Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
As usual cool Anna News report from Shushi. Filmed yesterday on the northern road leading to Shusha. The armored vehicles in the video are being pulled up from the side of Stepanakert.
Today, the Armenians hold Shusha, but the Azerbaijanis continue to press, trying to cover the city from the west and at the same time try to break through the positions of the Armenians in the mountains to the east of it in order to take it into a half-ring. Attention is drawn to the very bad weather, which in the current conditions plays into the hands of the Armenians, as it complicates the operation of the Azerbaijani and Turkish UAVs. The Armenian command states that the attempts of the Azerbaijani special forces to enter Shusha were repelled with losses for the enemy. Nevertheless, over the past 24 hours, Shusha has been subjected to serious artillery and MLRS attacks, and Azerbaijan will obviously bring up additional forces from the Jebrail region to increase pressure.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden has won the US presidential election, defeating President Donald Trump, whose first term in the White House was defined by divisive rhetoric and an erratic foreign policy.
Biden was projected by CNN and AP as the winner of Pennsylvania on Saturday, taking a majority of the electoral college votes needed to secure the presidency.
In remarks on Friday night, Biden had predicted he would win but had not declared victory.
“The numbers tell us … it’s a clear and convincing story: We’re going to win this race,” Biden said from his home state of Delaware, adding that he and his running mate Kamala Harris were already meeting with experts as they prepared to start their administration on 20 January.
Harris, the daughter of immigrants, will be America’s first woman vice president, first Black vice president and the first vice president of south Asian descent.
“The nightmare is over,” said Abed Ayoub, legal director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). “For Muslims, Arabs, Black people, brown people, immigrants – it’s been a long four years.”
Ayoub told MEE that US communities of colour lived in daily fear of what Trump may do next. “This gets us back to being able to focus on the issues that matter while knowing that we have a president who views us as a part of this country.”
Trump has been casting doubt about the legitimacy of the vote and challenging the results in states that he lost, claiming baselessly that he won in places that went to Biden or where the counting was still underway.
“I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Trump wrote in an all-caps tweet less than an hour before the race was called for Biden.
Trump also released a statement on Friday accusing Democrats of violating the “basic principles” that only legal votes should count.
“We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government,” Trump said.
“I will never give up fighting for you and our nation.”
The president had falsely asserted on Thursday that Democrats were trying to “steal” the election with rampant voter fraud. “If you count the legal votes, I easily win,” Trump said. “If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.”
On Wednesday, he had declared victory in Pennsylvania with hundreds of thousands of votes still be counted and said that he had beaten Biden in Michigan, even after the major networks had called the state for the former vice president.
Early results from Tuesday’s election had shown Trump leading in several key states, but 2020 saw an unprecedented number of absentee ballots – which tended to favour Biden – because of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
As absentee votes started counting, Biden gained a lead in Michigan and Wisconsin, two states that he eventually won.
The election broke modern turnout records with about 160 million people – an estimate of more than 66 percent of registered voters – participating in the process.
Biden calls for unity
Early on Thursday, the Biden campaign appeared to dismiss Trump’s protests. “The United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Biden sent a message of unity to voters saying that he will govern as a president of all Americans.
“We are campaigning as a Democrat, but I will govern as an American president the president,” Biden said on Wednesday.
“The presidency itself is not a partisan institution. It is the one office in this nation that represents everyone. It demands a duty of care for all Americans. That is precisely what I will do.”
He also called on Americans to let go of the “harsh rhetoric” and “lower the temperature” in order to remain amicable despite their differences.
But it is apparent that the transition of power will not inspire unity.
Trump is already rejecting the election result and seeking legal action to question it.
“We think there’ll be a lot of litigation because we can’t have an election stolen like this,” Trump said on Thursday.
Democrats have called questioning election results an assault on American democracy, and Biden struck a defiant tone on this front in his speech on Wednesday. “Every vote must be counted. No one’s going to take our democracy away from us – not now, not ever,” he said.
Who is Joe Biden?
Biden, 77, is a veteran US politician who served as vice president in Barack Obama’s administration. He will be the oldest president elected on his inauguration day.
He was first elected to the US Senate in the East Coast state of Delaware in 1972, after starting his political career as a member of a county council. In the Senate, he sat on and chaired various powerful committees.
Before being elected vice president, he served as the head of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
He ran for president unsuccessfully in 1988 and 2008, but opted against seeking the White House in 2016.
In his personal life, Biden has endured life-defining tragedies. In 1972, he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. His son, Beau, died of cancer in 2015.
On the campaign trail this year, he has cited his grief to express empathy with Americans dealing with the fallout of the coronavirus. He presented himself as a unifier seeking to heal the country’s divisions that came to the forefront under Trump.
Hawkish on foreign policy and centrist on domestic issues, Biden represents the old guard of the Democratic Party.
He won the party’s nomination against a surging progressive movement that stood behind Senator Bernie Sanders.
Biden lost the first three primary contests, before winning South Carolina and gaining the endorsement of virtually everyone who was seeking the nomination to eventually defeat Sanders.
The president-elect is a staunch supporter of Israel and has repeatedly described himself as a Zionist.
This election season, he has dismissed progressives’ calls for conditioning US military aid to Israel, vowing to continue the $3.8bn-annual assistance regardless of anything that the Israeli government may do.
Still, he has condemned Israel’s plans to annex large parts of the West Bank, and in a plan presented to Arab-American communities released earlier this year, he pledged to “work to ensure that Palestinians and Israelis enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy.”
Biden voted for the Iraq war in 2002, but he has distanced himself from that decision since then, citing his efforts to withdraw US troops from Iraq as vice president.
The president-elect has changed some of his foreign policy stances while seeking the presidency this year, including adopting a tough stance towards Saudi Arabia, committing to ending the Riyadh-led war in Yemen and reassessing relations with the kingdom.
The former vice president has also pledged to re-enter to the Iran nuclear deal if Tehran returns to full compliance with the agreement.
The multilateral pact, which was nixed by Trump in 2018, saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions against its economy.
Outreach to Arabs and Muslims
Biden’s campaign made an unprecedented outreach effort to both Arab and Muslim communities, but still faced blowback from advocates who claimed it did not do enough to address policy questions around the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Earlier this year, the former vice president released a plan for Muslim Americans and a seperate platform for Arab Americans, in which he vowed to reverse Trump’s “Muslim ban” on his first day in office, end the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme and halt US support to the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen.
Arab and Muslim voters appeared to reward those efforts, turning out in large numbers to vote for the Democratic ticket in key states, including Michigan.
Community advocates have been calling for electing Biden to defeat Trump, then holding the new president accountable.
In Dearborn, Michigan, a Detroit suburb known as the capital of Arab America, the election saw increased turnout, with voters overwhelmingly favouring Biden. The former vice president received about 30,000 votes in the city, compared with 13,000 for Trump.
Dearborn political consultant Hussein Dabajeh told MEE that the community was energised to end Trump’s presidency.
“The community came on and said: You know what, Biden may not be the perfect candidate, but we’ve got to get Trump out of office,” Dabajeh told MEE.
He added that activism does not end with Biden’s presidency, saying that Arab Americans will hold the new president accountable to the promises he made them.
“Our community has matured in a way where we understand that it’s no longer about taking pictures with these elected officials, even if it’s president.”
Sirene Abou-Chakra, an organiser with Arab Americans for Biden, a group that pushed to get the vote out for the Democratic candidate, said community advocates will continue their activism to ensure that the new administration lives up to its “end of the bargain”.
Abou-Chakra said the Arab vote across the country, and in Michigan in particular, has proved its importance for any campaign.
For now, however, she said the news of Biden’s win has undone the anxiety that came with Trump’s victory in 2016.
“I feel like I can exhale for the first time in four years.”
One contradiction about the American presidential election is this: for all the intense media attention and commentary around the world one would expect the result to perhaps portend immense consequence. The mundane reality, though, is that there will be little of appreciable consequence for US relations with the rest of the world.
The United States will continue to conduct itself as if it is above international law, interfering in other nations’ affairs, abusing its privileged dollar fiat currency, and unilaterally using violence and war to enforce its objective when it deems necessary.
Every American president over the past century has engaged in all of these criminal practices. How could we expect any difference with a change of face in a system dictated to by the same corporate power? Only when the system of power fundamentally changes then can we expect to see meaningful change towards the better.
It looks like Democrat contender Joe Biden has won enough votes to gain the White House against incumbent Republican President Donald Trump. The idiosyncrasies of the American electoral system mean that tallying of votes drags on for several days beyond the official election date on November 3. Given the closeness of the race there will also be legal contesting of the results, especially from the Trump campaign which at an early stage has made dubious claims about ballot fraud.
However, as noted above, it hardly matters who finally wins the White House and is inaugurated as the 46th president on January 20. Trump’s past four years have amply demonstrated that any hopes for an improvement in US-Russia relations have been dashed. Trump was not merely held hostage by a revival in Cold War anti-Russian prejudices among the Washington establishment. He lent his own personal touch to deteriorating bilateral relations with such policies as undermining arms controls negotiations as well as attacking Russian energy trade with Europe through the Nord Stream pipeline.
For his part, Biden has voiced more vehement antagonism towards Russia than Trump. There are reasons to be wary of any new White House and how US foreign policy could become marginally even more aggressive.
What is patently clear is how bitterly polarized and divisive US domestic politics have become. This is due to the historic failing of the two-party system which has, over decades, left whole swathes of the population, in particular the majority working class, alienated from the political class. There is irreparable distrust and distortion among the American populace. To the point where it would seem impossible for any nominal winner of the election to be able to command a mandate.
A tried and trusted mechanism for galvanizing is to “unite” the people by rallying them around the flag against some designated foreign enemy. Given the increasing unwieldy, fractious nature of American society, it is all the more imperative for the US ruling class to impose some level of coherence in order to restore the essential authority of governing power. With this paramount need to shore up a sense of authority, it can therefore be expected that American foreign policy will become more aggressive and militaristic in the next four years.
So any notion that the presidential election might permit some kind of benign reset in US global relations is woefully misplaced.
The US ship of state has been on a sped-up course for collision and conflict for many years, if not decades. Changing a captain figurehead in the bridge is not going to change the baleful course that is determined by the power interests of Big Business, Wall Street and the Pentagon’s military-industrial complex in the pursuit of American capitalist profits.
That being said, however, the rest of the world should not let its wariness of Washington’s misconduct allow it to become transfixed by America’s flailing global ambitions. The world has changed dramatically from the bygone days of the US as a formidable superpower. New centers of power have emerged in a multipolar world, in particular the paradigm shift in the global economy to China and Eurasia. Russia and China are steadily solidifying their strategic economic partnership. They will and should continue on this path of co-development with other nations, and let Washington stew in its own failures.
In a very real way, the rest of the world should stop paying so much attention to the American spectacle. It’s like watching a “reality TV show” which has little consequence except sapping the viewer’s energy. Better to get off the proverbial couch and get on with building an alternative, real world.
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.
الأسير ماهر الأخرس يعلن وقف إضرابه عن الطعام بعد 103 أيام من المعاناة، التي أرغمت قوات الاحتلال على الموافقة على إطلاق سراحه، بعد تلقيه العلاج المناسب.
أعلن نادي الأسير الفلسطيني أن الأسير المضرب عن الطعام ماهر الأخرس، علّق إضرابه الذي استمر لـ103 أيام، بعد اتفاق يقضي بإطلاق سراحه في 26 تشرين الثاني/ نوفمبر، حيث سيقضي المدة المتبقية حتى الإفراج عنه، بتلقي العلاج في المستشفى.
وقال الأسير الأخرس في مقابلة خاصة مع الميادين، إنه خاض الإضراب عن الطعام “نيابةً عن شعبنا وأسرانا”، مضيفاً أن “الشعب المسكين يقتل ويسجن ولا أحد يسأل عنه”.
وأكد أن الاحتلال “فُضح” من خلال هذا الإضراب، معرباً عن شكره لكل من تضامن مع قضيته ووقف معه.
وتابع: “خطوة إنهاء الإضراب عن الطعام جاءت استجابةً لطلبات أبناء شعبي بعد تحقيق النصر الكبير”، مؤكداً أن “الموت أسهل من سجون الاحتلال”.
وأعلن الأخرس في حديثه للميادين، أن “القهر الذي زرعه الاحتلال في قلوبنا، سينفجر في انتفاضة قريباً”، وأضاف: “نريد أن نكون أحراراً وذلك يتطلب منا تقديم التضحيات”.
وأصدر “نادي الأسير” بياناً، اليوم الجمعة، قال فيه أنه وبعد 103 أيام من “الإضراب البطولي عن الطعام الذي خاضه الأسير المناضل ماهر الأخرس، والذي أعاد قضية الحركة الأسيرة والاعتقالات الإدارية إلى الواجهة.. وبعد أن أوصدت الأبواب أمام ما يسمى الجهاز القضائي الإسرائيلي، ليمارس دوره بإنهاء هذا الاعتقال الإداري الظالم، انتصرت إرادة السجين على ظلم السجّان”.
وبأتي هذ الإعلان، بعد ساعات من تصريح رئيس “نادي الأسير” قدورة فارس للميادين، بوجود جهود قد تفضي “قريباً جداً” إلى الإفراج عن الأسير الأخرس.
وبذلك يكون الأسير الأخرس، والذي تدهورت أوضاعه الصحية بشدة خلال الأيام الأخيرة، قد حقق انتصاراً على قرار المحكمة العليا التابعة للاحتلال، والتي رفضت كافة الالتماسات التي تقدمت بها محاميته للمطالبة بالإفراج الفوري عنه، وكان آخرها في 29 تشرين الأول/ أكتوبر الماضي.
يذكر أن الأخرس اعتقل بتاريخ 27 تموز/ يوليو، وجرى نقله بعد اعتقاله إلى معتقل “حوارة” وفيه شرع بإضرابه المفتوح عن الطعام، ونقل لاحقاً إلى سجن “عوفر”، ثم جرى تحويله إلى الاعتقال الإداري لمدة 4 شهور، حيث ثبتت المحكمة أمر الاعتقال في وقت لاحق.
The National Endowment for Democracy has as much to do with promoting “democracy” as the illegal US invasion of Iraq – code name “Operation Iraqi Freedom” had to do with bringing “freedom” to the Iraqi people. And as it turns out the same circle of regime change promoters are/were involved in both.
November 5, 2020 (Brian Berletic – LD) – I cover the US National Endowment for Democracy’s (NED) board of directors – pointing out how many of them have been involved in some of the worst crimes against humanity of the 21st century including promoting and even participating in the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003.
I also explain why taking US NED money poses a danger to national security – and specifically why Thai agitators taking the money pose a danger to Thailand’s peace, stability, and future.
لم ينجح الذين شعروا بوخز الإبرة تحت إباطهم، من كلام الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد عن تفسير العامل المستجدّ للتأزم المالي في سورية وربطه بضياع ودائع السوريين في المصارف المالية، وهي ودائع تقدر بما بين عشرين وأربعين مليار دولار، بتقديم إجابة مقنعة وتحمل الحدّ الأدنى من المسؤولية الوطنية في تعاملهم مع أمرين أثارهما كلام الرئيس الأسد، الأول صحة أو عدم صحة ما قاله الرئيس الأسد، وهم يعلمون أن هذا هو جوهر الموضوع وليست مواقفهم العدائيّة من سورية والرئيس الأسد، والثاني هو حق الدولة السورية بالتحرّك لحماية حقوق السوريين أصحاب الودائع الضائعة، وكيفية تعامل السياسيين اللبنانيين الذين يشكلون عناوين صناعة مناخ موقف لبناني حكوميّ لا يجيب عليه التهرّب ولا التنمّر ولا الإنكار، ولا تفيد فيه حالة القطيعة الحكوميّة مع سورية، لأن ذلك له نتيجة واحدة وهي فتح نزاع سيجد طرقاً غير ودّية للحل، يعرف القاصي والداني أن لبنان بغنى عنها، وهو الرازح تحت أعباء أزمته ومشاكله المالية مع أصحاب سندات لدائنين دوليين، الذين يلوّح بعضهم بالتقاضي طلباً للحجز على أموال لبنانيّة وربما الذهب اللبناني كضمان لسداد ديون.
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في دول تحترم نفسها، وبمعزل عن تفاهات الساسة اللبنانيين وسخافة تفكيرهم بالقضايا الوطنية الكبرى، يشكل حديث رئيس دولة، أي دولة، عن شأن إشكالي بحجم ضياع ودائع لمواطنيه في النظام المصرفي لبلد آخر، سبباً كافياً لاستنفار وطني تقني وسياسي وقانوني، بهدف الوصول لبلورة موقف جامع مصرفيّ وحكوميّ يجيب على السؤال الأصلي، حول صحة ودقة الأرقام موضوع القضية ونفي أو إثبات وجودها، ويضع الأسس لتعامل سياسي ودّي لفتح باب البحث بالمعالجة بما يفتح الطريق لتفادي الخيارات السلبية، لما لها من تأثيرات سلبية على أي نظام مصرفي وأي وضع مالي لبلد مأزوم كما هو حال لبنان، لكن في بلد كلبنان لا يهمّ السياسيين الذين هرّبوا أموالهم إلى الخارج ويعتمدون في أساس مواقفهم تخديم حسابات صغيرة حاقدة، وحسابات خارجية متملقة، كيف يتصرفون كرجال دولة يحملون مسؤولية مساعدة بلدهم ودولتهم ونظامهم المالي والمصرفي على تجاوز المزيد من المحن والأزمات.
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نعم في لبنان ودائع بمليارات الدولارات تعود لمواطنين سوريين وقد تبخّرت، وأصابها ما أصاب ودائع اللبنانيين. وهذه الودائع التي تخص سوريين أفراداً منهم مَن هرّب أمواله من سورية ومنهم مَن يستخدم لبنان منصة للأعمال وهو مقيم في سورية ويواصل أعماله التجارية والصناعية، ومنهم معارض للدولة السورية وربما تكون أموالهم من عائدات الفساد أو التبييض أو التمويل الخارجي، وفي الحصيلة فإن انسداد السبيل الفردي لهؤلاء لملاحقة ودائعهم ومصيرها سيفتح الطريق لتقديم العشرات منهم لشكاوى أمام حكومة بلدهم وتوكيلها ملاحقة حقوقهم الضائعة، ولو اختار البعض الآخر الصمت، فسيبقى عشرات ومئات من السوريين يمثلون كتلة من مليارات الدولارات من الودائع سيكون خيارهم الوحيد تولي حكومتهم ملاحقة حقوقهم، وكل تعامل مع هذه القضية بالاستهتار والاستنكار هو تجاهل لمشكلة ستكبر وتكبر وتوصل لبنان لمواجهة شديدة الأذى على وضعه المأزوم عشية التفاوض مع صندوق النقد الدولي، ومحاولات إحياء مؤتمر سيدر، والحصول على نظام مساعدات مالي.
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أمام لبنان طريقان لا ثالث لهما في التعامل مع هذا الأمر، الأول هو خروج مصرف لبنان وجمعية المصارف ببيان رسميّ يكشف حقيقة وجود كميّة ضخمة من أموال السوريين في سجلات ودائع المصارف اللبنانية، والاستعداد للبحث معهم كأفراد، أو كمجموع تمثله الحكومة السورية لمن يرغب منهم باعتماد هذا الخيار، للبحث في كيفية التعامل مع مصير هذه الودائع في ظل الأزمة التي أصابت المصارف اللبنانية والنظام المالي اللبناني، والسعي مع الحكومة اللبنانيّة لتتولى المساعدة بعلاقة مباشرة مع الحكومة السورية لبحث عن حلول وديّة وأخويّة لهذا المأزق، والثاني هو إغلاق طرق الحل الودّي، وإدارة الظهر للشكوى السورية التي بدأت سياسياً، وقد تضطر للتحول الى شكاوى قضائية في لبنان وسورية، وخارجهما، وستنتج عنها أزمة تنتج إقفال فروع المصارف اللبنانية في سورية ومصادرة أموالها وموجوداتها، كضمان للودائع المفقودة، وربما ينتج عنها في الخارج تجميد أموال للمصرف المركزي والمصارف اللبنانية، وربما تضع مصير الذهب اللبناني قيد النقاش، أمام محاكم عالميّة ماليّة.
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بعض التطاول اللبنانيّ في الردود على الرئيس السوري عدا كونه تغميساً خارج الصحن، هو دفع للأزمة المالية الخاصة بودائع السوريين كفرع من الأزمة العامة للنظام المصرفي، الى التحوّل الى مصدر لتعريض لبنان لمأزق ماليّ وقانونيّ أشد خطورة بسبب العنجهيّة والتذاكي، اللذين لم يعد لدى لبنان ترف تحمّل تبعاتهما، وما يحتاجه لبنان هو عقلانيّة وواقعيّة وحرص وروح مسوؤليّة وطنيّة تستدرك الأسوأ قبل وقوعه، عسى أن يكون لرئيس الجمهورية موقف يصوّب المسار، وتكون الحكومة الجديدة المنتظرة بحجم مسؤولية التعامل مع هذا الملف، تحت سقف علاقات أخوية يحتاجها لبنان مع سورية في ملفات كثيرة.
US President Donald Trump is considering firing War Secretary Esper, CIA director Gina Haspel and others, including FBI Director Christopher Wray, The Hill has reported, citing sources said to be familiar with the situation.
One source told the outlet that despite recent Pentagon statements to the contrary, Esper could be forced out as soon as this week. A second source noted however that nothing has been set in stone so far.
An aide to members of the House Armed Services Committee confirmed that the panel had not been told about “any imminent personnel changes within Pentagon leadership” to date, with the Pentagon pointing media inquiries to earlier comments by Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman that Secretary Esper had “no plans to resign,” nor had he been asked to resign.
Esper and Trump suffered a falling out in recent months, including over Trump’s opposition to the stripping of Confederate leaders’ names from US military bases, and the Pentagon chief’s resistance to deploying the military to crack down on anti-racism and police justice protests overwhelming multiple major US cities this summer.
Speculation is also rife that CIA chief Haspel and FBI Director Christopher Wray may be forced out, The Hill says, citing what it says is frustration in the White House over a lack of support amid recent political developments, including the lack of a formal FBI probe into Hunter Biden’s alleged illegal business dealings in Ukraine, and the agency’s refusal to sack officials responsible for the Russiagate investigation against Trump.
Trump picked Esper for the post of Secretary of Defence in mid-2019, with Esper succeeding General Jim Mattis, who resigned over disagreements with Trump on Syria policy and other issues. Trump picked Haspel for the post of CIA director in May 2018 after its previous chief, Mike Pompeo, was tapped to replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Wray succeeded James Comey as FBI director in August 2017.
According to numerous observers, the “aggressive approach” the Turkish leader R. Erdogan implies in Turkey’s foreign policy every day evokes more and more hostility and opposition across the world.
It is through the fault of Ankara that many of the faded conflicts have flared up with renewed vigor lately. Thus, in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey is striving for shelf hydrocarbons, causing a wave of indignation not only from Greece, but also from the European Union. And although the clash of interests here has not yet reached outright bloodshed, nevertheless, Turkey is no longer shy about ramming opponents with their ships and vessels. This, in turn, causes an increase in the degree of tensions both within the EU and between NATO member states, the outcome of which so far few can predict. The drift towards divisions is on in spite of Washington’s calls to all NATO member states urging them to “keep Turkey in the West.”
After the terrorist attack on October 16 in the Paris suburbs of Conflans-Saint-Honorine, when an 18-year-old Islamist, motivated by religious enmity, killed a school history and geography teacher, a new diplomatic scandal erupted between Turkey and France, which significantly increased tensions between these countries in Libya, where they support opposing sides of the conflict.
Numerous media voices are increasingly citing factual evidence of Ankara’s intervention in the Libyan conflict, and not only in the form of supplying weapons there in violation of the imposed international embargo, but also sending numerous mercenaries from the war zone in Syria.
Recently, the growing criticism of Turkey on sending mercenaries not only to Syria and Libya, but also to the Karabakh conflict zone, has been confirmed by the intelligence services of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries. As a result, today no one, including Turkey itself, can claim that in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it acts as an impartial or neutral party, since it views this conflict as an opportunity to expand its influence in another neighboring region, the Southern Caucasus.
The summit of the EU states, which ended in late October, condemned the aggressive rhetoric and actions of Turkey aimed at the EU states, and the head of the European Council Charles Michel indicated that the EU leaders would discuss further actions with regard to Turkey at the planned summit in December. “We have expressed our determination to make Ankara respect us. Turkey has not yet chosen a positive path in relations with the EU. We condemn the recent unilateral actions of Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, provocations and aggressive rhetoric against the EU countries, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Charles Michel said on October 29 following the EU summit held in the video conference format.
NATO also declares its “bewilderment” by Turkey’s actions, openly hinting to Erdogan about “unpleasant moments” and readiness to take a tougher position with regard to Ankara.
Today Turkey has strained its relations with many countries. In addition to the deepening conflict with the United States (after the acquisition and testing of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system), France, Greece and the EU as a whole, the list of Turkey’s “opponents” includes Israel (due to the conflict over the Palestinian problem), Syria (where Erdogan introduced Turkish troops), Iran (with which Ankara has intensified contradictions because of Erdogan’s actions in Syria), Saudi Arabia (relations with which have especially worsened because of the “Khashoggi case”). Even with the United Arab Emirates Erdogan’s conflict has become so widespread that this struggle unfolds from Morocco to Syria, most fiercely manifesting itself in the field of “soft power”, with mutual accusations of seeking to destabilize the Arab world. The Arab monarchies are particularly concerned about Ankara’s policy in the Persian Gulf, where Turkish troops are now stationed in Qatar, another Turkish base is located in Somalia, and Erdogan himself actively supports and finances the Muslim Brotherhood religious and political movement (banned in Russia – ed.) , to which the monarchies of the Gulf are more than wary.
As a result, as noted not only by the Western, but other regional media, Erdogan risks isolating his country from both the West and Arabs with Persians. “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made it clear that he has no desire to be a bridge between Europe and the Arab world. Instead, he decided to reshape Turkey in line with its imperial past and make it a competitor to the two regions,” UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash is being cited.
In response to the aggressiveness of Erdogan’s policy, France has already called off its ambassador from Turkey “for consultations”. The Canadian government, after the Bombardier Recreational Products company “unexpectedly” learned that its engines were being installed on the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 (“Flag Bearer”) operational tactical attack drones (these has been actively used in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh), took the decision to stop supplying them, as well as other weapons to Turkey. Canada stressed that “the use of attack drones by Turkey often goes beyond the framework of agreements within the NATO format.”
For its part, Turkey has no choice but to launch its own production of engines for Turkish drones, or to intensify military-technical cooperation with Ukraine in this regard, which was indirectly confirmed in the speeches of representatives of the industrial and business circles of Turkey, in particular, Turkish Aerospace Industries.
Against the backdrop of these events, the fall of the Turkish lira became uncontrollable, and Ankara no longer has the resources to keep the situation under control. Since the beginning of the year, the lira has fallen by 39% against the US dollar, which has become the worst indicator dynamics among all currencies in Eurasia, despite the fact that the dollar this year is clearly not up to par. The savings of the Turkish state itself continue to fall: according to the investment bank Goldman Sachs, Turkey has spent about $130 billion from its reserves over the past year and a half. At the same time, the reserves do not cease to decline, and if in the summer their volume reached $90 billion, now they have dropped below $80 billion. The situation is complicated by the need to fight the current economic crisis. In addition, unemployment in the country approached 14%, and among young people it reached 25%.
According to the forecasts of the former IMF Managing Director Desmond Lachman, in the event of a liquidity crisis in the world, Turkey will become one of the first countries to declare a default. Under these conditions, in order to mitigate the consequences of the recession, the state again has to borrow a lot from foreign creditors, but because of Erdogan’s aggressive policy, reliable friends (except, perhaps, Ukraine, whose situation is even worse), to whom you can turn for loans, today are getting more and more scarce…
Valery Kulikov, a political analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
“Sanctions have not scared me and promises have not tempted me; I do not turn against any Lebanese and I don’t rescue myself to let Lebanon perish,”
The US administration on Friday announced sanctions on the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, in the context of its pressure on the Lebanese political parties which support the resistance.
The Treasury Department said Bassil was at the “forefront of corruption in Lebanon.”
“The systemic corruption in Lebanon’s political system exemplified by Bassil has helped to erode the foundation of an effective government that serves the Lebanese people,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
In response, Bassil said, via Twitter, that he would never bow to the sanctions, stressing that he may never turn against any Lebanese party.
“Sanctions have not scared me and promises have not tempted me; I do not turn against any Lebanese and I don’t rescue myself to let Lebanon perish,” Bassil said.
On September 9, US imposed sanctions on the two former ministers Ali Hasan Khalil, the political aide of the House Speaker Nabih Berri, and Youssef Finianos, the member of Al-Marada Movement’s politburo.
Hezbollah denounces the decision of the United States Department of Treasury against the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement [FPM], His Excellency Minister Gebran Bassil, and considers it a purely political decision, as well as a blatant and blunt interference in Lebanese internal affairs.
The United States, the sponsor of terrorism and extremism worldwide, is also the state that sponsors corruption, the corrupt and dictatorial states globally, and ensures their security and supports them by all means. Therefore, it is the last who is entitled to talk about fighting corruption.
The US uses its laws, including anti-terrorism and anti-corruption laws, to extend its hegemony and influence over the world. It also uses them against every free and honorable state, party, movement or person who does not obey its policies, does not implement its instructions, or does not agree with its plans that aim to sow discord and division, as well as create internal and regional conflicts.
This decision specifically aims to subject a large Lebanese political faction to American conditions and orders upon Lebanon.
Hezbollah stands with the FMP and its leader. We express our solidarity with him in the face of these unjust decisions and false fabrications.
قد تكون إحدى حسنات دونالد ترامب وهي قليلة على أية حال كشفه لتركيبة النظام الأميركي بشكل فضائحي على المستويات كافة، وخروجه الدائم عن المعايير المتبعة في التعاطي مع كلّ ما يتعلق بالمظهر العام للنظام في أميركا.
ترامب يعود الآن في خضمّ الانتخابات الرئاسية ليكشف عن فضائح النظام الأميركي الانتخابي ما يضعه في خانة النظام الانتخابي الذي يمكن التحكم به والتلاعب بآلياته وبالتالي بنتيجته، ولطالما تفاخرت أميركا على الآخرين أنها الديمقراطية الأولى ليأتي رئيس أميركي ويكذّب هذه المزاعم.
في جديد ما كشفت عنه الانتخابات الأميركية الحالية عملية تصويت الأموات او تنخيبهم، وهذا أمر تعوّد عليه الشعب اللبناني لكن أن يكون هذا الأمر متبعاً في أميركا، فهذا الشيء الجديد ولا ندري أيّ طرف أعطى الطرف الآخر براءة الاختراع هذه، اللبناني أعطاها للأميركي أم العكس هو الصحيح، لكن في هذه النقطة تساوى لبنان وأميركا.
أمر آخر كشفته تصريحات حملة ترامب وتغريدة لترامب نفسه على «تويتر» قبل أن يتمّ حذفها من إدارة موقع التواصل الإجتماعي بحجة أنها مخادعة. وهذا الأمر هو دفع الرشى لكسب الأصوات، وهذا الأمر تمّ في بعض الولايات المتأرجحة القرار حسب إدارة حملة ترامب التي قرّرت رفع دعاوى وتقديم طعون بسبب استخدام الأموال والإعلام ونفوذ وادي سيليكون ضدّ ترامب في الانتخابات.
من ناحية الديمقراطيين ذكرت صحيفة «ديلي ميل» المقرّبة من الحزب الديمقراطي أنّ المسؤولين عن حملة ترامب الانتخابية حرّضوا ناشطي الحزب الجمهوري في ولايات عدة على الاتصال بناشطين من الحزب نفسه في ولاية بنسلفانيا للإدلاء بأصواتهم بشكل متأخر ومشكوك بشرعيته حتى يتسنّى لمحامي ترامب تقديم الطعون ورفع الدعاوى لوضع الشكوك في العملية الانتخابيّة وإلغائها معتمدين على توثيق توقيت الانتخاب المتأخر خارج المهلة الزمنية للانتخابات.
من جهة أخرى يتّهم الديمقراطيّون روسيا وإيران بإنشاء مئات الحسابات الوهميّة على «تويتر» و»فيسبوك» للتأثير على العملية الانتخابية في أميركا، وقد وضع المسؤولون الأمنيّون في جهاز «أف بي أي» الأميركي بروتوكلَي عمل مع كلّ من شركتي «تويتر» و»فيسبوك» للحدّ من التأثيرات في وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي على الانتخابات الأميركية…
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