News Review 17/09/2022

Putin has Uncomfortable Conference in Central Asia

Russia’s missteps over Ukraine and otherwise is leading to its increasing international weakness. At the SCO meeting this week, that includes China in addition to central Asian states, Putin’s discomfort was evident.

According to the Financial Times:

Shortly before his assault on Ukraine, Russia’s president met China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing who declared a “partnership without limits” with Russia. Yet in the first meeting of the two since the invasion, Putin this week acknowledged the Chinese leader’s “questions and concerns” about the “Ukraine crisis”. His comments, at a summit in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan, appeared the first public admission of differences with Beijing over the conflict.

On the way to the summit, President Xi had taken the unusual step of offering support to Kazakhstan’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in defending his country’s sovereignty and integrity should it face “interference of any forces”. Since the most likely source of interference would be Moscow — northern Kazakhstan has a large Russian population — the words seemed a veiled warning to Putin.

A day after Putin’s exchange with Xi, India’s Narendra Modi also publicly criticised the Ukraine invasion for the first time, telling the Russian leader at the same summit that now was “not an era of war”. Modi added that he had “spoken to you on the phone about this”. The Indian premier’s comments added to the sense that, after Russia’s military setbacks, a spell had been broken.

The Russian leadership, drawn mostly from the security services instead of from its political parties, lacks political skill and insight to capably manage Russia’s international relations. Military strength has immense value. But a great power will be unable to effectively utilise its strength without capable political leadership.

Islam has given priority to political leadership above military leadership. The Khalifah (Caliph) is established by the Muslim Ummah through a pledge give to him. He then assumes direct command of the military, ensuring the subservience of the military to his leadership. Furthermore, accounting him is not only the right of the Ummah but a duty upon them.

With the permission of Allah (swt), the Muslim Ummah shall soon overthrow the agent class of rulers that presently control their affairs and replace them with sincere, capable political leadership that shall work to elevate the Muslim Ummah once more to its rightful position as the leading nation in the world, through establishing the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw) that shall unify all Muslim lands, liberate the occupied territories, implement the Islamic sharia, restore the Islamic way of life and carry the light of Islam to the entire world. The Khilafah State shall join, almost from its inception, the ranks of the great powers on account of its vast size, immense population, extensive resources, unparalleled geography and unique Islamic ideology. The Khilafah State shall confront, contain and calm the other world powers and return the world to the general peace and prosperity that previously prevailed during the thousand years that Islam previously held the leadership of the world.

Pakistan’s Catastrophic Floods Failure of the Capitalist World Order

The devastating extent of the flooding in Pakistan is expected to have severe consequences in the months and years ahead.

According to Foreign Policy:

According to preliminary estimates, 65 percent of Pakistan’s main food crops—including 70 percent of its rice—have been swept away during the floods, and 3 million livestock have died. Pakistan’s planning minister says 45 percent of agricultural land is now destroyed. Such territory is precious in the best of times: Of Pakistan’s total land area, less than 40 percent is arable, and land erosion inflicts heavy damage on agricultural land…

A food crisis in Pakistan would have international implications. The country is the fourth-largest global rice exporter, with buyers from China to sub-Saharan Africa. Any dramatic drop in exports will only add to global food insecurity fueled by reduced wheat exports from Ukraine, although high global rice stocks could soften the blow. Pakistan also exports many non-food crops, especially cotton.

Natural disasters inevitably overwhelm any country. Contrary to popular perception, Muslim countries have greater resilience to such catastrophes because of their still powerful social dynamics promoting strong families and communities. But the foreign systems implemented in Muslim lands continue to undermine our strength.

Pakistan is more vulnerable to a climate crisis because its economy has been established on an agricultural base instead of an industrial base. Under Islamic rule, India was the leading industrial power, its manufactures renowned the world over. But British colonialization deindustrialised India and exploited it for its agriculture, raw materials and labour. The British partition of India created Pakistan with especially weak industrial capacity. Moreover, the British left Pakistan not only agriculturally based but also export based. Priority is given to those crops that can be exported rather than those that are needed indigenously. Pakistan often needs to import agricultural produce also. The export-oriented model is specific not just to Pakistan but to non-Western countries in general. The exploitative Capitalist economic system has already caused Western economies to largely fail; they are heavily dependent for their elevated standard of living on the produce and effort of the rest of the world.

This is in contrast to the implementation of Islam in India and the rest of the Muslim world that provided a just framework within which sound socioeconomic fundamentals could develop and excel. The immense productivity in Muslim lands created prosperity not just for Muslims but for the entire world, through Islam’s open and generous trade policies. With the permission of Allah (swt), the re-established Khilafah State shall overturn the present exploitative world order and rebuild just socioeconomic relations that benefit the Muslim Ummah and all of mankind.