Destroying the Syrian Nation For the Sake of Gas

Migrant Crisis & Syria War Fueled By Competing Gas Pipelines

By Mnar Muhawesh

Don’t let anyone fool you: Sectarian strife in Syria has been engineered to provide cover for a war for access to oil and gas, and the power and money that come along with it.

Refugees and migrants wait to cross the border from the northern Greek village of Idomeni to southern Macedonia, Monday, Sept. 7, 2015. Greece has borne the brunt of a massive refugee and migration flow of people heading into the European Union. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

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Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect recent Wikileaks revelations of US State Department leaks that show plans to destabilize Syria and overthrow the Syrian government as early as 2006.  The leaks reveal that these plans were given to the US directly from the Israeli government and would be formalized through instigating civil strife and sectarianism through partnership with nations like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and even Egypt to break down the power structue in Syria to essentially to weaken Iran and Hezbolla. The leaks also reveal Israeli plans to use this crisis to expand it’s occupation of the Golan Heights for additional oil exploration and military expansion. 

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MINNEAPOLIS — Images of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who washed up dead on Mediterranean shores in his family’s attempt to flee war-torn Syria, have grabbed the attention of people around the world, sparking outrage about the true costs of war.

The heart-wrenching refugee crisis unfolding across the Middle East and at European borders has ignited a much needed conversation on the ongoing strife and instability that’s driving people from their homes in countries like Syria, Libya and Iraq. It’s brought international attention to the inhumane treatment these refugees are receiving if — and it is a major “if” — they arrive at Europe’s door.

In Syria, for example, foreign powers have sunk the nation into a nightmare combination of civil war, foreign invasion and terrorism. Syrians are in the impossible position of having to choose between living in a warzone, being targeted by groups like ISIS and the Syrian government’s brutal crackdown, or faring dangerous waters with minimal safety equipment only to be denied food, water and safety by European governments if they reach shore.

Other Syrians fleeing the chaos at home have turned to neighboring Arab Muslim countries. Jordan alone has absorbed over half a million Syrian refugees; Lebanon has accepted nearly 1.5 million; and Iraq and Egypt have taken in several hundred thousand.

Although it’s not an Arab nation or even part of the Middle East, Iran sent 150 tons of humanitarian goods, including 3,000 tents and 10,000 blankets, to the Red Crescents of Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon via land routes to be distributed among the Syrian refugees residing in the three countries last year.

Turkey has taken in nearly 2 million refugees to date. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Erdogan made international headlines for opening his nation’s arms to migrants, positioning himself as a kind of savior in the process.

Meanwhile, Gulf Arab nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have provided refuge to zero Syrian refugees.

While there’s certainly a conversation taking place about refugees — who they are, where they’re going, who’s helping them, and who isn’t — what’s absent is a discussion on how to prevent these wars from starting in the first place. Media outlets and political talking heads have found many opportunities to point fingers in the blame game, but not one media organization has accurately broken down what’s driving the chaos: control over gas, oil and resources.

Indeed, it’s worth asking: How did demonstrations held by “hundreds” of protesters demanding economic change in Syria four years ago devolve into a deadly sectarian civil war, fanning the flames of extremism haunting the world today and creating the world’s second largest refugee crisis?

While the media points its finger to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s barrel bombs and political analysts call for more airstrikes against ISIS and harsher sanctions against Syria, we’re four years into the crisis and most people have no idea how this war even got started.

This “civil war” is not about religion

Citing a lack of access on the ground, the United Nations stopped regularly updating its numbers of casualties in the Syrian civil war in January 2014. Estimates put the death toll between 140,200 and 330,380, with as many as 6 million Syrians displaced, according to the U.N.

While there is no question that the Syrian government is responsible for many of the casualties resulting from its brutal crackdown, this is not just a Syrian problem.

Foreign meddling in Syria began several years before the Syrian revolt erupted.  Wikieaks released leaked US State Department cables from 2006 revealing US plans to overthrow the Syrian government through instigating civil strife, and receiving these very orders straight from Tel Aviv.  The leaks reveal the United State’s partnership with nations like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and even Egypt to use sectarianism to divide Syria through the Sunni and Shiite divide to destabilize the nation to weaken Iran and Hezbolla.  Israel is also revealed to attempt to use this crisis to expand it’s occupation of the Golan Heights for additional oil exploration.

According to major media outlets like the BBC and the Associated Press, the demonstrations that supposedly swept Syria were comprised of only hundreds of people, but additional Wikileaks cables reveal CIA involvement on the ground in Syria to instigate these very demonstrations as early as March 2011.

 

Just a few months into the demonstrations which now consisted of hundreds of armed protesters with CIA ties, demonstrations grew larger, armed non-Syrian rebel groups swarmed into Syria, and a severe government crackdown swept through the country to deter this foreign meddling. It became evident that the United States, United Kingdom, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey would be jumping on the opportunity to organize, arm and finance rebels to form the Free Syrian Army as outlined in the State Department plans to destabilize Syria. (Just a few months ago, WikiLeaks confirmed this when it released Saudi intelligence that revealed Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia had been working hand in hand to arm and finance rebels to overthrow the Syrian government since 2012.)

These foreign nations created a pact in 2012 called “The Group of Friends of the Syrian People,” a name that couldn’t be further from the truth. Their agenda was to divide and conquer in order to wreak havoc across Syria in view of overthrowing Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The true agenda to hijack Syria’s revolt quickly became evident, with talking heads inserting Syria’s alliance with Iran as a threat to the security and interests of the United States and its allies in the region. It’s no secret that Syria’s government is a major arms, oil and gas, and weapons ally of Iran and Lebanon’s resistance political group Hezbollah.

But it’s important to note the timing: This coalition and meddling in Syria came about immediately on the heels of discussions of an Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline that was to be built between 2014 and 2016 from Iran’s giant South Pars field through Iraq and Syria. With a possible extension to Lebanon, it would eventually reach Europe, the target export market.

Perhaps the most accurate description of the current crisis over gas, oil and pipelines that is raging in Syria has been described by Dmitry Minin, writing for the Strategic Cultural Foundation in May 2013:

“A battle is raging over whether pipelines will go toward Europe from east to west, from Iran and Iraq to the Mediterranean coast of Syria, or take a more northbound route from Qatar and Saudi Arabia via Syria and Turkey. Having realized that the stalled Nabucco pipeline, and indeed the entire Southern Corridor, are backed up only by Azerbaijan’s reserves and can never equal Russian supplies to Europe or thwart the construction of the South Stream, the West is in a hurry to replace them with resources from the Persian Gulf. Syria ends up being a key link in this chain, and it leans in favor of Iran and Russia; thus it was decided in the Western capitals that its regime needs to change.

It’s the oil, gas and pipelines, stupid!

Indeed, tensions were building between Russia, the U.S. and the European Union amid concerns that the European gas market would be held hostage to Russian gas giant Gazprom. The proposed Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline would be essential to diversifying Europe’s energy supplies away from Russia.

Turkey is Gazprom’s second-largest customer. The entire Turkish energy security structure relies on gas from Russia and Iran. Plus, Turkey was harboring Ottoman-like ambitions of becoming a strategic crossroads for the export of Russian, Caspian-Central Asian, Iraqi and Iranian oil and even gas to Europe.

The Guardian reported in August 2013:

“Assad refused to sign a proposed agreement with Qatar and Turkey that would run a pipeline from the latter’s North field, contiguous with Iran’s South Pars field, through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and on to Turkey, with a view to supply European markets – albeit crucially bypassing Russia. Assad’s rationale was ‘to protect the interests of [his] Russian ally, which is Europe’s top supplier of natural gas.’”

Knowing Syria was a critical piece in its energy strategy, Turkey attempted to persuade Syrian President Bashar Assad to reform this Iranian pipeline and to work with the proposed Qatar-Turkey pipeline, which would ultimately satisfy Turkey and the Gulf Arab nations’ quest for dominance over gas supplies. But after Assad refused Turkey’s proposal, Turkey and its allies became the major architects of Syria’s “civil war.”

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/G1p_tFnKqMA?rel=0&showinfo=0

Much of the strategy currently at play was described back in a 2008 U.S. Army-funded RAND report, “Unfolding the Future of the Long War”:

“The geographic area of proven oil reserves coincides with the power base of much of the Salafi-jihadist network. This creates a linkage between oil supplies and the long war that is not easily broken or simply characterized. … For the foreseeable future, world oil production growth and total output will be dominated by Persian Gulf resources. … The region will therefore remain a strategic priority, and this priority will interact strongly with that of prosecuting the long war.”

In this context, the report identifies the divide and conquer strategy while exploiting the Sunni-Shiite divide to protect Gulf oil and gas supplies while maintaining a Gulf Arab state dominance over oil markets.

“Divide and Rule focuses on exploiting fault lines between the various Salafi-jihadist groups to turn them against each other and dissipate their energy on internal conflicts. This strategy relies heavily on covert action, information operations (IO), unconventional warfare, and support to indigenous security forces. … the United States and its local allies could use the nationalist jihadists to launch proxy IO campaigns to discredit the transnational jihadists in the eyes of the local populace. … U.S. leaders could also choose to capitalize on the ‘Sustained Shia-Sunni Conflict’ trajectory by taking the side of the conservative Sunni regimes against Shiite empowerment movements in the Muslim world…. possibly supporting authoritative Sunni governments against a continuingly hostile Iran.”

The report notes that another option would be “to take sides in the conflict, possibly supporting authoritative Sunni governments against a continuingly hostile Iran.”

This framework crafted an interesting axis: Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, U.S., Britain and France vs. Syria, Iran and Russia.

Divide and conquer: A path to regime change

With the U.S., France, Britain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — aka, the new “Friends of Syria” coalition — publicly calling for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad between  2011 and 2012 after Assad’s refusal to sign onto the gas pipeline, the funds and arms flowing into Syria to feed the so-called “moderate” rebels were pushing Syria into a humanitarian crisis. Rebel groups were being organized left and right, many of which featured foreign fighters and many of which had allied with al-Qaida.

The Syrian government responded with a heavy hand, targeting rebel held areas and killing civilians in the process.

Since Syria is religiously diverse, the so-called “Friends of Syria” pushed sectarianism as their official “divide and conquer” strategy to oust Assad. Claiming that Alawites ruled over a majority Sunni nation, the call by the “moderate” U.S.-backed rebels became one about Sunni liberation.

Although the war is being sold to the public as a Sunni-Shiite conflict, so-called Sunni groups like ISIS,  the Syrian al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (the Nusra Front) and even the “moderate” Free Syrian Army have indiscriminately targeted Syria’s Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Jews. At the same time, these same foreign nations supported and even armed the Bahraini government, which claims to be Sunni, in its violent crackdown on the majority Shiite pro-democracy demonstrations that swept the nation.

The Syrian government army itself is over 80 percent Sunni, which indicates that the true agenda has been politically — not religiously — motivated.

In addition to this, the Assad family is Alawite, an Islamic sect that the media has clumped in with Shiites, though most Shiites would agree that the two are unrelated. Further, the Assad family is described as secular and running a secular nation. Counting Alawites as Shiites was simply another way to push a sectarian framework for the conflict: It allowed for the premise that the Syria-Iran alliance was based on religion, when, in fact, it was an economic relationship.

This framework carefully crafted the Syrian conflict as a Sunni revolution to liberate itself from Shiite influence that Iran was supposedly spreading to Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

But the truth is, Syria’s Sunni community is divided, and many defected to join groups like the Free Syrian Army, ISIS and al-Qaida. And as mentioned earlier, over 80 percent of Assad’s military is Sunni.

As early as 2012, additional rebels armed and financed by Arab Gulf nations and Turkey like al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood, declared all-out war against Shiites. They even threatened to attack Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraq’s government after they had overthrown the Assad government.

Soon after, the majority of the Muslim Brotherhood rebels became part of al-Qaida-affiliated groups. Together, they announced that they would destroy all shrines — not just those ones which hold particular importance to Shiites.

Hezbollah entered the scene in 2012 and allied itself with the Syrian government to fight al-Nusra and ISIS, which were officially being armed and financed by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. And all the arms were actively being sold to these nations by the United States. Thus, US arms were falling into the hands of the same terror group the US claims to be fighting in its broader War on Terror.

According to reports, Hezbollah was and has been been active in preventing rebel penetration from Syria to Lebanon, being one of the most active forces in the Syrian civil war spillover in Lebanon. Despite this, the U.S. sanctioned both the Syrian government and Hezbollah in 2012.

Also that year, Russia and Iran sent military advisers to assist the Syrian government in quelling the terror groups, but Iranian troops were not on the ground fighting during this time.

What was once a secular, diverse and peaceful nation, was looking more like it was on its way to becoming the next Afghanistan; its people living under Taliban-style rule as jihadists took over more land and conquered more cities.

Effects of foreign meddling outweigh self-determination

If you think that was hard to follow, you’re certainly not alone.

Most sectarian civil wars are purposely crafted to pit sides against one another to allow for a “divide and conquer” approach that breaks larger concentrations of power into smaller factions that have more difficulty linking up. It’s a colonial doctrine that the British Empire famously used, and what we see taking place in Syria is no different.

So, let’s get one thing straight: This is not about religion. It might be convenient to say that Arabs or Muslims kill each other, and it’s easy to frame these conflicts as sectarian to paint the region and its people as barbaric. But this Orientalist, overly simplistic view of conflict in the Middle East dehumanizes the victims of these wars to justify direct and indirect military action.

If the truth was presented to the public from the perspective that these wars are about economic interests, most people would not support any covert funding and arming of rebels or direct intervention. In fact, the majority of the public would protest against war. But when something is presented to the public as a matter of good versus evil, we are naturally inclined to side with the “good” and justify war to fight off the supposed “evil.”

The political rhetoric has been carefully crafted to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable. Ultimately, no matter the agendas, the alliances or instability brought on by foreign meddling, the calls for freedom, democracy and equality that erupted in 2011 were real then and they’re real today. And let’s not forget that the lack of freedom, democracy and equality have been brought on more by foreign meddling to prop up brutal dictators and arm terror groups than by self-determination.

The people in the Middle East once stood united and strong together against foreign meddling, exploitation and colonialism no matter their religious or cultural background. But today, the Middle East is being torn to shreds by manipulative plans to gain oil and gas access by pitting people against one another based on religion. The ensuing chaos provides ample cover to install a new regime that’s more amenable to opening up oil pipelines and ensuring favorable routes for the highest bidders.

And in this push for energy, it’s the people who suffer most. In Syria, they are fleeing en masse. They’re waking up, putting sneakers on their little boys and girls, and hopping on boats without life jackets, hoping just to make it to another shore. They’re risking their lives, knowing full well that they may never reach that other shore, because the hope of somewhere else is better than the reality at home.

About the author
Mnar Muhawesh

Mnar Muhawesh is founder, CEO and editor in chief of MintPress News, and is also a regular speaker on responsible journalism, sexism, neoconservativism within the media and journalism start-ups. In 2009, Muhawesh also became the first American woman to wear the hijab to anchor/report the news in American media. Muhawesh is also a wife and mother of a rascal four year old boy, juggling her duties as a CEO and motherly tasks successfully as supermom. Follow Mnar on Twitter at @mnarmuh

Saudi Scum Bans Adoption of Syrian Or Iraqi Orphans Who Manage To Survive Wahhabi Terror Onslaught

Ban on adopting Syrian, Iraqi orphans

 

DAMMAM — The Ministry of Social Affairs has prohibited Saudi families from adopting children of foreign or Arab nationalities and said the ministry is only concerned with taking care of Saudi orphans. According to Al-Hayat newspaper on Thursday, the ministry said the children who lose their parents in areas of conflicts such as Iraq and Syria are the concern of the international humanitarian organizations. Latifa Al-Tamimi, director of the women social supervision office in the Eastern Province, said the ministry is also looking after children of Saudi fathers with foreign wives abandoned abroad.

Saudis Foot the Bill for Zionist TV Campaign Against Iran

Wave of TV Ads Opposing Iran Deal Organized By Saudi Arabian Lobbyist

Lee Fang

Photo: Kaster Pool/Reuters /Landov

Television stations across the country are being flooded with $6 million of advertisements from a group called the “American Security Initiative” urging citizens to call their U.S. Senators and oppose the nuclear deal with Iran.

Though the American Security Initiative does not reveal donor information, the president of the new group, former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., is a registered lobbyist for Saudi Arabia. Coleman’s firm, Hogan Lovells, is on retainer to the Saudi Arabian monarchy for $60,000 a month. In July 2014, Coleman described his work as “providing legal services to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia” on issues including “legal and policy developments involving Iran and limiting Iranian nuclear capability.”

The co-chairs of the American Security Initiative include former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., former Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and former Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. Chambliss works at DLA Piper, another lobbying firm retained to influence U.S. policy on behalf of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

The advertising effort is part of a fierce lobbying campaign to convince senators to support legislation expressing disapproval of the international accord with Iran, which will lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for inspections of the Iranian nuclear industry to ensure that it remains peaceful. The vote is scheduled to take place in September.

Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led Persian Gulf governments have long viewed Iran as a regional adversary. The rivalry stems from the Sunni-Shiite sectarian divide, and experts also believe Iranian oil exports could challenge Saudi Arabia’s dominance in the market. The crises in Syria and in Yemen have become proxy wars between the two nations as Saudi Arabia and Iran are playing an active role in fueling opposing sides in both conflicts.

Last month, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that senior Saudi officials have reversed course and now express support for the Iran deal.

But analysts believe that Saudi Arabia is still trying to kill the deal, just not in public. As Newsweek reported, Saudi officials speaking on condition on anonymity have attacked the deal. And Saudi media outlets tied to the royal family have also widely condemned it.

Photo: (L-R) U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter meets with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and his security leadership at the Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 22, 2015 to reassure the kingdom of America’s support after Washington struck a nuclear deal with Iran.

State Terrorism Is State Terrorism, Even When It Is Made By America

[This is a blast from the past, one of the first articles posted on No Sunglasses, 8-19-2008.  The message remains the same,

even though Barack Obama has since replaced the Bush dictatorship and multiplied US state terrorism exponentially. 

When read in tandem with the following piece, the message seems highly relevant today (SEE: Escaping The Age Of Mass Delusion—Humanity’s Only Hope).]

If We Could Speak to the People, What Would We Say?

Peter Chamberlin

If we could reach beyond the news filter that keeps real news from the
American people, what would we say? If we figured-out how to get one message
out to the people, what could we say that would actually motivate them to
take a stand for themselves, for their families, for their country and their
world?

The same studies that power the social planners claim that barely 10% of any
group of people follow reason, meaning they cannot be reasoned with. The
same studies also predict that a clear majority of any targeted population
will respond to fear in a shock scenario. We might try reasoning with the
sleeping sheeple, but we would have better odds if we tried to scare them
awake. If we can convey a true image of the evil being done with our
consent, then we might shock the people into the harsh light of reality.

Our leaders are about to allow the economic collapse of the United States,
without telling you beforehand, or helping American citizens to make
emergency preparations.

Their solution to the problem is to seize control of the post-collapse world
militarily, eliminating everyone who gets in the way. This military solution
accepts a very large loss of human lives as necessary “collateral damage” to
the brave plan to take control of the world. When the American people are
overwhelmed by the economic catastrophe, they will hardly notice large
planned population reductions.

All of this is an acceptable solution to our government. For those who try
to protest after the “hammer goes down,” there are hundreds of detention
camps, capable of holding thousands of dissidents, waiting to accept your
silent screams.

But until we get to that point of no return, steps are being taken to reduce
and eventually eliminate all protests to governmental violence.
The Constitution is being reduced piecemeal to a powerless piece of paper.
The courts are bowing down to executive decrees.

Mankind is being kept in check by his own fear. In the face of fear we react
like herd animals, bunching together in search of elusive safety, making us
easily manipulated by those who have mastered the psychology of fear.

Terror is a key element of American politics. Votes are obtained by
frightening the people into your corner, or away from your “unsafe”
opponent. Candidacies are won and lost by negative campaigns of lies and
half-truths that paint your opponent as an unreasonable madmen and yourself
as a heroic messianic figure. US leaders depend upon political terrorism to
get their way in the world, from the local level of “Homeland Insecurity,”
to the international arena, where acts of bloody terrorism are routinely
committed to frighten the locals into political compliance.

“Terrorism–n. The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a
person or an organized group against people or property with the intention
of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological
or political reasons.”

State terrorism has been an integral part of American government for many
decades. Beginning with the terror campaign of carpet-bombing and
fire-bombing of civilian centers in Germany at the end of World War II (and
the a-bombs), American and British scientists have studied the psychology of
mass fear. This wholesale terror campaign was a new type of warfare,
targeting civilians, instead of concentrating on government centers. The aim
was political terrorism, to turn the citizens of Germany into political
tools to be used to force the German government into submission. By studying
the socio-economic repercussions of the fire-bombing, the American and
British psychologists and sociologists learned how to herd entire
populations through the tactics of fear.

Acts of violent terrorism for political and economic gains have continued
since “the Great War,” against both friend and foe.
Historically, American terror operations like “Operation Gladio” have been
aimed at our allies in Europe even more than against our enemies.
In “Gladio,” (as in all American terror campaigns committed under the banner
of “democracy”), public figures and officials are assassinated, attacks are
carried-out upon police and military forces of sympathetic governments,
trains are bombed with great loss of life, and “madmen”
go on public shooting sprees, all for the sake of scaring European national
opinion into America’s corner.

As always, American terror is hidden by the use of proxies and mercenary
forces, who are blamed for attacks committed covertly by our military and
intelligence agencies. The “war on terror” itself is probably the world’s
longest-running terrorist operation, intended to create the impression that
American-sponsored terror attacks are really the work of a new non-existent,
highly-organized global terrorist adversary. In simpler terms, the United
States government is the center of world terrorism. Our own government, our
“defender”
against terrorism, is responsible for most terrorist attacks upon innocent
people in the world, that thousands of American troops are defending
against. American-trained forces are killing American soldiers who then
retaliate further against innocent civilian populations where the terrorists
choose to hide.

“Our government” is not really ours at all, having long ago surrendered our
national sovereignty to a consortium of global financiers through the
Federal Reserve System that controls the US.

“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes her laws.”
Mayer Amschel Rothschild

In the process of bringing the US under the control of the international
financiers, represented by the Rothschild interests centered in Europe,
American industry has been destroyed (except for the military-industrial
complex, needed to pound the recalcitrant world into submission), while the
sham called “democracy” was constructed to create the impression amongst the
unruly people that they actually have power. When the self-appointed
American aristocracy allowed the common man the “right” to vote, it was done
to stave-off more violent opposition and to deceive with the impression of
shared power. Today, decent folk, believing in the illusion of “fair
elections,” remain a real obstacle to saving American freedom from the
hidden dictatorship, which owns all the candidates produced in the
“two-party” system. As long as the majority believes in the system and
continues to empower its candidates, the dictatorship can remain hidden. In
order to expose the hidden machinations of the secret dictators we have to
burst the bubble of illusory democratic power.

At the same time, the fact that the dictatorship wishes to remain hidden,
playing the game of democracy, pretending to seek the counsel of the people,
then they are vulnerable. If they choose to continue the charade of
democratic government, then they have to limit their actions to those which
appear to be “freely” granted by the people through their “representatives.”
As long as those representatives hold the seats of power given them by the
overlords, they will answer only to them. But if enough people call the
representatives to task for failing American democracy they can at least be
forced to publicly answer the charges of failure. If the masses put the fear
of democracy and righteous retribution into the minds of the Congressional
slaves of the money-powers, then they too will begin to retreat from their
open support for measures calling for more war and less freedom. If the
people fully use the First Amendment powers to make democracy work then we
can turn the tide against the center.

They cannot openly carry-out the violent measures required for creating a
world dictatorship and a permanent state of war, taking the brazen violent
steps that have been planned, such as launching nuclear first strikes, or
using biologic attacks to “cull the herd.” As long as the real terrorists
are pretending to be democrats they must act accordingly. Until the world
rises-up against the American imperialist forces in sufficient numbers to
frighten the American people into becoming willing participants in the
genocide of half the earth, other lesser, though equally as threatening,
provocations will continue to be found to frighten us into authorizing the
slaughter.

By placing the will of the people into their formula, they have created a
time lag between cause and effect, where the planned actions must be
preceded by a provocation that motivates the people into consenting to their
own destruction. By incorporating a basically moral people into a completely
immoral plan for world domination, the master controllers have constructed a
flawed plan that depends upon a scientific effort to change good people into
bad. In a country as religious-natured as this one, the great leaders may
have falsely calculated that they can make a nation fear so much for its
life that it would sell its soul for a little peace of mind.

American state terrorism has also been directed against the citizens of the
United States themselves, through more subtle “silent weapons.”
For the entire duration of American terrorist operations against the world,
our government has waged war upon the minds of its loyal citizens through an
arsenal of psychological, economic, and legislative weaponry. The purpose of
these attacks has always been to destroy the American economy and the minds
of the people, while using the economic destruction to justify the full use
of the American military power against the rest of the world.

American leaders consistently work against American interests, while
enriching themselves and their wealthy sponsors who reap opportunity from
our Nation’s demise. In order for these anti-American power-brokers to force
the world into a global dictatorship with them at the helm, they have to
play the “democracy” card, while simultaneously undermining it. Our leaders
have to persuade us into allowing them to destroy democracy in the name of
preserving it. We the People have to be persuaded to peacefully allow the
planned destruction to take place before it can take place. We have to
accept our bleak fates, before it can become our fates.

But the scary truth about the American state terrorist acts that have been
committed so far is that they have provided the needed practice for the
despicable acts that are yet to come. The American war upon the human race
will utilize every weapon in our arsenal, once the way for their use has
been cleared. Weapons of mass destruction come in many forms. In a war for
control of the earth’s resources it would seem more logical to use the
weapons that kill, such as biological weapons, as opposed to those which
merely destroy everything. Instant Death is about to enter the world through
American hands.

The tragedy of our time, perhaps the ultimate tragedy of all time, is
roaring down the highway of life right at us, or is the greater tragedy the
weakness of the mind of man which is allowing this to happen? If we have the
power of change within us and we do nothing, inaction is an act of suicide.

We have to overcome this innate human weakness to prepare our fellow man for
the things that are about to befall this battered planet. So many things are
avoidable in this existence through the use of foresight; if only it was a
common human trait. Any sane person who sees oncoming danger will
automatically step out of its way. As a rule, we humans rarely choose to
step out of the way. Mankind has never been called “sane,” by anyone’s
definition. We must secretly harbor a deep desire to become “road kill” on
the cruel highway of life.

peter.chamberlin@hotmail.com

Does Saudi Immunity For 911 Somehow Transfer Guilt To Iran?

[SEE:  Saudi Royals Request Removal From 911 Lawsuit ]

The Global Lawyer: Saudi Arabia, Iran and 9/11

Michael D. Goldhaber, The Am Law Daily

Photo by Sander Lamme via Wikimedia Commons

Victims of September 11, who seek to hold funders of the 2001 terror attacks accountable in court, came to Manhattan federal court in Foley Square on Thursday with serious evidence that Saudi Arabia supported the al Qaeda bombers. U.S. District Judge George Daniels promised to decide within 90 days whether to put the Kingdom on trial.

Saudi Arabia chided the 9/11 families that this hearing was “not a political seminar.” It was, however, a seminar on history and epistemology. After 12 years of halting progress against Saudi charities, the 9/11 plaintiffs have revived a powerful claim against the Kingdom. But the quest for historical truth threatens to founder on the judge’s futile desire for direct knowledge of espionage.

Much of the day turned on what exactly we know about a February 2000 chat between alleged Saudi spies Omar al Bayoumi and Fahad al Thumairy. Judge Daniels had no time for Saudi’s contention that it didn’t “technically” employ Bayoumi when it paid his salary for a no-show cover job. But at the heart of the Saudi spy plot posited by the 9/11 families, the judge seemed to struggle with the obvious.

“You don’t have any evidence as to what conversations [Thumairy] had with Bayoumi,” said Daniels. “What’s the factual basis for you to allege that when he met with Bayoumi he said, ‘Give lodging to the hijackers, assist them and give financial support to the hijackers so that they can carry out the 9/11 attacks?’”

What one spy said to the other can be inferred from the full circumstantial evidence, replied 9/11 attorney Sean Carter of Cozen O’Connor—and must be. Consider the timing and sequence of these events, as laid out by the plaintiffs.

Osama bin Laden sent the 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar to Los Angeles in mid-January 2000 knowing that they didn’t speak a word of English and would be helpless on their own. Two weeks later, the Saudi spy Bayoumi met with the Islamist diplomat-imam Thumairy at the Saudi consul’s Islamic Affairs section, which the FBI knew to serve as Saudi Arabia’s radical Islamist fifth column.

Bayoumi drove straight from this not-so-mysterious chat to meet the two hijackers at Thumairy’s mosque. Three days later, Bayoumi moved the two hijackers into his own family apartment in San Diego. Bayoumi proceeded to open bank accounts and rent new apartments for the hijackers with his own money. Bayoumi connected the hijackers with another alleged Saudi agent who procured them fake IDs and admission to language and flight school. Bayoumi’s wife allegedly channeled $150,000 in support payments from a Saudi princess to the hijackers. In early 2000 Bayoumi received a promotion at his no-show cover job, and a significant raise in the salary and stipend covered by the Kingdom. Over the same three months, he talked repeatedly by phone with Saudi diplomats in L.A. and D.C., not to mention the hijackers’ San Diego imam Anwar Aulaqi, who went on to become a senior al Qaeda leader.

When questioned by the 9/11 Commission under the watchful eye of the Saudi secret police, Thumairy clumsily denied knowing Bayoumi, and Bayoumi pretended to be surprised that Thumairy worked at the consulate.

Add it all up, and the two spies in L.A. were not chatting about the traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway. The judge must understand that historical intelligence doesn’t get any stronger. We go to war with Iraq over yellowcake, and we won’t go to a jury with two bad guys twirling their mustaches at Wahhabi central?

According to the complaint, a top FBI official has stated that “We [the FBI] firmly believed that he [Bayoumi] had knowledge [of the 9/11 plot], and that his meeting with them [Hazmi and Mihdhar] that day was more than coincidence.” It’s “implausible,” adds 9/11 commissioner John Lehman, “that the broad spectrum of evidence developed by the 9/11 Commission concerning the relationships among Omar al Bayoumi, Fahad al Thumairy, the Islamic Affairs Department of Saudi diplomatic missions, and 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar can be explained away as merely coincidental.”

To 9/11 victims like Matthew T. Sellito, who flew in for the hearing from Florida, the evidence is clear. Sellitto, whose 23 year-old son Matthew C. of Cantor Fitzgerald was the youngest victim of the twin towers, said it pained him that the U.S. held the wrong country accountable in the Iraq War.

What about the 9/11 Commission itself? According to Carter, the staffers who studied the evidence concluded that Saudi Arabia was implicated—but that conclusion was removed from the 9/11 Report at the eleventh hour because senior staff wanted 100 percent certainty for such politically explosive allegations.

Michael Kellogg of Kellogg Huber Hansen Todd Evans & Figel, arguing for the defense, prefers the final draft of the 9/11 Report. Even after 12 years, he says the 9/11 families can’t meet the high standard of evidence required by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. He also argued that the case against Saudi Arabia and the Saudi High Comission for Relief of Bosnia & Herzegovina must be dismissed because they do not satisfy the “whole tort” exception, the “discretionary functions” clause, or the causation requirement of the FSIA. Those legal arguments are likely to be resolved at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit—unless Congress steps in to resolve them first. But this case ain’t going to trial against Saudi unless Judge Daniels is willing to connect the dots.

The irony is that Judge Daniels already entered a $6 billion default judgment against Iran on far weaker evidence. The allegations that Iran helped Hezbollah to cooperate with al-Qaeda, and let al-Qaeda terrorists pass through Iran, would seem to fail the test that the whole tort occurred on U.S. soil.

Yet after 3 hours of agonizing over the Saudi spy evidence, the judge treated the contention that Iran is liable for another $150 billion as an afterthought.

At the end of Thursday’s hearing, James Kreindler of Kreindler & Kreindler announced that the 857 members of his 9/11 plaintiff group, headlined by the Ashton family, had a claim against Iran. And therefore, they were entitled to the same default judgment received in 2011 by the 47 members of the plaintiff group headlined by the Havlish family. Kreindler said that the $6 billion awarded in Havlish implied damages of $150 billion for the Ashton plaintiffs . But for fear of disrupting diplomacy, Kreindler said he was only seeking a finding of liability—to stake a claim in the political settlement likely to resolve Iranian terror claims. The judge said he’d hold a Jan. 14 conference and “see where we are.”

In the meantime here’s free advice from The Global Lawyer. Iran should show up in court before a mega-judgment jeopardizes its historic deal. And Judge Daniels should let a jury see the evidence against the nation that actually bears blame for 9/11. We owe it to Matthew T. and Matthew C. Sellitto.

The Global Lawyer is a regular column by American Lawyer senior international correspondent Michael D. Goldhaber.

Rowdy Roddy Piper, Star of “THEY LIVE,” Has Gone Home

[SEE FIRST POST, THEREARENOSUNGLASSES: THERE ARE NO SUNGLASSES – This Is Not a Movie]–July 11, 2008

Wrestling great became cult icon in ‘They Live’

Remembering Roddy Piper’s rowdy film career

by Darren Franich • @DarrenFranich

Wrestlers don’t become actors. Wrestlers are actors. Sometimes, Hollywood notices. Hollywood noticed Roddy Piper. Body Slam, 1987: A fish-out-of-water comedy about a music promoter in the world of wrestling, with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as “Quick” Rick Roberts. Hell Comes to Frogtown, also 1987: Piper plays a post-apocalyptic drifter rescuing a tribe of beautiful women kidnapped into sex slavery by mutant frogs. You read all of that right. Piper’s name in the movie? “Sam Hell.”

Piper, who died Thursday at the age of 61, never really stopped acting. His IMDB page overflows with titles you kind of remember, maybe from some long-ago video store, maybe from when they used to print out the TV guide in the newspaper you used to subscribe to. Back in Action and Immortal Combat, No Contest and Jungleground, Terminal Rush and Dead Tides. To be a famous wrestler is to be a cult figure, so there were equal parts gleeful self-satire and raw authenticity when Piper showed up in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, playing a demented wrestler named “Da’Maniac.”

In an interview, Piper said Da’Maniac was a comical riff on Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky’s ode to the squared circle. Maybe Piper’s spoof was so funny because he understood all too well the character’s bleak reality — Aronofsky claimed that Piper showed up to a screening of The Wrestler, loved it, and wound up crying into Mickey Rourke’s arms.

Piper was already a legend long before his untimely death. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say: As a wrestler, he was a legend. And as an actor, he worked a lot — and, once upon a time, he became some kind of legend. They Live, 1988. John Carpenter wanted to make a sci-fi horror action satire, an R-rated blood romp about consumerism and class warfare and media brainwashing and aliens camouflaged as humans. Carpenter went to WrestleMania III, met Piper, knew that he had found his star.

They Live is best described as a brutally serious farce, a Marx Brothers comedy approved by Karl Marx. Piper plays a man who doesn’t quite have a name. (In the end-credits he’s “Nada,” as in “Nothing.”) He’s a drifter living on the fringes, watching the cops destroy a homeless village. He finds some groovy sunglasses, which reveal that there are aliens among us, pummeling humanity into submission with stealth-attack media and totalitarian conformity.

At one point, Piper finds his way into a bank. He’s got a shotgun. He see some aliens. “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass,” he says. “And I’m all out of bubblegum.”

Carpenter always credited Piper with ad-libbing that line, which plays in the moment like both a shining example of ’80s beefcake badassery and a lacerating parody of the same. (A version of that line popped up in Duke Nukem.) And that’s not even Piper’s best moment in the movie. Later, in an alley, he meets up with his pal Keith David. Piper wants David to put on the sunglasses; David refuses. They fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight.

There is so much inexplicable wonder in this scene, which took weeks of rehearsal. It’s realistic but cartoony, funny but occasionally genuinely freaky. You can never tell how serious the fighters are, and you start to wonder if they’re just going to kill each other. You have to love Piper repeating the phrase, “I don’t want to fight you, I don’t want to fight you,” right before he spends five minutes fighting him. Or the moment around 4:19, when Piper smashes the back window of a car — and, stunned, tells David he’s sorry, like a kid who didn’t realize his hand was in the cookie jar.

South Park did a shot-for-shot parody of that scene. Last year, Adventure Time did another parody of the fistfight, between fiery despot Flame King and his minion Don John the Flame Lord. This parody was rather more official: Flame King was voiced by Keith David, and Don John was voiced by Roddy Piper. Listen closely at :05, and you can hear Piper mumble, with complete authenticity: “Stamina…failing.” Raspy, wry, over-the-top and completely believable — and that was just the man’s voice!

According to some sources, that scene was only supposed to be a short little scuffle. As is, it’s five and a half minutes long. Aronofsky cited it as an influence on The Wrestler, and thought the scene was intended as an overextended, hyperbolized spoof of fight scenes. I’m not so sure; it’s possible Carpenter just liked watching Piper and David fully commit to punching and kicking the living hell out of each other. Piper was a wrestler and an actor — and for one perfect, mesmerizing scene, he was the best of both.

Related Stories
•Wrestling great ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper dies
•John Carpenter pays tribute to They Live star Rowdy Roddy Piper
•Photos: Stars we lost in 2015

Saudis Turning Yemen Into the Next Al Qaeda “Caliphate,” and NOBODY CARES

[SEE: Guantanamo and The Saudi Rehabilitation Program Behind AQAP–(Intentional, or Major Fowl-UP?) ; Embassy Bombing Trial Confirms “al Qaida” in Yemen Is Mossad]

Al Qaeda’s Hadramawt emirate

The war in Yemen has one local winner, Al Qaeda. The Saudis seem oddly unconcerned.

Since early April, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has controlled Yemen’s fifth largest city, Mukkalla, and much of the surrounding governorate of Hadramawt. The Hadramawt is Yemen’s largest governorate and home of about one-third of Yemen’s oil production before the war. Mukkalla is the country’s second largest port on the Indian Ocean after Aden. Hundreds of AQAP supporters have gone to Mukkalla after jail breaks in other parts of Yemen since the start of the war.

AQAP rules Mukkalla in association with other local Salafist groups. Initially, it avoided imposing strict Islamic law to keep public support. It officially banned qat chewing, the drug enjoyed by most Yemenis, but enforcement was apparently nominal at first. Now, AQAP is becoming more rigorous — religious police enforce strict rules on behavior, Sufi religious sites have been destroyed, and the ban on qat is becoming more strict.

AQAP faces opposition in Hadramawt from the Islamic State, which has carried out small attacks there. Northern Hadramawt is controlled by Yemeni army forces loyal to former president Ali Abdallah Saleh, but they generally avoid conflict with AQAP.

American drones have struck Al Qaeda targets in and around Mukkalla with significant success since April, including killing AQAP leader Nasir Al Wuhayshi in June. Wuhayshi reportedly was not targeted specifically; a so-called signature strike killed him. He was immediately replaced as emir of the group by Qasim al Raymi, the military commander of AQAP. He was involved in the 2009 attempt to blow up an airliner en route to Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

From its base in Hadramawt, AQAP carries out deadly terrorist attacks on Houthi targets in Sanaa and other cities. Using the base in Mukkalla, the jihadists target Shia mosques, Houthi leaders and patrols, and other targets.

Since the start of the Yemen war, the Royal Saudi Air Force and its coalition partners have not targeted AQAP’s Hadramawt emirate. It has not been subjected at all to the bombing other Yemeni cities are enduring. As a consequence, Yemeni internally displaced persons have sought shelter and protection in Mukkalla. The port has also remained open for some traffic unlike ports controlled by the Zaydi Shia Houthi rebels.

Riyadh’s apparent willingness to tolerate an Al Qaeda stronghold on its southern border has raised conspiracy theories in Yemen that the Saudis implicitly at least welcome AQAP as an ally against the Zaydis. There are also longstanding suspicions that the Kingdom would like to annex Hadramawt to give it access to the Indian Ocean and a route for an oil pipeline to Mukkalla that would allow oil to reach the sea without transiting the Straits of Hormuz.

AQAP now sometimes calls itself “the Sons of Hadramawt” — perhaps to secure local support. It has not abandoned its global jihadist agenda, however, nor its animus toward Saudi Arabia. It is a safe assumption that AQAP’s master bomb maker Ibrahim Al Asiri has his lab somewhere in the Hadramawt preparing more attacks on America and the Kingdom.

• Bruce Riedel

FACING A POWER THAT CAN MAKE YOU BELIEVE THE IMPOSSIBLE

Mankind cannot evolve until we confront the evil which overpowers us with our own fears.

THERE IS NO WAR ON TERROR, THERE IS ONLY US TERRORIZING THE WORLD.  IF WE COULD DO THIS TO OURSELVES, THEN IMAGINE WHAT WE HAVE PLANNED FOR THE REST OF MANKIND.

COLLECTIVE EVOLUTION–911

9/11 Firefighters Reveal Bombs Destroyed WTC lobby

Newly obtained video that was reluctantly released by NIST after a lawsuit by the International Center for 9/11 Studies shows two firefighters on 9/11 discussing how secondary explosions occurred immediately before the collapse of the twin towers, providing damning new evidence that explosive devices were used to bring down the buildings. Firemen discuss how bombs were going off in the lobby of WTC1 as they were staging to move up the building. They explain how the building had already been hit by the plane and fires were already burning. After two explosions in the lobby, a third went off and the whole lobby collapsed. I’m sorry 9/11 truth deniers, you now have another smoking gun that you can’t deny!

NATO’s Never-Ending War Games On Russian Border Since 2014

THIS IS NOT RUSSIAN FORCES STAGING PROVOCATIVE WAR GAMES ON THE MEXICAN OR CANADIAN BORDER, IT IS AMERICANS TRYING TO PUSH-IN RUSSIA’S FRONT DOOR.

AMERICANS WANT MORE WAR, MORE KILLERS TO BE PROUD OF AND TO MOURN.

..WE CANNOT LIVE WITH OURSELVES WITHOUT IT.

SOURCE

Obama Clumsily Exposes Israeli/Jewish Control of American Govt, With Iranian Nuke Gambit

[SEE: Half of the US Senate Publicly Undermines and Embarasses the President of the United States]

[BREAKING—White House gives in to Congress on right to reject any Iran nuclear pact ; Israel happy at compromise deal on Iran between Congress-Obama: minister ]

[Here we have the Iranian President Rouhani asserting one fact–that the Iran nuke negotiations are with six nations, NOT JUST THE UNITED STATES–followed by the Congress demonstrating another fact–that the US Congress represents the Israeli government, NOT the American people, quickly followed by a third fact, that the American President is also a puppet of these wealthy foreign interests. 

The American govt. is pounding the US Constitution into a fine parchment powder right here for the whole world to see, as it answers its true masters, the International Jewish elite.]

source

Iran leader: We are in talks with ‘the major powers,’ not the U.S. Congress

By Karen DeYoung, Mike DeBonis, and Daniela Deane

 

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that Tehran was negotiating a comprehensive nuclear deal with world powers, not the U.S. Congress, and called a Senate committee’s vote to give Congress the power to review any potential deal a domestic U.S. matter.

The Iranian leader, speaking in a televised speech in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, also repeated earlier statements that his country will not accept any comprehensive nuclear deal with world powers unless all sanctions imposed against it are lifted.

“We are in talks with the major powers and not with the Congress,” Rouhani said, Iranian state television reported. Rouhani said the U.S. Congress’ power to review a nuclear deal with Iran was a domestic U.S. matter, the Reuters news agency reported.

He said Iran wanted to end its isolation from the world by constructing “constructive interaction with the world and not confrontation.”

Rouhani’s comments came one day after a Senate committee voted unanimously to give Congress the power to review a potential Iran nuclear deal after a June 30 negotiating deadline, in a compromise with the White House that allows President Obama to avoid possible legislative disapproval of the pact before it can be completed.

China’s Ambassador To Belgium Blames Ukraine Crisis On Big Powers Playing Games

Interview: Chinese diplomat calls powers’ game root cause of Ukraine crisis

BRUSSELS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) — A senior Chinese diplomat has said that the nature and root cause of Ukraine crisis was the game between Russia and western powers, including the United States and the European Union.

“There were internal and external reasons for the Ukraine crisis. Originally, the issue stemmed from Ukraine’s internal problems, but it now was not a simple internal matter. Without external intervention from different powers, the Ukrainian problem would not develop into the serious crisis as it be,” Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Qu Xing told Xinhua in a recent interview.

POWERS’ GAME ROOT TO UKRAINE CRISIS

Qu said that from the perspective of Ukraine’s internal affairs, the eastern and western regions in Ukraine differed in culture, ethnic groups, understanding of history, and social and economic development, so the relationship between the two parts had long been affected by external forces.

Moreover, in recent years, as Ukraine underwent repeated changes of regime, politicians focused more on partisan struggle rather than improving people’s livelihood. Thereby weak economy and severe corruption further intensified internal contradictions.

Qu noted that Russia would felt anxious that the West may squeeze its geographical space by extending influence in eastern European countries including Ukraine.

In addition, Qu said that the involvement of the United States in Ukraine crisis would become a distraction in its foreign policy, including its “re-balancing strategy”.

“The United States is unwilling to see its presence in any part of the world being weakened, but the fact is its resources are limited, and it will be to some extent a hard work to sustain its influence in external affairs, ” Qu said.

TO RETHINK CONCEPTS IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS

“The major powers need to seek a win-win situation rather than zero-sum security,” Qu said, pointing out that countries needed to rethink the concepts in international affairs and learn a lesson from the Ukraine crisis.

He said for the West’s own part, although its military strength had been comparatively powerful, it still felt no absolute security with taking continuous steps to cement security, including moves to enhance the global distribution of ballistic missile defense systems.

An example of west powers’ high sensitivity about their own security could be that the United States had a national security review system for foreign investors’ mergers and acquisition activities in the United States. But its definition of “national security” was not clear enough and the process of the review should be more transparent to the public, Qu said.

If a country is highly sensitive to its own security, while ignoring other countries’ basic security needs and concerns, it will cause lots of problems, and the phenomenon would be a serious issue in nowadays international society. If this problem cannot be solved, the Ukraine issue and some other similar global problems would not be solved, he said.

If the western powers do not have the same acknowledgment of Russia’s security concerns and security needs, Russia will feel that it has not been equally treated by the West, and its security interests and development interests have not been respected by the West, he said.

“The West should abandon the zero-sum mentality, and take the real security concerns of Russia into consideration,” said Qu.

Against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis, the international community must re-think over the concepts of international relations. Major powers must get along with each other following the principle of equality, cooperation, and mutual benefits and trust, so as to realize win-win situation in the global scenario, he said.

EU MORE PRAGMATIC THAN US OVER UKRAINE ISSUE

As to the U.S. and Europe’s stance on the issue of Ukraine, Qu said the United States and Europe essentially had the same strategy, but their tactics were different, as their geopolitical interests were different, said Qu.

As Ukraine and Europe share geopolitical proximity, Ukraine’s chaos will definitely cause instability in Europe. Also, the EU had energy dependence on Russia. Therefore, the EU held more pragmatic attitudes than the United States over the Ukraine issue, he said.

The fact that the United States did not participate in the latest round of negotiations in Minsk precisely reflected the Western parties’ concerns and tactics. On the one hand, the absence of the United States raised the negotiation leverage for European partners to force other parties to make more concession. On the other hand, this left the West further action maneuver.

“Even though a latest ceasefire agreement had been achieved, it is still possible for the Western parties to change the original decisions in the future for the excuse that the United States was not involved in the negotiations,” he said.

Qu said China hopes the Ukraine crisis could be solved in the political way. On the one hand, China and Ukraine are traditional friendly countries. China has always pursued the principles of non-interference, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. And on the other hand, China acknowledges that the issue involved complicated historical elements.

Editor: Tian Shaohui

Playing Nuclear Chicken in Kiev

by Robert Parry – Consortium News

Ready for Nuclear War over Ukraine?

Nazi symbols on helmets worn by members of 

Ukraine’s Azov battalion. (As filmed by a 

Norwegian film crew and shown on German TV.)

A senior Ukrainian official is urging the West to risk a nuclear conflagration in support of a “full-scale war” with Russia that he says authorities in Kiev are now seeking, another sign of the extremism that pervades the year-old, U.S.-backed regime in Kiev.

During a recent visit to Canada, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko told CBC Radio that “Everybody is afraid of fighting with a nuclear state. We are not anymore, in Ukraine — we’ve lost so many people of ours, we’ve lost so much of our territory.”

Prystaiko added, “However dangerous it sounds, we have to stop [Russian President Vladimir Putin] somehow. For the sake of the Russian nation as well, not just for the Ukrainians and Europe.” The deputy foreign minister announced that Kiev is preparing for “full-scale war” against Russia and wants the West to supply lethal weapons and training so the fight can be taken to Russia.

“What we expect from the world is that the world will stiffen up in the spine a little,” Prystaiko said.

Yet, what is perhaps most remarkable about Prystaiko’s “Dr. Strangelove” moment is that it produced almost no reaction in the West. You have a senior Ukrainian official saying that the world should risk nuclear war over a civil conflict in Ukraine between its west, which favors closer ties to Europe, and its east, which wants to maintain its historic relationship with Russia.

Why should such a pedestrian dispute justify the possibility of vaporizing millions of human beings and conceivably ending life on the planet? Yet, instead of working out a plan for a federalized structure in Ukraine or even allowing people in the east to vote on whether they want to remain under the control of the Kiev regime, the world is supposed to risk nuclear annihilation.

But therein lies one of the under-reported stories of the Ukraine crisis: There is a madness to the Kiev regime that the West doesn’t want to recognize because to do so would upend the dominant narrative of “our” good guys vs. Russia’s bad guys. If we begin to notice that the right-wing regime in Kiev is crazy and brutal, we might also start questioning the “Russian aggression” mantra.

According to the Western “group think,” the post-coup Ukrainian government “shares our values” by favoring democracy and modernity, while the rebellious ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine are “Moscow’s minions” representing dark forces of backwardness and violence, personified by Russia’s “irrational” President Putin. In this view, the conflict is a clash between the forces of good and evil where there is no space for compromise.

Yet, there is a craziness to this “group think” that is highlighted by Prystaiko’s comments. Not only does the Kiev regime display a cavalier attitude about dragging the world into a nuclear catastrophe but it also has deployed armed neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists to wage a dirty war in the east that has involved torture and death-squad activities.

Not Since Adolf Hitler

No European government, since Adolf Hitler’s Germany, has seen fit to dispatch Nazi storm troopers to wage war on a domestic population, but the Kiev regime has and has done so knowingly. Yet, across the West’s media/political spectrum, there has been a studious effort to cover up this reality, even to the point of ignoring facts that have been well established.

The New York Times and the Washington Post have spearheaded this journalistic malfeasance by putting on blinders so as not to see Ukraine’s neo-Nazis, such as when describing the key role played by the Azov battalion in the war against ethnic Russians in the east.

On Feb. 20, in a report from Mariupol, the Post cited the Azov battalion’s importance in defending the port city against a possible rebel offensive. Correspondent Karoun Demirjian wrote:

“Petro Guk, the commander of the Azov battalion’s reinforcement operations in Mariupol, said in an interview that the battalion is ‘getting ready for’ street-to-street combat in the city. The Azov battalion, now a regiment in the Ukrainian army, is known as one of the fiercest fighting forces­ in the pro-Kiev operation.

“But … it has pulled away from the front lines on a scheduled rest-and-retraining rotation, Guk said, leaving the Ukrainian army — a less capable force, in his opinion — in its place. His advice to residents of Mariupol is to get ready for the worst.

“‘If it is your home, you should be ready to fight for it, and accept that if the fight is for your home, you must defend it,’ he said, when asked whether residents should prepare to leave. Some are ready to heed that call, as a matter of patriotic duty.”

The Post’s stirring words fit with the Western media’s insistent narrative and its refusal to include meaningful background about the Azov battalion, which is known for marching under Nazi banners, displaying the Swastika and painting SS symbols on its helmets.

The New York Times filed a similarly disingenuous article from Mariupol on Feb. 11, depicting the ethnic Russian rebels as barbarians at the gate with the Azov battalion defending civilization. Though providing much color and detail – and quoting an Azov leader prominently – the Times left out the salient and well-known fact that the Azov battalion is composed of neo-Nazis.

But this inconvenient truth – that neo-Nazis have been central to Kiev’s “self-defense forces” from last February’s coup to the present – would disrupt the desired propaganda message to American readers. So the New York Times just ignores the Nazism and refers to Azov as a “volunteer unit.”

Yet, this glaring omission is prima facie proof of journalistic bias. There’s no way that the editors of the Post and Times don’t know that the presence of neo-Nazis is newsworthy. Indeed, there’s a powerful irony in this portrayal of Nazis as the bulwark of Western civilization against the Russian hordes from the East. It was, after all, the Russians who broke the back of Nazism in World War II as Hitler sought to subjugate Europe and destroy Western civilization as we know it.

That the Nazis are now being depicted as defenders of Western ideals has to be the ultimate man-bites-dog story. But it goes essentially unreported in the New York Times and Washington Post as does the inconvenient presence of other Nazis holding prominent positions in the post-coup regime, including Andriy Parubiy, who was the military commander of the Maidan protests and served as the first national security chief of the Kiev regime. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Ukraine, Through the US Looking Glass.”]

The Nazi Reality

Regarding the Azov battalion, the Post and Times have sought to bury the Nazi reality, but both have also acknowledged it in passing. For instance, on Aug. 10, 2014, a Times’ article mentioned the neo-Nazi nature of the Azov battalion in the last three paragraphs of a lengthy story on another topic.

“The fighting for Donetsk has taken on a lethal pattern: The regular army bombards separatist positions from afar, followed by chaotic, violent assaults by some of the half-dozen or so paramilitary groups surrounding Donetsk who are willing to plunge into urban combat,” the Times reported.

“Officials in Kiev say the militias and the army coordinate their actions, but the militias, which count about 7,000 fighters, are angry and, at times, uncontrollable. One known as Azov, which took over the village of Marinka, flies a neo-Nazi symbol resembling a Swastika as its flag.” [See Consortiumnews.com’s “NYT Whites Out Ukraine’s Brownshirts.”]Similarly, the Post published a lead story last Sept. 12 describing the Azov battalion in flattering terms, saving for the last three paragraphs the problematic reality that the fighters are fond of displaying the Swastika:

“In one room, a recruit had emblazoned a swastika above his bed. But Kirt [a platoon leader] … dismissed questions of ideology, saying that the volunteers — many of them still teenagers — embrace symbols and espouse extremist notions as part of some kind of ‘romantic’ idea.”

Other news organizations have been more forthright about this Nazi reality. For instance, the conservative London Telegraph published an article by correspondent Tom Parfitt, who wrote: “Kiev’s use of volunteer paramilitaries to stamp out the Russian-backed Donetsk and Luhansk ‘people’s republics’… should send a shiver down Europe’s spine.

“Recently formed battalions such as Donbas, Dnipro and Azov, with several thousand men under their command, are officially under the control of the interior ministry but their financing is murky, their training inadequate and their ideology often alarming. The Azov men use the neo-Nazi Wolfsangel (Wolf’s Hook) symbol on their banner and members of the battalion are openly white supremacists, or anti-Semites.”

Based on interviews with militia members, the Telegraph reported that some of the fighters doubted the Holocaust, expressed admiration for Hitler and acknowledged that they are indeed Nazis.

Andriy Biletsky, the Azov commander, “is also head of an extremist Ukrainian group called the Social National Assembly,” according to the Telegraph article which quoted a commentary by Biletsky as declaring: “The historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival. A crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen.”

The Telegraph questioned Ukrainian authorities in Kiev who acknowledged that they were aware of the extremist ideologies of some militias but insisted that the higher priority was having troops who were strongly motivated to fight.

Azov fighters even emblazon the Swastika and the SS insignia on their helmets. NBC News reported: “Germans were confronted with images of their country’s dark past … when German public broadcaster ZDF showed video of Ukrainian soldiers with Nazi symbols on their helmets in its evening newscast.”

But it’s now clear that far-right extremism is not limited to the militias sent to kill ethnic Russians in the east or to the presence of a few neo-Nazi officials who were rewarded for their roles in last February’s coup. The fanaticism is present at the center of the Kiev regime, including its deputy foreign minister who speaks casually about a “full-scale war” with nuclear-armed Russia.

An Orwellian World

In a “normal world,” U.S. and European journalists would explain to their readers how insane all this is; how a dispute over the pace for implementing a European association agreement while also maintaining some economic ties with Russia could have been worked out within the Ukrainian political system, that it was not grounds for a U.S.-backed “regime change” last February, let alone a civil war, and surely not nuclear war.

But these are clearly not normal times. To a degree that I have not seen in my 37 years covering Washington, there is a totalitarian quality to the West’s current “group think” about Ukraine with virtually no one who “matters” deviating from the black-and-white depiction of good guys in Kiev vs. bad guys in Donetsk and Moscow.

And, if you want to see how the “objective” New York Times dealt with demonstrations in Moscow and other Russian cities protesting last year’s coup against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, read Sunday’s dispatch by the Times’ neocon national security correspondent Michael R. Gordon, best known as the lead writer with Judith Miller on the infamous “aluminum tube” story in 2002, helping to set the stage for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Here’s how Gordon explained the weekend’s anti-coup protests: “The official narrative as reported by state-run television in Russia, and thus accepted by most Russians, is that the uprising in Ukraine last year was an American-engineered coup, aided by Ukrainian Nazis, and fomented to overthrow Mr. Yanukovych, a pro-Russian president.”

In other words, the Russians are being brainwashed while the readers of the New York Times are getting their information from an independent news source that would never be caught uncritically distributing government propaganda, another example of the upside-down Orwellian world that Americans now live in. [See, for example, “NYT Retracts Russian Photo Scoop.”]

In our land of the free, there is no “official narrative” and the U.S. government would never stoop to propaganda. Everyone just happily marches in lockstep behind the conventional wisdom of a faultless Kiev regime that “shares our values” and can do no wrong — while ignoring the brutality and madness of coup leaders who deploy Nazis and invite a nuclear holocaust for the world.

Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). You also can order Robert Parry’s trilogy on the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for only $34. The trilogy includes America’s Stolen Narrative. For details on this offer, click here.

Obama Dancing On Reagan’s Grave, Running Tanks Up To Putin’s Doorstep

[SEE:  BILL CLINTON: FIRST NEOCON PRESIDENT ]

Bill Clinton’s Epic Double-Cross: How “Not An Inch” Brought NATO To Russia’s Border

“It began as a pledge by the first Bush Administration to Gorbachev that in return for German unification and liberation of the “captive nations” there would be “not an inch” of NATO expansion. It ended up its opposite, and for no plausible reason of American security whatsoever. In fact, NATO went on to draft nearly the entire former “Warsaw Pact”, expanding its membership by 12 nations. So doing, it encroached thousands of kilometers from its old Cold War boundaries to the very doorstep of Russia.”

“Bill Clinton used NATO enlargement to advertise his assertiveness in foreign policy and America’s status as the “world’s indispensable nation.” Clinton bragged about proposing NATO enlargement at his first NATO summit in 1994, saying it “should enlarge steadily, deliberately, openly.” He never explained why.”

“Such a decision may be expected to inflame the nationalistic, anti-Western and militaristic tendencies in Russian opinion; to have an adverse effect on the development of Russian democracy; to restore the atmosphere of the cold war to East-West relations, and to impel Russian foreign policy in directions decidedly not to our liking.”–George Kennan, father of the “containment” doctrine and Truman’s aggressive anti-Soviet policy,

US armor paraded 300m from Russian border

U.S. soldiers attend military parade celebrating Estonia’s Independence Day near border crossing with Russia in Narva February 24, 2015. (Reuters/Ints Kalnins)

NATO member Estonia has held a military parade in border town of Narva, just 300 meters from the Russian border. Tallinn is a long-time critic of Moscow, which it accuses of having an aggressive policy towards the Baltic nation.

Tuesday’s military parade was dedicated to Estonia’s Independence Day. Chief military commander Lt. Gen. Riho Terras headed the troops as President Toomas Hendrik Ilves reviewed them.

Over 140 pieces of NATO military hardware took part in the parade, including four US armored personnel carriers M1126 Stryker flying stars-and-stripes. Another foreign nation, the Netherlands, provided four Swedish-made Stridsfordon 90 tracked combat vehicles (designated CV9035NL Mk III by the Dutch).

Estonia also showed off its own howitzers, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, armored vehicles and other hardware. Over 1,400 troops also marched the streets of Narva.

The parade is an obvious snub at Estonia’s eastern neighbor Russia, whom it accuses of pushing aggressive policies in Eastern Europe. The Estonian government is among several vocally accusing Russia of waging a secret war against Ukraine by supplying arms and troops to anti-Kiev forces in the east.

Moscow denies the accusations, insisting that the post-coup government in Kiev alienated its own people in the east and started a civil war instead of resolving the differences through dialogue.

NATO seized the Ukrainian conflict as an opportunity to argue for a military build-up in Eastern Europe, supposedly to deter a Russian aggression. The three Baltic States are among the most vocal proponents of this policy.

Russia sees it as yet another proof that NATO is an anti-Russian military bloc that had been enlarging towards Russia’s border and compromised its national security.

The Estonian government defended its right to hold whatever military maneuvers it wants in its territory.

“Narva is a part of NATO no less than New York or Istanbul, and NATO defends every square meter of its territory,” Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas said in a speech in capital, Tallinn.

Historically Narva was a point of centuries of confrontation between Russia and Sweden, when the two nations fought for dominance in the region. The city changed hands several times and ended up under Russian control in 1704, serving as a military outpost for decades.

The city was again contested in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 and the dissolution of the Russian Empire it triggered. Narva took turns between being governed by the self-proclaimed Estonian Republic, occupying German troops and the Red Army until eventually becoming Estonian again under a peace treaty between Estonia and Russia.

It then changed hands between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union along with the rest of the Baltics during World War II and went on to be part of an independent Estonia in 1991.

The city has a large number of ethnic Russians and a strong pro-autonomy movement, with some Estonian politicians fearing that it could be exploited now by Russia to saw dissent. Commenting on the issue in an interview with Washington Post, President Ilves said seeing Narva as a potentially separatist region “is stupid.”

RAGE—because there is no rage

[The following was sent by a reader of the site.  I sympathize with Al, but, for a man with his varied political interests, one would think that his disillusionment with the left would have set in during Obama’s first term.  I have two suggestions–stop reading anyone related to the London School, and look for different sources (Chossudofsky banned me from Global Research years ago).  You have been officially marginalized.  You will have zero chance of being heard, unless you manage to arrange a very public heckling arrest.  If that happens, let me know and I will let others know.    Peter]

-al perry

NEWS FROM THE STREET #2

(february 16, 2015)

wow…what a night…i found out a few days ago that world-renowned leftist and co-editor of new left review (a publication i subscribed to for 10 years) tariq ali was to appear at a bookstore on the lower east side…i’m a long time fan but have never met him or heard him speak in public…ever since 2000 or 2001 i’ve occasionally provided links from my band’s website to his essays and articles…one particular article he wrote, a scathing critique of obama’s first term, i must have read over 10 times…so i was excited to hear he’d be in new york today….

i packed a bottle of water, a used marcuse book to read on the journey, and a whole bunch of cd’s of my, now defunct, folk rock band, “losing touch”…our cd was entitled”with time” and was released in 2002…i have quite a few left gathering dust and figured i can hand some out for free to friends i may make, including possibly tariq, along the way…my band and i performed a few gigs in manhattan and new jersey at the time but i hated performing (i’m the singer and acoustic guitarist) so we got nowhere…well, actually we were played several times on a commercial rock station in n.j., wdha…quite a feat for an unsigned band…we also received kudos from some big names like neal casal (of the chris robinson brotherhood), evan dando of the lemonheads, and even actress ally sheedy…i know this may seem like i’m trying to brag or something, but i’m not…i feel i have to get in a quick bio because many on the left, it seems, think i’m some kind of informant…or maybe agent provocateur…nothing could be further from the truth…true, i do not disguise my rage but a cold hard look at today’s political climate should have ANY sensitive individual GOING INSANE!…

 i’m a lifelong chronic depressive and anti-depressants, and even medical marijuana!, have unpleasant effects on me – they don’t work…in 2005 i moved to tucson, arizona and became more of a recluse…luckily my mother moved out there too so by the time i left and returned to the east coast my social circle was composed of 2 people…3 if you count me…i had to leave tucson – the police didn’t like my one man protesting with my guitar…they even locked me up a couple of times…i decided to protest in the rich part of town…one time they followed me with a crime chopper!…

well, i returned to the east coast, after some failed attempts at trying to feel better in n.j. and killorglin, ireland…the state i was raised in, n.j., was way too expensive for a guy like me to live in…i had to stop working in 2010…i couldn’t function even as a night security guard…food stamps and family charity – the feds won’t give me cash assistance and i’ve been waiting for years now for disability assistance but nada…i guess they don’t like radicals…having an outstanding warrant for my arrest in the state of arizona, i guess, doesn’t help…it’s only a misdemeanor so it’s not extradictable…i refused to leave the entrance of a church because they locked the door on me and wouldn’t tell me why they wouldn’t let me in…the police told me to move along but i refused until i received a proper reply…shockingly, it was not forthcoming!…the religious hypocrites would rather have me in jail than answer any questions!…i didn’t show up at the trial…the state already wanted me badly and i know when i’m being railroaded…this all involved my exposing of the pax americana…and 911…my one friend chuck aubrey, himself a rabble rouser, was often there for support…he’s got a clip on youtube where he’s interviewing richard gage of 911 truth…

my chronic depression and overwhelming desire for isolation has gotten progressively worse over the years…my sister helen took her own life on feb. 1, 2007…she was living in gouda, holland…tragedy hit again with superstorm sandy…i’ve been a life long collector of vinyl records and books…i lost over 1,000 books and 1,500 vinyl records…the passaic river in new jersey overflowed and most of what i owned in storage was underneath dirty river water for several days…i also lost all my recording equipment, my stereo system and musical instruments…most of my cd’s were salvageable…i’m 47 years old…that was a lifetime of collecting i lost…i’ll never be able to afford or find most of those records again…i don’t care about the recording equipment…

i’m living now in easton, pennsylvania…i’ve contacted my band members for a possible  reunion…but, unfortunately, they’re not quite interested…my new songs are incorrigibly very angry and they, having spouses, children, etc. don’t seem to want any trouble…they’re involved in other “safer” musical projects…

although a recluse, rage always seems to get me out of the house…rage at war…rage at imperialism…rage at innocents dying…rage at drone warfare…rage at lies…rage at compromise with the pax americana…etc….can rage be therapeutic?…i however have never hurt anyone physically whilst enraged…verbally, but not physically…i am confrontational, however, and am afraid of NO ONE…

well, today i had a 100 bucks to spend so i boarded a bus for 45 dollars at the easton station and arrived at the new york port authority bus terminal a couple hours later…i had some time to kill so i went to the “revolution” book store on west 26th street…i purchased two cheap used books by harry magdoff…(i used to subscribe to monthly review a few years ago – around the time harry passed away)…the elderly gentleman who was at the register, who’s name escapes me now, was extremely friendly…he too had lost a lot of books, records, photographs, etc. when his basement flooded years ago…i can’t believe i forgot to mention my music and i didn’t give him a free cd of mine…after all, i’m trying to get rid of them…next time…he did put me on the bookstore’s mailing list…here’s hoping the compromising, scared, disrespectful, machiavellian left doesn’t get to him…

i then walked a few blocks to the “democracy now” studio on west 25th…the security guard told me i needed an appointment to visit…”no problem”, i told him…i watch the program religiously and have emailed them quite often…sometimes to encourage them and sometimes to criticize them…i’ve never received a response but i’m sure they get tons of emails…i’ve been pretty persistent however when criticism is warranted but always in a spirit of respect…i thought i’d drop by today, introduce myself to whoever was there…(it was a little before 5p.m.)…and drop off some free cds…and tell them they could criticize me if they wanted…all in good fun…oh well, “next time”, i thought…

i then headed south through the streets of manhattan…surprised at all the changes…i used to work and commute into the city back in the nineties…and used to go to the shops until i moved to arizona…i performed with my band at a venue called “kenny’s castaways” on bleeker st. back in 2002…springsteen’s new york debut venue i was told at the time…sadly it’s no longer there…the “bottom line” tragically is also gone…it used to be on e. 4th…i saw and met john martyn there a few times!…tom rush…jorma kaukonen…dino valenti…etc….legends!…it’s nice to know “other music” is still there…i had some pizza on 2nd ave…and a pint of guinness on houston…

i arrived at the bookstore a couple minutes early…the place was packed…standing room only…all the chairs were taken…i stood near the entrance…i didn’t have much choice…it was basically an interview with tariq conducted by someone from “jacobin” magazine…tariq first spoke about the greek syriza party and then discussed the events in spain dealing with the “podemos” party…i have an estranged father who is living in portugal near the spanish border so lately i’ve been a bit curious about what’s been going on over there…when tariq seemed to conclude the spanish topic, i innocently raised my hand…i was going to ask him if the catalan and basque independence movements in spain are complicating the “podemos” situation…are these break away movements merely populist capitalist or do they have their own political factions?…i was ignored and rightly so because the question session was reserved for the end of the interview…however, i realized i was getting some ugly looks from some people…including what seemed like to me from the jacobin interviewer….i quickly shrugged it off thinking i’m paranoid and, of course, i should get out more…

tariq then discussed the topic of his recent book, the “extreme center”…a clipboard was passed around and i entered my name and email address…a money jar was also passed around (though they did make it clear that a contribution was not necessary)…i threw a 20 dollar bill in the jar…(once again, not bragging – just trying to make clear my pure intentions)…

when the audience question session started, i didn’t raise my hand right away (feeling a bit embarrased about raising it prematurely earlier)…i did, however, raise my hand after the first question was asked and answered…and i raised it again…and i raised it again…and i raised it again…and i raised it again…and i raised it again…the jacobin interviewer looked straight at me every time…i soon realized that my initial discomfort was actually well founded…people who had only raised their hand ONCE were getting chosen!…even one girl standing right next to me!…i persisted and while LOOKING RIGHT AT ME, the interviewer stated there would be no more questions taken…i came a long way to get a chance to ask tariq a question…i intended to purchase his book and if possible say hi, give him a free cd, and maybe get an autographed copy…i also wanted to MEET other leftists and sort of network…remember, this is not exactly easy for me…my only visitor in easton is my mother! who lives nearby in bethlehem…i’m coming off a decade of a 2 person social circle!…while raising my hand six or seven times, i was debating whether to address the spanish issue or the extreme center issue…

after raising my hand one last time, and being told again “no more questions”, i immediately realized that i was singled out right from the beginning!…some of them knew who i was…particularly the interviewer…they couldn’t have made it any clearer…i have been sending constructive criticism to many “left” outlets for a couple of years now…WELL WARRANTED CRITICISM…AND THEY KNOW THAT!…yes, i’m al perry…the guy who knows fires cannot pulverize concrete and steel and bring down steel high rises into their own footprint at freefall speed…yeah, al, the guy who feels the rage of the 911 victim’s family members, and thousands of demolition experts, pilots, firefighters, construction engineers, etc. who want answers…yeah, al perry, the guy who doesn’t believe the bullshit “beheading” videos presented by the zionist s.i.t.e. intelligence group to justify war where thousands are killed by satanic drone warfare which violates international law…yes, the al perry that’s completely flabberghasted as to why there are no major war protests!…why so called leaders of the left ignore these issues without TELLING US WHY and INSULT those who RIGHTFULLY are ENRAGED!!!

they think they know who i am and are afraid i might bring up a topic they didn’t want to discuss…maybe if they had showed some respect and spoken to me respectfully beforehand OR ANSWERED the myriad amounts of emails i’ve sent throughout the years, they would have known who i really am…

i have gotten NO RESPONSE throughout the years from “democracy now”, monthly review, new left review, the intercept, greenwald, scahill, klein, the nation…the list goes on and on…literally hundreds of emails asking perfectly valid questions and many times i offered words of ENCOURAGEMENT…NO REPLY AT ALL…

who have responded to my emails?…short list…tom hayden! (i was shocked…the godfather of protest!)…he understood my rage!…russell brand who tolerates my angry posts on his site…mike davis, who i emailed directly and although extremely busy, answered a few of my questions in detail…i’ll never bother him again out of respect and appreciation…

after realizing that i’ve been set up to look like public enemy number one, i became very angry and did something COMPLETELY UNPLANNED…COMPLETELY IMPROMPTU…ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT…AND I FELT EXHILIRATED!…

as half the audience was getting ready to leave, i suddenly shouted “SO I GUESS WE’RE NOT GONNA HEAR ABOUT 911 TONIGHT!…I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU TRAVEL TO NEW YORK CITY AND DON’T BRING UP 911!…AND WHAT ABOUT THE FAKE BEHEADINGS PROVIDED BY THE S.I.T.E. INTELLIGENCE GROUP?!……AND WHERE ARE THE PROTESTS?!!!…THERE’S A WAR GOING ON, YOU FUCKS!!!..THERE’S A WAR TO PROTEST!!!…HIT THE STREETS!!!…WHERE ARE THE PROTESTS…PEOPLE ARE DYING!!!…” and other words to that effect…i was then asked by an employee of the bookstore to leave…i was already on my way out…i hadn’t intended the night to end this way so i left…when outside, still enraged, i slammed my backpack on the storefront window…

I FELT GREAT!…TARIQ, YOU HAD IT COMING…PERHAPS I’VE EVEN STATED..YELLED…THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO SAY BUT FIND YOURSELF FOR SOME REASON UNABLE TO UTTER…

IT’S OBVIOUS THAT MANY ON THE LEFT ARE ENGAGED IN A CONCERTED EFFORT NOT TO MENTION CERTAIN TOPICS…THEY’VE AVAILED THEMSELVES OF MACHIAVELLIAN STRATEGIES WHICH THEY OBVIOUSLY THINK THE RABBLE WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!!…….BUT WHEN THEY DESIST FROM PROTESTING  WAR…THE DEATHS OF THOUSANDS…DRONE WARFARE…THEY’VE GONE TOO FAR!!!…OFTEN, THESE LEFT OUTLETS SHAMEFULLY ECHO NEWS I HEAR ON THE MAINSTREAM WITHOUT QUESTIONING IT!!!…MAKING THEMSELVES BLOODGUILTY!!!!!…AND AREN’T THEY SUPPOSED TO BE ORGANIZING PROTESTS?!…SHOULDN’T THEY TELL US WHERE THE FUCK TO MEET?!…

AND I’M SICK AND TIRED OF FUCKING WORDS!!!…HIT THE STREETS!!!!…SCARE THE STATUS QUO!!!!…..I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW EASY IT HAS BEEN FOR THE PAX AMERICANA TO RAMPAGE THROUGHOUT THIS EARTH THESE LAST FEW YEARS!!!…MOST OF THE LEFT IS EITHER SCARED OR COMPROMISING AND LYING!!!!……THAT’S RIGHT, LYING!!!…BEING DISINGENUOUS IS LYING!!!!!!!!…..AND THOUSANDS ARE DYING BECAUSE OF THIS BULLSHIT!!!!!….YOU’RE GONNA REGRET IT!…MARK MY WORDS!!!….

IF ANYONE OUT THERE WANTS FEARLESS, UNCOMPROMISING REPORTING GO TO THE GLOBAL RESEARCH WEBSITE RUN BY MICHEL CHOSSUDEVSKY AND BARRY ZWICKER IN CANADA…THEY ARE TRULY NOT BLOODGUILTY…and i’m sure would let me ask any question i like…

i now realize there’s a david and goliath situation in this country…if any of you authentic leftists want to protest war and drones this year, you’ll probably be alone…don’t worry…THINK OF BRIAN HAW!!!…that always gets me going…print some leaflets and signs…even if you’re alone, you can be very effective…there are courageous leftists out there organizing…for example, i was involved recently with the lepoco group of pennsylvania…a month ago 53 of us showed up at a drone command center in horsham, pa. to protest…it will soon be a monthly event…most cars driving by that reacted to the protest honked their approval…you can even go door to door in your neighborhood alerting people about what’s really going on in their world and what the scared left is afraid to mention…

i do not regret what i did tonight…it should’ve been done a long time ago…and i’m just getting started…

– al perry

US Army Trains World Army To Fight the War for “Pax America”

[THE CULMINATION OF DECADES OF PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

–the Pentagon Trains the World Armies To Fight the Phantom Threats

–Which we create

LONG-RANGE PLANNING TO INVOLVE ALL OF THE NATIONS IN A WORLDWIDE PSEUDO-WAR…ISN’T THAT PROOF OF PSYCHOPATHIC INTENT?]

US Trainers To Deploy To Ukraine

Also Will Begin Shipment of US-funded Armored Vehicles

 

U.S. Army Africa sponsors African Deployment Partnership Training in Benin

 

U.S. Troops headed to Syria to aid fight against ISIS

 

US military returns to Iraq 3 years after withdrawing

 

British Army Training The Peshmerga In Northern Iraq

 

Sweden to send military trainers to Kurdistan

Remember When There Was A Commie Under Every Bed?–those days are back

As usual, Hollywood is actively assisting the latest fraud to be perpetuated upon the American people, a false revival of the anti-communist “malaria” from the Reagan era, which normally prevails in the brainwashed sheep.  Hollywood has been providing entertainment and audio/visual support to the various fascist administrations who have followed the path of world aggression since at least, WWII.

Their latest task is to vilify Putin and everything Russian, in support of the drive towards WWIII.

 

THE AMERICANS
The Americans Centers on Russian sleepers operating in the United States in the 1980s.

 

Allegiance Series Trailer – New TV Series 2015

A rookie CIA analyst doesn’t know that members of his family are part of a Russian sleeper cell.

US STATE DEPT. Wins Another “Democratic” Election–This time in Sri Lanka

[SEE:  Tamil nationalists support US-backed opposition in Sri Lankan election ; USA VERSUS CHINA IN SRI LANKA]

“The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main Tamil nationalist party, in Sri Lanka is extending unconditional support to the US-backed opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena in the presidential election.”

Sri Lanka’s election upset just destroyed a linchpin of China’s foreign policy

Heather Timmons

Mithripala Sirisena and some of Obama’s stooges in Sri Lanka.

Mithripala Sirisena is ready to bid farewell to China’s dominance in Sri Lanka. (Reuters/stringer)

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa just conceded defeat to his one-time ally, Maithripala Sirisena, in an upset that will have an impact far beyond the teardrop-shaped island and its 20 million residents.

Sri Lanka currently has a limited impact on global affairs, thanks in part to an economy crushed by years of civil war. Nevertheless, it is a key to the flow of future global trade due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, which puts it right in the middle of shipping lanes between Asia and Europe.

China in particular has identified Sri Lanka as a key part of its “21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” an idea first heralded by president Xi Jinping in late 2013 as new unifier of nations across south and east Asia, a springboard for economic growth, and a signature component to China’s growing prominence as a global superpower. Sri Lanka would specifically be a key point between China’s eastern ports and the Mediterranean.

Share Tap image to zoom

(Reuters)

To cement Sri Lanka’s role, Beijing pledged to finance a $1.4 billion “port city” in Colombo that would become a major part of this nautical “road,” and had been wooing Rajapaksa and his government with millions of dollars in additional investments, and dozens of agreements and treaties. The port project includes creating nearly 600 acres of reclaimed land off Sri Lanka’s west coast, right next to a China-controlled container port that is already South Asia’s largest. It has been criticized by Rajapaksa’s opponents, environmentalists, and tourism boosters, but construction on it started this summer.

Tap image to zoom

With the election, that section of China’s Maritime Silk Road has probably been scrubbed off the map: Sirisena vowed to scrap the port deal to protect the coastal area for tourism.

But that isn’t all. His take on Sri Lanka’s growing relationship with China, which recently surpassed the United States to be Sri Lanka’s second-largest trading partner after India, appears to be anything but friendly. In his election manifesto (pdf), released in mid-December, Sirisena never mentions China specifically, but his view on the evils of credit from abroad (pg. 8) seems to be a direct criticism of the country’s growing relationship with Beijing:

The land that the White Man took over by means of military strength is now being obtained by foreigners by paying ransom to a handful of persons. This robbery is taking place before everybody in broad daylight…If this trend continues for another six years our country would become a colony and we would become slaves…Sri Lanka is rapidly getting isolated from the international community.

Sirisena has promised to completely upend Sri Lanka’s foreign policy, in part by reorganizing the foreign service. In addition, he pledged to establish “equal relations” with India, China, Pakistan, and Japan, which he calls the “principal countries of Asia.” For Beijing, being on equal footing with its Asian neighbors in Sri Lanka is going to be a big step down.

Everything Is A Rich Man’s Trick/The Brotherhood of the Bell

JFK to 911 Everything Is A Rich Man’s Trick 

The Brotherhood of the Bell

Censorship Through Search-Engine Tampering

[In case anyone hasn’t noticed, or hasn’t been paying attention, Google’s infamous “secret algorithm” has been squeezing most blogs out of search results.  Even blogs which are treasure troves of information on the Imperial war on humanity, such as No Sunglasses, can no longer be found by “stumbling-upon” them in concerted searches on specific topics, using Google searches.  Prior to Google’s previous reworking of its search algorithm, called “Panda” (SEE:  Getting Squeezed-Out of Google Searches With the Panda Logarithm), which devastated the Alexa Ratings Index for this website and others like it,

  Dec. 3, 2014

This site lost over 100,000 points in the Alexa system, because readership is down that much, 400+ daily visitors difference.  Before, “therearenosunglasses” nearly always came up in most web searches, pertaining to the American dictatorship or resistance to it.  Now, after the new algorithm rework, we are faced with Google’s next generation search barricade, called “Hummingbird” (SEE: Hummingbird Unleashed), which has flat-lined most of us.  The proof of Hummingbird censorship has been summed-up in this article from aangirfan, “TRUTH BLOGS UNDER ATTACK.”  It is impossible at this stage of the game to determine whether this can all be written-off to more of the same govt/corporate censorship of truth-tellers (a.k.a., “conspiracy theorists”), or it can be partially explained by the move to hand-held computers and the tendency to turn everything into another “APP” (SEE: Lets talk about Hummingbird—Parts 1 and 2)]

peter.chamberlin@hotmail.com

 

Kaspersky Labs Outs US/British Malware Attack On EU

Regin malware is the work of Western intelligence agencies, claims Kaspersky

Doesn’t seem to have infected any of the ‘Five Eyes’ nations

By Lee Bell

 

THE REGIN TROJAN, which has been described as one of the “most sophisticated pieces of malware ever created” is the work of Western intelligence agencies, further research by security Kaspersky has claimed.

First uncovered and named by Symantec, the malware, dubbed a “top-tier espionage tool”, doesn’t seem to have infected any of the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ nations.

Since, Kaspersky Lab has revealed that 14 nations have so far been identified as being infected by Regin, including Russia, Iran and Germany, but not the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand or Canada, as the map below shows.

Kaspersky also noted that it is odd that Fiji and Kiribati are victims of Regin.

“Fiji and Kiribati are unusual, because we rarely see such advanced malware in such remote, small countries. In particular, the victim in Kiribati is most unusual,” it said. “To put this into context, Kiribati is a small island in the Pacific with a population of around 100,000.”

The report by Kaspersky also reveals that the Regin tool has been used to access mobile networks, undoubtedly to siphon off data, which again suggests the work of US and UK spy agencies in light of other operations revealed by Edward Snowden.

When it announced its discovery, Symantec said Regin had been used in spying campaigns against a range of international targets since at least 2008.

“A backdoor-type Trojan, Regin is a complex piece of malware whose structure displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen,” said Symantec.

“Customisable with an extensive range of capabilities depending on the target, it provides its controllers with a powerful framework for mass surveillance and has been used in spying operations against government organisations, infrastructure operators, businesses, researchers and private individuals.”

Backdoor.Regin is a multi-staged threat, and each stage is hidden and encrypted with the exception of the first stage.

The first stage starts a domino chain of decryption and loading of each subsequent stage to a total of five.

Each stage provides little information on the complete package, and only by acquiring all five stages is it possible to analyse and understand the threat.

Symantec said that the development of Regin could have taken years, and the malware’s authors have gone to great lengths to cover its tracks.

“Its capabilities and the level of resources behind Regin indicate that it is one of the main cyber espionage tools used by a nation state,” the security firm added.

Regin infections have been observed in a variety of organisations between 2008 and 2011, after which it was abruptly withdrawn. A new version of the malware resurfaced in 2013.

Symantec believes that some targets may be tricked into visiting spoofed versions of well-known websites, and that the threat may be installed through a web browser or by compromising an application.

Log files on one computer showed that Regin originated from Yahoo Instant Messenger through an unconfirmed exploit.

“Regin’s developers put considerable effort into making it highly inconspicuous. Its low-key nature means it can potentially be used in espionage campaigns lasting several years,” the firm added.

Symantec said that it is very difficult to ascertain what the malware is doing, even when its presence is detected, and that analysis of the payloads was possible only after decrypting sample files.

Pedro Bustamante, director of special projects at Malwarebytes, told The INQUIRER that Regin is the cyber equivalent of a specialist covert reconnaissance team.

“The analysis shows it to be highly adaptable, changing its method of attack depending on the target,” he said.

“It also has some very advanced evasion techniques that make it suitable for spending long periods carrying out undercover surveillance.”

Cyprus To Beirut Cessna Flight Flew In Aimless Circles Before Crash Inside Turkish Declared Zone

[Was the Chief investigator’s son killed since then, on Cyprus?]

Yiannakis Loizou, head of the Air Accident Incident Investigation Board (AAIIB) October 25, 2014

Wednesday, in connection with the murder of 22-year old British Cypriot Michael Minas Loizou., November 19, 2014

Georges Obegi. A full life, a tragic death

On 22 October, passenger aircraft one of the senior officials of the holding company of the group Obegi sank off the Cypriot coast, while he was heading to Beirut.

Diamond DA42

On the tarmac of the airport in Paphos, Cyprus Georges Obegi and instructor Avgoustinos Avgoustin prepare to board the Diamond DA42 Twin registered 5B-CLI. Obegi takes flying lessons from light aircraft and to validate his patent, he must make a night flight. The aircraft took off at about 6:20 p.m.. The flight plan, a way to Beirut. The trip takes an hour and twenty minutes. But at 9000 feet above the air base of Akrotiri [RAF Akrotiri], 50 kilometers southeast of Paphos, the aircraft began to make wide circles.  Akrotiri control tower contacted the aircraft. The pilot says he meets minor problems it tries to solve. The aircraft continued its course, respecting the flight plan, until it reaches 40 nautical miles from Larnaca where air traffic controller allows the device to perform a turning point [a correction] – in the aviation jargon a significant shift point. The plane did not perform.

(LARGER MAP)  [After the initial electronic or mechanical malfunction, which caused DA-42/5B-CLI to fly in circles over British RAF Akrotiri Air Base (the same base used by the British to bomb ISIS positions).  An attempted course correction was followed by a sudden drop 3000 feet, before disappearing from radar completely approx. 45 miles S-East of Limasol.—ed.]
The pilot will explain to the control tower that he had to change course, he still encountered small problems, but it goes to the end point. It is 7:02 p.m.. The controllers will explain to investigators that they then heard a loud noise coming from the camera. The control tower then initiates a signal. A second attempt to contact the aircraft. In vain. Of 9000 feet, the plane passes 6,000 feet. At 7:04 p.m., the plane disappeared from radar screens between Larnaca and Beirut, at sea. The Cyprus Civil Aviation will alert at 19:18. Limassol authorities will dispatch two coastguard patrol boats and a helicopter. Lebanese side, the Minister of the Interior, Nouhad Machnouk, upon receipt of the information, in contact with the commander of UNIFIL, Colonel Luciano Portolano, requesting assistance. Three German ships of the UN force rushed for searches.
Also note the assistance provided by the Israeli coast guard under an international agreement on assistance at sea that the Israeli government has signed. Spotted by a Greek tanker, the first debris will be picked two or three hours later. We find the lifeless body of Obegi and his Cypriot teacher the next day around 12:15. The survey will be very difficult to carry out. These small devices are not equipped with a black box, no recording of radio communications system. The investigations will not only be based on the analysis of debris, fuselage lying in the background. The Director of the Cyprus office of investigations for the safety of civil aviation, Yiannakis Loizou says that “the plane was new” and “very experienced pilot.” The first elements are in possession of the investigators consider the folder to an unexpected mechanical problem.
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafakrotiri/, the CEO of the company Total, also killed in a plane to Moscow.

Abi Ramia Julien

The heir of a family business
Father of three children raised with his wife Dana, George Obegi is the youngest son of Bechara Obegi and grand-son of Yordan Obegi, founder of the group of the same name in 1905 in Aleppo specializing in chemicals. He was at the head of three companies of the group: the agribusiness Wadi al-Akhdar, the Unifert company, specialized in agricultural chemicals and Obegi Chemicals that manufactures industrial chemicals. Obegi was also a member of the Board of Peugeot dealer for Lebanon and Syria. Holds a degree in Economics from the University of Paris IX-Dauphine, he pursued studies in administration at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Paris) and an MBA from Insead (Fontainebleau) that make George Obegi a French captain of industry.

Hard Truth Abt BBC Lies–Israel vs Humanity

source

Pak Army Reports Taliban Leadership Safely Evacuated Before N. Waziristan Operation

[SEE:Pak Army Flushes Proxies Out of Waziristan Into Helmand]

Pakistan army admits what everyone knew: terror leaders have escaped onslaught

By Rob Crilly 

Ask any Nato commander in Afghanistan what is the biggest hurdle to defeating the Taliban insurgency, and there is only ever one answer: the safe havens in Pakistan from where militants can launch strikes in safety.

For years the US has noisily put pressure on Pakistan to clean up its act. All to no effect.

Then, realising that public rebukes were getting it nowhere, Washington went quiet, preferring to put its message across quietly in private.

Last month Pakistan acted, launching hundreds of airstrikes on targets in North Waziristan, home to the Haqqani network – considered the most deadly of Afghanistan’s insurgent groups – as well as Pakistani terrorists intent on bringing down the government in Islamabad, sectarian outfits and groups with an eye on Kashmir. Ground troops have followed, sweeping through the area.

The question is: will it work?

American diplomats are not getting carried away. They will wait to see what names turn up on the death roll and whether the offensive stems the flow of fighters and big vehicle-borne bombs from Pakistan. (Incidentally, I now know that a Haqqani truck bomb was the target of the CIA’s first drone strike this year, in June, as it trundled towards the border.)

Already, the Pakistani military has got itself in a muddle over whether they are even targeting the Haqqanis – a long-standing proxy – awkwardly talking around the subject when quizzed.

And, this week, in North Waziristan’s main town of Miranshah, they gave the clearest sign yet that the big fish escaped before the operation started. Maj Gen Zafarullah Khan, who is responsible for the town, said:

It’s not possible to create water-tight or airtight compartment where an individual cannot escape. Given the context of the terrain, the context of who they are, it will be wrong on my part to say that they did not escape, yes they did.

They had smelled that the operation is about to be launched. The talks had failed, the build-up for the operation had already begun and they could see that, they could sense and smell and, therefore, the leadership was not here, the leadership abandoned place.

Was it an unguarded moment? Or is the military lining up its excuses and blaming the government for weeks of peace talks that never went anywhere?

Senator Admits ISIS Using US/Saudi-Supplied Weapons Against Iraq

[SEE:  The Unholy Alliance of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the CIA and Their Bastard Offspring–ISIS ;There Is No “Al-Qaeda In Iraq,” Only An Official Cover Story for US Army Covert Actions ;  NATO’S ISIS–Creating Justification for WWIII ]

Paul: US has been arming ISIS in Syria

By Rebecca Shabad

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that the Sunni militants taking over Iraq have quickly gained power because the United States has armed their group in Syria.

“I think we have to understand first how we got here,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We have been arming [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] ISIS in Syria.”

ISIS, an al Qaeda offshoot, has been collaborating with the Syrian rebels whom the Obama administration has been arming in their efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Paul explained.

The administration has reportedly assisted the moderate opposition in Syria, but details about the dissemination of those resources are unclear.

“That is the real contradiction to this whole policy,” Paul said. “If we were to get rid of Assad,” it would become a “jihadist wonderland in Syria.”

Asked what he would do as president on Iraq, Paul deflected and did not give a straight answer. Instead, he pointed to the Reagan doctrine, and said Congress must ultimately determine the U.S. plan after engaging in a “full-throated debate.”

“The president doesn’t have unilateral authority to begin war,” said Paul, who couldn’t say whether he would support U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.

He said he’s not ruling U.S. assistance out, but said first Shiites must show they will fight for their country.

Paul downplayed the idea that ISIS is an immediate threat to the U.S., but said it could be “at some point.”

“I don’t think ISIS in in the middle of the battle right now thinking ‘hmm, I think we’re going to send inter-continental ballistic missiles to America,’” Paul said.

President Obama said in an interview airing Sunday that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria poses a “medium and long-term threat” to the U.S., adding that it’s just one of a number of organizations to monitor.

“There are a lot of groups out there that probably have more advanced immediate plans directed against the United States that we have to be on constant guard for,” he told Norah O’Donnell in an interview broadcast on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Obama also said that the notion that a moderate rebel force backed by the U.S. could have stopped Assad and ISIS is a “fantasy.”

–Kyle Balluck contributed to this report.

The War Crime of Intentional Refugee Creation

[Obama and friends have created something that it is so monstrous in intent and ruthlessness that it is incomprehensible to most “normal” human beings.  The CIA has weaponized the refugees who flood the highways surrounding the live war zones, or die in great numbers, while bobbing about on the Mediterranean.  In modern Imperial warfare, they are just a free-flowing asset, that can be turned on and off whenever and wherever the Empire needs them. 

This can best be described as a reverse “human wave assault” tactic (the Chinese tactic which literally cost us the Korean War).  Waves of armed men have been replaced by mobile masses of the poorest and most desperate human beings on the face of the planet, who can be covertly directed to overrun “enemy lines,” which impede the Empire’s progress.  This strategy of using human beings as an ocean of refuse causes far more damage than could have been wrought in a controlled attack.  More important, is that it is acceptable to use brutal violence against attackers, while refugees have to be fed, clothed and cared for, in a transparent humanitarian operation.

Now we see the two major strategies of the CIA and State Dept. merging in Libya and the other puppet states of North Africa.  This is enabling a greater international strategy to legally bind the EU to American will, utilizing the terror war (which generates both refugees and new terrorists, in large numbers) to provide the human fodder needed by State Dept. in its  campaign to use refugees and the UN. The State Dept. is Washington’s “spear,” which is being wielded to create a legal mechanism for forcing European compliance with American directives, pertaining to refugees and the international migration of the unwanted.

If the new Libyan Interior minister has threatened to unleash his substantial refugee weapon against Europe, it is because that is what his international bosses want him to do next.  It is NO COINCIDENCE that a tsunami of African refugees has been set in motion upon all of the main arteries of North Africa, just as they are needed for the invasion of Europe, where Obama will use them as a living battering ram to knock-down the wall separating Africa and Europe.  Africa’s poor and destitute have long been suffering and waiting in the wings, much like the people of Palestine, who have served as everyone’s pawns, moving the international drama forward.

(SEE:  THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS ;  Obama’s War-Generated Tsunami of Dark-Skinned People Turning Mediterranean Into Massive Watery Cemetary  ;  Spying eclipses migrant deaths at EU summit ]  

Libya threatens EU over African immigrants

Interior minister says Tripoli will allow migrants to “flood” Europe if it does not help Libya combat illegal entries

Mazek said he had just returned from France where he had asked his counterpart for help over the issue [AFP]

Libya’s interim interior minister has warned that Tripoli could “facilitate” the passage of those people seeking to get to Europe illegally unless the European Union (EU) helps it combat the problem.

“With regards to illegal immigration, I am warning the world, and the European Union in particular, that if they do not shoulder the responsibility with us, the state of Libya will take a position on this matter that could facilitate the quick passage of this flood of people through Libya since God has made us a transit point for this flood,” Salah Mazek told a news conference on Saturday.

Mazek said Libya was “suffering” because thousands of mainly sub-Saharan Africans were spreading disease, crime and drugs in the North African nation, the AFP news agency reported.

“Libya has paid the price. Now it’s Europe’s turn to pay,” Mazek added.

For years, Libya has been a springboard for hundreds of thousands of Africans seeking a better life in Europe.

Many cram into makeshift boats to attempt the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Malta or the Italian island of Lampedusa off Sicily. Hundreds lose their lives each year.

More than 22,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the start of the year, 10 times more than the number during the same period in 2013.

Former leader Muammar Gaddafi, deposed and killed in the 2011 uprising, turned on and off the flow of illegal migrants as a way of exerting pressure on Brussels.

Shortly before the uprising erupted in February that year, he demanded nearly $7bn a year from the EU to solve the problem.

Mazek said he had just returned from a trip to France where he had asked his counterpart for help to tackle the problem, but without specifying the nature of any such assistance.

The Curse of Zionism and the Endless Abuse of the Palestinian People

[SEE: Israel protests Former Jordanian Foreign Minister For quoting Hitler]

The big Zionist lie and the task ahead

by Kamel S. Abu Jaber

Influential American writer of the late 19th century H.L. Mencken once wrote of mass psychology: “The men… people admire the most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth…”

In his book “Mein Kampf”, Adolf Hitler states that in “… the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature…”.

The Zionist big lie about Palestine — “a land without a people” — that the entire Western world adopted, and the biblical, Talmudic myth of the “chosen people” have been the most important factors behind all the tragedies and atrocities that Palestine and the Palestinians have been subjected to since the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in l897.

Our Arab-Muslim civilisation has never had a moment of rest, or peace of mind, since Zionism was able to penetrate Western civilisation to the point where tens of millions of Westerners, the neoconservatives, adopted that esoteric Talmudic myth, placing Zionist interests before and above their own national interests.

We Arabs, Jordanians and Palestinians especially, are victims of a torrent of lies by a few international media magnates that every day enter every room of every household, propagating not only sex and violence but also, above all, the Zionist ideas of the extreme right.

American Secretary of State John Kerry has been travelling to the region for some time now in an effort to bring about peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

So far, his efforts have been shattered against the rock of Israeli resistance.

What will get Israel to agree to a settlement is not going to be good sentiments or feelings, wishes or intentions.

What is needed is a counterforce, be it military, political, economic or the oil weapon.

Unfortunately, such force is not available now, nor does it appear to be likely in the near future.

And while we are arguing and fighting among ourselves about Jordanian-Palestinian identity, right of return, Sunni-Shiite issues, etc, the land continues to be swallowed up by the insatiable appetite of a settler-, citadel-minded Zionist state supported by the full force of the West.

Joschka Fisher, former foreign minister of Germany, recently wrote regarding peace in our region: “No such hope currently exists for the Middle East…” (The Jordan Times, January 31-February 1, 2014)

An Arabic proverb says: “The rope of lies is short.”

Hopefully that will prove to be true in the case of Zionism, too, though for that to happen, we need to intensify our efforts in that direction.

I believe that Jordanians and Palestinians alone are a match for Israel, and that while we will welcome any support from other Arabs, Muslims or others, we can face Israel alone.

We have a great storehouse of sympathy and support throughout the world, even in the West: people whose sense of fairness, justice and humanity has made them stand with us and against the lies.

And these are the people with whom we should remain in close and constant contact.

It is perhaps time for the appointment of a high-ranking roving ambassador for Jerusalem affairs, personally deputised by His Majesty King Abdullah and the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose mission would be to attend every meeting, conference, symposium that discusses Jerusalem, Palestine and all other related issues, with the authority to call for meetings, even with heads of state, should the need arise.

By the terms of the l994 peace treaty with Israel, Jordan was entrusted with the care and protection of the holy places in Jerusalem.

The agreement signed by King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last year is only a reminder of that sacred duty.

As the first qiblah of Islam and holding the most sacred shrines of Christianity, Jerusalem needs to be kept in the hearts and minds of just people everywhere, and His Majesty’s ambassador should be the symbol of that trust.

The writer is director of the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies and former foreign minister of Jordan. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.

Langley Orders Reverse Rhetoric In Ukraine…Calling Putin Obama

Ukraine PM: Russia Wants to Start World War III 

VOA News

April 25, 2014 6:33 AM

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is accusing Russia of wanting to occupy Ukraine “militarily and politically,” as both Kyiv and Moscow mass troops close to their mutual border.

Yatsenyuk warned Friday that Russia’s actions could lead to a wider military conflict in Europe. He told an interim Cabinet meeting that Moscow “wants to start World War III.”

U.S. President Barack Obama also criticized what he called Russia’s “further meddling” in eastern Ukraine, where armed, pro-Russian separatists have occupied government buildings.

Speaking in Seoul, Obama said he would talk to “key European leaders” later Friday about implementing wider sanctions in the event Russia further escalates the situation.

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin must decide whether he wants to see his country’s already fragile economy weakened further because he failed to act diplomatically in Ukraine.

His comments echoed that of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who said Thursday that Moscow is making “an expensive mistake” by failing to restrain the separatists.

Underscoring the threat to Moscow’s economy, credit agency Standard and Poor’s cut Russia’s credit rating to BBB- . The agency said it is concerned about increased capital outflows from Russia, and said the rating could be cut further if sanctions are tightened.

Both Obama and Kerry have accused Russia of failing to uphold the four-party deal it signed last week calling for all parties in Ukraine to lay down their weapons and vacate public buildings. Kerry said Moscow has not taken “a single step” to de-escalate tensions since the deal was signed in Geneva.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday blamed the West for raising tensions, saying the Pro-Russian militants would only lay down their weapons if the Ukrainian government first clears out its own protesters in the capital.

Lavrov also denounced Kyiv’s security operation to clear the pro-Russian militants, calling it a “bloody crime.” Ukrainian officials on Thursday said the crackdown killed up to five people.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is vowing the operation will continue. On his Facebook page, Avakov said “terrorists should be on guard 24 hours a day,” but that civilians have nothing to fear.

The flurry of diplomatic exchanges come amid rising tensions along the Ukraine-Russian border, where a huge Russian military force is gathered. A Ukrainian diplomat at the United Nations told VOA that Moscow has doubled its military presence on the border to about 80,000 troops.

Pakistan Moves Heaven and Earth To Silence Pak Media Criticism of ISI

Pemra chief ‘sacked’  4-17

Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir was shot six times  4-20

Third party exploited senior journalist’s criticism of ISI

Pakistan’s Geo TV in trouble for accusing ISI over attack on journalist Hamid Mir

Edited by Zoya Anna Thomas

File picture of journalist Hamid Mir.

Karachi:  Pakistan’s Defence Ministry today moved to cancel private news channel Geo TV’s license, saying that it has accused the ISI of attacking journalist Hamid Mir, without evidence.

The attack on leading Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir last week in Karachi had led to unprecedented criticism and discussion on television channels about the ISI’s dubious role.

The President of Geo TV, Imran Aslam, has openly accused the ISI of targeting journalists, calling for a probe.

Mr Mir was shot and wounded on Saturday in an attack that his family also alleged was orchestrated by the Inter Services Intelligence or ISI.

According to a statement released in Karachi, the Defence Ministry has provided the authority with evidence that suggests the media group is involved in smearing the image of ISI.

“The news channel has breached the code of conduct by accusing Director General of ISI Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam of masterminding the attempt on senior journalist Hamid Mir,” the statement said. “All those who are involved in the mala fide broadcast, riddled with baseless allegations, will be taken to task.”

Hamid Mir, who hosts a prime-time current affairs talk show on the Geo News channel, was attacked on Saturday while travelling by car to his office from the airport in Karachi.

The government has announced a special commission to investigate the attack and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

A spokesman for Karachi’s Aga Khan University Hospital said Mr Mir was “conscious and stable”.

The shooting came less than a month after gunmen tried to murder another prominent liberal journalist, Raza Rumi, known for criticising the Taliban.

Pakistan and the War Within Islam

Pakistan and the Sunni Gulf

Image Credit: REUTERS/Mian Khursheed

Overtures to Pakistan from the Sunni Gulf appear to be linked to the conflict in Syria.

By Umar Farooq

Recent months have brought Islamabad a flurry of visits from leaders of Sunni gulf nations, prompting many observers to question just what Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif might be getting the already embattled country into.

Pakistan’s 190 million inhabitants include around 26 million Shiites, giving it the largest population of the minority Muslim sect’s adherents after Iran. While Pakistan has officially tried to remain on the sidelines of the regular Shiite-Sunni flare-ups in the Middle East over the last few decades, backroom deals with Sunni monarchies like those being signed recently have not gone unnoticed domestically.

Pakistan is already witnessing unprecedented levels of sectarian violence, with more than 1,700 killed since 2008. The armed groups responsible for the bloodshed were born out of the global sectarian tensions that followed the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which produced the first modern Shiite theocracy.

Now, as the three-year-old civil war in Syria is encouraging Muslim nations to form Shiite and Sunni blocs, there is concern that if Pakistan were to join the fray globally, things could go from bad to worse domestically.

Bahrain’s king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, smiles down on traffic in Pakistan’s capitol Islamabad from hundreds of banners lining the streets, a reminder of the ruler’s visit last month, the first by a Bahraini ruler in 40 years.

The words “Pakistan welcomes you!” are emblazoned across the top, although that is more an aspiration than reality.

The details of Khalifa’s visit were kept deliberately vague, with the Pakistani Foreign Office describing discussions between the “brotherly countries” centering around “bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest.” What little information that did emerge was worrying to some Pakistanis, like the pledge to increase the “export of Pakistani manpower to Bahrain.” That’s something that has ended badly in the past.

In 2011, when largely Shiite protesters began demanding that Bahrain move towards a constitutional monarchy, thousands of ex-soldiers and police officers were recruited from Pakistan with the promise of Bahraini citizenship. The Pakistani security personnel shouted orders at Bahrainis in English and Urdu, becoming the face of a brutal crackdown by the state that engulfed Shiite villages in perpetual clouds of tear gas.

But Bahrain’s domestic troubles pale in comparison to the explosive war in Syria, which has drawn thousands of Sunni jihadists, including Al-Qaeda’s leadership, into a conflict Islamist extremists see as an apocalyptic confrontation with Shiite Islam, in this case the forces of Bashar al-Assad and neighboring Iran.

With prospects for a negotiated settlement fading, the rebels are in need of weapons and expertise to get them out of a stalemate. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar have set up camps to coordinate the training of Syrian rebels, but are in need of instructors and equipment.

That likely prompted a rare February visit to Pakistan by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who doubles as the defense minister. Over three days in Islamabad, al-Saud met the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the President Mamnoon Hussain, and the country’s top military leadership.

His prize: a 180-degree shift in Pakistan’s policy towards the war in Syria, which had previously been one of neutrality. A joint statement called for “the formation of a transnational governing body with full executive powers enabling it to take charge of the affairs of the country.” In other words, Pakistan now stands with Saudi Arabia in demanding the departure of Bashar al-Assad.

A few weeks later, $1.5 billion was transferred to Pakistan’s state bank by an unnamed “brotherly country,” giving the rupee is largest boost in years. When word leaked the funds had come from Saudi Arabia, many in Pakistan began to connect the dots with other rumors about Pakistan’s shift in policy.

A long-delayed pipeline meant to carry natural gas from Iran to energy-starved Pakistan has effectively been killed by Nawaz Sharif’s government. Pakistan has not built any of the 781 km pipeline on its side that it’s contractually obligated to complete by December 2014, and stands to incur a daily fine of $3 million next year.

Meanwhile, there are rumors Pakistan is planning to provide Saudi Arabia with expert trainers and equipment for the Syrian rebels.

Officials have been coy on the details, but responding to inquiries in February, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson admitted it was looking to sell the Gulf kingdom the JF-17 Thunder, a fighter jet developed jointly with China, and other unspecified equipment.

That equipment is thought to include the Anza, a heat-seeking, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile designed with China and manufactured locally. It’s the equivalent of the American Stinger missile, which was used to equip jihadist fighters during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan three decades ago. The U.S., which is also supplying the Syrian rebels with light arms and communication equipment, is reportedly reluctant to hand over its own shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles for fear of where they might end up.

Thousands of Pakistani troops, who now have more than a decade of experience fighting insurgents in the country’s war against the Taliban, may also make their way to Saudi Arabia to train the rebels.

All of that prompted criticism by Pakistani lawmakers, who grilled the foreign minister last month about what their military could play in the Syrian war. “We are afraid this amount has a link with the Syrian situation,” Syed Khursheed Shah, who leads the opposition in the National Assembly, told reporters. The prime minister himself weighed in, categorically denying that any troops would be sent to Saudi Arabia or Bahrain.

But the rumors have persisted, including one story that Pakistan might deploy nuclear weapons to Saudi Arabia if Iran goes nuclear itself. While Pakistan has vehemently denied that story – which does indeed seem far-fetched – the fact is, Pakistan owes Saudi Arabia a favor.

Pakistan’s decades-long nuclear weapons program finally yielded a weapon in 1998, prompting severe sanctions by the United States, which were only lifted when the country’s cooperation was needed following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Beginning in 1998, Saudi Arabia began supplying Pakistan with 50,000 barrels a day of free crude oil, worth nearly $2 billion.

In fact, Pakistan’s military-to-military cooperation with Saudi Arabia goes back five decades. Between the 1960s and 1980s, tens of thousands of Pakistani troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia, working under Saudi command. Pakistani fighter pilots trained their first Saudi counterparts, and in 1969 flew jets that successfully repulsed incursions by Yemeni forces. Pakistani engineers built Saudi fortifications along its border with Yemen, meant to keep out Shiite Houthi fighters to the south.

During the first Gulf War, Pakistan toned down the presence of 15,000 troops in Saudi Arabia, ordering them away from the frontlines, fearing a backlash from Saddam Hussein, and sectarian groups at home.

It was during those decades that the sectarian groups now plaguing Pakistan first emerged.

In 1980, military ruler Zia ul Haq instituted the Zakaat Ordinance, which forced Shiites and Sunnis alike to turn over 2.5 percent of their income, as was required under Islamic law, to the state to be spent on charity. Pakistan was engulfed in protests by Shiites, who objected to the state’s interference in their religious practices. Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s leader, convinced Zia ul Haq to exempt Shiites from the law.

That movement spawned the Tehrik-e-Jafria, a Shiite group sworn to protect the minority’s rights. Sunnis saw the group as a front for the Iranian regime, and by 1985, hardliners had formed their own group, called Sipah-e-Sahaba. In 1990, one of that group’s founders, Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, was killed, and in return, Sunni militants killed the Iranian Consul General.

In 1997, a bomb killed the head of the Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba group; in return, Sunni militants killed an Iranian diplomat in the city of Multan. Later that year, the Iranian cultural center in Lahore was also bombed, and five Iranian soldiers training in Pakistan were killed.

Today, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a splinter group of the Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba, has claimed responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of Shiites in the city of Quetta, killed in bombings and brazen attacks on buses carrying pilgrims to Iran, Iraq and Syria. Dozens of Shiite and Sunni clerics have been gunned down in Pakistan this year alone, in tit-for-tat assassinations each blames on “foreign interference.”

“There is no doubt the differences are being instigated,” said Muhammad Amin Shaheedi, the head of Pakistan’s largest Shia political party. “It’s terrorism being fanned by others, outsiders who are taking advantage of the situation.”

Ahmed Ludhianvi, head of a Sunni group that formed after Sipah-e-Sahaba was banned in 2002, has exactly the same view. “Some foreign powers are trying to bring Pakistan to the brink of civil war,” he says. “This bloodshed began after 1979.”

To be sure, Pakistan’s sectarian militants are now operating on auto-pilot, and the idea that Iran and the Sunni Gulf monarchies are to blame seems farfetched. But if Pakistan’s pivot away from Iran continues and it finds itself mired in a sectarian war in Syria, those domestic militants could become proxy warriors in a conflict that has already killed hundreds of thousands in the Middle East.

Umar Farooq is based in Pakistan, where he works as a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and the Wall Street Journal. He has also written for The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The Globe and Mail, and The Nation.

Using Social Media To Help the CIA To Destabilize the World

Social media helping destabilize world, strategist says at War College

By David Vergun

Security forces from Provincial Reconstruction Team Ghazni secure a landing zone while Polish medics arrive to provide medical care in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. Poles and militaries from other Eastern European countries participated in Iraq and Afghanistan with the hope that someday when they need military assistance, the U.S. would provide it, said Robert D. Kaplan, chief geopolitical analyst for Stratfor.

Related Links

• Army.mil: Professonal Development Toolkit
• Army.mil: Inside the Army News
• 25th Annual Strategy Conference
• Army News Service

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 11, 2014) — Twitter, Facebook and other types of social media are contributing to global instability, said Robert D. Kaplan, chief geopolitical analyst for Stratfor — a team of intelligence experts.

The use of social media, he explained, has been shown to unite and rally demonstrators at a moment’s notice, enabling them to focus their energies on toppling regimes in just a matter of days. An example would be the use of it during the so-called Arab Spring, which began in December 2010.

Kaplan was keynote speaker at the 25th Annual Strategy Conference in Carlisle, Pa., sponsored by the Army War College, in partnership with the Joint Staff/J7. His remarks and those of others are not official U.S. Army doctrine. Rather they are meant to inform the Army of possible challenges it faces in the coming years and decades, officials said.

FAILED STATES

Failed, collapsed or weakened states pose a regional security problem and even a national security threat for the U.S. and its Army, Kaplan said, defining a weak or failed state as one where travel outside the capital can be dangerous — places like Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen.

Social media is not the only factor that will increasingly destabilize the world in the next 20 years, he said.

Ethnic and religious sectarian problems will continue to fester and create failed states in places like Africa and the Middle East, areas he compared to the post-Roman Empire Christendom in 4th, 5th and 6th-century Europe, where doctrinal battles and violence occurred between various sects.

Syria, Iraq and the Central African Republic area examples where that is occurring and Kaplan believes it will further spread as passions increase.

Another factor in the rise of failed states, he said, is the end of colonial rule and the strongmen who followed.

Like it or not, he said, the European powers sliced up the world in spheres of influence and domination, where protest and chaos was effectively quashed.

When that domination ended in the 1960s, strongmen — who were seen by their people as leaders against imperialism — emerged. Since these dictators now felt like they had moral authority, they governed how they pleased, he said, adding that it wasn’t always in the best interest of their own people, but at least they maintained tight control.

But with the era of colonial rule and strongmen ending, people are getting restless and want change, he said; however the change each tribe, ethnic or sectarian group seeks may be very different and this results in friction and clashes.

WEAK INSTITUTIONS

One of the most important factors creating global instability, he said, are weak institutions that Americans take for granted; things like the departments of motor vehicles, water and electric companies, police and firefighters. These are not top-level government agencies, but are services that make society function.

In vast swaths of Africa and Asia, these institutions are weak and in some cases nonexistent, he said. Weak institutions in turn give rise to feeble state identities. Feeble state identities in turn breed discontent and anarchy.

That discontent then often manifests itself in militant, radicalized groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, which can create regional security problems. The kinds of people that join these types of groups, he said, are more willing to die for a cause than they would be for the state.

Non-state actors, he said, are also empowered by new technologies that have the potential for doing a great deal of damage; for instance offensive cyber capabilities and plastic explosives that can fit inside a pocket. A very small group of people with ideologies and these types of weapons can cause a great deal of instability.

There’s not much the U.S. will be able to do in the coming years to address failed states, he said, because the money to do it might not be there. The U.S., however, can take selective actions it deems important using its special operations capabilities.

Meanwhile, he said, the Army and other services remaining strong can serve as a deterrent to those who would do America harm. In other words, even if the Army isn’t engaged in direct combat, its strength will dissuade potential aggressors.

DEALING WITH CHINA

As if failed states aren’t bad enough, Kaplan said there’s plenty to be concerned about with respect to non-failed states like China and Russia.

For centuries, China was effectively separated from India by the Himalayas. Then, new technologies made the world a much smaller place.

Now, the Chinese are building warships and routinely sailing in the Indian Ocean and they’re building airfields in Tibet for fighter aircraft. India too is building warships and is using its satellites to spy on the Chinese.

This can cause a great deal of mutual suspicions and mistrust, Kaplan said.

The Chinese are mimicking what the U.S. did in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. made the Caribbean its own lake and controlled the Panama Canal — the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific.

In China’s case, officials look at the East and South China seas — and increasingly the Indian Ocean — as part of their strategic sphere of influence. In other words, it’s their Caribbean.

For now, it isn’t in their interest to attack the U.S. because their military is not as strong as the U.S. and they can take their time building it up and gaining experience in using new military technologies, he said. Also, Kaplan doesn’t believe the Chinese are in meetings planning a world empire.

The problem for the U.S. with regard to China, he said, is that China will face internal instability over the coming decades because of an economic slowdown and tumultuous ethnic and social transformation.

When that occurs, the best way for China’s leaders to hold sway over their people will be to dial up nationalism, he said. That nationalism would take the form of provocations to its neighbors.

DEALING WITH RUSSIA

With respect to Russia, Kaplan said it too is acting in the same way the U.S. has in the past, dominating countries close to it like Ukraine, which he said the Russian people consider part of their heritage.

Throughout history, the Russians have felt the need for a buffer zone between their country and Europe, especially since it was periodically invaded by the French, Germans and others. America, he said, has been insulated from that threat by two oceans.

Russia’s need for buffers has not gone unnoticed by its eastern European neighbors, who are becoming increasingly uneasy, as Russia has proved willing to use force in Crimea and as it builds up its military forces elsewhere, he said.

Poles, Romanians and others are not reassured that they’ll get military assistance if needed from Western Europe, whose armies have been downsized much more than U.S. Army, he said. As well, Europe has become dependent on Russia for its energy needs, so this gives the Russians a great deal of leverage.

Because of Eastern Europe’s mistrust of getting help from the rest of Europe, Kaplan said they’ve turned increasingly to the U.S. for help, participating in U.S.-led exercises and contributing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with the hope that in the future, the U.S. will remember their loyalties.

PARTNERSHIPS

So what can America do in the coming decades?

Besides maintaining a strong military, Kaplan said the U.S. can partner with other powers, India and Japan, for instance.

India views the U.S. presence in the Indian Ocean, for example, as a counter to China’s buildup. And in turn, he said, the U.S. values India’s military, although there isn’t a formal treaty like NATO in place.

The other thing the U.S. can do, he said, is to organize its interagency structure in a more vertical manner, like the British did in the 19th century and earlier with its East India Company. Economic, political and military agencies worked hand-in-hand in foreign policy, although today that policy would be viewed as imperialistic.

The U.S. military can use the vertical model to its benefit in national security by working more closely with the Department of State and agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development.

An important area of national security where Kaplan sees the U.S. going in the right direction is the continued development of its home-grown energy requirements, which makes America less reliant on energy imports from places not always friendly to the U.S.

Besides his work for Stratfor, Kaplan, is a national correspondent for the magazine “The Atlantic,” author of “Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and End of a Stable Pacific,” and in 2011 and 2012, he was chosen by “Foreign Policy” magazine as one of the world’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers.”

The 25th Annual Strategy Conference in Carlisle ran April 8-10.

Pakistan Continues To Live In “American Dream” Land

[The following is a concise, well-written, semi-lucid explanation of the current “iffy” state of affairs in South Asia, but the writer is completely delusional, as are ALL analysts associated with any of the major Pak news outfits.  He does not hesitate to detail the dire situation in Afghanistan, but neither does he miss a beat in broadcasting the Army’s message of reassurances: “It is unlikely that Washington will let the Taliban grow again.”  Like all Pak writers, this one assumes that the US is seeking to stabilize the region, despite ALL the evidence to the contrary, proving that the CIA and Pentagon are engaged in a perpetual effort to DESTABILIZE the world, so that they might have a free hand to murder and maim, at will.  Washington could care less (except for all of the political game-players within the Democratic-Republican war party) what happens to the people of either country, once they get clear from the mess that they have created there.  Afghanistan is doomed to the same fate as Iraq, to suffer another civil war…Pakistan is just doomed.] 

The only way

Yasir Masood Khan

There are many speculations and assumptions running through the region about the US retreat and its repercussions on Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries.

It seems obvious, without a shadow of a doubt, that Afghanistan will be dragged again into a state of chaos, turbulence and anarchy. History has so far been unkind to that troubled country and every now and then it is dragged back to square one.

One wonders whether or not the US will be quitting Afghanistan for good. If so, then what’s next in the kitty of US strategies? Many scholars, intellectuals and think tanks anticipate a purely Afghan civil war. On top of that, the time spent there by the US with all its underlying motives will have been in vain. What that simply means is that it was a waste of time, energy, lives and resources on the part of the US.

Half of the game plan is already on the move — I refer of course, to the election’s outcome, which is just around the corner. So far Karzai has acted wilfully to his whiplashing master and will continue to do so. Nonetheless, recent resentment against US demands could prove to be expensive for Kabul. More likely still, the next government will be another dummy setup (Dari speaking), installed on the dictation of the US. Even if Karzai, otherwise, uses his own political influence in the presidential elections, the fate of the Afghan people will remain the same.

It is unlikely that Washington will let the Taliban grow again. A 60 percent turnout in the elections already assures the downfall of the Taliban. Still, the Taliban could get hold of the Pakhtun belt. Restricting the Taliban would be more conducive for US strategists, while preventing any backing or fuelling towards Taliban simultaneously.

The US departure could also have drastic implications for Pakistan. Unfortunately, Islamabad as usual seems to be in a whirlpool of ifs and buts, and no firm stance is appearing at the surface. Savvy foreign policymakers, political scientists and the military establishment must come up with visionary goals to cope with such an alarming situation.

India’s elections could also play an important role and one has to wait and see how Indian influence in Afghanistan is going to shape up. India is the fifth biggest donor in the reconstruction and rehabilitation process in Afghanistan. This can bring a double advantage to India — economic stability and alliance against Pakistan. For national security measures, Islamabad must remain vigilant to secure its north-west border to sustain peace and avoid cross-border terrorism.

China’s foreign policy in case of a civil war in Afghanistan is still unclear. Meanwhile, Beijing is busy promoting economic cooperation and continues to build infrastructure and roads. Even a continuation of bilateral trade depends on the volatility there; unrest in Afghanistan can put an end to China’s successful economic ascension.

Iran, as a neighbouring state, is highly concerned about the post-withdrawal scenario in Afghanistan. It has vowed nearly $1 billion in aid at international aid conferences held to help Afghanistan. Its aid in the first decade after the Taliban’s ouster was estimated at about 12 percent of the total assistance for reconstruction and development.

Tehran and Kabul have multiple disputes over water, Afghan refugees and drug trafficking. Tehran equally blames Kabul and Washington for not shutting down the production of opium. One should remember that Iran is a major corridor for narcotics smuggling to Middle Eastern and other European countries. Since the 1979 revolution, Iran claims to have lost more than 3,700 members of security forces fighting drug traffickers, many of whom were heavily armed. Tehran estimates that it spends around $1 billion annually on its war on drugs.

Washington has to play an anchor role before walking out; it must leave behind peace, tranquillity and stability in Afghanistan. This chiefly depends on whether the economic aid would be sufficient for Afghanistan to run its military affairs and secure the state from insurgency and internal turmoil.

As for the neighbouring states, Afghanistan would require them to pursue their foreign policies with utmost care. India, China, Pakistan and Iran will need to bury their animosities and grudges and stand together to avoid another conflict in the region. Peace is the only way forward for a prosperous and stable South Asia.

The writer is a research officer at the Institute of Regional Studies, and part of the visiting faculty at Quaid-e-Azam University.

Email: yasirmasoodkhan@gmail.com

US Military Training Produces Killers By Suppressing Natural Human Guilt

[SEE: PTSD, Or PTGD (Post Traumatic GUILT Disorder)?—Living With the Guilt ; Ft. Carson Learning the Hard Way About the Shame of Trauma In Their “Warrior Culture”]   

Killing soldiers’ humanity

JEFF SPARROW.NET

Published at 27 January 2007

‘OVER here, killing people is like squashing an ant. I mean, you kill somebody and it’s like ‘All right, let’s go get some pizza’.”

That’s an American soldier, Private Steven Green, interviewed in Iraq in 2006.

Green’s words sound shocking but they represent the reality of combat in places such as Iraq: good soldiers kill quickly and dispassionately. Even with modern, high-tech weapons, someone must still pull the trigger.

And that’s not necessarily easy.

A famous World War II study by S. L. A. Marshall shocked military theorists when it suggested that only a minority of American soldiers could bring themselves to fire directly at another human being in combat, even with their own life at risk.

“The average and healthy individual . . . has such an inner . . . resistance towards killing a fellow man,” wrote Marshall, “that he will not of his own volition take life if it is possible to turn away from that responsibility.”

The Soviet journalist Vasily Grossman noted a similar phenomenon on the Eastern Front. “Sixty per cent of our soldiers haven’t fired a single shot during the war at all,” a commander told him. “We are fighting thanks to heavy machine-guns, battalion mortars and the courage of some individuals.”

Since then, military trainers have developed various techniques to overcome the inherent human resistance to killing.

Most importantly, soldiers such as Private Green now train in realistic simulations of combat so that aiming, firing and seeing the target fall dead becomes a single, almost unconscious, conditioned response. The Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright quotes Sergeant Brad Colbert on his first experience of combat. “It was just like training. I just loaded and fired my weapon from muscle memory. I wasn’t even aware what my hands were doing.”

The muscle memory that allows the soldier to kill without inhibition can be developed during live-fire exercises but increasingly the American military relies on computerised simulations, providing the trainee with a level of realism never before possible.

Such computerisation works so well in breaking down the resistance to killing that some officers suggest that even off-the-shelf combat games can help develop it.

Retired marine Colonel Gary Anderson, former chief of staff of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, explained to The Washington Post that their exposure to first-person shooter games make today’s soldiers the “new Spartans”.

“Remember the days of the old Sparta, when everything they did was towards war?” he said. “In many ways, the soldiers of this video-game generation have replicated that.”

The same article quotes one Sergeant Sinque Swales on his experience killing an Iraqi with a .50 calibre machine-gun.

“It felt like I was in a big video game,” he recalled. “It didn’t even faze me, shooting back. It was just natural instinct. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

As Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Sutton from the technology division at Quantico Marine Base puts it, modern soldiers “feel less inhibited, down in their primal level, pointing their weapons at somebody”.

Such is the context for the American military’s own investments in the video-games industry. Full Spectrum Warrior, for instance, might have been released commercially for PCs and Xboxes but it was designed and developed with the army’s backing as a training tool for urban combat, and a simple cheat code, easily available from the internet, converts the retail version into the simulation used to coach officers.

Playing Full Spectrum Warrior will not, in itself, turn you into a trained killer. Nonetheless, the digitalisation of war still has far-reaching effects.

Consider America’s Army, a video game developed as a recruiting tool by the US military. Freely downloadable online, it claims about 8 million registered players, all enthusiastically gunning down electronic bad guys. The game also features cameos from genuine soldiers who direct players towards the real-world enlistment office and enthuse about actual adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan and the honour and courage and heroism that await there.

In this way, the digital battlefield fosters remarkably old-fashioned notions of combat as a source of meaning and purpose, even as it transforms killing into an unthinking conditioned response.

It’s no wonder that Steven Green felt so confused.

“I thought killing somebody would be this life-changing experience,” he said. “And then I did it, and I was like, ‘All right, whatever.’ ”

Yet reality is not a video game, and killing a human being is not the same as squashing an ant.

Conditioned reflexes might allow soldiers to open fire without hesitation but they do not provide them with a framework for coming to terms with what they’ve done. The soldiers in Iraq who kill more efficiently than any previous generation are also returning home with extraordinary levels of psychiatric trauma. Already, about 50,000 Iraq veterans have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

As for Private Green, shortly after he talked about how little killing affected him, he was arrested for raping an Iraqi girl and murdering her and her family.

When you’ve finished playing America’s Army, you can turn the program off and walk away. Real violence is different. The tragedy of Iraq encompasses more than those who have been killed. It extends to those who have done the killing: most often young men and women from ordinary backgrounds, who will often be haunted by war for the rest of their lives.

Deservedly, British Jihadis Bring Their Holy War To Great Britain

British Syria-radicalized jihadists biggest threat to UK national security

The MI5 headquarters in central London (Reuters / David Bebber BEB / MD / AA)

Radicalized UK citizens returning from Syria are the biggest threat to national security, official reports claim. With increasing access to equipment and training, there are growing fears Brits are encouraged to carry out attacks on home soil.

The 500 Britons who have gone to fight in Syria over the past three years put the Middle-Eastern country in Whitehall’s sights as a much more dangerous place for radicalization than Iraq. An assessment by the MI5 spells out how alluring Syria has become to UK jihadists.

“The nature of the conflict in Syria and the emergence of Al-Nusra Front, which has declared its allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, is leading to the country becoming an increasingly significant potential source of future threats to the UK and UK interests overseas,” the text also reads.

Concerns over the grave threat have been confirmed to the Telegraph by an unnamed Whitehall contact.

“The threat to the UK comes from a range of countries and groups but Syria is perhaps the biggest challenge right now,” they explain. The Home Office annual review likewise states that the country has been identified as “the most significant development in global terrorism.”

This is believed to be because a whole range of potentially threatening aspects to the UK’s national security is being seen emanating from one single country.

And although the recommendations keep coming in, a lot of them aren’t new. Last year as well, the director-general of the MI5, Andrew Parker, told Parliament that the Syrian conflict has become a magnet for British nationals looking to engage in jihad, many of whom come into contact with Al-Qaeda-linked groups.

The security services are said to be closely monitoring some 250 returnees, who include several veteran hardliners who have fought in Afghanistan or Pakistan, other reports have claimed. Many others have participated in combat or received training in munitions or other skills applicable to terror operations, with some exhibiting a willingness to carry out attacks in the UK, security officials cited in another, February government report said.

But unlike the terrorism hotbeds that are Afghanistan and Pakistan, Syria is much closer to Europe, making it the ideal destination to go, get radicalized and come back with deadly ideas. And because the MI5 can’t keep a watch on all of them, just around half of the British citizens who return are essentially roaming the country without any supervision.

Even before the current report and recommendations, senior security officials in February said the number of returnees is now five times the previously reported figure.

“There are a few hundred people going out there. They may be injured or killed, but our biggest worry is when they return they are radicalized, they may be militarized, they may have a network of people that train them to use weapons,” London Police Chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe explained to the Times then.

Members of Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra (Reuters / Molhem Barakat)

In sum, the combination of proximity to Europe, a rise in the number of extremist groups, easy availability of training and weapons and the ability to travel back and forth through badly-controlled Middle-Eastern borders, is seen as deadly.

Further to the problem, many returning jihadists don’t fit the psychological profile. Recent months have seen details released about the first suicide attack carried out by a British national in Syria. Abdul Waheed Majeed is believed to have driven an explosives-laden truck into a jail in Aleppo earlier this month, joining some 20 British citizens to have died fighting in the Syrian civil war.

Speaking to RT in February, political commentator Mohammed Ansar explained how Majeed’s attack presented a difficulty for the security services because “he does not fit the profile of a young British jihadi who has gone to Syria to fight,” adding also that “fighters from Britain have been calling others to come and join them.”

Similar troubles with profiling occur when women fighters are involved, and such cases are increasing.

And the threat is regionally contagious. Speaking to the Independent about the recommendations he would offer, Gilles de Kerchove, the EU’s counter-terrorism coordinator expressed fears that if counter-terrorism budgets across the continent don’t go up, we will be seeing an even steeper rise in foreign radicalization than presently.

“We should be investing a lot more in counter-terrorism work, including externally, if we are to prevent or mitigate future terrorist attacks,” he said, adding that “National budgets devoted to counter-terrorism are declining across the EU. Yet the threat that we face is becoming more diverse, more diffuse, and more unpredictable.”

But while Britain’s MI5 is among the agencies promising to take an ever tougher stance on nationals planning to engage in terrorism on home soil, the public is asking questions. Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, and the author of 13 books, notably on Islam and the West, asks on his website why more returnees aren’t being monitored and why they are being allowed back into the country so easily (and if they are even British citizens).

At the same time, Spencer sees that the British government knows full well who the counter-jihadists are (Spencer included) and doesn’t hesitate to turn them away at the border. He also accuses the British government of being particularly lax on the issue for fear of hurting the Muslim community’s feelings and sparking accusations of Islamophobia.

And still not all believe the jihadists to be a lost cause. In fact some, like Ansar, believe would opt for a different strategy – that of de-radicalization and reintegration into British society. It will not be easy, Ansar claims, but studying the British jihadists’ motives will enable us to better understand how to deal with this rising problem.

US Corporations Continue To Rob Treasury, Intending To Cause American Economic Collapse

[The transfer of American technology and industrial capabilities overseas has been extensively documented by countless American scholars, most notable among them is Prof. Antony C. Sutton from the Hoover institute at Stanford University.  Sutton’s informative “THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY,” is the most readable example of his research documenting the transfer of full-scale industrial facilities to Third World dictatorships, including pre- and post-WWII Germany.  The greatest reciprient of this American largesse was the Soviet Union which received thirty-five Bryant Chucking Grinder Company
Centalign-B ball-bearing grinding machines, the single missing capability which enabled Russian missiles to carry multiple warheads.  In addition, a subsidiary of Kellogg Corp. built the world’s largest truck and diesel engine plant at Kama River, one glaring example out of the hundreds listed by Prof. Sutton. Communist Russia.  Under Reagan’s leadership, the process of American de-industrialization was accelerated under the masquerade of “privatization,” and changes to US business law, which encouraged the transfer overseas of trillions of dollars in American profits and assets, putting them beyond the long reach of the IRS.

The de-industrialization and absolute bankruptcy of the US economy were long-planned events, made possible by a succession of treasonous American Presidents, from at least Woodrow Wilson onward to Barack Hussain Obama (SEE:The Planned Collapse of America–Part 1 and Part 2). 

We are a nation governed by the worst kind of treasonists, criminals and foreign spies. 

The only solution is to overthrow the entire US Govt. and start anew from scratch, to build the Nation described in our sacred national Charter.]

US corporations holding more than $2.1 trillion in untaxed profits overseas

According to a new report, more than $2 trillion worth of profit generated by some of the biggest United States-based corporations is being held overseas where it’s not subject to US income tax law.

The report — published earlier this month by the Audit Analytics online intelligence service — has even this week managed to capture the attention of the head of the US Senate’s Finance Committee.

In a post published to the Audit Analytics website on April 1, the firm said that their research has led them to determine that American companies are currently holding more profits overseas than ever before, up more than 12 percent in 2013 from the year prior. Since 2008, the researchers added, that statistic has grew up 93 percent.

The companies in question — the top 100 on the Russell 3000 Index of US stocks — held $2.12 trillion in Foreign Indefinitely Reinvested Earnings (IRE) during the last calendar year, Audit Analytics reported, up from only $1.89 trillion a year earlier. All of this income claimed by a total of 547 US companies, the researchers added, is free from the US corporate income tax rules that apply to profits held domestically.

“The new numbers … certainly highlight what is one of the key challenges for tax reform,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said on Tuesday on Capitol Hill, according to Reuters. “I do think there need to be some reforms in this area.”

Sen. Wyden’s latest remarks came just days after his panel assessed more than 50 tax breaks set to expire at the end of 2013 but had failed to be reviewed by the Senate in time. Last month, according to Reuters, Wyden said that offshore deferral and other tax code loopholes resembled “a rotten carcass that the special interests feast on.” At this time, however, Reuters reported that policy analyst expect it’s unlikely that Congress with act on any major fiscal issues until after the November mid-term elections later this year.

In the meantime, US corporations are holding record profit numbers far out of the reach of Uncle Sam. Last year, Audit Analytics reported, General Election held more than $110 billion outside of the US, with software company Microsoft and drugmaker Pfizer rounding out the top three with $76.4 billion and $69 billion in Foreign IREs, according to researchers.

“GE operates in more than 170 countries, and most of these overseas earnings have been reinvested in active business operations like manufacturing facilities and loans to non-US customers,” that company responded to Reuters.

And according to Audit Analytics, more companies are now moving their money abroad. Whiile the amount of Foreign IREs has increased dramatically during the last six years, the firm said that the number of companies disclosing these reinvested foreign earnings has increased by 12 percent since 2008.

Profits held in the US are subject to a corporate tax rate of 35 percent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) told CNN last year that “One out of four corporations doesn’t pay a nickel in taxes” due to the numerous loopholes available.

“Blackwater” Shock Troops In Direct Confrontation With Putin’s Proxies In Donetsk

[SEE:  Pro-Russian Protestors Seize Buildings After Ukrainian Officer Killed by Protesters;

Moscow warns Kiev against using military, mercenaries in southeastern Ukraine ;

Ukraine says it retakes building seized by protesters] 

Greystone Limited mercenaries operating in Ukraine

by stratagem

 

Source: Soha

Source: politikus.ru

 

Website politikus.ru reported, on the night of 2-3, the flight landed at the airport Borispol and Zhuliany , Ukraine carrying many men in civilian clothes but carrying large bags (similar to type bag that the U.S. military used to store equipment).

All these people were identified as employees of private security companies Greystone Limited. It is a subsidiary of Vehicle Services Company LLC (which is a private security company Blackwater USA’s notorious was renamed in 2009). Currently, the number of employees of this company in Ukraine is said to be up to 300 people.

The presence of the security personnel are specially trained in Ukraine this will enhance protection for the new administration in the area east and southeast, where the anti-government protests erupted powerful new .

The only question now is how many private security personnel of foreign countries in Ukraine real and who is paying them (the cost to hire a private company like that is very expensive and government Ukraine’s new budget clearly not sufficient to cover these costs).

While the number 300 is not a large army and these employees do not carry heavy weapons, but with the highly trained and mastered many fighting skills, then this may be staff conduct minor damage as a sniper or cause explosions, … similar to what they used to do in Africa and elsewhere.

Some suggested that there was a collusion between the new government of Kiev and the U.S. Embassy in the use of private security companies in Ukraine. In the near future, they may become subject to destabilize the situation in the country.

Image Credit: GreyStone Limited

В Донецке появились неизвестные наемники

 

NATO Pushing Russia Into Pre-Invasion Scenario

[In keeping with established Pentagon policy, the Western powers will do everything within their power to ensure that their worst-case scenarios come true.  Just like every other aspect of the terror war, where every Pentagon strategy is tailored to shaping policies which multiply the terrorists (think of assassination drones), we know for a certainty that the US will force Russia to invade Ukraine by its rushing of men and equipment to the Russia/Ukraine “front” (SEE:  US Arranges New War Games In Ukraine, Along Border With Crimea; Germany Set To Help Militarize the Political Situation In Eastern Europe ).  When the degree of the Western militarization of Eastern Ukraine becomes too obvious to ignore, Putin will have no choice left to him but to enter Ukraine and to fulfill the West’s worst nightmares, or greatest expectations.]

NATO: Russia Could Achieve Ukraine Border ‘Incursion’ in Days

Russia has all the forces it needs on Ukraine’s border if it were to decide to carry out an “incursion” into the country and it could achieve its objective in three to five days, NATO’s top military commander said Wednesday.

Calling the situation on the border “incredibly concerning,” U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove – who is both NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the head of the U.S. Military’s European Command – said NATO had spotted signs of movement by a very small part of the Russian force overnight but there was no indication that it was returning to barracks.

NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels have asked him to draw up by April 15 a package to reassure nervous NATO allies in eastern Europe that would include reinforcements by land, air and sea, he said in an interview with Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.

NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia on Tuesday in protest at its annexation of Crimea, and ordered military planners to draft measures to strengthen its defenses and reassure nervous Eastern European countries.

Foreign ministers from the 28-nation, U.S.-led alliance were meeting for the first time since the Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea region touched off the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

US Arranges New War Games In Ukraine, Along Border With Crimea

[SEE: Germany Set To Help Militarize the Political Situation In Eastern Europe ]

Ukraine Agrees to Host NATO War Games

Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday approved a series of joint military exercises with NATO countries that would put U.S. troops in direct proximity to Russian forces in the annexed Crimea peninsula.

“This is a good opportunity to develop our armed forces,” acting defense minister Mykhailo Koval told Verkhovna Rada lawmakers ahead of the 235-0 vote.

The decision came as NATO foreign ministers gathered in Brussels for a two-day meeting dominated by concern over the recent buildup of Russian forces near Crimea that U.S. officials estimate had at one point reached about 40,000 troops.

NATO has sought to reinforce its eastern frontier after Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula and amid concerns about Kremlin’s emboldened foreign policy.

Russia on Monday reported pulling back a battalion of about 500 to 700 soldiers from the border region in a move that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called “a small sign that the situation is becoming less tense”.

Ukraine is not a NATO member and its new Western-backed leaders have vowed not to push for closer relations with the Brussels-based military alliance — a bloc that has been viewed with deep mistrust by Moscow since the Cold War.

But the ex-Soviet nation did form a “distinctive partnership” with the Alliance in 1997 and has been staging joint exercises with its state members ever since.

The exercises approved on Tuesday would see Ukraine conduct two sets of military exercises with the United States this summer — Rapid Trident and Sea Breeze — that have prompted disquiet in Russia in previous years.

Ukraine is planning two additional maneuvers with NATO member Poland as well as joint ground operations with Moldova and Romania.

The Sea Breeze exercises have particularly irritated Moscow because they had on occasion been staged in Crimea — the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Those maneuvers have in more recent years been moved to the Black Sea port of Odessa where Ukraine also has a naval base.

An explanatory note accompanying the Tuesday bill says that the naval section of Sea Breeze would this time be conducted over a 25-day span between July and October out of two Odessa ports and “along the waters of the Black Sea”.

The MPs met a key demand posed by both the West and Russia by voting unanimously to disarm all self-defense groups that sprang up across the country during its political crisis.

“The Ukrainian people are demanding order,” acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said ahead of the 256-0 vote. “Those who carry arms — besides the police, the security services and the national guard — are saboteurs who are working against the country.”

State Dept Hides Embarrassing Truth About Saudi Terrorist Indoctrination In Public Schools

Saudi-produced jihadi brainwashing manuals are vital to US plans to use radical Islam as a vehicle for world domination.UN agency funded with Saudi money wants to edit worldwide textbooks

Corrupt UNESCO embrace Saudi text books

“Jihadi textbook” Urdu textbook funded by Saudi Money, example of the vile Saudi beliefs being pumped into the minds of Muslim boys.

 

Report Alleges State Department Withholding Saudi Textbook Study Because It Would Embarrass the Saudis

Sharona Schwartz

As President Barack Obama sets out for his visit to Saudi Arabia this week, a new report suggests the State Department has intentionally been withholding a comprehensive study on Saudi textbooks, because the books include offensive material that dehumanizes Christians and Jews that if made public would embarrass the kingdom.

“The State Department appears to be withholding a government-commissioned textbooks study on the subject,” said the report by the DC-based research organization the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “Textbook Diplomacy: Why the State Department Shelved a Study on Incitement in Saudi Education Materials.”

“Passages [in textbooks] continue to dehumanize Jews and Christians, promote the murder of perceived deviants such as homosexuals, and sanction violence against Muslims who do not follow the Wahhabi brand of Islam that is sponsored by the Saudi state,” the government-commissioned study found, according to the think tank report.

David Andrew Weinberg, who authored the Foundation for Defense of Democracies report, wrote that in 2011 the State Department paid the non-profit organization the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD) $500,000 to conduct the study of Saudi government-published textbooks that are used widely not only in the kingdom, but are also sent free of charge to Muslim schools around the world, including in the U.S.

“However, when the results of this study were ready for release in 2012, U.S. government officials decided not to publish its findings. Nor did the Department release this study in 2013, despite issuing a similar but controversial study equating the narratives found in textbooks used by Israelis and Palestinians,” Weinberg wrote.

According to Weinberg, ICRD’s leadership asserted their study was withheld from the public because it showed the Saudis had made progress on textbook improvements and that the State Department did not want to discourage further progress by publicly criticizing the remaining areas of disagreement.

“However, current and former officials contest this characterization, asserting that ICRD’s study was withheld because of how bad it makes the Saudis look,” Weinberg wrote.

State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf insisted during Tuesday’s State Department briefing that the report was never meant to be released.

“This project, this assessment from this project, was never intended to be made public, as they often are not,” Harf said. “It was intended to drive and inform the work of the State Department as we work with the Saudi Government to push them to reform their textbooks.”

“There’s no one keeping a public report quiet. It was always supposed to be internal,” she added.

Of the reported evidence that the Saudi textbooks continue to contain offensive themes, Harf said, “We know there’s more work to be done. We’ve been very clear about that publicly, again, regardless of whether a report is released or not. And we have worked with the Saudis over the years, and we believe that it is – every country reforms at its own pace.”

Michael Posner — who was assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor during President Barack Obama’s first term – suggested to the Daily Beast that the State Department had never ruled out making the study public.

“We commissioned the study to assess and evaluate the content of the textbooks with the intention of sharing our findings with the Saudi government and with the option, depending on the findings, of making it public if the problems persisted,” Posner told the Daily Beast.

Posner would not provide details on the unpublished textbook study, but spoke more generally about the problems in Saudi study materials.

“Among the references that were most offensive were commentary that linked Christians and Jews to apes and pigs,” Posner told the Daily Beast. “If those references are still in some textbooks then the problem hasn’t been solved.”

Since 9/11, the U.S. government has been concerned about inciting materials in Saudi textbooks that could encourage Islamic extremism. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers in the September 11 attacks were Saudi nationals.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies quoted a source familiar with the study who provided quotes from the ICRD report which said Saudi textbooks “create a climate that fosters exclusivity, intolerance, and calls to violence that put religious and ethnic minorities at risk.”

A tenth grade Islamic law book said students should “kill the person who changes his religion…for there is no benefit in keeping them alive.”

Christians, Jews and pagans were described in a twelfth grade monotheism textbook as “the worst of creatures” who will “dwell in hellfire.”

According to Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ unnamed source who saw the study, in another tenth grade book, Christians were compared to idol worshippers. It also wrote of Jews that God “made them of swine and apes.” Yet other books praised violence against non-Muslims.

Douglas Johnston, the president and founder of ICRD which conducted the study told the Daily Beast that he recommended against publishing its results.

“We strongly suggested it should not be published because they are making great progress on this. We can achieve a lot more if we pursue this outside the public domain,” Johnston said.

Read the full report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies at this link.

Mohammed Dahlan, George Bush’s “Whore,” Now He’s Selling His Ass To the Saudis

[SEE: The Gaza Bombshell]

“The UAE has donated $50 million to build the Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan city in Gaza strip for released Palestinian prisoners.”

Aided by Gulf millions, exiled Palestinian operative Mohammed Dahlan seeks new Gaza foothold

By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH and KARIN LAUB  Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Fueled by millions in Gulf aid dollars that are his to distribute, an exiled Palestinian operative seems to be orchestrating a comeback that could position him as a potential successor to aging Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

In a phone interview from London, Mohammed Dahlan spoke of his aid projects in the Gaza Strip, his closeness to Egypt’s military leaders and his conviction that the 79-year-old Abbas has left the Palestinian national cause in tatters.

If staging a successful return, Dahlan, a former Gaza security chief once valued by the West for his pragmatism, could reshuffle a stagnant Palestinian deck. Some caution that Dahlan has made too many enemies in Abbas’ Fatah movement and will continue to be ostracized by those planning to compete for the top job in the future.

Dahlan, 52, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he is “not looking for any post” after Abbas retires, but called for new elections and an overhaul of Fatah.

“Abbas will leave only ruins and who would be interested to be a president or vice president on these ruins?” Dahlan said. “What I am interested in is a way out of our political situation, not a political position.”

In the past, he and Abbas were among the leading supporters of negotiations with Israel as the preferred path to statehood. Dahlan now believes the current U.S.-led talks “will bring nothing for the Palestinian people,” alleging Abbas has made concessions that his predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat, would not have.

Abbas aide Nimr Hamad and senior Fatah official Jamal Muhaisen declined to comment Thursday on Dahlan’s statements. Last week, Muhaisen said anyone expressing support for Dahlan would be purged from Fatah.

A bitter feud between Abbas and Dahlan seems mostly personal, but also highlights the dysfunctional nature of Fatah, paralyzed by incessant internal rivalries, and Abbas’ apparent unwillingness to tolerate criticism.

Abbas banished Dahlan in 2010, after his former protege purportedly called him weak. Dahlan has since spent his time between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Before the fallout he was one of a few Palestinian leaders who saw themselves as potential contenders for succeeding Abbas.

Dahlan grew up poor in a Gaza refugee camp, but as a top aide to Arafat became the territory’s strongman in the 1990s, jailing leaders of rival Hamas which was trying to derail Arafat’s negotiation with Israel through bombing and shooting attacks.

Dahlan was dogged by corruption allegations at the time, like Arafat and several other senior Palestinian politicians, but has denied wrongdoing and was never charged.

In exile, he has nurtured political and business ties in the Arab world.

Dahlan said this week that he has been raising millions of dollars from business people and charities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere for needy Palestinians.

Last year, he said he delivered $8 million to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

“In Gaza, I do the same now,” he said. “I’m collecting money for desalination in Gaza. It’s unbearable. Fifty percent of the water in the houses is sewage water. Hamas and Abbas are doing nothing to solve the real problems of the Gazans.”

When asked if he was buying political support with Gulf money, he said: “This is not political money.” He added that the UAE also provides financial aid to Abbas.

Dahlan’s relationship with Gaza and former arch-enemy Hamas is particularly complex.

Security forces under Dahlan lost control of Gaza in a brief battle with Hamas gunmen in 2007. The defeat cemented the Palestinian political split, leading to rival governments, one run by Hamas in Gaza and the other by Abbas in parts of the West Bank, and was seen as perhaps the biggest blot on Dahlan’s career.

However, there are now signs of a possible rapprochement between Dahlan and the Islamic militants — apparently because of Dahlan’s close ties to Egyptian military chief, Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Dahlan said he has met el-Sissi several times and supported last year’s coup — he called it the “Egyptian revolution” — against the country’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is the Gaza offshoot of the Brotherhood.

Since the coup, el-Sissi has tightened a closure of Gaza’s border with Egypt. That blockade has squeezed Hamas financially, and the Islamic militants have been looking for ways to pry the border open.

In January, Hamas allowed three Fatah leaders loyal to Dahlan to return to the territory. The Fatah returnees and Hamas officials formed a committee to oversee construction of a new Gaza town to be funded by the UAE, said a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the contacts.

Senior Fatah officials accuse Dahlan of trying to split the movement.

“Dahlan has created an alliance with Hamas,” Nabil Shaath, an Abbas aide, has told Palestine TV. Dahlan loyalists in Gaza “have distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars without having the movement’s permission,” he said.

Underlying Fatah’s fears about a return of Dahlan is the open question of succession.

Abbas was elected in 2005, but overstayed his five-year term because the Hamas-Fatah split has prevented new elections. Abbas has not designated a successor and there is no clear contender.

The only other Palestinian politician with broad support according to polls is Marwan Barghouti, an uprising leader who is serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prison.

Analyst Hani al-Masri said regional support has boosted Dahlan, but that he’s not a serious challenger yet because he has not offered any plans.

Palestinians “won’t support a specific leader without being convinced of his political platform,” he said.

---

Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.

Hamas sees Dahlan as bridge to Egypt

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Fatah’s members of parliament (MPs) Majid Abu Shamala and Alaa Yaghi arrived in the Gaza Strip Jan. 21 for their first visit since 2007, the year Hamas assumed power there. Their arrival, the fruit of talks between the leaders of the opposing Palestinian movements, was also made possbile after Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh declared that leaders and cadres of Fatah who had left the Gaza Strip were now welcome to return. Haniyeh also announced the release of a number of Fatah detainees from Hamas prisons as part of a unilateral initiative to “enhance the reconciliation steps with Fatah.”

Summary Former arch rivals Hamas and 

Mohammed Dahlan have found common ground in that they both oppose President Mahmoud Abbas.

Author Hazem Balousha Posted February 3, 2014

Translator(s)Pascale Menassa

The two MPs are among Fatah leaders who had supported Mohammed Dahlan, the party’s strongman in the Gaza Strip who fell out with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Their appearance in Gaza raised rumors of a rapprochement between Dahlan and Hamas behind closed doors. Suspicions were also stoked by the Islamist movement allowing Dahlan followers to work in several areas in Gaza during the past few months without direct surveillance, according to a source in Hamas.

This same source, who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, revealed, “Intensive contacts were made during the past few months between leaders close to Dahlan and the Hamas movement through Rouhi Mushtaha, a member of the [Hamas] political bureau. This led to a certain rapprochement between both sides and loosened the security restrictions on the members of Fatah in the Gaza Strip.”

The Haniyeh government’s permission for Dahlan allies to work in Gaza does not seem to be a leap in the dark for either side. There appears to have been an undeclared understanding reached by Hamas and Dahlan, as reflected in the noticeable halt in harsh exchanges between the two camps via their respective media outlets.

The launch of a joint “social solidarity committee,” chaired by Abu Shamala and with Ismail al-Ashqar and Mushtaha, two Hamas leaders, as members is one joint undertaking that has become public. The committee will oversee the construction of a residential city in central Gaza funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to house freed prisoners. In the past, some of its other activities have included supervising the planning of collective weddings, covering university students’ fees and providing in-kind assistance to the poor in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza government has also allowed a charity run by Dahlan’s wife to resume activities in support of humanitarian projects, in particular in the refugee camps.

For his part, political writer Ibrahim Abrash said that the reason behind the rapprochement between Dahlan and Hamas is clear — to improve Hamas’ relations with the interim military regime in Egypt and the UAE, both of which Dahlan has developed strong ties with. Writing Jan. 27 on the Arabic Media Internet Network, Abrash asserted, “It seems that Hamas has felt that Dahlan can be its saving grace from its strategic, political and financial dilemma, thanks to his special relations with the UAE and Egypt and his stable relations with Washington.”

Abu Shamala appeared to confirm this interpretation when he told Al-Monitor, “We are trying to coordinate with our Egyptian brothers to stop any measures that affect our people in Gaza and ease their pain. We are confident that our Egyptian brothers are ready to ease the suffering of Gaza’s people.” In response to a question posed by Al-Monitor about whether his return points to a rapprochement between Dahlan’s movement and Hamas, he said, “We cannot stand helpless before the crises that the Gaza Strip is facing. We should try to heal wounds and help in the construction process regardless of any political consideration or analysis.”

The source in Hamas said that about 80% of the Palestinians returning to Gaza among the 120 announced by Haniyeh in an interview with al-Kitab satellite channel belong to the Dahlan faction in Fatah. The source added that this was only natural given that the Dahlan faction was among the most affected by the division, as it was leading the war against Hamas.

In an article published by the pro-Hamas Felesteen newspaper, Yousef Rizqa, a political adviser to Haniyeh, categorically denied that there was any relationship between the Fatah MPs coming to Gaza on the one hand and the rapprochement with Dahlan and his movement on the other. Rizqa added that permission to enter was nothing more than a gesture of goodwill on the part of Hamas to facilitate Palestinian reconciliation.

The Hamas source noted, “There may be some benefit for the government in Gaza to let Dahlan and his cadres return to operate in Gaza, but this was not the primary objective of such a move.” The source denied that Hamas is using disputes between Dahlan and Abbas to make political headway.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that both parties are taking advantage of their respective situations. Hamas is trying to politically withstand the pressure being exerted on it by Egypt, and Dahlan’s solid ties with Cairo and its key supporter, the UAE, may help in that regard. Meanwhile, Dahlan is seeking to re-enter Palestinian politics but faces serious obstacles as long as Abbas and the core of Fatah in the West Bank oppose him. Reconnecting with his popular base in Gaza might strengthen his hand within Fatah.

Abu Shamala and the Hamas source agreed that Dahlan will not visit Gaza anytime soon because of concerns about possible repercussions to Hamas’ ties with Abbas. “Such a move could burn bridges [between Hamas] and Abbas,” the source said.

Saudi Scum Threatens To Blockade Qatar “By Air, Land and Sea”

Saudi Arabia threatens to blockade Qatar over terrorism

Riyadh wants to contain radical groups and media at odds with foreign jihad policy

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal attends an Arab foreign ministers emergency meeting to discuss the Syrian crisis at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo yesterday. Photograph: Reuters

Michael Jansen

   

Saudi Arabia has threatened to blockade neighbouring Qatar by air, land and sea unless Doha cuts ties with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, closes global channel al-Jazeera, and expels local branches of the US Brookings Institution and Rand Corporation think tanks.

The threat was issued by Riyadh before it withdrew its ambassador to Doha and branded as “terrorist organisations” the brotherhood, Lebanon’s Hizbullah and al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Jabhat al-Nusra.

Although the kingdom has long been the font of Sunni ultra-orthodox Salafism and jihadism, it now seeks to contain radical movements and media and other organisations giving them publicity.

King Abdullah has decreed that any Saudi who fights abroad could be jailed for 20-30 years, and those who join, endorse or provide moral or material support to groups classified as “terrorist” or “extremist” will risk prison sentences of five to 30 years.

The decree followed the gazetting of a sweeping new anti- terrorism law prohibiting acts that disturb public order, promote insecurity, undermine national unity or harm the reputation of the kingdom.

Contradiction
While the law and decree are meant to curb jihadi operations on Saudi soil as well as counter non-jihadi dissidence, these legal instruments appear to contradict government policy on foreign jihad.

While 400 Saudis have returned home from Syrian battlefields, another 1,000-2,000 are believed to be fighting with jihadi groups funded by the government as well as wealthy Saudis, Kuwaitis and Qataris.

An informed source speculated the decree sends a message to Saudis: “Don’t come home. Fight unto death or victory.”

For half a century Saudi Arabia used its oil wealth to promote Muslim fundamentalists, notably the brotherhood and its offshoots, to counter the secular pan-Arab nationalism preached by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Syrian and Iraqi Baath parties.

The kingdom provided refuge for brotherhood officials and activists from Egypt and other countries where governments were battling the movement. However, in recent years, Riyadh fell out with the brotherhood because it did not follow Saudi dictation.

After Shia clerics overthrew the shah of Iran in 1979 and tried to export their “Islamic revolution” to the wider Muslim world, which is 85 per cent Sunni, Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the guardian of Sunni orthodoxy, turned to evangelism.

The object has been to convert Muslims to “Wahhabism,” the Saudi puritanical interpretation of Islam. The Saudi campaign in Syria is against Damascus’s ally Shia Iran as well as godless, secular Baathism.

The rise in the price of oil since the 1970s has enabled the Saudis to train clerics and build schools, Islamic centres, universities and mosques around the world.

Traditionally gentle, tolerant, mystic Sufis, who had served as Islam’s missionaries, have been replaced by narrow, harsh Wahhabi preachers and imams. Over the past 30 years the kingdom has spent more than $100 billion (€72 billion) on promoting Wahhabism.

Even before the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia – partnered by the US Central Intelligence Agency – trained and armed mujahideen (holy warriors) from Afghanistan and across the Muslim world to fight the Soviet Afghan republic. After the war ended with the Soviet withdrawal from that country in 1989, veterans of this conflict fanned out to fight in Bosnia, Algeria, Libya, the Caucasus and elsewhere.

Blowback
Fearing blowback from Saudi jihadis engaged in the Syrian war, Riyadh has recently given the Syrian file to the interior minister Prince Mohamed bin Nayef, who has been in charge of an anti-terrorism campaign in the kingdom and Yemen, replacing intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

The Wall Street Journal has quoted a key Saudi source who said the shift suggests that Riyadh could rely more on diplomatic than military means by exerting pressure on Russia, Iran and Hizbullah, Damascus’s chief supporters, to resolve the conflict by removing President Bashar al-Assad.

Nevertheless, Riyadh also favours providing shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to “vetted” rebels, well aware these weapons could fall into al-Qaeda hands.

The Dangerous Nazification of Ukrainian Airwaves

[Ukrainian TV HAS to be even more boring than Russian TV.  Let’s see how long Svoboda can contain the restless longings of the Ukrainian masses if they are all bored beyond the point of their capacity to be mesmerized by inanity.]

OSCE slams Ukraine’s repressive censorship of Russian TV channels

Neo Nazi Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok

The OSCE has criticised Kiev’s “repressive” move to shut down the broadcasting of Russian TV channels after the media watchdog reported over 50% of providers have already fulfilled the order allegedly aimed at “ensuring national security and sovereignty.”

“As of 11:00 GMT, March 11th, 50 percent of providers throughout Ukraine have disabled broadcasting of foreign channels,” others are preparing to follow, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, said on its website.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has voiced strong concerns over the decision.

“I repeat my call to the authorities not to initiate these repressive measures,” OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said. “Banning programming without a legal basis is a form of censorship; national security concerns should not be used at the expense of media freedom.”

“While I deplore any kind of state propaganda and hate speech as part of the current information war, everyone has the right to receive information from as many sources as he or she wishes,” Mijatovic said. “Switching off and banning channels is not the way to address these problems; any potentially problematic speech should be countered with arguments and more speech.”

So far at least 5 Russian channels have been excluded from the list of options, following an appeal by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine last week.

“The National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine requires the program service providers to stop the broadcast of the Russian TV channels Vesti, Russia 24, Channel One (worldwide transmission), RTR ‘Planeta’, and NTV-World in their network,” the National Council order says.

More than half of Ukraine’s population speaks Russian regularly and one third say it’s their native tongue. In Crimea over 90 percent of the population uses Russian on an everyday basis.

Participants of a rally on Yevpatoria’s central square voice their support to Russia. (RIA Novosti/Andrey Stenin)

On Sunday, Republic of Crimea began broadcasting Russian TV channels on frequencies earlier occupied by Ukrainian television. It has been done because of “legal reasons and moral principles,” Crimea’s information minister Dmitry Polonsky told Itar-tass.

“From the moral point of view, all Ukrainian TV channels were rigidly censored by Kiev’s illegitimate authorities. In violation of fundamental principles they broadcast only one point of view – Crimean politicians, community leaders and Crimeans were unable to comment on the situation,” Polonsky said, adding that their round the clock false reporting of “Russia occupying Crimea” or “declaring war on Ukraine” did not correspond to reality and was used to aggravate the situation and escalate violence.

Polonsky also said that existing contracts should be brought into line with the “current legal situation”, as he urged Ukrainian TV channels to renegotiate contracts for new frequencies with the Crimean broadcasting authorities.

Following the move Ukraine’s media watchdog Goskomteleradio demanded an immediate resumption of Ukrainian TV channels broadcast in Crimea, accusing Russia of “aggression.”

“We regard this as a manifestation of undisguised information aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation,” the statement reads.

Russia has long voiced concerns over banning Russian media broadcasts on Ukraine’s national frequencies, calling it a violation of human rights.

“We are aware of proposals to prohibit broadcasts in Ukraine by companies of countries that are not signatories to the European Broadcasting Convention,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said late February after the proposal to ban some channels were first introduced by Svoboda Party in Ukraine.

“Russia is not a signatory to this convention, but this circumstance has not stopped us from broadcasting across Europe. Such broadcasts have not encountered any problems in any country of the European Union. If such a decision is adopted in Ukraine, it will be serious violation of freedom of speech,” Lavrov added.

Feinstein Outraged That NSA Violates Her Constitutional Rights Just Like the Rest of Us

 

Feinstein excoriates CIA for spying on Senate committee

US Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) walks off the Senate floor after accusing the CIA of spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 11, 2014.

(Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Senator Dianne Feinstein is not a fan of government surveillance, at least when it’s directed at the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The California senator, who has been the chair of the committee since 2009, said on Tuesday that the Central Intelligence Agency improperly monitored an independent computer network created for Congress to investigate allegations of torture and abuse in a detention and interrogation program from the George W. Bush administration.

 

Feinstein went public with the allegations after the CIA ignored letters from her on Jan. 17 and Jan. 23 that demanded an explanation and an apology.

She said in a statement on the Senate floor that she although she had been “trying to resolve this dispute in a discreet and respectful way,” she had “grave concerns that the CIA’s search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution.”

She added that the CIA’s inspector general, David Buckley, sent the dispute to the Justice Department, “given the possibility of a criminal violation by CIA personnel,” she said.

CIA Director John Brennan denied the accusation in a statement from last week.

“I am deeply dismayed that some members of the Senate have decided to make spurious allegations about CIA actions that are wholly unsupported by the facts,” he said. “I am very confident that the appropriate authorities reviewing this matter will determine where wrongdoing, if any, occurred in either the executive branch or legislative branch.”

“Until then, I would encourage others to refrain from outbursts that do a disservice to the important relationship that needs to be maintained between intelligence officials and congressional overseers,” he said.

“In addition to the grave implications for the Constitutional separation of powers, I am extremely troubled that the CIA leadership has neither responded to specific questions about this search nor even acknowledged that it was inappropriate,” said Senate Intelligence Committee member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in a statement. “This is simply not acceptable in a democracy.”

Edward Snowden appearing live via Google Hangouts video at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin on Monday, in his first extended public comments since leaking NSA documents last year.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

It’s worth noting that Feinstein has been a stalwart supporter of governmental surveillance. Feinstein condemned Edward Snowden last June after he leaked National Security Agency documents to the press, saying that he had committed “an act of treason.”

Following his first extended public comments during a video conference at yesterday’s South by Southwest festival, the former NSA contractor all but called Feinstein a hypocrite.

“[S]uddenly it’s a scandal when a politician finds out” that they’ve been spied on, Snowden said in a statement to NBC News.

He called Feinstein’s CIA accusations an example of the “Merkel Effect,” a reference to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s angry reaction to her discovery that the US was spying on her, apparently without concern that her fellow countrymen were also the target of widespread surveillance.

Feinstein’s office did not return a request for comment on whether her opinion of Snowden had changed in light of her allegations against the CIA.

Before Bashar Assad Murdered His Protestors, There Was Kent St.–American War Crime

[SEE:  Justice Department Won’t Reopen Probe of 1970 Kent State shootings, Despite New Evidence ]

[Gov. James A. Rhodes ordered his National Guardsmen to make an example of the protesting “scum” at Kent St., just to prove to President Nixon that he was “His Man.”]

Final Update: Kent State Truth Tribunal Submission to the United Nations, Human Rights Committee

Mendo Coast Currentby LKBlog

The Kent State Truth Tribunal (KSTT) was founded in 2010 upon the emergence of new forensic evidence regarding the May 4, 1970 Kent State massacre. KSTT is a non-governmental organization focused on revealing truth and bringing justice to Kent State victims and survivors. Representing Allison Beth Krause, 19-year-old student protester slain at Kent State University on May 4, 1970: Doris L. Krause, mother and Laurel Krause, sister.

The Kent State Truth Tribunal seeks an independent, impartial investigation into the May 4th Kent State massacre (Article 2 (Right to remedy); Article 6 (Right to life); Article 19 (Right to freedom of expression); Article 21 (Right to peaceful assembly)).

In 2013 KSTT submitted information and a shadow report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee surrounding the May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings where Krause family member Allison was wrongfully killed. KSTT Submission: http://bit.ly/1f2X25i, KSTT Shadow Report: http://bit.ly/1kBSjfa

US military bullets silenced Allison Krause’s protest against the United States war in Vietnam and President Nixon’s announced escalation of the war into Cambodia. On May 4, 1970, Allison stood and died for peace.

From the revealing Kent State forensic evidence emerging in May 2010, we learned:

“Participating American militia colluded at Kent State to organize and fight this battle against American student protesters, most of them too young to vote but old enough to fight in the Vietnam War. And from new evidence exposed forty years after the massacre, numerous elements point directly to the FBI and COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) as lead agencies managing the government operation of the Kent State massacre, including the cover-up, but also with a firm hand in some of the lead-up.” http://bit.ly/RQNUWC

In 2012 when the US Department of Justice refused to examine the new Kent State evidence, the US government also failed to recognize that there is no statute of limitations for murder in any US state, applying equally to evidence, investigations and inquiries. There are also concerns regarding reports of the FBI illegally tampering with and destroying Kent State evidence. http://bit.ly/1gcCCWo

Just last month a news story from ‘Burglars of the 1971 FBI Files’ uncovered an extensive body of evidence concurring with KSTT findings that the FBI and its secret army, COINTELPRO, was charged with targeting the “New Left” to silence American antiwar protesters. http://nyti.ms/1iTnnUG

Kent State was a driving force behind the acts of FBI File Burglar, John Raines: “Protesters, like the Raines, became increasingly convinced the FBI was conducting a covert campaign against them … tapping the phones and infiltrating antiwar groups. We knew the FBI was systematically trying to squash dissent and dissent is the lifeblood of a democracy.” http://bit.ly/1gC661i

With more evidence pointing to FBI involvement in the Kent State massacre and the fact that four young American student protesters were killed at the state-instigated event, we hope members of the Human Rights Committee will regard Kent State as a unique case of impunity. It is imperative to hold the United States government accountable for these human rights violations so that not one more American protester dies at the hands of their government. http://huff.to/ZLbvwp

American  leadership has exhibited a complete failure to conduct fair, credible, independent inquiries spanning back to the killing of peaceful student protesters in the Sixties and early Seventies at Orangeburg http://bit.ly/1h0qg8P for civil rights and at Kent State, Jackson State against the Vietnam war.

At the heart of the killing of American protesters is the FBI, continuing to operate with absolutely no oversight nor accountability.

Even in 2013, the FBI is more interested in claiming its incredible perfect record than in performing as a capable, ethical, investigatory arm of American leadership. American citizens call for the FBI to conform to legal, humane ethos yet the US justice system offers no venues to examine wrongful acts of the FBI or to pursue legal remedies, justice for homicide committed by the State. http://bit.ly/16oY4D6

We must redress the democracy-damaging inhumanities of Kent State and reclaim the possibility for American justice. Our call is for the protection of protesters in 2014 and for future generations to be able to know the truth of the 1970 Kent State massacre.

QUESTIONS:

1) When will the United States institute an official, independent, impartial analysis into the new forensic evidence found in the Kent State tape?  Seeking all opportunities for UN Human Rights Committee facilitation.

2) What action is the United States taking to ensure any reported excessive use of force, or other human rights violations in the context of peaceful protests, are investigated and prosecuted in a prompt, impartial and independent manner so the perpetrators may be held accountable?

3) What action is the United States taking to implement UN Human Rights Council resolution 22/10 on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests? http://bit.ly/1lLXhUO

READ the Kent State Truth Tribunal final update to the United Nations, Human Rights Committee as the United States readies for it’s 4th Periodic Human Rights Review to be held March 13 and 14, 2014 ~ http://bit.ly/1ezn0cG or 021414KSTTICCPRUpdate

Pak Taliban Uphold “Ceasefire,” By Blowing-Up Islamabad Court

[SEE:  Pakistani Taliban Brutally Demonstrate Their Cruel, Hypocritical Nature]

Suicide bombers kill 11 in Pakistani capital

ZARAR KHAN, The Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) – A group of armed men, including two suicide attackers, stormed a court complex in the Pakistani capital on Monday in a rare terror attack in the heart of Islamabad that killed 11 people and wounded dozens.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, which came just days after the Pakistani Taliban announced a one-month ceasefire, raising questions about the group’s ability to control its various factions. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been trying to negotiate a peace settlement with militants in the northwest who have waged a bloody war against the government for years.

Witnesses spoke of attackers wielding automatic weapons running into the narrow alleyways in the sleepy capital’s court complex, hurling grenades and opening fire indiscriminately on lawyers, judges and court personnel.

One lawyer described it as a scene from hell, with blasts and firing all around. “My colleague was shot, and there was no one to help him. When I reached him, he was bleeding and crying for help,” said Momin Ali.

There were conflicting reports on how many attackers were involved in the incident and if any of them had managed to escape from the police. It also remained unclear if anyone had been arrested, how the attackers penetrated so deep into the city and whether a specific person in the complex was the intended target.

Initial reports suggested two men wearing explosive vests rushed into the court complex, threw hand grenades and started shooting, then blew themselves up, said Islamabad Police Chief Sikander Hayat. He put the death toll at 11.

“It was certainly an act of terrorism,” Hayat said. One of the attackers blew himself up outside the office of the lawyers’ union president and the other outside the door of a judge’s office, he added.

The explosions sent lawyers and judges running in fear for their lives as police stormed in. Police subsequently searched the entire complex and found no additional attackers, said Hayat.

Other officials and a lawyer on the scene said there were more than two attackers. Police official Jamil Hashmi said there were about six to eight attackers who spread into different areas of the court complex.

“One of the attackers entered a courtroom and shot and killed a judge,” Hashmi said.

Lawyer Murad Ali said he saw several attackers walking toward a courtroom, brandishing weapons.

“They had automatic weapons. They had hand grenades,” he said. “I saw them shooting a female lawyer.”

His hands were splattered in blood that he said came from helping remove four dead bodies. Another lawyer, Sardar Gul Nawaz, said the attackers had short beards and wore shalwar kameez, a traditional Pakistani outfit of baggy pants and a long tunic.

The dead included two judges and five lawyers, said Dr. Altaf at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad where the dead and wounded were taken. Altaf, who spoke to television reporters and only gave his family name, said most of the victims had bullet wounds. He said 25 were wounded, five of them critically.

The area where the attack occurred is a warren of walkways filled with judges’ chambers, lawyers’ offices and restaurants and businesses catering to the legal community. The walkways are filled with copying machines for clerks and clients to make copies of legal documents, and prisoners wearing chains can often be seen walking through the complex on their way to and from court. Families of suspects on trial also often stand around the area, waiting for their loved ones to appear in court. Some spots in the complex have metal detectors, which are often not used.

Pakistani television showed images of the area with windows blown out, walls torn and lawyers in traditional black suits carrying what appeared to be lifeless bodies and wounded from the buildings. Policemen with weapons raised ran through the area and searched offices.

Body parts and blood mingled with pieces of shattered glass littered the ground outside the courtrooms and attorney’s offices. The police cordoned off the complex, which was taken over by commandos from the police anti-terrorist force.

The attack was a shock to Islamabad, which has mostly been spared the frequent bombings and shootings prevalent in other parts of Pakistan such as Peshawar near the tribal areas or the port city of Karachi.

The peace process has proceeded in fits and starts but seemed to get a boost on Saturday, when the Pakistani Taliban announced they would implement a one-month ceasefire after the military pounded their hideouts with airstrikes.

The militant group was quick to distance itself from Monday’s attack. A spokesman for the organization in a telephone call to an Associated Press reporter said the group was not involved in the assault and restated his group’s commitment to the ceasefire.

But the attack highlighted the difficulty in negotiating a peace deal with a multi-faceted group like the Pakistani Taliban, made up of varying factions. Analysts say that while some in the group may want to negotiate a peace deal, other factions may not, making it difficult to enforce a peace deal across all the factions. The cease-fire did not include other groups, such as al-Qaida, that operate in Pakistan.

__

Associated Press writer Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Asif Shahzad contributed to this report.

Brit Doctors Ordered To Help Govt Help Identify Potential Terrorists

Doctors asked to help spot terrorists in new ‘inappropriate’ NHS policy

FAMILY doctors have been ordered to train staff to spot potential terrorists.

By: Lucy Johnston

Doctors have been asked to undergo specialist training to spot terrorists [GETTY: Pic posed by models]

The new policy, issued by NHS England to all health authorities, states that GP practices must train a “lead” member of staff to recognise patients who could become or have become linked to terror groups.

Under the new rules, if a GP practice fails to send a member of staff on the “Prevent” counter terrorism course, part of their funding will be cut.

The policy, outlined in a letter from NHS England to all clinical commissioning groups, which buy health services, has outraged GP leaders.

It is effectively asking GPs to be a government intelligence agency

Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners

Doctors have also warned that it could threaten patient trust if doctors are being asked to report back to the authorities.

Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “This seems to be a totally inappropriate use of GP time which could be better spent looking after patients.

“It is completely disproportionate and a poor use of GP resources and time. It is effectively asking GPs to be a government intelligence agency.”

An NHS England spokesman said: “Work on the Prevent strategy is being incorporated into NHS England’s mainstream safeguarding work.

“We are assisted by people who have the specific expertise to help us do this and they lead on training, supporting and clinical practice development of existing safeguarding leads, managers and frontline staff.”

The Psywar Hits Qatar

[Was this the opening salvo in the rapidly escalating Saudi/Qatari conflict?  The Pig of Qatar has made a lot of enemies in his attempts to create an Islamist caliphate, the same caliphate which has now become the point of global shock in Syria.  Overlooked, or hidden by the so-called “al-Qaeda split,” was the real Islamist split, the gaping chasm between Riyadh and Doha (SEE:  Qatari Prime Minister: The Saudi regime will inevitably fall by our hands).   A good clean terrorist attack upon a Qatari facility could have been a gift from lots of intel agencies, at the top of the list would be Saudi Arabia and Russia.  Russia has been making threatening motions towards the Saudis for supporting terrorism in Chechnya and for selling the Syrians missiles, but it has also condemned both Wahhabi governments in the past.  The Saudis are currently trying to get the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to cooperate in creating a Qatari “no fly zone,” as punishment for supporting Egyptian Islamists (SEE: Riyadh threatens Qatar over Muslim Brotherhood support  ; Riyadh asks GCC states to condemn Qatar’s actions in Egypt and Yemen  ).  Trying to avoid further hassles, Qatar is allegedly muzzling the radical Islamist mouthpiece of the Ikhwan (SEE: Qatar: Youssef al-Qaradawi unwanted ). 

Obama and the Saudis are still trying hard to play the “moderate Islamist” card, without having much luck.  No one will care about moderate Islamists so long as the radical Islamist extremists dominate the media circus.] 

Twelve dead in Qatar restaurant gas explosion: news agency 

By Amena Bakr

DOHA

People stand amidst debris near a Turkish restaurant following a gas explosion in Doha February 27, 2014. Twelve people were killed, including two children, and about 30 wounded when a gas tank exploded at the Turkish restaurant in the Qatari capital off Doha on Thursday, authorities in the Gulf Arab state reported.

Credit: Reuters/Stringer

(Reuters) – Twelve people including two children were killed on Thursday when a gas tank exploded at a Turkish restaurant in the Qatari capital Doha, authorities in the Gulf Arab state reported.

About 30 others were injured in the blast at the Istanbul Restaurant that one security source said was accidental.

Another security source at the scene said two Asian children were among the dead.

Major General Saad bin Jassim al-Khalifi, Qatar’s head of public security, said non-Qatari Arabs, Asians and one Qatari were among the dead and wounded.

Preliminary investigations suggested a gas tank exploded, setting off a fire and causing part of the building to collapse, he told a news conference. But investigations were continuing to discover why the gas tank exploded.

“It was a very big blast,” he said. “It blew away cars and shrapnel was scattered 50 to 100 meters away.”

Chunks of masonry, metal debris and shattered glass lay outside the restaurant in a northwestern district of the city. Cars nearby were apparently crumpled by the explosion.

The incident was the deadliest in Qatar since May 2012, when at least 19 foreign nationals, including 13 children, were killed by a fire in an upscale shopping mall.

In a separate incident on Thursday, medics and security sources at the Hamad medical city in Doha said dozens of people were hurt in the afternoon due to a gas leak at a chemical plant in an industrial area near Doha.

They gave no figures or details on their condition, but said helicopters were despatched to fly victims of the leak to the Hamad medical center quickly as ambulances had been caught in heavy traffic caused by the restaurant incident.

The gas- and oil-rich Gulf Arab state with an estimated national population of at least 200,000 has one of the highest standards of living in the world. The bulk of the 2 million population of Qatar are foreigners.

The restaurant is on the outskirts of the capital near Landmark mall, a well-known shopping complex usually busy with families.

“I was eating in a restaurant close by and suddenly heard a big (blast) and everything around me exploded,” Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kareem, an Indian driver, told Reuters at Hamad hospital. “I have too much damage now, my legs are broken and my head is (wounded).”

(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal, Regan Doherty, and Mirna Seliman; Writing by William Maclean; Editing by Alison Williams and Hugh Lawson)

“We, the Saudi family are cousins of the Jews.”

 الخلفية التاريخية للآل سعود، حكام المملكة العربية السعودية

THE ORIGIN AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF

SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY

 

Historians have traced that the Sauds belonged to Anza tribe who were settled in Najd around 1450 AD.  It is said that Sauds were originally Jews and shrewd Feudal Lords. 

King Faisal (1906-1975), who ruled the Kingdom between 1964-75, confirmed Jewish ancestry of Saudi Royals.  In an interview  to Washington post on September 17, 1969, King Faisal is reported to have said   “We, the Saudi  family are cousins of the Jews.

We entirely disagree with any Arab or Muslim Authority which shows any antagonism to the Jews; but we must live together with them in peace.  Our country (Arabia) is the Fountain head from where the first Jew sprang, and his descendants spread out all over the world.” Read more…..

At a wider scale, the above statement can also be interpreted that since Jews are the descendants of Prophet Isaac ( علیھ السلا م ) and Arabs are the descendants of Prophet Ismail ( علیھ السلا م ), this way they are cousins.

 

It is reported that Saudi Royal family trusts Israeli and US mercenaries as their personal body Guards : US and Israeli mercenary security personnel working for private contractors are allegedly used by Saudi Royal family to guard Saud family Princelings. This Praetorian Guards use balaclava (face cover) and other disguises during security operations which allows for anonymity. Read more…..

 

Saudi Royal’s Jewish ancestry is also confirmed from the fact that they have destroyed and eliminated the entire Islamic Heritage  and established Salafism, a new religion in Arabian Peninsula. Read more .

Ibn Abd al-Wahhab 

Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1799), born in Uyayna in Najd, belonged to Banu Tamim Tribe.  He studied in his childhood from his father.  Later, he spent some time in Basra, Southern Iraq from where he traveled to Makka and Madina.  All historians agree that his new thinking of rebellion against Islam was developed when he was in Basra.  By the time he returned to his native town Uyayna in 1740 he had completely transformed into a rebel against Islam.  He started propagating his new ideology claiming that the entire population of Muslims of Arabian Peninsula and that of the world was Mushrikeen and that what he was preaching was real Islam.

It is reported that initially Abd al-Wahhab managed to convert Uyayna’s Town In-charge Uthman Ibn Mu’ammar into his new religion and with his support started implementing his  new ideology in the town by force. The first evil act committed by Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was, by conspiring with Ibn Mu’ammar, one night, he destroyed the Dome and pious grave of Hadhrat Zayd Ibn al-Khattab (رضئ اللہ تعالی عنہ) who was Sahabi of Prophet Mohammad (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) and brother of Hadhrat Umer Ibn al-Khattab  (رضئ اللہ تعالی عنہ), the second Caliph of Islam. Destruction of the Dome and his anti-Islam activities in collusion with local Town In-Charge drew the attention of Sulaiman Ibn Mhammad of Bani Khalid, the Tribal Chief of Al-Hasa who was a good Muslim.  He ordered the arrest of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab.  The news reached Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in time and he fled from Uyayna. Read more…

Brief History of Sauds

Mohammad Ibn Saud was a shrewed tribal Lord of neighboring Diriyya, Najd who cared more about power, money and women, as had been the case with most of the feudal lords in medieval times.  He gave protection to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and quickly envisioned the possibility of forming a State in Arabian Peninsula based on Wahhabism,  the new religious theory preached Ibn Abd al-Wahhab.

 

Thus, the  first Saudi State came into being in the year 1744 AD (1157 AH)  when Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Mohammad Ibn Saud formed an alliance and hatched a political conspiracy to establish a State based on Wahhabism, away from Islam. To cement the alliance further Ibn Saud’s sister was married to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab.  As per the terms of  alliance, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab became de facto Minister for Religious Affairs whose job was to convert people into the new religion and create religious fanaticism in masses.  The plan was to use newly converted religious fanatics to expand Sauds’ territory and eventually form a large Saudi State in Arabian Peninsula. 

 

The following 190 years, between 1744-1932, Sauds fought wars with all Muslim rulers of Arabian Peninsula and were finally successful in wiping out Islam and Muslims from Arabian Peninsula in 1932 when Abdul Aziz declared himself as King of the newly formed state of ‘Saudi Arabia’. 

 

Currently Sauds are planning to expand their territory into major part of the Globe using religious fanaticism of their scholars, particularly Dr. Zakir Naik. Read more …

It is in Hadith –  ‘A person with eyes protruding, with a long beard and head clean-shaven (named Zul-Khawaisara who was from the tribe of Banu Tamim) came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) and declared: ‘O Muhammad! (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) fear Allah (سبحانہ و تعا لی). ‘ The Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم)  replied:  ‘If  I disobey Allah (سبحانہ و تعا لی) then who else will obey Him? I am obedient to Allah (سبحانہ و تعا لی) at all times and never disobedient. Allah (سبحانہ و تعا لی) has sent me as Amin  (Honest for the entire world, but you don’t accept me as an honest man?  A Sahabi (Hadhrat Umer – رضئ اللہ تعالی عنہ ) became infuriated and sought permission to remove him from the presence of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم). The Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) prevented him from doing so.   After the person had left, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم)said:  ‘From his progeny (descendants) will rise a Group who will recite the Holy Quran but it will not go below their throats. They will leave the Deen (Islam) just as an arrow leaves the bowstring. They will kill Muslims but spare the idolaters.  If  I ever confronted these people I would slaughter them just as the people of Aad had been destroyed’. (Mishkat, pp – 535).

Since Ibn Abd al-Wahhab also belonged to Banu Tamim, therefore, as per the above Hadith, he is indeed from the direct descendants of  Zul Khawaisara.  There cannot be two opinions in this context. 

Imam Bukhari has quoted this Hadith from Abdullah Ibn Umar (رضئ اللہ تعالی عنہ) that Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) once prayed for Syria and Yemen. It is narrated that there were some people of Najd also present in the gathering and they requested the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) to make supplication (du’a) for Najd also. Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) continued saying:  ‘O! Allah, Shower Blessings on Syria and Yemen’.  The people of Najd again requested the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) to offer prayers for Najd.  The Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) said:  ‘It is a place of tremor and mischief (Fitna) and the Horn of Shaitaan will rise from there.’ (Bukhari, Vol – ii, P – 1050).

The above Hadith clearly specifies following  conclusive points.

•  It is abundantly clear  that the place called Najd is not blessed from Islamic  point of view as Prophet Mohammad (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) called it a place of Fitna and Evil.

• When we look at the geographical position of Najd, it lies to the East of Madina.   In other Ahadith, it is mentioned that Prophet Mohammad (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) pointed his hand towards the East and said, ‘there, that is the direction from where Fitna will emerge. 

• This place is deprived of the prayers of Prophet Mohammad (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) . 

• Hoping of any Islamic good coming out of this place is against the Will of Allah (سبحانہ و تعا لی). 

• In these circumstances, the Wahhabism or Salafism  coming out of this place cannot be good or virtuous.   As per Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) prophecy this religion is tribulation and  fitna in Islam.  We pray Allah (سبحانہ و تعا لی) to safeguard us from this Fitna.

• The Arabic word used in the above Hadith is ‘Qarnush Shaitaan’, (horn of Shaitaan) which indeed refers to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab.  However, in Misbahul Lughaat (page 663) (the dictionary used by Salafis/Deobandis, etc.) the meaning of this word is written as  ‘One who follows the advice of Satan’. Therefore, as per the Hadith, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his devotees (Salafis) are the followers of Satan. 

• For  the past 100 years, this tribulation (Fitna) has gradually swept the entire world.  Millions of  innocent Muslims have become victims of this movement.  Wahhabis /Salafis and their like minded groups have mislead millions of innocent Muslims with the slogans of Shirk, Kufr, Biddah, etc.

 Read Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) warnings about Salafism

The first Saudi State lasted  between 1744 -1818 when their last ruler Abdullah bin Saud was executed by Ottomans ( دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه ).  Read more… 

The second Saudi state was established in 1824 and lasted till 1890 in central Arabia; when its last ruler Abdur Rahman Ibn Faisal Ibn Turki was defeated by Al-Rashids.  Read more…

Abdul Aziz bin Abdur Rahman Al-Saud (1876-1953) was the founding ruler of third Saudi State in Najd. He had fled and took refuge in Kuwait in 1890 along with his  father Abdur Rahman and entire family when Second Saudi State was defeated by Al-Rashids.

 In 1901,  Abdul Aziz returned to Najd and with the help of Kuwaitis, recaptured Riyadh from Al-Rashids. 

Later on, with the help of  British Government, he established his hold on entire Arabian Peninsula over a period of 30 years.  In 1932 he formally declared  himself King.

These 30 years saw several hundred thousands Muslims killed, all traces of traditional Islam erased and over 60,000 sacred  graves of Sahabah, members of Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) family destroyed and their pious bodies disposed off mysteriously by Abdul Aziz forces.  In a nutshell, Islam was completely wiped out, Muslims totally vanished  and Islamic Arabia was renamed as “Kingdom Saudi Arabia ( المملكة العربية السعودية‎)“. Read more …

Saudis did not stop at that.  They gradually changed Ahadith books, misinterpreted Quranic verses and started massive Salafi Da’wa campaign in the world to legitimize their rule in the Arabian Peninsula. People say that the current plight of Muslims and their innumerable divisions in the world is mainly because of Salafi Da’wa carried out  by the Kingdom spending billions of Petro-dollars wealth.  Read more …

The actual number of Princes and Princesses King Abdulaziz fathered are not known.  Some historians say he fathered 37  or 40 princes  and around equal number of princesses while some others say he fathered more than one hundred children.  Among the women who gave birth to  his children, 22 have been identified by historians who say that the number could be much higher than that.   Read more…

Historians have also mentioned that the personal life of the King  was full of vice, with women, wine and wealth.  He had unknown number of beautiful young women in his Harem and a large nursery of Princes and Princesses born to these women. 

Be it King or pauper, Islam allows only 4 wives, that too on certain conditions.  The children born to women used by the King for sex are known, in Islamic Law,  as illegitimate forbidden children.  There is harsh punishment for fornication in Islam.  We all know, everyone has to pay for his evil deeds. There is no escape in Hereafter.  

The King consolidated his authority ruthlessly, killing every Muslim who did not convert to Salafism and destroying the entire Islamic heritage kept intact for 1300 years by successive Muslim Governments.  His forces wiped out the entire geography of Seeratun Nabi (  صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم).  Read more …

As an alternative to Islamic heritage, the National Museum at Riyadh built an elaborate pre-Islamic “art rock” helicoptered from Najd sands.   In addition, many plush museum complexes such as Dar al-Malik Abdul Aziz, dedicated to the founding fathers of Saudi Kingdom, have now risen everywhere in the Kingdom.  The Sauds’ goal is to erect gleaming, high-tech relics commemorating  King Abdul Aziz and the ancestors of Saudi Royal family.

The other important goal of the Saud family is to eliminate the last remaining trace of Islam from Arabia, ie., the Green Dome of Prophet Mohammad ( صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) along with his pious grave.  Read more …

It is reported that, during the last expansion of Prophet’s (  صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) mosque in late 1980s, Saudis have structurally partitioned the Green Dome from the rest of the Mosque in preparation for razing it into rubble by a powerful dynamite. 

A pamphlet published in 2007 by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and endorsed by their Grand Mufti reads: “The green dome shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet’s ( صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم) Mosque.”  The demolition of the Green Dome  has already been checked off “to-do list”. Even the pious body of Prophet Mohammad ( صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم), who is ‘Rahmtul lil Aalameen for the worlds, along with the pious bodies of his two prominent companions  is now slated to disappear under the rubble and dust. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.  

We pray for Allah’s (سبحانہ و تعا لی) help to stop Saudis from eliminating Islam and humiliating Prophet Mohammad ( صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم)in this manner.   

We hope  followers of Salafism in the world will think about these undeniable facts and come back to the straight path of Islam for their own good  in this life and in Hereafter.  Read more …

Putin Draws Line In the Sand

[SEE:  Russia draws up plans to destroy Saudi Arabia over latest Terror Attacks in Volgograd]

Russia warns Saudi against giving Syria rebels missiles

Rebel fighter prepare the bases to launch homemade missiles during clashes with pro-regime fighters in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 24, 2014. (AFP PHOTO/MEDO HALAB)

KIEV: Russia on Tuesday warned Saudi Arabia against supplying Syrian rebels with shoulder-launched missile launchers, saying such a move would endanger security across the Middle East and beyond.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned” by news reports that Saudi Arabia was planning to buy Pakistani-made shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles and anti-tank systems for armed Syrian rebels based in Jordan.

It said that the aim was to alter the balance of power in a planned spring offensive by rebels on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“If this sensitive weapon falls into the hands of extremists and terrorists who have flooded Syria, there is a great probability that in the end it will be used far from the borders of this Middle Eastern country,” the foreign ministry said.

Long-existing tensions between Russia and Saudi Arabia have intensified further as a result of the Syria conflict, with Moscow standing by Assad but Riyadh offering open support for the rebels.

Russia is widely seen as Assad’s last remaining major ally in a conflict that has left an estimated 140,000 people dead since it began as a peaceful uprising in March 2011.

Another Infamous Pakistani Militant Is Killed for the Second Time

[EXPOSING AMERICAN FRAUD]

[Another Taliban leader killed for the second time (SEE: 56 killed in shelling by fighter aircraft, helicopters ).  The continual repetition of this demonstrated pattern of the alleged re-killing of famous militants, either confirms the total and complete unreliability of those Pak spies who identify drone victims for the Western press, or else it confirms consistent Pentagon lying about the alleged “successes” of its drone murder program.  The Pentagon never really knows for sure “who” it kills in these strikes, or whether any militants were killed at all in the isolated mountains, even though nearly every publicized strike is linked with a known militant name.  The sheer number of the drone murders -vs- the limited number of known militant names in Pakistan, necessitates the re-running of the names of the alleged victims.]   

Top Pakistan Taliban commander Asmatullah Shaheen ‘shot dead‘

Shaheen was driving in North Waziristan when he was attacked, reports said

A senior Pakistani Taliban commander has been shot dead in a militant stronghold near the Afghan border, security sources and relatives say.

Asmatullah Shaheen was ambushed as he drove through a village near Miranshah in North Waziristan, reports said. Two others in the vehicle also died.

It is unclear who killed them. There has been no word from the militants.

Shaheen was briefly the Pakistani Taliban interim leader after its chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed last year.

Asmatullah Shaheen, who came from the small Bhittani tribe, shot to prominence in December 2011 when his men kidnapped and killed about 15 security force personnel.

The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says he is believed to have depended on the much larger Mehsud tribe for his clout in militant circles.

“The Murder of Hariri Could Boomerang”–2/15/2005 Editorial, JPost

[Try as hard as they could, the Jerusalem Post was unsuccessful in its attempts to bury this uncharacteristically honest editorial from the Jew-Post, written the day of Hariri’s murder.  According to the following, Hariri’s murderer was more likely to have been a business associate (SEE:  Rafik Hariri’s Business Dealings More Relevant Than Beirut Phone Records), the Lahoud govt, or the enemies of Syria than it was Bashar Assad or Hezbollah.

The most interesting part of the following stream of conjecture is that it may have been done by rogue elements of Syrian intelligence, indicating that Assad does not control his own secret services.  If that was true in 2005, then it must also have been true in 2013, when the German spy ship recorded someone within Syrian intelligence ordering the gas attack upon Ghouta (SEE:  Assad may not be responsible for Syria chemical attack: German paper).  What if these rogue elements of Syrian intelligence are on Bandar’s payroll?]

“The Murder of Hariri Could Boomerang”

ORLY HALPERN

The murderers of Rafik Hariri knew their target was among the most significant figures in Lebanon. The self-made billionaire helped reconstruct his country after a destructive civil war, knew all the top people in Washington and was a personal friend of French President Jacques Chirac and Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd.

“You can’t go any higher than blowing up Hariri in the middle of Beirut in the middle of the day,” said one analyst in Beirut. “It’s a very powerful message to all the Lebanese, and to the opposition.”

Hariri was the key figure of the Lebanese opposition to the Syrian presence in Lebanon. Some say he was pushing the US and France to pass the UN resolution calling on Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon last September.

But the bomb that ripped through his armored motorcade may have a boomerang effect. Lebanese opposition leaders on Monday night were sounding braver than ever.

Following a meeting in the dead man’s home, the kingpins of the Lebanese opposition made a shockingly direct accusation. They said their country was “captive” and they held the Syrian and Lebanese governments responsible for Hariri’s death.

Lebanese and foreign analysts say the opposition will now “double its efforts” to push Syria out and gain power in the parliamentary elections that will take place in May. It has already asked for the help of the international community.

Still, analysts and Lebanese were confused by the murder. While everyone agreed that Syria was the obvious culprit because of Hariri’s calls for its withdrawal, killing him does more harm than good for Syria.

“It’s totally illogical that Syria would do it,” said Prof. Eyal Zisser, a Syria expert at the Dayan Institute for Middle East Studies at Tel Aviv University. “It would be such a stupid move on their part. Everyone is watching them and they don’t want to destabilize Lebanon.”

But, the order for the assassination may not have come from the Syrian government.

“I wouldn’t point the finger at Damascus necessarily,” Simon Williams, a senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, told The Jerusalem Post. “I would look at those acting on behalf of Syria. There are people making decisions inside Lebanon on Syria’s behalf that I really don’t think have the backing of Syrian leadership.”

Reuven Merhav, the former director of Israel’s quasi-embassy in Beirut in 1983 and later a director-general of the Foreign Ministry, pointed to Hariri’s conflict with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

“He didn’t make it a secret that he thinks Lahoud is a puppet of the Syrians,” he said.

Merhav said Hariri could have been killed for business-related reasons, adding, “He did very big reconstruction projects in Beirut.”

Most agreed that the sensational attack did not suit the style of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“Bashar? It’s certainly not his style,” said Edward Walker, president of the Middle East Institute in Washington. “I don’t think it’s something he would do.”

Walker told the Post it was not inconceivable that Bashar knew nothing about it and intelligence agents were acting independently with their Lebanese counterparts.

“The same Syrian security services that were there during the civil war in Lebanon are still around,” he said.

If Assad was not behind the murder then, as US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said recently, “Bashar is not in control.”

Analysts agree.

“Bashar doesn’t have control over his country and his people,” Walker said. “He doesn’t have the death grip [that his father did] over the security forces.”

No matter who was behind Hariri’s death, the actual bombing can hurt Lebanon in a number of ways. Killing a key figure in broad daylight destabilizes its standing in the international community.

“People won’t take the government seriously,” said Walker, who served in the US Embassy in Beirut in the 1970s.

The death of the most prominent economic figure in Lebanon could also be detrimental. Hariri organized an international consortium, under France’s direction, that bailed out Lebanon. That consortium could fall apart and cause an economic meltdown in the country.

Lastly, Beirut and “war-torn” had recently stopped being in the same sentence. Hariri had rebuilt the city and helped turn it once again into a luxurious vacation spot for Westerners and visitors from the Gulf, who enjoy five-star hotels and expensive restaurants along the fancy waterfront. Last year’s 30 percent rise in tourism is now likely to take a nosedive.

What remains to be seen is how this sensational attack will affect the Lebanese people in the upcoming elections. Some may choose to vote for a pro-Syrian government to avoid another civil war.

“A lot of people will be saying we’re only 15 years from a major civil war,” Williams said. “We need to make sure that we’re not running back on that path.”

For Every Subversive Political Force You First Need the Counterfeit Force

[The US completion of most Nazi research has empowered the Pentagon with the ability to manipulate popular opinion and to drive mob psychology.  The continuation of Germany’s trauma-based mind-control sciences to their logical outcome has endowed American leaders with a whole new generation of psychological weaponry which are far superior to conventional weapons, because they are far less destructive, while practically guaranteeing mission success.  As seen in “coloured revolution” after colored revolution, or in each successive “spring” or “awakening” movement, CIA/State Dept. operators/manipulators have been able to effectively weaponize populations and use them to overthrow every national leader that has been targeted, up until Bashar Asad and Russia fouled-up their perfect plan.  One deceptive innovation is the key to all of these CIA manipulations–The creation of counterfeit opposition movements.  For every successful democratic-revolution, there must be a false opposition, even if we call them “Taliban.”]

“From Egypt, Ukraine, the Turkish-Syrian border, Cuba and Thailand”

How the West Manufactures “Opposition Movements”

by ANDRE VLTCHEK

Government buildings are being trashed, ransacked. It is happening in Kiev and Bangkok, and in both cities, the governments appear to be toothless, too scared to intervene.

What is going on? Are popularly elected administrations all over the world becoming irrelevant; as the Western regime creates and then supports thuggish ‘opposition movements’ designed to destabilize any state that stands in the way of its desire to fully control the planet?

***

They are shouting and intimidating those who want to vote for the moderately progressive government that is presently leading Thailand. There is no dispute over the electoral process – voting is generally free, as both international observers and most of the local Election Commission members agree.

Freedom, legitimacy or transparency is not what is at stake now.

The rhetoric varies, but in essence, the ‘protesters’ are demanding the dismemberment of the fragile Thai democracy. Most of them are paid by the upper-middle and upper classes. Some of them are thugs, many hired for around 500 Baht a day (roughly US$ 15) in the villages of the restive southern provinces of the country. They are accustomed to the use of violence, their body language and facial expressions clearly show it.

Government officials of the legitimate government have to climb over blockades, or beg protesters to allow them to enter their own offices.

People who came to vote in the pre-election round were intimidated and insulted, and one man was almost strangled to death.

While life in the capital has been fully disrupted, the government does not dare to send in tanks or the police to clear the streets. It should. But it is too scared of the army and the monarchy – two pillars of this outrageous hybrid of savage capitalism and feudalism – comparable only to even worse regional nightmares, such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

It is all in the open now: the government speaks of its fear, while the military sends poisonous threats through the lackey media and through ‘leaks’.

What is happening and what is at stake? The Prime Minister’s older brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, while he was PM himself, attempted to bring in a modern capitalist system to this submissive and deeply scared nation. And not only that: he housed the poor, introduced an excellent free universal medical care system (much more advanced than anything ever proposed in the United States), free and very advanced primary and secondary education, and other concepts deemed dangerous to the world order, and to the local feudal elites, as well as the army.

Thai elites, whose love of being obeyed more than wealth, admired and feared, reacted almost immediately. The PM was exiled, barred from returning home to his country, and smeared. There were military coups, mysterious ‘alliances’, rumours, and ‘secret messages’ coming from a ‘very high place’. There was outright killing, a real massacre, when the so called ‘Red Shirts’, supporters of Mr. Shinawatra (ranging from moderate reformists to Marxists) were butchered by snipers, some shot in their heads.

But the people, the poor, the majority of Thailand, particularly those from the North and Northeast, reacted in a stoical and most determined fashion. Whenever elections were called, whenever the regime outlawed the pro-Shinawatra political parties, the new ones emerged, and kept winning the elections.

In 2011, Mr. Shinawatra’s sister, Yingluck, became Thailand’s Prime Minister.

‘Protestors’ blocked several central arteries of Bangkok, declaring that “Thailand is not ready for democracy”, and that “if elections should determine the country’s future, pro-Shinawatra forces would keep winning”.

That, of course, would be unacceptable to the elites and to many Western countries that have, for decades, benefited from the Thai feudal system.

One of Thailand’s generals, ‘refused to rule out the possibility of another military coup’.

What the opposition proposed was some hazy concept, of a government of technocrats, which would govern until Thailand ‘is ready’ to vote: read until people’s power is broken and it would become certain that a pro-elites, pro-monarchy and pro-military government would be ‘freely’ elected.

In the meantime, thugs are blocking public streets; cultural centers but not malls. They are described as ‘protesters’ in both Europe and the United States.

And here we are coming to the core of things: The terror of the military and feudalism was dressed up in the clothes of rebellion, even revolution. It was given legitimacy, even a certain romantic flair.

Fascism is raising its ugly head, once again. And the West is fully aware of it, and in fact it is openly supportive of the regime that is now de facto governing Thailand from behind the curtains. Because it is the regime it helped to manufacture.

***

I left Bangkok and while in the air, one thought kept repeatedly coming to me: many of the places I had been writing about lately are living a very similar reality as Thailand is.

Those elected democratically, those progressive in their core, these governments all over the world have been under severe attacks by some armed thugs, bandits, and anti-social elements, even by outright terrorists.

I saw it on the Turkish-Syrian border. I heard the stories of many locals, in the Turkish city of Hatay, and in the countryside near the Turkish-Syrian border.

There, I was stopped, prevented from working, interrogated by the local police, army and religious thugs, when I was trying to photograph one of those ‘refugee camps’ built by NATO specially for Syrian fighters, who were housed, trained and armed in this area.

Hatay was overran by Saudi and Qatari jihadi cadres, pampered by the US, EU and Turkish logistics, support, weaponry and cash.

The terror these people have been spreading in this historically peaceful, multi-cultural and tolerant part of the world, could hardly be described in words.

Children from the borderline village described raids, theft and violence, even killing, by anti-Assad ‘rebels’.

Here, and in Istanbul where I worked with Turkish progressive intellectuals, media and academia, I was explained to again and again, that the anti-Syrian ‘opposition’ has been trained, financed and ‘encouraged’ by the West, and by Turkey (a member of NATO), causing the death and destruction of millions of lives in the entire region.

As I write these words, RT is broadcasting an exclusive report from the Syrian city of Adra, the city that had been plundered and destroyed by pro-al Qaida and the pro-Western ‘opposition’ forces, including the Free Syrian Army.

This is the city where, allegedly, one month ago, people were murdered, stoned alive, burned in barrels, and beheaded.

Instead of stopping support for the racist, bigoted and extremely brutal Syrian ‘opposition’, Washington continues demonizing Assad’s government, and threatening it once again with military action.

***

And those thugs, in the countries that elected their own patriotic or progressive governments, were hired by local elites on behalf of the Western Empire.

And before that, the so-called ‘elites’ were hired, funded, or at least trained/’educated’ by the West.

On an ‘intellectual’ level, the private media outlets have been fiercely competing with each other, over which one would become more submissive towards the foreign handlers. The militaries and the most regressive feudalist, even fascist forces all over the world (see Ukraine, for instance) are clearly getting back into the saddle, benefitting and taking full advantage of the trend.

All this has been happening in different degrees and with variable levels of brutality, in Thailand, China, Egypt, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Zimbabwe and many other places all over the world.

Right after reading my article about the situation in Thailand, published on 30 January, my Brazilian reader reacted:

“Similar to our Brazil: though in a faded… somewhat lighter environment but substantially the same… the local elites, right now in January 2014, are doing whatever they can, to prevent the re election of Ms Dilma Roussef… You are an experienced Latin America´s observer, you know very well…”

The process, the tactics, are almost always the same: Western-paid media, or Western media directly, discredit designated popular governments, then ‘scandals’ are created, colors designated to some newly constructed ‘opposition’ movement, thugs selected and paid, and finally deadly weapons ‘miraculously’ appear at the ‘protest sites’.

As long as the government is ‘nationalist’, really patriotic and defending the interests of its own people against international plunder, (not like the Abe’s government in Japan which is peculiarly described as ‘nationalist’, but in reality it fully sides with US foreign policy in the region), it gets marked, and it appears on an invisible but powerful hit list, old-fashioned mafia-style.

As Michael Parenti correctly and colorfully described: “You do it our way, or we break your leg, capice?”

I witnessed President Morsi of Egypt (I was critical of his rule at first, as I was critical of the government of Mr. Shinawatra, before real horror swept both Egypt and Thailand), being overthrown by the military, which, while in its zealous over-drive, managed in the process to murder several thousands of mainly poor Egyptian people.

I was then in Egypt, in and out, for several months, filming a documentary film for the South American television network, Telesur.

In disbelief and dismay I witnessed my revolutionary friends going into hiding, disappearing from the face of the earth. This happened as outrageously arrogant families cheered on the military murderers with no shame, openly.

The logic and tactics in Egypt were predictable: although still capitalist and to a certain extent submissive to IMF and the West, President Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, were a bit too unenthusiastic about collaborating with the West. They never really said ‘no’, but that had not appeared to be enough for the Euro-North American regime, which, these days, demands total, unconditional obedience as well as the kissing of hands and other bodily parts. The regime demands old-fashioned, Protestant-style obedience, complete with self-deprecation and a constant feeling of guilt; it is ordering true and ‘sincere’ servility.

It appears that almost no country, no well-liked government can escape annihilation, if it does not fully submit.

It went so far that unless the government in a developing countries such as Philippines, Indonesia, Uganda or Rwanda, sends a clear message to Washington, London or Paris that “we are here simply to make you, in the West, happy”, it would risk total annihilation, even if it was elected democratically, even if (and actually ‘especially if’) it is supported by the majority of the people.

All this is nothing new, of course. But in the past, things were done a little bit more covertly. These days it is all out in the open. Maybe it is done on purpose, so nobody will dare to rebel, or even to dream.

And so, the revolution in Egypt has been derailed, destroyed, and cruelly choked to death. There is really nothing left of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, just a clear warning: “never try again, or else”.

Yes, I saw the ‘elites’ of Egypt dancing, and celebrating their victory. The elites love the army. The Army guarantees their continuous place at the zenith, their power. The elites even make their little children hold portraits of the military leaders responsible for the coup, responsible for thousands of lost lives, responsible for breaking the great hopes and dreams of the Arab world.

What I witnessed in Egypt was chilling, and it resembled the 1973 coup in Chile (a country which I consider my ‘second or third home’); the coup, which I am not old enough to remember, but footage of which I have seen again and again, in silent and never diminishing horror.

‘Or else’ could be the torture and murder of people in Bahrain. ‘Or else’ could be Indonesia in 1965/66. Or it could be the ‘collapse of the Soviet Union’. ‘Or else’ could be civilian airliners exploding mid-flight; a Cuban plane was destroyed by CIA agents. It could be ravaged Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, or Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, bombed into the stone ages. ‘Or else’ can easily be some fully devastated country like Nicaragua, Grenada, Panama or the Dominican Republic. Or ‘or else’ could mean ten million people butchered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for both its natural resources and for the anti-imperialist outspokenness of its great leader, Patrice Lumumba.

Now in Egypt, Mubarak’s clique is rapidly coming back to power. He was a well-trusted ‘devil’, and the West quickly realized that to let him fall would be a serious strategic blunder; and so it was decided to bring him back; either personally, or at least his legacy, at the coast of thousands of (insignificant) Egyptian lives, and against the will of almost the entire nation.

The military of Egypt, of course, cannot be allowed to fall, either. The US has invested billions and billions of dollars in it, and the soldiers are now literally in control of half of the country. And it is a very reliable organization: it murders without scruple any being attempting to build a socially just society in this the most populous Arab nation on earth. And it plays with Israel. And it loves capitalism.

Two countries are separated by thousands of miles, and belong to two different cultures, located on two continents; Thailand and Egypt. In both countries, people spoke. They voted in their leaders. Not some Communist government, mind you: just a moderately socially-oriented one in Thailand, and a moderately nationalist/Islamic one in Egypt.

In both cases, the feudal and fascist elites went to work, immediately. Those that are behind them, that are financing them, and ‘morally’ supporting them, is, I believe, absolutely clear.

***

Ukraine is not a fresh victim of destabilization tactics of the European Union, which is so sickly greedy that it appears it, cannot contain itself anymore. It salivates, intensively, imagining the huge natural resources that Ukraine possesses. It is shaking with desire dreaming of a cheap and highly educated labor force.

European companies want to get into Ukraine, by all means. But one has to be careful not to allow the Ukrainian hordes to enter that sacred and thoroughly racist fortress – the European Union. Europe can plunder all over the world, but it is strict and brutal to those who want to get in and ‘steal its jobs’.

Of course the EU cannot do in Ukraine, what it freely does in many places like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It cannot just come and pay some proxy countries, as it pays Rwanda and Uganda (that are already responsible for the loss of over ten million Congolese lives in less than 2 decades), to plunder Ukraine and kill almost all those people that are resisting.

Europe, again and again, for centuries, has proven that it is capable of massacring entire nations without the slightest mercy, (while showing almost zero historic memory) and with almost no moral principles, at least compared to the rest of the world. But it is canny, and unlike the United States, it knows plenty about tactics, strategy and PR.

What the EU did in Libya is clear. Anyone claiming that the United States is acting on its own, must be exercising enormous discipline not to see how closely linked are the interests and actions of the old and new usurpers of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Asia and Oceania. France is acting, once again, as the arch neo-colonial thug, particularly in Africa.

But Ukraine is ‘right there’, too near geographically, to the EU itself. It has to be destabilized, but it all has to appear very legitimate. ‘The rebellion’, ‘revolution’, ‘uprising of its people’; that is the way to handle things ‘properly’.

More than a month ago, a bizarre deal was proposed, where European companies would be allowed to enter and clean Ukraine of its natural resources, but the people of Ukraine would not be allowed to even come and work in the EU.

The government, logically and sensibly, rejected the deal. And then, suddenly, Thai-style or Egyptian-style thugs appeared all over the streets of Kiev, armed with sticks and even weapons, and went onto trashing the capital and demanding the democratically elected government to resign.

The groups of thugs include many neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and common criminals. They are emboldened by the Thai-style fear of the Ukrainian government, to use force. They are setting on fire police officers, blocking and occupying government buildings, preventing the administration from serving the people.

Just as their ‘orange’ predecessors, they have been manufactured and carefully crafted, before being released into the wider world.

***

In Africa, just to mention a few cases, tiny Seychelles, a country with the highest HDI (Human Development Index by UNDP) has for years been bombarded with criticism and destabilization attempts. The Government provides excellent totally free (including medicine) medical care and free education. The people of Seychelles are well fed and housed. It is definitely not a perfect society, but, together with Mauritius, it is the best the African continent has to show. But that does not seem to be relevant.

Propaganda from outside, as well as the mainly British-sponsored opposition press, is trashing the system.

One wonders why, but then, on closer scrutiny and understanding of the Empire, things become clear: The Seychelles used to cooperate closely with both Cuba and North Korea, on educational fronts and in other fields. It was too ‘socialist’ for the Empire. And for those retirees seeking an exclusive hedonist lifestyle, it would be acceptable to be surrounded by blue and maybe even by brown, but definitely not by red.

Eritrea, dubbed as the ‘African Cuba’, may be a proud and determined nation, but it was designated as total pariah and outcast state by most of the Western powers. It was hit by sanctions and punished for who knows what.

“We are trying to be inclusive, democratic and fair”, the Eritrean Director of Education recently told me, in Kenya. “But the more we do, the more we care about our people, the more infuriated Western countries appear to be.”

He was a very wise man and so he did not appear to be surprised. Both of us were just ‘comparing notes’.

Zimbabwe is another clear and extreme case. There, the West evidently and openly supports ‘the opposition’, against the government that is loved and supported by the great majority of citizens; the government of liberation struggle against colonialism and imperialism.

Provoked by outrageous lies disseminated by the mainly British mass media, I visited Zimbabwe last year, disputing point-by-point all the main propaganda points directed against Harare. Needless to say, my report, published by CounterPunch, created outrage against Western propaganda, all over the African continent.

The West builds and feeds ‘rebellions’ and ‘opposition’ against Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Brazil, and Ecuador, to mention just a few countries high on its hit list.

In Venezuela, the US sponsored an aborted coup, and it directly pays for hundreds of organizations, ‘NGO’s’ and media outlets, with the direct goal of overthrowing the revolutionary process and the government.

In Cuba, the people of this proud and humanist nation have been suffering for decades. They have been enduring what can only be described as terrorism against their beautiful country. The US and the West have sponsored invasions, terrorist acts, even attempts to influence weather patterns and cause devastating droughts. Crops have been poisoned.

Any Cuban ‘dissident’, any thug that takes up arms against the Cuban system and the government, would get immediate funding and support from the United States.

Even Western media outlets, performing secret polls in Cuba, often come to the conclusion that the majority of Cuban citizens support their system. But that only infuriates the West further. Cuban people are paying a heavy price for their freedom, for their pride, for their independence.

There are many other examples how the ‘opposition’ and terror against ‘unpopular’ (in the eyes of the West) governments are built.

Bolivians almost lost their ‘white’ and-right wing province of Santa Cruz, as the US supported, many say financed the ‘independence movement’ there, obviously punishing the extremely popular government of Evo Morales for being so socialist, so indigenous and so beloved. Brazil, in one great show of solidarity and internationalism, threatened to invade and rescue its neighbor, by preserving its integrity. Therefore, only the weight of this peaceful and highly respectable giant saved Bolivia from certain destruction.

But now even Brazil is under attack of the ‘manufacturers of opposition’!

I don’t want to write at length about China here, in this report. Readers are already familiar with my stand, but in summary: The more high-speed trains the Communist government builds, the more public parks, free exercise machines, more public transportation lines and wide sidewalks, the more it attempts to make medical care free for all once again, the more it attempts to make education free and public – the more it is being smeared and called ‘more capitalist than capitalist states (while over 50% of country’s production remains firmly in state hands).

Russia, like China, Cuba or Venezuela, is demonized relentlessly, every day and every hour. Any oligarch, any deranged pop figure, who criticizes the government of President Putin, is immediately elevated by the US, German and other Western governments, to the level of sainthood.

All this is definitely not because of the Russian human rights record, but because Russia, like the Latin American countries and China, is determinedly blocking Western attempts to destabilize and destroy independent and progressive countries all over the world. It is also due to the increasing influence of the Russian media, particularly RT (Russia Today), which became a commanding voice of resistance to Western propaganda. Needless to say, this writer is proudly associated with RT and its efforts.

***

It is certain that what the world is experiencing now, could be described as ‘the new wave’ of a Western imperial offensive. This offensive is taking place on all fronts, and it is rapidly accelerating. Under the proud Nobel Peace Price winner, Barack Obama and his closest European Neo-cons and ‘socialists with brown insides’, as well as the re-elected fascist Prime Minister of Japan, the world is becoming an extremely dangerous place. It feels like some frontier town invaded by violent gangs.

The biblical perception of ‘those who are not with me are against me’ is gaining new depth.

And be aware of the colors. Be aware of the ‘uprisings’, or anti-government ‘protests’. Which one is genuine and which one is unnaturally created by imperialism and neo-colonialism?

It all appears to be extremely confusing to the majority of people who are getting stuffed on the corporate media feed. Actually, it is supposed to be confusing! The more confused people get, the less capable they are to rebel against real dangers and oppression.

But in the end, despite everything, on the 2nd of February, the people of Thailand voted! They climbed the barricades; they fought with those who were attempting to close polling stations.

And in Ukraine, the majority still supports their government.

And Venezuela and Cuba have not fallen.

And the jihadi cadres are not yet in control of Syria.

And Eritrea and Zimbabwe are still behind their leadership.

People are not cattle. In many parts of the world they are already realizing who their real enemies are.

When the US sponsored a coup against Chavez, the military refused to follow, and as a handpicked businessman was sworn-in as President, the military began moving tanks towards Caracas, in defense of the legitimate and elected leader. The revolution survived!

Chavez passed away, and some say that he was poisoned; that he was infected with cancer, that he was hit from the North. I don’t know whether it is true, but before he died, he was photographed, bold and sweating, suffering from an incurable disease, but determined and proud. He was shouting: “Here nobody surrenders!” And this one image and one short sentence, inspired millions.

I remember, last year in Caracas, standing in front of a huge poster depicting his face, spelling out his words. I would thank him; embrace him if I could, if he were still alive. Not because he was perfect – he was not. But because his life and his words and actions inspired millions, pulled entire nations from depression, from gloom and doom, from slavery. I read from his face this: “They try to screw you by all means, but you fight… You fall but you fight again. They try to kill you but you fight… For justice, for your country, and for a better world.” Chavez did not say this, of course, but that is how it felt, looking at his photograph.

By then, most of South America was free and united against Western imperialism, and hard to defeat. Yes, here, nobody surrendered!

The rest of the world is still very vulnerable and mostly in shackles.

The West is continuously manufacturing and then supporting oppressive forces, be they feudal or religious. The more oppressed people are, the less disposed they are to fight for justice and for their rights. The more scared they are, the easier it is to control them.

Feudalism, religious oppression and cruel right-wing dictatorships, all that serves perfectly well both the market fundamentalism of the Empire, and its obsession with controlling the planet.

But such an arrangement of the world is abnormal, and therefore temporary. Human beings are longing for justice and, in their essence, are a sharing and decent species. Albert Camus, correctly, arrived at the conclusion in his powerful novel “The Plague” (analogy to fight against fascism): “there is more to admire than to despise in humans”.

What the West is now doing to the world; igniting conflicts, supporting banditry and terror, sacrificing millions of people for its own commercial interests, is nothing new under the sun. It is called ‘ordinary fascism’. And fascism came and was defeated, in the past. And it will be again. It will be defeated because it is wrong, because it is against natural human evolution, and because people all over the world are realizing that the feudal structures that Western fascism is trying to administer all over the world, belong to the 18^th century, not to this one, and should never again be tolerated.

Andre Vltchek is a novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His discussion with Noam Chomsky On Western Terrorism is now going to print. His critically acclaimed political novel Point of No Return is now re-edited and available. Oceania is his book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about post-Suharto Indonesia and the market-fundamentalist model is called “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. He has just completed the feature documentary, “Rwanda Gambit” about Rwandan history and the plunder of DR Congo. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and Africa. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.

The Most Powerful Weapons Are Psychological–The Weaponization of the People

[The US completion of most Nazi research has empowered the Pentagon with the ability to manipulate popular opinion and to drive mob psychology.  The continuation of Germany’s trauma-based mind-control sciences to their logical outcome has endowed American leaders with a whole new generation of psychological weaponry which are far superior to conventional weapons, because they are far less destructive, while practically guaranteeing mission success.  As seen in “coloured revolution” after colored revolution, or in each successive “spring” or “awakening” movement, CIA/State Dept. operators/manipulators have been able to effectively weaponize populations and use them to overthrow every national leader that has been targeted, up until Bashar Asad and Russia fouled-up their perfect plan.  One deceptive innovation is the key to all of these CIA manipulations–The creation of counterfeit opposition movements.  For every successful democratic-revolution, there must be a false opposition, even if we call them “Taliban.”]

“From Egypt, Ukraine, the Turkish-Syrian border, Cuba and Thailand”

How the West Manufactures “Opposition Movements”

by ANDRE VLTCHEK

Government buildings are being trashed, ransacked. It is happening in Kiev and Bangkok, and in both cities, the governments appear to be toothless, too scared to intervene.

What is going on? Are popularly elected administrations all over the world becoming irrelevant; as the Western regime creates and then supports thuggish ‘opposition movements’ designed to destabilize any state that stands in the way of its desire to fully control the planet?

***

They are shouting and intimidating those who want to vote for the moderately progressive government that is presently leading Thailand. There is no dispute over the electoral process – voting is generally free, as both international observers and most of the local Election Commission members agree.

Freedom, legitimacy or transparency is not what is at stake now.

The rhetoric varies, but in essence, the ‘protesters’ are demanding the dismemberment of the fragile Thai democracy. Most of them are paid by the upper-middle and upper classes. Some of them are thugs, many hired for around 500 Baht a day (roughly US$ 15) in the villages of the restive southern provinces of the country. They are accustomed to the use of violence, their body language and facial expressions clearly show it.

Government officials of the legitimate government have to climb over blockades, or beg protesters to allow them to enter their own offices.

People who came to vote in the pre-election round were intimidated and insulted, and one man was almost strangled to death.

While life in the capital has been fully disrupted, the government does not dare to send in tanks or the police to clear the streets. It should. But it is too scared of the army and the monarchy – two pillars of this outrageous hybrid of savage capitalism and feudalism – comparable only to even worse regional nightmares, such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

It is all in the open now: the government speaks of its fear, while the military sends poisonous threats through the lackey media and through ‘leaks’.

What is happening and what is at stake? The Prime Minister’s older brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, while he was PM himself, attempted to bring in a modern capitalist system to this submissive and deeply scared nation. And not only that: he housed the poor, introduced an excellent free universal medical care system (much more advanced than anything ever proposed in the United States), free and very advanced primary and secondary education, and other concepts deemed dangerous to the world order, and to the local feudal elites, as well as the army.

Thai elites, whose love of being obeyed more than wealth, admired and feared, reacted almost immediately. The PM was exiled, barred from returning home to his country, and smeared. There were military coups, mysterious ‘alliances’, rumours, and ‘secret messages’ coming from a ‘very high place’. There was outright killing, a real massacre, when the so called ‘Red Shirts’, supporters of Mr. Shinawatra (ranging from moderate reformists to Marxists) were butchered by snipers, some shot in their heads.

But the people, the poor, the majority of Thailand, particularly those from the North and Northeast, reacted in a stoical and most determined fashion. Whenever elections were called, whenever the regime outlawed the pro-Shinawatra political parties, the new ones emerged, and kept winning the elections.

In 2011, Mr. Shinawatra’s sister, Yingluck, became Thailand’s Prime Minister.

‘Protestors’ blocked several central arteries of Bangkok, declaring that “Thailand is not ready for democracy”, and that “if elections should determine the country’s future, pro-Shinawatra forces would keep winning”.

That, of course, would be unacceptable to the elites and to many Western countries that have, for decades, benefited from the Thai feudal system.

One of Thailand’s generals, ‘refused to rule out the possibility of another military coup’.

What the opposition proposed was some hazy concept, of a government of technocrats, which would govern until Thailand ‘is ready’ to vote: read until people’s power is broken and it would become certain that a pro-elites, pro-monarchy and pro-military government would be ‘freely’ elected.

In the meantime, thugs are blocking public streets; cultural centers but not malls. They are described as ‘protesters’ in both Europe and the United States.

And here we are coming to the core of things: The terror of the military and feudalism was dressed up in the clothes of rebellion, even revolution. It was given legitimacy, even a certain romantic flair.

Fascism is raising its ugly head, once again. And the West is fully aware of it, and in fact it is openly supportive of the regime that is now de facto governing Thailand from behind the curtains. Because it is the regime it helped to manufacture.

***

I left Bangkok and while in the air, one thought kept repeatedly coming to me: many of the places I had been writing about lately are living a very similar reality as Thailand is.

Those elected democratically, those progressive in their core, these governments all over the world have been under severe attacks by some armed thugs, bandits, and anti-social elements, even by outright terrorists.

I saw it on the Turkish-Syrian border. I heard the stories of many locals, in the Turkish city of Hatay, and in the countryside near the Turkish-Syrian border.

There, I was stopped, prevented from working, interrogated by the local police, army and religious thugs, when I was trying to photograph one of those ‘refugee camps’ built by NATO specially for Syrian fighters, who were housed, trained and armed in this area.

Hatay was overran by Saudi and Qatari jihadi cadres, pampered by the US, EU and Turkish logistics, support, weaponry and cash.

The terror these people have been spreading in this historically peaceful, multi-cultural and tolerant part of the world, could hardly be described in words.

Children from the borderline village described raids, theft and violence, even killing, by anti-Assad ‘rebels’.

Here, and in Istanbul where I worked with Turkish progressive intellectuals, media and academia, I was explained to again and again, that the anti-Syrian ‘opposition’ has been trained, financed and ‘encouraged’ by the West, and by Turkey (a member of NATO), causing the death and destruction of millions of lives in the entire region.

As I write these words, RT is broadcasting an exclusive report from the Syrian city of Adra, the city that had been plundered and destroyed by pro-al Qaida and the pro-Western ‘opposition’ forces, including the Free Syrian Army.

This is the city where, allegedly, one month ago, people were murdered, stoned alive, burned in barrels, and beheaded.

Instead of stopping support for the racist, bigoted and extremely brutal Syrian ‘opposition’, Washington continues demonizing Assad’s government, and threatening it once again with military action.

***

And those thugs, in the countries that elected their own patriotic or progressive governments, were hired by local elites on behalf of the Western Empire.

And before that, the so-called ‘elites’ were hired, funded, or at least trained/’educated’ by the West.

On an ‘intellectual’ level, the private media outlets have been fiercely competing with each other, over which one would become more submissive towards the foreign handlers. The militaries and the most regressive feudalist, even fascist forces all over the world (see Ukraine, for instance) are clearly getting back into the saddle, benefitting and taking full advantage of the trend.

All this has been happening in different degrees and with variable levels of brutality, in Thailand, China, Egypt, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Zimbabwe and many other places all over the world.

Right after reading my article about the situation in Thailand, published on 30 January, my Brazilian reader reacted:

“Similar to our Brazil: though in a faded… somewhat lighter environment but substantially the same… the local elites, right now in January 2014, are doing whatever they can, to prevent the re election of Ms Dilma Roussef… You are an experienced Latin America´s observer, you know very well…”

The process, the tactics, are almost always the same: Western-paid media, or Western media directly, discredit designated popular governments, then ‘scandals’ are created, colors designated to some newly constructed ‘opposition’ movement, thugs selected and paid, and finally deadly weapons ‘miraculously’ appear at the ‘protest sites’.

As long as the government is ‘nationalist’, really patriotic and defending the interests of its own people against international plunder, (not like the Abe’s government in Japan which is peculiarly described as ‘nationalist’, but in reality it fully sides with US foreign policy in the region), it gets marked, and it appears on an invisible but powerful hit list, old-fashioned mafia-style.

As Michael Parenti correctly and colorfully described: “You do it our way, or we break your leg, capice?”

I witnessed President Morsi of Egypt (I was critical of his rule at first, as I was critical of the government of Mr. Shinawatra, before real horror swept both Egypt and Thailand), being overthrown by the military, which, while in its zealous over-drive, managed in the process to murder several thousands of mainly poor Egyptian people.

I was then in Egypt, in and out, for several months, filming a documentary film for the South American television network, Telesur.

In disbelief and dismay I witnessed my revolutionary friends going into hiding, disappearing from the face of the earth. This happened as outrageously arrogant families cheered on the military murderers with no shame, openly.

The logic and tactics in Egypt were predictable: although still capitalist and to a certain extent submissive to IMF and the West, President Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, were a bit too unenthusiastic about collaborating with the West. They never really said ‘no’, but that had not appeared to be enough for the Euro-North American regime, which, these days, demands total, unconditional obedience as well as the kissing of hands and other bodily parts. The regime demands old-fashioned, Protestant-style obedience, complete with self-deprecation and a constant feeling of guilt; it is ordering true and ‘sincere’ servility.

It appears that almost no country, no well-liked government can escape annihilation, if it does not fully submit.

It went so far that unless the government in a developing countries such as Philippines, Indonesia, Uganda or Rwanda, sends a clear message to Washington, London or Paris that “we are here simply to make you, in the West, happy”, it would risk total annihilation, even if it was elected democratically, even if (and actually ‘especially if’) it is supported by the majority of the people.

All this is nothing new, of course. But in the past, things were done a little bit more covertly. These days it is all out in the open. Maybe it is done on purpose, so nobody will dare to rebel, or even to dream.

And so, the revolution in Egypt has been derailed, destroyed, and cruelly choked to death. There is really nothing left of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, just a clear warning: “never try again, or else”.

Yes, I saw the ‘elites’ of Egypt dancing, and celebrating their victory. The elites love the army. The Army guarantees their continuous place at the zenith, their power. The elites even make their little children hold portraits of the military leaders responsible for the coup, responsible for thousands of lost lives, responsible for breaking the great hopes and dreams of the Arab world.

What I witnessed in Egypt was chilling, and it resembled the 1973 coup in Chile (a country which I consider my ‘second or third home’); the coup, which I am not old enough to remember, but footage of which I have seen again and again, in silent and never diminishing horror.

‘Or else’ could be the torture and murder of people in Bahrain. ‘Or else’ could be Indonesia in 1965/66. Or it could be the ‘collapse of the Soviet Union’. ‘Or else’ could be civilian airliners exploding mid-flight; a Cuban plane was destroyed by CIA agents. It could be ravaged Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, or Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, bombed into the stone ages. ‘Or else’ can easily be some fully devastated country like Nicaragua, Grenada, Panama or the Dominican Republic. Or ‘or else’ could mean ten million people butchered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for both its natural resources and for the anti-imperialist outspokenness of its great leader, Patrice Lumumba.

Now in Egypt, Mubarak’s clique is rapidly coming back to power. He was a well-trusted ‘devil’, and the West quickly realized that to let him fall would be a serious strategic blunder; and so it was decided to bring him back; either personally, or at least his legacy, at the coast of thousands of (insignificant) Egyptian lives, and against the will of almost the entire nation.

The military of Egypt, of course, cannot be allowed to fall, either. The US has invested billions and billions of dollars in it, and the soldiers are now literally in control of half of the country. And it is a very reliable organization: it murders without scruple any being attempting to build a socially just society in this the most populous Arab nation on earth. And it plays with Israel. And it loves capitalism.

Two countries are separated by thousands of miles, and belong to two different cultures, located on two continents; Thailand and Egypt. In both countries, people spoke. They voted in their leaders. Not some Communist government, mind you: just a moderately socially-oriented one in Thailand, and a moderately nationalist/Islamic one in Egypt.

In both cases, the feudal and fascist elites went to work, immediately. Those that are behind them, that are financing them, and ‘morally’ supporting them, is, I believe, absolutely clear.

***

Ukraine is not a fresh victim of destabilization tactics of the European Union, which is so sickly greedy that it appears it, cannot contain itself anymore. It salivates, intensively, imagining the huge natural resources that Ukraine possesses. It is shaking with desire dreaming of a cheap and highly educated labor force.

European companies want to get into Ukraine, by all means. But one has to be careful not to allow the Ukrainian hordes to enter that sacred and thoroughly racist fortress – the European Union. Europe can plunder all over the world, but it is strict and brutal to those who want to get in and ‘steal its jobs’.

Of course the EU cannot do in Ukraine, what it freely does in many places like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It cannot just come and pay some proxy countries, as it pays Rwanda and Uganda (that are already responsible for the loss of over ten million Congolese lives in less than 2 decades), to plunder Ukraine and kill almost all those people that are resisting.

Europe, again and again, for centuries, has proven that it is capable of massacring entire nations without the slightest mercy, (while showing almost zero historic memory) and with almost no moral principles, at least compared to the rest of the world. But it is canny, and unlike the United States, it knows plenty about tactics, strategy and PR.

What the EU did in Libya is clear. Anyone claiming that the United States is acting on its own, must be exercising enormous discipline not to see how closely linked are the interests and actions of the old and new usurpers of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Asia and Oceania. France is acting, once again, as the arch neo-colonial thug, particularly in Africa.

But Ukraine is ‘right there’, too near geographically, to the EU itself. It has to be destabilized, but it all has to appear very legitimate. ‘The rebellion’, ‘revolution’, ‘uprising of its people’; that is the way to handle things ‘properly’.

More than a month ago, a bizarre deal was proposed, where European companies would be allowed to enter and clean Ukraine of its natural resources, but the people of Ukraine would not be allowed to even come and work in the EU.

The government, logically and sensibly, rejected the deal. And then, suddenly, Thai-style or Egyptian-style thugs appeared all over the streets of Kiev, armed with sticks and even weapons, and went onto trashing the capital and demanding the democratically elected government to resign.

The groups of thugs include many neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and common criminals. They are emboldened by the Thai-style fear of the Ukrainian government, to use force. They are setting on fire police officers, blocking and occupying government buildings, preventing the administration from serving the people.

Just as their ‘orange’ predecessors, they have been manufactured and carefully crafted, before being released into the wider world.

***

In Africa, just to mention a few cases, tiny Seychelles, a country with the highest HDI (Human Development Index by UNDP) has for years been bombarded with criticism and destabilization attempts. The Government provides excellent totally free (including medicine) medical care and free education. The people of Seychelles are well fed and housed. It is definitely not a perfect society, but, together with Mauritius, it is the best the African continent has to show. But that does not seem to be relevant.

Propaganda from outside, as well as the mainly British-sponsored opposition press, is trashing the system.

One wonders why, but then, on closer scrutiny and understanding of the Empire, things become clear: The Seychelles used to cooperate closely with both Cuba and North Korea, on educational fronts and in other fields. It was too ‘socialist’ for the Empire. And for those retirees seeking an exclusive hedonist lifestyle, it would be acceptable to be surrounded by blue and maybe even by brown, but definitely not by red.

Eritrea, dubbed as the ‘African Cuba’, may be a proud and determined nation, but it was designated as total pariah and outcast state by most of the Western powers. It was hit by sanctions and punished for who knows what.

“We are trying to be inclusive, democratic and fair”, the Eritrean Director of Education recently told me, in Kenya. “But the more we do, the more we care about our people, the more infuriated Western countries appear to be.”

He was a very wise man and so he did not appear to be surprised. Both of us were just ‘comparing notes’.

Zimbabwe is another clear and extreme case. There, the West evidently and openly supports ‘the opposition’, against the government that is loved and supported by the great majority of citizens; the government of liberation struggle against colonialism and imperialism.

Provoked by outrageous lies disseminated by the mainly British mass media, I visited Zimbabwe last year, disputing point-by-point all the main propaganda points directed against Harare. Needless to say, my report, published by CounterPunch, created outrage against Western propaganda, all over the African continent.

The West builds and feeds ‘rebellions’ and ‘opposition’ against Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Brazil, and Ecuador, to mention just a few countries high on its hit list.

In Venezuela, the US sponsored an aborted coup, and it directly pays for hundreds of organizations, ‘NGO’s’ and media outlets, with the direct goal of overthrowing the revolutionary process and the government.

In Cuba, the people of this proud and humanist nation have been suffering for decades. They have been enduring what can only be described as terrorism against their beautiful country. The US and the West have sponsored invasions, terrorist acts, even attempts to influence weather patterns and cause devastating droughts. Crops have been poisoned.

Any Cuban ‘dissident’, any thug that takes up arms against the Cuban system and the government, would get immediate funding and support from the United States.

Even Western media outlets, performing secret polls in Cuba, often come to the conclusion that the majority of Cuban citizens support their system. But that only infuriates the West further. Cuban people are paying a heavy price for their freedom, for their pride, for their independence.

There are many other examples how the ‘opposition’ and terror against ‘unpopular’ (in the eyes of the West) governments are built.

Bolivians almost lost their ‘white’ and-right wing province of Santa Cruz, as the US supported, many say financed the ‘independence movement’ there, obviously punishing the extremely popular government of Evo Morales for being so socialist, so indigenous and so beloved. Brazil, in one great show of solidarity and internationalism, threatened to invade and rescue its neighbor, by preserving its integrity. Therefore, only the weight of this peaceful and highly respectable giant saved Bolivia from certain destruction.

But now even Brazil is under attack of the ‘manufacturers of opposition’!

I don’t want to write at length about China here, in this report. Readers are already familiar with my stand, but in summary: The more high-speed trains the Communist government builds, the more public parks, free exercise machines, more public transportation lines and wide sidewalks, the more it attempts to make medical care free for all once again, the more it attempts to make education free and public – the more it is being smeared and called ‘more capitalist than capitalist states (while over 50% of country’s production remains firmly in state hands).

Russia, like China, Cuba or Venezuela, is demonized relentlessly, every day and every hour. Any oligarch, any deranged pop figure, who criticizes the government of President Putin, is immediately elevated by the US, German and other Western governments, to the level of sainthood.

All this is definitely not because of the Russian human rights record, but because Russia, like the Latin American countries and China, is determinedly blocking Western attempts to destabilize and destroy independent and progressive countries all over the world. It is also due to the increasing influence of the Russian media, particularly RT (Russia Today), which became a commanding voice of resistance to Western propaganda. Needless to say, this writer is proudly associated with RT and its efforts.

***

It is certain that what the world is experiencing now, could be described as ‘the new wave’ of a Western imperial offensive. This offensive is taking place on all fronts, and it is rapidly accelerating. Under the proud Nobel Peace Price winner, Barack Obama and his closest European Neo-cons and ‘socialists with brown insides’, as well as the re-elected fascist Prime Minister of Japan, the world is becoming an extremely dangerous place. It feels like some frontier town invaded by violent gangs.

The biblical perception of ‘those who are not with me are against me’ is gaining new depth.

And be aware of the colors. Be aware of the ‘uprisings’, or anti-government ‘protests’. Which one is genuine and which one is unnaturally created by imperialism and neo-colonialism?

It all appears to be extremely confusing to the majority of people who are getting stuffed on the corporate media feed. Actually, it is supposed to be confusing! The more confused people get, the less capable they are to rebel against real dangers and oppression.

But in the end, despite everything, on the 2nd of February, the people of Thailand voted! They climbed the barricades; they fought with those who were attempting to close polling stations.

And in Ukraine, the majority still supports their government.

And Venezuela and Cuba have not fallen.

And the jihadi cadres are not yet in control of Syria.

And Eritrea and Zimbabwe are still behind their leadership.

People are not cattle. In many parts of the world they are already realizing who their real enemies are.

When the US sponsored a coup against Chavez, the military refused to follow, and as a handpicked businessman was sworn-in as President, the military began moving tanks towards Caracas, in defense of the legitimate and elected leader. The revolution survived!

Chavez passed away, and some say that he was poisoned; that he was infected with cancer, that he was hit from the North. I don’t know whether it is true, but before he died, he was photographed, bold and sweating, suffering from an incurable disease, but determined and proud. He was shouting: “Here nobody surrenders!” And this one image and one short sentence, inspired millions.

I remember, last year in Caracas, standing in front of a huge poster depicting his face, spelling out his words. I would thank him; embrace him if I could, if he were still alive. Not because he was perfect – he was not. But because his life and his words and actions inspired millions, pulled entire nations from depression, from gloom and doom, from slavery. I read from his face this: “They try to screw you by all means, but you fight… You fall but you fight again. They try to kill you but you fight… For justice, for your country, and for a better world.” Chavez did not say this, of course, but that is how it felt, looking at his photograph.

By then, most of South America was free and united against Western imperialism, and hard to defeat. Yes, here, nobody surrendered!

The rest of the world is still very vulnerable and mostly in shackles.

The West is continuously manufacturing and then supporting oppressive forces, be they feudal or religious. The more oppressed people are, the less disposed they are to fight for justice and for their rights. The more scared they are, the easier it is to control them.

Feudalism, religious oppression and cruel right-wing dictatorships, all that serves perfectly well both the market fundamentalism of the Empire, and its obsession with controlling the planet.

But such an arrangement of the world is abnormal, and therefore temporary. Human beings are longing for justice and, in their essence, are a sharing and decent species. Albert Camus, correctly, arrived at the conclusion in his powerful novel “The Plague” (analogy to fight against fascism): “there is more to admire than to despise in humans”.

What the West is now doing to the world; igniting conflicts, supporting banditry and terror, sacrificing millions of people for its own commercial interests, is nothing new under the sun. It is called ‘ordinary fascism’. And fascism came and was defeated, in the past. And it will be again. It will be defeated because it is wrong, because it is against natural human evolution, and because people all over the world are realizing that the feudal structures that Western fascism is trying to administer all over the world, belong to the 18^th century, not to this one, and should never again be tolerated.

Andre Vltchek is a novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His discussion with Noam Chomsky On Western Terrorism is now going to print. His critically acclaimed political novel Point of No Return is now re-edited and available. Oceania is his book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about post-Suharto Indonesia and the market-fundamentalist model is called “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. He has just completed the feature documentary, “Rwanda Gambit” about Rwandan history and the plunder of DR Congo. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and Africa. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.

CENTCOM Supports Pakistani Army Acting As Enforcer for Saudi Anti-Democracy Agenda

[If CENTCOM is all for it, then you know just how bad the idea really is.  The Pak Army has always served as a Saudi proxy force, whenever the total inadequacy of the Saudi military becomes apparent, as in the Siege of Mecca, as back-up for the Saudi rape of Democracy in Bahrain, etc.  In a natural outplaying of the Saudi underwriting of Pakistan’s “Islamic bomb,” if push comes to shove, Saudi Arabia will be sheltered under the Pak nuclear umbrella.  The Saudi royals hate Iran for daring to counter their nuclear monopoly in the Gulf.  The royals hate “Democracy” even more than they hate Shia Iran, simply because the common folks of Saudi Arabia are more dangerous to their longevity than would be a nuclear Iran.]

Pakistani-Saudi relations play role in fostering regional peace

High-level military delegations have been exchanging visits as they iron out security and defence co-oepration deals.

By Yasir Rehman

ISLAMABAD – Close political and defence ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are needed for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan, senior observers on both sides of the Pakistani-Afghan border say.

• Pakistani Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (right) confers with Saudi Deputy Defence Minister Prince Suleman Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Islamabad January 20. Strong Pakistani-Saudi relations are vital for regional peace, analysts say. [Courtesy of Pakistani Press Information Department]

The two countries over the past month traded high-level visits setting up a security and defence co-operation agreement that Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is expected to sign during a planned visit to Pakistan February 15-17.

The flurry of high-level meetings started when Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud visited Pakistan January 7-8 and called for collective efforts to eradicate terrorism from South Asia.

Another high-ranking Saudi, Deputy Defence Minister Prince Suleman Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, visited Pakistan for a week starting January 20. He discussed defence co-operation and regional issues with Pakistani political and military leadership, including President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

During those talks, Nawaz Sharif underscored Pakistan’s support for the peace process in Afghanistan and noted that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan was in the regional interest, a January 21 statement from his office said.

Nawaz Sharif thanked Riyadh for its role in implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to fighting terrorism in all its forms.

Gen. Raheel Sharif, the Pakistani army chief of staff, February 4 rounded off the exchanges when he arrived in Saudi Arabia for another defence-related visit.

The army leader, on the first leg of his visit, discussed defence and security co-operation with Crown Prince Salman, who also is Saudi defence minister and first deputy prime minister, in Riyadh.

Before returning home, the general discussed enhanced defence co-operation with Prince Suleman, Pakistani Inter-Services Public Relations said in a February 8 statement.

Co-operation could bring peace to region

The two countries share similar views on improving the region.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy very close political, economic and defence relations, Senator and Prof. Khurshid Ahmad, chairman of the Islamabad-based Institute of Policy Studies, said.

“Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are co-operating with each other in security matters … they have the same position on the Afghan issue and can help Afghans bring stability to their country,” he said.

Haji Deen Mohammad, a member of the Afghan High Peace Council, is aware of the position Pakistan and Saudi Arabia hold in Afghanistan.

Both countries have a role in Afghanistan and together they can bring stability and peace, he said. “Pakistan is our immediate neighbour with whom we have unbreakable relations, and Saudi Arabia is a country that has extreme respect among Afghans.”

The two countries have a major role in bringing peace, Kabul-based political analyst Faiz Mohammad Zaland agreed.

Afghanistan is seeking support from countries like Saudi Arabia to establish a durable peace, he said. “Closeness between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is also important for Afghanistan because both brotherly nations can help Afghans to bridge their differences.”

Islamabad and Riyadh have a history of working together during trying times, senior Islamabad-based Arab reporter Jamal Ismail said, noting that they teamed up to fight Soviet forces in Afghanistan (1979-1989).

Together, they can bring all Afghan factions to one table, he said.

“Both nations have a common approach towards the challenges confronted by the Islamic countries and the region,” Ismail said. “Saudi Arabia has genuine concerns about the Iranian nuclear issue and about its support of militant groups including Hizbullah, and Pakistan as the sole nuclear Muslim nation can be a nuclear umbrella for Saudi Arabia.”

Leb. Army Busts Top Dog from Abdullah Azzam In Ain el-Hilwen Camp

[They have nailed the man behind all of the many murders over the years which have been blamed on Hezbollah, starting with and including the murder of Rafik Hariri.  Before they were the AbAzzam Brigade, they called themselves “Al Nusra wal Jihad fi Bilad al Sham” (Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria).]

Alleged killer of Hajj and Eido is reportedly revealed.

“Naim Abbas  behind the assassination attacks that took the lives of former army officer Francois al-Hajj and Beirut MP Walid Eido.   On the morning of December 12, 2007, Brigadier General Francois Hajj was assassinated in Baabda, while Walid Eido was killed on Beirut’s seafront on June 13 that same year, both by car bombs.”

Army Arrests Top Abdullah Azzam Brigades Official, Defuses Car Bomb in Beirut

 

 

 

Military experts defused on Wednesday a car bomb in Beirut after the army announced the arrest of a Palestinian leader in the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, described as the group’s number two man in Lebanon.

A communique said following careful follow-up and monitoring after he came out of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilwen near Sidon in the South, the army intelligence in Beirut made the arrest of Naim Abbas, who is being questioned under the supervision of the judiciary.

Following his arrest, Abbas admitted to plotting to blow up a car, the communique said.

So the military defused around 100 kilograms of explosives, several rockets and explosives belts placed in a black SUV that was parked in Corniche al-Mazraa neighborhood, where he was arrested.

Photos showed the explosives carefully placed in the seats of the Toyota Rav 4 in small packs.

The state-run National News Agency said the suspect was planning to use the car in a bombing in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The army also seized laptops and other electronic devices during a raid on a warehouse in Corniche al-Mazraa, reports said.

The raid and the process to defuse the car bomb brought traffic to a standstill for several hours after soldiers blocked the main road in both directions, they said.

According to the communique, the army was carrying out raids in several areas after Abbas informed it about the locations of other booby-trapped vehicles.

Abbas has close ties to Sheikh Omar al-Atrash, a cleric from the Bekaa Valley who was arrested last month, and later charged with detonating bombs and explosive-rigged vehicles, attacking the army in Majdelyoun and al-Awwali bridge areas in the southern city of Sidon and launching rockets on Israel.

In a related development, the military prosecutor charged on Wednesday Ali Hussein al-Hujairi for links with al-Atrash and for belonging to a terrorist organization.

Judge Saqr Saqr referred al-Hujairi, who was also arrested last month, to the first military examining magistrate Nabil Wehbe.

Several of the latest bombings in Hizbullah strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa have been claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades whose leader, Majed al-Majed, was captured by Lebanese authorities in December and died in custody later.

Still Working to transfer Saudi Terrorism to Iran

[Below is a clipped article from “Intelligence Online,” a Paris-based intelligence newsletter which covers global intelligence news.  Before the CIA picked-up the current line of bullshit emanating out of Riyadh and started pushing the “al-Qaeda” is a lone wolf Uzbeki terrorist working out of Iran, every intelligence agency knew who was responsible for all Sunni terrorism—SAUDI ARABIA!]

[SEE: US Treasury Dept Helping To Frame Iran for Saudi Terrorism  ]

GID and MIT back jihadists

13 march, 2013

Saudi Arabia and Turkey’s intelligence services are banking on jihadist groups to bring down Bashar al-Assad.(…) [ 311 words ] [€5,2]

 

Israeli Projects Implementer Al-Nusra Front, Saudi-Made with Lebanese Assistance

13 January 2013

A specialized report in strategic affairs issued in Paris revealed that the Saudi General Intelligence is the founder and establisher of “al-Nusra Front in Levant” that plots to establish an “Emirate in Syria.”

Al-Nusra Front, Saudi-Made with Lebanese Assistance

In detail, an “Intelligence Online” report, which receives information from foreign intelligence sources, mentioned, “The Saudi General Intelligence, controlled by Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, exploited its broad calls with Takfiri [atoning] movements in Iraq to help establish al-Nusra Front, a low-profile Takfiri movement.”

The report added, “Thanks to funding from the General Intelligence Department and support from the Saudi Intelligence in Lebanon, al-Nusra was able to swiftly arm its forces, and make the Syrian regime suffer painful blows through its expertise in Iraqi bombings.”
Strikes of this sort included dominating Sheikh Suleiman Base in Aleppo and invading Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp on the 16th of December 2012.
However, many websites had recently published what seemed to be leaked confidential documents issued from the KSA’s Interior, which spoke of “a Saudi military official supplying armed groups in Syria with money and weaponry.”

Another leaked document mentioned “an amnesty to hundreds of criminals sentenced to death on charges of drug-trafficking, murder, and rape, was issued to send them to fight in Syria among the militias of the [so-called] Free Syrian Army.”
Moreover, the US administration had recently listed “al-Nusra Front” as a terrorist organization for being linked to al-Qaeda, after performing hundreds of bombings and attacks in Syria.

Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State

On a parallel note, “al-Nusra Front” had revealed that it seeks to establish a so-called “Islamic” State in Syria, stressed by its chief Abu Mohammad al-Joulani on the Qatari Jazeera Channel, when addressing his followers, “The regime’s collapse in Syria will create a vacuum that you are qualified to fill.”
He further accentuated that he is heading towards “establishing an Emirate and Shura Council in Syria.”

Furthermore, Le Nouvel Observateur French weekly cited an “al-Nusra” spiritual leader Abu Mohammad al-Atawi as saying, “Victory will not cease in Syria,” foreseeing that “triumph is months away.”

Al-Atawi, who taught for a long time in KSA before returning to Jordan, saw that “The Arab Spring will help Salafists invade the world, starting with Tunisia, then Egypt, Libya, all the way to Syria, and soon in Jordan,” revealing that the Front “includes 8,000 men and is increasing.”

Al-Nusra Front and Militia Dominance in Syria

In a similar context, the Salafist Takfiri leader in Jordan Mohammad al-Shalabi, aka “Abu Sayyaf”, in an interview with the weekly, emphasized his participation in founding “al-Nusra Front” after leaving jail last year on charges of plotting attacks on Jordanian Army bases there.

He further highlighted that he is currently gathering fighters all over Jordan to send them to Syria.

Abu Sayyaf underscored, “The Front’s ideology is the same of that of al-Qaeda,” indicating that his organization “that moved its battle from Iraq to Syria is about to dominate other fighting groups.”

 

 

 

 

Fear of Iran Drives Saudi Terrorism and Warmongering

The real reason behind house of al-saud terrorism and warmongering

It seems the reason behind all the terrorism of salafi-wahabi-takkfiri in Syria, Russia and Yemen with support of the terrorist al-saud family of saudi-arabia is their hatred for IRAN. The al-saud have even said this.

They are willing to destroy ME and terrorize the world out of their hatred for Iran.

Why House of Saud fears/hates Iran

In countless media interviews and statements, it is clear that the Saudi rulers have an abiding obsession with Iran – an obsession that betrays an intense fear and hatred.

Senior members of the House of Saud have let it be known that their real focus in Syria, for example, is not primarily the government of Bashar al Assad, and their desire for regime change, but rather the main target is Assad’s closest regional ally – Iran.

Everywhere in the region, the paranoid House of Saud sees the hand of Iran. In an oped piece in the New York Times in December, the Saudi Ambassador to Britain, Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz al Saud, accused Iran without any evidence, saying that it “has financed and trained militias in Iraq, Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and militants in Yemen and Bahrain.” This is, of course, ironically crass, coming from the House of Saud, which is provably the sponsor of terrorists or terror regimes, such as the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al Nusra in Syria, ISIS in Iraq and the ruling Al Khalifa despots in Bahrain.

But the main point here is that Saudi Arabia, or at least its rulers led by the aging King Abdullah, is transfixed in animosity towards Iran. That obsession is driven by a visceral hatred. Why?

The short answer is self-preservation. But there are at least three specific reasons for this hatred, and they are inter-related.

The first is religious. The official religion of Saudi Arabia is Wahhabism. In this extreme deformation, Shia Islam is viewed as an intolerable apostasy. It is not just Shia that are perceived as “infidels”. All forms of Muslim faith, including Sunnis, as well as Christians and other religions, that are deemed to not conform with the Wahhabi fundamentalist doctrine are considered infidels and are subject to merciless attack, even to the point of death.

In the warped Wahhabi belief Shia Muslims are the worst kind of “infidels”. This explains why Shia and the closely related Alawite are subject to the most barbaric forms of violence in the Syrian conflict, where the anti-Syrian government militants are mainly driven by Wahhabi ideology – also known as Takfiris.

For historical reasons, Iran is the centre of Shia Islam in the region and the world. Iran therefore qualifies as the centre of Saudi hatred.

The second factor goes back to the Islamic Revolution in Iran. When the Iranian revolution succeeded in 1979 to kick out the US-backed dictator, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, that turmoil threatened all autocratic rulers in the region from the inspirational impact it conveyed to other populations to rise up against oppressive regimes. The House of Saud felt particularly threatened. That is why the Saudi rulers responded immediately by setting up the Persian Gulf Defense pact in the early 1980s, which comprised the other monarchies of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

Indeed, the Saudi rulers’ hatred of Iran has only intensified since the Iranian revolution. The House of Saud views Iran’s demonstratively more democratic credentials as a mortal threat to its despotism. The more Iran’s political influence grows in the region, the more the Saudi rulers fear an existential threat. This explains the paranoid mindset of the House of Saud towards Iran, as expressed by its ambassador to Britain cited above, which suspects that Iranian subversion is everywhere, even when it isn’t.

The third factor is more mundane, but perhaps is the ultimate concern for the House of Saud – the vital issue of oil and gas economics.

Of the 12 OPEC member states, the top three producers are Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. Of most significance is Iran’s enormous gas wealth, which is as yet hardly tapped as an economic resource. Natural gas is the fuel of the future for the next century, being more efficient as an energy source in terms of transport via pipelines and in terms of calorific output. Environmentally, natural gas is a much cleaner fuel than oil, giving off much less harmful byproducts from combustion.

Iran is reckoned to hold the largest known reserves of natural gas on Earth in its Pars Field. If Iran’s international relations were normalized by the removal of trade sanctions, the country stands to become an even more formidable global source of energy. Of particular strategic importance is the European market for which Iran would be a top supplier, along with Russia (a non-OPEC member).

This development, which has an inexorable trajectory owing to irrepressible human need, is seen by the House of Saud as an imperative threat. Saudi Arabia is endowed with oil, but much less so with natural gas. Saudi strategic value as an energy producer is therefore on the wane, whereas Iran is bound to grow owing to its vast natural gas deposits.

At all costs, from the Saudi point of view, Iran must be prevented from developing its potential energy wealth. Saudi Arabia is living on borrowed time. Its oil reserves will eventually be surpassed by Iran’s gas riches. Already, the Saudi rulers are sitting atop a demographic time bomb of an increasing and unemployed youth population, which so far has been placated with state fiscal handouts from its oil exports. The days for those handouts are numbered.

What will happen when Saudi’s oil economy goes into demise, and is sidelined with the new global energy economy of natural gas in which Iran is a leading nation? That will translate into greater Iranian political influence in the region and a diminishing hold on power by the sclerotic Saudi autocrats.

The political and economic fate of the United States is closely tied to the Saudi petrodollar economy and that of the other Persian Gulf monarchies. The bankrupt American dollar is already largely on life-support due to the Saudis and their related sheikhdoms dealing in the commodity with the greenback and funneling profits into the US Treasury, propping up the dollar.

If Iran were to develop to its full potential, trade in oil and more importantly natural gas would most likely be denominated in Euro, Ruble, Yen or Yuan. That is a doomsday scenario for the US dollar and its long overdue collapse.

Ultimately, Washington shares the intense antipathy of the House of Saud towards Iran’s unfettered political and economic freedom. Not for arcane Wahhabi reasons, but for vital economic self-preservation. Hence, the sharp rebuke from Washington this week when a French business delegation visited Iran to explore possible partnerships. US Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly phoned his French counterpart Laurent Fabius in a panic to protest at the delegation. The last thing the Americans want to see is Iran doing independent trade with Europe without the dollar.

The Saudi despots and their American patrons cannot afford Iranian development as an economic power. That directly threatens the House of Saud, politically and economically, which in turn threatens Washington to its very core.

For all of the above reasons, the Saudi rulers fear Iran above all else. The Zionist Israeli regime and its desecration of Islamic sanctities in East Al Quds (Jerusalem) does not even raise a single heckle for the Al Saud – the self-proclaimed Custodians of Islam. Their only fear and hatred are expressed in waging covert war against Iran and its allies, including Syria and the people of Bahrain, Iraq, Yemen and anywhere else. They want Iran contained, thwarted, sanctioned at all costs, and Washington by geopolitical necessity is on the Saudi side.

But as the tectonic plates of global energy needs shift inexorably over the coming decades, the Saudi rulers and their American patrons will find themselves on the losing side. In a very real way, this spells death to al Saud and the American Empire. Hence, the hatred.
presstv

Secret Riyadh/Obama Deal To Abandon Saudi Jihadis In Syria?

[SEE: Saudi king orders punishing jihadi fighters ;Saudi’s top cleric warns against fighting abroad ]

Messages Royal Order: Saudi Arabia abandon its fighters

Royal Order authorized a new phase has eaten the sticks rather than counted! (AFP)

What Saudi Arabia announced earlier this week regarding the fighters in Syria is not detailed. Index is extremely dangerous to the extent of U.S. pressure, and the threat to cancel a planned visit by Barack Obama to Saudi Arabia. After the last of the story as well: Riyadh fears the return of non-Organization for these fighters to their country, Fodathm two choices. First, back under the supervision of the security gate of the Saudi Embassy in Turkey, according to the Ambassador in Ankara yesterday, and the second displacement between the fronts, to restore to experience Saudia Afghan jihad. What follows is some of the well known tale of abandonment Kingdom for its fighters in Syria

Fuad Ibrahim

 

Do not issue a royal decree in Saudi Arabia comes only when the Prince of exemption or appointed, or something related to sovereign issues require a decision from the highest authority in the state. Royal Order issued last Monday, the date fixed for the meeting weekly to Saudi Council of Ministers, indicates clearly that the case, which was issued in the Royal Order would exceed the authority of the Board, and require what could be described as «a written pledge» of the king himself. Messages in the Royal Order, can stop at three of them:
The first: that the Royal Order was issued in the context of a media attraction about a hypothetical visit of U.S. President Barack Obama’s Riad end of next March. American newspapers, such as the «Wall Street Journal» and «New York Times», published earlier this month, a story about the upcoming visit, rushed the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh to reply in the next day confirmed «that the White House did not talk about anything in this regard». The assistant press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh Stewart-Whyte «that the embassy does not have any information about this visit, and can not comment on it».

But with the release of the Royal Order on the third of February, the White House announced, on the same day, about Obama’s visit to Riyadh at the end of next March. The bottom line is Royal (which for the occasion is the longest in the history of the royal orders, and is matched only by the royal orders budgetary): Conviction comprehensive terrorist acts of all kinds, which proved the involvement of Saudi citizens, civilian and military officials and advocates agitators and belonging and donors, and glorified for religious groups and ideological extremist, and take down the most severe penalties.
In the information, the U.S. officials on the Saudis dossier huge end of last year includes documents compelling condemns the involvement of Saudi Arabia in terrorism which strikes Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, all the way to Russia, and that the file is at the disposal of the international community, which could push in the direction of a resolution condemning the Council Security, and the classification of the Saudi state sponsor of terrorism in the world.
The letter came to the U.S. clearly to Saudi Arabia, and that it is not possible to enter the terrorism issue within the protection treaty and the Strategic Defense that took place in the forties of the last century between King Abdul Aziz and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and must act on the basis that the issue of terrorism with an international character, and outside the treaties bilateral.
I felt Arabia that the danger staring destiny, and it took a stand sooner is the highest in the country, but there are of the royal family to understand the message the U.S. as a prerequisite for Obama’s visit to Riyadh, to remove the embarrassment in front of U.S. allies and the international community in general, which is no longer quite skeptical regarding the The majority of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in terrorist activities taking place in the region and in the world.
The second message: the face of the Royal Order a clear message to the Saudi fighters, civilians and military alike, first in Syria, in Iraq, Lebanon and other secondly, that there is a conclusion and a tent waiting for them in case they decided to return home. To prevent face-determination gloomy and punishment difficult, they remain out of bounds, and the completion of the march until the yard concluded or spread in battlefields again, as he did the first group of Arab Afghans and beyond regiments arose in Iraq after 2003, and Lebanon after the battles Nahr el-Bared late 2007 , and currently in Syria after an agreement Bandar Petraeus summer of 2012.
There is no doubt that this is a royal Hardness is a poisonous stab in the back, aiming it official sponsor, represented in Bandar bin Sultan, who put an end to the royal mission. Reactions involving supporters of «Al-Qaeda», as they appear on the social networking sites, the maelstrom of Saudi Arabia to the deception of the fighters again and again, since Afghanistan through Iraq, Lebanon and Syria down to. Therefore, it is seen by many Saudis fighters and supporters to the Royal as a provocative act, has been pushing fighters to commit follies security to thwart the goal of the order, any tarnish the image of the kingdom, and consolidate the impression that it is supportive of terrorism.
Of course, the Saudi regime could Altlati behind the excuse that he was not supportive in any day to fight abroad, were not allowed to collect donations or inciting immigration for the jihad. In the figure, the protest seems convincing, it has undergone advocates agitators and the imams of the investigation to prevent the collection of donations to fight in Syria, also issued fatwas considers what is happening in Syria «sedition»!
On the other hand, the possibility of observer crowd iceberg of the evidence on the involvement of institutions Saudi political, media and religious migration of thousands of Saudis to what he describes as the advocates of incitement to «land of Rabat» in Syria, and how else can we explain the participation of hundreds of military personnel in the fighting there, with that they can not travel abroad except with special permission from the military command.

Did not mention the military and cruel punishment that awaits them just goes, in the absence of documented reports of the involvement of a large number of military personnel in the fighting in Syria, and they who were streaming from the land of Jordan under the patronage of Deputy Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Sultan, a half-brother to the godfather of the war in Syria Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Chief of General Intelligence.
The fact is that Saudi Arabia has mastered the double game; publicly showing tighter deliberate on the subject of post Saudis fighting abroad, and in fundraising for the organization «Al-Qaeda» and branches of old and new, in secret flow of money and men and weapons on the battlefield without supervision or control.
The third message: There is a secondary indicators in the Royal Order stating that the war in Syria is nearing an end, and the armed groups muddle, after the loss of care, financial and armament and training required. This necessarily means, and in fact, that no role anymore could be played by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who left to the United States under the title treatment, a vacation in the open.
We refer to the proposed Iranian Turkish providing a decent outlet to Saudi Arabia from the mud of Syria, to gradually abandon support for the insurgents. It is clear that the duo began a joint high-level coordination to confront terrorism file which Ankara hesitated in his approach previously in earnest, according to the Iranian vision, but they are back now, after the visit of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent Iran, to open the widest.
In the results, Saudi Arabia afraid of the return of its citizens fighters, so I decided to put a list of tough sanctions to avert violent repercussions that affect them at the stage of the calculation. But seriously, from its point of view, is the international punishment that awaits if not paid eighths of losing the war in Syria, and the outbreak of the phenomenon of terrorism on an international level, forcing the European intelligence services to step up its presence in the region to keep up with the return of its citizens fighters to home.
It is necessary to draw attention to what the concessions made by Saudi Arabia to banish the specter of being accused of sponsoring terrorism. In the recent visit of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Riyadh, described the position of the Saudi leadership on the issue of settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian words banner, where he said he touch the «high enthusiasm» has in this regard, at the time was not what it pays to such enthusiasm.
Here intersect Information: File terrorism, which was introduced Americans to their Saudi counterparts, and file the Palestinian-Israeli settlement, where according to sources close to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah that Kerry request of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to acknowledge the Jewishness of the state of Israel in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as capital her, to be abandoned principle of the right of return, for work to revive the settlement project on a large scale, so as to include them in the absorption section Arab countries as well as Australia and Canada.
The sources added that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas frequency in the announcement of the approval did not happen on the cover of the Arab countries and offset, chiefly Saudi Arabia. Kerry took the initiative to reassure Abbas that he will take over the job himself. Is there a relationship between Kerry and enthusiasm to reassure King Abdullah?
In total, the Royal Order authorized a new phase, which has eaten sticks instead of counted!

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Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia: is the guardian … Heard and obedience

He stressed the Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, on the need to comply with the order issued to prevent the Saudis from fighting abroad, noting that young people who go out to fight «deceived them from the enemies of Islam», and they are now «sold in the slave market».
Al-Sheikh said, in an interview with the Saudi state television a few days ago: «What ordered by the Crown ordered that does not violate the law of God and we have a duty to listen and obey, because he does not want only good and interest. God made him a patron of this nation, is responsible for security and pay everything about her and protect her religion, view, and its economy ».
He said that «guardian», King Abdullah, «feared for our young people falling prey to the arrows of these and those, so came the Royal Order preventing out to fight outside the country, and that doing so is wrong, because he left damage it», pointing out that «lions ravage »involved in these conflicts.
(News)

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Saudis killed 250 out of 2000 in Syria

The newspaper «Le Figaro» French in a report published yesterday that 250 Saudis have been killed in Syria between 2000 joined the «jihad» and fighting in the ranks of the armed opposition groups, specifically those associated with the organization «Al-Qaeda».
The report said that some of the volunteers fired from the prison condition Go to Syria, however, since, authorities doubled its warnings to the Saudis, who are inclined to join the Syrian armed groups, but the task is difficult, where jihadi groups are being funded at least in part of the Kingdom. The report added: «This is in addition to the role played by intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan. Is it a coincidence? Prince is located in a U.S. hospital three weeks ago. For some, that if disgrace after failing to topple President Bashar al-Assad also pledged ». The report considered that the decision issued by the Saudi king, and which provides for the punishment of fighting outside the Kingdom of imprisonment for a period ranging between 3 and 20 years, it may be «the result of the first to take out of the decision-making circles Bandar».
(News)

The Obama Family and Muslim Bro Plot To Takeover Egypt Revealed

The Obama Family Needs To be Arrested, Found To Be In Secret Plot To Establish Islamic Law

 

 

EXCLUSIVE

 

This report includes all necessary evidence to establish the case for Malik Obama’s link to terrorism. I have acquired Israeli intelligence reports, which add more teeth to make the case even stronger. This includes financial evidence. The hyperlinks in this report are essential. They link to monumental details provided from primary sources. These are not simply opinions; they are intelligence and government reports.

 

Wanted for Questioning: Malik Obama, Mama Sarah Obama, Musa Ismail Obama, and Sayed Obama.

 

The report concludes that Malik Obama’s Foundation (BHOF) was incorrectly awarded tax-exempt status along with the Mama Sarah Obama Foundation (MSOF). Evidence points to the disguising of both as charities when in fact they both advance terror causes.

 

Malik Obama, in his official capacity as Executive Director of the Islamic Dawa Organization (IDO) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7], is also responsible for “charitable fronts” but in reality these are “used to finance terrorism” by partnering with the Union of Good (UG). Pursuant to Executive Order 13224, the U.S. Treasury has designated Union of Good as “Terrorist front” which acts as an umbrella organization that represents over 50 Islamic fundraising groups worldwide, including IDO and WAMY (World Association of Muslim Youth), which are official members of UG. WAMY is “an extremist Islamic foundation in Saudi Arabi oriented towards Hamas” (see intelligence reports and financial transfers of funds here and here). Malik Obama connects his illegally obtained BHOF and IDO fundraising in his promotional billboards in Kogelo as well as in his partnership with WAMY (see Malik’s meeting with Secretary-General of WAMY Dr. Mohammed Omar Badahdah) [1] [2] [3] [4] Cooperation between these groups happens, in part, via WAMY’s office in Nairobi, Kenya and Badahdah’s financial aid to Hamas.

 

As we wrote previously, depending on the translation (Organization vs. Association), the IDO can be identified as Munazzamatal-Da’waal-Islamiia. On a promotional board featured on the BHOF website, the IDO is shown partnering with the BHOF on one of the projects:

 

BHOF and IDO Connected.

 

The official website for UG shows IDO is still active. IDO also has a bank account in Al-Shamal bank, where it receives donations. This bank’s initial operations were heavily financed by Osama bin Laden and was even named as a co-defendant in a lawsuit filed by the families of 9/11/01 victims. Al-Hayat even reported that bin Laden owned the bank during his time in Sudan.

 

This is the tip of the iceberg as to why the UG – with its affiliates (including IDO) – has been designated by U.S. Department of Treasury as “financial fronts” for terrorism (see intelligence report here). On the UG website’s homepage, the two main photos of its two most prominent leaders are #1 president of its organization Yusuf al-Qaradawi (the unwavering supporter for Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations) and the #2 man is none other than Suar al-Dhahab (Malik Obama’s direct supervisor) who represents IDO and works closely with Hamas (see intelligence reports here). Under the UG website’s “Contributing Institutions” page, UG shows that one of the partners is Malik’s IDO. The website even provides the method for donating and lists all the affiliated organizations, including the contact information for Malik’s IDO to direct contributions for Hamas:

 

 

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (#19 on the list) in Israel (see #19 and also here), has investigated UG and concluded that:

 

“Dozens of foundations that are operated abroad by Hamas, most of which are members of the Union of Good, along with dozens of Hamas charitable associations active in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, form a well organized and coordinated support network, that includes Hamas’s fundraising arm abroad and the vital civilian and infrastructure networks in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. In this framework, tens of millions of dollars per annum are transferred from the overseas foundations to Hamas associations in the field.”

 

Multiple websites that tout fundraising activities include IDO sending charities to Hamas can be found [here] (see section: “IDO donations linked to Hamas”). Suar al-Dhahab is also vice chairman of the The Al-Quds (Jerusalem) International Foundation (JIF), which is also designated by U.S. Treasury under E.O. 13224 as a terror front for Hamas; financial transactions funding Hamas can be seen in intelligence reports (here and here pg.7 lists IDO). In one incident, Malik’s immediate supervisor, Suar al-Dahab raised over $8 million for JIF and in another incident, $1 billion is claimed by one of IDO’s affiliates, adding further to what we previously disclosed. The only projects in Kogelo, Kenya that qualify under a non-profit claimed by BHOF are: land, a well, and a mosque structure. According to Malik, the mosque was donated by “Dr. Muhammad Al-Maneea” from “Saudi Arabia” and “Ali M. Zaghmout” from Qatar; the well came courtesy of “Alislah Society” in Bahrain, which is also a terror front that funds Hamas (see appendix D, #9 from Intelligence reports via INTERPAL).

 

The U.S. government is authorized to block the assets of organizations and individuals that provide financial support to terrorist organizations. Both BHOF and MSOF are in violation of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). Therefore, due process should be enforced. According to Reuters, Malik Obama is a U.S. resident who has lived in Washington, D.C. since 1985.

 

The Reuters report also claims that the BHOF is a…

 

“…charitable organization (Malik) founded to build houses for women and orphans…”

 

The BHOF funded the Barack H. Obama Recreation Center and Rest Area in Nyan’oma Kogelo, designated land for a mosque, a mosque structure, and a well. The BHOF raised money by falsely claiming to be a tax-exempt charity.

 

When chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the IRS, not only was it never investigated but Malik was allowed to submit an application (May 23rd, 2011) to the IRS which was met with a 501(c)(3) approval letter that illegally granted the group’s tax-exempt status retroactively, 38 months.

 

According to National Legal and Policy Center, this constitutes “common law fraud and potentially even federal mail fraud.” MSOF has a similar case, it essentially operates as a non-profit; it uses California Community Foundation (CCF), itself a 501(c)(3) based in Los Angeles, CA. CCF transfers donations marked for MSOF out of the U.S. MSOF’s operations are quite illegal based on Musa Obama’s own admission on Al-Jazeera and by monitoring MSOF’s activities in the Middle East. It operates as a fundraising entity in which 90% of such funds are raised from major U.S. institutions to send Kenyan students to the top 3 most radical Wahhabist madrassas in Saudi Arabia. When he was Secretary of State, Colin Powell testified in 2004 before the House Appropriations Committee that madrassas were breeding grounds for “fundamentalists and terrorists…”

 

On October 16, 2003, in a memo to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other top Pentagon officials, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld put forth a similar view. From documented studies, it is concluded that several of president Obama’s family members – including Grand Mother Mama Sarah (MSOF Foundation) including her fundraisers Uncle Sayed (Saeed, Sayid, etc.) Obama and Cousin Musa Ismail Obama, who admitted on al-Jazeera Arabic television, to funding scholarships from Africa to the top Wahhabi madrassas in Saudi Arabia.

 

Now with Malik Obama’s activities, a clandestine team that funds the promotion of global terrorism appears to be made up of several Obama family members.

Saudi Arabian Ambassador To Britain Denies Funding Syrian Islamists

Saudi Arabia denies funding Daash

Saturday, 01 February 2014
A Saudi newspaper denied on Saturday a story published by a British newspaper on funding ” Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant ” , what is known for short as ” Daash ” , describing it as a ” false allegations”.

The official Saudi news agency quoted , the Saudi ambassador to Britain, Mohammed bin Nawaf of what he considered as ” false allegations by The Independent newspaper on his country,” which appeared in an article titled ” Middle Eastern regimes fighting al-Qaeda now.”

The agency said that , “The Saudi ambassador said in a letter published in the same newspaper , this week that the false claims made ​​in the article about Kingdom of Saudi Arabia funding the so-called organization of the state of Iraq and the Levant Islamic and described it as false , adding that the Saudi Embassy totally rejects such accusations and consider them as misleading”.

The Saudi ambassador noted in his letter , that ” his country’s position towards the violent extremism file is supposed to be clear ,” but he considered ” the allegations made in the article as an opportunity to clarify the position of his country , and confirm it again.

The ambassador added that ” Saudi Arabia is continuing in its efforts to show its support for the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian opposition and want the same thing from the world .”

He added that Saudi Arabia ” has repeatedly stressed that it is tirelessly providing support for the forces of moderation which is the most effective way to retard the growth of the extremism forces inside Syria.”

The British writer , Robert Fisk had published an article in the ” Independent newspaper ” , in the fifth of last month , in which he accused Saudi Arabia of funding ” Daash organization ” , which is fighting in Syria, both of the Free Syrian Army and the regime of Bashar al-Assad together .

It is worth mentioning that battles are taking place between the police forces and tribesmen loyal to the government against al ” Daash ” in Anbar province

© Shafaq News 2014

Saudi Arabia shuns Syria extremists  

Mohammed bin Nawaf  Al Saud

The false claims made in the article “Now it’s Middle Eastern regimes fighting al-Qa’ida” (6 January) about the Kingdom financing the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are of the utmost seriousness. The Embassy refutes such implications and finds them an inaccurate and misleading account of the situation.

We would assume our attitude towards violent extremism is clear. In the light of the article, however, we would like to take this opportunity to again clarify our position and the imprecision of this accusation.

Saudi Arabia continues to show its support for the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Opposition. Global hesitation to do the same, we believe, is acting as a large barrier in movement towards peace. It is only too easy to assign blame for indecisiveness and hesitation in the support of the Syrian Opposition to fear of indirectly enabling the involvement of al-Qaeda within Syria.

In reality, it is this lack of international involvement that is paving the way for terrorist-affiliated networks to breed within Syria. Saudi Arabia has unremittingly emphasised that provision of support to forces of moderation is the most effective manner in which to stunt the growth of forces of extremism within Syria.

The Kingdom continues through the Friends of Syria group to urge the international community to be more courageous in displaying their support for the coalition and the Free Syrian Army, who are in desperate need of international assistance.

Mohammed bin Nawaf  Al Saud

Ambassador, Embassy of Saudi Arabia, London W1

Robert Fisk

Sunday 5 January 2014

Now it’s Middle Eastern regimes fighting al-Qa’ida,

while the US ties itself up in knots

This is “Arab unity” as we have never seen it before. But watch out

And so, for the first time in recent history, it seems that the “war against terror” – and specifically against al-Qa’ida – is being fought by Middle East regimes rather than their foreign investors.

Sure, American drones still smash into al-Qa’ida operatives, wedding parties and innocent homes in Pakistan. But it’s General al-Sisi of Egypt, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran – even powerless President Michel Sleiman of Lebanon – who are now fighting “terrorists”.

It shows how powerful the bad guys have become that mutually antagonistic dictators and satraps can gang together against America’s enemy. This is “Arab unity” as we have never seen it before. The Ottoman Empire lives again. But watch out.

You need to put on a tin hat to avoid the ironies crashing out of the sky. John Kerry – now the most outrageously funny Secretary of State in US history, he who promised an “unbelievably small” airstrike against Syria – says America supports the secular rebels against Assad, who are fighting the Islamist rebels who are fighting against Assad even though the US still wants the overthrow of – you guessed it – Bashar al-Assad.

Meanwhile private Saudi money is still pouring into Syria to help the al-Qa’ida-associated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) – against whom Bashar and the secular Free Syrian Army are now fighting – while the Saudis also contribute billions to Sisi’s army in Egypt which is fighting identical al-Qa’ida-linked “terror” in Sinai and now, it appears, in Cairo itself. And if you are confused by all this, try Lebanon.

Last week, the authorities claimed to have arrested Majid bin Mohamed al-Majid, one of the “most wanted” al-Qa’ida men in Saudi Arabia. All they had to do to confirm this extraordinary detention was to use DNA to check the man’s identity. This came only weeks after Lebanese Shias blamed Saudi “terrorists” for blowing up the Iranian embassy in Beirut, an attack followed by the assassination of a prominent Sunni politician and then – last week – by a further attack on Shias in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital. No sooner had Sunni ex-minister Mohammed Chatah been car-bombed to death, than the Americans promised more money to the Lebanese army. How, then, could the Lebanese avoid being drawn into the “anti-terrorist” war after arresting Majid? Miraculously – and there have been a lot of miracles in the Middle East region, as we all know – the Lebanese not only confirmed that they had indeed got the right man, but that he had regrettably died of organ failure while in their custody. Phew!

Majid al-Majid was the alleged leader of the group that claimed responsibility for the attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut in November

But US support for the Lebanese military will go ahead. Just as Washington is now offering more missiles and planes to the Shia sub-dictator President Maliki of Iraq if he goes on biffing Sunni insurgents and al-Qa’ida men in Anbar province. History, of course, repeats itself in Fallujah and Ramadi, the two cities repeatedly conquered and then re-conquered and then re-conquered for a third time by US forces after the illegal invasion of 2003. In 2004, the Marines claimed they had wiped out al-Qa’ida in Fallujah, then handed the city over to Baathist policemen. Then the Americans virtually destroyed the city around the heads of al-Qa’ida after another few months – we will not mention the use of US phosphorous shells and the outbreak of childbirth abnormalities more than five years later – and now the largely Shia Iraqi army is fighting the Sunni tribesmen of Fallujah. Who are in turn (be patient, readers) claiming they are fighting the local al-Qa’ida groups, just as the Free Syrian Army insists that it is now in combat against the same al-Qa’ida groups in Syria.

Meanwhile Kerry – who has not invited the Iranians to the Geneva 2 talks on Syria – says Iran might play a valuable role “on the sidelines” (has ever an invitation to Iran appeared more insulting?) while the main Syrian opposition forces have no intention of taking part in the Swiss conference. Geneva 2, in other words, is a dead duck; just like the Palestinian-Israeli talks of which Kerry still speaks with optimism – a sure sign that this particular duck is also dying.

Who now remembers the Arab Awakening – or “spring” as some of my colleagues still insist on calling it? Well, let’s just take a look at an ominous statement this past weekend in which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the latest bomb in Beirut – the one that killed at least four civilians in the Hezbollah suburbs. So now Isil – as I suppose we must call it – acknowledges it is fighting on three fronts: Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. So we have Arab regime unity at last. As for America – well, I guess they’ll go on supporting the Free Syrian Army which is fighting al-Qa’ida which is fighting Bashar whom Washington wants to dethrone.

America’s Muslim Brotherhood friends in Egypt have just been formally classed as “terrorists” by Sisi who is supported by the country which is paying – long live Salafism – for Islamist “terror” in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. And Saudi Arabia – the key to the whole fandango, though no one will say this – remains a close and “moderate” friend of America. Say no more.

The Royal Saudi Decree Defining Democratic Expression As Terrorism

[The following decree is impossible to understand without access to a Saudi law library.]

Crown Prince Chairs Cabinet Session

​​HRH the Crown Prince Chairing the Session

​

Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, chaired the Cabinet’s session Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday afternoon.

“Second:

After reviewing the report submitted by the Interior Ministry on the draft penal system for crimes of terrorism and its financing, and decision of Majlis Al-Shura Council No. (45/44) dated 24/07/1432 AH, the Cabinet decided as follows:

First: Approval of a penal system for crimes of terrorism and its financing, as attached to the resolution:

Second: Provisions – referred to in clause (Second) of the Royal Decree No. (M / 31) dated 11/05/1433 AH shall be in effect – on penalties related to crimes of financing terrorism, terrorist acts and terrorist organizations, stipulated in the Anti-Money Laundering Act, issued by Royal Decree No. (M/39) dated 25/06/1424 AH, until the issuance of provisions relating to such penalties.

A royal decree has been prepared for that.

Among the most prominent features of the penal system against the crimes of terrorism and its financing:

First: It is considered a procedural penal system in which the principle of balance has been taken into consideration between the risks being resulted from such crimes, and the protection of human rights being preserved and confirmed by Islamic (Sharia) law.

Second: The penal System defined the meaning of terrorist offense as any act done by the offender pursuant to a criminal scheme being carried out, individually or collectively, directly or indirectly, aiming to disturb public order, undermining the security of society and the stability of the State, endangering its national unity, disabling the country’s Basic Law or some of its articles, defaming the State or its status, inflicting damages on one of the State’s facilities or natural resources, attempting to compel one of its powers to take undesired action or otherwise, threatening to carry out actions leading to the aforementioned goals or inciting to commit them.

Third: The penal system specified the procedures necessary and guarantees due when dealing with a suspect of committing a terrorist crime or financing it. Most prominent of these procedures and guarantees are the authorization of the Minister of Interior to stop proceedings of charges laid against whoever initiates to report on one of the crimes contained in the system – before starting judicial proceedings – and cooperate with the competent authorities during the investigation to catch the perpetrators or others who may be linked to a similar crime in terms of its type or severity. The penal system also authorized the Minister of Interior for the release of the detained or sentenced during serving a prison sentence.”

Saudi anti terrorism decree

[ONLY FIRST PAGE TRANSLATED THROUGH GOOGLE]

“Approval of the crimes of terrorism and its financing 03/30/1435 The Council of Ministers after seeing the treatment received from the Royal Court (no. 17138 ) dated 20/03/1433 AH , containing a telegram of His Royal Highness the Minister of Interior No. 1 ( u / 30936 ) dated 06/05/1428 AH in a draft penal system for crimes of terrorism and its financing . Having examined the Royal Decree No. (M / 31) and the date of 11/05/1433 AH . After examining the records No. ( 190 ) dated 05/07/1432 AH , and No. ( 300 ) dated 10/07/1432 AH , and No. ( 402 ) dated 09/24/1432 AH , and No. ( 535 ) dated 12/20/1432 AH , and the number ( 350 ) dated 06/22/1433 AH , and No. ( 173 ) dated 03/28/1434 AH , and No. ( 510 ) dated 09/14/1434 AH , and No. (18 ) dated 04/01/1435 AH , and number (20) and the date of 8/1 / e in 1435 , and No. ( 49 ) dated 01/16/1435 AH , and memorandum No. ( 654 ) dated 12/01/1434 AH , in the stomach experts Bureau . After consideration of the Shura Council resolution No. ( 45/44 ) dated 07/24/1432 AH . Having considered the recommendation of the General Committee of the Council of Ministers No. (100 ) dated 30/01/1435 AH . Decides as follows : First, the approval of the crimes of terrorism and its financing , as accompaniment . Second, continue to work provisions – referred to in clause ( ii) of the Royal Decree No. (M / 31) and the date of 11/05/1433 AH – related penalties related to crimes of financing terrorism, terrorist acts and terrorist organizations , stipulated in the Anti-Money Laundering , issued Royal Decree No. (M / 39 ) dated 25/06/1424 AH , and until such time as the release of provisions relating to such sanctions and work under them . A draft royal decree this, phrased to accompany this . Third, the allocation of the circle in the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution to investigate the offense of financing terrorism , after the readiness of the Commission to do so. Deputy Prime Minister”

The decision of the Board ù Q Ministers No. 63 and the date of 13/02/1435 AH

 

Approval of the crimes of terrorism and its financing

The Council of Ministers 􀁾 Q Having examined the treatment received from the Royal Court No. ) 17138 ( And the date of 20/03/1433 AH , pain 􀁿 Stmlh on cable 􀀸 His Royal Highness the 􀁾 Minister of Interior No. ) 􀀷 1 u / 30936 ( and the date of 05/06/1428 AH in St. 􀀷 that M 􀁿 initiate penal system for crimes of a phobia and funding . After examining the bitter 􀀶 Som Royal No. ) m / 31 ( and the date 05/11/1433 AH . After examining the accounting 􀀹 harm number (190) and the date of 07/05/1432 AH , No. (300) and the date of 07/10/1432 AH , and number ) 402 ( and the date 09/24/1432 AH , and number ) 535 ( and the date of 20/12/1432 AH , No. (350) and the date of 22/06/1433 AH , and the number (173) and the date of 28/03/1434 AH , and the number (510) and the date of 09/14/1434 AH , and No. (18) and the date of 01/04/1435 AH , and number (20) and the date of 08/01/1435 AH , And number (49) and the date of 01/16/1435 AH , and the note number ) 654 ( and the date 12/01/1434 AH , the expert body in the stomach Bcil 􀁾 Q minister. After considering the decision of the Board of 􀁾 Q 􀁿 Shura No. ) 45/44 ( and the date 07/24/1432 AH . After examining the 􀀸 testament to the General Committee of the Board of 􀁾 Q Ministers No. (100) And the date of 01/30/1435 AH . Decides the following : First: the approval of the crimes of the phobia and its financing , pal 􀂀 formula accompaniment . Second, my work 􀁾 pass judgments – pain 􀁿 referred to in item ) Second ( Bitter from the Royal 􀀶 Som number ) m / 31 ( and the date 05/11/1433 e – Relating to the penalties of the 􀂀 link crimes to finance A phobia and Business A Rhabiyh and organizations to AAA to Rhabiyh , aphids 􀂀 SOW 􀀸 p in the combat system N 􀁾 sales of funds , the 􀂀 Palmer issued Royal Decree No. 􀀶 Sum m) / 39 ( and the date 25/06/1424 AH , and until such time as the release of 􀀸 A rulers relating to those Sanctions and work under them . It has been prepared m 􀁿 start over 􀀶 Som so regal , 􀀸 phrased to accompany this . Third: TeX 􀂀 recommends 􀂀 p circle in the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution to investigate A crime to finance terrorism , after the readiness of the Commission to do so. Vice Presiden ù ù o o Council of Ministers Approval of the crimes of terrorism and its financing ************************ Over the S Som royal No. M / 16 and the date of 02/24/1435 AH With the help of God We Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud 􀀶 King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 􀁾 Based on the article ) the 􀁾 seventy ( of the A ‘s 􀀶 Si Sa 􀀶 rule , issued by the 􀂀 Lamar Royal Ba a number ) A / 90 (dated 08/27/1412 AH . Based on Article ) General 􀁿 Shireen ( System Board of 􀁾 Q Minister , issued the 􀂀 Lamar Royal Ba a number ) A / 13 (dated 03/03/1414 AH . Based on the article ) eighth p 􀁿 voracious ( System Board of 􀁾 Q 􀁿 the Shura , The Ba 􀂀 issued a Royal Decree No. Lamar ) A / 91 (dated 27/08/1412 AH . After examining the bitter 􀀶 Som Royal No. ) m / 31 (dated 05/11/1433 AH . Having considered the decision of the Board of 􀁾 Q 􀁿 Shura No. ) 45/44 (dated 07/24/1432 AH . Having considered the decision of the Board of 􀁾 Q Ministers No. (63) dated 02/13/1435 AH . T 􀀶 Smona what is coming : First: the approval of the crimes of the phobia and its financing , pal 􀂀 formula Accompaniment . Second, my work 􀁾 pass a Ba rulers – pain 􀁿 referred to in item ) Second ( Bitter from the Royal 􀀶 Som number ) m / 31 (dated 05/11/1433 AH – Relating to the penalties of the crimes related to the financing of 􀂀 A phobia for a wa Workers A Rhabiyh to terrorist organizations , aphids 􀂀 SOW 􀀸 p in the combat system N A 􀁾 sales to pro , the 􀂀 Palmer issued Royal Decree No. 􀀶 Som ) m / 39 (dated 25/06/1424 AH , and until such time as the release of 􀀸 A rulers relating to those Sanctions and work under them . Third: HH the Deputy 􀀶 felt 􀁾 Q 􀁾 Council of Ministers and Minister o t Ä 􀀶 worsened Agencies involved pain 􀁾 Stqlh – all in Ikh 􀂀 whist – over the implementation of 􀀶 Somena This . Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud S ******************** System crimes of terrorism and its financing Pray first thousand ü Definitions Article I : Ik 􀂀 repel the following words and phrases – wherever they appear in this system – the meanings Elmo 􀀹 Wadha in front of each of them , unless the limitation with 􀂁 Z 􀁾 the context otherwise requires: A – terrorist crime : Each act undertaken by the offender did not implement 􀁿 initiate individual or collective criminal b 􀁿 form Including 􀀷 evil or non- evil 􀀷 including , Ik 􀂀 repulsed by disturbing public order , security or destabilize Community Wa State 􀀶 stability or undressing 􀂁 Z and national unity at risk , or Disable system only 􀀶 Si Sa 􀀶 rule or some 􀂁 Z materials , or only 􀀶 abuse to 􀀶 reputation State or position , or append the 􀂁 damage to a state facilities or resources Natural , or attempt to coerce a 􀀶 powers to do or Abstain from , or the threat of carrying out acts of T. lead to Almqa 􀀸 mentioned or repel Investigation 􀂁 Z them. B – the offense of financing terrorism : Every act be it within 􀂁 raise money , or offer, or taken , or TeX 􀂀 recommends 􀂀 systematically integrating , Or transfer , or convert them – or revenue – in whole or in part for any n 􀁿 activity Terrorist individually or collectively , structured or unstructured , at home or in Abroad , 􀀶 whether to form 􀁿 including 􀀷 evil or non- evil including 􀀷 of AD was issued 􀂀 M 􀁿 proceed or not proceed 􀁿 m . Or do not 􀂀 Sulha this activity or Allen 􀁿 us 􀀸 Sarra B any bank or m 􀂀 banking , financial or commercial , or Alth 􀂀 WASEEL Including 􀀷 evil or Palo 􀀶 brokerage funds did not 􀀶 Stglalha 􀂀 Salehth , or to call And the promotion of its principles , or management training places , or sheltering us 􀀸 Sarra , or Provide them with any kind of weapons or only 􀀶 pain 􀁾 Stndhat counterfeit , or make any And 􀀶 way m 􀁾 assistance and other means 􀀶 support and funding so knowing ; Each act in the form of 􀁿 crime within one agreements contained in the annex International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism , and as defined in those Agreements . C – the money : However, the arrival 􀀸 or property of any value or kind tangible or intangible , Malmo 􀀶 ssh or non Malmo 􀀶 ssh, movable or immovable , and the documents and instruments 􀂀 The pain 􀁾 Stndhat 􀀷 whatever form , including electronic or digital systems The pain 􀂀 banking credits that indicate ownership or m 􀂀 where Sulha including For example on 􀀶 not insisted 􀂀 grate all kinds of 􀁿 checks and money orders, but shares 􀀶 The Securities and 􀁾 bonds , bills and letters of credit . D – Seizure : The Interim ban on the transfer of funds to a United 􀂀 and links and USA 􀀶 modes, or converted , Or replaced , or Walt 􀂀 exchange , or agitated , or 􀀹 and Put hand on them, or booked B 􀂀 image Agueth m ; 􀀶 a Stnada to 􀀸 is issued by a court or authority 􀀶 Mokht 􀂀 ‘s share this. E – utilities and public property and private 􀀸 ‘s share : Real and personal property owned by the state or only 􀀷 Chka 􀀸 r people with the recipe 􀂀 Public moral , or be brain 􀂀 p 􀂀 ‘s share did not 􀂀 Sulha general, aphids St. 􀁿 coming List belonging to the state , or that tens of 􀁿 Hiha , or Allen 􀁿 Hatat provided by To achieve goers 􀀹 Z of Agra 􀀹 Z public utility service for the citizens , Ot 􀁿 included As well as the real and personal property belonging to individuals or only 􀀷 Chka 􀀸 r with the recipe 􀂀 Private moral 􀀸 ‘s share , or bodies Diploma 􀀶 Seah , bodies or organizations International or now 􀁾 lingual , operating in the country . And – hand Sister 􀂀 Sa 􀀸 AM: The party that takes place her sister 􀂀 Sa 􀀸 am – Drug Control or only 􀀶 Stdalal , or Arrest 􀂁, Z or investigation , or the public prosecution , or trial , Bh 􀁾 Sep 􀁾 the context of – Under the provisions of this Regulation . Ü thousand Pray second General Provisions Article II : The crimes of terrorism and financing of major crimes requiring detention . Article III : 􀀶 the exception of the principle of regional , T. 􀁾 secret provisions of this order on all 􀀷 piss 􀂀 p. 􀀶 Saudis or foreigners was committed – outside the kingdom – a crime Manna 􀂀 SOW 􀀸 PO forth in this order, or 􀀶 helped to commit, or 􀀷 initiated , Or free 􀀹 Z them , or where a 􀀶 share , or 􀀷 involving , not tried them ; if Was aimed at any of the j come : -1 Regime change in Saudi Arabia. -2 Disable the system only 􀀶 Si Sa 􀀶 rule or some 􀂁 Z materials . -3 Carrying State to do or abstain . -4 Assault on the 􀁾 Saudis abroad . -5 But 􀀹 Dirar Proprietary state’s public abroad , including the embassies or 􀁾 Other places Diploma 􀀶 Se or serf 􀂀 originals affiliates. -6 Carry out a terrorist act on board and 􀀶 way Moi 􀀸 links 􀁾 m record to the Kingdom Or carry flag. -7 Pain 􀁾 sa 􀀶 Q Bam 􀂀 in favor of the Kingdom, or received 􀂀 Sadha , or national security or Social . Ü thousand Pray third Actions Article IV : Minister of the Interior ordered the issuance E. 􀀸 Balqub 􀂁 on the Z- Z 􀁿 suspected of committing a crime Crimes of aphids 􀂀 SOW 􀀸 r in this system , and may Levu 􀀹 of Z sees 􀀹 determined in accordance with the regulations . Article V : In terms of investigating the arrest of the accused in an offense manna 􀂀 SOW 􀀸 p in This system or for successive periods not exceeding in the aggregate on a six 􀀶 􀀷 month , And its extension 􀀶 a six month 􀀷 other investigative procedures if required so . In cases that require a longer period of detention ; refer the matter to the court Criminal Almtak 􀂀 p 􀂀 ‘s share to decide what you see in St. 􀀷 that extension. Article VI : Without prejudice to the right of the accused in the areas 􀂀 contacted his family to inform them of it Balqub 􀂁 Z ; In terms of the investigation that is preventing T. areas 􀂀 contacted the defendant for a period not exceeding T. 􀁾 sought Days, if met 􀂁 Dt m 􀂀 Sulha investigation that , in the request for investigation Longer ; refer the matter to the Court of Criminal Almtak 􀂀 p 􀂀 ‘s share to decide what you see . Article VII : Shall not release the Interim any accused but to the order of the Minister of Interior or Levu 􀀹 renaissance . Article VIII : The Court of Criminal Almtak 􀂀 p 􀂀 ‘s share thousand 􀂀 Pray crimes manna 􀂀 SOW 􀀸 p In this system , and the cancellation of claims decisions , and compensation claims 􀂁, Z Provisions relating to the application of this system . Ot 􀁾 six nose provisions before the Court But 􀀶 appeal Almtak 􀂀 p 􀂀 ‘s share , and may be recognized 􀀹 Z on the circle in front of its provisions Mtak 􀂀 p 􀂀 ‘s share in the Supreme Court. Article IX : The Court T. 􀂀 issued a default judgment against a person accused of a crime Crimes manna 􀂀 SOW 􀀸 r in this system if it reaches the right for notification 􀀸 Road and 􀀶 a means of communication or media and 􀀶 Waller 􀀶 toxicity , and doomed It recognized the right of 􀀹 Z to govern.