#south asia geopolitics

[deeptalewombat]

Why Arab countries seems to be ignoring pakistan in recent years….

In the complex web of global diplomacy, alliances and friends are always calibrated. In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift in the dynamics between Arab countries and Pakistan.

In fact, during the recent G20 summit, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al-Saud and the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, visited India and returned, while there was no halt in Pakistan to engaging in any bilateral ties.

While there could be multiple reasons for this change, it is essential to examine the possible factors that have contributed to what appears to be a growing indifference towards Pakistan in the Arab region.

There could be multiple reasons ranging from the lack of governance to the rise of religious extremism, from anti-Arab sentiments to the perceived threat of exploitation of Arab resources. Experts have started to speculate about the growing distance between the Arab nations and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

However, Saudi Arabia and UAE will not forsake Pakistan fully, because of its strategic location, its status as a nuclear-armed nation, and its role as a major Muslim country in South Asia make it a valuable partner for these Arab nations. Moreover, creating new adversaries by mere forsaking, won’t be something the Arab nations would like.

Lack of stability and governance

The apparent indifference of Arab nations towards Pakistan in recent years can be largely attributed to concerns about Pakistan’s stability and governance.

Pakistan has grappled with a series of formidable challenges, resulting in an unstable political landscape and hindered economic progress. Consequently, this has led to a diminished level of credibility on the global platform.

The primary contributors to this instability are rooted in internal issues, including corruption, political discord and governance deficiencies. No prime minister in Pakistan has served the full term. They were either cooed or assassinated.

The prevailing “dog-eat-dog” phenomenon within Pakistan has, regrettably, acted as a regressive force, pulling the nation back into what feels like medieval times. This cutthroat environment, marked by ruthless competition has hampered the country’s progress and development.Just like any other nation, Arab countries seek to engage in partnerships with nations that exhibit stability and reliability, as these qualities are pivotal in fostering positive contributions to regional development.

Loyalty and Trust in Arab-Pakistani Relations

Arab countries’ perceptions of Pakistan are influenced significantly by the concept of loyalty and reliability as a friend.

Historically, Saudi Arabia, in particular, has been a steadfast supporter of Pakistan, offering substantial support, including financial bailouts and significant investments.

However, Pakistan’s ongoing challenges in repaying loans and recurrent financial crises have raised legitimate questions about its loyalty and commitment as a trusted partner.

In international diplomacy, every nation seeks stable and self-sufficient allies. When a country finds itself mired in financial turmoil and unable to meet its financial obligations, it inevitably strains its relationships with other nations.

This financial instability becomes a focal point in assessing the reliability of a partner. Consequently, addressing these financial challenges becomes paramount for Pakistan if it hopes to rekindle the trust and respect of its Arab counterparts.

Moving forward

It’s significant to stress that no one wishes ill for Pakistan as it is in the interest of regional stability to have a prosperous and secure Pakistan.

But Pakistan needs to understand that it can get the respect and attention it wants from Arab nations and the rest of the world by being a responsible and reliable country.

On the contrary, India has shown that it can keep its promises and work well with other countries, which has made people notice and respect India on the world stage. Pakistan can learn from India and aim to be a trustworthy partner that helps its region grow and stay peaceful.

The road to regaining its standing and influence in the international arena lies in Pakistan’s commitment to shut down extremism and terrorism completely, and its assurance to have responsible governance, diplomatic maturity, and constructive cooperation with its neighbours and the global community.

The author is a Saudi-based Indian national. He is Director of Milli Chronicle Media London. He holds a PG-Diploma in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI-ML) from IIIT. He did a certificate program in Counterterrorism from the University of Leiden, Netherlands. He tweets under @ZahackTanvir. Views expressed are personal.

Moreover, many Pakistanis behave or act as if they are the sole protectors of Islam and Muslims. They often talk negatively about Arab leaders and governments in their private conversations, criticising them for not following Islam as they see it.

It’s important for them to understand that this kind of meddling and interference can create problems. Criticising the governments of the countries they’re in and trying to impose their own beliefs can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings.

In international relations, it’s essential to be respectful and not interfere in the affairs of the host nation.

Expatriate attitudes and their impact

While Indians, Americans, British, Sri Lankans and others typically come to these nations, earn their livelihoods and eventually return to their home countries, Pakistani expatriates sometimes exhibit a different mindset—one that involves laying claims over the resources of Gulf nations.

This trend has not gone unnoticed, and there are concerns that it could potentially lead to problems in host countries.

One particularly troubling example of this behaviour was exhibited by the hardliner cleric, Salman Hussein Nadwi, who maintained close associations with banned preachers Salman Audah and Yusuf Qardawi. Nadwi went as far as suggesting that the revenue of Saudi Arabia should be considered the property of the entire Muslim Ummah, and thus, Saudi Arabia should share its wealth with all Muslims.

Such claims and narratives, propagated by individuals like Nadwi, can potentially create discord and complications in the countries that host expatriate workers. They disrupt the harmony of the host nations.

[safije]

North Korean soldiers pose for pictures with South Korean tourist and film director Cho Sung-hyung.

South Koreans are forbidden to go to the North but Sung-hyung was able to go using a German passport. Since the Korean War over half a century ago, the nation was split into two. Today there are still many Koreans both in the North and South, hopeful that Korea will be one again.

[kneedeepincynade]

The west calls him a tyrant,but the rest of the world calls him a hero

The post is machine translated

Translation is at the bottom

The collective is on telegram

🇿🇦 Il Sud Africa è un Paese che incarna il Nobile Valore dell'Amicizia (友谊) 🤗

🇨🇳 Ieri, durante la Festa d'Amore in Cina, il Compagno Xi Jinping, in rappresentanza di 1,4 miliardi di Cinesi, è arrivato in Sud Africa, per partecipare al 15° Incontro dei Paesi BRICS, a Pretoria 🤝

🇿🇦 Il Presidente Ramaphosa ha celebrato l'arrivo del Presidente Cinese con una Cerimonia di Benvenuto all'aeroporto e negli Uffici Presidenziali 🎉

🇿🇦 Infine, ha organizzato la consegna, come dono, della Medaglia "Ordine del Sud Africa" al Presidente Xi Jinping 🎖

😍 La Cooperazione con il Sud Africa, così come quella con tutti i Paesi d'Africa, è ad alti livelli. Il Popolo Cinese e i Popoli d'Africa sono pronti, insieme a chi lo vorrà, a costruire insieme la Comunità dal Futuro Condiviso (人类命运共同体) 💕

🌸 Iscriviti 👉 @collettivoshaoshan 😘

🇿🇦 South Africa is a country that embodies the Noble Value of Friendship (友谊) 🤗

🇨🇳 Yesterday, during the Love Festival in China, Comrade Xi Jinping, representing 1.4 billion Chinese, arrived in South Africa to attend the 15th BRICS Meeting in Pretoria 🤝

🇿🇦 President Ramaphosa celebrated the arrival of the Chinese President with a Welcome Ceremony at the airport and in the Presidential Offices 🎉

🇿🇦 Finally, he arranged for the "Order of South Africa" ​​Medal to be presented to President Xi Jinping as a gift 🎖

😍 Cooperation with South Africa, as well as with all African countries, is at a high level. The Chinese People and the Peoples of Africa are ready, together with whoever wants to, to build together the Community of the Shared Future (人类命运共同体) 💕

🌸 Subscribe 👉 @collettivoshaoshan 😘

[meluhha]

“Narasimhan et al. (2019) argue that the ASI component itself formed in the early 2nd millennium BCE from a mixture of a population associated with the Indus Valley civilization and a population resident in peninsular India.[69] They conclude that one of these two groups may have been the source of proto-Dravidian.[70] An Indus valley origin would be consistent with the location of Brahui and with attempts to interpret the Indus script as Dravidian.[70][71] On the other hand, reconstructed Proto-Dravidian terms for flora and fauna provide support for a peninsular Indian origin.[70][72][73]”

[newspatron]

India's Drone Power Play: MQ-9B Reapers Soar High

What are your thoughts on India's drone ambitions? Share your insights and questions in the comments below!

India’s Drone Ambitions Take Flight: A Closer Look at the MQ-9B Reaper DealThe Strategic ImperativeThe Deal in the MakingThe Road AheadUnveiling the MQ-9B Reaper: The Hunter-Killer Drone with a Multitude of MissionsMQ-9B Reaper: The Specs and SkillsMission: Impossible? Not for the ReaperIndia’s Ace in the Hole?India’s Drone Landscape: Challenges and OpportunitiesNavigating the Technological…

[kesarijournal]

Unmasking the Puppeteers: How U.S. Government-Funded Analysts Shape South Asia's Narrative

In the swirling world of geopolitics, the narratives we consume often come from voices we trust. But what if those voices, presenting themselves as independent experts, are subtly tethered to the very governments they discuss? It’s time to pull back the curtain on two of the most influential American pundits on South Asia, Derek Grossman and Michael Kugelman, and expose the hidden strings of U.S.…

[scientificinquirer-blog]

REAL TALK: America's Faltering Steps in the Global Tech Race Is A Stark Contrast to China's Bold Leap Forward.

Want to know how much the United States is willing to compete (there’s no decoupling, mind you) with China for the world’s top slot? Simple. Follow the money. It ain’t even funny. Trust me. Two recent articles make this abundantly clear. A recent Science article, “Biden’s lean science budget could mean tough choices for agencies“, paints a somber picture of the United States’ commitment to…

[ricisidro]

Will 🇺🇸 #US - 🇵🇭#Philippines #military ties make Manila a target of 🇨🇳 #China?

Shipment of fuel raises suspicions US is building up military supplies in this #SoutheastAsia nation.

#geopolitics #diplomacy #Taiwan #Malaysia #Vietnam #SouthChinaSea #ForeignAffairs #ForeignRelations #InternationalAffairs #InternationalRelations

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3249126/south-china-sea-will-us-philippine-military-ties-make-manila-target-chinese-forces via @scmpnews

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"....DESIGNED TO AMPLIFY FEAR OF COMMUNISM IN A NEWLY-DIVIDED VIETNAM."

PIC INFO: Resolution at 1000x1460 -- Spotlight on an anti-communist propaganda poster titled "Communism Means Terrorism," disseminated by the U.S. Information Agency, 15 September 1954. Courtesy of the National Archives.

POSTER OVERVIEW: "This poster, created and distributed internationally by the United States Information Agency (USIA), was designed to amplify fear of communism in a newly-divided Vietnam.

This poster from 1954 reads, "Anywhere there is communism, there is terrorism and assassination!" Earlier in 1954, the Geneva Accords had called for a temporary partition of Vietnam at the 17th Parallel — creating a communist state in the North and a French-backed non-communist state in the South.

A series of events intensified the "Red Scare" that gripped Americans in the 1940s and 50s. In 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested an atomic bomb. Chinese Communists formed the People's Republic of China that same year. North Korea invaded South Korea the next year. Many interpreted these events as evidence of a global Communist plot.

USIA posters were designed to promote U.S. values; to expose alleged Communist falsehoods, threats and crimes and to strengthen understanding of and support for U.S. objectives in the Cold War."

-- STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA

Source: https://history.iowa.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/cold-war-vietnam/communism-means-terrorism.

[suchananewsblog]

Art Dubai and geopolitical positioning

This year’s edition of Art Dubai, West Asia’s most significant art fair (which ended on March 5), was its strongest yet, with 130 galleries from 40 countries participating. Now in its 16th edition, the fair positions itself as a window into the world of the Global South — an oft contentious term for countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania — whose visual artistic practices would be…

[somerabbitholes]

Hey, Do you have any foreign policy reading recommendations?

Here are a few. Since I don't know what exactly you're looking for and foreign policy is huge, I've tried to go with a diverse bunch

The Revenge of Geography by Robert D. Kaplan: about what geography can tell us about conflicts and possible directions that international politics would take; really good analysis, really good starting point to learn how to think about geopolitics. You can check out his other books too, he's quite good

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall: more on what the map and geography tells us about global diplomacy and international politics

Belt and Road by Bruno Macaes: about the Belt and Road project and the kind of international order it and China through the project envisions; the politics of the project

The Chip War by Chris Miller: it's a history of semiconductors and through them, about global supply chains and industrial manufacturing circuits and how geopolitics and foreign policy impacts industry/business

The Blood Telegram by Gary J Bass: about US involvement in South Asia during the Cold War and particularly how it shaped politics between India, Pakistan and China

War by Margaret MacMillan: not strictly foreign policy, but it is about the place of war in history and politics

I'd also just recommend reading magazines and news and reporting about international politics; it's always more timely and easier to get the hang of. You can check out Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Politico, Carnegie Endowment, Lowy Institute to start with; most of them also have podcasts

[sansculottides]

𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝘁𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗙𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀

On June 14, 2024, international news agency Reuters exposed a secret disinformation campaign by the US Department of State meant to discredit Chinese-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines amongst Filipinos. The US anti-vax fake news campaign ran from 2020 to 2021, and involved the use of dummy social media accounts posting false and unscientific information about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines, as well as weaponizing pervasive racist conspiracy theories that the COVID-19 pandemic was created and spread by the Chinese government.

We demand an immediate investigation by the Philippine government on the matter, and for decisive action to be taken by the government to hold the US accountable for its deception campaign against the Filipino people. The Reuters exposé has uncovered a clear national security threat to the Filipino people. The US carried out its fake news campaign at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was ravaging the Filipino people, and worsened already widespread anti-vaccination beliefs amongst the public.

We are appalled by the glaring lack of Philippine media coverage on the Reuters exposé. An international scandal has just been uncovered. How can truth be spoken to power, and how can political action be taken by citizens, if the media does not play its part? Silence is silence, whether due to the threat of repression or the suffocating consensus by media capitalists that unsavory things be left unsaid. We call on all media workers, whether working at mainstream media organizations, independent media, social media, or campus media, to take the lead themselves and focus public attention on this issue.

The year-long campaign clearly demonstrates the untrustworthiness of the US as a strategic diplomatic and military partner of the Philippines and of all Global South countries. The campaign was initiated by the Trump administration and was first focused on the Philippines. Later on, the project was expanded further into Central Asia and the Middle East. It took the Biden administration three full months to end the globalized and state-sponsored mass disinformation project.

This issue is not just a problem of specific administrations. The year-long campaign should remind the workers and the masses of the Philippines and the world that the US remains the world’s foremost imperialist power. Its overriding foreign policy concern is the maintenance of its dominant global military and economic position, and its means are deception and force.

The US’ covert effort to corrupt public discourse in the Philippines should prompt the Marcos administration to question the intentions of its close diplomatic and military ally. The disinformation campaign was motivated primarily by the US’ geopolitical rivalry with China, which has, since the former’s Pivot to Asia in 2012, increasingly taken on a more militarized and antagonistic form. US military and intelligence agencies are manufacturing consent in the Philippines to win the hearts and minds of the Filipino masses in its effort to overpower China through military means. This is its real goal, and not to aid the Filipino people to address Chinese maritime aggression.

The US has no legitimacy to pose as a champion of international laws and norms and as a partner to secure the Philippines’ national sovereignty. It conducted its campaign to serve its own geopolitical interests with no regard for the immense need of the Philippines to vaccinate its citizens against the pandemic. Once again, Washington D.C. has Filipino blood on its hands.

US interference in Philippine public life cannot be left without consequences. Philippine foreign policy should pivot away from its longstanding reliance on the US and towards ASEAN, and away from addressing Chinese aggression through militarized means and towards regional multilateral diplomacy. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨. 𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨!

📷 AP

Reposted from SPARK - Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (Union of Progressive Youth), a socialist youth organization in the Philippines.

[curtwilde]

i have a genuine question, what is arab colonisation? Is it a real thing? The context where I have read about it was a bigoted islamophic hindutvabadi page so I don't know if it's true or just part of their larger lie. Do you have any readings, sources on it?

According to Marriam Abboud Hourani, Arabization is a sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Arab society becomes Arab, meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Arabic language and culture. After the rise of Islam in Hejaz, there were a series of conquests in the Middle East and North Africa, after which the Rashidun Caliphate, the first Muslim empire was established. Arab culture spread through the Middle East and North Africa along with the spread of Islam, and in some places pre-Islamic religions and cultures were violently suppressed. These days, most Islamic countries have reconciled elements of their older traditions with Islam. The older religions survive among minorities in some places - Christians, Kurds, Ezidis and Mizrahi Jews for example and are still oppressed under some Islamic fundamentalist countries, like Iran.

Often, the term Arabization or Arab colonialism is used interchangeably with Islamic fundamentalism. On paper they mean entirely different things. However, in reality Islamic fundamentalists revere Arabic culture because the Quran was written in Arabic and events of the Quran are set in Arabia. The difference between the two is a slippery slope and I will let you decide on that.

The term colonization is such a red herring these days and is used to fit a lot of problematic narratives. It is a favourite with zionists, which is probably where these hindutvadis picked it up. And if you come across it on the internet I'd advise you to re-examine the source as they may have an anti-Muslim bias. That said, Islamic fundamentalism is very much a real thing and I wholeheartedly believe that any form of religious fundamentalism, and especially those fundamentalists that try to gain administrative and jurisdictional power for themselves, are a problem. All government and administrative bodies, across the world, should be compulsorily secular.

Now, in the context of South Asia, Arabization in it's strict meaning of the word, has nothing to do with our geopolitical history. Our Muslim rulers were all of Turkish, Afghan, and Central Asian origins with no connection to Arabia. Even culturally, elements of Indian Muslim culture can be traced back to Persia rather than Arabia; and linguistically the Persian influence on Hindi/Urdu is obvious. The term Arab colonization is often used by hindutvadis to mean the spread Islam in the subcontinent but of course they see the Islamic world as a monolith and I doubt they have the reading comprehension to know the difference even if they bothered to look it up.

Books:

The History of the Middle East by Peter Mansfield is a great place to start.

Islam, a short history by Karen Armstrong - very quick read + unbiased take on the Arab conquests.

The Arabization of Islam by Al Mubarak Nadir Shabaz

History of North Africa by Charles Andre Julien

From the holy mountain: a journey among the Christians of the Middle East by William Dalrymple

The Kurds: a contemporary history by Patrick S. Clancy

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon for a general idea of colonization.

Mutuals if you have any other recommendations please feel free to add.

[kneedeepincynade]

The dpp can cry about it all it wants,but the one China Principle is perfectly in line with the policies of the international community

The post is machine translated

Translation is at the bottom

The collective is on telegram

😘 DIALOGO CINA-PARLACEN | DAL PRINCIPIO DELL'UNICA CINA ALLA COOPERAZIONE A MUTUO VANTAGGIO 🥰

🇵🇦 Amado Cerrud - Presidente del PARLACEN, ha rilasciato un'intervista a CCTV, in cui ha ricordato che il Principio dell'Unica Cina costituisce il Consenso Universale della Comunità Internazionale, e che la decisione di includere la Repubblica Popolare Cinese come osservatore permanente del Parlamento Centro-Americano rappresenta la Tendenza dei Tempi 😍

🌎 Il PARLACEN racchiude sei nazioni: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Repubblica Dominicana e Panama, e funge da istituzione politica e organo parlamentare del Sistema di Integrazione Centro-Americano 🤝

👍 Il Popolo Cinese apprezza la corretta decisione da parte del PARLACEN di revocare lo "Status di Osservatore Permanente" del cosiddetto "Yuan Legislativo" del regime-fantoccio di Taiwan, in quanto la Regione di Taiwan è Cinese e appartiene alla Cina, e lo "Yuan Legislativo" non ha alcun valore legale a livello internazionale. La sua inclusione nel PARLACEN è il frutto di una geopolitica anti-Cinese molto datata, ed è giusto che un tale errore sia stato corretto 👍

🇨🇳 只有一个中国, 台湾是中国的一部分 ⭐️

😍 L'accettazione dell'Assemblea Nazionale del Popolo, l'Organo Legislativo più importante della Repubblica Popolare Cinese, come osservatore permanente del PARLACEN dimostra la saggezza e la correttezza nelle decisioni di questo organismo dell'America Centrale 😉

🇵🇦 Dopodiché, Cerrud ha trattato il Tema della Cooperazione con la Cina, dichiarando: «Dal punto di vista economico e commerciale, la Cina è il centro della crescita globale, e il collegamento con la Cina aiuterà il nostro sviluppo» 📊

❤️ La Cina sarà il motore della crescita dell'Economia del Mondo nel 2023 📈

📈 L'impressionante Sviluppo della Cina ha creato numerose opportunità per l'America Centrale, ha sottolineato Cerrud:

💬 «Vorrei sottolineare ancora una volta la mia gratitudine al Governo e al Popolo della Repubblica Popolare Cinese. Sono profondamente colpito dallo Sviluppo che il Popolo Cinese ha raggiunto negli ultimi anni. [...] Noi Latinoamericani vediamo la Cina come un luogo pieno di opportunità» 💕

🇵🇦 Cerrud è Panamense, e ha trattato - durante l'intervista, il Tema del Legame tra Cina e Panama:

💬 «Gli elementi della Cultura Cinese sono stati integrati a Panama in molti settori, dall'istruzione alla cucina» 😍

💬 «Vorremmo congratularci con il Popolo Cinese per i suoi continui progressi attraverso sforzi incessanti, e per l'enfasi posta sull'eccellente Cultura Tradizionale», ha dichiarato Cerrud 🇵🇦

🌸 Iscriviti 👉 @collettivoshaoshan 😘

😘 CHINA-PARLACEN DIALOGUE | FROM THE ONE CHINA PRINCIPLE TO MUTUAL BENEFIT COOPERATION 🥰

🇵🇦 Amado Cerrud - President of PARLACEN, gave an interview to CCTV, in which he reminded that the One China Principle constitutes the Universal Consensus of the International Community, and that the decision to include the People's Republic of China as a permanent observer of the Central American Parliament represents the Trend of the Times 😍

🌎 PARLACEN includes six nations: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Panama, and serves as a political institution and parliamentary body of the Central American Integration System 🤝

👍 The Chinese People appreciate the correct decision by PARLACEN to revoke the "Permanent Observer Status" of the so-called "Legislative Yuan" of the Taiwanese puppet regime, as the Taiwan Region is Chinese and belongs to China, and the " Legislative Yuan" has no legal value internationally. Its inclusion in PARLACEN is the result of a very dated anti-Chinese geopolitics, and it is right that such a mistake has been corrected 👍

🇨🇳 只有一个中国, 台湾是中国的一部分 ⭐️

😍 The acceptance of the National People's Congress, the most important legislative body of the People's Republic of China, as a permanent observer of PARLACEN demonstrates the wisdom and correctness in the decisions of this Central American body 😉

🇵🇦 Afterwards, Cerrud addressed the topic of cooperation with China, declaring: «From an economic and commercial point of view, China is the center of global growth, and the connection with China will help our development» 📊

❤️ China will be the engine of growth of the World Economy in 2023 📈

📈 China's impressive development has created numerous opportunities for Central America, stressed Cerrud:

💬 «I would like to once again underline my gratitude to the Government and People of the People's Republic of China. I am deeply impressed by the development that the Chinese people have achieved in recent years. [...] We Latin Americans see China as a place full of opportunities" 💕

🇵🇦 Cerrud is Panamanian, and during the interview he discussed the topic of the link between China and Panama:

💬 «Elements of Chinese culture have been integrated in Panama into many sectors, from education to cuisine» 😍

💬 «We would like to congratulate the Chinese People for their continuous progress through unremitting efforts, and for their emphasis on excellent Traditional Culture», said Cerrud 🇵🇦

🌸 Subscribe 👉 @collectivoshaoshan 😘

[mariacallous]

In May, pro-independence demonstrations spread across New Caledonia, a small Pacific island territory that has been ruled by France since 1853. Waving the flags of the Indigenous Kanak people as well as the flag of the pro-independence Socialist National Liberation Front, demonstrators took to the streets to protest voting reform measures that would give greater political power to recently arrived Europeans.

Curiously, however, they also waved another flag—that of Azerbaijan. Although the similar colors of the New Caledonian and Azerbaijani flags led some to speculate whether the demonstrators had inadvertently acquired the wrong flag, other observers viewed the presence of the Azerbaijani flag as an indication of ideological support from Baku.

It turns out, the Azerbaijani flags were not mistaken. Since March 2023, Baku has strategically cultivated support for the New Caledonian independence movement under the guise of anti-colonial solidarity. As payback for French diplomatic backing of Armenia after Azerbaijan’s 2020 invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku has disseminated anti-French disinformation related to New Caledonia. Following the outbreak of protests this May, France publicly accused Azerbaijan of doing so.

Baku’s influence campaign successfully inflamed long-simmering hostilities toward French descendants in New Caledonia, culminating in violent demonstrations and riots, which triggered a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron—as well as French police forces—even though Macron ultimately issued a de facto suspension of the reforms.

The incident in New Caledonia is hardly an isolated one. Anti-colonialism, which rose as a powerful ideological force during the 1960s and 1970s, is having a resurgence, and its philosophical underpinnings continue to shape some of the biggest geopolitical crises of the day, from Gaza to Ukraine. But unlike the decolonization movements of the Cold War era, this wave is being driven by opportunistic illiberal regimes that exploit anti-colonial rhetoric to advance their own geopolitical agendas—and, paradoxically, their own colonial-style land grabs.

The basic aims of the decolonization movement during the Cold War were twofold: securing national independence for countries colonized by the West and preserving sovereignty for postcolonial countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, whether through armed struggle or ideological diplomacy. Focused on ending the Vietnam War and fighting white minority rule in southern Africa, the movement quickly became the cause célèbre of the international left.

Despite divergent views on economic and social issues, the movement’s proponents coalesced around a central belief that Western imperialism, particularly the U.S. variant, singlehandedly held back the advancement and development of what was then known as the third world—ignoring the fact that many anti-colonial movements often had their own internal issues of graft and corruption. Disheartened by the West’s history of imperialism, many on the left even embraced authoritarian leaders, such as Zimbabwe’s anti-colonial freedom fighter-turned-despot Robert Mugabe and even former North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung.

Today, the anti-colonial movement is less about securing independence for the few remaining colonial outposts or debating the proper developmental pathway for countries in the global south. Bolstered by powerful state-backed media corporations in the capitals of authoritarian states, the current movement is largely a Trojan horse for the advancement of global illiberalism and a revision of the international rules-based order.

Authoritarian governments in Eurasia have taken their influence operations to social media, where they hope to inflame grievances—possibly into actual conflicts—to divert the attention of Washington and its allies from areas of strategic importance. This is the case for not only Azerbaijan, but also for China in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Iran, which provides financial support to anti-Israel protest groups in the United States.

But more than any other country, it is Russia that is attempting to ride the resurgent anti-colonial wave and position itself as a leading voice of the global south. Russian leadership describes itself as the vanguard of the “global majority” and claims to be leading “the objective process of building a more just multipolar world.”

After his visit to Pyongyang in June, Putin wrote in North Korea’s main newspaper that the United States seeks to impose a “global neo-colonial dictatorship” on the world. In the United States, several Russians alleged by prosecutors to be intelligence agents have been accused of funneling financial support to an anti-colonial Black socialist group to promote pro-Russian narratives and justify Russia’s illegal military actions in Ukraine. And in regard to New Caledonia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova fanned the flames when she said in May that the tensions there stemmed “from the lack of finality in the process of its decolonization.”

Moscow’s primary stage to project itself as the spearhead of a new global anti-colonial movement is Africa. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union provided ideological and military support to numerous national liberation movements and anti-colonial struggles in sub-Saharan Africa on the grounds of proletarian internationalism and socialist solidarity. According to a declassified 1981 CIA report, Namibia’s SWAPO guerilla group received nearly all of its arms from the Soviet Union, and Soviet military personnel trained South African anti-apartheid guerrillas in Angola-based training camps. Moscow also trained and educated a large number of African independence fighters and anti-colonial rebels at Communist Party schools and military institutes back in the Soviet Union.

This legacy of Soviet internationalism and socialist goodwill generated lingering sympathy for the Kremlin, and Russia continues to be widely perceived as a torchbearer of anti-colonial justice and national independence on the continent, particularly in the Francophone Sahel region. Before his death in August 2023, former Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin blamed instability in the Sahel on Western interventionism, saying, “The former colonizers are trying to keep the people of African countries in check. In order to keep them in check, the former colonizers are filling these countries with terrorists and various bandit formations. Thus creating a colossal security crisis.”

Despite Moscow’s own imperialist legacy and its current war of recolonization in Ukraine, Russia is increasingly seen as an anti-Western stalwart in the Sahel and a key supporter of anti-French political movements. Kremlin-backed mercenaries from the Wagner Group’s successor, Africa Corps, have supplanted French security services as the primary counterinsurgency force for fragile West African governments. And in addition to the counter-insurgency operations, Russian mercenaries have provided personal protection for key African military and government leaders.

But the shift from French to Russian interventionism in the Sahel raises the question of just how much national sovereignty the governments in the affected countries have.

Military juntas in West Africa exploit anti-French sentiments among the general public in order to obscure the fact that they are merely relying on a different foreign state for regime security, effectively trading one colonialist power for another. Most importantly for the juntas, unlike the French, the Russian security forces have no qualms about violently cracking down on political dissent and committing war crimes. For example, in late March 2022, Russian mercenaries assisted the Malian military in summarily executing around 300 civilians in the Malian town of Moura, according to Human Rights Watch.

With its colonial baggage, France has struggled to penetrate pro-Russian propaganda in its former African colonies. For instance, Afrique Média, an increasingly popular Cameroon-based television network, often echoes the Kremlin’s positions on international events. In April 2022, Afrique Média promoted a Russia-produced propaganda video that depicted a Russian mercenary escaping his African jihadi captors and then revealing U.S, and French flags behind an Islamic State flag, suggesting that these Western countries are supporting religious extremists.

Russia’s anti-colonial crusade belies its efforts to advance its own political and economic interests. Moscow’s efforts in Africa are borne from a desire to undercut Western influence in the region; shore up diplomatic support for itself in multilateral forums, such as the United Nations; and reinstate Russia’s reputation as a global superpower. Moscow may also seek to secure access to Africa’s vast natural resources, including criterial minerals, and take advantage of illicit networks, such as illegal gold mining, to circumvent international sanctions and fund its war in Ukraine.

Authoritarian regimes, including those in Russia, China, and Azerbaijan, would not exploit anti-colonial rhetoric if it did not continue to resonate in the global south. Long-standing economic disparities with the global north and painful histories of Western interventionism, especially the post-9/11 U.S. wars in the Middle East, have fostered sympathy for revisionist authoritarian regimes. The current humanitarian crisis in Gaza has heightened feelings of Western hypocrisy among some commentators and public figures in the global south.

As Kenyan journalist Rasna Warah explains, “There is deep sympathy and support [in the West] for Ukrainians who are being bombed and made homeless by Russia but Palestinians being killed and being denied food and water are seen as deserving of their fate.”

Therefore, it is crucial for Western governments to acknowledge the shortcomings of the current international liberal order to governments in the global south, rather than attempting to gaslight them into believing that it is equitable and just. The Western-led international order has a long history of violence and instability in the developing world. The trauma of Western imperialism and colonialism should not be forgotten but rather reworked into developmental programs that help to build robust institutions and infrastructure in the global south.

For example, Germany’s joint declaration with Namibia in 2021, which acknowledged the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples between 1904 and 1908, committed $1.2 billion over the next 30 years to funding aid projects in Namibia, which are more likely to have a long-lasting positive effect on the development of Namibian institutions than individual financial handouts to descendants of colonial-era violence.

In the near term, the United States and its Western allies should actively counter propaganda from Baku, Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing that seeks to portray these nations as free from interventionist pasts. Exposing their disinformation campaigns in the global south—starting with labeling social media accounts linked to state-run media—could help to alert the public to the presence of bad-faith actors, who exploit genuine anti-colonial grievances for their own political and economic goals.

While the Soviets were certainly no saints, there was a genuine internationalist and collectivist spirit in their interactions with the Cold War anti-colonial movement. The same cannot be said for Russia today.

[andmaybegayer]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/29/india-assassination-raw-sikhs-modi/

cool cool cool

(full text below the cut)

An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India

Greg Miller, Gerry Shih, Ellen Nakashima

The White House went to extraordinary lengths last year to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a state visit meant to bolster ties with an ascendant power and potential partner against China.

Tables on the South Lawn were decorated with lotus blooms, the symbol of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. A chef was flown in from California to preside over a vegetarian menu. President Biden extolled the shared values of a relationship “built on mutual trust, candor and respect.”

But even as the Indian leader was basking in U.S. adulation on June 22, an officer in India’s intelligence service was relaying final instructions to a hired hit team to kill one of Modi’s most vocal critics in the United States.

The assassination is a “priority now,” wrote Vikram Yadav, an officer in India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW, according to current and former U.S. and Indian security officials.

Yadav forwarded details about the target, Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, including his New York address, according to the officials and a U.S. indictment. As soon as the would-be assassins could confirm that Pannun, a U.S. citizen, was home, “it will be a go ahead from us.”

Yadav’s identity and affiliation, which have not previously been reported, provide the most explicit evidence to date that the assassination plan — ultimately thwarted by U.S. authorities — was directed from within the Indian spy service. Higher-ranking RAW officials have also been implicated, according to current and former Western security officials, as part of a sprawling investigation by the CIA, FBI and other agencies that has mapped potential links to Modi’s inner circle.

In reports that have been closely held within the American government, U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that the operation targeting Pannun was approved by the RAW chief at the time, Samant Goel. That finding is consistent with accounts provided to The Washington Post by former senior Indian security officials who had knowledge of the operation and said Goel was under extreme pressure to eliminate the alleged threat of Sikh extremists overseas. U.S. spy agencies have more tentatively assessed that Modi’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, was probably aware of RAW’s plans to kill Sikh activists, but officials emphasized that no smoking gun proof has emerged.

Neither Doval nor Goel responded to calls and text messages seeking comment.

This examination of Indian assassination plots in North America, and RAW’s increasingly aggressive global posture, is based on interviews with more than three dozen current and former senior officials in the United States, India, Canada, Britain, Germany and Australia. Citing security concerns and the sensitivity of the subject, most spoke on the condition of anonymity.

That India would pursue lethal operations in North America has stunned Western security officials. In some ways, however, it reflects a profound shift in geopolitics. After years of being treated as a second-tier player, India sees itself as a rising force in a new era of global competition, one that even the United States cannot afford to alienate.

Asked why India would risk attempting an assassination on U.S. soil, a Western security official said: “Because they knew they could get away with it.”

The foiled assassination was part of an escalating campaign of aggression by RAW against the Indian diaspora in Asia, Europe and North America, officials said. The plot in the United States coincided with the June 18 shooting death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., near Vancouver — an operation also linked to Yadav, according to Western officials. Both plots took place amid a wave of violence in Pakistan, where at least 11 Sikh or Kashmiri separatists living in exile and labeled terrorists by the Modi government have been killed over the past two years.

The Indian intelligence service has ramped up its surveillance and harassment of Sikhs and other groups overseas perceived as disloyal to the Modi government, officials said. RAW officers and agents have faced arrest, expulsion and reprimand in countries including Australia, Germany and Britain, according to officials who provided details to The Post that have not previously been made public.

The revelations have added to Western concerns about Modi, whose tenure has been marked by economic growth and rising global stature for India, but also deepening authoritarianism. A recent report by Freedom House, a human rights organization, listed India among the world’s practitioners of “transnational repression,” a term for governments’ use of intimidation or violence against their own citizens — dissidents, activists, journalists — in others’ sovereign territory.

India is part of an expanding roster of countries employing tactics previously associated with China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other repressive regimes. It is a trend fueled by factors ranging from surging strains of nationalism and authoritarianism to the spread of social media and spyware that both empower and endanger dissident groups.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to respond to detailed questions submitted by The Post or provide comment for this article. Responding to questions raised by a Post reporter at a news briefing last week, spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said that India was still investigating the allegations and that the Pannun case “equally impacts our national security.”

Jaiswal referred reporters to previous ministry statements that targeted killings are “not our policy.”

For the Biden administration, which has spent three years cultivating closer ties with India, the assassination plots have pitted professed values against strategic interests.

Last July, White House officials began holding high-level meetings to discuss ways to respond without risking a wider rupture with India, officials said. CIA Director William J. Burns and others have been deployed to confront officials in the Modi government and demand accountability. But the United States has so far imposed no expulsions, sanctions or other penalties.

Even the U.S. criminal case reflects this restraint. Senior officials at the Justice Department and FBI had pushed to prosecute Yadav, officials said, a step that would have implicated RAW in a murder-for-hire conspiracy. But while a U.S. indictment unsealed in November contained the bombshell allegation that the plot was directed by an Indian official, it referred to Yadav as only an unnamed co-conspirator, “CC-1,” and made no mention of the Indian spy agency.

Justice Department officials who took part in the White House deliberations sided against those urging criminal charges against Yadav. Administration officials denied any undue influence. “Charging decisions are the prerogative of law enforcement alone,” said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson, “and the Biden NSC has rigorously respected that independence.”

The only U.S. charges made public to date are against an alleged middleman, Nikhil Gupta, who is described in the indictment as an Indian drug and weapons trafficker enlisted to hire a contract killer. Gupta, an Indian national who has denied the charges, was arrested in Prague on June 30 and remains in prison. He is awaiting a Czech court ruling on a U.S. request for his extradition.

Even in recent days, the Biden administration has taken steps to contain the fallout from the assassination plot. White House officials warned the Modi government this month that The Post was close to publishing an investigation that would reveal new details about the case. It did so without notifying The Post.

Laying a trap

For decades, RAW was regarded as a regional player, preoccupied by proxy wars with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency. Under Modi, however, RAW has been wielded as a weapon against dissidents in India’s vast global diaspora, according to current and former U.S. and Indian officials.

The U.S. operation shows how RAW tried to export tactics it has used for years in countries neighboring India, officials said, including the use of criminal syndicates for operations it doesn’t want traced to New Delhi. It also exposed what former Indian security officials described as disturbing lapses in judgment and tradecraft.

After the plot against Pannun failed, the decision to entrust Yadav with the high-risk mission sparked recriminations within the agency, former officials said. Rather than joining RAW as a junior officer, Yadav had been brought in midcareer from India’s less prestigious Central Reserve Police Force, said one former official. As a result, the official said, Yadav lacked training and skills needed for an operation that meant going up against sophisticated U.S. counterintelligence capabilities.

Attempts by The Post to locate or contact Yadav were unsuccessful. A former Indian security official said he was transferred back to the Central Reserve Police Force after the Pannun plot unraveled.

The U.S. affidavit describes Yadav as an “associate” of Gupta who procured the alleged drug trafficker’s help by arranging for the dismissal of criminal charges he faced in India. Gupta had a history of collaborating with India’s security services on operations in Afghanistan and other countries, according to a person with knowledge of his background, but he had never been used for jobs in the West.

Petr Slepicka, a lawyer in Prague who represents Gupta, declined to comment on the case except to say that his client denies the charges against him. In court filings in India, Gupta’s family members described him as an innocent “middle-class businessman” whose arrest was a case of mistaken identity. They said he traveled to Prague “for tourism” and to explore new markets for a “handicraft” business, according to the court filings.

Yadav and Gupta spent weeks trading encrypted texts about the plot to kill Pannun, according to a U.S. affidavit filed in support of the request for Gupta’s extradition. To find a willing assassin, Gupta reached out to someone he had been in touch with for at least eight years and understood to be a drug and weapons dealer. In reality, according to the affidavit, the supposed dealer was an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The two were discussing “another potential firearms and narcotics transaction,” according to the affidavit when, on May 30, Gupta abruptly asked “about the possibility of hiring someone to murder a lawyer living in New York.”

From that moment, U.S. agents had an inside but incomplete view of the unfolding conspiracy. They orchestrated Gupta’s introduction to a supposed assassin who was actually an undercover agent, according to court filings. They captured images of cash changing hands in a car in New York City — a $15,000 down payment on a job that was to cost $100,000 when completed.

At one point, the indictment said, U.S. agents even got footage of Gupta turning his camera toward three men “dressed in business attire, sitting around a conference room,” an apparent reference to Indian operatives overseeing the mission. “We are all counting on you,” Gupta told the purported assassin on the video call, according to the indictment.

Yadav indicated that there would be more jobs after Pannun, including one “big target” in Canada. But a separate hit team got to that assignment first, according to the U.S. indictment, suggesting that RAW was working with multiple criminal elements.

Hours after Nijjar was gunned down in his car on June 18 outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, Yadav sent a video clip to Gupta “showing Nijjar’s bloody body slumped in his vehicle,” according to the indictment.

The message arrived as U.S. authorities were laying a trap for Gupta. Seeking to draw him out of India and into a friendly jurisdiction, U.S. agents used their DEA informant to persuade Gupta to travel to the Czech Republic for what he was led to believe would be a clandestine meeting with his American contact, according to officials familiar with the operation.

Gupta arrived in Prague on June 30 — 11 days after Czech authorities, acting at the behest of U.S. officials, had secretly issued an arrest warrant for him.

As he exited Vaclav Havel Airport, Gupta was intercepted by Czech police, who ushered him into a vehicle in which two U.S. federal agents were waiting, according to court filings submitted by Gupta’s family in India. He was questioned for hours while the car meandered around the city. His laptop was seized and his phone held to his face to unlock it, according to the family petition.

Gupta was eventually deposited in Prague’s Pankrac Prison, where he remains awaiting possible extradition. Seeking help, Gupta’s family tried to reach Yadav last year but could find no trace of him, according to a person familiar with the matter. After months of near-constant contact with Gupta, the person said, CC-1 had “disappeared.”

Engaging with the underworld

Though Yadav served as RAW’s point man, current and former officials said the operation involved higher-ranking officials with ties to Modi’s inner circle. Among those suspected of involvement or awareness are Goel and Doval, though U.S. officials said there is no direct evidence so far of their complicity.

As RAW chief at the time, Goel was “under pressure” to neutralize the alleged threat posed by Sikh extremists overseas, said a former Indian security official. Goel reported to Doval, and had ties to the hard-line national security adviser going back decades.

Both had built their reputations in the 1980s, when the country’s security services battled Sikh separatists and Muslim militants. They were part of a generation of security professionals shaped by those conflicts much the way their U.S. counterparts came to be defined by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Doval, 79, has claimed roles in undercover missions from the jungles of Myanmar to the back alleys of Lahore, Pakistan — tales that contributed to his frequent depiction in the press as the “James Bond of India.”

He also exhibited a willingness to engage with the criminal underworld. In 2005, after retiring as head of India’s domestic intelligence service, he was inadvertently detained by Mumbai police while meeting with a reputed gangster. Doval was seeking to enlist one crime boss to assassinate another, according to media reports later confirmed by senior Indian officials.

Before being tapped as national security adviser by Modi in 2014, Doval publicly called for India’s security apparatus to shift from “defense” to “defensive offense” against groups threatening India from other countries, especially Pakistan.

Goel, who was then rising into the senior ranks at RAW, shared Doval’s instincts. Police forces under Goel’s command in the early 1990s were tied to more than 120 cases of alleged extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances or torture, according to a database maintained by Ensaaf, an Indian human rights group based in the United States. Goel was so closely associated with the brutal crackdown that he became an assassination target, according to associates who said he took to traveling in a bulletproof vehicle.

Former Indian officials who know both men said Goel would not have proceeded with assassination plots in North America without the approval of his superior and protector.

“We always had to go to the NSA for clearance for any operations,” said A.S. Dulat, who served as RAW chief in the early 2000s, referring to the national security adviser. Dulat emphasized in an interview with The Post that he did not have inside knowledge of the alleged operations, and that assassinations were not part of RAW’s repertoire during his tenure.

U.S. intelligence agencies have reached a similar conclusion. Given Doval’s reputation and the hierarchical nature of the Indian system, CIA analysts have assessed that Doval probably knew of or approved RAW’s plans to kill Sikhs his government considered terrorists, U.S. officials said.

A fierce crackdown

India’s shift to “defensive offense” was followed by a series of clashes between RAW and Western domestic security services.

In Australia, two RAW officers were expelled in 2020 after authorities broke up what Mike Burgess, head of the Australian intelligence service, described as a “nest of spies.”

Foreign officers were caught monitoring “their country’s diaspora community,” trying to penetrate local police departments and stealing information about sensitive security systems at Australian airports, Burgess said in a 2021 speech. He didn’t name the service, but Australian officials confirmed to The Post that it was RAW.

In Germany, federal police have made arrests in recent years to root out agents RAW had recruited within Sikh communities. Among them, German officials said, were a husband and wife who operated a website purportedly covering local Sikh events but who were secretly on RAW’s payroll.

In Britain, RAW’s surveillance and harassment of the Sikh population — especially a large concentration near Birmingham — became so egregious in 2014 and 2015 that MI5, Britain’s domestic security service, delivered warnings to Goel, who was then serving as RAW’s station chief in London.

When confronted, Goel scoffed at his counterparts and accused them of coddling Sikh activists he said should be considered terrorists, according to current and former British officials. After further run-ins, British authorities threatened to expel him, officials said. Instead, Goel returned to New Delhi and continued to climb RAW’s ranks until, in 2019, he was given the agency’s top job.

RAW’s record of aggressive activity in Britain has fanned suspicion that the agency was involved in the death of Sikh activist Avtar Singh Khanda, who died in Birmingham last year, three days before Nijjar was killed in Canada. British officials have said Khanda suffered from leukemia and died of natural causes, though his family and supporters have continued to press for further investigation.

A U.S. State Department human rights report released this month catalogued India’s alleged engagement in transnational repression. It cited credible accounts of “extraterritorial killing, kidnapping, forced returns or other violence,” as well as “threats, harassment, arbitrary surveillance and coercion” of overseas dissidents and journalists.

RAW’s operations in Western countries during Modi’s tenure have been overwhelmingly aimed at followers of the Sikh religion, especially a minority faction seeking to revive the largely dormant cause of creating a separate state called “Khalistan.”

That movement had peaked in the 1980s, when thousands were killed in violent skirmishes between the Indian government and Sikh insurgents. One brutal sequence beginning in 1984 included an Indian assault on the Sikh religion’s holiest site, the Golden Temple; the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by Sikhs in her security detail; and the bombing of an Air India flight widely attributed to Sikh extremists. A fierce crackdown quashed the insurgency, prompting an exodus of Sikhs to diaspora communities in Canada, the United States and Britain.

As Sikhs settled into their new lives abroad, the Khalistani cause went quiet until a new generation of activists — whose leaders included Pannun and Nijjar — sought to rekindle the movement with unofficial referendums on Sikh statehood and with protests that at times have seemed to glorify violence. A parade in Canada last year included a float depicting Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and Khalistan supporters have stormed and defaced Indian diplomatic facilities in Western cities.

The effort has seemed to gain little traction beyond a minority within the diaspora communit