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Category: Geopolitics
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In whatever has happened since April 22 that is Behel massacre, we've seen that developments have moved
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very very fast. One thing that has defied explanation so far is the dramatic shift in American attitude towards Pakistan.
In India, we may have focused on the larger picture. Array is are the Americans now rehyenating us with Pakistan.
Nobody's telling you to
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negotiate again with Pakistan over Kashmir. However, you can see definitely an American warmth with Pakistan.
It is the same Trump who in his first term had called Pakistan who had accused Pakistan of indulging in deceit. A country that
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couldn't be trusted, a country that was haring harboring terrorists. But you saw some changes in Trump 2's attitude to Pakistan.
We saw in February, for example, the lifting of the block on $397 million of aid to Pakistan towards
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its military program, mostly to help extend the life of its F-16s. That had been blocked in the past.
Biden administration had also kept it blocked. That was released.
Then in his state of the union address, Trump thanked Pakistan, praised Pakistan, that made
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Pakistan very happy. It was probably the only country in large in a large large swad of the world that he mentioned by name and he thanked them for handing over a terrorist to to them who was involved in the bombing that killed a
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bunch of American soldiers in Kabul around time American forces were withdrawing from there and Taliban were taking over. So that was that was a very special thank you note.
And then we saw then we saw after the ceasefire after
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Trump boasted several times that he had brokered the ceasefire because he told both India and Pakistan basically that he used trade as an instrument of diplomacy or leverage to bring about this ceasefire. In fact he also added in
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one of his tweets that nobody has used trade in diplomacy as well as I have done. That's what he said.
He also said in an interview to Fox News, "Pakistanis are brilliant people. They make some incredible products.
We can trade with
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them. We can buy these from them." So everybody wondered what these products are and that has remained a bit of a mystery.
That has also confused a lot of the Trump watchers, Washington watchers, Pakistan watchers. Although although in the second Trump era, nothing surprises
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anybody anymore. But something dramatic has happened between Pakistan and Trump.
If you want to understand that you have to you have to keep in mind two things. One is crypto cryptocurrency which I know nothing about.
And second is rare earths or rare minerals which I might
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know something about. But the claim that Pakistan has trillions of dollars worth of rare earths that is not not something that's been proven as yet.
and the regions of Pakistan which might have these minerals have other issues besides the fact that the Chinese treat those as
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their own. That said, remember these two factors.
There's a third factor to this and that is lobbying. So what did the Pakistanis do when Trump too came in?
Pakistanis saw an opportunity and they figured that Trump is transactional not
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necessarily at a big level at a high level. That's what the Pakistanis understood.
So they could not they could not compete with India when it came to big deals between nations, big big systems to import from America. Also big trade arrangements, big manufacturing of
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critical products in India, shifting them from China. Those are the large sovereign to sovereign issues.
What the Pakistanis focused on was what was personal personal albeit small. You can call it tucha but that is what the Pakistanis focused on.
So very early on,
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very early on and how do we know this? There's a lot to read and I've read a lot and frankly the more I read the more I confused and I'm afraid of crypto and that's the reason I've been defident.
And this episode is also coming to you late. I thought I will talk about something else because I am just afraid of the word crypto because I don't
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understand it. I I understand real money but crypto I don't know there must be something to it because because it is very popular.
In early January, Pakistan hired a lobbyist in Washington. And this lobbyist is somebody who was known to be close to Trump's family.
So Pakistan was
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not appealing to Trump at a policy level or sovereign to sovereign level. He's appealing to him at a family personal level.
This lobbyist joined in and then an American billionaire Gentry or Gentry Beach, he goes to Pakistan. Is a Texas
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financial and a Donald Trump junior friend. He goes to Pakistan probably this is brokered by this new Pakistani lobbyist.
He goes and he meets Shabbah Sharif directly and his entire cabinet. He's a Texas financial.
He then he then
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also boasts at a Mara Lago dinner that wherever I go they treat me like President Trump obviously because he knows that many countries know that the approach to Donald Trump has to be personal and through his family and Donald Trump and Trump Trump family have
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also redefined how how business is done by the ruling family quote unquote of America. Now the now the distinction between what is the family and what is the government is is blurring.
Although the white house keeps on saying that all
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of Trump family's businesses are now in in trusts which are controlled by his children. So the president has nothing to do with them.
They've also said that the Trump organization which is basically a real estate organization will not do any deals in any country
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while he is president. At the same time, these other companies are now creating other businesses particularly in cryptocurrency.
That's why it's so important. Now, just after Gentry or Gentry Beach has been to has been to
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Pakistan and has met Shabbash Sharif and his and his cabinet, no less, right? The Pakistanis can really roll out the red carpet very often.
They can roll out the red carpet to welcome you. And on the way back, every member of the delegation might get a copy of a finely woven
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tribal carpet. That is what Ziah used to do to many people including to foreign journalists who came visiting.
So Pakistanis are very good at that. Soon after soon after Gentry Beach's son that is Gentry Beach Jr.
aged just 20 he
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comes into Pakistan and who does he meet? He meets the finance minister of Pakistan, Mohammad Orurange Ze who is a former JP Morgan Chase guy.
He's a smart guy. So he meets Muhammad Orang and sells him the idea of Pakistan getting involved in crypto business.
And
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Pakistan also figures that there is an opportunity. While this is happening, a former finance minister of Pakistan is floating also in Washington looking for business deals, looking for Trump family business deals because Pakistanis have diagnosed this
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right that the key to the new White House is through Trump family businesses. The rule of the game, the rules of the game on conflict of interest have now changed.
Gentry B Jr. when he came to Pakistan, he came with two representatives of a Dubai shake and
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one Russian tech executive who is the co-founder of something called Islamic Coin. So that's also a crypto business.
Also accompanying him was Kelly Whitlock. Kelly Whitlock is chief business officer of a US blockchain firm.
His her sister her sister is
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married to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hexet. In fact, the Wall Street Journal story and we have to thank Rebecca Bellhouse and Angus Burwitch who have done this story.
F wonderful story. I will share a link with you.
Kelly Whitlock's sister is married to Pete
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Hexath. In fact, at at Donald Trump's inauguration, she's sitting right behind Pete Hexath and his wife who's who her sister.
So, that connection is there. But once again, Department of Defense, US Department of Defense is quoted by
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the Pentagon as saying, "But this has nothing to do with Secretary of Defense, his own businesses, etc., etc. This is a private business." She's also accompanied by the CEO of her firm.
This is when Pakistan dramatically decides to set up a national crypto council. In
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this national crypto council, they appoint as an advisor a man called Jangpang Xiao. Jang Xiao if I pronounce his name right you will see the spelling.
He is the founder of Benance which is the last crypto exchange which
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has been caught in many wrong in much wrongdoing in the US and where he has pleaded guilty to money laundering etc. in 2023 he was sentenced and even after that he's barred from doing business.
He's looking for a pardon for Trump and
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Jangpang Xiao was banned from doing business in America. Basically, he was banned from running his exchange in America, Binance or Binance, whatever, how however you want to pronounce.
He is also landed up in the Trump family crypto business indirectly. How that
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that connection works, I will tell you as we go along. It's a bit complex, but you know, after I spent so many hours reading it, maybe it's not so complex.
I've got much help from my colleague and our news news editor Jan Kway in this. I had given up.
I said crypto, I'm not going to do this. and she came to me and
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she said this is not about crypto this is about politics about politics diplomacy lobbying and fixing which is what the Pakistanis have done quite brilliantly. So what happens?
Janpang Jiao Janpang Jiao is appointed and as advisor to this Pakistani national
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crypto council right which has just been set up this in a country where crypto is still illegal. In fact just yesterday Pakistani State Bank the their equivalent of Reserve Bank State Bank of Pakistan and also also the Pakistani
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ministry of finance told their told their finance ministries standing committee national assembly standing committee that crypto is illegal in Pakistan. So whatever you're saying right now you're floating in an illegal environment unless the government changes the law and makes crypto legal
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it is all illegal. Nevertheless, Pakistan has after something else.
So they set up this crypto council where Jang Punjawo becomes an advisor. As that happens, then a young man called Bilal bin Sakib.
Bilal bin Sakib is also a bit
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of a crypto wiz. He's listed among the Forbes 30 under 30.
He is appointed an advisor. He's appointed an adviser to a firm called World Liberty Finance Incorporated.
WLFI. WLFI is run by Zack Witkov.
Name
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sounds funny. Zack Witkov is the son of Steve Witkov.
Steve V Steve Witkov is also a well-known property developer, an old friend and camp follower of Trump's and now Trump's special envoy to the
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Middle East and increasingly also to Russia. He's been meeting Putin often and apparently he's doing it for no salary, no compensation and flying around in his private plane as well.
His son obviously knows this Sakim bin Bilal
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who's an who's a kind of a global citizen because he's done much work in Britain. He's been a speaker on the crypto circuit in the US as well.
He appoints Sakib bin Bilal as an advisor to his company that is WLI that is DFI is decentralized
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finance. Crypto is a very ideological thing.
People who do crypto they say governments, regulators control too much and they discourage innovation and that's why they use expressions like decentralized finance. So Sakib bin Bilal becomes an advisor there and as
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the Wall Street Journal then says one sentence and I'm quoting that sentence straight from the Wall Street Journal, Pakistan now had a Trump connection. Pakistan in a jify set up the crypto council of Pakistan and young Bilal was appointed its head at age 32.
You try to
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do something like that in India, it will take you months and months and months and dreams and dreams and dreams of file work and maybe somebody will go to court and there will be objections etc. How does a 32 year old head a council like that an empowered council like that?
But
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that is what the Pakistanis did. They are very fleefooted with stuff like that.
Remember how quickly how dramatically they have moved they had moved with the Chinese between the Chinese and the Americans in 1971 brokering those secret visits by Henry Kissinger to Beijing to bring
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about a Chinese American thaw to to counter the Soviet influence at that point. Now what happens April 26?
This is just 4 days after Pelgam. This is when India and Pakistan are putting restrictions on each other.
Pakistan has
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banned all movement of aircraft from India. There are very few aircraft flying into Pakistan and many people in India particularly in the OENT community tracked an aircraft coming in from the Gulf into Pakistan.
It comes to Islamabad at some point it comes to one
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of our airfields in Gujarat also probably to refuel and it's floating there. It could be the same aircraft because April 26 in a private jet in a private jet the leadership group of WLFI leaders led by Zack Witkov and two
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co-founders they land in Islamabad as they land in Islamabad they are they are received by young Bilal bin Sakib Bilal bin Sakib is also not a nobody in Pakistan his dad-in-law it's like in this case Jantra do you who my
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father-in-law is. His father-in-law is leftand general Omar Bkhari who's currently the core commander of Peshawar and he gets audiences with the army chief anytime he want for himself or for anybody else.
He's also been appointed now an adviser to the Pakistani finance
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minister in the rank of a minister of state. The fact the fact that he is the son-in-law of the core commander in Peshawar that was first highlighted by Pakistani columnist and strategic scholar who also write for us Aisha Siddika.
So Bilal Bilal bin Sakib now
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became a key figure and Bilal bin Sakib was now floating with with WLF leadership. This leadership in Pakistan was fated.
They met key people key people in Islamabad. After that they flew to Lahore.
Lahor. There was a
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ceremonial reception for them in the Lahore fort which is what is normally done with patakas. You you can see those pictures.
These have all been posted. These have all been posted on Instagram and we'll be sharing these with you.
There was a big celebration. It was a full Pakistani treatment.
And after that
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there was a fireside chat in Shalimar Garden where young Vitkov said, this is a junior Vitkov. Junior Vitkov said that your country is sitting on trillions of dollars worth of rare earths.
From where did he find those? I don't know.
There
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are lots of Pakistanis who believe that. I believe even the army chief in Pakistan believes that because because he's a believer in the scriptures and things.
So he thinks that because Pakistan is the new Medina. So just as the original Medina was fated to have
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great mineral wealth mostly oil. Similarly, this modern Medina is also fated to have great mineral wealth.
I'm not sure if there's any more evidence besides this of this trillions of dollars worth of rare earth in Pakistan. But once again, I would like to
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underline the fact that all the minerals are generally in Pakistan's western frontier areas which has many claimments on the region and also the Chinese are there in strength. So are they going to appreciate the Americans now getting a cheap easy deal there?
I think there'll
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be issues there but the fact is the Pakistan has used this leverage now to invagle their way into the Trump white house and you can see the results of that already. In January Pakistan hired one lobbyist in April they hired another set of very interesting lobbyists at
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$200,000 a month. So this was a lawyer and these are all lobbyist fi filings because in America you have to file particularly if you work as a foreign agent.
You can legally work as a foreign agent, but you have to make disclosures. At $200,000 a month, $2K a month, they
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hired a lawyer plus two advisors. These included a former bodyguard of Trump's man called Keith Schiller.
Again, the effort was to get into Trump's family and and also Trump's organization lawyer
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who they hired George Sorals. This also gave them an entry into the household.
Now, how regular is this and how legal is this in America right now? There's a lot of debate because Trump is changing the rules because he's mixing business
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with diplomacy and people he is hiring to do his diplomacy and his political work are also doing his business and in a lot of that business his family is involved. Now you might say that Shaker Gupta you mentioned this company WLFI and this Steve Bitco son is going around
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making these deals but what has it got to do with Donald Trump? The fact is that 60% of this company WLFI is owned by the Trump family 60%.
And Zack Bitco is going around telling the world that when you buy into this in fact he he has
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already sold this year this year 550 billion worth of stable coins. Now don't ask me to don't ask me to define it because I will lose my way out of my out of my syllabus and out out of out of my IQ levels also.
But basically what they've created is they've created
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USD1 like a like a cryptocurrency that is that is valued at one US dollar and this is secured with assets. This is secured with assets like government securities of the same value.
when it's traded on the exchange, it can
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acquire more value. So what they're doing is they are enticing various countries to buy into this and as more buy into this, the value will go up and more and more countries are doing it.
The company WLFI does not disclose anything. All they say is once you
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invest with us all of you will get a share of the profit. So remember 60% of that company is owned by the Trump family.
So that is the connection. Now you will say that all this is happening in America.
There is an opposition in America. There is the house and the senate.
There are investigative
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organizations. There are other institutions.
What are they doing? So first of all I've told you that American media we have we we have drawn from this Wall Street Journal story and once again say thank you Rebecca Bell House and Angus Burwitch but a lot of the other media has also caught on to it and the
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US Senate also is active. So Richard Blumenthal who is a Democratic senator for Connecticut.
He heads a Senate permanent subcommittee on Investigations or PSI on Homeland Security. This committee has sent requisitions to WLFI
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for details for their deal documents. WLFI has sent them a legal reply which is also tweeted by Zack Vitkov basically saying there is nothing wrong.
We are doing nothing wrong. And they are saying in fact ultralo ded like the thiefs scolding the cough the company rejects
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this false choice between innovation and oversight. This is misuse of regulatory authority and this suppresses lawful innovation but they have not turned over any documentation on their deals including with Pakistan to the Senate
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Homeland Security Inquiry Committee as yet. So that's a story that's playing out.
It will play out. However, however, within Pakistan, I can see some concern from people, good people who are saying that look, this may not be the safest thing to do because crypto assets is not
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where you put your you put your reserves because Pakistan doesn't have so much spare money or sovereign wealth fund. So, there's an article from Kuram Hussein in Dawn which I'm sharing with you and also Yuf Nazer who's a former city bank top executive and also author of the book the gathering storm.
Both of
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them have held out warnings against against getting too besotted with with the crypto. But you know what's happening is the Pakistanis are not doing it for money.
The Pakistanis are not doing it because they love crypto. the Pakistan is are doing it because they don't mind risking a few billions
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or maybe a few tens of millions of US dollars, maybe a hundred million US dollars or more if in the process they can bring about a geopolitical shift in America's view on this subcontinent. So their critics are now saying that Pakistani generals and the and the
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Pakistani establishment are geopolitically so obsessed that they are that they are endangering Pakistan's economy. However, the fact that there is a Trump tilt towards Pakistan, a personal Trump tilt is also a reality
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and it is to be kept in the mind. I know that many of us have been mystified as to how this has happened.
These stories, these details tell you how little does it take and how the subcontinent's family networks, a general, his son, his
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son's access accordingly to everybody, all the high and mighty in Pakistan and and similarly similarly a president, his son, his his close friend and his special envoy and his son a secretary of defense and his sister-in-law all of
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these gets together including a convicted crypto Exchange founder that is Jangpang Xiao of Benance. If all of them get together then this incredible incredible plot can be hatched.
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[Music] [Applause] [Music]