Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Water Weapon

In the wake of recent terror attacks, Prime Minister Modi has through his statements indicated that the Indus Water Treaty will be reviewed, saying that "blood and water cannot flow together". India has also suspended its participation in the bilateral Indus Water Treaty commission.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-likely-to-suspend-indus-water-commission-talks/article9150223.ece




Pakistan is clearly rattled by this, and is issuing a variety of threats, from threatening to go the International Court of Justice at the Hague, to bellicosely threatening to wage a "water war" against India by military means.


Monday, September 26, 2016

Foreign Jet Fighter Makers Queue Up for India

Foreign jet fighter manufacturers are all scrambling to offer their technologies to India, reinforcing the rising importance of the country in relation to Western fears over an increasingly assertive China:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-jet-fighter-makers-woo-india-1474709401

Chinese Intrustion in Arunachal Pradesh

China's PLA has intruded across the LAC into Arunachal Pradesh:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/chinese-army-arunachal-pradesh-indian-territory-intrude-lac/1/773211.html

British Pakistani Soap Actor Fired for Anti-India Racist Rant

British Pakistani actor Marc Anwar, who stars on the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street, was fired after making a racist rant against India and Indians on social media. And what a rant it was:

http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/pakistan-born-uk-actor-sacked-racism-against-indians-50413

Anwar, 45, who plays the role of Sharif Nazir in the British TV show, referred to Indians as 'b******s' and 'p*ss-drinking c**ts' on Twitter, reports mirror.co.uk. 
On his account, he also wrote: 'Why the f*** do Pakistani artists want to work in f***face India? Do you love money so much?"
He followed that up by tweeting an image of a clenched fist before adding: "Ban #india movies in #PakistanisLeaveIndia. B*****ds p**s drinking #c**ts.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Govt-in-Exile to be Formed for Balochistan

The formation of a govt-in-exile for Balochistan may be imminent:

https://www.thequint.com/videos/2016/09/23/balochistan-government-in-exile-suleman-daud-khan-of-kalat-pakistan-terrorism-india-china-cpec-economic-corridor



Balochistan: Is China Getting India's Message?

The South China Morning Post reports on China feeling the effects of Indo-Pakistani tensions:

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2022087/why-china-caught-india-pakistan-crossfire

related article in the Chindu:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/china-caught-in-a-corridor-of-uncertainty/article9129331.ece

and one in China's state-run Global Times:

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1007104.shtml

What's interesting is how low the Chinese awareness is on India compared to the awareness Indians have of China. That's why they continually underestimate us, and have been caught off-guard.

EU Parliament Warns Pakistan of Sanctions Over Baloch Atrocities

The head of the European Parliament is warning Pakistan of economic sanctions over its atrocities in Balochistan:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/eu-threatens-to-impose-sanctions-on-pakistan-over-human-rights-violations-in-balochistan/articleshow/54490011.cms

http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/indias-balochistan-push-works-european-parliament-warns-pakistan-of-sanctions-over-atrocities-on-balochi-people_1932775.html


So what's really happening here? Pak has been warming up to Russia, just as China has. But Russia is EU's geopolitical adversary, as we all know. Russia's main geographic vulnerability is in its soft Central Asian underbelly, which we saw successfully exploited by the West during the Afghan War against the Soviets, which helped to build up Pak into the threat it is today. But since Pak now wants to be a collaborator with Moscow and not a weapon against them, that means Pak may now be putting itself in the West's crosshairs. An independent Balochistan would be a route for the West to reopen and re-expose the soft Russian underbelly, whereas a China-Pak economic corridor (CPEC) could permanently close it off. For the first time, Indian and Atlanticist interests now converge in Balochistan.

Friday, September 23, 2016

Cutting the Indus Water Supply to Pakistan

Comments from Indian govt do not rule out cutting Pakistan's water supply from the Indus:

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/amid-strain-india-does-not-rule-out-cutting-off-indus-water-to-pakistan-1465222

Analysts like Brahma Chellaney have advocated this approach for pressuring Pakistan:

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/AJyJYJD4vnAvyCysxxphTN/Mending-Pakistans-behaviour.html


Others have pointed out that if India does this to Pakistan, then it could set the precedent for China doing the same to India using the rivers flowing out of Tibet which supply the Indus and Brahmaputra.

Personally, I feel that China will never be restrained by India's soft treatment of Pakistan. If and when the Chinese decide to strangle water supplies to India, they won't be constrained by how India treats Pakistan. It would be better for us to use the Indus waters against Pakistan sooner rather than later, in order to neutralize their threat earlier. If China decides to intervene, then it would give us the justification to change our policies towards China and recognition of Tibet.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Fwd: Pursuing coercive cyber measures against Pakistan+The Silent Chinese invasion+Abandoning the Army Doctrine in Kashmir


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sanjeev 


1. China too caught in a corridor of uncertainity 22.9.16 by kallock bhattacharjee  http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/china-caught-in-a-corridor-of-uncertainty/article9129331.ece
 
2. Keep U.S. close, Russia closer by G Parthasarathy 22.9.16 http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/keep-us-close-russia-closer/298778.html
Even before the Sino-Indian border conflict broke out in 1962, the CIA was permitted to position facilities along the border with China, to monitor Chinese nuclear tests. The US was permitted to use a staging base in Charbatia, Odisha, for flying its U2 spy planes over China.  Strangely, our non-alignment was such in the 1950s that we fought shy of seeking defence equipment from the Soviet Union, despite signs of a growing Sino-Soviet rift!
The world situation has changed drastically since the 1970s.  What has, however, continued, is the Sino-Pakistan axis, with a growingly powerful China providing Pakistan with nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities, while enhancing Pakistan's maritime, air and land power. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is being accompanied with the establishment of a direct fibre optic link between the headquarters of the Western Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army in Kashgar (in China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang province) and the GHQ of the Pakistan army in Rawalpindi.
We should understand Russian imperatives in its immediate neighbourhood, in Crimea and elsewhere, while strengthening defence and energy cooperation with Moscow.'
 
3. India's enemies be warned Rafale will be a game changer by Claude Arpi 22.9.16 http://www.rediff.com/news/column/indias-enemies-be-warned-rafale-will-be-a-game-changer/20160922.htm
 
4. Abandoning the Army Doctrine in Kashmir 22.9.16 http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/abandoning-the-army-doctrine-in-kashmir/298777.html by M.G. Devasahavan
Is it bullets by the Army against pellets from misguided youth? Is it that while the civil forces responsible for dealing with the situation are allowed to abdicate their role and bloat at the expense of the exchequer, the Army is asked to carry the can?
Lest there be any confusion, the Army Doctrine clearly defines "proxy war" and "insurgency". Proxy war is a war conducted between nations utilising non-state players to fight on their behalf. Insurgency is an organised armed struggle by a section of the local population against the State. '
 
5. Pursuing coercive cyber measures against Pakistan 22.9.16 by arun sukumar  http://www.orfonline.org/expert-speaks/pursuing-coercive-cyber-measures-against-pakistan/
 
6. The Silent Chinese invasion by B D Barua 22.9.16 http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news/the-silent-chinese-invasion/
China has started to bottle Tibetan water and in 2014, the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region established a $54 million development fund to promote the bottled water industry.
Unless China displays empathy for the lower altitude neighbours of their occupied land, water shortage will scorch future generations of many states in the near future; but construction of dams on international rivers such as the Mekong, Brahmaputra or Amur shows that China is adamant on unilateral actions, least bothered about the happenings below.
Sri Lanka is failing in repaying its debts to China, its largest donor country.  The island nation offered many assets in exchange for a debt relief and the Chinese ultimately demanded 1500 acres of land for a Chinese Industrial Zone in Hambantota Sea Port .

Imbalances to note while analysing the policies of India and China are things like the following:

  • When India and other countries hardly know about a Chinese dam under construction, Chinese companies like Dongfang Electric are equipment suppliers to major Indian power projects
  • The activities of NORINCO and TCL in India as stated above

    Warm Regards
    sanjeev nayyar
    to unsubscribe write back



--
sent from samsung galaxy note3 neo, so please excuse brevity

David Letterman to Interview Modi for National Geographic

Talk show host David Letterman will interview Prime Minister Modi as part of a series for National Geographic:

http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/pm-narendra-modi-talk-climate-change-american-tv-host-david-letterman-50261

India About to Embark on Major Growth Phase

India's economy is about to embark on a major phase of growth, according to Credit Suisse:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timtreadgold/2016/09/20/india-on-the-cusp-of-a-major-growth-phase-says-credit-suisse/#a7363c670f04

Monday, September 19, 2016

yours truly has been appointed to this panel

https://yourstory.com/2016/09/dipp-task-force-innovation/



--
sent from samsung galaxy note3 neo, so please excuse brevity

Fwd: After Uri strike, India must impose measured costs on terror exporters+4 pronged strategy to hit Pakistan+10 Behavioural traits India must change to successfully counter Pakistan


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sanjeev Nayyar


India's response needs to be well thought through, no knee jerk reactions and jingoism. The basic problem in dealing with Pakistan is in the Hindu mindset. Followers of Indian Religions are not aggressive by nature and have no desire to rule the world, unlike Islam and Christianity who are in a state of perpetual aggression through Conversions and Imposing their Scriptures on the world. Unless Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs accept this basic reality, be in a state of 24 by 7 preparedness and counter these aggressive religions, India will always be unstable. Read Dr Ambedkar please.
 
It is very easy to blame Pakistan but difficult to hunt down the enemy within. Every terror attack needs local support. Until we learn to take decisive action, the next attack is only a few months. And action does not mean War. Do not blame the Government alone, the problem is with us. We need to change first!
 
1. Wrangles over water by Brahma C 16.9.16 https://chellaney.net/2016/09/16/wrangles-over-water/
 
2. 4 pronged strategy to hit Pakistan 18.9.16 by brig gurmeet kanwal http://www.rediff.com/news/column/time-to-hit-and-hurt-the-pakistan-army/20160918.htm
 
3. Knee jerk reactions are the worst in this kind of conflict situation 18.9.16 by lt gen ata hasnain http://www.rediff.com/news/column/the-implications-of-the-uri-attack/20160918.htm
 
4. Pakistan tends to resemble a suicide bomber by col anil athale 18.9.16 http://www.rediff.com/news/column/pakistan-tends-to-resemble-a-suicide-bomber/20160918.htm
 
 
6. 17 Jawans killed in Uri. Link has details if you wish to contribute to the Indian Army Welfare Fund. http://www.esamskriti.com/essay-chapters/Contribute-to-Indian-Army-Welfare-Fund-1.aspx
 
7. 10 Behavioural traits India must change to successfully counter Pakistan by sanjeev nayyar 2016  http://www.firstpost.com/world/ten-behavioural-traits-india-must-change-to-successfully-counter-pakistan-2751566.html
 
 
 
Warm Regards
sanjeev nayyar
to unsubscribe write back



--
sent from samsung galaxy note3 neo, so please excuse brevity

Sunday, September 18, 2016

17 Jawans Dead in Jihadi Attack on Army Camp in Kashmir

Up to 17 Indian jawans may be dead and 19 injured in a jihadi attack on an Indian army camp in Uri, in the Baramulla district of Kashmir, which has been a past hotbed of militancy:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/indian-army-suffers-worst-loss-in-years-to-militants-as-17-soldiers-die-in-kashmir/2016/09/18/d2875077-284e-4b51-a5b8-678a07cb3c53_story.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37399969

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uri-terror-attack-Indian-Army-camp-attacked-in-Jammu-and-Kashmir-17-killed-19-injured/articleshow/54389451.cms

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/militants-attack-army-battalion-in-uri-kashmir-army-chief-rushes-to-kashmir-parrikar-too-to-visit-uri/article9120923.ece


Khizr Khan Continues Campaign

As Donald Trump rises in the polls, closing his gap with Hillary Clinton and recovering from his political drubbing at the hands of Pakistani immigrant Khizr Khan, the father of a slain US Army soldier, Mr Khan is now formally campaigning for the defeat of Trump:

http://www.nbcnews.com/card/gold-star-dad-khizr-khan-wants-defeat-donald-trump-n649961

Khan is also now receiving support to run for a legislative seat in Virginia, which is adjacent to Washington DC. Reminds me of Kejriwal being parachuted into Delhi - when you're located in the vicinity of a nation's capitol, your power and presence are automatically magnified.

Meanwhile, conservative Republican godfather Rush Limbaugh mockingly/sarcastically called for Khizr Khan to run for president as the Republican nominee:

29 Injured as Bombs Explode in Manhattan, New Jersey

An improvised explosive device left in a trash dumpster exploded in Manhattan, injuring 29 people:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/09/17/new-york-officials-say-25-people-injured-after-explosion-in-chelsea/


This occurred about 12 hours after another improvised explosive device left in a trash can exploded along the route where an annual marathon run by US Marines was scheduled to take place:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/explosion-jersey-site-5k-race/story?id=42160249








It's not known whether the bombings are related - although both are occurring 1 week after the 15th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.

Friday, September 16, 2016

Brahumdagh Bugti to Get Indian Citizenship

Exiled Baloch separatist leader Brahumdagh Bugti is likely to be given Indian citizenship, so that he can travel around the world on an Indian passport to campaign for Balochistan's independence:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/baloch-brahumdagh-bugti-indian-citizenship-dalai-lama/1/765545.html

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Gadkari Invites SpaceX to Build Hyperloop Track in Pune

Nitin Gadkari has invited SpaceX to build a test track for Elon Musk's Hyperloop high-speed mass-transit concept near Pune:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/gadkari-invites-tesla-to-test-run-1-100-km-hr-hyperloop-on-mumbai-pune-expressway-116091300588_1.html

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/hyperloop-pilot-likely-between-mumbai-pune/article9106192.ece

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/nitin-gadkari-wants-spacex-to-test-run-supersonic-train-hyperloop-in-pune-1458258

Meanwhile, India has just finished evaluating a Spanish-made high-speed Talgo train:

India-Russia Hammer Out Agreement to Salvage PAK-FA Fighter

The Russian PAK-FA fighter has been a key weapons program that India has invested in to maintain qualitative air superiority over the rapidly growing Chinese military threat. The program however has gotten bogged down in technological hurdles, with even Russia deferring induction of the warplane due to its deficient engines. India and Russia have now hammered out an agreement which will allow India to get its hands on prototypes sooner, along with vital technology transfer, in exchange for India increasing its share of funding:

http://thediplomat.com/2016/09/india-and-russia-reach-agreement-over-5th-generation-fighter-aircraft/

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Quick notes: Pumped Hydro Storage, Inside the Matrix...

  • India Wants to Build 10 Gigawatts of Pumped Hydro Storage to Support Solar: As lithium-ion batteries take centre-stage in the global pursuit for efficient energy storage systems, India has quietly readied a plan aimed at creating systems that can store up to 10,000 mw of intermittently generated renewable power at a fraction of the cost the West will bear.

    A pumped storage facility consists of two large water tanks at two levels— one at the base of a hill and the other at the top of the hill. During the day, when solar power is generated, a portion of the power will be used to pump water from the lower tank to the higher one. At night, when solar power isn't available, water from the elevated tank will be released to work a turbine and generate power. 


  • How much space do people take up in different modes of transport? 



  • White man's hypocrisy: Study suggests every European diesel maker cheated on EU tests


  • Thanks for trying to crush Hindus: Zakir Naik’s NGO gave Rs 50 lakh to Rajiv Gandhi trust, 3 more officers face action


  • Bank of America: There's a 20%-50% chance we're inside the matrix and reality is just a simulation

Friday, September 09, 2016

5th Nuclear Test by North Korea

An artificial earthquake in North Korea has triggered fears that its govt has conducted a fifth nuclear test:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37314927

Well, we know North Korea's latest submarine-launched ballistic missile will soon end up in Pak hands, and usually what Pak trades back in return is nuclear tech - so has Pyongyang now acquired something from Pak that it's trying to test?

Pak does claim to have developed miniaturized warheads that can fit on its Hatf and Ghauri missiles. That might be the type of thing that NorthKorea might like to test, before fitting them on its sub-launched missiles (which will soon be in Pak hands)

Thursday, September 08, 2016

Successful Launch of GSLV-F05 & INSAT-3DR

The GSLV-F05 mission has been flown successfully, deploying the latest INSAT-3DR weather satellite.



This was the first operational flight (non-developmental) of the GSLV-MkII, once again proving that the one troublesome Cryogenic Upper Stage now works flawlessly. One of the next milestones among the upcoming flights will be the LVM3-D1 flight of the GSLV-MkIII in December, to deploy the GSAT-19 satellite which features ion propulsion for station-keeping (ie. maintaining its orbit).

As ISRO now develops a track record in the reliable operation of GSLV, it is also looking at developing and flying further iterations of the vehicle, to progress towards a Heavy Lift Vehicle (HLV):



Indian Space Program and Future of Space

A recent talk was given by ISRO scientists at an August 3, 2016 symposium.

Dr Kasturirangan gave the opening introduction:



Mr S Somnath, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, gave a presentation on launch systems and space propulsion, discussing ISRO's development activities of the present and future:




https://imgur.com/a/zI6iT


The above link has Mr Somnath's presentation slides online, covering his various topics presented:

- the Kerosene-powered SCE-200 engine would be tested next year

- possibility of vertically landing the GSLV booster stage to recover it like SpaceX does for the Falcon-9 booster. Dr Sivan has already separately mentioned that it might be feasible to one day launch from Sriharikota and land the GSLV booster in the Andamans. A lot of further development work would have to be done to make this possible.

- @ 13:40 Mr Somnath mentions plans for a methane engine which they hope to test in a couple of years. As was mentioned in a previous blog post, methane is considered a fuel of the future, and is particularly attractive for travel between Earth and Mars, since there's a possibility of synthesizing this fuel locally on Mars as well, for using it to fly back to Earth. Leading-edge companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are investing a lot of effort in developing next-generation engines which burn methane.

- work in progress on achieving direct injection of satellites into Geosynchronous Orbit, instead of having to spiral out to achieve it.

- various possible cluster-configurations of engines and stages are shown, including a step-wise upgrade path from the current GSLV-3 to a future HLV (Heavy Lift Vehicle) which could be used for a manned Moon mission.

- electric propulsion would be used on long-duration missions to save on fuel mass

Dr SV Sharma talked about ISRO's moves to ramp up satellite launch operations to meet India's growing needs, including farming off satellite production to the private sector




Lots of interesting material for Indian space enthusiasts to peruse and ponder.

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Pro-Muslim Group Objects to 9-11 Memorial

The "Sons of Abraham", a pro-Muslim activist group is objecting to and campaigning against a memorial to the 9/11 attacks, on the grounds that it mentions that the terrorists were "Islamic":



British MP Keith Vaz in Sex-n-Drugs Scandal

Keith Vaz, Britain's most high-profile MP of Indian origin - and the most sekoolar - has been caught in a sting operation which exposed him soliciting male prostitutes for sex and drugs:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1723649/married-labour-mp-keith-vaz-urged-to-resign-as-boss-of-vice-committee-after-meeting-male-prostitutes-in-his-flat-and-begging-for-sex-drugs/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/world/europe/uk-keith-vaz-prostitutes.html?_r=0

Like the Anthony Weiner case, Mr Vaz had used social media to become a little too social.



Monday, September 05, 2016

China Snubs Obama at G-20 Summit

China makes sure to snub US President Obama, to cut him down to size upon his arrival at the G-20 Summit:

http://nation.foxnews.com/2016/09/05/report-china-blames-america-obama-embarrassment



Clinton aide Huma Abedin has been found in an email to have illicitly requested US diplomatic passports for certain Clinton Foundation donors, which is blatantly against the law. The Romanian hacker Guccifer, who hacked and exposed the Clinton Foundation emails, has been extradited from Romania to the United States and has now been sentenced to nearly 5 years imprisonment in a US court.



Much like India's CBI, the American FBI is seen as a "caged bird" doing its best to protect Clinton from suffering the consequences of scandalous behavior.


Thursday, September 01, 2016

Apple travesty is a reminder why Britain must leave the lawless EU


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: R
Subject: IA-CES Re: Apple travesty is a reminder why Britain must leave the lawless EU
To:


FT View on India taxing Vodafone (Feb 12 2014): http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c5ca4c60-93f4-11e3-a0e1-00144feab7de.html#axzz4IygbuJat

"India's tax laws are deterring investors - Foreign companies become alarmed by unpredictable and aggressive treatment"

FT View on EU taxing Apple retrospectively (August 30 2016) : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/62ac0c2c-6ea3-11e6-9ac1-1055824ca907.html#axzz4IygbuJat

"Brussels strikes at Apple's tax planning - EU ruling on Irish scheme raises bar against aggressive fiscal deals"

Both are cases of retrospective taxation, should be condemned. But FT seems to think quite differently of EU's action.


On Thu, Sep 1, 2016 at 12:00 AM, R> wrote:
This article pulls no punches. Not to condone retrospective taxation, but all the international pink press worthies who went hammer and tongs at India for imposing retrospective taxes are strangely - or not so strangely - silent at the EU's conduct. This says a lot about the international media.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/08/31/apple-travesty-is-a-reminder-why-britain-must-leave-the-lawless/

telegraph.co.uk

Apple travesty is a reminder why Britain must leave the lawless EU

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

August 31 2016

Europe's Competition Directorate commands the shock troops of the EU power structure. Ensconced in its fortress at Place Madou, it can dispatch swat teams on corporate dawn raids across Europe without a search warrant. 

It operates outside the normal judicial control that we take for granted in a developed democracy. The US Justice Department could never dream of acting in such a fashion.

Known as 'DG Comp', it acts as judge, jury, and executioner, and can in effect impose fines large enough to constitute criminal sanctions, but without the due process protection of criminal law. It misused evidence so badly in pursuit of the US chipmaker Intel that the company alleged a violation of human rights.

Apple is just the latest of the great US digital companies to face this Star Chamber. It has vowed to appeal the monster €13bn fine handed down from Brussels this week for violation of EU state aid rules, but the only recourse is the European Court of Justice. This is usually a forlorn ritual. The ECJ is a political body, the enforcer of the EU's teleological doctrines. It ratifies executive power.  

We can mostly agree that Apple, Google, Starbucks, and others have gamed the international system, finding legal loopholes to whittle down their tax liabilities and enrich shareholders at the expense of society. It is such moral conduct that has driven wealth inequality to alarming levels, and provoked a potent backlash against globalisation.

But the 'Double Irish' or the 'Dutch Sandwich' and other such tax avoidance schemes are being phased out systematically by the G20 and by a series of tightening rules from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The global machinery of "profit shifting" will face a new regime by 2018.

We can agree too that Apple's cosy EU arrangements should never have been permitted. It paid the standard 12.5pc corporate tax on its Irish earnings - and is the country biggest taxpayers - but the Commission alleges that its effective rate of tax on broader earnings in 2014 was 0.005pc, achieved by shuffling profits into a special 'stateless company' with its headquarters in Ireland. 

"The profits did not have any factual or economic justification. The "head office" had no employees, no premises and no real activities," said Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition chief.

This may be true but that does not empower the Commission to act arbitrarily, retroactively, and beyond the rule of law. What is really going on - as often in EU affairs - is a complex political attack on multiple fronts. It is a reminder of why Britain must remove itself entirely and forever from the clutches of this Caesaropapist construction.

Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, has €13bn axe to grind, but he is almost certainly right in arguing that Mrs Vestager is making up state aid rules as she goes along, and has yet to produce evidence that Dublin granted Apple a sweetheart deal on taxes. "This claim has no basis in fact or in law," he said.


"The Commission's move is unprecedented and it has serious, wide-reaching implications. It is effectively proposing to replace Irish tax laws. This would strike a devastating blow to the sovereignty of EU member states over their own tax matters, and to the principle of certainty of law in Europe," he said.

Ireland is now in the odd position of being told that it must claw back €13bn of back taxes from Apple even though it categorically rejects the legal arguments of Mrs Vestager.

"They're overreaching their competence. The European treaties say the individual states are responsible for taxation policy. This is an approach through the back door to try and influence tax policy through competition law," said Ireland's finance minister, Michael Noonan. 

We have to see this for what it is - a highly politically-motivated targeting of a small member state along with a clear bias against US multinationalsMichael Hayes, Fine Gael MP

The EU authorities are trying to subvert the sovereign prerogative of the elected Dail to determine Irish tax and fiscal policies, and some are clearly hoping to shut down Ireland's special low tax model and end its role as an off-shore aircraft carrier for US companies.

"We have to see this for what it is - a highly politically-motivated targeting of a small member state along with a clear bias against US multinationals," said Fine Gael MP, Michael Hayes.

Washington is outraged. The US Treasury Jacob Lew warned Brussels earlier this year that it was seeking "to impose penalties retroactively based on a new and expansive interpretation of state aid rules," and that it appeared to be "targeting US companies disproportionately".

Last week the US Treasury accused Mrs Vestager of "chilling" Transatlantic ties in a blistering report on the EU's campaign of state aid probes. It said Brussels was deviating from established case law and had "collapsed the concepts of 'advantage' and 'selectivity'. The report came within a whisker of alleging outright chicanery, deception, and lies.

Needless to say, there is Treasury money at stake. American companies are allowed to deduct their payments to foreign tax authorities, so such fines cut US tax revenue dollar for dollar. "That outcome is deeply troubling, as it would effectively constitute a transfer of revenue to the EU from the US government and its taxpayers," said the report.

Washington has invited the problem by failing to reform the US corporate tax system. The US rate is badly out of line with the rest of the world at 35pc - and higher under some effective rates - and this is compounded by the effects of its world-wide tax code.

"American companies feel squeezed by the new rules coming and that is why they do these complex tax deals in Europe. If the US tax rate came down to the low 20s, they wouldn't bother any more," said one official.

"Obama didn't grapple with this issue because it is a can of worms, but it is a can that has to be opened," he said.

Behind the shadow boxing is a strong suspicion that powerful forces in the EU are trying to use state aid probes to break the global dominance of America's technology giants, vainly hoping to nurture its own 'Silicon Valley' behind a digital wall. Amazon, Facebook, Google, as well as Apple, are all under fire, and Microsoft has fought an epic battle.

The view in Washington is that Mrs Vestager's probe of the Russian gas giant Gazprom is being conducted with kid gloves, and that she is strangely accommodating over the Nord Stream pipeline so favoured by Germany. It is almost as if some in Brussels view America as the real enemy.

The US has in the past played down the episodic outbursts of anti-Americanism, but patience is wearing thin and the strategic calculus is shifting. Donald Trump has already warned that he is willing to "walk away" from NATO altogether.

Others question ever more loudly exactly why the US should continue to guarantee the EU's eastern border against Vladimir Putin's Russia if Brussels is behaving in such an unfriendly fashion - and without the American security blanket a disarmed Europe is almost completely defenceless.  The EU needs to watch its step.


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sent from samsung galaxy note3 neo, so please excuse brevity