International and Bilateral Issues

Centenarian marathoner Fauja Singh does it again

After charming scores of fans with his amazing feats, centenarian British-Indian athlete Fauja Singh,
surprised Hong Kongers, completing a 10-km run in one hour and 34 minutes.
Ironically, even as Singh achieved the feat, a 26-year-old male runner fainted after completing the race and was declared “brought dead” in hospital.
Born on April 1, 1911, Singh claims to be the world's oldest marathoner but has been denied entry into the Guinness World Records as he failed to produce his birth certificate.
He was given the “Pride of India” award last year by a U.K-based organisation.

West's move to form group of friends of Syrian people

The double veto by Russia and China, which caused the collapse of the draft resolution, that was supported by 13 of the 15 Council members, including India, visibly upset the Western nations, especially the U.S. and France.
France was engaging fellow European and Arab partners to establish a “group of friends of the Syrian people” to support the Arab League plan that called for Mr. Assad to transfer power to his deputy and a national unity government.
The Chinese said it was premature to corner the Syrian regime before all means of dialogue had been exhausted.

Russian plea for reforms

Russia will urge Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to launch urgent reforms when its Foreign Minister visits Damascus
Moscow and Beijing “were forced” to veto the “unbalanced draft”. The draft failed to incorporate the Russian proposal to demand that the Syrian opposition “dissociate itself from extremist elements who have embarked on the path of violence” and to call on U.N. member-states to “restrain” them.

It was India's vote against Assad's prevarication on reforms

By going along with the vetoed United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria, India primarily expressed its disappointment with the continued prevarication by the Assad government in implementing the political package of reforms it promised late last year and over several incidents of armed assault on peaceful protesting congregations since discontent engulfed the country last year.
The pre-vote statement by India's Permanent Representative in the U.N., Hardeep Puri, read with his explanation of vote (EOV), showed that New Delhi was upset at the winding up of the Arab League's observer mission in Syria but it differed widely from the AL's prescriptions, reflected in the draft resolution.
Unlike the AL and the draft resolution, India did not ask for multiparty elections in a time frame or the freedom of movement sought all over the country for a wide range of actors from AL observers to the international media and humanitarian organisations.
India added a further caveat to its support for dialogue, pointing out that the outcome must not be “pre-judged.”
India pointed out that the problem was political and economic and within this formulation laid great stress on direct talks between the warring sides which must further fine-tune the political reforms package announced by the Assad government.
It condemned “violations of human rights and rights of expression and peaceful assembly.” The EOV added the rider that peaceful assemblies must be mindful of the stability and security of society.
On both the political and security aspects, India's public statements gave no hint of the wide variety of demands put forward in the resolution including giving the AL, many of whose members have been active in backing Syrian protesters, virtual powers to run a parallel enquiry commission.
For instance, the struck-down resolution wanted not only full and unhindered access and freedom of movement to AL observers but also their empowerment to “freely” question whoever they wanted. Nor did the Indian statements mention the timelines contained in the resolution.

U.S. plan shift Afghan role to Special Op forces

The United States' plan to wind down its combat role in Afghanistan a year earlier than expected relies on shifting responsibility to Special Operations forces that hunt militant leaders and train local troops
These forces could remain in the country well after the NATO mission ends in late 2014.
Under the emerging plan, U.S. conventional forces, focused on policing large parts of Afghanistan, will be the first to leave, while thousands of U.S. Special Operations forces remain, making up an increasing percentage of the troops on the ground. Their number may even grow.
The evolving strategy is far different from the withdrawal plan for Iraq, where almost all U.S. forces, conventional or otherwise, have left.
Unlike in Iraq, where domestic political pressure gave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reason to resist a continued U.S. military presence into 2012, in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai and his senior aides have expressed an initial willingness to continue a partnership with the United States that includes counterterrorism missions and training.
The plan would put a particularly heavy focus on Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets.
Created by President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s, the Green Berets have as one of their core missions what is called “foreign internal defense” using combat, mentoring, language and cross-cultural skills to train local forces in rugged environments, as they are today in missions conducted quietly in dozens of nations around the world.
Americans would no longer be carrying out large numbers of patrols to clear vast areas of Afghanistan of insurgents, or holding villages and towns vulnerable to militant attacks while local forces and government agencies rebuilt the local economy and empowered local governments.

Castro comes out with memoirs

Cuban leader Fidel Castro presented two volumes of his memoir entitled “Time Guerrilla”
The memoirs trace his life from infancy until 1958, when he succeeded in leading a revolution that turned Cuba into a Communist country aligned with the Soviet Union.
The Cuban leader had not been seen in public since April 2011 when he attended the closing ceremony of a Communist Party congress.