Al Mayadeen – June 4, 2024
Day 242 of Israeli aggression:
36,550 killed, 82,959 injured in Gaza
Israeli bombing targets various areas of the Gaza Strip, leading to more martyrs in the aggression ongoing for eight months.
The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza due to the Israeli genocidal war ongoing since October 7 has now reached 36,550, in addition to 82,959 injuries, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced Tuesday in its daily report.
Additionally, it confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces committed seven massacres across seven different families in the Gaza Strip, killing 71 and injuring 182 in 24 hours only.
The Ministry stressed that thousands of victims remain trapped under the rubble on the streets as the Israeli occupation forces continue to deliberately prevent ambulances and civil defense crews from reaching them.
Meanwhile, Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza reported that Israeli occupation forces conducted a series of intense airstrikes and artillery bombardments, targeting multiple areas including Tel Al-Sultan, the western camp in Rafah, and neighborhoods in Khan Younis.
The Israeli artillery also targeted southern areas of the Sheikh Ajleen neighborhood in Gaza City, as per our correspondent.
Furthermore, airstrikes hit northern areas of the al-Nusairat camp and the vicinity of the city of al-Zahraa, southwest of Gaza City.
Tragically, three Palestinians were killed in the Saudi neighborhood of Rafah due to the Israeli bombing of a residential house.
Concurrently, four Palestinians were killed due to the Israeli bombing in the northeast of Rafah city.
Our correspondent also reported ongoing shelling around the al-Abrar Mosque in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.
Ongoing massacres: IOF target police officers
IOF continued to bomb all areas of the Strip, committing more massacres against Palestinian civilians, especially women and children.
Seven civilians were killed and 20 others sustained injuries as a result of an Israeli airstrike aimed at a vehicle and a gathering of citizens near the entrance to a shelter center north of Deir al-Balah, south of Gaza City. According to local sources, the targeted area is densely populated with forcibly displaced individuals residing near a college that serves as a shelter for hundreds of families.
The Ministry of Interior in Gaza announced the martyrdom of eight members of the police force who were killed this morning in an Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle in Deir al-Balah.
Desalination plant shutdown leaves residents in dire need
With scarce fuel supplies in Gaza, UNRWA reported that essential desalination plants have ceased operations, exacerbating the region's water crisis.
In a post on X, UNRWA added that the shutdown of these plants has left residents with severely limited access to clean water, amplifying the struggle for survival. Families, including children, are forced to trek long distances in sweltering heat in search of water.
Access to water is a fundamental human need, yet the dire situation in Gaza underscores the urgency for immediate action, as per the UN agency.
Additionally, the UN agency called on Israeli authorities to prioritize the provision of access to clean water without delay to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/day-242-of-israeli-aggression--36-550-killed--82-959-injured
Israel continued its brutal offensive in Gaza
Ahmed Asmar
Palestinian death toll from relentless Israeli attacks on Gaza since last October has reached 36,550, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said on Tuesday.
At least 82,959 people have also been injured in the onslaught, the ministry added in a statement.
“Israeli forces killed 71 people, and injured 182 others in seven ‘massacres’ against families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.
“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Palestinian enclave since Oct. 7, 2023 following a Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the enclave.
Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
Muslim countries under pressure to recognize Israel: Indonesia
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said on Monday that Muslim countries are under pressure to recognize Israel.
Speaking to university students at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Marsudi said “There are systematic efforts by Israel and its allies to … lobby and pressure Muslim countries to start considering opening up and normalizing ties with Israel,”
In April, viral Israeli media reports claimed that Jakarta had plans to establish diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv as part of a deal to smooth Indonesia’s entry into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
But the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs swiftly rejected those claims then, saying that the world’s most populous Muslim country would remain consistent in defending Palestine.
One of the staunchest supporters of Palestine, Indonesia was among the 78 countries to first recognize Palestine in 1988. It sees Palestinian statehood as mandated by the nation’s constitution, which calls for the abolition of colonialism.
“Indonesia has consistently upheld universal principles and values to continue supporting the nation of Palestine. Consistency in embracing these principles is not easy. It’s truly not easy to keep this principle amid today’s messy world filled with pressure and promises of transactions here and there,” Marsudi said.
“But thank God that until this very moment, the Indonesian government has been able to remain steadfast and consistent in defending the nation of Palestine … We have a duty to defend justice and humanity because it is in line with the mandate of our 1945 constitution.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2522801/world
Why do Egomaniac Leaders Wage War on Humanity?
By Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.
Leaders who could not Think as Normal Human BeingsLeaders who view humanity less than in equal human status are extremely naive about their own nature of being a human - lacking moral, spiritual and intellectual act of balancing the consciousness“ or engaged in competitive numbers games to elevate their own image in global power and influence over others. They use dynamics of absolutism and aggressive behavior to manipulate the weak and helpless people.
“Man (human being) was created by God in the best possible mould”, explains the Divine narrative but human diversity is a natural phenomenon and its consequences are far beyond the conception of right and wrong or virtue and vice. People and nations strive to compete for triumph and glory implying varied methods of political power, media propaganda, psychological and other weapons of mass destruction. Ironically, human minds with normal consciousness would not pursue tyranny, aggressive behavior, killings and destruction of other nations, cultures and civilizations.It is the abnormal mind, political power, greed, and hatred and sometimes ethnic supremacy that makes them to act irrationally and abnormally worst than wild beasts.
The living Earth maintains 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen to support all forms of life and technology on this planet. We hold moral and spiritual solidarity as a foundation of the sanctity of life and unanimity of mankind. All human beings are composed of material and spiritual factors to flourish life. If they breathe oxygen and heart beats, God is there. Is there an individualistic psychological, moral and spiritual problem of balancing act with PM Netyanhu and President Joe Biden to act normally for an immediate ceasefire and peace in Gaza? Both have unique characteristics to be analyzed and reflected for being indifferent to peace and supportive of war on Gaza and killings of almost 36,000 or more innocent people and some 15,000 children and women and reportedly some 14, 000 children and women still buried in various locations of Gaza. If Netanyahu claims some morality-how treacherous it is used to bomb places of worship, hospitals and make the Gazan civilians starve for several months. Biden in a US Presidential election year and Netanyahu for his own political survival appear to be competing for glory and success by using wrong thinking, wrong methods and for the wrong reasons. Wars and bombing and destruction of mankind do not produce peace and societal harmony, be it in Israel, Palestine or the US.
Masses against War as Wars do not Produce Peace and Harmony
The voices of public consciousness echo across many continents to “ Stop the War in Gaza”, “Let Palestinians Live”, and stop the “Crimes against Humanity by America and Israel.” No wonder who listens to these inner voices of humanity when unabated bombardments are destroying lives and human habitats without any accountability. The ICJ asking for a halt to the war and the ICC threat of the arrest warrants of Israeli leaders went unnoticed.
This weekend, Israeli media reported more than 120,000 citizens in Tel Aviv demanding removal of PM Netanyahu, the end of war on Gaza and safe return of 134 hostages. The center of sadistic gravity and vengeance is PM Netanyahu and his war cabinet and dynamic syntax to command the world is the White House.
Life itself is a trial to people and nations and imbued with a rational choice to be righteous or evil monger on this planet. Are there any lessons to be learned from formative history? Do human cultures and civilizations grow out of the maligned proclamations of rule of law, freedom, justice, cruelty, occupation and conquest of other lands? The Earth is a sacred trust to mankind and is a living organ floating in space by the Will of God and sustains all life and aggressors are warned by the Divine injunction: “Say! Travel through the earth; And see what was the end of those who rejected Truth.” The emerging wars and destruction of Earth and human habitats across Gaza and beyond are blatant violations of that TRUST between Man and God and call for awakening of human conscience and soul: “Truly Man is to his Lord, ungrateful and that (fact) he bears witness (by his deeds.): 6-7: 100: The Qur’an).
Political Wickedness and Human Nature
Is wickedness part of human nature? Man by nature seems to be a ‘contentious’ being. A rational conflict analysis and search for peace involves listening and learning to divergent viewpoints and finding a common place of reasoning without agreeing or disagreeing to stop the warfare.This shows effective communication and enlightened leadership traits.Why do leaders become aggressive and act like egomaniacs? Simply put, they lack their own mind, intellect and sense of rational being and heavily rely on advisors to make decisions or they fear the unknown to be replaced or their inner weaknesses overwhelm their strengths to act irrationally in situations of crisis.
I asked this question to many distinguished international scholars including Robert Burrowes and Robert (Bob) Kohoeler to know and enlighten the knowledge-based curiosity. Often reason has its limits but knowledge knows no bound and global affairs are a shared enterprise. Professor Robert J. Burrowes and Anita (Australia),need no introduction as scholars and Coordinator of the “Global Non-Violence Peace Movement”:
“Often I wonder, why do people become aggressive and act in inhuman ways that conflict with the Nature of Things.”.... “One view is essentially the concept of "POWER" , late Prof Hans Margenthau was right , 'absolute power corrupts all the people , all the time.’... Aggressive people THINK of their own EGO (self) being the power (political absolutism),without any accountability, and that leads
them to commit all types of crimes against fellow human beings.
Robert and Anita Responded: You pose what are really 'eternal' questions. That is, you raise issues that have troubled humanity from the dawn of 'civilization' if not much earlier. 'How do we communicate to such powerful people to make them THINK as normal human beings?' Frankly, I do not believe it is possible to meaningfully communicate with such people which is why I spend no time trying to do so. The reason flows from my answer to another question you pose: 'why do people become aggressive and act in inhuman ways that conflict with the Nature of Things.' The second question you posed was one that fascinated me from a young age. After some 30 years researching it, Anita and I went into seclusion in 1996 to undertake some deep emotional healing. It took 14 years but taught us a great deal.
Bob Koeheler - a Chicago-based well known journalist shared his stance (“A WORLD UNDER SPIRITUAL CONSTRUCTION”): I think the only answer is transcending war!! War begins with -- and is not possible without - dehumanization. "These are human animals," as Yoav Gallant said.
Israeli and American Collaborative Crimes against Humanity and ‘Genocide’
To glance ahead it seems that the Western world failed to see a dreadful tragic history in the making of the end of time and loss of ingenuity to understand the consequences of naive egoism of Israeli leadership making war as an instrument of territorial expansion in the Middle East. Human glory lives in the conception of good and righteousness, not in wickedness and genocidal plans. Rationally arguable conclusion to the war on Gaza was perceivable if there was a unified political-military challenge to the Israeli plans by the Arab-Muslim world. That landscape appears morally, intellectually and politically bankrupt as a scum floating on a torrent of naive puppets and discredited leaders. The American-Israeli collaborative war on Gaza and its immediate consequences made the Western world and all of its institutions shamefully redundant and void in the 21st century global norms of civility, human rights, freedom, justice and safety of civilians - whereas crimes against humanity are captured in obscure impulses and indecision and deliberate inaction by the UNO and the Security Council. Mocking its Charter obligations, the UN Security Council failed to protect the civilians from terror of daily bombardments of hospitals and places of worship. Peter Koenig (“Gaza: US and the West Support Israel’s Crimes Against Humanity: Understanding the Never-Ending Conflict”, Global Research: 11/06/23), explains: Israel’s PM Netanyahu is a war criminal and should be held accountable for war crimes throughout his PM-ship of Israel, according to the 1945 / 1946 Nuremberg trials criteria. His crimes against humanity, against a defenseless Palestine are comparable to the Holocaust. https://www.globalresearch.ca/gaza-us-west-supports-israel-crimes-against-humanity/5745763
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution and has spent several academic years across the Russian-Ukrainian and Central Asian regions knowing the people, diverse cultures of thinking and political governance and a keen interest in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. 12/2019.
Responsible Statecraft – June 3, 2024
BRICS and de-dollarization, how far can it go?
We're tracking the currency and trade moves of Russia, China, India and other Global South countries
Michael Corbin
As the current chair of BRICS, Russia is pursuing a rather extensive agenda related to finance that includes enhancing the role of member countries in the international monetary and financial system and developing interbank cooperation and settlements in national currencies.
BRICS is an intergovernmental organization founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa that recently expanded and now includesﾠIran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.
There has also been discussion of a potential BRICS currency as part of a strategy of de-dollarization — the substitution of the dollar as the primary currency for international financial transactions. The U.S. trade war with China, as well as U.S. sanctions on China and Russia, are central to this ongoing discussion.
Although much U.S. media attention was paid to the enhancement of military and political cooperation during the summitﾠbetween Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing earlier this month, financial issues also figured high on the agenda.
The Russian delegation included Putin’s new defense minister, Andrei Belousov, whose appointment is believed to help ensure that the Russian economy better serves the strategic needs of the military. Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and the governor of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, also participated. Nabiullina’s participation was particularly noteworthy as she does not regularly accompany Putin on overseas visits. However, her participation would have been crucial for any discussion regarding sanctions workarounds and Moscow’s interest in de-dollarization.
Also noteworthy was Putin’s mention that trade turnover between the two countries in 2023 increased by some 25 percent, reaching over $227 billion. He was also keen to underscore that 90 percent of bilateral trade between the two countries was conducted in rubles and/or yuan.
It must be mentioned that Chinese banks are under increasing pressure from the U.S. to stop funding these arrangements. In any case, Putin’s observations were clearly intended not only for the Chinese leadership but also for the “global majority” or Global South as well to promote global joint Sino-Russian initiatives, such as de-dollarization, which have received increased support recently.
Indeed, it was probably no coincidence that during Putin’s visit it was announced that Beijing dumped a total of $53.3 billion of U.S. Treasuries and agency bonds combined in the first quarter, according to calculations based on the latest data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Belgium, often seen as a custodian of China’s holdings, also disposed of $22 billion of Treasuries during the same period. These figures underscore China’s continuing commitment to de-dollarization.
As of March 2024, over half (52.9%) of Chinese payments were settled in RMB while 42.8% were settled in U.S. dollars. Furthermore, according to data released by the People's Bank of China, China's gold reserves rose to 2264.87 tons in the first quarter of 2024, up from 2235.39 tons in the fourth quarter of 2023.This is double the share from the previous five years.
According to Goldman Sachs, foreigners’ increased willingness to trade assets denominated in RMB continues to contribute to de-dollarization in favor of China’s currency. Early last year, Brazil and Argentina announced that they would begin allowing trade settlements in RMB. With the onset of the global de-dollarization trend, numerous countries have sped up diversifying their reserves by augmenting their gold holdings and adopting local currencies for international transactions.
At the ASEAN finance ministers and central banks meeting in Indonesia in March, policymakers discussed cutting their reliance on the U.S. dollar, the Japanese yen, and the euro and moving to settlements in local currencies instead. And, in early April, Indian media widely reported that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had announced that India and Malaysia were starting to settle their trade in the Indian rupee. India already conducts most of its energy trade with Russia in rupees or rubles.
As de-dollarization accelerates, the BRICS nations continue efforts to establish a new reserve currency backed by a basket of their respective currencies. BRICS members have not developed their own currency; however, a BRICS blockchain-based payment system is in the works, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov in March 2024. The payment system, referred to as the BRICS Bridge, would connect member countries' financial systems using payment gateways for settlements in central bank digital currencies.
Ideally, a BRICS currency would allow these countries to assert their economic independence while competing with the existing international financial system. The current system is dominated by the U.S. dollar, which accounts for about 90 percent of all currency trading. Until recently, nearly 100 percent of oil trading was conducted in dollars; however, in 2023, one-fifth of oil trades were reportedly conducted with non-dollar currencies.
The potential impact of a new BRICS currency on the U.S. dollar remains uncertain, with experts debating its potential to challenge the dollar's dominance. According to an article on Nasdaq.com, “Any such currency, if stabilized against the dollar, would weaken the power of U.S. sanctions, by reducing the influence of the dollar globally…weakening the status of the dollar as a global currency and mitigating risks associated with global volatility due to the lessening of dependence on the dollar…As more countries would seek alternatives to the dollar this would only accelerate the trend toward de-dollarization.”
In a recent interview, Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, revealed that the de-dollarization agenda would take center stage at the BRICS summit scheduled to take place in Russia in October 2024. The alliance will become stronger after the summit, ushering developing nations into a "whole new ball game."
The BRICS has also created the BRICS Bank in 2015. Now known as the New Development Bank, or NDB, it mobilizes resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS and other emerging market economies and developing countries.
In 2021, the NDB expanded its membership and admitted Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay as new members. In March its board of directors concluded its 43rd meeting at its headquarters in Shanghai. During meetings a robust project pipeline for 2024 was discussed, aligned with the development objectives of NDB’s member countries.
Although the threat of de-dollarization and a digital BRICS currency do not appear imminent, there is no doubting the commitment, particularly by China and Russia, to the creation of an alternative to the existing financial architecture underpinned, as it is, by the U.S. dollar.
If successful, the addition of a competing system could prove particularly enticing to countries in the Global South and would hopefully lead U.S. policy makers to exercise greater restraint regarding the use of sanctions as a foreign policy hammer, especially given the current domestic environment of inflationary pressure and ever-growing national debt.
Michael Corbin has nearly 30 years of experience working in academia, the federal government and with various think tanks covering trade and economic issues related to Russia and Eurasia. He holds an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from the Ohio State University.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/dedollarization-china-russia/
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