WASHINGTON, 18 May 2022, (TON): The UN warned “a growing global food crisis could last years if it goes unchecked, as the World Bank announced an additional $12 billion in funding to mitigate its devastating effects.”

Food insecurity is soaring due to warming temperatures, the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to critical shortages of grains and fertilizer.

At a major United Nations meeting in New York on global food security, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war threatens to tip tens of millions of people over the edge into food insecurity.

He said “what could follow would be “malnutrition, mass hunger and famine, in a crisis that could last for years, as he and others urged Russia to release Ukrainian grain exports.”

Russia and Ukraine alone produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply.

RIYADH, 18 May 2022, (TON): Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington, D.C, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Prince Khalid said “in a tweet that the meeting was organized on the directive of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”

Prince Khalid said “I met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to review the enduring and historic Saudi-US partnership, and discuss solidifying US-Saudi coordination.”

On HRH the Crown Prince’s directive, I met with U.S National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan 46 to review the enduring and historic Saudi- US partnership, and discuss solidifying U.S Saudi coordination.

MOSCOW, 18 May 2022, (TON): Russia said “nearly 700 more Ukrainian fighters had surrendered in Mariupol but Kyiv was silent about their fate, while a pro-Russian separatist leader said commanders were still holed up in tunnels beneath the Azovstal steelworks.”

More than a day after Kyiv announced it had ordered its garrison in Mariupol to stand down, the ultimate outcome of Europe’s bloodiest battle for decades remained unresolved.

Ukrainian officials halted all public discussion of the fate of fighters who had made their last stand there.

Military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzaynik told a news conference “the state is making utmost efforts to carry out the rescue of our servicemen. Let’s wait. Currently, the most important thing is to save the lives of our heroes.”

He said “any information to the public could endanger that process.”

Russia said “694 more fighters had surrendered overnight, bringing the total number of people who had laid down arms to 959. The leader of pro-Russian separatists in control of the area, Denis Pushilin, was quoted by a local news agency DNA as saying the main commanders were still inside the plant.”

By TON Bangladesh

India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019 which changed the citizenship laws of the state. The act specifically targeted Muslim minorities to exclude them from India's naturalization process. India’s domestic move has the potential to affect other states of the region as well. It will trigger a kind of mass migration that the politically unstable South Asia is not ready to face.

Bangladesh being one of the Muslim majority states of South Asia is at risk of this migration. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid questioned the act, saying that it was unnecessary. At the same time, she did not criticize it and said that CAA is India’s internal matter. Since Bangladesh is considered India’s strategic backyard, it has maintained a soft foreign policy toward India. This is criticized by the political opposition as well as the Bangladeshi public. While the government, being pro-India, remains silent on the issue, the Bangladeshi population is furious at India’s actions that are targeting Muslims.

Anti-India sentiments are on a rise in Bangladesh with the Citizenship Amendment Act, because not only does it target the Muslim minority but it also provides space for the possibility of identity politics along religious lines. This in turn provides space for religious fundamentalist organizations to strengthen their foothold in the region.

For the first time in the history of India, citizenship is granted on a religious basis. This is against the secular ideals of the Indian state and will have destructive repercussions for India domestically. It has regional implications as well. Bangladesh was disappointed on being equated with Pakistan and Afghanistan in the context of minority persecution, through CAA.

Even the Afghan ex-president Hamid Karzai verbally criticized the act stating that India is carrying out targeted persecution of Muslims. Even a state like Afghanistan did not carry out targeted persecution of a specific minority. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah has given such problematic statements regarding the Muslim minority. He called them termites, and at times equated them with Nazi Jews to hint at their systematic persecution. This triggers the Muslim majority population of Bangladesh while the government stays silent. India-Bangladesh bilateral relations remained unaffected even after the Citizenship Amendment Act. It did expose some tensions between the two states, but there was no significant disturbance in their bilateral relations.

The political opposition in Bangladesh believes that India played a significant role in the last two elections in Bangladesh to keep the current government in power. The government of Sheikh Hasina Wajid is pro-India, it enables Bangladesh to be treated as India’s backyard. The state has many issues with India, including its water hegemony on the Ganges river by building a barrage that disrupts water flow to Bangladesh. The water dispute cannot be resolved with the government’s appeasing attitude towards India.

The people of Bangladesh suspect a reverse exodus from India. There is a growing view that CAA is India’s deliberate attempt to send millions of undocumented Indian citizens into Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh already have issues of a porous border, illegal migration, and illicit drug trade. The illegal trade of Yaba tablets across the India-Bangladesh border is a serious issue and India accuses Bangladesh of being negligent. Yaba is a drug prepared with Meth and Caffeine, usually called the ‘crazy medicine’. The narcotics trade route allegedly goes from Bangladesh to reach India.

India continues to maintain an upper hand in its bilateral relations with Bangladesh. India's hegemonic designs in South Asia should be based on a good neighbor policy. Instead, it has developed disputes and grievances with its neighboring States. Since Bangladesh is a smaller state in the region, it has adopted the appeasement policy and aligned itself with India strategically for its survival. But the growing dissent in the Bangladeshi population cannot be curbed unless the government takes a harder stance. The strategic partnership of Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina Wajid and Narendra Modi gives way to speculations that India has interfered twice in Bangladeshi elections and helped Sheikh Hasina stay in power. There is rampant corruption in Bangladeshi politics and a major chunk of the population is against the government. The politically aware section of the society, along with scholars and critics complain about the corruption of the Bangladeshi political elite, stating that they have retained power because of external help. This is why the Bangladeshi political elite stays silent on the issue of CAA, while other states of the region criticized it verbally.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have shown their discontent openly because they are two of the three states that are targeted explicitly through CAA. While Bangladesh remains neutral about the issue. It does not want to aggrieve India. The non-Muslim expatriates of Bangladesh have praised the act for providing them with an easier and fast-track naturalization process in India. The act does that at the expense of Muslims. This signifies the targeted and systematic discrimination of Muslims who will eventually be stateless. The Muslim majority state of Bangladesh should stand firm against India because eventually, Bangladesh will have to face a large influx of people fleeing India.

By TON Research Desk

Myanmar’s brutal regime has not been invited to the two-day US-ASEAN Special Summit beginning in Washington on Thursday, but “Burma will be a subject of intense deliberation in all of our meetings,” said a senior US administration official, using another name for the country.

The Foreign Minister of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) is in Washington at the same time as the leaders of regional grouping the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). She will not be able to attend the summit but will hold informal meetings with some ASEAN and US officials.

A senior US State Department official said that we have had diplomatic engagement with the government in exile the NUG and exploring the best way to represent what has transpired in Burma and how to represent that in the meeting.

The US administration’s promises to deepen its engagement with the Indo Pacific Region, including ASEAN, Myanmar is one of the issues which presently posturing a danger to the bloc’s unison and essence.

Speaking at the US Institute of Peace, US National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific said the current US administration would “inspire larger diplomacy” on Myanmar in meetings with the ASEAN leaders in Washington. The US National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific is White House’s “Asian expert” and was US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under previously US government and a key designer of his “fulcrum” to Asia.

The US National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific is no alien to Myanmar, having made a historic visit to the country in 2009 to meet with the country’s top leaders. During his trip, he also met with then-opposition leader who by that time had spent a total of 14 years under house arrest.

He in 2016 was elected the country’s de facto leader with the position of State Counselor, has been detained at an unknown location in Myanmar since the military ousted her government in a coup in February last year, and is facing secret trial by the regime.

The US National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific said the United States is going to continue its active role and working with regional partners the 10-nation regional bloc had begun important initiatives on the crisis, including appointing an envoy to carry messages to the generals. However, there is apparently the block produced no result so far.

The US under its previous governments stepped up its efforts with both the Myanmar regime and opposition, ostensibly balancing its values and interests in Myanmar. Obama made two historic visits to the country after the 2010 election of a quasi-civilian government, which the following year embarked on what at the time were hailed as far-reaching political and economic reforms.

During his first visit to Myanmar in November 2012—the first by a sitting US president—Obama urged leaders in the country not to extinguish the “flickers of progress that we have seen.” Those “flickers” seem very distant today, with Myanmar back to square one.

Fifteen months on from the military takeover, the junta is still facing public protests as well as armed resistance and insurgencies. In its attempt to counter the growing resistance, the military regime has been brutal, arresting and imprisoning thousands of people and torching hundreds of villages in the center of the country. Many citizens who are able, including many members of the educated middle class, have fled Myanmar.

ASEAN’s diplomatic efforts have faltered in the face of a lack of cooperation from coup leader Senior General who was excluded from the bloc’s summit in October for his recalcitrance.

The lack of progress in the implementation of ASEAN’s five-point consensus continues to draw sharp criticism. Current ASEAN chair Cambodia’s requests that the bloc’s special envoy be allowed to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, who has also been detained since coup. The request has been rejected by the military junta. As the regime knows that ASEAN is divided.

The Human Rights Watch organizations has called the ASEAN for the ditching of the five-point consensus and the adoption of a new approach. “For a year, governments around the world have stalled taking action on Myanmar by standing behind ASEAN’s hollow words—and have nothing to show for it,” the group’s acting Asia Director said in a statement.

They need to adopt strong measures to deter further atrocities and hold the military accountable, not a flimsy consensus that’s proven its futility. At the moment, the US and European countries are supporting the ASEAN five-point consensus they are not willing to pursue things that would actually have an impact.

More recently, some bolder proposals seem to have emerged from within ASEAN to informally engage all stakeholders in Myanmar in an effort to find a breakthrough. Malaysian Foreign Minister said ASEAN should informally engage the NUG, National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) and Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH).

The Human Rights organizations has called on three of ASEAN’s leading nations Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to force the Myanmar’s military leadership with “a clear, time-bound approach” for reforms and taking moves to restrict its currency reserves and arms imports. It has also called on US to push the regional bloc to abandon the “failed consensus approach” at this week’s US-ASEAN Summit.

Some countries in ASEAN have called for Myanmar to be expelled from ASEAN. The regime leaders know full well that the special summit will likely produce a few lines over Myanmar and some condemnation, and no more.

Meanwhile, the junta continues to keep the country and its citizen’s hostage, highlighting the regional bloc’s pathetic failures. As Myanmar’s is suffering will continue, much to ASEAN’s shame. Increasingly, there is a strong desire for concrete action on Myanmar on rather than empty words. The ASEAN should take real initiatives in terms of how to engage both the current government and the opposition to help the Myanmar war-hit people.

WASHINGTON, 18 May 2022, (TON): Pentagon officials told “congressmen about eleven cases where US military equipment could have collided with unidentified flying objects.

At an open hearing in a subcommittee of the special committee on intelligence of the House of Representatives of Congress, the deputy director of intelligence of the US Navy, Scott Bray, was asked if there were cases of collisions of American military equipment with UFOs, which are being studied by a special task force in the Departm-ent of Defense.

Spokesman replied “we did not have collisions. But there were at least eleven cases when it nearly happened.”

He stressed “as Bray clarified, in th-ese cases, no signals were received from unidentified objects that could serve as a warning about the danger of a collision. The US military did not attempt to contact UFOs.”

According to the deputy director “in many cases the phenomena observed by the U-S military were “like un-manned objects of some kind, something that may not be in a state of controlled flight, so we didn’t try to contact them.”

BRUSSELS, 18 May 2022, (TON): Foreign Ministers of 27 EU countries decided to create a center for European military innovation.

This was stated by the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, at a press conference following a meeting of the EU Defense Council.

He said “today, we have established a European Defense Innovation Center to stimulate and support cooperation between EU member states on military innovation.”

He stressed that this decision was taken as part of the first community defense strategy called the EU Strategic Compass. .

He also noted that the EU needs to spend more and better on its defense.

Borrell said “the European Union will not allow Ukraine to run out of weapons and military equipment at a critical moment of hostilities in the Donbass.”

STOCKHOLM, 18 May 2022, (TON): Finnish President Sauli Niinistö was surprised by the calm tone of his conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

He spoke about this in Stockholm at a press conference after talks with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

He said “I was very surprised that he has a very calm position. Relaxed and calm. <…> In Russia, they decided to take a calm position.”

According to Niinistö “he wondered if Russia would take tough measures. But right now it doesn’t seem to be happening. That doesn’t mean we aren’t looking at nasty things like hybrid threats.”

The initiator of the telephone conversation on Saturday was the Finnish side.

During the conversation, Niinistö said that his country would decide to apply for NATO membership in the coming days. According to the Kremlin press service, Putin called Finland’s possible abandonment of the traditional policy of military neutrality erroneous, since there are no threats to its security.

LONDON, 18 May 2022, (TON): The crucial duty of our Government is to make our communities safer, which is what we are doing.

That’s why we put, of the 20,000 police that we promised at the 2019 election, we’ve already put 13,576 on the streets. They are bringing down neighbourhood crime and that’s a great thing to see. But we’ve got more to do.

We want to make sure our streets are safer and we will round up those county lines drugs gangs with Project ADDER, taking the criminals off the streets, stopping the deaths of young people from knife crime and gun crime.

But what we’re also doing is making sure that we give everybody the confidence that we are on their side when it comes to the law and their experiences of crimes.

BERLIN, 18 May 2022, (TON): Chancellor Olaf Scholz said “Germany will ramp up its military collaboration with Sweden and Finland as the two countries seek NATO membership in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Scholz said “we will intensify our military cooperation, especially in the Baltic Sea region and through joint exercises.”

As members of the United Nations and the European Union, Scholz added “it is already clear that our countries are bound together by an obligation to provide each other with all possible assistance and support for mutual protection.”

He said “both countries can always rely on our support, especially in this very special situation.”