Headlines:
- Trump tells Davos: ‘America First’ does not mean ‘America Alone’
- A Prominent Member of Germany’s Far-Right Anti-Islam Party Just Converted to Islam
- Taliban Confirms Afghan Peace Meetings with Pakistan, China, Others
- Trump tries to Justify ‘America First’ Policy at Davos Summit
- America Struggles with Korean Situation
- Syrian Opposition Chooses Disbelieving Imperialist UN over Disbelieving Imperialist Russia
- Sisi Battles for Survival
- Global Inequality Grows
- US Government Shutdown Again
Trump tells Davos: ‘America First’ does not mean ‘America Alone’
US President Donald Trump has given his first speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, declaring that “America First” did not mean “America alone” as he took his familiar message first-hand to the world’s elite. It was a relatively short, measured address to political and business leaders, devoid of the fiery rhetoric he uses before his supporters. Painting a rosy picture of the US economy, Trump declared the US as “open for business” and encouraged investment in the country. His speech in the Swiss ski resort did contain a warning on trade: the US would “no longer turn a blind eye” to what he described as unfair practices. The president made no mention of the environment or climate change, both key themes on the forum’s agenda. This was the first time a sitting American president had addressed the event in 18 years, and Trump’s appearance prompted a frenzy of anticipation and protest. The president immediately launched into a triumphant appraisal of the US economy’s boisterous performance. “After years of stagnation, the United States is once again experiencing strong economic growth,” he said. “The world is witnessing the resurgence of a strong and prosperous America.” “‘America First’ does not mean ‘America alone’. When the United States grows, so does the world,” he said. Then followed an attack on unidentified countries for allegedly unfair trade practices – and a pledge that the US would “no longer turn a blind eye”. “Only by insisting on fair and reciprocal trade can we create a system that works not just for the United States but for all nations,” the president went on. “We cannot have free and open trade if some countries exploit the system at the expense of others. We support free trade but it needs to be fair and it needs to be reciprocal.” He singled out “massive intellectual property theft” and countries which provided state aid to industry. Despite his opposition to multilateral trade agreements, Trump said the US would consider bilateral accords that were “mutually beneficial” – including with countries that have signed up to a Trans-Pacific trade agreement from which he has withdrawn. Despite the “open for business” message, the Trump administration has passed measures criticised as protectionist. Before his trip to Davos 30 percent tariffs were imposed on imported solar panels, among the first unilateral trade restrictions to be made. US officials have tried to play down comments by the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who said the United States benefited from a lower dollar which would make its exports cheaper. Amid the protests the US currency tumbled, and the remarks were slammed by the European Central Bank and others who believe they violate unwritten rules to keep trade balanced. Mnuchin was quoted afterwards as describing Trump’s speech as “fabulous” and “great”. But in contrast to the buzz of anticipation preceding his appearance, the atmosphere among delegates once it was over was said to be muted. [Source: Euronews]
Trump’s “America not alone” remark is a reference to the continuation of American imperialism, where allies are coerced into shouldering the responsibility of paying for American interventions abroad and suffering high custom taxes on exports to America.
A Prominent Member of Germany’s Far-Right Anti-Islam Party Just Converted to Islam
A prominent member of a German far-right political party known for its virulent anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant stance has converted to Islam and stepped down from his leadership role in the party. Yes, seriously. Arthur Wagner was a leading member of a state chapter of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, whose slogan “Islam doesn’t belong in Germany” encapsulates its extreme nativist and anti-Muslim views. The AfD, which is now the third-largest political party in Germany after its stunning success in last September’s elections, has tried to ban the construction of mosques in Germany, called on the country’s border police to shoot refugees and migrants if necessary to stop them from entering the country, and run ads reminiscent of World War II-era Nazi propaganda warning of the threat posed by Muslims coming into Germany. Wagner himself in the past has accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of making a “huge mistake” by allowing so many Muslim refugees into the country and warned that “Germany is mutating into a different country,” according to German media. Which is why his sudden conversion to Islam and decision to step down from his leadership position is so striking. Wagner has called his decision to convert to Islam “a private matter” and declined to comment further to the press. But German media reports that the 48-year-old father of two has been spending his free time doing volunteer work with Muslim immigrants, including providing translation help to Chechen immigrants, since he speaks Russian and is of Russian descent. That personal interaction seems to have been the catalyst for his change of heart. Wagner is far from the first person to radically change his views of Islam after spending time with Muslims or engaging with Islam’s sacred texts. In the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, the United States experienced a spike in the number of Muslims in the country. While some of that was undoubtedly due to immigration, a significant portion came from Americans converting to Islam. According to Asma Afsaruddin, a professor of Near Eastern languages and cultures at Indiana University Bloomington, many of those conversions were a direct result of Americans’ heightened interest in Islam in the wake of the terror attacks. “Despite Islamophobia, thoughtful Americans who are curious about the real nature of Islam might go out of their way to discover the teachings of the religion from reliable sources,” Asfaruddin told PRI’s The World back in 2016. Once people do so, they often quickly realize that the violent, bloody interpretation of Islam promoted by groups like al-Qaeda (and later ISIS) — and portrayed in much of the media — is vastly different from what the texts and traditions of Islam actually teach, and represents the views of a tiny fraction of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims. [Source: Vox]
No matter how hard the West tries to paint a negative picture of Islam they are failing to not only prevent the conversion of top anti-Islamist politicians but also halt the rapid rise of Islam in the West.
Taliban Confirms Afghan Peace Meetings with Pakistan, China, Others
Taliban political officials say they have submitted a report to their top leadership after concluding interactions with officials in Pakistan and representatives from other nations, including China and Qatar, on finding a solution to the Afghan war. In a Pashto-language statement circulated to media Wednesday, the Islamist insurgency confirmed for the first time that a five-member delegation from the Taliban’s Qatar-based Political Office recently traveled to Islamabad and held talks with officials there. Both sides shared and listened to each other’s views on how to promote a peaceful settlement to the war, according to the Taliban statement. With the cooperation of Pakistan, it said, the Taliban delegation later met with officials from China, Qatar and other nations to discuss ways to end the conflict in Afghanistan. “We have submitted our report to our leadership based on our discussions and will take further steps after receiving instructions from them,” the statement added. Officials in Pakistan have not yet commented, nor have they confirmed receiving Taliban officials. Diplomatic sources have confirmed to VOA the Taliban delegation visited Pakistan earlier this month. A Taliban official has also confirmed to VOA that several members from the Qatar office traveled to Pakistan, but insisted they only met with their family members and held consultations with elders of the Afghan refugee community in the country. The insurgent delegation consisted of Jan Muhammad Madnai, Maulvi Shahabud Din Dilawar, Syed Rasool Haleem, Muhammad Suhail Shaheen and Qari Deen Muhammad. “The Islamic Emirate (the Taliban) wants to emphasize that it desires a durable solution to the Afghan issue but needs the root causes (to) be addressed first so that our people would be able to live peacefully,” the Taliban reiterated in Wednesday’s statement. The Taliban visited Pakistan at a time when the country is under pressure from the United States to stop sheltering insurgent leaders, including those of the Taliban-allied Haqqani Network of terrorists. Islamabad denies it is allowing the militants to use Pakistani soil for cross-border attacks. U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan until the country takes “decisive actions” against the terrorists fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan. After visiting Afghanistan as part of the United Nations Security Council delegation this month, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Trump’s new strategy was working. “They [the Afghan government] are starting to see the Taliban concede, they are starting to see them move towards coming to the table,” Haley said. [Source: Voice of America]
True to form the Pakistani government has shown its true colours and continues undertake actions at the behest of American officials.
Trump tries to Justify ‘America First’ Policy at Davos Summit
Attending the meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, US President Donald Trump has been attempting to invite business to America despite his previous calls for ‘America First’. According to the New York Times:
“I believe in America,” Mr Trump told a jampacked auditorium on the last day of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. “As president of the United States, I will always put America first, just like the leaders of other countries should put their country first also. But America first does not mean America alone. When the United States grows, so does the world.”
In fact, America has never sought for the world to grow. Trump’s ‘America first’ policy is only an explicit acceptance of what has long been standard America policy. Like other Capitalist Western countries, they have only sought to exploit the world for their own benefit. Secular Capitalism, with its false ideals of freedom and democracy, is a materialistic, egotistical ideology that is not fit for adoption by man. And America does not deserve to be the superpower of the world as long as it adheres to the secular Capitalist ideology. When the Islamic State was the global superpower, the world enjoyed general peace, harmony and prosperity, allowing even Christian Europe to benefit from world trade. But after the fall of Andalus, Europe turned to imperialist hegemony, first over the Americas, then Australia, Africa and Asia, leaving not corner of the world free of Western control. But with Allah’s permission the world will soon return to peace and justice under the re-established righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet ﷺ.
America Struggles with Korean Situation
After the firm stance of South Korea against military conflict, America is struggling to continue its policy of interference in the Koreas. According to Reuters:
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stressed diplomacy as the way to deal with the North Korean crisis on Friday during talks with his South Korean counterpart in Hawaii, a day after Seoul’s top diplomat said a military solution would be unacceptable.
Creating problems in the world has become established Western policy for undermining potential challenges to Western dominance and hegemony over the world. The US has long been inciting North Korea in order to create a crisis on China’s border to be able to justify continued American aggression against China. But with the fall of the pro-American Park Guen-hye government last year and the election of Moon Jae-in as South Korea’s president, China has found a way to begin reconciliation between the two Koreas. But China will continue to suffer as long as America dominates the world.
Syrian Opposition Chooses Disbelieving Imperialist UN over Disbelieving Imperialist Russia
The Syrian revolution is a genuine and legitimate uprising against the evil Assad regime but leaderships of particular groups fail to represent this true spirit. According to Reuters:
The Syrian opposition will not attend a peace conference Russia is hosting next week, a spokesman said on Saturday, dismissing the meeting as an attempt by the Syrian government’s close ally to “sideline” the current United Nations peace process.
America is the one controlling the entire planning for the war in Syria and is behind both the UN process and the Russian process, trusting neither one but shifting from one to the other as it sees fit. The leaderships of these opposition groups, instead of realising America’s weakness in the face of the uprising, think that they can gain some benefit from cooperation with disbelievers. But Allah (swt) has already warned us against this. Muslims will never be successful until they reject the interference of the foreign disbeliever in Muslims’ affairs. Allah says:
لاَّ يَتَّخِذِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاء مِن دُوْنِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
“Let not the believers take the disbelievers as Auliya (supporters, helpers, etc.) instead of the believers”
(3:28)
The solutions for Syria, and indeed for all Muslims lands, is to place our trust in Allah (swt) alone and to seek out and work with genuine, sincere, indigenous, ideological leadership to re-establish Islam and evict the malicious disbelieving foreigner from our lands.
Sisi Battles for Survival
With an economy in freefall and a looming election in March, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has lost much of the good faith the Egyptian people placed in him in 2013. Resorting to the tactics of Hosni Mubarak who always rigged elections to keep himself in power. Ahmed Shafiq the former head of Egypt’s intelligence Service pulled out running for the president after confirming he was threatened with a smear campaign. Mohamed Anwar Sadat, a dissident and nephew of the late president of the same name, confirmed he would not stand either because the climate was not right for free elections. This week Egypt’s army reportedly arrested former chief of staff Sami Anan for “incitement” days after he announced his intention to run against al-Sisi in the upcoming presidential election. Sisi lacks any of the attributes that made the presidencies of his predecessors. His language and behaviour reveal the extremely humble capabilities of an army officer who rose at a time of Egyptian military decline, without having had any political qualifications. That’s why he doesn’t hesitate to shed the blood of thousands of Egyptians as seen in the incidents at the Republican Guards Club. What all of this reveals is that Sisi is too weak to accept any level of electoral challenge.
Global Inequality Grows
Oxfam the development charity published its annual inequality report on Monday 22 January. The damming report, published to coincide with the gathering of some of the world’s richest people at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The report confirmed 42 people hold as much wealth as 3.7 billion people in the world. It also highlighted 82% of the global wealth generated in 2017 went to the wealthiest 1% of the world’s population. A number of pro-Capitalism supporters tried to challenge the methodology of these figures, but the Chief executive of Oxfam, Mark Goldring highlighted, “However you look at it, this is an unacceptable level of inequality.” The number of scandals over the past few years are testament the level of global inequality as papers such as the Paradise and Panama eases revealed, the rich pay little in taxes, leaving the poor to pick up the tab.
US Government Shutdown Again
US President Donald Trump celebrated the indignity of his one year anniversary as president with the government in shutdown. The appropriations bill (budget) – had to be passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump by midnight on Friday 19 January. As this did not happen an agreement on spending the federal government effectively closes its doors. Republicans are calling it the Schumer shutdown, blaming Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who led the Democrats to block the bill. But Democrats say they had a deal on immigration – a major sticking point – before the president backed out. The petty political point scoring between the politicians in the US knows no bounds as they have no qualms in the whole government shutting down just for their personal gains.