Headlines:
• I’ll Strip Returning Jihadis of Passports for Two Years Vows British Prime Minister
• Extremist Ideology is a Threat to Arab World: Sisi
• Iranians and Multinationals Hungry for Nuclear Deal that Will End Sanctions
I’ll Strip Returning Jihadis of Passports for Two Years Vows British Prime Minister
British jihadis fighting in Syria and Iraq will have their passports cancelled for at least two years to prevent them returning to wreak terror in the UK, David Cameron announced on Thursday evening. Downing Street said the plans would give Britain the toughest anti-jihadi powers in the Western world outside the US, and would ensure fighters were only let back in to the UK ‘on our terms’. However, they will place ministers on collision course with judges and human rights lawyers. And they risk infuriating allies such as Turkey and Germany, which could find themselves having to deal with British extremists stranded abroad. The Prime Minister’s announcement came as he outlined a raft of new measures to counter the threat posed by Islamist fanatics in a speech to the Australian parliament in Canberra. He is about to embark on talks with world leaders at the G20 summit in Australia on tackling so-called foreign fighters. The measures also include plans to streamline existing powers to confiscate the passports of Britons thought to be planning to travel to Syria. They will also be extended to under-18s for the first time to combat the threat posed by teenage jihadis. And airlines will be warned that they could be fined or have their licenses to operate in the UK revoked unless they co-operate fully with the security services to identify and prevent banned suspects from boarding flights home. But it is the introduction of ‘temporary exclusion orders’ that will prove the most controversial. On the orders of Home Secretary Theresa May, legal papers will be served to a suspect’s last-known address in the UK and they will be placed immediately on international ‘no-fly’ lists. Any airline that allows a suspect to board a plane to the UK could find its aircraft turned back. And any banned individuals who manage to sneak back into Britain would commit an offence carrying a five-year jail term. Another draconian measure is being imposed on Muslims living in Britain. Yet Jews travelling to the Jewish state to fight in the IDF against Palestinians or Ukrainians travelling to Ukraine to fight pro-Russian forces in Ukraine are not to be penalized. Britain, which prides itself on equality and justice is fast turning into Islamaphobic state, where Muslims are persecuted at will by the British government.
Extremist Ideology is a Threat to Arab World: Sisi
The rapid spread of terrorism, incorrect religious discourse and misinterpretation of the correct form of Islam is threatening the Arab world, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi warned on Thursday. Sissi said that the media has a very important role to play in combatting extremist ideology. [Source: Gulf News]
Sisi is both right and wrong. He is right to identify the extremist ideology and the role of the media in combating it. But he is wrong about the nature of the ideological threat. Today the extremist ideology of secularists, and not the Islamists is the biggest threat to the Arab world. The pro-secular media instead of exposing the evil nature of this ideology is aiding and abetting its expansion into every household and exploiting young impressionable minds.
The Muslims of Egypt from all walks of life, must make an active stand against the secular fundamentalist who have robbed and plundered the country for their colonial masters during the past several decades. This can only be achieved through the re-establishment of the rightly guided Khilafah State.
Iranians and Multinationals Hungry for Nuclear Deal that Will End Sanctions
Rouhani’s moderate faction is relying on an agreement but even Iran’s conservative factions want to end the nuclear stalemate. A number of senior Iranian officials, mostly from the Conservative Front, were among the crowds railing against “the Great Satan”. But President Hassan Rouhani, whose government has engaged in direct diplomacy with the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme, was not among them. There remains a deep suspicion of the US in Iran, but even the most conservative factions of the Islamic republic hope for a way out of the current nuclear stalemate. A few hours of marching and chanting “death to America” and “death to Israel” ended with the participants issuing a statement expressing their support for the president’s nuclear diplomacy and his negotiating team, who are travelling to Vienna next week in what amounts to a critical moment in the latest round of nuclear talks. Speculation is high about what will happen there. Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former spokesperson for Iran’s nuclear negotiating team who has worked with Rouhani in the past, said a nuclear agreement in Vienna would strengthen the Iranian president’s administration. Rouhani owes his victory in last year’s presidential elections to promises of ending the nuclear crisis. Mousavian told the Guardian: “It would have a great impact on the economic situation, improve the image of the US and the west in Iran, would open the door for broader cooperation with the world powers on the regional crisis and would be a great achievement for the Iranian administration.”
Last month, a group of Iranian and foreign investors gathered in London’s Iran-EU forum studying business opportunities in the Islamic republic should the talks bear fruit and international companies could return to Iran. Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, who organised that event, struck a more optimistic note and said investors were hoping for a return. “I think the mood is cautiously optimistic,” he told the Guardian. “Everyone is following the talks. There’s an interesting situation where they are following the political analysis, they are keeping up to date with the news and people are hopeful the P5+1 [UK, China, France, Germany, Russia and US] and Iran are serious about coming to an agreement but however many positive signs there are, there are also worrying signs like the outcome of the elections in the US and the very significant resistance to the deal that is coming from certain special interest groups.” [Source: The Guardian]
America’s rapid decline in the region is spurring Washington to fast-track Iran’s rehabilitation in the international community by securing a nuclear deal with Tehran, and encouraging Iran to play a greater role in the formation of the Shia Crescent.