Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 70

Iran’s defense minister thanks China for support on first foreign trip since Israel conflict

Iran’s defense minister has traveled to diplomatic and economic ally China on his first reported trip abroad since a 12-day clash with Israel that briefly dragged the US into a new regional conflict. Aziz Nasirzadeh is one of nine defense ministers that Chinese state media say attended a gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a China- and Russia-led regional security grouping

EXPLAINED: What are scam parks?

Cyber scam compounds made international headlines in January after a Chinese actor was rescued from Myanmar’s notorious KK Park. In late December, Wang Xing flew to Mae Sot, Thailand on the promise of an acting gig. Instead, he was kidnapped and hustled across the border into a compound where victims like him are forced to trick others out of their savings. If they fail to do so, they are often

Iran’s defense minister goes to China on first reported foreign trip since conflict with Israel

Iran’s defense minister has traveled to diplomatic and economic ally China on his first reported trip abroad since a 12-day clash with Israel that briefly dragged the US into a new regional conflict. Aziz Nasirzadeh is one of nine defense ministers that Chinese state media say attended a gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a China- and Russia-led regional security grouping

Why Trump’s strikes on Iran will leave North Korea more determined than ever to keep its nukes

As American B-2 bombers streaked over Iran, targeting facilities tied to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, policymakers and analysts in East Asia were already grappling with a critical question: What signal does this send to North Korea, a country whose nuclear arsenal is far more advanced than Iran’s?Experts warn Washington’s military actions may harden Pyongyang’s resolve to accelerate its weapons

Torbjørn Færøvik: Smiskingen for Trump gjør verden farligere

Dagen før NATO-toppmøtet i Haag møttes Jonas Gahr Støre og Frankrikes Emmanuel Macron i Oslo. Begge fastslo med høytid i stemmen at USAs plutselige angrep på Iran var et brudd på folkeretten. Men vel fremme i Haag ble tonen en annen, for ansikt til ansikt med Donald Trump ble de påfallende spake.Før møtet begynte hadde de kanskje lest hilsenen som NATO generalsekretær Mark Rutte sendte til Trump.

Key US Ally Quietly Prepares for China's Pacific War With America

Japan will begin building bomb shelters next year on its remote islands closest to Taiwan amid fears that its far western territory could become a legitimate target for Chinese missiles if China and the United States go to war. The plans point to a possible scenario in which Beijing orders preemptive strikes against major U.S. and allied bases in the Pacific before launching an amphibious

Veteran Chinese dissident faces ongoing police harassment despite prison release

Three months after his prison release, veteran dissident Chen Yunfei is in the cross-hairs of police over his social media posts and has faced multiple rounds of questioning and harassment amid ongoing surveillance, Radio Free Asia has learned.The Chengdu-based human rights activist and Chinese performance artist was released on March 24 after serving a four-year prison sentence in the

Amnesty accuses Cambodia of ‘gross failure’ to stop rampant abuses in scam centers

Cambodia and neighboring Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have seen a massive proliferation of scam compounds that rely on a large pool of trafficked labor and are run by organized crime groups whose links to powerful local interests allow them to operate with impunity.The Amnesty report – which is based on interviews with 423 victims of Cambodia’s scamming industry – documents what it calls abuses on

Strait of Hormuz blockade: Why Beijing is better prepared than you think

As missiles rain across Iran and Israel and further escalation looms, the global community is bracing for a possible strategic nightmare: the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which media reports said the Iranian parliament has approved. Since 13 June, Israel and Iran have plunged into their most intense military confrontation yet. Israel’s Operation Rising Lion struck Iranian nuclear and military

Second Act: How a 500-Year-Old Chinese Opera Returned to Modern Life

Zhao Jinyu still remembers the time she gave away tickets to her Kunqu opera performance — and couldn’t find anyone who wanted them. “Too elegant,” her friends said. “Makes me sleepy.” That was 2005, just a few years after Kunqu opera — a 500-year-old form of Chinese opera known for its refined movement and lyrical verse — was added to UNESCO’s inaugural list of “Masterpieces of the Oral and