Special

A battle appears to be looming within the western world's most important military alliance.

The two NATO members with the largest armies are in dispute over weapons from Russia.

The US is threatening sanctions against Turkey for buying the Russian S-400 anti-missile system, placing Russian weapons inside NATO territory.

Washington had warned that if the sale goes ahead, Turkey would be kicked out of a programme to build its new F-35 warplane, and Turkish pilots learning to fly the jet would be sent home.

Why is the sale so controversial? And could Turkey be risking its position in the NATO military alliance?

In Libya, questions still surround a July 3 air attack near Tripoli that destroyed a migrant detention centre and killed at least 50 detainees and wounding 130 others. A UN special envoy to Libya said the attack could constitute a war crime. The incident is believed to be one of the most fatal cases of civilian deaths since rebel forces led by General Khalifa Haftar launched a military offensive in April to seize the capital Tripoli. In what ways will the July 3 incident change the conditions faced by migrants in Libya?

Battle for Tripoli
For the past three months, Libya’s two rival governments have been fighting for control of the capital city Tripoli. More than 1,000 people have been killed, according to the UN. Tripoli is currently controlled by the UN-recognised Government of National Accord, which receives support from Turkey and Qatar. From Libya’s east, rogue commander General Khalifa Haftar and his self-declared Libyan National Army has been advancing on the city with a ground and air offensive backed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The fighting is thwarting peace attempts, and on Friday the UN called for a ceasefire. How is the ongoing conflict impacting the lives of people in the country?

No end in sight to Libya's war?
After eight years of civil war, why has it been so difficult to end the conflict in Libya? Since 2014, the war has been shaped by Libya's two competing governments  - each backed by international powers, regional powers and local militia groups. In April, the battle over Tripoli forced the postponement of a national conference aimed at unifying the country and setting a date for new elections. In this segment, we'll discuss solutions to Libya's war and ask whether a political solution is still possible.

UN envoy condemns the attack as a 'war crime' and says those responsible must be held to account.

African migrants and refugees have become the latest victims of Libya's civil war.

At least 44 people died in an air strike on a detention centre in the capital Tripoli.

The UN's special envoy to Libya is calling it a war crime.
And the UN-recognised government in Tripoli is blaming warlord Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have been fighting to seize the city.

The victims are among tens of thousands of Africans hoping to cross the Mediterranean Sea to start a new life in Europe.

Special Report: Trump meets North Korea's Kim Jong Un in the DMZ

It's been two years since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS) ascended to power. Many consider him to be the kingdom's de facto ruler.

A lot of people in the West had pinned their hopes on the young reformist prince and what they described as his bold vision for Saudi Arabia. But with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the persecution of activists and feminists, and the jailing of human rights defenders, including Saudi Muslim leader Salman al-Awdah, many find his leadership decisions concerning.

"The promise was to reform the social fabric in Saudi Arabia, was to diversify the Saudi economy and to promote moderate Islam," says Abdullah Alaoudh, a scholar, rights advocate and the son of al-Awdah.

"What has been done is actually the opposite of all these three different aspects," he tells Al Jazeera.

Alaoudh, a senior fellow at Georgetown University in the US, is sceptical of what he calls MBS's "superficial reforms" in Saudi Arabia, including lifting a driving ban on women, because this has happened in the midst of other basic rights and liberties being taken away.

He says the reforms are akin to a "PR campaign" for MBS who "took advantage of a lot of people in the West not knowing the dynamics of the Saudi society".

"(MBS has) attacked the moderate voices of the kingdom; the voices that have been spearheading the campaign against extremism, terrorism in the kingdom," Alaoudh says.

"Look at the liberals, the feminists, the Shia, the Sunni, the Islamists, the different women, men. The leaders of all these segments of Saudi society all have been either put in jail, silenced, intimidated or threatened in one way or another. Even the tribal leaders in Saudi Arabia. Even his own family."

Alaoudh calls the murder of Khashoggi "horrible" but says it was also a "wake-up call" for the Saudi public, the international community and global media.

"The case of Khashoggi is actually representative of the human rights cases in Saudi Arabia ... The same minds that treated Jamal Khashoggi with brutality, with a gruesome killing, are still torturing women human rights defenders, feminists, the moderate Muslims, and the economists in Saudi Arabia."

Alaoudh says he remains concerned for his own safety and the safety of his father, who was arrested after sending out a tweet - an apparent call for reconciliation - at the start of the Saudi blockade on Qatar in 2017. Calling his father a "religious democrat" and "an icon of enlightenment, of moderate Islam", Alaoudh says these are the types of discourse MBS seeks to clamp down on because he fears it the most.

Asked whether he believes that his father's death penalty would be executed, Alaoudh says: "Did we ever think that those who were sent to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul will execute that horrible, gruesome killing of my friend Jamal Khashoggi? If those who killed Jamal Khashoggi were just rogue operatives, the head of that rogue operation, is it still in force? Is it still administering and managing the situation in Saudi Arabia? So I really can't expect anything."

Alaoudh says his larger fear is for the future of his country, where extreme voices have been empowered while those seeking to uphold basic rights and liberties are targeted or tortured or killed.

"My father is the most popular figure in the kingdom and he was treated like that. So just imagine those who are less known or even not known to the public or to the international media, what would they do? How would they treat such people?"

But he says there is more to the country than those who control it today.

"MBS is not Saudi Arabia. MBS is not the history of Saudi Arabia. MBS is not his own royal family and MBS is not the Saudi public," he says.

"So if you (the West) want to really establish a real alliance with Saudi Arabia, if you want to make sure that you have a stable relationship, if you want to have a long term alliance, you have to establish that with the Saudi public who will be there forever."

The opportunity of the century.
That's what White House Adviser and the US president's son-in-law is selling as the first step towards ending decades of conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Jared Kushner unveiled the economic part of a long-awaited Middle East peace plan in Bahrain on Tuesday.

He wants $50 billion from Gulf Arab nations and business leaders to build projects and create jobs in the Palestinian territory, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon.

However, no Israeli official has been invited to the conference, and Palestinians are boycotting the event.

So what's the point of the meeting? And does money trump politics?

UN extrajudicial executions investigator Agnes Callamard on Wednesday released her report into the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, she said the dismemberment of Khashoggi was discussed before his killing on October 2, and added that it was important to insist the execution was a killing by the Saudi Arabian state.

Callamard also said Riyadh should take steps to ensure such abuse of diplomatic privileges to commit an international crime was not repeated.

A spat between two popular YouTubers is calling into question how the company handles harassment on its platform.

Carlos Maza, host of the Vox series Strikethrough, is routinely the object of right-wing vlogger Steven Crowder’s ire. Last month, Maza tweeted a video compilation of all the bullying he says he’s received from Crowder. In a series of follow-up tweets, Maza argued that Crowder’s videos directly violate YouTube’s harassment policy which prohibits “content that is deliberately posted in order to humiliate someone”.

The controversy has sparked backlash by members of the LGBT community who are angered by YouTube’s decision to allow Crowder’s homophobic videos to stay on the platform.

"YouTube has always been a home for so many LGBTQ creators and that's why it was so emotional, and though it was a hard decision, it was made harder that it came from us because we've been such an important home," said YouTube CEO Suan Wokjcicki during her response to a question by an LGBT reporter at CodeCon, an annual technology conference.

Meanwhile, LGBT activists are pointing out the hypocrisy of YouTube celebrating LGBT Pride Month by changing its avatar on Twitter to reference the rainbow flag, a symbol associated with the pro-gay rights movement.

So is YouTube harboring harassment or an online home for free speech? We ask our panel that very question on this episode of The Stream.

Libya has been mired in conflict and violence since the country's 2011 civil war that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The oil-rich nation is now divided, with a UN-recognised but weak administration in the capital Tripoli overseeing the country's west and a rival government in the east aligned with the self-declared Libyan National Army led by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Libyan MP and former foreign minister Aly Abuzaakouk and Haftar lived in exile in the US "for many years together as acquaintances, as friends ... in Fairfax", and also knew Gaddafi during his school days. They'd both "suffered from the ruthless regime" of Gaddafi.

But after Hafter went back to Libya and "started to build his own entourage", Abuzaakouk "realised this is not a person I would continue to have a relationship with ...  He is a man who believes he is worthy of controlling Libya and he always would speak about the need for a strong force to control Libya."

In April, Haftar launched a military offensive against the government in Tripoli and vowed to fight until Tripoli 'militias' were defeated.

But according to Abuzaakouk, Haftar's "base of support in the east is not as it used to be". In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said that opposition to Haftar has grown after the assault on Tripoli, with tribes now openly opposing him and "calling for reconciliation with the rest of the country".

"Many forces have come together ... to support Tripoli, and the militia in Tripoli also defended their city ... They stopped the forces of Haftar and now they are hitting them back," he added.

But while support for Haftar might be waning inside Libya, he still has strong backers outside the country, says Abuzaakouk.

"The former president of Tunisia spoke about the axis of evil. Abu Dhabi, the Saudis and the Egyptians ... This axis of evil has a mandate to work against the success of the Arab Spring," he said.

"I think the international community have to realise they have supported Haftar with weapons against the United Nations Security Council resolutions. Everybody knows ... that there are arms coming from … at least Abu Dhabi and Egypt to Mr Haftar."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently appealed to all countries to enforce the arms embargo against Libya saying the issue is "of immediate importance in de-escalating the current situation" and "of critical importance to the protection of civilians and the restoration of security and stability in Libya and the region".

As Libya's ongoing crisis is still being deliberated in the international community, Abuzaakouk believes that the world at large failed the once wealthy African nation. "Getting rid of Gaddafi was step number one. Building Libya to really restructure itself was step number two and the world community at large left Libya alone and that, I think, was a great mistake."

"Life in Benghazi and in Derna is unbearable, it's worse than the days of Gaddafi. There's no freedom of speech, there's no freedom of law, there are a lot of killings, extrajudicial killings ... I'm very clear that the war crimes committed by Haftar or others should be investigated," said Abuzaakouk.

"There are now forces in Washington, in The Hague to really follow up on the war crimes that have been committed in Libya … the Libyans deserve to have some of the criminals be brought to justice.”

India's economy has grown at the slowest pace in the last five years. This is clear from recent figures released by the Government of India.

These reports show that the figures could be a problem for Narendra Modi, the second time Prime Minister became a troublemaker.

Economic growth in the last financial year April 2018 to March 2019 is 6.8%. At the same time, from January to March, the rate remained only 5.8%. This rate has been behind China's growth rate for the first time in the last two years.

This means that India is no longer the fastest growing economy. It will prove to be a major challenge for India's finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Nirmala Sitharaman has taken over the ministry of Commerce and Defense in the first tenure of the Modi government.

The current challenge to the Modi government is that they can bring back the confidence of the people towards the economy. The Modi government has to reconcile between its Short Term and Long Term Policy.

The government's first challenge will be employment.

The Modi government was surrounded by the issue of the highest employment during its first term. According to the government report, unemployment during the year 2017-18 is the highest in the 45 years.
The experts believe that the government needs to focus on labor-sector such as building construction and textile industry so that employment can be created with immediate effect. Apart from this, the government should also work on industries like health care to enable long-term jobs to be created.

Curved export also creates a major hindrance in the way of employment.

The US has ended India's special trade status since June 5, 2019. India exports 16 percent of India's total exports. In such a way, India's economy will have a bad effect. This will increase unemployment.

The United States has banned Iran from May 1, 2019. India can not import petroleum from Iran now India used to import most petroleum from Iran, which was used by India in its currency. India has been trapped in big trouble due to restrictions on Iran. India will now have to pay in dollars for petroleum. Rupee is at 69.58 level compared to the same dollar. Rupee and will fall below. This will increase inflation.

At the new GDP rate, it is clear that India's economy is rapidly falling below.

The biggest factor in China's economic growth of India is the domestic consumption here. Domestic consumption has played the most important role in increasing the economy for the past 15 years. But with recent data, it is clear that the ability of consumers to buy has decreased.

Sales of cars-SUVs have reached the lowest point of last seven years. Sales of tractors, motorcycles and scooters have also declined. The demand for borrowing from the bank has also increased rapidly. In the recent quarters, the income growth of Hindustan Unilever has also come down. Given these facts, it can be understood that the purchasing power of the consumer has come down.

The BJP promised in its manifesto that it would cut income taxes to ensure more cash and more purchasing power in the hands of the middle income families.

Gaurang Shetty, Vice President of a brokerage company believes that the government should also cut personal and corporate tax in its next budget (July).

They say that these steps will work as a stimulant for the economy.

But the difference between India's 3.4% budget deficit, i.e. government expenditure and revenue, can prevent Modi government from doing so.

Experts believe that increasing financial losses can stop short and long term growth.

The growing agricultural crisis in India was one of the biggest challenges of Narendra Modi for his first term. Farmers from all over the country, including Delhi-Mumbai, have come to the streets demanding a fair price for their crops on many roads in India.

The BJP had decided to give 6,000 rupees annually to select farmers in its first government, although the Modi government has implemented this scheme for all farmers in the first Cabinet meeting of its second term.

This plan will provide relief for some time, but this will not work in a long time. There is a need to improve the structure of the agricultural sector.

At present, farmers sell their crops to state government agencies. Whereas farmers should be able to bargain directly in the market.

One of the BJP's election promises was that it would spend 1.44 trillion dollars on railways, roads and infrastructure. But where will such a huge amount come from? Knowledgeable believe that Modi can take the path of privatization for it.

In his first tenure, Modi has worked slow on his promises to sell government enterprises. Air India has long been in debt. The government started the process of selling its shares, but no buyer was found and Air India could not be sold.

Private investment has been lagging behind for the past few years and in the last decade, India's impressive economic growth is largely on government spending.

In his first government, Narendra Modi made a few reductions in the licensing rule, with the help of which India was able to reach the 77th position in the World Bank's mercantile list, which was 134th in the year 2014.