France notes “with satisfaction” ongoing Bahraini reform efforts
26 November, 2012 – Kuwait News Agency

PARIS, Nov 26 (KUNA) — France said on Monday that it had noted “with satisfaction” the decision of the highest Bahraini authorities to implement reform recommendations made last year and urged continuing efforts to fully implement the independent report submitted at that time by Sharif Bassiouni.

“We praised the initiative of King Hamad in July 2011 to put in place an independent commission of enquiry…destined to shed light on human rights violations during the events of February and March 2011,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said in a briefing.

“We also noted with satisfaction the decision of the highest Bahraini authorities to implement the recommendations formulated by the commission of enquiry in the report submitted a year ago,” the official added.

Lalliot said that certain measures have been taken and France called for all the recommendations to be adopted.

“Such a gesture is an indispensable element to favour reconciliation and create conditions for lasting calm in Bahrain,” the spokesman stated.

“All parties must, incidentally, refuse recourse to violence. In this regard, we have taken note, with interest, of the ‘statement on non-violence’ formulated by five political associations from the opposition, proposing to all an agreement for a political action framework respecting the principle of pluralism”.

Saudis rally in Riyadh to call for release of political detainees
27 November, 2012 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

Saudis have staged a protest rally in the capital, Riyadh, to demand the release of those held in Al Saud prisons without charge for long time.

Witnesses said scores of people, including women, demonstrated outside Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission in the capital on Tuesday to call for the release of their jailed relatives.

“Release innocent detainees,” read a banner held by the protesters.

The protesters ware dispersed by police and dozens of them, including women and chidren, were arrested.

“They detained six children, 23 women and around 30 men,” Ali Alhattab, an activist told Reuters.

In October, Saudi authorities warned that they would deal “firmly” with protests after hundreds of Saudis gathered outside Tafiya prison, north of the capital, in September to demand the release of their relatives.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has criticized Riyadh over the warning and urged the authorities to “withdraw their threat.” In Saudi Arabia, protests and political gatherings of any kind are prohibited. …source

Saudi shares hit 10-month low as Egypt’s crisis weighs; Gulf mixed
25 November, 2012 – By Nadia Salee – Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s shares slumped on Sunday, dragging the market down to a 10-month low as political turmoil in Egypt sparked by President Mursi’s new powers spooked regional investors, while other Gulf markets closed mixed.

Egypt President Mohamed Mursi decree issued on Thursday that defends his decisions from judicial review, set off street violence and unravelled efforts to restore stability after last year’s revolution. Cairo’s index plunged 9.6 percent.

Investors are concerned Egypt’s political unrest could have widespread implications for the Middle East.

“The market was already under pressure from the violence in Gaza and now it’s Egypt’s protest,” said a Riyadh-based trader who asked not to be identified.

Israel and Gaza called a truce on Wednesday, following eight days of violence, which triggered a sell-off across regions and weighed on markets.

Saudi’s heavyweight sectors – petrochemicals and banking – were the main drag. Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) , the world’s largest chemicals producer fell 2.3 percent. Al Rajhi Bank dropped 1.2 percent and Samba Financial Group shed 2.2 percent.

The kingdom’s index dropped 2.1 percent to its lowest close since Jan. 25 and marked its biggest one-day loss since early June.

“The index broke the key support of 6,550 sharply to the down side,” said Mohabeldeen Agena, head of technical analysis at Cairo’s Beltone Financial. “We are expecting the bears to continue pushing it downward towards 6,300 levels.

In Dubai, property stocks helped lift the index, which gained 0.3 percent, after plans announced for a new mega project in the emirate.

Dubai’s Emaar Properties climbed 2.2 percent, Drake & Scull added 0.6 percent and builder Arabtec rose 1.3 percent.

The emirate’s ruler on Saturday unveiled a master development that appeared to include re-starting projects that were halted following a property price crash. …more

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France to recognize Palestinian state at U.N.
27 November, 2012 – Associated Press – The Daily Star

PARIS: The French foreign minister says France plans to vote in favor of recognition of a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly this week.

Laurent Fabius has told parliament that France has long supported Palestinian ambitions for statehood and “will respond ‘yes'” when the issue comes up for a vote “out of a concern for coherency.”

With the announcement Tuesday, France – a permanent member of the Security Council – becomes the first major European country to come out in favor. It amounts to a setback for Israel.

The Palestinians say the assembly is likely to vote Thursday on a resolution raising their status at the United Nations from an observer to a nonmember observer state, a move they believe is an important step toward a two-state solution with Israel.

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Around the world, a generation of workers is discovering the power of resistance.

Confronting a global austerity agenda
27 November, 2012 – SocialistWorker.org

Spanish workers march during the recent multinational strike in Europe (Ana Rey)Spanish workers march during the recent multinational strike in Europe (Ana Rey)

REVOLUTION AND reaction, austerity and resistance. That was the shape of world politics in 2012 as the rulers of governments around the globe attempted to force working people to bear the brunt of an ongoing global economic crisis.

The particulars of the crisis and the struggle vary from country to country. The Middle East, where revolutions shook world politics last year, has seen a revolutionary civil war in Syria, resistance to another Israeli military onslaught against the Palestinians of Gaza, and–in the last weeks of November–a renewal of struggle in Egypt against a power grab by the ruling Islamist party that won the country’s first post-revolutionary elections.

U.S. ally Bahrain has spared no effort to crush the democratic movement in that country, but another Washington-backed monarchy, Jordan, is ending the year panicked by a new wave of protests.

The fightback has continued in Western Europe, the old heartland of the capitalist system. Merciless austerity programs that cut wages and pensions while slashing social spending have provoked a series of strikes and protests–most impressively, the recent pan-European general strike in Spain, Portugal and other countries.

But the wave of workers’ struggle has spread beyond Europe. India saw its biggest-ever general strike in February. In China–a one-party dictatorship where independent unions are illegal–strikes, mass worker protests and riots are commonplace.

In the U.S., workers’ resistance has been less dramatic compared to the 2011 uprising in Wisconsin against Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union legislation and the emergence of organized labor as a crucial part of the Occupy Wall Street movement a year ago.

Yet though strikes remain at their lowest levels in decades, a nine-day walkout by Chicago teachers in September was one of the most important U.S. union battles in decades. In the face of an all-out ideological offensive by the Democratic-controlled city government, the teachers nevertheless won widespread solidarity and showed the potential for a renewed labor movement.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

DESPITE THE many differences from country to country, a common factor is at the heart of these protests–a global economy that’s still too weak to overcome the effects of the financial crash of 2008.

As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) noted in its World Economic Outlook published in October, “The recovery continues, but it has weakened. In advanced economies, growth is now too low to make a substantial dent in unemployment. And in major emerging market economies, growth that had been strong earlier has also decreased.”

The IMF has lowered its forecast for growth in the advanced countries–mainly the U.S., Europe and Japan–from an already weak 2 percent to just 1.5 percent. That’s the result of much of Western Europe sinking into outright recession.

As the economy falters, voters have tended to kick out the parties that presided over the debacle. In Greece and Spain, it was center-left social democratic parties that were sent packing in recent elections, while in France, right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy was ousted in favor of the Socialist Party.

But whichever mainstream parties European voters have chosen, the austerity agenda remains. From liberal to conservative, all these parties share a consensus of continued cuts in wages and social spending, differing only on how fast and deep the cuts should come. And if workers in Greece or Spain object, officials from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF can demand that the cuts go through anyway–or else the debt-wracked countries will be cut off from the loans and financial assistance that have their financial systems from total collapse.

When it comes to democracy versus austerity, big capital insists that austerity wins–in every case.

That’s why U.S. politicians are using the so-called “fiscal cliff”–a January 1 deadline before higher taxes and across-the-board spending cuts go into effect–as an excuse for austerity, American-style. The message is that we better accept further spending reductions in exchange for a small increase in taxes on the rich–or risk the economic contraction that result from going over the cliff.

The message is the same, repeated in many languages around the world: “We hate to do this, but we have no choice.”

But behind the rhetoric about “shared sacrifice,” the real agenda in the U.S. and Europe is a deep and permanent cut in the standard of living for working people. Governments need to enable corporations to remain profitable while meeting the rising competition from China, Brazil and other industrializing countries. Cutting workers’ wages and benefits is no longer enough. The social wage–government spending on education, health care, retirement systems and more–must be slashed, too, in order to keep taxes low for business and the wealthy. …more

Iran, Arabs slam Mideast nuclear talks delay
27 November, 2012 – Reuters – The Daily Star

VIENNA: Iran and Arab nations Monday criticized a decision to put off talks on banning atomic bombs in the Middle East, with Tehran blaming the United States for a “serious setback” to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The United States said Friday that the mid-December conference on creating a zone free of weapons of mass destruction would not occur and did not make clear when, or whether, it would take place.

The postponement “will have a negative impact on regional security and the international system to prevent nuclear proliferation as a whole,” Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said.

Iran, which is accused by the West of developing a nuclear weapons capability, said this month it would participate in the talks that had been due to take place in Helsinki, Finland.

Asked about the U.S. announcement, Iranian nuclear envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh told state broadcaster Press TV from Vienna: “It is a serious setback to the NPT and this is a clear sign that the U.S. is not committed to the obligation of a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Elaraby said all regional states except Israel had voiced willingness to attend the conference.

He called for an urgent meeting of senior Arab officials this week to consider the developments.
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Thousands march to Tahrir as pressure piles on Morsi
27 November, 2012 – Agence France Presse – The Daily Star

CAIRO: Egypt’s President Mohammad Mursi faced nationwide protests Tuesday after digging in his heels over a controversial decree granting him sweeping powers, in the most divisive crisis since he took power in June.

Thousands of lawyers left their syndicate chanting, “The people want the downfall of the regime,” — the signature chant of the protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year– as they made their way to Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square.

Several other marches were preparing to set off from around the capital to join thousands of protesters already in the square to denounce Mursi’s decree.

In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, several hundred gathered in Qaitbay square, with two large marches expected to join them later.

“Down with the rule of the Supreme Guide,” they chanted, in reference to the head of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, on whose ticket Mursi ran for office.

A rival rally in Cairo by the Muslim Brotherhood in support of the president was called off to “avoid potential unrest” but that has done little to abate the division among supporters and foes of Mursi.

“The Muslim Brotherhood stole the revolution” read one banner in Tahrir. Another said the president was “pushing the people to civil disobedience.”

“The Muslim Brotherhood are liars, read another.

Sporadic clashes between police and protesting youths continued into the afternoon near Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

“We will stay in Tahrir until Mursi cancels his declaration,” protester Ahmed Fahmy, 34 told AFP.

The planned demonstrations come a day after Mursi met with the country’s top judges in a bid to defuse the crisis over the decree, that has sparked deadly clashes and prompted judges and journalists to call for strike.

The protesters are angry at the decree that Mursi announced last Thursday allowing him to “issue any decision or law that is final and not subject to appeal”, which effectively placed him beyond judicial oversight.

The decree put him on a collision course with the judiciary and consolidated the long-divided opposition which accuses him of taking on dictatorial powers and raise fears that the Islamists will be further ensconced in power.
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Syria names 142 slain foreign fighters from 18 countries
November 27, 2012 – Agence France Presse

DAMASCUS: A Syrian newspaper published the names of 142 foreign fighters from 18 countries the regime says were killed alongside rebels in Syria’s conflict.

Pro-regime Al-Watan published a list, which it said Damascus sent to the United Nations Security Council last month, that included Arab, North African, Central and South Asian “terrorists,” giving the date and place of their death.

“Most are jihadists (radical Islamists) who belong to Al-Qaeda’s network, or who joined it after arriving in Syria,” the paper said, adding that they entered Syria via Turkey and Lebanon.

Among the 142 it named 47 Saudis, 24 Libyans, 10 Tunisians, nine Egyptians, six Qataris and five Lebanese.

It also listed 11 Afghans, five Turks, three Chechens, one Chadian and one Azerbaijani.

Most of the fighters were killed in October and November in the northern province of Aleppo, Homs in central Syria, the northwestern region of Idlib, Deir Ezzor in the east, and Hasakeh in the northeast, it said.

Damascus says foreign-backed “terrorists” are responsible for the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad that broke out in March 2011.

The violence in Syria has killed more than 40,000 people in 20 months, according to the Britain-based activists the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The uprising did not turn into an armed insurgency until several months after it erupted, following a severe regime crackdown.
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Slavery in Saudi Arabia
27 November, 2012 – By M. Zulkifli Nazim – Asia Tribune

The United Nations, Human Rights Organizations and other governmental and non-governmental organizations and administrations are trying their utmost, to the greatest possible degree, to eradicate the vestiges of slavery from its very roots.

Ironically, the rulers of a country, vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, which pride themselves as the protectors of the Holy Places of Islam, a religion that is supposed to supposed to have uprooted slavery, are involved in slavery and even are encouraging this vassalage.

The worst part is that these are being done in this modern civilized era right under the noses of every authority, every institution and everything that is decent which oppose slavery:

What is this slavery we are talking about? The lexical definition of “slavery” is:

1. The state of being under the control of another person.

2. The practice of owning slaves.

3. Work done under harsh conditions for little or no pay.

A person who is offered employment in Saudi Arabia is promised the world; but what we see is, other than a very few privileged people and very few reputed institutions which do the right thing, the majority of those who live and work in Saudi Arabia are subject to this lexical definition of “Slavery” as given above.

As soon as the prospective employee lands in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, his Passport is “confiscated” by the institution or the individual who is referred to as “Kafeel” – meaning “Sponsor” who was responsible in getting the work visa and the individual is given a piece of paper called the “Aqama” – a form of Identity Card, which he has to carry around.

Once the Passport is surrendered and the Aqama is given, the man or woman are virtually slaves of the individual or the unscrupulous institution and is completely under their control.

They cannot do anything without the permission of this “Kafeel”, even for an emergency. Even if it necessitates visiting ailing parents or wife or children they have to wait for the Kafeel’s permission. Invariably these people are hard to find and are never there when you need them – they only surface when the time of renewal of this Aqama is round the corner where they demand exhorbitant and unrealistic fees from this unfortunate “slave”, without any compunction or human feeling.

Majority of workers are poor, who have gone to Saudi Arabia, to eke out a living, laboriously working in precarious conditions, day by day with the greatest difficulty, for the upkeep of their families in their home country. Now, they are trapped and invariably have to give in to the demands of these monsters. And this monster practically owns this slave.

The whole world is aware of the fact that in countless innumerable instances that those employed by private individuals or unscrupulous organizations are not paid what they are promised, they are drastically reduced or sometimes not even paid at all.

Moreover, if this so-called Kafeel, gets “fed-up” with this individual, he practically “sells” him to another equally heartless monster. In other words, he hands over the sponsorship to another individual for a pecuniary consideration and now this “slave” is owned by another “master”. And this master-slave system goes in to loop after loop until the individual leaves the country or dies a natural death or commits suicide.

The Passport, is the property of the country which is issued to the said individual and no one has the right to take over the Passport from this individual. Because once the Passport leaves the hand of the owner, nobody knows what will happen to it.

The “Kafeel” can lose it, even purposely shred it, burn it and destroy it and no one will be the wiser. Governments, the world over, must take action through Diplomatic channels to ensure that this personal freedom is not abused or curtailed.

All Organizations, especially the United Nations including the Government of the Kindgom of Saudi Arabia must take into cognizance this modern day slavery and issue an international proclamation, to totally eliminate, terminate and extirpate this inhuman cold-blooded behavior by these insensate, monstrous, atrocious, shockingly brutal individuals and institutions.
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Rethinking rocker in Bahrain
By Al Kamen – 26 November, 2012 – Washington Post

It seemed like a pretty neat idea when rocker ­Andrew W.K. posted on his Web site last week that the State Department was sending him as a cultural ambassador to Bahrain to help folks in that deeply unsettled country.

Just Monday, the government used tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators and street battles flared, the Associated Press reported.

The bipartisan commission that set policymakers on the path to negotiations underway now.

So how about sending a rocker whose hits include “Party Hard” and “Party Til You Puke” to get warring Sunnis and Shiites to start dancing in the streets instead of fighting?

Apparently not.

“We had a Bahraini entity approach the embassy about co-sponsoring a visit by this guy, who I take is pretty popular there in Bahrain,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Monday, our colleague Anne Gearan reports.

Maybe someone at first thought the lyrics to “Party Til You Puke” — “You can never kill us. We choke, We gun, We kill, We stab, We rob, We steal” — would have a calming effect?

In any event, the co-sponsorship request was “initially approved” — what? — Nuland said, “and then when more senior management at the embassy took a look at this, the conclusion was that this was not an appropriate use of U.S. government funds.”

Seemed someone “looked at the body of his work,” Nuland explained, and the conclusion was “we didn’t need to be part of his invitation.”

Bottom line: “He is not going to Bahrain on the U.S. government’s dime,” she said.

“The body of his work?” His oeuvre?

She’s not in Bahrain either

Odd movement at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Sometime around late summer, General Counsel Lisa Gomer was suddenly moved out of the counsel’s office and given some sort of “special” assignment, we heard.

All the lawyers on her team were told they could no longer talk to her about her work. This was especially problematic because she had planned a big meeting in Washington of agency lawyers, including folks stationed abroad, for October, and because of the situation, it had to be canceled.

Sources said this was a costly decision because of cancelation fees for reservations, air flights and such. The agency says not ­really, noting that the booked airline tickets were changeable without cost and the conference venue simply moved the booking to a new conference date in February.

Gomer, a Harvard Law School classmate of President Obama’s, is a veteran of international development, having worked for the United Nations and been a consultant to the the United Nations Development Program.

No one at USAID appears to know what’s going on. There were even suspicions that her reassignment was being kept under wraps prior to the election. (Of course everyone suspected everything was kept under wraps until after the election. Besides, weeks after the election, it’s still under wraps.)

The agency is sticking with the usual “not at liberty to discuss,” but it appears that Gomer is still in the building though not in or running the general counsel’s office. Deputy General Counsel Susan Pascocello has moved up to acting general counsel for now. …more

Saudi King reported ‘clinically dead’
27 November, 2012 – The Nation

RIYADH – Saudi King, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, has been in a state of ‘clinical death’ for the past two days, reported Albawaba News quoting Arabic newspaper Asharq Alawsat on Monday.A report by the paper claimed that medical staff in Saudi Arabia have confirmed that the King’s basic organs are no longer working. According to the source, ‘The fate of the king will be determined within three to four days.’ The news seemingly contradicts reports from the Saudi Royal Court, which publicly announced that the eleven hour operation had been a success. According to state news agency, SPA, the monarch, believed to be in his late 80s, was in hospital for surgery to tighten a ligament in his back.

News of the King’s ‘clinical death’ has raised questions over who will be his successor. Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Salman ‘reassured’ Saudis during a cabinet meeting on Monday about King Abdullah’s health, more than a week after the monarch had surgery, state news agency SPA reported.The king, believed to be in his late 80s, was admitted for surgery on November 16 and an announcement from the Royal Court said he had undergone a successful back operation that took 11 hours.Saudi stability is of global concern. The key US ally holds more than a fifth of world petroleum reserves and is the birthplace of Islam, where millions of Muslims flock to perform the annual Haj.“His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz reassured everybody about the health of King Abdullah,” SPA said without giving any details or saying when the king might be released from hospital.The Saudi stock market, which was on a downward trend throughout the day, reversed course and the index closed up 0.4 per cent.

Top royals have repeatedly visited King Abdullah at the Riyadh hospital since the operation, SPA said on Saturday, but no photographs of the monarch have been released.The crown has passed down a line of sons of the kingdom’s founder King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, who died in 1953.Abdullah – who took power in 2005- named his brother Prince Salman, 13 years his junior, heir apparent in June after the death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz. Salman deputises for the king while he is away and has chaired both this week and last week’s cabinet meetings. …source