UN’s top court sides with Somalia over Kenya in years-long maritime border dispute involving resource-rich area off African coast — RT World News

https://www.rt.com/news/537306-un-somalia-kenya-resources-border-dispute/

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled in Somalia’s
favor in a major territorial row over a tract of sea believed rich in
oil and gas, after a years-long dispute with Kenya, which has refused to
recognize the decision.

In a lengthy 79-page judgement,
the UN’s top court ruled largely on the side of Mogadishu on Tuesday,
backing most of its claim to a 100,000 square-kilometer (38,000
square-mile) area off the East African coast, which is thought to
contain large petroleum reserves. The judges determined there was “no agreed maritime boundary” set in the area, and drew a border line mostly consistent with Somalia’s territorial claims.

While
the ruling came as a blow to Nairobi, the ICJ did adjust the border
line slightly north, partially fulfilling Kenya’s request, and
unanimously rejected a claim by Somalia that Kenya had previously
violated international law and the “sovereign rights and jurisdiction of Somalia.” Mogadishu had demanded damages over the spat, but was denied any compensation by the court.

Somalia
brought the case to the ICJ in 2014 after failing to resolve the
dispute through other mechanisms, but it has seen a long series of
delays and postponements since. Kenya has strongly objected to
Mogadishu’s claims all along, and effectively withdrew
itself from the legal proceedings last March, claiming it was not given
enough time to prepare its case and that the ICJ judgement would be
biased given the presence of a Somali national, Abdulqawi Yusuf, on the
legal panel overseeing the case.

Though the court said on Tuesday that it “regrets Kenya’s decision not to participate in the oral proceedings held in March 2021,” it noted that it nevertheless had “extensive information about Kenya’s views” and could therefore decide on the case. Summarizing the ruling, chief judge Joan Donoghue said the ICJ “is thus satisfied that the adjusted line… achieves an equitable solution” despite Nairobi’s objections.

In a statement circulated in local media, Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, denounced the ruling, insisting that Nairobi would not accept the court’s decision, as “international tribunals have jurisdiction only to the extent of consent by a state.”

“At the outset, Kenya wishes to indicate that it rejects in totality and does not recognize the findings in the decision,” the statement read, adding, “The
decision embodies a perpetuation of the ICJ’s jurisdictional overreach
and raises a fundamental question on the respect of the sovereignty and
consent of states to international judicial processes.”

This
decision… will strain the relations between the two countries. It
will also reverse the social, political and economic gains; and
potentially aggravate the peace and security situation in the fragile
Horn of Africa Region.

The Kenyan leader vowed to continue to pursue the matter “through institutions of the African Union,” rather than the United Nations-led mechanism under the ICJ.

Mogadishu, for its part, called on its neighbor to “respect the international rule of law” and abide by the court’s ruling, with Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed deeming the decision “fair” and an “opportunity to strengthen the relationship of the two countries.” Kenya’s vocal objections, however, have already signaled further drama over the issue in the future.

While
the ICJ judgement is final, allowing Kenya no ability to appeal, the
body has no way to enforce its rulings, effectively relying on member
states to participate voluntarily. Members can, however, bring disputes
to the UN’s Security Council to seek an enforceable resolution in the
event another state fails to obey a judgement. Somalia has yet to launch
a formal process in the UNSC, and it remains unclear how the country
will proceed should Kenya disregard the ICJ’s ruling.

The
contested area is thought to contain large oil and gas deposits, and is a
lucrative site for fishing vessels. Kenya has exercised de facto
control over the region since 1979, insisting it falls within its formal
territory, and has already granted exploration permits to European
energy firms despite Somalia’s repeated objections. Given the ICJ’s
ruling, the fate of any potential drilling deals with overseas companies
is now in limbo.

Suspected Chinese submarine detected near Amami | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210912_13/

… Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force detected a foreign submarine
navigating in the contiguous zone, just outside the country’s territorial waters east of Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture
on Friday.

The SDF’s destroyer and patrol aircraft followed the submarine, which was underwater and heading northwest…

US Sails Warship Near Chinese-Claimed Reef, Testing New Maritime Law

https://www.nationandstate.com/2021/09/09/us-sails-warship-near-chinese-claimed-reef-testing-new-maritime-law/
US Sails Warship Near Chinese-Claimed Reef, Testing New Maritime Law Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, The US sailed a warship near a Chinese-claimed reef in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday, the first such maneuver since China enacted a new law requiring foreign vessels to report themselves when entering Beijing’s claimed territorial waters. As expected,…

US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson enters South China Sea. – What Now News 24

https://whatnownews24.com/2021/09/07/us-aircraft-carrier-uss-carl-vinson-enters-south-china-sea/

…The Nimitz-class US aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) entered the South China Sea on Monday. On board the carrier there are 5,000 crew and 70 aircraft. The carrier is deployed with the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations that serve to operate in the Indo-Pacific to support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.…

‘Clear attack on Afghan territory’: Taliban condemns US strike allegedly targeting ISIS ‘planner’ behind deadly Kabul blast — RT World News

https://www.rt.com/news/533350-taliban-us-drone-strike/

The Taliban has strongly condemned a US drone strike in
retaliation for the Kabul airport suicide bombing, calling it a “clear
attack” on Afghan soil. The US claimed an ISIS-K “planner” behind the
blast was killed in the strike.

The US carried out the
drone strike early Saturday, targeting a hideout said to be used by
Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), a regional offshoot of Islamic
State (IS, formerly ISIS). The strike was conducted in the eastern
Afghan province of Nangarhar.

The Taliban, which has recently
seized control of most of Afghanistan’s territory and the capital city
of Kabul, has strongly condemned the US strike. The drone attack
constituted a “clear attack on Afghan territory,” the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Saturday.

According to the latest information provided by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, two “high profile” terrorists, described as the “planner” and the “facilitator” of the deadly Kabul airport attack were killed in the strike. Another terrorist was left injured by the attack.

Also on rt.com
Biden says new attack on Kabul airport ‘highly likely’ within next 24-36 hours

The major suicide blast, claimed by ISIS-K, rocked the Kabul
airport on Thursday. The explosion killed at least 170 Afghans,
including 28 Taliban militants. Thirteen US servicemen and two British
nationals were also killed. Hundreds more were injured.

Despite
sharing hardline Islamist views, the Taliban and ISIS-K remain bitter
adversaries, with the two groups embroiled in an open armed conflict for
years already.

The little known seeds of defeat sown in Vietnam by America.

The little known seeds of defeat sown in Vietnam by America.

by tonytran2015.

With the Fall of Kabul it is now an appropriate time to review the causes of the Fall of Saigon. There are many little known seeds of defeat sown by America in Vietnam.

Since 1955, South Vietnam had a strong anti-communist leader (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ngo-Dinh-Diem, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngo_Dinh_Diem).

1/- Diem was and alway wanted to be independent of America. Indeed, two weeks before his overthrow he organized a big pro-government demonstration in Saigon for Sunday 3rd (or 10th?), Novembet, 1963 in front of Saigon Administrative Building (Tòa Đô Chính Saigon). All government employees including teachers were required to attend from early morning to the afternoon. The banners to be displayed include “Vietnam is self-reliant” (Việt Nam Tự Túc Tự Cường) and “Vietnam does not depend on aids” (Vietnam không lệ thuộc viện trợ). Unfortunately for Diem, he was overthrown before he could show publicly his political view point. Those government employees required to attend the meeting also felt relieved with the curfew imposed on 1/11/1963.

The main group to be the backbone for the meeting was the Party for Works and Human Dignity (Đảng Cần Lao, Nhân Vị) headed by Ngo Dinh Nhu, Diem’s brother. In the months preceding November, there were many press releases advising citizen that it was possible to live with a reduced budget. The reduction was estimated by Diem’s government to be about 30%(?).

Any Vietnamese with relatives working for the government in South Vietnam at that time should be able to verify the preparation for that unrealized government organized meeting. There should still be administrative records in various departments including department of education.

2/- Diem was not solely concentrated on military aspect. He has built up a self-suficient economic base for South Vietnam and his talk of self-reliance was not empty.

Diem controlled successfully the mills for rice and had managed a steady export of rice and other agricultural produces in his time.

He had also helped set up MANY light industries in South Vietnam. The list of small industries at that time is long and includes: Sugar producer Hiệp Hòa; Condensed Milk producersTrái Núi (MontBlanc), Nestle, Ông Thọ , Hai đồng tiền; Manufacturers of bottled drinks Phương Toàn and Con Cọp (BGI); Wine and strawberry wine producers in Đà Lạt; Manufacturer Vị Hương Tố producing Monodium Glutamate; Tooth paste manufacturers Perlon and Hynos; Paints Manufacturers Á Đông and Parrot making oil based paints for export; Soap makers Trương Văn Bền (producing Savon 72% phần dầu ), Cô Ba; Textile manufacturer Vinatexco. Ceramic manufacturer Đồ Gốm Lái Thiêu in Lai Thieu. Glass maker; Bicycle manufacturers; Tubes and tyres Manufacturer Micheline; Motorbike frames and accessories, copying designs of European brands Gobel, Remi, Putsch, Velosolex using Sach engines imported from West Germany, Putsch from Austria, Velosolex from France; Producers of electric fans, tools and drill presses in Cholon district of Saigon.

3/- Diem thought that a fair plebiscite could not be carried out in Vietnam when Communist Party operates at night to threaten its opponents. So Diem refused to carry out one prescribe in the Geneva Accords of 1954/07/21.

4/- Diem and his brother Nhu foresaw a protracted guerilla war in Vietnam. Diem set up Strategic Hamlets following a previous Filipino model. That was such a success that the guerrillas were starved and had to survive on the fruits of Waterhyacinth,water-orchid(Eichhornia crassipes), giving the names “trái Bình Định” to such fruits. Bình Định means Pacification, it was the name of Diem’s operation to build strategic hamlets so that peasants could be forcibly resettled in them to separate them from the guerillas.

5/- Diem even set up (few years before 1962) a reloading factory inside the Ammunition Depot at Govap (Kho Đạn Gò Vấp). His press release at that time said that each spent virgin brass riffle shell could be reloaded for a second time and that would reduce munition cost by almost one half.

6/- On the military front, there was a lot of guerrilla activities. American Ambassador wanted to send US forces to Vietnam. It was rumoured that Diem told him that US must sign an alliance treaty with Vietnam to do that otherwise US forces must stay out.

7/- On the political front, America saw that Diem’s government was not a government built according to its own American model. Diem, a devoting Catholic, was said to have had oppressed Buddhism in Vietnam.

8/- So US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge organized a coup against Diem. It was on 1/11/1963.

9/- After the coup, the new government was pressured to follow American plan which

9a- had no emphasis for economic self-sufficiency.

9b- dismantled Diem’s successful Strategic Hamlets Plan.

9c- built a high cost Vietnamese military which relied on large flows of supplies.

10/- There were constant infiltration of South Vietnam by North Vietnam since Diem’s time, America could have used them to point out the violation of South Vietnam by North Vietnam. America ignored them and relied instead solely on the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964/08/04 which later gave ammunition to the anti-war movements. There should be a reflection on how long would it takes North Vietnam to plan and execute the operation caught as Vũng Rô Bay incident .

11/- By the time the Israeli lobby wanted to funnel all American aids to Israel, there was little time to rebuild the local South Vietnam government and its military.

So the seeds for the Fall of Saigon was sown by the American side for a long time with events in sections 9, 10 waiting to be triggers by those in section 11.

Despair in the Empire of Graveyards – LewRockwell | MCViewPoint

https://mcviewpoint.com/2021/08/22/despair-in-the-empire-of-graveyards-lewrockwell/

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/08/fred-reed/despair-in-the-empire-of-graveyards/

Fred Reed

Forty-six years ago in a previous comedy I was in Saigon, recently having been evacuated from Phnom Penh in an Air America—CIA—Caribou carrying, in addition to me, several ARVN junior officers and perhaps a dozen BUFEs (Big Ugly Fucking Elephants, the ceramic pachyderms much beloved of GIs).

America had already embarked on its currently standard policy of forcing small countries into wars and then leaving them in the lurch.

In Cambodia this led to the reign of Pol Pot, the ghastly torture operation at Toul Sleng, and a million or so dead. In the unending fight for democracy, casualties are inevitable.

At the time Saigon was tense because Ban Me Thuot had fallen and the NVA roared down Route One toward Saigon. To anyone with the brains of a doorknob, the American adventure in Vietnam was coming to an end, but the embassy was studiedly unconcerned. Embassies do not have the brains of a doorknob, but are keenly aware of public relations. Acknowledging the inescapable is not their way. As usual, Washington would rather lie than breathe, and did. As in Cambodia, so in Nam, and so later in Afghanistan.

Apparently a genius at State realized that a lot of gringo expats lived in Nam—the number six thousand comes to mind, but may be wrong—and that six thousand hostages taken when Saigon fell would be bad PR. So the embassy in Kabul—Saigon, I meant to say, Saigon—quietly announced that expats could fly out on military aircraft from Ton Son Nhut. They didn’t, or at least many didn’t. The NVA continued its rush toward Saigon.

The expats didn’t fly out because they had Vietnamese wives and families and were not going to leave them, period. These wives may not have had the trappings of pieces of paper and stamps and maybe snippets of ribbon. These things do not seem important in Asian war zones. But the expats regarded them as wives. Period. The family went, or nobody did. Period.

The embassy didn’t understand this because embassies are staffed by people from Princeton with names like Derek who wear pink shirts and don’t know where they are. The ambassador is usually a political appointee being rewarded for campaign contributions and probably doesn’t speak the language as few gringos spikka da Pushto or Vietnamese or Farsi or Khmer. For example, nobody at all in the embassy in Cambodia spoke Khmer. The rank and file of State are better suited to a high-end Rotarian barbecue than a Third World city teeming with strange people in funny clothes eating God knows what horrible things in winding frightening alleys. And so the State people could not understand why an American would marry one “of them,” as in the embassy I once heard a gringa put it. It was a good question. Why would a man marry a pretty, sleek, smart, self-reliant woman who wanted family and children? It was a great mystery.

The Taliban—NVA, I mean–NVA kept coming closer. A PR disaster loomed.

Meanwhile the PR apparatus insisted that the sky wasn’t really falling even as it did and no, no, no the US had not gotten its sit-down royally kicked by a ratpack of rice-propelled paddy maggots, as GIs described the opposition. Many in government seemed to believe this. This was an early instance, to be repeated in another part of Asia, of inventing a fairyland world and then trying to move into it.

Finally State faced reality, a novel concept. It allowed quietly that expats and their families could fly out, military. It was getting late, but better than nothing.

The comedic value of this goat rope grew, becoming more amusing by the hour. I was trying to get a young Vietnamese woman out as she had worked for the embassy and we suspected things might not go well with her under the NVA. Call her Linda. Linda and I took the bus to Tan Son Nhut. The Viet gate guards gave her a hard time, envying her for getting out while they could not, but we got in. I was going to tell the State people that we were married but that while I was in Can Tho, by then in VC hands, see, the marriage papers had slipped from my carrying case. This was obvious bullshit, but I guessed that if I made a huge issue of it they would bend rather than get in a megillah with a reporter, no matter how unimportant.

We found ourselves in a long line of expats with their families leading to the door of a Quonset hut, inside of which a State official was checking papers. Some of the expats had around them what appeared to be small villages of in-laws, brothers of wives, sisters, everything but the family dog. An official with a bull horn told us to write down all their names and the relationships on clipboards being passed around. Tran Thi Tuyet Lan, sister, for example.

Then a genius at the embassy or Foggy Bottom realized that something resembling a third of Viet Nam was about to come out, listed as in-laws. Policy changed, at least in Washington which was as usual blankly ignorant of reality on the ground. At Tan Son Nhut this meant telling men that they had to leave parts of their families behind, which they weren’t going to do. This would not look good above the fold in the Washington Post. Dozens of Americans taken captive because the State Department would not let their families out.” All was confusion because the US had spent years telling itself that the disaster couldn’t happen. What to do?

See the rest here

Be seeing you

America’s Suez: a seminal moment in world politics – Muunyayo

https://muunyayo.com/2021/08/20/americas-suez-a-seminal-moment-in-world-politics/

…The states that matter to the Taliban in their external relations are Pakistan, China,IranandRussia, in that order.None will interfere or condemn how the Taliban operates as a government.Pakistan hashad a long continuing relationship with them in their exile, and is not in the least bit phased by their return to control. China’s interest is two-fold: to get access to the…

…

In geopolitics the Afghan disaster is the USA’s “Suez” moment, one that comes to all imperial powers on the wane. Like the British who were humbled by a painful lesson of diminished power in 1956, the hegemony America thought it could exercise, and the power it thought it had, have been laid bare in all their inadequacy for all the world to see., and learn from…

Lithium, Us news: China Eyes New Business Opportunities In Afghanistan – Nwo Report

https://nworeport.me/2021/08/20/lithium-us-news-china-eyes-new-business-opportunities-in-afghanistan/

While Afghans hold many minerals and rare earths, they lack the infrastructure and equipment to mine it and sell to global buyers.Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”

Source: Ekaterina Blinova | Sputnik

China has signaled that it will establish new diplomatic relations with Kabul after the stabilization of the situation.

There are many unknowns about the country’s future after the Taliban’s takeover, but Beijing could help Afghanistan reap new business opportunities if peace and order are restored, says Asia Pacific commentator Thomas W. Pauken.

…

Biden orders new sanctions against Russian-German pipeline as Merkel meets Putin in Moscow — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

Comment by tonytran2015: Is this the most urgent move now?

https://www.rt.com/russia/532668-biden-sanctions-nord-stream/

US President Joe Biden is ordering his government to place additional sanctions against Nord Stream 2, even as Russian and German
leaders are meeting in Moscow ahead of the gas pipeline’s completion.

In a letter to Congress sent on Friday, Biden argued that “certain Russian energy pipeline projects” would expand Moscow’s influence over EU energy resources and weaken “Ukraine and Eastern flank NATO and EU countries,” thereby threatening “the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

Executive order signed by @POTUS allowing for sanctions to be imposed regarding certain #Russia energy export pipelines. https://t.co/oFPWEvpbcG

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) August 20, 2021

To that end, his new executive order “blocks the property and interests in property of foreign persons” who are “engaging
in certain activities or providing certain services to facilitate construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, among others.”

The State Department and Treasury will identify the specific persons and
entities, in line with the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act (PEESA) of 2019, Biden said, and sanction them “unless a national interest waiver under section 7503(f) of PEESA has been issued for such persons.”


Also on rt.com
‘Thanks to your efforts’:
Putin praises Merkel for improving relations as German leader visits
Moscow for final time as chancellor

The White House made the announcement as German Chancellor Angela
Merkel was meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Nord Stream 2, which is expected to double the volume of Russia’s gas
exports to Germany, was one of the items on their agenda.

The new sanctions apply to the Russian companies Nobility and Constanta, an
insurer involved in the pipeline project, as well as to the supply ship Ostap Sheremeta, Bloomberg
reported, citing State Department sources. The waiver reference
suggests they will not apply to the Nord Stream 2 corporation and its
German chief executive; Biden made the exemption for them in May,
explaining that the pipeline was almost complete and futile efforts to block it weren’t worth endangering the alliance with Berlin.

This means the sanctions will be largely symbolic, as the pipeline is expected to be complete within a week or less. Once operational, it will
allow Russia to significantly increase the amount of natural gas it can
deliver to Germany directly, without depending on Ukraine or Poland for
transit.


Also on rt.com
Putin pledges that Russia will comply with obligations on gas transit through Ukraine, says arrangement may continue past 2024

The US and Germany announced a “deal” in July
that would see Berlin compensate Kiev for potential loss of transit
fees and lobby Moscow to extend the transit arrangement through 2034.
Putin has said Russia will abide by its contractual obligations, but the
Russian government has made it clear that the US-German deal is not legally binding on Moscow.