U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has said that China tops the list of the Pentagon’s potential adversaries. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Esper said Beijing posed the greatest threat to the West, followed by Russia, what he called “rogue states,” like North Korea and Iran, and extremist groups.“In fact, under President Xi’s rule, the Chinese Communist Party is heading even faster and further in the wrong direction. More internal repression, more predatory economic practices, more heavy-handedness, and most concerning for me, a more aggressive military posture,” Esper told the audience of world leaders and military chiefs Saturday.His warnings were echoed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who took aim at Chinese telecom firm Huawei.“Huawei and other Chinese backed tech companies are Trojan horses for Chinese intelligence,” Pompeo said. “We can’t let information go across networks that we don’t have confidence won’t be hijacked by the Chinese Communist Party. It’s just unacceptable.”U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, shakes hands with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, right, as US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper watches during the 56th Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 14, 2020.Key ally Britain announced recently that it will allow Huawei to build sections of its 5G mobile network, to Washington’s dismay. Officials in Munich said the U.S. is pushing to develop its own 5G technology.Pompeo dismissed European concerns over the health of the Western alliance.“I am happy to report that the death of the transatlantic alliance is grossly over exaggerated,” Pompeo said. “The West is winning. We are collectively winning. We are doing it together.”China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, also attending the Munich conference, said the U.S. accusations about Huawei were lies.   “The root cause of all these problems and issues is that the U.S. does not want to see the rapid development and rejuvenation of China, and less would they want to accept the success of a socialist country,” Wang said.Details of a sideline meeting between Secretary Pompeo and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov were not released.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks on the second day of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 15, 2020.Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif, also spoke to the Munich audience Saturday and was questioned about Tehran’s response to the U.S. targeted killing in January of its top general, Qassem Soleimani. Zarif said his country was ready for talks.”It’s not about opening talks with the United States, it’s about bringing the United States back to a negotiating table that’s already there,” he said. “We met every three months around that negotiating table until April 2018.”The Munich conference is packed with military top brass. Analysts warn that Western defense capabilities must adapt to modern threats.In its annual Military Balance survey, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) notes that cyber defense, artificial intelligence and hybrid warfare would characterize conflict in the years to come.FILE – International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Director-General and Chief Executive Dr. John Chipman.“The deployment of traditional military power is not in every case an effective counter to the astute deployment of informal force by adversaries willing to operate below the threshold of war,” Director-General of the IISS John Chipman told the conference. “Examples include Russia’s strategy in Ukraine, its use of chemical agents in the U.K., and its election meddling. Iran’s ability to conduct warfare through third parties gave Tehran a strategic advantage over adversaries reliant on conventional capabilities.”Conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and Afghanistan were high on the agenda in Munich — but it is China that has found itself at the center of attention, forced to defend its handling of the coronavirus outbreak and faced with intense efforts by Washington to paint Beijing as the greatest global threat.The annual Munich Security Conference traditionally has focused on grand strategy and the relative military strength of global powers. This year, there appears to be a greater recognition that the battles of the future not only will be fought on land, air and sea, but in the realms of cyberspace and information warfare, where technology outguns military hardware.The strong words from the U.S. delegation in Munich are just the latest salvo in the long battle ahead for cyber supremacy.   
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Syria says that Israel attacked five separate targets near Damascus overnight with missiles from the Golan Heights. Israel did not accept responsibility for the attacks but news reports said the targets were Iranian weapons. Iran has threatened a harsh response to any Israeli attacks.Missile explosions sounded in the skies above Damascus just before midnight Thursday.Syria said the missiles were fired from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and that Syrian forces shot down several of them. At least seven fighters, both Iranian and Syrian, were reported killed.Israel did not comment on this attack, but in the past has acknowledged hundreds of attacks on Iranian weapons on Syria. Israeli press reports said the Iranian weapons had arrived in Damascus Wednesday and were destined for the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.  The attack came a week after a similar strike, also allegedly by Israel.Israeli security analyst Amir Oren told I24 News that Israel did not take responsibility for the attack because it does not want a war with Iran or Syria.”It is not going to gladly suffer any transfer of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah or the pro-Iranian militias in Syria, and incidentally the fact that this attack was carried out according to the reports by ground to ground missiles launched from the Golan Heights rather than from the air shows the operational value of the Golan Heights for Israel,” Oren said.Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the territory, a move that President Trump recognized last year.The alleged Israeli attacks have raised tensions between Israel and Iran. Before this latest attack, Iran had repeatedly threatened Israel, and it’s ally the U.S. In Iran, crowds chanted calls for revenge.Israel’s situation is complicated by the fact that Russia is operating in Syria. Last week, during the previous alleged Israeli attack, Syria fired anti-aircraft missiles, one of which narrowly missed a Russian passenger plane with 172 people aboard. Russia warned Israel against unilateral action in Syria. But Israeli officials say they will not let Hezbollah, which already has more than 100,000 rockets that can hit all of Israel, get more sophisticated weapons.
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Зустріч відбулася на полях Мюнхенської конференції з питань безпеки
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Last year companies like Coca Cola and Tetra Pak, an international food packaging and processing company, collaborated with Vietnam’s biggest city to lower garbage levels. Their work included putting recycling bins around Ho Chi Minh City and investing in the waste management system.Garbage collection is still a local government responsibility.The collaboration, though, shows how Vietnam is increasingly looking at private companies to fulfill its national development needs.Vietnam is at a turning point. The country used to rely on aid from nations such as Sweden and Canada, and that foreign funding helped Vietnam improve education, health care, and other public goods, and transform into a lower middle-income nation.Foreign governments are cutting aid budgets globally, though, and Vietnam no longer qualifies for as much aid, so it is trying a new approach to development, making it a business.It matches marketing strategy to a need for investment dollars.That means getting more companies involved in activities traditionally performed by government, with the intention of reaching Vietnam’s development goals.“A series of ongoing market reforms is giving Vietnam a market-leading status in Southeast Asia, making it an increasingly attractive place for investors,” Nirukt Sapru, who is the chief executive officer for Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and South Asia at Standard Chartered Bank, said.He added that in Vietnam, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals present “opportunities for private sector investors looking to invest with impact and improve the lives of millions over the next decade.”Water is one example. The change in approach means officials are discussing the provision of clean water not just as a right or a development goal, but also as a potentially profitable investment. This hybrid approach is visible across Vietnam, with companies selling wind power as part of a national energy security agenda, building toll roads whose fees are collected by both government and companies, and laying internet cables as part of efforts toward universal connectivity.Standard Chartered estimates these and other goals in Vietnam provide companies with a $45.8 billion investment opportunity.The country is looking at public-private partnerships, which allow companies to participate in what are usually public services, sometimes for a limited time. For instance a city government could let a company build it a hospital, and run facilities until it recoups its investment. Vietnam must strike a balance, making the partnership profitable for companies, without the government getting in too much debt, according to Asian Development Bank consultants Sanjay Grover and Donald Lambert.“If it is too generous, governments can be saddled with millions of dollars in contingent liabilities,” they wrote in an ADB analysis. “If it is too conservative, investment stalls.”However, partial privatization is not without its drawbacks. Last year Vietnamese drivers protested against paying road tolls that went in part to private investors and that they felt had become unfairly high.Elsewhere in the region, Malaysia struggled to introduce a fee to clean septic tanks when privatization occurred because residents had gotten used to that being a public service, already covered by tax dollars. Citizens globally have resisted when governments move to sell assets they think should be kept for public benefit, from airports in France to the oil business in Mexico.One major donor, the U.S. Agency for International Development, though, thinks it’s a good idea for Vietnam to move toward more private sector involvement. In recent years it has promoted U.S. companies to work on Vietnamese development projects, such as energy and smart cities.“USAID provides development assistance for market-oriented reform and trade facilitation, including implementing a program to reinvigorate the public-private-partnership business model here in Vietnam,” said U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink last year.
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Airbus said Saturday it “deeply regrets” the U.S. decision “to increase tariffs on aircraft imported from the EU.”The European aerospace corporation said in a statement the new tariffs would heighten “trade tensions between the US and the EU, thereby creating more instability for US airlines that are already suffering from a shortage of aircraft.”The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said Friday tariffs on aircraft imported from the European Union would rise from 10% to 15%.The tariff hike is expected to go into effect on March 18.The Airbus statement said the tariffs create “more instability for US airlines that are already suffering from a shortage of aircraft.”The jet shortage U.S. airlines are experiencing follows the decision by U.S. plane builder Boeing to take its popular 737 MAX planes out of service after crashes that claimed the lives of 346 people.Talks between the U.S. and the European Union are expected to continue.
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Turkey is deploying tanks and armor in Syria’s Idlib province as Damascus continues its offensive against the last rebel enclave. But in an apparent gesture to Moscow, Ankara is pledging to crack down on radical elements in Idlib, along with calls for “a lasting cease-fire.”  Damascus’s forces are claiming they are advancing against the rebels’ last stronghold. But in a sign of the intensifying fighting, rebels claimed to have to shot down a Syrian government military helicopter Friday, the second this week.  A screen grab taken from a video published by jihadists of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham allegedly shows a Syrian military helicopter being downed, Feb. 12, 2020, in Syria’s war-torn province of Idlib.Ankara reportedly is stepping up its arming of rebels with sophisticated anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, along with deploying hundreds of armored vehicles and tanks.  The escalating military presence follows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s vow to drive back Damascus’s forces from Idlib if they don’t withdraw by the end of February. The ultimatum followed the killing of 14 Turkish soldiers this month by Syrian troops.However, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar appeared to strike a different note Thursday, pledging to crack down on radicals in Idlib. Akar said they would be “dealt with by force” and that “all measures” would be considered against them.  The Turkish defense minister was referring to the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which Damascus forces are battling in Idlib. The radical group is now a mainstay of rebel groups in Idlib.  Moscow blames Ankara for the Damascus offensive, claiming it had failed to disarm and remove radical groups as part of a 2018 Sochi agreement aimed at creating a de-escalation zone in Idlib.“The Turkish side had taken upon itself an obligation to neutralize terrorist groups” in Idlib, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov Friday.Blame gameErdogan had dismissed Moscow’s calls to disarm radical groups, claiming the Russians were responsible for the Idlib fighting, in an increasingly acrimonious blame game.Washington, sensing an opportunity to create a disagreement between Ankara and Moscow, strongly backed Erdogan’s stance in Idlib. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dispatched Ambassador Jim Jeffrey for emergency talks Wednesday. Jeffrey, speaking to reporters Tuesday ahead of negotiations, appeared to suggest every kind of support would be considered, stoking Ankara’s hopes of military support.U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien appeared to rule out such a move Wednesday, however, asking, “What are we supposed to do to stop that? We’re supposed to parachute in as a global policeman and hold up a stop sign and say stop this, Turkey? Stop this, Russia? Stop this, Iran? Stop this, Syria?”U.S. special envoy for Syria and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Jim Jeffrey speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Nov. 14, 2019.A slap at Washington Turkish pro-government media were quick to hit back Friday against Washington, accusing its NATO ally of duplicity. “James Jeffrey’s deceit can clearly be read on his face. He is running wild at the peak of insolence. Who can call him human,” wrote columnist Taner Korkmaz of the Turkish daily Yeni Safak.Turkish Chief of Staff Yasar Guler spoke Thursday with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov, about the situation in Idlib, the Turkish military announced on Twitter. “Erdogan is still a pragmatic man. He still thinks he can win. He can persuade Putin to give him some favors in Syria,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, Sunday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.Displaced Syrians pass a house still on fire as they flee shelling on the town of Abyan, in the western rebel-held part of the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey, Feb. 12, 2020.No refugee exodusInternational relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University says Ankara could be looking to Moscow to save the 2018 Sochi agreement based on rebels giving up territory.   “The best solution is for the Turkish military to withdraw north of the M4 and leave the two highways to the regime,” Ozel said. “And the regime will send a couple of hundred thousand refugees, and we will be stuck with them, at least not in Turkey.”Ozel claims Erdogan’s priority in Idlib is to avert another significant exodus of refugees into Turkey, given the country is hosting of 3.5 million Syrians from the civil war.  The United Nations said Thursday more than 800,000 Syrians had been displaced by fighting in Idlib, with 64,000 sleeping outside and another 14,000 under trees in sub-freezing temperatures. Many reportedly are moving toward the Turkish border.“The level of tolerance of Turkish society for an extra number of Syrians is zero,” Ozel said. “It would generate a lot of tensions. I would be very concerned with inter-communal violence through the vilification of the Syrians, and it would be a pretty precarious situation, I think.”President of Turkey and leader of Justice and Development (AK) Party Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the party’s group meeting at Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara, Feb.12, 2020.Sliding economyA slowing economy is exacerbating Turkish discontent over Syrians, with youth unemployment at nearly 25%. Erdogan’s ratings in opinion polls, along with his AKP, are on the slide.Analysts also warn of a potential security threat of an exodus from Idlib, given the presence of large numbers of jihadists.“These radical elements can easily escape into areas of large concentrations of Syrian nationals. In some places, Syrians in Turkey are the majority,” said Haldun Solmazturk, head of the Ankara-based research group the 21st Century Turkey Institute. “If these groups feel betrayed by Turkey, they could use terrorist methods against Turkey,” Solmazlurk said.Ankara already is seeking to curtail the threat of a new refugee exodus. “They are building in a band within 30 miles of the Turkish border, thousands of temporary houses,” Yesilada said.“Which means that if [Syrian leader Bashir al-] Assad wishes to take them back, Turkish military forces will defend those settlements? [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel has reportedly vaguely promised to help finance those settlements. But would these people stay in such settlements with Assad breathing down their necks,” he added. 
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U.S. health officials are preparing for a second wave of the winter flu season, complicated this year by similarities between flu symptoms and those of the coronavirus that has killed more than 1,500 in China and spread fear around the world. A first round of seasonal flu, caused by a strain of influenza B, named B-Victoria for the city in which it was discovered, peaked in the United States in late December and then dropped off, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  However, the CDC says a second round of flu began in late January, caused by a strain of influenza A that is related to the swine flu that first appeared in 2009, and cases continue to increase. While there have only been 15 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States as of Friday, health officials have expressed concern that if the virus were to spread in the country, it could initially look like the spread of seasonal flu. FILE – Passengers arrive at LAX airport from Shanghai, China, before restrictions were put in place to halt the spread of the coronavirus, in Los Angeles, Jan. 26, 2020.Coronavirus testingIn part to address these concerns, U.S. health officials announced they would begin testing some patients who have flulike symptoms for coronavirus in several U.S. cities. The testing will initially be carried out by public health labs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York, which are already testing for seasonal flu. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters in a telephone briefing Friday that labs will conduct the coronavirus test on patients who show flulike respiratory symptoms, but who test negative for the seasonal flu. Both the seasonal flu and coronavirus cause respiratory illness, fever and cough. Other typical flu symptoms include sore throat, muscle aches, runny nose and fatigue, according to the CDC. While scientists have studied the flu for decades, little is known about this coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19, because it is so new. Health officials are still trying to understand all the symptoms related to the new virus, as well has how it spreads and how often cases are severe. There have been few studies on the symptoms of coronavirus, however, research suggests patients most commonly suffer from fever, cough and shortness of breath and are less likely than flu patients to suffer from a sore throat and runny nose. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus to the United States, CDC officials have put in place travel restrictions and quarantine policies for people who recently visited China. However, officials say that strategy would change if the virus were to spread quickly in the United States. Messonnier said if there were an outbreak of coronavirus in the United States, the CDC would call for “social distancing” strategies that would include online schooling, teleworking, and canceling mass gatherings, in an effort to prevent people from spreading the virus. Flu kills 14,000 in USWhile health officials put plans in place for any possible outbreak of coronavirus, doctors around the United States continue to help patients battle the seasonal flu. The CDC estimates that 26 million Americans have gotten sick with flu this season and around people 14,000 have died. Health officials say the first wave of the flu, a B strain, has hit children particularly hard this season, causing 92 deaths in children. B strains are more likely to cause a more severe illness and death in children. Cases of the flu among the elderly have been down this season. The CDC says concern about coronavirus might have prompted more people with flu symptoms to go their doctor for testing this season, although they say there is nothing in their data to confirm this. Messonnier said if more people are going to the doctor that is a good thing. “People being a little worried and seeking care doesn’t especially worry me, because that’s the point,” she said.
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