FinPol Digest

I want to share something interesting about what I read today. It’s about the current situation between Iran and the US. This change in the sound of the Biden administration's statements caused Rouhani to rush to declare that, in an effort to woo the new administration, Iran was prepared to comply with all the nuclear commitments stipulated in the nuclear agreement.  But Zarif, on the other hand, understands that Iran's missile program is one of the most divisive problems inside the JCPOA and wants to use it as a bargaining tool to ensure the return of Washington to the contract. Those negotiating maneuvers make it seem likely for the US to return to the agreement, but the real intentions of America remain secret.  

Turkey has increased tensions in Libya after it issued a threat to the forces of eastern commander Khalifa Haftar as Turkey holds the majority of power when it comes to backing Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) and it said that any attack against its personnel would be met with force.  “A war criminal, murderer Haftar and his supporters must know that they will be seen as a legitimate target in case of an attack on Turkish forces” by his troops, Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar said last week.  Haftar’s LNA is standing against the GNA in Tripoli. The Turkish defense minister was on a surprise visit to the Turkish troops when he said this. Reports claim that the comments of Akar came after Haftar had earlier said that LNA will drive out the occupier by faith, will, and weapons but did not directly name anyone.  The Turkish official took it upon himself and Akar during  his visit said, “If they take such a step, they will be unable to find any place to fl...

 Millions of Americans lose federal unemployment benefits on Saturday because of the deadlock between Congress and President Trump over the Coronavirus relief aid passed by the House and Senate later this week.  More than twelve million Americans who have applied for unemployment benefits will lose through two schemes set up under enactment recently during the Covid pandemic, as estimated by The Century Foundation.  Trump had no events on his timetable on the first day of his winter vacation on Thursday; however, he visited his Palm Beach golf club, where he was spotted playing golf by CNN news. No details of his timetable for the afternoon were provided to the journalists, however, they were informed that "As the Holiday season draws near; President Trump will continue working hard for the American People. His timetable includes many calls and meetings."  One program is going to lapse that provides benefits to gig workers and another program that provides 100 percen...

On Tuesday, President-elect Joe Biden blamed the Trump Administration for failing to prioritize the cybersecurity from getting hacked, and he promised to take serious steps as and when he takes office.  "This cyber-attack comprises a grave danger to our public security. The attack was deliberately carried out and sophisticatedly coordinated. It was performed by utilizing high-tech digital devices. The attackers were successful in catching the government unprepared and off guard," Biden added. Biden asserted that the attack was having the hallmark of Russian cyber operations and the Trump government should hold them accountable for it. His comments came after President Trump minimized the hack and inquired whether Russia was behind it after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo credited the hack to Moscow.  None of the U.S. officials stated that Beijing was answerable for the hack. On Monday, Attorney General William Barr had stated that Russia seemed to be behind the cyber attack, f...

The political dilemma in Lebanon sprang with the resignation of PM Saad Hariri on October 29, 2019, because of the anti-government protests. The nation is still confronting a crisis after the formation of a new government.  Samir Geagea, the Lebanese Forces chief also censured the unfit ruling government on Saturday and indirectly pressed for President Michel Aoun's resignation. Geagea stated in the Strong Republic bloc meeting that if he were the President, he would have surely stepped down. Hariri who got nominated again as Lebanon's PM in Oct 2020, failed to shape the cabinet until now. Meanwhile, due to the ongoing socio-economical crisis, the public protest continued all through 2020 despite coronavirus lockdowns.  The Lebanese President Michel Aoun has opposed Saad Hariri's monopoly in selecting his cabinet members without discussing it with the President.  As per the Lebanese presidency official statement, Aoun never proposed any party nominee for cabinet ministers...

In its latest move to remove every Chinese involvement in the United States, Donald Trump took a major step on Friday as he signed the legislation to kick Chinese companies off the US exchanges. This is being done to remind the American regulators to keep their audits in check and if they do not do this then it will most likely finalize the bill and further escalate the tensions between the two countries, also the largest economies of the world.  This step will especially affect corporate giants like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Baidu Inc. The current announcement comes as a big shock to Beijing as Trump tries to take all the steps necessary to stop Chinese involvement or stakes in the US market.  Trump has time and again spoken against what he called the unfair trade practices from China’s end. The US also slapped a number loaded tariffs on billions of dollars in imports but this year this escalated to extreme levels earlier this year when Beijing was blamed by Trump for bei...

Despite a lot of pressure from the International community and especially the United States, Iran is continuously expanding its underground nuclear facility. According to the on-site reports, Tehran has already begun its elusive construction on the site of its underground nuclear facility at Fordo.  The satellite photos obtained on Friday show the extent of the progress in the work. This after the country is yet to make an official acknowledgment of construction and the activities going on in the area. In 2009 too, the discovery of the secretive construction was brought into the knowledge of the west which led to a boycott of the country followed by a deal in 2015.  The purpose is yet to be disclosed by the Iranian officials regarding whatever is going on in Fordo. The activities in the region are bound to trigger new concerns especially at the time when Donald Trump is leaving the White House. This is coming after Iran recognized the construction taking place at its Natanz nu...

 A conundrum that faces many nations suffering from dysfunctional democracies is the disbursement of international aid. Most of these economies suffer under corrupt governments, civil war, and therefore a resulting lack of systems in place. To solve this cycle of public suffering, the United Nations along with the European Commission and the World Bank has now announced an innovative model for disbursing aid to one such country in need- Lebanon. The consortium of nations and the UN together has devised the Reform, Recovery, and Reconstruction Framework that will extend for 18 months starting from December. The framework is essentially going to address the Beirut explosion mayhem that leads to loss of life and property, all due to government negligence. The explosion saw more than 6000 displaced and injured and 200 lives lost.   Being called the 3RF, it is meant to create a pool to ensure medium-term recovery and construction efforts that lead Lebanon into a sustainable st...

 A number of Arab countries have condemned an attack on a fuel transport ship anchored at Jeddah port on Monday. Being labelled as a "terrorist attack", the oil tanker was hit by an explosive-laden boat, according to a statement released by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy. Singaporean shipping firm Hafnia also confirmed that the oil tanker was struck by a blast from an "external source" at the Jeddah terminal. Reportedly, the ship was carrying 60,000 tons of gasoline that caused an explosion on board. Releasing a statement on its website, the shipping company confirmed that all 22 sailors on board the BW Rhine escaped the blast without suffering any injury. “BW Rhine has been hit from an external source whilst discharging at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at approximately 00:40 local time on 14 December 2020, causing an explosion and subsequent fire on board,” Hafnia said in its statement, as reported by Reuters. According to the Saudi energy ministry spokesperson, the ...

 Outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo won the presidential elections in Ghana by a narrow margin. The election commission announces. Addo won 6,730,413 votes, equal to 51.59%, the rival 6,214,889, 47.36%. There was no lack of clashes. The toll of violence in Ghana connected with the presidential and parliamentary elections held last Monday in the country is five dead. The results saw a narrow margin between opposition candidate John Mahama and outgoing president Nana Akufo-Addo. The tension between the two candidates was skyrocketing, with Mahama accusing Addo of wanting to use the military to "subvert the vote outcome."  Ecowas, the organization of West African states, called for calm on Wednesday, hoping for a positive outcome to the elections.

On Monday, Turkey's president Recep Erdogan announced a nationwide lockdown due to a surge in the coronavirus cases, extending out curfews to weeknights and setting up a full lockdown over the weekends. The daily death toll rose to a record high of 196 on Saturday, bringing the total to 14,705 since the outbreak of the pandemic. Turkey recorded 31,896 new covid cases on Saturday, including asymptomatic ones, dropping from Friday's 32,736, the most number of cases reported in Ankara since the start of the disease in March.  Turkey's economy shrank 9.9% year-on-year in the subsequent quarter due to the Covid protocols. It bounced back in the second from last quarter; developing 6.7% following the lockdown was lifted. Financial experts anticipate that the new protocols should have a lesser impact on growth in the final quarter than they did in the second quarter.  On Saturday in the biggest city Istanbul, the capital Ankara and the third-biggest city Izmir showed empty streets...

Qatar's FM Ali Sharif Al Emadi has stated that there has been development on settling the diplomatic row that has scarred the Gulf neighbors against one another however he was unable to foresee whether advancement was possible or would completely resolve the issue.    The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt forced a strategic, trade and travel ban on Qatar in June 2017, blaming Doha for supporting terror organizations and having relations with Iran,  Reuters  reported.    Qatar has many times dismissed the allegations as baseless while featuring its preparation for discourse.    "At present, there is a movement that we expect will stop this crisis," Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, additionally appointee PM, announced on Friday.   "We also believe the end of the crisis is significant for the security of the locale and purpose of our kin. This tension needs to stop based on mutual regard and citizens in the Gulf.  ...

Despite suffering a huge deal after the United States backing out of the nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, the gulf country is reluctant to take the leap once again with the Biden administration as far as reviving the deal is concerned.  The Iranian foreign minister said that the country will not be accepting any precondition from the new US democratic government over its nuclear programme and has instead asked for the same deal as 2015 before talks about any matter can further happen.  Javad Zarif said that as per the prior deal, the US has some of the commitments which it failed to stand by. This came after President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday said that he was ready to withdraw all the sanctions and rejoin the nuclear deal on condition of Iran ‘strictly complying’ to the nuclear deal.  The situation between the two is highlighting the trust issues that one has for the other. Iran wants the US to take the first step while the American side wants to get the assurance of th...

Australia is in a very tricky situation right now where it has to choose between its economy and its integrity. This comes after the two countries have been having a war of words with an obvious advantage at China’s end. As soon as Australia got over its recession that happened due to the coronavirus pandemic, people started questioning if it will have a more solid approach towards China. The economist, however, suggests that Australia must avoid taking any such steps.             The problem is that China is Australia’s biggest export market which essentially means that now whatever the relationship between the two countries remains, Canberra keeps it cordial for it to continue to flourish its growing economy. It so happened that the country’s economy was at its all time low, a phase of recession that happened for the first time in three decades. This hit Morrisson and its administration hard. The recovery of the economy was credited to the improved h...

  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has blamed Israel for staging as a mercenary for the United States regarding the murder of Iran's top atomic researcher near Tehran.    "Indeed, the evil hands of the worldwide haughtiness, with the usurper Zionist system as the mercenary was tainted with the blood of a son of this country," Rouhani composed on his official site on November 28.   "The global arrogance" is a term regularly utilized by Iranian authorities to apply to the United States, while "the usurper Zionist system" is a remark made to Israel, the  Radio Farda News  stated.    In the mid-2000s, Fakhrizadeh played a pivotal part in Iran's atomic program however the government demands its atomic exercises are altogether peaceful.    Atomic scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in an ambush near the capital Tehran on November 27, in an audacious assault that raises further strains between Iran and Israel.   The assassina...

 This week Monday, the world woke up to yet another Covid-19 vaccine news – the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was reported to give highly promising results in both efficacy and safety. This was joyous after Pfizer and Moderna too announced promising results of their vaccine candidates. But on Thursday, multiple news rounded up in the US and UK questioning the data of the Oxford vaccine. But the questions weren’t regarding vaccine’s safety but efficacy.  The trial data present three efficacy levels – overall efficacy of 70%, a higher of 90%, and a lower of 62%. This was because during the trial the participants were given different vaccine doses. Some of the volunteers were given half of the planned dose strength in error. But the low dose group produced better results. This has left experts around the world scratching their heads.  The Covid-19 vaccine is to be given in two shots, four weeks apart, with the second shot as a booster to the first. Regulators were told of the e...

  United States Presidential Elections have rendered the highly controversial president Donald Trump out of the White House. The current votes count show nearly 80 million American people to have voted for Joe Biden, making him the 46 th President of the United States of America. This voting has been unprecedented as no candidate has ever received such high count of votes.   But what more this voting highlighted was that Trump managed to receive 11 million more votes than he received in 2016. This is a cause of concern as it showcases Trump’s increased support in various communities going under stress. These communities are the ones struggling with poverty and unemployment, with inadequate healthcare and childcare. This wasn’t predicted by-election pandits and that should be enough to scare the Democrats for 2024.   Though Trump widely caused chaos in the country with his policies regarding immigration, his unapologetic stand for causes like Black Lives Matter, atroc...

In China, religion might not be talked about much but holds a great significance. The country prides itself on having organized religion formation and somehow rejects the idea of unrecognized or unpopular religion.  The communist government recognizes merely five religions which are-- Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism. But this is propagated by the Chinese government as an achievement because the rule recognizes itself as an atheist government.  The problem is that any practice apart from these groups which are supervised by the recognized groups the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement or the Buddhist Association of China receives a very critical treatment by the communist government.  Any organizations or religious institutions that are run other than these groups are cracked down to the core and receive a tough call on its existence. These practices by the authority are receiving critical treatment. Foreigners however receive some amount o...

In most media reports Qatar has been termed as a dangerous country to visit for any purpose and it becomes even more dangerous for western women, who are mostly unknown to the environment of the gulf country.  In recent days, one such incident highlighted the brutality that people and specifically women face in the country. A group of women which included as many as 13 Australian women was assaulted by Qatari authorities making the visit their worst nightmare.  One of the women came forward and spoke to a digital platform called 60 minutes Australia where she described the horrendous incident that happened to her. A nurse by profession, the woman who belonged from Victoria, Australia told that even if she feels uncomfortable sharing her story she will do it to warn people.  Her story began as she boarded her flight from a national airport in the Middle East. She was unknown to the fact that a baby of a few hours was found in the garbage and the Qataru police made all the ...

US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday said that as soon as he formally takes over his new office, he would work towards making the US rejoin World Health Organisation, Paris Climate Pact, and explore diplomatic strategies that pressurize to make China ‘play by the rules’. Biden mentioned the above plan of action while answering a question about his remarks during the presidential debate, wherein he said that wanted to punish China for the way it has been working. Speaking at a bipartisan group meet of governors, Biden clarified his approach towards China and said that more than “punishing” the rival nation through economic sanctions or tariffs, his administration would resort to strategic diplomatic means to make Beijing understand “that they have got to play by the rules”. Playing by rules was also his reason for the US to rejoin the WHO and the Climate agreement, which the Trump administration exited in July 2020 and June 2017, respectively. Biden said, “That is one of the reasons...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in an ambitious pro-climate move, adopted the plan to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. The plan was earlier scheduled to be implemented by 2040. Johnson made the announcement on Wednesday while disclosing a 10-point climate change plan , a part of his "green industrial revolution".   British premier also introduced certain concessions for hybrid vehicles, stating that the government would allow the sale of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles until 2035. Hybrid car makers claim that hybrid vehicles can run for tens of kilometers on battery before switching to a conventional engine.   Johnson in his statement said, “Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales."   The UK government highlighted that the new climate plan would also help in job creation and would ...

  Monday, November 16, 2020. EU High Representative JosepBorrell warned that planned housing projects by Isreal in the southern city of Jerusalem al-Quds could hinder the future formation of a Palestinian state. He described the construction in Jerusalem's suburbs as 'illegal' and said he was 'concerned' about Israeli plans to build more homes in the area. In many countries in the world, especially in Europe, oppose the violence and illegal settlement of  Israel  against  the Palestinian people  and their land, and call for it to be stopped and prevented. The EU has always repeated any support restoring "meaningful process" towards resolving the dispute between the two sides. Israel's construction project in the Palestinian territories further undermine hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The international community has tried to bring the two sides closer,  but Israel has been illegally occupying the West Bank. Since...

Peru as a nation failed on Sunday when its interim President had to tender his resignation after huge protests. Manuel Marino confirmed his resignation in a short televised address after he was softly threatened by Congress to either resign or face censure. All of this happened because of a number of things that went wrong among which, the inability of Congress to not fix on the success of Marino was one. In the address, the 59-year-old president said that he had acted within the law. "I, like everyone, want what's best for our country," he said. He added that despite what Congress and protesters suggest, he wants to do what's best for the nation. When congress elects his success, the leader will be the third President to rule the country in a span of a week. The decision to oust the Interim leader came after hours of unrest and complaints of the people that also led police to act violently which further led to injuring dozens of people and killing two. One of the HUm...

Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Reports from the central region of Somalia said that the explosion occurred outskirts of Dhuusamareeb, the capital city of Galmudug. The type of explosion was a landmine targeted convoy of soldiers on their way to Sinna-Dhaqo. At least two soldiers were killed and three others were injured in the blast. Additional troops arrived at the scene and removed the bodies and wounded soldiers from the blast. State government officials have not yet commented on the attack. In recent days, there have been movements on the outskirts of Dhusamareb between government forces, Galmudug forces and Al-Shabaab fighters who occasionally attack the administration's capital. On the other hand, Al-Shabaab has increased the number of extortionate animals being sold to Mogadishu and other major cities controlled by the government and regional administrations. Security officials said thousands of goats, cattle, and camels were being sold by al-Shabaab in Mogadishu and othe...

 I want to share my stand about the reading I had. This is the political, religious, and financial weight, Saudi Arabia enjoys a strong position in global affairs. This nation has always played a crucial role in times of crisis, as a reliable partner for most countries in the world.   It enjoys a rare global and regional role owing to the religious and economic clout of Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich Kingdom also has a vital role to play in stabilizing global markets for energy. In fact, Saudi Arabia has always pursued wise and prudent strategies in times of global political and economic challenges to help its partners, and the world, recover quickly from these difficulties.

 France is on its toes after a series of attacks on the civilians and is taking every possible measure in its hand to protect the country. The latest development in the actions taken by the French officials is dissolving the Turkish nationalist ‘Gray Wolves’ movement that supports the Turkish President.  The Interior Minister of France Gerald Darmanan has announced on Wednesday that the cabinet will take its call on dissolving the extremist Turkish nationalist ‘Gray Wolves’ movement.  This step is bound to increase tensions between Turkey and France especially after the two countries have already exchanged a war of words---one attacking the Islamist terror groups while the other denying any such behavior. With the French government dissolving the Gray Wolves movement, it has directly targeted president Erdogan as the movement is linked to the Nationalist Movement Party, an ally of the ruling party in Turkey.  The group was involved in escalating the tensions in an on...