Headlines:
- German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer: ‘Islam Doesn’t Belong to Germany’
- Saudi Arabia can Win Islam’s War of Ideas
- Pakistan Has Just Tested the Ultimate Nuclear Missile
- Tillerson is Trump’s Latest Victim
- State Terrorism in UK
- Saudi Concert
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer: ‘Islam Doesn’t Belong to Germany’
In a slight to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, new Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, said Islam is not part of German culture. His comments underscore his efforts to push the government to the right. On Thursday, newly inaugurated Interior Minister Horst Seehofer disagreed with the belief that the Islamic faith is part of German culture — a statement that Merkel has repeatedly made since 2015. “No. Islam does not belong to Germany,” he said in an interview with the German daily Bild newspaper. “Germany has been shaped by Christianity.” Certain Christian-inspired aspects are part of daily life and culture in Germany, Seehofer said, naming examples such as shops being closed on Sundays and public holidays that correspond to church holidays like Easter, Pentecost and Christmas. Seehofer told the paper that people who practice Islam are, of course, part of Germany.”The Muslims who live with us obviously belong to Germany,” he noted, adding that “false consideration for others clearly does not mean we give up our country-specific traditions and Seehofer is taking the reins of the interior ministry, which is now officially called the Interior, Construction and Heimat Ministry. The term Heimat — which roughly translates to “homeland” — stirs up feelings of being at home and belonging to a place, but it also comes laden with connotations from the Nazi era. During his interview with the Bild, Seehofer rejected the criticism that the new German Cabinet doesn’t include any people of color, or those with an immigrant background.Seehofer’s comments also depict the Bavarian politician’s intent to steer his Bavaria-based Christian Social Union (CSU) and the new German government into a more conservative direction and win back voters who switched to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).The phrase “Islam doesn’t belong to Germany” was a central pillar of the AfD’s party platform in last year’s general election. The populist party is now the third-largest bloc in parliament and Germany’s largest opposition party. Seehofer has also vowed to increase deportations of rejected asylum-seekers in his role as interior minister. The CSU leader has frequently bumped heads with Merkel in the past and has been vocal in his criticism of the chancellor’s refugee and immigration policies. Merkel started a fourth term as chancellor on Wednesday after her Christian Democrats, the CSU and the Social Democrats sealed a coalition deal after months of negotiations. [Source: Deutsche Welles]
The rise of hyper-nationalism is encouraging many politicians across Europe to espouse Islamophobia. Germany—probably the most tolerant of all European nations—is no exception. Seehofer represents a growing chorus of German politicians who desire greater assertion of national identity underpinned by Christian values, and Islam is the obvious rallying point.
Saudi Arabia can Win Islam’s War of Ideas
Mohammed bin Salman’s embrace of “moderate Islam” deserves the Trump administration’s support. Nearly two decades after 9/11, America’s greatest failure in the war on terrorism has almost certainly been its inability to delegitimize the extremist ideas fueling groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State. The United States has killed tens of thousands of fighters, disrupted revenue streams, and shuttered social media accounts. What it hasn’t done effectively is discredit the hate-filled doctrine that continues to draw a steady stream of recruits to the terrorist cause — leaving it to confront this unsettling reality: By an order of magnitude, al Qaeda in 2018 enjoys a larger presence in more countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia than it did the day the Twin Towers were felled. Enter the enormous promise of Mohammed bin Salman. For months, the crown prince and his closest advisors have relentlessly hammered the theme that Saudi Arabia’s modernization requires an embrace of “moderate Islam.” He’s slammed the extremist ideology that the kingdom did so much to empower after the Iranian revolution and acknowledges that “the problem spread all over the world.” He’s vowed that “now is the time to get rid of it” and declared that “we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts, we will destroy them now and immediately.” It’s not just talk, either. At home, the powers of the kingdom’s notorious religious police have been scaled back. Prominent hard-line clerics have been jailed. On the all-important issue of female empowerment, the pace of change has been breathtaking. Women can now open businesses without the approval of a male guardian. They’re being allowed to enter the military for the first time and attend sporting and cultural events. This summer, the ban on women driving will disappear. Now, the US imperative should be pressing Mohammed bin Salman to take his campaign for moderate Islam on the road. His willingness to “destroy” the monster of global jihadism that the kingdom helped create needs to be turned into a concrete action plan. There should be multiple elements to such an effort, but some immediate tasks come to mind. First, school textbooks. The Saudis promised to eliminate the hate-filled passages a decade ago. Progress has slowly been made, but the job’s still not done. Mohammed bin Salman should order it finished — this year. Behind the scenes, US experts should provide verification. Second, working with trusted partners in indigenous communities known for their religious moderation, the Saudis should conduct a thorough audit of the global network of mosques, schools, and charitable organizations that they’ve backed with an eye toward weeding out radical staff and content. Third, initiate a worldwide buyback of Saudi-distributed mistranslations of the Quran and other religious materials notorious for propagating extremist narratives. On the Saudi side, the effort could be well led by a Mohammed bin Salman ally, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, the new head of the powerful Muslim World League — an organization once at the forefront of exporting Wahhabism. Mohammed bin Abdul has already taken extraordinary steps such as visiting a French synagogue and issuing an unprecedented letter condemning Holocaust denial. If US policymakers have learned anything since 9/11, it’s that only other Muslims will ultimately be able to — as Trump has said — “drive out” the extremist ideology that has fueled America’s long and costly war on terror. Saudi Arabia, perhaps the world’s most influential Islamic state, now has a leader who says that he aims to do exactly that. It’s a potentially historic moment that the president should seize, help shape, and exploit to advance vital US interests. [Source: Foreign Policy]
Since the beginning of Islam and European crusader wars, the crusaders and hypocrites have done their utmost to distort the image of Islam and make it palatable with crusader interests. And every attempt since the thirteenth century has failed. The recent efforts by Saudi Arabia to secularize Islam will also fail and the West will once more lose the war of ideas and its world order; then to be replaced by a new world order to lead humanity justly.
Pakistan Has Just Tested the Ultimate Nuclear Missile
Yes, they have MIRVs—what North Korea can only dream of. Pakistan Has Just Tested the Ultimate Nuclear Missile. Pakistan has tested a ballistic missile with a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV), the United States confirmed this week. During testimony to Congress outlining worldwide threats on March 6, Robert Ashley, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), stated: “In January 2017, Pakistan conducted the first test launch of its nuclear-capable Ababeel ballistic missile, demonstrating South Asia’s first MIRV payload.” It appeared to be the first time a U.S. official publicly confirmed that Islamabad tested a MIRVed missile; however, in a report last year on missile threats around the world, the Defense Intelligence Ballistic Missile Analysis Committee noted, “In January 2017, [Pakistan] began testing the MIRVed Ababeel MRBM.” MIRVs allow a single missile to deliver multiple warheads against different targets. Islamabad’s stated rationale for pursuing MIRV technology is to defeat India’s ballistic-missile defense systems. “Development of Ababeel Weapon System is aimed at ensuring survivability of Pakistan’s ballistic missiles in the growing regional Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) environment,” the Pakistani military said in the statement announcing the test last January. “This will further reinforce deterrence.” MIRVs are undoubtedly useful for defeating missile defenses, as they present numerous targets in close range that interceptors must locate and destroy. At the same time, MIRVs are extremely valuable for counterforce attacks—that is, trying to destroy an adversary’s nuclear arsenal in a surprise first strike. In that sense, they are extremely destabilizing for strategic stability; during the Cold War MIRVs greatly exacerbated the nuclear arms race between the two superpowers. MIRVs could be especially destabilizing for countries like China, India and Pakistan. Unlike the Cold War superpowers, Beijing, Delhi and Islamabad have maintained relatively small nuclear arsenals that are believed to number in the low hundreds, compared to the tens of thousands the Soviet Union and the United States had during the Cold War. That means their arsenals will be especially vulnerable to powerful counterforce capabilities, like MIRVs. That is why I once called the emergence of Asian MIRVs the most dangerous nuclear threat no one was talking about. [Source: Yahoo News].
Despite its hard power, the Pakistani leadership remains hopeless at redefining the political order on the sub-continent and beyond. The utility of nuclear weapons lies in their ability to prevent adversaries from using their nuclear weapons and providing license to reshape the security paradigm in the region. But is anyone listening?
Tillerson is Trump’s Latest Victim
President Donald Trump ousted US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, ending a rocky tenure in an abrupt move that stunned the former Exxon Mobil CEO and set in motion a shakeup of the administration’s foreign policy team. Trump announced Tillerson’s ouster in a tweet shortly before 9 am after weeks of staff turmoil, saying he would nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state. But it was several hours before Trump discussed his decision with Tillerson, who said he’ll hand over all responsibilities to Deputy Secretary John Sullivan at midnight Tuesday. CIA Director Mike Pompeo will replace Tillerson and to replace Pompeo, Trump has chosen Gina Haspel, the CIA’s current deputy director. Speaking with reporters, Trump said the decision was motivated by differences of opinion with Tillerson on substantive issues such as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal. As talks with North Korea and a review of the JCPOA rapidly approach, Trump is preparing through a Cabinet reshuffling. By replacing Tillerson, Trump has removed a voice that often disagreed with him — sometimes publicly. Trump’s new appointments will place voices more agreeable to his plans in positions of power.
State Terrorism in UK
Britain has gone into a tailspin as another incident of state terrorism has taken place on British soil.
On the afternoon of March 4, a man and a young woman were found slumped on a bench in what appeared to be another case of opioid overdose. But as police arrived at the scene and identified the victims, it soon became clear that this was not an accidental narcotics overdose. The man, 66-year-old Sergei Skripal, was a former colonel in Russia’s military intelligence service and had been recruited by Britain’s foreign intelligence service (MI6) in the 1990s. He had come to the United Kingdom in 2010 as part of a high-profile spy swap. As police officers began to collapse after coming into contact with the pair, it quickly became evident that this was yet another case in which a former Russian intelligence officer was poisoned in the United Kingdom. This attack under President Vladimir Putin is letting the intelligence world know that betrayal can make you and your family a target, even if you’re no longer in the game.
Saudi Concert
In line with his reform program for Saudi Arabia the regulations for the March 30 concert by Tamer Hosny, a popular Egyptian singer whose lyrics sometimes contain sexual innuendo, were issued by the kingdom’s entertainment authority. But in what can only be described as a massive contradiction the conditions include: “Dancing is strictly prohibited during the concert,” the tickets stated in fine print. Also banned: “Swaying”. Many in Saudi are deeply uncomfortable with Prince Mohammed’s reforms, although they have mostly kept quiet, fearing arrest. Many of the online posts about Mr. Hosny’s concert condemned the concert, not the rules governing it. The monarchy has been forced to adapt due to driving the Saudi economy into the ground. The westernisation, is just the beginning.