News Review 26/12/2020

UK Ends Political Theatre and Secures Brexit Trade Deal with the EU

As this column predicted last week, the UK comfortably secured a trade deal with the EU just before deadline. The end negotiations were in fact staged in order to give the appearance of a win-win result for both parties. The main obstacle in securing a trade deal was not in fact the EU but the internal divisions within the UK’s ruling Conservative Party, known as the Tories. Prime Minister Boris Johnson avoided the mistake of his predecessor Theresa May, who failed to convince her party that a ‘soft’ Brexit was in Britain’s best interest. Her bill to ratify the deal she had won with Europe was defeated multiple times in the British parliament. So instead Johnson has presented his deal as a ‘hard’ Brexit, even though he still has the UK strongly tied into the EU. This is essential to preserve Britain’s trade relations with the EU and London’s leading position as Europe’s financial centre.

Political manoeuvring is an essential aspect of great power statecraft. The Prophet (saw) demonstrated in Medina how political skill could peacefully advance state interests, instead of resorting to war in every situation. But the disbelieving West degrade and corrupt politics by basing it upon lies and deceit. Britain was forced to exit Europe because of its excessiveness in political cunning. The Khilafah State, by contrast, shall build its politics on sincerity and honesty, winning respect, trust and loyalty. Objectives may be concealed during high political manoeuvres but this must be done without issuing statements of falsehood. Islam shall once again return the entire world to a period of peace, stability and prosperity.

Pakistan, Turkey, Iran

According to a report in the Asia Times, the Pakistan military establishment is set to take full control of the China financed $60 billion CPEC infrastructure project that is a cornerstone of China’s ambitious global-scale Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The shift points to a failure of the $1 trillion Chinese BRI that is leading to a ‘rethink strategy’ due to “structural weaknesses” including opacity, corruption, over-lending to poor countries resulting in “debt traps” and adverse social and environmental impacts, according to research by Boston University. China launched the BRI in 2013 amid much talk of increased Chinese power but it was actually America that encouraged China on this path in order to overextend it and draw it away from the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean that America considers its private waters. Pakistan is a subordinate state to America, and it was America that pushed Pakistan towards the CPEC project with China, for the same reasons. China’s reduced engagement in CPEC is a vindication of American planning but at what cost to Pakistan, which is saddled with massive debts to the Chinese public and private sectors for huge projects that are not properly aligned with Pakistan’s own pressing needs. The Pakistani military establishment has already become overexposed by its deep involvement in backing the incompetent government of Prime Minister Imran Khan. As long as Muslim countries are governed by ineffectual agent rulers, we will continue to be manipulated into being used to serve the larger interests of the great powers.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has once again made clear his irreligious secular thinking in politics and his basic insincerity to Islam and to the Muslim Ummah, despite his repeated claims to the contrary. According to a Reuters report, Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would like better ties with the illegal Jewish entity, but its policy towards the Palestinians remains “unacceptable”. Meanwhile negotiations are ongoing. No doubt, Erdogan does not wish to be left behind by Arab countries that have newly recognised the illegal entity, who have also shifted their position from rejecting the existence of the illegal entity to only questioning its treatment of resident Palestinians. Islam has comprehensive shar’i rules for foreign policy; what is ‘unacceptable’ is for the Muslim land of Palestine to be ruled over by a non-Islamic authority. Furthermore, the illegal entity is not simply a non-Muslim authority but a colonialist one that is a Jewish successor to the Christian Crusader state established by the West in the same land a thousand years ago. Its purpose is to be a projection of Western interests and control into the very heart of the Muslim world. But then Erdogan is himself a part of the imperialist plan, an agent to Western interests and so fully accepting of Western dominance over the Muslim world. With Allah’s permission, the Muslim Ummah shall soon rid itself of this agent ruling class and pledge its allegiance to sincere, indigenous Muslim leadership that shall re-establish the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw), liberating all occupied territories and carrying the light of Islam to the entire world.

It is America that is behind Erdogan, and it is America also that is behind Iran, whose ruling factions compete with each other for American favour. Despite harsh words between Trump and Iran, a petition signed by 150 Democrat representatives in Congress calls for America to re-enter the Iranian nuclear deal. The Republicans and Democrats in America follow the same policies but they have different approaches: Republicans are usually more unilateralist while Democrats tend to be more collaborative internationally with other powers. It was the Democrat administration of President Barack Obama that publicly established relations with the Iranian state through the nuclear deal under the Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action (JCPOA) which was signed by other major powers also in exchange for Iranian oil. Somewhat predictably, the Trump’s Republican administration exited the deal. But incoming President Joe Biden is again talking of returning to it. Iran will continue to be subservient to the West as long as it continues to implement the Western democratic system that is nothing but a vehicle for elite interests that inevitably divide into competing factions. In contrast the Shar’i system, by vesting all authority in the Amir al-Mu’mineen, prevents the development of entrenched vested interest, making him accountable to the people directly. The Iranian leadership misled its people by conducting what they called an ‘Islamic’ revolution but implemented instead Western systems of government. Unfortunately, as has happened elsewhere, the co-opting of some scholars into the power structure has until now been sufficient to hold back criticism; but as Muslims increase in their awareness of the Islamic concepts and fiqh concerning ruling, it is only a matter of time before the Iranian regime’s betrayal of Islam becomes fully exposed before the sincere Muslims in Iran.

Trump Pardons Blackwater Employees

US President Donald Trump is coming under criticism in America for the large number of presidential pardons he is issuing in his final weeks, the system of presidential pardons being yet another evidence for Western oligarchy masked as fictitious democracy. This week, Trump issued four pardons for private Blackwater contractors who were found guilty of killing 14 Iraqi citizens in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. Private contractors were used extensively to support American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the United States found itself losing against local mujahideen. Ultimately, this led to a major change in US strategy, which led to Defence Secretary Robert Gates saying during a prepared speech to US military cadets in 2011, “In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined’.” The use of private contractors was also then reduced, while they faced some backlash from the military establishment that didn’t want to be bypassed by the White House connecting directly with private contractors, which is the real reason that the Blackwater employees were convicted in the first place, and not because of the atrocities they committed in Iraq, which were far surpassed by the brutality of the American military itself. As American global dominance increases, the role of the State Department and the CIA has reduced, while the role of the Pentagon and its covert JSOC operations has increased.

With Allah’s permission, the Muslim Ummah shall soon arise and re-establish the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw) that shall secure complete sovereignty for the Muslim Ummah over its own lands and affairs, and roll back the influence of the United States and other great powers, the very size of the Khilafah, its economic potential and its ideological power ensuring its entry into the ranks of the great powers from its first day.