News Review 05/02/2022

China and Russia Declare ‘No Limits’ Partnership

Prior to Friday’s opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending as the “most important guest” according to Chinese press at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia and China announced a comprehensive partnership between the two great powers, stating that “Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no 'forbidden' areas of cooperation”. According to reporting by Reuters:

In the lengthy document - nearly 5,400 words in English translation - each went significantly further than before in backing the other on flashpoints of tension with the West.

- Russia voiced its support for China's stance that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and opposition to any form of independence for the island.

- Moscow and Beijing also voiced their opposition to the AUKUS alliance between Australia, Britain and the United States, saying it increased the danger of an arms race in the region.

- China joined Russia in calling for an end to NATO enlargement and supported its demand for security guarantees from the West.

- They expressed concern about "the advancement of U.S. plans to develop global missile defence and deploy its elements in various regions of the world, combined with capacity building of high-precision non-nuclear weapons for disarming strikes and other strategic objectives".

Elsewhere, without naming Washington, they criticised attempts by "certain states" to establish global hegemony, fan confrontation and impose their own standards of democracy.

The alignment between the two states is significant and also widely expected; Russian and Chinese interests align significantly with respect to their opposition to the West, for example, Russia is under pressure from the US in Ukraine, while China is under pressure from the US in Taiwan. At the same time there is historic distrust between the two powers that make it difficult for them to find comfort in committing fully to each other. China has more to gain from the relationship. China is heavily dependent on oil and gas imports transported across oceans from the Middle East, while the massive Russian energy fields are just across the northern border. But Russia is just as fearful of increasing Chinese strength as is the West, so it is expected that Putin will want to continue a dual relationship with both China and with America.

If Russia’s ruling class today were as masterful as the early Soviet political leadership then they would be able to capably benefit from their position between China and the West. But, instead, Russia finds itself the junior partner both with regards to China and with regards to America. Russia’s governance today is dominated by the Siloviki, officials drawn from, and beholden to, the military and intelligence establishment. Nations cannot progress unless they are led by capable politicians and statesmen but Russia lost its political class when its Communist Party collapsed along with the Soviet Union. China, in contrast, retained its Communist Party and its political leadership, though they have a different problem, which is their historic limitation to their region that leaves them unfamiliar with and unskilled in international affairs.

Neither Russia, nor China, nor any combination of the two are able to stand up to Western domination of world affairs and the West’s imperialist exploitation of humanity. But with Allah’s permission, the Muslim Ummah shall soon arise and re-establish the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw) that shall unify Muslim lands, liberate occupied territories, implement the Islamic shariah, revive the Islamic way of life and carry the call of Islam to the entire world. The Khilafah State shall, almost from its inception, join the ranks of the great powers on accord of its immense population, extensive size, vast resources, powerful geopolitics and exceptional Islamic ideology. It is the Khilafah State that shall confront, contain and calm the other global powers, returning humanity to the peace and prosperity that existed during the thousand years that Islam previously dominated world affairs. It was the general stability provided by Islam that had permitted and enabled the previous centuries of Western development and not simply factors internal to the West. The West’s current secular liberal trajectory was a very late development and only possible once the Khilafah State fell from its position as leading power in the middle of the 18th century CE.

Massive US-led 60 Country Navy Exercise in the Middle East

This week, the US began its biennial naval training event, under the title of ‘International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2020’ that will run for 18 days and be the largest such event it has ever held. According to a US military press release, ‘The combined training includes 9,000 personnel and up to 50 ships from more than 60 partner nations and international organizations operating across two regions.’ More than a dozen navies from Muslim countries in the Middle East and beyond are participating, including Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The commander of US Naval Forces Central Command is quoted as saying, “This is a unique opportunity to increase our capabilities and interoperability while strengthening maritime ties”. America designs such exercises to principally benefit its own interests and not for the benefit of other participants. While it is true that the US is substantially withdrawing its military from Muslim countries to refocus on the threat from China, this does not mean that the US wishes to surrender its military dominance over the Middle East. America wishes to depend increasingly on the militaries of others in order to accomplish its objectives, and for this purpose, on a practical level, needs to improve the interoperability of the US military with other forces, particularly those local to, or close to, the Middle East.

The Muslim Ummah will remain subservient to Western interests as long as it continues to be governed by legacy colonial systems that are presided over by an agent ruling class that has pledged its loyalty to the West instead of to Islam and Muslims. Under Islamic rule, Muslim military force was feared the world over. But today our divided forces are employed only to secure Western interests, such as for safeguarding the security of the illegal Jewish entity, implanted in the heart of Muslim land, and whose navy is also participating in these exercises. It is the military forces of Muslim countries that support the disbelievers in their illegal occupation of our lands. And it is the military forces of Muslim countries that defend the artificial borders imposed within Muslim lands that divide Muslims into more than fifty countries. If instead these forces were unified under a single command, the command of the Islamic Khilafah, then they would constitute the largest the largest military force in the world. And the imperialist disbelievers would once again fear attempting to occupy even a handspan of Muslim land.