UK recognizes Syrian rebels
24 February, 2012 – ABNA

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that his country will recognize the Syrian rebels as a “legitimate representative” of the Middle Eastern country.

UK recognizes Syrian rebels

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Hague made the announcement as he arrived in Tunisia to attend the so-called “Friends of Syria” meeting in Tunis, media reports said.

“We, in common with other nations, will now treat them and recognize them as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people”, Hague said, referring to armed terror gangs who have taken arms against the popular government of President Bashar al-Assad in a few towns across the country.

In yet another example of the UK’s double standards on foreign policy issues, William Hague described President Assad’s government as a “criminal regime” and vowed to provide weapons and intelligence to rebels and terrorist snipers fighting the Syrian government forces and civilian population in the country.

Britain and its allies are providing the rebels inside Syria with intelligence and various types of weaponry, while at the same time they are arming the despotic regimes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia against their own people.

In Bahrain, the UK government has continued selling weaponry to the despotic regime of al-Khalifa irrespective of continuing political oppression of the people.

Official figures revealed that Britain approved the sale of military equipment valued at more than £1 million to the Bahraini regime after the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters a year ago.

According to the figures, the sale included licenses for weapon sights, rifles, artillery and parts for military training aircraft. …more

Saudi forces open fire on Qatif protest
25 February, 2012 – IRIB

Saudi security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Qatif, injuring at least three demonstrators.

Witnesses say regime forces attacked demonstrators in the eastern city on Friday after they chanted slogans against the government and called for the downfall of the ruling Al Saud family.

The demonstrators also condemned Riyadh’s crackdown on protests and demand the immediate release of political prisoners.

They also expressed solidarity with anti-regime protesters in neighboring Bahrain, where Saudi troops are helping the Manama government quell peaceful protests.

Similar anti-Al Saud rally was also held on Tarut Island.

Saudis have held peaceful demonstrations in Eastern Province, mostly in the cities of Qatif and Awamiyah since February last year on an almost regular basis, demanding reforms, freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners. …source

Saudi Arabia call for arming Syria Opposition
By ZEINA KARAM and BASSEM MROUE – 25 February, 2012 – The Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria lashed out at Saudi Arabia on Saturday, a day after the kingdom’s foreign minister backed the idea of arming the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime, accusing Riyadh of becoming “a partner” in the bloodshed in Syria.

The sharp riposte from Damascus, which was published in a state-run newspaper, came as activists said at least 77 people were killed across the country and regime forces pounded rebel-held neighborhoods in the central city of Homs.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had failed Saturday to gain access to the besieged neighborhood of Baba Amr in the city of Homs for a second day to evacuate more wounded civilians, including at least two foreign journalists who were wounded in government shelling on Wednesday.

Saturday “yielded no concrete results.”

He said the ICRC would keep trying and that the Syrian Red Crescent carried out evacuations elsewhere in Syria, including in other neighborhoods of Homs.

Along with wounded Syrians, two foreign journalists injured in the rocket attack remain in the neighborhood. They are French journalist Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and British photographer Paul Conroy of the Sunday Times.

The bodies of American Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik, who were killed in the same attack, are also still in the area.

The Syrian uprising began in March with mostly peaceful protests in a number of the country’s impoverished provinces. As security forces violently suppressed them, killing thousands, the protest grew and escalated into an increasingly armed insurrection.
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Respect Existence or Expect Resistance

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah says ‘foreign hands’ behind unrest in the Arab world
Associated Press – 25 February, 2012 – Washington Post

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah says that “unnamed hands” targeting Islam and the Arabs are behind recent events in the region.

The king, who delivered a televised address Friday night to a conference of prominent Saudis, did not name any country. But Saudi officials have used similar terms to suggest a connection with Shiite Iran.

“There were hands that are known to you all … behind what has happened in the Arab world, regrettably targeting Islam and the Arabs,” he said.

Sunni Saudi Arabia is wary of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings, particularly in nearby Bahrain, where a Shiite majority is demanding greater rights from its Sunni rulers.

However, the kingdom strongly backs the largely Sunni uprising in Syria against Iran’s ally, President Bashar Assad. …more

Open appeal to the king of Bahrain and the Bahraini government to release human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja
25 February, 2012 – Gulf Center for Human Rights

Beirut, 25 February 2012 — The Gulf Centre for Human Rights appeals to the King of Bahrain and the Bahraini government to intervene rapidly to release the founder of our centre, human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja immediately and without any restriction or condition and to grant him the full freedom to travel to the country of his choice in order to receive the medical treatment that he is in desperate need for at the present time.

Human rights defender Al-Khawaja was subject to gross violations of his civil and human rights as a peaceful citizen, starting with the brutal way in which he was arrested, and the torture that followed which resulted in broken jaws, and the unfair trials that sentenced him, the known and distinguished international activist he is, to life in prison where he suffers a lot of ill-treatment. He has gone through several hunger strikes along with his colleagues again and again demanding their release and a better treatment, and on February 8, 2012 he began his current hunger strike to get freedom for himself and hundreds other detainees, that led him to a serious medical condition that requires your immediate intervention for his release which is the demand of the international human rights movement.

We hope that you will respond to our sincere call immediately in order to make it possible for human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja to travel to any country in which he will be able to receive the required treatment as soon as possible.

The director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab said:

“Al-Khawaja is a noble fighter and an advocate of justice, freedom and human rights in the Arab world. He has taught hundreds of human rights defenders, especially here in Bahrain, where he has struggled to promote the culture of human rights and the empowerment of victims of injustice and tyranny to defend their usurped rights.” …more

Updates: Imprisoned HRD AlKhawaja: My hunger strike is a part of my human rights defence inside jail
23 February, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

As Received from AlKhawaja’s lawyer, Mr Mohamed AlJishi:

In a one-hour private visit, I met Abdulhadi Al Khawaja today in Jaw Central Prison. Signs of fatigue were clearly shown on Al Khawaja. He was pale and lost lots of weight. I sent him all the people’s plea to stop the strike as they need him alive to struggle for Bahrain, and for his own risk.

Abdulhadi Al Khawaja told the lawyer: “I thank who ever stand in solidarity with me and people of Bahrain outside and inside the country. The case is not only about me. It’s about all wrongfully detainees in Bahrain. My hungerstrike is a part of my Human rights defence inside jail. It’s very important to focus on all detainees as I’m just a part of them. I will continue with my hunger strike till I reach my demands despite the consequences. I’m aware that freedom is expensive and we must sacrifice to gain it.”

According to the lawyer, although Al Khawaja is really tired after 2 weeks of hunger strike, he is still holding his head high and smiling.

His wife, Mrs Khadija AlMousawi said that after a urine checkup to Abdulhadi, there was blood in his urine. The doctor asked him to drink juice and he does now to avoid kidney failure.

AlKhawaja is now on his 15th day of Hunger strike for Freedom or death.

During a sit-in protest in front of the UN office organized by the political societies on Feb 22, 2012 to condemn the international community’s silence towards the human rights violations in Bahrain, a group of youth wore T-shirts with photo of Abdulhadi on it in support to his strike. At the night, a number of protests took place in solidarity with Alkhawaja. …more

US aide tells Israel sanctions on Iran need time
21 February, 2012 – Maan News Agency

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A top aide to US President Barack Obama told Israel’s leaders this weekend that there is still time for diplomacy to keep Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon, the White House said on Tuesday, amid growing concerns that Israel might resort to a preemptive strike.

National security adviser Tom Donilon told Israeli officials that Washington shares their concern about Iran’s nuclear push but also stressed the need to let sanctions work, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

“We certainly understand the heightened concern that Israel has given its geographic location and other circumstances that are involved here for Israel,” Carney told reporters, discussing Donilon’s visit and the White House view on Iran’s ambitions.

“Having said that, we believe that the approach this administration has taken has resulted in a level of consensus within the international community regarding Iranian behavior that has never been attained before that’s resulted in a level of punitive sanctions that have never been attained before … and that that has had an impact,” he said.

“We believe that there is time and space to attempt to resolve this peacefully.”

Iran says its nuclear program is meant to develop energy, not weapons.

But its recent shift of uranium enrichment to a mountain bunker and refusal to negotiate guarantees that the program is peaceful have raised security fears — particularly in Israel — and also stoked concerns about Gulf oil supplies.

Donilon was the latest in a series of high-level US officials who have traveled to Israel in recent weeks to impress US concerns over any attack on Iran.

James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, said last week he would soon visit Israel to discuss intelligence sharing.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who traveled to Israel last month, acknowledged in a weekend television interview that the two long-time allies have divergent views of the best course of action on Iran.

“I’m confident that (Israel’s leaders) understand our concerns that a strike at this time would be destabilizing and wouldn’t achieve their long-term objectives,” Dempsey told CNN.

“I also understand that Israel has national interests that are unique to them. And, of course, they consider Iran to be an existential threat in a way that we have not concluded that Iran is an existential threat.”

Speculation has been growing that Israel may attack Iran’s nuclear facilities to set back the Islamic Republic’s weapons progress. …more

Slanting the Case on Iran’s Nukes
23 February, 2012 – Consortium News – By Robert Parry

As Washington’s political/media class rises up in arms over new WMD allegations against Iran, it might be worth recalling how a similar process played out nearly a decade ago when the U.S. public was drawn into a war with Iraq. It wasn’t just that George W. Bush told some lies; it was more complicated than that.

In 2002-2003, Official Washington professed a deep faith in the professionalism of the CIA’s analytical division, which accepted enough of the bogus intelligence being pushed by neocon war hawks to create a basis for Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Only later did it become clear how politicized the CIA’s analysis had become.

Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaking to the United Nations

Today, a similar role is being played by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency, which – during the run-up to war with Iraq and under different management – was one of the few international bodies with the courage to reject some of Bush’s claims about Iraq.

However, in the past two years, the IAEA has become deeply politicized under its new director general, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano. Yet, you wouldn’t know that from how the U.S. news media is accepting what the IAEA says about Iran, much as the U.S. press corps avoided questioning the CIA’s assessments on Iraq.

The evidence of the IAEA’s politicization can be found in confidential U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and published last year by the Guardian newspaper in the U.K. In those cables, the IAEA’s new leadership indicated it was willing to give Washington what it wanted on Iran, just as the CIA’s hierarchy bent to Bush’s needs on Iraq last decade.

According to the U.S. embassy cables from Vienna, Austria, the IAEA’s headquarters, Americans diplomats in 2009 were cheering the prospect that Amano would advance American interests in ways that outgoing IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei wouldn’t.

In a July 9, 2009, cable, American chargé Geoffrey Pyatt said Amano was thankful for U.S. support of his election. “Amano attributed his election to support from the U.S., Australia and France, and cited U.S. intervention with Argentina as particularly decisive,” the cable said.

The appreciative Amano informed Pyatt that as IAEA director general, he would take a different “approach on Iran from that of ElBaradei” and he “saw his primary role as implementing safeguards and UNSC [United Nations Security Council]/Board resolutions,” i.e. U.S.-driven sanctions and demands against Iran. …more

Obama: No Option Off The Table Except Snatching Iran’s Leaders With Hook Lowered From Plane And Flying Them To Washington
22 February, 2012 – The Onion

WASHINGTON—A resolute President Obama warned Tuesday that if Iran remained unwilling to halt its nuclear program, the United States would consider any and all options at its disposal short of whisking away the Islamic republic’s leaders using a hook lowered from an airplane. “We are dealing with a grave threat and we will not hesitate to use any available recourse, with the exception of flying one of our stealth fighter jets into the heart of Tehran, having the pilot shoot some sort of grappling device 500 feet to the ground, dragging the steel hook in such a way that it remains inconspicuous, and then suddenly snatching up key officials when they least expect it,” said Obama, adding that diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, and military force were still on the table, given that those options did not involve using a curved metal implement at the end of a long retractable cable to ensnare members of the ruling Guardian Council. “Our message to Iran’s leaders is clear: If you do not choose peace, we will take whatever steps are necessary aside from swooping in, snagging the back of your shirt collar with the tip of a large hook, and then flying you across the ocean to be our prisoners.” Regardless of U.S. policy, many experts predict Israel will begin capturing Iranians with hooks lowered from planes as early as this summer. …source

The Growing Rebellion in Saudi Arabia
By Jess Hill – 24 February, 2012 – The Global Mail

Saudi Arabia’s King has been unusually outspoken against Syria’s regime. But what about the rebellion in his own Kingdom? And what kind of ruler will his heir apparent be?

On Saudi Arabia’s much-anticipated ‘Day of Rage’ last year, government minders drove a BBC crew into the centre of the capital, Riyadh, to film the ‘no-show’. Police had locked down the capital, and they were confident nobody would show up.

Imagine their shock, then, when Khaled al-Johani, a teacher and father of five, walked straight up to the BBC crew, and said: “The royal family don’t own us! We have a right to speak.” As government minders closed in on the group, he grew more emphatic: “If you speak, they will put you in jail after five minutes!” When the BBC reporter asked him what would happen to him, he replied, “I will go in the jail with a big smile – because I am already in a jail!”(Al-Johani was arrested that day, and has been in prison since March. He stood trial in a closed court on February 22; the verdict has not been made public.)

Al-Johani was outspoken, but he was just one man. The world’s investment community breathed a sigh of relief. Why were we so worried about this ‘day of rage’? Saudis don’t protest. Most of them are too comfortable, and internal security is too effective. The Arab Spring won’t come to Saudi Arabia.

But they were wrong.

Saudis are protesting. They’ve been protesting for over a year. Their numbers are growing. And there’s no sign of them stopping.

It’s all happening in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, home to most of the Kingdom’s Shia minority, and 90 per cent of its oil. Seven people have been shot dead by Saudi security forces since October 2011, two in the past month alone. The Saudi Interior Ministry says these deaths resulted from gun battles between protesters and police. But in all amateur videos that show protesters being shot, there is no evidence that protesters were shooting back.

There have been remarkable scenes of rebellion. One photograph, taken on February 10 this year, shows a young man hurling an effigy of Crown Prince Nayef at a row of armoured anti-riot tanks. It’s an extraordinary provocation. Prince Nayef is not only the head of the Interior Ministry – he’s also the heir to the throne.

But it’s not just a few people defying the

Prince. On February 13, at a funeral for the most recent ‘martyr’, 21-year-old Zuhair al Said, tens of thousands of people marched through the streets, chanting “No Sunna, No Shia, but Islamic unity! We’re not afraid, down with Nayef! You’re the terrorist, you’re the criminal, you’re the butcher, ya Nayef!”

“We will never rest, country of oppressors! Son of Saud [royal family], hear the voice! We will never give up ’til death!”

Prince Nayef responded with his own threat. On February 20, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said these protests were the ‘new terrorism’, and were being ‘manipulated from abroad’ (read: Iran). The Ministry would confront them with ‘an iron fist’, he said, just like it confronted Al Qaeda.

Toby Jones, an expert on Saudi Arabia at Rutgers University, says this statement is emblematic of Prince Nayef’s ruling style, and his worldview. “He is a hardliner: he believes in the use of repression, he is sectarian, he is ideologically anti-Shiite,” says Jones. The incumbent, King Abdullah “was practical, and would talk to Shias.”

Eighty-seven-year-old King Abdullah is widely admired – even by many dissenters – but he’s ailing. It’s expected that Prince Nayef will soon inherit his throne. “Nayef is a scary guy, and a move towards crushing communities has to have his fingerprints all over it,” says Jones, “because nobody else in the royal family thinks that’s a smart move.”

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