Posts from — August 2011

September rallies to avoid confronting army
13 August, 2011 Maan News Agency

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — All rallies in support of the Palestinian bid for UN membership in September will be confined to areas where the Palestinian Authority has security control, thus avoiding confrontation with the Israeli army, high-ranking Palestinian Authority sources told Ma’an Thursday.

“Ramallah rallies will be carried out in Manara square, Bethlehem rallies will be carried out in yard of the Nativity Church and so on,” the sources said, adding “we will not give the [Israeli] occupation any excuse to abuse our children or to kill our residents.”

The locations are in the heart of urban areas that were designated “Area A” under the 1993 Oslo agreement — and thus formally under full Palestinian Authority civil and security control, making up 17.2 percent of the West Bank.

All other areas are under Israeli military control, and Israeli incursions into “Area A” are not unknown.

The Ramallah-based government sources told Ma’an, however, that rallies — whether organized or spontaneous — would not spill over into “Area C,” where Israeli military and settlers have entire freedom of movement.

Palestinian students will return to school come September, the sources said, as this does not contradict the Palestinian struggle for a state, independence, and freedom.

The Palestinian Authority are preparing to ask the UN’s recognition of a Palestinian state, with the UN General Assembly due to vote on the proposal on September 20.

The date is expected to see large-scale demonstrations in support of Palestinian statehood, and the Authority has vowed not to allow them to get out of control.

The government sources criticized the role of the Israeli media in publicizing Israel’s preparations for September protests, saying that stories had been falsified in order to mislead the public.

Referring to the wide-scale protests being held in Israeli cities on socio-economic issues, the sources said the media stories speculating about violence in September are “an attempt by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to export his internal crisis with the protesters in Israel to the Palestinian territories.” …more

Published 23:03 12.08.11
Latest update 23:03 12.08.11

Syria uprising may lead to regional war
The brutal crackdown in Syria continues unabated, and is likely to become the stage for a regional conflict involving Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the Gulf.
By Zvi Bar’e – HAARETZ

Thousands of Egyptians have already signed a petition circulating on Facebook that calls for the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador from their country. For once, it is not an Israeli ambassador who receives such attention. The initiators of the petition hope to have over one million Egyptians sign the appeal, which may push the current Egyptian military government to publicly condemn Syrian President Bashar Assad.

New Syrian Facebook pages have decided to use humor to recruit people to the opposition, ironically describing the recent events in Syria as if they happened in Britain. Turkey, however, does not find the situation in Syria so funny.

In recent days, the Turkish army summoned hundreds of officers for reserve duty, placing them in bases near the border with Syria. Turkish sources report that the military has been on high alert along the border to prepare for a massive flight of Syrian refugees into the country, as well as for the possibility of NATO strikes in Syria. Only hours after Turkey’s foreign minister visited Damascus did the government understand that Prime Minister Erdrogan’s ultimatum to Assad fell on deaf ears, after news broke that the city of Homs was being battered by Syrian security forces.

The protests and the bloodshed continued on Friday, when human rights organizers claim 13 protesters were shot to death by Syrian security forces. According to reports, live fire was shot at thousands of worshippers on their way home from Friday prayers in the town of Dir al-Zur. Crowds went out into the streets across the country calling for Assad to step down.

While Turkey prepares for the worst, Iran refuses to print any news on the uprising in its state-run newspapers, while the government has warned that Syria may become the center of an international war. Iran has also transferred approximately five billion dollars to Syria in recent weeks, and according to Iraqi sources, Iran has demanded that Iraq transfer ten billion dollars to the Syrian government.

The involvement of Iran, Turkey, Saudia Arabia, and other gulf states has turned the Syrian uprising from an internal event – resulting from mass poverty, oppression, and a lack of economic and political future – into a potential regional war. Syria, whose regional strategic importance is based less on oil and natural resources, and more on its strong relationship with Iran and ability to intervene in Iraqi affairs, has been able to prevent the establishment of a military front against it. As opposed to the immediate international consensus that allowed for a military offensive in Libya, there has been no initiative to promote a similar UN Security Council in regards to Syria. …more

Egypt: The Education Of The Generals
By William Fisher – The Public Record – Aug 12th, 2011

While the leaders of Egypt’s revolution argue with the ruling generals about when to hold elections and when to rewrite the Constitution, many Egypt experts are saying that the problem central to the success of the revolution is being cosmeticized or ignored altogether: Overhaul of the government security apparatus.

“Comprehensive reform of the security state — and specifically, the Ministry of Interior and its sub-organizations, the ‘bowels’ of Mubarak’s repressive state apparatus — is crucial if Egyptians are to establish a democratic society based on the rule of law,” says one such expert, Samer S. Shehata, professor of Arab Politics at Georgetown University.

Shehata charges that during the Mubarak administration, “ensuring the regime’s survival, not protecting the citizenry or upholding the rule of law, was its primary function.”

Speaking at a conference organized by Jadaliyya magazine, Shehata said, “Absent was the understanding that the police and the security forces more generally, are not above the law or immune from accountability. In fact, Habib El-Adly, the despised former Minister of Interior, now on trial, changed the police’s motto several years ago. The motto had long been – somewhat ironically — “the police in the service of the people.” Adly replaced this with an Orwellian-sounding slogan, “the police and the people in the service of the nation” (the old motto has since been readopted).

He explained: “Abuse by security personnel took both small and large forms: in daily interactions with the police, on the street, at traffic stops, and police checkpoints, to more serious cases involving torture and human rights violations. The arbitrary exercise of authority was widespread. In the absence of any real accountability, security officials acted with near impunity. Suspected criminals were routinely mistreated, especially those accused of petty crimes. Heavy-handed techniques were the norm. Police stations were feared by many. Few rights or protections were afforded, especially to those without connections or money. And corruption was endemic.” …more

UK’s Cameron seeks U.S. advice on gangs after riots
Thu, Aug 11 2011 – By Jodie Ginsberg

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron, under attack over his leadership during the rioting and looting that swept English cities this week, has enlisted U.S. street crime expert William Bratton to advise the government on handling gang violence.

“I’m being hired by the British government to consult with them on the issue of gangs, gang violence and gang intervention from the American experience and to offer some advice and counsel on their experience,” Bratton told Reuters in New York.

British police flooded the streets again on Friday night to ensure weekend drinking does not reignite the rioting that shocked Britons and sullied the country’s image a year before it hosts the Olympic Games.

Steve Kavanagh, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said 16,000 officers, instead of the usual 2,500, would remain on duty in London in their biggest peacetime deployment — a measure of the perceived public order challenge.

Other forces, including those in Nottingham, Birmingham and Liverpool, said they would maintain a high level of policing over the weekend, though they said they did not expect further trouble after a couple of nights of quiet.

Even in normal times, alcohol-fueled street disorder is common across urban Britain at weekends.

Cameron, describing the four nights of looting, arson and violence, in which five people were killed, as “criminality, pure and simple,” said the initial police response had been inadequate.

His remarks drew a sharp reaction from the police service, which is facing deep cuts in numbers as part of a government austerity drive aimed at cutting the large public debt.

“The fact that politicians chose to come back is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing,” said Hugh Orde, head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, referring to Cameron and other senior ministers who cut short their holidays after two days of mayhem at home. …more

Saudi-backed forces attack Bahrainis
Friday, 12 August 2011

Bahrain, August 12: Saudi-backed forces have stepped up their attacks on anti-regime demonstrators that have once again taken to the streets of Bahrain, calling for the downfall of the Al Khalifa regime.

The rallies on Friday were held in the capital Manama and the town of Sitra, Press TV reported.

Reports also indicate that regime forces have responded by firing tear gas at protesters as well as by cutting off electricity in Sitra.

The protesters, however, have refused to give in until a new democratic government is formed.

Since mid-February, Bahraini protesters have been holding anti-government protests demanding an end to the rule of Al Khalifa dynasty, which they say has instituted despotic governance, discrimination, and the suppression of all dissent.

The US-backed regime has met the popular protests with a brutal crackdown, killing scores and arresting hundreds.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have harshly criticized Bahrain for its violence against protesters as well as doctors, nurses, lawyers and journalists that expressed support for the protest movement. …source

Bahrain opposition plans boycott of election to fill parliament seats after walkout
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, August 12, 11:03 AM

MANAMA, Bahrain — Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition party will boycott next month’s special parliamentary elections for seats left vacant by mass resignations to protest a crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, a senior opposition official said Friday.

An election snub by the group Al Wefaq would be a serious blow to efforts by Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy to portray stability in the strategic island kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. But Bahrain remains bitterly divided after months of unrest and clashes between security forces and protesters seeking greater rights for the country’s majority Shiites.

Al Wefaq envoys walked out of reconciliation talks last month after claiming they were insulted by pro-government officials. The Sept. 24 ballot was called after Al Wefaq 18 lawmakers resigned in March — a month after Shiites began protests inspired by other Arab uprisings.

Shiite’s represent about 70 percent of the population, but are denied top political and security jobs. Protesters also demand that Bahrain’s more than 200-year-old Sunni dynasty loosen its control on top government posts. More than 30 people have died and hundreds have been arrested or purged from jobs in the crackdown on the opposition.

Moments after Al Wefaq official Khalil al-Marzooq announced the planned election boycott at a rally, the crowd chanted: “No going back after our sacrifices.” …more

Published: Friday, Aug. 12, 2011 / Updated: Friday, Aug. 12, 2011 07:28 AM
Police Injured During Demonstrations in Manama
Bahrain Ministry of Interior

MANAMA, Bahrain, Aug. 12, 2011 —
The General Director of Bahrain’s Capital Governorate Police announced Thursday night that eight members of the security forces were injured after attempting to control demonstrators that vandalized public property and created roadblocks in Bahrain.

One policeman sustained a serious head injury and seven others were treated for minor injuries. Security forces warned protesters that acts of vandalism and disturbing the peace would not be tolerated.

Freedom of expression and opinion are guaranteed by Bahrain’s constitution. Peaceful gatherings are allowed for those that seek appropriate authorization to demonstrate or gather publicly. Protests Thursday night in Manama lacked the proper permits.

Security forces in Bahrain follow strict protocol to avoid physical contact with protesters.

SOURCE Bahrain Ministry of Interior

Riot police litter Magaba Village with Less-than-lethal artifacts – rubber bullets, assorted CS gas canister

Concern that social networks to be targeted as BlackBerry helps British police identify rioters
Published on Friday 12 August 2011. – Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders is worried about cooperation between Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian manufacturer of the popular BlackBerry smartphone, and the British authorities in the wake of this week’s rioting in London and other cities in which, according to the authorities, rioters used its messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), to communicate with each other.

BBM uses the Internet rather than the mobile phone network and requires user authentication, which makes it hard for the authorities to intercept messages. To help address this difficulty, RIM has already provided Scotland Yard with information about a number of BlackBerry users, jeopardizing their personal data.

“We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can,” RIM announced on Twitter.

What consequences will this cooperation have on respect for the privacy of BlackBerry users? If information provided by RIM leads to arrests, questions will be raised about the validity of the evidence and the legality of the way it was acquired. Reporters Without Borders is also concerned about habeas corpus implications.

Reporters Without Borders is not minimizing the gravity of the situation in the United Kingdom and the urgency of the need to restore order, but it believes that the provision of personal data to the police sets a disturbing precedent in a western country and could have significant consequences as regards setting an example for others kinds of government.

Reporters Without Borders is also shocked by the statements of several politicians. David Lammy, the parliamentary representative for the London district of Tottenham, went so far as to ask BlackBerry to consider suspending its messaging service. This is an astonishing suggestion in a democracy, one with potentially grave consequences. The threats to freedoms are now real. …more

Bahrain to sack 23 health workers over protests
11 Aug 2011

DUBAI, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Bahrain’s health ministry will sack 23 workers and temporarily re-instate 200 who were suspended during a crackdown on anti-government protests early this year, state news agency BNA said on Thursday.

Hundreds of public sector employees, some of them health workers, were fired when the Gulf kingdom crushed the protests led by the majority Shi’ite Muslim population, who were calling for more political freedom and an end to discrimination by the ruling Sunni minority.

Preliminary findings of the committees tasked with looking into “staff violations” indicate 23 health ministry workers will lose their jobs, a spokesman was quoted by BNA as saying. He put the total number facing investigation at 428.

Two hundred employees will return to work next week pending the results of the disciplinary committees’ investigations, on top of 115 who were re-hired in June and July, he said.

Their re-instatement is conditional on their pledging to follow all public sector laws and regulations.

Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been criticised for its handling of the protests. Fellow Sunni Arab monarchies sent troops to help suppress them in March.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday it was “extremely concerned” about events in Bahrain and mentioned the country in a report on attacks against health care workers and hospitals.

Last month the offices of medical charity Doctors Without Borders were raided by armed security personnel who confiscated medical equipment and supplies. …more

Bahraini’s hold mass anti-regime rally
Fri Aug 12, 2011 – PressTV

Thousands of Bahraini anti-government protesters have poured into the streets near the capital, Manama, to demand equality and liberty in the country. Demonstrators have also called for an elected government and an end to regime discrimination against the opposition’s overwhelming majority. The mass rally in Abu Quwa, a village west of Manama, is reported to be organized by Bahrain’s influential opposition bloc, al-Wefaq.

Recently released former opposition lawmakers also attended the rally. Jawad Fairooz and Matar Matar, who were detained in May after resigning from parliament in protest at the brutal crackdown on protests, said they had been tortured in prison.

Bahraini protesters have vowed to continue their protests until they achieve their “legal demands.”

Since mid-February, Bahraini protesters have been holding anti-government protests demanding an end to the rule of Al Khalifa dynasty, which they say has instituted despotic governance, discrimination, and the suppression of all dissent.

Manama, backed by Saudi troops, has met the popular protests with a brutal crackdown, killing scores and arresting hundreds.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have harshly criticized Bahrain for its violence against protesters as well as doctors, nurses, lawyers and journalists that expressed support for the protest movement. …source

ICRC: Health care in danger: making the case
10 Aug 2011 – BCHR

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday it was “extremely concerned” about events in Bahrain and mentioned the country in a report on attacks against health care workers and hospitals.

“We are extremely concerned about what is going on in Bahrain. We are doing our utmost to ensure we have access not only to hospitals but to detention centres,” ICRC director-general Yves Daccord told a news briefing in Geneva on Wednesday.

The report, which surveyed 16 countries and took more than two years to research, warned that the very foundations of the Geneva Conventions – the right of those wounded in war to receive medical attention, and the right of those treating them to work unimpeded – are under threat.

The report cited several examples as evidence that attacks on health care workers are increasing, from the murder of medical students in Somalia, to the invasion of an Afghan hospital by militia groups, to the shelling of hospitals in Sri Lanka. All of these incidents took place in 2009.

One year later the picture was, if anything, even bleaker, with doctors in Libya attacked, and ambulances fired upon. In Bahrain, patients were reportedly snatched from their beds, and hospital staff intimidated.

The ICRC said the violence is driving thousands of medical professionals from their jobs, and putting millions of lives at risk.
Extracts from the report regarding Bahrain

VIOLENCE AGAINST HEALTH-CARE FACILITIES

Attacks on health-care facilities during armed violence and internal disturbances tend to fall into four main categories.
[..]
The second category of attack is also deliberate, but this time for political, religious or ethnic reasons rather than for military advantage per se. Such assaults against health-care facilities include [..]; the cordoning off and military takeover of Salmaniya referral hospital in Bahrain in early 2011 after it was perceived to support the cause of anti-government protesters;

What the law says:

• Health-care facilities shall be respected and protected at all times and shall not be the object of attack.
• Protective emblems such as the red cross, red crescent and red crystal identifying medical units shall be respected in all circumstances.
• Small arms are permitted in health-care facilities for the purpose of self-defence or defence of the wounded and the sick (against bandits, for example). The presence of all other weapons
compromises the neutral status of a facility.
• Health-care facilities lose their protection if they are used to commit “acts harmful to the enemy.”
• “Acts harmful to the enemy” include the use of health-care facilities to shelter able-bodied combatants, to store arms or ammunition, as military observation posts or as a shield for military action.

VIOLENCE AGAINST THE WOUNDED AND THE SICK

In some contexts, the wounded and the sick face discrimination in access to, and quality of, health care. Although prohibited by international humanitarian law and human rights law, as well as contrary to medical ethics, health-care personnel have refused to treat, or given inferior treatment to patients on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or political affiliation. [..] In recent unrest in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen, protesters have been too afraid to use medical facilities for fear that their wounds will identify them and provoke harsh reprisals.

What the law says:
The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional rotocols of 1977 contain the following rules:
• The wounded and the sick, as well as the infirm, and expectant mothers, shall be the object of particular protection and respect.
• The wounded and the sick must be protected against ill-treatment and pillage.
• No one may be left wilfully without medical assistance and care.
• Whenever circumstances permit, and particularly after fighting, each party
to a conflict must, without delay, take all possible measures to search for, collect and evacuate the wounded and the sick without adverse distinction between them.
• The special role of the ICRC is recognized in facilitating the establishment of neutralized zones to protect the wounded, the sick and civilians from the effects of war.
• Parties to a conflict have the first obligation to care for the wounded and the sick. Any care provided by the local population, humanitarian organizations or other third parties does not relieve the parties of their obligations.

VIOLENCE AGAINST HEALTH-CARE PERSONNEL

Health-care personnel face many challenges working in situations of armed conflict and other violence, having to adapt standards of care to the resources available and dealing with large influxes of patients requiring immediate life-saving attention. Beyond these professional challenges often lie grave dangers associated with the nature of their work.
[..]
On occasion, health-care personnel have also been arrested for carrying out their professional responsibilities to treat all in need regardless of who they are and what they have done.
In Bahrain, 47 doctors and nurses who treated protesters have been detained in sweeping arrests of health workers that followed the crackdown on protesters and face trial in a military court on a range of other accusations.

What the Law says:
• Health-care personnel, whether military or civilian, may not be attacked or harmed.
• Health-care personnel shall not be hindered in the performance of their exclusively medical tasks.
• Parties to a conflict shall not harass or punish health-care personnel for performing activities compatible with medical ethics, nor shall they compel them to perform activities contrary to medical ethics or to refrain from performing acts required by medical ethics.
• Medical personnel may not be required to give priority to any person except on medical grounds. Medical personnel decide, in accordance with medical ethics, which patient receives priority.
• The protection of medical personnel ceases when they commit, outside their humanitarian function, acts harmful to the enemy. …source

Reconciliation in Bahrain still faces obstacles
National Editorial – Aug 9, 2011

Six months after demonstrations in the Pearl Roundabout degenerated into violence, Bahrain is still troubled by regular street protests. The crackdown on the opposition and subsequent reconciliation efforts have so far failed to restore complete calm, much less heal the deep political divisions.

There have been efforts. In the past week, an international commission investigating the violence has made some progress. Two former MPs from the opposition Al Wefaq party were set free on Sunday, among 41 prisoners who reportedly have been released.

In the worst of the violence, there was wrongdoing on both sides. But there will be no reconciliation possible unless security forces are held to account. The commission, appointed by King Hamad Al Khalifa, has indicated its readiness to investigate regime loyalists, visiting Al Gareen prison to interview prisoners from the opposition and arresting police officers on charges of torturing detainees. This investigation needs to show its evenhandedness if it is to resolve the bloodshed.

But even that is just a starting point. There needs to be a distinction between investigating the crimes of the recent protests and the fundamental process of reform that was at issue in the first place. It remains clear that only a political solution can provide for Bahrain’s future.

For decades, Bahrainis have been negotiating issues including fairness in housing and land allotments, political prisoners, representation in parliament and the constitution. The February protests began as a peaceful, cross-sectarian movement to address these issues. The subsequent violence, encouraged radical elements on both sides and aggravation of the Shiite-Sunni split has only made a resolution more difficult.
The National Blogs

Last month a national dialogue that was supposed to begin the reconciliation process ended in a walk-out by Al Wefaq, the only opposition group that attended. It was a disappointing, predictable conclusion: the forum was inordinately skewed towards regime loyalists, the agenda precluded important issues that needed to be addressed and proceedings were closed to the public.

As much as anything else, it is the lack of debate that is unproductive. A high-profile trial of editors at the opposition newspaper Al Wasat has symbolised the clampdown on discussion; the state-run media is widely distrusted.

Bahrainis across the divide need to be part of any reconciliation process. Everyone lost in the recent unrest. …source

‘Bahrain allies can’t kill revolution’
Thu Aug 11, 2011 8:10PM GMT

A Bahraini opposition leader says the revolution in Bahrain is “not going to stop,” despite the all-out Saudi and American support for the suppressive regime in Manama. “I can confirm that the revolution is not going to stop, and that this regime, in its present form, is not going to survive for much longer, despite the Saudi and American support to the Al Khalifa dictatorship,” Saeed al-Shahabi from the opposition group of Bahrain Freedom Movement told Press TV on Thursday.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across the Persian Gulf sheikdom since mid-February, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa family’s over-40-year-long rule over the country.

Shahabi predicted that the island would witness ‘more protests’ along with ‘more crackdowns’ and human right violations committed by the regime.

On March 14, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed police and military forces in the country following a plea by the Bahraini regime to help it crush the nationwide protests there.

The Bahraini activist described the Saudi mercenaries involved in the attacks on the Bahraini people as ‘the source of all evil in the world today,’ saying they were responsible for the global terrorism, fanaticism, and extremism among other instances of criminality.

The Bahraini government is, meanwhile, being constantly backed by the United States, which has its Navy’s Fifth Fleet deployed in the country.

The support comes despite Manama’s record of human rights abuses and the numerous complaints lodged against it with the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

“The Bahraini people have no aim other than having the right to determine their own destiny, and establish their representative system in their own country,” Shahabi said.

New footage recently surfaced from the country, showing the Saudi-backed Bahraini forces’ violently dispersing the demonstrators.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed so far during the government’s clampdown, with foreign troops contributing to intensification of violence.

According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, over 1,000 political detainees are currently being held in Bahrain’s prisons.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also severely criticized Manama for its brutality against the civilians and violent treatment of the doctors, nurses, lawyers, and journalists, who have voiced support for the revolution. …more w/video

Bahrain forces block roads to former protest hub
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press – 1:08 p.m., Aug. 11, 2011

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Witnesses say security forces in Bahrain’s capital are blocking roads around a former protest hub after clashes with anti-government demonstrators in the Gulf island kingdom.

Witnesses say tanks and police vehicles surrounded Pearl Square, which had been the centerpiece for Shiite-led protests calling for greater rights from Sunni rulers in the strategic nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The witnesses spoke on a condition of anonymity because they fear reprisals.

The blockades Thursday came after protesters in a Manama neighborhood called for a march back to Pearl Square, which was stormed by security forces several weeks after pro-reform demonstrations began in February.

Major protests have been crushed, but small-scale clashes have occurred nearly nightly for weeks.

The Associated Press …source

Pressure mounting on Gulf to depeg
By Waheed Abbas – Zawya

Study says falling dollar is putting inflationary stress on GCC economies. Pressure is mounting on the Gulf central banks to depeg their currencies in order to contain rising inflationary stress, according to a study released on Wednesday.

Kuwait-based Global Investment House said “the weakness in the US dollar will potentially aggravate GCC inflation by pushing up cost of importing goods to the region as it is heavily reliant on imports.

“Gulf will not only be exposed to its currency dropping against other currencies it will also be exposed to cost push inflation as well. The downgrade will undoubtedly increase pressure to de-peg the GCC currencies so as to contain inflationary pressures in the region however it a difficult decision to be made and one which involves other important factors that need consideration,” said Faisal Hasan, Head of Research at Global.

Despite the downgrade and its obvious effect on the dollar and its potential risk to Gulf currencies, UAE and Bahrain have already announced that they will maintain the dollar peg.

Hasan predicted that WTI crude oil price will range between $70 to $75 per barrel this year which is in the comfortable zone for the oil-producing Gulf state to maintain fiscal spending.
[Read more →]

Al-Jazeera defends Bahrain documentary
(AFP) – August 11, 2011

DUBAI — The head of the Qatar-based satellite news channel Al-Jazeera English defended a documentary about this year’s unrest in Bahrain, in comments published Thursday, after an angry response by Bahraini authorities.

Al Anstey said in an interview with Qatar’s Peninsula daily that the documentary, “Shouting in the Dark,” did not include comment from Bahraini authorities because they refused to speak to the channel.

“We were not given free access. We were denied comment by the Bahraini authorities. Our producer was unable to access certain areas. Some sections of society also refused to comment,” Anstey told the newspaper.

He said the channel had waited in vain for a comment from Manama, and in the end, “the documentary was aired when it was complete.”

The documentary deals with the harsh government crackdown on popular protests in mid-March, in which authorities say 24 people were killed. It provoked an angry response by Bahrain, where the media have harshly criticised Al-Jazeera, which is financed by Qatar’s government.

“The Qatari media are carrying out disinformation and incitement to sedition in Bahrain,” the kingdom’s Al-Watan daily wrote on Monday.

Al-Jazeera’s Arabic channel, which had given extensive coverage to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, had been widely criticized by activists for its perceived timid coverage of the unrest in Bahrain, a fellow member with Qatar of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

The GCC, which also includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman, had dispatched forces to Bahrain to back the small kingdom’s Sunni-led dynasty against protests organised by the country’s Shiite majority. …source

U.S. Hires Shady Mercenary for Somali Proxy War
By David Axe Email Author – August 11, 2011 – Wired Danger Room

A French-born mercenary with a criminal record and possible ties to several African coups and at least one murder is the latest agent of the U.S. government’s out-sourced war in Somalia, according to The New York Times‘ ace Africa reporter Jeffrey Gettleman and others.

Richard Rouget, alias “Colonel Sanders,” works for Bancroft Global Development, a Washington, D.C.-based “private security company” that maintains an approximately 40-man team of self-described “mentors” in Mogadishu, Somalia’s embattled capital city.

Rouget and the other mentors — a mix of former French, Scandinavian and South African soldiers — help train the 9,000-strong, U.S.-funded Ugandan and Burundian peacekeeping force that doubles as the heavy army of the Somali Transitional Federal Government in its long war with the al-Shabab Islamic terror group.

Al-Shabab, the latest in a long chain of Somali insurgent groups, has allied itself with al-Qaida and last year pulled off a bloody twin bombing in Uganda. Al-Shabab actively recruits disaffected Somali-American teenagers to sneak into Somalia to fight. In 2008, one of these young recruits became the first known American-born suicide bomber when he blew himself up outside a Somali government building.

Uganda and Burundi have paid Bancroft $7 million since 2010 for counter-insurgency training, according to Gettleman and his co-writers. Washington refunds the two African countries for their training expenses. The D.C. company’s assistance has helped “turn a bush army into an urban fighting force,” one adviser told Gettleman — and is partly responsible for the transitional government’s big advances in Mogadishu and across Somalia in recent weeks. The Associated Press credits Rouget’s bomb disposal experts for the drastic reduction in African Union troops lost to roadside explosives.

But the battlefield success comes at the cost of American moral credibility. First, there were reports that the U.S.-backed transitional Somali government employs child soldiers as young as 12. And now America has endorsed, however indirectly, a man who for years has allegedly fought against stability, justice and self-governance in Africa.

The photos accompanying Gettleman’s piece depict the “husky,” 51-year-old Rouget accompanying Ugandan soldiers onto a Mogadishu rooftop to observe a gunfight between peacekeepers and al-Shabab troops. ”Give me some ‘technicals’ and some savages and I’m happy,” Rouget joked, using the slang term for pickup trucks fitted with heavy machine guns. The Associated Press calls Rouget “a cigar-smoking, poetry-quoting, whiskey-drinking former big game hunter” with “a long scar on his thigh from getting shot in Somalia last year.” …more

Forensic experts to see Bahrain ‘torture’ victims
shiapost | August 11, 2011

Cherif Bassiouni, Chairman of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry addressing a news conference in Manama (File Photo)

MANAMA — The international probe panel assigned to investigate recent unrest in Bahrain will have a team of forensic medical experts from outside the country come in to look at all individuals who have complained of physical mistreatment and torture.

Chairman of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, told the Press on Tuesday such plan to ensure better investigation. He said that individuals complaining of tortures will be visited at hospitals and detention facilities, as well as be welcomed at BICI offices.

He said that the panel has helped in the release 137 detainees. Two of the released detainees are former MPs, Mattar Mattar and Jawad Fairuz, members of the Al Wefaq National Islamic Society. “‘The investigative team has made a number of visits to prisons, detention centres and police stations, and hospitals, many of which have been unannounced. They have recorded and collected the testimonies of all the prisoners with whom they’ve met, as well as their families, including documenting reports of cases of mistreatment and torture,” he said.

The commission has interviewed over 300 people at its offices, in addition to an undisclosed number of persons interviewed in Bahrain hospitals, prisons and detention centres, and has received statements from 209 witnesses and victims. …source

Some freed Bahrain detainees to be tried – former MP
Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:00pm GMTBy Isabel Coles prosecution

DUBAI (Reuters) – Bahrain has released more than 100 detainees who had been facing military trials over their roles in anti-government protests earlier this year, but some of them will still be prosecuted in civilian courts, one of those set free said on Wednesday.

A panel of international lawyers which Bahrain’s Sunni Muslim monarchy invited to investigate the protests that mainly involved the Gulf state’s Shi’ite Muslim majority, said on Tuesday that a total of 137 people had been released.

Among the detainees, who walked free on Sunday, were Jawad Fairouz and Matar Ibrahim Matar, former members of parliament in the largest Shi’ite political bloc, al Wefaq.

Fairouz, who expects proceedings against him to be dropped, said some other detainees had been told they could not leave the country pending prosecutions in a civilian court.

“I heard they took some photos of them to show that they are in good health, so that later on when they re-appear in court there shouldn’t be any kind of claim they’re going to be tortured,” said Fairouz, who had been charged with spreading false news and taking part in illegal gatherings.

“When they released us they didn’t take any signature or any commitment from us that we were going to be referred to the civil court,” he said.

Among those likely to face trial in a civilian court is lawyer Mohammed al-Tajer, who was detained in April after defending people arrested during the protests, Fairouz added.

More than 1,000 people were detained after Bahrain crushed demonstrations in March for greater political freedom and an end to sectarian discrimination that Shi’ites say they face in access to land, housing and state employment. …more