Headline News 14/10/2017 (2)

Headlines

• Viking Burial Clothes Woven with Allah Discovered in Sweden

• Iran Nuclear Deal: Global Powers Stand by Pact Despite Trump Threat

• US starting to have Real Ties with Pakistan, says Trump

Details

Viking Burial Clothes Woven with Allah Discovered in Sweden

A Swedish university has discovered Arabic characters for “Allah” and “Ali” woven into Viking burial clothes. Researchers at Uppsala University describe the finding of the geometric Kufic characters in silver on woven bands of silk as “staggering”. The researchers at Uppsala, Sweden’s oldest university, were re-examining clothes that had been in storage for some time. They had originally been found at Viking burial sites in Birka and Gamla Uppsala in Sweden. Textile archaeology researcher Annika Larsson told the BBC that at first she could not make sense of the symbols, but then, “I remembered where I had seen similar designs: in Spain, on Moorish textiles.” This led to the identification of the name “Ali” in the text and, when looked at in a mirror, the word “Allah” in reverse was revealed. “Perhaps this was an attempt to write prayers so that they could be read from left to right,” said Larsson. Arabic characters are more typically inscribed right to left. The finding contradicts theories that Islamic objects in Viking graves are only the result of plunder or trade because, she explained, “the inscriptions appear in typical Viking age clothing that have their counterparts in preserved images of Valkyries”. Larsson said the choice of burial clothes reflected the fineries of Viking life rather than the day-to-day reality, in much the same way that in the modern era people are buried in formal clothes.

“Presumably, Viking age burial customs were influenced by Islam and the idea of an eternal life in paradise after death.” Viking contact with the Islamic world is a well-established fact. There have been finds of more than 100,000 Islamic silver coins known as dirhams in Viking-age Scandinavia. DNA analysis of Viking graves has also shown that some of them contain people who originated in Persia. The Vale of York hoard, discovered near Harrogate in 2007, contained objects relating to three belief systems – Islam, Christianity and the worship of Thor – and at least seven different languages. And in March 2015 a Viking woman’s glass ring was discovered bearing the inscription “for Allah” or “to Allah”. [Source: The Guardian]

The West for too long has concealed the fact that medieval Europe was enamored with the Islamic civilization on all the facets of life. Europe coveted the Islamic civilization just as China seeks to copy the Western civilization today.

Iran Nuclear Deal: Global Powers Stand by Pact despite Trump Threat

Global powers, including key US allies, have said they will stand by the Iran nuclear deal which US President Donald Trump has threatened to tear apart. Mr Trump said on Friday that he would stop signing off on the agreement. The UK, France and Germany responded that the pact was "in our shared national security interest". The EU said it was "not up to any single country to terminate" a "working" deal. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said the US was "more isolated than ever". "Can a president annul a multilateral international treaty on his own?" he asked. "Apparently he doesn't know that this agreement is not a bilateral agreement solely between Iran and the United States." The deal, signed in 2015, is between Iran and six international powers - the UK, the US, Russia, France, Germany, and China. It imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in return for an easing of international sanctions. In a combative speech on Friday, Mr Trump called Iran a "fanatical regime" and said it had violated the terms of the deal. He accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism, and proposed new sanctions. "We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror, and the very real threat of Iran's nuclear breakout," he said.

International observers say Iran has been in full compliance with the agreement. China has not spoken since Mr Trump's speech but previously called on the US to preserve the deal. Russia's foreign ministry said it regretted Mr Trump's decision but did not expect it to stop the deal being implemented. Congress requires the US president to certify every 90 days that Iran is upholding its part of the agreement. Mr Trump had already recertified twice, but refused to sign a third time ahead of a Sunday deadline. Congress now has 60 days to decide whether to pull out of the nuclear deal by re-imposing sanctions. Mr Trump is seeking is the end to the nuclear deal's so-called "sunset clauses", one of which allows for the lifting of restrictions on Iran's nuclear enrichment programme after 2025. He announced Treasury Department sanctions on Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, which he called the "corrupt personal terror force of Iran's leader", and called for restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile programme, which is not covered by the deal. [Source: BBC].

Many in the West believe that the Trump administration is seeking to curb Tehran’s foreign policy adventures in order to appease the Jewish entity and his voter base.

However, by leaving the matter to Congress, Trump is maneuvering to sidestep the issue, while appeasing his supporters. Nevertheless, Iran should have realized like Iraq before that any deal with the US cannot be trusted, and that the Iranians should have pursued all effort to acquire nuclear warheads.

US starting to have Real Ties with Pakistan, says Trump

US President Donald Trump on Friday maintained that America is starting to have a real relationship with Pakistan. He said yesterday things happened with Pakistan. But we're starting to have a real relationship with Pakistan. Pakistan and other countries are beginning to have respect for the US again, the president added. "I have openly said Pakistan took tremendous advantage of our country for many years, but we're starting to have a real relationship with Pakistan, and they're to respect us as a nation again, and so are other nations,” Trump said. President Trump said this while addressing the Values Voter Summit in Washington on Friday. His remarks came a day after Pakistan secured the release of an American-Canadian family from the clutches of the Taliban militants, five years after they were abducted. “They are starting to respect the United States of America again,” he said and thanked the leaders of Pakistan for “what they’ve been doing”. On Thursday, President Trump hailed the release of the hostages from Taliban captivity. He said their release was a “positive moment” for US relations with Pakistan. Trump also praised Pakistan for its willingness to “do more to provide security in the region” and said the release suggests other “countries are starting to respect the United States of America once again.” [Source: The Nation]

Despite the boisterous behavior of Pakistani officials to disrupt ties with the US, it is business as usual. The familiar pattern of the US applying pressure and giving money to the Pakistani leadership has returned.