World new flash 3/26/09

Today I would like to cover some world news topics, including Chinese military spending and the Israeli military.

Just a few days ago I wrote a blog post affirming my belief that China is a threat to democracy and peace in Asia, as it refuses to pressure following nations into listening to human rights concerns (in fact, it won’t even listen to them itself). A day later, the Pentagon released a report analyzing Chinese military spending over the past few years. The results (on right) are startling: China’s military spending has been increasing dramatically over the past decade, with no signs of stopping. By why does the Chinese government want to spend so much on defense? The Pentagon report suggests that they may use this military to suppress Muslim separatists in the northwest, silence Tibet or enforce territorial claims. Interestingly, China was furious at the US report—this is odd because on Tuesday they announced that they want stronger military ties with the US. The Chinese do have a few valid arguments: their defense spending is still miniscule compared to the US’s, and their army is poorly equipped and out of date.

But what is the Chinese government planning to do with an updated army? I doubt that they are going to become an imperialist power (at least in the near future), but I do believe they are going to use their newfound muscle to ensure that they secure controversial areas such as Tibet and their territories in the northwest, neither of which are culturally connected to Han China, and both of which have been craving separation for decades.

Next, I would like to talk about Israel. Last week some chilling reports about war crimes during the Gaza conflict were released, which stated that Israeli soldiers repeatedly murdered Palestinian civilians in Gaza City. I am not surprised at this news—as I stated previously, I have always believed that the war over Israel is a “total war,” even though it does not look like it. However, I believe there is another reason for these war crimes: right-wing generals and politicians (meaning Orthodox Jewish ones) have increased their influence in the military. In previous years, Israel’s army had mostly secular generals, but in the past decade these have been replaced with more religious ones. I suspect that this religious fervor is the reason for some of these war crimes, but this is pure speculation. All we know for sure is that the secular Israeli Army is a thing of the past, but the implications of this are not yet clear.

However, there is another recent development as far as Israel goes: today the Sudanese government reported that an air strike was carried out against a supposed Sudanese terrorist camp, killing a number of civilians. Outgoing Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert neither denied nor confirmed this strike, but it is believed that Israel is responsible. My only response is this: what were they thinking? Does the Israeli military really believe that it can attack areas of sovereign nations without repercussions? This is most certainly not the road to peace. Though the Israelis were hunting terrorists, in order to better win the respect of the international community they must stop taking these sorts of matters into their own hands. Had they differed to the UN or even US before attacking, they would not have such a reputation as a troublemaker. In the future, we can only hope that this policy changes—but with religious zealots gradually taking control of the military, I doubt it will.