Free Republic

Pakistan’s Army needs to take a large chunk of the blame for ruining the country’s economy. Last year, former Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa officially admitted that the military has been meddling in politics for decades. “In my opinion, the reason for this is the constant meddling by the army in politics for the last 70 years, which is unconstitutional,” he said, adding that the crumbling economic situation must be taken as a lesson and all stakeholders need to work together to safeguard the country’s interest. Last year in November General Asim Munir took charge as Pakistan’s new Army...

Will China come to the rescue of cash-starved Pakistan, which is inching closer to a default amid delay in revival of the $6.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)? China has not made any statements over the deepening political crisis in the South Asian nation but concerns have risen. “China’s stakes in Pakistan are high. It also needs Pakistan to contain India but the moot question is whether Beijing will be willing to completely bailout Pakistan. That is a matter of debate,” an analyst told India Narrative. Global ratings agency Moody’s has already warned that Pakistan may default...

Day 163 of the Iranian national uprising for democracy was eventful in Iran's provinces. nationwide uprising entered its 163rd day on Saturday in different parts of the country against the mullahs' brutal dictatorship. The Iranian opposition MEK has published the names of 17 more martyrs of the February 25 nationwide uprising. So far, the names of 664 martyrs have been published. Mass demonstrations in BaluchistanOn Friday, February 24, the 162nd day of the nationwide uprising, the brave people of Zahedan held demonstrations after Friday prayers for the 21st week after the Zahedan Bloody Friday. The demonstrations took place despite the...

First, the data on what's happening in Iran. Start with the count:Days: 121 Protests: 282 citiesFatalities: 750+ estimated deaths, 627 identified by MEKDetentions: 30,000 Now here's the latest news:Iran’s nationwide uprising entered its fifth month following a day of major rallies and demonstrations against the mullahs’ regime in various cities of what's known as Sistan and Baluchistan province, especially the provincial capital of Zahedan. A large number of locals took to the streets on Friday in the Baluch cities of Zahedan, Rask, and Khash, chanting slogans specifically targeting regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the paramilitary Basij...

(excerpt) "If someone does not accept the accusation, they torture him to accept it. Confessions under coercion and the beating of the accused have no place in sharia (Islamic law) and our country's Constitution," Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi said in a Friday prayers sermon, according to his website. Ismaeelzahi is based in Zahedan, capital of the impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to Iran's Baluch minority. Authorities have reportedly pressured him by banning him from traveling abroad and restricting his travels and contacts within Iran.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday walked back remarks questioning Pakistan’s ability to keep its nuclear weapons safe by leftist President Joe Biden, who went as far as to call the South Asian nation, a nominal ally of America’s, “one of the most dangerous nations in the world.” Biden made the offending comments at a Democrat Party event at a private home in California last week. Offering disorganized remarks commenting on nuclear weapons generally, Biden mentioned Pakistan amid boasting yet again that he has a close personal relationship with dictator Xi Jinping of China. “I’ve spent more time with Xi...

Iranian security forces have arrested 14 foreigners, including American, British and French citizens, for their involvement in anti-government protests, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Wednesday. -excerpt- "Citizens of 14 countries, including the United States, Russia, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, and Afghanistan, have been arrested in recent riots in Iran, of which Afghan nationals are the most numerous,"

Over the past ten years, China’s Communist Party (CCP) has strategically relied on its $4 trillion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to boost its image and influence with at least 149 countries to date. But success has eluded its efforts, and the BRI strategy may be doomed as a result. Consider for example the CCP’s stalled attempts at pushing the BRI strategy across countries in Europe. Not anticipated were the barriers and delays created by sanctions imposed on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. Before the sanctions, China used Russia as a convenient transit point for the shipment of BRI...

"China is our most important partner," says Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on the prospect of Afghanistan becoming part of the New Silk Road initiative

Reversing the decision of its predecessor, the Biden Administration has approved a whooping USD 450 million F-16 fighter jet fleet sustainment programme to Pakistan. As a notification to the US Congress, the State Department has made a determination approving a possible foreign military sale of F-16 case for sustainment and related equipment for an estimated cost of USD 450 million, arguing that this will sustain Islamabad's capability to meet current and future counterterrorism threats by maintaining its F-16 fleet. This is the first major security assistance to Pakistan after Trump in 2018 had announced to stop all defense and security...

U.S. military prosecutors are reportedly negotiating potential plea deals with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other conspirators imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay. The plea deals may allow the five dependents to escape a potential death penalty, according to CBS. Mohammed is widely credited with being the architect of the 9/11 terror attacks. The other four defendants are Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, Walid bin Attash and Ammar al-Baluchi. Attorneys for the defendants reportedly say they would be willing to enter a guilty plea in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, as well as for getting treatment...

By JOHN SULLIVAN and JOSEPH NEFFRaleigh News & ObserverNovember 13, 2001 FORT BRAGG, N.C. - A former sergeant at Fort Bragg who became a close adviser to Osama bin Laden obtained sensitive documents describing how U.S. special operations units function. Ali A. Mohamed, a trusted trainer in bin Laden's al Qaeda network, walked the halls of the U.S. military's top warfare planning center at Fort Bragg for more than two years as an Army sergeant. From 1987 to 1989, he acquired sensitive documents describing how special operations units work and a detailed plan for a special operations training exercise, court ...

There were three pillars on which the Iranian regime was founded, following the 1979 revolution, hi-jacked by the elderly fanatical cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The first pillar was the system of velayat-e-faqih, or guardianship of the Islamic jurist, which laid the foundations for the first fundamentalist Islamic state and was written into the constitution. The second pillar was the complete transfer of all power and authority to the Supreme Leader and from him to the theocracy of ayatollahs and mullahs, who perversely claimed their authority came directly from God. The third and final pillar, carefully designed by Khomeini, was the...

Dubai -- A US Navy warship fired a warning flare to wave off an Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboat coming straight at it during a tense encounter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, officials said Tuesday. The incident on Monday involving the Guard and the Navy comes as tensions remain high over stalled negotiations over Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as Tehran enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels under decreasing international oversight. Meanwhile, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Iran now plans to enrich uranium through a second set of advanced centrifuges at its underground Fordo...

Authorities on Sunday identified a 44-year-old British national as the man who took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue for 10 hours before an FBI SWAT team stormed the building, ending a tense standoff that President Joe Biden called “an act of terror." Malik Faisal Akram was shot and killed after the last of the hostages got out at around 9 p.m. Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel near Fort Worth. In a statement, the FBI said there was no indication that anyone else was involved, but it didn't provide a possible motive. Akram could be heard ranting on a...

Baluchis in Pakistan are rebelling against colonization by Chinese. Starts around 8:00.

Iran is hosting a meeting of... the foreign ministers of Iran, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Russia holding talks in the Iranian capital Tehran on Afghanistan's political future and the formation of a new government...Iran's population is majority Shiite but Sunni minorities live predominantly in the areas near the border with Afghanistan. The Sunnis have long complained about discrimination by Iranian authorities.Due to dilapidated infrastructure and a lack of health and educational facilities, the areas near the Afghan border are the poorest and least developed in Iran...But Fatemeh Aman, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Middle East Institute (MEI),...

Islamabad apparently bought peace with the TLP. As in its frequent mobilisations over the last few years, the TLP has once again forced the Pakistani state onto the backfoot and enhanced its own political clout. A relatively new phenomenon, the TLP, was founded in 2015 by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a firebrand cleric who died in November 2020. It now has a strong following among Pakistan’s Barelvi sect. At the heart of TLP’s ideology is the protection of the Prophet’s honour and a vigorous defence of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or the Prophet...

China thermal coal prices hit record high. ... Cold winds from north sweeps central and east China. China's Met Office forecasts sharp drops in temperatures. China's energy crisis deepened on Friday as cold weather swept into much of the country and power plants scrambled to stock up on coal, sending prices of the fuel to record highs. Electricity demand to heat homes and offices is expected to soar this week as strong cold winds move down from northern China. Forecasters predict average temperatures in some central and eastern regions could fall by as much as 16 degrees Celsius in the...

Selling off resources, purging top officials, and defaulting on debt. It seems that the Chinese economy is falling, and there may be no one to bail them out. In a wave of recent reports, we see the contraction of the national economy, especially intense in the north. There have been blackouts and power failures across the area, and while the problems began in factories they have now spread to homes, a trend that is forecast to spread as time passes. The most alarming case is that of the real estate colossus Evergrande, whose debt is so large that default is...