Displaying items by tag: Asia

A mysterious radioactive cloud that passed over 28 European countries recently was first detected over Italy. France’s radioprotection institute has now detailed its findings, saying the origins of the cloud came from ‘somewhere in South Russia’. The area in question has nuclear facilities, including one that converted nuclear fuel into weapons during the Cold War. Even after the location was identified, it is unclear how the radioactive cloud appeared, as there was no apparent accident at any of the nuclear facilities and it was not an ‘authorised release’. Meanwhile, on 16 November, Russia and the USA failed to resolve a dispute over extending the mandate of a UN-backed investigative team which blamed Syrian forces for a chemical weapons attack in April that killed over 80 people. See

For almost two years US-backed Iraqi government forces, with Kurdish Peshmerga forces and other allies, fought to remove IS fighters. 63 factions make up Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) - groups united by ethnic and tribal leaders, whose fighters are either loyal to religious scholars, Iraqi political leaders, or Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. The diversity of PMF's forty divisions of 60,000+ fighters sheds light on many of Iraq's sectarian tensions and its ambiguous political future. Although formed via a religious decree to fight IS, many fighters are empowered by Iran and other non-state commands. Others are represented in Iraq’s parliament. A Middle East Forum analyst said that various larger PMF factions have been fighting to expand their political influence to gain ground for next year’s parliamentary elections while smaller, weaker PMF factions also have political ambitions and cannot be ruled out.

Conservative MPs in Iran are proposing that Iranians should only be allowed to vote for members of their own religious group, making it impossible for members of religious minorities to be elected to any position of authority (90-95% of the population is Shia Muslim). Recently a Zoroastrian was suspended from the city council of Yazid, a historic city with many ancient Zoroastrian sites. The ruling clerics are becoming increasingly unpopular for taking harsher measures to block members of religious minorities from higher office. The proposal to force voters to vote for candidates from their own religious background would violate everyone’s democratic right to elect and be elected. Journalists, lawyers and some MPs have pointed to the presence of three Christians, a Jew and a Zoroastrian in Iran’s national parliament. The constitution currently allows each of the three minority groups a representative in parliament.

Escaping scandal in Washington after indictments of his campaign associates, President Trump is on a 13-day tour through five Asian capitals. Trump’s first stop was Japan, where the priorities were a Japan-US military alliance and trade. While visiting South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, he hopes to encourage other regional powers to step up their efforts to pressurise North Korea into abandoning its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The continent is gripped with tension over the nuclear standoff on its eastern edge. Trump told South Korean lawmakers that Kim Jong-un would face disaster if he continued to lead his nation down the dark path towards nuclear weapons. ‘Do not underestimate us. Do not try us’ was a direct warning to Pyongyang. Trump is trying to persuade Chinese leaders to put even more pressure on North Korea. At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam (9 to 10 November), he hopes to enlist President Putin’s help in changing North Korea's behaviour. See next article.

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump may bring different expectations to the table at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Vietnam (their last meeting, at Germany’s G20 summit, produced a de-escalation plan for the Syria/Israel border). They are reluctant to comment on whether they will make a thorough review of some equally challenging issues to Russia and the US, but the latest messages from Moscow suggest that the two men are considering a discussion of the Syrian settlement. The Russian ambassador to the USA said that the agenda for their meeting included 1) war on international terrorism; 2) Syrian peace settlement (Jordan and Russia want to end fighting in southwestern Syria as part of border deals between Amman, Washington and Moscow); and 3) North Korea’s nuclear plans. See previous article.

On his third day of high school, the parents of 17-year-old Sharoon Masih learned that he had been in a fight and had been taken to hospital. They rushed to the hospital but found he was dead. His school friends said he died in the classroom. Police said that another student at the Punjab school kicked Sharoon in the stomach and that he died of internal injuries. The student charged in his death now awaits trial, but police are not calling the attack a hate crime. Many suspect the teenager was targeted because he was a Christian. Christians are regularly discriminated against in education, employment and housing. Sharoon’s parents want to know what happened and why no-one saved him. He wanted to be a lawyer, and was to start as an apprentice at a lawyer’s office after completing high school. Sharoon’s father has stopped sending his six other children to school because he does not feel they will be safe.

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s nuclear programme chief, said on 29 October that Iran can begin producing weapons-grade nuclear material quickly if the nuclear deal with foreign powers fails, and insisted that international inspectors would not be given access to Iranian military sites. In early October President Trump told the world, ‘Iran is not in compliance with the deal, and it needs to be renegotiated even though our allies, and even our enemies, do not agree.’ Mr Trump said that the agreement had not curbed Iran’s missile programme and destabilising activities in the Middle East. Mr Salehi said that, although Tehran prefers to keep the agreement intact, they could quickly ramp up uranium enrichment to produce 20% enriched uranium in four days. He made these comments after meeting the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano. Mr Amano also met President Rouhani and foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. See

Six house church leaders were released on 16-17 October, after being detained for a month on false charges that they had forced Hindus to convert to Christianity. The five men and one woman rejoiced that during their time in jail they were able to share the gospel with fellow prisoners. The arrests occurred soon after state officials in Jharkhand passed the strictest anti-conversion law in India. Local Christians fear increased persecution as a result of the new law. Pray that the six church leaders will continue their work and use their testimony to share the gospel with boldness.

NATIONAL SECURITY FOREIGN AFFAIRS UPDATE
OCTOBER 23, 2017 (REPORT #51)

Highlights:

• Cold War returns with nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour alert
• CIA expands Taliban hunt
• ISIS battle converges in the Euphrates Valley
• Iraqi, Kurdish forces exchange fire at shared border
• U.S. Forces Korea ready with THAAD
• Russia complains U.S.-led coalition destroyed Raqqa like allies did the German city of Dresden in World War Two
• U.S. SEC State calls on Iran-backed militia to go home
• Iraq’s PM rejects Tillerson’s call for PMU to “go home”

CURRENT

• Cold War Returns with Nuclear-Armed Bombers on 24-hour alert.  DefenseOne reports the U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour ready alert, something not seen since the end of the Cold War.  “This is yet one more step in ensuring that we’re prepared,” Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, said.  “I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more for the reality of the global situation we find ourselves in and how we ensure we’re prepared going forward.”  Putting the bomber fleet on alert is just one of many decisions facing the Air Force as the U.S. military responds to changing geopolitical environment that includes North Korea’s rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal as well as Russia’s increasingly potent and active armed forces.
• CIA expands Taliban hunt.  The New York Times reports the CIA is expanding its operations in Afghanistan, sending teams alongside Afghan forces to hunt Taliban jihadi.  The Times reports this is a shift for the CIA in that country, where it had focused on defeating al Qaeda and helping Afghan intelligence operatives.  The agency’s paramilitary division, which is taking on the mission, numbers only in the hundreds and is deployed all over the world.  The expanded mission reflects that agency’s assertive role under Mike Pompeo, the new director, to combat insurgents around the world.  Pompeo said “We can’t perform our mission if we’re not aggressive.  … This is unforgiving, relentless.  You pick the word.  Every minute, we have to be focused on crushing our enemies.”
• ISIS battle converges in the Euphrates Valley.  The Air Force Times reports the coalition’s fight with ISIS jihadi is now focused along a stretch of the Euphrates River Valley straddling the Syrian border.   ISIS no longer has a presence in cities such as Mosul, Tal Afar and Haditha.  Rather, U.S.-led coalition forces are focused on driving ISIS out of towns like al Qaim.   Air operations are “shaping” the battlefield by taking out weapons centers like car bomb factories and ISIS C3 centers.  Brig. Gen. Andrew Croft, deputy commanding general for Air, Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command, Operation Inherent Resolve, said “They’ll move against multiple areas in the Euphrates River Valley in a multi-axis operation.  The preponderance of ISIS forces, we believe, are in that area … essentially all the way out east to Rawa.”

CONSEQUENCES

• Iraqi, Kurdish forces exchange fire at shared border.  The Military Times reports Iraqi federal and Kurdish forces exchanged fire at their shared border on Friday, ending a week of conflict whereby Kurds returned control to Iraqi forces.  By mid-Friday, Iraq’s defense ministry said anti-terrorism forces used artillery against Kurdish forces in AltunKupri, a town in the Kurdish region.    Kurdish forces withdrew last week in most areas to positions they last held in 2014, restoring the map to the time before the rise of ISIS.
• U.S. Forces Korea ready with THAAD.  The Yonhap News Agency reports the U.S. Forces Korea set-up the unit charged with operating the advanced missile defense system deployed in that country.  On Thursday, a ceremony was held in Seongju to transfer the Delta Battery of the 11th Air Defense Artillery brigade to the 35th ADA Brigade in South Korea.  The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, which has missile launchers, command and control facilities and a powerful radar, was first deployed in April, but at that time there were only two interceptor launchers.  Four more launchers arrived last month.
• Russia complains U.S.-led coalition destroyed Raqqa like allies did the German city of Dresden in World War Two.  The BBC reports the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurds and Arabs, destroyed Raqqa, and Moscow compared that result to the Allied destruction of the German city of Dresden in WW II.  Russia itself was accused of committing war crimes for bombarding Aleppo, Syria last year.  UN war crimes investigators in June that there had been a “staggering loss of civilian life” in Raqqa.  A Russian defense spokesman said “Raqqa has inherited the fate of Dresden in 1945, wiped off the face of the earth by Anglo-American bombardments.”
• U.S. SEC State calls on Iran-backed militia to go home.  The BBC reports U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Iran-backed militias fighting ISIS should leave northern Iraq as the battle is nearing its end.  Tillerson insists mopping up should be left to the Iraqis.   Iraqi forces have been fighting ISIS alongside Popular Mobilization Units, a coalition of Shia militia, backed by Iran.  Those units have been accused of abuses, including torture and killings, during the anti-ISIS operations in Iraq.
• Iraq’s PM rejects Tillerson’s call for PMU to “go home.”The media office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Oct. 23 criticized U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent statements that Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units who helped Iraq fight the Islamic State should "go home," Reuters reported. According to Reuters, the prime minister's office said that "No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters."  

Pray – lets be in prayer over each of these very significant situations and pray as we are guided.

Robert Maginnis
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No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.  Is 54:17

In this edition of IPC Connections, we are once again highlighting the extremely volatile situation on the Korean Peninsula, that needs our prayers.  

Last month, we prayed about the potential of military options, which could cause many deaths. There is still the danger of provocative actions which we continue to pray against.  We also highlighted the significant relationship with China, who has the power and influence to broker a peaceful resolution to the crisis.  

Since then, an interview (reported here) with an academic with close relations to the Chinese government has warned that a war between China and North Korea was 'on the table'.  Chong Sho-Hu, a professor from Renmin University, Beijing said that the relationship with North Korea was now worse than it had been with both the Soviet Union and Vietnam at the time of the wars with those countries in the past.

In his words: "North Korea is standing on the edge of a deep cliff, one light blow could push this country off the cliff."   When asked whether this meant one more missile test could trigger war, the professor agreed.

Let's pray for continued peace and a 'breakthrough intervention' in the relationship between China and North Korea that will open the door for a U-turn and for positive de-nuclearization negotiations.

We also report in this edition on the real threat that the continued development of intercontinental ballistic rockets by North Korea's regime is creating. North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador called his country’s nuclear and missile arsenal “a precious strategic asset that cannot be reversed or bartered for anything.” A UK Daily Mail article also included in this month's edition quotes North Korean official's ambitions - both defensive and offensive capability that will hold the whole of the United States within it's range.  

As I have been writing this, a notification has arrived of an un-confirmed tunnel collapse in September at the North Korean nuclear test site that resulted in 200 deaths of 100 workers and a further 100 rescuers who were killed in a second collapse.  Whilst any loss of life is regrettable, there is no doubt that such an incident will have hampered the efforts of the regime in their attempts to develop these nuclear weapons.  http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-tunnel/tunnel-collapse-may-have-killed-200-after-north-korea-nuclear-test-japanese-broadcaster-idUSKBN1D018L?il=0

Pray on for the nuclear ambitions of North Korea to be thwarted. (Is 54:17) Let's also pray into the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and other United Nations efforts to restrict and reduce the development of nuclear arsenals globally.

Many Christians are suffering in North Korea for their faith.  Choi Kwanghyuk (55) escaped a work camp where he was sent after being targeted and persecuted by the government for his Christian faith. Read about his harrowing experiences below.

Robert Park, a US prisoner of the Kim Jong-il regime from December 2009 to February 2010 estimates that there are up to 400,000 believers worshipping secretly in North Korea.  He reminds us of the fact that thousands of the imprisoned Christians are in prison camps that are located close to military targets such as weapons facilities and test sites.  Read Robert's moving plea for a workable and peaceable solution addressed to the Korean President below.

Pray on for those being persecuted, raped, beaten, tortured for their faith. (Matt 5:11-12).  Pray for their release and an end to the oppression of believers of all faiths.  Pray for a solution to the crisis that does not endanger lives, either side of the border.  

On a more positive note, let’s be thankful for news of a growing Christian Church in North Korea, reported in this month's edition and for the innovative means being used to make the word of God available to them, through 'Bible Balloons containing text from the Bible or flash drives containing the whole Bible - Praise God!

Pray for the continuing efforts to encourage, equip and educate new believers in North Korea and for those who are taking great risks both in these efforts from South Korea and those who are nurturing God's people within North Korea.  Pray for one, united Korea.

May God bless and encourage you all as you join us in praying both for Korea and these other important global matters.

In His service,

John Robb, IPC Chairman