Global Trade War, New Cold War and Terrorism

By Sajjad Shaukat

 

Like his other political follies, the US President Donald Trump’s announcement of the ‘trade wars’ has started a new debate in the world regarding a prospective global trade war.  So far, much has been said and written by various world leaders and analysts. But, we should know that when we analyze some issue of international affairs, we should also take note of the interrelated developments to reach the conclusion. In these terms, there is a co-relationship of the global trade war, New Cold War and terrorism, which needs an appropriate assessment.

 

In this regard, on March 1, this year, President Trump initiated a major global trade with countries around the world after he announced his plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on all aluminium imports into the USA. Next day, he said in a Twitter-statement: “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win.”

 

In another Twitter post on March 3, Trump warned: “If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”

 

Over Trump’s controversial announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminium, Zhang Yesui, a spokesperson for China’s National People’s Congress warned on March 4, 2018, that it does not want a trade war with the US, but will not sit idly by if its economy is hurt. China would take “necessary measures” if its interests were hurt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several major trading partners of the US such as EU and Japan have said that they might respond to the US tariffs with direct action. Reportedly, in retaliation, EU trade chiefs have been considering countermeasures—slapping 25% tariffs on around $3.5bn of imports from the US-targeting iconic US exports including Levi’s jeans, Harley-Davidson motorbikes and Bourbon whisky, if the United States followed through on President Trump’s plan to impose penalties on imported steel and aluminum, raising the specter of a trade war. America’s major allies such as Britain and France have also denounced Trump’s move.

 

Even Trump prodded his NAFTA partners, 11 nations gathered in Chile to sign a landmark Asia-Pacific trade pact, one that Trump withdrew from on his first day in office last year.

 

Brazil, Mexico and Japan have said that they would consider retaliatory steps if President Trump pressed ahead with his plan in the coming days.

 

On March 7, this year, European leaders stated that they did not want to trigger a wider trade dispute with the US, emphasizing upon President Trump to reconsider his decision. The President of the European Council stated in a tweet that trade wars were “bad and easy to lose”.

 

But, by setting aside the domestic criticism, the resignation of his chief economic advisor Gary Cohn who supports free trade and opposition from American close allies, President Donald Trump signed order about an increase in metals tariff plan.

 

Although President Trump exempted Canada and Mexico from tariff-barriers, but he remained firm on his trade moves regarding other countries, and stated on March 8, 2018: The best outcome would for companies to move their mills and smelters to the United States…domestic metals production was vital to national security. Flanked by steel and aluminium workers, Trump added: “If you don’t want to pay tax, bring your plant to the USA.”

 

In this respect, Cecilia Malmstrom, European Union commissioner for trade remarked: “In the eyes of the EU, “the motivation of the U.S. is an economic safeguard measure in disguise, not a national security measure…That means the EU is entitled to make use of a WTO safeguard agreement to rebalance benefits that we have given to the U.S. in the past.”

 

While, differences have already existed between the US and Europe on various trade matters— bilateral and multinational trade agreements like the TPP which Trump abandoned, including the NAFTA and WTO, at this critical juncture, President Trump has triggered an all-out trade war with his close friends and the rival countries.

 

Meanwhile, the European Union and Japan urged the United States in a meeting at the Brussels on March 10, this year to grant them exemptions from metal import tariffs, with Tokyo calling for “calm-headed behaviour” in a dispute that threatens to spiral into a trade war. US Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer met with his EU and Japanese counterparts, but the meetings offered little new clarity amid fears of a global trade war.

 

On the same day, in an interview at Brussels, French Trade Secretary Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne warned by saying: The US president risks igniting a trade war…but insisted that his strategy would backfire.”

 

An ally of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel Norbert Röttgen who is the head of the foreign affairs committee of the lower house of Germany’s Parliament stated at the conference in Brussels that the United States was “the steward, the leader, of establishing, of developing a system of international relations…Now we have a different approach.”

 

However, initiation of the present global trade war cannot be seen in isolation, it has an interrelationship with the New Cold War, irresponsible statements of the US President Donald Trump, his anti-Muslim moves, and various related developments in the world and terrorism-related attacks, which are part of the double game and secret strategy of Israel who is in collaboration with the President Trump, American CIA, FBI and Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS, ISIL) to seek revenge against the Muslims and Russia at the cost of loyalist Americans, including Western countries, especially those of Europe.

 

During the tenure of the President Barack Obama, New Cold War had already started between the United States and Russia, when his top officials accused Moscow of backing insurgency in Ukraine. It accelerated when Russia opposed US intentions to deploy a national missile defence system (NMD) in Europe and the expansion of NATO towards Eastern Europe. Against this backdrop, Russian President Vladimir Putin had openly stated that his country was returning to its Soviet-era practices.

 

The New Cold War intensified, when in September 2015, Russian-led coalition of Iran, Iraq, the Syrian army-the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Lebanon-based Hezbollah started breaking the backbone of the ISIS terrorists, Al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front and the rebels in Syria and Iraq. Russian-led alliance thwarted the attempts of the US-led some Western countries who wanted to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government to obtain the aims of a greater Israel as part of the double game.

 

Israeli Mossad which was already having clandestine contact with the ISIS directed this outfit to plan the November 13 (2015) terror attacks in Paris in connivance with the French home-grown militants. Similarly, when Russian-led forces began retaking many cities from the control of these insurgents, on the other side, agents of Mossad who were in collaboration with the CIA sympathizers and the ISIL militants arranged various sorts of terror assaults in Europe and the US.

 

Through all these false flag terror attacks which occurred since 2015, the US and Israel wanted to obtain their covert aims against Russia and the Muslims. Mossad had also provided the US President Donald Trump with an opportunity to manipulate various terror assaults of Europe and America to win the US presidential election and to reunite America and Europe, as a rift was created between America and its Western allies, especially Europe on a number of issues, including NATO. And, President Trump had left no stone unturned in implementing anti-Muslim policies, while speaking openly against the Muslims and Syrian immigrants. Trump had started exaggerating the so-called threat of Islamophobia, while, some incidents were not linked to ISIS, but were the result of self-radicalization of the individuals.

 

President Trump first introduced the screening process during the election campaign on a pledge to indefinitely ban the Muslims from entering the United States—his campaign aides later tried to finesse as a broader policy aimed at implementing “extreme vetting” for immigrants from certain countries. As president, he introduced a ban on arrivals to the US from a number of mainly-Muslim countries.

 

America’s Western partners, especially European countries had strongly condemned Trump’s travel ban on the Muslim countries, as discriminatory and violations of human rights.

 

It is also of particular attention that since the fundamentalist party BJP led by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in India, it has been implementing anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan agenda. Encouraged by the BJP, assaults on Muslims, Christians and other minorities by the Hindu extremist parties might be cited as an instance. India which has a strategic partnership with Israel has perennially been manipulating the double game of the US-led West regarding world phenomena of terrorism in connection with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

 

In wake of Modi’s aggressive diplomacy, India has continued shelling in Pakistani side of Kashmir which remains a nuclear flashpoint between both the neighbouring countries.

Emboldened by President Trump, both Tel Aviv and New Delhi have been equating the ‘wars of liberation’ in Palestine and Kashmir with terrorism. Their main purpose is to manipulate the New Cold War between the US and Russia so as to divert the attention of the West from their own state terrorism which continues unabated on the occupying territories of Kashmir and Palestine while employing delaying tactics in the solution of these issues.

 

Besides, Trump’s strong backing of the NATO-like alliance by the Saudi Arabia—the Sunni-countries against Iran and accusing Tehran of promoting terrorism and motivating religious extremism among the Muslims and Christians, Jews and Hindus show his clear links with Israel and India.

 

Particularly, President Trump’s Israeli connections were undoubtedly proved on December 6, last year when he officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City.

 

America’s Western allies and even the pro-US Islamic counties have rejected Trump’s move, which reversed decades of US neutrality on the status of Jerusalem.

 

Undoubtedly, angry elements within the Muslims countries, especially in the pro-Arab states may react against America and its interests in the form of terrorism and other violent actions. Trump has also provided the terrorist outfits like ISIS new ammunition for recruitment of militants and to radicalize the Muslims in the US and other Western countries. Trump’s decision offered the extremist groups a valuable opportunity to capitalise on anti-US sentiment. Particularly, it could also increase the domestic extremism in the US. 

 

To what extent President Trump wants to obtain Israeli illegitimate goals at the cost of Muslims and the patriot Americans could be judged from the terrorism-related assaults which occurred in the Spanish city of Barcelona on August 17, 2017, and in her town of Cambrils on August 18, 2017. After condemning the terror attacks and offering US assistance to Spain, the US President Donald Trump suggested “fighting terrorism by executing Muslims with bullets dipped in pigs blood.”

 

Trump whose character has emerged as a political terrorist is not only fueling racism between the Muslims and Christians but also between the black people and the white people, as noted inside America.

 

It is mentionable that since the occupation of Afghanistan by the US-led NATO forces, the country has become centre of the intelligence agencies such as American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad which are in connivance to obtain the covert designs of their countries and some Western countries against Russia, China and Pakistan, including Iran.

 

Under the cover of fighting terrorism, these foreign agencies which are also in collaboration with Afghan intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS) support the militants of ISIL and Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including their linked outfits which have been conducting terror-assaults in Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the double game of the US-led countries. Besides, these terrorist groups are weakening Tibetan regions of China and Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan through subversive activities.

 

America, India and puppet rulers of Afghanistan shift the blame game of terror assaults in Afghanistan towards Pakistan. The US has also accused Iran and Russia of assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The main purpose of Washington is not only to pacify their people and justify the unending war in Afghanistan but also to fulfil the secret strategic designs against Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran.

 

In this connection, a news item was published by all the leading dailies of Pakistan on October 8, 2017 about the statement of Afghanistan’s Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai who, while dismissing criticism of Moscow’s ties with the Taliban and echoing Russian claims of American support to the ISIS terrorists, told Voice of America (VOC) that the “United States has links with terrorist ‘Islamic State’, also known as Daesh…Daesh a tool of US…After it [the US] dropped the [mother of all] bomb on Afghanistan, it did not eliminate Daesh…the terrorist group has been supplied weapons by the United States forces…The US Army helicopters and army bases are being used to provide assistance to ISIS terrorists…I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America…Reports of American assistance to the terrorists are coming from all over the country.” (It also includes Karzai’s revelations to VOC of April 20, 2017, and Newsweek’s report of the same day). 

 

Likewise, Russian TV channel, Russia Today (RT) reported on September 24, 2017: “The Russian Ministry of Defense has released aerial images which they say show US Army special forces equipment north of the town of Deir er-Zor, where ISIS militants are deployed. US Army special units provide free passage for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) through the battle formations of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorists…Despite that the US strongholds being organized around them…This could mean that the US military staff feel absolutely safe in the area which is held by the terrorists…All of the images were taken from September 8 to 12. The photos show several Cougar infantry mobility vehicles and Hummer armoured vehicles of the US Army Special Forces, according to the Russian MoD data…In this case, securing IS assistance for an unopposed advance of US-backed SDF forces could enable the SDF, widely seen as a US proxy, to seize strategically important (and oil-rich) territory in Deir Ez-Zor that otherwise would soon be retaken by rapidly advancing Syrian Army. If so this once again will raise questions as to what the true purpose of US forces-purportedly in Syria to fight IS-actually is. Earlier in September, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov accused the SDF of collusion with ISIS terrorists.SDF militants work to the same objectives as IS terrorists.”

 

Notably, Pakistan’s Armed Forces have successfully broken the backbone of the foreign-backed terrorists by the military operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad which have also been extended to other parts of the country, including Balochistan province and Karachi. Army and top intelligence agency ISI have broken the network of these terrorist groups by capturing several militants while thwarting a number of terror attempts. Peace has been restored in various regions of Pakistan, including Karachi and Balochistan.

 

But, these foreign elements have, again, started terror attacks in Balochistan and other regions of the country which show that the US-led India, Afghanistan and Israel want to weaken Pakistan and to damage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

 

Since Pakistan became the only declared nuclear country in the Islamic World, the United States, India and Israel started acting upon their collective agenda to destabilize it. After the shift of the Great Game from Central Asia to Pakistan, the country has become a special target of CIA, RAW and Mossad which are in collaboration in supporting various terror-related attacks in various cities, including separatist elements in Balochistan province. 

 

As part of the New Cold War, terror-attacks coincide with a poisonous propaganda of the US-led entities against Russia-China-Pakistan axis and Iran and their interests in the region.

 

It is notable that India was openly opposing the CPEC and China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, the US also joined New Delhi. In this context, on October 3, 2017, US Defence Secretary James Mattis told the Lawmakers, “The United States has reiterated its support for India’s opposition to China’s One Belt, One Road initiative…the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a part of which traverses Pakistan-Kashmir.”

 

Islamabad strongly dismissed the statement from the American defence chief that the multibillion-dollar road and rail network CPEC which is part of China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, passes through a disputed territory of Kashmir, urging the international community to focus on blatant human rights violations and ‘heinous crimes’ committed by Indian occupation forces in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), and reminded the US that Washington had also participated in an OBOR summit.

 

A statement from the Chinese foreign ministry also dismissed Mattis’ statement, saying that the OBOR plan was backed by the United Nations and that CPEC was an economic cooperation initiative. Russia also supports the OBOR and CPEC.

 

Earlier, due to the double game of the US-led entities, China, Russia and Pakistan held secretary-level trilateral talks in Moscow on December 27, 2016, and discussed regional stability, including the restoration of peace in Afghanistan. The meeting also discussed anti-terrorism cooperation amid growing influence of the ISIL in the region and a peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban. 

 

In the recent past, using tough words against the US ally Pakistan, Trump revived the old blame game of his predecessors Bush and Obama regarding the cross-border terrorism in Afghanistan by saying Washington could “no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organizations”, and threatened to target the terrorists’ sanctuaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

As regards Pakistan’s regional rival India, Donald Trump said, “We appreciate India’s important contributions to stability in Afghanistan…We want them to help us more with Afghanistan.”

 

Meanwhile, on January 5, 2018, the US suspended $255 million of military aid to Islamabad as a condition to do more against terrorism.

According to the statement of the ISPR (Army Spokesman), “Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa stated that “Pakistan was not looking for any material or financial assistance from the USA but trust, understanding and acknowledgement of our contributions…peace in Afghanistan is as important for Pakistan as for any other country.”

 

And various other developments such as Russia-Turkey alliance to fight the ISIS in Syria, and US decision to dispatch more troops to Afghanistan is equally notable.

 

Nonetheless, taking note of the US double game, Islamabad which has already strengthened its relations with Beijing has also been cultivating its ties with Russia. In the recent past, Pakistan’s top officials have paid a visit to Moscow. In this connection, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has openly stated that Islamabad will prefer Russia over America.

 

It is worth mentioning that in an interview to the “The Wall Street Journal” on January 5, 2018, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said, “He sees his country’s alliance with the US as over after the Trump administration announced the suspension of U.S. security-related aid to Pakistan…This is not how allies behave.”

 

Pakistan is also improving its relations with Iran. In the end of last year, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa paid a visit to Tehran where he met Iranian civil and military high officials.

 

While, New Cold War has been accelerated between Washington and Moscow in relation to the Syrian civil war and Afghanistan, in these circumstances, owing to Trump’s pro-Israeli policy and anti-Iran rhetoric—and taking cognizance of the unsuccessful US-Indian partnership which is based on extremism, Tehran will abandon the American-supported Chabahar project and will prefer to align with Russian-led China-Pakistan alliance.

 

Nevertheless, there is co-relationship of the US internal and external policies. Hence, it is owing to Donald Trump’s flawed external policy that the United States has lost leverage of bargaining over the small countries like Pakistan, North Korea, Iran and Turkey who have refused to follow America’s coercive diplomacy whose major aim is to complete the Zionist agenda of Israel. Particularly, the hollowness of American sanctions and military pressure on Pyongyang could be assessed from the fact that now; President Trump is showing a willingness to have negotiations with North Korea on the issue of latter’s nuclear programme (Conduction of missile tests).

 

Regarding the New Cold War, it is noteworthy that America’s faulty strategy has weakened her position, as she has not only entangled in a prolonged war in Afghanistan but also enveloped other NATO countries there. Particularly, the US-led endless war in Afghanistan and a fake global war on terror have rapidly increased the cost of these useless conflicts which have brought about multifaceted crises inside the United States, including other NATO countries.

 

It is worth mentioning that one of the important causes of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union was that its greater defence expenditure exceeded to the maximum, resulting in economic crises inside the country. In this connection, about a prolonged war in Afghanistan, the former President Gorbachev had declared it as the “bleeding wound.” However, Soviet Union failed in controlling the movements of liberation, launched by various ethnic nationalities. At present, America is moving on Soviet Union’s tract of disintegration, while President Trump promised to make America great again. Therefore, he has been boosting defence spending by ignoring the fact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including various other operations against Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Philippines have further given a blow to the US exchequer.

 

In case of Syrian civil war, latest reports suggest that Syrian regime forces have cut off the largest town in Eastern Ghouta from the rest of the opposition enclave in a blow to the CIA-Mossad-backed beleaguered rebels who are failing in defending their last bastion near Damascus.

 

Besides, domestic extremism keeps on going in America, and the fundamentalist President Donald Trump has continued criticizing CIA, FBI, judiciary, media and some other key institutions. For example, in the recent past, President Trump has alleged CIA for interference with his agendas and termed its officers as “Sick People.”

 

Taking note of his extremist policies, many top officials of the Trump Administration have resigned.

 

In America, CIA, FBI and Department of Homeland Security which are working as “states within a state” or “shadow Governments” or “Deep state means,” are also clandestinely working against one another. They do not respond to the civilian political leadership-the President and the Congressmen which are also fighting a war of nerves against each other. 

 

Now, we can witness that terrorism-related attacks in the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, Europe, America and elsewhere in the world have, rapidly, been increasing.

 

Mossad which is exploiting the New Cold War is playing a key role in terror assaults, as Israel will prefer a nuclear war between Russia and the US or between North Korea and America to avoid the two-state settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Atomic war could also erupt between Pakistan and India, as New Delhi also avoids solution of the Kashmir issue. While fanatic leaders are in power in the US, India and Israel, their connivance may also culminate in ‘clash of civilizations’, particularly between the Muslim and the Christians worlds.

 

Returning to our earlier discussion, we can undoubtedly conclude that global trade war, New Cold War and terrorism are interrelated. It is the right hour that loyalist Americans, non-Zionist Jews and peace-loving citizens of every other religious community should play their positive role for global peace by stopping the division of the international community on religious and cultural lines. They must castigate the conspiracy of Trump-led Israel and India—the manipulators of the New Cold War which could envelop the entire international community.