Saturday, November 28, 2020
Trump’s tariffs set a trap for incoming Biden administration
The Trump administration has imposed new tariffs on Chinese twist-ties, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, in a worrying sign that the US-China economic conflict may be rekindled.
While the move's impact is relatively limited, it actually does not bode well for the two countries, possibly reigniting their past and controversial dispute and fight on currency value.
This is because the US justified the new-tariff decision with claims that China undervalued its currency in order to gain market share for Chinese-made products, a familiar accusation the world has heard of before. This latest allegation of currency manipulation is expected to set a bad precedent for US companies facing rising competition with imported products.
Apparently, what has struck the world is that the tariff decision by the Trump administration is made at a time when the Chinese yuan has steadily strengthened for nearly five months now. On Thursday, the central parity rate of the yuan against the US dollar reached 6.5780, representing a sustained broad rally compared with the market level in May.
And with the COVID-19 epidemic largely put under control, the rapid recovery of the Chinese economy and the country's resilient export performance, the appreciation of the yuan is fully in line with market expectations. Under such circumstances, the imposition of the new punitive tariffs on the allegation that China's currency is undervalued sounds particularly absurd and ridiculous.
In fact, observers watching China's exchange rate policy and its financial system reform and upgrade, would not believe that Chinese government would want to pursue a weak yuan. This is because even though depreciation of the Chinese currency may be conducive to exports, it could actually do more harm than good to the overall Chinese economy by delivering a blow to market confidence which is significant for its money market stability at a time of growing global uncertainties.
Maintaining a stable and steady yuan exchange rate with the world's major currencies will be the long-term goal for China's macro-economic regulators.
The yuan's exchange rate used to be a bone of contention throughout US-China economic and trade relations. They turned the page when signing the phase one trade deal earlier this year that stipulates that "each party shall respect the other party's autonomy in monetary policy, in accordance with the domestic law."
In this sense, the latest tariff imposition on twist-ties by the Trump administration reflects a sinister intention to create more traps for the incoming Joe Biden administration which is most likely to reset severely fraught ties with China in the past four years. Trump's resort to leaving the sordid political legacy before his term comes to an end, may put Biden administration's relationship with a crucial trade partner under pressure. For the benefit of both countries, we hope Biden's team could extend a friendly hand and re-engage with China, constructively.
Opinion: ‘Democracy Should Not Be Taken for Granted’
By Rachel L. Harris and
Joe Biden expected to name Cindy McCain as ambassador to UK
Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warns the government to desist from carrying out crackdown against PPP workers in Multan and other parts of Punjab.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Foundation Day Jalsa will be held any how and PPP and other PDM Parties won't be cowed down by the highhandedness of the regime.
Pakistani TV asks if it’s time to accept Israel. The answer is above Imran Khan’s paygrade
The idea of recognising Israel is a hard sell for the people of Pakistan who have been brought up for over 70 years on the idea of having permanent enemies — India and Israel.
Fire got fuel in Pakistan that something was about to happen between Israel and Pakistan — a secret meeting was reported between the Saudi Crown Prince, US Secretary of State and Israeli Prime Minister. The question being asked was, “Is this the time for Pakistan to establish a diplomatic relationship with Israel?” The time is nigh, that’s the vibe. But what the government of Pakistan is saying about all this is no surprise.
This is the second wave of denials on Israel.
It is “baseless speculation” was the word from the Pakistan foreign office. But is it really baseless when the prime minister mentions how the country is being pressured to formalise relations with Israel? Twice, since the accord between the UAE and Israel, PM Imran Khan has spoken on the subject — once categorically saying that Pakistan will not accept Israel until Palestinians get their rights and then mentioning the pressure being exerted to do the same. It is hard for the Pakistan government to complain about the pressures of Saudi Arabia or the US when it has been financially dependent on these two countries.
Pakistan wants to know
So when we see ‘selected’ news anchors, all animated over the reality that Israel is giving a hundred reasons why Pakistan should be in a relationship or giving the vibes of ‘abhi nahin toh kabhi nahin (it is now or never)’, forgive us for thinking the ‘thinkable’ — probably a decision has already been made by those who run Pakistan. The new-found touch with the reality of Israel is so overwhelming that the sentiments for the Palestinians just get lost in old tweets.
Now, speculating on the speculation that, for long, has been forbidden is no coincidence. The controlled ‘awakening’ is that why should Pakistan fight others’ battles and not think of its own interests? Fair enough. But if, as a country, your survival has been as a proxy State fighting others’ battles, taking up causes that destroyed your society and divided it, how does one hypothetical Israel recognition change that? The bigger question remains how does Pakistan get out of its own self-imposed position as a contractor of the Muslim world?
The idea of recognising Israel is a hard sell for the people of Pakistan who have been brought up for over 70 years on the idea of having permanent enemies. India is one, Israel is the other. And it is ingrained into their brains that no good can come from either of them. In the end, for Pakistanis, it will not be so much about Israel’s ideology or even the concerns around its human rights excesses, rather the political divide he/she is part of in a polarised Pakistan.
Imran Khan Shalom Netanyahu
While foreign policy experts say that the politics of the world has changed and Pakistan can’t remain static, does the country not continue to choose its stance as per its convenience? Is the idea now to promote Fauda and forget Ertugrul? That it is Pakistan which will free Palestine and Kashmir still remains our passionate conviction since birth.
No political party in Pakistan has ever had the guts to call Israel anything less than an enemy. The only official meeting with Israel came during the reign of General Pervez Musharraf in 2005, when the foreign minister of Pakistan sat down with the Israeli counterpart. Interestingly, in this hybrid regime, Imran Khan will become the face of any overture with Israel. In tweet-driven diplomacy, it will be PM Imran Khan writing Shalom to Benjamin Netanyahu. Or even driving Netanyahu around, after all, driving is the cornerstone of Khan’s diplomacy.
While the decision on the subject might be above his paygrade, PM Khan is bound to become a direct target of his critics who already add losing Kashmir to India to his list of ‘successes’ that no other Pakistani prime minister could achieve. That is why he is wary when he says that, “if we accept normalisation of ties with Israel then we would have to give up the Kashmir cause.” Of course, the prime minister’s own extreme political rhetoric for the last two years and failure at governance doesn’t help his cause.
For now, denial is the best defence for PM Khan. Taking a U-turn, he is now reassuring us that there is no pressure whatsoever on the country over Israel. For that, he pats himself on the back, becausse it is under his dynamic leadership that Pakistan’s foreign policy has been a success — like never before. Wonder which country he’s talking about. Like never before, Saudi Arabia wants its loan repaid and things haven’t smoothed ever since Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s ultimatum to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for inaction on Kashmir. And as the UAE suspends visas for Pakistan and other countries, there are thousands of Pakistanis fearing losing the job market to India. But let’s just bask in the glory that the US doesn’t tell Pakistan “to do more” anymore.
It is difficult to envisage a Pakistan post-acceptance of Israel. If Israel will become our yaar then will we find no yahood conspiracy in everything that’ll go wrong in Pakistan? Thank god India will still be around. And what about those who were called yahoodi agents all these years for even breathing — will they go out of work? One should investigate if the chameleons giving sermons on reality of Israel today are the real agents. Acceptance of Israel or not, will the real yahoodi agents please stand up.
https://theprint.in/opinion/letter-from-pakistan/pakistani-tv-asks-if-its-time-to-accept-israel-the-answer-is-above-imran-khans-paygrade/552067/
Dear Pakistan Army, I would have made an excellent DG ISPR: Khadim Rizvi’s letter from heaven
In my life, people thought I was against the Pakistani Army. Reality is I was just their fauji.
Iam dead, but I can write. Don’t you think I am still alive? People come, people go but what stays in the world are my 18+ jokes.
“O dallay”, I address this letter to General Twitter, for my heart is oozing with hateful gratitude over my passing-away parade. I want to make it clear that as an “austere religious scholar”, I was first approached by the New York Times to be their columnist from jannat. But I decided to reach the other side of the tunnel.
Who would have imagined the Pakistan Army’s love for me? Even before I had breathed my last, Army chief Qamar Bajwa tweeted condolences — staying true to his army’s Rs 1,000 promise of “kya hum aapke sath nahin?” Did he know something that I didn’t? Seems like both Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan had the condolences saved in their twitter drafts. Pe** di siri.
In my life, people thought I was against the Pakistani Army. Reality is — I was just their fauji. If I were in uniform, I would have been the DG ISPR, better than Asif Ghafoor, and I would have taken several extensions over my death, like Bajwa. Influence, I had. Why else do you think CENTCOM (US Central Command) was crying over my demise? Wish Alia Bhatt cried too. I thought I meant something to her.
Me, my menace and mazhab
When I was born, my mother taught me just one thing. Ammi jaan kehti thi mazhab se bada koi dhanda nahin hota. I stuck to it and look where I am now. There is no slogan bigger than saving Islam in Pakistan. Why else do you think we created Pakistan in the first place?
I was no Taliban, I was no Al-Qaeda — I was my own menace.
Everyone wants to know how is it that I am dead. Here is exactly what happened.
As you know, I was the Gabbar Singh for blasphemers. Mothers used to tell their children, ‘So ja warna Khadim aa jaeyga’. But when I left the earth, all of it became history. One blasphemer on my radar was France. I urge why Pakistan keeps an atom bomb when it is not going to use it? What’s the fun in that? For as long as I was alive, I wanted to nuke France and all the countries I ever heard the name of, but everyone thought I was joking. Then I decided to do a suicide nuke attack on Emmanuel Macron’s country. Little did I know that in this blast-phemy, I will bomb myself to bits. Sh*t happens.
There is gain in all pain. Now I sit in jannat, still filled with immense hate. That is just what my fate is. But with my ideas, revolution is just around the corner in jannat, not much different from General Twitter’s corner plots in which he enjoys pepperoni pizzas.
People called me an enigma, an Allama (scholar). But, in reality, I was just a guy next door, standing in front of a girl, asking her to love him. I was the shaheen of Allama Iqbal. You can credit me for this — only I could understand the real meaning of Iqbal’s poetry. You Pakistanis just wanted a holiday, so that you could sleep on Iqbal Day.
In Jannat, no hoors, no Tinder
I am asked if I have any regrets. The only one I can think of is that I wasn’t able to use Tinder before Imran Khan banned it. I had several exciting options but was too shy to swipe. If I could go in the past, casual hook-ups is one thing I would like to add to my dharnas. Why should Imran Khan have all the fun in his dharnas?
After death did us apart, I became an entrepreneur. My colourful vibrant language made it possible for me to open several food joints across the land of kufar, especially in The Netherlands and France. Next, I plan to venture into the world of music, based on my galam-galoch. After all, I inspired many singers into writing songs over my flowery mouth, not to forget those MTVish remixes. A Coke Studio from jannat is in the works, and even this music will blow your brains, literally.
My days start, my days end. It is kind of anticlimactic for all the fuss we created about life after death. My companion is Ludo and my guilty pleasure remains offering jannat to all my neighbours in jannat.
Wish one day Maulana Tariq Jameel could join me here and see for himself that all those stories about hoors were just hoax.
محترمہ آصفہ بھٹو زرداری - بی بی آرہی ہیں
تحریر: نذیر ڈھوکی
آج فوجی راج نہیں مگر کٹھپتلی راج ہے۔ محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو شہید نے ایک نہیں دو فوجی آمروں کی مزاحمت کی تھی اور اپنے والد قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو شہید کو قیدی دیکھا تھا جبکہ بی بی آصفہ بھٹو زرداری نے اپنے والد صدر آصف علی زرداری کو نہ صرف بچپن بلکہ ہوش سنھبالنے کے بعد بھی قیدی دیکھا، ایک وہ وقت تھا جب وہ قیدی بابا کی انگلی پکڑ کر چلتی تھیں ایک وقت یہ بھی آیا جب وہ اپنے بابا کا ہاتھ تھامے احتساب عدالت میں آتی رہی۔
حقیقت یہ ہے کہ آج کی سلیکٹڈ حکومت آمروں کی بے نامی حکومت ہے جس کا طرز عمل بھی آمروں جیسا ہے۔
برسوں پہلے پیپلز پارٹی کے رہنما تاج حیدر سے فوجی آمر پرویز مشرف کے ایک چیلے نے سوال کیا تھا کہ آپ بہت اچھے ہیں۔ اعتزاز احسن بھی اچھے ہیں پیپلزپارٹی کی قیادت کیوں نہیں سنبھالتے تو تاج حیدر نے جواب دیا تھا کہ ہم محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو کو قائد مانتے ہیں اسلیئے کہ تم محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو سے ڈرتے ہو یہ ہی ہمارے لیئے اطمینان کی بات ہے کہ تم جس سےڈرتے ہو وہ محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو ہیں، کچھ دہائیاں قبل بزرگ صحافی اور کالم نویس نذیر ناجی نے اپنے کالم میں لکھا تھا کہ ، پیپلزپارٹی اس لیئے زیر عتاب رہتی ہے کیونکہ وہ طاقت کا سرچشمہ عوام کو قرار دیتی ہے۔
اب جب پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کا 53 واں یوم تاسیس ہو رہا ہے تو کورونا کے باعث چیئرمین پیپلز پارٹی جناب بلاول بھٹو زرداری کی عدم شرکت پر شہید محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو کی تصویر محترمہ آصفہ بھٹو زرداری بی بی پارٹی کے یوم تاسیس کے موقع پر ملتان تشریف لا رہی ہیں جس کا انداز بھی اپنی عظیم والدہ کی طرح ہے وہ غریب اور بے سہارا خواتین کے دکھ اور درد ایسے
ہی سنتی ہیں جیسے شہید بی بی سنا کرتی تھیں، چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے اپنے نانا شہید اور بی بی آصفہ بھٹو زرداری نے شہید بی بی کی کمی دور کر دی ہے، اللہ پاک صدر آصف علی زرداری کو صحت ،تندرستی اور عمر دراز عطا فرمائے جس نے جیالوں کو چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری کی صورت میں
قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو اور آصفہ بھٹو زرداری کی صورت میں محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو شہید دی ہے۔
عجب منظر ہے جس کو تاریخ قلمبند کر رہی ہے شہید قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو کا داماد ہونے کی قیمت جبر مسلسل برداشت کرنے والا آصف علی زرداری جب اپنے اکلوتے بیٹے کےبعد لاڈلی بیٹی کو سیاست کے خاردار میدان میں اتار رہے ہیں، تو یہ ان کی عظمت کی دلیل ہے۔
https://samachar.pk
ملتان میں جیالوں نے حکومت کو پسپا کردیا ہے، مولابخش چانڈیو
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) کے مرکزی رہنما مولا بخش چانڈیو کا کہنا ہے کہ ملتان میں جیالوں نےحکومت کو پسپا کردیا ہے۔
مولابخش چانڈیو نے اپنے بیان میں کہا کہ جیالے آصفہ بھٹو کے استقبال کے لیےدو دن پہلے ہی جلسہ گاہ پہنچ گئے ہیں۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ عمران خان کا جانا ٹھہر گیا ہے، کٹھ پتلی نےجانا ہی ہے۔
سینیٹر مولابخش چانڈیو نے کہا کہ سلیکٹڈ کا کاغذی رعب اور جھوٹا بھرم ختم ہو چکاہے۔
https://jang.com.pk/news/850889