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December 2020

Indian General says no compromise with China in Ladakh standoff
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: India’s Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat has said India would not compromise its position in Ladakh and that the restoration of status quo ante as it was in April 2020 was the only way ahead. “It has been spelt very clearly that there will be no compromise,” General Rawat was quoted by India Today on Thursday. In a wide-ranging interview with India Today magazine, his first after taking over as CDS on January 1 this year, General Rawat said there was hope for a resolution, but it was a hard road ahead. Read More

Pained by Indian farmers' plight, Sikh priest commits suicide
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The death of Sikh priest Sant Baba Ram Singh near the Singhu border in Delhi Wednesday gave a new twist to more than three weeks protest by thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other states have been protesting near the Delhi borders demanding that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government should repeal the controversial farm laws. For more than three weeks, tens of thousands of Indian farmers have camped out around New Delhi to protest a set of farm bills passed by the country’s parliament in September. Thousands more from the neighboring states of Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh look set to join in the coming days, even as police try to block them from entering the city. Read More

President Erdoğan questions US-NATO alliance with Turkey
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday questioned the United States' alliance with Turkey following the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on Turkey over the purchase of S-400 Russian missiles. The Turkish president pointed out that the bond between the two countries was established largely through NATO membership, and asked: "What kind of alliance is this?" Read More

Bosnia-Herzegovina 25 years after the Dayton Accords
By Abdus-Sattar Ghazali: December 14 marks the 25th anniversary of the US brokered Dayton Accords between Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, which officially ended the deadliest conflict on European soil since World War II. The three-and-a-half-year Bosnian war, which resulted in about 100,000 deaths, left another two million people displaced, and paved the way for the Srebrenica genocide. Read More

China helps Pakistan upset military balance against India
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: With the help of People’s Liberation Army, Pakistan Air Force has established the Center of Artificial Intelligence and Computing (CENTIC) which has very serious implications of military balance between India and Pakistan, according to Indian Defense Analyst Pravin Sawhney. This institution will also have regional and geopolitical implications, Sawhney said in a You Tube video talks Friday. Read More

Morocco, Israel normalize relations in US-brokered deal
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Morocco and Israel agreed on Thursday to normalize relations in a U.S.-brokered deal. As part of the agreement, US President Donald Trump agreed to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Polisario Front, seeks to establish an independent state. Morocco is the fourth Arab country since August to normalize relations with Israel. The others were the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. Read More

US House passes bill to sanction Turkey over S-400 missile purchase
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a defense bill that paves the way for imposing sanctions on Turkey over the country's purchase of S-400 missile systems from Russia, the Daily Sabah reported. The bill requires the imposition of sanctions within 30 days of the legislation passing. It calls for sanctions on "each person that knowingly engaged in the acquisition of the S-400 air defense system" by Turkey, the Sabah said. Commenting on the bill, Turkey’s Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın said that penalizing Turkey for Russian S-400 purchase is counterproductive. He was speaking via video conference in a German Marshall Fund of the United States event. Read More

264 detained in nationwide operations against FETÖ members in Turkey
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: More than four and half years after the abortive coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish security forces continue arrest of supporters of the so-called Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen who allegedly orchestrated the coup attempt. Turkish security forces detained 264 suspects on Tuesday in operations across the country against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), according to Daily Sabah. In one of the biggest operations against the terrorist group, 204 suspects were detained in Izmir and 49 in other provinces. Read More

US accuses China of escalating tension with India
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) has accused China of escalating tension with India. In 2020, Sino-Indian relations suffered their worst year in decades, USCC said in its report '2020 report to Congress. “ In June, Chinese and Indian soldiers engaged in a deadly clash on their border, the first confrontation since 1975 that resulted in loss of life on either side.” Read More

Chinese scientists claim quantum computer breakthrough
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Chinese scientists claim to have built a quantum computer which is 100trillion times faster than the world's most advanced supercomputer – Japan’s Fugaku, the Daily Mail has reported. In June 2020, Japan took the lead in the supercomputer race, with a machine which is 2.8 times faster than the previous title holder. Read More

Amid U.S. restrictions, China is closer to microchip independence
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: China has recently made new breakthroughs in its 7nm chip-making process, developing tools and know-how as breakthroughs reported in homegrown semiconductor development and advanced EUV lithography machines. It appears that US attempts to enforce trade restrictions on China over semiconductor chips, has done what many analysts predicted — it has awakened a sleeping giant, according to Dave Makichuk of Asia Times. Read More

1st China-bound freight train departs on 12-day journey from Istanbul
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In a major milestone, the first train carrying goods from Turkey to China departed from Istanbul Friday, according to daily Sabah. “The first whistle from Çerkezköy, from where the train departed, is a harbinger of a new era for our country,” Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu said during the sendoff ceremony at the Kazlıçeşme station on Istanbul’s European side. Covering 8,693 kilometers (5,402 miles) and passing through two continents, two seas and five countries, the train will forward its freight to China in 12 days. Read More

International Day to Combat Islamophobia
By Abdus-Sattar Ghazali: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has decided to designate March 15 as the "International Day to Combat Islamophobia" each year. The OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) has passed a resolution in this respect in their meeting in Niamey, Niger. Pakistan had introduced the resolution which expresses concern that Islamophobia, as a contemporary form of racism and religious discrimination, was on the rise. Read More

Iran accuses Israel, U.S. for killing of its nuclear scientist
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Iran accused Israel and the U.S. of being behind the assassination of one of its top nuclear scientists on Friday (Nov 27) and vowed revenge, sharply escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency, Bloomberg reported. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed close to the Damavand campus of Islamic Azad University, about 60 kilometers east of central Tehran. No one has claimed responsibility for the assassination. However, in a tweet, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said “terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today,” and accused Israel of playing some part in the killing. Read More

India alarmed at Chinese Defense Minister's visit to Nepal
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: China has vowed to strengthen its military relationship with Nepal and support its territorial integrity at a time when its small Himalayan neighbor is embroiled in border disputes with India, according to South China Morning News (SCMN). General Wei Fenghe, China’s defense minister and a state councillor, made the pledge when he met Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and held talks with Nepali Army chief Purna Chandra Thapa in Kathmandu on Sunday, Nov 29, SCMN reported. Read More

China’s move on Doklam could cut India's access to its northeastern states
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Satellite images appear to show China developing areas along a disputed border with Bhutan, igniting deep strategic and demographic ramifications for India, the TRT has reported. India-China tensions flared after the release of new satellite images which revealed the Chinese construction of a village along a disputed border shared by India and Bhutan, previously the site of months of military standoff. Read More

France backtracks from senate resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: France does not recognize the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, despite the earlier approved Senate resolution calling for recognition, the French Foreign Ministry. France does not recognize the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, TASS quoted a statement from the French Foreign Ministry as saying. The ministry drew attention to the fact that the French Senate had previously adopted a resolution calling on the country's authorities to recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. However, during a debate on this topic, Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne recalled the French authorities' position and noted that it does not change. Read More

Articles by the Journal of America Writers

Dr. Abdul Jabbar Dr. Habib Siddiqui Prof. Arthur Scott Syed R. Mahmood Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Book Review

Islam & Muslims in the 21st Century Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America

Trump’s Middle East Plan