Headlines:

 

• Europe is weeks away from economic collapse
• In Islamic law, Gingrich sees a mortal threat to U.S.
• Turkey withdraws ambassador and freeze military and economic ties
• Iraq is a mess: Fruits of US democracy
• Iran prepares for war games as tensions with West increase
• Pakistani army rejects US report on airstrikes

 

Details:

Europe is weeks away from economic collapse:

Europe is only weeks away from economic collapse, former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Khan told the Financial Times during a conference in Beijing . "Investors' confidence in European leaders is bleeding out day after day," Strauss-Khan said. The former IMF head noted that the €640 billion bailout plan being launched would be too slow, as it requires the approval of all euro zone parliaments, a process that will take some two months. Strauss-Khan also expressed doubt about the new fiscal treaty for Europe that Germany is pushing. The treaty would require all members to meet a deficit target of 3% of the GDP and fine nations that are in violation. "What will happen if a nation that is fined refuses to pay?" Strauss-Khan asked. "The answer is - nothing."

In Islamic law, Gingrich sees a mortal threat to U.S.:

Long before he announced his presidential run this year, Newt Gingrich had become the most prominent American politician to embrace an alarming premise: that Shariah, or Islamic law, poses a threat to the United States as grave as or graver than terrorism. "I believe Shariah is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it," Mr. Gingrich said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington in July 2010 devoted to what he suggested were the hidden dangers of Islamic radicalism. "I think it's that straightforward and that real. Stealth jihadis use political, cultural, societal, religious, intellectual tools; violent jihadis use violence," Mr. Gingrich said in the speech. "But in fact they're both engaged in jihad, and they're both seeking to impose the same end state, which is to replace Western civilization with a radical imposition of Shariah." Echoing some Republicans in Congress, Mr. Gingrich blasted the Obama administration's policy of declining to label terrorism carried out in the name of militant Islam as "Islamic" or "jihadist." Administration officials say such labels can imply religious justification for a distortion of doctrine that most Muslims abhor, thus smearing an entire faith.

Turkey withdraws ambassador and freeze military and economic ties:

Turkey's ambassador was to leave Paris Friday in a row with France over a law making it a criminal offence to deny that a massacre of Armenians by Ottoman troops in 1915 amounted to genocide. Ankara froze military and diplomatic ties with Paris on Thursday after the French parliament approved the draft law, while the Turkish embassy in Paris said its ambassador had been recalled and would leave Friday. "This is politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, warning of "irreparable damage" to relations and suspending political visits between the two NATO allies. "From now on we are revising our relations with France," he added. "There was no genocide committed in our history. We do not accept this." Under the draft law, people can be jailed for a year and fined 45,000 euros for denying that the killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces during World War I amounted to genocide. In retaliation, Turkey's premier said the country would rule on a case-by-case basis on any French request to use Turkish airspace or military bases and would turn away French military vessels from Turkish ports. Turkey would also boycott an economic committee meeting in Paris in January, Erdogan said -- a move that will worry business leaders in both countries fearful for the fate of 12 billion euros ($16 billion) in annual trade.

Iraq is a mess: Fruits of US democracy

"Let us stipulate some ugly facts up front. Iraq remains a weak state. The political institutions are-charitably-immature. The business climate is not overly attractive and corruption is endemic. Were it not for oil, there would be no real economy. There is a serious terrorism problem. Relationships with all the neighbouring states are problematic. Sectarian divides remain tense, with some key fault lines unresolved. The country's armed forces remain incapable of defending its international borders. Given all these facts, it is still very possible that Iraq could revert to its previous state of dysfunction, or find a new variety into which to fall. The chaos of the last few days in Baghdad-in which the Shi'a Prime Minster has pursued charges against his Sunni Vice President, with the latter taking refuge among the Kurds-is likely a precursor of the sort of political drama we can expect for some time to come"( The New Republic).

Iran prepares for war games as tensions with West increase:

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on Thursday announced the upcoming launch of ten-day massive naval exercises in the international waters, the local satellite Press TV reported. Sayyari said at a press conference on Thursday that the naval manoeuvres dubbed Velayat 90 will start on Saturday and will cover an area of 2,000 (1,250-mile) km stretching from the east of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden, the report said. This is the first time that Iran's Navy carries out naval drills in such a vast area, he was quoted as saying. He said that the exercises will manifest Iran's military prowess and defence capabilities in the international waters, convey a message of peace and friendship to regional countries and test the newest military equipment among other objectives, said the report.

Pakistani army rejects US report on airstrikes:

The Pakistani army on Friday rejected a U.S. investigation that concluded mistakes on both sides led to American airstrikes last month that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and severely damaged the already strained relationship between the two countries. The response indicates the report will do little to ease tensions, a worrying development for the U.S. because Pakistan's cooperation is critical for the Afghan war. The Pakistani army has said its troops did nothing wrong and claimed the attack was a deliberate act of aggression. Pakistan has retaliated by closing its Afghan border to supplies meant for NATO troops in Afghanistan and kicking the U.S. out of a base used by American drones. NATO officials have said the closure of the supply route has not affected operations so far, but it would eventually if not reversed. The army "does not agree with the findings of the US/NATO inquiry as being reported in the media," the force said in a short statement sent to reporters shortly after midnight Friday. "The inquiry report is short on facts." The army will provide a detailed response after officials receive the report, it said. Pakistan refused to cooperate in the investigation. Even though U.S. officials on Thursday accepted some of the blame for the attack on two army posts along the Afghan border, they did not apologize for the incident, as many Pakistanis have demanded. Instead, the U.S. said its forces were fired on first and acted "with appropriate force" in self-defence.