Author: Steven Sahiounie

E-commerce giant Alibaba announces that it will spend $15.5 billion to support Chinese President Xi Jinping’s campaign to spread prosperity in China, more evenly to include the poor. The company said it would invest in 10 projects to create jobs, care for vulnerable groups and technology innovation. The 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) will include 20 billion yuan ($12.5 billion) that will be spent to ease inequality. Alibaba and other Chinese tech giants announced plans to invest in social welfare, technology development, and other ruling party priorities, responding to pressures to align with Beijing’s political and economic plans. The Chinese…

WhatsApp is fined a record $267 million by Ireland’s data watchdog for breaching EU data privacy rules. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said Thursday that WhatsApp did not tell European Union citizens enough about what it does with their data. WhatsApp supposedly failed to tell Europeans how their personal information is used, as well as how WhatsApp shares data with Facebook. It has ordered the platform to tweak its privacy policies and its means of communicating with users to work with Europe’s privacy law. As a result, WhatsApp may have to expand its privacy policy. the Whatsapp spokesperson said, “WhatsApp is…

Controversy picked up pace amid accusations flying in the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Warmongers from both parties are still, however, adamant about increasing the defense budget. The HASC agreed to add an extra $24 billion to the administration’s defense budget of $715 billion for 2022, for a total of $740 billion. Meanwhile, Defense One published a study estimating the costs of the Afghanistan War, saying that the Pentagon had agreed to a preliminary budget of $1 trillion in 2001, but that $2.3 trillion has been spent “so far” on the war, according to the Pentagon. According to the study,…

Today, Friday, former Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil congratulated Hossein Amirabdollahian on his new position as Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and thanked Iran for sending a fuel ship to Lebanon. During a phone call, Bassil criticized the policies of those who seek to starve the Lebanese people to reach their political goals, calling for the expansion of all bilateral relations between Lebanon and Iran. The former Lebanese minister conveyed to Amirabdollahian a message from President Michel Aoun addressed to the Iranian president. The two sides also discussed the region’s developments. In turn, the Iranian Minister expressed his country’s readiness…

Three sources within the Taliban confirmed today that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement’s political bureau, will lead Afghanistan’s new government. The sources also added that Mullah Muhammad Yaqoub, the son of the late founder of the movement, Mullah Omar, and Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai will take prominent positions in the next government. Afghan sources told Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Afghanistan that the Taliban may announce its government after Friday prayers today. Yesterday, the Taliban revealed the situation of women in the new government. The spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the new Afghan government will include…

Iranian Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian revealed to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Iran prioritizes centering its foreign policy on Asia. In a phone call with China’s Foreign Minister, Abdollahian expressed that “Iran aspires to establish complete ties with China,” adding that his nation confirms its commitment to implementing the strategic cooperation agreement for a 25-year term. Yi for his part stated that China’s orientation is On his end, Yi divulged that China is oriented around the comprehensive development of bilateral relations, emphasizing that any change or obstacle at the international level cannot disrupt the permanent relations between the two countries.…

Nearly four days after the full US withdrawal from Afghanistan, local Afghan sources confirmed that an Emirati airplane has landed at Kabul airport. The sources added that two military planes would arrive at a later time, while the Russian news agency Novosti quoted an additional source disclosing that “the Emirati delegation that arrived in Afghanistan will hold talks with the Taliban.” The United Nations (UN) has recently warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan as Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia Shawqat Ali Khan has lately indicated that approximately four million Afghan refugees have fled to Pakistan. The top Afghan diplomat stressed that…

President Vladimir Putin of Russia described the developments in Afghanistan after US withdrawal as a “humanitarian catastrophe.” In the 6th Eastern Economic Forum, Putin noted that the Soviet forces left Afghanistan in orderly conduct, stressing that the regime was still standing for several years after the Soviet withdrawal. “Democracy cannot be imposed on a nation through violent methods. If people need democracy, they will eventually achieve it,” he said. The Russian leader concluded by saying despite the lessons learned from Afghanistan, the policy of imposing foreign standards continues in other countries. Peace Deal with Japan President Putin stressed the need…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator After the chaotic exit from Afghanistan, many experts predict the withdrawal of US troops will next be from Iraq and Syria. US President Joe Biden has said the US is no longer in the ‘nation-building’ business abroad.  George W. Bush sold the US Congress and the UK on forcing democracy down the throat of the Iraqi people, who had no experience with democracy.  After years of bloodshed, and millions of Iraqi lives lost, democracy was never established, at least not a democracy any American would recognize.  Instead of establishing a secular form of government,…

According to the New York Times, The US has entered the fourth or fifth wave of the pandemic. As vaccination lags and the Delta variant form is spreading, the largest number of infections and hospitalizations since last winter is on the horizon. The deaths of COVID-19 are also at a steady tilt. In the United States, scientists examine the experience of the UK and India to better understand the reason why the Delta variant spreads again; they anticipate the forthcoming scenarios in the United States. In the UK, daily cases fell from 60,000 in mid-July to half that number within two…