United States most unhappy over Hasina victory

It was not surprising to read a Reuters report this morning, quoting the US State Department that the weekend's elections in Bangladesh were not free and fair, adding Washington was concerned by reports of vote irregularities and condemned violence that took place.

According to the same report, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina swept to a fourth straight term in power, with her party winning almost 75% of the seats in Sunday's general election.

Please allow me to say that United States is the unhappiest country on the victory of Sheikh Hasina. It tested its muscles but emerged unsuccessful.

One may wonder why the United States is against Hasina. First and the most important, the US just does not like those rulers who enjoy support of its people. The other reason was stable economy of Bangladesh. It may be said without mincing words that the US wanted to topple Hasina was to destabilize Bangladesh.

To the utter disappointment of United States, Hasina continue to enjoy support of India, China and Russia.

It is worth laughing to read, "The United States remains concerned by the arrests of thousands of political opposition members and by reports of irregularities on elections day," a US State Department spokesperson said on Monday.

It is the same United States which has multiple times used its veto power to derail ceasefire efforts in Gaza.

It is worth noting that the United States has been extending all sort of support to Israel which has killed more than 22,000 people mostly women and children in Gaza.

 

Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina secures fourth straight term

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina swept to a fourth straight term in power, the poll body said on Monday, with her party winning almost 75% of the seats in a general election that was boycotted by the main opposition and drew a low turnout.

The main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which participated in the 2018 vote but kept away in 2014, boycotted the polls after Hasina refused their demands to resign and allow a neutral authority to run the general election.

The daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh who was killed in an army coup in 1975 along with most members of the family, Hasina, 76, first became prime minister in 1996. This will be her fifth term overall.

In her past 15 years in power she has been credited with turning around the economy and the massive garments industry, while winning international praise for sheltering Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.

According to Reuters, Bangladeshis largely stayed away from Sunday's election, which was marred by violence. Turnout was about 40% when polls closed, said chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, compared with over 80% in the last election in 2018.

The ruling Awami League party won 223 seats out of 298, according to unofficial results released by the Election Commission on Monday.

Polls were held for 299 directly elected parliamentary seats with close to 120 million voters eligible to choose from nearly 2,000 contestants. The result of one seat was withheld due to irregularities while election to another seat will be held at a later date.

Hasina herself bagged 249,962 votes from her constituency Gopalganj, about 165 kilometres (103 miles) south of the capital Dhaka, while her nearest rival secured just 469 votes.

Among the ruling party winners were actor Ferdous Ahmed and former Bangladesh cricket captains Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza.

Rights groups warned of a virtual one-party rule by Hasina's Awami League in the South Asian country of 170 million people while the United States and Western nations, key customers of Bangladesh's garment industry, had called for a free and fair election, the 12th since 1971.

"I am trying my best to ensure that democracy should continue in this country," Hasina said on Sunday after casting her vote, adding that her only accountability was to citizens of Bangladesh.

She has instructed party leaders and supporters not to bring out any victory processions or indulge in celebrations, said Awami League's general secretary Obaidul Quader.

Independent candidates, many of them Awami League party members of various ranks, won 61 seats, meaning the parliament will largely be without any credible opposition for the next five years.

The BNP, whose alliance won seven seats in the 2018 election, has accused the ruling party of propping up 'dummy' independent candidates to try to make the election look credible, a claim the Awami League has denied.

Critics accuse Hasina of authoritarianism, human rights violations, crackdowns on free speech and suppression of dissent.

The economy has also slowed sharply since the Russia-Ukraine war pushed up prices of fuel and food imports, forcing Bangladesh to turn last year to the International Monetary Fund for a $4.7 billion bailout. Inflation was 9.5% in November.

"The government must curb the crazy inflation. And I request them to lower tax and provide subsidies to poor people. We don't want anything else," said Abdul Halim, a plastic toy seller in Dhaka, while reading a newspaper pasted on a wall.

The BNP called a two-day strike nationwide through Sunday, asking people to shun the election, and said the low turnout was a success for their boycott call.

Hasina has accused the opposition of instigating anti-government protests that have rocked Dhaka since late October and killed at least 14 people.

At least four people were killed on Friday in a passenger train fire that the government called arson. Several polling booths, schools and a Buddhist monastery were also set ablaze days before the poll.

Shakil Ahmed, an assistant professor at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, said the latest polls would do little to ease the political upheaval in Bangladesh and warned that violence could continue post election.

"I think the immediate challenge for the prime minister is to stabilise the consumer market for common people. This election is not the answer to the debacle of politics in Bangladesh," he said.

 

Iraq wants US military out

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Friday said he would set up a dialogue to discuss the removal of the US military presence in his country after an American strike killed an Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad.

In an address, al-Sudani said the agreement under which American troops are based in Iraq maintains the equal sovereignty of both countries, saying the US strike violated that sovereignty. 

“We have repeatedly emphasized that in the event of a violation or transgression by any Iraqi party, or if Iraqi law is violated, the Iraqi government is the only party that has the right to follow up on the merits of these violations,” al-Sudani said in remarks shared by his office.

The prime minister said he was in the process of setting up a bilateral dialogue with the United States to discuss the removal of some 2,500 American troops in his country.

“It is a commitment that the government will not back down from, and will not neglect anything that would complete national sovereignty over the land, sky, and waters of Iraq,” he said.

The US strike on Thursday killed Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, the leader of an Iranian-backed militia group Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HHN), after landing near a security headquarters in Baghdad.

According to the US allegations, HHN is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a network of Iranian proxy groups and militias in Iraq. Iranian-backed groups have repeatedly attacked US troops in Iraq, Syria and the Red Sea since the breakout of the Israel-Hamas war.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday the US is in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government to defeat the US-designated terrorist group ISIS, but he stressed forces will take action to protect themselves.

“This was a necessary, proportionate act,” Ryder said, adding Iraq is an important and valued partner, with which the US seeks to maintain good ties.

 

 

Credibility of US intelligence about Iran blasts questionable

According to Reuters, communications intercepts collected by the United States confirm that Islamic State (ISIS) Afghanistan-based branch carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people. The US intelligence boasted, "The intelligence is clear-cut and indisputable." However, there are reasons to doubt the credibility of these claims.

First, the source said the intelligence comprised communications intercepts, without providing further details. The collection of the intercepts has not been previously reported.

Second, ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombings, saying two operatives wearing explosive suicide belts staged the attack during a memorial service for Qassem Soleimani, a senior military commander assassinated in Iraq in a 2020 US drone strike. This is again a dubious statement because now IEDs (improvised explosive devices) are used.

Third, ISIS is suspected to be the ‘B’ team of CIA and it has once again said, “The group harbors a virulent hatred for Shi'ites.” This mantra is totally misleading because now Afghanistan and Iran enjoy very cordial relationship. Iran is helping Afghanistan in building its economy, whereas US is adamant at destroying economy of Afghanistan.

Fourth, Iran on Friday said security forces had arrested 11 people suspected of involvement in Wednesday's attack and had seized explosive devices and vests.

Fifth, CIA has once again used old mantra that the crackdown by While Taliban has weakened ISIS-K and prompted some members to leave Afghanistan for neighboring countries – trying to implicate Pakistan.

Sixth, the US has been making desperate efforts to drag Iran in Israel-Hamas conflict, but all in vain. The purpose is to initiate proxy war against Iran, to continue Gaza cleansing at a faster pace.

The US hegemony is the Middle East is on the decline and the genocide in Gaza by Israel has further accelerated the pace of isolation of these two countries. Their old mantras are almost dead.

 

Hezbollah targets northern Israel

Heavy fire from Lebanon targeted northern Israel on Saturday, the Israeli military said, adding it had responded by striking a terrorist cell that took part in the attack, as top US and European diplomats sought to stop spillover from the Gaza war, reports Reuters.

Shortly after rocket sirens sounded across northern Israel, the military said that approximately 40 launches from Lebanon toward the area of Meron in northern Israel were identified.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said it hit a key Israeli observation post early on Saturday with 62 rockets as a preliminary response to the killing of Hamas' deputy chief earlier this week.

Tensions have been high since Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed by a drone on Tuesday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the stronghold of Hamas' Iranian-backed Lebanese ally Hezbollah, in an attack widely attributed to sworn foe Israel.

The head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Friday Lebanon would be exposed to more Israeli operations if his group did not respond to the killing.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the European Union's senior diplomat Josep Borrell began a new diplomatic push on Friday to stop the spillover from the three-month-old Gaza war into Lebanon, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Red Sea shipping lanes.

Israel and Hezbollah often trade fire across the border, the West Bank is boiling with emotion and the Iran-aligned Houthis seem determined to continue attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes until Israel halts its bombardment of Gaza.

The offensive, aimed at wiping out the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, has killed 22,600 people, according to Palestinian health officials, and devastated the densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people.

There has been no let up in the conflict despite several trips to the region by Blinken and other senior diplomats.

The official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported on Saturday that 18 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli attack on a house east of Khan Younis in Gaza.

Israel, which says it has killed 8,000 militants since the October 07, 2023 Hamas attack, has announced a more targeted approach as it faces global pressure to limit huge civilian casualties.

Israel has listed 175 soldiers as killed in action since its offensive began.

Blinken is due to visit the West Bank during his week-long tour starting on Friday in Turkey, which has offered to mediate. He will also hold talks in Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Who is behind twin bomb blasts in Iran?

Two bombs exploded and killed at least 84 people at a commemoration for a prominent Iranian general slain by the United States in a 2020 drone strike.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for what appeared to be the deadliest militant attack to target Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The explosions struck minutes apart on Wednesday, shaking the city of Kerman, about 820 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran. The second blast sprayed shrapnel into a screaming crowd fleeing the first explosion.

The gathering marked the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq.

Iranian state television and officials described the attacks as bombings, without immediately giving clear details of what happened. The attacks came a day after a deputy head of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was killed in a suspected Israeli strike in Beirut.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attackers will face a harsh response, though he didn’t name any possible suspect. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi added “Undoubtedly, the perpetrators and leaders of this cowardly act will soon be identified and punished.”

Iran has multiple foes that could be behind the assault, including exile groups, militant organizations and state actors.

While Israel has carried out attacks in Iran over its nuclear program, it has conducted targeted assassinations, not mass casualty bombings.

A US State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said American officials had no reason to believe Israel was involved in Wednesday’s attack in Iran. That was echoed by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby at the White House, who said our hearts go out to all the innocent victims and their family members.

Iran also has seen mass protests in recent years, including those over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022. The country also has been targeted by exile groups in attacks dating back to the turmoil surrounding its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israel is suspected of launching the attack Tuesday that killed a deputy head of Hamas in Beirut, but that attack caused limited casualties in a densely populated neighborhood of the Lebanese capital. Last week, a suspected Israeli strike killed a Revolutionary Guard commander in Syria.

The government of neighboring Iraq expressed condolences to the victims, and the European Union issued a statement offering its solidarity with the Iranian people.

Saudi Arabia, a longtime regional rival which reached a détente with Iran last year, offered its sympathies.

Can killing of Hamas leader in Beirut spread Gaza war?

A logical question being asked after the killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut is, can it spread Gaza war beyond the Palestinian enclave?

It is anticipated that Hamas and its allies will react furiously. However, some critics say Hamas, Hezbollah and even all the Muslim countries are incapable of responding in any significant manner.

To begin with, since October 07, 2023 over 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza and Muslims have failed miserably in soliciting ceasefire.

A point to ponder is that Israel has killed Arouri in a drone strike in Lebanon's capital Beirut, the stronghold of Hezbollah.

As usual Lebanese and Palestinian security sources say this could spread Gaza war well beyond the Palestinian enclave, which look highly improbable.

Israel neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the killing, but its military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces were in a high state of readiness and prepared for any scenario.

Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah and other towns in the West Bank to condemn Arouri's killing, chanting, "Revenge, revenge, Qassam!"

Earlier, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had warned Israel against carrying out any assassinations on Lebanese soil, vowing a severe reaction.

Arouri, 57, a senior Hamas political leader was killed soon after meeting Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasser Kanaani, spokesperson for the foreign ministry of Iran, a major supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, said Arouri's killing would "undoubtedly ignite another surge in the veins of resistance and the motivation to fight against the Zionist occupiers, not only in Palestine but also in the region and among all freedom-seekers worldwide."