MOSCOW: Russia on Friday published draft security demands that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back the alliance’s military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe — bold ultimatums that are almost certain to be rejected by the US and its allies.
The proposals, which were submitted to the US and its allies earlier this week, also call for a ban on sending US and Russian warships and aircraft to areas from where they can strike each other’s territory, along with a halt to NATO military drills near Russia.
The demand for a written guarantee that Ukraine won’t be offered membership already has been rejected by the West, which said Moscow doesn’t have a say in NATO’s enlargement.
NATO’s secretary-general emphasized Friday that any security talks with Moscow would need to take into account NATO concerns and involve Ukraine and other partners. The White House similarly said it’s discussing the proposals with US allies and partners, but noted that all countries have the right to determine their future without outside interference.
The publication of the demands — contained in a proposed Russia-US security treaty and a security agreement between Moscow and NATO — comes amid soaring tensions over a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that has raised fears of an invasion. Moscow has denied it has plans to attack its neighbor but wants legal guarantees precluding NATO expansion and deploying weapons there.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia’s relations with the US and NATO have approached a “dangerous point,” noting that alliance deployments and drills near Russia have raised “unacceptable” threats to its security.
Moscow wants the US to start talks immediately on the proposals in Geneva, he told reporters.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had received the Russian documents, and noted that any dialogue with Moscow “would also need to address NATO’s concerns about Russia’s actions, be based on core principles and documents of European security, and take place in consultation with NATO’s European partners, such as Ukraine.”
He added that the 30 NATO countries “have made clear that should Russia take concrete steps to reduce tensions, we are prepared to work on strengthening confidence building measures.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration is ready to discuss Moscow’s concerns about NATO in talks with Russian officials, but emphasized that Washington is committed to the “principle of nothing about you without you” in shaping policy that impacts European allies.
“We’re approaching the broader question of diplomacy with Russia from the point of view that ... meaningful progress at the negotiating table, of course, will have to take place in a context of de-escalation rather than escalation,” Sullivan said at the event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. He added “that it’s very difficult to see agreements getting consummated if we’re continuing to see an escalatory cycle.”
While US intelligence has determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made plans for a potential further invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Sullivan said the US still does not know whether he has decided to move forward.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that strategic security talks with Moscow go back decades, saying that “there’s no reason we can’t do that moving forward to reduce instability, but we’re going to do that in partnership and coordination with our European allies and partners.”
”We will not compromise the key principles on which European security is built, including that all countries have the right to decide their own future and foreign policy free from the outside interference,” Psaki said.
Moscow’s draft also calls for efforts to reduce the risk of incidents involving Russia and NATO warships and aircraft, primarily in the Baltic and the Black seas, increase the transparency of military drills and other confidence-building measures.
A senior US official said some of the Russian proposals are part of an arms control agenda between Moscow and Washington, while some other issues, such as transparency and deconfliction, concern all 57 members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, including Ukraine and Georgia.
The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity in order to talk about the proposals, said the US is looking at how to engage every country whose interests are affected in prospective talks on European security issues and will respond to Moscow sometime next week with concrete proposals after consulting with the allies.
President Vladimir Putin raised the demand for security guarantees in last week’s video call with US President Joe Biden. During the conversation, Biden voiced concern about a buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine and warned him that Russia would face “severe consequences” if Moscow attacked its neighbor.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and shortly after cast its support behind a separatist rebellion in the country’s east. More than seven years of fighting has killed over 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine’s industrial heartland, known as the Donbas.
The Russian demands would oblige Washington and its allies to pledge to halt NATO’s eastward expansion to include other ex-Soviet republics and rescind a 2008 promise of membership to Ukraine and Georgia. The alliance already has firmly rejected that demand from Moscow.
Moscow’s documents also would preclude the US and other NATO allies from conducting any military activities in Ukraine, other countries of Eastern Europe and ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus and in Central Asia.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry commented on Moscow’s proposals by emphasizing that it’s up to the alliance and Ukraine to discuss NATO membership prospects and its military cooperation with other countries.
“The Russian aggression and the current Russian escalation along the Ukrainian border and on the occupied territories is now the main problem for the Euro-Atlantic security,” said its spokesman Oleg Nikolenko.
The Russian proposal also ups the ante by putting a new demand to roll back NATO military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe, stating that the parties agree not to send any troops to areas where they hadn’t been present in 1997 — before NATO’s eastward expansion started — except for exceptional situations of mutual consent.
Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999, followed in 2004 by Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In the following years, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia also became members, bringing NATO membership to 30 nations.
The draft proposals contain a ban on the deployment of US and Russian warships and aircraft to “areas where they can strike targets on the territory of the other party.”
Moscow has long complained about patrol flights by US strategic bombers near Russia’s borders and the deployment of US and NATO warships to the Black Sea, describing them as destabilizing and provocative.
Russia’s draft envisages a pledge not to station intermediate-range missiles in areas where they can strike the other party’s territory, a clause that follows the US and Russian withdrawal from a Cold War-era pact banning such weapons.
The Russian draft also calls for a ban on the deployment of US and Russian nuclear weapons on the territory of other countries — a repeat of Moscow’s longtime push for the US to withdraw its nuclear weapons from Europe.
Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, noted that the publication of the Russian demands signals that the Kremlin considers their acceptance by the West unlikely.
“This logically means that Russia will have to assure its security single-handedly” using military-technical means, he said on Twitter.
Russia sets out tough demands for security pact with NATO
https://arab.news/p6xgp
Russia sets out tough demands for security pact with NATO
- Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia’s relations with the US and NATO have approached a “dangerous point,” noting that alliance deployments and drills near Russia have raised “unacceptable” threats to its security
Mount Fuji is still without its iconic snowcap for the first time in 130 years
- The lack of snow on Mt. Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as of Tuesday breaks the previous record set on Oct. 26, 2016, meteorological officials said
- Usually, the 3,776-meter- (nearly 12,300-foot-) high mountain has sprinkles of snow falling on its summit starting Oct. 2
TOKYO: Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji, known for its snowcap forming around this time of the year, is still snowless in November for the first time in 130 years, presumably because of the unusually warm temperatures in the past few weeks.
The lack of snow on Mt. Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as of Tuesday breaks the previous record set on Oct. 26, 2016, meteorological officials said.
Usually, the 3,776-meter- (nearly 12,300-foot-) high mountain has sprinkles of snow falling on its summit starting Oct. 2, about a month after the summertime hiking season there ends. Last year, snow fell on the mountain on Oct. 5, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, or JMA.
The snowless Mt. Fuji has captured attention on social media. People posted photos showing the bare mountain, some expressing surprise and others concerned over climate change.
The JMA’s Kofu Local Meteorological Office, which keeps weather data in central Japan and was the agency that announced the first snowfall on Mt. Fuji in 1894, has cited October’s surprisingly summery weather as the reason.
The average October temperature is minus 2 Celsius (28.4 Fahrenheit) at the summit, but this year, it was 1.6 Celsius, (34.9 F), a record high since 1932.
Japan this year also had an unusually hot summer and warm autumn.
A symbol of Japan, the mountain called “Fujisan” used to be a place of pilgrimage. The mountain with its snowy top and near symmetrical slopes have been the subject of numerous forms of art, including Japanese ukiyoe artist Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
Today, it attracts hikers who climb to the summit to see the sunrise. But tons of trash left behind and overcrowding have triggered concern and calls for environmental protection and measures to control overtourism.
Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state
- There are 2.6 million students and about 25,000 Muslim religious schools in Uttar Pradesh
- Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to run educational institutions
NEW DELHI: India’s top court overturned on Tuesday an order that banned Islamic schools in Uttar Pradesh, effectively permitting over 2 million students in the country’s most populous state to return to their studies in madrasas.
Islam is the second-largest religion in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for some 20 percent of its 230 million population.
In March, Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad High Court scraped a 2004 law governing madrasas in the state, saying it violated India’s constitutional secularism and ordering that students be moved to conventional schools. The Supreme Court put it on hold in April after receiving petitions challenging the order.
Tuesday’s ruling by the top court will allow about 2.6 million students and 10,000 teachers to return to the 25,000 Muslim religious schools operating in the northern Indian state.
“The Allahabad High Court erred in holding that the madrasa law had to be struck down for violating basic structure, which is the principle of secularism,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in court. “The constitutional validity of a statute cannot be challenged for violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.”
Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
“The Madrasa Act is consistent with the positive obligation of the state to ensure that students studying in recognized madrasas attain a level of competency which will allow them to effectively participate in society and earn a living.”
Madrasas provide a system of education in which students are taught the Qur’an, Islamic history and general subjects like math and science.
In states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam, authorities have been converting hundreds of madrasas into regular schools.
“This is a landmark judgment and puts a brake to all the negative campaigns that have been going on against madrasas across the country,” Wahidullah Khan, secretary-general of the All-India Teachers Association Madaris Arabia, told Arab News.
“For us, it’s a big relief. It provides a new lease of life to thousands of madrasas across the country. The Islamic schools have been taking care of the basic education of millions of Muslims across the country and we were under lots of pressure because of the communal campaign against Muslims and their educational institutions.”
With over 200 million Indians professing Islam, Hindu-majority India has the world’s largest Muslim-minority population.
Indian Muslims have faced increasing discrimination and challenges in the past decade, accompanied by tensions and riots ignited by majoritarian policies of the Hindu right-wing BJP since it rose to power in 2014.
“We were waiting for this kind of verdict. It’s quite welcoming and relieving for the Muslim community,” Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, BJP member and former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education, told Arab News.
“The judgment brings relief to all,” he said. “There has been a systematic attempt to stigmatize the Islamic schools over the years and brand them as vicious, but the ruling of the Supreme Court should now stop this negative campaign.”
Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state
- There are 2.6 million students and about 25,000 Muslim religious schools in Uttar Pradesh
- Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to run educational institutions
NEW DELHI: India’s top court overturned on Tuesday an order that banned Islamic schools in Uttar Pradesh, effectively permitting over two million students in the country’s most populous state to return to their studies in madrasas.
Islam is the second-largest religion in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for some 20 percent of its 230 million population.
In March, Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad High Court scraped a 2004 law governing madrasas in the state, saying it violated India’s constitutional secularism and ordering that students be moved to conventional schools. The Supreme Court put it on hold in April after receiving petitions challenging the order.
Tuesday’s ruling by the top court will allow about 2.6 million students and 10,000 teachers to return to the 25,000 Muslims religious schools operating in the northern Indian state.
“The Allahabad High Court erred in holding that the madrasa law had to be struck down for violating basic structure, which is the principle of secularism,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in court. “The constitutional validity of a statute cannot be challenged for violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.”
Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
“The Madrasa Act is consistent with the positive obligation of the state to ensure that students studying in recognized madrasas attain a level of competency which will allow them to effectively participate in society and earn a living.”
Madrasas provide a system of education in which students are taught Qur’an, Islamic history and general subjects like math and science.
In states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam, authorities have been converting hundreds of madrasas into regular schools.
“This is a landmark judgment and puts a brake to all the negative campaigns that has been going on against madrasas across the country,” Wahidullah Khan, secretary-general of the All-India Teachers Association Madaris Arabia, told Arab News.
“For us, it’s a big relief. It provides a new lease of life to thousands of madrasas across the country. The Islamic schools have been taking care of the basic education of millions of Muslims across the country and we were under lots of pressure because of the communal campaign against Muslims and their educational institutions.”
With over 200 million Indians professing Islam, Hindu-majority India has the world’s largest Muslim-minority population.
Indian Muslims have faced increasing discrimination and challenges in the past decade, accompanied by tensions and riots ignited by majoritarian policies of the Hindu right-wing BJP since it rose to power in 2014.
“We were waiting for this kind of verdict. It’s quite welcoming and relieving for the Muslim community,” Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, BJP member and former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education, told Arab News.
“The judgment brings relief to all,” he said. “There has been a systematic attempt to stigmatize the Islamic schools over the years and branding them as vicious but the ruling of the Supreme Court should now stop this negative campaign.”
Swedish court sentences far-right politician for insulting Muslims
- The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan
- In 2022, Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, made his offensive remarks directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests
MALMO: A Swedish court sentenced on Tuesday a far-right politician to four months in jail for two counts of “incitement against an ethnic group” after making hateful comments at political rallies two years ago.
The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, had been previously convicted and sentenced by a Danish court on a similar charge, the Malmo District Court said.
In 2022, Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, made his offensive remarks directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests that he led in the southern city of Malmo in 2022, the court said. He also burned a copy of the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, on at least one occasion. In response, a violent wave of riots swept the country.
Some observers also say Paludan’s actions may have momentarily risked Sweden’s chances of joining NATO after increasing political tensions with Turkiye. Sweden joined the alliance in March this year.
The court in a statement Tuesday said Paludan’s remarks against Muslims “cannot be excused as criticism of Islam or as political campaign work.”
Chief Councilor Nicklas Söderberg, the court’s chairman, said: “It is permitted to publicly make critical statements about, for example, Islam and also Muslims, but the disrespect of a group of people must not clearly cross the line for a factual and valid discussion.”
He added that during the Malmo rallies in April and September 2022 “there was no question of any such discussion,” and that Paludan’s public statements “only amounted to insulting Muslims.”
The court took particular interest in whether the politician knew the protests were filmed and published on Facebook. Paludan had said that he wasn’t aware of it but the district court disagreed and said his “actions at the gatherings would be downright illogical if he didn’t know about the publication on Facebook.”
Paludan, a lawyer by profession, told Swedish media outlets that he wasn’t surprised by the verdict.
“It was expected. We will appeal,” the Swedish newspaper Expressen cited him as saying.
Philippine police to probe social media posts of Filipino-Israeli soldier in Gaza
- Department of Foreign Affairs confirms the Filipino soldier is an Israeli citizen
- Photos shared by Israel Genocide Tracker which monitors soldiers’ social media
MANILA/DUBAI: Photos of a Filipino appearing to be a member of Israel’s troops in Gaza will be investigated by the Philippine National Police, its chief said, after the man’s social media posts went viral showing a rifle with the PNP’s logo.
Screenshots of the posts showing Justin Flores were shared last week by the X handle Israel Genocide Tracker, which scours the internet to find and publicize the actions of Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
The content shared by the X account comprises photos and videos that Israeli soldiers themselves have published online.
The posts range from selfies and pranks among the ruins of houses to blowing up buildings in Gaza, waving women’s underwear and rifling through the property of Palestinian civilians.
The photos and videos from the social media of Flores showed destroyed neighborhoods in Gaza and himself posing amid the rubble.
Another post with the line “Proud to be Israeli/Filipino” shows a rifle bearing the seal of the Philippine police on the ammunition magazine. It is attached to a belt with Hebrew writing.
“I’ll have it investigated,” PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil told Arab News in a text message on Monday evening.
“He is using a TAVOR firearm here. Not the issued rifle for the PNP.”
The weapon is an assault rifle, designed and produced by Israel Weapon Industries. In 2018, the Philippine News Agency reported the acquisition of Tavor rifles for the nation’s police and coast guard.
While the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it was waiting for a report from its embassy in Tel Aviv, it confirmed to Arab News that Flores was an Israeli, while his mother held dual Philippine-Israeli citizenship.
His alleged participation in Israel’s deadly war on Gaza has, however, already triggered outrage in his ancestral home and questions over how his Israeli citizenship was acquired, as according to Israel’s Nationality Law, military service streamlines the process.
“Did he acquire Israeli citizenship by serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)? If so, it seems the IDF relies on fighters from overseas to do their dirty work,” said Renato Reyes, president of BAYAN, the Philippines’ largest alliance of grassroots groups.
“It is just shameful that a Filipino would be part of Israeli genocide against Palestinians. We were a colonized people, and we should have more in common with the Palestinians than the Israeli occupiers.”
Drieza A. Lininding, chairman of the civic organization Moro Consensus Group, said individuals joining fighting abroad should be tracked.
“Those joining the IDF and genocide against Palestinians should be treated as terrorists and must be arrested the moment they land here in the Philippines. This is in conformity with the Philippines’ vote in the UN condemning the genocide,” he told Arab News.
“The government must regard them as a threat to our national security.”
If such persons still hold Philippine citizenship, they may lose it under the Commonwealth Act 63, “by accepting commission in the military, naval or air service of a foreign country,” Attorney Farah Decano, dean of the College of Law at the Lyceum Northwestern University, told Arab News.
She said the unauthorized use of the PNP logo was also a violation. “The problem, however, is that the use is in Israel. Our criminal jurisdiction is only in the Philippines,” she said.
“It gives the impression that we are providing arms to the Israelis which the government must immediately deny. The Philippine government must request Israeli government for the confiscation of such arms.”
Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza have killed over 45,000 Palestinians and injured more than 101,000, according to Gaza Health Ministry data. But the real toll is feared to be much higher.
A study published by the medical journal The Lancet estimated in July that the true number of those killed could be more than 186,000.
The estimate took into consideration deaths as a result of starvation, injury and lack of access to medical aid as Israeli forces have destroyed most of Gaza’s infrastructure and blocked the entry of aid.
