January 2018
Fabricating a fig leaf of democracy in Egypt
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A fig leaf of democracy is being developed in Egypt amid persecution of opposition, mass executions and imposition of state of emergency to give wide powers to suppress all kind of dissent of a quazi-military government of US-client President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi who deposed Egypt’s first democratically elected President Mohammad Morsi in July 2013. Read More
Davos 2018 – the talking shop for oligarchs, bankers and global elites (?)
By Habib Siddiqui: Last week, Davos - the mountain resort, which sits high up in the eastern Alps of Switzerland in Graubunden – welcomed more than 2,500 movers and shakers - business, political and academic leaders from around the globe. They came to attend the yearly World Economic Forum (WEF), scheduled for January 23-26. It was the 48th forum to date. Read More
Redrawing the map of Syria
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the United States "does not want to keep Syria as a state in its current borders", accusing Washington of seeking to establish a Kurdish-controlled entity along Turkish and Iraqi border zones. Speaking at an annual press conference in Moscow to review the past year's diplomatic activities on Monday Jan 13, Lavrov said:"The [US'] actions that we have been observing indicate that the US does not want to keep Syria as a state in its current borders ... The US wants to help the Syrian Democratic Forces to set up some border security zones," he said, referring to a US-backed rebel alliance dominated by Syrian Kurds, known as the SDF….If you say that this zone will be controlled by the forces supported by the US, there will be a force of 30,000 people." Read More
Russia supplies military essentials to Pakistan,Says Russian Minister
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov has said that his country was supplying military equipment to Pakistan. Morgulov’s statement came on Thursday (Jan 18) in a geo-political conference organized jointly by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and an Indian think-tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF). The Russian Minister was joined in the discussion by the Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Gen VK Singh and the former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. It is believed that Pakistan Army Aviation Corps (PAAC) had recently received four Russian-made Mi-35M attack helicopters. Two years ago, Russia had lifted an embargo on supplying weapons and military hardware to Pakistan. Read More
China slams Indian Army chief’s remarks on Doklam border dispute
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: China on Monday (Jan 15) slammed comments by the Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat for calling Doklam a disputed territory. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said his “unconstructive” comments not helpful for maintaining peace at the borders. Responding to Gen Rawat’s comments, Lu Kang said his comments were against the consensus reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit last September to revive the ties and preserve peace on the border. Read More
Pakistan warns India against any misadventure
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said Saturday (Jan 13) that Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s remarks about Pakistan amount to “invitation for nuclear encounter”. Asif was reacting to Rawat’s Wednesday remark that his forces are ready to call Pakistan's "nuclear bluff" and cross the border to carry out any operation if asked by the government. Read More
Challenging times for veiled women in Europe & U.S.
Gihan Shahine: Wearing the Islamic veil has become increasingly challenging for many women in Western societies, where a piece of fabric can be used to exacerbate already rising Islamophobia. Read More
Egypt, Saudi Arabia alarmed over Sudan-Turkey accord on strategic Sawakin island
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A recent deal to lease the Sudanese Red Sea Sawakin island to Turkey for development raises concerns in Cairo and other Arab capitals. In late December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir signed an agreement to temporarily lease Sudan's Suakin Red Sea island to Turkey for development by Turkish investment projects. Swakin Island is located on the western coast of the Red Sea in eastern Sudan. It covers an area of 20 km2, 66 meters above sea level, and is 560 kilometers away from Khartoum. Read More
Trump Administration to deport 250,000 Salvadorians
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The Trump administration announced Monday, Jan 8, that it will end "temporary protected status" (TPS) that was first granted to Salvadorans nearly two decades ago. Roughly 263,000 people from El Salvador are covered by the program, which allowed the immigrants to stay and work in the United States legally. Read More
Swiss Newspaper unveils secret Saudi Arabia-Israel military alliance
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Saudi Arabia is seeking to buy Israeli defense systems and working with Israel to prevent Iran’s expansion in the Middle East, according to the Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung. Basler Zeitung reported on Monday (Jan 8) a “secret alliance” between Saudi Arabia and Israel, intended “to restrain Iran’s expansion in the region, despite the absence of any official relations between the two countries.” Read More
The Jerusalem Question
By Habib Siddiqui: Does Israel have unilateral rights to declare Jerusalem as its capital? U.S. President Donald Trump thinks so. His controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was, however, dealt a blow when the bulk of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) member states backed its motion to brand his unilateral move as “null and void”. The resounding condemnation against the move by the US president was delivered by 128 countries - almost two-thirds of the 193 member states of the global alliance. Only eight countries - Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo - supported Trump in his stance. The UK, France and Germany were among the nations who voted in favor of the motion. It is not legally binding, but its near unanimous victory delivered an embarrassing blow to Trump. Jerusalem remains the most contested real estate in our world. Read More
Kashmiri aspirations must be respected
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai: If promises are made to be broken, then Kashmir may be summoned to prove the treacherous proposition. Broken promises haunt Kashmir's history, and explain its tragedy. The Kashmir issue is simply this: the people of a large territory which is not part of any existing sovereign state were assured by the entire international community represented by the United Nations that they would be enabled to decide their future by a free vote. Until now, this assurance has not been honored. Read More
Egypt’s executions spree alarms UN HR Commissioner
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed deep shock over the execution of 20 people in Egypt within one week, amid concerns that due process and fair trial guarantees did not appear to have been followed. Read More
China supports Pakistan against Trump’s tweet
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A day after bitter criticism of Pakistan from President Donald Trump, China supported Pakistan by lauding its efforts for “outstanding contribution against terrorism” which should be acknowledged by “the international community”.At the regular press conference of the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, on Tuesday was asked about US President Donald Trump tweet against Pakistan. Shuang replied: “As we said multiple times before, Pakistan has made great efforts and sacrifices for combating terrorism and made prominent contributions to the cause of international counterterrorism, and the international community should fully recognize this.” Read More
Trump aligns with India his policy towards Pakistan?
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In an apparent tilt of U.S.-Pakistan policy towards India, President Trump Monday (Jan. 1, 2018), threatened to cut financial aid to Pakistan accusing Islamabad of harboring violent extremists and lying about it. "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," Trump said in his first tweet of 2018. "They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!" Read More
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
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