[cb editorial note: In a slightly contrary position to the article below, the military build up of Saudi Arabia as a counter force or provocateur to Iran increases Saudi belligerence in the region. Consequently the villages and communities that would engage in local opposition to an ally (al Khalifa) that endorses Saudi Arabia’s side of a more aggressive regional conflict, also become victims to it’s scourge, even though in their opposition they do not necessarily subscribe to Iranian goals or conduct themselves contrary to Western regional ambitions.

As Saudi Arabia becomes more aggressive and militarily powerful it will discern any enmity within it’s lackeys as a single opposition and lash out against it even though this may not be the reality. Saudi Arabia lacks the sophistication and depth of intelligence to understand or discern the difference between local opposition and those who would engage a regional conflict. In short the house of Saud is out of order for such discernment.

The emerging military role for Saudi Arabia is reminiscent of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq as it engaged in adventuresome conflicts with Iran and it’s neighbors amid strong US and European backing – we all know his demise, hung at the hands of his allies surrogates. It seems Kings and Tyrants make some very dangerous friends – so it is with greed and oil.

A giant takes down the forest because it is too uncoordinated to cut down one tree. Foolish are those who would give the giant an axe that is made to take down the forest. The uprising in Bahrain maybe an good example of this phenomena. ]

Article – Germany Arms Saudis Against Iran
By Julio Godoy

BERLIN, Jul 25, 2011 (IPS) – Germany’s delivery of armoured tanks to Saudi Arabia is not aimed at repressing local or regional popular uprisings, but to improve Saudi military capabilities in a likely war against Iran, diplomatic and military experts say.

The German government’s decision to deliver 200 state-of-the-art Leopard 2 armoured tanks to the Saudi monarchy – a deal estimated at 1.8 billion euros – has triggered a wave of criticism by opposition leaders, commentators, the church and human rights groups.

Despite this criticism, the German government has defended the delivery of the tanks to Saudi Arabia, arguing that the Saudi monarchy, albeit a despotic regime, is “a pillar of stability” in the Middle East.

The German government also cites lack of U.S. or Israeli opposition, as justification for the deal with Saudi Arabia.

Contrary to the apprehension expressed by opposition leaders, commentators, and human rights groups, diplomatic and military experts believe that the Saudi regime will not use the German tanks to repress local popular uprisings demanding democratic reforms, but to eventually wage a war against Iran.

“To repress domestic enemies, the Saudis can use better suited equipment, including some 2,000 armoured troops transport vehicles,” said Josef Joffe, publisher of the weekly newspaper ‘Die Zeit’.

Joffe is considered one of the most outspoken defenders among German media of the U.S.-Western European military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). He also has links to the U.S. and to the Israeli governments.

By delivering the Leopard 2 tanks to Saudi Arabia, Joffe added, “Germany, together with the U.S.A. and Israel, is sending a message to the region, specifically to Iran: Here is more [military] deterrence. This argument should not be sneezed at.” …more

Special to The Narco News Bulletin
By Erin Rosa – July 26, 2011

US Officials Say They Won’t Give a Reason for Blocking Mexican Human Rights Defender’s Flight
When Asked About the Incident, Transportation Security Administration Agency Cites ‘Security’ Matters

Mexican mathematician and human rights defender Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar was blocked from traveling from her home country to Europe by the US government, according to a brief statement from the country’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agency. However, the TSA and other government agencies won’t say why Gutiérrez Aguilar, an internationally respected author and analyst of social movements, was stopped mid-flight and barred from crossing into US airspace.

“The United States has the authority to deny access to US airspace. For security reasons, we will not discuss the details surrounding when or why access is denied,” the TSA told Narco News in a statement. The agency wouldn’t disclose anymore information about the incident. The US Embassy in Mexico City directed questions to the TSA.

On July 20, Gutiérrez Aguilar boarded a Aeroméxico flight from Mexico City to Barcelona, for a connecting flight to Rome, Italy. In the early dawn hours of July 21, the flight was forced to land in the Mexican city of Monterrey because it had been denied passage into US airspace, according to passenger Gutiérrez Aguilar. She wrote an open letter after the incident, stating that, “The flight was going normally until a little after midnight when the captain said that we would be returning to Monterrey because US airspace had been closed off.”
[Read more →]

Obama’s Expanded Militarism
By Kailash Srinivasan, FPIF – July 20, 2011

Last month’s release of the National Strategy for Counterterrorism has brought much joy to many foreign policy liberals. Finally, the ghosts of the Bush administration have been exorcised. Finally, the president speaks of law and allies instead of war and an “axis of evil.” Coupled with the recent announcement of a timetable to end combat operations in Afghanistan, liberals have taken heart at the apparent shift in national security strategy. Such sentiments are understandable given the foreign policy quagmire of the past decade.

And yet, those who laud the new announcement as a fundamental realignment fail to realize that the self-limitations on the part of the United States are, in many cases, vast expansions in authorization for the use of force against “ungoverned spaces.” The symbol of this expansion of power is the predator drone, which will police these ungoverned spaces by surgical strikes of unlimited scope.

Drones are the perfect weapons for the post-Cold War world of globalization that has radically compressed our notions of time and space and made a formerly predictable international environment chaotic. Drones, which can move with speed across vast geographic spaces, are the ultimate tool for a global policeman who aspires to maintain order over vast distances. As such, the new American strategy is both a dramatic departure from and a culmination of the Pentagon’s post-Cold War strategic paradigm. …more

A Visit from the FBI
By Yasir Aladdin Afifi, July 21, 2011

Patriot ActsThis August, Voice of Witness will release Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice, edited by Alia Malek, an author (A Country Called Amreeka) and former Department of Justice attorney. A collection of oral histories, Patriot Acts tells the stories of men and women who have been needlessly swept up in the War on Terror. In their own words, narrators recount personal experiences of the post-9/11 backlash that have deeply altered their lives and communities. For more information on the book, visit Voice of Witness.

In this excerpt of oral history, edited by Alia Malek, Yasir Aladdin Afifi describes how he discovered that he was enmeshed in the FBI’s web of surveillance.

In October 2010, I took my car to my mechanic in Santa Clara for an oil change. As the mechanic was elevating the car on the hydraulic lift, I noticed that there was something like a piece of string or wire coming out from the back. Then, when the car was fully elevated, I noticed this black device under the back of the car. I asked the mechanic to pull it out, and he handed it to me. He was somewhat freaked out.

There was a big, black rod attached to something that looked like a walkie-talkie. I wasn’t freaked out because I had an idea of what it was— it looked like a tracking device! I didn’t think it was normal at all, and I had a feeling it was the FBI who’d put it there.

When I got home, some of my friends and I Googled the serial number of the tracking device. What came up was “Federal Property Tracking Device GPS, $1500, $4,200, $3,200.” I was thinking about selling it. I’m a salesman, that’s what we do! …more

U.S. and Mexican Governments Continue to Brush Aside Perspectives of Drug War Victims
By Tania Arroyo, July 22, 2011

Guatemalans marching for Cabral(Pictured: Guatamelans marching after murder of Facundo Cabral.)

On July 8, the “war on drugs” claimed another victim, the songwriter Argentine Facundo Cabral, the victim of an ambush in Guatemala. Cabral, a tireless pacifist, was killed when three carloads of gunmen ambushed the vehicle in which he was riding. This is an irreparable loss to the Argentine and Latin American people.

The victims of this drug war have mostly been anonymous, from the perspective of the global media. But the war has begun to claim some famous people, like Cabral. In Mexico the murder of the son of renowned intellectual Javier Sicilia has led to the emergence of a strong and important social movement calling for an end to the war on drugs. This movement forced President Felipe Calderon to initiate a dialogue with society: an imperfect dialogue but dialogue at least.

Despite this social message, on June 22, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in Guatemala that the U.S. government would spend nearly $300 million this year helping governments in Central America confront the mafias that smuggle cocaine to American consumers. At the same event, President Felipe Calderon called for more resources from the international community to fund this ill-advised strategy to combat crime. He dismissed the notion of a symbolic contribution, “because this is not about charity,” and asked for an amount equal to the billions of dollars received by criminals to run their operations.

Ironically, the next day, Calderón met with Javier Sicilia in México for a dialogue that seemed to have deaf ears. Sicilia said to the Mexican president, “Watch carefully our faces. Search carefully our names. Hear our words. We represent innocent victims. Do we look like collateral damage or statistics?” He asked Calderón to apologize for the 40,000 deaths caused by the struggle against organized crime. The president responded that he wouldn’t apologize for having pursued the offenders. “Javier, you’re wrong,” he said. “I regret not having sent federal forces in earlier.” …more

Bahrainis stage fresh anti-govt. rallies
shiapost | July 26, 2011

Thousands of Bahraini anti-government protesters have poured into the streets across the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom to call for the removal of the Al Khalifa royal family from power.

Demonstrators staged rallies in several villages to also voice outrage over the Saudi-backed violent suppression of peaceful protesters in Bahrain, a video obtained by Press TV showed.

Regime forces attacked and rounded up dozens of protesters during a rally in the island city of Sitra, situated 12 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of the capital Manama. There were several women among the demonstrators, the report added.

Meanwhile, an international commission set up by Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has launched a probe into the Saudi-backed regime’s crackdown on popular protests in the country.

The panel, which consists of a team of six non-Bahraini investigators, will examine the controversial role of security forces during popular demonstrations that have rocked Bahrain in recent months.

“We will investigate the role of the army. The army is not above the law and not beyond the law,” said Cherif Bassiouni, chairman of the panel.

It will also investigate allegations that opposition activists and protesters have been tortured by the Saudi-backed regime’s forces.

The development comes as Saudi Arabia deployed more forces in Bahrain on Saturday in an attempt to further help the Al Khalifa family clamp down on anti-regime demonstrators. …more

US Concern for Rights Conspicuously Absent in Bahrain
by Anthony Newkirk, July 26, 2011

It is becoming painfully obvious that the United States is hostile to the “Arab Spring.” In Egypt, U.S. military aid programs remain in force, and in Yemen a “secret” U.S. war may be in the offing. In the United Arab Emirates plans may be afoot to develop a for-profit rapid reaction force (to crackdown, surely, on UAE citizens for “publicly insulting” their leader). The U.S. government continues to support the Israeli blockade of Gaza. But perhaps the quintessential example of U.S. reactionary policy is in the tiny Kingdom of Bahrain.

July 1 marked the beginning of a “national dialogue” in Bahrain that King Hamad Isa bin Al Khalifa called to promote reconciliation in his strife-torn land. But it is unclear what the point of the national dialogue is when the king is also attempting to silence Bahraini civil society. The country’s ongoing domestic conflict between an unpopular Sunni elite and a Shia majority came to a boil in February when mostly Shia Bahrainis began protesting against long-standing discrimination. The ruling family offers the pretext that over half of the country’s 500,000 citizens are under the thrall of Shia Iran. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been proclaiming that the United States will stand up for human rights in Bahrain and also ensure its status as a “major non-NATO ally.”

Send in the Marines

On March 16, one month after the demonstrations began, King Hamad imposed martial law and police attacked Pearl Roundabout, where most of the protesters were camped out. Two days earlier, at least 1,000 Saudi troops and 500 UAE police attached to the Peninsula Shield Force (PSF) entered Bahrain. Although part of the occupation force may have already left Bahrain after the official end of martial law last month, the PSF presence in Bahrain may last long-term in order to “protect its borders.”

A report recently issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW) details ongoing human rights violations, including torture, disappearances, and a systemic crackdown on the majority Shia. Such matters should be of grave concern to the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, which officially plays a key role in formulating U.S. human rights policy. …more

Teachers arrested for striking
AI-Index: MDE 11/040/2011

The former president and vice-president of the Bahrain Teachers’ Association (BTA) have been detained since the end of March. They are now facing trial and Amnesty International believes they are likely to be prisoners of conscience.

Jalila al-Salman and Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, together with several other board members of the BTA, were arrested in March and April 2011. While their colleagues were released, they were brought to trial before the National Safety Court of First Instance (a military court) on 15 June on charges which include “inciting hatred towards the regime”, “calling to overthrow and change the regime by force”, “calling on parents not to send their children to school” and “calling on teachers to stop working and participate in strikes and demonstrations”. After further hearings on 22 and 29 June – their trial was transferred to a civilian court and postponed until further notice.

Jalila al-Salman’s house in Manama was raided on 29 March by more than 40 security officers. She was reportedly taken to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) in Manama where she remained for about a week during which she was reportedly beaten, including with objects, and held in solitary confinement. She is believed to have been transferred to the custody of the military and held there for around two months, before being transferred again to a detention centre in ‘Issa Town in Bahrain, where she is currently held. Jalila al-Salman’s family were not aware of her whereabouts until soon after her transfer to the detention centre in ‘Issa Town and have only been allowed to see her there on two occasions. The second of these visits was on 16 July, and was under very strict surveillance.

Amnesty International has reviewed statements issued by the BTA. One of them, published on 13 March, called on teachers and employees of the Ministry of Education to go on strike, and on parents not to take their children to school during large-scale demonstrations in Bahrain. Amnesty International has also listened to speeches delivered by Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb that made similar appeals. It has, however, seen no evidence that either of them advocated violence of any kind in these or other activities. Consequently, although the organization does not have the full details of the evidence presented so far in the trial, it believes that they are likely to be prisoners of conscience detained solely for exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly as leading members of the BTA.

Additional Information

After the February-March 2011 unrest in Bahrain, the Minister of Human Rights and Social Development dissolved the board of the BTA and other associations and substituted the board members by government-appointed members. Local human rights organizations have reported that many teachers and members of the BTA have been subjected to torture, detention and harassment for their participation in peaceful protests. All teachers have reportedly been released except the two mentioned above.

Hundreds of people have been detained in Bahrain in connection with anti-government protests since mid-March when Bahraini armed and security forces crushed the protests. Scores of detainees, including medical doctors and prominent opposition activists, were brought before military courts for leading the protests and in some cases for calling for regime change. On 29 June the King of Bahrain issued a decree transferring all cases being examined by military courts to ordinary civilian courts. …more