Category: Politics

The controversial law was passed in Singapore, in response to foreign interference in domestic affairs in a move that critics claim is designed to stifle dissent. This law will give authorities access to social media sites and internet providers and disclose users’ data or even block the content that they deem hostile.

The government of Singapore said that they needed such a law to counter “serious threats”. On Monday, after 10 hours of heated parliamentary debate, this law was passed. It will give the government power to act against local proxies, those people who live in Singapore and are deemed to have carried out “hostile information campaigns” for the foreign entities. The broad scope of the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (Fica) has, however, sparked concerns.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch issued a statement, “Today’s passage of FICA constitutes a human rights disaster for community activists, independent media, and opposition politicians because it hands arbitrary power to the Singaporean government to punish anyone based on vague allegations of involvement with foreigners”.

The nation supports such laws saying its multi-ethnic population made it more vulnerable to “hostile information campaigns, misleads Singaporeans on political issues or stir up dissent and disharmony by playing up controversial issues such as race and religion.

On Monday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is expected to announce the formation of a new government. Abiy’s Prosperity Party won 410 of 436 parliamentary seats in a June vote, which was hailed by the premier as the country’s first free and fair election in decades. Berhanu Nega, the opposition leader, had filed more than 200 complaints with the country’s election board alleging irregularities.

According to the data, he will lead Africa’s second-most populous country in 2018 after the country’s anti-government protests. Back in 2018, he was a less-known figure who went on to immediately win the hearts of millions with his reform measures. His win has overshadowed a deadly war in the northern Tigray region and has fixed his position to stay in power for the next five years. With the win, a sharp rise in ethnic clashes posed significant problems for him.

With a Nobel Peace Prize under his belt, the darling of the international community is now being accused of blocking aid to Tigray. Mr. Abiy will face old problems with his new government, especially finding the solution for the deadly war.

His swearing-in is unclear whether it will alter the course of the war pitting government forces against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group, which dominated the national politics before he took power.

As the coronavirus hit, the chip crisis turned dire. In spring 2020, when the demand for electronics was skyrocketing, manufacturers warned they were running short of semiconductors. Their key components are needed to make devices from smartphones to cars.

The Tech companies had good reasons to postpone product launches as in the following months, the shortage forced factories to shut down assembly lines. The delivery of the computers was also late and took months.

As the politicians from Washington DCto Berlin were worried about the fallout, they called up chip-producing nations and asked them to aid with prioritizing orders from their countries. However, the chips which were produced were made by just a handful of firms and they could not do much about it.

In Pittsburgh, when the top United States and European officials gather on Wednesday for the first meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC), the topic of manufacturing more chips will be high on the agenda. The White House said in a statement, “We commit to building a US-EU partnership, to design and produce the most powerful and resource-efficient semiconductors”.

EU’s DIgital Chief Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis will co-chair the meeting along with US Secretary of State Antony Bliken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Trade Representative Katherine Tai

Japan’s ruling party voted for Fumio Kishida to replace PM Suga. PM Suga will be stepping down after serving only for a year since taking office last September.

Fumio Kishida was Japan’s former Foreign Minister who won the governing party leadership election on Wednesday. He will be the next Prime Minister facing the imminent task of addressing a pandemic hit economy. He will also be responsible to ensure a strong alliance with Washington to counter increasing regional security risks.

Mr. Kishida is the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, beats the popular Vaccination Minister Taro Kono in a runoff by just finishing one vote ahead of him in the very first round. He had more support from heavyweights who actually opted for stability over change advocated by Kono.

Mr. Fumio is under the pressure to bring the change in the party’s high-handed reputation worsened by Mr. Suga who displeased the citizens regarding his ability to handle the coronavirus pandemic and insistence on holding the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Mr. Suga will be ending his nearly eight-year leadership which was the longest in Japan’s constitutional history, due to health problems.

On Tuesday, North Korea fired an unidentified projectile towards the sea off its east coast. Amid Pyongyang’s, South Korea’s military said that the United States and South Korea called for a scrap of their “hostile policy”.

Further details were not provided by South Korea and Japan’s defense ministry said it appeared to be a ballistic missile and failed to give detailed information. Just before the announcement, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations appealed to the United States to abandon its hostile policy towards Pyongyang and to cease denying Pyongyang’s right to self-defense and weapons testing.

Seoul and Washington were accused by North Korea for their “double standards” and that they denounced its weapons development while continuing their own military activities.

This was the latest volley in a race where the rivals have been developing increasingly sophisticated weapons were North and South Korea both test-fired ballistic missiles on September 15. Washington condemned the nation for the test and claimed that its first cruise missile can be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

North Korea’s envoy Kim Song said in the UN General Assembly that the nation was only shoring up its self-defense and if the US called off the hostile policy, it would respond “willingly at any time” to offer to talk.

In Germany’s national election, the center-left Social Democrats have won the biggest share of the vote ever. They narrowly beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Union bloc.

Olaf Scholz is the Social Democrats candidate who is the outgoing vice-chancellor and finance minister who pulled his party out of deep fall. He said the outcome was “a very clear mandate to ensure now that we put together a good, pragmatic government for Germany”. Merkel will stay in as a caretaker role till the new successor is sworn in. The Union bloc said that it will reach out to the smaller parties and will discuss the forming of the government despite having the worst-ever result in a federal contest.

According to the election official, the count of all 299 constituencies showed the Social Democrats received 25.9% of the total vote that was ahead of 24.1% of the Union bloc. Till now no winning party has ever taken the German national election with less than 31% of the vote.

When it comes to taxation and tackling climate change, Germany’s leading parties have significantly different methodologies.

Scholz received early congratulations from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

As Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s government moves closer to the United States and its allies, India’s long-haul military is getting a new life. These US allies will strengthen their defense cooperation against China.

On Friday, Mr. Modi is scheduled to attend the quad leaders meeting with Australian and Japanese leaders at the White House. In the meeting, they will be undertaking the largest reorganization of the Indian army since its Independence in 1947. It will be with little coordination as the US and UK will be working with Australia to place more nuclear-powered submarines in Asia-Pacific waters.

The freshly created Department of Military Affairs ordered the Indian military unit to oversee the Pakistan border to draw up a concept for integrating with the navy and air force. An unidentified official said that the government wants the model to be replicated across the country so that by 2024 the entire military is under a new operating structure.

The senior research fellow at the National Security College of the Australian National University, David Brewster said that the Quad partners have previously found that they can only exercise with one Indian service at a time. They can work with the navy but not the air force or the air force but not the navy.

On Thursday, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after speaking with Pakistan, China, and Russia said that he believed the world was united by pressing the Taliban. He mentioned them as key players with Afghanistan’s new rulers.

The Secretary of State told the reporters that he thinks there is a very strong unity of approach and unity of purpose. Blinken met with his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and held talks on Wednesday evening with ministers of China, Russia, and the other four Security Council veto-wielding nations. As part of its claim to legitimacy, the Taliban says that it seeks support from the international community. It will define its relationship with the international community by the actions it takes.”

He reiterated US priorities including letting Afghans and foreigners leave, protecting women, girls, and minorities, and not letting extremist groups like Al Qaeda use Afghanistan again. With the discussions with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Blinken emphasized “the importance of coordinated diplomatic engagement.”

Earlier this week, Qureshi said that there was no rush to recognize a new Taliban government, a move that Western governments oppose. However, Pakistan has called for engagement with the Taliban and the unfreezing of Afghan assets.

On Thursday, Australia announced the pursuit of nuclear submarines and the start of the AUKUS cooperation group between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, aimed at promoting information exchange and further cooperation between Canberra’s strategic partners.

This deal is likely to have serious consequences for Canberra’s neighbors, especially Indonesia. The Australia-Indonesia relationship has continued to grow despite periodic disruptions. On September 9, both sets of foreign and defense ministers met in Jakarta for the seventh “2+2” meeting to upgrade the bilateral agreements, the announcement for the new initiatives, and pledging to uphold regional order.

Jakarta’s major concern regarding the submarines is their impact on the military balance in the region. The submarines could not only undertake long-endurance, high-speed, stealth operations but they could also be equipped with advanced missile systems. On Friday, According to Indonesia’s government statement, the decision on submarines was viewed carefully, and the government was “deeply concerned over the continued arms race and power projection in the region.”

The Chinese navy has remained a threat. Jakarta has observed Beijing’s use of not just white but grey hulls against the Philippines and Vietnam.

The US has ruled out including India or Japan in the newly formed trilateral security partnership with Australia and Britain. The Indo-Pacific region is ready to face the challenges of the 21st century.

The joint formation of the trilateral security alliance AUKUS was announced on September 15 by US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and British Prime Minister Borris Johnson. The AUKUS alliance allows Australia to get a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for the first time.

On Wednesday, at a press conference, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the announcement of AUKUS last week was not to be an indication, and she thinks that it was the same as the President also sent to Emmanuel Macron. The message was that there is no one else who will be involved in security in the Indo-Pacific.

The Quad leader will be in Washington this week for the first summit which comprises India, the US, Japan, and Australia.

China was seen condemning the decision of the trilateral alliance and said that the alliance will have no future. It was also said that it will affect the international non-proliferation efforts and aggravate the arms race.