Orientul Mijlociu

Iran and Muslims, indeed even non-Muslims worldwide, have observed and continue to observe a somber second anniversary of the assassination of General Qassim Soleimani.

I happen to share my birthday with the most horrific crime ever committed by the US in the assassination of Al Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani on January 3, 2020.

One’s birthday is fantastic but I will remember, honor, and make it a day for the martyrs, the resistance movement, and all those killed through police brutality.

The year 2022 could see an escalation of tensions between Iran and the United States if nuclear talks aimed at reviving the stalled 2015 nuclear deal collapse.

While analyst believe an agreement is still reachable as ongoing negotiations are entered into the new calendar, the United States and EU countries have warned that there are only “weeks” left to salvage the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA).

The ancient Romans used to say: ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum’ (‘If you want peace, prepare for war’). Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, paraphrased this aphorism at last year’s 10th EU–African Union meeting when he suggested that arming African partners is necessary to help to silence terrorists’ guns, which reflected a significant shift in the EU’s foreign and security policy. This new approach—part of the EU’s increasing reliance on military-oriented tools to fulfil its goals to contribute to peace, security and development around the world—is in some measure embodied by the new European Peace Facility (EPF).

The Arab coalition on Sunday released footage and pictures it said provided evidence of Hezbollah and Iran’s involvement in Yemen’s seven-year war and the use of Sanaa airport as a missile launch site.

At a press conference in the Saudi capital, coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki showed footage of Hezbollah instructors training Houthis on how to use drones.

In some videos, boxes of drone parts can be seen stacked with some bearing Hezbollah’s logo.

Shûrâ, Or The Principle Of Collective Deliberation

When one evokes the relation between Islam and democracy, (1) the temptation is great to go to texts (Qur’an and Hadîth) and to Muslim political history of experiences of governance with analogies to modern pluralistic systems. (2) Hence the reformist currents of Islamic thought, which intend to promote the principle of shûrâ, which can be roughly translated as “collective deliberation”. On the theological level shûrâ refers directly to the Qur’anic text, in particular to Sûrah 42, precisely entitled “The Consultation”:

Even as Ankara rolls out a new scheme to contain the country’s currency crisis, the severe losses of millions of low-and middle-income Turks appears irreversible.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s emergency plan to prop up the battered Turkish lira and stop creeping dollarization has reversed the currency’s free fall for now, but the package of new measures offers no remedy to the loss of purchasing power plaguing Turkey’s wage-earners — from unskilled workers to white-collar professionals — amid soaring inflation.

Turkey’s economic turmoil might challenge Ankara’s grip over opposition-held areas in Syria, where in-house rivalries among the armed factions over financial resources have escalated.

With economic turbulence rattling Turkey’s economy, the question is rising of whether Ankara can maintain its grip on Syria’s opposition-held areas where the Turkish lira is the de facto currency.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party charges that the prosecutors are reluctant to fully investigate the links of the health worker who attacked the party’s office in June.

On June 17 at 10:50 a.m., a bulky young man with tattoos and cut-off gloves, wearing a leather vest and carrying a heavy bag, walked into the Izmir office of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and fired four shots into a young female party volunteer. Then he took a photo of her as she lay on the floor dying and posted it on his WhatsApp status with the word “Body 1.”

Syria has become “a haven for mercenaries, drug trafficking and terrorism” Geir Pederson, the UN Special Envoy to Damascus Tells the UN Security Council in a special meeting.

His glaring comments come in a brief and were quickly reposted on the social media for their starkness and frank point of view.

The young terrorists have been brainwashed by Palestinian leaders and “scholars” spewing hate against Israel and Jews on a daily basis.

In addition, they are being assured that anyone who dies while carrying out a terrorist attack against Jews is a “martyr” whose place in heaven is guaranteed.

IMPACT-se found that Palestinian leaders have failed to fulfill their promise to Western donors to change the textbooks. The study showed, in fact, that the newly published textbooks were even more radical than previous ones.