AQ Khan's ongoing Dutch liaisons

I was struck to read a letter written by the infamous AQ Khan to his wife "Khantje" (anyone knows her real name? SEE BELOW) today. The letter had been public for a few months, but I only read it now. An article in Playboy (yes, i know.. only for their great features :)) referred to this document.

The letter, dated 2003, contains instructions to his wife how to handle "If the [Pakistani, WvC] government plays any mischief with me". Khan writes about a number of scandals that he knows of, and which involve himself and the government in Islamabad.

Even though a lot of questions come to mind after reading the entire letter, the biggest issue plaguing my mind: Who is "the Telegraaf guy" who would have gotten a world exclusive interview with Ms Khan about all the mysterious dealings he was involved in?

Apparently, AQ Khan's personal ties still reach back to Holland, the country where he first obtained detailed knowledge of nuclear matters.

UPDATE 30 DEC 2011: Khan's wife first name seems to be Henny, according to various reports. Some reports say she holds a South African and British passport, while others claim she is a Dutch national. Afrikaans, one of the languages spoken in South Africa, is very similar to Dutch, which may explain the confusion. In any case, go to Fox News Insider for family pics and the original, handwritten letter, discussed above.
If anyone can shed light on the nationality question, please drop a note in the comments section.

Five months among a new Japanese elite

“Okimashoo!!”
Every weekday morning at 5.55AM a small group of students is woken up in Chigasaki, one hour South of Tokyo. In barely one minute's time, everybody gets dressed in a gymsuit and start running to the inner court, spurred by the beat of a J-Pop hit.

Welcome to the Matsushita Institute for Government and Management (japanese: Matsushita Seikei Juku), a private school where a new generation of Japanese politicians are trained for political leadership according to the philosophy and spirit of Panasonic-founder Konosuke Matsushita. The institute's alumni increasingly find their way into the highest levels of Japan's politcal elite. One its former students recently got the top-job when Yoshihiko Noda was installed by the Emperor as new Prime Minister on behalf of the Democratic Party of Japan. His main contender, Seiji Maehara also studied at the Matsushita Institute, as did a number of other senior politicians both in the DPJ and LDP.

During the five months I spent at the Matsushita Institute as an “overseas intern”, I managed to get a rare inside glimpse of the training centre that's normally fairly closed to outsiders. Having been dispatched to the Matsushita Institute as a participant in the Dutch government's Japan Prizewinners Programme. I didn't really know what to expect there, but soon found that the rigorous daily routine at the Matsushita Institute primarily revolved around Japanese self-conciousness and the value of “interhuman relationships”. In practice, this means that a lot of time is devoted to the minute details of Japanese tea ceremonies. The exact right way of holding one's teacup and sitting cross-legged (behind the back) are of tremendous importance and with muscle-aching consequence. All students are immersed in weekly kendo (martial art) classes and calligraphy lessons. As a clumsy Dutchman, I was occassionally the target of mild ridicule during those hours, as I never really understood how to properly handle the pencil or sword.

Inspirator Matsushita's writings are carefully read and debated by the Institute's students. His most famous work, Peace and Happiness through Prosperity, gives rise to particular admiration and discussion. Matsushita was strongly convinced that a sound body needs a sound mind. That's why every morning the campus is rigorously cleaned by the students – every stray leaf has to be swept away. After breakfast, all students and employees recite Matsushita's life mottos during the morning appeal. The daily ceremony concludes with singing the Institute song.

The institute was founded in 1979 when Matsushita was 85-years old. Japan's economic growth seemed unstoppable and managementgurus from the US and Europe wanted to learn as much as they could about the Japanese model. To them Konosuke Matsushita was the undoubted managementgod. From a shed near Osaka, he started selling lamps and managed to expand his company to an electronics giant with tens of thousands of employees around the world.

Even though Japan experienced economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, Matsushita reckoned the country's politicians were too stubborn and lacked adequate foresight. In Matsushita's opinion, Japan urgently needed more innovative political leadership. His aim was to open up political discourse from partisan and factional deadlock into a more productive debate focusing on the future and real solutions for the people. With a new generation of ambitious and smart future politicians, he wanted to explore questions like: can a country exist without imposing taxes, and what should be the role of commercial enterprise in wider society.

The March 11th tsunami and ensuing Fukushima nuclear disaster provide the Matsushita Institute-trained Prime Minister Noda with an opportunity to put some of Matsushita's ideals into practice. When the nuclear reactor went out of control, owner TEPCO's board of directors decided to provide only few details to the government in Tokyo about the gigantic problems at its facility. As the risk to ordinary people across the country increased, international and Japanese observers criticized Japan's closed managementstyle, which - as is often asserted - stifles crisismanagement and rigorous decision-making when it's most urgently needed.

As ciriticism against Japan's management style mounted both inside and outside of the country, the call for a new form of leadership has the potential to resonate stronger than ever. Perhaps more than in previous years, the enormous disaster that struck Japan last March and the resulting popular demand for reform, could spur real change in Japan's management style. Noda could be in a position to achieve some real progress. However, since he is the fifth Prime Minister in six years time, it remains to be seen whether he will have the political endurance to bring serious change to Japan's political system and its decision-making culture.

**
Wouter van Cleef, September 2011

Cyber Command? Niet nodig! Wouter van Cleef en Sebastiaan van der Lubben in Trouw

Shameless self-promotion. A piece I wrote together with Sebastiaan van der Lubben in Trouw [in Dutch, major national daily newspaper] on 10 September 2011. It deals with cyberthreats and how to respond to such attacks.

TROUWFINAAL

Israel to establish embassy in Juba, South Sudan

I just read on Foreign Policy's Passport that Israel and South Sudan have announced their intention to establish full diplomatic relations.

This is a mutually understandable move. South Sudan basically welcomes everyone who's willing to embrace their sovereignty and independence. The same goes for Israel, even though the state of Israel has obvioulsy been around for much longer than South Sudan. Israel recognizes it can sometimes benefit from unexpected allies in forums like the UN General Assembly.
Another element that might have come into consideration on the Israeli side is that the American christian-right, who love Israel, also adore South Sudan. Sarah Palin's visit to Juba as the nation declared independence is testimony to this general sentiment.

More important however could be Israel's need for a strategic listening post in the area. In recent years, Israel has been suspected of launching a number of air strikes on targets in Sudan.

As far as I can recall, the first recent air strike in Sudan that was alledgedly carried out by Israel came in January 2009. As Israel was engaged in operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, intelligence indicated Iran might be transporting weapons on a ship to Port Sudan, which would then be trucked to Gaza through Egypt and Sudan. Because it would be politically impossible for Israel to attack a convoy in Egypt, the Air Force was apparently asked to carry out a raid on the convoy while it was still in Sudan. In the lingo of special operations, Israeli PM Olmert confirmed nor denied Israeli involvement, but did get a message across.

A few months later a somewhat similar story emerged. A ship alledgedly carrying Iranian weapons destined for Gaza sank as a result of an explosion, whether it was a torpedo or aerial attack seems unclear. A similar pattern emerges: Sudan blames Israel, which only responds by saying it will act against terror worldwide.

In April 2011, another mysterious attack hit a Sudan. This time, a lone car carrying "an Islamist responsible for supplying weapons to Hamas" was targeted. Sudan was quick to blame Israel, which once more confirmed nor denied involvement.

As far as I know, these are all the incidents in recent years on Sudanese territory that were blamed on Israel. These reports don't seem entirely incredible. Should anyone know of more incidents, do drop a note in the comments..!

With these allegations of Israeli attacks in Sudan in mind, an official Israeli presence in Juba could be of tremendous value for Israeli intelligence gathering in the region. And with the Israelis potentially thinking of getting some arms deals done with the South Sudanese, there's even the prospect of a military-to-military cooperation which would really add weight to Israeli significance in the region.

In sum, even though Israel and South Sudan are just beginning to cuddle up, we could see some seriously interesting developments in their relationship and in the region in years to come!

East Asians rule the World's Legal Capital

When watching yesterday's initial appearance of Goran Hadzic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), it once again hit me: these days, the most important people in the Capital of International Law (The Hague) are three East Asians.

So, who are these three men (yes, they all are of the male species)?

First there's O Gon Kwon from South Korea, he is the Vice-President of the ICTY. Kwon presided over Hadzic' initial appearance yesterday.
Those who watched the live-stream may have been struck by his calm nature and easy-going approach. He was serious enough, but had a light touch in steering the proceedings with his excellent, if slightly American, English. I met him briefly once, he seemed like a very nice and easy-going person.
Kwon's career started with a race through the ranks of the South Korean judicial system. During a mid-career sabbatical, he obtained an LL.M. from Harvard. I'm told it's quite common among talented South Korean lawyers to be sent abroad for some time to acquire new insights.
The most serious test for Kwon right now is presiding over the case against Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader. Karadzic is one of the big fish currently being tried by the court. People on the Balkans and beyond will want to see that Kwon and his two fellow judges handled the case fairly and transparently.

Then there's Owada Hisashi from Japan, the current president of the International Court of Justice. Owada, who's almost 80 years old, made his way through the ranks of Japan's Foreign Ministry in the years after the US occupation of Japan. Even though some might say the International Court of Justice is a somewhat boring Court as it only deals with protracted, complicated issues between states, the ICJ made headlines a number of times in the last few years. The opinion on the wall/fence (where you stand depends on where you sit..) between Israel and the Palestinian Territories stirred controversy in the region. Similar controversy erupted after a vastly different case in which the Court opined that the unilateral declaration of indepence by Kosovo did not violate international law.
Owada taught law at universities around the world, in Japanese society one of the most high-regarded positions to hold. Even more galvanizing for his position as a member of Japan's elite is the fact that his daughter is married to Crown Prince Naruhito, the heir of Japan's imperial crown.

The last of the three leading East Asians in The Hague is President Sang-Hyun Song of the International Criminal Court, again from South Korea. He probably has the most interesting job of all three in The Hague. The ICC is still very much a start-up legal institution and its rules of procedure are still evolving. The ICC has a global mandate to prosecute individuals accused of the most serious crimes, and the court's energetic prosecutor Argentinian Moreno-Ocampo is determined to make full use of those powers. The ICC however is primarily engaged with African situations and is only slowly starting its first courtcases, primarily involving the situation in the DRC. Its jurisdiction combined with Ocampo's temparent does make for some interesting outstanding arrest warrants, ie for Libyan leader Ghaddafi and Sudanese president al Bashir.
With all the attention devoted by the ICC to Africa, Song travels there quite frequently where his messages about international criminal justice are said to get to a more favorable audience for the fact that he is not an envoy from a Western government.

Even though East Asians rule quite a bit of the roost in the International Legal Capital, it's too early to say that anyone of them had a distinct cultural impact on international legal practice or in specific rulings. In international (criminal) cases, a team of judges usually forms an opinion, thus reducing the possibility of the personal impact of one judge. And, with strict term limits imposed on judges serving in the world of international law, the presence of East Asian (vice-)presidents in The Hague may go as quickly as it came.

The Triple Agent

Just when I thought a couple of days ago I should write a book about the episode of the Jordanian double spy who killed several CIA officers in Khost, it turns out that the Washington Post's Joby Warrick beat me to it.
Here's a great excerpt from his book the Triple Agent that I'll definitely buy once it's released. For now, sit back and take in this superb long read!

David Kilcullen speaking some truths