From Foreign Waters

Trump has indeed toppled the pillar of faith for the Palestinians; and in doing so, he has also forced the Middle Eastern leadership to side with him. What was earlier expected to become a part of the Palestinian bloc, has been given away to Israel. The leadership in Israel is quickly moving to concretize the plans stated in the Peace Proposal presented by Donald Trump this week. According to the new plan, the West Bank land will now be with Israel and not Palestine, a right that the latter had been rightfully asserting for a long time. Backed then by the Arab and Middle Eastern leadership, Palestine has been wishing for all Israeli forces to be removed and Palestine be given its sovereignty by acknowledging an independent Palestinian state with parts of East Jerusalem as its capital. But there has been a sad turnaround, with Arab leaders now siding with the new American plan, giving more teeth to Israel, something which will seem to work well for them to unite efforts ag

The US military contingent command (USFK) in the Republic of Korea warned that it would be forced to send about 9,000 South Korean nationals from the staff of American military bases in the country on unpaid leave if Washington and Seoul could not soon decide on the distribution of joint defense   expenses.   This is stated in a statement released by the USFK on Wednesday.   "Due to the expiration of the agreement on special measures from 2019 and the absence of a new agreement, the command of the US armed forces in South Korea notified South Korean officers about the possibility of sending them on unpaid leave from April 1, 2020," the document says.   On January 16, the Republic of Korea and the United States unsuccessfully completed the sixth round of negotiations in Washington on the issue of sharing the costs of maintaining the American military contingent on the Korean Peninsula.   The previous agreement expired on December 31, 2019.   Since 2018, Washingt

On Sunday, Chuck Schumer, the US Senate Minority Leader, said that senior government authorities must testify in Donald Trump's impeachment trial after a report asserted that the president told a former adviser to suspend military aid to Ukraine pending investigations concerning political opponents. The New York Times gave an account of Sunday that it uncovers that Trump told Former National Security Advisor John Bolton in August that he needed to keep retaining $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials helped to give data about inquiries concerning the former United States VP, Joe Biden. The White House didn't respond quickly to the primary document, nor did Jay Sekulow the legal advisor who is helping Trump to fight his prosecution proceeding in the US Senate. Charles Cooper, who is representing Bolton, also didn't react or gave any comments. The disclosures could undermine one of the essential defenses made by Trump and his allies between the

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the European Union to be smart in balancing security interests raised by Washington with economic opportunities provided by China as Brussels establishes regulations for the next generation wireless network. ”The bigger economic might of the United States of America can of course set certain standards,” she told the World Economic Forum in Davos. “That’s why we as Europeans must decide smartly, how we want to deal with Chinese offers in the age of digitalization.” In the twilight of her political career, Merkel has been preoccupied with the breakdown of multilateralism and the post-World War II order that helped ensure stability and prosperity in Europe. She has sought to balance opposing interests from its traditional U.S. ally on the one hand, and Russia and China on the other. Washington has been pressuring Merkel to ban Chinese Huawei Technologies Co. from Germany’s fifth-generation network and to abandon construction of a g

Today the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) announced their findings from a cross border central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative. The aim was to experiment with circumventing the correspondent banking network, allowing direct payments between banks. Hence this was an institutional or wholesale CBDC experiment. Two commercial banks in Hong Kong and eight in Thailand participated in the research. The two central banks will continue their joint research, including exploring business cases and connectivity to other platforms. This is a continuation of Thailand’s Project Inthanon research and Hong Kong’s LionRock project. The report follows yesterday’s announcement that six central banks and the Bank for International Settlements plan to collaborate on CBDC research. Typically, in correspondent banking, to make cross border payments, a bank will establish accounts at other banks in numerous jurisdictions.

The Peace Summit in Berlin is now seeing headway with the UN deciding to keep an arms embargo in Libya. Organised by the United Nations, leaders from Russia, France, Germany and the likes assembled in Berlin to pledge an end to all foreign involvement in the conflict in Libya. It was interesting to see Turkish presence at the summit, the main protagonist currently at Tripoli who has stationed its military personnel to support the UN recognized government in Tripoli. Macron has expressed deep concerns over this kind of ‘foreign’ involvement both in Syria and Libya. The UN has stated that the main concern currently is to curb the interference of foreign powers who wield influence in the region. It is imperative they stop supplying weapons, troops or finance — either to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli or the rival Libya National Army (LNA) led by eastern military strongman Khalifa Haftar. The direct indication has been made to Erdogan’s recent penetr

The Duke of Sussex has appeared in public for the first time since announcing he and his wife are to step back as frontline royals. Prince Harry returned to Buckingham Palace, the heart of the institution rocked by the bombshell announcement last week that he and Meghan would leave their senior roles as full-time royals and   move part-time to Canada. His first official engagement, as he and Meghan began a period of “transition”, was to conduct the draw for the Rugby League World Cup 2021, and announce a mental fitness charter for the tournament. Before the draw for the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments, Harry met schoolchildren on a makeshift rugby pitch in the palace’s back garden. One of the assembled reporters shouted to him: “How are the discussions going on your future?” Harry, who was making his way into the palace, only smiled at one of his entourage and did not reply. Meanwhile his wife, almost 5,000 miles away in Canada, has undertaken private visits to two

As predictably as the US President Donald Trump has become, he has arm twisted his way into getting China back into line. While some time back, US Treasury Department had declared China would be considered a currency manipulator, the department has finally retracted the statement.   This is being done in the wake of Washington and Beijing signing the first phase of their trade agreement. The US has been for months accusing China was devaluing the Yuan, to make its goods cheaper for foreign buyers. Making a media statement US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin has said that, "China has made enforceable commitments to refrain from competitive devaluation, while promoting transparency and accountability.” While in 2015 election campaign, Trump at that time had vowed to label China as a currency manipulator in the wake of declining US manufacturing, he didn’t do so after taking office.   It has been confirmed that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin eventually made the move,

European powers came together in pursuit of resolving the US-Iran conflict and saving what is left of the nuclear deal with Iran. On Friday, the leaders of EU held a meeting in Brussels to seek ways to de-escalate frequent eruption of tensions between United States and Iran. EU leaders said that they were looking for a more permanent solution for the confrontation between the two, knowing that any miscalculation on either side could leave the bloc facing a major crisis. The European nations including France, Britain and Germany have unanimously rejected US president Donald Trump’s call to quit the nuclear treaty with Iran.  The treaty, called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), signed in 2015 started losing its impact after Trump withdrew US from the agreement in May 2018.  US pulled out on the grounds that it was biased and a foolish agreement. As the consequence, Washington imposed stricter economic sanctions on Tehran, crippling its economy.  Since 2018, Iran has been

‘Human error’ blamed as admission comes after initial denials were contradicted by western allies’ intelligence. Iran has admitted that its military “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people onboard, after days of rejecting western intelligence reports that pointed to Tehran being responsible. A military statement came on Saturday morning via state TV, with “human error” blamed for the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 on Wednesday. It was followed by an apology from Iran’s president. The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, wrote on Saturday: “The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake. “My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences.” The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, wrote: “A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by armed forces: human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to

U.S. officials are reportedly “confident” that Iran shot down a civilian airliner on the same day it struck U.S. forces in Iraq. The Ukrainian International Airlines flight crashed moments after takeoff from the Iranian capital of Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that intelligence indicates the airplane, with 63 Canadians on board, was “shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.” Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 took off from Tehran International Airport at 6:12 a.m. local time, several hours after Iranian ballistic missiles rained down on U.S. bases in nearby Iraq. The Boeing 737-800, bound for Kiev, climbed to an altitude just over 7,900 feet and 310 miles an hour before it came crashing back to earth, exploding in a huge fireball. The pilot reportedly never declared an emergency and was not in contact with the air traffic control tower. • U.S. officials expressed confidence today that Iranian forces shot down a

According to detailed formal report by the United Nations, Houthi rebels weren’t actually responsible for firing missiles over Saudi Arabian oil facilities. This finding now confirms the original assertion by the US that Iran was actually behind the attacks in the first place. In September, in the ongoing investigations, the Houthi rebels had actually come clean and admitted to the US officials that they were no behind the attacks and in fact wanted to be pulled out of this political blame game, that could have been detrimental for their survival. A certain suspicion over whether the Yemen based Houthis could own such advanced military technology has always been there.  Also, UN officials were in suspicion if the drones and land attack cruise missiles used in September 14 attack “had a sufficient range to have been launched from Yemeni territory under the control of the Houthis.” The report by the independent U.N. experts to the Security Council Yemen sanctions committee

On Sunday, while speaking to London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and Lebanon-based Al-Mudun, Qatar’s foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, expressed his country’s indebtedness towards Turkey, especially for its support during the Arab boycott. Qatar faced economic blockade from the the regional powers, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, over its ties with terror groups including Brotherhood, Hamas (Brotherhood’s Palestinians wing) ISIS and Al Qaeda. Al Thani said, “Turkey has supported the people of Qatar in a very tough time when our neighbours acted against us and some other countries left us alone as a result of political pressure. Therefore, we will never forget this stance and we will side with them in the face of any difficulty." Al Thani told reporters, “Turkey is one of the leading countries that we prioritize our relations. We are in a consensus about many issues that we share the same political opinion on. One of them is to assist the Syria

Ahmed Kamel Erozan, head of international relations of the opposition Turkish Al-Kheir party, said that the real reason for Turkey’s support of the so-called Libyan National Accord Government is lobbying for the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization 1, as it is the last in the region.   “If the existing government of Libya (LNA) is a legitimate government, the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria is also legal.   Let the PNS go to Assad and shake his hand, ”Erosan said in an interview, commenting on the statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about additional military support to the Libyan LNA   militants.   in late November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the head of the Libyan NA, Fayez Sarraj, signed agreements on military cooperation and the demarcation of maritime borders.   Most countries found such actions by leaders illegal, as the memorandum not only affects the interests of other countries, but also ignores their state bor

Trump’s administration is going to be gold for all fossil fuel projects. According to his plans, federal agencies no longer need to consider the effect of such projects on the environment. This means that Trump’s administration is giving a clean chit to all those companies that can now flaunt environmental concerns and build highways, pipelines and undertake any other major infrastructural projects. This is going to mark changes to a 50 year old National Environmental Policy Act. The proposed changes to this act could also mean the administration narrow down the range of projects that actually need environmental reviews. This will also mean that in most likelihood, more projects will sail through the approval process without having to disclose plans to do things like discharge waste, cut trees or increase air pollution. Since its enactment in 1970, the act has undergone only one major change. In 1983 the act was amended when the White House Council on Environmental Quality li

The United States imposed visa restrictions on the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, Leopoldo Sintra Frias, as well as his two children.  This is stated in a statement released on Thursday by US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.  "As Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, Sintra Frias is responsible for Cuban actions to support the Nicholas Maduro regime in Venezuela," said the head of American diplomacy.  He claims that representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, together with the Venezuelan military and security forces, were involved in “serious human rights violations and abuses in Venezuela, including Venezuelans subjected to torture, cruel and inhuman, as well as degrading treatment” for their opposition  views.  Sintra Frias and his family members are now barred from entering the United States.

Syrian regime is not willing to take onus for the kind of atrocities they are meting on their civilian population including children. In a recent revelation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), it has been confirmed that indeed, Assad has been found guilty of a war crime and it has been condemned by Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and then PM of Britain Theresa May.  However, what is more alarming is that OPCW has shadowed important findings from the report after the chemical weapon attack at Douma. According to Wikileaks, there have been internal disagreements within the OPCW about how facts were misrepresented in a redacted version of a report on an (alleged) chemical attack in Douma, Syria in April 2018. OPCW represents 193 member states around the world and works to keep a hawk’s eye on the use of chemical weapons across the globe. According to OPCW reports, multiple source findings were made to confirm barrel bombs had been used to tra