Headlines:
- America Discusses Restarting Nuclear Tests
- Turkish Forces Establish their Leadership over Western Libya
- Rulers Forcing Muslims to Pray Eid al-Fitr at Home
- America: 38.6 Million Filed for Unemployment during the Pandemic—Greater than the Combined Population of 21 States
- Saudi Arabia Urges People to Offer Eid Prayer at Home
- Chinese FM Blasts US Warning on HK National Security Law
America Discusses Restarting Nuclear Tests
With the emergence of China as a rising regional power on the rim of America’s Pacific Ocean defences, the United States is reversing decades of military policy to confront this emergent threat. According to the Washington Post:
The Trump administration has discussed whether to conduct the first U.S. nuclear test explosion since 1992 in a move that would have far-reaching consequences for relations with other nuclear powers and reverse a decades-long moratorium on such actions, said a senior administration official and two former officials familiar with the deliberations.
The matter came up at a meeting of senior officials representing the top national security agencies May 15, following accusations from administration officials that Russia and China are conducting low-yield nuclear tests — an assertion that has not been substantiated by publicly available evidence and that both countries have denied.
A senior administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive nuclear discussions, said that demonstrating to Moscow and Beijing that the United States could “rapid test” could prove useful from a negotiating standpoint as Washington seeks a trilateral deal to regulate the arsenals of the biggest nuclear powers.
If Muslim countries were actually self-governing, then their rulers would be taking advantage of America’s preoccupation with China to build a truly independent security policy that would isolate our lands from all foreign intervention. But the reality is that these rulers are agents to Western elite interests and work actively to maintain Western engagement in Muslims’ affairs, because these agent rulers see the continuation of their power over Muslims as dependent on Western support. With Allah’s permission, the Muslim Ummah shall soon be rid of the interference of the West and their agents in Muslims’ affairs.
Turkish Forces Establish their Leadership over Western Libya
Turkey has become a new dynamic element in Libya after a stalemate of years between Khalifa Hifter and the UN recognised government in Tripoli, neither one succeeding in overcoming the other. According to the New York Times:
A string of victories by Turkish-backed forces in western Libya this week dealt a heavy blow to the ambitions of the aspiring strongman Khalifa Hifter and signaled the arrival of Turkey as a potentially decisive force among the foreign powers battling for supremacy in the Middle East’s biggest proxy war.
Libyan fighters backed by Turkish firepower captured on Monday a major air base west of Tripoli, the capital, used drones to destroy newly arrived Russian air defense batteries, and on Thursday pressed their offensive by ousting Mr. Hifter’s forces from a key town south of Tripoli.
The triumphs marked a stunning reversal of fortunes for the United Nations-backed Tripoli government, which looked weak and badly besieged by Mr. Hifter until President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey sent troops and armed drones in January. It was Turkey’s most forceful intervention in the oil-rich North African nation since the end of the Ottoman Empire over a century ago.
“It’s Turkey’s Libya Now,” read the headline on a briefing posted by the European Council on Foreign Relations.
The conflict between local forces in Libya has in fact been a proxy war on behalf of the Western powers, with some European countries supporting Tripoli and Khalifa Hifter being actually backed by America but in all these years neither side was able to achieve a breakthrough. However, after America’s success in using Turkey to defeat the revolution in Syria, America has now moved Turkey to Libya to repeat the same task. In Syria, Turkey first established its credentials as a supporter of the revolutionaries. Then, once revolutionary groups began trusting in Turkey, they found themselves bitterly betrayed, time after time, until nothing was left for them, and the country was retaken by forces allied with Bashar al-Assad. It is the initial phase of this plan that appears to have been conducted now in Libya.
There are two important points here for Muslims to know. Firstly, our present rulers are really all traitors to foreign powers. Secondly, these foreign powers are not strong enough to enter the battlefield against us themselves, and this is why they have resorted to using the armed forces of our own countries against us. With Allah’s permission, the Muslim Ummah shall soon retake control of its affairs, and command of its armed forces, and unify Muslim lands, eject the foreign imperialist disbeliever, and re-establish the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet ﷺ.
Rulers Forcing Muslims to Pray Eid al-Fitr at home
In complete violation of Shar’a and genuine medical understanding, the rulers of Muslim countries are seizing upon the Coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to try to weaken Muslims’ adherence to Islam, with the full backing of the ‘government scholars’ who are always ready to manufacture decrees that support the government agenda. According to Reuters:
Mosques will remain closed for prayers on the Eid Al-Fitr festival, Saudi and United Arab Emirates officials said on Friday, calling on the population to adhere to safety guidelines to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The Eid, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, may fall on Saturday or Sunday in the Gulf region.
Saudi Islamic Affairs Minister Abdullatif al-Sheikh gave instructions not to have Eid prayers in mosques, Saudi state TV quoted him as saying.
“Muslims will hold the Eid prayer at home because of the pandemic,” the Saudi Press Agency cited Sheikh Abdul Bari al-Thubaiti, the imam, or the prayer leader, of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, as saying in the Friday sermon.
During Ramadan, prayers without worshippers were held by the imams in the two holy mosques of Mecca and Medina, in the west of the kingdom.
In the UAE, the Dubai government’s media office said on Twitter that mosques will remain closed, and listed a series of Eid customs that should not be observed, including family visits and giving gifts or money to children.
Both medically and from Shar’a it is only the travel into and out of an infected area that needs to be prevented during a pandemic, to slow down its spread. However, contact within a particular area, even if infected, continues for those who are healthy because it is essential that they sustain the social and economic life of their community. The opening of the masajid and the continuation of communal prayers, in addition to being a divine obligation, are fundamental to community cohesion and are thus even more necessary in times of crisis.
America: 38.6 Million Filed for Unemployment during the Pandemic—Greater than the Combined Population of 21 States
Another 2.4 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week even as states across the US began opening up for business again, betting that the coronavirus pandemic is now under control. The latest figures from the Department of Labor mean close to 39 million Americans have lost their jobs in just nine weeks. The rate of weekly losses has slowed sharply from its peak of 6.6m at the start of April but remains at levels unseen since the 1930s Great Depression. This week the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said he expects unemployment to continue to rise as the pandemic takes its toll, but warned of “permanent damage” to the economy if the lockdowns are prolonged. The weekly jobless claims are seen as a proxy for layoffs, but they do not necessarily give the most accurate picture of the unemployment situation. A claim is an application for unemployment benefits, and not every person who is laid off immediately applies for benefits. The weekly unemployment claims are also still being affected by a backlog collapse of claims that overwhelmed many state systems. The official unemployment rate is now 14.7%, the worst since records began. A decade’s worth of job gains have been wiped out, and most economists believe the real figure is higher and expect unemployment to rise to well above 20% in the coming months. [Source: Forbes; The Guardian]
The soaring unemployment rate combined with long queues at food banks threatens to tear the social fabric of American society. Covid-19 is laying the seeds for mass civil disobedience, and the probability of a protracted governance crisis increases by the day. The crisis may precipitate a new social contract between the political establishment and the governed.
Saudi Arabia Urges People to Offer Eid Prayer at Home
Saudi Arabia has called on people to offer the Eid Al Fitr prayer at home instead of mosques, in light of the current Covid-19 pandemic, Saudi Gazette has reported. Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti and head of the Council of Senior Scholars and the Department of Scientific Research and Ifta Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Asheikh said that it is permissible to offer Eid prayer at home in exceptional situations likened to the current outbreak. Saudi Arabia has also declared a 24-hour curfew across all cities and regions in the kingdom from Saturday, May 23 until the end of Wednesday, May 27. As per a directive issued on May 7, gatherings of more than four people are prohibited and those who flout this rule will be subject to disciplinary action, reported Saudi Press Agency, while attributing this to an official source within the kingdom’s Ministry of Interior. Last week, the ministry said that people who break the quarantine will be fined SAR200,000 ($53,255) and/or imprisoned for two years. Also, anyone who deliberately spreads the virus will be fined SAR500,000 and/or imprisoned for five years. The ministry called on the people to observe social distancing and to adhere to the instructions related to health safety requirements to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. [Source: Gulf Business]
There is no reason to prohibit Eid prayers. Had the Saudi authorities separated the healthy from the vulnerable, economic activity, and congregational prayers like Jumma and Eid could have continued.
Chinese FM Blasts US Warning on HK National Security Law
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson refuted US President Donald Trump’s response to the Chinese central government’s proposed national security law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, mentioning the word “unswervingly” three times to show China’s determination to safeguard national sovereignty and interests. Reuters reported Trump warned that Washington would react “very strongly” against any attempt to gain more control over Hong Kong. The report said the US State Department also warned China, saying a high-degree of autonomy and respect for human rights were keys to preserving “the territory’s special status in US law,” which has helped it maintain its position as a world financial center. In response to the Trump administration’s reaction, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Friday’s routine press conference that the Chinese government will safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests unswervingly, implement the principle of “one country, two systems” unswervingly and oppose any outside interference in Hong Kong affairs unswervingly. National security is the basic premise for the survival and development of a country. No country in the world allows secessionist or other activities that endanger its national security to be carried out on its territory, Zhao said. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The issue of national security legislation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is purely China’s internal affairs, and no foreign country has the right to interfere, Zhao noted. A draft decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the HKSAR to safeguard national security was submitted to the third session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) for deliberation on Friday. Zhao also responded to the Trump administration’s report of the US Strategic Approach to China consistent with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, in which the report said more than 40 years later, it has become evident that since the US and China established diplomatic relations in 1979, US policy toward China was largely premised on a hope that deepening engagement would spur fundamental economic and political opening in China and lead to its emergence as a constructive and responsible global stakeholder with a more open society. [Source: Global Times]
Ever since the Treaty of NanKing in 1842, the West has made Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong a purview for Western interference. Old European powers (Britain and France) followed by America routinely tell China how to rule Hong Kong. Unless, the Chinese government ends the one China two systems policy over the port, the West will continue to humiliate China.