Headlines:
- Donald Trump Pledges to Continue War against Islam
- Turkey Now Openly Supporting Assad in Syria
- Turkish Assembly Passes Polemic Bill to Boost Erdogan Powers
- World’s Eight Richest People Have Same Wealth as Poorest 50%
- EU Nations React to Donald Trump’s Remarks
- US to Incentivise Pakistan’s Cooperation, says Mattis
Donald Trump Pledges to Continue War against Islam
Since the collapse of Communism, when President George HW Bush immediately engaged in war with Iraq, it is evident that the United States top foreign policy objective has been building and securing its empire in the Muslim world. Obama talked about peace but actually ended up extending George W Bush’s wars and bombing seven different Muslim countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Iraq and Syria. As a final act of his presidency, the Pentagon announced on Friday that an Air Force B-52 bomber killed more than 100 in Syria.
Now Trump is vocally pledging war against Islam, in the name of attacking “radical Islamic terrorism”. In his inaugural speech on Friday, as he assumed the Presidency, Trump said:
We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones – and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic Terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.
And Trump further confirmed this in a statement issued on the White House website, titled ‘America First Foreign Policy’. According to Reuters:
The Trump administration will make defeating “radical Islamic terror groups” its top foreign policy goal, according to a statement posted on the White House website moments after Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president.
With Allah’s permission, Trump and others like him will only succeed in unifying Muslims in throwing off the chains of the disbelieving Western imperialists that still retain control over our countries despite formally declaring our countries ‘independent’.
Turkey Now Openly Supporting Assad in Syria
Despite previously positioning himself as a supporter of the people of Syria against Assad, Erdogan is now revealing his true support for Russia and Syria in accordance with the American plan for the region. Reuters reported only on Wednesday:
“Russia said its war planes had joined forces with Turkish jets for the first time on Wednesday to target Islamic State militants holding the town of al-Bab in northern Syria, evidence of increasingly close cooperation between Moscow and Ankara.”
And now Turkey is shamelessly openly supporting Assad; according to Reuters on Friday:
“Turkey can no longer insist on a resolution of the conflict in Syria without the involvement of President Bashar al-Assad, as the situation on the ground has changed dramatically, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Friday.
Turkey has long insisted that Assad must go for sustainable peace to be achieved in Syria. But it has become less insistent on his immediate departure since its recent rapprochement with Russia, which backs the Syrian leader, and ahead of peace talks planned in Kazakhstan next week.
“As far as our position on Assad is concerned, we think that the suffering of (the) Syrian people and the tragedies, clearly the blame is squarely on Assad. But we have to be pragmatic, realistic,” Simsek told a panel on Syria and Iraq at the World Economic Forum in Davos.”
Each of our rulers, in turn betrays his true allegiance, which is to foreign powers, instead of to their own people. Erdogan brings nothing to Muslims except war and destruction and the furthering of the plans of the disbelieving imperialist West.
Turkish Assembly Passes Polemic Bill to Boost Erdogan Powers
Erdogan has been working hard to please his American masters by cooperating with Russia over its slaughter of the people of Syria. Erdogan’s reward for this is the increase in his powers as President of Turkey. According to the New York Times:
Turkey’s parliament on Saturday approved a contentious constitutional reform package, paving the way for a referendum on a presidential system that would greatly expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office…
In an all-night session that ended early Saturday, lawmakers voted in favor of a set of amendments presented by the ruling party, founded by Erdogan. The reform bill cleared the minimum threshold necessary to put the measures to a national referendum for final approval.
It is extremely dangerous to have large majority parties in democratic systems, as there is virtually no limit on the legislation that they can pass and the powers they can appropriate for themselves. This is in sharp contrast to the Islamic system where the Khalifah is restricted in legislative adoption to the divine texts and the valid Islamic opinions emanating from it. Failure to adequately explain himself on this count could result in his decrees being revoked by the Qadhee Madhalim. The democratic system, by talking of ‘separation of powers’ alleges that legislation can be a check on the executive. But what is happening in Turkey is clear proof of the short-sightedness of this approach. By the Will of Allah, the day is close when these treacherous democratic systems will be overturned and we will see the re-establishment of the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) on the method of Prophethood.
World’s Eight Richest People Have Same Wealth as Poorest 50%
The world’s eight richest billionaires control the same wealth between them as the poorest half of the globe’s population, according to a charity warning of an ever-increasing and dangerous concentration of wealth. In a report published to coincide with the start of the week-long World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam said it was “beyond grotesque” that a handful of rich men headed by the Microsoft founder Bill Gates are worth $426bn (£350bn), equivalent to the wealth of 3.6 billion people. The development charity called for a new economic model to reverse an inequality trend that it said helped to explain Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. Oxfam blamed rising inequality on aggressive wage restraint, tax dodging and the squeezing of producers by companies, adding that businesses were too focused on delivering ever-higher returns to wealthy owners and top executives. The World Economic Forum (WEF) said last week that rising inequality and social polarisation posed two of the biggest risks to the global economy in 2017 and could result in the rolling back of globalisation. Oxfam said the world’s poorest 50% owned the same in assets as the $426bn owned by a group headed by Gates, Amancio Ortega, the founder of the Spanish fashion chain Zara, and Warren Buffett, the renowned investor and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway. The others are Carlos Slim Helú: the Mexican telecoms tycoon and owner of conglomerate Grupo Carso; Jeff Bezos: the founder of Amazon; Mark Zuckerberg: the founder of Facebook; Larry Ellison, chief executive of US tech firm Oracle; and Michael Bloomberg; a former mayor of New York and founder and owner of the Bloomberg news and financial information service. Last year, Oxfam said the world’s 62 richest billionaires were as wealthy as half the world’s population. However, the number has dropped to eight in 2017 because new information shows that poverty in China and India is worse than previously thought, making the bottom 50% even worse off and widening the gap between rich and poor. [Source: The Guardian]
Every year Oxfam releases statistics, which clearly shows that capitalism only favors a narrow elite. Yet, despite this glaring inequality, the masses continue to have confidence in their leaders. The time has come for Muslims to show Islam as the only alternative to capitalism, where wealth is circulated amongst the people and not hoarded.
EU Nations React to Donald Trump’s Remarks
European Union member nations have reacted with surprise and defiance to comments by President-elect Donald Trump, who has said in an interview that he believes NATO is “obsolete” and that more member states will leave the 28-nation EU. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister, speaking on Monday before a meeting of EU foreign ministers, said Trump’s view on NATO and criticism that allied members were not paying their fair share has “caused astonishment”. His French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault said the best response to such an interview was simple: Europeans uniting. Francois Hollande, the French president, reacted by saying the EU bloc did not need to be told what to do by outsiders. “Europe will be ready to pursue transatlantic cooperation, but it will based on its interests and values,” Hollande said before awarding France’s highest honour to outgoing US ambassador Jane Hartley.
“It does not need outside advice to tell it what to do.” Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said Trump’s positions have been “long known” but added: “I think we Europeans have our fate in our own hands.” “I’m personally going to wait until the American president takes office, and then we will naturally work with him on all levels”. Though Trump had made similar comments during his tempestuous election campaign, a repetition of the same points still came as a bit of a surprise since his choice for defence secretary, James Mattis, stressed his support for the alliance in his US congressional confirmation hearings last week. Trump’s views, in an interview with German daily Bild and The Times of London, contradict Mattis, Steinmeier said. Trump indicated he was indifferent to whether the EU stays together or not, a sharp break from the Obama administration, which encouraged British people to vote to remain in the EU in the June referendum. “I believe others will leave … I do think keeping it together is not gonna be as easy as a lot of people think,” Trump said in the interview. The British exit from the EU would “end up being a great thing”, he said. Boris Johnson, Britain’s foreign secretary, said it’s “very good news that the United States of America wants to do a good free trade deal with us and wants to do it very fast”. Trump was less kind to German industry officials, saying car manufacturers including BMW could face tariffs of up to 35 percent if they set up plants in Mexico instead of in the US and try to export the cars to the US. [Source: Al Jazeera]
It is highly unlikely, that America will forsake European security to European powers or Russia to manage. America has spent 72 years shaping European security and it will not relinquish its primacy on the continent without a fight. Trump’s remarks are intended to extract greater payment from European nations to the upkeep of American security operation on the continent.
US to Incentivise Pakistan’s Cooperation, says Mattis
US Defence Secretary-Designate James Mattis has said that the Trump administration would offer incentives to Pakistan to cooperate with the United States on critical issues. At his confirmation hearing at the Senate Armed Forces Committee on Thursday afternoon, Mr Mattis underlined the need to stay engaged with Pakistan while asking it to do more to eradicate terrorism from the region. “If confirmed, I will work with the State Department and the Congress to incentivise Pakistan’s cooperation on issues critical to our national interests and the region’s security, with focus on Pakistan’s need to expel or neutralise externally-focused militant groups that operate within its borders,” Mr Mattis told the committee while responding to a question. Mr Mattis, a general who retired from the US Marine Corps in 2013, has long experience of dealing with both Afghanistan and Pakistan, first as a combat officer and then as commander of the US Central Command. He was known in the armed forces as “Mad Dog Mattis” for his aggressive style but was widely respected as a courageous officer. The general’s comments on Pakistan indicate that the incoming Trump administration will continue with the existing US policy towards the country. Mr Mattis complimented Pakistan for its action against terror groups in the country, but said that he would push for more effective targeting of groups that were aimed at neighbouring countries. As often expressed by the Obama administration officials, the incoming defence secretary also complained that some Afghan Taliban groups were still allegedly using Pakistan’s tribal areas for stirring troubles in Afghanistan. “Sanctuaries and freedom of movement for the Afghan Taliban and associated militant networks inside Pakistani territory is a key operational issue faced by the Afghan security forces,” he pointed out. Mr Mattis said that if confirmed, he would “examine efforts to deny sanctuary to the extremist forces” undermining the stability and security of Afghanistan. He noted that the US and Pakistani militaries had a long relationship, which needed to be rebuilt. “Our relationship with Pakistan, including our military-to-military relationship, has had highs and lows. We have long faced a lack of trust within the Pakistani military and government about our goals in the region. If confirmed, I will work to build the trust that we need for an effective partnership,” he told the Senate Committee. The United States has conducted military exercises with Pakistan in an effort to increase thrust and interoperability, he added. [Source: Dawn].
Mattis follows hot on the heels of his predecessors determined to press Pakistan to spill more Muslim blood in order to satisfy the demands of America’s global war on terror.