WASHINGTON: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meets the definition of a fascist and “prefers the dictator approach to government,” his former White House chief of staff said in a series of interviews with the New York Times.
With less than two weeks until the Nov. 5 election, John Kelly, a longtime critic of Trump’s, told the Times that the former Republican president had no understanding of the US Constitution or the concept of the rule of law.
Kelly said the former president would seek to rule like an authoritarian if he returned to the White House. In the interviews published on Tuesday, he quoted Trump as having told him German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler “did some good things.”
Trump’s team has denied the accounts.
“He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,” Kelly said, according to the newspaper. “Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
A retired US Marine Corps general, Kelly served as Trump’s White House chief of staff between 2017 and 2019. Since Kelly left the White House the two men’s relationship has soured and both are open about their disdain for each other.
“John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad General, whose advice in the White House I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON!” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesperson, said in a statement that Kelly “has totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories.”
Retired US Army brigadier general, Republican Steve Anderson, said on a call with reporters organized by the Harris campaign that he was disappointed Kelly did not go as far as endorsing Harris after his criticism of Trump.
In the Times interview, Kelly stressed that as a former military officer he was not endorsing any candidate.
Trump meets definition of a fascist, his former chief of staff says
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Trump meets definition of a fascist, his former chief of staff says
- Retired general Scott Kelly says Kelly said Trump would seek to rule like an authoritarian if he returned to the White House
- Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung disparaged Kelly, saying he “has totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories”
- Weighing in, Democratic presidential candidate Kamal Harris said the reported remarks only show that Trump is a threat to US democracy
How questions of sovereignty and security are fueling instability in the Sahel
- Chad ended military cooperation with France in November, marking another major shift in the regional power balance
- Withdrawal of Western forces could lead to greater sovereignty, but might also leave states vulnerable to insurgencies
LONDON: As a piece of geopolitical theater, the timing was hard to beat. Chad’s foreign minister announced the end of military cooperation with France just hours after his French counterpart left the country.
That it took place on Nov. 28, as Chad celebrated its Republic Day—a key date in its move away from French colonial rule—only added to the symbolism.
On the same day, Senegal also suggested French troops should leave.
It was a seminal moment in post-colonial relations between France and the Sahel—the belt of nations south of the Sahara that stretches across Africa.
The departure of French troops from Chad and Senegal means France will no longer have a military presence in a region where it has long held sway.
The political dynamics of the Sahel have been rapidly shifting in recent years, and 2024 was no exception.
Chad’s decision to end its defense pact with France was one of the most significant events in a year that saw a continuation of the shift away from Western influence.
In the past three years, France has withdrawn troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, as a wave of coups brought military regimes hostile to French influence into power.
These governments have looked elsewhere—to Russia, China, and Turkiye—for defense cooperation, dealing a major blow to Western hopes of maintaining a security presence in a region that has become a melting pot for extremist groups.
The year began with Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger announcing they would leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)—a regional bloc established to help maintain financial and political security.
There is widespread concern that the shrinking of this influential bloc of nations will lead to further instability.
Indeed, the backdrop for the past year of turmoil has been an ever-deteriorating security situation across the Sahel, with a growing number of civilians maimed and killed amid extremist insurgencies.
Chad’s decision to end its defense cooperation with France came in stark contrast to the ambitious Sahel security policy it enacted more than 10 years earlier.
In 2012, northern Mali was overrun by militants allied to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. As they expanded south toward the capital, Mali appealed to its former colonizer for help. In early 2013, France deployed 1,700 troops as part of Operation Serval.
The initial mission appeared to work as the militants fled northern towns. But the insurgency soon spread to neighboring countries.
In response, France expanded the operation in 2014 to include five states—Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. It deployed more than 5,000 soldiers and rebranded it Operation Barkhane.
Meanwhile, the insurgency grew, with militant factions aligning into two main groups: the Al-Qaeda offshoot Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam wal-Muslimin and the Sahel branch of Daesh.
The failure to suppress the militants in Mali in the long term was one of the reasons for the 2020 coup that led to a deterioration in relations with France. In 2022, President Emmanuel Macron withdrew French troops from Mali as Russian mercenaries increased their presence.
A similar pattern followed in Burkina Faso and Niger, where populations turned against the French presence, military coups ensued, and France had to withdraw its troops.
While Chad’s decision to evict French troops was not driven by a military coup, it came amid increasing hostility toward the French across the region.
“After 66 years since the independence of the Republic of Chad, it is time for Chad to assert its full sovereignty and redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities,” Abderaman Koulamallah, Chad’s foreign minister, said.
“This decision, taken after in-depth analysis, marks a historic turning point.”
Many analysts feel this was a turning point of France’s own making, stemming from its neo-colonial policies that limited the sovereignty of Sahel nations.
“Since independence, France has intervened in Chad and other former colonies, providing regime survival packages and interfering in domestic politics,” Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, told Arab News.
There has been increasing hostility toward the region’s monetary system, which many view as a relic from the colonial era that allows France to maintain excessive control over their economies.
The African Financial Community (CFA) franc monetary zone applies across 14 countries in West and Central Africa and is pegged to the euro. Critics say it strips those countries of an independent national monetary policy.
This has fed growing resentment of the French presence in the region.
“The continued French interference in domestic affairs has created substantial anti-French sentiment in its former colonies,” said Laessing.
“No ruler in Africa can be seen close to France as they would face a public backlash. This was one of the reasons why Chad decided to end the military partnership with France.”
The deteriorating security situation has added to that resentment. An attack by the extremist group Boko Haram near the border with Nigeria in October killed at least 40 Chadian soldiers. Opposition parties said the French presence had failed to prevent the attack.
Reports preceding the French foreign minister’s visit in November suggested France was already planning a major troop reduction in African countries, including cutting numbers in Chad from 1,000 to 300.
However, the full withdrawal from Chad means that the last operational French base in Africa will be in Djibouti on the Red Sea coast, which Macron visited on Dec. 20.
For Chad, losing French military support is a significant concern for the multinational force battling Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin—an area that includes parts of Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria.
“The withdrawal is good news for Boko Haram,” said Laessing. “I don’t think that the US and Britain will be able to contribute to the Lake Chad force without French logistical support.”
In 2019, French jets stopped a rebel column approaching the capital to topple then-President Idriss Deby. He was killed in 2021 in further clashes with militants and replaced by his son, Mahamat Deby Itno.
“Chad’s decision to expel French troops is a dangerous move for President Mahamat Deby because the main function of the French jets based in the Chadian capital is to protect the government against rebel attacks, which are frequent in this fragile country,” said Laessing.
The two Mirage 2000-D fighter jets left Chad for France on Dec. 10.
It was not just France that saw its position in the Sahel eroded in 2024. In March, Niger announced it would end military cooperation with the US.
By mid-September, the withdrawal of 1,100 American troops was complete, ending an extensive counter-terrorism operation run out of two air bases.
As the Americans left, the Russians moved in, with military advisers arriving from Moscow in May.
In 2024, the growing alliance of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger represented a seismic shift in the region’s balance of power.
As violence surged, a record 7,620 people were killed in the Sahel in the first six months of 2024—a 9 percent increase from 2023 and a staggering 190 percent rise from 2021.
Many fear the geopolitical changes in the region will make Sahel nations even more unstable.
With little hope of political or military solutions, the conflicts are likely to persist, leaving vulnerable populations in greater peril in the year ahead.
Thousands march in Bangladesh calling for Sheikh Hasina’s prosecution
- Last week, Bangladesh sent a formal request to India to extradite Hasina
- She faces many court cases over the deaths of protesters, including some on charges of crimes against humanity
DHAKA: Thousands of people led by students rallied in Bangladesh’s capital on Tuesday, calling for the prosecution of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and those responsible for hundreds of deaths in a mass uprising against her government in July.
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement organized the “March for Unity” at the Central Shaheed Minar, a national monument in Dhaka. Protesters chanted slogans calling for Hasina’s trial and the banning of her Awami League party.
Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 after weeks of violence in which authorities say hundreds of people were killed and thousands more injured on orders of her government. The uprising ended the 15-year-rule of the country’s longest-serving prime minister, who began a fourth consecutive term in January following an election boycotted by the major opposition parties.
Last week, Bangladesh sent a formal request to India to extradite Hasina. She faces many court cases over the deaths of protesters, including some on charges of crimes against humanity.
“Since August 5, we have no more enemies in Bangladesh. Our only enemy is the Awami League,” Hasnat Abdullah, convener of the student movement, said while addressing the crowd.
Protesters also urged the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to issue a formal proclamation by Jan. 15 detailing the events of the uprising.
The student leaders want the proclamation to include two key demands: a new constitution after the 1972 charter, which was enacted under Hasina’s father, has been abolished, and a ban on the Awami League party.
Hasina’s Awami League had ruled Bangladesh for 15 years, since 2009.
The Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal has already issued arrest warrants for Hasina and her close aides, and the government has sought help from the international police organization Interpol in seeking her arrest.
Speaking from the US, Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed, has questioned credibility of the tribunal and called charges against her a “political witch hunt.”
Meanwhile, the interim government has promised to try Hasina and others in her administration for alleged crimes involving the deaths of protesters and has invited the United Nations to help investigate the killings.
Hasina also has called for an investigation, saying many deaths may have involved others beyond security agencies.
Tokyo, Sydney, Manila welcome New Year with fireworks and celebrations
- More than a million people gathered at the Sydney Harbor for the celebration
- Much of Japan has shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday
WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Auckland has become the first major city to welcome 2025, with thousands of revelers counting down to the new year and cheering at colorful fireworks launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, and a spectacular downtown light show.
Thousands also thronged to downtown or climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point, and a light display recognizing Auckland’s Indigenous tribes. It follows a year marked by protests over Māori rights in the nation of 5 million.
Countries in the South Pacific Ocean are the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball drop in Times Square in New York. Other cities around the world are readying with celebrations highlighting local cultures and traditions, after a year roiled by ongoing conflict and political instability.
Huge crowds greet 2025 with fireworks in Sydney
Fireworks blasted off the Sydney Harbor Bridge and across the bay as people in Australia rang in the New Year.
More than a million people had gathered at the iconic Sydney Harbor for the celebration, featuring British pop star Robbie Williams, who led a singalong with the crowd.
The celebration also featured Indigenous ceremonies and performances that acknowledged the land’s first people.
Asia gets ready for the Year of the Snake
Much of Japan has shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning, including swatting floor mats called “tatami” with big sticks.
The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth — alluding to the reptile’s shedding skin. Stores in Japan, which observes the zodiac cycle from Jan. 1, have been selling tiny figures of smiling snakes and other snake-themed products. Other places in Asia will start marking the Year of the Snake later, with the Lunar New Year.
In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or canceled as the country observes a period of national mourning following the Sunday crash of a Jeju Air flight at Muan that killed 179 people.
In Thailand’s Bangkok, two major shopping malls competed for crowds with live musical acts and fireworks shows. While CentralWorld is the older venue, relative newcomer ICONSIAM has the scenic advantage of its Chao Phraya riverside location and a performance by popular rap singer Lisa, the Thai member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, scheduled just ahead of midnight.
New Year celebrations in Jakarta will feature a dazzling fireworks display, including a drone show featuring 800 drones, followed by countdowns to midnight at the city’s iconic Hotel Indonesia Roundabout.
West’s rivals exchange goodwill
Chinese state media covered an exchange of New Year’s greetings between leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a reminder of growing closeness between two leaders who face tensions with the West.
Xi told Putin that their countries will “always move forward hand in hand,” the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday.
China has maintained ties and robust trade with Russia since the latter invaded Ukraine in 2022, helping to offset Western sanctions and attempts to isolate Putin.
China’s leader in his prerecorded New Year’s Eve address said the country has “deepened solidarity and cooperation with the global South” while praising the “responsible” role it has played with “the world in turmoil.”
Xi also said China’s economy, which has slowed down in recent years, was “improving and recovering.”
He also addressed Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. “We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same family. No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us,” Xi said.
In his address to the nation, Putin said that Russia has responded to the most difficult challenges and will be moving forward next year.
“We set big goals for ourselves and achieved them, and we overcame difficulties more than once because we were together. This is how our unity and our faith in ourselves and our strengths and capabilities grew stronger,” he said.
Putin praised troops fighting in Ukraine as “the true heroes who have taken on the great task of defending Russia and providing the solid guarantees of peace and security for our people.”
Conflicts cast a shadow in the Middle East
New Year’s celebrations are likely to be subdued in Israel as its war with Hamas grinds through a 15th month and scores of hostages remain in captivity. Meanwhile, the extent of starvation has been hard to assess in northern Gaza where thousands have fled an intensified Israeli military crackdown that aid groups say has allowed delivery of only a dozen trucks of food and water since roughly October.
Lebanon is in the grip of a severe economic crisis, and many areas were heavily damaged during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which ended with a shaky ceasefire. Syrians are meanwhile expressing hope and uncertainty for the coming year after the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.
In Dubai, thousands are expected to attend an annual fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.
Midnight Mass, with bubbles
Rome’s traditional New Year’s Eve festivities have an additional draw: the start of Pope Francis’ Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration projected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to the Eternal City in 2025.
On Tuesday, Francis will celebrate a vespers at St. Peter’s Basilica, followed by Mass on Wednesday, when he is expected to once again appeal for peace amid wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Meanwhile, in the United States, the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Minnesota will host an 11 p.m. Mass followed by a champagne reception with toasts. Jan. 1 is a day of obligation for Catholics, marking the Solemnity of Mary, and many churches will hold vigil Masses on Tuesday afternoon and evening.
German leader calls for solidarity in a new year
Hours before Germany rings in the new year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on the country’s 84 million residents to stick together despite the many global crises and wars, the country’s ailing economy and a deadly Christmas market attack that shocked the nation.
“We are a country of togetherness. And we can draw strength from this — especially in difficult times like these,” Scholz said in his prerecorded speech.
Paris recaptures the Olympic spirit
Paris will cap a momentous 2024 with its traditional festive countdown and fireworks extravaganza on the famed Champs-Elysées.
The Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games hosted in the French capital from July to September transformed the city into a site of joy, fraternity and astonishing sporting achievements, and marked another major milestone in its recovery from deadly extremist attacks in 2015 by Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.
Britons will brave wintry weather
London is due to ring in the New Year with a pyrotechnic display along the River Thames and a parade through the city center on Wednesday featuring 10,000 performers. The fireworks will explode against the backdrop of the London Eye, the massive Ferris wheel across the river from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
With a storm bringing bitter weather to other parts of the United Kingdom, however, festivities in Edinburgh, Scotland — including the Hogmanay Street party, garden concert and castle pyrotechnics show — were already canceled.
Rio expects 2 million revelers
Rio de Janeiro will throw Brazil’s main New Year’s Eve bash on Copacabana Beach, with 10 ferries offshore bearing 12 straight minutes of fireworks. Thousands of tourists in six cruise ships will witness the show up close.
Rio’s City Hall was closely guarding its plans for a display of lights and sounds. More than 2 million people are expected at the Copacabana, hoping to squeeze into concerts by superstar Brazilian artists such as pop singer Anitta and Grammy-award winner Caetano Veloso.
American traditions old and new
In New York City, the organization managing Times Square has tested its famous ball drop, and inspected 2025 numerals, lights and thousands of crystals, as part of a tradition going back to 1907. This year’s celebration will include musical performances by TLC, Jonas Brothers, Rita Ora, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
The party, covering multiple blocks around the city’s main tourism and theater hub, is expected to draw large crowds despite rain and chilly weather.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas will bid farewell to 2024 with old — and some new — traditions. Its annual eight-minute pyrotechnic show will be on in the Las Vegas Strip, with 340,000 people anticipated as fireworks are launched from the rooftops of nine casinos.
Nearby, the massive Sphere venue will display for the first time countdowns to midnight in different time zones.
In Pasadena, enthusiastic Rose Parade spectators were to camp out on the cold streets and ring in the New Year hoping for prime spots for the iconic Southern California tradition. The parade precedes the Rose Bowl football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks on Jan. 1.
Thousands are to participate in a midnight 5K race following the parade route.
Some 200,000 people will flock to a party in Nashville, Tennessee, featuring a five-hour show by some of country music’s biggest stars. At midnight — an hour after New York’s — a 16-feet tall music note weighing 400 pounds will drop as fireworks light the sky.
Celebrations will echo around the globe as the New Year arrives in different time zones, with American Samoa among the last to welcome 2025 a full 24 hours after New Zealand.
Papers reveal UK feared US handling of 2004 Fallujah uprising
- Newly released documents say George W. Bush was given ‘difficult messages’ by Tony Blair in 2004
- Operation Vigilant Resolve was launched after the deaths of four US military contractors
LONDON: Newly released government papers in the UK have revealed that US President George W. Bush believed American military operations following the 2003 invasion of Iraq were a “mission from God,” but that British officials feared Washington lacked “political control” of the war.
They reveal that Tony Blair, the UK prime minister at the time, had to deliver “some difficult messages” to Bush after the US launched a military operation in Fallujah in 2004 to suppress an insurgency.
Bush had demanded that US forces “kick ass” after four military contractors were killed by Iraqi fighters, but US Deputy Secretary of State Richard “Rich” Armitage told the then UK ambassador in Washington, Sir David Manning, the president needed a “dose of reality.”
Armitage asked Blair to persuade Bush that the operation in Fallujah needed to be treated “as part of a carefully judged political process.”
Operation Vigilant Resolve was launched after the bodies of four US contractors were found hanging from a bridge in Fallujah in May 2003. The US lost 27 troops, while about 200 insurgents and 600 Iraqi civilians were thought to have been killed in Fallujah at that time. Coalition forces took the city in a second operation in November 2004.
Elements of the US military had pressed the president for a harsh response, with a plan floated for the US Marine Corps to occupy the city.
The papers reveal that Manning told the government: “Rich summed it all up by saying Bush still thought he was on some sort of mission from God. But that recent events had made him ‘rather more sober.’”
Fears abounded at the time over Bush’s view of the war, after reports surfaced suggesting he had told a Palestinian delegation that God had spoken to him about invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein, saying” “George, go fight these terrorists in Afghanistan” and “George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq.” The White House later dismissed the claims as “absurd.”
Gen. John Abizaid, the US commander in Iraq, had claimed he could put down the Fallujah insurgency within days. This was dismissed by Armitage as nonsense and “politically crass.”
The deputy secretary of state believed Washington was “gradually losing on the battlefield” and that it was “inevitable” Bush would need to send US reinforcements to Iraq, Manning said.
A briefing document from No. 10 (Downing Street) issued at the time said: “Publicly we will want to underline our continued commitment to seeing the task (in Fallujah) through, but privately we will need to deliver some difficult messages to Bush about the need for a more measured approach by the US military, under proper political oversight, and the need for a clear end to the occupation on July 1.”
It added: “The prime minister might question Bush on whether there is proper political control of military operations.”
The brief concluded: “In short, too many military officers talking tough to a US audience, with little attention to the effect on an Iraqi or regional audience.”
India caps 2024 with first space docking mission, eyes launching orbital station
- SpaDeX mission marks ‘first step’ in establishing India’s space station
- Earlier this year, India announced $116 million fund for space startups
NEW DELHI: India has launched its first space docking mission on a home-made rocket, capping 2024 with a major technological feat in efforts to establish its position in the global space industry after last year’s successful moon landing and a solar observation project.
The Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, mission launched on Monday evening from the Indian Space Research Organization’s Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota island off the Bay of Bengal.
About 15 minutes after liftoff aboard the ISRO’s PSLV rocket, the mission director confirmed the launch as a success and reaching “another milestone in India’s space journey” when the spacecraft reached an altitude of 470 km.
The SpaDeX mission involves launching two small spacecraft, each weighing about 220 kg, into a 470 km circular orbit.
“SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) is a pioneering mission to establish India’s capability in orbital docking, a key technology for future human spaceflight and satellite servicing missions,” the ISRO said in a statement.
“In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives. Through this mission, India is marching toward becoming the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology ... This technology is essential for India’s space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the Moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), etc.”
India is planning to build its modular space station, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, by 2035. The docking mission is the “first step” toward that endeavor, said Syed Maqbool Ahmed, a former ISRO scientist who was part of the Chandrayaan program — the Indian Lunar Exploration Program.
“When we want to build a space station, the very first thing we have to do is continuously coming and going back to the station, and that is where the docking is needed,” Ahmed told Arab News.
“That is amazing. Only three countries have done so till now: America, USSR and China. And we will be the fourth country.”
In the past few years, India has been establishing its position in the global space industry.
In August last year, it became the fourth nation to ever soft-land a spacecraft on the moon. A month later, it launched its solar mission, becoming the second country, after the US, to have explored the sun.
But what counts is not only the recent achievements but creating the environment and long-term investment for the space industry to flourish and involve the private sector as well.
“India has approved a space policy just a few months ago. They have also taken almost 1,000 crores ($116 million) separately to help the aerospace industry,” Ahmed said.
“India is encouraging each and every person ... lots of startups to come into the aerospace field.”
