Posts from — July 2012

Iran: “common sense” can keep oil route open
23 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Iran would not close the Strait of Hormuz as long as it is able to use the vital shipping line itself, a military commander was quoted as saying on Monday, moderating threats by politicians to block the waterway as retaliation for sanctions.

“The enemies constantly state that the Islamic Republic of Iran intends to close the Strait of Hormuz but we say that common sense does not dictate that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz as long as it makes use of it,” said Alireza Tangsiri, deputy naval commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, state news agency IRNA reported.

Iranian politicians and officials have often said Iran could block the strait – the neck of the Gulf through which 40 percent of the world’s seaborne oil exports passes – in response to sanctions or military action.

They have demanded the US and the European Union abandon crippling sanctions that are aimed at forcing the country to abandon its anti-American policies.

Any attempt to block the strait would risk a military response from the United States and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told Reuters earlier this month Iran was unlikely to follow through on the threat unless its own vessels were denied use of the strait.

Iran’s parliament is debating a bill recommending the strait be closed in retaliation to a European Union embargo on Iranian oil which came into full effect this month. …more

Bahraini police fire tear gas on thousands of protesters
22 July, 2012 – Voice of Bahrain

Violent clashes erupted in Bahrain as thousands protested the government’s move to limit political marches. Police used tear gas and, reportedly, rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, which responded with firebombs.

Police were using tear gas against the crowds rallying in the Bahraini capital Manama and several other places, as the protests continued into the night.­

Demonstrations were aslo held in the villages of Diraz, Bilad al-Qadeem, and Musalla, where protesters called for the ouster of the royal al-Khalifa family. At least one protester was reportedly injured by riot police in Musalla.

The ruling elite want to ban anti-government marches to prevent the disruption to traffic and curb street violence, as at least 50 people have been killed in the country since February 2011.

The opposition described the move as a new attempt by the monarchy to silence it.

The kingdom has been engulfed by more than 17 months of clashes between the Sunni monarchy and kingdom’s Shiite majority protesters, who claim systematic discrimination.

The insurrection was originally crushed during a period of martial law, but unrest has continued with repeated clashes between riot police and youths who say the monarchy marginalizes them.

Sayed Hadi al-Mosawi, a member of the opposition who participated in the protests, told RT that Bahraini security forces are deliberately targeting protesters for killing.

“Anyone who is trying to participate in a protest in Bahrain could be in danger, because the riot police forces, they don’t care about people’s lives and they don’t even care of how they treat [the protesters],” he said. “They don’t just prevent you or warn you, they shoot at your body.”

Al-Mosawi says that the government is trying to completely strip people of their freedom of expression.

“They know very well that our protests and our marchers and gatherings are totally peaceful,” he said. “They know that thousands of people come to our protests and they come peacefully, participate peacefully and leave peacefully.” …more (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Bahrain revolution has reached a milestone
Interview with Kamel Wazni – ABNA – 23 July, 2012

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Anti-regime protesters once again took to streets in the capital on Sunday, demanding the release of all political activists and an end to the regime’s crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.

Protesters rallied in the streets of Sitra and Ma’ameer, renewing their calls for the regime’s downfall. They have also expressed solidarity with jailed Saudi cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr, who has staged an open-ended hunger strike.

The rally turned violent after Bahraini security forces clashed with protesters, firing teargas canisters and rubber bullets.

At least 10 people were injured during the confrontation and several others arrested by the forces.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have been staging regular demonstrations in the Persian Gulf island nation since mid-February 2011.

Protesters first demanded political reform and a constitutional monarchy, a plea that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa regime following its brutal crackdown on peaceful protests.

We have conducted an interview with Kamel Wazni, political analyst, to further discuss the issue. The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Q: I’d like to ask you where you feel this revolution in Bahrain has reached at this point?

Wazni: I think it has reached a milestone because it has more involvement from every side within the country. The people are determined to carry through their legitimate demands. They will accept no less than their total new democratic system and the fall of the regime.

I think the people have the right to continue demonstrating because the level of crackdown and the crime that has been committed by the Al Khalifa family, by the Bahraini government against the people and they continue crackdown and imprisonment for innocent people obviously will not be tolerated for very long.

I think there is genuine feeling among those people on the street that they are willing to face the hardship as Sheikh [Isa] Ghasem said those people will not be weakened by this heavy crackdown and this criminal act by the government.

As we witnessed the people feel liberated at this point even the crackdown is heavier today than was before.

There is a lot of imprisonment and illegal imprisonment, doctors even children [have] been actually abducted and put in detention. These crimes has to be answered by the international community, has to be answered by the United States which actually gave the order to the Bahraini government to continue the crackdown because they have an interest in the American Fifth Fleet that actually sit on the Bahraini soil.

This is actually an occupation by the American of a free Bahrain.

Q: Mr. Wazni, how interconnected then are the protest movements in both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain?

Wazni: I think the same crime has been committed against those two people. We know that the Saudis sent their soldiers to crackdown against the Bahraini and those two populations [have] been discriminated against, [have] being marginalized by the Saudis and by the Bahrainis.

Today you have to put more the blame on the Saudis than on the Bahraini even the Bahraini are participant in this huge violation of human rights but the Saudis are sending their tanks and their weapons and they are using this heavy hand against the protesters whether is in Bahrain and whether it is in Saudi Arabia.

In Qatif, the arrest of Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr who is actually calling outright for another form of government, for another form of body to rule the country because for very long time now other people at the leadership, they have been calling for the same thing.

You cannot tolerate discrimination for very long time, you cannot tolerate abuse for very long time and you cannot tolerate imposed poverty for very long time. You have a country like Saudi Arabia which has a GDP of over 600 billion dollars and you have a lot of poverty and this poverty is designed by the government to keep the people in the eastern part to be impoverished because they belong to certain sects, so this is not acceptable any longer.

So there is a lot of similarity, the same abuses, the same ideology, this cannot be stand. I think that is why you see a lot of solidarity between the Bahraini and the people of Qatif and actually the Bahrainis [have] been demonstrating for the liberation of Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr.

…more

Canadians protest Saudi government, western backers
23 July, 2012 – Joshua Blakeney – Press TV, Calgary

Canadians took to the streets this weekend to protest the US-backed Saudi government. Activists drew attention to the human rights abuses against Shia minorities, criticizing Western governments for their lack of concern with what they called “Saudi Arabia’s abysmal human rights record.”
Canadians took to the streets this weekend to display their antipathy towards what they call the anti-democratic government of Saudi Arabia. Activists voiced concerns with the backing the Saudi monarchy receives from Western governments which regularly claim to be concerned with Human Rights and democracy in the Middle East.

Tthese activists refer to Saudi Arabia as a puppet state of the United States who they accuse of engaging in a divide and rule strategy in order to control the resources and destiny of the inhabitants of the region.

Many of the protesters were Shia Muslims who were particularly upset with the arrest and subsequent brutalization of the Saudi Shia cleric and human rights advocate Sheik Nemr.

Activists emphasized that they were keen to see Muslims unite to resist the attempts by the imperialist countries to foment sectarianism in the Middle East. Such ‘divide and rule’ policies, they say, are being exhibited currently in Syria where Israel, the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are playing on confessional and ethnic differences in an attempt to weaken one of the more stable and prosperous countries in the region. …source

Bahraini protesters demand release of prisoners
23 July, 2012 – PressTV

Bahraini anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in the northeastern island of Sitra and the western village of Karzakan to demand the release of prisoners.

The demonstrators on Sunday also called for the downfall of the Al Khalifa regime.

In Sitra, the Saudi-backed regime forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

Similar demonstrations were also held in Manama on Sunday.

Anti-regime protests in Bahrain continue despite the heavy-handed crackdown by the regime forces.

Bahraini demonstrators hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the killing of the protesters during the uprising that began in February 2011. ….source

Saudi Authorities Detained Three Shiite Youngsters
Shia Post – 23 July, 2012

Saudi Wahhabi authorities arrested 3 Shia youngsters on charges of organizing the detonations and inciting violence against the security forces.

On Sunday, July 15, 2012, Saudi Wahhabi authorities arrested three Shiite youngsters “Ali Hussan al-Jaroudi, Hussain Taqi al-Jaroudi, Mohammad Ahmad al-Medan” on charges of organizing the detonations and inciting violence against the security forces.

Three Shiite youngsters were halted by a police check-point when they were returning home in Qatif from a vacation in al-Medina al-Munwarra.

The police found a photo of Sheikh Nemer al-Nemer on their mobiles.

The security police transferred them to the General Intelligence, Al-Mabahith Al-’Aamma of al-Medina al-Munwarra

Their families have no information about them . …source

Bahrain: Elderly Men Arrested for “Protecting Women” from Police
23 July, 2012 – by Amira Al Hussaini – Global Voices

The elderly are not immune to arrest for taking part in “unlicensed” protests in Bahrain, where demonstrations should be sanctioned by the state. According to netizens, two elderly men were arrested for “protecting women from the police” in the village of Karzakan.

Photojournalist Mazen Mahdi complains about the arrests. He tweets:

@MazenMahdi: The 2 elderly men they arrested in #karzakan yesterday .. Do they even know by arresting them they confirm targeting of right to assembly?

@MazenMahdi: The 2 represent no threat to national security .. They are not armed .. And they didn’t attack anyone

@MazenMahdi: Arresting them and calling them law breakers only make those holding them still as abusers of the law – ask Timoney :)

Abdulmajeed, an elderly man arrested in Bahrain reportedly for defending women

Abdulmajeed, an elderly man arrested in Bahrain reportedly for defending women. Photograph shared on Twitter by @yassmha

John Timoney is the former controversial Miami Department Chief (Google Timoney+Lexus), who is now a special security adviser in Bahrain. Netizens routinely use social media to vent off about the heavy-handedness of the security forces, sharing videos and photographs of the atrocities committed against protesters. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are the only means of sharing such stories as local news media outlets are either government owned or controlled – or heavily censored.

On Twitter, Mohamed Almakna shares a link to a video on YouTube showing the elderly men, named as Abdulmajeed and Mohammed, apparently arguing with armed and masked security forces. They are reportedly “defending women” [from harassment or arrest] in the village of Karzakan, before their own arrest.

Almakna tweets:

@Almakna: Video of arresting the elderly Abdulmajeed and Mohamed when they stood to defend women in Karzakan http://fb.me/1vNsVdhhB #Bahrain

He further explains:

@Almakna: News that the elderly Abdulmajeed has been arrested today! Abdulmajeed is one of the faces that are seen in all protests #Bahrain

@Almakna: Elderly Abdulmajeed is the true definition of “Steadfast” in cold or hot weather he’s always taking part of pro-freedom protests #Bahrain

At the time of writing this post, it is not known whether Abdulmajeed and Mohammed have been released.

Anti-government protests started in Bahrain on February 14, 2011. In March that same year, the movement was crushed when Saudi forces entered the country. Thousands of people, including professionals like doctors and teachers, were sacked from their jobs. Many of them were also jailed. The Pearl Roundabout, where the main protests were staged, was razed and a junction [which has been turned into a military zone which is still closed to traffic] was built in its place. Sporadic protests continue in villages and are attacked and contained by security forces. Almost 90 people have died in the unrest. …source

People power can make up for economic shortfall

Bahrain’s strength lies in human capital
By Jasim Ali – Gulf News – 21 July, 2012

Bahrain’s not so impressive credit ranking should be a cause of concern for authorities. Standard and Poor’s, a key credit rating agency, has assigned Bahrain the lowest ranking among fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

In fact, the credit rating of ‘BBB’ is the lowest investment rating. Still, of all GCC countries, only Bahrain is on S&P’s credit watch. What’s more is that the outlook for Bahrain remains negative.

The relatively poor rating by regional standards adds to an already alarming debt challenge. Outstanding public debt amounted to $7.7 billion in 2010, rising to $9.5 billion in 2011 and to $11.6 billion this year.

Whilst not statistically frightening, rising debt levels cannot be overlooked. The latest debt ratio accounts for around 43 per cent of the gross national product (GDP). The debt level comprised some 25 per cent of the GDP only three years ago.

Happily, the debt level remains below the psychologically significant mark of 60 per cent of GDP as stipulated by the Gulf Monetary Union (GMU) scheme. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are members of the GMU, which came into effect in 2010.

Remarkably disturbing, adverse effects of the current credit rating issue were on display recently whilst marketing fresh sovereign instruments. The country had to endure paying higher basis points above Libor than in the past to entice foreign interest in a $1.25 billion sovereign bond to help bridge a fiscal shortage.

Yet, there is the debacle of economic growth. Bahrain’s real GDP grew by a comfortable 4 per cent in 2010. In 2011, however, the growth level dropped to around 2.2 per cent, according to official statistics, and still lower to 1.8 per cent, as suggested by the International Monetary Fund.

The new growth figures are problematic for numerous reasons, including it being below the population growth rate. Still, the economy needs to grow to satisfactory levels to help address other problems, notably creating enough jobs for locals.

Nevertheless, there is evidence of promising developments, including the country’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2012. The recently released report shows Bahrain’s ranking rising five positions to 41 globally. Only two GCC member states, Qatar and the UAE, outperform Bahrain on GII.

Not surprisingly, Bahrain’s strengths focus on human capital — sustained investments in training and education. In fact, this is a primary marketing point for Bahrain with regard to attracting foreign business. Certainly, this is no easy achievement as Bahrain needs to compete with giant regional economies. With a GDP of around $26 billion, Bahrain boasts the smallest economy in the region. For comparative purposes, values of the nominal GDPs of Saudi Arabia and the UAE amount to $633 billion and $357 billion respectively.

The hospitality industry for one should receive a boost following the opening of a new addition to Manama skyline in the next few years. I am referring to the 50-storey Four Seasons Hotel in the Bahrain Bay area of the capital. Happily, the area surrounding the upcoming skyscraper is undergoing major development in terms of infrastructure.

On a microeconomic level, the country has succeeded by virtue of being selected by Boston Analytics of the US to serve as its first branch in the Middle East. This is vital for Bahrain, not least for coming against a backdrop of exit and relocation of several financial institutions.

Bahrain has the capability to overcome its economic woes by leveraging its exceptional human resources.

The writer is a Member of Parliament in Bahrain. …source

U.S. Rejected 2005 Iranian Offer Ensuring No Nuclear Weapons
By Gareth Porter – 7 June, 2012

WASHINGTON, Jun 7 2012 (IPS) – France and Germany were prepared in spring 2005 to negotiate on an Iranian proposal to convert all of its enriched uranium to fuel rods, making it impossible to use it for nuclear weapons, but Britain vetoed the deal at the insistence of the United States, according to a new account by a former top Iranian nuclear negotiator.

Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who had led Iran’s nuclear negotiating team in 2004 and 2005, makes it clear that the reason that offer was rejected was that the George W. Bush administration refused to countenance any Iranian enrichment capability, regardless of the circumtances.

Mousavian reveals previously unknown details about that pivotal episode in the diplomacy surrounding the Iran nuclear issue in memoirs published Tuesday.

Mousavian, now a visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, had been a top political aide to former president Hashemi Rafsanjani and head of the foreign relations committee of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council during his political-diplomatic career in Iran.

Mousavian had been entrusted with Iran’s most sensitive diplomatic missions, including negotiations on a strategic understanding with Saudi crown prince Abdullah in the early 1990s and with U.S. officials on Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda in 2001 and 2002, his memoirs reveal. But he was arrested by the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad administration on charges of “espionage” in April 2007.

The British and U.S. refusal to pursue the Iranian offer, which might have headed off the political diplomatic crisis over the Iranian nuclear programme since then, is confirmed by a former British diplomat who participated in the talks and former European ambassadors to Iran.

Mousavian writes that one of the European negotiators told him that “they were ready to compromise but that the United States was the obstacle.”

The episode occurred a few months after an agreement between Iran and the British, French and German governments on Nov. 15, 2004 on terms for negotiations on “long-term arrangements”, during which Iran agreed to maintain a voluntary suspension of enrichment and other nuclear activities.

The agreement to be negotiated was to “provide objective guarantees that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes” as well as “firm guarantees on nuclear, technological and economic cooperation and firm commitments on security issues”.

But the EU objective in the talks was to demand a complete end to all Iranian enrichment. At the Mar. 23, 2005 meeting in Paris, the EU called for an indefinite suspension of enrichment by Iran, meaning suspension beyond the negotiations themselves. …more

South Dakota Seizes 5000 Lakota Children
10 April, 2012

Discuss This Now!

Please read the following and then let’s do something!

From: Daniel Sheehan
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 21:59:55 -0400 (EDT)
To:
ReplyTo: daniel.sheehan@lakotalaw.org
Subject: South Dakota Seizes 5000 Lakota Children

Dear Russell,

You probably know that Sara, Danny Paul and I have been working hard in South Dakota to put an end to the flagrant abuses of Native American rights in that state. Recently, we helped convince NPR reporter Laura Sullivan to come to South Dakota to investigate these abuses. She did a hard-hitting series of reports last fall that reached 28 million people.

I’m sending you this email because we want to tell our friends about our Lakota People’s Law Project and the lawsuit we’re building. This is not a fundraising appeal. It is, instead, designed to let you know about the situation in South Dakota.

There is real momentum behind this work now. My investigator and I are in the field uncovering the truth about what is going on. This trial has all the earmarks of an historic unfolding, just like Silkwood and Iran Contra. I encourage you to listen to the NPR report and to sign our letter of support to the many Lakota grandmothers who’ve had their grandkids taken.

Danny

***

One afternoon in 2008, Janice Howe—a Dakota Indian—waited at the bus stop for her grandchildren to come home from school. They never arrived.

That afternoon, a social worker had taken Janice’s grandchildren. They were driven to a white foster facility hundreds of miles away. The reason stated in the case file: a “rumor” that Janice’s daughter, Erin Yellow Robe, had been using drugs. She hadn’t. To this day, Janice’s daughter hasn’t been charged or arrested for drugs—or anything else.

For the next year and a half, Janice fought to get her grandchildren back. She called the state’s Director of Social Services. She wrote letters to the Governor. Finally, she convinced her tribe’s Council to threaten the state with kidnapping. A few weeks later, her grandchildren were returned…on a “trial basis.”

Recently, Janice’s story was told in an NPR investigative-series by award-winning journalist Laura Sullivan. If you haven’t listened to the story, it’s a must hear.

Since 2005, the Lakota People’s Law Project has been working with hundreds of families who share Janice’s story. But they haven’t all been so lucky. Over the past decade, the State Department of Social Services has taken more than 5,000 Native American children from their homes. It’s easy to see why—for every Lakota child in state-sponsored care, South Dakota receives thousands of dollars a year in federal monies.

What’s the good news? We can do something about it!

The Lakota People’s Law Project is currently compiling court-admissible evidence and preparing a federal civil rights action on behalf of South Dakota’s Native families. Recently, we helped Janice Howe host a forum to teach parents and relatives about their rights under the Indian Child Welfare Act. More than 160 Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota attended the meeting.

To be successful in this work, we need to build a chorus of support across the country. We hope that you will add your voice to this effort.

You can start by signing a letter of support to Janice Howe and all the other grandmothers like her.

Please forward this email to your friends and share Janice’s story to help us grow a strong network of people who care.

Together, we can help the Lakota reclaim their rights and get their children back!

As we say in Lakota—pilamaya—thank you.
Sara Nelson
Executive Director

Madonna Thunder Hawk
Organizer and Tribal Liaison
…source

Oil oozing from US Middle East madness
15 July, 2012 – By Colin S. Cavell – PressTV

Because of the excesses, multiplicity of scandals, and unbelievable outrages of KSA’s ruling family members (as well as that of fellow (Persian) GCC royals), it has been an unwritten practice of the American media to maintain a veritable silence regarding news from the Kingdom. The average US citizen has little to no idea who America’s biggest ally in the Persian Gulf is nor any notion of what passes for its government, culture, or society in general.

One objection to the contention that current US policy in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region is committed to implanting a new US democratic model to replace the formerly autocratically-ruled US client states in an attempt to perpetuate its historic dominance over the region and thus ensure continued access to relatively cheap and unimpeded crude oil and natural gas is the fact of apparent American steadfast support for the Persian Gulf monarchies.

These Persian Gulf monarchies, relics of a bygone era of fairy tales and fantasy, have been grouped together politically and economically into the so-called [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council [P (GCC)] since 1981, in response to the genuine fear that the revolutionary example posed by the Iranian Revolution would engulf these reactionary regimes. Their continued existence in the modern world is an artificial contrivance constructed by and for the benefit of the two main imperialist powers in the region: the USA and the UK. Unhampered access to relatively cheap oil and natural gas is the raison d’être of this regional configuration. Preserving this access is the number one priority of these imperial powers.

Encompassing the kingdoms or sheikhdoms or sultanates or emirates of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, these six sovereign states-recognized as such by the United Nations-collectively sit on an estimated 50% of the world’s petroleum reserves and are the world’s largest providers of liquefied natural gas and, hence, boast an impressive GDP of over $33,000 per capita as of 2012. Of course, we must remember that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the overall value of goods and services produced over a specific time period (usually a year) in a particular (usually national) social formation or economy divided by the number of people in the economy.

In the case of each of the Persian Gulf monarchies, wide asymmetrical divides in wealth exists between the ruling families, their court followers and obsequious and parasitic stooges as compared to average citizens. In other words, the high GDP levels of these countries mask the existence of widespread poverty throughout the realms. The extensive divide is even further exacerbated when the wealth of the royal family and their immediate supporters is compared with that of the migrant workers who make up the majority of almost all of the (P)GCC countries’ populations. Yes, you read correctly that most of the human population of these regimes is comprised of expatriate, i.e. foreign, workers. [In the UAE, over 91% of the population are expatriate workers. In Kuwait, over two-thirds of the population are expatriates. In Oman, expatriate workers comprise nearly 30% of the population. In Qatar, expats outnumber native citizens by a factor of seven. In Bahrain, more than half of the population are expatriates. In Saudi Arabia, nearly a third of the population is expatriates.]

“Does unfettered access to cheap oil and gas trump America’s avowed support for democracy?” it is asked. More to the point, “Will not American hypocrisy and double standards guarantee that whatever new doctrine the US has for the MENA region be rejected, as subject populations refuse to be hoodwinked for another generation?” Detractors say that the policy-if there is in fact one-is not coherent, uniform, nor convincing. It is, some say, illogical, chaotic, and mad. It is asserted that the Americans and the British are only interested in solidifying and expanding their hegemony in the region, and they don’t care who they have to kill, control, or manipulate in order to accomplish this task. It is easy to understand this reaction, especially by those directly affected by these imperial policies, but all systems act to moderate conflict, stabilize its component parts, regularize its operations, and create scenarios for predictable outcomes, and contrive remedies to address system instability-if they are to last. The USA/UK regional system of control over the MENA region is no different, and many practitioners of statecraft in these hegemons are and have been quite aware for some time that the current structure of this imperial structure for the MENA is unsustainable.

If money alone could buy social peace, then surely the (P)GCC countries would be the imagined paragons of paradise long sought for by adventurers and explorers. However, such is not the case. With more than half of the (P)GCC member-states’ 42 million people and by encompassing more than 80% of the member-states’ land area in addition to possessing the world’s second largest reserves of oil while remaining the world’s largest oil producer, Saudi Arabia is the bellwether of the (P)GCC union. Incorporating the aggregate of the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia is the second-largest Arab-speaking country behind Algeria in terms of land area, though Egypt remains the Arab world’s most populous nation by a factor of three over Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy established in 1932 and ruled over by the sons of the Kingdom’s Bedouin founder Abdulaziz ibn Saud, who had a reported 22 wives and at least 37 sons. Its current ruler is the 88-year-old Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the sixth ruler of the Kingdom since its inception and King since 2005. With a reported 13 wives and at least 25 children, the aging monarch is said to be in deteriorating health and, hence, a succession crisis looms large over the Kingdom.

Just last October, 80-year-old Crown Prince (and successor to the throne) Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, father of at least 32 children with over eleven different wives, died reportedly of cancer in New York City, becoming the first Saudi Crown Prince to die before becoming king. More recently, just a month ago in June of 2012, one of the King’s brothers, 79-year-old Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who succeeded Prince Sultan as Crown Prince of the Kingdom, died reportedly of cardiac problems in Geneva, Switzerland and was succeeded by 76-year-old Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud as the new Crown Prince. Nayef, a staunch opponent of democracy and women’s rights and an unyielding defender of the Kingdom’s absolute monarchy, had been acting as de facto ruler of the Kingdom due to the King’s illnesses, and it was he who reportedly gave the order to send in Peninsula Shield Forces into Bahrain in mid-March of 2011 to stamp out pro-democracy activists there. Both men each have had three wives with Nayef siring ten children and Salman currently the father of 13. …more

Israel Likely Behind Bulgarian False Flag
by Stephen Lendman – 20 July, 2012 – Indy News

Israel’s history is odious. State terror is policy. It’s a dagger pointed at humanity’s heart. False flags and targeted assassinations are specialties.

Mossad and Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) have notorious terrorist histories. Bet on either organization’s dirty hands behind the latest Bulgaria attack.

Fingers point the wrong way. Israel blames Iran for its own crimes.

Unindicted war criminal Netanyahu said “Israel will respond forcefully to Iranian terror.” At issue is a Bulgarian Sarafovo airport bomb attack. It’s located in Burgas. It’s a popular Black Sea resort destination. Israeli tourists and others were killed.

On July 19, Reuters headlined “Bulgaria says suicide bomber blew up airport bus,” saying:

A bus carrying Israeli tourists and others was attacked. Eight deaths were reported. Around 30 others were injured. According to Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov:

“We have established a person who was a suicide bomber in this attack. This person had a fake driving license from the United States.”

It wasn’t coincidental that the attack came on the anniversary of the 1994 AMIA (Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) Buenos Aires bombing. It killed 85 and injured hundreds. Argentina has Latin America’s largest Jewish population. It numbers around 200,000. Israel falsely blamed Iran.

Its officials jumped on the latest attack. Defense Minister Ehud Barak pointed fingers the wrong way, saying:

“The immediate executors are Hezbollah people, who of course have constant Iranian sponsorship.”

A White House statement stopped short of blaming Iran and/or Hezbollah, saying:

Obama “strongly condemns today’s barbaric terrorist attack on Israelis in Bulgaria….As Israel has tragically once more been a target of terrorism, the United States reaffirms our unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security, and our deep friendship and solidarity with the Israeli people.”

Hillary Clinton issued a similar statement.

America, Israel, and key NATO partners are responsible for more global terrorism and deaths than the rest of the world combined and then some.

Mossad specializes in targeted and larger scale killings. Car bombs are a favorite tactic. Assassinating former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was classic Israeli state terror.

Compelling February 2005 visual and audio evidence revealed real time intercepted Israeli aerial surveillance footage of routes he used on the day he was killed.

Israel was clearly involved. Syria initially was blamed. Hezbollah was later falsely named and indicted. It was typical Mossad targeting. No one at the time knew for sure. A powerful car bomb caused a 30 foot crater. Over 20 were killed and over 100 injured.

No evidence whatever proved Hezbollah’s involvement. It had nothing to gain but plenty to lose. Israel and Washington greatly benefitted.

Mossad’s dirty hands were responsible like for many dozens of other incidents. Israel and America perfected the art of killing. They’re also expert at pointing fingers the wrong way. Victims often are blamed. …source

US, “Israel” Afraid of Syria’s Chemical Weapons
20 July, 2012 – moqawama.org

US officials are in talks with their “Israeli” counterparts about whether the Zionist entity might seek to destroy Syrian weapons facilities.

According to “New York Times” famous US daily, Pentagon officials were in talks with “Israeli” war officials about whether “Israel” might move to destroy Syrian weapons facilities.
Two US administration officials told the officials that “Washington is not advocating such an attack.”

The daily revealed that “President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Thomas Donilon, was in “Israel” over the weekend and discussed the Syrian crisis with officials there.”
US diplomats said Wednesday’s bombing in Damascus that killed several of top Syrian officials was a turning point in the conflict.

Within hours of the bombing, The NYT reported, the Treasury Department announced additional sanctions against the Syrian prime minister and some 28 other cabinet ministers and senior officials.

A huge worry, administration officials claim, is that in “al-Assad would use chemical weapons to.”
“The Syrian government has a responsibility to safeguard its stockpiles of chemical weapons, and the international community will hold accountable any Syrian officials who fails to meet that obligation,” Carney said. …source

Funeral Ceremony for Syria’s Top Officials
20 July, 2012 – moqawama.org

An official funeral ceremony was held on Friday for three of Syria’s top military and security officials who were martyred Wednesday in a terrorist bomb attack, Syrian state television said.

The attack on a meeting of the regime’s inner circle killed his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, Defense Minister Daoud Rajha and veteran army general Hassan Turkmani.

The president’s [Bashar al-Assad] younger brother top General Maher attended the joint ceremony for the men at a military monument in Damascus. Al-Assad’s Vice President Farouq al-Sharea also attended the funeral.
A fourth Syrian official, intelligence chief Hisham Bekhtyar, has died of wounds suffered in the Damascus bombing, the government said on Friday.Meanwhile, the President was shown on television swearing in a new defense minister to replace Rajha.

After the funeral ceremony on Friday, Rlitaryajha’s body was taken to a Damascus church where people from all sects prayed for the former defense minister, a Christian, before he was buried, witnesses said.
Shawkat’s body was expected to be taken to his home village near the Mediterranean city of Tartus for burial later on Friday, residents said. …more

Nasrallah: US manipulated Syria grievance
18 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday accused the US and Israel of using legitimate grievances in Syria as an excuse to destroy the country and the resistance to further Israel’s control over the Middle East.

Speaking after the death of three senior Syrian politicians in a bomb attack on Wednesday morning, Nasrallah hailed the men and warned that Syria risked destruction if it slid further into civil war.

“(The West and Israel) took advantage of the legitimate demands of the Syrian people…they put Syria into a war, they forbade negotiations,” he said.

“What is required (by the US) in Syria is to divide it, to destroy it, to rip it apart just like Iraq,” he said, referring to the chaos left behind after nine years of US occupation in Iraq.

Nasrallah said that Israel had been concerned by Syria’s increased military capabilities and had sought to sow discontent in the country.

“They looked at Syria and saw over the past years… first of all a new military strategy began in Syria,” he said, adding that before the uprising the country was “a real military power that (was) capable of presenting a real military threat to Israel.”

Speaking on the sixth anniversary of the 2006 war with Israel, in which the Jewish state suffered defeat at the hands of Hezbollah, Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s victory had increased concern about Syrian strength.

“There is only one army left that is not connected with the Americans. It’s the Syrian army. Since the July (2006) war they have been working on destroying this army,” he said.

Nasrallah also confirmed that the “most important” weapons used against Israel in the war were supplied by Syria.

“Syria is a real supporter of the resistance… on the military level as well,” he said. “The most important missiles that landed in occupied Palestine were manufactured or made in Syria.”

Call for calm

Referring to Lebanon, Nasrallah called for calm following an upturn in violence in recent months, much of it related to the Syrian crisis.

“I call for calm and patience. You have heard a lot of curses and you will hear a lot of curses in the future,” he said.

“This doesn’t concern only the Sunnis and the Shia…amongst all sects there are some who are trying to rip apart our community.”

The Shia leader also urged all sects in the country to move away from provocative language, calling for a new document dealing with sectarianism. …more

Bahrain: ill-treatment of ex-police officer Ali Al-Ghanmi and other prisoners in Jaw Prison
17 July, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) express concerns over the ill-treatment and harassment of ex-police officer Ali Al-Ghanmi (26) who is detained since 4 May 2011. Ali has been sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment by a military court on 9 January 2012, for charges related to freedom of speech and expression. He is accused of inciting hatred for the regime, protesting in 11 different pro-democracy rallies and the Pearl Roundabout, inciting military officers, absenteeism from work and communicating with foreign media channels. During some of the protests he is accused of, he was actually in prison.

For the past 3 weeks, Ali Al-Ghanmi has been held in a prison cell without any air-conditioning in the central prison in Jaw. It is summer in Bahrain and the temperature can reach over 45 degrees (Celcius). There are a number of prison cells that do not have air-conditioning. In some cells, the prison guards have opened the doors of some cells to allow air to come in. However, the centralized air-conditioning has not been fixed. According to Ali, the prison cells should be accommodated with no more than 6 people, but since it is overpacked, some cells have up to 7 or 8 inmates and therefore some of them have to sleep on the floor.
Ali Al-Ghanmi has a health condition that needs treatment, but he has been denied access to the hospital. Ali has callus in his foot that needs surgery to be removed. Ali has written multiple times to the prison manager of his need to visit the hospital but his requests have been denied. Ali has kept a record of the dates of the letters that have been declined. …more

Assad said to have fled Damascus
19 July, 2012 – UPI

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 19 (UPI) — The Obama administration was taking steps to head off further bloodshed and chaos as rebels were reported to have gained control of border crossings in Syria.

The New York Times reported Thursday rebels had taken over all four crossings into Iraq and one into Turkey, and the Los Angeles Times said officials from the United States and its allies are reaching out to opposition leaders in an effort to provide for a peaceful transition of power if President Bashar Assad is overthrown.

U.S. officials also urged Israeli leaders not to resort to military force to try to take control of chemical weapons in Syria, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Assad appeared on state television Thursday, one day after three members of his inner circle were assassinated in a suicide bombing. He swore in a new defense minister and the images from the presidential palace were played on a continuous loop by the Syrian Arab News Agency, The New York Times reported.

SANA’s English-language Web site, however, was inaccessible for much of Thursday.

Arab media reported Assad and his family have fled by plane to his hometown near the seaport of Latakia. Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai said Assad fled to the village of Kardaha in the Alawite Mountains following the deaths of his three top security chiefs Wednesday. From there he is directing his regime’s response, the paper said.

The London based Arab-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi said there were reports Assad survived an assassination attempt Tuesday evening and may be suffering from injuries to his legs and abdomen.

Israel Radio broadcast a message from an unidentified rebel commander saying battles were ongoing at the entrance to Assad’s fortified presidential palace in Damascus and Syrian air force helicopters were firing missiles at the fighters.

The New York Times said Thursday residents were fleeing Damascus as fighting in the capital city entered its fifth day, with the Syrian military issuing a statement saying Wednesday’s bombing increased their determination to “clear the homeland of the armed terrorist groups.”

China and Russia Thursday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have threatened increased sanctions on Syria due to the escalating violence.

A Syrian human rights organization said at least 15 people were killed in gun battles in the village of Jebata al-Khashab some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from Israel’s border Thursday. A statement released by the organization said clashes “have been taking place since the morning between Assad’s army and a group of deserters in the village near the occupied Golan Heights,” Israel National News said.

The regime said Wednesday’s bombing attack inside the headquarters of Syria’s national security council, a compound near Assad’s fortified palace, was the work of a suicide bomber. The Free Syrian Army said it was a remotely detonated explosive.
…more

Iranian parliament debates closing oil route
20 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

A lawmaker said on Friday that about half of the 290 members of Iran’s parliament were backing a bill favoring the closing of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, passageway for a fifth of the world’s oil.

MP Javad Karimi Qodoosi proposed the legislation, saying the strait is the world’s lock, and the key is in Iran’s hands, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian officials said the final decision was in the hands of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tehran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel, through which 40 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil exports passes, in retaliation for sanctions placed on its crude exports by Western powers.

The sanctions were imposed over Iran’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at creating an atomic weapon but Iran says is for peaceful energy purposes.

Israel has warned it may carry out unilateral strikes against the Islamic republic if sanctions fail to curb Iran’s program.

Iran has criticized Western hypocrisy over Israel’s own nuclear arsenal, which has avoided international scrutiny due to its privileged status as a US ally. …more

US State Dept. issues worldwide caution due to ongoing terrorist threat
19 July, 2012 – Arlaadii News

The Department of State has issued this Worldwide Caution to update information on the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world. U.S. citizens are reminded to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness. This replaces the Worldwide Caution dated January 24, 2012, to provide updated information on security threats and terrorist activities worldwide.

The Department of State remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations, and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas. Current information suggests that al-Qaida, its affiliated organizations, and other terrorist organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East . These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings,iyo qara hijackings, and bombings.

Extremists may elect to use conventional or non-conventional weapons, and target both official and private interests. Examples of such targets include high-profile sporting events, residential areas, business offices, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, public areas, and other tourist destinations both in the United States and abroad where U.S. citizens gather in large numbers, including during holidays.

U.S. citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure. Extremists have targeted and attempted attacks on subway and rail systems, aviation, and maritime services. In the past, these types of attacks have occurred in cities such as Moscow , London , Madrid , Glasgow , and New York City.

EUROPE: Current information suggests that al-Qaida, its affiliated organizations and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. and Western interests in Europe . European governments have taken action to guard against terrorist attacks, and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions. In the past several years, attacks have been planned or occurred in various European cities.

MIDDLE EAST and NORTH AFRICA: Credible information indicates terrorist groups also seek to continue attacks against U.S. interests in the Middle East and North Africa . For example, Iraq remains dangerous and unpredictable. U.S. military forces were withdrawn as of December 31, 2011 but the threat of attacks against U.S. citizens, including kidnapping and terrorist violence, is expected to continue. Methods of attack have included roadside improvised explosive devices, mortars, and shootings. Terrorist organizations continue to be active in Yemen , including al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). A U.S. citizen was attacked and killed in Taiz on March 18 and the press reports that AQAP claimed responsibility. Security threat levels remain high in Yemen due to terrorist activities there and the U.S. government remains highly concerned about possible attacks against U.S. citizens, facilities, businesses, and perceived U.S. and Western interests. U.S. citizens have also been the targets of numerous terrorist attacks in Lebanon in the past (though none recently) and the threat of anti-Western terrorist activity continues to exist there. In Algeria , terrorist attacks occur regularly, particularly in the Kabylie region of the country. In the past, terrorists have targeted oil processing facilities in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen . Some elements in Iran remain hostile to the United States . U.S. citizens should remain cautious and be aware that there may be a more aggressive focus by the Iranian government on terrorist activity against U.S citizens. …source

Arab instability and US strategy
Joseph Massad, al-Jazeera, 17 July, 2012

A year and a half into what US media and officials began to refer to as the “Arab Spring”, there has been little democracy achieved across Arab countries, even in those countries that saw the overthrow of their despotic US-supported regimes. The main change in the region has been its loss of regime stability and a new instability that reflects negatively on imperial capital investment and the overall imperial strategy in the region. This is not to say that, despite its initial fumbling, US imperialism has not since been able to capture many of the threads of the new political game in the region and control them; it is that it no longer controls all the threads. This lack of full control means that Washington has therefore been unable to restore stability, which, in US terms, is defined as dictatorial regimes that are staffed by obedient servants to US diktat and its junior partner in the region, the Jewish settler-colony. In Yemen, the US has become the new direct absolute ruler of the country, no longer ruling through a dictator agent. They are killing and maiming Yemenis at will under the pretext of fighting the terror of al-Qaeda, which did not even exist in Yemen before the US decided to intervene in that impoverished country. The terror that US forces and their ambassador Gerald Feierstein have imposed on the country has been the major achievement of the Obama administration since the Arab revolts started in Jan 2011. The other Arab country where the US commands immense control is Bahrain, though all attempts by the Bahraini dictatorship, the Saudi mercenaries, reportedly aided by US and British military and security support and consultation, to crush the revolt have been valiantly resisted by a fearless oppressed population.

While regional and imperial capital is abandoning Bahrain slowly to neighbouring Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai, with the mass exodus of the expatriate community, US military presence, not to mention the hegemony of Saudi mercenaries, has intensified. Indeed, the Saudis floated the proposition in May to annex Bahrain altogether to the kingdom and transform it demographically, and thus be done with the whole affair of a majority of Shi’a being oppressed by a sectarian Sunni monarchy. In their ongoing revolt, Saudis in the Qatif and Al-Ahsa’ regions have responded to this proposal in the past few days, demanding that, in defiance of Saudi despotism and its imperial designs on Bahrain, that they secede from Saudi Arabia and be reunified with Bahrain, of which they had been part before the Saudi state took them over. In Libya, the instability has been legion, except in the oil sector, a situation that parallels that of Iraq nine years after the US-led invasion and occupation of the country. The recent Libyan elections have confirmed NATO’s man in power, Mahmoud Jibril, though his ability to control the country (the oil fields, which are in NATO hands, excepted) is next to nil. As for the Qatari-Saudi election competition in Tunisia and Egypt (Saudis support the forces of the ancien regime and the Salafists, while Qatar supports the Muslim Brothers), the Qataris won hands down, though the Saudis are imposing their conditions. US officials, as expected, play all sides, allying both with the military rulers of Egypt and with the Muslim Brothers, not to mention the liberal secular parties. …more

Call It Democracy
by Bruce Cockburn

Padded with power here they come
International loan sharks backed by the guns
Of market hungry military profiteers
Whose word is a swamp and whose brow is smeared
With the blood of the poor

Who rob life of its quality
Who render rage a necessity
By turning countries into labour camps
Modern slavers in drag as champions of freedom

Sinister cynical instrument
Who makes the gun into a sacrament —
The only response to the deification
Of tyranny by so-called “developed” nations’
Idolatry of ideology

North South East West
Kill the best and buy the rest
It’s just spend a buck to make a buck
You don’t really give a flying fuck
About the people in misery

IMF dirty MF
Takes away everything it can get
Always making certain that there’s one thing left
Keep them on the hook with insupportable debt

See the paid-off local bottom feeders
Passing themselves off as leaders
Kiss the ladies shake hands with the fellows
Open for business like a cheap bordello

And they call it democracy

See the loaded eyes of the children too
Trying to make the best of it the way kids do
One day you’re going to rise from your habitual feast
To find yourself staring down the throat of the beast
They call the revolution

IMF dirty MF
Takes away everything it can get
Always making certain that there’s one thing left
Keep them on the hook with insupportable debt