Headline News 25/02/2017

Headlines

• Incoming US National Security Assistant portrays Terrorism as different from Islam

• Syrian Talks in confusion as America Stabilises its Administration

• New American Policy in Afghanistan

Details

Incoming US National Security Assistant portrays Terrorism as different from Islam

US President Donald Trump’s newly appointed National Security Advisor, Lt Gen H R McMaster, is signalling a clear break from the views of his short-lived predecessor, General Michael Flynn, and other key members of Trump’s team, including the president himself. In an article headlined “H.R. McMaster Breaks with Administration on Views of Islam”, the New York Times writes:

“President Trump’s newly appointed national security adviser has told his staff that Muslims who commit terrorist acts are perverting their religion, rejecting a key ideological view of other senior Trump advisers and signaling a potentially more moderate approach to the Islamic world.”

So-called democratic systems are actually hostage to entrenched vested interests, and the Trump administration is no exception to this. In fact, Trump’s unlikely victory was made possible only because of deals with two very different camps, the traditional Republican Party establishment and a new right-wing faction that has increasingly captured American populist politics after anti-establishment dissatisfaction caused by the 2008 American financial crash.

The role of the National Security Advisor is central to the integrated functioning of America’s military and diplomatic functions and its role as a world superpower. The hasty departure of Flynn, after intelligence leaks led to a scandal in the mainstream corporate media, and the arrival of McMaster makes clear that the establishment will prevail, even in advisory positions where formal congressional approval is not required.

The American establishment wants to make selective use of Trump’s radical rhetoric against Islam. The West wants to generate an anti-Muslim environment within their own countries, while at the same time portraying themselves abroad as friendly to Muslim governments. Previous presidents have been careful in their statements to not directly attack Islam, even while initiating numerous wars in Muslim lands and multiple initiatives to thwart the rise of Islam. Trump, and his right wing advisors, lack the skill and experience to make such nuanced distinctions.

Syrian Talks in confusion as America Stabilises its administration

The instability within the Trump administration is affecting further progress on the American plan for Syria. Initiatives undertaken by the Obama Administration are nearing completion, bringing Russia on the side of Assad and Turkey on the side of the revolutionaries. This enabled Assad to take back Aleppo with the help of Russian airpower and Erdogan’s betrayal of the revolution. But now Russia and Turkey are unsure of how to proceed without further directives from America. According to Reuters:

The first U.N.-led Syria peace talks in almost a year are in danger of getting lost in procedure, as officials obsess about who will meet whom, but behind the scenes diplomats say it's largely up to Russia to call the tune.

America considers the Muslim world to be her private empire. She directs and monitors every move within it, working alone or involving other powers as she wishes with very few exceptions. It is expected that Syria will be incoming National Security Advisor McMaster’s top priority at this time. The American military is actively considering bringing ground forces to Syria, as America prefers to bring its troops to take direct control when the fighting is mostly done. According to another Reuters report:

U.S. General Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. military's Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, told reporters traveling with him in the region that the United States could ultimately need more U.S. forces in Syria to accelerate the campaign.

Muslims must recognise in these events not America’s strength but her weakness. It is only because of the loyal subservience of our agent rulers that America is able to continue to impose her will on Muslims lands.

New American Policy in Afghanistan

The wave of devastating bomb attacks in Pakistan this month must be seen as the beginnings of a new initiative from the Trump administration over Afghanistan. It is the standard method of the foreigner to foment troubles and crises in Muslims lands and then rush to ‘solve’ these in his own interests. According to a report filed in the Dawn:

“The United States is quietly urging Pakistan and Afghanistan to avoid a confrontational approach and find a minimum common ground for combating terrorism.

Diplomatic sources told Dawn that in conversations with Pakistani and Afghan officials, both in Washington and in Islamabad and Kabul, American officials have asked them also to devise a mechanism for resolving their disputes.
The US government was willing to help both governments in finding a common ground for joint actions against the terrorists operating from both sides of the border, the sources said.

Gen John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, also indicated this when he told the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee this month that the United States was seeking to set up an “enduring counterterrorism platform” in Afghanistan. ”

The American establishment is seeking a new policy in Afghanistan, after considering Obama’s policy there to have failed. It appears that Trump’s new defence secretary, General James Mattis, has made Afghanistan his top priority, being very familiar with its reality after leading the US Central Command that oversees Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.

Pakistan’s rulers have been quick to blame recent terrorist attacks on Afghanistan-based militants. But they have not been able to utter even a word against America, whom the whole world knows stands behind the Kabul regime. Muslims will never be free of the conspiracies of the foreigner until they re-establish their own state, the righteous Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" on the method of Prophet (saw).