Analysis, Side Feature

Views on the News – 6 June 2020

Headlines:

  • Trump’s Exploitation of Anti-Racist Protests Demonstrates Divisiveness of Liberal Democracy
  • India Calms Relations with China; the Real Indian Target is Muslim Kashmir
  • America is Working for a Libyan Settlement in its favour


Trump’s Exploitation of Anti-Racist Protests Demonstrates Divisiveness of Liberal Democracy

According to CNN:

As protests and violence continue across the country, President Donald Trump and his team have sprung into action. But not so much to heal the nation or to announce much-needed reforms. Instead, Trump has moved to capitalize on the carnage for political gain.

The current crisis was triggered by the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes while he begged for help. A moment like this calls for a healer-in-chief. But that is difficult for Trump, who brings plenty of his own racial baggage, with dozens of incendiary and racist comments spanning decades.

So instead, Trump has weaponized the crisis, by blaming his political opponents and stirring up conspiracy theories, in an apparent effort to boost his own reelection chances this November.

This was on full display Monday, when Trump threatened a military crackdown and police dispersed peaceful protests near the White House to clear the way for a presidential photo-op at the nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church. Shortly after police unleashed tear gas, horses and rubber bullets on the nonviolent crowd, Trump said he was “an ally of all peaceful protestors.”

Earlier in the day, Trump angrily encouraged the nation’s governors to more aggressively target protesters in their states. He said they should “dominate” protestors to quell violent outbursts.

It is in the nature of the democratic system to create divisions between people. To be successful, politicians must, over their careers, retain strong support bases amongst the people. Sowing division and hatred is one very easy approach to doing this. This contrasts to the Islamic ruling system, where the Khalifah is elected for life and so does not need to keep working to build a support base. Furthermore, for elections in the Ummah assembly, any non-Islamic basis is prohibited, including divisive platforms such as sectarianism, racism, regionalism, etc. The practical consequence of this and other elements of the Islamic culture over the centuries has been that the Muslim Ummah melted into one strong indivisible body, in contrast to what is happening today under democratic systems in the West and elsewhere which have polarised and divided humanity.

 

India Calms Relations with China; the Real Indian Target is Muslim Kashmir

Alarmed by Chinese countermoves in Ladakh, India has moved to calm the situation. According to al-Jazeera:

India and China have agreed to resolve a dispute over their shared border in the Ladakh region through “peaceful” diplomatic channels, according to the Indian foreign affairs ministry.

The statement on Friday came a day before top generals of the two countries are due to meet near the site of their border standoff to try and find a way to de-escalate the situation, which began when India accused Chinese troops of entering its territory three times in May.

Indian officials said both sides would first focus on getting both the Indian army and China’s People’s Liberation Army to pull back additional troops and equipment to their pre-May positions.

Soldiers from both countries have been camped out in the Galwan Valley in the high-altitude Ladakh region, and have swapped accusations of trespassing over the disputed border, the trigger of a brief but bloody war in 1962.

In all, China claims some 90,000sq km (34,750sq miles) of territory in India’s northeast. India says China occupies 38,000sq km (14,67sq miles) of its territory in the Aksai Chin plateau in the western Himalayas, including part of the Ladakh region.

Senior officials of the two countries held a video conference and agreed that “the two sides should handle their differences through peaceful discussion” and should not allow them to become disputes, the foreign affairs ministry statement said.

India’s actions in Ladakh were not intended to directly provoke China but to fortify India’s illegal occupation of Muslim Kashmir. The real issue is not why China pushed back but why Pakistan didn’t. It has become quite evident that Pakistan’s role is no more than rhetorical. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is following a well-defined plan to fully secure Kashmir, and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is following a well-defined plan to fully allow him to do that. The aware observer would know that it is America that is behind both of them and it is America that has arranged for this to happen. It is necessary to expose both Pakistan’s political and military leadership for their complicity in this treacherous plan.

 

America is Working for a Libyan Settlement in its favour

With the failure of eastern commander Khalifa Hifter to take full control of Libya, it appears that America is abandoning him in favour of organising a settlement between both West and East that will be to America’s advantage. According to the Washington Post:

Forces of Libya’s U.N.-backed government seized control of the last remaining western stronghold of militia commander Khalifa Hifter on Friday, dealing a major setback to his ambitions to wrest control of the country.

Pro-government fighters backed by Turkey reached the center of Tarhuna, roughly 40 miles southeast of the capital, Tripoli, on Friday morning after Hifter’s forces retreated, according to military commanders and security analysts. Videos posted on social media showed pickup trucks mounted with machine guns rolling into enclaves and fighters flashing victory signs.

Mohammed Gnounou, a military spokesman for the Tripoli government, said in a statement that its fighters entered the city from four directions and gave Hifter’s forces a “lesson they will not forget.” Hifter’s military office did not respond to a request for comment…

Hifter, a dual U.S.-Libyan citizen and former CIA asset who lived for years in Northern Virginia, received heavy weaponry and other military support from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other regional powers in violation of a U.N. arms embargo…

However, this change of events has actually been managed through collusion between Turkey and Russia, as the article later explains:

By last month, GNA-aligned militias backed by Turkish drones and defense systems, took town after town from Hifter’s forces, including capturing a strategic air base. That prompted Russia to dispatch 14 fighter jets to eastern Libya, the Pentagon said, in an apparent effort to help Hifter and send a warning to Turkey.

But then the Russian mercenaries withdrew from the front lines and headed to Hifter’s eastern strongholds, apparently in a deal with Turkey, leaving Hifter’s forces vulnerable in Tripoli. And the GNA forces took advantage.

And both Turkey and Russia are working in accordance with the American plan for Libya, just as they have been cooperating these past years in the American plan for Syria.

Muslims will not enjoy peace, stability, justice or dignity until we re-establish the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw) that will eject the imperialist foreign disbeliever and dethrone the agent rulers that have betrayed the Muslim Ummah time and again.