International Security

N Korea's Kim says open to 'highest-level' talks with South

12:37 PM

1

January

2015

  AFP/ Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un proposed the "highest-level" talks with South Korea Thursday, opening the way to a historic summit as his communist country battles to fend off international prosecution over its dismal human rights record.

The sudden move, made during his traditional New Year message, would clear the path for the first top-level inter-Korean meeting since a 2007 summit in Pyongyang.

"Depending on the mood and circumstances to be created, we have no reason not to hold the highest-level talks," Kim said, calling for a turnaround in icy relations between the two Koreas, which are technically at war.

South Korean media said he was referring to a summit with President Park Geun-Hye.

Kim also urged Washington to take a "bold shift" in its policy towards Pyongyang and denounced the US for leading an international campaign over the North's human rights record.

"The US and its followers are holding on to a nasty 'human rights' racket as their schemes to destroy our self-defensive nuclear deterrent and stifle our republic by force become unrealisable," he said.

He described nuclear weapons, meanwhile, as the guardian of his country and vowed to sternly retaliate against "any provocations" threatening its dignity.

Pyongyang faces growing pressure to improve its dismal human rights record, with the UN stepping up a campaign to refer the North's leaders to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

The isolated nation, meanwhile, suffered a mysterious Internet outage last month after Washington vowed retaliation over a crippling cyber attack blamed on North Korea against Sony, the studio behind a controversial film about a fictional plot to assassinate Kim.

The South's unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs welcomed Kim's overture and urged the North to quickly accept its proposal for high-level talks this month.

"Our government wants North Korea to respond quickly to our proposal for dialogue if it is truly willing to improve relations through dialogue," it said in a statement.

A US State Department official, meanwhile, said: "We support improved inter-Korean relations."

 - 'Make every effort' -

Kim said in his message that Pyongyang "will make every effort to advance dialogue and negotiations", adding that the "tragic" division of the Korean peninsula should not be tolerated.

The leader's tone was generally conciliatory, but he made it clear that South Korea should end its joint military exercises with the United States.

"Needless to say, faithful dialogue is not possible in such a brutal atmosphere that war exercises targeting the other side are going on," Kim said.

The last round of top-level negotiations was held in February and resulted in the North hosting a rare union of relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The two Koreas agreed to restart dialogue when a top-ranking North Korean delegation made a surprise visit to the Asian Games held in the South in October.

The trip raised hopes of a thaw in relations between the neighbours, but was followed by minor military clashes along the border that renewed tensions and talks never materialised.

Park has repeatedly said the door to dialogue with Pyongyang is open, but insists the North must first take tangible steps towards abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.

Analysts said Kim was extending an olive branch after realising that Pyongyang could not end its isolation without improving ties with Seoul.

"North Korea opted for a practical line after facing up to reality, because it is now difficult to improve ties with the United States and other countries," Yoo Ho-Yeol, a Korea University professor, said.

Kim's New Year message, which sets the direction of policy for the coming year, also focused on improving living standards in North Korea, which suffers chronic food shortages.

When his father and late leader, Kim Jong-Il, died in December 2011, he left a country in dire economic straits, the result of a "military first" policy that fed ambitious missile and nuclear programmes at the expense of a malnourished population.

Kim, however, also urged North Koreans to work harder in strengthening the country's military capabilities through the development of "powerful advanced" weapons.

Under his leadership, North Korea has placed a satellite in orbit and conducted its third -- and most powerful -- nuclear test.

 Soure: http://www.gulf-times.com/Korea/247/details/421716/N-Korea%27s-Kim-says-open-to-%27highest-level%27-talks-with-South

Military

New Chinese Light Tank

Light tank

The new Chinese light tank will be used for reconnaissance and infantry support

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Entered service 2014 (?) Crew 3 ~ 4 men Dimensions and weight Weight 30~35 t Length (gun forward) ? Hull length ? Width ? Height ? Armament Main gun 125-mm smoothbore (?) ATGW ? Machine guns ? Elevation range ? Traverse range 360 degrees Ammunition load Main gun ? ATGW ? Machine guns ? Mobility Engine diesel Engine power ~ 600 hp Maximum road speed ~ 70 km/h Range ~ 400 km Maneuverability Gradient 60% Side slope 30% Vertical step ~ 0.8 m Trench ~ 2.5 m Fording ~ 1 m Fording (with preparation) ?    Recently a new light tank appeared in China. First pictures of the new tank appeared back in 2010. The whole project is being kept in secrecy. There were no official comments regarding this new tank. It's Designation is also unknown. It was developed specially for mountainous terrain, such as Tibet, jungles and river regions. Once in service it will succeed the previous Type 62 light tanks. Other sources report, that this tank is already in service with Chinese Army. Chinese requirement might be for at least 300 new light tanks.    The new tank has an entirely new design. It weights about 30-35 t. Mobility is the key factor of this new machine. It is intended mainly for reconnaissance and infantry support operations. It will operate in terrains that are not accessible to heavier main battle tanks. It might be also used by airborne troops.    It is worth noting that the Indian T-72 or T-90main battle tanks can not go high in to the mountains. At high altitudes air becomes thin and their engines start to loose power. So high in the mountains the new Chinese tank should not encounter any heavily-armored opponents.    Front of the hull and turret are fitted with modular armor panels. It is likely that front arc provided protection against 12.7-mm or 14.5-mm ammunition. All-round protection is against small arms fire and artillery shell splinters. It is possible that this tank uses various countermeasures systems.    It seems that this tank is fitted with a 125-mm smoothbore gun. Gun of the same caliber is also used on larger Chinese tanks, such as Type 96 and Type 99. It is likely that the new tank can launch laser-guided anti-tank missiles in the same manner as ordinary projectiles. Chinese developed their own gun-launched missiles, based on Soviet technology and are widely using them. These missiles have a range of 4-5 km and hit probability of over 90% against stationary targets. Missiles can also target low-flying helicopters.    The new tank is powered with a turbocharged diesel engine, developing about 600 hp. It has adjustable hydropneumatic suspension. It is clearly influenced by Russian designs. This new tank is air transportable. It can be airlifted by military cargo aircraft. It is possible that this tank can be paradropped. The new tank is not amphibious.    It is likely that a whole family of armored vehicles will be based on the new tank.    It is worth noting that Chinese Marines operate a ZBD-2000 amphibious light tank. This vehicle was specially designed for high-speed swimming. It is armed with a 105-mm gun. Both of these tanks are totally different. Developers had no intention to simplify servicing and maintenance by using interchangeable components. Development of this new reconnaissance tank shows the high level of resources China is devoting towards it's offensive capabilities.

Source: http://www.military-today.com/tanks/new_chinese_light_tank.htm

Legal War

IDF war crimes probes threaten to tear military apart from within

IDF begins probe of 8 incidents from Gaza war

A bombshell has fallen within the ranks, turning military commanders and lawyers against each other on a possibly unprecedented level.

An IDF soldier rides an armored personnel carrier toward a staging area near the Gaza border. (photo credit:REUTERS)

The army is at war with itself.

A bombshell has fallen within the ranks, turning military commanders and lawyers against each other on a possibly unprecedented level over whether the IDF legal division, the Office of the Military Advocate-General, should criminally investigate IDF commanders and soldiers over certain incidents from last summer’s Gaza war.

And though innumerable factors will decide whether the International Criminal Court initiates war crimes indictments against military personnel, the outcome of the internal IDF war may determine the country’s fate in what may be the largest battle for legitimacy Israel has ever faced.

The most debated incident in the war and the one which may go to the heart of how the world judge’s the validity of the IDF’s self-investigating apparatus was the August 1 “Black Friday” use of the controversial Hannibal Protocol to try to thwart the capture of Lt. Hadar Goldin, slain during the recent war.

The Hannibal Protocol is thought to involve massive use of infantry, artillery and air fire against a wide area in which the IDF believes the enemy is trying to make off with a captured soldier.

Allegations are that the IDF fire killed between 30 and 70 civilians in the onslaught (around 70 are estimated killed, but there is a debate as to how many were civilians.) In retrospect, the internal war over whether the IDF would criminally investigate or indict those soldiers involved in the incident was on as early as late September when Givati Brigade commanders and soldiers, unusually, gave public interviews describing their actions.

Col. Ofer Winter, his deputies and the lower-ranked soldiers involved were saying loud and clear that they did their jobs and risked their lives as directed by the General Staff.

Implied was that the IDF legal division should lay off them, as they would not be sacrificial lambs for defending the state against delegitimization.

That warning shot was mild compared to Tuesday’s unauthorized release of classified recordings of the Givati Brigade’s operations to Yediot Aharonot from Aug. 1 in real-time and the aggressive comments directly against the IDF legal division opening criminal investigations.

This time, the anonymous, but presumably Givati, commentators, even more explicitly said that they would not go down for army lawyers’ “Schabas tax.”

This is a reference to the idea that IDF lawyers need to criminally investigate a certain number of soldiers merely to satisfy international pressure (symbolized by the UN’s Schabas inquiry into the Gaza war) to explain the deaths of more than 2,000 Palestinians, of whom 50-80% were allegedly civilians.

The leak was so unusual that the IDF has announced a spin-off investigation into who leaked the classified recordings, regardless of the decision on whether to fully criminally investigate the Hannibal Protocol incident.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon took the unusual tack of publicly slamming the unauthorized leak, then walked a fine line between saying they fully supported the Givati fighters, while saying that the investigations must be completed without pressure.

Some contextualize the IDF commanders versus lawyers conflict within debates in past eras, such as during the first and second intifadas, about how many criminal investigations there should be for killing Palestinian civilians.

Others say this is a faulty contextualization since in other eras the issue had more to do with defining whether a peacetime or wartime legal framework applied, and that clearly a wartime framework applies to last summer’s war.

The Jerusalem Post consulted a wide range of views on the issue and there appear to be intensely strong and grounded views on both sides.

Those supporting the Givati commanders say that unless there were for sure war crimes, no investigation should be opened, as the act of opening an investigation will place a cloud over one of the IDF’s most crucial brigades and break the faith between soldiers on the battleground and those back at headquarters.

They say “kissing up” to Schabas, whom they call hopelessly biased due to his history of calling for war crimes cases against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu even before he took over the UN inquiry, and his supporters is worthless.

They add that Israel waited out the UN’s Goldstone Report after the 2008-9 Gaza war (Operation Cast Lead) until it became old news and that it can do the same with Schabas.

The other side says that even if IDF soldiers will be acquitted eventually, opening up criminal investigations is crucial.

They note that opening investigations shows the ICC how serious Israel is and that, Schabas aside, opening the investigations could concretely shield these soldiers from ICC war crimes investigations.

At the end of the day, though, most feel that IDF legal division head Maj.- Gen. Danny Efroni will decide the issue, ignoring the now massive pressures, based on strict legal and case specific considerations.

Efroni even bucked the attorney-general in ordering an investigation of former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi in the Harpaz Affair and essentially threw down the gauntlet to those pressuring him in a little-reported speech only days before the recordings leaked.

Maybe the concern about where Efroni is going and willing to go is what led the leakers to release the recordings.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Analysis-IDF-probes-into-Gaza-war-conduct-threatens-to-tear-military-apart-from-within-386327

Weather

Palm Trees and Snow: Freezing Weather Bites the West

Snow was reported in Las Vegas and temperatures were below freezing for 80 percent of the country Wednesday, bringing a chill that did not dissuade some New Year's Eve revelers. The day saw the coldest temperature of 2014 anywhere in the Contiguous United States: The small village of Daniel, Wyoming, recorded a bone-chilling 48 degrees below zero — even without the wind chill —according to The Weather Channel.

Rare snow fell in San Diego and other parts of southern California, delighting some, while elsewhere the weather was deadly: Two people were killed by falling trees near Sacramento, and a harbor patrolman and another person died on Catalina off the Los Angeles coast after winds ripped boats loose from their moorings at a marina. And in Pasadena, a "freak" wind storm blew tents and equipment around outside the Rose Bowl, injuring four people, NBC Los Angeles reported. The winds were so fierce in Southern California that at least three tractor trailers were blown onto their sides, the station reported. And in the north of the state winds blew over power lines and left thousands in the dark,according to NBC Bay Area. In Colorado, an avalanche on Kelso Ridge in the Rocky Mountains killed one man and trapped two others, NBC station KUSA reported.

Cold weather didn't dampen the mood for some in chilly Las Vegas, where it was the coldest New Year's Eve in years. John Madole, owner of Las Vegas Heater Rentals, told NBC station KSNV that he expected to make well more Wednesday night than the $6,000 he usually earns on New Year's Eve from last-minute rentals. "It's cold for New Year's Eve — about 10 degrees colder than it usually is," Madole said.

Read more at: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/palm-trees-snow-freezing-weather-bites-west-n277901

Stampede

Shanghai New Year stampede kills 36

(Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn)Updated: 2015-01-01 18:51

The Sina Weibo photo shows a stampede scene in the Bund as people celebrate New Year in Shanghai, Jan 1, 2015. [Photo/Sina Weibo]

The death toll of a fatal stampede during New Year celebrations late Wednesday in Shanghai rose to 36 as of Thursday afternoon, local authorities said.

Seven injured have checked out of the hospital. Among the 40 injured being treated in local hospitals, 13 are suffering from serious injuries, the municipal government said.

The tragedy happened at a crowded square in Shanghai's gleaming Bund area at around 11:35 pm. There were 25 women among the deceased whose ages ranged from 16 to 36, said the authorities in Shanghai, a metropolis that is home to over 23 million people.

"The steps leading to the platform were full of people. Some wanted to get down and some wanted to go up," said a witness who gave her surname as Yin. "We were caught in the middle and saw some girls falling while screaming. Then people started to fall down, row by row."

"The crowd was in a panic. We stood in the crowd, feeling squeezed and almost out of breath," another witness, surnamed Yu, said. "Some yelled for help, but the noise was too loud."

Other witnesses said police rushed to the scene and tried to pull out people who were stuck, but without much success.

Some survivors said the stampede was triggered when people started to throw coupons resembling US banknotes to revelers outside a bar.

They said coupons with "M18" - the same name as a bar on the Bund - printed in the middle were thrown from a building's third-floor window near the Bund.

The bar could not be reached at the moment and local police said what caused the stampede is still being investigated.

Shanghai has canceled all New Year celebrations in the city, according to a report by eastday.com.

The city has set up a working team for rescue operations and to deal with the aftermath.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01/01/content_19219754.htm

Moscow Skating Rink

Russians optimistic for 2015 despite it all

BY JIM HEINTZASSOCIATED PRESS

01/01/2015 3:46 AM 

 01/01/2015 3:46 AM

Fireworks explode over the St. Basil Cathedral as people celebrate the New Year at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015.DENIS TYRIN AP PHOTO

At the vast skating rink in Moscow's Gorky Park, Russians say they're looking forward to a 2015 that will be as smooth as the ice, despite the country's economic and political difficulties. The ruble has sunk, tensions with the West are up, but the troubles seem to have produced a surge in national pride.

"Russians are a nation of optimists," said Ivan Kasyanov, a skater in his 20s. "The worse things get, the better we develop."

Kasyanov brushed off concerns about the stunning decline of the ruble — which lost about half of its value against Western currencies in 2014 — and the Western sanctions imposed over Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. He doubts these factors would deal a serious blow to an economy that in recent years has soared on oil and gas income.

"We will put more (effort) on our industrial development," he said, echoing the spin promulgated on state-controlled TV.

People light sparklers as they celebrate the New Year at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 01, 2015. | Denis Tyrin AP Photo

A recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll showed that Russians who rely on state TV for their news think significantly more highly of President Vladimir Putin than those who tap other news sources. Still, the poll showed that in both sectors the support for Putin is resoundingly strong — 84 percent and 73 percent respectively.

Gorky Park itself is a place to encourage optimism. After becoming rundown following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, the park in recent years has undergone an impressive restoration, helped along by the money and influence of Roman Abramovich, one of Russia's richest and most politically compliant men. The skating rink is its stunning centerpiece, a happy labyrinth of ice-coated lanes festooned with colored lights that stretches over 18,000 square meters (about 4 1/2 acres).

But the view is different in other quarters of the Russian capital, even in the ostentatious corridors of the GUM department store, where only the well-heeled can afford to shop.

"Here, everything changes so often. So I would like stability," shopper Olga Mozalyova said.

Concern is also strong where stock traders anxiously monitor their screens. The ruble's fall, the plunge in world oil prices and the sanctions' denial of access to Western credit have all dealt a blow to the Russian economy.

"Maybe if Russia doesn't give cause for the strengthening of sanctions, we can get a positive result in that case," said Sergei Romanchuk at Metallinvestbank.

The chances of that are not promising.

In his televised New Year's Eve message to the nation, Putin hailed the annexation of Crimea as a historic achievement and the rightful return of the peninsula's people to the bosom of Russia. Although the fighting between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine has eased since September, there has been little progress on ensuring a stable cease-fire, much less withdrawing heavy weapons or resolving the complicated and inflammatory question of the region's political status.

In the offices of Russia's opposition groups, who endure constant pressure from authorities and struggle to find public support, the view of 2015 is ominous.

"The end is near, the country is at the brink of going down," said Mikhail Kasyanov, who was Putin's first prime minister but is now firm opponent. "That's why I'm saying that people will take to the streets demanding a change of the situation ... 2015 is a very important year, I would say it may be a historic year."

The opposition, usually all but invisible to ordinary Russians, made a brief show of protest two days before New Year's. A couple thousand demonstrators defied police and gathered near the Kremlin to protest the conviction of opposition stalwart Alexei Navalny and his brother on fraud charges. But the demonstration was far smaller than the anti-Putin protests that broke out two winters ago.

New Year's Day begins an extended holiday for most Russians that stretches through Orthodox Christmas until Jan. 12. The winter break is so beloved by most Russians that engaging in any serious actions like protests seems almost sacrilegious. A survey this month by the state pollster VTsIOM showed that Russians plan to spend about 20 percent more on holiday feasts and presents than they did two years ago.

At Gorky Park, the skaters were clearly determined to be festive. Student Anastasia Khripunova described herself as "optimistic, despite everything. Because if one doesn't laugh, he can become crazy."

Putin's New Year message stayed away from mentioning problems. But a few days earlier he hinted at how dire 2015 might be, saying government ministers must stay on the job through the holiday season.

"For the government, for your agencies, we cannot afford this long holiday, at least this year — you know what I mean," Putin said.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article5288169.html#storylink=cpy