Headlines:
- IMF Visits Pakistan
- US Threatened Russia
- Handshake Politics
- French Muslims want a say in Macron’s New Rules for Islam
- OPEC Powerless to Prevent Oil Prices Jumping toward $100 a Barrel this Year
- Pakistan to get Oil from Saudi Arabia on Credit: Petroleum Minister
IMF Visits Pakistan
In the same week as an IMF delegation travelled Ito Islamabad for a weeklong visit. The government in Islamabad increased the nation’s interest rate from 7.5% to 8.5% in anticipation of the visit. The first months of Prime Minister Imran Khan has been a difficult one, after raising the nation’s expectations with the mantra of change and a new way of running the country, he has been forced to make numerous U-turns as the reality of ruling the nation begins to bite. With government finances in a precarious situation crowdfunding and taking a begging bowl to the Arab rulers. It seems Imran Khan is really just pursuing the very same polices as his predecessors.
US Threatened Russia
The US envoy to NATO said Tuesday 2 Oct that it might move to destroy Russian nuclear-capable missiles with military force if they don’t stop building the new weapons accused of violating a 1987 treaty. “At that point, we would be looking at the capability to take out a (Russian) missile that could hit any of our countries,” Kay Hutchinson the US envoy to NATO told a news conference, according to Reuters. Whilst the US is the only military in the world that has a global presence, Russia has long worked on specific military platforms to leverage its weaker position. In certain areas, Russia has more capabilities than the US and this effects America’s global presence. America’s aggressive response comes after it placed sanctions on Russia for selling military equipment to China. In the early 2000, US threats would have been enough for nations to change course but today, after nearly two decades of war the US position is not the same and the US is having to issue aggressive statements in order to maintain its global position.
Handshake Politics
A Swedish Muslim woman has won compensation after her job interview was ended when she refused a handshake. Farah Alhajeh, 24, was applying for a job as an interpreter when she declined to shake the hand of a male interviewer for religious reasons. She placed her hand over her heart in greeting instead. The Swedish labour court ruled the company had discriminated against her and ordered it to pay 40,000 kronor ($4,350) in compensation. The interpreting company in Ms Alhajeh’s home town of Uppsala had argued that its staff were required to treat men and women equally and could not allow a staff member to refuse a handshake based on gender. But the discrimination ombudsman said she had tried to avoid upsetting anyone by placing her hand over her heart when greeting both men and women. Sweden’s labour court found the company was justified in demanding equal treatment for both sexes – but not in demanding that it be in the form of a handshake only. After the judgement Ms Alhajeh told the BBC she believed it was important to “never give in” when convinced that one is in the right, even as a member of a minority group.
“I believe in God, which is very rare in Sweden… and I should be able to do that and be accepted as long as I’m not hurting anyone,” she said.
French Muslims want a say in Macron’s New Rules for Islam
A number of prominent French Muslim activists said Sunday that President Emmanuel Macron should listen to more Muslim voices before finalizing plans for new rules for Islam in France. The French government needed to decide if it was “capable of treating 5 million of its citizens as grown-up, autonomous human beings,” Marwan Muhammad, former head of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, said. French governments have for years puzzled over how to deal with the growing popularity of hardline interpretations of Islam in poor suburbs with large populations of immigrant origins. In July, Macron said he planned to give Islam “a framework and rules guaranteeing that it will be practiced everywhere in accordance with the laws of the republic.” Local authorities have been ordered to hold consultations on the issue. France’s strict law on the separation of church and state, and the lack of any religious hierarchy in Sunni Islam, have so far made it difficult to come up with any organization that could act as an Islamic religious authority. The activists said that in their own online consultation, the majority of the 24,000 respondents preferred the government not to play a role in organizing French Islam. Muhammad told German Press Agency that the activists would be “perfectly willing” to work together with the government “as partners.” But, he said, any attempt to “dictate” to French Muslims how to organize themselves would be “an attack on the principle of secularism, which is very important in France, and an attack on our fundamental freedoms as a religious community.” [Source: Daily Sabah].
Islam cannot be negotiated or changed to fulfil the interests of some. Muslims of France must resist all attempts by Macron to create a false Islamic fiqh for French Muslims.
OPEC Powerless to Prevent Oil Prices Jumping Toward $100 a Barrel this Year
OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia is ill-equipped to prevent a supply shock in the energy market, analysts told CNBC on Monday, as oil traders prepare for the possibility of $100 a barrel before year-end. “Nobody wants to get caught short, full in the knowledge that more Iranian barrels are poised to be removed from the market,” Stephen Brennock, oil analyst at PVM Oil Associates, said in a research note published Monday. Late last month, President Donald Trump urged OPEC producers to ratchet up production levels to prevent further price rises ahead of the mid-term elections in early November. The Trump administration’s push for the Middle-East dominated cartel to start pumping more oil comes as the White House prepares to impose sanctions against Iran in around five weeks’ time. Further to this, Washington is also asking buyers of Iranian oil to slash imports to zero to force Tehran to negotiate a new nuclear agreement. China initially rejected a U.S. request to choke off the flow of petrodollars to Iran but, amid intense pressure from the Trump administration, China is now reportedly taking steps to comply. China’s top state refiner, Sinopec Corp, was seen halving its loadings of Iranian crude in September, Reuters reported Friday, citing unidentified sources. The prospect of a reduction from Sinopec would constitute a significant blow for Iran. That’s because OPEC’s third-largest producer considers China to be its leading oil client at a time when European producers and other global buyers are dramatically reducing Iranian crude purchases to avoid U.S. sanctions. China has consistently defended its energy trade with Tehran — thought to be worth around $1.5 billion a month — as transparent and lawful. Against this backdrop of dwindling Iranian oil supplies, the focus will turn to meek levels of global, or more accurately, Saudi spare capacity,” Brennock said. OPEC and non-OPEC producers were initially thought to be reluctant to immediately respond to heightened pressure from the Trump administration, but Saudi Arabia is now expected to put as much as 550,000 additional barrels per day (bpd) onto the market over the next couple of months. The kingdom has previously claimed to have around 1.5 million bpd available to add to the market if required. But, Riyadh is thought to be unable to fully offset global supply disruptions over the coming months. And “this essentially leaves the world’s only swing producer powerless to prevent a supply shock and subsequent price spike in the final quarter of this year,” Brennock said. [Source: CNBC]
Trump’s oil sanctions against Iran are responsible for high oil prices, and increasing the oil supply will not bring down the oil prices.
Pakistan to get Oil from Saudi Arabia on Credit: Petroleum Minister
Federal Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan has confirmed Pakistan’s plan to take oil from Saudi Arabia on credit for five years. While speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Ghulam Sarwar said the authorities in Saudi Arabia have agreed to Pakistan’s request for oil. The petroleum minister’s statement came following reports, according to which Pakistan has asked Saudi Arabia for a daily oil supply of 200,000 barrels for five years. It was also said that oil supply on credit was sought for 90 days. However, Ghulam Sarwar told the assembly that Pakistan has made the request for five years. A day earlier, senators from the opposition parties objected to the government’s invitation to Saudi Arabia to become a partner in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and set up an oil refinery in Gwadar. To this, the petroleum minister said Saudi Arabia expressed interest in setting up a refinery in Balochistan and the government also wished for the same. He added that talks were under way with the provinces and the Parliament would be taken on board soon. [Source: Geo TV]
Getting oil on credit from Saudi Arabia will not spare Pakistan from the economic woes it suffers. Khan’s governments has promised new way of doing things. But so far, Imran Khan’s government is following in the footsteps of its predecessors and all signs are that IK will beg for money from the IMF.