Iran's Shadow in Washington and New York

Unprecedented Iranian Attacks Spark a Paradigm Shift in the West

A Weekly Political News Magazine

Trump and Johnson Face Scrutiny at Home

Issue 1767- september - 27/09/2019

A Weekly Political News Magazine

Issue 1767- september - 27/09/2019

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Iran’s Shadow in Washington and New York www.majalla.com

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Editorial Last week’s attacks on Saudi oil facilities have opened up a new chapter in the Arabian Gulf tensions. While the Trump administration has blamed Iran on the attacks, he has thus far avoided hasty military decisions that would lead to a war with Iran. In spite of this, during the UN General Assembly meeting, he warned the Islamic Republic against further aggressive behavior in the region. Hanin Ghaddar writes this week’s cover story where she weighs in on the options that the Trump administration has against Iran, and how much more pressure Iran can take. While Trump avoided hasty military retaliation he did send more troops in the region as a defensive major and has threatened tightened sanctions, furthermore, European allies have grown impatient with Iran as Macron seems to have given up hope of bringing Trump and Rouhani together.

Joseph Braude also writes on the attacks on the Saudi oil fields as he noted how France, Britain, and Germany have issued a joint statement blaming Iran on the attacks and how they now believe the Islamic Republic should now negotiate a new deal. This was somewhat of a victory for Boris Johnson who has been harsher on Iran than his other European counterparts.

While Donald Trump and Boris Johnson were at the annual General Assembly gathering, trouble was brewing for them back home. In Washington, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi started an impeachment inquiry against Trump following his controversial phone call with Ukrainian president Zelensky, meanwhile, the British Supreme Court declared that Johnson’s parliament prorogation was unlawful and now he faces more calls for resignation. While some might see these instances as examples of the US and UK’s “eroding democratic systems”, Ali El Shamy thinks otherwise as he argues they exemplify how the established democratic orders in both countries protect themselves from deterioration.

Earlier this month, Egyptian nuclear scientist, Abu Bakr Ramadan was found dead in his hotel room in Marrakesh, Morocco where he was attending a scientific workshop. While medical reports say he died of a heart attack, rumors began circulating that he may have been poisoned by a foreign intelligence agency. This isn’t the first time that an Egyptian nuclear scientist has died abroad under mysterious circumstances, as this has been happening for years. Yasmine El-Geressi writes on the history of Egyptian nuclear scientists mysteriously dying abroad, as well as the history of Egypt’s nuclear ambitions.

We invite you to read these articles and more on our website eng. majalla.com. As always, we welcome and value our reader’s feedback and we invite you to take the opportunity to leave your comments on our website.

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A Weekly Political News Magazine

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A Weekly Political News Magazine

28 Winning Kashmir and Losing India

Issue 1767- september - 27/09/2019

20 ISIS Meets Southeast Asia

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24 Leadership and Authoritarian Values

36 Challenges in Portraying Mister Rogers

42 A Purpose-driven Life May Last Longer

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Nabil Karoui: Presidential Nominee Moves to Second Round While in Prison Cell 3

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44 Climate Change Is Already Killing Us

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Tourists, sitting in a chili-covered pool, participate in a chili pepper eating contest at Song Dynasty Town (Songcheng) on September 2019 ,22 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China.

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Fireworks over the Metropolitan Cathedral after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador kicked off independence day celebrations. Every year the Mexican president marks the ‘Grito de Dolores’, commemorating the 1810 call to arms by priest Miguel Hidalgo that began the struggle for independence from Spain, achieved in 1821. (Getty) 6

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eekly news is now on life support. The EU told Iran that it would put the issue of Iranian non-compliance into the agreement’s formal dispute mechanism if the next Iranian move away from the deal is significant.

UN Yemen Envoy Welcomes Houthi Offer to Halt Attacks on Saudi Arabia The United Nations envoy for Yemen has welcomed an offer from the country’s Houthi

åSaudi Arabia Opens to Tourists with Investment Appeal and no Abaya Rule

be available online for about 65£( 80$), with no restrictions for unaccompanied women as in the past. Access to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina is restricted.

Saudi Arabia threw open its doors to foreign tourists on Friday, launching a new visa regime for 49 countries and appealing to foreign companies to invest in a sector it hopes will contribute %10 of gross domestic product by 2030. The ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, relatively closed off for decades, has in recent years relaxed strict social codes, like segregating men and women in public places and requiring women to wear all-covering black robes, or abayas. Tourism chief Ahmed alKhateeb told Reuters in an interview ahead of the official announcement that abayas will not be mandatory for women tourists but modest dress is, including at public beaches. Visas will

EU Warns it May be Forced to Withdraw from Iran Nuclear Deal The European Union has privately warned Iran that it will be forced to start withdrawing from the nuclear deal in November if Tehran goes ahead with its threat to take new steps away from the deal. Iran has already taken three separate calibrated steps away from the deal, and has warned it will take a fourth in November unless the US lifts economic sanctions. The warning to Iran, pre-agreed by the three EU signatories to the 2015 deal, was made at a meeting on Wednesday, and makes clear that the agreement

rebels to halt all attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying it could bring an end to years of bloody conflict.

Implementation of the initiative by the Houthis “in good faith could send a powerful message of the will to end the war,” special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said. The Iran-backed Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and other parts of Yemen, have been fighting against a Saudi-led coalition that supports the country’s internationally recognised government in a devastating five-year war. Saudi Arabia gave a cautious response, with minister of state for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubeir saying on Saturday: “We judge other parties by their deeds, actions and not by their words, so we will see [whether] they actually do this or not.”

Israel's President Chooses Netanyahu to form Government Israel’s president has tasked Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a coalition government, throwing a lifeline to the incumbent prime minister after

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an inconclusive election threatened to end his political career. Reuven Rivlin’s offer does not guarantee Netanyahu will lead Israel’s next administration. Before that can happen, Netanyahu has up to six weeks to forge a majority coalition in Israel’s parliament. With a divided Knesset, the -69year-old leader now faces an uphill battle to secure support from at least 61 of 120 lawmakers. If his attempts fail, Rivlin could assign the task to someone else, most likely Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition.

2020 election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the inquiry after a closed-door meeting with Democratic lawmakers, saying Trump’s actions undermined national security and violated the U.S. Constitution.

to the House of Commons on Wednesday and Parliament reached boiling when he and his opponents engaged in hours of furious argument over Britain’s departure from the European Union. Lawmakers hurled allegations of betrayal and abuse of power across the chamber.

He said on Thursday tempers needed to calm following the vitriolic session in parliament, after critics accused him of using language that had led to threats and abuse against his opponents.

Supreme Court Rules PM Johnson Acted Unlawfully by Suspending Parliament

Hong Kong Leader Carrie Lam Faces Public Anger in ‘Dialogue Session’

House Begins Trump Impeachment Inquiry Over Call to Ukraine Leader Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, accusing him of seeking foreign help to smear Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of next year’s election.

The inquiry ensures a partisan fight in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail in coming months, energizing the most committed Republican and Democratic supporters and overshadowing the Democratic race for the nomination to face Trump in the November

The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully when he advised Queen Elizabeth to suspend parliament just weeks before Brexit and that therefore the legislature had not been prorogued. The ruling was a unanimous decision by the court’s 11 presiding judges. Johnson returned

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Hong Kong’s embattled leader has endured a barrage of criticism at a town hall meeting that laid bare anger coursing through the city after months of huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests. Carrie Lam faced more than two hours of grilling at a public “dialogue session” on Thursday night, the first time her pro-Beijing administration has sat down with its critics in 16 consecutive weeks of unrest. Millions have hit the streets while hardcore activists have clashed repeatedly with police in the biggest challenge to China’s rule since the city’s handover from Britain in 1997. During the evening Lam dismissed accusations that the meeting was a public relations exercise, saying she was there to listen as she admitted trust in her government had “fallen off a cliff”. “The biggest responsibility lies with myself, I won’t shirk the responsibility,” she said.

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Iran’s Shadow in Washington and New York Tehran Will Expand its Own “Maximum Pressure” Campaign Against the US and its Allies 10

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If Iran was able to hit the Saudi oil facility threaten the oil market, and get away with it, what will stop them from attacking more targets in the Middle East? the deployment of additional U.S. forces to the Middle East to strengthen air and missile defenses around Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Pentagon announced last week, a move that is defensive – not retaliatory.

TRUMP’S UNGA MESSAGE

Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps march in Tehran. (AP)

by Hanin Ghaddar Since last week’s attack on Saudi oil facilities, it has become clear that President Trump is trying his best to avoid a war in the Middle East. It is not clear if and how his administration will respond to these attacks, but the options are still under review.

According to NBC News, in a national security meeting on Monday, U.S. military leaders provided President Donald Trump with a menu of possible actions against Iran. But the president asked for more options, that wouldn’t lead to a war.

Until a decision is made, Trump has authorized

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At the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, President Trump called Iran "one of the greatest security threats" to peace-loving nations.

"All nations have a duty to act" in combatting Iran's influence. Citing an attack on Saudi oil facilities that he pinned on Iran, Trump noted new sanctions on the country's central bank.

He also warned Iran he would tighten sanctions if the country continues provocative behavior in the Middle East. "As long as Iran’s menacing behavior continues, sanctions will not be lifted.

They will be tightened."

This speech – in addition to his other statements and tweets on the attack against Aramco facilities – indicate three factors: One, the US administration is resorting to increased sanctions against Iran as an immediate response.

Two, Trump prefers to take time to think of an appropriate response, rather than hastily retaliate and risk a war. Three, the administration still prefers negotiations with Iran.

On the last point, Trump said during his UNGA speech that "it is time for Iran's leaders to finally put the Iranian people first," he said. "America is ready to embrace friendship with all who genuinely seek peace and respect."

Along the same lines, and in a step that brings the Europeans closer to the US perspective on Iran, France, Britain and Germany said on Monday that it is clear Iran was responsible for an attack on Saudi oil facilities. They all called on Tehran

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to agree to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs and regional security issues.

“The time has come for Iran to accept a long term negotiation framework for its nuclear program, as well as regional security issues, which include its missile programs,” the three governments said in a joint statement after French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met during the annual United nations gathering of world leaders.

SCENARIOS OF ESCALATION European countries such as Germany and France were more hesitant to blame Iran immediately after the attack, but it seems French President Emmanuel Macron has lost hope in forging a meeting between Trump and the Iranian President, which could lead to negotiations.

Although it seems that Iran has lost European sympathy and willingness to help, Iran could possibly escalate if the US doesn’t respond and reestablish deterrence. If Iran was able to hit the Saudi oil facility threaten the oil market, and get away with it, what will stop them from attacking more targets in the Middle East?

In a detailed article published by Hezbollah’s Al-Akhbar, based in Lebanon, Ibrahim AlAmin writes that Iran is shifting from “Strategic Patience” to “Punitive Attacks,” adding that the Aramco attack is just the beginning and that this

If the UAE is not going to be the next Iranian target, Iran’s proxies could go after any US – or US allies – presence or interests in the region, from the US bases in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, to Saudi or Emirati facilities in the Gulf.

new Iranian strategy will expand to punish all US allies who are involved in the wars against “the axis of resistance”, militarily or economically.

In a clear warning against the UAE, Al-Amin states that the UAE should leave the US-led alliance – and withdraw from Yemen – or will be punished next.

Whether this scenario is a real one or not, Iran will certainly feel emboldened if it was not hit by a military response. If the UAE is not going to be the next Iranian target, Iran’s proxies could go after any US – or US allies – presence or interests in the region, from the US bases in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, to Saudi or Emirati facilities in the Gulf. Hezbollah could also be used to strike Israel. Iran will try to avoid killing US troops or personnel, knowing that this could be Trump’s main red line. However, everything else will be a potential target. Iran can try to disrupt operations in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil tankers

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US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, September 2019 ,23.

(Getty)

Iran might be ready to deal with a weak economy, dissatisfied people, a cyber-attack, or a limited attack on its facilities. However, Iran cannot afford to lose its regional power - and by default – its regional proxies.

could be attacked.

Tehran will expand its own “maximum pressure” campaign against the US and its allies.

HOW FAR CAN IRAN AFFORD TO GO? Iran understands very well that Trump does not want to go to war during the year that precedes the presidential elections in the US. However, Iran also prefers not to go to war. Iran’s attack on the Saudi oil facility was risky, but they also did not expect the US to start a full-fledged war on behalf of Saudi Arabia. They probably expected some kind of military response that they were ready to deal with.

US sanctions have certainly weakened Iran’s economy. A war with the US would entail Iran to deploy and involve all its regional proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Gaza and Yemen. Not only this is costly, and will require Iran to spend

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money that it does not have, it will also risk Iran’s achievements it has accumulated in these countries. Iran might be ready to deal with a weak economy, dissatisfied people, a cyber-attack, or a limited attack on its facilities. However, Iran cannot afford to lose its regional power - and by default – its regional proxies.

Iran has used its proxies in wars before, most notably Hezbollah which has been involved in numerous wars with Israel. But the circumstances were different. One, it was limited to Lebanon and Iran didn’t have to be involved militarily.

Two, Iran’s economy could afford to compensate Hezbollah’s losses, from weapons, to financial compensations and cost of reconstruction.

This time around, Iran cannot afford – at least financially – to do that. And it would even be more difficult – and pricier – if the war’s stage took over the whole region. Therefore, the fear of a retaliation turning into a war could well be speculative, and that a strong message to the Iranians could be more beneficial than damaging.

That being said, it is also very important to combine such response with diplomacy. Now that the Europeans are starting to blame Iran for regional instability, and calling upon its leadership to accept negotiations that would include regional security issues, the US can work with both the Europeans and Gulf States to form an international coalition that would diplomatically isolate Tehran.

Hanin Ghaddar is the Friedmann Visiting Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Hanin Ghaddar is the Friedmann Visiting Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

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Unprecedented Iranian Attacks Spark a Paradigm Shift in the West US and Saudi officials Intensify their Campaign to Isolate Tehran Diplomatically 14

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by Joseph Braude In the aftermath of the mid-September attacks on Saudi oil production facilities, American and Saudi officials maintain that they do not seek military conflict with Iran, but have intensified their campaign to isolate the country diplomatically.

EUROPE TURNS AWAY FROM IRAN AFTER SAUDI ATTACKS In a joint statement issued on September 23, the leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, and France declared, "It is clear for us that Iran bears responsibility for this attack. There is no other plausible explanation." The statement went on to demand far-reaching concessions from Iranian leaders on key security issues: “The time has come for Iran to accept a long-term negotiation framework for its nuclear program, as well as regional security issues, which include its missile programs."

The statement represented something of a triumph for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been attempting to steer closer to the American position than those on the continent seeking to preserve the JCPOA. On September 23, Johnson told Sky News, "Whatever your objections to the old nuclear deal with Iran, it's time now to move forward and do a new deal … What the UK is doing is trying to bring people together and de-escalate tensions," while at the same time “respond to what the Iranians plainly did.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani leaves the 74th Session of the General Assembly during the United Nations General Assembly September ,25 2019. (Getty)

In a speech on September 23 at the UN General Assembly, U.S. President Donald Trump gave a forceful indictment of the Iranian regime, labelling it "one of the greatest security threats facing peace-loving nations today” and counter-offensive against Iran, soothing concerns of unintended escalations and declaring that “our mission set is to avoid war” while also flatly declaring that “we are putting additional forces in the region for the purpose of deterrence and defense. … If that deterrence should continue to fail, I am also confident that President Trump would continue to take the actions that are necessary.”

In a speech on September 23 at the UN General Assembly, U.S. President Donald Trump gave a forceful indictment of the Iranian regime, labelling it "one of the greatest security threats facing peaceloving nations today” and denouncing Tehran’s “repressive regime." He also took the occasion to call upon the international community to close ranks with the American sanctions campaign against Iran, lest they "subsidize Iran's bloodlust." Addressing Iran’s leaders directly, he denounced "four decades of failure" since the Islamic revolution, called upon For his part, French Prime Minister Emmanuel Tehran to "finally put the Iranian people first," and Macron has lost ground in his effort to draw the noted that U.S. sanctions "will be tightened" unless U.S. into something resembling the pre2018- Iran's "menacing behavior" comes to an end. status quo. Macron spent several hours cloistered with Iranian President Rouhani in the halls of the For their part, Saudi officials were not shy to cast UN in New York, but apparently to no effect. an accusing finger in Tehran’s direction. Foreign At the same time, the official state outlet IRNA Minister Adel al-Jubeir told CNN, "We hold Iran denounced the “baseless accusations” directed at responsible [for] the missiles and the drones that Iran. were fired at Saudi Arabia,” adding that both “were Iranian-built and Iranian-delivered." Jubeir US SAUDI OFFICIALS GO ON noted that “nobody wants war. Everybody wants OFFENSE to resolve this peacefully,” but hastened to add that "to launch an attack from your territory, if Over the weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that is the case, puts us in a different category... continued the Trump administration’s rhetorical this would be considered an act of war."

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Trump and Johnson Face Scrutiny at Home Why the Democratic Ideals of the US and UK aren’t at Risk 16

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The memorandum, that Trump released of his phone conversation with Ukraine’s Zelensky touched upon two subjects, the Mueller investigation, and Joe Biden’s corruption allegations.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has added a new saga to the Mueller investigation. The transcript has also revealed an alleged attempt by trump to gather evidence of corruption from presidential hopeful Joe Biden. Since then impeachment proceedings have begun in the US House of Representatives, and thus far little is known of how far it will go.

One thing is for certain, both leading countries of the Anglosphere are facing unique challenges that seem to further undermine decades of political stability. While some might argue that these events are examples of the US and UK’s decline as global leaders, others view them examples of American and British democracy at work.

TRUMP AND JOHNSON: LAW BREAKERS?

US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hold a meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, September ,24 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

(Getty)

by Ali El Shamy As world leaders gathered this week in New York for the 74th UN General Assembly, trouble was brewing back in Washington and London for both Trump and Johnson, respectively. Britain’s Supreme Court dealt a huge blow for the Prime Minister as it unanimously judged that his decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks was unlawful, and therefore declared the suspension null and void. Following the decision, parliament came back in session and Johnson, who now faces more calls for his resignation, had to make an early departure from New York.

Meanwhile, a recently released phone conversation memorandum transcript between Trump and newly elected

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As previously stated in various new articles, there is a historical precedent to parliament prorogation and in this since the government wasn’t doing anything illegal.

However, when the case was moved to the UK Supreme Court, it noted that precedent and that the executive power did indeed have the right to suspend parliament. However, since the Supreme Court has a historical role in protecting parliamentary sovereignty, something that is a core of Britain’s constitution: ‘The sovereignty of Parliament would, however, be undermined as the foundational principle of our constitution if the executive could, through the use of the prerogative, prevent Parliament from exercising its legislative authority for as long as it pleased.’ The court said on September 24.

In other words, the Prime Minister does have the right to suspend parliament, but not if this suspension means that parliament cannot perform its legislative duties. It finally stated that presently there wasn’t a persuasive reason for Johnson to request the Queen to suspend parliament, and therefore it found the entire prorogation to be unlawful.

While Johnson has publically shown his disagreements with the Court’s decision, he will now have to quickly think of what do next to deliver on Brexit, but the clock is not by his side. Since the passing of the Benn Bill into law earlier this month, Johnson is now required by law to request a

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Brexit deadline extension from the EU in the event that the House of Commons doesn’t approve of a proposed deal by October 19, effectively making it illegal for him to take the UK out of the EU without a deal.

While some MPs are now calling on Johnson to resign, others, such as Labor MP, have said that he should be impeached. The UK has a historical precedent of impeaching ministers, but not Prime Ministers. Moreover, the last ministerial impeachment occurred in 1806 and is considered to be a defunct punitive procedure towards law violating government officials. Additionally, since Johnson violated constitutional law rather than criminal law, he will not face the prospect of imprisonment. While Johnson may not have been immediately punished for his actions, a growing number of MPs are frustrated with his government for attempting to undermine parliament and he, therefore, might face a motion of no confidence. While the ball is now in the government’s court it seems to have few options left, except for calling an early general election, something that needs approval from 3/2 of MPs. Surprisingly, Trump’s case is somehow even more complex than that of Johnson. The memorandum (which isn’t an exact transcript of the conversation), that Trump released of his phone conversation with Ukraine’s Zelensky touched upon two subjects, the Mueller investigation, and Joe Biden’s corruption allegations. On the investigation, Trump asked Zelensky to locate the Democratic National Convention’s server which was allegedly hacked by Russian intelligence.

The reason Trump asked on this specific topic has to do with the allegation that the Democrats are hiding the server from the FBI, and its hiding location is somewhere in Ukraine. The other more damning aspect of the call was when Trump seemed to have asked the Ukrainian leader

It is evident, that what is happening in Britain and the US isn’t an erosion of the democratic ideals that they hold dear, rather these democracies are using the tools they have to ensure that their leaders fall in line with the state and people’s values.

to probe Joe Biden and his son Hunter. This happened as he asked about former Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shohin, which the parliament voted for his removal back in 2016 for corruption charges, while he was simultaneously carrying out an investigation on a natural gas company which Hunter, Biden’s son, was a member of its board of directors. A bigger twist to the scandal is that the ousting of Shohin happened at the behest of then-Vice President Joe Biden who allegedly threatened to withhold US funding to Ukraine unless the prosecutor general was removed. If this is true, then Trump might be colluding with a foreign government to uncover a scandal on a political opponent.

While it is still unclear if Trump violated any laws, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi certainly thinks he did, which is why she promptly started an impeachment inquiry against him.

EROSION OF LEADING DEMOCRACIES? For decades, both the UK and the US have been seen as leading examples of democracies for the rest of the world.

However, in recent years some of argued that the fact that nonconventional leaders such as Trump and Johnson have undermined the sanctity and ideals of these democracies,

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House of Commons Speaker John Bercow speaks to the media following the Supreme Court ruling that the current suspension of parliament is unlawful one on September 2019 ,24 in London, England. (Getty)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a weekly news conference on Capitol Hill on September ,26 2019 in Washington, DC. (Getty)

however, such views are quite shallow.

Let’s first look at the UK’s case, while Britain does not have a codified constitution to go back to in times of such crises, it does have historical precedent and conventions.

Arguably, the most fundamental convention of the UK’s constitution is that of parliamentary sovereignty, which contends that the legislative branch of government (the British parliament) has power over other branches of government including the executive branch (the Prime Minister). And it is that concept which the Supreme Court said it was protecting when it announced its ruling. The primary reason why Parliament has supreme power over the government is because members of parliament are elected to represent their constituents, therefore they represent the citizens of the UK. The US’s democratic conventions are different, for one the legislative branch does not have supreme power over other branches of government. Rather, the US employs a system of checks and balances which ensures that no one branch has too much power over the other; this ensures that limited government is maintained. As such, all three branches of government have different powers and these powers are all underlined in the US constitution.

The process of impeachment is mentioned in the US

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constitution, which states that the House of Representatives has the sole power of impeachment. Any member of the House can raise impeachment proceedings, and House subcommittees investigate whether or not the president should be impeached. If the House votes to impeach the president, then the inquiry is moved to the Senate, which is responsible for trying the president in the presence of the Chief Justice. Senate would then vote, and the president can only be impeached if 3/2 of the upper chamber votes in favor of it. This entire process shows the concept of checks and balances in action since not one chamber of Congress presides over the entire procedure and the involvement of the chief justice ensures that the legislative branch is involved. Although impeachment processes are rare and the two that have happened before were never approved by the Senate, it is a punitive measure that theoretically prevents the President from conducting unlawful action.

It is evident, that what is happening in Britain and the US isn’t an erosion of the democratic ideals that they hold dear, rather these democracies are using the tools they have to ensure that their leaders fall in line with the state and people’s values. In other words, we are witnessing how these democracies take action to see to it that they never fall into autocratic territories.

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ISIS Meets Southeast Asia ISIS Seeks New Outposts Across the Indian Ocean

by Zachary Abuza and Colin P. Clarke On March 2019 ,23, U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab militias captured the last territorial redoubt of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

After a bloody, four-year campaign, a caliphate approximately the size of the United Kingdom had been reduced to a -1.5squarekilometer village in eastern Syria—then wiped from the map entirely.

Six months later, ISIS is still reeling from the shock. ISIS militants initially sheltered underground in enclaves throughout the Levant. They began a sustained campaign of assassinations and ambushes against political power brokers and security forces,

particularly in Iraq. At the same time, the organization’s affiliate and franchise groups grew in importance and their territorial reach extended east.

Southeast Asia, in particular, has assumed a greater role in the terrorist group’s global strategy, despite having been overshadowed by higher-profile wilayats, or provinces, of the self-proclaimed caliphate in the past. The number of ISIS fighters, suicide bombers, organized training programs, and propaganda videos originating from the region has grown steadily in recent years. Without a claim to physical territory anymore, the group’s information operations have become even more critical to its success. The nature and spread of ISIS

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as an organization have changed as a result.

Southeast Asia may be the newest breeding ground for militant Islam. Deeply interconnected but hard to rule, the island-studded region lends itself to unconventional warfare. And since at least 2018, when it became increasingly difficult to travel to Iraq and Syria, foreign fighters from the region and farther abroad have flocked to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia because of these countries’ growing reputation as emerging fronts for global jihad. The violence perpetrated by pro-ISIS groups in this region has been episodic and uncoordinated, but the underlying trend is clear—ISIS has shifted away from its initial concern with sovereignty over land and people, moving, in the process, toward a decentralized, global insurgency model.

FRESH FIELD, NOVEL GAME PLAN ISIS first gained a foothold in Southeast Asia in 2014. As the group swept across Iraq and Syria that year, existing Southeast Asian jihadi organizations pledged their loyalty to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at a dizzying rate. Among them were Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic terrorist group with longtime ties to al Qaeda; the Maute Group, an ISIS-linked terror group that played a pivotal role in a bloody 2017 siege of the Philippine city of Marawi; and the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), another affiliate based out of Indonesia.

A bullet-riddled mosque, heavily damaged in the main battle between military and Daesh terrorists, is seen in Marawi, Lanao del Sur in the Southern Philippines on October 2017 ,25.

(Getty)

At first, these pledges of loyalty went largely unrecognized by ISIS leaders in the Middle East. Even so, by late 2014, roughly 1,000 Southeast Asians had joined ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria.

More than 300 of them belonged to a single military unit—the Katibah Nusantara—which demonstrated impressive military capabilities against the Kurds on the battlefield in Syria.

Gradually, ISIS’central leadership began to take note. The group’s media and propaganda arm increasingly featured Southeast Asians, including them in its seemingly ubiquitous beheading videos. In 2016, ISIS started publishing a weekly newspaper in the Bahasa language—the official language spoken throughout Indonesia—and it created hundreds of social media channels in Bahasa to promote ISIS ideology. That same year, Baghdadi declared the Philippine leader of Abu Sayyaf, Isnilon Hapilon, an emir of ISIS in East Asia. Baghdadi also designated several smaller Philippine-based groups that had pledged loyalty to ISIS as official “brigades.”

Although it named a single emir for all of East Asia, ISIS doesn’t treat the region as a monolith. Instead, the organization tailors both its recruitment techniques and its military tactics to local sensibilities. In Indonesia, for instance, the group recruits mainly by cultivating personal relationships in a handful of mosques and madrasahs, whereas in Malaysia—where the state controls the mosques—it focuses on radicalizing people online. Malaysian recruits have come from across the socioeconomic spectrum.

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After a bloody, four-year campaign, a caliphate approximately the size of the United Kingdom had been reduced to a -1.5square-kilometer village in eastern Syria—then wiped from the map entirely.

By contrast, in the Philippines, ISIS has mainly found willing recruits among the poor.

ISIS’ military tactics are similarly varied, ranging from straightforward territorial warfare in the Philippines to ambushes against police and security forces in Indonesia. But across Southeast Asia, the group has left its signature calling card: suicide bombing. While the tactic wasn’t new to Indonesia— the Jemaah Islamiyah, an al Qaeda affiliate, launched suicide bombings in 2005 ,2004 ,2003 ,2002, and 2009—it was rare in Malaysia prior to ISIS’ rise and unprecedented in the Philippines.

And yet since 2018, there have been 11 ISIS suicide bombers in Indonesia and six in the Philippines. While there have been no suicide bombings on Malaysian soil, there were at least 13 Malaysian suicide bombers in Iraq and Syria. The genie is out of the bottle.

In many ways, the Philippines has emerged as ISIS’ greatest hope for a revival of its caliphate. In May 2017, ISIS militants seized control of Marawi, a city of 200,000 on the island of Mindanao, in the restive southern Philippines. For five months the fighters held off the U.S.-trained Philippine military, before being routed through a combination of airstrikes, artillery bombardment, and direct raids. Many of the top ISIS leaders and over 500 militants died in the operation. Even so, the organization retains a foothold in the region, largely because the Philippine security forces commit egregious human rights abuses that drive those with long-standing grievances into the militants’ arms. The siege of Marawi contributed to growing jihadi lore—it was featured in the sophisticated ISIS propaganda series Inside the Caliphate—and enhanced ISIS’ notoriety in the region. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s heavily militarized response—which included indiscriminate air and artillery strikes—also played to ISIS’ advantage, as did Duterte’s faltering attempts to rebuild the city, from which more than 50,000 people remain displaced.

ISIS recruitment efforts in the Philippines (and in other countries in the region) have also benefited from the collapse of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria. A couple that blew themselves up at a cathedral in Jolo, the Philippines, in

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January of this year were, in fact, first detained by Turkish authorities while trying to enter Syria and deported back to Indonesia. Many of these frustrated foreign fighters whom governments turned back from the Middle East have completed disengagement programs intended to dissuade them from reengaging in militarism. But the effectiveness of these programs has yet to be seen. And in the meantime, Malaysia is expecting the return of 53 ex-fighters and wouldbe militants from Syria and Iraq; Indonesia awaits over 100.

Many more from across Southeast Asia were arrested before they could travel to Syria. (Indeed, the difficulty of getting to Syria is what kept the numbers as low as they are.) And the governments of the region must now decide what to do with these fighters when they arrive.

PROBLEMATIC PARTNERSHIPS Despite the organization’s rapid growth in Southeast Asia, ISIS does not yet have a single “recipe for success.” Aside from Marawi, the group hasn’t pursued territorial gains as it did in the Middle East. This could reflect a dearth of leadership: Hapilon was killed in Marawi, along with other leading militants from the Philippines. His mantle as de facto leader of ISIS in Southeast Asia has fallen to either Furuji Indama or Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, leaders of the Abu Sayyaf.

Arrests of militants have likewise hampered operations. Since 2013, Malaysia alone has arrested some 519 terrorism suspects, many of whom were affiliated with ISIS. Regional security forces have been far more proactive in dealing with the ISIS threat than they were with al Qaeda. And there has been significantly more interstate cooperation, including on maritime patrols, to try to stem the flow of militants in and out of the southern Philippines.

Abu Bakar Bashir and Aman Abdurrahman—the leading ISIS

In many ways, the Philippines has emerged as ISIS’ greatest hope for a revival of its caliphate. In May 2017, ISIS militants seized control of Marawi, a city of 200,000 on the island of Mindanao, in the restive southern Philippines.

ISIS’ network in Southeast Asia remains loose and undefined. It exists largely for propaganda purposes and does not reflect centralized command and control across Southeast Asia. ideologues and heads of the JAD in the region—are both in prison.

What is more, ISIS’ central leadership has sent mixed signals about the establishment of a wilayat, or province, in Southeast Asia. The organization’s central media organs walked back initial statements suggesting one had been established. And in a video released in April, Baghdadi failed to mention ISIS in East Asia, an omission that may or may not have been an oversight.

Southeast Asia remains geographically remote and far from the ISIS core in the Levant. It is also culturally distant from the Islamic world’s traditional heartlands on the Arabian Peninsula.

More important, Arab chauvinism toward Southeast Asian Muslims—an attitude codified in The Management of Savagery, by the jihadi strategist Abu Bakr Naji—could limit the scope of future cooperation.

In the end, local militants probably care more about ISIS than ISIS cares about them. ISIS’ network in Southeast Asia remains loose and undefined. It exists largely for propaganda purposes and does not reflect centralized command and control across Southeast Asia. What is more, ISIS is not the only game in town: the pro–al Qaeda group Jemaah Islamiyah has rebuilt its network over the past couple of years. Local groups will likely seek to align themselves with one of these two big players. After all, mapping parochial struggles onto global ones is important for messaging, recruitment, and fundraising.

As the ISIS core in Iraq and Syria attempts to rebuild itself, Baghdadi and his lieutenants will have to make difficult decisions about where to allocate resources, especially since the central leadership has different needs from its regional affiliates. Now that the caliphate is gone and ISIS must transform itself into an insurgency, however, the largely untested lands of Southeast Asia may yield rich rewards.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

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Philippine Army troopers, assisted by military spokesperson in Marawi Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Arr Herrera (R), prepare to display an ISIS flag and 11kg of the illegal drug «shabu», which were recovered from an Islamist militants› position prior to a press conference at the provincial capital in Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao on June 2017 ,19. (Getty)

Seven defendant sympathizers Daesh terror organization undergoing trial in the District Court of West Jakarta, January 2016 ,21. (Getty)

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Coming Soon to the United Nations: Chinese Leadership and Authoritarian Values

As Washington Steps Back, Beijing Will Take Charge

by Kristine Lee For many years, the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September was a

centerpiece of U.S. global leadership.

But when presidents and prime ministers gather in New York starting this week, they will do so under the auspices of an organization that is undergoing a profound

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transformation. The United States has let go the wheel, and Beijing stands poised to take hold of it.

Eager to expand its influence on the world stage in ways that serve its interests, China has placed considerable resources behind an effort to present its leadership at the UN as a nimbler, more dynamic alternative to that of the United States. In the past few years alone, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has positioned its officials to head up four of the UN’s 15 specialized agencies, while the United States leads only one. It has also advanced more than two dozen memorandums of understanding in support of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and mobilized a consortium of illiberal states to tamp down international criticism of its repression of ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang Province.

The United States has responded to China’s rising profile in only a piecemeal fashion, in part because Washington has been busy recalibrating its own relationship with the international body. The administration of President Donald Trump has passed through numerous ambassadors to the UN in a short time, while unilaterally withdrawing the United States from certain UN agencies and repudiating multilateral institutions more broadly.

With China seeking to steer the United Nations away from its founding principles, however, the United States can’t afford to sit back. A China-dominated UN would only lead to the steady erosion of U.S. values and interests in matters that range from nonproliferation to sustainable development. If the Trump administration is serious about competing strategically with China, it will have to step up its game on this highest international stage.

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF TURTLE BAY Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the UN General Assembly on September 2015 ,28 in New York City.

(Getty)

For decades, China’s role at the United Nations was largely one of spoiler. Through the international body, Beijing aimed primarily to stymie the efforts of the United States and other democratic powers to impose a liberal vision on the world. Deng Xiaoping, the former leader of China, gave voice to the worldview behind these efforts in a 1974 address to the United Nations General Assembly. He denounced the United States’ “vain [pursuit] of world hegemony” and cautioned against the establishment of “spheres of influence by any country.”

But as China’s power and influence grew, its approach to international organizations evolved. Today, under President Xi Jinping, China has left behind the defensive posture that once defined its role at the United Nations.

In a speech last year, Xi called for China to take “an

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A China-dominated UN would only lead to the steady erosion of U.S. values and interests in matters that range from nonproliferation to sustainable development. active part in leading the reform of the global governance system.”

China is doubling down on the United Nations at a time of U.S. retrenchment. In 2011, for instance, the United States cut off 80$ million in annual funding to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)—about 22 percent of its entire budget.

China raced to fill the void, pledging millions of dollars in extra budgetary support for education programs.

Beijing has increased its monetary contributions to the United Nations fivefold in the past decade, touting itself in state-sponsored narratives as a “champion of multilateralism.”

China’s investment has earned it clout—something that Beijing could have used just to protect itself from criticism over its policies in Xinjiang and Tibet, and to isolate Taiwan. But the CCP has advanced a more ambitious agenda, defending beleaguered autocrats in Venezuela and Syria and promoting the view that respect for “sovereignty” should allow governments to disavow individual and minority claims in the name of internal security. China has used the UN’s Human Rights Council, the very body tasked with holding human rights violators to account, to warp and denude the concept of universal values, arguing that each “country may choose its own […] model of human rights protection in the context of its national circumstances.” In short, Beijing is using the United Nations as a platform for legitimizing authoritarian rule.

PERSONNEL IS POLICY China has contributed more than money to the United Nations in recent years. The country has made a systematic effort to fill the organization’s leadership posts with Communist Party officials. Chinese nationals now head more than a quarter of the UN Specialized Agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the International Civil Aviation Administration,

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and the Industrial Development Organization. And the Chinese government continues to recruit more and higher-quality civil servants to work at the UN. In return for the money, expertise, and personnel it provides, Beijing seeks the UN’s endorsement for its foreign policy initiatives, most notably Belt and Road.

As Xi Jinping’s marquee initiative, BRI has won accolades for helping provide needed infrastructure to developing countries, but it has also garnered substantial criticism for falling short of international standards of financial viability, environmental protection, and labor rights.

Beijing has used the UN to shore up the project’s legitimacy and international support. China has tried to make the BRI indistinguishable from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which focuses on poverty mitigation and environmental sustainability. The BRI serves “the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,” said Liu Zhenmin, formerly of China’s foreign ministry, and now UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs. Even UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres has touted the initiative’s benefits as the UN throws its full-throated support behind the BRI with little inquiry into its risks and limitations.

RECLAIMING THE MANTLE Despite China’s efforts, many UN member states remain skeptical about Beijing’s leadership in global affairs. A recent Pew Research poll found that only 19 percent of respondents preferred for China, rather than the United States, to lead the world. But a future shaped by the values and interests of the CCP is fast arriving, and the

The United States should call for UN leadership—including the secretary-general—to speak out more forcefully against China’s most egregious human rights abuses.

opportunity to forestall it is now.

Washington should stave off China’s efforts to dilute liberal values in the UN system, particularly around the protection of human rights. Together with likeminded nations, the United States should focus on preventing China from inserting seemingly innocuous, ideological terms into UN documents—for example, “win-win cooperation,” “community of a shared future for mankind,” and “the democratization of international relations.” Such terms deliberately degrade consensus around universal human rights, and U.S. officials should disseminate a publicly available reference list of them, explaining how they are used to narrowly advance Beijing’s interests at the expense of established norms and values.

At the same time, the United States should call for UN leadership—including the secretary-general— to speak out more forcefully against China’s most egregious human rights abuses. Michelle Bachelet,

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World leaders and Xi Jinping pose for a family photo at the Second Belt and Road Forum. (Getty)

the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, has set an example by going on record to criticize the “deeply disturbing allegations of large-scale arbitrary detentions of Uighurs.”

In the longer term, to hold illiberal values at bay requires the United States to stay engaged in the United Nations.

Unilaterally withdrawing from important bodies, such as UNESCO and the Human Rights Council, has served only to cede influence to China. Instead, the United States should use its sway to drive the direction of UN agencies—or, at the very least, avoid leaving voids for China to fill. After all, China is still a distant second to the United States as the largest financial contributor to the UN system overall.

The United States lags behind, however, in contributing personnel to the United Nations, and it should strive to fix this by addressing the barriers to entry for American candidates. Americans often lack foreign language proficiency or are deterred by convoluted

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hiring processes. The State Department could help clear a path by adopting programs for entry- and mid-level employees that incorporate rotations to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and by offering intensive language immersion courses for those entering these programs.

All major powers seek to promote their interests within international organizations. As President Trump told the UN General Assembly in 2017, “I will always put America first, just like you, as the leaders of your countries, will always, and should always, put your countries first.” But China’s pursuit of its core interests at the UN is perilous, because among those interests is the narrow political goal of shoring up power under a single authority: the CCP. If Beijing succeeds in retooling the UN to its purposes, China won’t become more like the rest of the world—the rest of the world will become more like China.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs. com.

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Winning Kashmir and Losing India How Modi is Gutting Indian Democracy

by Pratap Bhanu Mehta In a sweeping and controversial move on August 5, India transformed its relationship to the disputed territory of Kashmir.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to

eliminate Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which for seven decades had granted Kashmir a special status within India. The decision effectively quashed any lingering Kashmiri hopes for self-determination and bound Kashmir more closely to India, reducing it from a state to a “union territory� administered

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directly from New Delhi. Anticipating outrage and protest, the Indian government placed the Kashmir Valley—where most of the state’s Muslim-majority population lives—under lockdown, arresting local politicians, cutting off communications, limiting movement, and flooding Kashmir with troops.

Though it took many by surprise, the decision to abrogate Article 370 didn’t come out of nowhere. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had long harbored the desire to revoke Kashmir’s nominal autonomy and normalize its status within India. For Indian nationalists, Article 370 and its associated provisions had become a symbol of Kashmir’s “incomplete” integration into the rest of the country. While the annulment of Article 370 sparked condemnation around the world, it won broad and immediate support within India, including across the gamut of opposition parties.

For Kashmiris, the triumphalism in the rest of the country was a final blow in a long series of betrayals and humiliations at the hands of the Indian state that have eroded Kashmir›s constitutional and political identity. In India, much of the debate following the withdrawal of the territory’s special status revolved around the history and principles of the Indian constitution. But in Kashmir, speaking the language of constitutionalism can feel incongruous in the face of unending trauma on the ground.

Kashmir has been under a state of siege for the last three decades. The Indian government’s intermittent crackdown on militants and dissidents alike has bred allegations of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and rape. At the same time, cross-border infiltration from Pakistan has fueled further violence in the valley. Increasing numbers of locals celebrate homegrown militancy with a morbid, cultish passion. And there still has not been a reckoning for the ethnic cleansing in the 1990s when militants and locals expelled Kashmiri Hindus en masse, nor for the disappearance of hundreds of men at the hands of the security forces and the insurgents.

An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard in the commercial hub of in Srinagar of Indian administered Kashmir, India. (Getty)

It is important for all sides to acknowledge this violence, which has raised barriers between communities. But there is a much deeper evisceration of human sympathies that lies at the heart of India’s imagination of Kashmir: the territory itself has become more important than the plight of its people. As a result, the government has failed to accept the full effect of the violence and oppression it has inflicted on Kashmir. It is this collapse of empathy that allows a democracy to endorse mass arrests, human rights violations, pellet guns, barbed wire, and the suspension of liberties and rights. India’s actions in Kashmir reflect the corrosion of its own democracy.

INDIA IN THE MIRROR OF KASHMIR The abrogation of Article 370 has worrying consequences beyond Kashmir, revealing a country where there are fewer and fewer checks on the writ of the prime minister. The BJP government

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Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had long harbored the desire to revoke Kashmir’s nominal autonomy and normalize its status within India. claims that the move represents the will of Parliament, since it was confirmed through bills in both the upper and lower houses of the legislature. But that formalism cannot hide two dangerous trends: the weakening of all independent institutions in India and the marginalization of Indian Muslims.

Indian democracy has always been messy, but the fragmentation of power across political parties and institutions has helped provide checks and balances against untrammelled executive might. Recent years have witnessed a troubling consolidation of power. Politically, the opposition is weak and divided.

Modi and the Hindu nationalist BJP face no strong challenge from their political rivals. The rudderless Congress Party— the center-left, secular party that has ruled India for most of its existence—is mired in an internal leadership battle and is divided on the issue of Article 370, unable to mount an effective ideological resistance to Modi. Many regional parties, such as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, were decimated in the last election; the Trinamool Congress, which holds sway over West Bengal, also suffered surprising defeats to the BJP. Enfeebled and embattled, regional parties cannot provide a much-needed check on central power.

More tellingly, the opposition doesn’t have the intellectual selfconfidence to take on the rising tide of nationalism stoked by the BJP, even when that ideology threatens core constitutional values. Nothing exemplifies this failure better than the hypocritical conduct of the Aam Admi Party, which rules in the capital city of Delhi and sits with the opposition in Parliament.

This party had no compunctions in signing off on Modi’s plan to downgrade Kashmir from a state to a union territory even as the party campaigns for Delhi to be transformed from a union territory to a state. Modi’s nationalism has thrown the entire opposition into a kind of intellectual stupor, in which it is unable to defend democratic values.

Timidity and weakness are not the opposition’s only problems; it also lacks credibility. Several major opposition figures face corruption charges, notably the former finance minister and Congress Party leader P. Chidambaram, who was arrested in August under suspicion of embezzlement and money laundering.

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Security agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation were never entirely impartial under previous governments, but Modi’s government uses them to target political opponents at an unprecedented level. The public sees these prosecutions not as malicious abuses of state power but as part of the prime minister’s drive to create a new India by uprooting the corrupt old order—in other words, as of a piece with his actions in Kashmir. By ensnaring the opposition in a discourse of corruption, Modi has effectively blunted its voice. As a result, many opposition leaders feel compelled to redeem themselves by taking strongly nationalist positions.

THE CONFORMIST TIDE The decimation of the political opposition has been accompanied by the erosion of independent institutions. Many Indians are fond of describing the country’s Supreme Court as “the most powerful court in the world” because of its independence and authority; K. K. Venugopal, the attorney general, praised the relationship of the court to the state in 2017, insisting that “the government of the day has always shown respect to this institution.” But it increasingly seems that the Supreme Court and other high courts, in their deference to the state’s executive power, have virtually abdicated their responsibilities to defend core constitutional values. The courts have delayed hearings on habeas corpus cases in Kashmir and declined to scrutinize the government’s mass detentions in the recently downgraded territory. The courts have also denied opposition leaders the same protocols of bail that would have been granted to normal citizens.

The weakening of judicial independence stems from the government’s attempt to enlist all of the country’s independent institutions in the project of Hindu nationalism. In addition to the courts, the government has sought to exercise more direct control over public universities, where it has become routine for critics of the BJP to be disinvited or “deplatformed.” In some cases, the government has even delayed the publication of

The weakening of judicial independence stems from the government’s attempt to enlist all of the country’s independent institutions in the project of Hindu nationalism.

economic data to muzzle talk of the country’s slowdown. Owners of media companies and editors critical of the government fear being targeted by the state. In short, the “integration of Kashmir” is happening against the wider backdrop of Modi’s push for nationalist conformity, his attempt to create a nation marching to one tune and one purpose. But beneath the symbolic shows of unity is the fearful vision of a republic where dissenters are at risk, where the opposition and media are gagged, and where normal institutional protections are fast vanishing.

Converting Kashmir into a union territory was a show of brute majoritarianism, a demonstration that India can downgrade its only Muslim-majority state. As such, it fits a pattern of the further marginalization of Muslims under the current government. In recent years, there has been a spike in religious hate crimes, including the lynching of Muslims by vigilante Hindu mobs for the alleged sin of possessing and eating beef. In a pending court case that could add to the tensions, the Supreme

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Kashmir residents chant slogans while making gestures during a protest. (Getty)

Court may very well allow the construction of a temple on the supposed birthplace of the Hindu holy figure Ram, where in 1992 Hindu nationalists demolished a mosque and sparked communal riots across the country. The government correctly outlawed the Muslim practice of triple talaq, in which men could divorce their wives by simply repeating the word for “divorce” three times, but that move may presage the abolition of Muslim Personal Law, India’s separate civil code for Muslims that governs marriage, divorce, and inheritance in accordance with some aspects of Islamic law.

Away from Kashmir, another case of state power threatens to upend hundreds of thousands of Muslim lives. In the eastern state of Assam, the government, acting in accordance with a Supreme Court order, has identified nearly two million residents as foreigners, not listing them in the National Register of Citizens.

This immense cataloguing effort began four decades ago as part of an attempt to track illegal migration into India from what is

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now Bangladesh. Though both Hindus and Muslims have been stripped of citizenship, Hindu nationalist groups have asked the Modi government to restore the citizenship of the Hindus swept up in this process. Many Muslims may remain excluded from citizenship, rendered stateless, and forced into detention camps.

Against this backdrop, the elimination of Article 370 can be seen as part of the Modi’s larger Hindu nationalist project: centralizing power and suppressing the claims of national minorities. India has long failed to make the promise of democracy alluring to Kashmiris. But the actions of this government, and the acquiescence of democratic institutions and political parties, make it even more unlikely that Kashmir will easily accept New Delhi’s rule. India thinks it has won Kashmir, but it might be losing the soul of its democracy in the process.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

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The Long History of Suspicious Deaths of Egyptian Nuclear Scientists Egypt’s Nuclear Ambitions Bring Fears for the Safety of the Country’s Scientists nuclear scientist. The thirty-five-year-old was the first woman to earn a doctorate in atomic radiation On August 1952 ,5, a car came to pick up and the first woman to hold a teaching post at Sameera Moussa in Berkely, California. The Cairo University thanks to her groundbreaking driver opened the door for the world-renowned PhD in atomic radiation in the 1940. scientist, who was the first ever female Egyptian

by Yasmine El-Geressi

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Moussa sat in the backseat as they left the city and headed along the California coast. She had completed her research and was preparing to return to Egypt; but she had received an invitation for a dinner. Driving along the curved cliffs of the Pacific Coast, the car suddenly swerved and plummeted 40 feet over the edge, killing her immediately. The driver jumped from the car just before the fall and later disappeared, and the invitation she received to California turned out to be fake. The death of the brilliant young physicist is shrouded in mystery. While no one knows for sure what happened, some suspect that was targeted by Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, to prevent Egypt from acquiring knowledge of nuclear technology – though it has never claimed responsibility.

Egypt’s first female nuclear scientist, Sameera Moussa.

This was hardly the last time that nuclear and other weapons scientists met an unfortunate end.

On June 1980 ,13, Yahya al-Meshad, an important Egyptian-born physicist, who was in charge of Iraq’s nuclear program, arrived in France to test fuel for the reactor. The morning he was to return home a maid entered his Paris hotel room and found that he had been stabbed multiple times and bludgeoned to death. The last person known to have seen the scientist the previous night, a prostitute who called herself Marie Express, was killed a few weeks later by a speeding car, not long after her preliminary statement. The car and culprit were never found. Over the next several months two more Iraqi nuclear scientists died under mysterious circumstances while outside the country in separate poisoning incidents.

Again, although it was not determined who was responsible, some people accused Mossad.

While no one knows for sure what happened, some suspect that was targeted by Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, to prevent Egypt from acquiring knowledge of nuclear technology – though it has never claimed responsibility. an internationally recognized scientist and had spent years researching microwave circuitry. The field has application in development of satellite technology and missile guidance systems.

The most recent of the string of deaths of Egyptian scientists met suspicion and accusations happened earlier this month. Abu Bakr Ramadan, the former head of the Network of Radiological Monitoring, a section of the national radiology watchdog, Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority, was assigned by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2015 to help assess environmental effects of nuclear plants in Bushehr, Iran, and Dimona, Israel, Egyptian media reported. In January this year, he participated with an Egyptian-IAEA team assessing the environmental effects of a multibillion-dollar nuclear power plant to be built in north-western Egypt in cooperation with Russia. His nephew, Mohamed Gamal, said his uncle had never talked to the family about his In another incident on July 1989 ,14, Said Bedair, work. “He considered his work a strictly personal an Egyptian microwave scientist, fell to his death affair,” said Gamal. from a balcony in Alexandria, Egypt. Just one month before he died, Bedair had left his research He travelled to Marrakesh, Morocco, in early position at a West German university. Before his September for a workshop on pollution trends in return to Egypt, he told colleagues of fears that coastal areas. On September 6, on the final day he was under surveillance and reported that his of the conference, it was reported that he said apartment had been searched and documents and he felt tired and went to his hotel room to get computer files taken. The initial Egyptian police medication. A hotel worker later found Ramadan report listed his death as suicide by asphyxiation lying on the floor. An ambulance was called but and slashing of the wrists, and from the fall. Ramadan, 61, was declared dead before reaching His family disputed the findings. Bedair was the hospital. An initial report by the hospital said Ramadan died of a heart attack but claims have

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circulated suggesting that he might have died of poisoning, suspecting once again that foreign agencies are plotting to covet Egypt’s research efforts. “Enemy states have their eyes fixed on Egypt’s scientists abroad,” said Khaled Abu Taleb, a member of the Defence and National Security Committee in parliament. “History is full of examples of scientists murdered outside Egypt.”

Egypt has been trying to develop its own peaceful nuclear program since the 1950s. It had its first nuclear reactor, for research purposes, in 1954. In the late 1950s Egypt launched

Egypt’s nuclear ambitions bring fears for the safety of the country’s scientists.

A member of the Defence and National Security Committee in parliament has called for protecting Egyptian scientists who travel to other countries.

a ballistic-missile program with the help of German scientists, formerly employed in Nazi Germany’s rocket program. In July of 1962 President Gamal Abdel Nasser unveiled two new test missiles at a military parade, bragging that they could hit targets "south of Beirut." Once news reached Mossad, there was “an atmosphere of near panic,” according to a Mossad internal report. They quickly responded with Operation Damocles, an intimidation campaign targeting the German scientists. One scientist was killed in September, two months after the parade, and in the following months the scientists' families were threatened directly. In November several letter bombs addressed to the scientists were sent to the rocket facilities in Egypt; one of them killed five Egyptians. Soon all the German scientists had left Egypt and without them the program withered. In March 1963, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion demanded the resignation of then chief of Mossad, Isser Harel, over the operation, which effectively ended it.

The Egyptian nuclear program recently restarted with the construction of the nuclear power plant in Dabaa. The plant is to include four reactors, each with the capacity to generate 1,200 megawatts of electricity. The first reactor is scheduled to

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Egyptian nuclear scientist, Abu Bakr Abdel Ramadan.

Egyptian nuclear scientist, Yahya alMeshad.

start operating in 2026. “Nuclear energy is very important for Egypt’s economic development,” said Ali Abdel Nabi, a nuclear energy expert who worked with Ramadan. “Egypt is badly in need of diversifying its energy sources, given its rapidly growing population.”

The plant is to be constructed over 45 sq.km and cost 28.8$ billion. Russia will contribute 25$ billion in a loan to be repaid by Egypt over

The Egyptian nuclear program recently restarted with the construction of the nuclear power plant in Dabaa. The plant is to include four reactors, each with the capacity to generate 1,200 megawatts of electricity.

13 years at an interest rate of %3. A year after the operation of its first phase in 2026, the plant will contribute %10 of all electricity in Egypt.

By 2050, it will provide %30 of the country’s electricity.

Egypt’s nuclear ambitions bring fears for the safety of the country’s scientists. Abu Taleb asked the Egyptian government to send a team of investigators to participate in the inquiry into Ramadan’s death. He called for protecting Egyptian scientists who travel to other countries.

Egyptian microwave scientist, Said Bedair.

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Challenges in Portraying Mister Rogers How Tom Hanks Finally Nailed Mister Rogers’ Iconic Opening in ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’

by Ashley Lee “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” begins with Tom Hanks effortlessly executing the opening routine of Fred Rogers’ PBS program: He enters the room, walks down some stairs, opens a closet door, hangs up his jacket, pulls out his sweater, closes the door, puts on his sweater, zips up his sweater (with an audible zip!), sits in a chair, takes off a loafer, puts on a boat shoe, takes off a second loafer and puts on a second boat shoe — all while singing and smiling, of course.

Director Marielle Heller then turned to Hanks and admitted, “When we finished those 22 takes, I realized I made it harder for you than it ever was for Fred.” Hanks asked her, surprised. “In what way?”

It turns out that, to save a few key milliseconds, each of Rogers’ boat shoes always had a loose knot already started, so that the host would only have to finish up his laces with a bow — a time-saving hack she didn’t find out about until afterward.

“I’m really sorry,” she told Hanks, who had his hands over his face throughout Heller’s explanation. He then turned to the press and shouted in jest, “This movie was a living “Twenty-two takes, baby,” he told reporters hell!” at a Toronto International Film Festival news conference Sunday afternoon. “You think Inspired by Tom Junod’s 1998 Esquire you have a lot of time in that song? You try profile of Rogers, “A Beautiful Day in the to come in, take a jacket off, hang it up, close Neighborhood” features Matthew Rhys as a the door, take one pair of shoes off and put journalist assigned to write a profile of the children’s entertainer, and questions his own one pair of shoes on at the same time!”

Nailing that iconic sequence was one of the hardest parts of making the film, said Hanks.

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Tom Hanks in, ‹A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.› (TNS)

cynicism when faced with a worldview of optimism and goodness.

“Cynicism has become the default position for so much of our daily structure,” said Hanks. “I think when Fred Rogers first saw children’s programming, he saw something that was cynical. Why in the world would you put a pipeline of cynicism into the minds of -2 or -3year-old kids? That you’re not cool if you don’t have this toy, that it’s funny to see somebody being bopped on the head?

“That’s a cynical treatment of an audience,” he continued. “When we are met with a simple message of, ‘Hey, it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,’ we get sort of slapped a little bit that we are allowed to start off

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“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” begins with Tom Hanks effortlessly executing the opening routine of Fred Rogers’ PBS program. feeling good. There’s a place for cynicism, certainly, but why begin with it right off the bat?”

Hanks didn’t grow up watching the program himself, as he “was already too pre-formed

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and too impressed by the world” when he first watched it. Heller did, though, but didn’t realize how groundbreaking his perspective truly was until she became a parent.

“He really had some beautiful, radical ideas about childhood: the idea that everybody deserves love just as they are, but also that we need to come up with ways to allow children to feel their feelings and that feelings matter and are valid,” she explained.

“What Mister Rogers did was subtle. It’s easy to overlook it, and I think for a long time, people thought of him as hokey and something to be made fun of, and he did get made fun of a lot in his day. But it was really profound, and the impact that he had was very deep. It wasn’t flashy, it was very real.”

Heller hopes that people who see this film feel free enough to question their own perspectives of the world. “I think a lot of us, we have become more cynical and jaded as we’ve gotten older. … (Watching the movie,) we get to have that cathartic moment for ourselves, I hope, where we get to let our cynicism go.”

Such was the case for co-screenwriter Noah Harpster, who had gone through years of close calls of almost getting the movie made.

Yet during its world-premiere screening on Saturday night, “I realized that maybe Fred

One key person already approves of the movie: Joanne Rogers, Fred’s wife of over 50 years.

Rogers was kind of guiding this movie, and that now today is really when the movie needs to come out, even though, selfishly, we wanted it to come out years ago.”

Co-screenwriter Micah Fitzerman-Blue agreed. “We need Fred Rogers right now more than we ever did before,” he said. “He is such a balm to what feels like a fractured

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Portrait of American educator and television personality Fred Rogers (- 1928 2003) of the television series ‹Mister Rogers› Neighborhood,› circa 1980s. (Getty)

and broken society that is at odds with talking about our feelings, and trying to find something constructive to do with our anger, our sadness, our fear.”

One key person already approves of the movie: Joanne Rogers, Fred’s wife of over 50 years. After Saturday’s screening, Heller

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received an email of gratitude from Joanne.

“Then she also said, ‘I really wish you could’ve known Fred,’” she told her cast and creatives. “‘I think you and he would’ve had great conversations, and I think he would’ve been proud of this film.’”

Originally published in the LA Times.

A Weekly Political News Magazine

Issue 1767- september - 27/09/2019

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Messi Wins FIFA Player of the Year www.majalla.com

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ealth

A Purpose-driven Life May Last Longer Study Links a Strong Sense of Purpose with a Lower Risk of Death from Cardiovascular Problems and Blood Conditions 42

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Harvard Health If you believe your life has meaning, it could potentially be longer, says a new study published online May 24 by JAMA Network Open.

Study authors found that among a group of nearly 7,000 adults over age 50, those who scored highest on a scale that measured "life purpose" were less likely to die during the study period, and also less likely to die during the same period from heart, circulatory, or blood conditions, compared with those who scored lower.

"There have been a number of studies suggesting that a higher sense of purpose in life is associated with reduced risk of early death," says Eric Kim, a research scientist in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "However, this study showed for the first time that sense of purpose in life is associated with specific causes of death, and that's an interesting advancement of knowledge."

DEFINING A PURPOSEFUL LIFE According to the study authors, a life with a purpose can be defined differently for different people, but in general it indicates that you have an aim in life and goals. This purpose, they said, helps makes it more likely that you will engage in behaviors that are good for your health.

Some studies have simply asked people what gives them a sense of purpose in life, says Kim. People listed such factors as family and relationships, community, helping others, learning new skills, and taking part in leisure activities or hobbies.

"I define it as the extent to which people experience their lives as being directed and motivated by valued life goals," says Kim. In this study, having more life purpose was associated with a lower rate of death during the study period not only over all and from cardiovascular disease and blood conditions, but also from digestive conditions.

However, stronger life purpose didn't appear to insulate study participants from all health conditions. Researchers did not find an effect on death rates from cancer, tumors, or conditions that affected the respiratory tract.

It's also important to note that the study didn't prove that having a life purpose resulted in the lower death rates seen in the study.

If you feel like you are lacking purpose, seeking out new opportunities may help. Look for activities and roles that will provide a compelling reason to get up every morning. months, and we found literature suggesting that purpose in life works through three main pathways," says Kim. These include the following: It makes you more likely to protect your health. For example, you might eat healthier, sleep better, exercise more, or increase your use of preventive health services.

It could reduce stress. "There's some evidence from lab studies and studies that track people over time that suggests that people with a higher sense of purpose in life are less perturbed by various stressors and also recover more quickly when they are more stressed out," says Kim. It could reduce inflammation. Researchers have linked inflammation in the body to cardiovascular disease and other health conditions. Stress is known to prompt inflammation in the body, so reducing stress might help to reduce inflammation.

Ultimately activities that provide life purpose may be prompted by an overarching outlook in which life itself is greatly valued, says Kim. "One caveat is that there are important studies that show no association between a sense of purpose in life and some of these factors, so this is still an active field of research."

Lacking purpose? Strategies to help

"This was a well-done observational study, but there are limitations from studies with this kind of design, as they can't pinpoint causality," says Kim.

If you feel like you are lacking purpose, seeking out new opportunities may help. Look for activities and roles that will provide a compelling reason to get up every morning. Some research has found that volunteering is a valuable option for many people.

HOW DOES A LIFE PURPOSE KEEP YOU HEALTHY?

But if you're feeling stuck, don't be afraid to reach out for help

There are a few theoretical reasons why having a life purpose might help improve your health. "We're currently working on a review article about this topic, which will be published in a few

"There's some evidence to suggest that specialized cognitive behavioral therapy can improve a sense of purpose in life, as well as meaning in life, which is a conceptually close cousin," says Kim.

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Climate Change Is Already Killing Us How Our Warmer and Wetter Planet Is Getting Sicker and Deadlier by the Day

by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus As world leaders gathered on Monday for the Climate Action Summit at the UN General Assembly, it is sadly clear that the prospect of rising global temperatures and sea levels has failed to generate a sufficient sense of urgency around climate change. What might spur leaders to action,

if it were better understood, is the enormous threat that climate change already poses to human health. cClimate change exacerbates chronic and contagious disease, worsens food and water shortages, increases the risk of pandemics, and aggravates mass displacement. The broad environmental effects of climate change have long been discussed as long-term risks; what’s clear now is that

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As man-made climate change has taken hold over the last four decades, dozens of new infectious diseases have emerged or begun to threaten new regions, including Zika and Ebola. cross the placenta, increasing the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight, which can cause lifelong damage to multiple organ systems. Children breathe more rapidly than adults do, so they absorb more pollutants at a time when their developing organs are more vulnerable. As a result, air pollution causes an estimated 600,000 deaths each year in children under five, mostly from pneumonia. There is also emerging evidence that air pollution compromises children’s cognitive development and can increase their risk of behavioral disorders.

In adults, pollution contributes to a wide range of respiratory and circulatory diseases, and may accelerate cognitive decline in seniors. Most air-pollution-related deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes, but ambient air pollution also accounts for a significant number of pneumonia, asthma, emphysema, and lung cancer deaths.

Members of UNICEF medical staff carry a dummy patient during an infection, prevention and control training in Juba, South Sudan on February 2019 ,21.(Getty)

the health effects are worse than anticipated—and that they’re already being felt.

CLIMATE ILLS The dangerous health effects of climate change begin with the emissions that cause it. Black carbon, methane, and nitrogen oxides are powerful drivers of global warming, and, along with other air pollutants such as carbon monoxide and ozone, they are responsible for over seven million deaths each year, about one in eight worldwide.

The problem is much larger than cities with famously poor air quality, such as New Delhi, Beijing, and São Paulo.

Ninety percent of the world’s urban dwellers breathe air containing unsafe pollution levels, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The dangers start at the beginning of life. Toxic pollutants

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In addition to air pollution, emissions are responsible for rising global temperatures. These in turn lead to increased humidity and cause more frequent and intense heat waves that worsen hypertension and mental health problems, and can limit the effectiveness of certain medications. When a person’s body temperature rises to 104 degrees Fahrenheit or above, systematic organ failure occurs. Heat waves this summer killed 1,435 people in France alone, the only country to have published statistics on heat-related deaths.

As many of the world’s major population centers grow hotter and more humid, more people will die from simply overheating.

Climate change also compounds the threat of communicable diseases. Increased rainfall and higher temperatures favor vector-borne diseases—those caused by parasites, viruses, and bacteria transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, flies, and fleas. Cold-blooded insects generally prefer warmer temperatures, which not only extend their breeding seasons but accelerate their geographical expansion.

The mosquito is already the deadliest animal in the world,

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nvironment

causing more than half a million deaths each year— 438,000 of them from malaria. Warmer temperatures make it easier to transmit malaria at higher altitudes, and may cause it to spread farther into African highlands.

Another virus likely to spread as a result of climate change is dengue, which currently infects 96 million people each year and kills 90,000 of them. Dengue virus is transmitted by two species of mosquito—Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus—that are unusually tough and also transmit yellow fever, Zika, West Nile, and other viruses. More than half the world’s population lives in areas where an Aedes species is already present—and that proportion is likely to grow. A. aegypti in particular thrives not only warm and moist environments but in drought-prone ones, too. Europe, North America, and high-elevation areas in the tropics may soon have to contend with dengue as well as other emerging diseases.

The steady swarm of Aedes into new regions points to the single biggest threat of all: pandemic disease. As man-made climate change has taken hold over the last four decades, dozens of new infectious diseases have emerged or begun to threaten new regions, including Zika and Ebola. Cholera is also becoming more difficult to control: warm, brackish waters and rising sea levels help spread the disease, which infects about four million people each year and kills about 100,000 of them. Bubonic plague, spread by rats and fleas, is predicted to increase with warmer springs and wetter summers. Anthrax, whose spores are released by thawing permafrost, could spread farther as a result of stronger winds.

And those are just the direct health effects of climate change. Rising sea levels and increased ocean acidification will reduce fishing and aquaculture, aggravating malnutrition and food insecurity. Contamination of aquifers will exacerbate water shortages. Droughts, which

Climate change exacerbates chronic and contagious disease, worsens food and water shortages, increases the risk of pandemics, and aggravates mass displacement.

already kill and displace more people than any other type of weather catastrophe, are predicted to grow longer and more frequent. The World Bank estimates that by 2050, there could be one billion climate refugees from subSaharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.

A HEALTHY RESPONSE Extreme weather also disrupts public health infrastructure and services. That is why it is imperative that countries around the world invest in adapting health-care systems to the environmental changes already underway and likely to follow. At the first high-level meeting on

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Mother Raquel holds her twin daughters Eloa (L) and Eloisa, 8 months old and both born with microcephaly, while posing on December 2016 ,16 in Areia, Pernambuco state, Brazil. (Getty)

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) at the United Nations, the WHO will call on world leaders to invest not only in safe water, hygiene, and sanitation services but also in universal access to health services for chronic disease, child health, and antenatal and palliative care. Almost every disease caused or aggravated by climate change can be prevented or treated if addressed early. Unfortunately, the WHO projects that by 42 ,2013 percent of the world’s population will either not have access to health services or not be able to afford them.

Universal health coverage includes screening and accurate and timely diagnostics. It also includes

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surveillance and rapid response to emerging global health threats. The world has tended to fight such threats one disease at a time—whether it is smallpox, polio, TB, HIV/AIDS, or malaria—and to adopt a firefighting approach when a deadly pandemic such as Ebola emerges. Taking on the whole range of global health threats at once by implementing universal health coverage by 2030 is not only the best way to prepare for inevitable climate-related catastrophes; it will also prevent up to one billion deaths from communicable disease, according to the WHO. This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

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Nabil Karoui: Presidential Nominee Moves to Second Round While in Prison Cell

by Moncef al-Mazghany -1 Early Life and Education

Nabil Karoui was born on August 1963 ,1 in Bizerte, Tunisia. His father was a simple working class man and his mother was a housewife. He started his educational journey at a school run by nuns and he then attended a technical college. He then went to a business institute in Marseille, where he specialized in sales and multinational corporate business.

-2 Starting a business with his Brother

Karoui soon joined the multinational corporation canal+ where he served as the North African division’s managing director for two years. Then in 2002, he and his brother formed the public relations firm Karoui and Karoui World. The firm soon opened offices all across the Middle East, including Libya, Algeria, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.

-3 Falling in Line with the Regime

During Ben Ali’s presidency, it was difficult to obtain a license for a news publication or radio station, let alone a TV channel.

It is for this reason that when Karoui got into the television industry, he made sure that he would fall in line with the regime’s policies. As such, his own Nessma TV,

which first hit the airwaves in 2007, would never broadcast any political shows or news stories and would instead focus on variety shows that would have mass appeal across the Maghreb region.

-4 Nessma TV Undermining Status Quo

While Karoui maintained cautiousness during Ben Ali’s tenure, the changes the country was going through at the end of 2010 gave him a window of opportunity to introduce new programming to the channel. Following the death of fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, who immolated himself after police forces confiscated his produce wheelbarrow, in December 2010 mass protests rocked the country as people demanded that President Ben Ali step down. Since then, Nessma TV became more politically bold with its programming when it started airing the protests and programs on the mass protests, something that was unprecedented in Tunisia. Fortunately, it seemed that Nessma was on the right side of history since Ben Ali would resign just a few weeks later; however that didn’t mean that the channel was immune to controversy. In October 2011, Nessma aired Persepolis, an animated film on the Iranian Revolution; this caused controversy because it had scenes which

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visually depicted God something which is considered unorthodox in most Islamic doctrine. As such, Islamists started protesting at the channel’s headquarters and some even allegedly attempted to burn it down. While the his TV station was sparred, Karoui was fined 2,400 dinars (1,500$) months later for “disturbing public order” and “threatening public morals”.

-5 Entrance into Politics

In 2012, Karoui joined Essebsi’s Nidaa Tounes party, but his membership was short-lived as he resigned in 2017 to form his own party in 2017 called Qalb Tounes.

-6 Presidential Candidacy and Arrest

Following the death of President Beji Caid Essebsi in July 2019, an early presidential election was called in Tunisia. Karoui soon nominated himself as the candidate of Qalb Tounes. However, in August he was arrested on allegations of money laundering and tax evasion, a move his proponents thought to be politically motivated. Despite his arrest, his name remained in the presidential ballot and he gained enough votes to put him through to the second round. If he manages to win the next round, then he will have the unique experience of becoming a president during imprisonment.

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Messi Wins FI of the Year

Why Argentine’s Win has Scratching their Heads

by Ali El Shamy FIFA’s annual Football Awards has come and gone, as senior players from the men’s and women’s game have been recognized for their efforts during the 19-2018 season. As usual, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, football’s two biggest giants from the past decade, have been shortlisted for the men’s player of the year award. While both have arguably had brilliant seasons, (Ronaldo was part of Juventus’ Serie A winning team and Messi part of Barcelona’s

La Liga winning side) some fans have felt that they did not shine as well as they usually do. A newcomer to the award’s shortlist was Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk who has been instrumental in the Reds’ sixth Champions League victory as well as their tight Premier League race against Manchester City. Unlike Messi and Ronaldo, van Dijk is a center-back and having him win the award would have been a rarity since such recognitions are usually reserved for strikers, wingers or midfielders and are seldom given to defenders or goalkeepers.

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Needless to say, there was a lot of pressure on Messi, especially since he had been appointed as the club’s new captain following the end of last season.

IFA Player

first center-back since 2006 to win the award.

RONALDO SHOWING GROWING PAINS AT JUVENTUS

s Left Some

The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award Winner Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and Argentina is seen during The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 at Teatro alla Scala on September 2019 ,23 in Milan, Italy. (Getty)

During his final season at Real Madrid, Ronaldo managed to score 26 goals in the Spanish league, coming in second to Messi who bagged 34 league goals for that season. He also managed to get 15 goals in the Champions League, as well as two goals in the Club World Cup and one goal at the Spanish Super Cup, bringing his total tally to 44 goals. While Ronaldo has shown the stamina of that of a player in his 20s, his first season at Juventus seemed to be quite lackluster, as he only scored 21 times in Serie A, 6 times in the Champions League and once in the Italian Super Cup, as such he only had 28 goals to his name for that season. Despite the fact that he helped his team win another Serie A, that certainly wasn’t enough for Ronaldo to win personal accolades given the fact that Juventus crashed out of their domestic cup and the Champions League both in the quarter-final. Whether or not Ronaldo can get back to his numbers at Real Madrid remains to be seen.

Just to give a sense of how rare it is for defenders to win such awards, the last centerback to win the FIFA Player of the Year was Fabio Cannavaro back in 2006. There was much buzz around the prospect of van Dijk winning the prestigious award, especially after he won the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award a month earlier. Nevertheless, Liverpool and van Dijk fans’ hopes were dashed when Messi was awarded his sixth player of the year award.

Since then, there has been a debate on whether or not Messi deserved the award and whether or not van Dijk was robbed from becoming the

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VAN DIJK: THE DUTCH BRICK WALL Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk was a key component of Liverpool’s defensive lineup for the previous season; his center-back partnership with Joel Matip as well as the arrival of new goalkeeper Allison helped the team alleviate one of its main weaknesses of Klopp’s Liverpool team: defense.

The team managed to keep 21 clean sheets throughout all competitions, and many of said clean sheets came in crucial matches such as

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their 0-4 win against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg, and their 0-2 win against Spurs in the final where the Dutch player made an impressive recovery tackle against Son. Van Dijk’s defensive statistics go beyond clean sheets, during the entirety of last season only one player managed to dribble past the center-back and that is Leroy Sane during the Netherlands and Germany game in the UEFA Nations League.

Van Dijk has also shown immense leadership on the pitch and that was exemplified at St. James Park when it seemed that Liverpool was destined to draw against Newcastle, but they were then awarded a free-kick during the final five minutes of the second half. Trent Alexander Arnold was about to take the shot, but van Dijk promptly told Shaqiri to take it instead. Shaqiri then delivered it to Origi who scored a last-minute winner to keep Liverpool’s title hopes alive. Given Van Dijk’s role in Liverpool’s successful season, many felt he deserved the FIFA Player of the Year Award.

MESSI: THE LEGEND CONTINUES HIS FORM A lot was expected of Barcelona last season, not

Van Dijk’s defensive statistics go beyond clean sheets, during the entirety of last season only one player managed to dribble past the center-back and that is Leroy Sane during the Netherlands and Germany game in the UEFA Nations League.

only did fans want them to retain the League and Spanish Cup, but they also yearned for Champions League silverware, something they haven't won since 2015. Needless to say, there was a lot of pressure on Messi, especially since he had been appointed as the club’s new captain following the end of last season. Unfortunately, for Barcelona the performances failed to meet fan expectations, while they managed to win the league, they went out of the Champions League to Liverpool and ended up as runners-up in the cup. However, that isn’t to say that Messi himself failed to perform during the season. First of all, he scored 36 league goals in 34 appearances as well as assisting in 13 goals. He also scored 12 Champions League goals and 3 Spanish Cup goals, bringing his total tally to 51 goals.

While his team’s performance might be deemed “lackluster”, Messi’s performance was just what we have come to expect of him.

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Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC at Stamford Bridge on September ,22 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Getty)

Juventus player Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates 1-2 goal during the Serie A match between Juventus and Hellas Verona at Allianz Stadium on September 2019 ,21 in Turin, Italy. (Getty)

AWARD UNFAIRLY GIVEN TO MESSI? The voting criteria for the FIFA Player of the Year Award is divided into four quarters.

National team captains, coaches and accredited journalist from each of FIFA’s 211 member federations all account for 25 percent of the votes, each. The remaining 25 percent comes from the public who vote online. As such, football politics may have been in favor of Messi, who has been a household name in football since 2008.

Moreover, fan opinion (which accounts for a quarter of the votes), may have also helped the Argentine since he is by far the more popular player. While this might have been van Dijk’s best opportunity to win the award, it is hard to argue that it ended up in the

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While this might have been van Dijk’s best opportunity to win the award, it is hard to argue that it ended up in the hands of someone who did not deserve it. hands of someone who did not deserve it. It is unfortunate that it will probably be a long time before a center back wins the award, but there is still a chance that Van Dijk might win the Ballon D’or come December. Nevertheless, both players performed spectacularly during the last season, and both deserve all the praise they get.