Thursday, September 14, 2017
Op-Ed: If China is really leaving America behind, then let’s learn from China
By Curtis Stone
Political chaos in Washington and major global challenges facing the U.S. have left many Chinese wondering if Western democracy is on the verge of collapse. From the "Cultural Revolution" turmoil in Charlottesville, Virginia and the withering of the American Dream to America’s declining global leadership, some see the malfunctioning of the U.S. system and the feeling of American decline as evidence that the Western world is doomed.
That feeling of doom and gloom is made even more apparent because of the relative stability and success of China. As a recent article in the Financial Times by Michael Moritz pointed out, China is marching forward at a rapid pace, while the U.S. is either stuck in neutral or going into reverse. America’s growing list of political, social, and economic problems is troubling news for the U.S., and frankly the world, but it does not spell doom for the American system, nor does it necessarily prove that the Chinese system is superior. However, it does highlight the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two systems.
In fact, China and the U.S. can both learn from each other. As facts show, the both systems have their positives and negatives, and you cannot reasonably argue that one is superior to the other. For example, while China’s system is clearly superior at planning long-term national development strategies and policies, and executing them, such as large-scale infrastructure projects and ambitious science and technology plans, it is also dealing with corruption and other problems at home. Likewise, the U.S. system, while strong in some areas, such as the ability to self-correct, is weak in others.
This reality punctures the myth of American supremacy and opens the door to peaceful coexistence, the rational idea that different systems can coexist peacefully. Take the U.S. state of California’s $64 billion effort to build a bullet train over a relatively short distance in the state’s Central Valley, which is noted in the Financial Times article. While California struggles to push forward this single project, China has built the world’s largest bullet train network. As of the end of 2016, China had some 22,000 kilometers (about 13,700 miles) of high-speed rail lines and more high-speed rail is on the way. In addition, massive rail projects are expanding outward, connecting China to countries around the globe under China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
Another example is poverty reduction, arguably the most telling sign of China’s progress in human rights. Just recently, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that its nation’s official poverty rate in 2016 was 12.7 percent, with 40.6 million people in poverty, 2.5 million fewer than in 2015. While impressive, China has achieved unprecedented progress in poverty reduction, including lifting more people out of poverty than any other country in human history. In 2016 alone, China brought 12.4 million rural people above the poverty line, and the government aims to eradicate poverty by 2020. Moritz is dead-on to argue that there can be little debate about what the government in China has done and is doing to improve the wellbeing of its people.
The American system makes it nearly impossible to plan and execute such ambitious long-term plans for its nation’s future, while a strong centralized system that can promote economic development for 1.4 billion people is crucial for China at this stage of its development. This shows that every country should have the right to choose its own political path based on its unique situation, and that no system is necessarily superior to the other. What works for the U.S. will not always work for China, and vice versa. But we can still learn from each other. And indeed, as Moritz has pointed out, China has much to teach the rest of us, including America, and the world should at least be open to the idea of taking notes from China’s successes.
Hillary Clinton signs copies of new book at NYC bookstore
By STEVE PEOPLES
The former Democratic presidential nominee was introducing her book about the 2016 presidential campaign in which she lashes out at President Donald Trump as "a clear and present danger to the country and the world."
Clinton didn't offer any public remarks as signed copies of "What Happened" for several hundred supporters inside a Barnes & Noble store in lower Manhattan. But Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders fired back from the White House briefing room when asked about Clinton's new book. "I think it's sad that after Hillary Clinton ran one of the most negative campaigns in history and lost and the last chapter of her public life is going to be now defined by propping up book sales with false and reckless attacks," Sanders said. "And I think that that's a sad way for her to continue."
The New York City crowd, however, greeted Clinton with a massive cheer. Some waited in line for more than five hours to see her.
A Barnes & Noble spokesman said the store sold 1,200 copies of the book related to Tuesday's appearance. That's more than Clinton sold when she appeared there to promote her last book in 2014. In the book, Clinton is unsparing in her assessment of the president. She says she considered saying to Trump, "Back up, you creep. Get away from me," when he loomed over her shoulder during a presidential debate.
But Clinton, who has a reputation for deflecting blame for her failures, also said she takes "responsibility for all" her campaign's mistakes.
Hillary Clinton: ‘Nobody Said A Word’ When It Was My Fake Severed Head
“They were selling T-shirts and mugs ... with Trump holding my head. Nobody said a word. Not a word.”
She then compared Griffin’s gruesome photo to the anti-Clinton merchandise unofficial vendors were selling at the Republican National Convention.
“I’ve always just sucked it up,” Clinton said about the gender bias she’s experienced as a successful woman working in government. “I sucked it up in ’08 when some really unpleasant things happened to me ... And I sucked it up in the 2016 campaign when I was called names and things were said and done to me.”
She added, “We recently had this big kerfuffle ― this condemnation of Kathy Griffin ― for the picture she had of herself holding a head of Trump like a play on Perseus holding the head of Medusa,” Clinton said.
“They were selling T-shirts and mugs at the Republican [National] Convention with Trump holding my head. Nobody said a word. Not a word!”
It’s not clear if such severed head merchandise existed, but HuffPost reporters saw lots of other offensive anti-Clinton merchandise on display at the convention, including a violent image of her falling off a motorcycle and another of Trump punching her out.
In May, Griffin issued a formal apology, which she later rescinded, saying the Trump head photo shoot went “way too far.” The incident led to lost gigs for Griffin and reports that she was questioned by the Secret Service.
The anti-Clinton merchandise created during the 2016 campaign was disgustingly sexist, featuring profane slogans calling her a “bitch,” “tramp” and even more crass terms. In Clinton’s new election memoir, What Happened, released on Tuesday, she references the merchandise to illustrate what she called the “flood of hatred” from Trump supporters.
“I had left the State Department one of the most admired public servants in America,” Clinton writes in the book. “Now people seemed to think I was evil. Not just ‘not my cup of tea’ but evil. It was flabbergasting and frightening.”
Pakistan - Minimum wage laws
The issues of Pakistan’s working people continue to be ignored as our state institutions remain embroiled in power plays most of the time. Fortunately, we have multilateral institutions like the International Labour Organisation (ILO) time and again reminding the authorities concerned to meet their obligations towards the citizenry. The latest such reminder from the ILO comes in the form of an appeal to abolish the Unskilled Minimum Wage Ordinance of 1969. This should be done immediately.
The ILO has asked the government to ratify its Minimum Wage Fixing Convention of 1970 so that provincial governments — that enact and enforce labour laws in their jurisdictions — can then enact laws on minimum wage accordingly.
This will bring unskilled workers employed in the agriculture sector, public entities and charitable enterprises under the ambit of the minimum wage legal regime.
The ILO report has also highlighted the unsatisfactory performance of wage boards in provinces. Their task is to monitor wages in view of the prevalent economic conditions and cost of living. As the ILO notes, this is not possible without timely research and availability of relevant social and economic datasets. Since the wage board hardly seem to be interested in such efforts, we hope that the ILO will take the lead on its own and commission relevant research mentioned in its report. The role of the judiciary, labour tribunals, and prosecutors in enforcing labour laws are some of the research areas identified by the ILO. More and crucial information on issues like sub-contracting and indirect sourcing is likely to come to limelight as a result.
Further, Pakistan needs to implement the Equal Remuneration Convention of 1951 and enact laws explicitly prohibiting sex or gender discrimination in wages. This is a crucial first step that has been overdue for long and can pave the way for true gender equality in our workplaces.
We hope that the ILO will follow up on this appeal and push the government to act on its recommendations, leading to positive changes for Pakistan’s working people. The government, too, needs to realise its obligation and implement the principle that minimum wage or workers needs to be such that it can afford them a decent standard of living. Any short of that should be unacceptable.
Pakistan - Instant divorce; A man’s right
By Mohsin Saleem Ullah
In the Muslim society, divorce has nearly become a taboo. A large group of Muslim women, all around the world, have gone through the agony of “Instant Divorce” (Triple Talaq in a single sitting) in their lives. The majority of them were not even present in person when their husbands uttered those three words. This has led the divorced women around the globe to raise questions and ask for an explanation from the court. Their only question, “If men can divorce women instantly, why can’t women?”
In Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia, cases have been seen where Muslim men have divorced their better half through a simple SMS or other online services such as Skype, IMO and Whatsapp. This triple talaq is lawful and permitted under the Muslim personal law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937, which expresses that husbands can get divorced from their wives by just saying “talaq” three times.
With such separations, which are accessible just to men, husbands can remove their wives from their homes, for the most part with no divorce settlement or alimony help, leaving the ladies with couple of assets or prospects. This is where women can work things out. A greater part of Muslim women in Pakistan are uneducated, and just 20 percent have ever worked outside the home, according to a province wise literacy survey conducted in 2015. Mostly women are uneducated and do not know their rights. After a divorce, a woman has the right to ask for alimony from the ex-husband. The ex-husband is under obligation to provide for his wife and children under the divorce law.
Divorce is one of the most discouraged legal acts by Allah. Before Islam, the Arabs were free to divorce their wives and take them back as they pleased. When Islam came, this practice became invalidated.
As indicated by the Prophet’s truism, offering talaq to the wife in a fit of rage or anger is entirely denied. A man is more capable - in any event hypothetically - of controlling his fluttering feelings and individual responses when vexed about the little issues in life, particularly regarding the debate with his better half. It has been scientifically proven that women make decisions based on emotions and have frequent mood swings due to the hormonal changes that keep occurring in a woman’s body. Divorce should never be a brisk response for affliction, false impressions, or contrasts of perspectives, however, if all else fails and last arrangement when life turns out to be perilously dangerous and grievous, wherein both life partners are worried about the possibility that they won’t have the capacity to submit as far as possible set by Allah and His Prophet about respectable conduct with each other.
However, women can also divorce their husbands. There are comprehensively two techniques under which a woman can claim divorce. One is Talaq-e-Tafweez and the other is Talaq-e-Khula. Under Tafweez, the spouse “may” designate his right to offer talaq to his significant other or any outsider. This right has to be in the form of a contract.
The second one is Khula. This is a separation which is at the “demand” of the wife. For this situation the wife needs to make an offer of separation to the man. The man must acknowledge the offer with consideration, which frequently implies the wife needs to give back the Meher taken amid marriage. After these two stages, a Khula is conceded.
The women, regardless of whether separated by talaq or khula, requires to have iddah (3 months holding up period) before getting married to another person. The purpose for this is to guarantee that the male parent of any offspring produced after the cessation of a nikah (marriage) would be known.
Still Muslim women around the world have walked rallies to ban the instant divorce law in Islam. Recently, a Muslim woman from India, Begum, 25, did the inconceivable. In the wake of detailing her husband for aggressive behavior at home, she remained outside Meerut police headquarters in Uttar Pradesh state and yelled the expression herself alongside his name. Begum is thought to be the first woman in India to have utilized the triple talaq to divorce her husband. All the while, she has opened another front in the battle to end the practice. More than 20 countries including Egypt, Turkey, and Algeria have started following a secular family law which requires a legal document by the court in order to give divorce. India has also joined the list of these countries. Recently, the Indian High Court struck down the instant divorce law due to the increasing number of cases filed against this law by the Indian Muslim women.
Islamic law is frequently reprimanded as being too backward where women’s rights are concerned. On account of separation, Islamic law is in reality significantly more liberal in a few respects than the Western gathering of people who blame Shariah Law. Divorce is both permitted and acceptable under Islamic law and the husband or the wife can independently ask for the divorce. What is far less liberal is the cutting edge elucidation with respect to divorce found in various traditionalist Muslim communities. However, and still, after all that there are non-Muslim nations that are similarly as terrible – if not more awful – in issues with respect to unjustifiable separation arrangements. While people will not let any no divorce system on the planet as a flawless framework, it is critical to modify approaches that are uncalled for against a specific populace gathering. Overlooking the issue undermines the modification of marriage, as well as encroach on parts of human rights. At the end, this might be one of the principal social issues that need to be addressed on as it incorporates further into current worldwide society.
Pakistan - Delayed FATA Merger
The National Assembly Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions revealed on Monday that all the stakeholders involved in the discussions of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) merger were not ready to take responsibility of the complete action – delaying the merger process indefinitely.
This is a singularly disappointing revelation. The discussions have been going on for the last four years and it is time that we move forward towards actual implementation of the merger. All the consensus building that was done during the tenure is going to be wasted if the members do not look past minor policy conflicts and push for the merger.
The Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) bill has become redundant, and it is widely accepted that for the tribal areas to witness development, they have to be integrated into the network of the country and seek benefits. KP has already been promised a larger share in the NFC award and FATA has been awarded seats in the KP provincial assembly – but without a prompt implementation plan, none of these changes will accrue before the next election.
One of the major problem is that the members of the committee refrain from adopting the Rewaj Bill, and instead suggest widely differing alternative ideas – from the adoption of the Sharia to a compete merger with national laws. While reservations against the Rewaj bill’s partial steps are merited, the stakeholders must realize that the time for novel suggestions and wholesale changes is long past; this time they must stay within the framework of the bill and push for amendments.
However not everyone can be pleased during the process. The government needs to realize that sometimes it cannot have a unanimous consensus between all stakeholders. If it has to, it should go with what the majority wants and consider leaving some stakeholders unhappy. A FATA-KP merger is quite necessary for the stability of the country at the moment.
Bilawal Bhutto says democracy guarantees elimination of terrorism, injustice, poverty
Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that only democratic process could guarantee elimination of terrorism, injustice and poverty.
In his message on the eve of International Day of Democracy here on Thursday, Bilawal said that the democracy nurtures flexibility in society.
The PPP leader said that peace and stability could be attained in Pakistan and world through democracy, adding the rule of the majority also empowers women and weak segments of the society.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/229907-Bilawal-says-democracy-guarantees-elimination-of-terrorism-injustice-poverty
After BRICS, India-Japan joint statement names Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar, Jaish
India and Japan on Thursday called for a "zero-tolerance approach" to terrorism and committed to cooperate in the fight against terror, including the Pakistan-based groups Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM).
In what appeared to be a reference to Pakistan, the two Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe, in their joint statement, called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and financing channels and halting cross-border movement of terrorists.
When it came to the issue of perpetrators of terror attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot strikes, the two leaders didn't shy away from naming Pakistan, and called upon it to bring to justice those who carried out the attacks. "PM (Narendra Modi and PM (Shinzo) Abe look forward to convening (the) 5th Japan-India consultation on terrorism and to strengthen cooperation against terrorists threats from groups including Al-Qaida, ISIS, JeM, LeT and their affiliates," said the two countries in a joint statement at the end of Abe's 2-day visit to India.
Modi and Abe condemned in the "strongest terms" the growing menace of terrorism and violent extremism, their statement added. "They shared the view that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a global scourge that must be forcefully combated through concerted global action in the spirit of 'zero tolerance'," the joint document said Modi and Abe called upon all UN member countries to implement UNSC resolution 1267 and other relevant resolutions dealing with the designation of terrorist entities, the statement said.
New Delhi has had success lately in getting Pakistan-based terror named and shamed at international forums. Earlier this month, for the first time, BRICS countries slammed Pakistan without naming it, as they "deplored" terror attacks in member countries and the "violence caused" by Pakistan-based terror outfits. n addition, the BRICS members also called for greater efficiency in designation of terrorists. This was particularly significant, because it is BRICS member China that has been blocking designating Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar a terrorist. That may now change, in a further setback for JeM.
Pakistan has been at the receiving end lately on the terror issue.
Last month, US President Donald Trump roundly criticised it for "hosting terror safe havens"+ . He also threatened to suspend aid unless Pakistan falls in line and cracks down on terror, which Trump said it is exporting to the region, including to Afghanistan.
Interview - Pervez Hoodbhoy - Pakistan's indirect role in North Korea's nuclear program
Pakistani nuclear physicist, Pervez Hoodbhoy, talks to DW about his country's "nuclear assistance" to Pyongyang, the relevance of the non-proliferation treaty and why the North should be accepted as a nuclear state.
DW: To what extent North Korea owes its nuclear technology to Pakistan?
Pervez Hoodbhoy: Pakistan did transfer centrifuge technology to North Korea. It did not, however, directly contribute to the program because North Korean nuclear program is essentially based on the extraction of plutonium rather than the uranium centrifugation process.
When did Pakistan's "nuclear transfer" to North Korea begin, and when did it end?
It ended in 2003 when Pakistani scientist A Q Khan was caught in the transfer of nuclear technology and subsequently all nuclear transfer came to an end. It is unclear when it began, but it is possible that it started shortly after former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto came to power in 1989, so in the years after that it must have begun at some point.
Was Pakistani scientist A Q Khan the only person responsible for nuclear proliferation to Pyongyang?
It is very hard to believe that A Q Khan single-handedly transferred all technology from Pakistan to North Korea, Libya and Iran as it was a high-security installation in Pakistan and guarded with very fearsome amount of policing and military intelligence surrounding it. Moreover, the centrifuge weighs half a ton each and it is not possible that these could have been smuggled out in a match box, so certainly there was complicity at a very high level.
But some military generals in Pakistan deny helping out Pyongyang because North Korean nuclear technology is a plutonium-based one unlike Pakistan's.
I think that it is true the North Korean nuclear weapons are plutonium-based and this plutonium bomb is not the same as the uranium bomb. Pakistan did supply centrifuges to Pyongyang, but the relation between the North Korean nuclear program and Pakistan is not direct.
What did Pakistan get in return for "helping" Pyongyang?
In return for the centrifuge that Pakistan supplied to North Korea, it received so-called Dudong missiles. These are liquid-fueled missiles, which were taken over by the A Q Khan laboratory and were renamed "Ghouri" missiles. I think they are part of Pakistan's missile arsenal. These are not as effective as solid-fuel missiles, which do not need much preparation time.
So, certainly there was a quid pro quo. I think both North Korea and Pakistan benefited from this exchange, but not majorly.
Does the A Q Khan "nuclear network" still exist?
It is difficult to say that such network exists now. Pakistan's nuclear program is now under observation and it will be very difficult to smuggle nuclear technology out of the country.
It is now a fact that North Korea has had six successful nuclear tests, and the last one probably that of a hydrogen bomb. This certainly exceeds what Pakistan has achieved and is on par with India's nuclear program.
There is no doubt that a nuclear North Korea is now reality, so the country should be put in the same category as India and Pakistan.
What measures should the international community take to counter the threat posed by "rogue states" with nuclear capabilities?
The notion of rogue state is something that has been manufactured by those who already possess nuclear weapons. The United States has used this term time and again in relation to Iran and North Korea, and earlier Iraq as well. The term has no legitimacy because the US itself has used nuclear weapons - once in Hiroshima and once in Nagasaki. Moreover, we have seen that the US actions have not been conducive to world peace. Being a superpower does not give the US a license to label other states around the world as "rogue."
Pakistan Tells Doctors Without Borders to Pull Out of Tribal Areas
Pakistan on Wednesday told the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders to stop its work and leave the country’s impoverished tribal areas that border Afghanistan, the organization said, ending its 14-year stay in the volatile region.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, works out of two health facilities in the Kurram district of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas region in Pakistan, which has been plagued by militancy over the past decade and was the location of many American drone strikes targeting commanders from Al Qaeda and other militant groups.
Though security has improved in the tribal areas in recent years, sectarian militant attacks, primarily against Shiite Muslims, still occur. Twin blasts in Kurram’s most populous town, Parachinar, killed dozens of people and wounded many more in June. Local officials said that Doctors Without Borders provided essential medical care in the tribal areas, which have some of Pakistan’s poorest health services and lowest literacy rates.
“We have been asked to close our medical activities in Kurram Agency,” the organization said in a statement to the news media, adding that Pakistan had refused to issue a document known as a no objection certificate for the organization to work in the tribal areas.
Catherine Moody, the country representative for Doctors Without Borders in Pakistan, said in the statement that the organization was “saddened by the decision” to force it to halt its work in the region, noting that it had provided medical services there for 14 years.
Foreign citizens and organizations working in Pakistan require a no objection certificate to operate in certain areas. Pakistani nongovernmental organizations and journalists also face restrictions when working in the tribal areas.
Doctors Without Borders provided “diagnosis and treatment facilities to the community” and immunizations for children and it responded to “emergencies, disease outbreaks and mass casualties,” the organization said. The region’s health authorities did not respond to requests for comment, but Dr. Mohammad Ishaq, who works there, said Doctors Without Borders was asked to leave because it did not have valid documents. Dr. Ishaq said he thought the organization “was doing a great job for the patients” in the tribal areas, adding that he did not know why its license to work there was revoked.
An employee of Doctors Without Borders, who asked not to be identified, said the organization had never been denied the operating certificate in the past. He said he feared that the decision would affect many patients in the region, where, he added, the organization had 70 staff members working at its two sites. The official who notified Doctors Without Borders that its operations would need to be shut down said that he was simply following orders from officials in Peshawar, the administrative and economic hub of the tribal areas, and did not have any information about the reasons for the decision.