And mores. . .
First, a stalemate, via Reuters:
Kurds hold off Islamic State in Kobani; fighters strike in Iraq
Kurdish defenders held off Islamic State militants in Syria’s border town of Kobani on Sunday, but the fighters struck with deadly bombings in Iraq, killing dozens of Kurds in the north and assassinating a provincial police commander in the east.
The top U.S. military officer suggested that Washington, which has ruled out joining ground combat in either Iraq or Syria, could nevertheless increase its role “advising and assisting” Iraqi troops on the ground in future.
A U.S.-led military coalition has been bombing Islamic State fighters who hold swathes of territory in both Iraq and Syria, countries involved in complex multi-sided civil wars in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.
A predictable call for boots on the ground, via the Guardian:
McCain urges ground troops to defeat Isis: ‘They’re winning, and we’re not’
Republican senator says US needs ‘fundamental re-evaluation’ of strategy to defeat militant group in Syria and Iraq
Senator John McCain has warned that the Islamic State (Isis) is winning in Iraq and Syria, and that the United States needs to deploy ground troops if it is to stave off defeat.
The Arizona Republican urged a “fundamental re-evaluation” of US strategy on Sunday, as the extremist group, which is the target of US-led international air strikes, continued to advance into the Kurdish town of Kobani in Syria, near the border with Turkey, and towards the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
“They’re winning, and we’re not,” McCain told CNN. “The Iraqis are not winning. The Peshmerga, the Kurds are not winning.”
And from the London Telegraph, a response to the idea:
Islamic State ‘eagerly awaits’ boots on ground
Islamic State (Isil) releases new video with British hostage John Cantlie, as victim Alan Henning is remembered at service in Manchester
Islamic State (Isil) “eagerly awaits” western boots on the ground in the Middle East, the British hostage John Cantlie has said in a video released by his captors.
In a video entitled “Lend Me Your Ears”, Mr Cantlie says it will be impossible for the west to conduct a war against Isil without getting their “hands dirty”, as he talks of the group’s strength.
The professionally-produced video was released as hundreds of people gathered at a Muslim heritage centre on Sunday night in memory of Alan Henning, a British hostage murdered by Isil.
In the film Mr Cantlie, a photojournalist, says: “One month ago Obama pressed the button on air strikes. Now we have to wonder how long his policy of no boots on the ground has left to live.
“As for [Isil], they eagerly await to see those boots”.
From the Associated Press, a shift:
US says Turkey OKs use of bases against militants
Turkey will let U.S. and coalition forces use its bases, including a key installation within 100 miles of the Syrian border for operations against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, American defense officials said Sunday.
The Obama administration had pressed Turkey for a larger role against the extremists, and a senior U.S. official confirmed Saturday that Ankara had agreed to train and moderate Syrian rebels on Turkish soil. A Turkish government official said Sunday that Turkey put the number at 4,000 opposition fighters and said they would be screened by Turkish intelligence.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who has been traveling in South America, has said the U.S. wanted access to the Turkish air bases, including one at Incirlik in southern Turkey, from which to launch strikes against the Islamic militants.
Advice from someone who knows, via TechCrunch:
Edward Snowden’s Privacy Tips: “Get Rid Of Dropbox,” Avoid Facebook And Google
According to Edward Snowden, people who care about their privacy should stay away from popular consumer Internet services like Dropbox, Facebook, and Google.
Snowden conducted a remote interview today as part of the New Yorker Festival, where he was asked a couple of variants on the question of what we can do to protect our privacy.
His first answer called for a reform of government policies. Some people take the position that they “don’t have anything to hide,” but he argued that when you say that, “You’re inverting the model of responsibility for how rights work”:
When you say, ‘I have nothing to hide,’ you’re saying, ‘I don’t care about this right.’ You’re saying, ‘I don’t have this right, because I’ve got to the point where I have to justify it.’ The way rights work is, the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights.
He added that on an individual level, people should seek out encrypted tools and stop using services that are “hostile to privacy.” For one thing, he said you should “get rid of Dropbox,” because it doesn’t support encryption, and you should consider alternatives like SpiderOak. (Snowden made similar comments over the summer, with Dropbox responding that protecting users’ information is “a top priority.”)
From the Guardian, old school:
Large haul of explosives recovered from farm near Northern Ireland border
Police claim discovery has prevented dissident republicans opposed to the peace process from causing severe harm
Irish republican dissidents appear to have been dealt a blow with the discovery of a large quantity of explosives on Friday in a border area of Northern Ireland.
The head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) described the explosives find as significant. It was uncovered during a security operation in County Fermanagh.
Chief constable George Hamilton said the operation had prevented dissident republicans opposed to the peace process from causing severe harm.
“The threat level is severe and has been for some time, I’m not sure we’re any more vulnerable now than we have been in recent months, and it is a concern to me,” he said.
“We do believe that violent dissident republicans are behind this activity in Fermanagh.”
From United Press International, a number marking a national shame:
Analysis finds young black males 21 times more likely to be shot by police than whites
The study focuses on black males between the ages of 15 and 19
A new analysis from ProPublica found that young black males are 21 times more likely to be shot by the police than their white counterparts. The analysis used the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report to analyze the over 12,000 police homicides recorded between 1980 and 2012. Between 2010 and 2012, they found young black males between ages 15 and 19 were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, compared to 1.47 per million for young white males.
Some of the black males who are killed are very young, with 27 black males who were 14 or younger reported as killed for the duration of the records. Much of the records do not show why police killed the person. “There were many deadly shooting where the circumstances were listed as “undetermined.” 77 percent of those killed in such instances were black,” the study says. It also shows black officers kill people less than white officers, with only around 10 percent of reported killings being related to their actions, but they also kill mostly black people, who accounted for 78 percent of people killed by black officers.
The analysis states that black youth are being “killed at disturbing rates.” It also states that there needs to be more data, because many police departments across the country do not contribute shooting records to the database. Specifically, Florida police departments “haven’t filed reports since 1997,” it says.
Continued protest in Ferguson from the Washington Post:
Protesters take to St. Louis streets as part of ‘weekend of resistance’
There was no riot gear, no tear gas and no arrests when a crowd of more than 1,000 people surged through downtown St. Louis on Saturday, demanding justice for Michael Brown, the unarmed black 18-year-old shot and killed by a white police officer just over two months ago.
Instead, police kept their distance from the spirited morning march, which included participants from across the country.
The event was part of a four-day “weekend of resistance” and came as a grand jury is still considering whether to charge Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson in Brown’s death.
More from the Washington Post:
Protesters stage surprise sit-in at St. Louis gas station; 17 arrested
In a symbolic and defiant act of civil disobedience, more than 100 protesters staged a sit-in at a QuikTrip gas station in St. Louis near the site of a police-involved shooting last week — prompting riot police to deploy tear gas and make arrests.
The mass arrest event was the first time that any demonstrator had been taken into custody this weekend, which has been branded Ferguson October. Just before noon Sunday, St. Louis police said they had made 17 arrests for “unlawful assembly on the parking lot of the QuikTrip.”
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson took to Twitter to accuse the demonstrators of throwing rocks at officers. “There were no reports of injuries or property damage,” said Schron Jackson, the police department’s spokeswoman. “Chief Dotson himself was nearly struck with a rock thrown at him from the crowd.”
A mother takes the lead, via the Independent:
Ferguson October protest: Lesley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown, leads protests condemning ‘terror on US soil’
The mother of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager whose death sparked weeks of protests in Missouri, led hundreds of people at the “Ferguson October” demonstrations this weekend, marching down the streets of St Louis in protest against police violence before taking stand outside the force’s headquarters.
Lesley McSpadden walked at the front of Saturday’s evening rally, held in the St Louis suburb, where more than 1,000 people eventually gathered in protest against the recent police shootings.
Ms McSpadden, whose 18-year-old son was shot and killed by police while he was unarmed on 9 August, has rarely participated in protests, but she took a prominent place in Saturday’s events, which were part of a weekend of planned demonstrations.
After the jump, the ongoing tragedy of murdered Mexican students including mounting anger, a presidential challenge, mass protests, parental anxieties, and more confusion over bodies in mass graves, Germany mulls extending boots on Afghan ground, Pakistani drone strike claims al-Qaida casualties, China and Iran strike a media deal, a noteworthy Sino/Iranian media deal, a Hong Kong mandate to protesters, pondering provocative moves and American response, a frank Chinese admission of military weakness, spy satellite questions, and secret Beijing/Tokyo talks. . .
From the Guardian, mounting furor over missing murdered Mexican students:
Fear and fury in Mexico as mass graves hint at fate of missing students
They were young people for whom teaching was the only way out of poverty. But when they demonstrated over hiring practices, the drug cartels and police showed no mercy
Ernesto knows he is lucky to be here to tell his story. First, he saw a friend left barely alive after he was shot in the face by police firing at their group of student teachers in the southern Mexican city of Iguala.
Then he spent 15 minutes cowering between two of the three buses in which the students had been travelling, as the single shots turned into bursts of semi-automatic gunfire lighting up the night with their flashes.
After that, he found himself running for his life into the backstreets, where he was given shelter by a local resident, while gunmen launched a second assault that would leave two students dead. Next day the 23-year-old visited the mortuary, where he identified a third murdered student whose body was found a few blocks away, his face skinned and his eyes gouged out.
But the part of this tale that most visibly affects Ernesto is the memory of looking on helplessly as many of his classmates were bundled into police vehicles at gunpoint and driven away.
The Christian Science Monitor covers a presidential challenge:
In ‘untamed Mexico’ a mass grave and a challenge for a president
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has sought to keep Mexico’s crime problem on the fringes of his agenda. But the disappearance of 47 students in Guerrero could change that.
As tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Mexico this week to call for the return of 43 students who went missing last month, many demanded an answer to one simple question: Who is in charge?
In the state of Guerrero, it’s a simple question with no clear answer. The governor is under fire for doing little to stop rampant crime and violence; a local mayor and police officers are accused of being in cahoots with organized crime syndicates; and nine mass graves containing at least 28 scorched bodies – some possibly the missing students – were recently discovered.
Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto addressed the nation last Monday, more than a week after the college students were abducted in the city of Iguala. He promised a thorough investigation and expressed outrage. Despite his tardy response President Peña Nieto has avoided being pulled into the center of attacks on the government, a place his predecessor Felipe Calderón often found himself.
Mass protests from Frontera NorteSur:
Rage and Fury Sweep Mexico, the World: Justice for Ayotzinapa
Swelling outrage over a police massacre and the forced disappearance of scores of students swept Mexico and the world this week.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators demanded justice for six people killed September 26 and 27 by municipal police officers and paramilitary gunmen in Iguala, Guerrero, as well as the safe return of 43 Mexican students from the Raul Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers College of Ayotzinapa reported kidnapped and disappeared by the same aggressors.
“Your dignified rage is our rage,” stated a communiqué from the general command of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), shortly before 20,000 masked Zapatistas staged a silent march October 8 through the streets of San Cristobal de las Casas in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
On the other side of the country, hundreds of people marched in Ciudad Juarez in the biggest local demonstration of its kind in more than three years. The demonstration was led by students from Ayotzinapa’s sister school of Saucillo, Chihuahua. At the march’s conclusion protesters blockaded the Bridge of the Americas connecting Juarez with neighboring El Paso, Texas, for a half-hour on the evening of October 8.
The Independent covers the parents:
Mexican parents wait for news of 43 missing students following mass graves discovery
Mario Cesar Gonzalez found out that his son was in danger when he received a phone call from one of his classmates. They had been attacked in the state of Guerrero, in the south-west of Mexico. Mr Gonzalez immediately made the 11-hour journey to the town of Iguala, where the incident had occurred.
“I arrived that morning. It was a really ugly situation and I felt shattered. Three students had been killed and several others were injured, some of them in a very grave condition,” he told The Independent on Sunday.
In total, six civilians died and at least 25 were wounded. One student was found with the skin stripped from his face and his eyes gouged out. Another 43 remain unaccounted for, including Mr Gonzalez’s 22-year-old son, Cesar Manuel, who was last seen being bundled into a police car.
From the Associated Press, a complication:
Mexico governor: Some bodies aren’t of students
The governor of the southern Mexico state where 43 college students disappeared after a confrontation with police said Saturday that some of the bodies recovered from clandestine graves last weekend did not match the missing young people.
The federal attorney general, however, said he felt it was too soon in testing of the remains to come to any conclusions.
In indicating that some progress had been made in identifying the dead, Guerrero state Gov. Angel Aguirre gave no details nor did he say if all of the 28 bodies removed by forensic experts had been identified. The remains were uncovered severely burned, and experts are conducting DNA tests in an effort to identify the dead.
Germany mulls extending boots on Afghan ground, via Deutsche Welle:
Merkel considers extension of Afghanistan mission
German news magazine Spiegel has reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering extending the military training mission in Afghanistan. The publication quoted members of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee.
An article on the news outlet’s website, Spiegel Online, said Sunday that the German military mission in Afghanistan, which currently sees Bundeswehr soldiers training Afghan security and police forces until the end of 2015, could be extended.
Sources from Berlin’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs said during the last session that Merkel had expressed “concern” about the current state of the Afghan army and police – in particular, against the backdrop of what has happened in the wake of the US withdrawal from Iraq. “Security forces in Iraq have no chance against the militants fighting for the Islamic State,” Merkel was quoted as saying in the closed doors meeting.
There are some 1599 Bundeswehr troops currently stationed in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s ISAF mission. At the end of this year, the German contingent is to be halved, and the 800 soldiers taking part in NATO’s “follow up” mission are to stay until the end of 2015.
Pakistani drone strike claims al-Qaida casualties, via United Press International:
U.S. drone strike allegedly kills al-Qaida India leader
Two U.S. drone strikes allegedly killed a Pakistani Taliban commander and the senior figure in al-Qaida’s newly-announced India branch
U.S. drone strikes killed the head figure of al-Qaida’s Indian branch following another attack that reportedly killed a senior commander of the Pakistani Taliban, according to Pakistani tribal and government sources.
The Express Tribune reports that a drone attack Saturday destroyed much of a compound in the Tirah Valley of Kyber Agency, a federally administered tribal region on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Four people were killed, including Sheikh Imran Ali Siddiqi, the senior member of al-Qaida’s branch in the Indian subcontinent, which was announced by Al-Qaida leader Ayman al Zawahri last month.
Siddiqi’s death was confirmed by the branch’s spokesperson.
Another drone attack the same day struck a vehicle in the Margha area of Shawal, in North Waziristan, killing four suspected militants and wounding another. Pakistani government officials said that Muhammad Mustafa, a senior commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, was killed.
A noteworthy media deal from Xinhua:
Xinhua to promote ties with Iranian media: editor-in-chief
China’s state media Xinhua News Agency is willing to help deepen media cooperation and exchange between China and Iran so as to jointly build a “Silk Road of Information,” Xinhua’s Editor in Chief He Ping said on Sunday.
“We are willing join Iranian media community in a concerted effort to deepen and expand cooperation to build a positive media atmosphere for speeding up the construction of the Silk Road economic belt,” He said during his meeting with Mohammad Sadegh, senior advisor to the Iranian president, in Tehran.
He referred to an earlier proposal by Chinese President Xi Jinping to further bridge the hearts and minds of the peoples along the Silk Road. In that process, the media in both countries share a critical role in promoting friendship and mutual understanding between the two peoples, he added.
A Hong Kong mandate to protesters from Kyodo News:
H.K. leader tells students to submit to Beijing ruling or no talks
Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying reiterated Sunday that pro-democracy protesters must submit to Beijing’s ruling on the territory’s political reform development before the government can arrange a meeting with them again following a cancelled dialogue.
Hundreds of students and protesters camped out in a stream of tents on roads in Admiralty, where the government headquarters is located, Causeway Bay and Mongkok districts as an occupation campaign aimed at pressing the Hong Kong and Beijing governments for a democratic election system in the former British colony entered its 15th day.
“The Special Administration Region government is willing to hold a dialogue with students and other protesters over political reform, but there must be preconditions,” Leung said in an earlier-recorded interview with local broadcaster TVB. “If we leave the constitutional basis behind, there will not be a result (from the dialogue). If we neglect the Basic Law and the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s decision, I think we all know that the chance for (a dialogue) is near zero.”
Pondering provocative moves and American response, via Want China Times:
US may be incited to action by China’s land reclamation in S China Sea: Kanwa
China’s land reclamation projects in the disputed South China Sea may incite an attack from the United States and Vietnam, according to the Kanwa Defense Review, operated by Andrei Chang also known as Pinkov, a military expert in Canada.
The land reclamation reported to be taking place at Johnson South Reef could pose a threat to all nations claiming sovereignty over the Spratlys–including Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. According to the blueprint released by the Chinese government, China plans to build an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” in the South China Sea through a much larger land reclamation project in the region. The blueprint indicates this “unsinkable aircraft carrier” consists of two runways and two naval ports.
After this project is complete, China will be capable of deploying H-6 strategic bombers and fighters to the South China Sea. The two naval ports there can accommodate any Chinese warships except aircraft carriers like the Liaoning. H-6 bombers will pose an additional threat to the United States and its security partners in Southeast Asia. With a range of 6,000 kilometers and a combat radius of 1,800 kilometers, the H-6 bomber is capable of attacking all major targets north of Australia.
From Reuters, a frank admission of military weakness:
China military training inadequate for winning a war: army paper
Weaknesses in China’s military training pose a threat to the country’s ability to fight and win a war, China’s official military newspaper said on Sunday.
China’s military authority has sent a document to military units detailing 40 weaknesses in current training methods, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said in a front-page story.
“These problems reflect shortcomings and weak-points in the makeup of our military fighting force. If they are not promptly dealt with, then they will certainly affect and hinder our army’s ability to go to war,” the paper said, citing the PLA general staff headquarters.
Want China Times covers satellite questions:
Yaogan-21, Tiantuo-2 satellites may have military application: Jane’s Defence
The Yaogan-21 remote sensing satellite and the Tiantuo-2 experimental satellite that China launched from its satellite launch centre located in Taiyuan in northern China on Sep. 8 may have military applications, according to Andrew Tate in his article written for the UK’s Jane’s Defence Weekly.
While Chinese state-run media such as Xinhua News Agency reported that the remote sensing satellites will be used for scientific experiments, natural resource surveys, estimation of crop yields, and disaster relief, many experts believe that the Yaogan constellation will be used for ocean surveillance. China launched the Yaogan-20 satellite two months ago from its Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. Sources from China indicated that the payload comprises three satellite systems.
The experts said that a total of three satellites will be launched into space as an ocean surveillance system. They also believe that a range of sensors, encompassing electro-optical imaging, electronic intelligence interception, and synthetic aperture radars, are carried by Yaogan satellites. The Yaogan-1, the first satellite of the series was launched back on April of 2006. It is believed to be China’s first satellite equipped with a space-based synthetic aperture radar.
For our final item, a peace feeler from the Asahi Shimbun:
Top Abe adviser dispatched for secret talks in China between Fukuda, Xi
A top national security adviser to the Abe administration joined in when former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met secretly with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China in July, according to diplomatic sources.
This marks the first disclosure of the attendance of Shotaro Yachi, adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and chief of the newly established National Security Secretariat, at the meeting.
The revelation indicates that Japan and China have begun high-level talks to explore holding a summit to break the diplomatic impasse between the two nations, the sources said.
