News:
Earlier in the week, the British Prime Minister David Cameron issued a grave warning and stated that Britain faced its greatest threat. He said, "What we are facing in Iraq now with ISIS (Islamic State) is a greater threat to our security than we have seen before." He added, "If we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain." The grim warning coincided with the UK's threat level raised to substantial from severe--meaning that a terrorist attack was very likely.
Cameron also went further with his assessment of the threat emerging from ISIS and warned European leaders. He said, "With designs on expanding to Jordan, Lebanon, right up to the Turkish border, we could be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Med and bordering a NATO member." So the question arises is this just scaremongering or is there a hidden motive behind Cameron's remarks.
Comment:
Cameron is not alone in his assessment of the ISIS's threat. In America, some government officials as well as a growing proportion of the public perceive ISIS to be a real threat.
"This is a group of people who are extraordinarily dangerous," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat. Mike Rogers, leader of the House Intelligence Committee warned, "ISIS would like to have a Western-style attack to continue this notion that they are the leading jihadist group in the world."
According to a Pew Research Center report issued recently about the American public's perception of ISIS, Americans feel threatened by the obscure jihadi group. The report states: "Following the beheading of American journalist James Foley, two-thirds of the public (67 percent) cite ISIS as a major threat to the United States. The report said that 91 percent of Tea Party Republicans described ISIS as a "major threat" as opposed to 65 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents. The report also said, "Half of the sample was asked about ISIS and the other half was asked about the broader threat of ‘Islamic extremist groups like Al Qaeda,' which registered similar concern (71 percent major threat, 19 percent minor threat, 6 percent not a threat).
However, there are number of intelligence analysts that question the severity of the threat posed by ISIS. Matthew G. Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center at the Brookings Institute said, "As formidable as ISIS is as group, it is not invincible," Mr. Olsen added. "ISIS is not Al Qaeda pre-9/11" with cells operating in Europe, Southeast Asia and the United States. Mr. Olsen's sobering but measured assessment of the organization stood in contrast to more pointed descriptions by other American officials. Olsen's assessment chimes extremely well with Obama's view in June 2014. Back then he conceded that the group had become more powerful in "some places," but downplayed the idea that ISIS's gains in Iraq meant the US was in greater danger. "We've also got a lot better at protecting ourselves," he said.
What makes a mockery of American and British assertion about the imminent danger posed by ISIS's is a resurgent Russian state that is well equipped with nuclear weapons, and is more determined than ever to make a stand against West's continued interference in Ukraine. Russia possesses both the motive and the means to really hurt the West, whereas ISIS only has aspirations. Last week, Vladimir Putin pointed to Russia's nuclear arsenal and warned the West: ‘It's best not to mess with us' on Ukraine.
The only other occasion such bellicose language was used by Britain and America was when they wanted to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. The same rhetoric is being employed today to justify another American led invasion of another Muslim country, and this time the target increasingly appears to be Syria and parts of Iraq.
As usual the West is aided in its invasion of the Muslim world by corrupt agent rulers, who spare no effort in providing America and Britain the necessary encouragement and pretexts to intervene. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said, "If neglected, I am certain that after a month they will reach Europe and, after another month, America. Terror knows no borders and its danger could affect several countries outside the Middle East."
If it were not for the agent rulers providing their airspace, waterways, air bases, intelligence and money, the West would not be able to invade Muslim countries. And even when they did invade--aided and abetted by agent rulers--the West struggled to defeat the brave sons and daughters of the Ummah in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What the Muslim world requires is permanent immunization against the virus of Western interventions in the Muslim lands, and this can only be achieved by the re-establishment of the rightly guided Caliphate. The Caliphate will not only cut the hand of any foreign power that dares to intervene in the affairs of the Ummah, but will use political guile and intrigue to make the Kaffir colonialist powers fight each other thereby making them weak and ineffective against the ascendency of the Islamic state.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Abu Hashim
Brother Mustafa Hashem Zayed, member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir/ Wilayah Egypt, the acceptance of certainty in Allah (swt) entails the absolute certainty that the Shariah is the sole source of goodness for all of humanity.
Kinanah Egypt, 10 Dhu al- Qi'dah 1435 AH- 5 September 2014 CE
News:
On Saturday 23 August 2014, amidst the continuing political crisis in Pakistan, the third round of talks between representatives of the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf ended without any progress. Whilst the PTI leader, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, demanded that the Prime Minister resign, the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked for 30 days to conduct an independent investigation into allegations of election fraud. Separately, the PTI party chief, Imran Khan, demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister from office and told his supporters that the sit-ins will continue across the country until this requirement is met.
Comment:
1. Some observers think that the Islamic countries - including Arab and non-Arab - in the Arab Spring did not arise yet, are far from its effect. And others think that those countries are safe and live in harmony with the regimes, which are no less oppressive and unjust than their counterparts in countries in which the Spring began. However, both sides are wrong. Just because revolutions did not break out in many of those countries, it does not mean they are satisfied with their governments and regimes. The stage is set for any party or popular leader to overthrow their rulers, even if the candidate does not reflect the identity of the Islamic Ummah and its demand for the establishment of the Law of Allah (swt) like Imran Khan and Tahir ul-Qadri. This shows how the thirst of the Ummah - including the people of Pakistan- to emulate their brethren in countries that in which the Spring rages against tyrant dictators.
2. The traitors in the military leadership in Pakistan - and behind them America - want to exploit such feelings in the people and the army for the criminal military operations against the Muslims of North Waziristan, which are for the sake of America and its occupation of Afghanistan. They want to busy the people in the conflicts between the traitors in the political and military leadership in their service to America. However, this does not mean that the traitors in the political and military leadership have not agreed to carry out military operations in North Waziristan. Rather both sides of have political means and both use them for their respective interests. So, the traitors in the military leadership took advantage of those feelings to put pressure on the traitors in the political leadership, like Nawaz Sharif, and the parliament to support the North Waziristan operations, which are rejected by both the people and the majority of the armed forces, particularly mid-ranking officers and below, as well as soldiers and combatants. Moreover the traitors in the armed forces want to portray that their hands are tied and that Nawaz is to blame, so as to prevent anger in the armed forces against them. As for Nawaz, he is grateful to his American masters for retrieving him from the dustbin of history and so is willingly playing his part.
3. Traitors in the military leadership backed Imran Khan, Tahir ul-Qadri and their movement to exploit the anti-regime feelings of the people and the army to put pressure on the government and divert anger from themselves. They are portraying to the army that the government insisted on negotiating with the Taliban, whilst the traitors in the military leadership wanted to carry out military operations, even though the Nawaz Sharif regime threw its full support with the operations at the most critical time. They also point to the government harassment and prosecution of the former army chief, General Pervez Musharraf, and the persistence of the government in criticizing the army, particularly by the Defense Minister, Khwaja Asif, amidst calls for his resignation. They also point to the regime's normalization of relations with India, which the army detests. For all these reasons, the traitors in the military leadership push Imran Khan and his party and Tahir ul-Qadri and his group claiming to the army that they are teaching the government a lesson. The government is then expected to learn the lesson and proceed in the direction that the military leadership wants. However, the Ummah is still waiting for a true leader who will lead it to uproot the American agents and establish the Shariah of its Lord under the shade of a Khilafah "Caliphate" according to the methodology of the Prophethood, which is no doubt soon, inshaaAllah.
Written for The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Abu Amr
Headlines:
Aljazeera Questions Legitimacy of Foley and Sotloff Beheading Videos
Sisi Blames Outages on Lack of Investment
Pakistan: Army Not Backing Anti-Government Demos
Details:
Aljazeera Questions Legitimacy of Foley and Sotloff Beheading Videos
The Arabic version of Aljazeera, the Doha-based broadcaster funded by the House of Thani in Qatar, has joined the growing chorus questioning the beheading of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. The news channel says the videos are "unconvincing" and Foley and Sotloff are actors right out of "Hollywood" casting. It believes the videos were produced as a pretext ahead of a U.S. invasion of Syria. "Perhaps the first thing that draws the attention of the viewer" in the first beheading video is that "Foley was playing the role of champion not the victim only, for he recites a lengthy statement in peerless theatrical performance, and it seems from tracking the movement of his eyes that he was reading a text from an autocue," Aljazeera reports.
The news network poses questions similar to those asked by Infowars.com and other alternative news sites soon after the video appeared. For instance, a clue the video was staged is the lack of blood when Foley and Sotloff supposedly have their throats cut by a masked jihadist. The "knife being moved on the neck of the victim six times triggered no blood," Aljazeera notes. Moreover, neither of the supposed victims display fear despite the fact they are about to have their heads sawed off. "It also raised questions over how Foley, who was kidnapped since 2012, reached the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Even more, it raised doubts over the identity of the executed man, claiming that he does not look like Foley," reports Al Arabiya News. "It quoted unidentified ‘activists' as claiming that Foley had previously worked for the U.S. Department of State and that he might have had links with intelligence, ‘which could mean that he colluded in the fabrication of the tape.'" [Source: Infowars.com, Aljazeera]
Whether the beheadings took place or not, America is itching to invade Syria and is looking to manufacture a host of pretexts that enable it to invade the country and prop-up the Assad's floundering regime.
Sisi Blames Outages on Lack of Investment
Egypt's president has blaming widespread power outages in recent days on years of lack of investment, while warning people were trying to cripple his government's efforts to rebuild the country and seeking to try take advantage of the crisis. In a TV address on Saturday, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that the outage were "the most significant incident over the last three decades", adding that the country needs to invest at least $12bn over the next five years to generate sufficient amount of electricity for its population. This is a battle for our existence," Sisi said in the special address to the nation, three months into his presidency. "We need to carry out a huge power generation development." "We should be aware that
such a crisis cannot be remedied overnight," the president added. "We as Egyptians are facing huge insurmountable obstacles and no one, the president nor the government, will be able to overcome them individually without your support."
On Thursday, a huge power outage blacked out most of Cairo causing major disruption across the capital city of some 20 million people at the height of the morning rush hour. Services were completely suspended on one of the city's three metro lines and heavily disrupted on a second. Power was gradually restored several hours later as temperatures rose towards 40 degrees Celsius in the middle of the day. The power disruption also left parts of the capital without running water, and hit telecommunications, knocking out 2,000 mobile phone signal boosters. The outage has forced authorities to impose rolling power cuts neighborhood by neighborhood. Thursday's outage was the most extensive in years, as investment in generation has failed to keep up with rising population numbers amid the economic woes plaguing the country since the Arab Spring of 2011. [Source: Aljazeera]
Once again Sisi is misleading the people and asking them to be patient, whilst the money needed to fix Egypt's electricity problem is well in his grasp. If Sisi is sincere he should reclaim $70 billion from Mubarak and his family, which they looted during the Mubarak era. The stolen money is more than enough to address frequent shortages in electricity and food. The money left over could be used to pay off Egypt's debt principal and return Egypt to economic self-sufficiency in a short period of time.
Pakistan: Army Not Backing Anti-Government Demos
Pakistan's Defense Minister says the country's army is not supporting protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Talking to VOA Urdu Service, Khawaja Asif said the army would adhere to Pakistan's constitution that strictly prohibits the military from taking part in political activity. Army is a government institution and it is playing its role as per the constitution and the law. Military is with the government and the constitution, not with any individual," Asif told VOA. Cricket-star-turned-politician Imran Khan, fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri and their supporters have camped outside parliament in Islamabad since August 15 demanding Sharif quit, claiming the election that swept him to power last year was rigged. Sharif's previous government was overthrown in a military coup in 1999 and there has been speculation history may repeat itself. But Asif categorically denied such speculation. "There is no such possibility," he said. "All the institutions, including the Army are acting within the constitution." Sharif says he has no intention of stepping down, saying the rallies in Islamabad will not deter his government from abiding by the "constitution and law." [Source: Voice of America (VOA)]
Despite attempts by Mr. Asif to suggest that portray the army as an innocent bystander in the recent protests, there is growing body of evidence that implicates the army as the real perpetrator behind the events. One of these is Mr. Asif's impending resignation and replacement with a figure that is close to the army leadership. One recalls that the army has persistently demanded Asif's removal and now it appears that a deal has been struck as reported by the Wall Street Journal, whereby the army will control security and foreign policy of the country. This will Nawaz Sharif weakened and a mere figurehead Prime Minister with miniscule powers to act.
News
Ata Muhammad Noor, governor of Balkh and former militia leader, who had threatened to lead mass protests in the wake of the disputed presidential runoff in June, warned on Wednesday of a "civil uprising" if the ongoing ballot recount proves biased and his candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, is not named the winner.
"If the vote recount is one-sided or fraudulent, we will not bow down and accept the results," he said in an interview. "We do not want a crisis, but we will defend the rights of our people. We will have a big civil uprising... We will occupy government buildings and institutions... We will boycott the process, and we will not recognize the next government because it will have no legitimacy." (http://www.tolonews.com/en)
Comment
The crises that came as result of the shameful 2014 elections is when the strong ally of Abdullah Abdullah's team Ata Muhammad Noor, the governor of Balkh and the Head of the Executive Shura of Jamiat-e-Islami, called his supporters to prepare for the green and orange revolutions.
On the other hand, the spokesman of the team of Ashraf Ghani, Faizullah Zaki said that "It's not a difficult task and anyone can possibly do this, but a serious politician should think that this Green revolution should not turn black and orange nor red and bloody".
In addition, the "Advisory Councils of Hizb-e-Islami," a combination of few fractions that have separated from the Hizb-e-Islami of Gulbudeen Hikmatyar, have also warned Abdullah and his group that if they refused to accept the results of elections after the involvement of the international community and the auditing of votes, they will not sit silent.
We consider these statements to be another shameful outcome of the 2014 Democratic Elections, because despite huge funds and media campaigns, the turn out in the elections was disappointing, as hardly three million people took part in the voting. Looking at the reality of the Afghan society, even these voters did not vote for democracy rather they voted on the bases of their tribal and linguistic affiliations. As for other votes, they were stuffed in the ballot boxes to avoid shame, with the help of government, election commission, and the representatives of candidates. These stuffed votes gave birth to the whole tension between the two camps and were then severely condemned by European observers and Abdullah.
The whole episode of election and then the electoral rigging brought to surface the rivalry and contention between UK, Europe and US. It's because UK and Europe, using and supporting Abdullah, have created sever hurdles for Ashraf Ghani and his pro-American stance. The Abdullah group constantly backed off due to the direct interference of Obama through his telephone calls, the visits of American senators and the Minister of Foreign Affairs John Carry, the interference of the deputy of John Carry, as well as the keen interest and pressure of the United Nations which compelled both candidates to accept the recounting, rechecking of the votes and the making of a National Coalition government. It's said that in August the issues of elections, voting, etc. shall resolve and the charge will be handed over to the new President.
The huge number of bog votes and the disagreement on the process of auditing, as well as the diverse interpretation of the statements of John Carry, created an environment of chaos, which is providing Russia an opportunity to take leverage from the situation. Hence, if the US is not ready to give share to other players, it's obvious that Afghanistan will once again become a battle ground for these powers and the situation may turn again into a civil war.
We and our political party, in the light of Islamic politics, call upon the Mujahid Nation of Afghanistan:
Indeed you have slapped the Kufar and its pawns by rejecting Democracy and refused to take part in the Democratic Elections. Similarly, you rejected their conspiracies and evil plots of turning one Afghan Muslim against the other using different pretexts. Rejecting secular Democracy and western plots is half of the work, the other half is to work for the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" that will bring a real change and will rejoin the Islamic lands that will reverse the occupation of the Muslim lands and will repel the occupation of Kufar by liberating the Ummah from its colonialism. Khilafah "Caliphate" will bring true prosperity, development, and tranquility that every one of us is yearning for and will eradicate the poisoned seeds of Nationalism, Tribalism, Patriotism, Democracy, Capitalism, etc. and will make the Ummah truly like one body under the system of the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate".
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Saifullah Mustanir, Kabul - Wilayah Afghanistan
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