June 2020
Pakistan is a big factor in China’s border clashes with India
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Tensions between China and India over the border go back decades and erupted into war in 1962, but observers say that this time the main driver of the conflict was not the line dividing the two players but wider strategic interests involving a third country – China’s “iron brother” Pakistan, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP). The latest border dispute between the two Asian giant took place just a few hundred kilometres from the Line of Control that separates Pakistan-administered territories Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan from Indian-administered territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, all of which are part of the larger region known as Kashmir, Eduardo Baptista of SCMP wrote Saturday. Read More
Renaming India as Bharat: The longstanding Hindutva agenda
by Prof. Pritam Singh: Though the Supreme Court refused to entertain on June 3 a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for renaming India as ‘Bharat’ or ‘Hindustan’, it does not put an end to the longstanding Hindutva agenda on this issue. The Supreme Court’s refusal to entertain the plea of renaming India as Bharat is certainly of legal significance and deserves to be welcomed but it does not take away the long- term political significance the Hindutva tendencies attach to this contested issue for its potential for sectarian Hindu mobilization in the future when such mobilization would be needed at some critical moment in India’s turbulent politics. Read More
Joe Biden’s statement on the rights of Kashmiris alarms Indians
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President, Joe Biden, wants India to take necessary steps to restore rights of Kashmiris under siege since August 5, 2019 when India annexed the disputed territory ofJammu & Kashmir. Joe Biden has also expressed disappointment over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. “These measures are inconsistent with the country’s long tradition of secularism and with sustaining a multi-ethnic and multi-religious democracy”, according to the policy paper – Joe Biden’s agenda for seven-million strong Muslim American community, posted recently on his campaign website. Read More
India Faces Triumvirate Border Issues
By Syed Rifaqat Ali: Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's image has taken a beating after PLA killed twenty unarmed Indian soldiers, including a commanding officer, in a bloody skirmish on Indo-China border in Ladakh's Galwan Valley high in the Himalayas. India now faces a triumvirate of border issues with China, Pakistan and Nepal. And the Coronavirus pandemic, which has sharply risen in India, has rattled the BJP government at the Centre. On top of this unfavorable scenario, the print and electronic media, about a baker's dozen, are not ready to accept the reality that confronts India today in order to defend Modi so that his image is intact. Read More
From bloody border clash to trade war between China & India
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: India is reportedly putting some containers from China on hold during clearance for all-round inspection and scrutiny amid the recent stand-off between the two nations, following a fatal border clash, China’s Global Times said Thursday. It is a stupid choice which will backfire and hurt global industrial chains, the Global Times quoted a Chinese expert as saying. Boycott campaigns of some Indian residents may still be understandable to express anger, while it is a foolish move for the country to play such tricks to obstruct cross-border logistics, as they will hinder the operations of India-based firms and their investment environment, Long Xingchun, the director of the Center for Indian Studies at China West Normal University, told the Global Times. Read More
Race still matters in the land of Lincoln
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui: President Trump has taken credit for popularizing Juneteenth in an interview with the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday (June 19, 2020), stating that no one had ever heard of the June 19 holiday before he scheduled a political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on that day, claiming, "I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous." President Trump is right. Although Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States very few Americans outside the state of Texas and the Afro-American community have ever heard of this holiday. Trump later rescheduled his trip to June 20, as he put, "out of respect for this holiday." In Wednesday's WSJ interview, Trump said a black Secret Service agent told him the meaning of Juneteenth when the president initially faced criticism following his announcement of the rally. Also fueling criticism of the rally is that Tulsa was the site of a massacre in 1921 in which mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses in a section of the city referred to as "Black Wall Street." Read More
Facts about Covid-19 hysteria: Explosive Report of Swiss Policy Research
Fully referenced facts about Covid-19, provided by experts in the field, to help our readers make a realistic risk assessment. Read More
The Sobering Statistics of the ‘Displaced’ people
By Dr.Habib Siddiqui: June 20 was observed as the International Refugee Day.The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations program with the mandate to protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people, and assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. According to the UNHCR, the population of forcibly displaced people grew substantially from 43.3 million (m) in 2009 to 70.8 m in 2018, reaching a record high. Most of this increase was between 2012 and 2015, driven mainly by the Syrian conflict. But conflicts in other areas also contributed to this rise, e.g., Iraq, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, as well as the massive flow of Rohingya refugees from Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh at the end of 2017. Read More
Indian Defense Minister visits Moscow to seek faster delivery of S-400 missile system
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Moscow Monday on a three-day visit to Russia where he is expected to apprise the Russian officials of the on-going situation at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. According to the Asian News International (ANI) of India, in the backdrop of heightened tensions at the border with China, India will be requesting Russia to urgently supply via the air route instead of the sea route spare parts and associated equipment for Indian fighter planes, battle tanks and submarines. Read More
China reaffirms claim to Galwan Valley that was a flashpoint in 1962 war
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A day after India rejected China’s claim of sovereignty over Galwan Valley, at the heart of a tense border standoff between the two sides, Beijing on Friday said the region is on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control and had been patrolled by its troops for “many years”. On Monday night, Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a seven-hour violent face-off in Galwan Valley that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and at least 76 injured. Another 10 Indian soldiers, including on Lt. Colonel and three major rank officers, held by the Chinese side were released on Thursday. Read More
Chinese, Indian foreign ministers discuss de-escalation after bloody border clash in Ladakh
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The foreign minister of China Wang Yi held telephone talks Wednesday with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, over a bloody border clash that left 20 Indian soldiers killed. The Chinese foreign ministry said that both sides agreed to “cool down the situation on the ground as soon as possible, and maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas in accordance with the agreement reached so far between both countries.” Read More
China-India Border Clashes: 20 Indian Soldiers Killed
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Twenty Indian soldiers were killed during a “violent face-off” with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. The incident occurred during a “deescalation process” underway in the Galwan Valley in the disputed Aksai Chin-Ladakh area, where a large troop buildup has reportedly been taking place for weeks now on both sides of the border, before senior military commanders began talks earlier this month. Monday's deaths are the first military casualties along the disputed border for more than four decades, Indian defense experts told CNN. Read More
Nepal's Parliament passes bill to redraw political map
By Shirish B Pradhan: Nepal's Parliament on Saturday unanimously voted to amend the Constitution to update the country's new political map, laying claim over the strategically key areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura along the border with India, despite strong protests by New Delhi against any "artificial enlargement" of its territory. Read More
Anti-Asian racism must be stopped before it is normalized
By Sahar Aziz:The scapegoating of an ethnic group during a national emergency has begun.Rumours are circulating that Chinese people are spreading the coronavirus in America. School children are bullied for being of Chinese origin. Racial slurs are hurled at people who “look Chinese”. Chinese culture is increasingly represented as backward and as a threat to America. The predictable consequence is an upsurge in racial violence. Read More
Clash within the Civilizations: Deconstructing Huntington’s thesis in the context of “Black Lives Matter” movement in the USA
Co-Written by Punsara Amarasinghe & Nalaka Jayasena: While writing an article to the famous Foreign Affairs, American polymath Joseph Nye jubilantly remarked that the COVID 19 will not make any power shift in the world order and his position connotes that the US hegemony which has been fortified as the sole power since the collapse of the USSR is likely to continue without a significant change. Nye’s cardinal thesis focuses on his mantra glorifying the indomitable spirit of the US soft power, which has been often regarded by Nye as the greatest asset possessed by Washington in making American grip around the world regardless of other geopolitical obstacles. In carving his highly optimistic remarks on America’s predilection over the global dominance, Nye holds the ethnic diversity in the USA in high esteem as he believes America’s ability to bring all the creativities from different ethnicities would not allow any other power to surpass the USA. Read More
Death of an Awami League leader in Bangladesh
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui: Earlier on Saturday, June 13, 2020, senior Awami League leader and former health minister Mohammed Nasim died of massive cardiac arrest in Dhaka. He had tested positive for coronavirus when he was admitted on June 1 in a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Nasim was the son of Awami League leader and minister Mansur Ali, who served in the 1971 war-time government and was among the four national leaders killed inside the Dhaka Central Jail in November 1975, two and a half months after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib. Read More
5G networks more revolution than evolution
By HENRY KRESSEL: 5G wireless technology is more than an evolutionary improvement over previous consumer networks. It will impact industry in ways previous networks did not and it should be treated as a national strategic asset – which it is not yet in the US. If you look carefully, you will find that underlying major economic developments are fundamental innovations in communications. Read More
After the Floyd Murder, Are We Ready to Change?
By Dr. James J. Zogby: The murder of #GeorgeFloyd at the hands of a policeman unleashed a wave of protest across the United States. He wasn't the first unarmed Black man or woman to be murdered by an officer using unwarranted deadly force (there are about 100 per year). Nor is it the first time that we've seen mass protests across the U.S. in response to racial injustice. I've witnessed such events repeatedly in my lifetime, but this time it feels different. Read More
American leaders to rethink of human rights, dignity and global peaceful co-existence
by Dr. Mahboob A Khawaja: George Floyd was killed by a police force that should have protected his life, human dignity and oxygen breathing natural lifelines from the encroachment of extremism and brutality. His cry “I can’t Breathe” is echoed throughout the globe whether someone knows George or not – a natural sense of belonging and affirming the reality that We, the People are One Humanity. Racism and racial disharmony is a chronic problem created by the socio-economic disparities and political injustice – the perpetuated Capitalism. The insanity of arbitrary power and injustice needs urgent change and reformation. Read More
The shallow deep-state goes deeper as it moves toward martial law
by Edward Curtin: The people who own the United States and their allies around the world have a plan. It is so simple that it is extremely devious. Their plan has been in operation for many years. It has most people bamboozled because it is Janus-faced by design, overt one day, covert the next, but both faces operate under one controlling head. Some call this head the Deep-State. Even the Deep-State calls itself the Deep-State in a double fake. It is meant to make people schizoid, which it has. Read More
Arab and Muslim American groups denounce killing of George Floyd
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The Arab and Muslim American groups have denounced the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 and expressed solidarity with the African-American community. Floyd's death, the latest in a line of killings of African-Americans by law enforcement officers in the US, has reawakened deep anger at generations of black people who have fallen victim to police brutality - and rekindled a centuries-long struggle for racial justice in America. Read More
Omar, Klobuchar, Smith, McCollum Call for Accountability for George Floyd’s Death
Letter: After George Floyd died at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department on the night of May 25, 2020, Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Betty McCollum (D-MN) along with Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman calling for accountability for George Floyd’s death. Specifically, they are demanding thorough investigations at all levels -- including local, state, and federal -- into the events that led to this tragedy. Read More
SouthFront is censored under cover of pandemic
By Rick Sterling: Censorship of alternative media is becoming more widespread in the COVID19 era. This article documents the case of SouthFront. SouthFront is unique and influential, reaching a global audience of hundreds of thousands. They have opinion articles but their reports and videos are informational and factual. A major disinformation and censorship drive against SouthFront was recently launched. The censorship has been accompanied by a parallel disinformation campaign promoted by corporate, governmental and establishment “think tank” organizations. Read More
Covid-19 and endangered in India
by Shahnaz Islam: The birth and death of the novel coronavirus will be never ending folklores and probably we all get to know now or we must all be habitat to walk parallel with this epidemic disease in India and of course globally too. But how the one particular community is at stake? Why is that one particular community labelled and targeted? When required or in the need of hours, the term secularism becomes doubtful or helpless for this one particular community! Read More
Chinese Troops conduct maneuvers in high-altitude NW China amid border tensions with India
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has organized a large-scale maneuver operation featuring thousands of paratroopers plus armored vehicles to the country's high-altitude northwestern region over a long distance from Central China's Hubei Province amid border tensions between China and India, Global Times, an organ of the Chinese Community Party reported Sunday (June 7). The Global Times report came a day after the Chinese and Indian high-level military talks failed to de-escalate the standoff in Ladakh where thousands of Chinese troops were encamped since early last month. Read More
Chinese, Indian generals meeting fails to defuse border standoff
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Chinese and Indian generals meeting Saturday (June 6) failed to end the latest border standoff between the world's two most populous nuclear nations that has seen thousands of troops sent to both sides of the disputed border. The talks were requested by India and were held at the Border Personnel Meeting Point in Maldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. According to the Times of India, neither the Army nor the Ministry of External Affairs provided any details about the much-anticipated talks. Without specifically mentioning about the talks, an Indian Army Spokesperson said: "Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas." Read More
China-India standoff in Ladakh may drag on for months
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The China-India standoff in Ladakh is likely to drag on through the summer as troops dig in on both sides, Times of India reported Tuesday. At this point, the two sides are facing off at four points — three points in Galwan, and the fourth face-off point is at Pangong Tso, according to the paper. Read More
China and India reject President Trump’s mediation in Ladakh face-off
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: China and India have rejected President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate between China and India to end their border standoff in Ladakh. Trump on Wednesday offered to “mediate or arbitrate” the raging border dispute between India and China, saying he was “ready, willing and able” to ease the tensions, amid the continuing standoff between the armies of the two Asian giants. Read More
Amid brewing boarder tension China briefly detains Indian soldiers
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Amid mounting tensions between India and China along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) some Indian troops were detained and later released by the Chines Army after a skirmish broke out between the two sides in Ladakh recently, according to Indian media report. Read More
India: Quo Vadis?
By Syed Rifaquat Ali: A country is judged by the civility of its denizens and the knowledge and quality of students. India, a country of over 1.3 billion people, is lagging behind the First World and developed countries. Read More
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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