Best trained terrorists in the world

International Hypocrisy

by Dr Elias Akleh

By now all international media resources; newspapers, magazines, TV channels, and internet social media, are busy reporting the gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi; a Saudi reporter, who was loyal to the regime until he turned against Muhamad bin Salman (MBS) and his suppressive policies.

Once MBS was announced crowned prince in 2015 and started his war against Yemen, critic Khashoggi found it safer for himself to leave Saudi Arabia. He moved first to UK and later to USA. In his writings Khashoggi harshly criticized the policies of the young prince. Eventually he was lured to the Saudi consulate in Turkey, where he was reported murdered and butchered into small pieces that were buried in different parts of Turkey’s wilderness.

Understanding Saudi culture and the practices of the Saudi royal family, one will come to the logical conclusion, supported by the events and evidences, that MBS has ordered the murder of Khashoggi. The Saudi royal family is notorious in assassination and sentencing to death all alleged criminals and political activists, who dare to criticize their policies. The streets of capital Riyadh have been the witness of so many public gruesome beheadings; 158 in 2015, 154 in 2016, 146 in 2017 and 73 in 2018 as of July 17.

Although the royal family denied any involvement or knowledge of Khashoggi’s murder and had promised to conduct an investigation in the murder, in investigation led by the prime suspect; MBS himself, the Saudi Kingdom was met with harsh condemnations and calls for punishment. Saudi Arabia started to feel the repercussions of such calls when international banks, corporations, investors, major media outlets and world leaders started to pull out of the Saudi Future Investment Initiative (FII); a massive economic conference colloquially known as “Davos in the Desert”, hosted by MBS himself on October 23-25. The initiative is part of MBS’ ambitious “2030 Programme” to make the Saudi kingdom less reliant on oil.

Jim Yong-kim of World Bank, Christine Lagarde of International Monetary fund, Stacey Cunningham president of New York Stock Exchange, John Flint CEO of HSBC, as well as Credit Suisse, and Standard Chartered decided not to attend at Davos. Investment companies such as Uber, Mastercard, Virgin Group, JPMorgan Chase, Ford Motor Comp., Viacom Inc, and private equity firms such as Blackstone, BlackRock and Bain Capital are pulling out of Davos. Media outlets such as Bloomberg, CNN, New York Times, CNBC, The Economist, Financial Times and Los Angeles Times among others decided not to attend. Antonio Guterres; Secretary General of the UN, and Audrey Azoulay of UNESCO expressed their deep concern about the murder and called for investigation and punishment of the perpetrators. Many world leaders condemned Khashoggi’s murder and called for reprimanding the kingdom. Many European politicians and American senators called for halting the sale of weapons to the kingdom.

A lot of “hooplas” for the murder of one person, yet dead silence for the murder of millions others, including women and children, in the seventy years old Zionist occupied Palestine, in the eight years old American/Israeli/Gulf states war against Syria and in three years old Saudi/Emirati war against Yemen.

Zionist Jewish terrorist groups and militias, similar to al-Qaeda and ISIS, had occupied Palestine in 1948, perpetrated numerous massacres against civilian Palestinians, razed to the grounds hundreds of Palestinian towns, ethnically cleansed almost 800 thousand Palestinians, and established a colonial state of Israel. In 1967 those Zionist Israeli Jews again perpetrated more war crimes and occupied the rest of Palestine, destroyed more towns, massacred more Palestinians and built more illegal colonies. Although these Israelis entered into peace treaty with the Palestinians they are still ethnically cleansing and murdering in cold blood Palestinians, usurping their land, and expanding and building more colonies in violation of all peace treaties and in violation of UNSC resolutions. Israeli crimes against Palestinians, as well as other Arab states such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, have never stopped, but rather are increasing in number, in intensity and in ferocity.

Due to their narcissist elitist racist religious belief that they, alone and no other nation, are god’s chosen people, Israeli Jews act as if they enjoy a divine impunity that allows them to perpetrate genocidal crimes against Palestinians and against other nations in violation of all human norms and beyond all international laws and conventions. Nurturing this Jewish narcissistic belief are the encouragement, unconditional support, and the immunity and protection Israel enjoys from some western states, specifically the USA and UK, who brag about being champions of human rights, beacon of freedom and democracy, and holding the torch of justice for all.

The US had used its Veto power to protect Israel from at least 44 UNSC resolutions. On top of those Israel has violated 300 other resolutions regarding its occupation of Palestine. To make matters worse the US leads other western countries in describing the Israeli genocidal crimes against Palestinians as “self-defense” and every Palestinian defensive and peaceful reaction as terrorist attacks.

Israel is encouraged to continue its ethnic cleansing and massacre of Palestinians. The latest Israeli erasure of Palestinian villages is going on now in Khan El-Ahmar village. The villagers are the Bedouin Jahalin tribe, who became homeless refugees after being forcefully expelled from their original village in the Negev in 1952 by the Israeli army. They rebuilt new homes and a local children school in Khan El-Ahmar under the Jordanian rule. At the present, Israel is in the process of demolishing the whole village in order to gain more land to expand its illegal Maale Adumim colony a short distance away. Palestinians are conducting daily sit-ins to prevent the demolition of the village and to prevent a second Nakba to its inhabitants.

Israeli genocidal crime of Palestinian civilians is still an ongoing process. Israeli Jews consider Palestinians as the descendants of Amalekites; the worst enemy of ancient Israel. Jewish god ordered the Jews to wipe off Amalekites off the earth. This order is still ingrained in the Jewish psyche, who keep reminding their off springs of this order. On the walls of the holocaust memorial in the Hague hangs a plaque with a text in Dutch and Hebrew from Deuteronomy 25: 17-19 stating“Remember what Amalek has done to you … blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.”

Present Israeli Jews are still in the process of “plotting out the remembrance of Amalek(Palestinians) from under heaven” as can bee seen recently in the Gaza Strip. Israel has turned Gaza Strip into the largest ever concentrated prison camp (worst than Nazi concentration camps) for its two million inhabitants; mostly refugees who were ethnically cleansed from Palestine during the 1948 Nakba. For the last twelve years these Palestinians have been starved into sickness, their water been poisoned, their electricity was cut, their fishing marine space has been extremely limited, their towns, their homes and their fields were severely bombed with the devastating bombs including the illegal white phosphorous bombs in Israel’s wars of aggression in 2008-2009 and again in 2014,  and their women and children are being shot dead daily.

After seventy years passage of UNSC resolution 194 stating that these Palestinian refugees have the legitimate right to return to their towns and homes they were kicked out of, but none of the international legal organization nor any other country helped them implement this resolution, these Palestinian refugees decided to peacefully march back to their towns in what was dubbed “The Great Return March”. This march started on Friday 30th of last March and has been going on every Friday since then; so far, a total of 30 march attempts. Unfortunately, Israeli army snipers stood in their way, and have murdered in cold blood 212 Palestinians including teen agers, women, paramedics and reporters, and had injured a total of 22,000 others causing a lot of limb amputations due to their use of the explosive hollow pointed bullets, poisonous gas and stun grenades. Yet, despite the obvious fact that Israel is the number one rogue state in the world, Nikki (Nimrata) Haley; the American ambassador to the UN, had the audacity to describe this Israeli army killing fields against civilians in Gaza as the most restrained army in the whole world.  “No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.” She stated.

Yet, none of the self-proclaimed peace-loving justice-calling world leaders, media outlets, banking systems, investors and corporations, who boycotted Saudi Davos in the Desert initiative as a reprimand to Saudi murder of one person; Jamal Khashoggi, have lifted a finger, uttered a word or boycotted Israel for the latest murder of hundred Palestinians nor for the razing of any Palestinian village. Are the lives of these hundreds of Palestinians, and the lives of hundreds of thousands who were murdered since 1948, not worth one life of a Saudi reporter?

There is no puzzle in this picture. International humanity is dead while hypocrisy is thriving and the ultimate goal and justification is money. The Saudi royal family is a filthy rich oppressive theocratic dictatorship, who had been protected in the past by the British and in the present by the American administration. For such protection the Saudi family has to pay and they pay dearly in different forms as in military weapons deals and economic privileges to foreign investing corporations. Trump expressed this situation openly and eloquently when he described Saudi Arabia as “a milk cow which would be slaughtered when its milk runs out.”

All these political and economic pressure exerted by world leaders, bankers, investors and media outlets are merely more attempts to milk Saudi Arabia as much as possible in more weapons deals and more economic privileges. Saudi Arabia has a lot of milk; money, unlike the Israeli case where the USA is Israel’s milking cow.

What goes for the case of Palestinian victims goes also for the Syrian and Yemeni victims. The world leaders and corporations who are milking Saudi Arabia are the same perpetrators committing, though covertly, war crimes against Syria and Yemen.

When comparing the international reactions to the murder of one person; Khashoggi in this case, with the reactions to the heinous war crimes against millions of innocent people in Palestine, Syria, Yemen or in any other place around the globe for that matter, one cannot help but question the validity of the famous proverb that “justice will always prevail”. Are we cheating ourselves and our children when we assert the fallacy that evil will be defeated and justice will always prevail at the end? Studying the history of Mankind, one discovers that those, who had the military power to assert their rights and their own form of justice even if they contradict the rights and justice of others had always prevailed, and those, who lacked military power had no chance to assert their own rights and had always perished. This proves that the rule of law, even the laws approved on internationally, is irrelevant, and that might is right still prevails in this world.

Dr. Elias Akleh is an Arab American from a Palestinian descent. His family was evicted from Haifa, Palestine, after the 1948 Nakba when the Zionists stole his family’s property. Then the family was evicted again from the West Bank during the 1967 Naksah, after the Zionist, again, occupied the rest of Palestine.

The American scream

Just like when the medieval executioners tortured their prisoners to scream out for "mercy", so today two former aides of US President Donald Trump are put being on the rack to extract a begging response. If they finger the president, then maybe mercy will be shown to the prisoners.

Trump's former lawyer and his campaign manager are facing lengthy prison sentences for financial fraud and political campaign irregularities. Michael Cohen could get five years in jail, while Paul Manafort faces a soul-crushing 80 years behind bars. A de facto death sentence, given his age.

The set-up here is so obvious and pathetic. Both men are being dangled by the feet ahead of their sentencing, with the blatant purpose of forcing them to incriminate Trump, and in that way, Trump's political enemies finally get their long-held objective of impeaching the president.

This is how the "American Dream" really operates. Forget the emblems of supposed American civility, the white-picket fences, apple pie in bourgeois comfort, old glory fluttering down at the courthouse, and all those other imaginary democratic virtues. American politics has more in common with Francis Ford Coppola's classic movie, The Godfather, illustrating how organized crime is intertwined with politicians and lawmakers. Mob practices are more the currency of American politics than dainty civic duties. In reality, it's not the American Dream, it's the American Scream.

The impossibly perfect American Dream is nevertheless so powerfully ingrained and inculcated in the popular psyche by Hollywood and national myth-making propaganda, it is hard to see the brutal reality.

When the American military obliterated Japanese civilians with atomic weapons, or incinerated children in Southeast Asia with napalm, or when it organized death squads to mutilate peasants in Central America, such practices can be easily obscured because of the opium that is the American Dream and its seductive, illusory vanity.

Even when an American president is hideously assassinated in broad daylight by his own security services, the people are not awakened from the impossible "dream". American politics is as dirty and as criminal as it gets. Assassinating foreign leaders, overthrowing governments, subverting and rigging elections, brainwashing the public with lying news media and think tanks, militarizing "allied" societies in the name of "protection". These are some of the realities that define the US capitalist power system, at home and abroad.

One of America's most celebrated presidents John F Kennedy began his term in the White House under sordid conditions. Talk about interference? It is well-documented Kennedy's election was secured by the Chicago-based Mafia, under crime boss Sam Giancana, rigging the ballots in key states to give Kennedy the decisive vote over rival Richard Nixon in 1960.

Admittedly, John F Kennedy seemed to undergo a genuinely personal and political evolution during his brief presidency, when he subsequently desired to normalize Cold War relations with the Soviet Union. His perceived betrayal of the Mafia and the US military-security apparatus probably cost him his life when he was assassinated in Dallas in November 1963, three years into his presidency. It is claimed that the CIA and Mafia worked together to organize the killing involving teams of snipers. The hapless Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged shooter, was only a patsy, which the "great and good" American media have used as an odious cover-up ever since.

Anyway, let's get back to Trump. It seems obvious that the prosecution of his former aides is all about a vendetta against Trump, to get him out of the White House. The US political establishment, or deep state, has never accepted this "outsider" as the president. His stated preference to normalize relations with Russia is a particular red line. The whole "Russiagate" saga has been concocted in order to delegitimize Trump's election and to have him "taken out" as the figurehead for the deep state. It should not be surprising that Trump and his former friends are inculpated for bank and tax fraud and paying off hookers. That's how the system pretty much works, and those transgressions are only the surface.

Look at how Trump's rival Hillary Clinton was involved in political bribery and vote rigging, as well as soliciting foreign interference from trying to get "Russian dirt" on Trump. Not just Clinton, but the senior law enforcement and intelligence services under the Obama presidency were also involved in this massive subversion of the alleged American democracy. Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen is reportedly "ready to cooperating" with the so-called Russia probe led by former FBI chief Robert Mueller. Mueller is a long-time operator for the deep state with his own baggage of criminal skeletons, such as lying over the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction ruse to wage a genocidal war on that country. His appointment as the chief inquisitor to entrap Trump is therefore apt.

Cohen is said to have "interesting things" to tell the Mueller inquisition concerning Trump and charges of collusion with Russia to get him elected. The only crimes uncovered so far are financial fraud, American-style.

But, we can be sure, that Cohen, a sniveling, greasy attorney, will deliver "information" to hang Trump in order to save his own skin from five years in the clingers. By the way, there are no good guys in this squalid drama of American politics. Trump and his gang are as rotten as the rest of the barrel.

US President Donald Trump's aides face deepening anxiety and uncertainty over ongoing federal investigations related to the 2016 US presidential election. White House staff members experienced a new level of turbulence this week after federal prosecutors secured the conviction of Trump’s former campaign manager and a plea agreement from the president’s longtime attorney.

In interviews with a half-dozen Trump aides and people close to the White House, many described rising concerns about federal inquiries underway, including US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign and has long denounced the Mueller probe as a witch hunt.

Days ago, Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other charges, saying he made payments to influence the 2016 election at the direction of Trump. Also, a jury in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia found former Trump election campaign chairman Paul Manafort, guilty on eight of 18 charges of filing false tax returns, failing to disclose his offshore bank accounts and bank fraud. Manafort still faces separate charges brought by Mueller in the Russia probe.

Trump has also lashed out at embattled US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the Russian investigation, which paved the way for Mueller’s appointment. Separately, The Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair reported that in the latest sign of the potential dangers for Trump and those close to him, David Pecker, CEO of American Media Inc, had been granted immunity by federal prosecutors in a deal in which he has been discussing Trump's role in hush agreements ahead of the 2016 election to women who said they had sexual encounters with the president.

In a tense press briefing with reporters, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders declined to get into the “back and forth” on the Cohen and Manafort cases and repeatedly said Trump “did nothing wrong”. Another indirect credit to Trump is that the whole debacle he has provoked with the deep state goes to expose the profound decay and corruption in American politics. Just to show how Trump is no better than the rest. The American dream!? It's a nightmare that screams with crimes and corruption. When will the people awake?

What you read and heard was from an article by Finian Cunningham who has written extensively on international affairs for The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent and many other organizations.

https://thoothu2018.blogspot.com/2018/07/10.html?spref=fb&m=1

Trump’s Middle East policy

*Palestinians stage a protest against the 'Deal of the Century', planned by US President Donald Trump to solve the conflict between Palestine and Israel, in Ramallah, West Bank on 2 July 2018 [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency

Dr Mohammad Makram Balawi

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland — the Nakba — by the Zionist Movement, which established the state of Israel on the land of our forefathers. Since then, Palestinians have not only suffered displacement but also continuous aggression and oppression by Israel. Since 30 March, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been taking part in the Great Return March, a series of peaceful protests against the refusal to allow refugees to return to their homeland. Israeli snipers have shot and killed more than 130 Palestinian men, women and children, and wounded around 15,000. The international community has largely turned a blind eye to this injustice and US President Donald Trump has sided with the killers.

Israel has used its religion-based propaganda to woo the West and ensure support for its scheme to colonise as much of Palestine as possible; Trump’s open support is the latest evidence of this. Israeli leaders such as Menachem Begin (1913-1992) and Yitzhak Shamir (1915-2012) were wanted as international terrorists. Begin was born in Belarus and led the Zionist terrorist group Irgun; he also founded the Likud party, of which current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the leader. Shamir was born in Poland and was a leader of the Zionist terrorist group Lehi. Both men became prime minister of Israel, despite their terrorist past and responsibility for the ethnic cleansing of more than 60 per cent of the indigenous people of Palestine. Their terrorism targeted the British Mandate administration, most notably with the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Bizarrely, that and other atrocities against British military and civilian personnel are overlooked by the British government and “Friends of Israel” MPs today, with Israel being a key ally. The same is true of the Americans, who either have collective amnesia about the deliberate Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, during which 34 US Navy sailors were killed and 171 were wounded, or they simply choose to forget it. A cover-up by Washington has been in place ever since, which suggests the latter.

Thwarting the ‘deal of the century’ is possible

Although the Palestinians have the legal right to resist the Israeli occupation and return to their land, resistance movements are presented as terrorist organisations in Western mainstream media and designated officially as such by politicians. The US, for example, designates Hamas as a “global terrorist entity” (emphasis added) despite the undeniable fact that the movement has always restricted its action to the historic land of Palestine; Hamas has never carried out any act beyond the borders of its homeland. In stark contrast, Israel acts as a state above international law. Men, women and children have been bombed and killed in Israel’s frequent military offensives against the people of the Gaza Strip. It stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity with its policies. Israel has not only invaded and occupied neighbouring states but also assassinated Palestinian leaders, writers, poets, intellectuals, journalists, academics, scientists and social activists with apparent impunity.

Many of these murders have taken place well beyond the borders of Palestine. Being a member of a liberation movement gives Israel, its politicians and supporters believe, an open licence to kill indiscriminately; no arrest, charges and trial are needed. In April, for example, the Palestinian scientist and Imam Fadi Al-Batsh was brutally murdered while he was walking to a local mosque for the dawn prayer in Kuala Lumpur, where he worked in a local university. A couple of months earlier, in January, Israel tried to assassinate a Palestinian school teacher called Muhammad Hamdan in Lebanon by planting a bomb in his car. Luckily, he escaped with minor injuries. Before that, in December 2016, the Israelis shot dead the Tunisian scientist Mohammed Al-Zawari in front of his house in Sfax. Mahmoud Abdel Rauf Al-Mabhouh was murdered by Israeli Mossad agents in January 2010 in a Dubai hotel. The Israeli assassins used false passports of their allies in Europe, and thus created an international scandal. They also murdered Izz El-Deen Sobhi Sheikh Khalil in Damascus in September 2004, by planting a bomb in his car. In September 1997, Israeli agents even attempted to murder Khaled Meshaal, the then chairman of Hamas, in broad day light in Amman, the capital of Jordan. The would-be assassins carried false passports and were captured by the Jordanian security services. The attack took place in Jordan even though Israel had signed a peace treaty with the late King Hussain. This illustrates clearly that Israeli governments have no respect for the sovereignty of any other state, even their allies. They have long spied on Israel’s main sponsor, the United States of America.

Israel is allowed to do what it wants and is never taken to account for its breaches of international laws and conventions. It claims to be acting as part of the “war on terrorism” and then sells its “anti-terrorist” and “security” expertise in the global arms market. The Israeli discourse in this respect pushes a divide and rule agenda. In the name of “self-defence” and internal security it systematically destroys the aspirations of the indigenous Palestinian people. Israeli opportunism is, in every respect, a threat to world peace and stability.

So-called “Islamic terrorism” is the stock in trade of Israel and its allies, especially the US. The Americans are behind the mushrooming terrorist organisations with an Islamic veneer; they summon the terrorist demons and use the pretext of fighting them in order to destroy countries, as they have done in Iraq and Syria.

Palestinian resistance, on the other hand, has a very clear purpose: to liberate Palestine from Israel’s brutal military occupation. Resistance groups never interfere in other countries or meddle in their domestic matters. The external leadership of Hamas, for example, left its base in Damascus because it couldn’t support the position of the host government led by Bashar Al-Assad in 2011, nor could it stay and do nothing while such injustice took place in Syria. While favouring peaceful means to settle differences and negotiate towards internal solutions, resistance groups reserve their legitimate right to resort to arms when pushed to do so. The Palestinians know the importance of peace and yearn for it.

The Europeans and Americans who benefit most from the UN have little or no respect for the organisation. In fact, the powers in Washington treat the international community as a whole with contempt. Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, for example, flew in the face of UN Resolutions which state that the status quo of the city should be maintained and its occupation should not be accepted. Europe is rather more hypocritical; whenever Israel breaks international law, European states tend to abstain if proposed motions censure the Zionist state, and they still give it favoured trading status. What’s more, they always join the chorus of those who insist that the Palestinians — who are the victims of Israel’s occupation and violence, lest we forget — should refrain from reacting violently and “show restraint” in the face of extreme provocation by Israel.

The Trump administration is arguably more racist and right-wing than Netanyahu and his Likud-led governing coalition, to the extent that Mahmud Abbas, the most dovish of Palestinian leaders, refuses to recognise the Americans as mediators. Netanyahu, Trump and the rest of his Zionist choir now believe that it is the perfect time to impose a “deal of the century” on the Palestinians, as long as the regional Arab leadership is willing to go along with the charade in order to gain US and Israeli support for countering the aspirations of their own people to have democratically elected governments. Such a short-sighted foreign policy will lead to the isolation of the United States and see the world lose faith in international organisations like the UN, as well as international law. Coalitions will be formed, excluding America, as countries seek to build their own security umbrella. US interests appear to play second fiddle to Israel’s in such policies, and the pro-American Arab regimes will lose their legitimacy as a direct result.

The March of Return to destroy deal of the century

Although the US was the first to use the term “soft power”, it seems to be ignorant of the tremendous influence that the Palestinian and Arab people have in the Islamic world and around the globe. Social media has loosened the pro-Israel grip on the mainstream media which has been used to suppress the Palestinian narrative. The result is that public support for Palestine in the West and elsewhere is becoming more widespread as images of Israeli atrocities are in the public domain as soon as they happen.

With no credible Palestinian backing for his “deal of the century”, Trump faces it becoming the flop of the century. He will go down in history alongside the Zionist terrorists and Arab dictators as the villains of the piece, while the Palestinians will be seen as those who stood with great courage to defy the most powerful and arrogant world power in their quest for justice. It is they who are the heroes, and heroes live forever.

சவுதி அரேபியாவின் சீர்திருத்தங்கள்: நிலையானதா நிலையற்றதா

அப்­ஸானே ரெஷாத்

தமிழில்: முஹம்மத் றஸீன், நாவலப்பிட்டி

சல்மான் பின் அப்துல் அஸீஸ் அல்-­சவுத் 2015ல் சவுதி அரி­யணை ஏறி­யது முதல்;, உள்­நாட்டு மற்றும் பிராந்­தியக் கொள்­கைகள் தொடர்­பாக ரியாத்தின் நட­வ­டிக்­கைகள் மற்றும் தீர்­மா­னங்கள் என்­ப­வற்றில் ஒரு தெளி­வற்ற தன்­மை­யையே காணக்­கூ­டி­ய­தாக உள்­ளது. வேறு வார்த்­தை­களில் கூறு­வ­தானால், கடந்த மூன்று ஆண்­டு­களில் அரசு ஒரு அமை­தி­யான சூழலை அனு­ப­விப்­பதில் தோல்­வி­க­ளையே சந்­தித்­துள்­ளது.

சவூதி அரே­பி­யாவின் முடிக்­கு­ரிய இள­வ­ரசர் முகம்­மது பின் சல்மான், இராச்­சி­யத்­திற்­கான ஒரு பிர­கா­ச­மான எதிர்­கால வடி­வ­மைப்­பா­ள­ராகத் தன்னை அறி­மு­கப்­ப­டுத்­திக்­கொள்­வ­தற்­காக சர்ச்­சைக்­கு­ரிய பல நட­வ­டிக்­கை­களை எடுத்­துள்ளார்.

வெவ்­வேறு கோணங்­களில் ஆய்­வுக்­குட்­ப­டுத்த வேண்­டிய பல சமூக, பண்­பாட்டு, பொரு­ளா­தார மற்றும் அர­சியல் சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­களை பின் சல்மான் பர­வ­லான முறையில் நடை­மு­றைப்­ப­டுத்தி வரு­கிறார்.

பின் சல்மான் முடிக்­கு­ரிய இள­வ­ர­ச­ராக அறி­விக்­கப்­பட்ட நாள் முதல் சவுதி அரே­பி­யாவின் அர­சியல் மற்றும் கலா­சார அணு­கு­முறை மாற்­றங்­க­ளுக்­குள்­ளா­யின. அவ­ரது சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் வஹா­பிய மத­கு­ரு­மாரின் வலு­வான விமர்­ச­னங்­களை எதிர்­நோக்­கி­யது. ஆனால் நாட்டின் பிர­தான அர­சியல் விவ­கா­ரங்­களில் நாட்டு அர­சரின் முடிவே இறு­தி­யா­னது என்­பதால் அவர்கள் பின்­வாங்க நேர்ந்­தது.

சவுதி அரே­பியா பெண்­க­ளுக்கு வழங்­கி­யுள்ள சுதந்­தி­ரங்­களுள் வாகனம் ஓட்­டுதல், அரங்­கங்­களில் நுழைதல், கண­வ­னு­டைய அனு­ம­தி­யின்றி வெளி­நாட்டுப் பிர­யா­ணங்­களை மேற்­கொள்தல்; போன்­றவை சர்­வ­தேச சமூ­கத்தால் வெகு­வாக வர­வேற்­கப்­பட்­டது. 

இந்த சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­களைப் பொறுத்­த­வ­ரையில் இரண்டு அடிப்­படை பிரச்­சி­னைகள் உள்­ளன: முத­லா­வ­தாக, இவை உண்­மை­யான சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் அல்ல. யேம­னியப் படு­கொ­லைகள் மற்றும் பயங்­க­ர­வா­தத்­துக்குத் துணை­போதல் என்­ப­வற்­றினால் ஏற்­பட்­டுள்ள களங்­கத்­தையும் கருத்­து­வே­று­பா­டு­க­ளையும் கலைந்­தெ­றிந்து இராச்­சி­யத்தின் பிர­தி­மையை மீட்­டெ­டுப்­ப­தற்­கான ஒரு உபா­யமே, இந்த அதி­ரடி மாற்­றங்கள் என்றே கரு­தப்­ப­டு­கின்­றது.  இரண்­டா­வ­தாக, அடிப்­ப­டையில் அங்கு சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் தேவைப்­பட்­டாலும், அந்த சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள், ஏற்­க­னவே இல்­லா­தொ­ழிக்­கப்­பட்­டுள்ள மிக முக்­கி­ய­மான அடிப்­படை சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­களை அடிப்­ப­டை­யாகக் கொண்­டவை அல்ல.

பின் சல்மான், இந்த சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் மூலம் இராச்­சி­யத்தின் பழ­மை­வாதப் போக்கை மாற்­றி­ய­மைக்­கப்­போகும் ஒரு லட்­சிய புரு­ஷ­ராகத் தன்னைக் காட்­டிக்­கொள்­ளவே முற்­பட்­டுள்ளார்.

என்­றாலும், அவ­ரு­டைய சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் யதார்த்­தத்­துக்குப் பொருத்­த­மில்­லாத அவ­சர நட­வ­டிக்­கை­யா­கவே பார்க்­கப்­ப­டு­வ­தோடு, இவை சவுதி அரே­பி­யாவின் சமூக நிலைப்­பாட்­டுக்கு எவ்­வி­தத்­திலும் பொருத்­த­மற்­றவை என்றும் கரு­தப்­ப­டு­கின்­றது.

அதே­நேரம், இந்த சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­க­ளுக்­கான அர­சியல், சமூக மற்றும் பொரு­ளா­தார நிலை­மைகள் சரி­யாக வடி­வ­மைக்­கப்­ப­ட­வில்லை என்றும் தெரி­கி­றது.

இப்­போது, சவுதி அரே­பியா ஒரு பெரிய நிலை­மாற்­றத்தின் விளிம்பில் உள்­ளது. பின் சல்மான் தனது சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­க­ளுடன் முன்­னோக்கி செல்லும் சாத்­தியம் இருப்­ப­து­போல, கடும்­போக்­கா­ளர்கள் அவ­ரது நட­வ­டிக்­கை­களைத் தடுத்து நிறுத்தி அவரை வெளி­யேற்­றி­வி­டு­வ­தற்­கான சாத்­தி­யமும் இல்­லா­ம­லில்லை.

அங்கு சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­களை ஆத­ரிப்­பதில் அல்­லது எதிர்ப்­பதில் சாதா­ரண மக்கள் முக்­கிய பங்கை வகிக்க முடி­யாது. முதலில், சவூதி அரே­பி­யாவில் எந்­த­வொரு ஒத்­தி­சை­வான அர­சியல் கட்­சியும் இல்லை என்­பது ஒரு முக்­கிய காரணம். இரண்­டா­வ­தாக, நாட்டில் போது­மான சமூக மற்றும் கலா­சார அடிப்­ப­டைகள் இல்லை. ஆட்சி முறைமை, ஒவ்­வொரு குழு­வையும் அதன் நோக்­கங்­களை அடைந்­து­கொள்­வ­தற்­காக மற்­றொரு குழுவை அடக்கி ஒடுக்­கு­வ­தற்கு வழி சமைக்­கி­றது.

தவிர, சல்­மானின் சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் எண்ணெய் வருவாய் வீழ்ச்­சி­யி­லி­ருந்து உரு­வான சமூக இடை­வெ­ளிகள்;, குறிப்­பாக வேலை வாய்பை நாடும் இளை­ஞர்­க­ளி­டையே காணப்­படும் சமூக அதி­ருப்தி, ஆளும் முறைமை மற்றும் பின்­தங்­கிய பொரு­ளா­தார நிலை­மைகள் ஆகி­ய­வற்­றுக்­கி­டை­யி­லான பிரி­வி­னைகள் கார­ண­மாக ஒரு பின்­ன­டைவை எதிர்­நோக்­கலாம். 

 

முடிக்­கு­ரிய இள­வ­ர­சரின் சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­களின்

 விளை­வுகள்:

பின் சல்­மானின் சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் நேர­டி­யாக மேற்­கத்­திய நாடு­களின், குறிப்­பாக அமெ­ரிக்­காவின் செல்­வாக்கு படிந்­த­வை­யாகும். பல வரு­டங்­க­ளாக அவர் அமெ­ரிக்­காவில் வசித்து வந்­ததால், மத மற்றும் சமூக விவ­கா­ரங்கள் தொடர்­பான அவ­ரது கருத்­துக்­களில் அது தாக்­கத்தை செலுத்­தி­யுள்­ளது. அவ்­வாறே, அமெ­ரிக்­காவும்; மேற்கு நாடு­களால் செல்­வாக்கு செலுத்­தப்­பட்­டவை  என்­பதை எடுத்­துக்­காட்டும் அவ­ரு­டைய சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­களை முன்­னெ­டுக்க முடிக்­கு­ரிய இள­வ­ர­சரின் மீது அழுத்­தத்தைப் பிர­யோ­கித்து வரு­கின்­றது.

பின் சல்­மானின் சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் சவூதி அரே­பி­யா­விற்கு ஒரு நெருக்­க­டியை ஏற்­ப­டுத்­தலாம். மத்­திய கிழக்கில் ஆட்சி முறை­மை­களால்; உத்­த­ர­வி­டப்­பட்ட சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் பொது­மக்கள் எதிர்ப்பை எதிர்­நோக்­கின. இந்த சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் இறு­தியில் ஒரு கிளர்ச்­சிக்கே வழி­வ­குத்­தன.

 சவூதி அரே­பி­யாவில் சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்கள் மதச்­சார்­பின்­மைக்கு வழி­வ­குக்கும் என்­ப­தோடு மேற்­கத்­திய விழு­மி­யங்­களை மேம்­ப­டுத்தும் செயல்­பா­டுகள், பெரு­ம­ளவில்; பழ­மை­வா­தத்தில் ஊறித் திழைத்த சவூதி சமு­தா­யத்தில் அதிக வர­வேற்­பையும் பெறாது.

 கடந்த மாதங்­களில், சவுதி மக்கள், சீர்­தி­ருத்­தங்­க­ளுக்கு எதிர்ப்பு தெரி­வித்து வந்­தாலும் பின் சல்மான் தொடர்ந்தும் பல­வந்­தத்தின் மூலம் தனது நட­வ­டிக்­கையை செயல்­ப­டுத்தி வந்­துள்ளார்.

 முடிக்குரிய சவுதி இளவரசரின் சீர்திருத்தங்கள் பாலஸ்தீனிய மக்களின் நலன்களைக் குழிதோன்டிப் புதைத்துவரும்; இஸ்ரேலுடன் நெருக்கமான உறவுகளை நிறுவும் நோக்கினையும் கொண்டுள்ளது.

சுருக்கமாக சொல்வதானால், சவுதி அரேபிய சமுதாயத்தில் பல சவால்களை உருவாக்கிய, பின் சல்மான் முடிக்குரிய இளவரசராக  நியமனம் பெற்ற நாள் தொட்டு, பொருளாதார, சமூக மற்றும் கலாச்சார சீர்திருத்தங்களைச் செயல்படுத்த சவுதி அரேபியா தீவிர முயற்சிகளை மேற்கொண்டு வருகிறது. சந்தேகத்திற்கு இடமின்றி, இது சவுதி அரேபியாவின் அரசியல் உறுதிப்பாட்டுக்கு அச்சுறுத்தலாக அமைவதோடு, உள்நாட்டில் ஒரு குழப்பநிலையை உருவாக்கும் அபாயமும் உள்ளது.

-Vidivelli

IMAM KHOMEINI (QS): HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS

In the name of Allah who states "O soul that art rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with him), well-pleasing (Him), So enter among My servants, And enter into My garden" Q89:27-30
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His chosen servant, our master Muhammad and his purified progeny.

The piece of this week is on the recent 29th commemoration of Imam Khomeini's demise, 3rd June, 1989. No doubt, he was a great man of Allah who demonstrated his love and obedience to Him. He exceptionally succeeded in the struggle against the enemies of Islam, their local and international stooges at the era of advancement in science and technology. But for his Islamic revolution, no one could tell the destiny of Islam and Muslims especially in the Middle-east! Looking at the life, struggle and success of his uncircumstancial revolution,  Allah says “….if ye turn back (from the path), He will substitute in your stead Another people; then they would not be like you” Q47:37. Abu Hurairah narrated as recorded by Imam al-Tabari, the companions asked the messenger; with whom should we be substituted if we turn back? He touched the shoulder of Salman saying this and his people! Imam Jaafar al-Saadiq (as recorded in volume two of Bihar al-Anwar, pages 445 and 446)  said “A great man of Qom will invite people towards truth and freedom, and they will accept his call resolutely and with an iron will gather round him. They are individuals who fear no calamities and unpleasant happenings and never tire of combat and endeavor. Their only hope and refuse is Allah. Ultimate victory and success belong to chaste and virtuous people and those who follow the way of Allah” Of all the social changes, revolution as a popular uprising for a complete change in political power and fundamental dominatory values is the most important.  Historically, only six such significant revolutions were successful; the French 1789, the Russian 1917, the Chinese 1949, the Cuban 1959 and Iranian and Nicaraguan 1979. The change occurs in stages with a lot of multifaceted implications but positive result.

Like the Arab world, we could evidently remember how Iran was completely subservient to America in the days of the deposed Shah killing all sectors of its economy, especially farming through the treacherous MoU  termed white revolution. With the success of Islamic revolution, the West is scared of the strategy, indefatigability and ever-developing trend of the Islamic republic. In remembrance of the blessed life of the Imam, a number of basic points should be highlighted.

In the light of a lengthy quote in the historic response to a London Times correspondent on what kind of Muslim was the Imam? The leader of Islamic revolution and founder of the Islamic republic stated "My belief and that of other Muslims are the same; issues that the Qur'an contains or those that have been uttered by the prophet of Islam (PBUH) and by the rightful authorities after him. The root and essence of all those beliefs which are our dearest and most valuable belief is MONOTHEISM. According to this principle, we believe that the creator of the world and of all beings in the universe, including mankind is the ONE AND ONLY EXALTED, Allah Who knows all and is capable of all things, and to Him belongs all things and objects. This principle teaches us to be submissive only before the power of Allah and to obey no man unless obeying him is tantamount to obeying Allah. On the basis of this principle, NO INDIVIDUAL HAS THE RIGHT TO FORCE ANY OTHER MAN TO SUBMIT TO HIM. Furthermore, this principle of faith teaches us the principle of human freedom, that is NO MAN HAS THE RIGHT TO DEPRIVE AN INDIVIDUAL OR COMMUNITY OF LIBERTY, to legislate for them, to regulate their conduct according to his own understanding of it, which is generally defective, or regulate the conduct of others according to his wishes or desires. Still more, from this principle, we came to believe that legislation for man's progress is with Allah alone, just as the laws of creation and being are willed by Him. Man's happiness and perfection and those of the communities are dependent on obedience to divine laws of which mankind is informed through the prophets (PBUT). Man's degradation and fall is due to deprivation of his rights and his submission to other human beings. Therefore, man must rise against these fetters and chains of bondage and to challenge those who invite us to servitude, and to liberate ourselves and the community so that we may all be servants of Allah and submit ourselves to Him. It is for this reason that our social rules and regulations begin with OPPOSITION TO DESPOTIC AND COLONIAL POWERS.

Also, from this principle of faith and belief in monotheism, we get the inspiration that ALL MEN ARE EQUAL BEFORE ALLAH, who created them all and all are His creatures and servants. This is the principle of equality of men and that man's only distinction and preference to one another rests in their VIRTUE AND FREEDOM FROM DISTORTION AND GUILT. Therefore, all the things that upset this equality and institute, vain and nonsense distinctions in the community must be fought against".  With firm and sincere faith in Allah and his messenger, Imam led the most successful revolution in history saying "the revolution owes nothing to any group, I have often declared that I have entered in no brotherhood pact with anyone, regardless of their position or status. The framework for my friendship lies in the honesty and veracity of each individual"

The woeful failure of the war imposed on Iran (1980-1988) by the Saddam's administration with full support of the West and Arab countries has beyond doubt demonstrated the help of Allah to the Imam. With the overwhelming support of America and petrodollars Arab nations, Saddam and his masters confidently miscalculated defeat of the overstretched Islamic republic within short period promising a global press conference at the capital Tehran. The Iranian armed forces was obviously incapacitated, lacking spare parts and necessary military equipments for combat along with highly scorned  revolutionary guards  instructed by religious authority with very little military experience that could in no way be compared with Saddam's multifaceted and sophisticated supported military buildup. The war immediately imposed after the success of Islamic revolution was meant to destroy it. However, Allah the omnipotent proved the enemies wrong with embarrassing defeat after eight years. Phebe Marr, a renowned analyst in the Middle-east stated "the war was more immediately the result of poor political judgment and miscalculation on the part of Saddam Husain," and "the decision to invade, taken at a moment of Iranian weakness". The presumed border dispute and ordinary rupture of diplomatic ties linked to the war were obviously baseless. It was intentionally created to destabilize the Islamic republic, leading to massacre of 1.5m estimated innocent souls!

With the fall of the Shah government under his stooge Baktiar, Imam said “Islam and the Islamic republic were a trust given to us by Allah, the Most Exalted and Most High” He ordered for the historic referendum of the 1st April, 1979 for the establishment of Islamic republic where more than 98% voted in support, hence, the republic was established after decades of struggle and sacrifice against injustice. Evidently, the Islamic system guaranteed freedom and justice in the country, and has encouraged other people to free themselves from Western domination and enslavement. After the success of the revolution, the enemies used counter revolutionary influences through the MKO, Saddam, CIA and SAVAK sufficiently funded to frustrate the efforts of the Imam but all proved abortive. Of the strategic lessons taught by the Imam were the unity week, the international Quds day, international women's day and the Muslim awakening campaigns among others in favour of the Muslim Ummah.. Most interestingly, the Imam led a very simple life setting good example not to his successors alone but all political and working classes in the republic. I shed tears during my visit to his Northern Tehran rented apartment over the simplest life he led despite all powers and influences at his disposal!

While the kingdoms, sheikhdoms and sultanates of the Arab that traditionally or partially comply with the Shari'ah, its application in Iran is total in the light of the concept of Wilayatul faqih which replaced the Shah’s monarchy with absolute Islamic system under a spiritual leader who is the custodian of Islamic rules and values. The tremendous development of the Islamic republic in all endeavors of human life no doubt owes its credit to the revolution in place.

As part of his farewell message, the Imam stated, "...with a heart that is calm and confident; with a joyous soul and a conscience hopeful of Allah's graces, I take my leave from brothers and sisters, and journey to the eternal abode, and I very much need your good prayers. I ask Allah, the Benevolent to accept my excuses for inadequate services, and I ask the nation to accept my excuses for my shortages and inadequacies and to move forward with force, determination and will"
To export or import the Islamic revolution is not the issue, most important fact is the revolutionary change for goodness “… verily, never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves with their own souls” Q13:11

While praying for Allah’s bountiful mercy on the great Imam, safety of the Islamic revolution, l reiterate the urgent need for Shaikh's el-Zakzaky's unconditional release.

Wassalamu alaikum.
Mal Yusuf Abdullah

Qods Day Rallies Mark Israel’s Fast Approaching End

Kayhan Int’l

 
Yesterday, the Last Friday of Blessed Ramadhan once again saw millions of Iranians take to the streets throughout the county on the day that was designated as "World Qods Day” by the Father of the Islamic Revolution in order to mobilize the Ummah for the cherished goal of the liberation of Islam’s former "Qibla” (focal point of the ritual prayer), the sacred al-Aqsa Mosque, in the Zionist occupied Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, which the West calls Jerusalem.

It is now 40 lunar years since Imam Khomeini’s dynamic move that not just revived the struggle of the Palestinian people for reclamation of their usurped rights but infused Islamic spirit into them at a time when secular, socialist, and so-called Arab nationalist outfits had reduced this purely Muslim issue to a mere theatrical protest that worked to the benefit of illegal Zionist entity and its backers.
The Founder of the Islamic Republic in Iran, whose famous statement "the cancerous tumour called Israel should be eradicated from the region”, removed any notion of despondency from the hearts of Palestinians and world Muslims, as is evident by the emergence of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Zionist occupied land and similar resistance organizations in the neighbourhood, such as Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah, which have shattered the dreams of the Elders of Zionism for Greater Israel stretching from the River Nile in Egypt to the River Euphrates on the Iraq-Iran borders, indeed revolutionized the whole concept of struggle against oppression.

As a firm testimony to the foresight of that Sage of the Age, the annual World Qods Day rallies which Global Arrogance and its client states, especially the Arab reactionary regimes had sought to suppress, have now spread all over the world, and are being held in Europe and the Americas as well, thereby arousing conscientious minds toward the crimes against humanity of the terrorist child-killing Zionist entity.

It was exasperation at the approaching end of Israel that had made the Arab statelets of the Persian Gulf – themselves spurious British-created entities – embark on the multi-billion dollar destabilization of Syria, in the vain hope of ensuring security for the Zionist entity and in the process severing the bond between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Resistance Front.

The reactionary Arabs know that the end of Israel means their own end, when the awakened people begin to question the legitimacy of the Aal-e Saud, the Aal-e Khalifa and Aal-e Nahyan to rule lands that imperialism had created.

Thanks to the prudent political decision of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who three years ago had predicted the end of Israel in less than the next twenty-five years, the intricate plot of the West and its Arab surrogates to seize Syria and Iraq was foiled with the resounding defeat of the macabre head-chopping and liver-eating Tafkiri terrorists.

It was this frustration that made the quixotic US president, Donald Trump, to resort to the cowardly move of setting up the American embassy in the occupied Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, with the support of reactionary Arab regimes, in the hope of granting legitimacy to the illegal Zionist entity.

Trump followed it up with the unmanly US exit from the 7-nation international nuclear accord with Iran, as a desperate attempt to avert the invertible, that is, the growing popular appeal and defensive power of Islamic Iran.

It is now obvious that he has miserably failed, along with his Arab and Israelite comrades-in-crimes, as was evident by the World Qods Day Rallies that were held almost all over the world yesterday, including Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Yemeni capital Sana’a, where hundreds of thousands of people came out on the streets to denounce the Zionist entity and call for the liberation of Palestine.

The message is clear. If the 88-year usurpation of Palestine by the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem could be ended by a united Muslim force of Kurds, Turks, Arabs and Iranians in 1187, why not the current 70-year usurpation by the Zionist entity, for which the countdown had already begun?

Imam Khomeini offers a new definition of politics in ME

New Delhi, June 6, IRNA - A renowned Indian analyst of the international political affairs believes that the late Imam Khomeini as the founder of the Islamic Republic in Iran changed the whole political landscape in Middle-East through creating a new concept for the same.

In an exclusive interview with IRNA, Akhlaq Usmani who is also well known for his wide coverage of Syria news and also as a crisis journalist, commented on the impact of Imam Khomeini and the Iranian Islamic Revolution on the political scenario in the Middle-East.

He said that “Imam Khomeini’s role should be seen not only in Iran but also in the entire geopolitical perspective. It is important to note that the late Imam has created a new meaning for politics not only in Iran but also in the entire Middle East. It is amazing that he both managed to change the political system in Iran while he was in exile and simultaneously became a personality that shook the political ideology of the region. Not surprisingly, even today, 39 years later, there is no shortage of popularity for him.”

Usmani went on to note that “the late Imam Khomeini is also the first leader who established a democratic political system in the Middle East the roots of which are getting stronger every day. The expansionist forces are abusive in Saudi Arabia because they could not understand the true meaning of democracy and Imam Khomeini wanted to tell this only.'

'By establishing Iran as an ideal country, he proved that Muslims also can run democratic countries. His approach towards the Wahhabist and Zionist regimes gave his people the insight of the conspiracy of the two regimes. That is why Zionists are hand in glove with the Wahhabis against Iran,” he added.

Elaborating on the collaboration of the Saudi Arabia with the Zionist regime against Iran, Akhlaq Usmani said: “Ever since the young dictator came to power in Saudi Arabia, he has started accepting his relations with Israel. Following the defeat of the Ottomans and the British, Jewish and Saudis worked together, but they did not want people to become aware of this fact. Today, the whole world knows that Saudi Arabia and Israel are two sides of the same coin. Saudi Arabia provides training, arms and money to the terrorists to not only destroy Syria and Iraq but also the entire Islamic world.”

“Sadly, he is doing all these for Israel and America rather than for the wellbeing of his own people. Imam Khomeini had understood the nature of the friendship between the Saudi Arabia, Israel, and America long ago. So he wanted to create a non-Wahabi Islamic alliance. This coalition has had a lot of success recently. Now, not only the leftist and the socialist forces but also the Sunni are now supporting the Iranian and Islamic coalition. This is Iran's answer to the dirty collaboration between the Saudi Arabia and Israel,” he underlined.

Supporting Iran’s demand for ensuring the peace, security and stability in the Middle-East without the US involvement, he said: “Iran's demand for peace and stability in Middle-East minus America is the need of the time, region and mankind. Iran emphasizes on the Asian and Islamic unity. I think this effort of Iran is getting success.”

Forward March of the Immortal Legacy of Imam Khomeini (RA)

By: S. Nawabzadeh

"If every Muslim pours a bucket of water it would be enough to flush away the criminal state of Israel.”

These prophetic words, if not yet fully realized, portend the impending doom of the illegal Zionist entity, and stand as firm testimony to the foresight of that Sage who predicted the end of communism in his historical letter to Mikhail Gorbachev and had foretold the approaching collapse of the decadent western civilization.

As we commemorate the 29th passing away solar anniversary of the Man of the Millennium on the threshold of the 40th lunar anniversary of his dynamic decision to designate the Last Friday of the Blessed Month of Ramadhan as "World’s Qods Day” in order to mobilize the Ummah for the cherished goal of the liberation of Islam’s first Qibla (direction of prayer), we realize that Imam Khomeini (RA) was not merely an erudite scholar possessing political acumen, but an institution whose firm establishment of a truly Islamic system of government in Iran, has continued to rob the sleep of satanic powers, which in their desperation to undo what he did, are currently in the process of hammering the last nails in their own coffins.

The Father of the Islamic Revolution lived and breathed Islam, as is evident from his words, deeds and writings.

He endeavoured to give practical shape to the Shari’ah in state affairs and the ideal before him was the 11-year administration of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and the four-and-a-half year rule of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS) – the perfect form of rule headed by the most wisest of person, as visualized by philosophers from the Greek Plato to the Iranian Abu Nasr Farabi, or the Utopia of the medieval Europeans, which will be finally realized with the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (AS) and his global government of peace, prosperity and justice.

Thus, it was not without reason that Imam Khomeini spurned the suggestion to add the word ‘democratic’ to the Islamic Republic. He knew the havoc played in modern history by regimes ranging from dictatorial to anarchic, styling themselves as ‘democratic’. It was also his firm belief that the term ‘Islamic’ was far more comprehensive than the ancient Greek or modern Western concept, and it is only under the Islamic system that people’s rights are genuinely respected. In the Late Imam’s view the term ‘democratic’ was not only redundant and useless but carried a deceptive and disgraceful tone.

Islamic unity was always at the bottom of the Late Imam’s heart, and he said:     "If this (Islamic) brotherhood is materialized some day with the efforts of the governments and the people, and of course, with Divine Help, you will see that the Muslims will be the world’s greatest power.”

These brilliant views, coupled with his practical steps to bring the Ummah on the platform of solidarity by initiating the "Islamic Unity Week” on the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) in order to bridge the two dates of Rabi al-Awwal held as that auspicious day by Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, as well as his arousing of Islamic sentiments worldwide towards the issue of Bayt al-Moqaddas, changed the texture of the Palestinian struggle and gave birth to Islamic groups in Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, fully dedicated to weeding out the cancerous tumour called Israel.

This was where the iconoclast came into open conflict with the hegemonic and materialistic West, especially with America the ‘Great Satan’ and its blinkered vision of life and culture; and this was where godless capitalism miserably floundered against Islamic resurgence.

For the past four decades the US, along with rootless regimes in the spurious states created by Britain in the Arab World, instead of coming to terms with facts and realities, has resorted to a series of intricate plots to try to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran or at least to contain its forward march, but to no avail.

Washington has bolstered, or more properly fleeced, the oil rich Arab states of their ill accumulated wealth by selling them weapons they cannot use and wasting their hundreds of billions of petro dollars in a vain bid to destabilize Syria, Iraq and other countries through the worst ever terrorists the world has seen, but has seen its plots miserably backfired.

The US even goaded the Zionist entity to launch a massive attack on Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah, in 2006, but the 33-day war saw the triumph of Iranian trained Islamic fighters over western weaponry.
The same scenario was repeated in Syria and Iraq recently, resulting in disastrous defeats for the western and Saudi backed terrorists.

At the same time, the ideals of Imam Khomeini have continued to steadily spread, not just in the Levant, where Israel is in its death throes, but throughout the Muslim world, where the Americans are viewed as the most despicable of devils.

To sum up, the latest threats and sanctions against Iran of the quixotic Donald Trump and his team of thugs, as well as his criminal move in setting up the American embassy in the occupied Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, are nothing but suicidal efforts that will only make the heirs of Imam Khomeini in Iran and the region more determined and more strong.

Bin Salman’s US Pilgrimage

The slave/master relationship could not be clearer. The Saudi supplicant, Muhammad bin Salman is visiting the US (March 19–April 9) to seek Donald Trump’s permission and blessing to ascend the Saudi throne. The White House occupant had no problem granting such approval; after all, he had already called Bin Salman (BS) his “boy” in Riyadh. The latter will do anything to ingratiate himself to his white master. It is the old story of the “house slave.” The late al-Haj Malik Shabaz (aka Malcolm X) had used much harsher language but we will refrain from repeating it here.

There was also another reason for BS’ US visit — and two weeks earlier his trips to Britain and France. This had to do with the internal situation in the medieval kingdom. Rubbing shoulders with world leaders confers importance on tinpot dictators that have no standing among their own people. Bin Sal-man, however, was not doing anything extraordinary. This is the habit of all puppets. Legitimacy is conferred by their masters abroad, hence the trips.

In Britain, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler was welcomed even by the Queen and given a royal dinner. Ordinarily, the arrogant British would sneer at the desert dwellers but in Bin Salman’s case, Britain is keen to strike more arms deals as well as hope to persuade him to float Aramco’s shares on the London Stock Exchange. Bin Salman dangled Aramco’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) carrot in front of salivating Westerners to get his wishes. He did not have to try very hard: Britain, France, and the US are eager to sell more lethal weapons (including nuclear reactors in the case of the US, to the Saudis. And if the latter uses them against innocent Yemenis or Syrians, so be it. No Western ruler or politician is going to lose sleep over the murder of a few thousand poor Yemenis. After all, these Western regimes have murdered millions of innocent Muslims since 9/11.

Bin Salman’s moves are boringly predictable. Last May, when Trump and his entourage descended on Riyadh, the narcissist from America was showered with praise and gifts. He was even conferred the King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Sa‘ud medal, the highest civilian award of the medieval kingdom. What had Trump done to deserve the medal? Throughout the election campaign in 2016, he condemned the Saudis as “freeloaders” and hurled other insults at them. Always the gluttons for punishment and used to insults from those they consider superior, the Saudis resorted to the only course they know: stoop even lower.

Trump’s May visit resulted in $110 billion worth of arms contracts, though these have not materialized yet. The Saudis are already the second largest importer of weapons in the world, the bulk of which come from the US. Following Trump’s visit, Bin Salman was elevated to the position of “Crown Prince.” This was the basic purpose Bin Salman wanted to achieve from Trump’s Riyadh trip. With BS’ US visit, the stage is being set for him to ascend the Saudi throne sooner than later. And he told CBS program “60 Minutes” (March 18) that he intends to rule for 50 years unless death intervenes!

Even if he lives, BS may not find it smooth sailing. He has already antagonized too many people at home including the religious establishment, intellectuals, senior members of the “royal” family as well as the merchant class. Some members of the “royal” family were tortured under the guise of fighting corruption; a few were killed. The entire edifice of the medieval kingdom is based on patronage and corruption, so any talk of fighting corruption is just a ruse. In the CBS program “60 Minutes,” BS admitted he is “rich” but refused to divulge his wealth or its sources (shall we hazard a guess: grand larceny?).

While Bin Salman may have Trump’s blessings to become king, there is a lot more going on in the Kingdom. The brash and inexperienced son of the king would have difficulty controlling the situation. The war in Yemen is not going well despite BS firing a number of senior generals — it is their fault, he insists — but facts are stubborn things. As defence minister, it is his call; he started it without reason and must bear responsibility for it. Human Rights Watch has called for his prosecution as a war criminal.

This may come to haunt him. And as for his reliance on Trump, the moron-in-chief is nobody’s friend. The graveyard is full of America’s favorite tyrants and puppets who were ditched when they outlived their usefulness. Why does Bin Salman think he would face a fate any different than the duped others preceding him?

Time to Study Wahhabi Zionists

Religious Zionists on ground with Arabian counterparts

Tahir Mahmoud

Careful study of the theology of Judaism and Wahhabism reveals that they share an anthropomorphic understanding of God, but this is not the only similarity between the two groups.

Religious Zionist groups which provide a religious mask for the occupation of Palestine are a crucial tool of the Zionist project. Even though, most leaders of the Zionist movement were and are staunch atheists, this has not constrained them in using religion to advance what is essentially a secular colonial enterprise.

Judaism is a convenient political tool, much like the regressive Wahhabi movement that uses Islam as a mask in its dominance over Makkah and Madinah. Also, both groups are big on takfir. In 2015, David Azoulay of the Shas Party and serving as minister in the Zionist regime, declared that Theodor Hertzl cannot be qualified as a Jew. Azoulay’s statement did not shock people following the political machinations of religious Zionist circles, as a serious rift between various religious Jewish groups in colonized Palestine is well known.

Overall, the Israeli religious political scene is a mishmash of confused trends and alliances. In fact, a staunch dogmatic atheist and Islamophobe, Sam Harris, is a subtle promoter of the Zionist colonization of Palestine. One of the reasons for Harris’s outwardly contradictory stance is that he sees atheism in Zionism.

The confusion shared by religious Zionists and their Wahhabi cousins appears to be a paradox. Both denounce the secular wings of the founders of the systems to which they belong as irreligious apostates yet they have a high degree of socio-political allegiance to them and provide them with a degree of legitimacy.

The purpose here is not to delve into the philosophical and theological common ground between Wahhabism and religious Zionism but to highlight the weakness of Muslim understanding of religious Zionists, especially with a view to divide the enemy.

One of the biggest leverages Israel enjoys in the Muslim world is that it has managed to align the interests of pseudo-Islamic groups with its strategic expansionist military and political goals. In February 2017, Salih al-Hamawi, founder of al-Nusrah Front in 2012, openly expressed support for Israel’s attack on Syria. Wahhabi terrorists operating in Syria openly receive assistance from Israel. In Gaza, in 2009, Abu Nur al-Maqdisi, a follower of the Jordanian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi went so far as to launch an armed insurrection against the Islamic administration of Hamas in Gaza claiming to restore “true Islam” in Gaza and conveniently “forgot” that the main beneficiary of such action is Israel.

If one follows local Israeli politics carefully, it will immediately reveal staunch antipathy between religious and secular Zionists. Usually, the opposition and animosity between the two sides is of a mundane nature, but it is very passionate. The difference between this political standoff within religious Zionist groups on the one hand and the Wahhabis in the Muslim world on the other hand is that the Israeli security establishment and its PR institutions actively add fuel to the fire in Muslim societies, when Wahhabis go berserk over nonsensical issues like posting pictures of female parliamentary candidates.

Israel’s policy is to strategically exploit such differences in Muslim societies and use them to its advantage. Muslims do not have this capacity. One of the reasons is that Muslim power-centers know very little about the passionate divide between religious and secular Zionists.

Israel has many think tanks, academic and media institutions studying various Islamic schools of thought and socio-political trends. Muslim academic and media institutions should also allocate time and resources to learn about Zionist Wahhabis. This trend in Judaism will play a crucial role whenever the apartheid system in colonized Palestine collapses. Just like its cousin-movement creating havoc in the Muslim world, the Jewish Wahhabis will also create chaos worldwide. The history of the formation of the Zionist entity has a proven track record of the movement’s terrorist basis. During the early days of the occupation of Palestine, Zionist terrorist organizations like the Irgun and the Stern Gang perpetrated many atrocities. Once the Zionist system collapses, they will resort to their old tricks and Judaic Wahhabism will again play a more important role within the desperate defeated Zionist movement. Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals, journalists and activists ought to be proactive regarding this phenomenon rather than react to its destructive methods at the last minute.

 

Tahir Mahmoud

Trump Abandons Iran Nuclear Deal

Editor

Following US President Donald Trump’s May 8 announcement pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal, there has been intense political and diplomatic activity to deal with its consequences. Not surprisingly, there is palpable anger in Iran at such US duplicity reflected in massive rallies in Tehran last month that even the CNN was forced to admit were some of the largest in recent history.

Barring minor exceptions — Zionist Israel and Wahhabi Arabia that applauded Trump — other reactions have been widely negative. Russia, China, and Turkey expressed dismay as did European states Germany, Britain, and France. The last three see their economic interests being seriously affected by the sanctions Trump has threatened to reimpose.

There has been intense diplomatic activity in Europe that purports to save the nuclear deal referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). European officials have expressed concern at Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the deal and have vowed to create mechanisms to protect the interests of their companies doing business with Iran. How this will come about is difficult to envisage since most major European companies had not entered into any agreements even after the deal was signed in July 2015 for fear of US reprisals. Many major European companies have vast interests in the US. Would they jeopardize these for the sake of Iran?

Iran has scrupulously adhered to its obligations as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the agency charged with confirming Iran’s compliance. But Trump’s real reason is not Iran’s non-compliance although he even lied about that relying on the nonsensical claims of the Zionist terrorist and war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu, on April 30. Trump’s real problem is that he does not like the deal at all calling it a “horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.” The other reason is that it was his predecessor Barack Obama who signed the deal and Trump is on a mission to destroy everything he achieved. Trump’s position was predicated on a suite of lies, the key one being, “The Iranian regime [sic] is the leading state sponsor of terror. It exports dangerous missiles, fuels conflicts across the Middle East, and supports terrorist proxies and militias such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban, and al-Qaeda.”

Even his own advisors have dismissed Trump’s allegations about Iran being a “sponsor of terror.” Iran is the victim of US-Saudi-Zionist sponsored terrorist groups and has made enormous sacrifices fighting them. This in fact adds to US-Israel angst because Iran has frustrated their regime change plans in Syria.

In reacting to Trump’s announced withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the Rahbar, Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei cautioned Iranian officials to be wary of Western promises. He advised them to get ironclad guarantees before accepting anything the Europeans promise. These are wise words that Iranian officials must pay close attention to. Under no circumstances should Iran entertain the idea of opening discussions about its defensive missile program or its regional role. The Islamic Republic should not fall for the good cop bad cop routine of Europe and America.

Instead of relying on European promises, the Islamic Republic should pivot toward Russia, China, and Turkey. These countries have also suffered and continue to suffer US sanctions as well as other disruptive behavior. China has already signaled it will not accept America’s unilateralism and intends to continue doing business with Iran that currently stands at $37 billion annually.

Russia and Turkey have similarly indicated they will continue to trade with Iran. The free trade pact between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union, inclusive of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan will further boost Iran-Russia trade. Currently at a mere $1.7 billion, this needs to be expanded.

It is important to find mechanisms to bypass the US dollar such as bilateral agreements to trade in each other’s local currency as well as developing the petro-yuan. Should some countries manage to do that, it would end the dollar’s hegemony and hasten the demise of US gangsterism. Trump’s erratic behavior may well lead to the end of US exceptionalism and disabuse the Washington warlords of the notion of superpower status.