1. Egypt : Active Personnel : 438,000 

Egypt is a country in the north of Africa with a staggering population of 94 million people and has face major political crises in the recent past but this has not changed its position as a leading African country when it comes to military strength A significant percentage of Egypt’s population (over 35 millions) are fit for active military service and more than 1.5 million individuals reach the military age every year. With almost 5,000 tanks including armoured fighting vehicles , self propelled guns and towed artillery , Egypt is a force to reckon with when it comes to Africa.

Having a total of 1,100 aircraft including 245 helicopters , 343 fighters , 390 trainer aircraft and 28 mine warfare, 84 serviceable air ports and a budget over 3.63 billions dollars pumped into Egypt’s defence every 365 days makes Egyptian military the strongest among other countries in Africa.

2. Algeria : Active Personnel : 130,000 

Algeria is the biggest country in Africa , with an area that covers approximately 2.5 million sq km and has a coastline of 998 km. The Nation’s defense budget is 9.59 billions euro.

African is a country with a strong military , that is trained and equipped mostly by France and Germany. They do possess strong ability to counter Jihadi threat , since the civil war that ravaged the country in the 80’s between the Army and the Islamists. Now Algeria is one the the most stable country in a region plagued by Jihadism.

The recent intervention of Algerian’s security forces in the In Amenas hostage crisis in the South of the country, was a clear success and the Algerian rescue operation showed a good degree of professionalism among the Algerian Security Forces.

3. Ethiopia : Active Personnel 138,000 

Ethipia has a population of almost 94 millions. It has 182,000 active frontline personnel. The nations covers 1 million sq km. Ethiopia’s defense budget is 308 millions euros. It has 560 tanks and 81 aircrafts.

Ethiopian Army is the leader of the coalition currently fighting the Shababs in Somalia. The army is well trained and well equipped , mostly by the United States. Ethiopia is a growing country that has clearly become the regional power in Eastern Africa, alongside Kenya. The development of their army is part of a broader process that saw the development of every part of the Ethiopian Society.

4. South Africa: Active Personnel 62,000 

South Africa is a country that covers 1.2 millions sq/km. and has a coastline of 2,798 km. Defense budget of South Africa is 4.18 billion euro. The nation has 191 tanks, 213 aircraft and its total naval strength is 30 warships.

Since the end of the apartheid , South Africa is a country that rejected violence ,and was reluctant to have a strong army. However in the last decades , the recent global and regional events , showed that South Africa, in order to keep the integrity of its border and limits immigrations from neighborings countries needed to have a strong Army. South Africa is the most technologically advanced country in Africa , and therefore all the continents try to immigrate there. Recently there has been violents riots against foreigners in Johannesburg, because the population was exceeded with the numbers of illegals crossing the borders and living in South Africa. Additionally a strong army is needed to cope with the problems of the poachers , who are killing everyday hundreds of endangered animals across Africa , especially in the Kruger Park that is a Park of the Size of Israel. These poachers are a clear danger to South African Natural Resources, more grave they also don’t hesitate to kill rangers ,policeman and even civilians if there are interference with these activities. These poachers usually come from Mozambique, and are equipped with High-Tech materials, that it is difficult for rangers only to cope with them.

5. Nigeria : Active Personnel 80,000

Nigeria is the most populous country of Africa , with a population of around 175 millions inhabitants. The country’s defense budget is 2.11 billion. It has 363 tanks and 96 aircraft. Nigeria’s total naval strength is 75. It covers 923,000 sq km and has a coastline of 853 km.

Nigeria is engaged in a war with Boko Haram, and extremist Islamic group that is committing terrorists actions in the North East of the country. The Nigerian army was poorly equipped until recently , but since the kidnapping of more than 300 Nigerians girls in a school two years ago, the government has seek American Help. Nigerian Army was trained and equipped by the US and was able in late 2014 to launch a vast offensive against Boko Haram. This offensive was reinforced by the election of a new President , that is an ex military , and who wants to totally eradicate Boko Haram. So far , the offensive has been successful , with the Boko Harams militants being pushed away of Nigeria to Cameroun. The Nigerian Army even created a coalition with other neighboring countries such as Chad and Cameroon to eradicate Boko Harams rear bases in these countries.

Sources : Global Fire Power.

The caliphate faces an enemy more deadly than the bombs being dropped upon it. It has not been able to construct a viable economy to provide all of the necessities that a society requires and people will not wait forever to fill their stomachs or for the lights to work.

A film released at the end of August by the Islamic State heralds the coming of a new gold Dinar currency. Najeh Ibrahim, a former member of the Islamist Gamaa Islamiyah, says that this tells the world that the Islamic State is a sovereign state and tells Muslims that their dignity and economic power is being restored.

In November of 2014, the idea of the gold Dinar was first announced. There was a debate within the leading circles of the Islamic State if it was a sound economic plan. In spite of doubts by some, the accumulation of gold and silver for the coins was undertaken, but little more was said of the new currency until the film Rise of the Caliphate: The Return of the Gold Dinar presented the issue as a part of the strategy of the Islamic State to destroy the United States and the West and to create an independent caliphate economy.

Return of the Gold Dinar continues the IS practice of tying every action to the Abbasid Caliphate that ruled much of the Middle Eastern region from 750 to the middle of the thirteenth century, which was an Islamic empire not much different from the Persian and Egyptian empires and minted its own coinage. The new coins are to display religious symbols like those on the original coins. Baghdadi would like his followers to imagine that they are a continuation of the long ago caliphate with only a mere 750-year disruption.

The idea is not new. The proposal to create a gold Dinar was advocated in 2002 when Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia presented it at the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The problems in the economies of Muslim societies were attributed to foreign domination and a gold currency was to be the means of escaping dollar domination by creating a Muslim economic community.

Daesh’s monetary problem is not domination by the USD. Rather, it is that the erasing of the borders between Iraq and Syria did not change the line drawn by two separate economies using two different currencies.

If Daesh intends to create a single economy, it must create a common currency that will enable buyers and sellers to agree upon a price for goods and services without having to first decide upon an exchange rate.

The obvious solution is for Daesh to create its own currency that will circulate throughout the caliphate; but getting the public to accept the new colored pieces of paper from a government that may not exist in a few years makes conversion a near impossibility. The other choice is for people to conduct business in a currency that can be trusted, such as the USD or the Euro. The Turkish Lira is preferred in many cases over the local currencies, but using foreign currencies requires people to have access to them.  How can people acquire sufficient foreign funds to finance their daily needs when the economy is isolated from the surrounding countries?

What commerce does occur is of a criminal nature. How much the caliphate acquires from the export of historical treasures or human organs or oil is all a guess. Contributions from wealthy supporters in Saudi Arabia or the Gulf States or ransom money from kidnap victims provides only a few drops in a desert that is consuming vast amounts of money to finance an ongoing war.

Much of the wealth of the caliphate comes from taxation of its citizens and sale of grain or petroleum that are kept as caliphate monopolies. Exploiting these resources, though, is finite. Farmers will not plant if they cannot expect a reasonable price for their crops and factories will not manufacture if the owner cannot acquire fuel or materials that he can afford or gain a profit that makes the effort worthwhile.

Getting fresh investment is a near impossibility and the economy is in decline which is making the acquisition of a new medium of exchange a serious issue that cannot be delayed too much longer.  Before the rise of the Islamic State, 11 of Iraq’s 35 million people were engaged in agriculture. They farmed twelve million acres of land. In spite of this domestic production, Iraq imported five billion dollars in foodstuffs, much of which was used to provide food packages to the impoverished Sunni in the provinces now under Daesh control.

Since the seizure of large areas of Iraq by the Islamic State, the amount of acreage under cultivation has been cut in half with no possibility of supplementing the loss foodstuffs with imports, while Syria is in even worse condition. Half of the population of 22 million has been displaced and no longer contributes to the economy. If the caliphate cannot provide food and essential services to the people under its control, it faces an insurrection.

The solution chosen by the caliphate is to turn to the gold Dinar that has as much symbolic value as is does as a means of financing the society. While gold speaks of wealth and security in the minds of most people, there is a hazard in adopting a gold currency. The value of the gold coins comes from the quality of gold metal and not from the quality of the issuer. Anyone doubting the longevity of the caliphate will be inclined to horde the coins under a rock somewhere or smuggle the coins outside. The loss of money from the economy will translate into an overall deflation as the scarcity of money raises its value; and that is likely to depress the economy even further.

Return of the Gold Dinar is a declaration of economic warfare upon the United States for reneging upon its pledge to preserve the gold standard and imposing the dollar standard upon the world. The caliphate assures its believers that it will exact its revenge by breaking the dollar and by bringing back the use of gold to finance world commerce.

Egyptian Finance Minister Fayyad Abdel Money, a former professor of economics, points out that there is not enough gold in the world to finance the more than 75 trillion dollar global economy. The U.S. represents a quarter of the total, a power somewhat beyond that of the caliphate.

After all of its talk about the mystical powers of gold, it is their own economy that is a serious weakness in the survival of the caliphate. The caliphate is consuming itself and needs a fresh infusion of wealth.

That means acquiring a commodity that can be marketed outside of the caliphate. The caliphate is targeting for that purpose opium from Afghanistan that produces 90 percent of the world supply and has the extra advantage of being the largest grower of cannabis. It is focusing on The Badakhshan Province, which saw a 77 percent increase in opium production during 2014 and has a minor Taliban presence. The mountainous province extends into Pakistan, Tajikistan and the Xinjiang Province of China. The Russian Federal Drug Control Service estimates that the opium trade is worth a billion dollars.

The move of the Islamic State into Afghanistan is bringing it into conflict with the Taliban, which also relies upon opium as a source of revenue. As its forces strengthen in the north, Islamic State is likely to spread deeper into the Taliban’s territory as both organizations battle to control the illegal drug trade in a Poppy War.

Felix Imonti  writes for GeopoliticalMonitor.com

Involvement in the Syrian conflict is putting Russia’s internal security at risk, as evidenced by both al-Nusra Front (or al-Qaeda in Syria) and Islamic State (ISIS) calling for terrorist attacks on Russian soil. These threats need to be treated seriously for several reasons. Militant jihadist organizations are active in Russia, the country remains a recruitment ground for extremists in Syria (as many as 2,400 Russian citizens have joined ISIS alone according to the Federal Security Bureau) and, finally, Moscow’s decision to support Bashar al-Assad has fueled resentment among a predominantly Sunni Muslim minority in the country.

In order to tackle these issues, Russia has been forced to take soft and hard measures, some rooted in the period preceding its intervention in Syria. These actions target the general Muslim public, including guest workers from Central Asia, and they’re aimed at preventing radicalization and curbing the effectiveness of the Islamic insurgency in the North Caucasus – a region that’s often referred to as “Russia’s soft belly.”

The possible grievances of Russian Muslims were addressed in three steps. An official Muslim clergy, concentrated around the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Russia officially supported the decision of the Russian president to intervene in Syria. Various anti-extremism measures were also taken by its members to counter pro-ISIS propaganda, e.g. issuing anti-ISIS fatwas and extending support for the concept of a ‘new socialization of Islam in Russia’ (a murky idea firstly mentioned by Vladimir Putin in 2013).

Second, as recently as two weeks ago, President Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma a bill banning sacred texts (Bible, Quran, Tanakh and Kangyur) and excerpts from them as being recognized as extremist materials in Russia. It was a response to the conflict between the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, and a court in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, which ruled that an Islamic book labeled Supplication (Dua) to God: Its Meaning and Place in Islam was extremist literature and as such illegal in Russia. The decision provoked a harsh reaction from Kadyrov – he threatened to punish a judge and a prosecutor who made the ruling, even by breaking the law. Eventually Vladimir Putin took side of the Chechen leader. Kadyrov is his trustworthy ally and insider into Russian Muslim world. The reaction of the Chechen leader to the Supplication to God ban convinced Putin that extremism laws may serve as a trigger for serious religious conflicts, and as such need to be addressed.

The third approach towards maintaining control over Russia’s Muslim population is through intimidation. A recent crackdown against Hizb ut-Tahrir (an organization illegal in Russia since 2003) should be viewed in this light. The FSB conducted at least 25 raids against the organization’s members. 97 suspects were detained, but 70 of them were quickly released. 16 of the 17 remaining suspects were only accused of sympathizing with Hizb ut-Tahrir. These poor results of a highly publicized special operation prove that its main purpose was to send message and keep Russian Muslim communities under control rather than combat any real terrorism threat.

A much more brutal strategy is currently being developed in the North Caucasus. Back in 2014, the insurgency level for the region was lowered. Nonetheless, Dagestan remains the center of political, terrorist, and combat activities, and the greatest source of instability within Russia. Thus it has become a target of the Kremlin, which has started to introduce policies to address the situation.

Local security and political structures were identified as a main source of failure in previous attempts to deal with militants. Therefore federal units took the lead in combating the insurgency, which quickly brought results in the form of the death of the so-called Emir of the Caucasus Emirate (CE) Aliaskhab Kebekov, his successor Magomed Suleimanov, and other senior leaders and rank-and-file members of the organization. At the same time, security organs stepped up repression against Salafi imams and activists. Some of them were killed, others were presented with an alternative: to leave country, even go to Syria using false documents, and to never come back.

The head of the Republic of Dagestan, Ramzan Abdulatipov, with support from Moscow, consequently began to concentrate power in his own hands. Local, influential strongmen, who in past often used the Islamist insurgency to solve their problems, were quickly targeted. Said Amirov, former powerful mayor of Makhachkala, has already been sentenced to life in prison; Sagid Murtazaliev, the former head of the Dagestani Branch of the Pension Fund of Russia is on the run (among other things, he is accused of involvement in murders and supporting terrorism); Sagidpasha Umahanov, the head of Khasavjurt, was forced to resign as well as Imam Jaraliev, the head of Derbent. These are only the most prominent cases among many others.

Russia hasn’t suffered from any terrorist attacks since the country started its operation in Syria. Also, the situation in the North Caucasus is calmer than ever since the beginning of the second war in Chechnya. Partially, this is because of external factors. The rise of ISIS has unexpectedly diverted the attention of would-be militants from the Caucasus, who prefer to wage “five-star” jihad in Syria rather than in their native region. As a result, the threat from ISIS on the Caucasus remains low as it suffers from material, financial and human power shortages. The organization has displayed an inability to conduct any serious actions against Russia up to now. The same rings true for the remnants of the CE, as the organization hasn’t named a new leader since summer 2015, and some observers even claim that the CE no longer exists.

All of these factors indicate that on both levels – national and regional – Russia’s anti-terrorism strategy seems to be working. However, as Russia’s involvement in the Syrian conflict deepens, new shortcomings may come to light.

Jaroslaw Marczuk is an Opinion writer for geopoliticalmonitor.com

Analysis: Twenty-five percent of the Palestinian economy is dependent on Israel . Without the commercial ties  with Israel, the Economy of the West Bank would collapse , and West Bank will turn into a second Gaza.

There is an important risk that the waves of terror of these last weeks, push the Palestinian Authority, who is surviving only thanks to external aids and “donations”, to dissolve, and to proclaim new elections in the West Bank. The disappearance of the Palestinian Authority (PA) would be catastrophic for Israel , from a security perspective.

In the case that the PA loose control of the West bank , the civil administrations , the security and the economic burden will have to be assumed by the State of Israel. This would clearly put Israel as a occupying power and thus legitimize the defamatory campaigns of pro-Palestinians groups such as BDS.

20 years ago, when the Israeli government gave the control of a great part of the West bank to the PA, there were less than 10,000 people working in Palestinians Governmental Institutions. Most of them were workers in the fields of education and health, they were logically trained and supervised by few Israeli experts.

Today more than 150,000 people are working for in the administration of the Palestinian Authority. To this number it is important to add the officials and the retired people that still receive a pension from the PA, which makes around 1 millions people. The budget of the Palestinian Government is around 3.52 billion euros, and an important part of it is coming from donations coming from various countries around the world.

If the PA is dismantled , who will pay for all of this? Who will administrate the offices and administrative services? Without to mention the enormous cost for security, because of the Army deployment in these zones.

The dependence to Israel , is for the moment the main reasons , why Mahmoud Abbas and most of the Palestinians living in the West Bank are reluctant to renounce to the Oslo Agreements and to establish unilaterally “A Palestinian State under Occupation”, which will significant the dissolution of the AP.

The reasons why this situation did not happen yet is well known among many experts of the Middle East : “The Palestinian Economy , especially in the West Bank rely mostly on Israel. Israel is the no.1 partner of the Palestinians concerning economic trade , and many Palestinians are working in Israel”. Without Israel, the West bank would transform very easily into a second Gaza Strip , without clear leadership and with one of the unemployment rate among the highest in the world. All of this would inevitably conduct to an aggravation of the Security Situation.

A good example of the Palestinian economic dependence to Israel , could be found on the database of the Israeli-Palestinian Economic Chamber.  There are more than 1,000 Israelis factories operating in the West Bank, divided in more than  14 Industrial zones. The most famous one is the one of Mishor Adumim, close to Jericho, which possess more than 330 factories. Other important zones are the ones of Barkan in Samaria (160 factories), Atarot , located on the route between Jerusalem and Ramallah and small ones close to Jewish Settlements in the Jerusalem Area.

All these factories, without exceptions are low-tech factories that uses the advantages of the West Bank : cheap labor and many advantageous financial conditions such as low taxes, and loans at an interesting rate. These factories include food processing and textile factories, garages, printing houses, furniture manufacturers, metal and plastic factories and suppliers of construction materials.

The Israeli economy has evolved these last years : progressively the High-Tech products and the industries specialized in High-Tech services , especially financial platforms have replace the traditional industries such as the one of the textile.

The Cities specialized in textiles such as Ofakim and Dimona in the South of Israel , have seen their factories of textile outsourced in Neighboring Arab countries and then later in China and South-East Asia. The reason for that is that the cost of labor was way cheaper in other countries. Nowadays , even Palestinians are favoring the Chinese products rather than Palestinians one , because they are much cheaper.

Still , Traditional industries remains the main the keystone of the Palestinian Economy. There are around 30,000 Palestinians that works in the Israeli Industrial Zones in the West Bank, while 20,000 others are directly working in the construction, transport or agricultures in Israeli communities.

An industry of subcontracts

There is also indirect Israeli-Palestinian trade which provides employment to many people in the West Bank, especially in the textile and furniture industries. A considerable part of the furniture displayed in Israeli stores, for example, was actually produced in West Bank  under full supervision of Israeli companies.

It is stored in factories and warehouses in the settlements in order to avoid the security checks at crossings and the trouble of transferring the goods from Palestinian trucks to Israeli trucks

There is also an entire industry of subcontract work performed by Palestinians for Israel. If we add the 100,000 Palestinians who work in , we will find that at least 200,000 Palestinians makes a living from their connection to Israel. According to the Israeli-Palestinian commerce chamber, they make up more than 25 percent of the Palestinian workforce and produce about 20 percent of the Palestinian Gross Domestic Product.

Most of these Palestinian workers don’t have an alternative if they lost their job and  the current wave of violence may cause the security arrangements in the West Bank to collapse and lead Israel to cancel Working Permit into Israel, and to “block” the Palestinians enclaves. The result will be a destruction of the West Bank’s shaky economy and inevitably the region would turn into a second Gaza, with an important deterioration of the Security Situation.

 Recent news has renewed interest in Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem and founder of Palestinian nationalism, and has also shined a spotlight on the ties between Palestinian nationalism and Nazism. Here is what you need to know:

• Husseini used the “Temple Mount Images” to convince the Arabs to massacre Jews in Hebron , in 1929.

The Atlantic’s  reminded us last week, in an article of Jeffrey Goldberg;  how Husseini’s incitement against Jews before the creation of the State of Israel served as a model for the current terror against Jews in Israel.

The spiritual leader of Palestine’s Muslims, the mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, incited Arabs in Palestine against their Jewish neighbors by arguing that Islam itself was under threat. (Husseini would later become one of Hitler’s most important Muslim allies.) Jews in British-occupied Palestine responded to Muslim invective by demanding more access to the Wall, sometimes holding demonstrations at the holy site. By the next year, violence directed against Jews by their neighbors had become more common: Arab rioters took the lives of 133 Jews that summer; British forces killed 116 Arabs in their attempt to subdue the riots. In Hebron, a devastating pogrom was launched against the city’s ancient Jewish community after Muslim officials distributed fabricated photographs of a damaged Dome of the Rock, and spread the rumor that Jews had attacked the shrine.

The current “stabbing Intifada” now taking place in Israel—a quasi-uprising in which young Palestinians have been trying, and occasionally succeeding, to kill Jews with knives—is prompted in good part by the same set of manipulated emotions that sparked the anti-Jewish riots of the 1920s: a deeply felt desire on the part of Palestinians to “protect” the Temple Mount from Jews.

2) Husseini had an intense working relations with Adolf Eichmann concerning the  extermination of Jews in the Holocaust.

At the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief architects of the Holocaust, the testimony of convicted Nazi war criminal Dieter Wisliceny was used and clearly showed that Eichmann had close ties with Husseini:

Mr. Steiner [the prosecutor] first tells us that Wisliceny described his talks with Eichmann, why Palestine cannot be considered as the destination for emigration: “When I asked him why, he laughed and asked whether I had never heard of the Grand Mufti Husseini. He explained that the Mufti has very close contact and cooperation with Eichmann, and therefore Germany cannot agree to Palestine being the final destination, as this would be a blow to Germany’s prestige in the Mufti’s eyes.”

Then he goes on: “At this further conversation Wisliceny gave me more details about the cooperation between Eichmann and the Mufti. The Mufti is a sworn enemy of the Jews and has always fought for the idea of annihilating the Jews. He sticks to this idea always, also in his talks with Eichmann” – and here we have one of the points about which Wisliceny has reservations – “who, as you know, is a German who was born in Palestine. The Mufti is one of the originators of the systematic destruction of European Jewry by the Germans, and he has become a permanent colleague, partner and adviser to Eichmann and Himmler in the implementation of this programme.”

3) Husseini during World War II was an intense propagandist for the Third Reich , and a clear anti-Allies speaker.

As the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum remind us on their website :

In exile between 1937 and 1945, al-Husayni, claiming to speak for the Arab nation and the Muslim world, sought an alliance with the Axis powers (Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy) based on their publicly recognizing 1) the independence of the Arab states; 2) the right of those states to form a union reflecting a dominant Muslim and specifically Arab culture; 3) the right of those states to reverse steps taken towards the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine; and 4) al-Husayni himself as the spiritual and political representative of this pan-Arab, Muslim entity. In exchange, al-Husayni collaborated with the German and Italian governments by broadcasting pro-Axis, anti-British, and anti-Jewish propaganda via radio to the Arab world; inciting violence against Jews and the British authorities in the Middle East; and recruiting young men of Islamic faith for service in German military, Waffen-SS , and auxiliary units. In turn, the Germans and the Italians used al-Husayni as a tool to inspire support and collaboration among Muslim residents of regions under Axis control and to incite anti-Allied violence and rebellion among Muslims residing beyond the reach of German arms.

4) Nazi support of Husseini led to radicalizing the Muslim world.

Matthias Küntzel, associate researcher of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, showed that the Nazi support of Husseini and the Muslim Brotherhood played an important role in radicalizing the Muslim world.

In Zeesen, a town with some four thousand inhabitants to the south of Berlin, once stood one of the world’s most powerful shortwave transmitters. From 1939 onward, it broadcast its daily Arabic-language program. Of all the foreign-language services, the Oriental Service had “absolute priority. It reached out to Arabs, Turks, Persians, and Indians and had an eighty-strong staff, including freelance announcers and translators.”4 Between 1939 and 1945, at a time when, in the Arab world, listening to the radio took place primarily in public squares or bazaars and coffee houses, no other station was more popular than the Zeesen service, which skillfully mingled anti-Semitic propaganda with quotations from the Koran and Arabic music. The Allies in the Second World War were presented as lackeys of the Jews and the notion of the “United Jewish Nations” drummed into the audience. At the same time, the Jews were attacked as the worst enemies of Islam. “The Jew since the time of Mohammed has never been a friend of the Muslim, the Jew is the enemy and it pleases Allah to kill him.”5 Today, this same message is being put out on satellite by Hizbollah’s Al- Manar TV channel. So what are the historical connections between the shortwave transmitter in Zeesen and the Beirut satellite channel?

A highlight of Radio Zeesen’s output was the demand for jihad by the most popular figure in the Arab-Islamic world of the time, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini (1895-1974). From 1941 onward he lived in Berlin, supervising Arabic radio broadcasting out of Zeesen, Athens, and Rome.6 Nobody promoted hatred of Jews among Muslims more effectively than the Mufti. The European responsibility for this is clear: el-Husseini had after all been appointed to and promoted in office by European powers. It was the British who, having first sentenced him to ten years in jail for anti-Jewish incitement in 1920, then amnestied him in 1921 and made him Mufti against the will of the majority of Palestinians. It was the Germans who paid him for his services between 1937 and 1945. And it was the French who in 1946, when the Mufti was being pursued internationally as a war criminal, helped him escape to Egypt and continue his activities.

5) Palestinian Nationalism and Modern Islamism were both influenced by Husseini’s radical and violent anti-Semitism ,that will later became a founding feature of these movements.

Küntzel continues:

Nobody had a greater influence on the early history of the Middle East conflict than the Mufti, who as president of the Supreme Muslim Council was not only the supreme religious authority but also the central figure in Palestinian nationalism. In the 1930s, there were countless Arab nationalists who viewed Germany as an ally against the British without concerning themselves with the nature of the Hitler regime. Things were different where the Mufti was concerned: he knew what the regime was about and was attracted to it for that very reason. …

Thus did the years 1936-1939 shape Islamism as a new and independent, anti-Semitic and antimodern mass movement. Until 1936 the moderate Arab forces, which welcomed or at least tolerated Zionism, had in no way been marginalized. This changed after the National Socialists threw their weight behind the Islamists. They successfully spurred on the unrest in Palestine and so contributed to spreading the idea that the Jews were the enemy to Egypt. The Islamist mass mobilization was financially and ideologically supported by Radio Zeesen and other means of propaganda. This was one of the reasons that it was the Islamism and anti-Semitism of Hassan al-Banna rather than the enlightened modernism of Kemal Atatürk that gained general acceptance in the Arab part of the Islamic world.35

The Zeesen shortwave transmitter appears in retrospect to have been the interface that transferred the anti-Semitic ideology to the Arab world and linked early Arab Islamism with late National Socialismzism. Although Radio Zeesen ceased operation in April 1945, it was only after that date that its frequencies of hate really began to reverberate in the Arab world.

6) Husseini’s “fusion” of European anti-Semitism with Islamic views of Jewish evil has been adopted by Islamists around the world.

In a 2009 article in The Wall Street Journal citing Küntzel’s work, Daniel Schwammenthal wrote that the mufti’s “fusion of European anti-Semtism—particularly the genocidal variety—with Koranic views of Jewish wickedness has become the hallmark of Islamists world-wide, from al Qaeda to Hamas and Hezbollah.”

During his time in Berlin, the mufti ran the Nazis’ Arab-language propaganda radio program, which incited Muslims in the Mideast to “kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history and religion.” Among the many listeners was also the man later known as Ayatollah Khomeini, who used to tune in to Radio Berlin every evening, according to Amir Taheri’s biography of the Iranian leader. Khomeini’s disciple Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still spews the same venom pioneered by the mufti as do Islamic hate preachers around the world.

Muslim Judeophobia is not—as is commonly claimed—a reaction to the Mideast conflict but one of its main “root causes.” It has been fueling Arab rejection of a Jewish state long before Israel’s creation.

7) Husseini recruited thousands of Muslim soldiers for Hitler.

As the Holocaust Museum also noted, Husseini helped create a Bosnian-Muslim division of the Waffen-SS:

When the SS decided in February 1943 to recruit among Bosnian Muslims for a new division of the Waffen-SS, SS Main Office Chief Berger enlisted al-Husayni in a recruiting drive in Bosnia from March 30 and April 11. On April 29, Berger reported that 24,000–27,000 recruits had signed up and noted that the “visit of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem had had an extraordinarily successful impact.” Both al-Husayni and the SS repeatedly referred to the success of the 13th Waffen-SS Mountain Division (also known as “Handschar”). Al-Husayni spoke to the military Imams of the division, stressing the importance of maintaining the principles of Islam and of “strengthening cooperation between the Muslims and their ally, Germany,” and identifying common enemies faced by Muslims and the Germans: World Jewry, England and its allies, and Bolshevism.

8) Husseini was designated by the UN as a war criminal.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on his placement on a UN war criminals register in July 1945:

Hadj Amin el-Husseini, former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, has been officially placed on the war criminals list of the United Nations, the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation reported today. …

In reply to its original request to the War Crimes Commission that it place the Mufti on its list of criminals, the commission stated that before doing so one of its member governments would have to present evidence constituting a prima facie case.

Upon receipt of this cable, a committee representative discussed the matter with Ivan Subasic, Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs, while he was at San Francisco, pointing out that the Mufti had organized the German S.S. Moslem Division in Bosnia and been responsible for the massacre of Yugoslav Moslems who refused to collaborate with the Germans.

9) After World War II, Husseini continued spreading anti-Semitic propaganda as a central tenet of Palestinian nationalism

Husseini escaped arrest and spent the last twenty-eight years of his life spreading anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda. The Holocaust Museum recounts:

As the Nazi regime collapsed in 1945, French authorities took al-Husayni into custody. He escaped to Egypt in 1946. Al-Husayni devoted the remainder of his life to supporting Palestinian nationalism and to agitating against the State of Israel. He continued to produce and disseminate anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish, and anti-Israel propaganda. He died in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 4, 1974.

10) Husseini remains a hero to Palestinians.

In a January 2013 ceremony, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praised Husseini as a hero of the Palestinian cause :

On the anniversary of the [Fatah] Launch, we renew the promise to our blessed Martyrs, that we will follow the path of the Martyr Brother Yasser Arafat and his comrades among the leaders of all the fighting forces, all the Martyrs. … Now let us recall the pioneers: The Grand Mufti of Palestine, Haj Muhammad Amin Al-Husseini.

YoungDiplomats top 10 of Most Technologically Advanced Countries in Africa. Technology is growing at a very fast pace across the globe with the Americas at the fore front , Europe and Asia right within the circle and Africa comparatively lagging behind and a lot dependant on acquisition of already invented technology from the aforementioned regions.

However, Africa is not willing to remain stagnant forever and some of the continent’s countries are at the fore front of technological advancement. In coming up with this final list of most technologically advanced African countries , Young Diplomats and Answers Africa examined each of the 54 African countries that matched them up using several ranking factors including : Intensity of R&D, productivity and variability of technological products, high-tech density sic as proportion of high-tech public companies in the field of advanced engineering; energy, defense, hardware and software, Internet and computers sciences. Also researcher concentration compared to the rest of the population , manufacturing capability of each country, education levels concerning High-Tech, and of course raw talent were also considered.

In the latest Global Innovation Index(GII) ranking, Sub-Saharan African countries had the highest imporvement in rankings when compared to that of the 2013 rankings. The region is fast embracing technology and doing all that it can to utilize and at the same time come out with latest innovations that can improve the way we live. Below are the top 5 technologically advanced countries in Africa; most of which are in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

Below is the list of African Countries with the most advanced technology.

10. Zimbabwe

A country located in the Southern Afria, Zimbabwe has experienced a significative rise in it’s annual GDP since now 2012. Technologically , the country is not experiencing a revolution in tech, but it is strong enough to be regarder among the top ten technologically advance countries in Africa. With Stability in the government of Zimbabwe, improvement should come in the coming years. One of the main advantages of Zimbabwe is that the country has a lot of Human ressources , highly educated (A lot of students attended Universities in South Africa or Ukraine) that can easily be harnessed for greater good in Technology. In the three main cities of Zimbabwe, Harare,Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, wifi and Hi-Tech equipment have been developped with the help of South African companies ,and now the country has a high rate of Internet connexion. With the growing tourism , the investements are likely to continue.

9. Uganda 

Uganda, a country that is mistly remembered with the mention of Amin Dad, the old dictator that confronted the Israelis, should perhaps also be remembered amont the top countries in Africa with an advancing technology. According to a study conducted by Martin Prosperity Institute of the US, Uganda is one of the three African countries that has been ranked amont the countries with advanced technological and innovation capabilities in Africa. In the report, Uganda is second to South Africa and followed by Madagascar. Across the globe, Uganda is among the 82 countries of the world that has advanced technological and innovation capabilities.

8. Angola

The science and technology industry in Angola remains limited but there is increasing awareness hence the country is getting on the right track when it comes to information and technology development . There may not have been a lot of ground breaking and jaw chattering inventions coming from the Angola but it is expected that with sustained growth and development , the counry would come up to be a tech giant in Africa.

7.Botswana

Botswana is one of the most stable and successful economies in the whole of Africa. Technology is fast becoming a measure of international development and Botswana not willing to be left behind. The Botswana’s Innovation Hub backed by the government is designed to throw start-ups, global corporations ,research and health organizations under one massive green roof to facilitate the growth of technology in the country.

6. Rwanda

Rwanda is a country ravaged by civil war and genocide in the past and right now, it is aiming to become a regional hub for African information technology. In this regard, the country has launched the proposed 4G LTE broadband network which would provide new opportunities to deliver better services accross the country. The country is engaging rapidly with all kinds of technology at once and perhaps we’d soon be able to see mind-blowing inventions.

5. Ghana

With a much more stable and growing economy , Ghana is poised to have one of the best environments that supports advancement in technology. Quite a lot of technological innovations has emanated from the West African country of 25 millions people. Using compressed gas to generate electricity invented by Mr. Freddie Green is one of the out of the box thoughts that became real in the country. An affordable video conferencing system was also developed by a Ghanaian. The country is being looked upon as the next “great” African country.

4. Kenya

Kenya is definitely amont the top 4 African countries to be envied when it comes to technology. The country is seeing a lot of startup companies with revolutionary ideas especially in the IT sector and all things being equal, this is bound to continue with a lot of start-ups that may eventually form International platforms for further technology growth. Some of the inventions from Kenya include: charging shoe developed by Anthony Mutual, alarm-fitted television created by a 44-year-old man who resides in Nairobi. The alarm can be set off with a simple jostle of movement and can sound for up to eight hours , a charcoal stove, a solar-powered refregirator which allows medications including vaccinations and valuable perishables to reach remote areas of rural cities where there is no hope of finding electricity, Moses Gichanga’s drone which flies for up to two hours at a time. Other similar inventions powered by Kenya’s raw talent include :Temperproof voting Machine , Solar-Powered refregirator , Underwater pets housings , SMS car immobiliser.

3. Nigeria

The most populous African country has not been left out in technology and innovative developments accross Africa. Coming at the thrid slot, Nigeria is a technology giant with lots of potentials in the industry. It is home to the likes of Iroko Partners ,a successful internet company with over 6 million uniques users from 178 different countries , made in Nigeria INYE-1 and INYE-2 tablet computers. Seyi Oyesola’s “Hospital in a box” invention et.. In recent times, the country saw the famous demonstration of a rugine powered generator developed by school teenagers ; a Moringa plant technology that would enable Nigerians to use Moringa plant for water treatment, a move toward increasing the accessiblity to potable water in the country. There are also a lot of achievements in mobile and web apps development in the country. Though the internet penetration is still low and stands at roughly 38% , Nigeria is a country with a lot of potentials producing the most talented people when given the opportunity.

2. Egypt

It was said that the civilization started in Egypt. This country has for long been associated with inventions and innovations. From the Egyptian Pyramid to the use of calendar and written language. The Northe African Country has not relented in spearheading science and technology in Africa. Egypt has some of the best universities in Africa that support development in technology. Egypt has gone this far because the government embraces technology with an attitude spread across all Industries. Despite the recent civil unrest in the country, Egypt is still a technological force to reckon with and is one of the most technologically advanced countries in Africa.

1. South Africa

If you are waiting to see the country that occupies the number 1 sport on our list, your guess was right. South Africa , a country that cannot easily be compared with most other countries across Africa, also tops African countries in the current Global Innovation Index(GII), ranking number 53 out of 143 countries compared globally. The country supports its human potential tnad that is the reason why you see a lot of development in the IT field springing up from South Africa. With South African Universities constituting most of the best Universities in Africa, the country is bound to keep producing some of the most amazing inventions that are globally recognized. The list of discoveries that are worth mentioning are quite enormoud. Linux Ubuntu developed by Mark Shuttleworth, Multichoice (DSTV) is a South African company with a global influence, PayPal which was co-founded by a South Africa, CAT scan, SASOL technology that  converts coal into oil , just to mention a few of South African innovations.

For the first time in a decade, the idea of generalised strikes, riots, protests, and violence escalating to “intifada” proportions looks entirely plausible. Escalation by Israel, and Hamas in Gaza, looks likely.

Is this the beginning of another intifada?

The current violence is already nearly intense enough to be considered an intifada if it continued, and further escalation seems likely.

In an interview before last summer’s Gaza war, a former Israeli security official told me that a Third Intifada was unlikely because Palestinians know that violence “is not good for them” and would grant Israel “legitimacy for using military force”.

Ayed Atmawi, a Palestinian political activist and employee of the Geneva Initiative in Ramallah says Palestinians “know the only one to benefit from a military confrontation and chaos is Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu]”.

He says Palestinian President Abbas is aware of this and is always keen to avoid deaths on both sides.

Nevertheless, Palestinians are frustrated with the lack of movement on the Oslo Accords and angered by continued construction in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Mr Abbas cannot control every individual and the clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces show it is impossible to rule out further escalation—including to proportions one might label as an “intifada”.

The reason escalation is likely to continue is today’s attacks appear to be mostly uncoordinated and thus difficult to counter without force.

What can Israel do?

It is possible that significant concessions by Israel might reduce the violence, but even that is not certain.

Mr Netanyahu’s government was elected not to make concessions to Palestinians and doing so would likely destroy his coalition.

Furthermore, hardliners in the Israeli government will be concerned that concessions given at a time of violence would serve to reward that violence.

Avoiding such concessions is therefore a longstanding Israeli policy. If concessions are impossible, the only other option is a heavy Israeli crackdown on Palestinian violence.

What can the Palestinians do?

If Mr Abbas continued to cooperate with Israeli security, his legitimacy in Palestinian eyes would be severely damaged, potentially stoking violence.

If he did not, violence would also rise. Either decision would thus likely lead Israel to harsher measures.

A final piece of the puzzle is Hamas in Gaza, which continues to reject Israel’s very right to exist.

Israel has been hitting Hamas sites there in response to rocket launches by other groups from the Strip, hoping to encourage Hamas to crack down on them.

Hamas’s situation in Gaza is precarious, but this is not necessarily a bonus for Israel.

Opinion polls have shown that Gazans disapprove of Hamas whenever it appears to be idle while others are making moves against Israel.

If internal pressures on Hamas rise, it is likely to allow other militant groups to launch rockets at Israel rather than stopping them.

Israel would respond by increasing attacks on Gaza. Such a situation could easily escalate into another war—the fourth in just 8 years.

What next?

The status quo between Israelis and Palestinians looks increasingly untenable.

Whether that means an intifada will depend not only on decisions taken by the Israeli and Palestinian governments, but also those taken by Hamas and individuals on the Palestinian street.

Charles Kirchofer is a PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London

One week before the UN General Assembly where Russia will present its international coalition against Daech plan, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the Kremlin against the risk of “escalation of the conflict” .

Since the disclosure by US, British and Israeli media information that Russian troops would participate in the fighting alongside the troops of Bashar Assad in Syria, the opposition between Russia and the West on the Syrian issue s is accentuated, said the Russian daily Kommersant.

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Moscow against a risk of “escalation of the conflict” in Syria, was certified if the current strengthening of the Russian military presence on Syrian soil. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs then recalled that Russia had “always helped militarily Syria in its fight against terrorism, and it continued to do so.” 

Close airspace to Russian aircraft

Moscow and the West have different approaches to the settlement of the Syrian conflict, believes useful to recall the newspaper: Americans and Europeans pose as prior removal of Bashar Assad, responsible according to them of all the current problems in Syria. Moscow considers the regime in Damascus as a natural ally of the coalition against terrorism and believes that its reversal would not be able to moderate its opponents, but radical Islamists. Now, says Kommersant, “information on the possible presence of Russian troops in Syria has reinforced the distrust of the West against Moscow and the rejection of its positions.”

First concrete manifestation of this hardening, Washington called on September 7 in Athens to refuse to open its airspace to Russian planes carrying humanitarian aid to Syria. Greece has initially accepted Moscow’s request for a delay from 1 to 24 September. Russia has indicated that if Athens finally bowed to the American request, she would find other routes to route deliveries, including Iranian circuits (passing through Iraq) lapped long, continues Kommersant.

Putin will present his plan to the UN 

As informs the Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, citing Syrian press loyal to the regime, Damascus gave its agreement for the construction of a new Russian military base in Jableh, south of Latakia, the largest port in the country. As explained by the title, unlike the port of Tartus, where already is a technical basis for the Russian fleet, the site of Jableh provide the conditions for a major concentration of troops and the installation of a large reserve of armaments and military equipment.

NG finally recalls that Russia intends to present its settlement plan of the Syrian conflict at the next General Assembly of the United Nations in New York (from 15 to 22 September). Putin particular exhibit its idea of creating an international coalition against the Islamic state (EI, Daech) to the UN Security Council to “give it legitimacy and a whole [to] provide him the support of the international community “. The coalition would include the army of Bashar Al Assad, but also likely Iran and China, says Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

One week before the UN General Assembly where Putin will present its international coalition against Daech plan, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the Kremlin against the risk of “escalation of the conflict” .Since the disclosure by US, British and Israeli media information that Russian troops would participate in the fighting alongside the troops of Bashar Assad in Syria, the opposition between Russia and the West on the Syrian issue s is accentuated, said the Russian daily Kommersant. Therefore we ask ourselves are we heading  toward a confrontation between Russia and the US?

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Moscow against a risk of “escalation of the conflict” in Syria, was certified if the current strengthening of the Russian military presence on Syrian soil. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs then recalled that Russia had “always helped militarily Syria in its fight against terrorism, and it continued to do so.” 

Close airspace to Russian aircraft

Moscow and the West have different approaches to the settlement of the Syrian conflict, believes useful to recall the newspaper: Americans and Europeans pose as prior removal of Bashar Assad, responsible according to them of all the current problems in Syria. Moscow considers the regime in Damascus as a natural ally of the coalition against terrorism and believes that its reversal would not be able to moderate its opponents, but radical Islamists. Now, says Kommersant, “information on the possible presence of Russian troops in Syria has reinforced the distrust of the West against Moscow and the rejection of its positions.”

First concrete manifestation of this hardening, Washington called on September 7 in Athens to refuse to open its airspace to Russian planes carrying humanitarian aid to Syria. Greece has initially accepted Moscow’s request for a delay from 1 to 24 September. Russia has indicated that if Athens finally bowed to the American request, she would find other routes to route deliveries, including Iranian circuits (passing through Iraq) lapped long, continues Kommersant.

Putin will present his plan to the UN 

As informs the Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, citing Syrian press loyal to the regime, Damascus gave its agreement for the construction of a new Russian military base in Jableh, south of Latakia, the largest port in the country. As explained by the title, unlike the port of Tartus, where already is a technical basis for the Russian fleet, the site of Jableh provide the conditions for a major concentration of troops and the installation of a large reserve of armaments and military equipment.

NG finally recalls that Russia intends to present its settlement plan of the Syrian conflict at the next General Assembly of the United Nations in New York (from 15 to 22 September). Putin particular exhibit its idea of creating an international coalition against the Islamic state (EI, Daech) to the UN Security Council to “give it legitimacy and a whole [to] provide him the support of the international community “. The coalition would include the army of Bashar Al Assad, but also likely Iran and China, says Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

After an extremely hot summer – and it is not just the weather we are talking about here – recent polls have revealed new developments in the Italian political scenario of the Bel Paese. Based on the stats, who went through sunbathing without getting burnt?

Matteo Renzi, PM. The youngest Prime Minister in the history    of Italy and his Partito Democratico (center-left wing, Democratic Party) seem to have spent a very boring vacation indoor. The party’s approval rate is almost unchanged since June – 33%, which does not even begin to compare with the outstanding 40.8% of last year’s European elections. Though his premiership is not in danger, Matteo is getting ready for a cold winter: voting on constitutional reform will show if his peeps are with him or against him.

Movimento Cinque Stelle in search of a leader. Comedian Beppe Grillo’s “political toy”, the Movimento Cinque Stelle (undefined, Movement Five Stars) reaches the highest peek since its first major race – 27%. The Movement has managed to convince a large pool of former Lega Nord (see below), extreme-right and extreme-left wing voters at the sound of an anti-euro and anti-system ideology.
Corruption scandals and reports from Rome’s decay – which was widely described by the NYT – added fuel to the fire and shifted even more support towards these amateur, leaderless MPs. Can unconditional opposition bring victory in the long term?

The other Matteo. Lega Nord (right wing, Northern League) has never witnessed such a result – 14%. Under the leadership of Matteo Salvini, strategies have changed and the Lega Nord has converted into a National League or, better said, into a Front National. With no more calls to secession from Central and Southern regions, Salvini has found new enemies in the thousands of asylum seekers that arrive to the Italian shores every day. His FB activity shows an overwhelming majority of racist and homophobic posts against legal and illegal migrants alike, where one’s crime is blamed on the entire minority. This guy could be part of an entertainment team in a holiday resort – but hey, this is Italy as well!

Silvio, the evergreen. The almost forgotten, self-defined “leader of the moderates” (what?) is the main cause of the Lega Nord’s rise. At his lowest popularity – 11.4% – Berlusconi has left a vacuum in the political representation of the right wing to be exploited by Salvini’s party. Despite his judicial adventures, it looks like one out of ten Italians is not ready to get over him yet. Totally reasonable – who would not miss his sexist, not politically correct, diplomatically risky jokes? 

The remaining ones. Nothing too surprising here – Sinistra e Libertà (left wing, Left and Freedom), Fratelli di Italia (extreme right wing, Brothers of Italy) and government’s Nuovo Centrodestra (center right wing, New Center Right) are stable at 4.5%, 3.5% and 2.7% respectively. While it is impossible to watch TV without seeing party leaders Nichi Vendola (SEL) and Giorgia Meloni (FDI) everywhere, their media activism is clearly not reciprocated by opinion polls. On the other side, NCD’s Angelino Alfano has nearly gone M.I.A: if he were not Interior Minister, we could definitely think he moved to some white, sandy beach in the Caribbean.

 Ilaria Maroni, is a top political analyst of political landscapes in Europe and Turkey. She studied in prestigious European,Turkish and Middle Eastern Universities. She is currently a political analyst.

*Polls are based on Demos – Atlante Politico, September 2015.