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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Alfredo Carbajal, John Helton, Jane Greenhalgh, Ally Schweitzer and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Milton Guevara. Our technical director is Zac Coleman, with engineering support from Arthur Laurent.
……..The CIA chief’s comments are perceived as an endorsement of India’s carefully calibrated position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
…….While not explicitly criticising Moscow for the war, Delhi has raised concerns on the Bucha massacre of civilians as well as Putin’s nuclear rhetoric.
William J Burns, CIA Director. Reuters file
Weeks after the G20 Bali Declaration echoed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “not an era of war” advice to Russian President Vladimir Putin, CIA Director William J Burns has said concerns raised by Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the Kremlin’s threat to use nuclear weapons has had an “impact on the Russians”.
In an interview to US public broadcaster PBS, Burns said, “Well, he’s done — there’s been some, I think, very dangerous nuclear sabre-rattling that Putin and others around him have done. That was part of the conversation I had with one of my Russian intelligence counterparts, Sergey Naryshkin.”
Asked where he saw it going, he said, “Well, I think the sabre-rattling is meant to intimidate. We don’t see any clear evidence today of plans to use tactical nuclear weapons.”
“We have made very clear, the (US) President has made very clear to the Russians what the serious risks of that would be. I think it’s also been very useful that Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi in India have also raised their concerns about the use of nuclear weapons as well. I think that’s also having an impact on the Russians,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi seen during the closing ceremony of G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. (Twitter/MEAIndia)
The CIA chief’s comments are perceived as an endorsement of India’s carefully calibrated position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While not explicitly criticising Moscow for the war, Delhi has raised concerns on the Bucha massacre of civilians as well as Putin’s nuclear rhetoric.
In September, on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Modi told Putin that this was “not an era of war” – and this was also reflected in the Bali Declaration of the G20 Summit last month.
India’s diplomatic tightrope walk is seen as paying some dividends as it seeks to balance Western interests and Russian sensitivities.
On December 16, days after it became clear that Prime Minister Modi was not going to Russia for the annual summit this year, Putin and he discussed the situation in Ukraine and India-Russia bilateral ties in a telephone conversation. This was their fifth phone conversation since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Asked about cooperation between the Russians and the Chinese, Burns, who served as Deputy Secretary of State in the Obama administration, said, “I don’t think any foreign leader has paid more careful attention to that war and Russia’s poor military performance than Xi Jinping has, as he thinks about his own ambitions in Taiwan and elsewhere.”
“A few weeks before Putin launched his invasion in Ukraine, when they met at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, they proclaimed a friendship without limits. So, it turns out that there actually are some limits to that partnership, at least in terms of President Xi’s reluctance to supply the kind of military assistance to Putin that he’s asked for in the course of the war in Ukraine.”
“So, I wouldn’t underestimate for a moment the commitment between the Chinese and Russian leaderships to that partnership. But it’s been interesting to watch the Chinese leadership’s reaction to the war in Ukraine,” he said.
Image copyrightREUTERS, Indians took to the streets, burning an effigy of Pakistan, after news of the air strikes broke
Balakot
BALAKOT-India says it launched air strikes against militants in Pakistani territory in a major escalation of tensions between the two countries.
A top Indian minister said strikes targeted a training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group in Balakot.
According to BBC, Pakistan said the strikes hit an empty area but vowed to respond.
Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been strained since a suicide attack earlier this month that killed more than 40 Indian troops.
India accuses Pakistan of allowing militant groups to operate on its territory and says Pakistani security agencies played a role in the 14 February attack – claimed by JeM. Pakistan denies any role and says it does not provide safe haven to militants.
Tuesday’s air strikes are the first launched across the line of control – the de facto border that divides India-administered Kashmir from Pakistan-administered Kashmir – since a war between the two countries in 1971.
Balakot is in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Residents there told BBC Urdu they were woken by loud explosions.
Pakistan condemned the strike and said it would respond “at the time and place of its choosing”.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told a news conference that the strikes had killed a “large number” of militants, including commanders, and had avoided civilian casualties.
India’s foreign secretary said the air strikes hit a militant training camp
“Credible intel [intelligence] was received that JeM was planning more suicide attacks in India. In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary,” he said.
Pakistan’s army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor, however, said the strikes caused no casualties. He tweeted that Pakistani jets were scrambled and forced the Indian planes to make a “hasty withdrawal”, dropping their payload in an open area.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not directly mention the air strikes when he addressed a political rally in Rajasthan later on Tuesday but he told cheering crowds: “I understand your enthusiasm and your energy. Today is a day we bow before our heroes.”
India is due to hold elections by the end of May.
Residents in several towns near Balakot reported hearing explosions early on Tuesday.
Mohammad Adil, a farmer in Jaba village, told BBC Urdu he and his family were woken at about 03:00 by “a huge explosion”.
“Then we heard jets flying over. We went to the place in the morning. There was a huge crater and four or five houses were destroyed,” he said.
The air strikes follow the suicide attack on an Indian security convoy in Pulwama, in Indian-administered Kashmir, earlier this month.
‘Caught in the middle’
Analysis by Sameer Yasir, Srinagar
Worry and concern were visible all over Srinagar city in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday as news of the air strike spread.
“Whatever is happening between these two hostile neighbours, it’s us who are in the middle of this war theatre,” Shabir Aakhoon, a banker, said.
Many also said they hoped it would finally ease the high tensions following the Pulwama attack.
Over the past three days, a heavy military build-up has caused panic.
Anticipating full-scale war, civilians started stockpiling food and crowding petrol pumps, triggering traffic jams in many places.
“Now that the BJP [India’s governing party] has got its big election moment, it should stop freaking out Kashmir just to get votes,” Saziya Sultan, a teacher, said.
What happened in Pulwama?
On 14 February, 46 Indian paramilitary police were killed in a militant operation there. It was the deadliest attack on Indian forces in Kashmir for decades.
The assault was claimed by Pakistan-based JeM, and prompted a spike in tensions.
Pakistan denied involvement, while India said its neighbour had had a “direct hand” in the attack, and accused it of providing sanctuary to the militants.
Both India and Pakistan claim all of Muslim-majority Kashmir, but control only parts of it. The nations have fought three wars and a limited conflict since independence from Britain in 1947 – and all but one were over Kashmir.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi should “give peace a chance”. He added that if India provided “actionable intelligence” regarding the Pulwama attack that proved Pakistani involvement, “we will immediately act”.
On Saturday, Mr Modi had called on Mr Khan to join India in fighting poverty and illiteracy, instead of the pair fighting each other.
In December Logita Yimaye examined why there had been a rise in violence in Kashmir
Timeline of India-Pakistan tensions
October 1947: First war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir just two months after they become independent nations.
August 1965: The neighbours fight another brief war over Kashmir.
December 1971: India supports East Pakistan’s bid to become independent. The Indian air force conducts bombing raids inside Pakistan. The war ends with the creation of Bangladesh.
May 1999: Pakistani soldiers and militants occupy Indian military posts in Kargil mountains. India launches air and ground strikes and the intruders are pushed back.
October 2001: A devastating attack on the state assembly in Indian-administered Kashmir kills 38. Two months later, an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi leaves 14 dead.
November 2008: Co-ordinated attacks on Mumbai’s main railway station, luxury hotels and a Jewish cultural centre kill 166 people. India blames Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
January 2016: Four-day attack on Indian air base in Pathankot leaves seven Indian soldiers and six militants dead.
18 September 2016: Attack on army base in Uri in Indian-administered Kashmir kills 19 soldiers.
30 September 2016: India says it carried “surgical strikes” on militants in Pakistani Kashmir. Islamabad denies strikes took place.
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William J Burns, CIA Director. Reuters file
Prime Minister Narendra Modi seen during the closing ceremony of G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. (Twitter/MEAIndia)
In December Logita Yimaye examined why there had been a rise in violence in Kashmir