The writer is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington WASHINGTON — The battle for Aleppo could be a turning point in Syria’s civil war — not simply because it may prove a decisive moment in the struggle between the government and the opposition, but because the leadership of the rebel forces is at stake. Rebel groups have struggled to reorganize and recover from the heavy blows dealt them by…
Posts published in “Day: August 20, 2016”
Beijing says it made a success of this week’s talks with Southeast Asian officials on the South China Sea, a month after an international tribunal rebuked its record of bullying foreign vessels and building artificial islands in disputed waters. But closer inspection of this diplomatic breakthrough suggests there’s scant reason to hope for a new era of maritime harmony and compromise. At a meeting in China’s Inner Mongolia region, Beijing agreed to conclude a framework…
The author is a reporter with the Global Times China doesn’t have to be overly sensitive about Japan’s cooperation with Sri Lanka in the construction of harbors located along key maritime routes in the Indian Ocean, as long as the harbors will not be used for military purposes. Media reports have said Japan’s government is almost determined to send a delegation to Sri Lanka this autumn to support the construction of harbors in the South…
Two Chinese Navy fleets began a confrontation drill in the Sea of Japan Thursday, according to a military source Friday. One fleet included the missile destroyer Xi’an, missile frigate Hengshui and supply ship Gaoyouhu. ALl of the three have just wrapped the Rim of the Pacific 2016 (RIMPAC 2016) multinational naval exercise, the Navy source said. The rival fleet consisted of several warships from the Navy’s Donghai Fleet. Foreign aircraft attempted surveillance during the drill…
CANBERRA, Australia: The Islamic State hasn’t had much success in recruiting militants among the vast Muslim populations in Southeast Asia. But what happens when the caliphate’s capitals in Syria and Iraq are destroyed, and hundreds of foreign fighters from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines try to go home? Experts here in Australia see the counterterrorism challenge as a regional problem, rather than simply an affliction of the Middle East and North Africa. They fear that…