Headlines:
- Tillerson calls for Return to Civilian Rule in Zimbabwe
- Environment Conference concludes in Bonn despite US Obstruction
- Macron Secures Hariri’s Release to France
- Burmese Military Guilty of Widespread Rape
- Jewish Military Chief wants Closer Saudi Ties as Iran Tensions Rise
- Imran Khan’s Plan to Switch Pakistan from US to Chinese Orbit
- Erdogan’s Hypocrisy
- EU Military Takes Shape
- Lebanon’s Hariri’s Mystery becomes Clearer
Tillerson calls for Return to Civilian Rule in Zimbabwe
The US Secretary of State has now commented formally to the coup in Zimbabwe earlier this week against President Robert Mugabe, in remarks calling for Western values. According to Reuters:
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday urged “a quick return to civilian rule” in Zimbabwe after its army took charge earlier this week, and called events there “a concern.”
“Zimbabwe has an opportunity to set itself on a new path, one that must include democratic elections and respect for human rights,” Tillerson told the foreign ministers from the African continent ahead of a meeting in Washington.
Inevitably though the West’s call for democratic values or human rights is actually code for advancing their own national interests. America will always choose its national interests above its desire to spread Western values abroad.
Zimbabwe is one of those rare places left in the world that is still outside the US orbit of control. It in fact remains under British control with 20,000 British citizens still living in Zimbabwe today. At the end of the British Empire, the standard tactic was to manipulate the installation of local rulers loyal to the British by having them participate in ‘independence movements’ against imperial rule. Robert Mugabe played this role in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe’s ‘mistake’ was to be in power too long, so that even Britain became frustrated with him. Ironically, the UK statement on events in Zimbabwe are similar to the US line, with the difference that UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s remarks came immediately after the coup, while Tillerson’s came three days later. According to Reuters:
“Nobody wants simply to see the transition from one unelected tyrant to a next. No one wants to see that. We want to see proper, free and fair elections,” Johnson told the British parliament.
Foreign powers are happier when no single person remains in power for too long, so that they can more easily continue to exert control from behind the scenes. The West’s true foreign policy remain imperialism. Muslims need to show the world an alternate.
Environment Conference Concludes in Bonn despite US Obstruction
According to Reuters:
Almost 200 nations kept a 2015 global agreement to tackle climate change on track on Saturday after marathon talks overshadowed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out.
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, presiding at the two-week talks in Bonn, said the outcome “underscores the importance of keeping the momentum and of holding the spirit and vision of our Paris Agreement.”
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, presiding at the two-week talks in Bonn, said the outcome “underscores the importance of keeping the momentum and of holding the spirit and vision of our Paris Agreement.”
But the reality is that even the Paris Climate Agreement was severely weakened by America, after the intervention of then US President Barack Obama.
America stands the most to lose from implementation of climate accords because of America’s huge economic and strategic dependence on fossil fuels. America has viewed all climate change discussion as a threat almost from the start.
The world will never be able to address its true issues as long as the Capitalist West remains dominant in world affairs. The time is soon, with Allah’s permission, that Islam will return to lead the world through the re-establishment of the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) on the method of the Prophet (saw).
Macron Secures Hariri’s Release to France
It appears that French President Emmanuel Macron was able to successfully negotiate the release of Saad al-Hariri from Saudi Arabia to France. According to Reuters:
Saad al-Hariri, who sparked a crisis by resigning as Lebanese prime minister on Nov. 4 during a visit to Saudi Arabia, is on his way to the airport, he said early on Saturday, before his flight from Riyadh to France.
Hariri’s abrupt resignation while he was in Saudi Arabia and his continued stay there caused fears over Lebanon’s stability. His visit to France with his family to meet President Emmanuel Macron is seen as part of a possible way out of the crisis.
France’s intervention is just another indication of the intricate involvement of Western powers in Muslim politics. Quite evidently, it is America that stands behind the numerous initiatives taken in the name of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. It was also America that brought Iran into Syria and Iraq but is now humiliating Iran by demanding its withdrawal from those regions. The forced resignation of Hariri is in fact designed to build pressure on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon that increasingly dominates Lebanese politics. Muslims remain divided because our rulers are always at the West’s beck and call, eagerly willing to undertake any service for their masters, despite the humiliation they receive in return from them when they have completed their service. The affairs of Muslims will never be set in order until we take our affairs in our own hands and give our support to sincere, ideological, indigenous leadership who must rule us by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw). Those who have insight know that the time of this is close.
Burmese Military Guilty of Widespread Rape
Human Rights Watch have accused Burmese security forces of committing widespread rape against women and girls as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing during the past three months against Rohingya Muslims in the country’s Rakhine state. The allegation in a report by the New York-based rights group echoes an accusation by Pramila Patten, the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, earlier this week. Patten said sexual violence was “being commanded, orchestrated and perpetrated by the Armed Forces of Burma.” Burma’s army released a report on Monday denying all allegations of rape and killings by security forces, days after replacing the general in charge of the operation that drove more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. The United Nations has denounced the violence as a classic example of ethnic cleansing. The Burmese government has denied allegations of ethnic cleansing. Human Rights Watch spoke to 52 Rohingya women and girls who fled to Bangladesh, 29 of whom said they had been raped. All but one of the rapes were gang rapes, Human Rights Watch said. “Rape has been a prominent and devastating feature of the Burmese military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya,” said Skye Wheeler, women’s rights emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “The Burmese military’s barbaric acts of violence have left countless women and girls brutally harmed and traumatised,” she said in a statement. Human Rights Watch called on the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Burma and targeted sanctions against military leaders responsible for human rights violations, including sexual violence. The 15-member council last week urged the Burma government to “ensure no further excessive use of military force in Rakhine state.” It asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report back in 30 days on the situation. Burma has said the military clearance operation was necessary for national security after Rohingya militants attacked 30 security posts and an army base in Rakhine state on 25 August. Burma is refusing entry to a UN panel that was tasked with investigating allegations of abuses after a smaller military counteroffensive launched in October 2016. The Burmese army has employed the psychological tactic of mass rape to instill fear and prevent Rohingya Muslims from returning to their lands. [Source: The Independent]
It is a great shame to see not even a single Islamic country taking military measures to punish the Burmese army. On the contrary, Islamic countries are fortifying the Burmese army by providing telecommunication services as well as military hardware.
Jewish Military Chief Wants closer Saudi ties as Iran Tensions Rise
Jewish military chief has given an “unprecedented” interview to a Saudi newspaper underlining the ways in which the two countries could unite to counter Iran’s influence in the region. Speaking to the Saudi newspaper Elaph, Gen Gadi Eisenkot described Iran as the “biggest threat to the region” and said the Jewish state would be prepared to share intelligence with “moderate” Arab states like Saudi Arabia in order to “deal with” Tehran. The interview, however, is particularly striking in its very public and confrontational messaging: an appeal by the Jewish state to Riyadh for a joint action on Tehran, delivered by the Jewish state’s most senior soldier. It is the latest dramatic twist in weeks of turmoil in the region, which followed an unexpected purge of Saudi princes and officials by crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, who has also increasingly locked Saudi Arabia on a path to confrontation with Iran. While the Jewish and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations, they have been edging closer recently, including a visit last year by a retired Saudi general heading a delegation seeking to encourage better relations. Eisenkot told Elaph that the two countries agree about Iran’s intentions and that the Jewish state is increasingly “highly regarded by the moderate countries in the region”. Asked about Jewish intelligence sharing with Saudi Arabia, he insisted: “We are prepared to share information if it is necessary. There are many mutual interests between them [Saudi Arabia] and us.” The interview – described by the Jewish newspaper Haaretz as “unprecedented” – would have required Jewish political approval at the highest level, given the lack of diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. It is significant for its intended symbolism, designed to show off a warmer relationship with Riyadh in public, not least the emerging US-backed axis against Iran. “There’s an opportunity to form a new international coalition in the region with President Trump,” Eisenkot added. “We need to carry out a large, comprehensive strategic plan to stop the Iranian threat.” Last week Saudi Arabia ordered its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately, escalating a regional standoff with Iran centred on the fragile state, which it claims is being run by Tehran’s proxy, Hezbollah. The move followed the unexpected resignation of Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, citing Iranian influence across the region and claiming he feared for his safety. Tensions have also been rising over the conflict in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.Echoing the recent rhetoric of Jewish prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Eisenkot charged Iran with “seeking to take control of the Middle East creating a [Shia] crescent from Lebanon to Iran and then from the Gulf to the Red Sea,” adding that “we must prevent this from happening”. “In this matter there is complete agreement between us and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has never been our enemy. It has not fought us nor have we fought it. “When I was at a meeting of the [US] joint chiefs of staff in Washington and heard what the Saudi representative had to say, I found it identical to what I think in the need to confront Iran and its expansion in the region.” [Source: The Guardian]
The Jewish state is finding renewed confidence in King Salman’s secularization drive that it wants to establish formal ties with the Kingdom. Decades of covert relations between the Jewish state and the Kingdom have started to reveal themselves.
Imran Khan’s Plan to Switch Pakistan from US to Chinese Orbit
A quarter of a century ago, Imran Khan was one of the greatest and most charismatic sportsmen in the world. He had just led the Pakistan cricket team to their momentous first victory in the Cricket World Cup, converting himself into a national hero in the process. Khan retired from cricket, and let it be known that he was set on pursuing a second career as a national politician. However, for many years Imran Khan’s political career was a litany of humiliating defeats and failure. Most observers wrote him off completely. Then, in the 2013 elections, Khan’s political party, the PTI (Movement for Justice) made a major breakthrough. It polled strongly among young and middle-class voters in Pakistan’s major cities and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North West Frontier Province). It has been the dominant party in that province’s government for the last five years. It’s time to take him seriously as a front rank politician. Two political parties have dominated Pakistan during this period. One is the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party), formed by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1967, which has its power base in Sindh province in southern Pakistan. The second is PMLN (Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz) which dominates Pakistan’s second largest province, the Punjab. Both parties have become associated over the years with grotesque levels of political corruption. Since the start of his political career, Imran Khan has been utterly consistent in treating these two parties as a cartel intent on plundering the assets of the state for their own advantage. To start with Imran has found it very hard to make headway against the entrenched power block. But factors have suddenly swung dramatically in his favor. In the south, the Pakistan People’s Party has collapsed. It has never found a satisfactory replacement for Benazir Bhutto, who was cruelly murdered in mysterious circumstances in the garrison city of Rawalpindi ten years ago next month. She was replaced by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Elected president in a sympathy vote, Zardari left office with a reputation for corruption from which the party has found it impossible to recover. Meanwhile, the Muslim League is also mired in corruption scandals. PMLN leader, Nawaz Sharif, has been declared disqualified from public office on account of forgery and lying on oath, in the wake of the ‘Panama Papers’ revelations. Here events are also conspiring to help Imran Khan in his tilt for the leadership of his country. For the last 20 years, Khan has campaigned against the power exercised by the United States in Pakistan politics. He has campaigned tirelessly against the murderous use of drones in the Tribal Areas and opposed the CIA’s involvement in extraordinary rendition and torture of Pakistan citizens. This strong moral stance is now paying off. Just as with his domestic anti-corruption campaign, the mood of the country is on his side. Pakistan was for decades the most important client state of the United States in South Asia. Recently, the US has changed sides and has thrown its weight behind India. This means that Pakistan – whether it wants to or not – is switching sides as well. Its ties with neighboring China, always strong, have deepened profoundly. There is a risk that Pakistan will have traded one dependent relationship for another – but most Pakistanis seem willing to take it. To sum up, on the international as well as the domestic front, Imran’s analysis has proved timely and wise. [Source: Russia Today]
Imran Khan like most of the civil and military leadership is in a delusional state to think that by becoming China’s slave the future of Pakistan will be any brighter. What Pakistanis need is to work for the re-establishment of Khilafah Rashidah (righteous Caliphate) that will enable Pakistan to break free from both America and China.
Erdogan’s Hypocrisy
Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan took swipes at US and Russian intervention in Syria on November 13, and said if the countries truly believed a military solution was impossible, they should withdraw their troops. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump said in a joint statement on Saturday they would continue to fight in Syria, while agreeing that there was no military solution to the country’s wider, six-year-old conflict. “I am having trouble understanding these comments,” Erdogan told reporters before flying to Russia for talks with Putin. “If a military solution is out of the question, then those who say this should pull their troops out…Then a political method should be sought in Syria, ways to head into elections should be examined… We will discuss these with Putin,” he said. Later, after more than four hours of talks with Putin in the southern Russian resort of Sochi, Erdogan said the two leaders had agreed to focus on a political solution to the conflict. Neither leader went into more specific detail. Asked if the two discussed Erdogan’s earlier comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks were about more complex issues which could not be made public, according to RIA news agency. “The United States said it would completely leave Iraq, but it didn’t. The world is not stupid, some realities are being told differently and practised differently,” he said. He said the United States had 13 bases in Syria and Russia had five.
EU Military Takes Shape
Most of the governments in the European Union have signed a deal binding themselves to joint military projects and increases in military spending, with an eye toward increased integration of the union-wide military forces. 23 nations signed the deal, while Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, and Malta will remain outside of the pact. Britain, which is in the process of withdrawing from the EU, will similarly not be involved. Brexit is likely a big part of why this effort, which was long sought by France and Germany as a way to spread weapons development costs to smaller EU nations, finally got through at all, as Britain had long been resistant to the effort. The expectation is that this will eventually give EU-wide forces the capacity for overseas operations.
Lebanon’s Hariri’s Mystery becomes Clearer
Muhammed bin Salman’s drastic campaign to consolidate power in Saudi Arabia continues to make headlines, the fate and events that led to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s detention have become clearer. Saad al-Hariri, was called very suddenly to Saudi Arabia. He cancelled all his appointments and went on Thursday 2nd November. We now know he was told to come alone and not being any assistants, cabinet members or bodyguards. The day before Saad Hariri was called to Saudi Arabia, he was speaking positively of the Lebanese government. There was no discord within the government. On Saturday 4 November, there was a taped broadcast in which he stated that he was resigning as prime minister. This has never happened in the history of Lebanon i.e. a resignation submitted from outside the country. Hariri was detained in the Carlton Hotel along with other members of the royal family who were victims of the purge. Whilst it remains to be seen if Hariri has anything to do with the clamp down in Saudi, what is certain is this act will have a huge impact on Lebanon’s weak coalition government.