Headlines:
- Coup in Jordan?
- Iran’s Broken Premises
- Trump Barks Again
- America Makes Plans to Enter Syria Seeing End of Conflict
- Pakistan Fears Unilateral US Attack in Border Areas
- Muslims in Philippines Suffering ‘Massive’ Rights Abuses according to UN
Coup in Jordan?
Reports continue to emerge that that Jordan’s King Abdullah has put members of his family under arrest because they were in touch with Saudi Arabia and planning a coup against the monarchy. Jordan’s royal palace has warned it would take legal measures against anyone spreading what it said were lies about the ruling family. The removal has been announced as a major shake-up. The king said last week that his brothers Prince Ali and Prince Faisal and his cousin Prince Talal – who all had high military ranks – would be retiring from the armed forces. He said the move was part of a reorganisation of the armed forces’ hierarchy and structure. Prince Faisal was head of the royal air force and deputy chief of staff, while Prince Ali had for years been in charge of the royal guards responsible for the king’s protection. Talal bin Mohammad, a Sandhurst graduate who was an officer in the elite Special Forces. Reports recently emerged of these officers visiting Saudi Arabia, where a coup was being planned.
Iran’s Broken Premises
On December 28th protests broke out Mashhad, Iran, where the regime has historically enjoyed wide support. According to local media reports the price of food has risen by over 40% and this has led to discontent. The clerical regime has for long promises an improved economy as it diverted resources to its ambitions in the region. Inflation in the country has run between 20% – 40% over the last decade and the effects of the half a decade long war in Syria is now affecting the domestic population in Iran. The protests have now moved from economic issues to political with the leadership of Hassan Rouhani and Ayatollah Khamenei being questioned. It remains to be seen of these protests cam morph into something larger and challenge the clerical regime, or even if foreign powers use this to meddle in Iran’s international affairs.
Trump Barks Again
Trump has used his twitter account to once again criticised the lack of success by Pakistan in Afghanistan. Trump said the US administrations a prior to him have wasted billions on Pakistan, and the country has continues to provide safe havens to US enemies. Trump has failed to provide any specific evidence to his claims and continues with the aid programme dispute such criticisms. The civilians’ leadership and military leadership has executed every order from Washington, provided all logistical, air and ground support when ordered. Considering America’s failure to win in Afghanistan this is a convenient scapegoat. Interestingly Pakistan’s leadership has continued supplying the US and carrying out its orders — despite being accused of doing little for the US. The statements coming from both Washington and Islamabad and the complete opposite to their actions, this would mean this is just part of the propaganda war to hide the real intentions and actions.
America Makes Plans to Enter Syria Seeing End of Conflict
The careful observer will notice that despite America’s superpower status, it tries its best to avoid entering into war. America only entered Afghanistan and Iraq after it understood that conflict had ended but was then caught by surprise by the backlash from Muslim mujahideen. The same is the case with Syria, which America has avoided entering during the present conflict, depending upon other countries and armies to fight on its behalf. Now, however, America thinks it sees the end of the Syrian conflict and is already talking about its plans. According to Reuters:
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that he expected to see a larger U.S. civilian presence in Syria, including contractors and diplomats, as the fight against Islamic State militants nears its end and the focus turns toward rebuilding and ensuring the militants do not return.
The United States has about 2,000 troops in Syria fighting Islamic State. Mattis’ comments are likely to anger Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has previously called U.S. troops “illegal invader” forces.
In fact, what Mattis is describing as increased civilian presence is expected to mask a significant military deployment also, as indicated earlier this week by a top Russian general, according to Reuters, who described American efforts to build a local force to protect an American base in south-east Syria:
The chief of the Russian General Staff has accused the United States of training former Islamic State fighters in Syria to try to destabilize the country.
General Valery Gerasimov’s allegations, made in a newspaper interview, center on a U.S. military base at Tanf, a strategic Syrian highway border crossing with Iraq in the south of the country.
Russia says the U.S. base is illegal and that it and the area around it have become “a black hole” where militants operate unhindered.
Islamic State has this year lost almost all the territory it held in Syria and Iraq. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the main part of the battle with Islamic State in Syria was over, according to the state-run RIA news agency.
The United States says the Tanf facility is a temporary base used to train partner forces to fight Islamic State. It has rejected similar Russian allegations in the past, saying Washington remains committed to killing off Islamic State and denying it safe havens.
But Gerasimov told the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on Wednesday that the United States was training up fighters who were former Islamic State militants but who now call themselves the New Syrian Army or use other names.
He said Russia satellites and drones had spotted militant brigades at the U.S. base.
“They are in reality being trained there,” Gerasimov said, saying there were also a large number of militants and former Islamic State fighters at Shadadi, where he said there was also a U.S. base.
America’s dependence on others is a vivid indication of its weakness, yet so-called ‘allies’ continue to implement the American agenda that benefits America alone. How long will these American agents labour in humiliation and servitude, like the jinn of Suleiman (a.s.), falsely thinking that America has power over them.
Pakistan Fears Unilateral US Attack in Border Areas
After months of heightened rhetoric from the US demanding greater Pakistani cooperation over Afghanistan, Pakistan fears a unilateral US intrusion into Pakistani land. According to The Nation:
Pakistan is struggling to thwart US advances amid speculations that Washington could unilaterally decide to take direct action against the alleged militants’ hideouts on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border, diplomatic sources said.
Senior officials at the foreign ministry told The Nation that Pakistan was making efforts to stop the US from hurting Pakistan’s sovereignty.
One official said: “They are very assertive and hardly ready to listen [to our point of view]. This is a very delicate situation. We are trying to placate them.”
He added: “Pakistan of course will not allow the US military to land inside Pakistan and take action [against the militants] but at the same time we cannot afford to lock horns with the sole global power.”
Another official said Pakistan was prepared to “cooperate” with the US except the joint operation proposal.
“Their [the US] tone is threatening but we still hope good sense will prevail. The civil and the military leadership are not ready to tolerate direct US action inside Pakistan. We are hoping the US will not impose it, and if they do, we will decide the future line of action. We have faced drone attacks in the tribal areas but the possible landing of US forces will be a real test of our patience. Every effort is being made to avoid this situation,” he maintained.
America, which is struggling in Afghanistan, is hardly in a position to undertake a major offensive in Pakistan also. The Pakistani military need to gain a sense of reality, and realise that the Americans are hugely dependent on Pakistan itself just to continue the Afghan occupation. It is Pakistan that should be not only threatening America but actively pursuing its eviction from Muslim land in Afghanistan. But America continues to ride Pakistan like a man riding an elephant, despite the overwhelming weight and power of the elephant. When will Muslim rulers realise that American strength is not as it appears.
Muslims in Philippines Suffering ‘Massive’ Rights Abuses according to UN
Without a strong Muslim state to stand for the rights of the Muslim Ummah, countries are at liberty to oppress their Muslim populations, particularly when in the minority such as in Myanmar or in the Philippines. According to Reuters:
A Muslim indigenous community in the southern Philippines has suffered widespread human right abuses that could intensify with President Rodrigo Duterte’s extension of martial law there, U.N.-appointed experts said.
Duterte has called the huge island of Mindanao a “flashpoint for trouble” and atrocities by Islamist and communist rebels. He placed it under martial law in May after Islamist militants took over the city of Marawi.
The five-month siege was the majority-Roman Catholic Philippines’ biggest security crisis in decades, killing more than 1,100 people, mostly militants.
Lawmakers this month overwhelmingly backed his plan to extend martial law there through 2018, which would be the country’s longest period of emergency rule since the 1970s era of strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
The militarization had displaced thousands of the indigenous Lumad people and some had been killed, said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s special rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples and internally displaced people.
“They are suffering massive abuses of their human rights, some of which are potentially irreversible,” the two said in a statement late on Wednesday.
“We fear the situation could deteriorate further if the extension of martial law until the end of 2018 results in even greater militarization.”
The only true and practical solution to such problems is the re-establishment of the righteous Islamic Khilafah State (Caliphate) on the method of the Prophet ﷺ that will ensure that, worldwide, no one will dare to lay a hand on the person of a Muslim or oppress his or her legitimate rights.