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Vowing to "awaken the people for the restoration of democracy", the BNP yesterday brought out a colourful procession in the capital, marking the 51st Victory Day.

Led by their central leaders, the party followers joined the event carrying the national flag, placards, banners and portraits of party top leaders.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir inaugurated the procession around 2:30pm in front of the party's Nayapaltan central office.

After parading different streets through Bijoynagar, Kakrail and Shantinagar, the procession ended at Nayapaltan around 3:50pm.

Thousands of leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies started gathering in front of the central office since noon, causing traffic congestion.

At a brief rally before the procession, BNP leaders and activists demanded their party Chairperson Khaleda's treatment abroad.

Fakhrul said the current government shattered all the hopes and aspirations and the spirit of the Liberation War to establish a one-party Baksal rule "usurping" the state power.

"Today's programme is for awaking people afresh and waging a new struggle for the restoration of democracy."

"Let's make a good start of a movement through this programme, to free our leader Begum Khaleda Zia and ensure her proper treatment through this movement, we'll be able to establish a truly democratic state by restoring democracy in the country and we'll be able to restore our human rights," he said.

Fakhrul renewed their party's demand for allowing Khaleda to go abroad for advanced treatment.

The BNP leader said it is unfortunate for the nation that a government has been there in power by force using the state machinery even after 50 years of the country's independence. "They [government] have destroyed everything we achieved -- our sovereignty, our freedom, our right to vote, our right to write, our right to speak."

The nation celebrated the 51st Victory Day on Thursday by paying deep homage to the martyrs of the Liberation War and taking an oath to build the country as a developed, prosperous and non-communal "Sonar Bangla".

This year's Victory Day has special significance as it coincided with the celebrations of the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of the country's independence.

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People will be woken to restore democracy - The Daily Star

As an investor, Ray Dalio eyes the rearview mirror to see whats ahead. If this paradox makes sense, then you likely agree with the view of history that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Put another way, its hard to know where youre going if you dont know where youve been. In his latest book, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail, Dalio, the founder and co-chairman of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, shows investors their future by taking them back in time to study the rise and fall of great countries and powerful currencies. Because one question you never want to ask about either your money or your situation in life is: How did I get here?

In almost 600 pages of narrative and charts, the book paints Dalios interpretation of the tectonic shifts now reshaping global politics and financial markets in ways that loudly echo the past but are yet to be determined namely the competitive, complex relationship between the U.S. and China.

See: Ray Dalio says his China human-rights comments were misunderstood

How the worlds two most-formidable nations coexist or not is affecting and will continue to impact not only your wealth and opportunities in the 21st century but your childrens and their childrens as well. Says Dalio: [Americans] have to do three things: Wehave to earn more than we spend by being productive and get our finances in order; we have to work well together economically and politically, and we have to avoid war with China.

In this interview, which has been edited for clarity and length, Dalio offers insights about the similarities between the current economic and political cycle and previous ones, the disturbing external and internal threats to American democracy and influence, and how to and what to hold in your investment portfolio, including bitcoin, as history unfolds.

MarketWatch: Your new book is the latest in a series where you share your fundamental principles for investing in and living with the world as it is essentially ways to accept and play the hand youre dealt. What conditions and circumstances concern the United States right now that you want investors to understand, and why look to the past for answers?

Dalio: In my investing, I learned a lesson that many things that surprised me hadnt happened in my lifetime but had happened before. The first time that happened was inAugust1971 when the U.S. broke its promise to exchange dollars for gold so that it could print a lot of money,which led to the devaluation of the U.S. dollar. I was working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. I wassurprised that the stock market rose a lot, so I looked into history and I found that same thing happened in March 1933. And I learned why.

As a result of that, I always study whatdrove major economic and market movements in history. My study of the Great Depression is the reason we anticipated the 2008 financial crisis.

Many people are interested in the news of the day, but theyre not interested in the history and lessons of the past. But you wont understand whats going on if you just react to the news of the day.My approach has always been like [that of] a doctor, that if I havent seen many cases of it before I want to go back and study all the cases in history so I can make decisions today.

There are three things happening now that I needed to study:

These things are big. Almost every day were going to be talking about these three things and whats happening with them. The last time that happened was in the 1930-1945 period. They happened many times in history basically for the same reasons in the same way.

MarketWatch:The political and social divisions in the U.S. affectso much of whatAmericans take for granted,and maybe its because theyre taken for granted that they confront us now.Can this country move forward together?

Dalio: The fundamentals are clear. We have to do three things: Wehave to earn more than we spend by being productive and get our finances in order, we have to work well together economically and politically, and we have to avoid war with China. When I look at different countries, I judge them based on whether they have good finances, internal order and external peace.

If the causes people are behind are more important to them than the system, the system is in jeopardy. I worry thats where the U.S. is now.

We have the ability to do these things, but I worry about us being our own worst enemy.History has shown that if the causes people are behind are more important to them than the system, the system is in jeopardy. I worry thats where the U.S. is now.

There is agreat polarity, afight-and-win-at-all-costs mentality. Looking ahead, inthe 2022 electionswe will see the primary battle between the extremists and the moderates in both political parties and probably see moves to greater extremism. In the general election, thereis a good chance that neither side will accept being the loser.

This type of fight-to-the-death mentality could lead to some form of civil war. What I mean by civil war is a series of battles not resolved by the law or the Constitution, in which power is used instead includingthe failure of our democracy to work.

Barrons on MarketWatch: Ray Dalio on the possibility of U.S. civil war

Also, as I look ahead economically for the U.S., I see a worsening of the situation. Because of all the money that has been pumped out were now on a sugar high, but we are beginning to see that inflationwill pick up, and the stimulus checks that came in wont come in at the same rate, causing conditions to worsen.

It all comes down to a couple of basics.To be successful we have to be financially strong and be good with each other. Thats it.

MarketWatch: Easier said than done. There doesnt seem to be muchpolitical willright now in Washington or among the U.S. states to work together.

Dalio: I know. In these cases the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Chinese Revolution,for example the divides became greater and greater. And then you have to pick a side and fight for that side. We are starting to see this in the U.S. by the movementof Americansto different states. Its not just a tax issue. Its a values issue.

Most likely youre going to see disagreements between the federal government and state governments on the matter of what is states rights that probably wont be all settled legally, so theywill be settled through tests of power. There will be places that people wont want to be because itll be threatening. People will want to be with their own kind.

See: Im done with Illinois! I want to retire in a small town in a neighboring state so where should I go?

Also: I want to move to the South, I want the beach and a liberal mindset. Where should I retire?

I want individuals to understand the mechanics of this,which is why I wrote the book. For example, Id like them to see historical cases and fundamental cause-effect relationships to understand whatit means to produce a lot of debt and a lot of money, so I wrote a chapter on the value of money.

MarketWatch: What could thissituation mean for U.S. investors?Youre describing a very differentAmerica toconsider.

Dalio: Right. I want people to be well-informed and worry about what they should worry about.

I have a principle: If you worry, you dont have to worry. And if you dont worry, you have to worry. If you worry, youll take care of the thing youre worried about. If people worry about the fighting and they worry about the finances, then they can work together and deal with these things.

People think the safest investment is cash, but they dont look at the inflation-adjusted return.

Financially, the way it worksis when the government needs to send out checks,it could either get the money from taxes or from borrowing. If it cant get all the money it needs from borrowing, the central bank can print the money. That devalues the value of money.

Central banks can create a lot more money and debt, but that wont raise living standards. Id like to help people see how money and credit move through the system to drive things. Id like to show people how money and credit are created and how a person who gets the money and creditbuys goods, services and financial assets, which makes those thingsgo up in price.

Id like to help them understand the reasons whycash is so bad in this type of environment. People think the safest investment is cash, but they dont look at the inflation-adjusted return.

Dont hold cash. Its better to hold a liquid, diversified portfolio of assets if its balanced. Make sure youre well-diversified outside of cash stocks SPX, -1.74%, bonds TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.399%, inflation-indexed bonds, commodities and gold GLD, -0.12%, and across many countries, particularly those with stronger income statements and balance sheets. An all-weather portfolio has currency diversification, asset-class diversification, country diversification and industry diversification.

MarketWatch: So youre thinking that higher U.S. inflation is not transitory. Its going to stick.

Dalio: Yes. Theres two types of inflation. Theres inflation when the demand for goods and services rises against the capacity to produce them. Thats normal, cyclical inflation. Then theres monetary inflation the creation of a lot of money and credit relative to the quantity of goods and services. The U.S. is having both.

When I look at the countrys financials going forward, what the size of the deficit will be and how much money is produced, thats a concern. Theres also the risk, or even the probability, that those who are holding cash and bonds will choose to sell those to move into other things. If that happens, the U.S. central bank will have to decide if it raises interest rates, which will hurt the economy and I dont believe they can do that in a significant way. It would be bad for the economy, politics and the markets if they tried to rectify that by allowing interest rates to rise. So theyre probably going to have to print more money, and that causes more monetary inflation.

Dont miss: All those doves at the Fed have suddenly become hawks, writes Rex Nutting

Today it doesnt cost anything to borrow. Right now if you take out debt, you have practically no interest rate andprincipal payments can be deferred, so money is essentially free.With the cost of money negative and below the nominal growth rate, its very profitable to borrow and invest in anything that can grow at the inflation rate or more. Thats whats priced into the markets now. And if they change things raise interest rates to be higher than is priced into the markets asset prices will go down and there will be more of an economic problem.

Central bankers, especially the Fed, are between a rock and a hard place. Theyneed to tighten quite a lot to restrain inflation, yet if they do they will hurt the economy.

Central bankers, especially the Fed, are between a rock and a hard place. Theyneed to tighten quite a lot to restrain inflation, yet if they do they will hurt the economy.Imagine what would happen if there was a tightening of monetary policy in the classic way of first causing asset prices to go down and then the economy to contract.

Politically, imagine what that would be like. People are at each others throats and theyve been given a lot of money. Im afraid of another economic downturn. We cant even get along on whether we can wear masks or not. You cant allow another economic downturn. You cant raise interest rates enough to bite. Interest rates have to be significantly below both the inflation rate and the nominal GDP growth rate.

Its easy to see what type of policy biases will exist by looking at whether circumstances favor debtors or creditors being favored. High real interest rateswill exist when circumstances make it better for the creditor to be helped and credit growth to show while low real rates will exist when central banks want to help debtors and want to stimulate credit growth.

History shows that when countries need more money and dont have other ways of getting it that they will produce more money.Producing money doesnt take money away from anyone so its politically easier because its a hidden tax. Nobodys complaining about where the money came from. If you get it through taxes, everybody squawks. History has shown that the easiest way is to print more money and give it out. If instead you tighten, it has consequences.

MarketWatch:Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencyalso is politicized. Crypto has become a political statement as much as away to make and losemoney.

Dalio: Theres a lot of money chasing all sorts of things,crypto among them. It has been an amazing accomplishment for bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.23% to have achieved what it has done, from writing that program, not being hacked, having it work and having it adopted the way it has been.I believe in the blockchain technology; theres going to be that revolution, so it hasearned credibility.

Im not an expert on bitcoin, but I think it has some merit as a small portion of a portfolio.

Im not an expert on bitcoin,but I think it has some merit as a small portion of a portfolio. Bitcoin is like gold, though gold is the well established blue-chip alternative to fiat money.

Key Words: Feds Powell says he doesnt see cryptocurrencies as financial stability concern

However, bitcoin has a number of other issues. If itis a threat to governments, it will probably be outlawed in some places when it becomes relatively attractive. It may not be outlawed in all places. I dont believe that central banks or major institutions will have a significant amount in it.

I have a little bit of it because I believe a portfolio should start off with, under a worst-case scenario, what assets protect it and make sure its diversified.Its almost a younger generations alternative to gold and it has no intrinsic value, but it has imputed value and it has therefore some merit.

Read on: Can the Federal Reserve taper without causing a tantrum in the markets? So far, so good

Also see: Why it matters that workers feel they matter: Valued employees do a better job for employers and customers

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Ray Dalio warns Feds hands are tied and higher U.S. inflation is sticking around. Democracy, maybe not. - MarketWatch

The Turkish Democracy Project, a political advocacy group launched this summer with the stated goal of promoting democracy in Turkey, has the surprising characteristic of having no Turkish members on its leadership board. In a press release announcing its creation, the organization said that it was committed to encouraging Turkey to adopt more democratic policies. The two Turkish people publicly involved with the project former Turkish politician Aykan Erdemir and academic Suleyman Ozeren were removed from its websites list of advisory council members not long after its launch.

The Turkish Democracy Project boasts a roster heavy with hawkish former U.S. public officials and diplomats with close ties to Israel and the Gulf Arab states.

Despite having no actual Turks publicly affiliated with the group, the Turkish Democracy Project boasts a roster heavy with hawkish former U.S. public officials and diplomats with close ties to Israel and the Gulf Arab states, including former Bush administration counterterrorism official Frances Townsend, former U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, and former President Donald Trumps famously aggressive national security adviser John Bolton. Its time to sound the alarm on Turkey, Bolton, best known for his advocacy of U.S. confrontation with Iran, said on Twitter at the time of the Turkey Democracy Projects launch.

Under its heavy-handed ruling AK Party, democracy in Turkey has faced serious setbacks in recent years, but what the Turkish Democracy Project specifically does to address that problem is unclear. The organization does, however, have links to a network of well-funded dark-money groups promoting U.S. foreign policy positions in the Middle East that dovetail with Saudi, Emirati, and Israeli security interests.

At the center of it all is Mark Wallace, a former George W. Bush administration ambassador to the United Nations. Wallace is presently the head not just of the Turkish Democracy Project, but also the anti-Iran organization United Against Nuclear Iran, or UANI; the counterterrorism advocacy group Counter Extremism Project, or CEP; and even an arts-based nonprofit focused on human rights in Iran called PaykanArtCar. Eight out of11 of the Turkish Democracy Projects senior leadership and advisory board members hold positions with UANI, CEP, or both.

UANI and CEP have had questions raised about their aims and sources of funding,including whether they receive financial support from foreign governments and political figures. The Turkish Democracy Project did not respond to a request for comment about its own funding and sources of support.

The Turkish Democracy Project has yet to publicly file information about its funding. But the closely linked organizations UANI and CEP both fall under an umbrella organization known as Counter Extremism Project United. While never disclosing any of its funding sources, this network of organizations brought in over $101 million between 2009 and 2019, according to a review of tax filings, making it one of the biggest dark-money U.S. foreign policy pressure networks in operation today.

A July 2021 article on the corporate and government news site Intelligence Online about the creation of the Turkish Democracy Project noted Wallaces extensive ties with Thomas Kaplan, a billionaire investor who is known to be a funder and vocal supporter of Wallaces Iran-related advocacy groups.

Kaplan also employs Wallace as a senior adviser at his Electrum Group, a firm that invests in public equities in the metals and mining sector commodities that both Kaplan and Wallace have marketed to investors as retaining or appreciating in value if there is political instability in the Middle East.

The article in Intelligence Online also referred to Kaplans extensive ties to Gulf Arab royals, something he has referred to enthusiastically in past public appearances. In particular, Kaplan maintains extensive business and philanthropic ties to the United Arab Emirates.

Efforts to examine the finances behind the web of Kaplan-linked foreign policy pressure groups have found an unusual obstacle: the U.S. government, which quashed a 2013 lawsuit against Kaplan and UANI. The suit claimed that Kaplan and UANI were financed by undisclosed foreign interests. The government, in an unusual invocation of state secrets as a third-party intervenor in a civil suit, cryptically claimed that permitting the case to move forward would jeopardize U.S. national security.

Despite the availability of public filings providing total figures about the funding of this network of Wallace-led organizations, specific information about donors remains opaque. There have been periodic clues, however, pointing to a generous role for Kaplan in bankrolling these activities. UANI donor rolls published in 2015 on the investigative news site LobeLog revealed that trusts controlled by Kaplan contributed $843,000 to UANI in 2013, accounting for roughly half of the organizations revenue that year.

Billionaire investor Thomas Kaplan speaks onstage during the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit on Sept. 24, 2018 in New York City.

Photo: Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit

In 2015, Wallace filed a truth in testimony disclosure with the House Foreign Affairs Committee before serving as a witness in his capacity as head of the Counter Extremism Project. Wallace wrote: We have only received to date individual and private contributions. CEP has received no monies from foreign governments. We have discussed funding of CEP with both the U.S. government (Dept. of State) and various foreign governments in the future.

A trove of leaked emails released several years ago believed to be from theaccount of UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef al Otaiba appeared to show the networks pursuit of foreign funding, particularly from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. An email from Wallace to Otaiba from September 3, 2014, referenced cost estimates for an upcoming forum, though it was unclear the event being referenced was a UANI event or the launch of CEP, which took place later that month.

Another leaked email exchange from January 2015 mentioned UAE support for CEP, with Townsend soliciting Otaibas assistance in arranging meetings with Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. Townsend concluded her email by thanking Otaiba for his support of the CEP effort!

Again in August 2016, former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, now a Saudi lobbyist, wrote to Otaiba at the direction of Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir to provide CEPs tax status. As Coleman wrote to the UAE ambassador: Foreign Minister Al Jubeir recommended that I follow up with you on the attached matter. The Counter Extremism Project is a 501c4. Let me know if you have any questions.

You can do all these types of work if youre a U.S. citizen and funded by U.S. citizens, but FARA comes into play if youre funded or taking actions at the behest of a foreign government or entity.

If CEP and UANI receive foreign funding, their activities may require registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, a law requiring registration for entities within the United States engaging in political activities.

None of the groups have registered under FARA, though, despite the suggestions, no hard evidence has emerged of foreign funding.

These groups all engage in activities that would qualify under FARAs definition of political activities, Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, said of UANI, CEP, and the Turkish Democracy Project. They have very explicit aims related to U.S. foreign policy, and they are actively trying to influence sections of the public and in some cases policymakers themselves towards these policy objectives.

You can do all these types of work if youre a U.S. citizen and funded by U.S. citizens, but FARA comes into play if youre funded or taking actions at the behest of a foreign government or entity, Freeman added.

The launch of the Turkish Democracy Project this summer predictably infuriated pro-government media in Turkey, which have characterized the organization as part of a plot by an array of the countrys enemies to undermine its stability.

Over the past decade, Turkey has been locked in an internal struggle between supporters of the ruling AK Party and the Glen Movement, a banned political network that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accuses of masterminding a 2016 coup attempt. Turkey also has had hostile ties in recent years with Gulf Arab nations like theUAE and Saudi Arabia, as well as Israel.

For their part, Wallace and Kaplan remain at the center of a growing network of well-funded organizations whose foreign policy objectives coincide with the stated security interests of governments in Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv. Despite the high-minded words contained in its mission statements, observers said that the launch of the Turkish Democracy Project seems to be more about furthering the interests of Turkeys regional rivals than defending liberal democracy.

Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, also known as DAWN, a Middle East-focused, Washington-based think tank created in the aftermath of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, said that the background of those behind the organization points to a political purpose rather than a humanitarian one.

To target a flawed democracy in the Middle East, Whitson said, while its board members defend and promote the absolute monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the apartheid state of Israel, and the dictatorship in Egypt suggests that this groups focus is political rather than based on values.

Read more here:
Turkish Democracy Project Linked to Anti-Iran, Pro-Israel Network - The Intercept

How dare we, Ohio voters, vote to end gerrymandering, and expect our Republican elected officials to end gerrymandering that assures their election and would assure their reelection.

How dare we expect that elected officials will not undermine the fairness of American elections, will not suppress the vote of citizen groups who might now reelect incumbent Republicans.

How dare we expect Republican officials in Ohio, in every state, to finally tell the truth about our 2020 presidential election.

How dare we prefer democracy, the peaceful transfer of power and hassle-free elections to violent, gun-toting intimidation of political candidates and elected officials by Red Coats, power-crazed, wealthy, dictatorial king-wishers who would follow their vindictive defeated leader, still storming around dressed in naked lies and misinformation.

Do we have to ring the liberty bell again?

How dare we expect news mediaand social mediato report verifiable factual news.How dare we expect the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our democracy to hold politicians and regular citizens accountable for lies, for misinformation, for cheating American citizen voters of their rightful representation in democracy, in local and federal legislative bodies.

Dare we vote like Paula and Paul Reveres?

Carol McFall, Washington Township

View original post here:
Letter to the editor: How dare we prefer democracy and truth? - Canton Repository

United States President Joe Biden has invited around 110 countries to a virtual summit on democracy in December, including major Western allies and also Iraq, India and Pakistan, according to a list posted on the State Department website recently. But why Pakistan? No doubt, it is called a parliamentary democracy. But is it really?

The conference was a campaign pledge by the US president, who has placed the struggle between democracies and "autocratic governments" at the heart of his foreign policy. The "Summit for Democracy" will take place online on December 9 and 10 ahead of an in-person meeting at its second edition next year. It is aimed at "galvanising commitments and initiatives across three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights".

Pakistan has failed on all these counts. And repeatedly. After independence in 1947, Pakistan was established as a parliamentary system based on elected forms of governance. However, the military has ruled for over three decades (1958-1971, 1977-1988, 1999-2008) and it has been difficult for democracy to take root because of governing conflicts.

The first five-year term of an elected government started in 2013 and 2018 signifies the first democratic transfer of power, record proves. In Pakistan, civilian governments are subject to military influence and pragmatically accommodate the army in order to reduce the chances of a coup. The Pakistani army is the de facto ruler of the country abetted by the ISI. We all know the fate suffered by Nawaz Sharif who sought to strengthen the civilian government.

It could safely be averred that Pakistani governments' survive at the mercy of its Army and this in turn draws its strength from citing the "Indian threat". How did Imran Khan become the head of the government? Is it not due to the Army's intervention in the election process? "Yeh jo dehsat gardi hai, is ke peechey wardi hai" (terror is backed by the military) was a popular chant during the 2018 elections and cast aspersions on democracy taking root in Pakistan.

There is evidence to suggest the military ran a campaign of intimidation and threats to secure Imran Khan's position by suppressing his political opponents, the judiciary, media, and activists. Firstly, the media was subjected to unprecedented pressure, raising concerns that the army was carrying out a silent coup. There were widespread abductions of journalists, censorship, and financial ruin of establishments that refused to toe the official line do not cover or praise the PML-N, focus on the winning image of PTI and Imran Khan.

Geo TV, the country's largest broadcaster, was forced off air for weeks. Dawn, the oldest newspaper, was threatened for interviewing Sharif where he suggested Pakistani militants were responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The brazen suppression of two of the largest media houses was a warning to the rest to fall in line.

The suspension of media and press rights highlighted the excess of military influence on the electoral process. Then the vote banks systematically broke down. It was an election under the shadow of threat and 'democracy' won again in Pakistan. It is a shame that Biden treats countries like Pakistan as democratic even!

Excerpt from:
Democracy and Pakistan, an oxymoron - The Hans India