Politics

Authored by Ben Tanosborn,

When last we checked in on the dispute over Beijing’s land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea, several dozen protesters from the Philippines were camped out on Pagasa island in a demonstration aimed at raising awareness of what they say is an illegal occupation of the Spratlys.

To let China tell it, it’s the other way around.

That is, the Filipino troop presence in the archipelago represents an illegal occupation of territory that belongs to Beijing and China would be well within its rights to forcibly expel the occupying army.

Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

The New Year’s execution by Saudi Arabia of the Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr was a deliberate provocation.

Its first purpose: Signal the new ruthlessness and resolve of the Saudi monarchy where the power behind the throne is the octogenarian King Salman’s son, the 30-year-old Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman.

 

Second, crystallize, widen and deepen a national-religious divide between Sunni and Shiite, Arab and Persian, Riyadh and Tehran.

 

A few days ago Pakistani forces infiltrated the Indian airforce base on the western border. And more recently there was news of an Indian consulate in Afghanistan coming under attack.  These provocations run a very real risk of war if India retaliates against Pakistan. That war could go nuclear as Pakistan previously declared that any attack by Indian forces would lead to a nuclear retaliation.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that he is open to the possibility of “spying on Israel” if he becomes President.  Trump was asked by CBS News for his views on the NSA spying on Israel in order to obtain information to counter Netanyahu’s anti-Iran nuclear deal campaign. Trump said that if he were President, he would probably do the same. He told the Sunday morning news program, “I have to say this. We’re being spied on by everybody. And it’s terrible what is going on in that whole thing. We find out that we’re being spied on by them.