Headlines

• Marc Faber: We're in a Gigantic Financial Asset Bubble that could Burst Any Day
• Western, Arab States Pledge $2.4 Billion in Syria Aid
• Pakistan Not an Ally of US: Robert Gates
• Malaysia Attempts to Regulate the Word ‘Allah' in Bibles

Details

Marc Faber: We're in a Gigantic Financial Asset Bubble that could Burst Any Day

Marc Faber, author of "The Gloom Boom and Doom Report," continues to argue that we're in a bubble that'll pop as we head for a financial crisis. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, he says we are in a "gigantic financial asset bubble." He also thinks the bubble could burst at any moment. "I think we are in a gigantic financial asset bubble. [The bubble] could burst any day. I think we are very stretched. Sentiment figures are very, very bullish. Everybody's bullish. The reality is they're very bullish because they think the economy will accelerate on the upside. But my view is very different. The global economy is slowing down, because the global economy's largely emerging economies nowadays, and there's no growth in exports in emerging economies, there's no growth, in the local economies. So, I feel that the valuations are high, the corporate profits have been boosted largely because of the falling interest rates." He also criticized economic experts. He said, "This is the point I'd like to make. All of these professors and academics at the Fed who never really worked in the private sector a single day in their lives, and write papers nobody reads and nobody's is interested in. Why would they want not write about how you structure an economic system that lifts the standard of living of most people? You can't lift everybody." [Source: Business Insider]

Capitalism is doomed. The only hope for the world economy lies in the application of Islamic economic principles such as Islamic contracts to regulate ownership, the abolishment of the privatisation of public utilities, a return to the gold standard to regulate money supply and similar measures. Only Islam can ensure that the distribution of wealth is fair in the world and is not usurped by a global elite that are only interested in enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else.

Western, Arab States Pledge $2.4 Billion in Syria Aid

Western and Gulf Arab nations pledged more than $2.4 billion (1.4 billion pounds) on Wednesday for UN aid efforts in Syria, where a near three-year civil war has left millions of people hungry, ailing or displaced. The pledge arose from a UN appeal for $6.5 billion in 2014, which was launched last month and is the largest in the organisation's history. The world body estimates the conflict has reversed development gains in Syria by 35 years, with half its people now living in poverty. But only around 70 percent of $1.5 billion pledged at a similar meeting last year has reached UN coffers, hinting at donor fatigue with no end to the bloodshed on the horizon. The Gulf state's ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, promised $500 million in new aid, while the United States announced a contribution of $380 million. Qatar and Saudi Arabia pledged $60 million each. The European Union pledged $225 million and Britain $165 million. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the total was more than $2.4 billion. Money raised last year in Kuwait was used by the United Nations to provide food rations, medicine, drinking water and shelters for people in Syria and surrounding countries. The largest donations at that conference came from Gulf Arab governments, which have mainly backed Syrian rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad. Kuwait has avoided showing support for either side and has voiced concern about the sectarian nature of the conflict. [Source: Reuters]

What a shame that the regimes of the Arab world could only muster a paltry sum to help the Syrians living under the brutality of Assad, while some of them spend millions on lavish festivities to celebrate Christmas and the Christian new year. But the disgraceful behaviour of the Arab regimes does not stop there. Everyone knows what is required is for the armies of the Arab and Muslim world to move against Assad's regime and to stop his tyranny once and for all. But they dare not to take such a step for fear of upsetting their colonial masters.

Pakistan Not an Ally of US: Robert Gates

Robert Gates, the former US Defence Secretary who was the strongest supporter of Pakistan, believes that Islamabad is not an ally of America and it will not give up its policy of supporting terrorists. "Although I would defend them in front of Congress and to the press to keep the relationship from getting worse -- and endangering our supply line from Karachi -- I knew they were really no ally at all," Mr. Gates writes in his forthcoming book titled Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. Referring to his visit in January 2010 -- his second and the last one to Pakistan -- wherein he met the then President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Mr. Gates writes that he returned convinced that Islamabad would not give up its policy of supporting terrorists. "No administration in my entire career devoted more time and energy to working the Pakistanis than did President (Barack) Obama and all his senior team," Mr. Gates, who was the defence secretary from December 2006 to July 2011, writes. "My message was consistent: we were committed to a long-term strategic partnership; we needed to work together against the ‘syndicate of terror' placing Afghanistan, Pakistan and India at risk; we needed to remove safe havens on both side of the border; Pakistan needed to better control anti-Americanism and harassment of Americans; and the Pakistani army's ‘extra-judicial killings' (executions) were putting our relationship at risk," Mr. Gates writes in his memoir. [Source: The Hindu]
Gates statement is no surprise, and it is even more apparent from the drone attacks how much the US government detests the people of Pakistan and is committed to Pakistan's destruction. However, such bare facts and candid admissions by US officials has somehow escaped the attention of Pakistan's leadership, who seem determined to move forward with a lopsided relationship with America no matter what the cost.

Malaysia Attempts to Regulate the Word ‘Allah' in Bibles

Religious authorities have boldly confiscated hundreds of Malay language bibles over their use of the word ‘Allah', a signal that the Malaysian government is back pedalling on its highly flaunted program of moderation and inclusivity. Malaysia has garnered much international attention in recent years for being the only country in the world to regulate the use of the word ‘Allah' and other terms deemed to be exclusive to Islam among its non-Muslim citizens. The term ‘Allah' is borrowed from Arabic and is used to describe ‘God' in the language used by the nation's dominant Malay ethnic group, who practice a brand of Islam that is deeply interwoven with Malay nationalism. Malaysia's Christian minority has used the term ‘Allah' in Malay language bibles and daily prayers in churches to refer to the Christian god for centuries, but a controversial court ruling in 2013 prohibited a Catholic newspaper, The Herald, from using the word. Despite the prohibition of the term applying only to The Herald and not to other publications, religious authorities recently took the unprecedented step of raiding a Bible Society and confiscating over 300 Malay language bibles on the basis that public disorder would ensue unless the term ‘Allah' remains exclusive to Islam. Prime Minister Najib Razak has put much emphasis on his ‘1Malaysia' slogan in an attempt to showcase Malaysia's brand of political Islam as being moderate, inclusive, and capable of sustaining harmony among the country's complex multi-ethnic and multi-religious landscape. However, the inherent contradictions of the leadership's official message of moderation and co-existence have become increasingly more apparent as many Islamic jurists, who have adopted exclusivist positions on sensitive inter-faith issues, have been handed sizeable authority by the ruling establishment to influence policy. [Source: Russia Today]

Prime Minister Najib Razak has again attempted to divert the attention of Muslims yearning for the implementation of Islam towards cheap antics with the Christian community. The real issue for Prime Minister Najib Razak is to conceal the ugly truth about his regimes blatant disregard for the laws of Islam. Muslims in Malaysia must not get carried away in these cheap struggles that have got nothing to do with Islam, and must stand firm for the complete implementation of Islam which can only be secured to the return of the rightly guided Caliphate.