Analysis, Side Feature

Views on the News – 23 Dec 2020

Headlines:

  • Russia Propaganda Victory
  • US Pressed Against Labelling Houthis Terrorists
  • Will Indonesia be Next to Normalise Relations with the Zionist Entity


Russia Propaganda Victory

The US has identified a Russian intelligence operation that was gathering secrets from US companies and the US administration. US officials have confirmed the Russian operation was successful, The US has not disclosed what was acquired. But the broad Russian espionage attack on the US government and private companies that was underway since spring and detected only a few weeks ago, is among the greatest intelligence failures of modern times. Russia who lacks conventional capability to challenge America’s global position has turned to unconventional methods to weaken, expose and complicate US plans. Whilst Russia recognises this will have limited impact on US capabilities, it gained Russia a propaganda victory and projects an image of strength. Many Americans still consider Trump presidency was due to Russia’s hacking of the Democratic Party are the leaking of emails. As Russia lacks an ideology and is not in the strategic struggle to propagate and values this is all it can really do.

 

US Pressed Against Labelling Houthis Terrorists

The Trump administration’s push to label Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi group as a terrorist organization would be “deeply damaging” to US national security, former US diplomats and State Department officials revealed this week. In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent Sunday, 20 former senior officials with a focus on US policy in the Middle East called for the administration to “abandon plans” to label the Houthis a Foreign Terrorist Organization. They raise alarm that such a move would be viewed as politically motivated and “undermine the credibility of U.S. counterterrorism programs and policies.” The Trump administration is reportedly weighing the designation for the insurgent military group engaged in a six-year civil war against the Saudi-led coalition. Such a move would be part of the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran. President Trump vetoed an effort by Congress in April 2019 to end US support for the Saudi war in Yemen. The Houthis are now part of the outgoing administration to embarrass and make difficult the president elect governemnt. The truth is the US for longed supported the Houthis into power, but they failed to impose their will on the whole country after overrunning the capital Sana back in 2015. The political elite in Yemen were created, backed and supported by Britain and this has been the biggest issue for the US top deal with. Despite weakening the political set up that was led Ali Abdullah Saleh and his crony Abu Mansoor al-Hadi the US investment into the Houthis has not paid dividends.

 

Will Indonesia be Next to Normalise Relations with the Zionist Entity

With a raft of nations normalising relations with the Zionist entity, the US is now dangling billions for Indonesia to normalising ties with the Zionist entity. America’s financial agency’s chief recently said the US could double its $1 billion portfolio if Indonesia establishes relations with Israel. Indonesia could unlock billions of dollars in additional US financing if it joins President Donald Trump’s push for Muslim countries to establish relations with ‘Israel’, according to a US official.

The US International Development Finance Corporation, a government agency that invests overseas, could more than double its current $1 billion portfolio if Indonesia develops ties with ‘Israel’, DFC Chief Executive Officer Adam Boehler said in an interview Monday at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. “We’re talking to them about it,” Boehler said. “If they’re ready, they’re ready and if they are then we’ll be happy to even support more financially than what we do.” He said he wouldn’t be surprised if his organisation’s funding to Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, was boosted by “one or two more billion dollars.”