USS Abraham Lincoln arrives in Middle East

The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group has arrived in the Middle East following a recent order from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, according to a statement issued by US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Wednesday.

"The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), equipped with F-35C and F/A-18 Block III fighters, has entered the US Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility,” CENTCOM announced on X.

The flagship of Carrier Strike Group 3, the USS Abraham Lincoln, is accompanied by Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21 and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9.

This deployment follows the Pentagon's earlier decision to bolster military assets in the Middle East in anticipation of potential retaliation by Iran against Israel.

Secretary Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to accelerate its transit to the Central Command area, adding to the existing capabilities provided by the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. The deployment also includes the USS Georgia (SSGN 729) guided missile submarine.

These moves come in response to escalating tensions in the region, particularly following the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31 and the Israeli airstrike that killed senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut on July 30.

Both Hamas and Iran have accused Israel of these actions, though Israel has not confirmed its involvement. Iran has vowed "harsh punishment" in retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh on its soil.

The escalation is part of a broader context of ongoing conflict, with Israel's offensive against the Gaza Strip resulting in the deaths of over 40,170 Palestinians since October 07, 2023.

Deteriorating Israel-Turkey Relations

Middle East Institute has scheduled an event titled Israel-Turkey Relations: How Can the Negative Momentum Be Reversed?

Our reply is simple, “There is pressure of Turkey to sever its diplomatic relations with Israel after the genocide of more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children in Gaza enclave”.

We also suggest our readers to register to listen and participate the live debate and make up their opinions. Please remember that at present the United States and European countries are working on “Abraham Accords II”, after Abraham Accords lost it value.

During the discussion the participants will make effort to find replies to various questions that include:

Can Turkey-Israel ties survive the current crisis?

What would it take to turn the trajectory of relations around?

Who could potentially drive positive change on both sides?

As the bargain hunter, the Middle East Institute has invited many to a virtual panel discussion featuring prominent Israeli, Turkish, and American experts who will seek to answer these and other questions related to the future of Turkey-Israel relations.

The harsh reality is that Turkey-Israel relations have gone through many ups and downs over the past 75 years but never touched the present low level. The current bilateral crisis may be the most serious yet. Following a period of positive momentum, which peaked in September 2023, relations have deteriorated since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

The institute believes that the harsh political rhetoric, limits on direct trade, and a halt to people-to-people exchanges have all taken a toll.

It has a strange rationale that despite these growing challenges, the two countries still share many strategic interests; while non-governmental players and key business sectors — which often do not share their national leaderships’ ideologies or value systems — continue to seek ways to bilaterally engage.

 

 

 

China: Outage of Microsoft Office Alternative

According to South China Morning Post, WPS Office, a suit of cloud-based office software sold by Chinese developer Kingsoft as an alternative to Microsoft Office, was down for hours on Wednesday, disrupting the operations of companies nationwide.

Social media reports of the outage began surfacing in the morning, as users took to the internet to complain about difficulties opening, syncing and uploading WPS documents. Others said they experienced network latency when working on files. The topic #WPSCollapse became the fifth trending term on microblogging site Weibo.

At 3.33pm, Kingsoft announced on its Weibo account that WPS service had “resumed after emergency repairs by engineers”, without elaborating on the scope and reason for the breakdown. To placate users, the company is offering everyone a free 15-day membership, to be claimed on Thursday.

The outage is the second one in China this week that involved a major online service. On Monday, NetEase Cloud Music, a music-streaming platform run by video gaming giant NetEase, experienced a widespread service failure that lasted over two hours. In the aftermath, the company gave users a free seven-day subscription.

WPS Office claims a more than 90% in mainland China’s market for mobile terminals. It is widely used in key sectors such as government departments, financial institutions and telecommunications network operators.

As of June, WPS had 271 million monthly active users (MAUs) on desktop and 328 million MAUs on smartphones, according to Kingsoft’s financial disclosure.

For general users on the mainland, WPS has long been seen as a cheaper alternative to Microsoft Office, although the commercial launch of the first WPS word processor in 1989 predated Microsoft’s set-up of a China office in 1992.

Today, the WPS website still markets its products as being “highly compatible” with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

However, WPS has previously been accused of censoring private user documents. In 2022, a Chinese novelist said WPS locked her out of her own work, with the software warning her that “the file may contain sensitive content”.

At the time, WPS said it “never censors, locks or deletes users’ local files”, but added that it “is obliged to review all content distributed through its platform” in accordance with Chinese laws.

 

China: Largest in maritime trade

Judging by the cargo flowing through Chinese maritime ports, the world’s export king still reigns despite efforts by the United States and Europe to diversify their trading relations.

That’s among the takeaways in the One Hundred Ports 2024 report this week from Lloyd’s List. China’s share of container volumes at the biggest 100 seaports globally rose to 41.3% last year, from 40.2% a year earlier, ten years ago the figure stood at 36.6%.

In a distant second place was the rest of Asia, which as a region had a 26.6% share, North America came in with 7.6% and Europe with 7.3%.

Linton Nightingale, deputy editor with Lloyd’s List, said China’s position as the Factory to the World “shows little sign of diminishing anytime soon.”

“Yes, shippers and manufacturers are looking to other countries to source goods in a bid to diversify supply chains — a trend that has accelerated off the back of the pandemic which caused a rethink on Chinese reliance,” he said. “But as our data shows, the world continues to rely heavily on its exports.”

Other key points from the report:

Of the world’s top 10 ports, measured by annual container throughput, seven are in China

The steepest climber on the list was China’s Jiaxing, which jumped 17 places to 58th

Rotterdam, a top-10 finisher in last year’s ranking, fell to 12th

Dubai climbed two spots to No. 9

The two biggest US ports each slipped two places — Los Angeles to No. 18 and Long Beach to 21st

In a world where trade is a key battlefield for opposing economic powers, the reason why rankings matter goes beyond bragging rights. Ports are on the front lines of three major transformations: protectionism, digitization and de-carbonization.

As a result, they’re neglected no more and stand to benefit from more than US$200 billion in investments annually over the next decade, according estimates reported in ‘Bloomberg’s Big Take’. The story zooms in on eight of the world’s most dynamic ports, each trying to adapt to new geopolitical and business realities.

“Trade flows are changing and are growing more complex as shippers redirect cargoes to skirt mounting geopolitical tensions,” Nightingale said.

In China’s case, “the trade war with US is the most disruptive,” he said. “However, Chinese goods are still entering the US and often via other emerging economies, whether Mexico, Vietnam or India, to circumvent tariffs.”

Those alternative routes are among the reasons that China is withstanding tariffs, export controls and other measures wielded by the US and Europe, and may continue to do so as it expands into more advanced manufacturing.

According to a new research report from Lazard Geopolitical Advisory, “China is largely undiminished as an industrial and manufacturing powerhouse.”

“Subsidies appear to be fueling a shift away from products that helped create the Chinese miracle of the 1990s and 2000s, like textiles and toys, into higher value-added products like computers and electric vehicles, driven by domestic Chinese firms,” Lazard’s report said.

“Geopolitical tension and economic struggles must therefore be weighed against the reality that China is still the largest global exporter of goods and may succeed in its pivot to more high-tech products.”

 

Pakistan: Oil and Gas Reserves Update

According to a report by IMS Securities, as per the latest hydrocarbon reserves data released by PPIS, as of June 2024, Pakistan’s total Oil reserves increased by 26% to 243 million barrels whereas Gas reserves were up slightly by 2% to 18.5tcf as compared to the reserves as of December 2023.

The substantial increase in oil reserves is primarily attributed to the improvement in oil reserves of OGDC, up 64%, while MARI’s oil reserves have doubled since December 2023, reaching 13.4 million barrels (similar to Tal block’s current reserves of 16.7 million barrels).

Despite the much-awaited addition of reserves of Bannu West (Shewa) and reserves upgrade of Mari Ghazij, overall gas reserves saw only a modest 2% increase, largely because of decline in other major fields.

Overall, a significant improvement in oil reserves was observed, largely due to the reserve upgrades of listed E&P companies, driven by the addition of Shewa and the reserve upgrades of Bolan East, Kunar, and Pasakhi/ Pasakhi North. This development is more favorable for OGDC and MARI as compared to PPL and POL.

 

Iranian Court commence trail of US Administration

According to the Tehran Times, an Iranian court has commenced the trial of the US administration and its officials for their role in the 1953 coup against the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. 

The first session was held on Sunday, marking the 71st anniversary of the coup, at the 55th branch of the court dealing with international affairs in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Judicial Complex. 

This lawsuit, brought by some 402,000 Iranians, targets six American individuals and legal entities for their involvement in the ousting of Mosaddegh, which paved the way for the pro-Western monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Lawyer Shami Aghdam, representing the plaintiffs, stated that "documents show the US spy agency CIA, with the help of its British counterpart MI6, planned the coup by using internal and external agents against the legitimate government of Iran on August 19, 1953." 

Aghdam further explained that Washington and London designed the military coup through violating international principles and rules, and interfering in the internal affairs of Iran, intending to maintain their influence and power in the government, securing their interests and looting the country’s property.

He added that the coup was carried out by military and political figures affiliated with the US and British governments, as well as "thugs."

Aghdam concluded by stating that In fact, the coup marked the beginning of Washington’s complete domination over Iran to make it more dependent than before and prevent its independence and progress. The domination lasted for more than 25 years and inflicted costs, as well as material and spiritual damage, on the country and the nation.

The 1953 coup in Iran is known as Operation Ajax by the United States and its lesser-involved ally, Britain. The putsch happened after the Brits took umbrage at Mosaddegh’s decision to nationalize the Iranian oil industry, previously controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). This move angered Britain, which relied heavily on Iranian oil.

After failing to force the Iranian Prime Minister to walk back on his decision through an economic siege, London decided to seek direct help from the US, who Mosaddegh believed could be a relying partner for Iran in the absence of Britain. 

The CIA, under the direction of Kermit Roosevelt Jr., began planning the coup in early 1953. The operation aimed to create unrest and discredit Mossadegh while rallying support for the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The CIA’s main tool to incite public discontent against Mossadegh was propaganda. Americans portrayed the leader as a communist threat, while also funding opposition groups and organizing violent demonstrations.

On August 19, 1953, the coup was executed. Initially, it faced setbacks, but after some strategic adjustments and further riots, military forces loyal to the Shah took control of Tehran. Mossadegh was arrested, and the Shah was reinstated with increased power.

As stated by many historians as well as top Iranian figures and politicians, the coup toppling Mosaddegh in 1953 opened the floodgates to decades of the US meddling in Iran’s internal affairs. The upheaval, though bitter in nature, also became the first lesson that Iranians learnt, the US cannot be trusted when it comes to respecting the sovereignty, integrity, and independence of other countries. 

“There are some people who say that we should somehow compromise with the US because this way, their enmities might decrease. No, [This is not right]. They have not even shown mercy to those who trusted, pinned their hopes on, and referred to the US for assistance,” Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei explained during a gathering in 2017.  “Who for example?

Dr. Mosaddegh. In order to fight and stand up against the English – this is what he wished to do – he turned to the Americans. He met with and negotiated with them and asked for their help. He trusted them. [But] The coup d'état of the 28th of Mordad (1953 coup) was not launched by the English, rather it was launched by the US against Mosaddegh.”

 

Bangladesh: Yunus faces a rough terrain

Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus has become the leader of Bangladesh's caretaker government on August 08, 2024 following weeks of turmoil that began when student-led protests rose up against the government and climaxed with the dramatic resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

As Yunus and the interim government have tough work ahead to quell social unrest, they also have to deal with mounting expectations for structural reforms and prepare for free and fair elections to be held sometime soon.

Who is this Nobel Prize winner, what sparked the rage that chased away Hasina and how are neighboring countries reacting?

Yunus is best known for his work with Grameen Bank, which traces its origins to small unsecured loans he began making to poor families in 1974. Hasina saw this champion of the underclass as a political threat, indicting him on what many saw as a long history of trumped-up charges.

Bangladesh was under the firm grip of Hasina until a few weeks ago. With her now out of the country, many citizens are waking up to a hopeful future for "a new Bangladesh" under the nonpartisan interim government headed by an 84-year-old economist, despite a series of economic challenges and the lingering effects of unrest.

Hasina enjoyed a good relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But in the wake of her resignation and fleeing the country, uncertainty hangs over the two nations. As India's biggest South Asian trading partner, Bangladesh has received much investment from its neighbor, politically and financially

Hasina had recently signed a slew of economic, trade and public health agreements with China. With the countries also having elevated their relationship to a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership," how will Beijing find working with the next government?

For Yunus, who will lead the caretaker administration, the first and most urgent task will be to reestablish the rule of law.

However, the bigger and more difficult tasks will be to prevent interference of United States and continue to receive aid/ financial support from China and Russia.

Yunus has to quickly come up with a “home grown plan” to break the IMF shekels. The largest source of foreign exchange for Bangladesh is “textiles and clothing” and the major buyers are United States and members of European Union, who may opt for pressure tactics to keep Bangladesh away from China and Russia.