…from beneath the crooked bough, witness 230 years of brutal tyranny by the al Khalifas come to an end

Ignored by English-language media, rural uprisings spread across industries as hundreds of thousands protest US-backed govt

Colombia Nationwide Strike Against ‘Free Trade,’ Privatization, Poverty
by Sarah Lazare – Common Dreams, 25 August, 2013

Protests in Sincelejo (Photo: Marcha Patriotica)A nationwide strike in Colombia—which started as a rural peasant uprising and spread to miners, teachers, medical professionals, truckers, and students—reached its 7th day Sunday as at least 200,000 people blocked roads and launched protests against a U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and devastating policies of poverty and privatization pushed by US-backed right-wing President Juan Manuel Santos.

“[The strike is a condemnation] of the situation in which the Santos administration has put the country, as a consequence of its terrible, anti-union and dissatisfactory policies,” declared the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), the country’s largest union, in a statement.

The protests and strikes, largely ignored in the English-language media, have been met with heavy crackdown from Colombia’s feared police, with human rights organization Bayaca reporting shootings, torture, sexual assault, severe tear-gassing, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses on the part of state agents. Colombia’s Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon recently claimed that the striking workers are being controlled by the “terrorist” Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in a country known for using unverified claims of FARC connections as an excuse to launch severe violence against social movements.

“Violent clashes continue in rural areas where farmers and truck drivers have been setting up roadblocks since Monday, and the Santos administration has deployed 16,000 additional military personnel to ‘control the situation,'” Neil Martin of the Colombia-based labor solidarity organization Paso International told Common Dreams Sunday. “There have not been deaths reported in relation to this violence, but human rights organizations and YouTube videos have documented military personnel beating protestors, stealing supplies, carrying out vandalism unwarranted arrests, and generally inciting violence.”

Protesters are levying a broad range of concerns about public policies that devastate Colombia’s workers, indegenous, and Afro-Colombian communities. The US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement has forced small farmers to compete with subsidized US products, made them more vulnerable to market fluctuations, and eroded their protections and social safety nets through the implementation of neoliberal policies domestically. Farmers are demanding more protections and services in a country beset with severe rural poverty.

Meanwhile, the Colombian government is handing out sweetheart deals to international mining companies while creating bans and roadblocks for Colombian miners. Likewise, the government is giving multinational food corporations access to land earmarked for poor Colombians. Healthcare workers are fighting a broad range of reforms aimed at gutting and privatizing Colombia’s healthcare system. Truckers are demanding an end to low wages and high gas prices.

“This is the third or fourth large-scale non-military rural uprising this year,” Martin told Common Dreams.

Colombian workers organizing to improve their lives are met with an onslaught of state violence: Colombia is the deadliest country in the world for union activists, according to the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, and 37 activists were murdered in Colombia in the 1st half of 2013 alone, leading news weekly Semana reports. …more

Anti-Syria Western axis coming apart
26 August, 2013 – By Finian Cunningham – PressTV

The recent spate of military setbacks heralding eventual defeat for the Western-led axis has created a new dynamic of calculations among the protagonists. This is typical of a criminal conspiracy coming unstuck. The different priorities of the protagonists start to diverge; that dynamic then induces feelings of distrust, treachery and resentment.”
As in all criminal conspiracies when results do not go according to plan, the protagonists start blaming one another; and because of the treacherous nature of the conspiracy, the partners-in-crime are eventually prone to feelings of distrust, resentment and paranoia.

This splintering and bickering can be seen in the Western-led axis against Syria. In recent weeks, we have signs of emerging rivalries, spats and distrust that all point to the axis coming apart.

That may be the important backdrop to this week’s alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus, in which over 100 people were killed.

Suspicion points to the atrocity being ultimately the work of Saudi Arabia or Israel, or both, in an attempt to trigger a full-scale Western military intervention. This despicable act is more a sign of desperation stemming from failing cracks in the Western-led axis against Syria. It is an attempt to bring about cohesion in the axis, which has in recent weeks seen its various adherents drifting apart as a result of the losing war situation.

Thus, this past week we witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of Saudi King Abdullah rebuking the United States for “ignorant meddling” in Egypt; we also saw NATO member Turkey accusing Israel of fomenting the military coup in Egypt against Ankara’s allied Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi; and then the US slapped down Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for leveling such accusations against its client in Tel Aviv.

Before that rash of grouching, the Persian Gulf Arab sheikhdoms were aggrieved by Washington’s unprecedented closure of embassies throughout the region over an alleged terror threat. There were even paranoid accusations from the monarchs that the US was trying to destabilize their autocratic rule.

Within the Persian Gulf oil monarchs, there has of course been a seething rivalry between the dominant Saudi Arabia and the upstarts of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. This came to the fore last month when the House of Saud pushed Qatar out of the driving seat for gun-running in the Western-led axis against Syria.

Why these tensions within the Western-led axis are emerging now is because of the imminent failure of the military option for regime change in Syria. The main Western powers of the US, Britain and France seem to have given up the ghost on overthrowing the Damascus government through covert state-sponsored terrorism. Turkey’s Recep Erdogan has also reportedly decided to back off from supporting the Takfiri militants in Syria, probably reflecting his government’s concern that the repercussions of blowback terrorism are destabilizing Ankara’s internal authority.

Saudi Arabia and Israel appear to be still committed to the militarist option, not only in Syria, but also in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere.

The recent spate of military setbacks heralding eventual defeat for the Western-led axis has created a new dynamic of calculations among the protagonists. This is typical of a criminal conspiracy coming unstuck. The different priorities of the protagonists start to diverge; that dynamic then induces feelings of distrust, treachery and resentment.

For nearly two and half years, Syria has been targeted by a relentless covert war of aggression aimed at destabilizing the country and instigating regime change. The Western axis sponsoring the covert war comprises primarily the United States and the former colonial powers Britain and France, along with their regional proxies Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey.

The military option for regime change in Syria is proving to be a failure. The turning point was the battle for Qusayr when the Syrian army liberated the key mid-regional town. Since then, the Western-backed mercenaries have been decisively on the retreat, engaging in more and more sickening atrocities. The elusive goal of overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad has created a sense of defeatism among the Western-led conspiracy.

This explains why the Americans, British and French have not delivered on promised weaponry to the foreign militants in Syria, despite having given the official go-ahead for this supply more than two months ago. This delay has engendered bitter resentment among the mercenaries and their Saudi paymaster towards the Western governments, whom they accuse of betraying.

Notably too when the Saudi-backed exile group, the Syrian National Coalition, sent its top delegates to the US at the end of July to drum up weapons and materials, they came away jilted and empty handed. The SNC delegation, headed up by Saudi protégé Ahmad al-Jarba, was told by US Secretary of State John Kerry that there was “no military solution” to the Syrian problem, and that they would have to sit down to negotiate with the government in Damascus. …more

Alexander Lukashevich, spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry, said: “All these things force us to remember the events of 10 years ago, when false information about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was used as a pretext by the U.S., who went around the UN on an undertaking, the consequences of which are well-known to all. We again firmly urge to not repeat the mistakes of the past, and not to allow actions that are out of accord with international rights.”

UN inspectors’ car ‘deliberately shot at multiple times’ by snipers in Syria
By Albina Kovalyova, Alastair Jamieson and Catherine Chomiak – NBC News – 26 August, 2013

A United Nations team investigating claims of a poison-gas attack in a rebel-held suburb of the Syrian capital collected blood samples and interviewed survivors Monday despite being temporarily turned back by sniper fire.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the team had completed its first day of inspection as he chided the regime and opposition forces to ensure “the safety and security of the investigation teams.”

The six-car convoy carrying the team was initially thwarted and forced to return to a government checkpoint after being “deliberately” targeted while driving in the capital.

“Despite such very difficult circumstances, our team returned to Damascus and replaced their car and proceeded to a suburb of Damascus to carry on their investigation,” the secretary-general said.

“They visited two hospitals, they interviewed witnesses, survivors and doctors, they also collected some samples.”

The investigation centers around a rebel-held suburb of Damascus known as Eastern Ghouta, where activists say rockets loaded with poison gas killed hundreds of civilians on Wednesday, many of them women and children.

Dressed in blue U.N. body armor, the team was accompanied by security forces and an ambulance.

There’s a sense of urgency at the White House about the ongoing issues in Syria. NBC’s Kristen Welker reports.

Earlier, Reuters cited residents saying that at least one mortar bomb fell in the area near the Four Seasons hotel, where the U.N. officials are staying. Syrian state media said the bombs had been fired by “terrorists,” the term it uses for rebels fighting President Bashar Assad.

White House officials said Sunday there was “very little doubt” that the Syrian government was responsible and had used chemical weapons to kill hundreds of civilians.

President Barack Obama has already discussed “possible responses by the international community” with allies including Britain and France, with limited airstrikes emerging as the most likely option.

Britain said it would be possible to respond to the “outrages” in Syria without the unanimous backing of the U.N. Security Council.

“We cannot in the 21st century allow the idea that chemical weapons can be used with impunity,” British foreign secretary William Hague said Monday. “The Prime Minister has discussed that with President Obama, they are agreed there must be a serious response by the international community.”

He added that Britain and other U.S. allies were “in close consultation…every hour” and that details of the international response “will emerge in due course.”

But Russia criticized the tough talk, warning the U.S. that the recent escalation in pressure by Washington and its allies echoed the preamble to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Alexander Lukashevich, spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry, said: “All these things force us to remember the events of 10 years ago, when false information about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was used as a pretext by the U.S., who went around the UN on an undertaking, the consequences of which are well-known to all. We again firmly urge to not repeat the mistakes of the past, and not to allow actions that are out of accord with international rights.”

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov later echoed those comments, telling a Moscow news conference that military action without U.N. Security Council approval would be “a very grave violation of international law.”

“If anybody thinks that bombing and destroying the Syrian military infrastructure, and leaving the battlefield for the opponents of the regime to win, would end everything – that is an illusion,” Lavrov said.

In an interview with a Russian newspaper, Assad denied that his forces had used chemical weapons and predicted that any U.S. military intervention in his country would be unsuccessful.

“Failure awaits the United States as in all previous wars it has unleashed, starting with Vietnam and up to the present day,” he told the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper. “Would any state use chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction in a place where its own forces are concentrated? That would go against elementary logic.”

The Obama administration does not want to act unilaterally, an official said Sunday. The official added that the president has not yet determined whether to take action, but wants to have a clear plan in place for how to proceed in the event of U.S. military intervention.

A senior member of the administration said any decision would be based on U.S. intelligence in addition to any findings by U.N. inspectors. The investigators have a mandate to determine if chemical weapons were used, but do not have a mandate to determine who used them, the official said. …source

More Evidence Points To The Syrian Rebels
By: CTuttle, 24 August 24, 2013 – FDL

As U.S. Forces Prepare to Act on Syria as Chemicals Alleged. A lot of new developments have since arisen that points the finger squarely at the Syrian Rebels and not the Syrian Regime. First off, it is almost certain that military grade Chemical Weapons were not used, instead, it is likely that it was some combination of Toxic Industrial Chemicals! (PDF6pgs)

From the Huffington Post…

…Jean Pascal Zanders, an independent researcher who specializes in CBW and disarmament, said that in videos of the aftermath of the attacks, the hue of the victims’ faces appeared to show many suffered from asphyxiation. However, he said the symptoms they exhibited were not consistent with mustard gas or the nerve agents VX or sarin. Mustard gas would cause blistering of the skin and discoloration, while the nerve agents would produce severe convulsions in the victims and also affect the paramedics treating them, neither of which was evident from the videos or reports. “I’m deliberately not using the term chemical weapons here,” he said. “There’s plenty of other nasty stuff that was used in the past as a chemical warfare agent, so many industrial toxicants could be used too.”

Now, as I’ve noted before, prior to the new findings in those Rebel-held tunnels…

Syrian rebels’ Damascus chemical cache found by Syrian Army

A video shot by RT’s sister channel Russia Al Youm shows an old, partly ruined building which was set up as a laboratory. After entering the building, Syrian Army officers found scores of canisters and bags laid on the floor and tables. According to a warning sign on the bags, the “corrosive” substance was made in Saudi Arabia.

Now, while I suspect the Saudis, British MP Galloway thinks it’s the Israelis…

“If there’s been any use of nerve gas, it’s the rebels that used it…If there has been use of chemical weapons, it was Al Qaeda who used the chemical weapons,” claims Galloway in a video distributed on the internet.

“Who gave Al Qaeda the chemical weapons? Here’s my theory: Israel gave them the chemical weapons.”

Btw, whatever happened to the initial 1,300 dead that was(is) wildly hyped about in our MSM…?

Now, contrary to PM Cameron’s assertion that Assad refuses to allow the UN inspectors access…

Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the situation in Syria with President Obama and Prime Minister Harper.

The Prime Minister also spoke to Prime Minister Harper who agreed that the situation was extremely troubling and that the international community must respond appropriately.‬

Well, lah di da…

Syria will let UN inspectors probe chemical attack: FM

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem says Damascus will provide the UN team with access to the site of the recent alleged chemical attack in the country.

In a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Saturday, al-Muallem added that his respective country has cooperated with the UN team of chemical experts present in the country.

He added that Damascus is now holding talks with the UN inspectors on the access to the site of the alleged chemical attack.

Now, as Obama adds another Ballistic Missile Cruiser to the Eastern Mediterranean… Putin Responds To Syria Escalation: May “Reinforce Naval Grouping In Mediterranean” Following US Buildup

Speaking of Russia, Putin’s been keeping a very close eye on Syria, as As-safir reported that Russian satellites had tracked the origin of the attack to a rebel held area…

“The Russian said that the rockets, two of the manufacture of domestic and carrying chemicals, set off from the area controlled by «the banner of Islam», led by Zahran Alwash, the most prominent forces of the armed opposition in Gota.” [Google translate]

And, if there was any doubt about the Syrian Rebels possibly using chemical weapons…

Syria Rebels: We’ll Use Chemical Weapons, Too

The rebel commanders announced that thus far, their forces had refrained from taking over the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons stores, but they will no longer set any limitations on themselves in the fight against the Assad regime.

…more

Bahrain has seen dozens of Children even Infant skilled by CS Gassing

BCHR releases report detailing attacks on children in Bahrain
23 August, 2013

BCSIR ReportThe BCHR has released a new report detailing the authorities’ attacks on children, and violations of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern “at the considerable delay since 2002 in the adoption of the Child Rights” and it called upon the state party ‘to adopt, as a matter of urgency, the Child Rights” and other laws concerning the family and civil society. However, no progress has been made to date in this area.

Instead, there has been an increasing number of attacks reported on children, including torture, forced disappearances, beatings, psychological mistreatment, and attacks on schools. The report includes recommendations for how the government must reform its methods in order to comply with the international treaties to which it is a party. …source

The US Must Not Bear Silent Witness to Another Crackdown in Bahrain
by Jeffrey Bachman and Matar Ebrahim Matar – 14 August, 2013 – by The Guardian UK

A Bahraini protestor stands amidst tear gas fired by riot police during clashes following a protest against the ruling regime in the village of Diraz. (Photograph: Mohammed Al-Shaikh/AFP/Getty)While the US media focuses on events in Egypt, Syria and elsewhere, the people of Bahrain continue to risk their freedom, their mental and physical well-being, and their lives, to carry on with their demands for democracy and human rights. Members of the political opposition, human rights activists, doctors and ordinary Bahraini citizens have been arbitrarily detained, charged with crimes such as “inciting hatred of the regime” and “attempting to overthrow the government”, tortured as a form of punishment and as a means to acquiring forced confessions, and killed by excessive use of force.

The popular protest movement in Bahrain began on 14 February 2011. At one point, early in the uprising, an estimated quarter of Bahrain’s population participated in nonviolent protests. That is equivalent to 75 million Americans protesting simultaneously. The Bahraini regime and its Gulf Co-operation Council partners, led by Saudi Arabia, crushed the protests with overwhelming force.

Yet, Bahraini people still do not have the overt support of the US government – despite President Obama’s (and other administration officials’) claims that the United States stands with all who have democratic aspirations.

This week, on 14 August, following in the footsteps of Egypt’s revolutionary reboot, Bahrainis who oppose the repressive monarchy will begin their own “Tamarod movement”. The date is significant because it is the day Bahrain achieved independence from its British colonizers, and also because it marks two-and-a-half years since the start of Bahrain’s movement for democracy and human rights.

Members of Bahrain’s Tamarod movement first announced their plans for 14 August on 4 July. Despite having more than a month to make the necessary arrangements to allow Bahrainis to safely and securely act on their rights as protected under the UN’s international covenant on civil and political rights, to which Bahrain is a party, the repressive ruling family has, instead, categorically denied Bahrainis their right to protest. And it has threatened those who challenge its dictates. Bahrain’s interior ministry has warned Bahrainis:

Not to respond or react to incitement from political events and social media posts that use ‘Rebellion 14 August’ and encourage the overthrow of the government. Rallies and activities that affect security, public order, civil peace and the interests of the people are against the law. Participants will have legal procedures taken against them.

More recently, Bahrain’s national assembly made 22 recommendations, all of which were endorsed by the king of Bahrain, which it claims are necessary in response to increasing unrest in Bahrain. Although the Bahraini regime has proclaimed its commitment to the reforms laid out in the Bahrain independent commission of inquiry’s report (pdf), the disturbingly draconian policies authorized by the king demonstrate otherwise.

The first of the 22 decrees announces that their purpose is to toughen terrorism laws in order to allow for swift action to protect national security. If the Bahraini regime were only targeting those who have resorted to violence, an argument could be made in support of such efforts. But this has not been the case. According to Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB):

The Bahrain government frequently abuses ambiguous definitions of ‘terrorism’ and related national security crimes in order to justify the arbitrary arrest, detention and sentencing of bloggers, medical professionals and prominent human rights activists.

The government of Bahrain’s real intentions become clearer much later in the list of decrees. The 16th decree states:

Basic liberties, particularly freedom of opinion, should be affected so as to strike a balance between law enforcement and human rights protection.

Under this decree, the Bahraini regime has given itself the power to control, not freedom of speech, which would also be unacceptable, but freedom of opinion.

The 17th decree states:

Examination of the educational policies of the kingdom and review and change educational curricular in a way that protects society from violence and terrorist actions and improves the behavior of students.

Related, the final decree states:

Launching programmes to rehabilitate youths who were exploited in various crimes.

The Bahraini regime has, for all intents and purposes, authorized the re-engineering of its educational system into one based entirely in state propaganda. By protection of society from “violence and terrorist actions”, it means suppression of protest and demands for democratic reforms and respect for human rights. By “rehabilitate youths”, it means the re-education of youth who dare participate in the protests.

These actions cannot be ignored, no matter how important a strategic ally we are told Bahrain is. The United States failed Bahrainis the first time around because it was more concerned with supporting Bahrain’s despotic regime which hosts the US navy’s fifth fleet, appeasing Saudi Arabia, and acting on its geopolitical strategic interests against Iran, than it was with the legitimate aspirations of the citizens of Bahrain – aspirations similar to those the US has previously lent its support. …more

Al Khalifa regime prepares bloodbath
By Finian Cunningham – 13 August, 2013 – PressTV

The scene is being prepared in Bahrain for a bloodbath following a hate-filled speech this week by Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa in which he effectively declared war on the population, equating pro-democracy protesters with terrorists and foreign agents.

“This island will burn to a cinder all those who seek to tamper with its security and stability,” said the Khalifa premier. This corrupt ruler should be arrested for inciting mass murder, and yet the British and American government sponsors of the Bahraini regime say nothing of condemnation. Indeed, these Western governments and their silent news media are complicit in the crimes against humanity in Bahrain.

Khalifa bin Salman is the oldest unelected prime minister in the world, holding office since 1971 when the Persian Gulf kingdom was granted nominal independence by Britain. One of the richest men in the world, he is notorious for plundering the oil wealth of the Bahraini people for his own aggrandizement and that of this crony family – all with British and American government approval.

Earlier this month the Western-backed Khalifa regime invoked even more draconian police-state emergency powers via its unelected rubber-stamp parliament. These powers criminalize all public demonstrations and free speech. The regime has thus given itself a legalistic green light to allow its mercenary police to use lethal force against pro-democracy protests, and to carry out mass arrests and disappearances of anyone it smears as “inciting hatred and violence”.

This applies to the majority of Bahrain’s mainly Shia population who for the past two years (and decades before that) have been demanding an elected representative government to replace the Khalifa absolute monarchial dictatorship.

The Khalifa elite is a Sunni clan, originally from Central Arabia, who were imposed on Bahrain’s indigenous population under the British Empire. Since 1783, the Khalifa regime has subjugated the Bahraini people with oppressive laws and all forms of exploitation, while denying their democratic right of national self-determination.

In recent months, the regime has stepped up its brutal repression towards the Shia population – some 70 per cent of nation. House raids by masked plain-clothed paramilitaries have targeted villages across the island hauling off hundreds of civilians to unknown detention centers.

Among those disappeared are human rights activists, citizen journalists, photographers and lawyers, women and children. This targeting is a deliberate state terrorist measure to silence reports of the crimes that the regime is escalating against the populace.

Some of those detained include award-winning photographers Hussain Hubail and Ahmed Humaidan, as well as journalist Mohammed Hassan.

Bahraini legal sources attest that the detainees have been subjected to torture and gross mistreatment. Another unlawfully detained is female peace activist Rihanna al-Musawi. The mother of three has also been tortured, including being stripped naked in front of male guards and beaten. Her abuses include having her head shoved down a toilet.

Bahrain is thus being sealed off from the outside world, with Western complicity, so that the regime can step up its slaughter of innocent civilians.

In tandem, there is evidence that the Khalifa dictatorship is being supervised by Western intelligence in ways to intensify the repression. Britain has always retained a tight relationship with their Khalifa stooges, ever since nominal independence.

This week marks the country’s so-called Independence Day on 14th August, when
British troops vacated the island in 1971. The occasion should really be called Dependence Day because of the parasitic relationship that Britain holds over Bahrain, with the Khalifa regime serving as the local enforcer of British interests against the democratic aspirations of the majority.

Since 1971 to this day, the Khalifa apparatus of repression and torture is maintained through British security intelligence and expertise. The United States is also a guarantor of Khalifa repression through the presence of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet base. But it is Britain that oversees the nitty-gritty of Bahrain’s barbarity. …more

Bahrain : Torture and incommunicado detention of Mr Mohamed Hassan and detention of his lawyer Mr Abdul Aziz Moussa
Mohamed HassanMohamed Hassan
9 August, 2013- Front Line Defenders

On 7 August 2013, human rights defender and blogger Mr Mohamed Hassan was led before the General Prosecutor in Manama following more than a week of incommunicado detention. Subsequently, his lawyer Mr Abdul Aziz Moussa was detained on 8 August 2013 after he reported on Twitter the visible signs of torture he had seen on Mohamed Hassan.

Before his arbitrary arrest on 31 July 2013, Mohamed Hassan acted as a media contact point for various foreign news stories, which included coverage of anti-government protests and police crackdowns in Bahrain.

On 31 July 2013, Mohamed Hassan was taken from his home by masked men, associated with the Ministry of Interior, and detained incommunicado at the Criminal Investigation Department. He was brought to a meeting with the General Prosecutor on 3 August for which he was denied legal counsel, and charged with “calling for gatherings”.

On 7 August, for the first time, he was able to access legal representation, and was further charged with “operating accounts that call for changing the regime”, “inciting hatred of the regime” and “calling to disobey the law”. Mohamed Hassan remains in detention at El-Hod El-Gaf prison for a period of 45 days pending an investigation.

After the meeting of 7 August, Mohamed Hassan’s lawyer, Abdul Aziz Moussa, reported visible signs of torture on his client’s arms on his Twitter account, confirming the human rights defender’s reports that he had been subjected to torture while in custody at the Criminal Investigation Department. Subsequently, the human rights lawyer was summoned for an interrogation on 8 August. The authorities claimed that Abdul Aziz Moussa had “disclosed confidential information about the investigation”, and decided to keep the lawyer in detention for a week pending investigation.

The support Mohamed Hassan provided to international media, such as The Sunday Telegraph, has previously made him a target for the Bahraini authorities. In June 2012, he was summoned for interrogation and accused of “writing for a website without a license” – an act that does not in fact require a license in Bahrain. He was also arrested on two consecutive days, 21 and 22 April 2012, while accompanying press groups. On the former occasion, he reported being beaten on the leg with a gun barrel. On both days he was released without charges.

The current detention of Mohamed Hassan is part of an alarming wave of suppressive actions targeting human rights defenders and peaceful protesters. The clampdown has intensified in recent days, particularly targeting individuals perceived as sympathetic to the “tamarrod” movement, which calls for a nation-wide protest on 14 August 2013.

On 28 July 2013, the Bahraini National Assembly made a series of alarming recommendations in an extraordinary session, such as “banning sit-ins, rallies and gatherings in the capital Manama”, which, in addition to constituting a violating of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, could potentially sanction in advance repressive actions against peaceful human rights activities, and exclude them from appeal or Royal pardon.

Front Line Defenders considers that the arrest and detention of Mohamed Hassan and Abdul Aziz Moussa to be directly related to their activities in defence of human rights. In the light of the credible reports that Mohamed Hassan was tortured while in custody, Front Line Defenders fears that the safety and the physical and psychological integrity of Mohamed Hassan and Abdul Aziz Moussa are at serious risk. …more

Bahrain: Urgent appeal in relation to the arrest and detention of Mr Mohammed Hassan, Mr Hussain Hubail and Mr Qassim Zain Aldeen
ARTICLE 19 – 08 Aug 2013

To the Special Rapporteur:

We respectfully request that you consider this urgent appeal in relation to the arrest and arbitrary detention by the Government of Bahrain of blogger Mohammed Hassan, freelance photographer Hussain Hubail and freelance cameraman Qassim Zain Aldeen. We request that you urgently intervene to secure their immediate release and declare their arrest and continuing incommunicado detention a gross violation of their human rights, including the right not to be arbitrarily detained as protected by Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the right to freedom of expression as protected by Article 19 ICCPR. In addition, Mr Hassan was reported to show signs of torture, which is a violation of his rights under Article 7 ICCPR and Bahrain’s obligations under the Convention Against Torture.

Arrest and detention of Mr Mohammed Hassan

Mr Mohammed Hassan is a 28-year old independent blogger who has been publishing on human rights and politics in Bahrain since 2007. He was arrested and taken from his house by masked security agents at 2:00 in the morning on 31 August 2013.[1] Mr Hassan was not presented with an arrest warrant and his computer and phone were confiscated. He was taken away from his home without any indication as to where he would be taken. Later reports said that Mr Hassan was transferred to Dry Dock Prison, the Ministry of Interior’s short-term detention unit where the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights recently reported an escalation of the harassment of detainees,[2] and that he showed signs of torture. He has not had access to legal counsel and his family has not been notified of his whereabouts.

Allegedly, Mr Hassan is being accused of being a member of the 14 February media group.[3] He has been harassed and detained because of his work several times since the beginning of 2012. In June 2012, he was summoned for questioning about his writing as well as his alleged involvement in the Bahraini opposition. In addition to writing his blog,[4] which he stopped doing on 29 April 2013, Mr Hassan worked as a fixer for several news organisations.

Arrest and detention of Mr Hussain Hubail

Mr Hussain Hubail is a 20-year old a freelance photographer of opposition protests in Bahrain. He was also arrested on 31 August 2013, upon which he disappeared at Bahrain airport.[5] The only sign from him since has been a 36 seconds call to his family, which took place several days after his arrest. His family has not been informed of Mr Hubail’s whereabouts and is concerned he might be exposed to torture. Mr Hubail has also not had access to legal counsel.

Allegedly, Mr Hubail also faces accusations of being a member of the 14 February media group. His work has been published by Agence France-Presse, Voice of America[6] and various other news outlets. Earlier this year, Mr Hubail was awarded a photography prize by independent newspaper Al-Wasat for his photo capturing protesters amidst teargas at a demonstration.[7]

Arrest and detention of Mr Qassim Aldeen

Mr Qassim Zain Aldeen is a 25-year old freelance cameraman who films opposition protests in Bahrain. He was arrested on Friday 2 August and taken to an unknown location. Until this moment, his family has been unable to obtain any information on his whereabouts from the authorities. It is also not known on grounds of which alleged criminal offence Mr Aldeen was arrested.

Mr Aldeen’s work is published by local websites and blogs. He was previously arrested and detained for over 6 months in 2012.

Request for urgent action

Mr Hassan, Mr Hubail and Mr Aldeen were arrested without being shown an arrest warrant and without any indication as to what they were being arrested for. They are being held at undisclosed locations, without access to legal counsel or their relatives. When Mr Hassan was last seen, he showed signs of torture. Whatever the formal charges may be that they face, there are strong suspicions that their arrest and detention is in fact related to their work as independent journalists; Mr Hassan, Mr Hubail and Mr Aldeen all published on matters unfavourable to the Bahraini government and were previously harassed and even arrested because of their work. …more

Bahraini rights groups reach out to international community for help ahead of mass protests
6 August, 2013 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights – ifex

In the past few weeks, the human rights situation in Bahrain has been rapidly deteriorating ahead of planned mass protests on 14 August. With many of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders behind bars, local NGOs have inadequate resources to keep up with the unfolding situation, and it is becoming increasingly challenging for them to ensure the safety of their members.

Bahraini human rights defenders should not be left to stand alone. We urge international human rights organizations to attempt to visit Bahrain over the coming week, in order to document and monitor ongoing protests, especially on 14 August when Bahrain is expected to come under lockdown. The government has already declared that all protests in the capital Manama are banned.

International human rights organizations have done a good job of highlighting the human rights situation in Bahrain, though their physical presence in the country has been lacking due to a state policy of controlled access. Nonetheless, their presence is important, as witnesses and in solidarity with those fighting for justice, human rights, and democracy.

We call on mainstream media networks to dedicate particular attention to the situation in Bahrain in the build up to August 14 and to send journalists into the country. What happens in the coming week could be critical.

To the government of Bahrain’s closest allies; Mr. David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, we urge you to remain neutral, if not supportive of the peoples’ right to self-determination. This is not a call for intervention, but rather we urge you to live up to claims of ethical foreign policies that take human rights into consideration and to end your active support of the government of Bahrain.

Finally, we call on the United Nations and its Special Rapporteurs to be proactive and to reiterate the rights of Bahrainis to free speech, freedom of assembly, the right to adequate medical care, and to pressure the authorities to refrain from using force, particularly tear gas and birdshot, ahead of August 14. Public statements reminding those who are responsible of guaranteeing these rights are needed as well as activating direct channels with officials in such positions.

For the past two and a half years, the Bahraini regime has failed to realize its pledges to implement both the Universal Periodic Review and Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry recommendations. Domestic and international accountability mechanisms have so far failed, and Bahrainis have decided that 14 August is another step in the current struggle for justice.

We, the undersigned, will be on the ground in Bahrain during this period to monitor and observe the human rights situation. We hope that you will commit time, resources, and effort to support HRDs in the country in any capacity.

Bahrain Center for Human Rights
Other signatories
Bahrain Human Rights Society
European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights
Bahrain Watch
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
Bahrain Human Rights Observatory
…source

S&P downgrades Bahrain’s Al Baraka Bank to junk status
by Abhinav Ramnarayan – 8 August, 2013 – Reuters

LONDON, Aug 8 (IFR) – Bahraini lender Al Baraka has been downgraded to junk status by Standard & Poor’s, the only credit rating agency that rates the bank.

The Islamic lender’s rating was reduced from BBB- to BB+ with a negative outlook on the back of increased sovereign and economic risk in the regions where it operates, S&P said in a statement.

The move follows the ratings firm’s review of the sovereign credit-worthiness of some of the countries where Al Baraka operates, particularly Egypt and Jordan.

“We expect the operating environment and credit conditions in the MENA region, especially Jordan and Egypt, to remain tough over the coming 12-18 months. Consequently, we foresee an adverse impact on (Al Baraka’s) business and financial profiles,” S&P said.

The negative outlook reflects S&P’s view that the lender’s capitalisation could deteriorate if, for instance, Egypt defaults and economic conditions worsen in Jordan.

This is the first time that Al Baraka has been downgraded since S&P first gave it a rating of BBB- in 2007.

Earlier this week, the lender said that net income for the second quarter of 2013 rose 11 percent from a year ago to $42 million. …source

‘Hooligans in US government have no idea as to how Iran sanctions harm America’ – expert
Evgeny Sukhoi – Voice of Russia -7 August, 2013

The US Senate continues to pressure Barack Obama, this time not regarding his planned meeting with Vladimir Putin, but concerning Iran and its nuclear program. The Senators believe America should increase sanctions on the country following the election of Iran’s new president. Meanwhile, Hassan Rouhani gave his first press conference in Teheran advising other nations to “speak to Iran through the language of respect, not through the language of sanctions”. The Voice of Russia discussed the situation with Shabbir Razvi, a political analyst and director of the International Dialogue Foundation from London.

Why do you think the US Senate is urging for tougher sanctions on Iran without even waiting for any tangible moves on the part of Teheran and the newly elected president?

It is quite curious and really paradoxical in the manner in which the Congress and the Senate are operating in the US. There are mixed signals coming out from the USA, the White House spokesman talks about establishing better relationships while at the same time the Congress has already passed further tightening and extreme sanction and 76 US Senators are urging president Barack Obama to toughen the line against Iran. I think the hooligans who occupy the Senate and Congress really have no idea as to how they are actually harming the US by continuing these sanctions against Iran.

Obviously Iran is facing a challenge, the economic challenge internally and trading issues with oil and other items that Iran may require. However not doing business with Iran it is America that is losing out at this moment.

So, that is from a purely business point of view if you like. But from a political and international fallout it clearly shows that US policy makers are not really thinking of the American individuals, the US nationals but perhaps have been guided by another nation who wants to have a belligerent approach to Iran. I really can’t see what is in it for the US by continuing these extreme sanctions against Iran.

Would it be wise for the US to maintain an aggressive approach towards Iran in the current situation?

The US policy makers are keep on saying that all options are on the table. When they say “all options”, obviously they are saying “more threatening, more sanctions”, and Mr. Rouhani is trying to have a new rapprochement with the US and European nations and I think it is a great opportunity for us living in the UK and others in the US and so on to take this opportunity that Iran is providing rather than continuing with the same stories that is continued for the last 35 years since the inception of the Islamic revolution in Iran.

I am sure your listeners would recall that Iran had a war of 8 years which was inflicted upon it by Saddam Hussein who was really an instrument of what the west wanted to do to emasculate Islamic revolution at that time and continuously after that Iran surrounded by American forces in Qatar, in Bahrain, in Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait, all over the place in Gulf region.

So, really at the end of the day I think Iran is giving an opportunity for our policy makers in Washington, London and Paris to have a more sensible approach and approach that will be beneficial for all humanity rather than trying to threaten Iran and not really giving it due dignity that Iran deserves.

Rouhani says Iran is ready to have serious talks with the West, however, in the past such talks did not bring any substantial results. Do you think the country’s new president really means what he is saying now?

I think not only Mr. Rouhani, but previous leaders, Mr. Khatami or Mr. Rafsanjani and others, because Iran has had 7 presidents, even Mr. Ahmadinejad who has been portrayed as some vicious character also provided an opportunity for Washington, London and Paris to have more sensible approach to Iran but there has always been pressure on the policy makers in Washington from Israel, if you like, to continue in the same vein, trying to isolate Iran, trying to put sanctions.

When you think about economic crisis that we are facing in Europe and America with high unemployment, with austerity measures and so on, it really smacks off cutting one’s nose despite one face by putting extra sanctions on Iran, we are closing the opportunities for our businesses, our export houses to benefit with trade from Iran. …source

Saudi Arabia Donates $100 Million to UN Counter-Terrorism Centre
7 August, 2013 – By Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information Office

WASHINGTON – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz announced that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia donated $100 million to the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT). The announcement was made tonight in Makkah during King Abdullah’s annual Eid Al-Fitr address following the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

“I announce the donation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of $100 million to support this center and work for its activation under the umbrella of the United Nations, calling on all other nations to take part in support of this center to get rid of the forces of hatred, extremism and criminality as this is the inevitable duty for whoever sees that terrorism is a demolishing tool that aims at threatening the world security and peace,” said King Abdullah in his speech, which was delivered on his behalf by Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja.

Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir commended the donation, stating, “This tremendous contribution reflects King Abdullah’s commitment and determination to enhance international cooperation to fighting terrorism.”

Under the directives of King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia has forged partnerships with foreign governments and multilateral organizations to protect national security and reinforce counterterrorism strategies.

In 2011, Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with the United Nations to create the UNCCT and donated $10 million to its establishment. The initiative for this center was conceived in 2005, when King Abdullah held the Counter-Terrorism International Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The center is located at the UN headquarters in New York City. UNCCT works with experts to discuss counterterrorism related subjects and reinforce current United Nations counterterrorism initiatives. …more

The history of British involvement in Bahrain’s internal security
by Marc Owen – 8 August, 2013 – openSecurity

John Yates is only the most recent Briton to be given a public role in Bahrain’s internal security. Since founding the Bahraini police force, the British influence is as strong as ever.

Britain has played a prominent role in protecting Bahrain’s government and its Ruling Family from internal and external threats ever since Bahrain became an informal protectorate in 1861. This protection has ranged from overt strategies, such as direct military intervention, to subtle ones, such as the export of surveillance technologies for use by Bahrain’s Ministry of the Interior. Even after Bahrain’s Independence in 1971, Britain has continued to play an important, albeit less direct role in Bahrain’s internal and external security.

As recently as 2012, an agreement concerning military cooperation was signed between the two countries. In 2011 ex assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police John Yates was brought in to reform the Bahrain police after they brutally repressed the pro-democratic uprising of 2011. But Yates is only the most recent Briton to be given a public role, albeit as a private citizen, since Bahrain’s independence. The British relationship was foundational for Bahrain’s security sector, and is as strong as ever: perhaps less direct, but no less insidious.
From protection to intervention

In order secure their domination of trade routes to India, the British conducted a series of treaties with tribal leaders along the Persian Coast in the 1800s. The first of these agreements was the General Maritime Treaty of 1820, and it recognised the Al Khalifa as the legitimate rulers of Bahrain. A subsequent agreement, the ‘Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship’, turned Bahrain into an informal protectorate of Britain in 1861. However, in exchange for control over Bahrain’s foreign policy, Britain were now bound to protect the Bahraini government from external aggression.

Despite the so-called treaty of ‘friendship’, most British administrators despised the Ruling Family, with one official describing them as ‘uneducated, vain, lazy, and inclined to oppress’. Britain’s relationship with the Al Khalifa grew progressively worse in the 1920s, when the Ruling Family’s oppression of the indigenous Shia Baharna increased. Persia, incensed by the maltreatment of their Shia co-religionists, threatened to go before the League of Nations to complain how British protection allowed the Al Khalifas to oppress with impunity.

In an attempt to address this disquiet from Persia, at that time an important ally, Britain took increasing responsibility for Bahrain’s internal security policy, and imposed a number of reforms – including the creation of a police force. Britain also deposed the recalcitrant ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Isa bin Ali Khalifa, and put Isa’s weaker son Hamad on the throne. Hamad was given a force of mostly Baluchi troops to deter Isa and his allies from engaging in further acts of oppression against the Baharna. This force promised to be a more efficient security solution for the British, whose coercive methods prior to the 1920s revolved around the use of gunboats to intimidate belligerent tribal elements. …more

BAE: Bahrain eyes Eurofighter
8 August, 2013 – Ma’an New

LONDON, England (AFP) — Bahrain is interested in buying the Eurofighter Typhoon jet, British defense group BAE Systems said on Wednesday.

“Bahrain has expressed an interest in Typhoon and the UK government is leading very early discussions. BAE Systems is supporting the UK government in these discussions,” a BAE Systems spokeswoman said.

Bahrain’s King Hamad held talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London on Tuesday.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is made by BAE Systems in a consortium with the European airspace groups EADS and Finmeccanica of Italy.

BAE and Saudi Arabia signed a £4.5-billion ($7.0-billion) deal in 2007 to supply seventy-two Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Riyadh, but the contract has faced obstacles over the cost.

Oman, a Gulf state which like Bahrain has close links to Britain, ordered twelve of the jets last year.

BAE Systems also hopes to sell sixty of the jets to the United Arab Emirates, where it is facing competition from the Rafale jet made by France’s Dassault Aviation.

Bahrain has been rocked by Shiite-led protests since 2011, which has forced its allies such as Britain to review the defense equipment that it exports to the Gulf state.…more

US; the real global terror alert
6 August, 2013 – By Finian Cunningham

Sixty-eight years ago this week, the United States wiped out more than 200,000 people when it dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Tens of thousands more victims were to die over the ensuing years due to slow, painful deaths from cancers and birth defects.

Yet the US – the only state to have ever used atomic weapons – has never apologized or made any atonement for this singularly horrific crime. Officially, the US justifies it as a legitimate attack during war even though many historical sources show that there was absolutely no military necessity for the bombings.

Even former president and top military commander Dwight Eisenhower would later go on record as saying that the A-bomb attacks on Japan in August 1945 were completely unnecessary.

The unleashing of the atomic infernos on mostly civilian populations was simply this: an act of supreme terrorism. It was an act of barbarity callously calculated by the US planners to demonstrate their country’s demonic power to the rest of the world – and the Soviet Union in particular. This premeditated rationale makes it an unpardonable crime of the highest order.

Fast-forward sixty-eight years on, the US government has this week issued a global terror alert, closing down more than 20 diplomatic sites across the world and vacating staff from various countries. Following suit are the British and French governments who have shut their embassies in Yemen on the basis of an unspecified, secret terror alert issued by Washington.

The rest of the world is thus obliged to believe the word of Washington over this unverifiable warning.

Of course, it is a propaganda stunt, aimed at renewing the whole fraudulent ‘war on terror’ charade and distracting from recent politically embarrassing developments, such as the vast scope of illegal surveillance against US citizens and the rest of the world; or the increasing public awareness of the collusion between American and Western intelligence and regime-change terrorism in Syria.

This is the same American political establishment that launched wars on Afghanistan and Iraq on the back of spurious and outright mendacious claims over the alleged 9/11 terror attacks and weapons of mass destruction.

This is the same government, along with Britain and France, that secretly claims the Syrian armed forces of President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons – when the hard evidence is that it is actually the US-backed foreign mercenaries who have launched these weapons to kill civilians.

This week, the US military killed more people in Yemen with its assassination drones under presidential executive orders, just as it has done every week over the past 10 years as it wages covert and overt criminal wars in several countries simultaneously.

These US-led wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya and Syria have caused as many as two million, mainly civilian, deaths.

And yet ludicrously, the US government is putting the world on alert against terrorism. Even more ludicrously, the Western news media are amplifying this warning from the world’s biggest terrorist state as if it is a benign service to international public safety.

In this awful anniversary week of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it is rather astounding that the perpetrator of that genocide is still strutting the globe as if it is God almighty. On a global terrorist offender list, the United States is the paramount offender without compare. …more

Iran’s leader reaches out to U.S., vows to resolve nuclear row
6 August, 2013 – By Marcus George and Yeganeh Torbati

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s incoming President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday offered an olive branch to the United States in talks on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, raising hopes of progress after years of stalemate.

Rouhani, seen in the West as a relatively moderate leader, told his first news conference since taking the oath on Sunday that he was “seriously determined” to resolve the dispute and was ready to enter “serious and substantive” negotiations.

Hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear issue have risen with Rouhani’s victory over conservative rivals in June, when voters chose him to replace hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a cleric whose watchword is “moderation”.

Western countries and Israel have said in the past that they believed Iran was trying to achieve nuclear weapons capability, but Tehran says its program is purely for peaceful needs.

Rouhani said Iran would not abandon its nuclear program, which it would uphold “on the basis of international law”.

“We will not do away with the right of the nation,” the 64-year-old said.

“However, we are for negotiations and interaction. We are prepared, seriously and without wasting time, to enter negotiations which are serious and substantive with the other side.”

“If the other party is also prepared like we are, then I am confident that the concerns of both sides will be removed through negotiations within a period which will not be very long.”

LAST TALKS DEADLOCKED

His words were likely to reinforce a sense of cautious optimism in the West, despite the fact that negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program have long frustrated both sides.

The last high-level talks between Iran and world powers – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – were held in April and failed to break the deadlock.

Since Rouhani’s victory at the polls, the United States has said it would be a “willing partner” if Iran was serious about finding a peaceful solution to the issue.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki qualified those remarks on Tuesday.

Rouhani’s inauguration “presents an opportunity for Iran to act quickly to resolve the international community’s deep concerns over their nuclear program,” she said.

But Psaki added, “there are steps they need to take to meet their international obligations and find a peaceful solution to this issue, and the ball is in their court.”

Rouhani, a former nuclear negotiator, dodged a question on whether he would like to meet President Barack Obama during a visit to the United Nations in New York.

“If we see there is no covert secret agenda and there are good intentions, who will be meeting and who will be negotiating, these will be sideline issues,” Rouhani said with a wry smile.

Hoping to seize on Rouhani’s appointment, Russia on Tuesday said fresh talks between Iran and world powers must not be delayed and should take place by mid-September. Rouhani has yet to name his nuclear negotiator.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking during a visit to Italy, said Russia “absolutely agreed” with Rouhani, and criticized moves to tighten sanctions against Iran, saying it was a time for dialogue, not ultimatums.

“Now it is critical to support the constructive approach of the Iranian leadership,” he said in comments carried on Russian news agencies.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is due to meet Rouhani for the first time as president in September.

In a letter to the new leader on Tuesday, the European Union said Rouhani had “a strong mandate to engage in dialogue” and added that it hoped for a new round of talks “as soon as practicable.”

SANCTIONS RANKLE

Rouhani warned against what he called the “carrot and stick” approach of the United States of offering talks and at the same time ratcheting up sanctions, which have had a deepening impact on Iran’s economy over the last 18 months.

The measures have already cut Iran’s oil exports by more than half compared to pre-sanctions levels of about 2.2 million barrels per day, helping to devalue Iran’s currency and contributing to a steep rise in inflation.

“It is said (that) through sanctions they check Iran’s nuclear activities. This is totally unfounded, and they themselves are cognizant of this fact … It has nothing to do with the nuclear issue. It is pressuring people.”

Rouhani’s election has led to divisions in the United States, with Obama’s administration cautiously welcoming the prospect of new talks and many in Congress arguing that the result of the vote showed sanctions had been effective.

Washington should “realize the fact that the solution is solely through talks and the threats will not solve any problem,” Rouhani said.

“If anyone thinks through threats they can impose their will on the Iranian nation, they are making a very big mistake. This dual approach will not yield any result. This brings into question the honesty of American officials.”

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pressure on Iran had, in fact, been effective.

“Iran’s president said that pressure won’t work. Not true! The only thing that has worked in the last two decades is pressure,” he said in a statement.

“And the only thing that will work now is increased pressure. I have said that before and I’ll say it again, because that’s important to understand. You relent on the pressure, they will go all the way. You should sustain the pressure”.

Rouhani blamed what he called a “war-mongering group” in the U.S. House of Representatives for voting last week to increase sanctions on Iran.

Referring to Israel, he said the group “pursues the interests of a foreign country and receives most of its orders from the same country … even U.S. interests are not being considered”.

The United States and Israel have said all options, including military action, are open to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear arms. …source

Germany scraps old surveillance pact with US, Britain over NSA leaks
2 august, 2013 – RT

Germany has dissolved a fifty-years-old surveillance pact with the United States and Britain in response to a “debate about protecting personal privacy” in the country, which was sparked by revelations of the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The agreement that dated back to the late 1960s gave the US, Britain and France the right to request German authorities carry out surveillance operations so as to protect their troops stationed within the country.

“The cancellation of the administrative agreements, which we have pushed for in recent weeks, is a necessary and proper consequence of the recent debate about protecting personal privacy,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement on Friday.

Germany was currently in talks with France to cancel its part of the agreement as well, a German official told AP on condition of anonymity.

Following Snowden’s leaks, which disclosed the span of the NSA surveillance program and revealed that Germany is the most spied on EU country by the US, there has been a heated nationwide debate on whether the alleged massive privacy breach of German citizens should have been allowed.

The documents leaked Snowden say that the US spy agency combs through half a billion of German phone calls, emails and text messages on a monthly basis.

Weeks before German national elections, the country’s opposition parties demanded to clarification to what extent the government knew of the NSA’s intelligence gathering in Germany. This comes amid reports of seemingly close ties the two national spy agencies – the NSA and the BND – have had over the years.

German government officials have insisted that American and British intelligence agencies were never given permission to break Germany’s strict privacy laws. …more