riyadh and Washington may be part of an ongoing effort in both capitals to put the case behind them.
Afghan Military Deaths Since 2015: More Than 28,000
KABUL, Afghanistan — More than 28,000 Afghan police officers and soldiers have been killed since 2015, the Afghan president revealed this week, breaking with his government’s longstanding suppression of casualty totals.
The admission from President Ashraf Ghani came during a particularly bad week for Afghanistan’s beleaguered government forces, with at least 242 security force members killed from Nov. 9 to 15, according to casualty reports compiled by The New York Times. In the Jaghori district of Ghazni Province, once regarded as the safest rural district in the country, an entire company of 50 elite commandos was wiped out, all but a handful killed or wounded.
Taliban insurgents also killed dozens of police officers and soldiers in a series of attacks in Farah Province, and an additional 14 police officers in an attack on a police station in the central city of Ghazni.
Are Killer Robots the Future of War? Parsing the Facts on Autonomous Weapons
It’s a freezing, snowy day on the border between Estonia and Russia. Soldiers from the two nations are on routine border patrol, each side accompanied by an autonomous weapon system, a tracked robot armed with a machine gun and an optical system that can identify threats, like people or vehicles. As the patrols converge on uneven ground, an Estonian soldier trips and accidentally discharges his assault rifle. The Russian robot records the gunshots and instantaneously determines the appropriate response to what it interprets as an attack. In less than a second, both the Estonian and Russian robots, commanded by algorithms, turn their weapons on the human targets and fire. When the shooting stops, a dozen dead or injured soldiers lie scattered around their companion machines, leaving both nations to sift through the wreckage — or blame the other side for the attack.
The hypothetical scenario seems fantastical, but those battlefield robots already exist today in an early form. Milrem Robotics, a company based in Estonia, has developed a robot called THeMIS (Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry System), which consists of a mobile body mounted on small tank treads, topped with a remote-weapon turret that can be equipped with small or large-caliber machine guns. It also includes cameras and target-tracking software, so the turret can pursue people or objects as programmed. This is a human-controlled system for now (and Milrem, for its part, insists that it will remain that way), but the components are there for a robot that can interpret what it sees, identify likely combatants and target them, all on its own. “The possible uses for the THeMIS,” the robot’s builders gush on the website, “are almost limitless.”
First Wave of Migrants in Caravan Reaches U.S. Border in Tijuana
TIJUANA, Mexico — Hundreds of migrants in the caravan traveling from Central America have begun arriving in the northern Mexico border city of Tijuana, setting up a potential confrontation with the American authorities that has been brewing for weeks.
Their arrival in Tijuana marked the end of one struggle — making it safely to the United States border. But it signaled the start of another to get across that border, something that President Trump has promised to impede, even for those seeking asylum. Mr. Trump has labeled the caravan an invasion, deployed American soldiers to the border and made changes to asylum rules in efforts to confront it.
A few of the migrants who have made it to Tijuana were already trying to figure out how to get appointments with American border officials to present their cases for sanctuary, migrants’ advocates said. Most, however, appear to be biding their time and considering their options, including seeking sanctuary in the United States, trying to cross illegally or remaining in Mexico.
THE GUARDIAN
Saudi crown prince shielded as death penalty sought over Khashoggi murder
Saudi Arabia says it will pursue the death penalty for five suspects charged with ordering and carrying out the killing of the Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, in the latest effort to distance the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, from the grisly murder.
El Chapo trial: accountant exposes details of cartel's vast operations
The inner workings – and vast financial scale – of what is alleged to be the world’s biggest narco-trafficking organisation, the Sinaloa cartel, began to be laid bare on Wednesday by a former leader of the syndicate, Jesús Zambada García, testifying against his own immediate boss, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, on trial in New York.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/14/el-chapo-trial-sinaloa-cartel-accountant-new-york
DEUTSCHE WELLE
Caravana migrante: jefe del Pentágono llega a la frontera con México
El secretario de Defensa de EE. UU. visitó a las tropas en la frontera, cuya misión es evitar la entrada de los migrantes. Es el mayor despliegue militar en la frontera desde la Revolución Mexicana.
El secretario de Defensa de Estados Unidos, James Mattis, viajó a la localidad texana de McAllen, en la frontera sur, para conocer el estado de los cerca de 5.900 soldados desplegados en la zona. La misión de las tropas es impedir la entrada al país de las caravanas de migrantes que recorren México. El jefe del Pentágono visitó a las tropas y defendió ante los periodistas el despliegue ordenado por Trump.
Hamás arresta en Gaza a palestinos acusados de colaborar con Israel
Los arrestados están acusados de haber ayudado a las fuerzas especiales israelíes a entrar en el enclave costero.
El movimiento islamista Hamás, que controla la Franja de Gaza, arrestó anoche al menos a tres palestinos por colaborar supuestamente con Israel en la operación de inteligencia fallida que desencadenó el pasado domingo una escalada de violencia, informaron este jueves (15.11.2018) fuentes de seguridad del enclave.
Los arrestados están acusados de haber ayudado a las fuerzas especiales israelíes a entrar en el enclave costero, donde el domingo fueron descubiertas y se inició un intercambio de fuego en el que murieron siete milicianos palestinos y un oficial israelí.
XINHUA
Presidente de Irán dice que sanciones "crueles" de EEUU no lograrán sus objetivo
TEHERAN, 14 nov (Xinhua) -- El presidente de Irán, Hassan Rouhani, declaró hoy que Estados Unidos no logrará alcanzar sus objetivos al imponer sanciones contra Irán.
"Los estadounidenses definitivamente serán derrotados en este camino. El camino que han elegido está equivocado", expresó Rouhani citado por el diario "IRAN".
Si son honestos y les preocupa la seguridad regional, éste no es el camino, dijo. Las "crueles" sanciones de Estados Unidos sólo dañarán al pueblo iraní, alertó.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2018-11/15/c_137607179.htm
Cooperación en Franja y Ruta, nuevo punto destacado de lazos China-Singapur, según declaración conjunta
SINGAPUR, 14 nov (Xinhua) -- China y Singapur indicaron el miércoles en una declaración conjunta que su cooperación a lo largo de la Franja y la Ruta es "un nuevo aspecto destacado" de las relaciones bilaterales.
Este consenso se incluye en la declaración conjunta emitida por las dos partes durante la visita oficial del primer ministro chino, Li Keqiang, a Singapur.
De acuerdo con el documento, ambas partes seguirán reforzando la cooperación en las plataformas de conectividad de infraestructuras, conectividad financiera, colaboración de terceras partes, así como en el nuevo ámbito clave de cooperación legal y judicial en el marco de la Franja y la Ruta.
En función de las necesidades de desarrollo de ambas partes, la Iniciativa de Demostración (Chongqing) sobre Conectividad Estratégica China-Singapur-Nuevo Corredor de Comercio Internacional Tierra-Mar y un proyecto de colaboración de terceras partes serán aspectos destacados de la cooperación bilateral, reza el texto.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2018-11/15/c_137607243.htm
China exhorta a comunidad internacional a apoyar a Cuerno de Africa
NACIONES UNIDAS, 14 nov (Xinhua) -- El representante permanente de China ante la ONU, Ma Zhaoxu, exhortó hoy al Consejo de Seguridad y a la comunidad internacional a ofrecer una asistencia constructiva a los países del Cuerno de Africa.
En una reunión del Consejo de Seguridad sobre Somalia, Ma dijo que las relaciones entre los países del Cuerno de Africa han mejorado continuamente en los últimos meses.
El embajador Ma dijo que China espera que los países de la región aprovechen activamente la favorable oportunidad actual, fortalezcan el diálogo y las consultas y trabajen juntas para resolver apropiadamente los asuntos pertinentes.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2018-11/15/c_137607246.htm
RT
War hawks mourn ‘underfunded’ US military that could ‘lose next war’ against Russia or China
Although Washington spends more on its military than the next ten countries combined, a bipartisan commission now warns that the Pentagon needs even more money if the US is to maintain hegemony against threats by Russia and China.
The US military “could suffer unacceptably high casualties and loss of major capital assets in its next conflict” and might lose or “struggle to win” a war against China or Russia, says the 116-page document, produced by the National Defense Strategy Commission and published this week, concluding that “US military superiority is no longer assured” and that this has “severe” implications for US interests and security.
Moscow and Beijing dominate the concerns of the report’s authors, appointed by House and Senate Armed Services committees to give an assessment of the Trump administration’s new strategy, published earlier this year. The report makes 108 references to Russia and 105 to China. ISIS is brought up 29 times, while North Korea and Iran merit 23 and 20 mentions respectively. The “war on terror” after 9/11 has led the Pentagon to focus on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, but also to lose the previously held advantage in everything from air and missile defense, naval warfare, artillery and electronics, the report says.
https://www.rt.com/usa/444016-pentagon-funding-russia-china/
What's the damage? War on terror price-tag about to top $6 TRILLION, and it’s only the beginning
With the longest war in US history now dragging into its 17th year, Americans are looking at a massive bill. Total costs of the War on Terror now approach $6 trillion, according to a new report – to say nothing of the human costs.
To arrive at this mind-boggling sum, Brown University’s Cost of War report included not only Defense Department spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, which at $1.9 trillion is already nothing to sneeze at, but associated expenses from the State and Homeland Security Departments, an increase in the Department of Defense budget, and – perhaps the most significant hidden cost of the war – long-term healthcare costs for veterans. All told, the “check” comes to $5.9 trillion.
https://www.rt.com/usa/444019-war-terror-six-trillion/
Boycotting World Economic Forum in Davos no great loss for Russia – Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the refusal by Russian businesses to participate in next year’s World Economic Forum in Davos is not going to have any negative impact on the country’s reputation.
“Reputation of any country that is a part of the global economy basically depends on its economic power, structure of its economy, as well as on the results it demonstrates from the point of view of GDP, technologies, macro-economic parameters,” said Putin, speaking at the Russia-ASEAN Summit in Singapore.
Putin stressed that Russian businessmen are free to decide whether or not to attend the January WEF. The comment came amid recent reports that three Russian businessmen – Viktor Vekselberg, the owner of Renova group, aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, and the head of VTB Bank Andery Kostin had been barred from the event over sanctions imposed by Washington.
https://www.rt.com/business/444066-russia-wef-davos-boycott/
EU's Donald Tusk says summit to sign Brexit deal to be held on November 25
Barring an "extraordinary" turn of events, a deal finalizing Brexit will be signed at a summit on November 25, EU President Donald Tusk has said. If "nothing extraordinary happens," EU leaders will gather for a summit to sign off on the draft Brexit agreement at the end of the month, Tusk announced on Thursday.
After meeting with Brexit EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, Tusk said that there was "no doubt" that Brexit is "a lose-lose situation," describing negotiations over the UK's exit as "only about damage control." On Wednesday, Britain’s cabinet backed Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU withdrawal agreement, bringing the UK’s exit from the European bloc one step closer to completion.
https://www.rt.com/news/444021-eu-tusk-to-sign-brexit/
