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...