He says he’s just simple preacher. But on Thursday, Abubakar Ba’asyir, the man widely considered the grandfather of Islamic militancy in Indonesia, was convicted on terror charges and sentenced to 15 years. Ba’asyir, 72, was charged with founding and financing a militant group that ran a terrorist camp in Aceh, northern Sumatra. The …
Military
Five Things the Conflict in Libya Is Not
Libya-related chatter in the U.S. on Wednesday seemed to revolve around how the White House was going to wriggle away from stipulations of the War Powers Act — Swampland’s Jay Newton Small has the answer here. Evidently, the U.S. is acting in a “support” role, with no boots on the ground, and is “not engaged in any of the activities …
Why Has Pakistan Targeted Informants Who Helped Track Bin Laden?
From TIME’s Islamabad contributor Omar Waraich.
In the days following the raid that discovered and killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistan’s top spymaster recalled that he had long made his feelings plain to his American allies. Where the two countries’ interests meet, Lieut. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha told a select group of journalists, there …
Could Iran’s Defiance of Western Nuclear Demands be a Rational Choice?
Despite mounting pressure on Tehran to engage in substantial negotiations over its nuclear program, no serious analyst is expecting a diplomatic breakthrough any time soon. After all, the Iranian leadership continues to signal defiance despite sanctions pressure, and the ferocious power struggle currently underway within the Tehran …
Never Mind Political Risk, Who Can Afford a Syria Intervention?
There are many reasons why Western military action in Syria remains unlikely despite the Assad regime’s sustained brutality against its opponents, and the burgeoning refugee crisis along the Turkish border. For one thing, Western powers remain fearful of the consequences of toppling President Bashar al-Assad in what is fast evolving into …
Despite Modest Gains, Doubts Rise Over The Libyan Operation–And NATO’s Military Future
In what appears to a recurring paradox of the Libyan conflict, heartening news of advances by Libyan rebel forces aided by renewed NATO bombing strikes is being off-set by wider warnings from Western officials about the operation becoming an open-ended slog. As a result, even as reports from the ground now depict setbacks to loyalists of …
With Roman Ruins Under Threat, Libya’s Ancient Past Presses Against Its Present
According to a report on CNN.com, NATO officials overseeing the aerial bombing campaign against the forces of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya could target positions nestled within an ancient complex of Roman ruins. Rebel sources claim that Gaddafi troops have stashed rocket launchers and other military equipment at the site of the ancient city …
Fire in the South China Sea: What a Sino-Vietnamese War May Look Like
First, let’s be clear: China and Vietnam are not about to go to war. But the current atmosphere of tensions, outlined by Beijing correspondent Austin Ramzy last week, leads one to wonder. On June 13, Vietnam conducted live-fire exercises off its coastal waters in the South China Sea. Vietnamese officials claimed the act had little to …
Why the U.S. Secretly Intercepted a North Korean Vessel
The New York Times claims the U.S. managed to turn around a North Korean ship, allegedly bound for Burma carrying weapons parts used to make missiles. The article, quoting anonymous American diplomats present at a meeting in Washington with dignitaries from a number of Southeast Asian governments, details how the American warship U.S.S. …
Video of Extrajudicial Murder Raises the Heat on Pakistan’s Under-Fire Military
[youtube=http://youtu.be/Rx-nifsdD00] Warning: Video contains graphic footage.
A video of Pakistani paramilitary soldiers shooting an unarmed young man in Karachi and leaving him to bleed to death has stoked growing anger at the country’s military. Sarfaraz Shah was stopped by soldiers in the Sindh Rangers, an outfit of the army …
Should South Korea Scrap Its Mandatory Military Service?
Writing for Time.com, Steve Finch reports from the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas on how the guardians of the South are reconsidering a six decades-old policy of mandatory military service.
Disputes over the nation’s mandatory military service — a policy that has been in place for the full 63 years of the country’s
…
Why It’s Too Soon to Celebrate in Yemen
The situation in Yemen took another dramatic turn this weekend, when President Ali Abdullah Saleh left Yemen for Saudi Arabia, sparking both joy and confusion on the streets. In this excellent Bloggingheads video Princeton’s Bernard Haykel and Charles Schmits of Towson University explain the roots of the …
China’s Military Tries to Reassure Wary Neighbors
Years of sharp increases in military spending coupled with territorial disputes with some of its neighbors have contributed to growing suspicions over Chinese intentions. So China’s military brass is on a campaign to reassure governments in the Asia-Pacific region that the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army poses no …