What I'm Reading
What I'm Reading
September 20: Five reads that piqued my interest this week
How Israel hacked Hezbollah’s pagers
This is the question we’ve all wanted answered — just how did Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, pull off its incredible penetration of Hezbollah’s communications network and cause their pagers, then walkie-talkies, to explode?
According to reporters Sheera Frenkel and Ronen Bergman, Israel intercepted the pagers exported from Taiwan, before they reached Lebanon.
Explosives and a switch capable of remotely detonating the devices were inserted.
Hezbollah had recently switched to using pagers fearing Israeli penetration of mobile devices.
The explosive material, as little as 1 to 2 ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3.30 pm in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives.
Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials.
Hezbollah has accused Israel of orchestrating the attack but has described limited details of its understanding of the operation. Israel has not commented on the attack nor said it was behind it.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the operation.
US leaves missile system in Phillippines
I’ve focussed a lot in What I’m Reading on the skirmishes between the Chinese and Filipinos around shoals, or artificial reefs that China wants to control, despite international rulings declaring they sit within the Phillippine’s exclusive economic zone.
These skirmishes have become more dangerous over time, with a Filipino soldier losing a thumb during a particularly high-profile clash with the Chinese coastguard.
How to try and manage and stop this behaviour is something I have constantly asked politicians, officials and experts and I can’t say anyone has many good answers — at least not that they give publicly.
But this is one of those cases where actions speak louder and better than words. China is seething about the US decision to leave behind in the Philippines a Thypon missile system that is capable of striking mainland China.
The deployment of the powerful missile system in northern Philippines ‘gravely threatens regional countries' security’ and triggers ‘geopolitical confrontation,’ Lin Jian, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday, September 19.
Not directly mentioning the United States, the Chinese official called on the ‘relevant country’ to ‘correct the wrongdoing as soon as possible’ and ‘quickly pull out the missile system as publicly pledged.’
Beijing's statement comes after Reuters reported on Thursday, September 19 that the US has no immediate plan to pull out the Typhon missile system it deployed to the Philippines for joint exercises in April.
The system can be equipped with cruise missiles capable of reaching targets from northern Philippines all the way to the Chinese mainland.
Philippine officials told Reuters that Filipino and American troops are still training with the missile system.
They were not aware of immediate plans to return it, even though the Salaknib joint exercises have concluded this month.
The Typhon was discreetly delivered to northern Luzon from an undisclosed location for use in the Balikatan military exercises in April (a separate exercise from Salaknib).
The move drew the ire of China, who called on the Philippines to ‘think twice about being a cat’s paw for the US at the expense of its own security interests.’
Labour losing the plot warns Guardian
One of the greater shocks in British politics is just how many unforced errors Labour and the new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are making.
It had been obvious for at least 12 months, if not longer, that Labour was very likely to return to power, yet the government’s early days have been mired in mistake after mistake.
Dominating the list is the PM’s inexplicable decision to accept around £100,000 in freebies.
I wrote on this for The Nightly.
It’s a theme the left-leaning Guardian newspaper targets in its scathing editorial.
Sir Keir has now declared more free tickets and gifts than any major party leader in recent times.
This is an avoidable and self-inflicted wound. During the election, Sir Keir said politics must repair itself if it is to ask for sacrifices and belt-tightening from the public.
‘Politics must make the first move,’ the manifesto insisted. Yet that approach was left on the starting blocks when the tickets were dangled. It is hard to believe that a leader who laid such stress on the need to rebuild trust in politics should behave so naively. It is not hard to say no. Sir Keir could and should have done so. His failure feeds the destructive belief that all politicians are the same.
The arguments swirling around Sir Keir’s chief of staff, Sue Gray, are different. As one of the most senior officials in No 10 she presides over what is frequently a political bear pit, in which battles for influence and unwelcome leaks go with the territory. As a senior woman, Ms Gray is almost certainly a particular lightning rod. As the head of the inquiry that contributed to Boris Johnson’s fall, she is a marked woman for Labour’s opponents, including some journalists and perhaps some officials. And now, as the prime minister’s highest paid adviser, earning more than Sir Keir himself, she has also become a target for more junior advisers who are paid a lot less.
Sir Keir hired Ms Gray to prepare Labour’s teams for government. The rows suggest they did not prepare thoroughly enough, or give the issues enough priority.
Could Meloni serve as Europe’s Trump-whisperer?
Fun fact. Elon Musk is going to award Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen award in New York on Monday.
It will underline the close ties that Meloni has with the US right, including key MAGA figures.
This could serve as a vital relationship for Europe, should Donald Trump win the November Presidential election.
Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party have long ties, predating her elevation to prime minister.
During her years as a fringe opposition figure, Meloni was a regular attendee at US political gatherings where Trump was speaking and praised him as an inspiration for Italian politics.
In early 2020, she was a guest at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington addressed by Trump. Afterwards, she hailed his ‘defence of identity, borders, enterprises, products, and American families,’ saying she wanted to ‘bring the same recipe to Italy.’
Trump associates have also travelled to Italy. In 2018, his former strategic adviser, Steve Bannon, was the keynote speaker at Meloni’s Atreju political festival, lauding the Brothers of Italy party for its anti-elitism.
‘Italy now is the centre of the universe of politics,’ he told festival attendees then. ‘If it works here, the revolution will spread.’
Musk was the star guest at the same festival last December, where he backed Meloni’s quest to curb illegal immigration and encourage Italian women to have more babies.
‘Please make more Italians,’ he said. ‘We don’t want Italy as a culture to disappear.’
Mining megafauna fossils in Yukon
Yukon, bordering Alaska in Canada’s northwest, is yielding more than just precious metals from its goldfields.
Miners working in this part of the world have long unearthed mummified fossils, including from the Ice Ages, back when glaciers covered the area, trapping most of the Earth’s water and opening up a giant steppe that stretched to Sibera, allowing megafauna to roam.
This is an article to click on for the pictures!
‘As they're actively gold mining, they're constantly uncovering the remains of Ice Age animals like woolly mammoths,’ Grant Zazula, a palaeontologist with the government of Yukon who retrieves and studies these mummies, told Business Insider.
As with most of these discoveries, gold miners found the mammoth within traditional Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in territory. The Indigenous nation's elders were on the scene long before Zazula, who had to drive six hours to reach it.
‘Doing what I do, it's kind of like your dream come true,’ Zazula said.
‘You get to actually see a mammoth for real, and it was very emotional.’
He added, ‘I never thought I'd ever get that phone call.’
And that’s my list for this week.
On Monday I joined The Moncole Daily and on Friday joined The Telegraph’s Ukraine: The Latest podcast and spoke about the Australian government’s support and political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza’s first press conference in London since being freed as part of the massive prisoner swap brokered by the United States and Russia.
Please do send me anything that’s caught your eye, I enjoy knowing what you’ve been reading.
Some of you have started to offer me copies of your books etc. Please email me at latika@latikambourke.com for a forwarding address for hard copies.
Cindy Yu's Chinese Whispers Podcast has a good recent episode on China's Historic Claims to the South China Sea. Cindy with Bill Hayton.