Road signs replaced to reflect North Macedonia name change

February 14, 2019

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — It's official: The Republic of North Macedonia has replaced Republic of Macedonia as part of a historic deal with Greece. The government gazette formally published the name deal Wednesday, opening the way for the renamed country's accession to NATO and eventually the European Union. The United Nations announced late Wednesday that it had been officially notified that the North Macedonia name agreement with Greece had gone into effect.

As a first practical move, workers were replacing road signs on the border with Greece to reflect the name change, which ends a nearly three decade-long dispute with Greece over use of the term "Macedonia." Later, the country will change signs at airports and on official buildings, web pages and printed materials.

Vehicle registration plates will also change, while passports and currency will be replaced over the coming years. The dispute dates back to the country's 1991 declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. Athens argued the name implied claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia and usurped its ancient Greek heritage. Although more than 130 countries did recognize the country as Macedonia, the United Nations and other international bodies used the cumbersome moniker "Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia," agreed in an interim accord in 1995.

Hundreds of rounds of United Nations-brokered negotiations floundered until last year, when Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras agreed to a compromise. The deal was has been met with vociferous objections by large sections of the public on both sides of the border, with critics in both countries accusing their respective governments of conceding too much to the other side.

As their country's new name became a reality, reactions were mixed in Skopje. "I'm glad that we are moving forward. After 30 years of difficulties and isolation, my country has a future," said Suzana Alcinova Monevska, a 55-year-old meteorologist. "I'm already feeling that with the new name, obstacles are removed. My company has already got many invitations in recent days to participate in EU-sponsored projects."

But others were angered by the name change. Skopje resident Marinna Stevcevska, 55, said she was "deeply disappointed and emotionally hurt" by the change. "I will not change my passport as long as I can and I'm hoping that something will change to have the old name back," she said. "I've promised to myself that if Macedonia changes its name, I'll be leaving the country. I'm still thinking where to move."

Among the first practical steps North Macedonia must now take is to inform the United Nations and all the countries that had previously recognized it as Macedonia that its name has now changed. The country's customs administration will change all its digital records to reflect the new name within three days, while signs at airports and border crossings will be changed. Vehicle license plates will be changed within four months, while new passports will start being issued at the end of the year.

New currency will also be printed, but not quite yet. North Macedonian authorities say the National Bank will create a plan for the gradual replacement of the currency, with the first new banknotes being drawn up early next year.

Macedonia prepares for name change by removing signs

February 11, 2019

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Authorities in Macedonia have begun removing official signs from government buildings to prepare for its new name: North Macedonia. "Government of the Republic of Macedonia" signs were removed from the country's main government building early Monday in the capital Skopje.

The small Balkan country will change its name to North Macedonia after reaching a landmark agreement over the summer with neighboring Greece, which has a neighboring province called Macedonia. Macedonia is due to become a NATO member now that Greece's parliament approved a measure Friday that would allow the country to join the alliance. Previously, Greece had blocked Macedonia's accession to NATO.

Macedonia will now publish the deal with Greece in its government gazette so that it's officially enshrined in law.

Macedonia admitted to NATO after resolving Greece dispute

FEB. 6, 2019
By Clyde Hughes

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Macedonia officially signed on Wednesday to become an official member of NATO, after resistance from Greece was settled last month.

Greece had long objected to membership over a dispute with the Macedonia name, which Athens uses for a Greek region in the north. Last month, the two countries settled the dispute when the country agreed to change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia. In exchange for the name change, Greece agreed to drop its veto toward Macedonia's NATO admittance.

The signing allows the Balkan nation to take part in NATO activities as an invitee while the 29 member nations ratify the agreement in their own countries. Macedonia will formally change its name after Greece's ratification.

"NATO keeps almost one billion citizens across Europe and North America secure and with you joining NATO there will be thirty countries committed to protect each other," NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

"Your accession will bring more stability to the Western Balkans. This is good for the region and for Euro-Atlantic security."

Macedonia already contributes to NATO's training mission in Afghanistan and the alliance's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

"This wasn't inevitable -- this wasn't even very likely to happen," Macedonia Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said. "The impossible is actually doable. This is a family that strives to make our world more peaceful and a better place.

"This is a journey that has made us more mature... we have proven that we can assume our responsibility, face a problem, and resolve those problems."

Macedonia and Greece have squabbled over the name -- which has been around since Alexander The Great's reign in the region during late B.C. -- since 1991 when the country broke away from the former Yugoslavia.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/02/06/Macedonia-admitted-to-NATO-after-resolving-Greece-dispute/6431549457608/.

Macedonian PM: Greece's turn to make history with name deal

January 12, 2019

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia's prime minister says he expects Greece's parliament to do its part and ratify the deal changing his country's name to North Macedonia so it can soon join NATO. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told reporters in the capital of Skopje on Saturday that he expects neighboring Greece to be the first country to sign the accession protocol for Macedonia to become NATO's 30th member.

NATO formally invited Macedonia to join the military alliance in 2008, but Greece vetoed the move, claiming that Macedonia's name implies territorial aspirations toward Greece's northern province with the same name as well as appropriating Greece's historical heritage.

Zaev said that Macedonian lawmakers had "made history" Friday with their decision to back the constitutional changes associated with the name change. "I know how difficult that was ... we are putting the bitterness in the past and we are looking now proudly to the future," Zaev said.

He said he now expects Greece's parliament to convene and do the same, and unblock Macedonia's NATO membership. Zaev said that Greece has "got a new friend now North Macedonia," adding that he hopes the two nations will build up trust and open "many new windows" for cooperation.

But in Greece, the upcoming parliamentary vote on the name change ratification has frayed relations between Greece's coalition partners. Greek defense Minister Panos Kammenos, leader of the right-wing populist Independent Greeks party, is vehemently opposed to the deal. He has repeatedly threatened to pull his lawmakers out of the government, although he has sent mixed signals on whether he will bring down the government in a vote of confidence.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Kammenos will meet Sunday morning to discuss their differences. A Greek government spokeswoman told The Associated Press that by Monday, or at least later in the week, the timeline for ratification will be clearer. The vote could possibly even take place this month, unless a confidence motion, invoked either by Tsipras or by the opposition New Democracy party, is discussed first.

Several lawmakers from small center-left parties, as well as at least two from Kammenos' party, have indicated they are ready to vote for the name deal. Tsipras, who has the unquestioned backing of the 145-strong Syriza parliamentary group, has repeatedly expressed certainty that he will find the 151 votes to ensure ratification of the name deal by a majority in the 300-member Parliament.

The Macedonian parliament's ratification has been hailed by several foreign leaders, including NATO General-Secretary Jens Stoltenberg and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Adding his congratulations late Friday, was Matthew Nimetz, the U.N. Secretary-General's personal envoy on the name dispute since 1999, saying that the agreement paves the way for "a firmer basis for peace and security in the Balkans."

"I wish to congratulate the (Macedonian) parliament and the country's citizens for this accomplishment and for the democratic manner in which this important process was undertaken," he said.

Nellas reported from Athens, Greece.

Macedonia vote rattles government in neighbor Greece

January 11, 2019

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia's center-left government is holding emergency talks for a second day to try to secure the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to finalize constitutional changes for a landmark deal with neighbor Greece.

Talks between government and opposition lawmakers continued Friday following repeated delays in the vote. The governments of Macedonia and Greece are both struggling to secure the political support required to ratify the agreement reached last June, under which the landlocked Balkan nation would change its name to North Macedonia and Greece would lift objections to its accession to NATO.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on a working visit to Athens, has expressed strong support for the agreement. But the issue has brought Greece's coalition government to the brink of breakup.

Macedonia offers partial amnesty for storming of parliament

December 18, 2018

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonian lawmakers have approved a law offering amnesty to some suspected perpetrators of a violent storming of parliament last year, seeking to boost reconciliation in a deeply polarized society.

All 95 lawmakers present in the 120-seat parliament Tuesday backed a draft amnesty law over the April 2017 incident. But the amnesty won't cover organizers of the intrusion and protesters who committed physical violence.

According to the new law, people suspected of participating in the melee, who are on trial before Skopje's criminal court, can now file requests for amnesty. A total of 33 people — including conservative opposition lawmakers and supporters — are on trial over the incident, when an angry mob stormed parliament to block the election of a new speaker. More than 100 people, including lawmakers, were injured.

German ruling parties grapple with labor reforms, migration

February 11, 2019

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's governing parties sought Monday to put behind them long-running internal divisions on labor reforms and migration policy, but the results could deepen tensions in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition.

Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union leads an uneasy "grand coalition" of what were traditionally Germany's biggest parties with the center-left Social Democrats, who are trying to reverse a slump in poll ratings ahead of this year's European Parliament election.

The Social Democrats' leadership Sunday endorsed a package of proposals aimed at revamping divisive labor market reforms the party launched 16 years ago, as well as calling for a hefty rise in Germany's minimum wage and a right to work at home. The reforms and benefit cuts introduced under former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have been credited with strengthening the economy but alienated many of the party's voters.

Party leader Andrea Nahles declared that the Social Democrats "are leaving behind us" an unpopular system of limited and conditional long-term unemployment benefits introduced under Schroeder. There is little chance of making the proposals reality in the coalition that the Social Democrats reluctantly entered last year. A deputy CDU leader, Volker Bouffier, charged that they "plan the burial of the social market economy."

The Social Democrats appear to hope that a flurry of left-leaning proposals that also has included a call for boosting low earners' pensions could help them avoid a disastrous showing in the European election in May. There has been widespread speculation that a poor performance, or an already-agreed midterm review of the coalition agreement this fall, could prompt the party to leave the government.

"We want to govern, but we want to govern with ideas that are in tune with the times," the Social Democrats' general secretary, Lars Klingbeil, said on ZDF television. Separately, the CDU was holding a "workshop" Monday to address migration policy, a hot-button issue inside the party since Merkel allowed in large numbers of migrants in 2015 — annoying conservatives and helping boost the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

New party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer convened the meeting after succeeding Merkel in December, in an effort to prevent the issue becoming the kind of running sore that labor and benefits have been for the Social Democrats. Merkel herself was not participating.

Swedish foreign ministry investigates ambassador to China

February 14, 2019

BEIJING (AP) — The Swedish Embassy in China says its ambassador is under internal investigation. The embassy said Thursday that Ambassador Anna Lindstedt has returned to Stockholm to meet with officials from the foreign affairs ministry. She is not under criminal investigation.

Lindstedt left Beijing on Wednesday, according to the embassy, which declined to give further details. Her departure comes after Angela Gui, the daughter of detained Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai published an account Wednesday detailing a "strange" meeting with a pair of Chinese businessmen arranged by Lindstedt.

Gui wrote on Medium, an online publishing platform, that the businessmen threatened her after offering to help secure her father's release from prison in China. Gui Minhai, a naturalized Swedish citizen, co-owned a Hong Kong store which sold gossipy books about Chinese leaders.

Lessons for Brexit from Norway's hard border with Sweden

February 10, 2019

ORJE, Norway (AP) — With fresh snow crunching under their boots and a handful of papers to be checked and stamped, truck drivers from Latvia, Sweden and Poland make their way across Norway's Orje customs station to a small office where their goods will be cleared out of the European Union and into Norway.

While many border posts in Europe have vanished, Norway's hard border with the European Union is clearly visible, with cameras, license-plate recognition systems and barriers directing traffic to customs officers.

Norway's membership in the European Economic Area (EEA) grants it access to the EU's vast common market and most goods are exempt from paying duties. Still, everything entering the country must be declared and cleared through customs.

Technological solutions being tested in Norway to digitalize customs procedures for cargo have been seized on by some in Britain as a way to overcome border-related problems that threaten to scuttle a divorce deal with the EU. But the realities of this northern border also show the difficulties that persist.

A divorce deal between Britain and the EU has stumbled over how to guarantee an open border between the United Kingdom's Northern Ireland and EU member state Ireland after Britain leaves the bloc on March 29.

The Irish border area was a flashpoint during decades of conflict in Northern Ireland that cost 3,700 lives. The free flow of people and goods across the near-invisible Irish border now underpins both the local economy and Northern Ireland's peace process.

The EU's proposed solution is for Britain to remain in a customs union with the bloc, eliminating the need for checks until another solution is found. But pro-Brexit British politicians say that would stop the U.K. from forging new trade deals around the world.

Technology may or may not be the answer, depending on who you talk to. "Everyone agrees that we have to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland, and ... technology will play a big part in doing so," said Northern Ireland Minister John Penrose.

But EU deputy Brexit negotiator Sabine Weyand said on Twitter: "Can technology solve the Irish border problem? Short answer: not in the next few years." The Customs office at Orje, on the road connecting the capitals of Oslo and Stockholm, has been testing a new digital clearance system to speed goods through customs by enabling exporters to submit information online up to two hours before a truck reaches the border.

At her desk in Orje, Chief Customs officer Nina Bullock was handling traditional paper border clearance forms when her computer informed her of an incoming truck that used the Express Clearance system.

"We know the truck number, we know the driver, we know what kinds of goods, we know everything," she told The Associated Press. "It will pass by the two cameras and go on. It's doesn't need to come into the office."

That allows Customs officers to conduct risk assessments before the vehicle even reaches the border. So far, only 10 Swedish companies are in the pilot project, representing just a handful of the 400-450 trucks that cross at this border post each day. But if it's successful, the plan will be expanded.

In the six months since the trial began, Customs section chief Hakon Krogh says some problems have brought the system to a standstill, from snow blocking the camera, to Wi-Fi issues preventing the border barrier from lifting, to truck drivers who misunderstand which customs lane to use.

"It's a pilot program, so it takes time to make things work smoothly before it can be expanded," said Krogh, who still felt the program could have a long-term benefit. The program also limits flexibility for exporters. If a driver calls in sick and is replaced by another, or extra cargo is added to a shipment, then all the paperwork must be resubmitted online.

Yet a greater barrier to digitalizing the border is the complexity of international trade. The Svinesund customs office, 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Orje, is Norway's major road border, with 1,300 trucks each day carrying goods into the country from all over Europe. Customs section chief Kristen Hoiberget has been following the Orje pilot program with interest but warns of systematic challenges to its expansion.

"It's very easy to deal with a digital system when the goods are uniform," said Hoiberget. "If you have one kind of goods in a lorry, it's less complicated. But if you have a lorry that picks up goods at ten different places abroad, the complexity arises rapidly."

He said most of the export information needed is available digitally but Customs, clearance houses and exporters all use different computer systems. "There are a lot of prerequisites to a digital border," he said. "A frictionless border would need development and lots of legislation."

Back in Orje, vehicles entering Norway are randomly checked, with officers mainly looking for alcohol and cigarettes, which are cheaper in Sweden. Border changes are coming, but certainly not in the tight two-month timeframe that any Brexit border changes would need.

"If you look 15 years ahead, I guess this office won't be here. I won't be sitting here stamping papers," said Bullock. "But customs officers will still be on duty, to prevent goods coming into Norway that are not supposed to."

As an AP journalist waited in the snow to watch a truck at Orje use the Express Clearance lane, a truck driver made his way across a large parking lot to the customs office. "You must be doing a Brexit story," he joked. "They'll be in the same boat soon."

Lawless contributed from London.

US Congresswomen openly endorse BDS

February 11, 2019

The first two Middle East Congresswomen, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, have openly endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Michigan congresswoman Tlaib said on Saturday that she wanted to highlight “issues such as racism and Israel’s violations of the Palestinians’ human rights”.

Meanwhile Omar, the congresswoman for Minnesota, said she is working to bring some balance to the US position, which currently gives priority to Israel...

... She added: “I know that if we saw that in another society we would criticize it – we do that to Iran and any other place that upholds its religion.”

In response, Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin slammed Tlaib and Omar’s open support for the BDS movement, urging his colleagues to “to reject the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred that we are starting to see infiltrating American politics and even the halls of Congress”.

The Republicans also accused the Democratic Party leadership of encouraging “hate speech and intolerance towards Israel”. Alvin Rosenfeld, director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism at Indiana University, said that “there is obviously a serious fight going on within the Democratic Party with respect to how to deal with BDS and some within their party who advocate for it”. “Should the party swing to the far left and appear to be way out of line with America’s traditional ties to one of its strongest allies, Israel, the party will surely suffer at the polls,” he told AFP.

However, Omar has defended her views on Israel, saying she finds it “exciting” that her views are sparking debate. “I think it is actually exciting because we are finally able to have conversations that we weren’t really willing to before,” she told CNN.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190211-us-congresswomen-openly-endorse-bds/.

Israeli leader hopes summit brings Arab ties out in the open

February 13, 2019

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Mideast conference in Poland starting Wednesday offers Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an opportunity to flaunt in public what he has long boasted about happening behind the scenes — his country's improved relations with some Gulf Arab nations.

Several Gulf dignitaries are expected to attend in a potential show of force against uninvited Iran. But the Palestinians are urging a boycott of the conference, and it remains to be seen whether Arab officials will make any public overtures to Netanyahu without a major concession to the Palestinian cause, which still animates the Arab public.

The United States and Poland are sponsoring the conference in Warsaw, which they say is aimed at promoting peace and security in the region but appears to be mainly focused on isolating Iran. Iran has denounced the conference as an American anti-Iran "circus." Russia has said it will not attend, and the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is also skipping the event.

For the Trump administration, it is a high-profile occasion to gather all its Middle East allies. For Poland, it offers a chance to strengthen ties with Washington as it seeks greater protection from Russia.

But the real winner could be Netanyahu, who has repeatedly stated that Israel has clandestinely developed good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. Bringing such contacts out into the open would mark a major diplomatic coup, put a seal of approval on his goal of improving Israel's standing in the world and provide a powerful photo-op for his re-election campaign ahead of the April vote in Israel.

Before departing for Poland on Tuesday, Netanyahu told reporters that the focus of the conference will be Iran, an issue he said "unites Israel, the United States, many countries in the world." He said Israel enjoys "very good relations" with every country in the region "except Syria," where Israel has carried out several airstrikes on Iranian targets in recent months.

Danny Danon, Israel's U.N. ambassador, said his private contacts with Arab officials are far warmer than what is said in public. He predicted that once one Arab country goes public, others will quickly follow.

"As of now, they are already cooperating with us," he told reporters in Jerusalem recently. "We ask them to recognize us and not to be ashamed for using our technology or our defense systems." Israel has signed peace accords with Egypt and Jordan, but other Arab nations have refused to publicly improve relations without significant progress being made toward ending Israel's half-century occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state.

But as shared concerns about Iran have overshadowed the Palestinian issue in recent years, ties that have long lingered in the shadows have begun to emerge. Netanyahu visited Oman in October and met with longtime ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Days later, two of his ministers headed to the United Arab Emirates for a security conference and to cheer on an Israeli delegation at a judo tournament — where the Israeli anthem was played after an Israeli competitor won gold.

Saudi Arabia, long rumored to have backdoor ties to Israel, lifted a decades-long ban on the use of its airspace for flights to Israel last spring, allowing India's national carrier to cross its skies. The leaders of the small Gulf nation of Bahrain have also expressed willingness to normalize relations.

Gulf Arab states have given less voice to their traditional antipathy toward Israel as they have grown increasingly fearful of Iran over its involvement in Syria and other regional conflicts, and its support for various armed groups. Getting closer to Israel also helps them to curry favor in Washington.

But with Arab public opinion still strongly against normalization with Israel, this week's conference is unlikely to produce warm engagement right away, said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies.

"Covert meetings already exist, and the 'under-the-table' relations are the world's worst kept secret, so I don't see what the Arabs would gain from shaking hands," he said. "The point is to see everyone in the same room as a united front against Iran. But the Arab street is still nowhere near where the elites are regarding Israel, and too strong an embrace could draw fire."

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are scheduled to attend and meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It is unclear what their level of engagement will be with the Israeli delegation.

Netanyahu recently visited the Muslim-majority African nation of Chad to officially restore relations after 50 years and promised there would be more such visits and announcements soon. Trump's senior Mideast adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan for close to two years, but has not yet released details. U.S. officials say Kushner is expected to make some comments about the conflict in Warsaw, but Netanyahu said he doesn't expect any discussion of the peace plan.

The Palestinians have pre-emptively rejected the plan, accusing the Trump White House of being unfairly biased toward Israel. They've also asked Arab countries to boycott or downgrade their representation at the conference in Poland.

"We view the Warsaw conference as a plot against the Palestinian cause," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said this week. President Mahmoud Abbas met with Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Tuesday, who expressed his "permanent stand" in favor of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, according to the official Saudi news agency.

Further tempering expectations, an Israeli TV channel obtained what it said was a secret Foreign Ministry report concluding it was very unlikely Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel without a major concession to the Palestinians. The report, aired on Israel's Channel 13 news, quoted a senior official as saying the narrow window for a breakthrough with the Saudis had closed.

The Foreign Ministry refused to comment on the report.

Israelis to turn historic mosque into museum

February 5, 2019

The Israeli authorities in Tiberias have broken into the historic Al-Bahr Mosque in order to start turning it into a museum, Al-Resalah reported on Monday. The move violates a 2000 agreement between the authorities and the Palestinian community in Israel to maintain the status quo at the mosque, which has been closed ever since. One fifth of all Israeli citizens are Palestinians, the so-called “Arab-Israelis”, and face institutionalized discrimination at the hands of the state.

Israel has demolished hundreds of Palestinian mosques, cemeteries and other religious sites since the state’s creation in 1948. Dozens have been turned into bars and night clubs in Jaffa, Lod, Al-Ramla, Ashkelon and other cities with no regard for their religious significance.

According to Arab48.com, the agreement reached in 2000 has been violated several times, with attacks on the building, including arson. Largely left unguarded, it has been used by drug addicts.

“We have to go to Tiberias and stop the desecration of the holy site which aims to erase any Palestinian symbols in the city,” insisted Mohammad Baraka, the Chairman of the High Committee for Arab Citizens. He said that the Arab citizens in Israel would never accept such a move and pledged to protect the mosque and other holy places.

“Those who forget the agreement to maintain the status quo should know that it was not easy to reach,” said Kamal Al-Khatib, the head of the freedoms sub-committee in the Arab Follow up Committee. “It seems that the right-wing trend is within the mindset of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the head of Tiberias municipality, which is known for its right-wing stances.”

Al-Bahr (“The Sea”) Mosque was built in 1743 by the Muslim ruler of Tiberias, Al-Zaher Omar. It is located on the shore of Lake Tiberias, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Since the Israeli occupation of Palestine in 1948, the mosque has been abandoned and no Muslims have been allowed to enter it. Having been turned into a bar, an agreement was reached in 2000 between the Tiberias municipality and the Palestinian citizens of Israel, including Arab parliamentarians. However, it was abandoned again and Palestinians are not allowed to enter even to clean it.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190205-israelis-to-turn-historic-mosque-into-museum/.

The Arabs are paying the price for peace with Israel

January 22, 2019
Mohammad Ayesh

In the past few years, Israel, the alien state in the region, has been sleeping in peace in a way that it has never dreamt of since it was founded more than seven decades ago. Meanwhile, the Arabs are drowning in war and blood day after day. If we expand our awareness and attention to what is happening, we find that the deeper the Arab states sink into war, the more unprecedented peace and happiness that Israel and its military occupation enjoy.

Over the past five years, Israel has launched a series of raids on Syria and carried out carefully planned military operations across the border, including the assassinations of Samir Qantar, Imad Mughniyeh, and others. It has also carried out military operations elsewhere, including the assassination of Engineer Mohamed Zouari in Tunisia and the assassination of Palestinian academic and researcher Fadi Al-Batsh in Malaysia. It may have even carried out more killings in other countries without anyone realizing, especially since Israel does not immediately admit to such operations. It only confessed a few years ago, for example, that it had killed the martyr Wadie Haddad in Iraq in 1978, 30 years after the assassination which people thought was a natural death.

Israeli raids and operations in recent years are an important indicator of the peace and relative relaxation enjoyed by the state, at a time when the Arabs are preoccupied with their internal conflicts, which have cost them enormously in human and material terms. The richest Arab countries suffer from deficits in their budgets and suffocating economic crises, while the poorest Arab countries, such as Syria, Yemen and Libya, are standing in line waiting to die. Their citizens who have escaped death by gunfire and bombs are facing starvation and extreme cold temperatures in refugee camps, or maybe even being drowned in their attempts to escape to the shores of Europe.

According to Elias Khoury, the editor of Palestine Studies magazine, there is a link between peace with Israel and the Arab internal war, pointing out that the Arab world is paying the price of that peace, which is far greater than the price of conflict and war with the Zionist state. At least 72,000 Arab martyrs have been killed in the wars with Israel, which is far fewer than those lost in inter-Arab conflicts. In Lebanon, for example, more than 120,000 people died in the civil war alone. Khoury asks whether this deceptive peace is merely a door to hell for the Arab world. Have the past few years proven that the price of peace is higher than the price of war?

The answer may well be yes, especially if we take into consideration the Machiavellian theory that when people face an external danger, they come together and forget their internal disputes. They rally behind each other in order to face the external threat and defeat it.

To say that the Arabs are paying the price of peace with Israel or that Israel is enjoying peace at great cost to the Arabs amounts to one and the same thing. Israel is reaping the benefits of the Arabs being in perpetual conflict. Ultimately, it is the sole beneficiary. The fact that it is being allowed to get away with attacking targets in Syria and assassinating its enemies with apparent impunity is not the only benefit that the Israeli government has obtained from Arab conflicts. It is also sitting back and watching Arab leaders fall over themselves in the race to normalize relations with the Zionist state in our midst.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190122-the-arabs-are-paying-the-price-for-peace-with-israel/.

Thai polls regulator heeds king, blocks princess' candidacy

February 11, 2019

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's Election Commission on Monday disqualified the sister of the country's king from becoming a candidate for prime minister in next month's general election, saying all royals have to be above politics and the monarchy must remain politically neutral.

The commission's decision came after her brother issued an order describing Princess Ubolratana Mahidol's political bid as inappropriate and unconstitutional. The Thai Raksa Chart Party last Friday registered Ubolratana as its candidate, defying precedent against royal involvement in politics.

Her choice of party was notable because the party is associated with the political machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup after being accused of abuse of power and disrespect for the monarchy.

A royal order late Friday night from King Maha Vajiralongkorn said tradition and law barred the princess from politics. Ubolratana's involvement was seen as a challenge to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led a 2014 military coup and is favored to win the March 24 election, which 55 parties are contesting. The military, a bitter foe of the exiled Thaksin, is closely allied to the palace.

Thai Raksa Chart on Saturday hastily issued a statement declaring its loyalty to the king and acceptance of his order, though it was technically too late to withdraw Ubolratana's candidacy.

Why a Department of the Space Force?

Bethesda, MD (SPX)
Feb 08, 2019

Over the last 20 years several issues regarding the National Security Space (NSS) organization and management have been reviewed and assessed. Both the Rumsfeld Commission in 2001 and the Allard Commission in 2009 noted that there are many pockets of excellence and positive trends within the NSS community.

However, the commissions also noted growing performance shortfalls, vulnerabilities and potential gaps in capabilities. Many of the capabilities are thin and fragile. Important space-based capabilities are currently provided by obsolete on-orbit assets, while new generation satellites have experienced unacceptable cost and schedule growth, technical performance problems and cancellations.

Many of the necessary actions to address these adverse trends, such as those identified by the 2001 Space Commission and the 2003 Defense Science Board Study on Space Acquisition, have been slow to change. There has been a lack of clear accountability and authority regarding strategies, budgets, requirements and acquisition processes across the NSS community. In other words, "no one's in charge."

To exacerbate the situation, career management practices have often been counterproductive and the technical talent pool has been insufficient. These commissions stressed the need for fundamental change in order to correct the problems. In particular, the Allard Commission recommended a top-to-bottom reform to create stronger leadership and improved management for National Security Space. In the absence of needed improvements and a lack of progress, it would appear that NSS operations should have its own organization and management structure, and that structure could become the Department of the Space Force.

This new NSS organization could do many things to reduce costs and increase operational effectiveness, while maintaining space superiority. For example, clarify lines of authority and eliminate "stovepiped" systems. A new vision is needed for NSS and that may be called "Vision 2030," a 21st Century architecture that uses an integrated approach to providing NSS services to the stakeholder community.

Such an architecture might use a single integrated and multifunctional space infrastructure that satisfies the objectives of both the warfighter and intelligence communities. Physically, this might be a multi-layered constellation of satellites that can collect ISR and other security-related information, fuse and process data, and send these data to end users on the ground.

The new Space Force might become the single source of all needed NSS information for a variety of ground and space operations. All defense and intelligence agencies could then share resources in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Why_a_Department_of_the_Space_Force_999.html.

Ex-Marine pilot dreams of ferrying folks into space

By Ivan Couronne
Washington (AFP) Feb 8, 2019

Mark Stucky fought in the Iraq war, once buzzed a Soviet warplane over the Sea of Japan and has flown all sorts of experimental aircraft.

Now, his dream is a taste of routine and repetition: to make the same trip as often as possible, in the same aircraft, ferrying six wealthy passengers into space.

"Forger", as he is nicknamed, is a test pilot for the space travel company Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson.

Flying an aircraft called SpaceShipTwo, for a few minutes on December 13, 2018 he flew across the boundary into space over the Mojave Desert in California.

It is this kind of flight that Virgin Galactic hopes to make available on a weekly basis to rich customers, some day.

"This is a test pilot's dream," said Stucky, a 60-year-old former Marine with short gray hair.

"I want to do every flight," he added, although he will have to share them with other Virgin test pilots until flights get going on a regular basis -- not before the end of the year, even if all goes well.

Reaching space remains a complex and dangerous feat. A friend of Stucky flying for Virgin died in 2014 after a wrong command in midair caused the aircraft to disintegrate.

Since then the program remains in the test phase. Branson said it will be far enough along in July for him to take a place on the spacecraft. But in this industry delays are common.

Stucky says he would love to take his family along on one of the flights.

"Oh, definitely," he said in an interview with AFP.

He was in Washington to receive "astronaut wings" from the government aviation agency FAA for private sector crew who have flown beyond 50 miles (80 km) above the surface of the earth. That is considered the edge of space for the United States, although the international norm is 100 km.

His co-pilot Frederick Sturckow also received the honor. Only two previous flyers of the predecessor to SpaceShipTwo, who went up in 2004, have garnered such wings.

"There will always be some level of risk because you're going to space. That should not be taken lightly," said Stucky, who has spent most of his working life flying planes for the army and NASA before joining Scaled Composites, a Virgin partner, in 2009.

"Only time will tell. There's always this one bad flight separating you from being a hero to a goat," he said.

Stucky added: "Humankind needs a percentage of people that do go out and explore and pave the way for the masses to follow, but I don't think everybody should do it."

- Floating in space -

SpaceShipTwo looks like a rocket fitted with wings. It is carried into the air by a large plane that drops it like a bomb, roughly at the altitude at which commercial aircraft travel.

A few seconds later, the pilot ignites the engine and the spaceplane becomes an actual rocket for a minute, blasting straight up -- so high that the view stretches from Baja California in Mexico to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Then, in absolute silence, the passengers experience weightlessness and float for a few minutes. Soon gravity kicks back in and SpaceShipTwo heads back down to earth, like a cannonball. Stucky and his co-pilot ease the gliding craft into the Mojave Air and Spaceport.

Some say such missions are no big deal -- just going way, way up, and less tricky than flying in orbit around the earth. But Stucky begs to differ.

"I don't think it's a dead end technology. I think it's a way to democratize space for many, many thousands of people. If you want to go orbital right now, you open up space for a handful of extremely wealthy billionaires," he said.

For the first 600 people who have signed up for such flights, the fare is a cool $250,000. Sales have stopped but Virgin Galactic has said the price will go up when reservations reopen.

Virgin Galactic has a rival in Blue Origin, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who wants to send people higher, up to an altitude of 100 km.

But any idea of a space race is taboo.

"If they beat us, it doesn't matter to me too much, as long as they beat us not because we were lazy. I want us to do the best that we can, but be safe," he said.

He said there is one drawback in his new job: being stuck in the cockpit.

"I wish I could go in the back. I really want to unstrap and float around," he said.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ex-Marine_pilot_dreams_of_ferrying_folks_into_space_999.html.

NATO chief says allies keen to avoid arms race with Russia

February 13, 2019

BRUSSELS (AP) — Taking aim at Russia, NATO's civilian chief said Wednesday the alliance is studying a range of options to counter Moscow's alleged missile treaty violations, and America's top diplomat accused the Russians of having "grand designs" to dominate Europe.

In remarks at the outset of a NATO defense ministers meeting, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance is considering ways to counter Russian missiles without sparking an arms race. He called the missiles "a significant risk" to Europe.

In Poland, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Moscow's efforts to divide the European Union and NATO and disrupt western democracies must be countered through boosting NATO's presence. "Russia has grand designs of dominating Europe and reasserting its influence on the world stage. Vladimir Putin seeks to splinter the NATO alliance, weaken the United States and disrupt Western democracies," he said.

"Russia's invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, its unprovoked attack on Ukrainian naval vessels this past November and its ongoing hybrid warfare against us and our allies are direct challenges to our security and to our way of life," he added.

Pompeo made the comments while visiting a NATO forward position in northeast Poland about 70 kilometers from the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Because of Russia's ongoing involvement in Ukraine, the U.S. and others take seriously the possibility that Moscow may try to open a new front along Europe's eastern flank, Pompeo said. He said that threat underscores the indispensable nature of NATO — a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for the past 70 years but the target of harsh criticism by President Donald Trump, who has cast the allies as freeloaders unwilling to foot the bill for their own defense.

Also throwing U.S. support behind NATO, Vice President Mike Pence told hundreds of Polish and U.S. troops in Warsaw, Poland on Wednesday, "We must stand together in defense of our alliance and all that we hold dear."

Against the backdrop of rising Western tensions with Russia, the NATO meeting in Brussels focused initially on the expected demise of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, known as the INF treaty. The U.S. signed the pact with the Soviet Union in 1987. The allies are considering how to respond collectively to what they say are Russian violations of the treaty.

The United States on Feb. 2 launched the six-month process of leaving the INF treaty, insisting that a new Russian missile system violates the pact. Russia denies it is in contravention and has announced that it will pull out, too.

The INF bans production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). European NATO allies insist that the pact is a cornerstone of continental security, although after Pompeo announced earlier this month that Washington was beginning the formal process of withdrawal, NATO publicly endorsed the move.

Speaking at NATO headquarters, where defense ministers are discussing what to do if the imperiled treaty is abandoned, Stoltenberg said: "This is very serious. We will take our time." "Our response will be united," he said. "It will be measured, and it will be defensive because we don't want a new arms race. And we don't have any intention to deploy new nuclear land-based weapon systems in Europe."

Later, in remarks made alongside Pat Shanahan, the acting U.S. secretary of defense, Stoltenberg said, "We need to plan for a world without the treaty and with more Russian missiles." Shanahan said he planned to brief his fellow ministers on his talks earlier this week in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he met with U.S. commanders and government leaders. NATO has roles in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Shanahan, attending his first NATO meeting, said he also looked forward to talking to his colleagues about the future of the NATO alliance. "We need to talk more about our vision and what we can accomplish in a world that has so many changing threats," he said.

NATO allies have little insight into Shanahan's views, whereas they felt confident that Jim Mattis, who resigned as defense secretary in December, was an unwavering supporter of the alliance. Mattis implied in his resignation letter that President Donald Trump's disrespect for traditional allies was among policy differences that compelled him to quit after two years in the job.

With regard to the expected termination of the INF treaty in August, Stoltenberg said that NATO has "a wide range of options, conventional and other options," but he declined to list them, warning that any speculation "would just add to the uncertainty."

U.S. officials have said there is no plan to deploy in Europe a nuclear-armed INF-class missile. They have said only non-nuclear options are under consideration and that decisions are not imminent. The Pentagon believes that Russia's ground-fired Novator 9M729 cruise missile — known in NATO parlance as the SSC-8 — could give Moscow the ability to launch a nuclear strike in Europe with little or no notice. Russia insists it has a range of less than 500 kilometers. It claims that U.S. target-practice missiles and drones also break the treaty.

European NATO members are especially keen to avoid any nuclear build-up and a repeat of the missile crisis in the 1980s. NATO allies decided to deploy U.S. cruise and Pershing 2 ballistic missiles in Europe in 1983 as negotiations with Moscow faltered over its stationing of SS-20 missiles in Eastern Europe.

-- AP Diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Poland.

Report: At least 20 Guard personnel killed in Iran bombing

February 13, 2019

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A suicide bombing targeting a bus carrying personnel of Iran's elite paramilitary Revolutionary Guard force killed at least 20 people and wounded 20 in the country's southeast, state media reported. An al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremist group operating across the border in Pakistan reportedly claimed the assault.

The bombing came on the same day a U.S.-led conference in Warsaw was to include discussions on what America describes as Iran's malign influence across the wider Mideast. It also comes two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution and four decades of tense relations with the West.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif directly linked the meeting to the attack. "Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that (hashtag)WarsawCircus begins?" Zarif wrote on Twitter. "Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with (Twitter) bots?"

The state-run IRNA news agency, citing what it described as an "informed source," reported the attack on the Guard in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan province. The province, which lies on a major opium trafficking route, has seen occasional clashes between Iranian forces and Baluch separatists, as well as drug traffickers.

The Guard is a major economic and military power in Iran, answerable only to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It later issued a statement saying a vehicle loaded with explosives targeted a bus carrying border guards affiliated with its force.

While Iran has been enmeshed in the wars engulfing Syria and neighboring Iraq, it largely has avoided the bloodshed plaguing the region. In 2009, more than 40 people, including six Guard commanders, were killed in a suicide attack by Sunni extremists in Sistan and Baluchistan province. Jundallah, a Sunni extremist group still active in the region on Iran's border with Pakistan, claimed responsibility for that attack.

More recently, another Sunni extremist group known as Jaish al-Adl linked to al-Qaida, kidnapped 11 Iranian border guards in October. Five later were returned to Iran and six remained held. Both official and semi-official Iranian media outlets blamed Wednesday's bombing on Jaish al-Adl, or "Army of Justice," saying the group had claimed the attack.

That group formed in 2012 and drew some militants from Jundallah, experts believe. Iran long has suspected Saudi Arabia of supporting the militants, something Riyadh denies. It's also unclear how the militants have been able to operate freely from Pakistan for years.

A coordinated June 7, 2017 Islamic State group assault on Parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution. At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded.

And most recently in September, militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on a military parade in Iran's oil-rich southwestern city of Ahvaz, killing 24 people and wounding over 60. Khamenei blamed Riyadh and Abu Dhabi for the attack, allegations denied by both countries.

Arab separatists in the region claimed responsibility, as did the Islamic State group. The attacks come as Iranian officials have said they blame Saudi Arabia and the United States for stirring up dissent in the country. President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of tearing up Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, withdrew the U.S. from the accord last May. Since then, the United Nations says Iran has kept up its side of the bargain, though Iranian officials have increasingly threatened to resume higher enrichment.

Amid the new tensions, Iran's already-weakened economy has been further challenged. There have been sporadic protests in the country as well, incidents applauded by Trump amid Washington's maximalist approach to Tehran.

Khamenei, who earlier approved President Hassan Rouhani's outreach to the West during the nuclear deal negotiations, dismissed any future dealings with the U.S. "About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm," Khamenei said in a statement.

The Warsaw summit, which started Wednesday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation. Zarif earlier predicted the Warsaw summit would not be productive for the U.S.

"I believe it's dead on arrival or dead before arrival," he said at a news conference before the bombing.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Iranians mark anniversary of victory day in 1979 revolution

February 11, 2019

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Waving Iranian flags, chanting "Death to America" and burning U.S. and Israeli flags, hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets across Iran on Monday, marking the date that's considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Feb. 11 that year, Iran's military stood down after days of street battles, allowing the revolutionaries to sweep across the country while the government of U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi resigned and the Islamic Republic was born.

In Tehran, despite the rain, crowds streamed in from the capital's far-flung neighborhoods to mass in the central Azadi, or Freedom, Square, waving Iranian flags and chanting "Death to America" — standard fare at rallies across Iran.

Chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to Britain" followed, and demonstrators burned U.S. and Israeli flags. Iranian state TV, which said millions participated in the celebrations, ran archive footage of the days of the uprising and played revolutionary songs. It later broadcast footage showing crowds across the country of 80 million.

The 6-mile-long downtown Enghelab, or Revolution, Street was decorated with huge balloons as loudspeakers blared out revolutionary and nationalist songs. Every year, the anniversary festivities start on Feb. 1 — the day Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from France after 14 years in exile to become the supreme leader as Shiite clerics took power. The celebrations continue for 10 days, climaxing on Feb. 11.

This year's anniversary comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of President Donald Trump's decision last May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and restore tough U.S. sanctions. Speaking from a podium in central Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani addressed the crowds for nearly 45 minutes, lashing out at Iran's enemies — America and Israel — and claiming their efforts to "bring down" the country through sanctions will not succeed.

"The presence of people in this celebration means that plots by the enemies ... have been defused," Rouhani said. "They will not achieve their ill-omened aims." In the backdrop to Monday's marches, the military displayed Iranian-made missiles, which authorities showcase every year during anniversary celebrations. The missiles have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), placing Israel and U.S. military bases within range.

Over the past decade, Iran has frequently test-fired and displayed missiles, sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The ballistic missile tests have angered the United States, which fears they are part of an effort to develop a nuclear weapons capability, something Iran insists it has never sought. The 2015 nuclear agreement urged Iran to cease such missile tests, but did not forbid them outright.

"We do not and we will not ask permission for producing any type of missiles from anybody," Rouhani said in his speech Monday, though he stressed that Iran would "continue constructive engagement" with the international community.

Rouhani also promised that Iran would overcome its economic hardships, worsened by the restored U.S. sanctions. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, attended a rally in the southern city of Kerman. He is widely seen as the mastermind of Iran's extensive military activities across the region, which have also angered Washington. Iran supports the Lebanese Hezbollah and other militias in the region, and is closely allied with Syria's government.

In Tehran, 27-year-old medical student Hossein Hosseinpour walked with his wife and their 18-month-old son. He said he wanted to teach his son to support the revolution. "I see a bright future for him and our nation," Hosseinpour said.

Mahmoud Hemmati, 35, was pushing his 68-year-old mother, Parivash Fakheri, in a wheelchair. "My mother, despite her illness, asked me to bring her out," he said. Fakheri, who was one of the revolutionaries on the streets of Tehran in 1979, said she would defend the revolution all over again.

"I know there are many economic problems today, but that is something different from our revolution," she said. "It has been moving forward over the past 40 years and making Iran stronger." Last week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended the "Death to America" chants, saying they are aimed at America's leaders, such as Trump, and not its people.

The Iranian people "will not stop saying 'Death to America' as long as the U.S. acts maliciously" toward Iran, Khamenei said. Iranian state TV anchor Mehdi Khosravi said he expects John Bolton, the U.S. national security adviser, to be very angry on Monday since he had once predicted that Iranians will not see the 40th anniversary of their revolution.

Last year, Bolton told a meeting of Iranian exiles that "before 2019, we here ... will celebrate in Iran."

Police: 17 killed in fire at New Delhi hotel, 4 others hurt

February 12, 2019

NEW DELHI (AP) — Seventeen people died in a fire early Tuesday at a hotel in western New Delhi that left at least four others injured, police said. The fire at the Arpit Palace Hotel has been extinguished, but authorities are still investigating what sparked it, Deputy Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

"We have to check the stability of the structure, check every room," Randhawa said. The hotel is located in Karol Bagh, an area in India's capital city full of shops and budget hotels that is popular with tourists.

Twenty-five fire engines responded to the blaze, which had engulfed all but the ground floor of the five-story hotel, fire officer Vijay Paul said. About three dozen people were rescued from the hotel, Paul said.

Among those rescued was Sivanand Chand, 43, a hotel guest who was jolted awake around 4 a.m., struggling to breathe. "When I got out of my room, I could hear 'help, help!' from adjoining rooms," Chand told The Associated Press, adding that he opened the window and saw flames rising very fast.

"In 15 minutes, the whole room was black," he said. The rescue took about 30 minutes because fire engine ladders could not initially reach Chand's floor, he said. The injured were taken to hospitals, but their medical conditions were not immediately known.

Australian prime minister boasts security credentials

February 11, 2019

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister on Monday described his government as stronger on national security than the opposition after signing an agreement with the French government to deliver a fleet of submarines and ahead of federal elections expected to be held in May.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison used a speech to Australia's National Press Club on the eve of Parliament's first sitting day of the year to detail his conservative coalition's record on a diverse range of security issues including military spending, stripping extremists of Australian citizenship, asylum seekers, contentious laws to prevent criminals from using encrypted communications, and domestic violence.

Earlier, Morrison and French Defense Minister Florence Parly signed a new agreement to deliver the first of a fleet of 12 submarines to Australia in the early 2030s. French state majority-owned shipbuilder DCNS won the 56 billion Australian dollar ($40 billion) contract in 2016 to build the world's largest diesel-electric submarines.

The partnering agreement was reached after months of heated negotiation. The agreement spells out details such as warranties for defects and how much Australia must pay if it cancels the contract. U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin Corp. has been contracted to design and fit the submarines' weapon systems.

Parly hit out at critics of how long the negotiations had taken. "When I heard at some point ... whining about the length of negotiations, I thought: 'open your eyes. This is the deal of the century. This is a partnership for the century,'" Parly said.

Morrison said his government was on track to boost defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product — a level demanded by President Donald Trump of U.S. allies — by 2020-21. When the center-left opposition Labor Party was last in office from 2007 to 2013, defense spending fell to 1.56 percent of GDP — Australia's lowest level since 1938.

"Our government has demonstrated that we have the mettle to make the right calls on our nation's security," Morrison said. He said Labor's strength on border security could be tested this week when the opposition considers changing laws to allow doctors rather than bureaucrats to decide which asylum seekers held in Pacific island camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea can fly to Australia for medical treatment.

The conservative government has all but stopped asylum seekers from Asia, Africa and the Middle East coming by boat from Southeast Asian ports by insisting that no boat arrivals will ever be allowed to settle in Australia. The asylum seekers are banished to island camps where they face uncertain futures.

But those allowed into Australia for hospital treatment typically get court injunctions that prevent their return to the islands. The government argues that if the law were changed, more than 1,000 asylum seekers, mostly males, would come to Australia from the islands within weeks, which would encourage thousands of new asylum seekers to head to Australia by boat from Indonesia.

The change to legislation on medical evacuations was passed by the Senate with Labor's support in December. Morrison's government has lost its majority in the House of Representatives, where the change could become law as early as Tuesday.

Morrison ruled out reaching any compromise with Labor on the change. "I know what compromise and poorly thought through changes can do to the borders," Morrison said. Eli Shakiba, an Iranian refugee on Nauru who will soon start a new life in the United States, urged lawmakers to change the system in which medical evacuation decisions are often argued in court. Shakiba is relocating after five years on Nauru under a 2016 bilateral deal for the United States to resettle up to 1,250 refugees rejected by Australia.

"Please, I would like to ask you: Will you vote for this bill tomorrow in Parliament to bring sick people to Australia for treatment, or more of us will die here because of the Australian government ignoring doctors?" she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an appeal to lawmakers. Twelve asylum seekers have died on Nauru in the past five years.

Senior opposition lawmaker Mark Dreyfus said Labor had decided late Monday to negotiate with independent lawmakers to amend the bill it had passed in the Senate to ensure the government has discretion to refuse medical transfers on security grounds.

If the independents accept Labor's amendments, the government would become the first in 90 years to have a law passed against its wishes. Some in Labor fear the change would be perceived as a weakening of border security and result in a repeat of the 2001 election, in which a tough policy against asylum seekers helped the conservatives retain power.

The conservatives were behind Labor in opinion polls in 2001 before Norwegian freighter MV Tampa rescued 433 Afghan asylum seekers from a sinking Indonesian fishing boat and attempted to deliver them to the nearest port, Australia's Christmas Island. Australia sent soldiers to stop the ship, which was diverted with its human cargo to Nauru under a new refugee policy. The conservative government was re-elected weeks later after a campaign that focused on a tough stance on asylum seekers.