Fake Friend to Former Foe: Pakistan Distancing from America to Embrace Russia

By: Azhar Azam

Mi35M Helicopter

In flurry of US radical spells over Pakistan discounting the country’s unprecedented support on terrorism across areas – Pakistan continues to take protective measures to distance itself from a fitful ally United States and warming up its to former foe Russia.

In a recent development, 70 mountain shooters from Pakistan armed forces arrive in Russia to conduct second consecutive bilateral military drills, dubbed as Druzhba 2017 or Дружба 2017 (Friendship 2017). The tactical exercise will include a total of 200 personnel from both the countries.

The 2-weeks joint defense exercises will start from September 24 through October 4 in a mountainous area near Nizhny Arkhyz. More than 100 troops from Russian military mountain riffle brigade will also attend the armed maneuvers comprising over 20 mountain war drills at an altitude of up to 2.3 thousand meters above the sea level.

Meanwhile, Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa will also be visiting Moscow in the first week of October 2017. The General’s first-ever trip as army chief is spotted vital in wake of building a ‘substantial partnership’ especially in the field of military cooperation and also in the backdrop of the new strategic alliances in the region.

Pakistan has been leaning toward Russia for the past few years after US abrupt curve to India to stem the China’s growing influence in the region. On the other hand, Indian stony behavior riled Russia – forcing Moscow to redesign its policy amid major policy shifts in South-East Asia.

Last year, Russia not only regretted Indian plea to include Pakistan a terror-sponsor country in BRICS declaration, Goa but also declined to abort military exercises (Friendship 2016) in the aftermath of Uri attacks.

Russia, together with China, helped Pakistan and tiled the way for Islamabad’s membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and also keenly participated in Pakistan defense and military exhibition, IDEAS-2016 (Arms for Peace).

Responding to Trump’s newly unveiled Afghan policy that slammed Pakistan, Russian special envoy to Afghanistan panned US – pronouncing Pakistan a key regional player to negotiate with’ and urged it must not be pressurized that may seriously destabilize peace in region.

Just recently, Russia delivered four (4) Mi-35M helicopters destined at military-to-military relations between Islamabad and Moscow. Russian Mi-35M choppers are most likely to replace part of Pakistan’s aging military fleet of US AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters.

Director Coordination DEPO, Major General Waheed Mumtaz confirmed the Russian daily in Moscow on Friday at International Military-Technical Forum (Army 2017). ‘The contract was signed, we received all four cars and now we get new equipment.’

Pakistani pilots are adapting to the new helicopters and based on the performance of gunships, Pakistan can order additional military equipment and platforms to Russia – General further noted. According to some reports, Pakistan could purchase up to a total of 20-units from Russia.

The deal upshots after high level military delegation visit to Kremlin in June 2015 led by the-army chief General Raheel Sharif. Sharif has been at an arms expo near Moscow and seemingly was very impressive while inspecting of the weapon systems and live demonstrations.

Mi-35M is a latest variant of Mi-24V Hind by ROSOBORONEXPOR and can be multi-tasked in attacks, troops-carrying, transport, and ambulance (medevac) versions. The latest inclusion will greatly boost Pakistan’s military capability and develop its close air support (CAS) requirements in counter-insurgency (COIN) operations.

The helicopter is equipped with a powerful onboard weapon system – a flexible mount (with 450 rounds), up to 80 unguided rockets, up to 8 anti-tank guided missiles, and 12.7mm Kord machine guns. It best harmonizes for mountainous terrains and can be deployed ‘round the clock’ in adverse weather conditions.

‘The Barq laser-guided air-to-ground missile (AGM) produced by the National Engineering and Scientific Corporation (NESCOM) for use by the Burraq armed drone could be an ATGM/AGM option for the Mi-35M’, according to Quwa.

The Defense News and Analysis Group also highlights some reports about Pakistan’s interest in Russian defense systems such as Su-35 Flanker-E, Mi-28NE Night Hunter, and S-400 Triump as well as negotiating full maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities for Mi-35 helicopters, and Klimov RD-93 turbofan engines to slacken its reliance on US-made military equipment.

Samsung Maintains Hegemony in Worldwide Smartphone Market as iPhone X, Note 8 and Mate 10 Bouts for High-end Segment

By: Azhar Azam

Augured at Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC17) in June this year to rejoice 10th anniversary, Apple eventually released iOS 11 – the latest update of its operating system (OS) – for world’s second most popular iPhone and iPad customers around the world.

Formerly known as iPhone OS, iOS was originally launched in 2007 for iPhone and is now claimed to be the ‘world’s most advance mobile operating system and the biggest software release ever for iPad’.

Apple’s iOS (14.6%) is the second most popular smartphone platform behind world-dominant Google’s Android OS (85.2%), according to market intelligence firm IDC. Other platforms such as Windows, Blackberry, and others account for only 0.2% of the total market.

The research company further narrates that South Korean conglomerate, Samsung, maintained its hegemony in the global market as worldwide smartphone shipments fell slightly by 0.8% quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) to 341.6 million units Q2-2017.

Samsung Electronics Co. – Korea

Smartphone Shipments: 159.0 million units (1H-2016)
Smartphone Market Share: 23.1% (1H-2016)
Company Revenue: $174.0 billion (2016)
Net Profit: $19.6 billion (2016)

Samsung shipped a sweeping 159.0 million units in 1H-2017 to tape an impressive market share of 23.1% despite flat first (0%) quarter growth y-o-y.

The new S8/S8+ as well as A and J series performed well in the second quarter as the top mobile device manufacturer just rolled out Samsung Galaxy Note8 to 42-countries on September 15 after Note7 battery fiasco last year.

Global #1 since 2011, Korean electronics giant was incorporated in 1969 and was listed on Korean Stock Exchange in 1975. The company’s Vision 2020 campaigns to achieve annual sales of $400 billion by 2020 and lift the brand’s value among the top-5 in the world.

Managing more than 200 subsidiaries around the world, Samsung Electronics Co. (SEC) offers a variety of home appliances such as TVs, monitors, refrigerators, and washing machines; mobile telecommunications products such as smartphones and tablets; and key electronic components such as DRAM and non-memory semiconductors.

The company posted revenue and pre-tax profit of $174.0 billion and $26.5 billion respectively in 2016.

Apple Inc. – United States

Smartphone Shipments: 92.6 million units (1H-2016)
Smartphone Market Share: 13.4% (1H-2016)
Company Revenue: $215.6 billion (2016)
Net Profit: $45.7 billion (2016)

US-based tech giant, Apple captured a market share of 13.4% - shipping 92.6 million units in 1H-2017 as its flagship device iPhone continues to outperform competitors in the global high-end segment.

The iPhone maker announced the release of a new generation of iPhone: iPhone 8 and iPhone Plus on September 12 in more than 25 countries and territories as well as ‘the future of smartphone’ iPhone X on the same date.

Apple Inc. was established in 1977 at California. It designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers and portable digital music players such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications.

The company’s net sales were declined by 7.7% year over year – to $215.6 billion that forced net income to deteriorate by 14.4% – to $45.7 billion in 2016. Net sales plunge was itching 17% in Greater China for the year. iPhone (211,884 units); iPad (45,590 units); and Mac (18,484 units) sales were all sunk by 8%, 17%, and 10.5% correspondingly in 2016.

Americas comprised nearly 40.2% of total Apple’s net sales whereas Europe (23.2%) and Greater China (22.5%) were the other major operating segments in 2016. Apple sold 211,884 units of iPhone that generated a revenue of $136.7 billion – 63.4% of the total revenue in 2016.

Huawei Technologies – China

Smartphone Shipments: 72.7 million units (1H-2016)
Smartphone Market Share: 10.5% (1H-2016)
Company Revenue: $75.1 billion (2016)
Net Profit: $5.3 billion (2016)

Huawei Technologies shipped 72.7 million units in 1H-2017 to pull out market share of 10.5% in worldwide smartphone market – thanks to strong sales in China.

Chinese tech giant is also #1 in the sales of telecommunication equipment after dethroning Swedish Ericsson. Huawei pranks iPhone X to announce the release of Mate 10 on social media and Mate 10 Pro on October 16, ‘Feeling disappointed? We ‘ve got a real surprise exceeding anything you ‘ve seen ever seen. Coming 16 Oct. 1month to go’.

Chinese information and communication technology (ICT) solutions provider was founded in 1977 at Shenzhen. Huawei creates and market smart devices and smartphones and also provides cloud solutions and agile networks to domains like Safe City, finance, transportation, and energy.

As of 2014, Huawei is covering 1/3rd of the global population and has arrayed its products and services in 170 countries. Co-engineered with Leica, European Image and Sound Association (EISA) awarded Huawei P10 as the ‘EISA Smartphone Camera 2017-2018’ in August this year.

The company posted revenue of $75.1 billion and operating profit of $6.8 billion at miraculous CAGR rate of 24% and 23% respectively in 2016.

Impotent United Nations

By: Azhar Azam

Every year large numbers of rampage killers, conspiracy theorists and anarchists gather at United National General Assembly (UNGA)-New York to edify the importance of pacifism, harmony and tolerance with shrill humbug before going back to their countries to resume the same obscenity and atrocities.

The magnitude of this vain annual assembly session is such unsavory that some countries – after tattling shallow statements to denounce human rights violations and stressing the need of dialogue to bringing peace – go back to carry on bullying millions around the world.

It is whether weepy Palestinians, persecuted Kashmiries, Syrian genocide, gruesome Afghanistan, Iraqi fallout, Libyan cataclysm or stateless roaming Rohingyas – United Nations has chronically failed to prevent Israeli, Indian, Russian, United States, and Burmese endless oppression on tearful men, women, and children.

And for some reasons, the victims of all these havoc are manifestly the Muslims and UN or other peace-keeping missions conserve criminal silence – not only ridiculing its fake resolutions but also to truly fuel such conflicts to mushroom brutalities.

If it East Timor, Scotland and Ukraine – suddenly this impotent forum is activated so as the international human rights bodies are galvanized – demanding and forcing to implement “equal and non-discriminatory” rights regardless of nationality, sex, ethnicity, color, religion or language through peaceful and sustainable dialogue.

But when it comes to the most-persecuted people in Palestine, Kashmir, and Rohingya/Arakan – instead putting pressure on hostile countries to enter into a constructive dialogue and pacify the tense situation to impede the mayhem – firewood is supplied to further blaze the conflict flames by silencing on occupying countries’ growing aggression on helpless people.

This attitude indeed directs to hypocrisy, duplicitous and outrageous behavior of the United Nations.

United Nations (UN) says 7 in 10 Palestinians killed in Gaza are civilians. In another report published by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Palestine death toll declared highest in 2014 since 1967. It goes on to note that due to summer 2014 hostilities in the Gaza strip known as Operation Protective Edge more than 2,220 Palestinians, including 1,492 civilians lost their lives, 513 of which were children.

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, known as Srebrenica Genocide, according to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the war claimed 200,000 lives and at its worst point, uprooted half the population of 4 million. It also included 12,000 children, app. 50,000 women raped and 2.2 million were forced to flee their homes.

Similarly, in Kashmir there have been endless atrocities by the Indian army killing more than one hundred thousand of people, tens of thousands disappeared and huge number women raped. In recent turmoil, over 100-Kashmiris have been killed and dozens have lost their eyesight due to use of pallet guns by Indian forces.

In Syria, reportedly more than 200,000 people are dead including thousands of children since 2012 and the many more to be added to the tally as Russia continues to strike opponent militia to patronize Assad regime.

Likewise, in a recent installment of state-terrorism in Rakhine-Myanmar; nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have been forced to flee. People including children and women are burnt alive; being stabbed and killed as well as rape victims have grown immensely under rule of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate.

Operation GLADIO

It seems as the Operation Gladio “stay behind” is still active today and this time it targets Muslim countries. It is a kind of paramilitary “Pseudo Gang” covert operation which intends to destroy a city, country, and a region from within.

“The idea of “Pseudo Gang” is to murder innocent civilians and then blame the murders on the people that the military wants to discredit.” “The pseudo gang works for the military but pretends to be a bunch of terrorists.”

Society of Jesus and Jesuits

There is also “Society of Jesus”, the members of which are called Jesuits, a Roman Catholic order of religious men founded by St. Ignatius of Loyala. It is an only-male organization and Superior General of the Society of Jesus (J.S) is Black Pope (dresses in black).

Black Pope is considered to be “the-most powerful man” on the earth who “controls Maritime Laws (Business), Banking System, Freemasonry and the Secret Services (CIA, FBI, NSA, SIS, MI6, Scotland Yard, Mossad, CSIS, DGSE, FSB). “The Vatican owns 60% of all Israel lands and the Land of the Temple Mount for their Solomon’s Temple”.”

Many of world organizations including the United Nations, NATO, European Commission, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), various central banks and big corporations, are said to be controlled under Jesuits Order. The Holy See (Vatican organization) participates as an observer in African Union, Arab League, Council of Europe, OAS (35-States of the Americas), International Organization of Migration (IOM), and United Nations (US) and its number of agencies:

FAO (food and agriculture), ILO (labor), UNCTAD (trade and investment), UNEP (environment), UNESCO (education, science, and culture), UN-HABITAT (human settlements), UNHCR (refugees), UNIDO (industry), UNWTO (tourism), WFP (food programs), WHO (health), WIPO (patents, copyrights, and trademarks), ECOSOC (economy), UNFPA (population and reproduction), UNODC (drugs control), and UNDPI (public information). “The Vatican-Jesuit Military Operation That Rules The World: No And If’s or Buts”

The Knights of Malta and Blackwater

The Knights of Malta is the militia of the Pope sworn to total obedience by a blood oath and even to the death. Also known as Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), The Order of Malta has ambassadors or diplomatic representatives in more than eighty countries, and enjoys Permanent Observer status at the United Nations General Assembly.

Blackwater, the so-called security firm, has historic links with the Order of Malta but neither the Blackwater is just a security firm nor the Knights of Malta is merely a charitable organization. In fact, Blackwater is a religious organization controlled through the Order of Malta reporting directly to the Pope and above and beyond US laws, as the name SMOM elaborates. “Blackwater - The Knights of Malta”

Jordanian MP Jamal Muhamad Abidat describes the role of this organization during the Crusades and now in the Middle East, “the so-called security firms in Iraq such as Blackwater have historic links with the Order of Malta”.

John F. Kennedy, murdered on November 22, 1963, spoke about Secret Society on April 27, 1961: “The very word secrecy is repugnant, in a free and open society. For we are, as people, inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret proceedings, and to secret oaths”…“Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.”

Body Count of the War on Terror-Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan

Moreover, a study conducted by Physicians for Social Responsibility (PCR) in published in March 2015 “Body Count of the War on Terror-Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan” reveals that the war has directly or indirectly killed 1-million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan and 80,000 in Pakistan. The study further reports that this figure is nearly 10-times greater than that of media and major NGOs and this is just a conservative estimate as the total body count in these three countries could be 2-million.

The article published on August 3, 2015 in Mint Press News even shocking death toll since US War on Terror’ after 9/11 with the title “Do the Math: Global War on Terror has killed 4-million Muslims or more”.

Stephen M. Walt, Professor of International Relations at Harvard wrote in foreign policy in 2009:

“How many Muslims has the United States killed in the past thirty years, and how many Americans have been killed by Muslims? Coming up with a precise answer to this question is probably impossible, but it is also not necessary, because the rough numbers are so clearly lopsided.”

Didi Chasing Uber everywhere but Uber is Exponent amid all Noes

By: Azhar Azam

The Daimler-Uber deal might spark the wave of new synergy in cloud mobility services (akin to cloud computing) – conceived by Uber, Didi Chuxing and peers – where Daimler agreed to supply and operate self-driving Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

According to Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, the ride-hailing market has scooped to $10 billion in no time – and has a potential to grow at 8x to $65 billion by 2030 – ‘outsizing the taxi market by 5.3x’.

Co-founded in 2009 by Travis Kalanick (TK) in California, Uber is one of the most invaluable private companies in the world that operates in 724 cities of 84 countries and is valued at $69 billion by the market analysts.

Uber (World & US #1) doubled its gross bookings to $20 billion; outpacing the peers by more than tripling its net revenues – to $6.5 billion excluding China in 2016 from $2 billion a year earlier at a staggering 225% growth. The ride-hailing giant though suffered net losses of 2.8 billion.

Last year, Uber sold the China business to its local rival Didi Chuxing in exchange of 18% stakes (or $35 billion) after suffering $1 billion of losses – that could had otherwise bloated net losses to $3.8 billion in 2016.

Rang in fire-spread #DeleteUber campaign and a tide of scandals enforcing co-founder TK to resign as CEO, the cab-hailing company cloaked 17% growth in the gross bookings to $8.7 billion in the second quarter – twofold of its proceeds last year, according to financials revealed by the company to Axios.

A breathtaking 250% growth in developing countries also fueled global trips to increase by 150% year-over-year. Uber reported adjusted net revenue of $3.2 billion and adjusted net loss of $1.4 billion for first two quarters.

Didi Chuxing (World #2) is the largest ride-hailing network in China – posted annual revenues of $2.7 billion in 2016. Its scale of operations and service portfolio is however 5x-6x larger than the peers. Didi is also backed by investment internet giants such as – Tencent, Alibaba, and Apple, according to the research.

Lately, Uber’s global rivals are teaming up to benefit from its unending crisis to dent its global ride-hailing dominance.

China’s Didi Chuxing is leading the fray against Uber. After $1 billion of losses, Didi forced Uber to concede its business in China to Didi. Now domestic dominance is stirring Didi to challenge Uber in the rest of the world – as it plans to expand the business in Middle East and North Africa. The ride-sharing app is valued at $50 billion against Uber’s $69 billion and raised $5 billion revenue this year.

Didi is chasing Uber everywhere.

Last month, Didi entered into a strategic partnership with Dubai-based startup Careem to strengthen its business in the region. The partnership, off course is aimed at weakening Uber’s business expansion in Middle East. Careem, works in 80 cities of 12 countries in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), though is just $1 billion Company but has a strong footprint in the region. Like most of the vehicle app companies, Careem does not disclose its revenue.

Before Careem, Didi collaborated with Taxify to grow its network across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Taxify is working in 18 countries of Europe and Africa and has 2.5 billion users. Didi’s collaboration will provide Taxify the investment to spread transport service from Hungary and Romania, to South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.

Malaysian Grab, based in Singapore, is valued at $6 billion and is Uber’s main contender in South-East Asia. Didi, Again, financed Grab $2 billion to shore up its business in the region. Grab is operating in 36 cities of 7 countries in South-East Asia and claims more than 50 million downloads and 1.1 million drivers on its podium. The overall industry volume of the region is estimated at $13.1 billion in 2016 – up from 2.5 billion in 2015.

Lyft (#3 in world) is Uber’s main rival in the United States and only operates within the country. It greatly capitalized the #DeleteUber – social media campaign towed with Trump’s proposed Muslim ban and prompted taxi union protest – to boost its operations by 60%.

‘We saw a 60% increase in passenger activations after that’, said Lyft’s director of product in his Recode Decode podcast.

Lyft accounted for losses of $600 million in 2016 against revenue generation of $700 million from gross bookings of $5.5 billion for the year. In 2015, the company suffered losses of $360 million over revenue of $200 million. But Lyft’s market share is just a fraction of Uber’s and Didi’s.

Like Didi Chuxing in China, Uber ceded its Russia business to local rival, Yandex Taxi for 36.6% ownership stake worth nearly $1.6 billion – operates through Yandex, a search engine competing Google. The transport service is available in 127 cities in 6 countries across the region. Yandex Taxi operates in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Georgia.

Ola is the most popular cab-hailing app in India that competes with Uber in India. Uber (50.0%) and Ola (44.2%) had a combined 94.2% share of app installations in June 2017. Since September 2016, Uber has grown its app market share in India from 41.7% at the cost of Ola’s 54.8%. Valued at $3 billion, it operates in 110 cities nationwide, has a fleet of 600,000 vehicles, and posted revenue of just $150 million.

Easy Taxi, Cabify, 99, and Gett are some of the other Uber’s competitors in the global market – Easy Taxi serves North and Central America and is also available in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.