Taliban Delegation Arrives in Moscow for Consultations on Afghan Issues

Taliban Delegation Arrives in Moscow for Consultations on Afghan Issues

    Friday, October 04, 2024   No comments

A Taliban delegation, led by the acting Afghan Foreign Minister, has arrived in Moscow for the “Moscow format” consultations on Afghanistan. The format, established in 2017, brings together 10 nations interested in an Afghan settlement, including Russia, India, Iran, and China.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the decision to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations "was made at the highest level," the Russian news agency TASS reported on Friday. The Russian president's special representative to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, explained that this decision must be followed by various legal procedures.

Russian President Vladimir Putin noted last July that Russia considers the Taliban an ally in the fight against terrorism. Russia has called on Western countries to lift sanctions imposed on Afghanistan.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed the need for the West to take responsibility for the reconstruction of post-conflict Afghanistan, stressing the need to return confiscated assets to Kabul.

Relations between Russia and the Taliban have strengthened since they seized power in August 2021, following the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. Moscow has gradually moved towards removing the movement's designation as a "terrorist organization," despite Western sanctions imposed on the Taliban for more than 20 years.

"We urge Western countries to recognize their responsibility for the reconstruction of post-conflict Afghanistan, lift sanctions imposed on it, and return confiscated assets to Kabul," Lavrov said.

Lavrov stressed that Russia will not accept any military presence of other countries in Afghanistan or the establishment of new military bases in neighboring countries. He also stressed the importance of the current Afghan government in combating drug production and fighting ISIS.

Lavrov called for increasing humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, and stressed that Russia will continue to provide food support and basic supplies to Afghanistan.

At the end of his remarks, Lavrov called on the United States to return confiscated Afghan assets, holding the West responsible for the country's post-conflict reconstruction.

“Iran’s Attack on Israel Failed”

“Iran’s Attack on Israel Failed”

    Wednesday, October 02, 2024   No comments

Western media and Western government reactions to Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel raises serious concerns. Before sharing some of these reactions, some context, then some questions that would drive world community perception of governments' reactions to these developments.

On October 1, Iran struck several military and security sites in Israel in response to Israel’s assassination of Haniyeh, Nasrollah, and Iranian officials. Iran described the attack as “legal, rational and legitimate”.

Israeli leaders said Iran's strike "failed" but also siad that Israel reserves the right to retaliate. Some Western governments said Iran’s attack failed because their armies participated in intercepting the rockets. They also “strongly condemned” the attack by Iran. 

These positions might be convenient at the moment. However, long term, the West might come to regret their reactions and non-reactions to the events of the last weeks and months because their positions expose their disdain to the life and dignity of other peoples, compared to how they avenge the deaths of their own. These are critical moments that require principled response. Few facts will illustrate the problem the West faces.

1. If Iran’s attack failed, why are Western governments condemning it in the strongest terms possible? And did it fail because it did not kill Israeli civilians? Because many of the rockets landed, and they seem to have landed in specific locations, which means if they were aimed at civilian centers they would have landed in civilian centers. Is the West's measure of failure and success determined by the number of civilians killed?

2. Whenever Israel attacks another country and such attacks result in countless deaths of civilians including children and women, the West does not condemn such attacks; instead reaffirms Israel’s right for self-defense. If they believe in a principle of self-defense, Western governments need to answer the questions: Do other peoples and other countries have the right to such self-defense, too?

3. When Israel attacks in self-defense, civilians, including children and women, as acknowledged by France’s president are killed. In fact, in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack, Israel killed 13 Palestinian children for 1 Israeli death for a total of 16,000 Palestinian chidlren and counting; or 33 Palestinians for 1 Israeli, for a total of 41,000 Gazans and counting. Is this an acceptable formular for self-defense killings?

Answers to these questions are not an exercise in morality speak; answers to these questions can form a practical, sound foundation for ending the cycles of violence.

  

Media Review: What will Hezbollah and Iran do and what might happen in the Middle East after Beirut Attacks?

Media Review: What will Hezbollah and Iran do and what might happen in the Middle East after Beirut Attacks?

    Sunday, September 29, 2024   No comments

In about a week, Israel turned electronic devices into weapons, assassinated military and political leaders, and launched arial bombings in Lebanon injuring thousands and killing hundreds, including the leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Media reports about these unprecedented events vary. Governments’ reactions also vary. A review of how the global media and governments reacted will provide some context. The media review is prefaced by some thoughts about what might happen next, given the current events and given the expressed reactions as reported by media outlets. 

Israeli leaders claim that what they did will usher in a new Middle East. Israel has crossed so many red lines to achieve these stated goals: Destroy Hamas, Hezbollah, and all other affiliated groups. But they don't seem to have an answer for what their plan, long term, is for Palestinians. Instead they seem to focus on Iran. That is where it becomes clear that the current military success is just tactical success and it is not hard to achieve given the superior firepower and military technology the state of Israel enjoys, not to mention the unlimited supply of weapons the US government has provided thus far. However, strategically, this could be seen in the very near future as the moment when Israel forced the Iranian leaders to make a serious strategic shift. Here is why.

Iranian leaders have recently described Israeli leaders' actions as a form of "insanity", for crossing all legal, diplomatic, and ethical boundaries. Given that Israel is believed to have a stockpile of nuclear weapons, in the view of Iranian leaders, such "insane" leaders will not hesitate in using nuclear weapons against Iran. After all, some members of the Israeli government have publicly threatened to use nuclear weapons in Gaza.  If Iran did not take that threat seriously in the past, the recent actions must have changed their nuclear posture. 

Recalling that US assessed in June of this year that Iran was a week to a week and a half from breakout point in developing nuclear weapons capability, if Iran does not respond in the way it responded in the past, attacking with rockets and drones, the US and Israel should worry. Their non-response could mean a muted strategic response, whereby the religious authorities rescind earlier directives not to develop nuclear weapons and issue a new one that would speedup the development of nuclear weapons capabilities, at least for deterrence purposes. Such development would place the world on a path towards catastrophe, not just because of the potential for nuclear incident in the Middle East, but globally given that Russia's president just warned that Russia will change its nuclear posture if Western governments-supplied weapons to Ukraine are used to strike deep inside Russia.

Based on some Iranian media coverage, turning communication devices into discriminate weapons and killing religious figures is a form of nuclear strike without using a nuclear weapon. Some Iranians are now convinced that Israel will use nuclear weapons against their country. This is what will create a strategic shift in the region, not wining a war against non-state actors In Gaza and Lebanon without a plan for a political settlement with the Palestinians.

Chinese Foreign Minister: The Palestinian issue is the greatest wound to the conscience of humanity and historical injustice should not be ignored

Chinese Foreign Minister: The Palestinian issue is the greatest wound to the conscience of humanity and historical injustice should not be ignored

    Saturday, September 28, 2024   No comments

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed on Saturday that the Palestinian issue is the greatest wound to the conscience of humanity at this moment. In his speech at the general debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Chinese official spoke about the ongoing war in Gaza and the recent developments in Lebanon, stressing that force cannot replace justice and that the long-held aspiration of Palestine to establish an independent state should not be ignored.

 “The historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people should no longer be ignored, and there should be no delay in reaching a comprehensive ceasefire,” he continued, stressing that the fundamental solution lies in the two-state solution. 

He stressed that China has always been a strong supporter of the Palestinian people’s just cause to restore their legitimate national rights and a strong supporter of Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations. 

Wang Yi stated that Beijing has recently helped achieve breakthroughs in Palestinian internal reconciliation and will continue to work in coordination with like-minded countries to achieve a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian issue and lasting peace and stability in the Middle East.

New Zealand journalist Shaneel Lal on Western Media and Genocide

New Zealand journalist Shaneel Lal on Western Media and Genocide

    Friday, September 27, 2024   No comments

New Zealand journalist Shaneel Lal delivers a powerful speech in support of Gaza and Palestinian journalists killed by the Israeli occupation during his acceptance speech for the Journalist of the Year Award at the One Young World Summit in Montréal, Canada.

“It’s our moral obligation to give voice to those who have been oppressed and silenced by those in power” 

Is this what self-defense looks like?

Is this what self-defense looks like?

    Wednesday, September 25, 2024   No comments

If these are the images and characterization of what Israeli "self-defense" looks like, then what basis is there to condemn other "self-defenses"?

If Israel can kill babies and women, starve two million people, throw injured persons off rooftops, kills medical doctors and aid workers, sexually abuse Palestinian prisoners, and torture detained Palestinians, then what basis is there to condemn others if they do it?