Headlines:

• Ron Paul: Dollar Will Collapse, Gold will "Go to Infinity"
• Cairo: Sunni Clerics Issue Fatwa Calling for All Forms of Jihad in Syria
• Iran to Send 4,000 Troops to Aid President Assad Forces in Syria
• US Scrambles to Save Taliban Talks after Afghan Backlash
• Growth of Chinese Navy Means U.S. Must Compete for Maritime Supremacy

Details:

Ron Paul: Dollar Will Collapse, Gold will "Go to Infinity":

Appearing on CNBC this week, former Congressman Ron Paul warned that if the US continues on its current course, the dollar will collapse, and gold will literally be priceless. "Eventually, if we're not carefully, it will go to infinity, because the dollar will collapse totally," Paul said on CNBC.com's Futures Now. "As long as we have excessive spending, and excessive computerized money, we are going to see gold go up," Paul urged, noting that as the value of the dollar is destroyed, everything measured against dollars will increase in value. Paul added that recent drops in gold prices do not factor into the long term outlook. "Markets do these types of things-they go up sharply, and sometimes they take a rest," Paul said. "I was never very good on short term, whether it's the stock market, or whatever." "If you look at the record of the value of the dollar since the Fed's been in existence, we have about a 2-cent dollar. And gold used to be $20 an ounce. So I'd say the record is rather clear on the side of commodity money." Paul said. "Six thousand years of history shows that gold always retains value," Paul added, "and paper always self-destructs."

Cairo: Sunni Clerics Issue Fatwa Calling for All Forms of Jihad in Syria:

Leading Sunni Muslim clerics issued a call to jihad in Syria last week at a meeting in Cairo which condemned the conflict as a "war on Islam" and said believers should use all means to ensure victory. "Jihad is necessary for the victory of our brothers in Syria - jihad with mind, money, weapons; all forms of jihad," Mohamed Hassan said, adding that more than 70 organizations represented had called for "support, whatever will save the Syrian people". "What is happening to our brothers on Syrian soil, in terms of violence stemming from the Iranian regime, Hezbollah and its sectarian allies, counts as a declaration of war on Islam and the Muslim community in general," Hassan said. Lebanon's Iran-backed Shiite movement has been fighting alongside the forces of President Bashar Al-Assad, a member of the Alawite offshoot of Shia Islam, against Syria's mainly Sunni rebels. Among those present were Youssef al-Qaradawi, a high-profile Egyptian preacher based in Qatar, and a senior scholar from Egypt's leading religious academy Al-Azhar, Hassan al-Shafai.

Iran to Send 4,000 Troops to Aid President Assad Forces in Syria:

The Independent on Sunday has learned that a military decision has been taken in Iran - even before last week's presidential election - to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's forces against the largely Sunni rebellion that has cost almost 100,000 lives in just over two years.  Iran is now fully committed to preserving Assad's regime, according to pro-Iranian sources which have been deeply involved in the Islamic Republic's security, even to the extent of proposing to open up a new ‘Syrian' front on the Golan Heights against Israel.

US Scrambles to Save Taliban Talks after Afghan Backlash:

In a bid to regain control of a peace process with the Taliban that had suddenly spun out of control, President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday slammed the brakes on two strategic lines of American negotiation, again exercising his power in a strained alliance and getting results. Mr. Karzai reacted in fury after an apparent diplomatic breakthrough on Tuesday - the opening of a Taliban peace office in Qatar - instead became a publicity coup for the Taliban. In televised images that horrified many Afghans, the Taliban introduced what appeared to be an embassy, raising their flag, speaking in front of a sign declaring the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," the name of their former government and seeking international exposure. First, Mr. Karzai broke off long-term security talks with the United States, accusing the Americans of failing to deliver on promises to keep the Taliban from grandstanding. Soon after, his office announced that the government delegation would stay away from the talks until the insurgents removed their symbolic displays of being an alternative government. In a turbulent 24 hours of nonstop diplomatic moves, Secretary of State John Kerry called Mr. Karzai three times and successfully pushed the Qatari government to get the Taliban to take down the sign and flag, American and Afghan officials said. "The office must not be treated as or represent itself as an embassy or other office representing the Afghan Taliban as an emirate government or sovereign," said the State Department spokeswoman, Jennifer R. Psaki. However, there was much to repair from the events of the past two days, and many Afghan political figures expressed a sense of having been betrayed by both the Americans and the Taliban. Some of the other language the Taliban used closely followed the American framework for peace talks. The insurgents appeared to agree - as they have in the past - to distance themselves from Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, saying the Taliban's aims were only within Afghanistan and that they did not support the use of Afghan soil to plot international attacks. Still, it was the insurgent presentation of themselves as a government that angered Afghan officials, and they clearly felt they were being sidelined in the peace process.

Growth of Chinese Navy Means U.S. Must Compete for Maritime Supremacy

Writing recently in the Los Angeles Times, Gordon Chang and retired Adm. James Lyons pointed with alarm to China's naval expansion. That sea power represents the path to national greatness is now axiomatic for the Chinese state and society. China is bolting together a great navy with aplomb, and the United States had better take notice. Beijing is thinking hard about how to use this new implement to advance national power and purposes. This poses a challenge of the first order. America and its allies must brace themselves for a permanent Chinese presence in maritime Asia - or beyond. Their first step: jettison the decades-old assumption that American sea power is an unchallengeable arbiter of Asian affairs. No longer does the U.S. Navy rule the Asian seas by virtual birthright. Our navy must compete for what it has long taken for granted. Beijing views seaborne might as a prerequisite for its ascent to great power. At the Chinese Communist Party congress late last year, outgoing President Hu Jintao vowed to "build China into a maritime power." Hu's words marked the first time officialdom had used such a high-profile public forum to promote China's seafaring project. His directive, since reaffirmed by successor Xi Jinping, signifies a radical break with China's historic preoccupation with continental affairs. The People's Liberation Army Navy is way ahead of Hu's and Xi's policy pronouncements. The fleet is already making its presence felt across the region. It recently commissioned its first aircraft carrier, dubbed Liaoning. It has mounted shows of force in the farthest reaches of the South China Sea, putting steel behind Beijing's territorial claims. And on and on. The PLA Navy is clearly a service on the make.

Abu Hashim