Headline News 20/12/2013
- Published in News & Comment
- |
Headlines:
- Putin Wins Over Ukraine with Gas Deal and $15 Billion Bailout
- West Abandoning Regime Change Project in Syria
- Saudi Arabia Will Go It Alone says Diplomat
- Pakistan: US Donates Trucks to Police under $29m Assistance Package
Details:
Putin Wins Over Ukraine with Gas Deal and $15 Billion Bailout
President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, agreed to landmark deals in the Kremlin on Tuesday that will see Russia cut the price of gas supplies to Ukraine by one-third and grant Ukraine a much-needed $15 billion bailout. The raft of agreements, which appear to secure Russia's influence over Ukraine for the time being and stall Ukraine's ambitions to move closer to the European Union, will provide much-needed assistance in keeping the suffering Ukrainian economy afloat. The funds may even last until Ukraine's 2015 presidential vote, in which Yanukovych will seek to win re-election. For the past month, Ukraine has been caught in limbo between Russia and the EU, which has been trying to convince Ukraine to sign an association agreement. Yanukovych had originally planned to sign the deal at a summit in Lithuania last month but backed out at the last minute in favor of closer relations with Russia, triggering massive ongoing protests in central Kiev. "Given the difficulties faced by the Ukrainian economy, which are to a large extent connected with the world financial and economic crisis, with the aim of helping the Ukrainian budget, Russia's government has made the decision to convert $15 billion of its reserves into Ukrainian bonds," Putin said following the negotiations. Those funds will help Ukraine to pay off the more than $17 billion in loan payments that it faces next year, an amount almost equal to its central bank's depleted currency reserves. Yanukovych has cited the need for an immediate injection of cash as the main reason why he refused to sign the EU Association Agreement on November 29, 2013. [Source: Moscow Times]
For several centuries, Ukraine has found itself in a tussle between Europe and Russia to control its resources and to subjugate the Ukrainian people. In the past century, the subjugation was in the name of communism, which gave way to capitalism after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Today, Ukraine has to choose between European capitalism or Russian capitalism, but result is the same; Ukraine's resources are be plundered and her people will never enjoy security. Rather than looking West or East, Ukraine will soon look towards the Caliphate to offer peace and security that her people yearn for. This is only a matter of time.
West Abandoning Regime Change Project in Syria
The wheels of a western-backed "regime change" project in Syria appear to be falling off as members of opposition signal that President Bashar Assad may be allowed to stay in power and even contest elections in future to steer the country's political transition. Reuters is quoting a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) as saying that the group was told in a recent meeting in London of the Friends of Syria - an anti-Assad alliance - that next month's talks in Geneva may not lead to President Assad's removal. On the contrary, Mr. Assad will be a key a player in any transitional administration, and could even run for elections next year. "Our Western friends made it clear in London that Assad cannot be allowed to go now because they think chaos and an Islamist militant takeover would ensue," Reuters quoted a senior member of the Coalition who is close to Saudi Arabian officials, as saying. He added: "Some do not even seem to mind if he runs again next year, forgetting he gassed his own people." President Assad's current term ends in 2014, when fresh presidential elections may take place. Analysts point out that, if confirmed, acceptance of President Assad's centrality in Syria's transition will mark a dramatic turnaround in the "regime change" policy adopted by the West and their Gulf partners soon after the Syrian uprising commenced in March 2011. The turnaround in position has apparently been triggered by the growing dominance of al-Qaeda affiliated groups, hostile to any negotiations, within the broad spectrum of the Syrian opposition. The preference for a political rather than a military solution to the crisis became perceptible after Syria decided to eliminate its chemical weapon stockpiles-a move that was followed by a joint initiative by Moscow and Washington to back Geneva peace talks. The assertion of armed extremists peaked earlier this month when Salim Idris, the commander of the so-called "moderate" Free Syrian Army (FSA) was forced to flee Syria for Qatar after the "Islamic Front" - a militant organisation - took over his group's bases and warehouses along the border with Turkey. The incident that brought into sharp focus the power struggle between the FSA and al-Qaeda affiliates persuaded the United States to suspend "non-lethal" support to the FSA, fearing that the passage of this hardware may end up in the warehouses of its extremist foes. [Source: The Hindu].
So finally America's support for Assad, along with the support of Russia, Europe, China and the Islamic countries is out in the open and is strong as ever. Yet, despite all the money, arms and vicious tactics the world has used to destroy the Islamic complexion of Syria's revival, America and its allies are petrified at the prospect of seeing the Caliphate return to international politics. By the permission of Allah (swt), the day is soon to return when history will be again written by Muslims.
Saudi Arabia Will Go It Alone says Diplomat
A top Saudi diplomat said on Tuesday the Gulf kingdom was prepared to act on its own to safeguard security in the region, describing the West's policies on Iran and Syria as a "dangerous gamble." "We believe that many of the West's policies on both Iran and Syria risk the stability and security of the Middle East," the Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, wrote in a commentary in the New York Times. "This is a dangerous gamble, about which we cannot remain silent, and will not stand idly by," he added. On the topic of Iran's backing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, Prince Abdulaziz wrote: "rather than challenging the Syrian and Iranian governments, some of our Western partners have refused to take much-needed action against them. "The West has allowed one regime to survive and the other to continue its program for uranium enrichment, with all the consequent dangers of weaponization," he added. Saudi leaders have recently voiced their criticism of Washington's decision to pull back from military action in Syria earlier this year. Following that, diplomatic talks with Iran over its controversial nuclear program have also sparked tensions. Diplomatic talks with Iran may "dilute" the West's will to confront both Damascus and Tehran, he said. "What price is ‘peace' though, when it is made with such regimes?" The Gulf monarchy had "global responsibilities," both political and economic, and he said: "We will act to fulfil these responsibilities, with or without the support of our Western partners." In a thinly veiled jab at U.S. President Barack Obama, the Saudi ambassador said that "for all their talk of ‘red lines,' when it counted, our partners have seemed all too ready to concede our safety and risk our region's stability." [Source: Al Arabiya News]
The Saudi's were given ample opportunity to fulfil their responsibilities as mandated by Islam, but each time they chose to fight Muslims and Islam. One has to look no further than Saudi's hosting of American troops in Hejaz during the Gulf Wars, or the repeated betrayal of the Palestinian people under Jewish occupation. And more recently, the Saudi's have supported the Nasserite regimes brutality against the Egyptian people, and stood by in silence as Bashar continues to massacre Syrians on a massive scale. We ask Saudi Arabia, what is the purpose of purchasing billions of dollars of weapons when they are not to be used; are they meant to kept in a museum?
Pakistan: US Donates Trucks to Police under $29m Assistance Package
The state department of the United States on Thursday handed 48 powerful pick up trucks to Karachi police as part of its 29 million dollars police assistance programme, an official statement of the US consulate said. Officials from the US consulate in Karachi and the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affair (INL) formally transferred the 48 trucks to the Sindh police in a ceremony here. The police would use the trucks in Karachi and the rest of province to improve its response time and presence in critical areas. Speaking at the ceremony, acting US Consul Anu Prattipati said that the new trucks were only a small piece of the more than 20 million dollars worth of equipment, training and infrastructure support that the American people have provided to Sindh police since 2011. She further said the assistance was being provided in an effort to reduce crime and support the rule of law in Karachi and throughout Sindh. [Source: Zawya Online]
We ask the Pakistani government what possessed them to take delivery of the trucks, when American drones are mercilessly executing Pakistani citizens. Are they so desperate to take so called aid from one hand of the enemy, while the other hand is busy plunging a dagger deep into Pakistan?
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