Wednesday, June 15, 2016

OBOR unmasked : Chinese led, Australian front suggests OBOR must be treated with caution,recent lessons from ASEAN should be heeded

by Ganesh Sahathevan
In its PR effort, the so-called "Australian" One Belt One Road advisory council presented itself with an Australian face, that of Malcolm Broomhead, the chairman of Asciano and Orica and director of BHP Billiton, who will chair the “OBOR” advisory group,
The OBOR website on the other hand, proves otherwise.As one can see, Broomhead is no where near the top of  OBOR's leadership. 
Add to this the fact that China's HKTDC will not even admit to this map on its own website (a story for another day) ,showing the extension of the belt to Darwin ,and one has every reason to treat OBOR with caution.

As ASEAN has just discovered, China can use OBOR to force its own position.China's investment in Malaysia pursuant to OBOR (and brought on by the 1 MDB scandal) was obviously a lever that was used to disrupt the joint communique ASEAN had intended on the matter of China's intrusion into the South China Sea. 

OBOR ought to be treated with caution.Doing so is in Australian national interests.

END 


The Australia China OBOR Initiative
Our Team



Jean Dong
Executive Director


Felicity Ford
Director


Mark Wu
Director


Xu Wang
Research Associate


Advisory Board



Malcolm Broomhead
Chairman -Orica Limited
Director -BHP Billiton Limited
Chairman -Plc, Asciano Limited


Dr Liu Jian Xing
Director
-International Cooperation Center, National Development & Reform Commission


Dr. Shuaihua Wallace
Managing Director
-International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development China



Paul Cooper
Chairman -Normal Disney and Young
Chairman -Gane Energy & Resources Pty Ltd (GEAR) and Gane Energy & Resources (China) Limited
Former Non-Executive Director -AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd (AXA APH)



Prof. Wei An Li
President & Chancellor
-Tianjin University of Finance & Economics.

Hillary Clinton, Bosmal, and the Al-Qaeda financier TWRA

by Ganesh Sahathevan 

It is reported here with the links to the photos refreshed. 














19 May 2006
Hilary Clinton supports Clark-Bosmal plan

The US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed her support for Clark-Bosmal plan for construction of Corridor 5C Highway across BiH, during her meeting with Edin Šabanović, executive director of "Bosmal" d.o.o. in New York. Hillary Clinton, wife of former US President Bill Clinton is the only First Lady elected to the Senate as representative of the State of New York. During his visit to the US, Senator Clinton invited Edin Šabanović to a private dinner, together with small group of New York businessmen. During conversation, Senator Clinton commented on the beginning of construction of Corridor 5C Highway across BiH: "I was personally present at the meeting in which General Wesley K Clark decided to take part in this project, with desire to assist in revitalization of BiH economy. I fully support his plan to go into realization of this project together with "Bosmal", as the project is vital for BiH", said Senator Clinton

. 

At the dinner, Senator Clinton also evoked many memories that she and her husband, former US President Bill Clinton, have of Bosnia and Herzegovina. General Clark, former supreme commander of NATO and one of key architects of peace in BiH, is interested to, in partnership with "Bosmal" lead the consortium of private investors who would finance the project for construction of highway along Corridor 5C.
The www.bosmal.com   website was at least up until 2008,  registered in the name of one Mevludin Sinanagic, who is,  according to an   Internet  registery's  document,  owner of the website, and from  the company Bosmal D.O.O.
The same person appears to be the person in charge or at least the contact person for the Third World Relief Agency (TWRA) , in Visoko, Bosnia Herzegovina.(www.bbs.bund.de/visoko/kontaktadressen.htm)
According to a Washington Post story published in 1996 (archived at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/bosvote/front.htm):
….…… The story of the Third World Relief Agency, reconstructed from documents and interviews with police, banking officials and intelligence sources, makes clear how much the Bosnian government depended on outside aid to obtain and pay for desperately needed weapons. It also shows how the embargo drove the Muslim government into alliances with some of the world's most radical states, as well as terrorist movements ……..militants in the terrorist underworld are also believed to have used the relief agency to get money to the Bosnian government, including the wealthy Saudi Arabian emigre Osama Binladen, a suspected sponsor of militant Islamic groups around the Middle East….. Investigators say the agency also had ties to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a radical Egyptian cleric who was convicted of planning several terrorist bombings in New York and is linked to the group that carried out the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993. …….. A senior Western diplomat in the region said the Clinton administration knew about the Third World Relief Agency and its activities beginning in 1993. Still, the United States took no action to stop its fund-raising or arms purchases, in large part because of the administration's sympathy for the Muslim government and ambivalence about maintaining the arms embargo.

Hillary Clinton's BOSMAL appearance took place just 5 years after 9-11.It is hard to believe that she was not aware of BOSMAL's antecedents.

END  

Monday, June 6, 2016

1 MDB & the Singapore-Malaysia water agreements: Satellite data shows significant loss of groundwater from the Malay Peninsula


by Ganesh Sahathevan

It has been previously reported on this blog that the Government Of Singapore's agreements with Malaysia for the supply of water will need revision regardless of  the current  relationship the country and its leaders have with Malaysia's Najib Razak.It has been previously reported that concerns for the water agreements may be affecting Singapore's desire  to fully prosecute the 1 MDB matter.

The data illustrated in the map below was obtained from NASA's  GRACE satellite

Using the data, the researchers tracked the amount of water stored on land between April 2002 and November 2014.  The red shading indicates water losses from land, while the blue shading show water gains.

The Malay Peninsula has clearly suffered a significant loss of groundwater over the period, among the worse in the world. An enlarged version of the map can be sighted at this link.
This depletion  would explain in part why catchment levels have been falling, much to the concern of the Singaporeans even as they continue to do what they can to keep the agreements in place, without any change. The data suggests that the catchments are severely stressed, and that lower levels of water can be expected regardless of weather patters.

END


For reference see

Singapore ,1 MDB,a change of leadership & the water agreements: A public admission from Singapore that the water agreements are not sustainable