Monday, October 31, 2022
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Saturday, October 29, 2022
OPINION: The Pelosis and a Haunted America
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/28/opinion/pelosi-nancy-paul-attack.html
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Pakistan No Country for Minorities? Kidnapping, Rape, Forced Conversions of Hindus, Sikhs on Rise - 'COUNTRY OF ‘PARTICULAR CONCERN’
- Amid the floods in Sindh, a Hindu girl was raped by two locals on the pretext of providing food.
- In another incident, two Hindu women foiled a rape bid by an unknown person on road side tents in Sindh.
- In June, a Hindu teenager, Kareena Kumari, told a court in Karachi that she was forcibly converted to Islam and married to a Muslim man.
- In March, three Hindu girls – Satran Oad, Kaveeta Bheel, Anita Bheel – were abducted, converted to Islam and married to Muslim men within eight days.
- On March 21, Pooja Kumari was brutally shot dead outside her home in Rohri, Sukkur. Apparently, a man wanted to marry her but she refused, so they killed her.
A 13-year-old Sikh boy was gang-raped in Jacobabad, Pakistan. The Sindh Police arrested accused Mohsin Jamali and Takri Lashari, but they managed to escape from the civil line police station Jacobabad.In September, a married Hindu woman and two teenaged girls were allegedly abducted, forcibly converted, and married to Muslims in Sindh province.
Demanding action, the communities have questioned the “silence of human rights activists”.The forcible conversion of young Hindu girls has become a major problem in the interior of Sindh province, which has a large Hindu population in Thar, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Ghotki and Khairpur areas. Most of the Hindu community members are labourers. On July 16, 2019, the issue of abducting and forcibly converting Hindu girls in various districts of Sindh province was taken up in the Sindh Assembly, where a resolution was debated and unanimously passed after it was modified over objections of certain lawmakers that it should not be restricted to Hindu girls only. But the bill which criminalised forcible religious conversions was later rejected in the assembly. A similar bill was again proposed but rejected last year. In 2021, the United States placed Pakistan on a list of “countries of particular concern” for religious freedom violations. Human rights organizations and the US media report estimates that every year, nearly 1,000 minority girls are being kidnapped or forcibly converted to Islam. Catholic news site Aleteia reported that in 2020, the number of forced conversion cases rose to more than 2,000.
https://www.news18.com/news/world/pakistan-no-country-for-minorities-kidnapping-rape-forced-conversions-of-hindus-sikhs-on-rise-exclusive-6143617.html
#Pakistan - ATC acquits Ali Wazir, others in terrorism case
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi has acquitted MNA Ali Wazir and 12 others in a case registered against them.
As per Wazir’s lawyer he was arrested in the case from Peshawar and has spent more than two years in jail. He added that the case was registered in the Sohrab Goth area of Karachi.
Wazir and 12 others were accused of making speeches against the country and national security.
Four cases have been registered against Wazir in different police stations in Karachi and he has been granted bail in all four cases, the lawyer informed the court.
Wazir has been behind bars since December 31, 2020, for allegedly delivering provocative speeches inciting hate against the state institutions and treason.
He and some other party leaders were booked in four identical cases registered at Sohrab Goth, Shah Latif Town and Boat Basin police stations under sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) pertaining to the said charges.
https://www.nation.com.pk/25-Oct-2022/atc-acquits-ali-wazir-others-in-terrorism-case
#Pakistan’s leadership has historically neglected the basic principles of national security
By
THE edifice of national security stands on the four pillars of political stability, economic and technological strength, military power and proactive diplomacy. The weakness of any of these pillars adversely affects the overall strength and durability of the structure of national security. It is imperative, therefore, that our leaders pay due attention to the strengthening of all pillars of national security while maintaining the right balance among them as overemphasis on one pillar at the expense of the others can lead to disastrous results.
Unfortunately, Pakistan’s leadership has historically neglected these basic principles, causing damage to our national security with predictably unfortunate consequences. To begin with, our military leaders, who ruled over the country directly for almost half of its life and tried to control national policies indirectly the rest of the time, have demonstrated a scant understanding of the critical importance of political stability and what it takes to strengthen this pillar of national security.Such a feeling of helplessness inevitably creates despondency among the people and in extreme cases can cause them to take the law in their own hands by resorting to violence for the redress of their grievances. Foreign enemy powers often find in such public discontent a fertile ground for fomenting armed insurgencies aimed at the political disintegration of the country. The arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav in Balochistan in March 2016 on the charge of fomenting terrorism in the country was a clear indication of India’s nefarious designs to destabilise and weaken Pakistan politically by taking advantage of such public discontent.
Political meddling has weakened democratic institutions.
The dominant role of the security establishment in our polity, besides weakening the political system in the country, also sucked in vast resources which arguably could have been put to much better use for accelerating economic development in the country. This was the case not only because of narrow institutional considerations but also because of an inadequate appreciation of the importance of economic and technological importance in the national security architecture.
It is worth underscoring that in any long-term contest of nations in the modern world, the ultimate outcome is determined by the balance of economic and technological power as pointed out by Paul Kennedy in his seminal work The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. While in the face of an adversary, the need to maintain a credible security deterrent at any time cannot be denied, the neglect of the imperative of economic and technological strength can lead a nation to a security disaster in the long run. It is, therefore, a matter of deep concern that India, which poses an enduring threat to our national security, is growing economically at a much faster pace than Pakistan. If this trend continues for a sufficiently long time, it will pose a serious threat to Pakistan’s national security.
While Pakistan is reasonably well placed in terms of maintaining a credible security deterrent, the country’s foreign policy establishment suffers from two main drawbacks: its overemphasis on the tactical at the expense of strategic considerations, and its focus on the short-term to the neglect of long-term foreign policy goals and concerns. Our earlier Kashmir and Afghanistan policies, whose adverse effects continue to haunt us, are prime examples of these drawbacks.
Pakistan is in dire need of a grand strategy which should bring into a coherent whole the country’s political, economic, military and diplomatic policies based on a sound analysis of the evolving global and regional ground realities. Our failure to do so will pose an existential threat to the country’s security and economic well-being.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1716940/national-security
Pakistan: Return Of The TTP In Swat – Analysis
On September 13, 2022, a peace committee member and two of his Police guards were among five people killed, while several others sustained injuries, in a remote-controlled blast at the Kot Katai village of the Brai Bandi area of the Kabal tehsil (revenue unit) in Swat District. The peace committee member, identified as Idrees Khan, was the target of blast. A TTP statement later claimed,
We killed the leader of the peace committee Idress Khan in the area of Brai Bandi in the district of Swat with a bomb. Khan was involved in killing Taliban and torturing mujahedeen and their families in safe houses. The mujahedeen were pursuing him for almost 13 years.
According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal, there was a total of six incidents of killing, in which 12 persons, including seven civilians and five terrorists, were killed in Swat District in the current year (data till October 16, 2022).. In the corresponding period of 2021, three persons, including two civilians and a terrorist, were killed in a single incident. No further killing was reported in the remaining period of 2021. Four persons (one civilian and three terrorists) were killed in 2020 and one person (civilian) was killed in 2019. 12 persons (including 11 troopers and a terrorist) were killed in 2018, the last time fatalities reached double digit in a year.
In Swat, which is roughly 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the capital, Islamabad, Fazal Hayat alias, Maulana Fazlullah alias Mullah Radio, started a radio broadcast in 2004 that carried him into people’s homes and, eventually, won him a wide and violent following. He was the leader of the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi. He later joined the TTP and also became its chief. By late October 2007, Fazlullah had established a “parallel government” in 59 villages in Swat Valley, establishing ‘Islamic courts’ to enforce Sharia law. In early 2009 the group temporarily gained control of about 70 per cent of Swat. Thus, Swat was a major TTP stronghold between 2007 and 2009. In these three years, according to the SATP database, a total of 4,167 persons, including 775 civilians, 422 SF personnel, 2,826 terrorists, and 144 in the ‘not specified’ category, were killed. A high of 402 civilian fatalities was recorded in 2008. SF and terrorist fatalities were highest in 2009, at 177 and 1,742, respectively.
Prior to 2007, between March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on conflict in Pakistan, and 2006, seven persons, including five civilians and two terrorists had been killed in the district.
In 2009, the Pakistani military drove the armed group’s fighters out, and the terrorists took shelter along the border in Afghanistan. At least two million people were displaced from the area in 2009, when the Pakistan Army initiated Operation Rah-e-Rast (path to truth) in a bid to clear the area of terrorists.
After the Operation, violence declined. Between 2010 and 2022 (till October 14), a total of 475 persons, including 142 civilians, 37 SF personnel, 294 terrorists, and two in the not specified category, were killed. Since 2010, civilian fatalities have gone into double figures thrice – in 2010, 2013 and 2014.
The number of civilians killed in Swat in 2022 is highest in a year since 2015, when nine civilians were killed.
An October 12, 2022, report suggested that the TTP has re-emerged in the restive areas of Swat, as militants detained Police personnel and an Army officer after the law enforcement officials launched an operation to capture TTP militants.
Earlier, an August 12, 2022, report noted that TTP militants had established a check-post at Balasoor Top, besides roaming about freely in other areas of the Matta tehsil (revenue unit) of Swat
The local residents said the TTP militants were not only at Balasoor Top, but were also present in large numbers in the mountainous areas of Matta tehsil, including Bar Shor, Koz Shor, Namal, Gat Peuchar and other areas. Importantly, the Geo News correspondent in Swat, Mehboob Ali, claimed that at least 200-250 TTP militants were in the area.
Interestingly, on August 14, Pakistan military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), issued a statement, admitting that the presence of a “small number of armed men on a few mountain-tops between Swat and Dir has been observed”, located far away from populated areas. The ISPR also stated, “Apparently, these individuals sneaked in from Afghanistan to resettle in their native areas”, adding that a “close watch was being maintained on their limited presence and movement in mountains.” However, the military had earlier dismissed what it termed a “misperception about alleged presence of a large number of proscribed organisation TTP’s armed members in Swat Valley”.
Predictably, the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021 has significantly bolstered the TTP terrorists who had taken shelter in Afghanistan, to restore operations in Pakistan. The TTP leadership, along with its foot soldiers, find safe haven in Afghanistan without any constraints.
According to the Thirtieth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted pursuant to resolution 2610 (2021) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities, released in July 2022,
Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) constitutes the largest component of foreign terrorist fighters in Afghanistan (between 3,000 and 4,000). One Member State reported that current TTP leader Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud has united the group, which is now more cohesive, presenting a greater threat in the region.
These terrorists are now making comeback in Swat and other areas of Pakistan. Despite ongoing talks with the Government, mediated by the Afghan Taliban, they are engaged in violence, and the talks have failed to yield any positive result so far.
Meanwhile, people are furious over the government’s inaction, believing that their leaders were either supporting TTP, or are afraid of them, which perhaps explains why the government has not taken any effective action.
On October 11, 2022, thousands of people took to the streets at Nishat Chowk in Mingora, Swat, for a second day, to protest a surge in suspected militant attacks in Swat Valley, fearing that violence could disrupt years of peace, development, and tourist activities. Mingora echoed with slogans of “No more terrorism” and “We demand peace from the state”. Ahmed Shah, spokesperson for the Swat Qaumi Jirga, a representative body of residents, said more than 15,000 people had attended the protest, the sixth in the past two months. Moreover, as reported on October 11, 2022, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) declared that Swat’s residents were right to hold the security forces responsible for failing to enforce the writ of the state:
It was callous and short-sighted to have downplayed the threat from militants, given residents’ growing protests and calls for security. While the perpetrators must be brought to book promptly, the state must also stop ceding space to extremists – a lesson it has consistently failed to learn at the expense of its people.
Also, a sizeable campaign against re-Talibanization in ongoing on social media, with trending of #swatrejectsmilitancy, #PashtunLivesMatter and #swatforpeace, where many are accusing the government for not highlighting the popular anti-militancy movement. People from various walks of life are coming out openly on various platforms, to reject terrorism and militancy in Swat.
Meanwhile, KP government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, claimed that militant groups opposed to the talks were active against the government in the province. Further, as he stated on October 11, 2022, that TTP was not behind every incident of terrorism and must not be linked to all of them. He claimed during the peace talks, it had been agreed that TTP would claim responsibility for any act of violence executed by the group.
The situation in Swat and in other parts of KP has demonstrated the inability or lack of political will of the Pakistani government to protect its own citizens from the terrorists, with whom it is engaged in negotiations. Moreover, it also highlights the weakness if the negotiation process, which appears to be moving inexorably to failure, with the TTP leadership displaying complete intransigence on its core objectives.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/25102022-pakistan-return-of-the-ttp-in-swat-analysis-2/
#Pakistan #PPP - FM Bilawal, US Ambassador Blome agree to bolster trade ties
FM Bilawal and Ambassador Blome discussed the issues regarding the rehabilitation of the population affected by the catastrophic floods across Pakistan.
Triggered by torrential and climate-induced rainfall, the flooding in Pakistan engulfed large swathes of the country that killed over 1,700 people. The floods also massively devastated the country's infrastructure with damages estimated at nearly $30 billion.
The foreign minister, in the meeting, thanked the US Ambassador for ensuring the provision of aid and assistance to the affectees.
The two dignitaries also spoke about advancing mutual relations during their discussion in the foreign office.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/448467-fm-bilawal-us-ambassador-blome-agree-to-bolster-trade-ties
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Monday, October 24, 2022
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Monday, October 17, 2022
Pakistan No Country for Minorities? Kidnapping, Rape, Forced Conversions of Hindus, Sikhs on Rise | Exclusive
Amid the floods in Sindh, a Hindu girl was raped by two locals on the pretext of providing food. In another incident, two Hindu women foiled a rape bid by an unknown person on road side tents in Sindh. In June, a Hindu teenager, Kareena Kumari, told a court in Karachi that she was forcibly converted to Islam and married to a Muslim man. In March, three Hindu girls – Satran Oad, Kaveeta Bheel, Anita Bheel – were abducted, converted to Islam and married to Muslim men within eight days. On March 21, Pooja Kumari was brutally shot dead outside her home in Rohri, Sukkur. Apparently, a man wanted to marry her but she refused, so they killed her.SINDH: A PROBLEM AREA
The forcible conversion of young Hindu girls has become a major problem in the interior of Sindh province, which has a large Hindu population in Thar, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Ghotki and Khairpur areas. Most of the Hindu community members are labourers. On July 16, 2019, the issue of abducting and forcibly converting Hindu girls in various districts of Sindh province was taken up in the Sindh Assembly, where a resolution was debated and unanimously passed after it was modified over objections of certain lawmakers that it should not be restricted to Hindu girls only. But the bill which criminalised forcible religious conversions was later rejected in the assembly. A similar bill was again proposed but rejected last year. SINDH: A PROBLEM AREA The forcible conversion of young Hindu girls has become a major problem in the interior of Sindh province, which has a large Hindu population in Thar, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Ghotki and Khairpur areas. Most of the Hindu community members are labourers. On July 16, 2019, the issue of abducting and forcibly converting Hindu girls in various districts of Sindh province was taken up in the Sindh Assembly, where a resolution was debated and unanimously passed after it was modified over objections of certain lawmakers that it should not be restricted to Hindu girls only. But the bill which criminalised forcible religious conversions was later rejected in the assembly. A similar bill was again proposed but rejected last year.
#Pakistan: 14-year-old Hindu girl kidnapped, converted to Islam, forcibly married to her abductor
A 15-year-old Hindu Brahmin girl was allegedly kidnapped by four Muslim men on 12 August when she was returning from a local mill where she worked.
The girl’s mother continuously pled for registering a missing complaint but it all went in deaf ears. Police took over a month to file a case and two months on, there has been no trace of the minor girl.
‘On an average, 3 minor Hindu girls abducted on a daily basis in Pakistan’
In a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Hindu rights activist Mahesh Vasu said has detailed list of “genocide and persecution of Hindus in Pakistan duly reported by the Regional TV News in the month of September 2022.”
According to Mahesh Vasu, on an average three minor Hindu girls are abducted on a daily basis, gang-raped, filmed naked, tortured, forcibly converted to Islam and married to their abductor in Pakistan.
Vasu, who is associated with Nimittekam, a non-profit engaged in easing the entry of Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan to India and rehabilitating them, said in September 2022 alone, there were two cases of abduction, gang-rape, forced conversion and marriage at gunpoint in Pakistan. Both the victims are mothers.
Sunday, October 16, 2022
کراچی اور ملتان سے الوداع پی ٹی آئی! بلاول بھٹو زرداری
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کراچی اور ملتان میں اپنی پارٹی کے امیدواروں کی فتح کے بعد پی ٹی آئی کو واضح پیغام دے دیا۔
اپنے ٹوئٹر پیغام میں بلاول بھٹو نے تحریر کیا کہ ’کراچی اور ملتان سے الوداع پی ٹی آئی!‘
بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ 2018 میں چوری کی گئی نشستوں پر عمران خان کو شکست دینے پر مبارک باد پیش کرتا ہوں۔
پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ عمران خان کو شکست دینے پر بھائی موسیٰ گیلانی اور عبدالحکیم بلوچ کو مبارک باد دیتا ہوں۔
https://jang.com.pk/news/1147956
#Pakistan - #PPP's Ali Musa Gilani wins NA-157 by-election
In a major upset for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) candidate Ali Musa Gilani on Sunday won by-election for NA-157 Multan.
According to the unofficial reports, PPP candidate and son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Ali Musa Gilani secured victory by obtaining 10,7327 votes.
On the other hand, his opponent, daughter of former foreign minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Meherbano Qureshi could only obtain 82,141 votes.
It should be remembered that Ali Musa Geelani had previously won the by-election in the former federal government of Pakistan People s Party in 2012. Later, for the by-elections held in Punjab, Zain Qureshi left the said seat and contested on the provincial seat, on which he defeated the PML-N candidate.
https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/671730-PPP-Ali-Musa-Gilani-wins-NA-157-by-election
#Pakistan #PPP - Minister for Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari extends best wishes to Chinese Communist Party on 20th National Congress
In a message, Bilawal Bhutto said throughout its history, the Chinese Communist Party had made enormous contributions to progress and prosperity of the Chinese nation and for global peace.
“Leaders like Chairman Mao hold a legendary status in this journey and the Chinese march towards development. Now under the visionary leadership of the General Secretary Xi Jinping, the People’s Republic of China is moving at a fast pace towards the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, he added.
Bilawal said that the 20th National Congress was taking place at a time when the tides had changed and were transforming the international political, economic and social landscape. “I am confident that under the wise leadership of the CPC, China will continue to play its due role in the international politics and for global peace.”
“Pakistan Peoples Party and the Communist Party of China enjoy a rich history of bilateral cooperation and exchanges,” he recalled.
“Steered by my grandfather Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and my parents Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and former president Asif Ali Zardari, the two parties have established close bonds and contributed to solidify bilateral friendship between our two countries.”
The Foreign Minister said the people of Pakistan had watched with great fascination and pride the ascent of its closest friend and strategic partner.
As all weather strategic partners and iron brothers, the Foreign Minister said we are inspired by the CPC’s foresight in steering the Chinese nation on a path of high quality governance and socio economic development,
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/10/16/bilawal-extends-best-wishes-to-chinese-communist-party-on-20th-national-congress/
We are confident that our close partnership will continue to grow from strength to strength, he said and added that he was certain that the outcome of the 20th National Congress of the Party would serve to further strengthen bilateral friendship and promote deeper cooperation as envisioned by the two peoples of Pakistan and China.
As I congratulate the Chinese people on the occasion of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, I extend my best wishes for the continued peace and prosperity of the people of China under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, he expressed.
Saturday, October 15, 2022
Pakistan to summon US ambassador, issue demarche over Biden's remarks
Foreign Minister Bilawal says we have just started our journey of engagement with the United States.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Saturday that Pakistan has summoned the Ambassador of the United States to Pakistan Donald Blome for an official demarche following US President Joe Biden’s remarks about the country’s nuclear assets. While addressing a press conference in Karachi, the foreign minister said, “I have discussed it with the prime minister and we have summoned Ambassador of the United States to Pakistan Donald Blome to the Foreign Office of Pakistan for an official demarche.” “As far as the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear assets are concerned we meet all, each and every international standard in accordance with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” he added. Talking about India’s accidental firing of a missile into Pakistan on March 9, the foreign minister furthered, “As far as I’m concerned in our neighborhood, if there is any question as to nuclear safety and security then those questions should be directed to our neighbor India who very recently, accidentally, fired a missile into Pakistani territory. That is not only irresponsible, that is not only unsafe but raises genuine concerns about the safety of nuclear-capable countries.”“I am surprised by the remarks of President Biden I believe this is exactly the sort of misunderstanding that is created when there is a lack of engagement. Luckily, we have embarked on a journey of engagement. We have just marked the 75th anniversary of our bilateral relations in a very engaging manner at the State Department, and the at the level of secretary of state and the foreign minister of Pakistan. If this was such a concern, I imagine that it would have been raised in that meeting with me,” he added. The minister also stated that we will have many more opportunities to engage with the United States and address any concerns and misconceptions they might have in regard to the specific question. The statement by the foreign minister comes after United States President Joe Biden said earlier that Pakistan may be “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” as the country has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion”, it was reported on Saturday. The US president made the comments while addressing a Democratic congressional campaign committee reception on Thursday. “And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” Biden was quoted as saying in a transcript of the address, published on the White House’s website. The minister further said that an opportunity should be allowed to the US to explain the position. "I don't believe that this should negatively impact Pakistan and the United States. We will continue on the positive trajectory of the engagements that we are having so far," added the PPP chairman. Floods in Pakistan The foreign minister said one out of seven Paksitani is affected by floods in the country. He added that Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, southern Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh are badly affected by the floods, adding that a lot of areas are still inundated. "We are still distributing aid to the affectees and as the foreign minister, trying to get aid from all over the world," he added. By-elections in the country Bilawal furthered that by-elections have been announced in the country, adding that this is a misconception that he does not give importance to these elections as he was unable to campaign."These by-elections are very important. By-elections are to be conducted on October 16 across the country.... these by-elections are of importance to the people of those areas."The minister further said these elections wll give people an opportunity to select a representative from their area who can solve their problems and address their issues. Bilawal further said that the struggle against the PTI chief started from Karachi and that the people of the country and Sindh 'said goodbye' to Imran.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2381722/pakistan-to-summon-us-ambassador-issue-demarche-over-bidens-remarks
Friday, October 14, 2022
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
OPINION: We Are Suddenly Taking On China and Russia at the Same Time
In case you haven’t noticed, let me alert you to a bracing turn of events: The U.S. is now in conflict with Russia and China at the same time. Grandma always said, “Never fight Russia and China at the same time.” So did Henry Kissinger. Doing so may be necessary to secure our national interests. But have no doubt: We are in uncharted waters. I just hope that these are not our new “forever wars.” The struggle with Russia is indirect, but obvious, escalating and violent. We are arming the Ukrainians with smart missiles and intelligence to force the Russians to withdraw from Ukraine. While taking nothing away from the bravery of the Ukrainians, the U.S. and NATO’s support has played a huge role in Ukraine’s battlefield successes. Just ask the Russians. But how does this war end? No one can tell you. Today, though, I want to focus on the struggle with China, which is less visible and involves no shooting, because it is being fought mostly with transistors that toggle between digital 1s and 0s. But it will have as big, if not bigger, an impact on the global balance of power as the outcome of the combat between Russia and Ukraine. And it has little to do with Taiwan. It is a struggle over semiconductors — the foundational technology of the information age. The alliance that designs and makes the smartest chips in the world will also have the smartest precision weapons, the smartest factories and the smartest quantum computing tools to break virtually any form of encryption. Today, the U.S. and its partners lead, but China is determined to catch up — and we are now determined to prevent that. Game on. Last week, the Biden administration issued a new set of export regulations that in effect said to China: “We think you are three technology generations behind us in logic and memory chips and equipment, and we are going to ensure that you never catch up.” Or, as the national security adviser Jake Sullivan put it more diplomatically: “Given the foundational nature of certain technologies, such as advanced logic and memory chips, we must maintain as large of a lead as possible” — forever. “The U.S. has essentially declared war on China’s ability to advance the country’s use of high-performance computing for economic and security gains,” Paul Triolo, a China and tech expert at Albright Stonebridge, a consulting firm, told The Financial Times. Or as the Chinese Embassy in Washington framed it, the U.S. is going for “sci-tech hegemony.” But where does this war end? No one can tell you. I don’t want to be ripped off by a China that is increasingly using technology for absolute control at home and creepy power-projection abroad. But if we are now locked on a path of denying China advanced technologies forever — eliminating any hope of win-win collaborations with Beijing on issues like climate and cybercrime, where we face mutual threats and are the only two powers that can make a difference — what kind of world will that produce? China should be asking the same questions. All I know for sure is that regulations issued Friday by President Biden’s Commerce Department are a huge new barrier when it comes to export controls that will block China from being able to buy the most advanced semiconductors from the West or the equipment to manufacture them on its own. The new regulations also bar any U.S. engineer or scientist from aiding China in chip manufacturing without specific approval, even if that American is working on equipment in China not subject to export controls. The regs also tighten the tracking to ensure that U.S.-designed chips sold to civilian companies in China don’t get into the hands of China’s military. And, maybe most controversially, the Biden team added a “foreign direct product rule” that, as The Financial Times noted, “was first used by the administration of Donald Trump against Chinese technology group Huawei” and “in effect bars any U.S. or non-U.S. company from supplying targeted Chinese entities with hardware or software whose supply chain contains American technology.” This last rule is huge, because the most advanced semiconductors are made by what I call “a complex adaptive coalition” of companies from America to Europe to Asia. Think of it this way: AMD, Qualcomm, Intel, Apple and Nvidia excel at the design of chips that have billions of transistors packed together ever more tightly to produce the processing power they are seeking. Synopsys and Cadence create sophisticated computer-aided design tools and software on which chip makers actually draw up their newest ideas. Applied Materials creates and modifies the materials to forge the billions of transistors and connecting wires in the chip. ASML, a Dutch company, provides the lithography tools in partnership with, among others, Zeiss SMT, a German company specializing in optical lenses, which draws the stencils on the silicon wafers from those designs, using both deep and extreme ultraviolet light — a very short wavelength that can print tiny, tiny designs on a microchip. Intel, Lam Research, KLA and firms from Korea to Japan to Taiwan also play key roles in this coalition. The point is this: The more we push the boundaries of physics and materials science to cram more transistors onto a chip to get more processing power to continue to advance artificial intelligence, the less likely it is that any one company, or country, can excel at all the parts of the design and manufacturing process. You need the whole coalition. The reason Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, known as TSMC, is considered the premier chip manufacturer in the world is that every member of this coalition trusts TSMC with its most intimate trade secrets, which it then melds and leverages for the benefit of the whole. Because China is not trusted by the coalition partners not to steal their intellectual property, Beijing is left trying to replicate the world’s all-star manufacturing chip stack on its own with old technologies. It managed to pilfer a certain amount of chip technology, including 28 nanometer technology from TSMC back in 2017. Until recently, China’s premier chip maker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company, had been thought to be stuck at mostly this chip level, although it claims to have produced some chips at the 14 nm and even 7 nm scale by jury-rigging some older-generation Deep UV lithography from ASML. U.S. experts told me, though, that China can’t mass produce these chips with precision without ASML’s latest technology — which is now banned from the country. This week I interviewed U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who oversees both the new export controls on chips and the $52.7 billion that the Biden administration has just secured to support more U.S. research on next-generation semiconductors and to bring advanced chip manufacturing back to the U.S. Raimondo rejects the idea that the new regulations are tantamount to an act of war. “The U.S. was in an untenable position,” she told me in her office. “Today we are purchasing 100 percent of our advanced logic chips from abroad — 90 percent from TSMC in Taiwan and 10 percent from Samsung in Korea.” (That IS pretty crazy, but it IS true.) “We do not make in the U.S. any of the chips we need for artificial intelligence, for our military, for our satellites, for our space programs” — not to mention myriad nonmilitary applications that power our economy. The recent CHIPS Act, she said, was our “offensive initiative” to strengthen our whole innovation ecosystem so more of the most advanced chips will be made in the U.S. Imposing on China the new export controls on advanced chip-making technologies, she said, “was our defensive strategy. China has a strategy of military-civil fusion,” and Beijing has made clear “that it intends to become totally self-sufficient in the most advanced technologies” to dominate both the civilian commercial markets and the 21st century battlefield. “We cannot ignore China’s intentions.” So, to protect ourselves and our allies — and all the technologies we have invented individually and collectively — she added, “what we did was the next logical step, to prevent China from getting to the next step.” The U.S. and its allies design and manufacture “the most advanced supercomputing chips, and we don’t want them in China’s hands and be used for military purposes.” Our main focus, concluded Raimondo, “is playing offense — to innovate faster than the Chinese. But at the same time, we are going to meet the increasing threat they are presenting by protecting what we need to. It is important that we de-escalate where we can and do business where we can. We don’t want a conflict. But we have to protect ourselves with eyes wide open.” China’s state-directed newspaper Global Times editorialized that the ban would only “strengthen China’s will and ability to stand on its own in science and technology.” Bloomberg quoted an unidentified Chinese analyst as saying “there is no possibility of reconciliation.” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/opinion/china-semiconductors-exports.html