India And China "Pull Back" Soldiers From The Disputed Border Area

India And China 'Pull Back Troops' In Disputed Border Area -- BBC

India and China have pulled back troops from disputed territory near the two countries' de facto border in the Himalayas, Indian media reports say.

Soldiers were said to have set up camps facing each other on the ill-defined frontier in Ladakh region last month.

The two sides held a series of talks to resolve the row and the troops were withdrawn on Sunday, the reports added.

The two countries dispute several Himalayan border areas and fought a brief war in 1962.

Tensions flare up from time to time. They have held numerous rounds of border talks, but all have been unsuccessful so far.

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More News On India And China "Pulling Back" Troops From The Disputed Border Area

India says China agrees retreat to de facto border in faceoff deal -- Reuters
India, China begin withdrawing troops from border -- Global Post/AFP
India-China End Himalayan Border Stand Off as Troops Withdraw -- Bloomberg Businessweek
China and India withdraw troops from Daulat Beg Oldie, Ladakh, ending standoff -- Global Post
India, China end stand off; withdraw troops from Ladakh -- Times of India
China vague about Ladakh standoff resolution, gives no specifics -- Hindustan Times
No deal struck with China on border dispute, say Government sources -- NDTV

India - China Border Tensions Continue To Escalate

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Image from The Telegraph (India)

China’s India Land Grab -- Brahma Chellaney, Project Syndicate

NEW DELHI – Stoking tensions with Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines over islands in the South and East China Seas has not prevented an increasingly assertive China from opening yet another front by staging a military incursion across the disputed, forbidding Himalayan frontier. On the night of April 15, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) platoon stealthily intruded near the China-India-Pakistan tri-junction, established a camp 19 kilometers (12 miles) inside Indian-controlled territory, and presented India’s government with the potential loss of a strategically vital 750-square-kilometer high-altitude plateau.

A stunned India, already reeling under a crippling domestic political crisis, has groped for an effective response to China’s land-grab – the largest and most strategic real estate China has seized since it began pursuing a more muscular policy toward its neighbors. Whether China intends to stay put by building permanent structures for its troops on the plateau’s icy heights, or plans to withdraw after having extracted humiliating military concessions from India, remains an open – and in some ways a moot – question.

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My Comments: Even with all of these threats and warnings .... the Chinese are still looking for opportunities and openings along the border .... stroking tensions even further. The above map illustrates how the much situation has changed on the border .... and why going back will now be very difficult for both sides.

Update #1: China's border rows mirror grim history -- Peter Lee, Asia Times

Update #2: The Most Dangerous Border in the World. Why is China picking a fight with India? -- Ely Ratner and Alexander Sullivan, Foreign Policy

Is Iraq On The Threshold Of A Civil War?

'The Civil War In Iraq Has Already Begun': Politician Claims Conflict Has Started And Warns It Will Be ‘Worse Than Syria’ -- The Independent

Iraqi leaders fear that the country is sliding rapidly into a new civil war which “will be worse than Syria”. Baghdad residents are stocking up on rice, vegetables and other foodstuffs in case they are prevented from getting to the shops by fighting or curfews. “It is wrong to say we are getting close to a civil war,” said a senior Iraqi politician. “The civil war has already started.”

This is borne out by the sharp rise in the number of people killed in political violence in Iraq in April, with the UN claiming more than 700 people were killed last month, the highest monthly total for five years.

The situation has suddenly deteriorated since the killing of at least 36 Sunni Arab protesters at a sit-in in Hawijah on 23 April. An observer in Baghdad, who did not want to be named, said “ever since, Hawijah people are frightened of a return to the massacres of 2006”. She added that Sunni and Shia were avoiding going into each others’ areas. Signs of deteriorating security are everywhere.

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More News On The Unrest And Violence In Iraq

Sunni unrest revives fears of sectarian war in Iraq -- Reuters
UN records spike in Iraq violence -- Al Jazeera
April Iraq's Deadliest Month In Five Years: UN -- RTT
April deadliest month in Iraq since June 2008: U.N. -- New York Daily News/Reuters
U.N.: April was deadliest month in Iraq in nearly 5 years -- L.A. Times
April the deadliest month in Iraq in 5 years -- CNN
Iraq in turmoil two car bombs killed 27 people -- Guardian Express
At least 18 killed, 36 wounded in attacks in Iraq -- Xinhuanet
Clashes kill nine police in north Iraq -- AFP
Bomb outside Sunni mosque kills six in Iraqi capital -- Reuters
Iraq: Prospects of partition as violence takes its toll -- BBC
Iraq on the brink, again -- Ryan Crocker, Washington Post

Tensions Rising On The China-India Border

Image courtesy: University of Texas

Old Tensions, Big Stakes In China-India Border Dispute -- Tao Duanfang, World Crunch

On April 15th, India announced that an "intrusion" of around 50 Chinese military personnel had crossed onto the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, and set up a tent camp. The Indian military immediately responded with tit for tat camp of tents nearby. Thus started the so-called “Tents Confrontation” standoff.

The Ladakh region belongs to Indian-controlled Kashmir, and is known for both its very harsh weather, and its historic place as part of the extended Silk Road. It has also always been the source of a sovereignty dispute between China and India.

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More News On Chinese - Indian Border Tensions

Chinese troops up ante, erect another tent at incursion site -- Times of India
Chinese troops erect one more tent at DBO, standoff enters 3rd week -- Zee News
China ramps up incursion confrontation, puts up another tent in Ladakh -- Indian Express
China India’s biggest enemy, Mulayam says -- Times of India
China biggest enemy of India, Pakistan no threat: Mulayam -- New York Daily News
China’s Ladakh intrusion: Two maps tell this dangerous story -- First Post
Amid improving Sino-Indian ties, border stand-off baffles the experts -- South China Morning Post
THE BIGGER PICTURE: China's motives remain a mystery -- Manoj Joshi, Daily Mail