Cambodia will start military conscription next year as tensions with Thailand persist
Relations between the neighbors have deteriorated sharply following an armed confrontation on May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed in one of several small contested patches of land.
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
I'm a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.
A month after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, I believed there was evidence that the Israeli military had committed war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity in its counterattack on Gaza. But contrary to the cries of Israel's fiercest critics, the evidence did not seem to me to rise to the crime of genocide. By May 2024, the Israel Defense Forces had ordered about one million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah — the southernmost and last remaining relatively undamaged city of the Gaza Strip — to move to the beach area of the Mawasi, where there was little to no shelter. The army then proceeded to destroy much of Rafah, a feat mostly accomplished by August. At that point it appeared no longer possible to deny that the pattern of I.D.F. operations was consistent with the statements denoting genocidal intent made by Israeli leaders in the days after the Hamas attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised that the enemy would pay a 'huge price' for the attack and that the I.D.F. would turn parts of Gaza, where Hamas was operating, 'into rubble,' and he called on 'the residents of Gaza' to 'leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere.' Netanyahu had urged his citizens to remember 'what Amalek did to you,' a quote many interpreted as a reference to the demand in a biblical passage calling for the Israelites to 'kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings' of their ancient enemy. Government and military officials said they were fighting 'human animals' and, later, called for 'total annihilation.' Nissim Vaturi, the deputy speaker of Parliament, said on X that Israel's task must be 'erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth.' Israel's actions could be understood only as the implementation of the expressed intent to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable for its Palestinian population. I believe the goal was — and remains today — to force the population to leave the Strip altogether or, considering that it has nowhere to go, to debilitate the enclave through bombings and severe deprivation of food, clean water, sanitation and medical aid to such an extent that it is impossible for Palestinians in Gaza to maintain or reconstitute their existence as a group. My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Having grown up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of my life in Israel, served in the I.D.F. as a soldier and officer and spent most of my career researching and writing on war crimes and the Holocaust, this was a painful conclusion to reach, and one that I resisted as long as I could. But I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one. This is not just my conclusion. A growing number of experts in genocide studies and international law have concluded that Israel's actions in Gaza can only be defined as genocide. So has Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, and Amnesty International. South Africa has brought a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Bloomberg
4 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Thailand to Name Vitai as Central Bank Chief, Reports Say
Thailand is poised to name veteran banker Vitai Ratanakorn as the next governor of the central bank, local media reported ahead of a cabinet meeting likely to endorse the appointment. Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira has picked Vitai, president of the Government Savings Bank, to run the Bank of Thailand, the Thai-language newspaper Krungthep Turakij reported, citing unidentified government sources. Thai-language outlet Manager also reported the appointment.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Japan warns of China's military moves as biggest strategic challenge
TOKYO (AP) — Japan raised strong caution against China's rapid acceleration of military activity in extensive areas from around its southwestern coasts to the Pacific, describing the moves as the biggest strategic challenge. China's growing joint operations with Russia also pose serious security concerns to Japan, along with increasing tension around Taiwan and threats coming from North Korea, the Defense Ministry said in an annual military report submitted to Cabinet on Tuesday. 'The international society is in a new crisis era as it faces the biggest challenges since the end of World War II,' the report said, citing significant changes to the global power balance while raising concern about an escalation of the China-U.S. rivalry. The security threats are concentrated in the Indo-Pacific, where Japan is located, and could get worse in the future, report says. Japan has accelerated its military buildup on southwestern islands in recent years, preparing to deploy long-distance cruise missiles, as it worries about a conflict in Taiwan, which China claims as its territory to be annexed by force if necessary. Taiwan launched 10-day annual live-fire military exercises last week intended to guard against Chinese threats to invade. Japan tested a short-range, surface-to-ship missile at home earlier last month. Chinese warships' advance into the Pacific has steadily increased, with the frequency of their passage off southwestern Japan tripling in the past three years, including in waters between Taiwan and its neighboring Japanese island of Yonaguni, the 534-page report said. The report comes days after Japan demanded China stop flying its fighter jets abnormally close to Japanese intelligence-gathering aircraft, which it said was happening repeatedly and could cause a collision. Beijing, in return, accused Japan of flying near Chinese airspace for spying purposes. Two earlier close encounters in June occurred over the Pacific Ocean, where Japan spotted two Chinese aircraft carriers operating together for the first time. China's increasing dispatch of aircraft carriers in the Pacific underscores the country's attempt to advance its sea power in distant waters, the report said. It said China's frequent dispatch of bombers for long distance flights in the Pacific by more sophisticated flight routes and fleet organization is seen as Beijing's attempt to show off its presence around Japan and to further advance its operational capability. The Defense Ministry noted two cases last year — a Chinese warplane's brief violation of Japanese airspace over waters off islands near Nagasaki and an aircraft carrier's entry into a zone just outside of Japan's territorial waters further southwest in the Nansei island chain. With U.S. President Donald Trump focusing on the strengthening of the U.S. economy and security, Japan and other U.S. allies face expectations to play a greater role for peace and stability in the region, the report said. North Korea poses 'an increasingly serious and imminent threat' for Japan's security, the report said, noting the North's development of missiles carrying nuclear warheads into the Japanese territory and solid-fuel ICBM that can reach the U.S. mainland. Russia maintains active military operations around Japan and violated the country's airspace in September, the report added, saying its increasing strategic cooperation with China has posed 'strong concern' for Japan's security. ___ Reeno Hashimoto in Tokyo contributed to this report.
