Posts from — July 2012

Syrian Muslim Brotherhood to launch Islamist party
20 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Syria’s hardline Muslim Brotherhood, a key opponent of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, announced plans on Friday to launch an Islamist political party.

“The decision has been taken to create an Islamic party,” the head of the Brotherhood’s political wing, Ali Beyanouni, told journalists after the group completed a four-day conference in Istanbul.

“We are ready for the post-Assad era, we have plans for the economy, the courts, politics,” said Mulhem al-Droubi, the Brotherhood’s spokesman.

The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist political movement founded in Egypt in 1928 and has branches and affiliates around the world.

But the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has no direct links to Egypt’s movement, and is known to be more radical.

The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood was banned in 1963, and many of its members fled Syria following a a failed insurgency in the 1980s the failed to topple then-President Hafez al-Assad.

An uprising against President Bashar al-Assad has allowed thousands to return to the country, taking part in an insurgency.

The Turkish-based Muslim Brotherhood is also said to be the major force in the Western-backed Syrian National Council (SNC).

The group has been at the center of disputes with secular, nationalist and liberal opposition circles that fear the Islamists are seeking to hijack the revolt, and implement a radical agenda.

The Muslim Brotherhood, as well as other Islamist and Jihadist armed groups, are said to be funded by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The threat of the Muslim Brotherhood rising to power in Syria has created anxiety among the country’s minorities, who fear persecution if the Gulf-backed Islamists come to power. …more

Egyptian former spy chief died of rare condition
20 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Egypt’s former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman died from a rare disease affecting the heart and kidneys, according to the US clinic where he was undergoing medical tests at the time.

Suleiman, who died at age 76 on Thursday, was fallen dictator Hosni Mubarak’s last deputy and one of his most trusted advisers.

He stepped briefly into the limelight when he was made vice president days before Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising last year.

“On Thursday, July 19, General Omar Suleiman…passed away due to complications from amyloidosis, a disease that affects multiple organs including the heart and kidneys,” the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement issued on Thursday night.

It said Suleiman had checked into the clinic on Monday and the disease was discovered after her underwent multiple tests.

Preparations were under way to bring Suleiman’s body home for burial. Suleiman will be accorded a military funeral in Egypt on Saturday, the state newspaper al-Ahram said. …source

Analysis – Egyptian leader looks abroad to win influence at home
20 July, 2012 – By Tom Pfeiffer – Reuters

CAIRO: An early diplomatic offensive by Egypt’s new Islamist president makes it harder for an army-led establishment to portray him on the international stage as a threat to foreign powers.

At home though, it may do little to curb the influence of the generals and help Mursi assert himself as head of state.

Egypt’s long-standing allies Saudi Arabia and the United States are unwilling to challenge the army’s role as self-appointed protector of Egypt, which it uses to justify continued control over national security and a future constitution.

Mursi has the first real popular mandate in Egypt’s history yet the army has kept the power to veto any law he passes after dissolving a parliament dominated by his allies in the Muslim Brotherhood, citing a court ruling.

In an apparent swipe at the Brotherhood during a visit to Egypt by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Egypt’s top general, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, said the army would not allow a “specific group” to dominate Egypt.

Clinton urged a swift move to accountable government after meeting the new president and said the U.S. supported the army’s return to a “purely national security role”. Images of her chatting with Mursi were relayed widely on television.

But Clinton’s visit also included meetings with women’s representatives and Christian groups who fear their rights could be eroded if Islamists take full control via the ballot box.

She held a meeting with Tantawi that was more low-key than her earlier encounter with Mursi, but the order of ceremonies may say more about official protocol than any real change in the pecking order.

For now, Mursi may still be too weak, and the Brotherhood too untested, for Washington to bring decisive pressure to bear on the generals on his behalf.

“Mursi is trying to use foreign support, to the extent it is available, for a transition to a more democratic polity to enhance his powers and those of the Brotherhood,” said Kamran Bokhari, vice president for the Middle East and South Asia at Stratfor.

But he said the military leadership remained a partner of choice for the outside world, “partly because of longstanding relations and partly because of U.S. uncertainty over the Brotherhood coming to power”.

SAUDI OVERTURES

Mursi seemed to be doing his best to have it otherwise on a visit last week to U.S. ally and regional power Saudi Arabia, whose monarchy looked on with unease last year as popular uprisings spread through the region.

While sharing similar ideology to the conservative Saudi monarchy, the Brotherhood has a popular appeal that some perceive as a threat to the authority of the Saudi government.

Mursi, surely anxious to keep vital Saudi financial aid flowing into Egypt’s depleted state coffers after he took office, did his best to mend the Brotherhood’s strained ties with the oil-rich kingdom.

“Saudi Arabia is the home to the Two Holy Mosques and the sponsor of the moderate Sunni Islamic project and Egypt is the protector of this project. Between the sponsor and the protector there are bonds of family and marriage,” he said in comments carried by Egypt’s state news agency MENA.
…more

Pro-democracy protesters at Saudi embassy
20 July, 2012 – Sarah Homewood – The Cannbera Times

A group of about 50 people from as far as Sydney and Melbourne converged on the Saudi Arabian embassy in Yarralumla yesterday, protesting against an alleged government crackdown on pro-democracy movements in Bahrain.

Led by the Bahrain Australian Youth Movement, the group said the protest was sparked by the alleged arrest and imprisonment of children by Bahraini government forces.

The rally, which began outside the Saudi embassy at about 10am, was closely watched by a small contingent of police.

A protest organiser, Husain Alqatari, said: ”This protest today is about the crackdown happening in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia; we are here to support the people seeking freedom of speech, seeking human rights, freedom for women”.

No Saudi Arabian students were present at the protest, a fact that Mr Alqatari attributes to threats from the Saudi embassy.

”The embassy sent out a letter saying that if Saudi students were to come to the protest then the embassy would cancel their visas,” Mr Alqatari said.

A spokesman for the embassy said he was unable to comment on the accusations or the protest.

The protesters weren’t hopeful that the embassy would come out and address their demands.

”We have been trying to contact the embassy for a week and a half to talk to us but they haven’t been answering,” he said.

The protesters had originally planned to move to the US embassy later in the morning, but cancelled the second half of the protest, instead opting to begin the journeys back to Melbourne and Sydney.

…source

Bahrain Crackdowns Intensifying, Saudi Protests Spreading
19 July, 2012 – POMED

Government crackdowns in Bahrain are intensifying this week with increased police checkpoints and house raids. Said Yousif of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights compared the heightened police presence to an imposition of martial law. Jen Marlow, the American filmmaker who was recently deported from Bahrain, commented that in the three weeks she was in the country, she felt the situation had deteriorated substantially. According to her, crackdowns are country-wide as the “practice of targeting activists and demonstrators seems to be on the rise and very widespread” with “absolutely no distinction between civilians of any kind.” Also, police have arrested a sixth alleged terror suspect today as part of their list of 20 people accused of making homemade bombs.

Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, Al-Monitor reports that protests have spread beyond the Eastern Province in an article titled “Has the Arab Spring Finally Arrived in Saudi Arabia?” According to Saudi activist Hamza al-Hassan, “we are seeing clashes in Ar’ar, protests in Riyadh, and there is hardly a place with no active popular movements in Saudi Arabia,” adding that Sunnis are now in the streets as well. Hassan attributes the sustained protests after the arrest of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr to the elders of the Eastern Province refusing to accept concessions from the regime as they have in the past.

Also, a Saudi court ruled that women can divorce their husbands if they discover after the marriage that their husband is a smoker. The ruling is intended to protect women’s health, but does not extend to women who know before marriage that their future husband smokes, or women who have been married to a smoker for a long time. …source

Bahrain police arrest sixth ‘terror’ suspect
Agence France-Presse – 20 July, 2012 – The National

Bahraini police said they had arrested another among a group of 20 people wanted over “terror attacks” in the kingdom.

Bahraini police had earlier announced the arrests of five other people on the list of suspects.

“Public security chief Major-General Tariq Al Hassan announced yesterday the arrest of suspect Hussain Isa Mohammed Isa Adam, included in the list of 20 people accused of terrorist blasts,” state news agency BNA reported.

“The suspect was referred to the public prosecution to take legal action against him over charges of manufacturing homemade bombs and carrying out criminal acts that caused injury to civilians and policemen,” BNA said.

Major Hassan said police had circulated photographs of the wanted men through the media, which had facilitated their capture but did not specify when the arrests were made.

Bahraini authorities accuse Shiite youth protesters of using petrol bombs against security forces during demonstrations in villages outside the capital Manama. …more

Russia, China veto third UN Syria resolution
19 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that sought to impose sanctions and open the door for military action against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

It was the third time in nine months that the two powers have used their vetoes as permanent members of the 15-nation council to block Western-backed resolutions on Syria.

There were 11 votes in favor, Russia and China’s votes against and two abstentions – Pakistan and South Africa.

The text, backed by the United States, France, Germany and Portugal, called for non-military sanctions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter if Assad did not withdraw heavy weapons from Syrian cities in 10 days.

Russia had said it could not accept Chapter VII as it was wary of foreign interference in Syria.

Moscow’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after the veto that the resolution sought to “open the path to the pressure of sanctions and further to external military involvement in Syrian domestic affairs.”

“Their calculations to use the UN Security Council to further their plans to put their pressure on sovereign states will not pass,” Churkin added in an acrimonious council debate on Syria after the veto.

The West and Russia have been at fierce odds over the Syrian crisis, with Moscow and Beijing concerned Western powers are seeking to exploit the violence to further their interests.

Syria has been a staunch ally of Russia, hosting Moscow’s only naval base in the Mediterranean.

Western powers have backed rebels waging the fight against Assad, deepening the division with Russia over the crisis.

Last year a similar resolution was used to justify a NATO bombing campaign in Libya to bring down the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Britain’s envoy to the UN Mark Lyall Grant, whose country took the lead in writing the resolution, said he was “appalled” by the veto. …source

Once again the US war machine is in full swing, first Panetta boasts of a defeated Al Qaeda and now its about to grab Syria’s Chemical Weapons Supply. Sound Familiar? All this after the US and Saudi Arabia, only months earlier, recruited and armed Al Qadea and BlackWater operatives, who worked together in Iraq, to organize the Syrian Opposition. A familiar pattern has emerged reminiscent of George Bush’s orchestration of the invasion of Iraq. With President Obama’s “Victory in Libya” under his belt, a more sophisticated President Obama and “learned” Pentagon, has Prime Minister Cameron calling for Syria Regime change and King Abdullah of Jordan filling the role of General Colin Powell in Iraq, as town crier, warning of loose Chemical Weapons. One things is for certain, the American public is mostly brain dead and its Masters seek to beat down Syria in another Neoliberal feeding frenzy. Phlipn.

Al-Qaeda has presence in Syria, says Leon Panetta
11 May, 2012 – UK Guardian
US defence secretary Leon Panetta says intelligence indicates an al-Qaeda presence in Syria, but admits the US does not know what activities the group is engaged in. On Thursday Syria suffered its worst terrorist attack since the start of the uprising when 55 people were reported killed in twin bomb blasts in Damascus




…source

Eight Months Earlier – Al Qaeda defeat is imminent:

Former CIA Director and current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta declared that the United States is “within reach of strategically defeating al Qaeda.”

Destroying Al Qaeda
America’s Greatest National Security Accomplishment in Decades
By Brian Katulis, Peter Juul – 1 November, 2011

The Al Qaeda network over the past three years suffered its greatest losses since the United States and its allies evicted the terrorist organization from Afghanistan in 2001. Consider the achievements:

President Barack Obama ordered a daring and risky Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, and dozens of other senior Al Qaeda leaders have met their demise since President Obama took office.
This summer, U.S. drones killed Ilyas Kashmiri, commander of Al Qaeda’s Pakistan operation, and Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, Al Qaeda’s top operational planner who became the organization’s number two after bin Laden’s death.
Anwar al-Awlaki, a key member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula believed to be responsible for organizing a number of attempted attacks against the United States, was killed in another drone strike in Yemen at the end of September.

Hardly a week goes by without some key figure in the Al Qaeda network and its affiliates being targeted in a range of actions, including drone strikes as well as other actions by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies to prevent attacks and degrade the Al Qaeda network. The damage done to Al Qaeda by the Obama administration represents America’s greatest national security success since the fall of the Soviet Union and the peaceful integration of Eastern European countries in the 1990s.

Given these major successes, it’s no wonder U.S. officials, including former CIA Director and current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, are declaring that the United States is “within reach of strategically defeating al Qaeda.” As President Obama put it in June, the United States has “put al Qaeda on a path to defeat, and we will not relent until the job is done.” …more

More picture at Feb 14 Coalition Wall HERE

The Spanish Civil War

Bahrain and the Arab Spring
INTERVIEW by Ahmed Mohammed – 17 July, 2012 – International Socialist Review

The small island nation of Bahrain sits in the Persian Gulf, between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. When the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings toppled US-backed dictators last year, all of the region’s dictatorships trembled, including that in Bahrain. The winds of change inspired Bahrain’s downtrodden, and the country’s monarchy barely managed to maintain its grip on power. Ahmed Mohammed, a Bahraini activist visiting the United States, spoke with Zach Zill about Bahrain’s rebellion and what the future holds.

CAN YOU talk about how the movement in Bahrain unfolded last February? What brought out thousands of people to Pearl Square? What were the people calling for in the protests?

THE PROTESTS had originally aimed to make the government fulfill the promises of the king. These promises were made in a referendum the king put to the people in 2001. The referendum offered us a bargain: to turn Bahrain into a kingdom and the emir into a king. In return, the dreaded state of emergency law would be ended, and a parliament with full legislative powers would be instated. He basically offered what the opposition had been demanding throughout the uprising in the 1990s. The referendum was widely welcomed and approved.

The king reneged on his promise. On February 14, 2002, the king announced a new constitution in which he concentrated power in his own hands. The constitution did give us a parliament, but it also thoroughly rigged the system. The parliament, contrary to the promises in the referendum, has virtually no legislative powers. I call the king’s existing power a triple veto system. In order to get to parliament, one has to go through gerrymandered constituencies, which dilute opposition votes. So that’s one veto: a guaranteed progovernment majority in parliament.

Those who do beat the odds and make it to parliament (the opposition often occupies seventeen to eighteen seats in parliament) find themselves in the unfortunate position of having to collaborate with pro-government MPs to pass bills. Say a miracle happens and such collaboration successfully passes an opposition-sponsored bill. They pass it to the upper chamber of parliament—which is appointed entirely by the king. So that’s another veto.

Let’s say another miracle happens that day and the upper chamber decides to turn against their employer. They decide okay, you know what, this makes sense, screw the king, we’re going pass this—here, the king has the authority to directly veto the bill.

In response to this setup, the opposition parties boycotted the first parliamentary election in 2000. By 2006, they realized, okay, the government is not budging; they are ignoring the boycott. So they decided to run for elections. This caused a split in the opposition. It gave rise to the rejectionist camp, which recognized that political participation in such a thoroughly rigged system cannot possibly work in bringing about the desired changes.

As the years went by, the regime plotted to permanently disempower the opposition and ensure the regime’s power in the long term. This effort materialized in various forms. One way was political naturalization. A former confidant of the royal family leaked documents proving a government plan to naturalize large numbers of poor Sunni Arabs from Syria, Yemen, Jordan, and elsewhere. [Seventy percent of Bahrainis are Shia—ed.]. The regime employs a mercenary police force and a mercenary army that’s almost entirely non-Bahraini and are invited for the sole purpose of occupying these positions. So the plan was basically to create a permanently loyal quasi-mercenary constituency. That way, the regime also gets to expand its secret police, police force, and the army, in preparation for future challenges.

The effects of political naturalization are profound. First, they exacerbate the already-high level of unemployment in Bahrain. According to the Economist, unemployment in Bahrain’s villages (which are small towns but are referred to as villages) was as high as 50 percent. Second, political naturalization increases the sense of xenophobia among Bahrainis, which is convenient for a regime that’s eager to divide and conquer. Third, the sudden increase in population meant higher demand for homes—which were already becoming out of reach for the working class. Worst of all, this policy revealed the regime’s deep-seated distrust of its own people.

It appears that the royal family’s hatched long-term plans to disempower the opposition and secure its power permanently, all the while keeping the opposition weak and divided. It all fell apart as their conspiracies began to leak to the public, just as WikiLeaks did with US embassy cables. Probably the most scandalous leak of all is a document that reveals a transaction between a businessman and the king’s uncle, the prime minister. The latter, who is the world’s longest-serving prime minister and is a universally hated figure in Bahrain, bought a state-of-the-art financial development project called the Bahrain Financial Harbor for one dinar. That’s $2.65 for skyscrapers in the capital’s busiest district.

As all this became public knowledge, and as it became increasingly clear that the regime had no intentions of reforming the rigged political system, a lot of anger and resentment began building up. People within both wings of the opposition had been warning that this situation is not tenable and it would explode at some point. The government had been aggravating it with even more repression in the lead-up to February 14 [the beginning of the mass movement against the government in Bahrain—ed.].

The departure of Tunisia’s Ben Ali in January set Bahraini activists’ imagination on fire. A Facebook group was set up to mark the tenth anniversary of the hated constitution as Bahrain’s day of rage. There was about a monthlong gap between Ben Ali’s departure and February 14. What happened in between was even more exciting . . .

EGYPT.

YES, EGYPT. Mubarak fell just days before February 14. The Bahraini regime was in a panic. In a matter of hours after Mubarak’s departure, Bahrain national television (BTV) announced that the government would give a thousand dinars to every household. That’s $ 2,650. Of course, the stated reason for this sudden act of generosity was the upcoming tenth anniversary celebrations of the “reform era.”

IN THE United States, in the media at least, you often hear about how “cosmopolitan” the Bahraini ruling family is, and how it’s this model of reform compared to the other Gulf monarchies.

IT’S COMPLETELY unfounded. This is among the world’s most reactionary regimes. Where, other than the Persian Gulf, do absolute monarchies exist in the twenty-first century? The royal family runs the country as a private firm. The majority of the ministries are headed by royal family members. This portrayal is not just ridiculous. It’s also offensive to people who are suffering under their rule.

The US government rarely misses a chance to shower praise upon this royal family, too. Just a few months before the uprising of February 14, Hillary Clinton visited Bahrain. She told journalists in a press conference that she was impressed with Bahrain’s progress. When pressed to specify on which fronts she sees progress happening, she replied, “on all fronts.”

…more

Mideast Peace Slips to Second Billing for US
17 July, 2012 – Associated Press – by Bradley Klapper and Josef Federman

JERUSALEM – Mideast peace, America’s defining issue for decades of dealings with Israel and its Arab neighbors, was just a postscript Monday as Hillary Rodham Clinton made perhaps her final visit to the region as secretary of state.

Three years after President Barack Obama declared the plight of the Palestinians “intolerable,” his administration no longer sees the failing Arab-Israeli peace efforts with the same immediacy. U.S. interests are focused now on Iran and Syria, though the deep differences between Israel and the Palestinians are not ignored.

“Peace among Israel, the Palestinian people and all of Israel’s Arab neighbors is crucial for Israel’s long-term progress and prosperity,” Clinton said following discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s president, foreign minister and defense minister.

Clinton also met Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, but she couldn’t report any progress toward an accord that might secure an independent Palestine and an Israel at peace with its neighbors.

In a departure from the usual pattern for top U.S. diplomats, she did not travel to the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank seat of government in Ramallah.

The Palestinians said a visit was unnecessary because Clinton had met with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, just a few days earlier in Paris.

Israel has defied Obama’s call to halt settlement construction in occupied lands, and the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has refused to resume negotiations, leaving peace hopes in a tense status quo with no breakthrough in sight.

Both Israelis and Palestinians are frustrated with one another and with Obama’s peace efforts so far.

Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi said Obama’s Mideast policy has been a “disaster.”

“The American standing and credibility have never been worse than now,” she said. “A major power is being constantly humiliated by Israel, and they put up with it and they take it.”

Obama acknowledged frustrations in an interview Sunday, but in many ways the region’s crises and Washington’s priorities have moved on. Syria’s civil war, Egypt’s political instability and the Iranian nuclear program have all overshadowed the moribund peace process.

Asked what he believed he failed at in his first term, Obama cited Arab-Israeli peace efforts in an interview with WJLA-TV, a Washington, D.C., station.

“I have not been able to move the peace process forward in the Middle East the way I wanted,” he said. “It’s something we focused on very early. But the truth of the matter is that the parties, they’ve got to want it as well.”

Iran’s nuclear program has become the most pressing problem for the U.S. and Israel, and one that is a far easier cause to take up for an American administration in an election year. Republicans have consistently criticized Obama for putting too much pressure on Israel in the peace process and being too weak on Iran.

Obama rejects the criticism, and his aides point to what they call unprecedented U.S.-Israeli security cooperation. Still, his frosty relationship with Netanyahu has fueled the perception that U.S.-Israeli relations have deteriorated, a potential problem for Obama with Jewish voters in the swing state of Florida.

Israel is getting more attention at the moment as the U.S. political race proceeds. …more

Strategically Timed Syrian Massacre
by Stephen Lendman – 17 July, 2012 – Mostly Water

Insurgents are enlisted, armed, funded, trained, and directed by Western and regional special forces.

They decide strategy, targets, and timing. Armies need leadership to operate effectively. So do killer gangs.

Special forces have tactical expertise. They’re directing Washington’s war on Syria. They plan and lead attacks and bombings.

Treimseh’s massacre was strategically timed. Questions about it remained unanswered. More on that below.

Coming when the Security Council considered harsher anti-Assad measures raises obvious red flags.

Why then is clear. At issue is pressuring Russia and China to bend. So far both countries hold firm. They oppose further sanctions and outside intervention.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was clear, saying.

“In case (Western countries) decided to submit the draft resolution for voting on Thursday although they already know that it is rejected, Russia will veto the draft resolution.”

Washington won’t quit trying. Hillary Clinton is an unabashed war criminal. She had direct involvement in America’s war on Libya. She’s at it again targeting Iran and Syria.

She’s pushing for Security Council authorization for war without saying so. On July 13, a State Department Press Statement headlined “Assad Regime Massacre in Traymseh,” saying:

She’s “outraged (about) another massacre committed by the Syrian regime” she claims killed “over 200 men, women, and children….”

Official death toll numbers aren’t known. Reports suggest insurgents comprised most of them.

Despite no corroborating evidence, she claims “the regime deliberately murdered innocent civilians. Syria cannot be peaceful, stable, or democratic until Assad goes and a political transition begins.”

“Those who committed these atrocities will be identified and held accountable.”

(T)he international community must keep increasing the pressure on the regime….”

“The Security Council should put its full weight behind” regime change.

There must “be consequences for non-compliance.”

“History will judge this Council. Its members must ask themselves whether continuing to allow the Assad regime to commit unspeakable violence against its own people is the legacy they want to leave.”

Washington’s bloodstained hands are all over the Treimseh massacre. Obama officials also bear direct responsibility for earlier Houla and Qubair ones.

Expect much more ahead. Likely larger-scale false flags are planned. Assad will be wrongfully blamed.

Washington will either get Security Council authorization for intervention or circumvent it. None approved war on Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, or Libya.

International law is clear. The UN Charter prohibits attacking another nation except in self-defense – until the Security Council acts. It has final say.

The right of self-defense is limited solely to deterring armed attacks, preventing future ones after initial assaults, or reversing the consequences of enemy aggression, such as heavily armed Western-backed Syrian insurgents.

International law supports Assad. He’s obligated to defend his people under armed attack.

At the same time, he must conform to the principles of necessity, distinction, and proportionality.

Necessity permits only attacking military targets.

Distinction pertains to distinguishing between civilian and military ones.

Proportionality prohibits disproportionate force likely to damage nonmilitary sites and/or harm civilian lives.

A fourth consideration requires preventing unnecessary suffering, especially affecting noncombatant civilians.

If these objective aren’t possible, attacks are prohibited, but not when civilian lives are threatened by hostile elements doing most of the killing.

Clearly that’s the case in Syria.

Just war, humanitarian intervention, and/or responsibility to protect (R2P) notions don’t wash. International law is clear and unequivocal. So is constitutional law. Only Congress can declare war, not presidents.

It hasn’t deterred America’s permanent war policy. Multiple direct and proxy ones rage illegally. Obama itches for more. So does Clinton. Media scoundrels support them. …more

Clinton in Cairo – What’s the U.S. Up to in Egypt?
Counter Punch – by ESAM AL-AMIN – 17 July, 2012

Over the past weekend Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Egypt for the first time since the election in late June of Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Dr. Muhammad Morsi. During her visit, Clinton not only met with the new president but also sat with Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the same military council that has been effectively ruling the country since Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February 2011.

According to the New York Times, Clinton declared during her meeting with the Egyptian Islamist president that the U.S. “supports the full transition to civilian rule with all that entails” and emphasized the need for “building consensus across the Egyptian political spectrum.” The following day Clinton met with Tantawi after which she declared that the U.S. would like to see the Egyptian military return to “purely national security role.”

Across the region her statements were interpreted as a thinly disguised, yet conditional, pledge of support to the new president and a warning to the military not to upset the nascent democratic process in Egypt. Last month as the election results were deliberately delayed by the pro-SCAF Elections Commission the Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned his Egyptian counterpart Tantawi in two separate phone calls not to alter the results in favor of the military’s candidate and Mubarak’s last prime minister, Gen. Ahmad Shafiq, but honor the will of the Egyptian electorate and the democratic process.

So what is one to make of the American policy in Egypt and the broader Middle East, especially after the Arab Spring?

After the rise of American global power in the aftermath of WWII, American global strategy focused for decades on its rivalry with the Soviet Union. The theatre of this conflict was mainly in Europe, as the Middle East was just a backdrop to this conflict between superpowers. The American strategy could simply be summed up during that time as: Keeping the Americans in, the Germans down, and the Soviets out.

With the collapse and disintegration of the communist empire, but especially after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration devised a new national security strategy that focused on the Middle East as its new theatre of operations launching three successive wars in a matter of few years: in Afghanistan, Iraq, and a broader so-called “war on terror.” According to military strategist Thomas Barnett, for almost a decade the strategy of the American administration in the Middle East was: Keeping the Israelis strong, the Saudis safe, and the “fundamentalist radicals” out. During the last decade, as the United States expended massive resources on fighting elusive and largely unidentified groups, the world witnessed the rise of other global and regional powers not only… ...more

This Week in Internet Censorship: Netizens Sentenced in Oman, Malaysia, and Bahrain; Maldivian Blogger Attacked; New Human Rights Watch Report on Iraqi Cybercrime Bill
16 July, 2012 – By Jillian C. York – EFF

Bloggers Under Fire in the Gulf

In Bahrain and Oman, netizens are coming under fire once again. In Bahrain–where opposition activists have frequently been detained and maligned on social networks–Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, a fellow member of IFEX, wassentenced on July 10 to three months in prison for a tweet. Rajab was arrested in May and charged with inciting protest on social networks. After being released on bail, he was then arrested again on June 6 on charges of “insulting in public” after tweeting for Bahrain’s rulers to step down. Rajab has been persecuted by the Bahraini government for more than a year for his activism as part of their broader crackdown on opposition. EFF once again calls on the international community to condemn the persecution of bloggers and citizen journalists at the hands of Bahrain’s regime.

In neighboring Oman, where a spate of netizen arrests have occurred in the past year, four young men have received similarly harsh sentences for content posted to social networks. Hamoud Al Rashidi was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 200 rials, while Hamad Al Kharousi, Mahmoud Al-Rawahi, and Ali Al-Mikbali were all sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 200 rials, all for “defaming” ruler Sultan Qaboos on social networks. Al Rashidi was convicted under Article 126 of Oman’s Criminal Law, which criminalizes defamation of “His Majesty the Sultan or his authority publicly.” The other three men were convicted under Article 126 and Articles 16 and 19 of Oman’s Cybercrime Law. EFF condemns the sentencing of these four men and calls on the Omani authorities to immediately overturn the convictions.

Maldivian Blogger Attacked; Government Denies Political Motivation

Long before Egypt’s infamous blackout, the Maldives was the first country to cut off Internet access to its citizens. In 2004, then-President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom cut off access in the wake of protests against his ruling regime. Although press freedom improved in the country following the end of Gayoom’s 30-year rule in 2008, attacks on journalists have increased since demonstrations in January that resulted in the ousting of President Mohamed Nasheed.

Most recently, the country’s best known blogger, Ismail Rasheed (more commonly known as “Hilath”), was stabbed in the throat and forced to flee the country. Though Rasheed, who has received death threats in the past has blamed the attack on Islamists, a Maldivian government spokesperson told the AFP that the attack had “nothing to do with religious extremism or his work as a journalist” and was the work of a rival gang. Another official condemned the stabbing but implied that Rasheed should have known he was a target, stating: “We are not a secular country. When you talk about religion there will always be a few people who do not agree.” …more

Syria – UN Resolution On Arms Embargo Necessary Against Western Power and Allies Arming Rebels
16 July, 2012 – By Padmini Arhant –

The continuous violence in Syria attributed to armed infiltration across the country necessitating authority response in state defense.

Most recent killings at al-Treimseh village in Hama Countryside reportedly an exchange between foreign aided terrorists and military personnel – the operation apparently carried out subsequent to evacuation procedure specifically aimed at terror hideouts minimizing civilian casualties in the war torn nation.

However, loss of innocent lives regrettable in any instance and those occupying civilian areas perpetuate combat situation confirming ill-fated purpose.

The terror groups scattered around the state wreaking havoc targeting civilians and security forces primarily deployed by western powers and Gulf allies for regional destabilization.

Geneva Agreement calls for ceasefire on all sides unlike western misinterpretation demanding compliance from the state alone while exempting them despite being responsible for widespread massacre earlier in Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and now Syria.

Not excluding benefactor status with Egypt in generous military aid to Supreme Council for Armed forces (SCAF) liberally used in crackdown against peaceful dissent in Tahirir Square.

The current dilemma faced by nations dealing with western orchestrated coup d’état, arbitrary drone strikes, military intervention and economic sanctions – all of these provocative measures not only undermine sovereignty but also directly affect population rendering life impossible.

Unfortunately, decision making in international affairs by UNSC,ICC on the political and judiciary front respectively failed to demonstrate fairness and reliability thus far considering the ongoing brutality in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Israel not addressed with enforceable action.

In the financial context – institutions like IMF, World Bank, European Central Banks and privately owned Federal Reserve again controlled and directed by western oligarchy especially finance, energy and defense industry prominent among counterparts viz. biotech agro giant Monsanto – objectives to gain unlimited access to foreign resources and human capital deny global society decent existence.

Notwithstanding EU, US, England and Israel along with other selective members collusion in the privileged club constitute existential threat to world peace,security and progress.

Syrian crisis exacerbated with western and Arab league represented so-called opposition rejecting international binding treaty on all warring factions without exception for pervasive disarmament.

The western ultimatum to Syrian government to honor peace plan within ten days or be subjected to economic sanctions evidently desperation to punish one party compelled to fight in protecting territorial integrity and,

Concurrently ignoring similar consequences on another i.e. external powers hired mercenaries committing atrocities at will taking advantage of the lack of accountability pose major credibility problem for western double standard. …more

Secret Wars, Secret Bases, and the Pentagon’s “New Spice Route” in Africa

Obama’s Scramble for Africa
By Nick Turse – Tom Dispatch – 12 July, 2012

They call it the New Spice Route, an homage to the medieval trade network that connected Europe, Africa, and Asia, even if today’s “spice road” has nothing to do with cinnamon, cloves, or silks. Instead, it’s a superpower’s superhighway, on which trucks and ships shuttle fuel, food, and military equipment through a growing maritime and ground transportation infrastructure to a network of supply depots, tiny camps, and airfields meant to service a fast-growing U.S. military presence in Africa.

Few in the U.S. know about this superhighway, or about the dozens of training missions and joint military exercises being carried out in nations that most Americans couldn’t locate on a map. Even fewer have any idea that military officials are invoking the names of Marco Polo and the Queen of Sheba as they build a bigger military footprint in Africa. It’s all happening in the shadows of what in a previous imperial age was known as “the Dark Continent.”

In East African ports, huge metal shipping containers arrive with the everyday necessities for a military on the make. They’re then loaded onto trucks that set off down rutted roads toward dusty bases and distant outposts.

On the highway from Djibouti to Ethiopia, for example, one can see the bare outlines of this shadow war at the truck stops where local drivers take a break from their long-haul routes. The same is true in other African countries. The nodes of the network tell part of the story: Manda Bay, Garissa, and Mombasa in Kenya; Kampala and Entebbe in Uganda; Bangui and Djema in the Central African Republic; Nzara in South Sudan; Dire Dawa in Ethiopia; and the Pentagon’s showpiece African base, Camp Lemonnier, in Djibouti on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, among others.

According to Pat Barnes, a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), Camp Lemonnier serves as the only official U.S. base on the continent. “There are more than 2,000 U.S. personnel stationed there,” he told TomDispatch recently by email. “The primary AFRICOM organization at Camp Lemonnier is Combined Joint Task Force — Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). CJTF-HOA’s efforts are focused in East Africa and they work with partner nations to assist them in strengthening their defense capabilities.”

Barnes also noted that Department of Defense personnel are assigned to U.S. embassies across Africa, including 21 individual Offices of Security Cooperation responsible for facilitating military-to-military activities with “partner nations.” He characterized the forces involved as small teams carrying out pinpoint missions. Barnes did admit that in “several locations in Africa, AFRICOM has a small and temporary presence of personnel. In all cases, these military personnel are guests within host-nation facilities, and work alongside or coordinate with host-nation personnel.”

Shadow Wars

In 2003, when CJTF-HOA was first set up there, it was indeed true that the only major U.S. outpost in Africa was Camp Lemonnier. In the ensuing years, in quiet and largely unnoticed ways, the Pentagon and the CIA have been spreading their forces across the continent. Today — official designations aside — the U.S. maintains a surprising number of bases in Africa. And “strengthening” African armies turns out to be a truly elastic rubric for what’s going on.

Under President Obama, in fact, operations in Africa have accelerated far beyond the more limited interventions of the Bush years: last year’s war in Libya; a regional drone campaign with missions run out of airports and bases in Djibouti, Ethiopia, and the Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Seychelles; a flotilla of 30 ships in that ocean supporting regional operations; a multi-pronged military and CIA campaign against militants in Somalia, including intelligence operations, training for Somali agents, a secret prison, helicopter attacks, and U.S. commando raids; a massive influx of cash for counterterrorism operations across East Africa; a possible old-fashioned air war, carried out on the sly in the region using manned aircraft; tens of millions of dollars in arms for allied mercenaries and African troops; and a special ops expeditionary force (bolstered by State Department experts) dispatched to help capture or kill Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and his senior commanders. And this only begins to scratch the surface of Washington’s fast-expanding plans and activities in the region. …more

In the Orwellian world drawn up by NATO, wars are processes that allow the wealth of the people to flow to the cash registers of multinationals engaged in the manufacture of weapons. That same money will buy the media of the “free world”, ensuring the promotion of wars invented for “humanitarian” reasons and hidden economic objectives. Strange these democracies in which people are informed about conflicts precisely by firms having the greatest interest in propagating war.

THE ART OF WAR – The Afghan bottomless pit
by Manlio Dinucci – Voltaire Network – 17 July 2012

“It is wonderful to hear the birds, who are singing about the beautiful day here in Kabul.” With these romantic words Hillary Clinton opened the official ceremony among the trees of the uber-armored presidential palace in the Afghan capital.

As she spoke, other birds with stars and stripes on their tails plied the Afghan sky: F/A18s taking off from aircraft carrier Stennis in the Arabian Sea. After selecting their prey, these devices attack with missiles, laser-guided bombs and 20 mm cannons capable of firing bursts of 200 rounds of depleted uranium. These aircraft, and others, are each worth more than $ 100 million and cost $ 20 000 per flight hour. As each mission lasts about 8 hours, spending rises to more than $ 150 000 plus the price of arms and ammunition used.

Last year, according to official figures, the U.S. and NATO conducted 35 000 strike missions in Afghanistan. It is therefore not surprising that the U.S. alone has so far spent 550 billion in that war. A true bottomless pit, which will continue swallowing billions of dollars and euros.

In Kabul, Hillary Clinton announced the good news: “I have the pleasure to announce that President Obama has officially designated Afghanistan a major non-NATO ally.” That means that Afghanistan falls in the same category as Israel and according to the “Strategic Partnership Agreement,” the United States is committed to ensuring the “security” of that country. According to Administration officials, the U.S. will keep 10 000 to 30 000 men in Afghanistan, mainly special forces, backed by private military companies. And in Afghanistan the U.S. will continue using its own air force, including attack drones (pilotless aircraft).

The “largest non-NATO ally” will receive NATO military aid amounting to over 4 billion a year. Italy, which is committed to deliver 120 million a year, will continue to provide, in the words of Defense Minister Di Paola, “aid and support for Afghan security forces.” The Afghan government will also receive, as decided at the ’donors’ conference meeting in Tokyo, some 4 billion for “civil requirements.” Also in this context, said Foreign Minister Terzi, “Italy will do its part.” According to the official explanation, this will aid “Afghan civil society.” Which really means that every dollar and euro, officially spent for civilian purposes, will be used to strengthen U.S. / NATO rule in Afghanistan. …more

Iran says West supplying chemical agents to Bahrain
17 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Iran accused the West of providing chemical warfare agents to the Bahraini government on Tuesday, and that authorities there have used them to quash anti-regime protests.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, deputy foreign minister for African and Arab affairs, told the official Iranian News Agency IRNA, “I am expressing Tehran’s concern over the use of lethal chemical gases by Bahraini authorities against the Bahraini people.”

The Iranian official said unspecified Western nations were providing Manama with chemical choking agents, which has led to the death or injury of tens of citizens.

The allegations come on the heels of a report by a British parliamentary committee on Friday that questioned whether British military exports to the island kingdom were being used for internal repression.

The report did not mention exports of chemical choking agents, which are forbidden under international arms control agreements.

Bahrain has witnessed mass pro-democracy protests since February 2011, with the regime resorting to brute force in a so far failed attempt to crush the uprising. …source

New supervirus hits Iran
17 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Security experts have uncovered an ongoing cyber espionage campaign targeting Iran and other Middle Eastern countries that they say stands out because it is the first such operation using communications tools written in Farsi.

The cyberwarfare tool is the fourth discovered targeting Iran in as many years, following Stuxnet, Duqu, and Flame, which security analysts agree were almost certainly built and unleashed by national governments.

Israel and the United States were largely suspected of being behind the Flame supervirus that targeted Iran’s nuclear program.

Israeli security company Seculert and Russia’s Kaspersky Lab said on Tuesday that they identified more than 800 victims of the operation.

The targets include critical infrastructure companies, engineering students, financial services firms and government embassies located in five Middle Eastern countries, with the majority of the infections in Iran.

Seculert and Kaspersky declined to identify specific targets of the campaign, which they believe began at least eight months ago. They said they did not know who was behind the attacks or if was a nation state.

“It’s for sure somebody who is fluent in Persian, but we don’t know the origin of those guys,” said Seculert Chief Technology Officer Aviv Raff.

The Mahdi Trojan lets remote attackers steal files from infected PCs and monitor emails and instant messages, Seculert and Kaspersky said. It can also record audio, log keystrokes and take screen shots of activity on those computers.

The firms said they believed multiple gigabytes of data have been uploaded from targeted machines.

“Somebody is trying to build a dossier of a larger scale on something,” Raff said. “We don’t know what they are going to do at the end.”

Seculert and Kaspersky dubbed the campaign Mahdi, a term referring to the prophesied redeemer of Islam, because evidence suggests the attackers used a folder with that name as they developed the software to run the project.

They also included a text file named mahdi.txt in the malicious software that infected target computers. …source

Israel takes over 2 offshore Egyptian gas wells, geologist says
17 July, 2012 – PressTV

Egyptian geologist Khaled Odeh says Israel has taken over two natural gas wells located in Egypt’s territorial waters.

Odeh said in Cairo on Monday that the wells are located in the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Cyprus, IRNA reported.

He added that Israel took advantage of Egyptian officials’ inaction and started drilling operations in the area in April 2012.

Odeh also stated that the wells are over gas fields containing about $100 billion worth of gas reserves.

One of the wells is 19 kilometers north of the Egyptian city of Damietta and 235 kilometers west of Haifa in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the other well is 114 kilometers north of Damietta and 237 kilometers from the shores of Palestine.

The issue of supplying gas to Israel has always been a contentious topic for Egyptians, who view Israel as an enemy and oppose engaging in any form of business with it.

According to a $2.5 billion export deal with Tel Aviv, signed in 2005, Israel receives around 40 percent of its gas supply from Egypt at an extremely low price.

Relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv have deteriorated since last year’s revolution that overthrew former dictator Hosni Mubarak, a long-time and staunch ally of Israel. …source