While it is well known that global spending on weapons is extremely high, in the last five years this has reached a staggering total of $1.92 trillion. The US leads the world in military spending with an annual budget of $732 billion, far out-spending its nearest rival China at $261 billion.
There is much talk about how to save the Iran nuclear deal. There is a simple solution: the US must lift all sanctions illegally imposed on Iran when Donald Trump walked away from the deal in 2018. Joe Biden says Iran must take the first step. That is a non-starter; he must snap into reality.
A new (even if rather old) face in the White House has led to the mistaken belief among some people that the US would return to normalcy now. Apart from some cosmetic changes, America’s policy of belligerence, militarism and exploitation is unlikely to change.
The year 2020 will go down in history as one of the worst nightmares for most people. Will the year 2021 be any different? We look at some possible developments.
The year 2020 has been disastrous. It started with the US assassination of General Qassem Solaimani of Iran and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis of Iraq. On November 27, Dr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated. In-between Covid-19 has ravaged societies. Can it get any worse?
Despite the devastation it has caused in many parts of the world, the pandemic also offers opportunities to the victims of US aggression to formulate policies and strategies to overcome such bullying.
The US is not only in terminal decline, the empire is dead. As it faces a serious threat of civil war, many American commentators have written its obituary realizing that the American (half)-century is over.
For Pakistan, Kashmir is of vital importance yet it has received little support from the Saudi-dominated OIC. Fed up with Saudi foot-dragging, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi demanded that the Saudis either act or Pakistan will go elsewhere for support.
If there is racism in Canada, there has to be racists but some racists are taking exception to this designation. It proves how deeply ingrained racism is that its proponents refuse to even acknowledge it. People of color have a tough fight ahead for equality and justice.
The Saudi regime will allow about 1000 people from the kingdom to perform Hajj this year but not Muslims from outside because of the pandemic. Muslims must work to end Bani Saud’s illegal occupation of Makkah and Madinah and challenge their distortion of Hajj rites to please their mushrik masters.
Emerging from the roots of Islam, Imam Khomeini (ra) whose thirty-first anniversary falls on June 3, understood the nature of imperialism and zionism better than Western-educated Muslims. It was his complete faith in Allah that enabled him to bring about the Islamic revolution in Iran.
The pandemic has exposed the US as a failed state. Others have done far better looking after their citizens. Dramatic changes are underway with countries realigning their policies and relations moving away from reliance on the US.
This Ramadan is likely to be very different from the Muslims’ past experiences. Since the revelation of the noble Qur’an is intimately linked with Ramadan, Muslims should utilize this opportunity to understand the Divine message to implement it in their lives.
The four-point agreement signed between the Taliban and the US in Doha, Qatar on February 29, 2020 was remarkable in more ways than one. If there is a single take-away from the agreement, it is that another superpower has had its nose rubbed in the dust by the rag-tag band of Afghan Taliban.
Narendra Modi and his fascist followers are hell-bent on turning India into an exclusive Hindu state with no room for other religious groups. Their first target India’s 200 million Muslims but it will not end there. Modi’s racist policies have aroused Indians from a broad cross-section challenging its slide into absolute fascism.
There have been many false starts about peace in Afghanistan but there may be guarded optimism this time that may be, just maybe, there will be peace. The next few weeks will tell but unless there is actual peace, it is prudent to be cautious.
Nationalism has no basis in Islam yet the overwhelming majority of Muslims are taken in by its rhetoric and debilitating influence. Injected by the colonialists into the body politic of Islam, this poisonous ideology continues to afflict every Muslim society with disastrous consequences.
The Zionists and their supporters are getting desperate. Israeli crimes against Palestinians are now widely known and condemned worldwide leading to Zionist hysteria. Criticism of Israeli crimes is now being equated with anti-Semitism.
Israel’s killing of Palestinians has become so routine that it hardly evokes a yawn. 300 unarmed Palestinian protesters have been killed and another 30,000 or more injured in Gaza since March 2018, but the Zionists intensified attacks on Gaza with missiles and bombs that killed another 34 and injured 110 others in two days last month.
The Zionists and their supporters deliberately misrepresent statements of Iranian officials about Israel. Iran’s leader, Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei clarified on November 14 that when Iran calls for the “elimination of Israel”, it is the regime not the Jewish people that it wants removed.
