Is China Taking Gloves Off? "U.S. has no right to lecture on possible arms supplies to Moscow"

Is China Taking Gloves Off? "U.S. has no right to lecture on possible arms supplies to Moscow"

    Monday, February 20, 2023   No comments

Media review: Global Politics

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin: 

"It is the American side, not the Chinese side, that constantly supplies weapons to the battlefield. Who calls for dialogue and peace, and who distributes knives and encourages confrontation? The United States has no right to lecture China, and we will never allow the United States to dictate or pressure Sino-Russian relations." 

Al-Assad from Muscat: The region is now more in need of the role of the Sultanate of Oman

Al-Assad from Muscat: The region is now more in need of the role of the Sultanate of Oman

    Monday, February 20, 2023   No comments

Today, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a working visit to the Sultanate of Oman, where he was received at the Royal Private Airport by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, Sultan of Oman.

Al-Assad and Bin Tariq held an official session of talks at Al-Baraka Al-Amer Palace in Muscat, in the presence of the two official delegations, where the latter renewed his condolences to President Al-Assad and the Syrian people for the victims of the devastating earthquake, stressing his country's continued support for Syria to overcome the effects of the earthquake and the repercussions of the war and the siege imposed on the Syrian people.

For his part, Al-Assad expressed his deep thanks to the Sultan, the government and the brotherly Omani people, for their solidarity and standing with Syria and for sending relief aid, noting that the greatest thanks is for Oman's standing by Damascus during the terrorist war against it.

The talks also dealt with the bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries, and the areas of joint cooperation, where it was agreed between the two sides to strengthen and advance bilateral cooperation in all fields, and Al-Assad indicated that Syria and Oman have relations of mutual trust and an old and deep understanding.

Al-Assad considered that Oman has always maintained its balanced policies and credibility, and that the region "now more needs the role of the Sultanate of Oman in serving the interests of its people in order to strengthen relations between Arab countries on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in the affairs of other countries."

For his part, Bin Tariq said that Syria is a brotherly Arab country, "and we look forward to its relations with all Arab countries returning to their natural context."

The official talks session was followed by a closed session of talks, then Al-Assad and his accompanying delegation left Muscat, concluding his working visit to the sisterly Sultanate of Oman. 

China's President Xi Jinping set to visit Iran

China's President Xi Jinping set to visit Iran

    Saturday, February 18, 2023   No comments

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Iran, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced at the end of the Iranian president's three-day visit to China.

A joint statement from the two countries said Xi Jinping "gladly accepted the invitation" of his Iranian counterpart, but the date of the visit was not mentioned.

Earlier in the day, Raisi called his visit to China "extremely fruitful and successful," expressing his hope to advance cooperation with China in various fields.

In a press statement upon his arrival in Tehran, Raisi announced the signing of 20 memorandums of cooperation in the presence of the presidents of the two countries, stressing that there is a serious desire on both sides to enhance cooperation in the trade, economic, energy, scientific and technological fields.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said yesterday that Raisi's first visit to Beijing will help stability in the Middle East, and will not target any third party, but will contribute to the well-being of the Iranian and Chinese peoples.

The Iranian president met his Chinese counterpart on his eighth foreign visit during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand a few months ago. In the bilateral meeting, the Chinese president officially invited his Iranian counterpart to visit Beijing.

The 36th summit of the African Union.. What is on its agenda?

The 36th summit of the African Union.. What is on its agenda?

    Saturday, February 18, 2023   No comments

A number of challenges are facing the African summit, most notably considering the file of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, as well as the frozen memberships of countries, including Sudan.

There will also be closed sessions to adopt the agenda, and to hear reports on the state of peace and security, and the African Free Trade Area, in addition to other files related to the evaluation of the implementation plan for the first decade of Africa's Vision 2063, and the reform of the United Nations Security Council.

In a speech, the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, said, "What is required is to activate the African Free Trade Area quickly to meet the various challenges," adding that the continent's partners "impose strict conditions for financing our various projects."

Faki also called for "the necessity of reforming global governance that excludes Africa from the Security Council," noting that "some of the goals adopted by the continent have not been achieved due to the lack of political will among some."

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission warned of the expansion of terrorism in Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad, explaining the need for international solidarity with the affected countries.

For his part, the Ethiopian Prime Minister said in his speech that "Africa must be represented in the Security Council with at least one permanent seat and two non-permanent seats."

In turn, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "The Russian-Ukrainian war has directly affected the lives of the African people, who bear the greatest challenges," he said.

Guterres considered that "Africa needs international financing to relieve the burden of debt burdened with it," calling on the other hand for the return of the democratic path in Sudan, Mali and Burkina Faso.

And the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry announced earlier that the leaders of 36 African countries confirmed their attendance at the summit, which begins with an open session that includes several speakers, most notably Senegalese President Macky Sall, head of the ending session of the Union, and President of the Comoros Ghazali Osmani, head of the next session, in addition to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

In a message to African leaders, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday that he stands ready to work with leaders of African countries to build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.  Xi made the pledge in his message to the 36th African Union (AU) Summit, in which he extended congratulations to African countries and the African people on the opening of the summit, according to Chinese media reporting.

By not calling the Syrian government with words of condolence for the dead Syrians, Erdogan may have missed his chance to rehabilitate his sectarian supremacy

By not calling the Syrian government with words of condolence for the dead Syrians, Erdogan may have missed his chance to rehabilitate his sectarian supremacy

    Thursday, February 16, 2023   No comments

When a government minister from Greece, a country with which Turkey is threatening with war, becomes the first among his European colleagues to visit quake-hit Turkey to survey the extent of the disaster caused by the quakes there, Erdogan’s government should have done the same with its Syrian counterpart. After all, Erdogan has played a pivotal role in the crisis in that country that destroyed the country and left nearly 20% of its territory outside the control of the government. Instead, Erdogan chose to ignore common human compassion, Islamic norms that require ta`ziya, and neighborly obligation in order to preserve his political posturing.

Politics should never supersede human decency. That is why many of the Arab rulers who wished for the overthrown of the Syrian government and invested in that project, like the King of Jordan, the Sheikh of UAE, and Egypt’s Sisi’s, all of them despite their disagreements with the Syrian government, called the Syrian president for ta`ziya and to offer help. Sixteen other Arabi governments that cut ties with the Syrian government during the crisis reached out with words of support and offers of help. But not Erdogan.

Erdogan, who reshaped Turkish society to his liking, wanted to recreate his neighborhood as well, not work with his neighbors. He used religion, nationalism, and politics to pursue an agenda of supremacy driven by the same callous Darwinian capitalism that is at the root of most of the social and environmental illnesses. His refusal to do the decent thing and pick up the phone and say to his counterpart in the neighboring country that was devastated by the same deadly and destructive earthquake, inna lillahi wa-inna ilayhi raji`un, shows that he lacks the temperament of a leader who is supposed to represent the values of his society not his personal impulses and sectarian biases.

We say secterian bias because it is clear thzt Erdogan is willing to make peace with all former enemies, yet he resists making peace with the Syrian government and the only reason we see is because Assad is not a Sunni Muslim, he is seen by sectarian leader as a person who belongs to an inferior sect ruling over the majority-Sunni country. That is why only another sectarian nation-state, Qatar refuses to deal with the Syrian government, prompting a renouned journalist to write a public letter to the emir, we share it here because it highlights the same issues addressed in this editorial.

His Highness Sheikh “Tamim bin Hamad,” this is an open letter to public opinion and before God Almighty, from a crushed and overpowering Arab citizen to Your Highness. Perhaps you will hear these words emanating from a heart squeezed by grief and pain over a nation that is being written off from the map of influence, and is living in the worst stages of an era of deterioration.

Your Highness: Syria, which was hit by a devastating earthquake that left thousands of victims and tens of thousands of afflicted, displaced and wounded, is living the tragedy of the century, and its people are groaning under the weight of a double catastrophe after years of war and siege. Millions in Syria are below the poverty line, ravaged by poverty, hunger, destitution and cold.. Children, women, the elderly and decent families Mastoura has become homeless or breadwinner. You may be aware of this through reports that are supposed to reach you.

Many countries of the world, led by Arab and Islamic countries, have come to the aid and relief with the commendable capabilities they can, and the countries of Qatar have lagged behind in that. I know that you are helping our brothers in Turkey, and this is a humanitarian work that you bear witness to. And you help our brothers in northern Syria where the Syrian government has no control, and this is a blessed act, but excluding areas such as Aleppo, Latakia, Jableh and Hama because they are located in the areas of the Syrian government or the “regime” as you call it from relief, and withholding any sympathy for them or conveying their suffering, or even condolence with them . Allow me to say that this approach is wrong, and it harms the State of Qatar, its reputation and its future, more than it harms the Syrians at a painful but fleeting moment in the course of history.

  The human tendency does not differentiate between one person and another on the basis of where he resides. Arab brotherhood, Arab blood, magnanimity, originality, and Arab honor necessitate transcendence over political differences and fear to save simple people, brothers, and human beings anywhere, regardless of the political dispute with the government or the difference in orientations. The State of Qatar must help the brothers and the Syrian people in Aleppo, Lattakia, Jableh and Hama, just like its donation to help the Syrian people in Idlib, Jandiris and other regions of the north.

If there is a political disagreement and a rift between you and the Syrian leadership, then let it not be, and no one will ask you to change your political orientations according to what you see as serving the interests of your country. But at the same time, there is no political dispute between the Syrian and Qatari peoples. It is a common sympathy and pain, and I am confident that your Qatari people are in pain for every Syrian and do not differentiate between those who sit in the open in Aleppo or those who sleep in the cold in Idlib. The entire Syrian people is afflicted and needs the embrace of its Arab brothers. Syria has always been the first to extend a helping hand to all Arabs in their tribulations and misfortunes, and it has never been stingy or hesitated for a single moment in offering even lives for Arab causes.

Your Highness: Perhaps you know or have heard about the gift of the Syrians in all cities, as well as the Arabs and Muslims in all countries, to defend Qatar in the face of bullying, racism and confusion practiced by Western countries during Qatar's hosting of the World Cup. They gave you love and sympathy, and this is more valuable than all the treasures and money of the earth. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian activists in Damascus, Homs, Aleppo and other cities did not say that there is a political dispute that necessitates refraining from defending our brothers who achieve a common achievement that raises the heads of all Arabs.

The Syrian people are a dear and dignified people, full of dignity, dignity and pride. A word of sympathy and consolation. Watching the Arab brothers flock to them and their planes landing in their country is more important to them than bread, medicine, housing and money.

I know this people very well, and I know that Syria, the homeland, will not be burned or drowned. This is Syria, the mother of every Arab. The homeland is for those who have no homeland. Syria is the holy land, the kind and warm people, and the civilization steeped in history. An earthquake, war, or disaster cannot erase it.

Your Highness, deafen your ear, even for a moment, to the voices of blind hatred, the voices that filled the space around you with calls to stop and cut aid to Syria in the most difficult disaster it is going through, and sayings that the Syrian regime benefits from the disaster and that aid saves the regime from the siege. The truth is that the children of Syria are languishing under the rubble and in the open.

These voices are now insulting to Qatar and to the image of its peaceful, loving and open people. Those voices that were stripped of humanity and blinded by hatred, blackness of the heart and sickness of the mind.

Deaf ears to the calls not to help the afflicted because they are in the “regime” areas. These are shameful and disgraceful calls, and hear the voice of the Arab blood that flows in your veins. Hear the voice of the facts that indicate that there are Arabs and non-Arabs. Come to the differences, renounce hatred and break the siege for the sake of Arab and human brotherhood, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Mauritania, Libya, Lebanon, the Sultanate of Oman and Bahrain, while Qatar seems isolated, measuring its humanity with narrow political calculations. A victim from the opposition area, and this is a victim from the regime area.”

Your Highness the Emir: It is not too late, and the State of Qatar can suspend the political dispute, and rush now to Syria to offer a helping hand and assistance, or at least offer condolences for the victims, just like its Arab and Muslim brothers and the free countries of the world. Your blessed efforts to help in Turkey and northern Syria remain incomplete if they do not include assistance to all those affected by the earthquake, wherever they are or reside, and whatever the circumstances and differences. Your position is not permissible humanly, morally, legally and patriotic before God and the court of history and peoples.

  One day, Arab brotherhood and one Arab blood will be victorious, so Your Highness contributed to making this day soon, and do not make sisterly Qatar a prisoner of a chorus of sick people who live on differences and are addicted to insults, grudges and provoking division.

This is the message of an Arab citizen who has no power or power and only possesses the word of truth and seeks nothing but God's approval.

Kamal Khalaf

Writer and Journalist

The Chinese and Iranian presidents agree to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries

The Chinese and Iranian presidents agree to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries

    Tuesday, February 14, 2023   No comments

 The importance of Iran's president visit to China can be assessed not only by the deals signed between the two leaders, but by how the official Chinese media covers it. 

A case in point is Chinese daily global media, GT, editorialized about the event.

The Chinese newspaper "Global Times" reported today, Tuesday, that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi agreed with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during their meeting today in Beijing, to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Iran.

"The two sides are expected to increase coordination within the framework of multilateral platforms, such as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and to inject positive energy for peace, regionally and globally," the newspaper said.

According to the newspaper, Chinese experts said that Raisi's three-day visit to Beijing, the first since he assumed office in August 2021, would accelerate the implementation of a 25-year agreement between the two countries.

Experts pointed out that this meeting between the two presidents will direct bilateral cooperation to a higher level, which confirms the deep mutual trust between the two countries.

After the meeting, the two presidents witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation documents in the fields of agriculture, trade, tourism, environmental protection, health, disaster relief, culture and sports, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

For his part, the Iranian president said, during his meeting with his Chinese counterpart, that the implementation of the comprehensive document of the strategic partnership between Iran and China is an important measure to achieve stability and peace in the region.

Raisi added, "Despite the opposition of the enemies of Iran and China to the consolidation and expansion of relations between the two countries, these relations have made great strides under the good management of the two parties."

He pointed out that "Iran and China are friends in difficult times," stressing that "the consolidation of these relations and friendships is effective in the security of the region and the world."

The Iranian president expressed his appreciation for China's positive and constructive role in the nuclear talks, noting that "the Westerners have once again fallen into a miscalculation with regard to Iran, not realizing that Iran and its people are determined, more than ever, to follow the path of development and progress." .

Raisi made it clear that Iran is ready to implement the Belt and Road project.

In turn, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that his country supports the Iranian side in protecting its "legitimate rights" and "encourages a speedy and appropriate solution to the Iranian nuclear issue."

"China will continue to constructively participate in the negotiations on the resumption of the Iran nuclear deal," Xi added.

Prior to his visit to Beijing, Raisi indicated, in a press statement, yesterday, Monday, that the goals and plans for his visit to China are to implement the strategic document that was signed between the two countries for 25 years, on March 27, 2022, and during this visit, economic agreements will be developed and accelerated between the two countries. .

It is noteworthy that the Iranian president had met his Chinese counterpart on his eighth foreign visit, during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, months ago. In the bilateral meeting, the Chinese president officially invited his Iranian counterpart to visit Beijing.

This is my president's tenth foreign visit in less than a year and a half of his government's life.

During the visit, the Iranian president will participate in the joint meeting of businessmen and economic experts from Iran and China, meet with Iranians residing in China, and talk to senior intellectuals and thinkers in China, according to local Iranian media.

China is Iran's largest trading partner. According to Iranian customs statistics, China is the main export destination for Iran, which imports from it exceeded 12 billion and 600 million US dollars.

China: Iranian President's visit helps stability in the Middle East

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the first visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Beijing will help stability in the Middle East and does not target any third party.

"The visit will contribute to the well-being of the Iranian and Chinese people," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, according to the Chinese government newspaper, the Global Times.

On Tuesday afternoon, Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a welcoming ceremony for his Iranian counterpart in the Great Hall of the People. After the ceremony, the two presidents will hold a closed meeting.

Last Sunday, China announced that the Iranian president would visit Beijing for 3 days, from 14 to 16 February.

Sino-Iranian relations have recently witnessed tension, following what Iran described as the positions raised during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the Chinese President signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between the two countries, on the sidelines of the Chinese President's visit to the Kingdom.

At the time, the Iranian president said, "Some of the positions that were raised during the Chinese president's recent visit to the region caused dissatisfaction and discontent with the people and government in Iran."

Iran summoned the Chinese ambassador to Tehran to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to express its strong dissatisfaction with the statement of the Chinese-Gulf summit, which included "the status of the Abu Musa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs islands, and the nuclear agreement negotiations."

Last September, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani confirmed that "all allegations made in the final statement of the Gulf Cooperation Council regarding the three Iranian islands are unacceptable."

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, "China's relations with Iran will not be affected by the current circumstances, but rather will be permanent and strategic."

On March 27, 2022, China and Iran signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement in Tehran, and the Iranian president stressed the need for continued cooperation between the two countries to implement the nuclear agreement.

Is the visit by Iran’s president to China a relation-repair opportunity or a bilateral strategic summit?

Is the visit by Iran’s president to China a relation-repair opportunity or a bilateral strategic summit?

    Monday, February 13, 2023   No comments

In December of 2022, the Chinese president made a visit to Saudi Arabia, and while meeting with representatives of other GCC members states and representatives of some Arab governments, Xi, out of courtesy, signed GCC statement issued at the conclusion of the gathering. The Chinese president also delivered a speech while attending the Arab-China summit.

The statement, however, contained language of support for the UAE in reaching a negotiated and peaceful solution to the issue of the three islands that Iran considers part of its territory, as well as calling on Iran to seriously engage in negotiations to return to the nuclear agreement.

In response to Xi’s endorsement of the statement, Tehran summoned the Chinese ambassador to Iran, to protest against the statement of the Gulf-Chinese summit, which touched on the status of the Abu Musa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs islands.

China responded immediately. The Chinese foreign ministry issued a clarification saying that the GCC countries and Iran are all China's friends, and neither China-GCC relations nor China-Iran relations are targeted at any third party, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a press briefing. China supports the GCC countries in improving relations with Iran based on the principle of good-neighborly friendship, conducting win-win cooperation with Iran and jointly promoting the development and stability in the Persian Gulf. China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in this regard, Wang said.

China also sent its Vice Prime Minister Hu Chunhua to Tehran on December 13th to try and contain the situation. From there, Chunhua stressed that "China supports Iran's national sovereignty, territorial integrity and national honor, and combats foreign interference."

When the Vice Premier Hu Chunhua met with Raisi in Iranian capital Tehran during the same December visit, Raisi stressed that no matter how the international and regional landscapes change, Iran will remain firmly committed to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

On Sunday February12, 2023, the Chinese government announced that, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will pay a state visit to China from Tuesday to Thursday. Later on the same day, the Iranian government confirmed the visit. IRNA, the official news agency of Iran, reported that delegations from both sides are due to sign "cooperation documents,” and that Raisi will also take part in meetings with Chinese businessmen and Iranians living in China.

Chinese media predict that Raisi’s visit will enhance the two countries relations, especially in the context of the major channels that connect the two countries. "Cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will give China and Iran more space for cooperation. It is foreseeable that after this meeting, China-Iran relations will enter a new and higher stage," report the Chinese daily, GT.

How and why do US-Trained Afghan Troops, ISIS, and Syrian Rebels end up Fighting on either side in Ukraine?

How and why do US-Trained Afghan Troops, ISIS, and Syrian Rebels end up Fighting on either side in Ukraine?

    Monday, February 13, 2023   No comments

In the 1970s and 80s, the US and Saudi Arabia worked together to radicalize, train, and equip fighters in Afghanistan with the hope that these fighters who combine a sectarian zeal and military skill will bring down the Soviet Union. The religious sectarian zeal empowered these fighters to attack the US on September 11, 2001.

Ten years later, in 2011, the US, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia trained and supplied fighters who were trained or inspired by the Afghan rebels to bring down the Syrian government. Russia stepped in in 2015 and reversed the gains made by al-Qaeda and ISIL troops.

Since 2002, the US military and intelligence started to train and arm an elite force in Afghanistan, some 30,000 fighters. Twenty years later, the US pulled out of Afghanistan and left that country in the hands of Taliban, the same government the US dislodged in 2002. Most of these elite Afghani troops were left behind. We are now learning that many of them, about 2/3 of them, are recruited to fight with Russia in Ukraine, the country that has received nearly $100 billion in aid and military equipment to help it fight the Russians.

 Over the twenty years since it invaded Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States has built, equipped, and trained the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces. In order to enable these forces to fight the Taliban, which allied with al-Qaeda at the time, Washington spent nearly 90 billion dollars, until there were between 20-30 thousand Afghan special forces as a military elite that the Afghan government was proud of being trained by the Navy Special Forces. American, known as "SEAL", British Air Force Special Forces.

And with the start of implementing its decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in August 2021, Washington tried to transfer these soldiers and officers out of the country on the grounds that they were at risk from the Taliban movement, which took over the reins of government. For this, the United States established a huge air bridge, which was described as the largest operation of its kind in the history of the United States, and through which Washington was able to evacuate about 130,000 Afghans and foreigners from the country. However, the US airlift only transferred a few hundred senior Afghan Special Forces officers, leaving the bulk of them face to face with the advancing Taliban. About 1,000 Afghan special forces were evacuated to the United States, while a few others managed to reach Europe and Turkey, while about 20,000 of them were left behind inside Afghanistan.

Soon, these people changed their loyalties, and some of them fought in the ranks of the opposition groups, such as the National Resistance Front, the anti-Taliban political and military alliance led by Ahmed Shah Massoud, and took the Panjshir Valley as a center for its operations, and even a few of them resorted to fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, While a large number of them fled to neighboring countries, especially Iran and Pakistan, where they are awaiting asylum in a Western country due to their previous close ties to the US alliance.

With thousands of former Afghan soldiers and officers flocking to Iran, many American fears have been raised about transferring their unique knowledge of US army tactics and training to its arch-rival Iran, which poses a major security threat to the United States. It is easy for them to transfer their institutional knowledge of the US military, including the mechanics of collecting sensitive intelligence information, to Iran or other enemies of the United States if they communicate with them. And as stated in a report by Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the US Congress, the catastrophe of evacuating Afghans a year and a half ago endangered US intelligence assets, including the Afghan special forces, as “(they) could pose a threat to US security.” If they are coerced or recruited to work with one of Washington's adversaries, including international terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (in Khorasan) or countries such as China, Russia and Iran."

Events quickly proved that the fears of American officials were correct, as it began to become clear in the past few months that the Afghan Special Forces, which previously carried out advanced raids against the Taliban and bore the brunt of the American war on the Islamic movement, some of its men moved to fight on the side of Russia, the enemy. The arch-enemy of the Americans and the West as a whole these days, after hundreds of them received generous offers that included guaranteeing a safe life for them and their families, as well as obtaining Russian citizenship.

These efforts were led by the "Wagner" special combat group close to the Kremlin and made up of mercenaries fighting for Russia, which plays a prominent role in the war against Ukraine. Moscow hopes to draw on the experiences of former Afghan officers, after the battles over the past year showed that the Russian officers did not perform well on the battlefield against the Western-backed Ukrainian resistance. Media sources have confirmed that about a third of the former Afghan Special Forces are already fighting for Russia.

Meanwhile, as reported previously, ISIS fighters have relocted from Syria and Iraq to fight on the side of US supported Ukrainian forces. Recent Associated Press reporting (see AP Photos, below) depicted ISIS Black patches on the unforms of Ukrainian fighters.

  

Abe's memoirs after his assassination: I met Putin despite Washington's objection...and rejected sanctions against Moscow

Abe's memoirs after his assassination: I met Putin despite Washington's objection...and rejected sanctions against Moscow

    Saturday, February 11, 2023   No comments

The memoirs of the late Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, were issued seven months after his assassination, and revealed that his visit to Russia in 2016 angered the then US President, Barack Obama.

Abe said in his memoirs: “When I visited the United States in 2016 to participate in the Nuclear Security Summit, I told Obama that I would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi in May, and soon signs of discontent appeared on his face, and he answered me angrily: If I was in your place, when you did that."

He added, "I visited Sochi, and met Putin, despite Washington's objection."

Abe also pointed out that Obama's position stems from the United States' desire to keep intensifying the efforts of the Group of Seven countries, collectively, on the issue of pressure on Moscow, following the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation.

Abe mentioned in his memoirs that Obama's sudden proposal, during the "G7" summit in Brussels in 2014, to impose sanctions against Russia, due to differences over Ukraine and the accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation, sparked reactions and reservations by some European countries. Like France, which was planning to export amphibious ships to Russia, and Germany, which relies mainly on Russian gas.

Abe confirmed that "Obama was strict in raising the issue of sanctions" against Russia, and he distributed himself, surprisingly and contrary to diplomatic norms, the list of sanctions to the participants in the summit, although this list was not passed to experts, for study before it was presented.

Abe said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked him about Tokyo's position on sanctions, and he replied, "Japan will not participate in sanctions against Russia, because that would strain negotiations between the two countries, but we can issue a document of condemnation in the form of criticism."

He pointed out that Merkel suggested that everyone issue a statement condemning Russia, and leave the discussion of sanctions at the administrative level of each country, as it deems appropriate.

Abe noted that "everyone felt relieved," because the issue of sanctions against Russia was not agreed upon among the countries of the group, and it was adopted to issue a statement, collectively condemning Russia, instead of sanctions.

Likewise, Abe touched in his memoirs on the peace treaty between Moscow and Tokyo in 2018, and considered that it was not "considered a concession by Tokyo," because according to the joint Soviet-Japanese declaration on October 19, 1956, the Soviet Union pledged at the time to return Shikotan Island, and many The uninhabited islands adjacent to the Lesser Kuril Mountain Range, to Japan, upon the conclusion of a final peace treaty, between the two countries.

He described Japan's demand to Russia to return all the islands of the southern part of the Kuril Islands at once as illogical, and means that these islands will never return to Japan.

It is noteworthy that Abe's memoirs include 18 press interviews, in a question and answer format, for a total of 36 hours. It was not published before due to its very sensitive nature, and it was put up for sale in Japan this week.

It is reported that Abe (67 years old) was subjected to an armed attack on July 8, 2022 while he was giving a speech at an election event in the city of Nara, in the west of the country, where he was shot with a gun from behind, after which he was transferred to the hospital, and died of his wounds.

Syria and Turkiye Earthquake: A father holds the hand of his daughter without letting go, among the rubble and destruction

Syria and Turkiye Earthquake: A father holds the hand of his daughter without letting go, among the rubble and destruction

    Friday, February 10, 2023   No comments

Adem Altan, a photographer of forty years who spent fifteen of them at Agence France-Presse, was working in front of a collapsed building when he saw a man sitting near the rubble in Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the earthquake that killed more than 14,000 people in Turkey alone.

According to the agency, "Agence France Presse," that no rescue team had arrived at the site on Tuesday the day after the disaster, and residents were trying to remove the rubble themselves to save their families.

According to the agency, the man in an orange jacket remained motionless in the midst of the commotion, indifferent to the rain and cold.

It was then that Adem Altan noticed that a man 60 meters away from him was holding an outstretched hand from among the rubble. At that time, he began filming the scene: a father holding the hand of his dead child without letting go, amid the rubble and destruction.

Altan took the pictures while the man watched him, who whispered to him in a trembling voice, “Take pictures of my baby.” He left her hand, which he did not want to let go for a moment, to show the photographer the place where his 15-year-old daughter lay, before rushing to grab her again.

“I was so touched at that time,” says Adam Altan.

Then the photographer asked the man his name and the name of his daughter, and the father, Massoud Hanser, replied, "My daughter, Irmak."

"He spoke with difficulty, in a very low voice. It was difficult to ask him more questions as the residents around him asked people to remain silent so that they could hear the voices of the possible survivors trapped under the rubble," the photographer says.

At that moment, the photographer immediately thought that the photo summed up the pain of the earthquake victims, but he could not imagine the impact it would have.

Masoud Hanser, the Turkish father who remained holding on to the only visible part of his 15-year-old daughter Ermak's body, after she died as a result of the devastating earthquake in the Kahramanmaraş region.