By seeking billions of additional dollars for new infrastructure, aid to education, help for middle-class families, new environmental programs and a host of other domestic initiatives for the fiscal year 2022, Biden promises to ramp up economic growth and make the United States more competitive globally, boost the incomes of Americans and combat climate change.

Shalanda Young, who is Biden’s acting budget director, said the initiatives, if enacted, would be transformational, telling reporters that this budget will grow the economy, create jobs and do so responsibly by requiring the wealthiest Americans and big corporations to pay their fair share.

The president’s budget includes a $14-billion increase to tackle the climate crisis, $10.7 billion more to combat the opioid epidemic, an additional $20 billion for schools in high-poverty areas, and an $8.7-billion increase for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to boost its ability to detect and respond to global health crises like the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden is not, requesting funding for expanding healthcare coverage beyond the tax credits and enhanced subsidies that were part of the temporary $1.9-trillion pandemic relief law he signed in March. Instead, he calls on Congress to pass legislation this year to expand in-home care, to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and to reduce the age of Medicare eligibility to 60. Biden is the first president in more than two decades not to include the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions, in his budget.

Under Biden’s budget proposal, the federal deficit for the next fiscal year would hit $1.8 trillion, considerably more than the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected in February based on current spending and taxes. That deficit would be less than the $2.3-trillion shortfall expected for the current fiscal year, or the $3.1-trillion deficit for fiscal 2020 — periods when the economic downturn amid the pandemic, along with the tax cuts President Trump signed into law in 2017, contributed to much-reduced government revenues.

Of the $6 trillion in spending Biden is proposing for next year, more than half is for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory federal obligations that are set in law. Much of the rest maintain funding for the existing military and domestic programs.

Yet Biden’s proposed additions are significant. The spending for infrastructure and social programs, together with tax breaks for all but the wealthiest Americans, would cost roughly $4.5 trillion spread out over 10 years.
Biden, speaking at Cleveland Community College on Thursday in advance of sending his budget request to Congress, said, “This is our moment to rebuild an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.”

He argued that investments in infrastructure, workers and families will make America’s economy fairer and help the country keep pace with global rivals, China in particular. And he continued to push for his proposals to raise taxes on corporations and the richest individuals to pay for the investments and tax breaks for low- and middle-income households, mocking Republicans for opposing those tax increase plans even as they attacked his spending proposals as budget-busters.

In this decade, the U.S. would be facing an unprecedented level of debt. One common measure of fiscal sustainability is debt as a share of the nation’s gross domestic output or economic output. That ratio was about 80% before the pandemic but hit 100% at the end of last year and would rise to 117% by 2031 under the Biden budget — 10 percentage points higher than what the CBO had projected in February in its baseline forecast.

Economists say that level of debt to GDP would still be manageable as long as the United States, the world’s largest economy, is continuing to grow, the dollar is the world’s reserve currency and interest rates remain very low.

The Biden administration’s budget projections are based on its forecast of economic growth of 5.2% this year, 3.2% next year and less than 2% over the long term. Those are consistent with, if slightly more conservative than, forecasts made by the Federal Reserve and many private-sector economists.

Biden’s budget also assumes continued low inflation and interest rates. But some economists, including Obama-era Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, have warned about the risks of rising prices given massive federal spending and excess savings from the pandemic.

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The ceasefire was agreed upon after almost 11 days of fighting during which more than 240 people were killed. Most of the deaths have been reported in the Gaza territory of the Palestinian Muslims. Israel and Hamas both have claimed to be victorious in the latest conflict. The latest conflict started a month ago but the fighting has been taking place for many decades.

A Century-Old Conflict

The conflict of Palestine can be traced back to more than a hundred years following the public declarations of a Jewish homeland in Arab, the first Zionist congress in 1897, and the 1917 Balfour Declaration. After WWI, the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East along came under the control of Britain.

Britain already had made up their mind of making a new settlement for Jews. Palestine, which was an integral part of the Middle East because of the Holy Sites of the Muslims, was inhabited by Arab Muslims as majority and Jews as a minority. The International community pressed Britain to make a National Homeland for Jews in the Middle Eastern territory of Palestine.

The International community pushed Jews into emigrating into Palestine. With this, the population of Jews continues to rise in the Palestinian territory but still, they were a minority. It must be kept in mind that for Jews, Palestine was their ancestral home, but now Palestinian Arab Muslims were residing there and had laid claim to the land.

The Jews Immigration into Palestine continues to rise from the 1920 period onwards as many Jews fled from the persecution in Europe and also wanted to seek a new homeland following the Holocaust of WWII. Violence continues to rise between Jews and the Arab Muslims residing in Palestine. The United Nations, in 1947, voted for Palestine to be divided into two separate states: one for the Jews and the other for the Arab Muslims.

According to the UN, a two-state solution was the only way to resolve this conflict. The UN also declared Jerusalem an international city. This two-state plan was accepted by Jews but rejected by Arabs.

Al-Nakba and the creation of Israel

Following the 1947 UN plan, the British left the Colonial Empire and along with it the Middle East. The Palestine conflict stayed unresolved and the problem still exists. After Britain’s exit, many Palestinian Arab Muslims objected to the settlements of the Jews in the region and then War followed afterwards in 1948.

The Jihadi troops from neighbouring Muslim countries invaded the region and fighting continued. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their homes in what is called Al Nakba, meaning a catastrophe. Israel had taken hold of most of the territories by the time the conflict ended with a ceasefire the following year. Jordan and Egypt occupied West Bank and Gaza subsequently.

Jerusalem was divided into 2 parts, Jews in the west and Arabs in the east. In this manner, Israel came into being as the Jews named all the areas under their control as Israel.

In another war in 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and most of the Syrian Golan Heights, Gaza, and the Egyptian Sinai peninsula. Most of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants live in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in neighbouring Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

None of them has been allowed by Israel to return to their homes. Israel says this would threaten their existence. Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The US is the only country to recognize Israel’s claim to the whole of the city. In the past 50 years, Israel has built settlements in these areas, where more than 600,000 Jews are now living. Palestinians say these are illegal under international law and are obstacles to peace, but Israel denies it.

The latest conflict of April 2021

Gaza is ruled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has fought Israel many times. Israel and Egypt tightly control Gaza’s borders to stop weapons from getting to Hamas. Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank say they’re suffering because of Israeli actions and restrictions. Israel says it is only acting to protect itself from Palestinian violence.

Things have escalated since the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in mid-April 2021, with clashes between police and Palestinians. The threatened eviction of some Palestinian families in East Jerusalem has also caused rising anger. There are several issues which Israel and the Palestinians cannot agree on.

These include what should happen to Palestinian refugees, whether Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank should stay or be removed, whether the two sides should share Jerusalem, and perhaps most tricky of all whether a Palestinian state should be created alongside Israel. Peace talks have been taking place on and off for more than 25 years, but so far have not solved the conflict.

Conclusion

In a crux, the situation isn’t going to be sorted out any time soon. The most recent peace plan, prepared by the United States, when Donald Trump was President – called “the deal of the century” by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu – has been dismissed by the Palestinians as one-sided. Any future peace deal will need both sides to agree to resolve complex issues.

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The Chinese rocket went out of control last week and is now approaching the earth at a speed of about 27,600 km/h in failing orbit with its exact crash site location still unknown. Scientists, satellite trackers, and the Pentagon have been trying to track the dead rocket’s location for days because of the fears that it could crash in a populated region.

According to the US Space Command, the rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Arabian Peninsula and it was still unknown if it would hit the land or water as the US Space Command is expert in locating space junk and man-made satellites in Earth’s orbit.

“Everyone else following the #LongMarch5B re-entry can relax. The rocket is down,” tweeted Space Track, a website that used Space Command data to publish and report the dead rocket’s whereabouts. The last of data on the rocket’s location came as it was wandering over Saudi Arabia, Space Track added.

While most expendable rocket stages usually crash harmlessly into the ocean after pushing a separate rocket booster into orbit, China’s Long March 5B is a bit different. Its entire first stage entered low-Earth orbit on April 29th to deliver its payload, a Tianhe module that will serve as living quarters for China’s new space station in the next few years.

The rocket stage, which was uncontrollable after delivering the space station module, then stayed in orbit for more than a week, gradually falling in altitude before reentering Saturday night. The reentry led to rebuke from NASA administrator Bill Nelson. “It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris,” said Nelson, who took office as NASA’s 14th administrator on May 3rd.

“It is critical that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities.”

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin played down the stance that the rocket is a threat to populated areas while it was in orbit, telling reporters on May 7th that it would mostly burn up in the atmosphere and “the probability of this process causing harm on the ground is extremely low,” according to Reuters.

It’s not the first time a Chinese rocket has re-entered Earth’s atmosphere uncontrolled. Tiangong-1, China’s prototype space station, launched in 2011, reentered just seven years later and broke up in the atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean.

The need of the hour is to keep a check on man’s technological advancements and other such endeavours that could wreak havoc in the future. Technological advancements are imperative because of the globalism that is ever-expanding but repeated recklessness on the part of China could lead to drastic consequences. Maybe this is another reminder towards mankind to keep a check on our unquenchable desire to develop.

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The city of Kabul has been on high alert as it has braced itself for a reaction from the Taliban forces. The Taliban are furious over the US president’s order over US troops stay in Afghanistan beyond May 1 withdrawal deadline that was agreed by the Trump administration in 2020.

The city has been placed on high alert keeping in view a strong protest from the Taliban over the new announcement of the US president therefore security was ramped up all-around and military presence and security at checkpoints were made visible in the Afghan capital. According to many sources, the presence of the Afghan army was being made sure even in other main cities of Afghanistan as well because of the security conundrum.

An overview of the recent past

According to Trump’s administration deal in February 2020 with the Taliban, the US forces were to withdraw from the country by May 1, 2021, and in response to it, the Taliban would refrain from attacking foreign troops and their bases in Afghanistan.

With the change in administration in the US and present situation around the world along with prevailing matters in Afghanistan, the new US president Joe Biden made a surprise announcement that the US troops would stay in Kabul beyond May 1 and will withdraw by September 11.

In recent times, violence against Afghan forces has escalated and more than hundreds of Afghan security forces have been killed. A huge blast took place on the eve of the previously agreed withdrawal date in the Eastern Logar region where dozens of Afghan forces men were killed when they were breaking their fast in the Holy month of Ramadhan.

Still, it is not clear who was behind the attack. The Taliban leaders responded strongly to the Biden’s administration new announcement and issued strong rhetoric with threatening consequences. The Taliban also boycotted a crucial conference in Turkey last month that was meant to jumpstart-stalled Afghan peace talks in Doha. Since then, many contacts have been made to bring the Taliban back to the negotiating table and agree to the new withdrawal date of the US troops. Still, no concrete progress has been made in it.

Threatening consequences

The Taliban Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter, “This violation in principle has opened the way for (Taliban) to take every counter-action it deems appropriate against the occupying forces”. He also added that the fighters were waiting for the decision of the Taliban leadership.

Last week Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters that talks were being held. “Discussions between the US and Taliban and […] within the Taliban’s leadership are underway whether to extend that or not,” he said. Washington also warned that if the foreign troops in Afghanistan were attacked while the withdrawal process they would respond and defend themselves “with all the tools at our disposal”.

According to many the Taliban threats must be taken seriously but at the same time, many think that the Taliban response could be averted through a new set of negotiations and talks. “We can’t rule out attacks,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Programme at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington. “That said, the Taliban is less likely to attack foreign forces now that it knows there is a specific date when they will be leaving.”

Negotiating process on-going

According to many sources, there were many meetings and negotiations held with the Taliban to try to get them to agree to a deadline extension. The US special envoy in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, had met with the Taliban head, Mullah Baradar, in Doha, a Taliban spokesman said on Friday.

Also, on the eve of the May 1 deadline, envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, and the United States met with Taliban officials and Afghan government negotiators in the Qatari capital. The Taliban said they discussed the peace process and have requested that Taliban leaders be removed from sanctions lists.

According to many sources a delegation of Taliban political leaders had been in Islamabad this week. An official source said negotiations had revolved around the proposed deadline extension in exchange for the United States not getting involved in Afghan military operations against the Taliban.

It also included getting the Taliban to commit to re-joining the Turkey conference if they were provided with an agenda on what would be discussed there along with a possible declaration of a ceasefire over the upcoming Eid holiday.

Epilogue

The withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan will augur well for both the US and the Taliban forces in the region. The possible solution to this conflict will come out from the table talks. No war in this 21st-century globalized world could lead to solutions and sustainable peace.

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With the uprising of the revolution and after that the death of the Shah of Iran, things changed up. Iran tried to export its Islamic revolution to other parts of the Middle East. This initiative of Iran distorted Saudi Arabia’s resolve towards Iran. Since then both the nations are hardcore enemies fighting against each other on different platforms and forums like Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and also on the most sensitive issue the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Saudi Arabia and Iran held talks last week in April 2021. The talks were held in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi officials mediated between the two arch-rivals for the talks. Iraq has a Shiite leadership having good terms with Iran. The common cultural and religious aspects between Iraq and Saudi Arabia have also made them be on one page. This is where Iraq played its part and low-level talks took place in Baghdad.

The Yemen quagmire and JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Parties of Agreement) related Vienna Talks were made part of the meeting. These two main issues were discussed in the meeting. The six-year-long Yemen civil war is not near any end. The war is between Saudi backed government and Iran backed Houthi Rebels.

Iran provides weapons and ammunition to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthi rebels are severely against Saudi Arabia. These rebels have many times planned to conduct missile attacks in Saudi Arabia. The 2019 attack on Saudi Oil Facility is also being doubted as to be conducted from Yemen by Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran.

Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim state. Whereas Iran is a Shiite Muslim state. Both these sects of Islam: Sunni and Shia, are rivals and poles apart in their point of view since the demise of The Holy Prophet of Islam Muhammad (PBUH). The rivalry has continued till now especially in the masses. In 2016, Saudi Arabia killed a Saudi Shiite Cleric Sheikh Baqir Al-Nimr. This created a furore in Iran.

The masses attacked Saudi Embassy in Iran. As a response to it, the Saudi government cut off all the diplomatic relations with Iran. The talks from last week have been a thaw in relations since last severed in 2016. The main purpose behind the talk was that Iran wanted Saudi Arabia to back them in the nuclear talks in Vienna where all the parties to the agreement including the USA are going to discuss the revival of the Iran Nuclear Deal and also plans to overcome the economic sanctions against Iran.

On the other hand, the Saudi government wants to control and mend affairs in Yemen where Houthi rebels are proving to be strong to handle. The Saudi government is afraid that Houthis will attack the royal palaces along with Holy Sites in Makkah and Medina.

Both sides have a common interest in having a table talk about their matters. There could not be any breakthrough in last week’s talks. There are plans to conduct talks again in the future. It could be as early as next week. Maybe in the last part of April or 1st week of May. Both sides want to overcome adverse relations which will not only be good for the region but the whole Muslim World.

In a crux, we can say that Saudi Arabia and Iran are the two most important pillars of the Islamic World. One represents the Sunni community and the other represents the Shiite sect. The adverse relations between these two Leading Muslim nations do not augur well for not only the middle east but the whole Muslim community.

Last week’s talks are an omen for the future. There are plans for another round of talks in the coming days. Muslim world leaders like Iraq, Pakistan, and Indonesia should play their part and make these rounds of talks a success which obviously will be a win-win situation for all.

As the Sunni-Shia divide has now been carried out in the whole Muslim world. Every Muslim country is divided between these two sects of Islam. The Islamic world crisis can be overcome with a fruitful second round of talks between Saudi and Iran.

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