An illustration of corrupt US political system

Recent news out of Michigan, where actor and union organizer Hill Harper is running for US Senate and Rashida Tlaib has recently angered pro-Israel lawmakers and donors for her staunch support for Palestinian rights, offered an illustration of the corruption of the American political system, said one progressive House member late Wednesday.

As Politico reported, Harper recently rejected US$20 million from an anti-Palestinian rights entrepreneur, Linden Nelson, who offered the money in exchange for Harper dropping out of his Senate race and running instead against Tlaib for her House seat.

The offer came on October 16; the day Tlaib joined Cori Bush in introducing a resolution to back an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Gaza. The blockaded enclave was then nine days into a relentless bombardment by Israel, which was launched October 07 in retaliation for Hamas' attack on southern Israel but had already killed nearly 3,000 Palestinian civilians, including 1,000 children, at the time.

The death toll has now grown to more than 14,500 people, including 6,000 children.

Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, has been the subject of vitriol from lawmakers who believe the US should continue supporting Israel regardless of what human rights groups and the United Nations have warned may amount to war crimes in Gaza. Earlier this month, 22 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to censure Tlaib for using the rallying cry for Palestinian rights, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

Pro-Israel Democrats are reportedly searching for a candidate to primary Tlaib, and last month, according to Politico, Nelson reached out to Harper offering US$10 million in bundled donations directly to his campaign and US$10 million in independent expenditures—if he would agree to be that House candidate instead of continuing his Senate run.

"The fact that in the US just one wealthy person can make a call and offer millions to unseat an official they dislike tells you everything about the corruption of our politics," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Nelson has been involved with the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in the past, and has donated to both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

AIPAC told The Hill that it "was absolutely not involved in any way in this matter" and said Nelson has not donated to the organization in over a decade, but considering the group's efforts to defeat other pro-Palestinian rights progressives in recent elections, Ocasio-Cortez expressed skepticism.

Harper, who is running for Debbie Stabenow's seat against the more conservative Elissa Slotkin, echoed Ocasio-Cortez, saying Nelson's rejected offer exemplifies a "broken political and campaign finance system that's tilted towards the wealthy and powerful."

"I'm running to be a voice for the people," said Harper. "I'm not going to run against the only Palestinian American in Congress just because some special interests don't like her. I'm running because I want to break the stranglehold wealthy special interests have on our politics, whether it's the Israel lobby, the NRA, or Big Pharma."

Harper himself has called for a "humanitarian cease-fire" in Gaza this month, saying in a statement, "The answers to ensure long-term peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians are neither simple nor pain-free, but one truth stands firm: violence against defenseless children, trapped and frightened, is abhorrent, regardless of who is behind it."

Saurav Ghosh, director for federal reform at the Campaign Legal Center, told Politico that Harper and Nelson would have broken the law if they had moved forward with the deal.

Nelson's offer, said Jewish-led anti-Zionist group IfNotNow, is "a clear example of how groups like AIPAC and its super PAC, Democratic Majority for Israel try to undermine the will of voters and attack representatives who truly represent our values."

Production of medicinal plants in Iran

Reportedly over 400,000 people are working in the production of medicinal plants in Iran. Also, 32,000 people are working in packaging of these plants.

As stated by Ministry of Health, Iran holds some 40% share of the market for medicinal plants in the neighboring countries.

“A large volume of pharmaceuticals, supplements, food products, and beverages are exported to Iraq, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and Afghanistan,” IRNA quoted Hamidreza Banafsheh as saying in late October.

Iran is among the leading countries in the field of medicine and health technology, supplying 98% of pharmaceutical items to the domestic market, the official noted.

“Nearly 450 out of 1,400 knowledge-based companies are active in the field of herbal medicines, biotechnology, and food industries.”

He went on to say that the National Institute for Medical Research Development aims at expanding exports of medicinal products.

Since most of the raw materials for the production of herbal medicines are native to the country, these products can internationally compete with those of the other countries, he added.

Besides, some 15 to 20 percent of Iran's herbal medicines are unique in the world. Iran has the capacity to introduce new herbal medicines to the world, he highlighted.

Producing and commercializing pharmaceutical plants are the best ways to introduce the rich resources of herbal medicines which, in addition to making foreign currency revenues for the country, will lead to the scientific authority of Iran in this field, he concluded.

According to the chairman of the Union of Medicinal Plants Exporters of Iran, the country’s export of medicinal plants can be increased through compliance more with the world standards.

Mohammad-Ali Rezaei Kamal-Abad stated that world standards are increasing due to the health-oriented consumption of herbal products, and failure to comply with these standards will lead to the return or destruction of these products.

“In the past years, poisons have entered the country, which are not only not used in other countries, but have also caused water and soil pollution in our country”, he lamented.

Referring to the importance of agricultural product export standardization, he added, “Standardization is done in our country, but this standardization is not up-to-date. With the coordination of ministries, expenditure and updating of information can help to standardize agricultural products and develop the export of these products”, he commented.

He said that having more than 11 climates out of 13 climates, Iran has 8,000 varieties of medicinal plants, which is at least twice as much as Europe.

 

Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark index posts 3.55%WoW increase

During the week ended on November 24, 2023 the benchmark index of Pakistan Stock Exchange skyrocketed to touch an all time high of 59,086 points on Friday, reflecting a significant increase of 3.55%WoW.

Positive developments encircled the current account deficit narrowing to US$74 million in October, a decline of 91%YoY, keeping in line with shortage of dollars in the market needed to open L/Cs.

During 4MFY24, FDI rose by 7% to US$ 525 million which further contributed to the bullish market. Moreover, the IT export remittances for July-October increased by 4.4%YoY to US$893 million and total borrowing fell by US$0.41 million to US$3.85 billion.

International oil prices (Brent Crude) fell significantly to US$78.93/barrel on Wednesday amidst delayed OPEC Plus meeting, but recovered to US$81.42/barrel on Friday.

Market participation witnessed a decline, with an average daily traded volume of 657 million shares, marking 8.9%WoW decrease from the earlier week's average of 721.3 million shares.

On the currency front, the rupee appreciated by 0.39%WoW against the greenback, closing at PKR285.37/US$ on Friday.

Other notable news for the week included: 1) foreign exchange reserves by Pakistan’s central bank dropped by US$217 million to US$7.2 billion, 2) power generation cost fell by 19% in first four months of the current financial year, 3) Dr. Shamshad Akhtar said Pakistan’s GDP likely to grow by 2% to 2.5% during the ongoing financial year, 4) power ministry recovered PKR55 billion from delinquent consumers, 5) during 4MFY24 developmental projects worth PKR300.9 billion were approved under PSDP and 6) Nepra approved PKR1.52 per unit surcharge on KE consumers.

Woollen, Leasing Companies, and Glass & Ceramics were amongst the top performers, while Synthetic & Rayon, Tobacco, and Refinery were amongst the laggards.

Major net selling was recorded by Banks with a net sell of US$5.03 million. Individuals absorbed the selling with a net buy of US$3.52 million.

Top performing scrips included: PGLC, BNWM, GHGL, ABOT, and PSMC, while top laggards were: UNITY, EFUG, CNERGY, PIOC, and OGDC.

Analysts forecast positive outlook of the market owing to favorable economic developments like easing inflation and expected positive economic recovery in the current fiscal year. While the market is flourishing, analysts strongly advise the market participants to avoid potential pitfalls and instead concentrate on companies with robust fundamentals.

Furthermore, considering companies with healthy dividend yields can be a prudent strategy for navigating inflation safely.

 

 

Bolton terms hostage swap a very bad deal

Former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton has slammed the Hamas hostage and cease-fire agreement reached as a very bad deal for Israel.

“The deal itself, at least as I understand the terms as they’ve been announced, is a very bad deal for Israel,” Bolton said. “It’s another swap of hostages — innocent victims — for criminals that are in Israeli jails at a ratio of 3:1 in favor of the Hamas terrorists.”

Bolton made the comments Wednesday on the Cats & Cosby radio show with host John Catsimatidis.

The deal was announced late Tuesday after hours of difficult negotiations within the Israeli cabinet. It frees about 50 of the approximately 240 hostages held by Hamas over the course of four days, beginning no sooner than Friday. An undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners will also be released.

Fighting in the ongoing war between the two sides will cease during the exchanges, a halt which will be extended by one day for every 10 hostages released.

The agreement was the culmination of weeks of negotiations between the United States, Qatar, Israel and Hamas, and is expected to result in a window for increased humanitarian aid for the enclave.

Bolton said Israel folded, accepting the deal due to pressure from the Biden administration, which he claims is no longer backing Israel as strongly as it has previously.

“I don’t see how this, on net, benefits Israel strategically,” he said. “I’m sure the Israeli Defense forces get some benefit from a pause…but fundamentally, time is on Hamas’ side here.”

“I do understand humanitarian concerns, but there are 220 hostages and 9 million other Israeli citizens who are threatened, not just by Hamas but by Hezbollah and fundamentally by Iran,” he continued.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced extreme domestic pressure to focus efforts on rescuing the hostages taken by Hamas militants at the beginning of the conflict early last month.

Over 1,200 Israelis died at the start of the war, in the attack which resulted in the hostage-taking. Israel’s air and ground campaign since has killed over 12,000 Palestinians, including over 4,600 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

 

Growing Chinese influence in Asia

The new economic framework of United States was intended to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region. But the increasingly inward-looking Washington is no longer a champion of free trade, says S Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ Kevin Chen.

Three of the four Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) pillars may have been completed, but the inability of United States to see through the trade deal aimed at countering China’s economic influence is a strategic failure.

Hopes of an agreement were dashed last week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, even before former US president Donald Trump threatened to knock out the initiative if he were to return to power.

The IPEF was supposed to fill the policy gap left by the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017.

It was styled as a novel economic agreement that provides a template for future economic engagement after years of rudderless drifting in the Indo-Pacific.

“You can count on the United States,” said Joe Biden at APEC. At its most basic level, the IPEF aimed to reassure America’s partners that it is still interested in a meaningful economic relationship with them. However, it has ostensibly fallen short of even that.

Southeast Asian observers should recognize that for domestic political reasons, Washington is no longer a champion of free trade. While they should continue engaging with the US on security issues, they should also be mindful that their region’s economic agenda is increasingly diverging from that of Washington’s.

The IPEF was challenging to negotiate from the outset, its demands and constraints a product of US domestic politics.

The lack of access to the US market removed a key incentive from the American negotiating toolkit. It was an effort to avoid a sensitive political issue: American public opinion has become generally less supportive of free trade due to the perception that cheap foreign goods are displacing American products, especially in key swing states and unions.

Believing that deep trade liberalization failed to protect American jobs and capacity, Biden’s administration bucked decades of free trade promotion to aggressively subsidise favoured industries in its competition with China. US$39 billion in manufacturing incentives was allocated under the CHIPS Act alongside US$370 billion in investments for clean energy under the Inflation Reduction Act to grow the US industrial base.

Meanwhile, labour and environmental standards were always a hard sell to partners such as Vietnam and Indonesia. These US demands tapped on these growing sentiments against free trade.

A common rallying call was that trade deals need to ensure strong labour and anti-dumping standards so American workers can compete on a level playing field – not just with Chinese workers, but with supply chains linked to China as well.

Yet, the IPEF was still vulnerable to the domestic forces it sought to appease. As a White House initiative, the IPEF was unlikely to garner financial support from a split Congress and could also be cancelled with a simple executive order by a future president.

Negotiators likely understood that the odds were stacked against them. The timeframe to complete IPEF negotiations was also relatively short at two years, compared to seven years for the TPP.

 

Gaza disaster exposes double standards

Saudi Arabia emphasized on Wednesday that the Gaza disaster has exposed the double standards and selective application of international laws and UN resolutions by the global community.

In his speech, on behalf of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, at the virtual summit of the leaders of the G20 countries, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the Israeli military escalation and violence are raging in the besieged Gaza in flagrant violation of international laws and it had resulted in one of the history’s worst humanitarian catastrophes.

“The Gaza conflict would inevitably lead to consequences that go beyond this crisis and jeopardize the credibility of the current international system, which will have a negative impact on the world’s future ability to maintain international peace and security,” he said.

Al-Jadaan stressed Saudi Arabia’s categorical rejection of targeting civilians, infrastructure, residential and medical facilities, and displacing Palestinians from Gaza. He reiterated the Kingdom’s demand to spare bloodshed and stop Israeli military operations immediately.

He underlined the need for urgent and safe access of relief and medical supplies to the residents of the Gaza Strip, and create conditions to restore stability and achieve a peaceful solution that guarantees the Palestinian people’s access to their legitimate rights and the establishment of their independent state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The virtual meeting comes as a continuation of G20 summit of leaders, held in New Delhi, India in September, and it aimed to discuss the outcomes of its final statement and a number of topics, including the role of multilateral development banks, climate action and green finance, technical transformation, digital infrastructure, and the role of women in development.

 

Oil price tumbles nearly 4% as OPEC Plus meeting delayed

Crude oil prices fell nearly 4% on Wednesday as OPEC Plus producers delayed a meeting on output planned for Sunday, raising questions about the future course of crude production cuts. Brent crude futures declined 3.7%, to US$79.40 a barrel by 1313 GMT and WTI crude futures were down 3.82%, to US$74.80.

OPEC Plus delayed its ministerial meeting scheduled for November 30, OPEC said in a statement, without giving a reason for the postponement.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported that the OPEC Plus meeting could be delayed for an unspecified period of time after Saudi Arabia expressed its dissatisfaction with other members about their output numbers.

Analysts had predicted before the delay that OPEC Plus was likely to extend or even deepen oil supply cuts into next year.

Both Brent and WTI oil benchmarks have fallen for four straight weeks.