Headlines:
- US Establishment Isolates Trump after Exploiting his Popularity
- Iraq and Afghanistan, Palestine
- US-China Trade War has Cost up to 245,000 US Jobs: Business Group Study
- Jewish State to Push Biden to Take it Easy on Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt
- New Strategy Towards US: Pakistan to Safeguard Mutual Interests
- Trump’s Political Career Hangs in the Balance
- Pakistan Power Blackout
- Zionist Human Rights Group Describes ‘Israel’ as an Apartheid state
US Establishment Isolates Trump after Exploiting his Popularity
The US Establishment has dramatically fully turned against US President Donald Trump in the final days of his presidency, to counter attempts by Trump to remain a powerful leader after leaving office. This week, Trump became the first president to be impeached twice. Proceedings now move to the Senate, where it is possible that Trump will be barred from ever holding office in future, thus blocking any attempt by Trump to stand again in the 2024 presidential elections. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate, despite being previously strongly supportive of Trump, has spoken openly against him after his 6 January rally overran the buildings of the Congress itself. Vice President Mike Pence, similarly a hitherto strong supporter, has starkly also diverged from the Trump agenda. The Establishment is also moving indirectly against Trump, blocking him on social media, and threatening his business interests.
Western elites know that government requires strong leadership, and so they must appoint rulers and empower them to act decisively. But at the same time, they introduce a great many open and hidden ‘checks and balances’ to ensure that the ruler never departs from the vested interests of the elites. The US Establishment was forced to accept Trump as president in 2016 after the failures of Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, two solidly establishment politicians who nevertheless failed to build sufficient popular support. Threatened by the mass movement that developed around Bernie Sanders candidacy, the establishment-controlled media gave excessive live coverage to Donald Trump, a non-serious celebrity candidate who had stood multiple times previously also, and was really seeking little more than publicity to support his media career and business ventures. Once in office, Trump certainly didn’t play by the rules but Western systems of government are well-developed to fully contain and prevent rulers deviating from establishment directives. Nevertheless, now that America has in Joe Biden a solid establishment man with decades of service to elite interests, there is no need to further tolerate Trump, hence the stark reversal against him.
However, the real legacy of Trump is not his decisions in office but the further polarisation of American society. Liberals call for increased secularism, while Conservatives wish to adhere to Christian values. This contradiction is irreconcilable and will continue as long as both Capitalism and Christianity are followed.
Iraq and Afghanistan, Palestine
As an example of Trump’s full compliance with establishment policies, the Pentagon announced this week that troop deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq had been reduced to 2,500 each. This is their lowest level in the almost two decades since the war began and in accordance with a recent announcement by Trump to have this done by 15 January. However, this still falls far short of Trump’s campaign pledge to end the wars in both countries, something that Trump tried to do while in office but failed. The American establishment is committed to world domination. America entered Iraq and Afghanistan not to merely fight wars but to establish permanent military bases from where America would be able to not only control those countries but to also control entire regions, and to provide forward positions against Russia and China. The presence of these military bases is fully supported by agent rulers in both countries. Such bases in Muslim lands will continue to exist until Muslims arise and take charge of their own affairs, instead of leaving them to be managed by agent rulers implementing alien systems of government for Western interests.
Mahmoud Abbas has announced the first ‘parliamentary’ and ‘presidential’ elections in the West Bank and Gaza in 15 years. The governance structures that have been established in these areas have little more authority than that of municipal administration. Their real purpose is to contain Muslim opposition to the illegal Jewish entity that has been fully supported by the West. Like the illegal Crusader entity that existed in Palestine a thousand years ago, the illegal Jewish entity provides a vital strategic base in the Muslim heartland, as is indicated also by Trump’s decision this week to include it within the region covered by the US military’s Central Command that spans most of the Muslim world. It is expected that the incoming US administration has instructed Abbas to call for elections. America knows it is only through an agent ruling class that it can have control over Muslims. Political activity in Muslim lands is heavily constrained and elections, when they occur, are designed only to legitimise those whose real loyalty is to the West.
US-China Trade War has Cost up to 245,000 US Jobs: Business Group Study
U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with China has caused a peak loss of 245,000 U.S. jobs, but a gradual scaling back of tariffs on both sides would boost growth and lead to an additional 145,000 jobs by 2025, a study commissioned by the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) shows. The group, which represents major American companies doing business in China, said the study by Oxford Economics also includes an “escalation scenario” which estimates a significant decoupling of the world’s two largest economies could shrink U.S. GDP by $1.6 trillion over the next five years. This could result in 732,000 fewer U.S. jobs in 2022 and 320,000 fewer jobs by 2025, it said. The study was released just days before President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office and begin a major analysis of U.S. trade policy, including consultations with democratic allies over punitive U.S. tariffs imposed by Trump. Biden has said he plans no immediate changes to Trump’s tariffs, but said he will work with allies to pressure China to change its trade behavior. USCBC President Craig Allen, who has been supportive of Trump’s efforts to change China’s trade and technology transfer policies, said it was important that the group articulate the consequences of policy choices in the U.S.-China relationship. “In the case of the tariffs, it’s very important that we understand the full economic cost of these choices,” Allen told a press briefing. The study estimates that U.S. exports to China support 1.2 million American jobs and that Chinese multinational companies directly employ 197,000 Americans, while U.S. companies invested $105 billion in China in 2019. “With China forecast to drive around one-third of global growth over the next decade, maintaining market access to China is increasingly essential for U.S. businesses’ global success,” the study said. [Reuters].
So much for Trump’s America First rhetoric. Trump has incessantly misled his base on a variety of issues and job creation accruing from trade war with China is no different. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Biden will change America’s fundamental direction with China. The dye has been cast, and the trade war will continue but the styles may change.
Jewish State to Push Biden to Take it Easy on Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt
The Jewish state plans to lobby the incoming Biden administration to avoid confrontations over human rights and other contentious issues with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, senior Israeli defense officials have stated. President-elect Biden has promised to put human rights and democracy at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy, and he skipped over all three when placing phone calls to the leaders of 17 countries after his election victory. He was particularly critical of Saudi Arabia during the campaign over the war in Yemen and human rights issues. The Jewish state sees its security and intelligence relationships with the three countries as central to its strategy to counter Iran and an important pillar in regional security. Now, the Jewish state fears that Biden will not only seek a deal with Iran, but also cool relations with America’s Arab partners. [Source: Axios]
There was a time when these countries lobbied America to put pressure on the Jewish state to stop atrocities against the Jewish state. Today, the Jewish state is doing the reverse to protect its allies from a possible policy change under the Biden administration. And yet there are still those who believe that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE have the best interest of the people of Palestine at heart.
New Strategy Towards US: Pakistan to Safeguard Mutual Interests
Pakistan will pursue a pragmatic diplomatic strategy based on safeguarding mutual interests while dealing with the new US administration under President Joe Biden. The government has concluded initial deliberations for laying down outlines of the new strategy with message of respecting the dignity of each other in transacting two-way business. Well-placed diplomatic sources told The News Pakistan’s ambassador in the US Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, who is flying back to Washington after weeklong hectic consultations with the high-ups in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, has been tasked with conveying the sentiments of his government to Joe administration catering all spectrums of bilateral ties. The Afghan issue will continue to occupy prominence in the upcoming affairs to be taken up by Islamabad and Washington from the American perspective. Pakistan will assure that it would live up to the US expectations for bringing peace in the war-torn country, as its support for the peace process wouldn’t be remiss. Relations with India covering Kashmir dispute will figure prominently since India has been following an enhanced aggressive posturing towards Pakistan and Kashmir with certain irresponsible acts ever since New Delhi jumped in Washington’s lap during the last decade. Pakistan will welcome US role in settling disputes with India if the former expresses desire to play by maintaining dignity. It is understood that Pakistan’s close relationship with China would be a question bound to be raised by the new US government and it is unlikely that Pakistan would indicate any alteration in this regard since the relations have malice towards none but in the interest of the two, sources said. The US defence cooperation and economic relations will be the two areas where Pakistan would be interested to have further activation although Pakistan found acceleration in the areas in recent years, the sources said. [Source: News International]
What is billed as a new strategy is nothing more than a total capitulation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. Imran Khan’s government plans to invite America to solve both Afghanistan and Kashmir. Both problems in origin exist because America invaded Afghanistan and then supported Modi to tighten his grip over Kashmir. Only the re-establishment of a Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) upon the method of Prophethood can solve these problems without Western interference or surrendering sovereignty to either India or the US.
Trump’s Political Career Hangs in the Balance
Donald Trump warned that efforts by Democrats to impeach him for a second time were “causing tremendous anger” in the US and said he bore no responsibility for a violent attack on the US Capitol by his supporters last week. In his first unscripted remarks since the rampage in the nation’s capital, Mr Trump described the move to impeach him as a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics”. Democrats in the House of Representatives formally charged Trump with one count of “incitement of insurrection” and have asked Vice President, Mike Pence, to invoke the 25th amendment of the US Constitution, which includes a clause that allows removal of a standing US President under extreme circumstances. If Trump is convicted and impeached, the Senate could decide to punish him by barring him from seeking office again, which will end his rather short, but eventful political career.
Pakistan Power Blackout
Most of Pakistan, including the capital and many of its major cities, lost power early Sunday 3rd January 2021 in one of the biggest blackouts to affect this country of more than 200 million people. The power failure affected the capital, Islamabad, along with major cities such as Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta. On Sunday, power was slowly being restored in cities across the country, including Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city after Karachi, the southern port city, which was also affected in the outage. The energy minister, Omar Ayub Khan, said at a news conference that the blackout had initially been set off by an engineering fault at the Guddu Thermal Power Plant in Sindh Province, which then pushed much of the country’s power grid into an automatic shutdown. In January 2019, problems at the Guddu led to a major power failure across areas of Sindh and Baluchistan Provinces. In May 2018, a widespread breakdown in the National Transmission and Despatch Company’s northern system caused people to lose power in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan’s power sector has long struggled with outdated infrastructure and a lack of up keep. But the blackout took place with negotiations continuing with the IPPs, which proposes to change the capacity payment structure via changes in currency indexation. The PTI governemnt is aiming to pay the IPPs Rs450 billion in cash and in kind in three tranches throughout the year, which will be used to pay their debts off.
Zionist Human Rights Group Describes ‘Israel’ as an Apartheid state
A leading ‘Israeli’ human rights group has begun describing both ‘Israel’ and its control of the Palestinian territories as a single “apartheid” regime, using an explosive term that the country’s leaders and their supporters vehemently reject. In a report released Tuesday, 12 January, B’Tselem said that, although Palestinians live under different forms of Israeli control in the occupied West Bank, blockaded Gaza, annexed east Jerusalem and within ‘Israel’ itself, they have fewer rights than Jews in the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. “One of the key points in our analysis is that this is a single geopolitical area ruled by one government,” said B’Tselem director Hagai El-Ad. “This is not democracy-plus-occupation. This is apartheid between the river and the sea.” That a highly respected Israeli organization is adopting a term long considered taboo even by many critics of ‘Israel’ shows that the reality is becoming more and more difficult to hide.