Posts from — January 2013

Saudi protesters hold anti-regime demos in Mecca, Buraidah
2 January, 2013 – Persia Herald Tribune

Saudi protesters hold an anti-regime demonstration in the oil-rich Eastern Province. (File photo)

People have held demonstrations against the Al Saud regime in the holy city of Mecca and the central city of Buraidah.

The demonstrators took to the streets in the two cities on Tuesday, calling for the downfall of the Saudi regime. They also demanded the release of political prisoners.

On December 31, tens of thousands of Saudi nationals staged a protest in the oil-rich Eastern Province to condemn the recent killing of a teenage demonstrator.

The demonstration in Eastern Province was held following the funeral of Ahmad al-Marar, who was killed when regime forces opened fire on a group of protesters in the Qatif region of the province on December 27.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and the town of Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province.

Amnesty International has called on Saudi authorities to stop using excessive force against the protesters.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.” …source

Saudi intellectuals petition for release of novelist who ‘insulted’ Islam
2 January, 2013 – Al Akhbar

Saudi intellectuals on Wednesday urged the kingdom’s crown prince to order the release of a liberal writer accused of insulting Islam via his Twitter account.

A petition, signed by around 500 people and addressed to Salman bin Abdul Aziz, called for Turki al-Hamad’s “immediate and unconditional release.”

“We hope for, demand and expect a quick decision to be made to correct this grave error that has been committed against” Hamad, it said.

It slammed his arrest as “unjust… condemned, reprehensible, shameful, and unacceptable.”

Hamad was arrested — on the orders of Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, who was tipped off by a religious organization, according to AFP — for alleged insults to Islam he made on Twitter, his family said on December 24.

One of the comments he posted had attacked radical Islamists he said were twisting the Prophet Mohammad’s “message of love,” and what he described as “a neo-Nazism which is on the rise in the Arab world — Islamic extremism”.

The Tweet that had caused the most uproar, according to Saudi media, said “just as the prophet had descended once to rectify the faith of Abraham, it was time for someone to come and right the prophet Muhammad’s religion.”

The post caused confusion about whether Hamad was criticizing the religion itself or only the way it is practiced. Saudi responses on Twitter ranged from accusing the outspoken novelist of “atheism” to agreeing with “the need for more a more righteous application of Sharia.”

Hamad is no stranger to controversy. In 2011, he caused a stir for criticizing a Minister of State Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahad, saying he did not know how to run the state.

More recently, in a tweet that was apparently interpreted as an insult to the ruling parties, he had tweeted: ‘While the rest of the world is busy debating Iran’s nuclear capacity, we’re busy with whether women can drive…”

The petition’s signatories included Manal al-Sherif and Najla Hariri, two female activists who defied the kingdom’s driving ban on women, and liberal columnist Ahmad Adnan. …more

mahmood haider

Bahraini security forces fire tear gas at 4-year-old child
2 January, 2013 – Shia Post

A newly released film by the Bahraini people shows the Al-Khalifa regime’s security forces firing tear gas at a 4-year-old child during peaceful demonstrations near the capital Manama.

he film, taken in a village near Manama, shows a protester rescues the child and takes him to a safe place.
The Al-Khalifa regime has already killed many civilians, including women and children, by firing poisonous tear gases inside their homes.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, tens of protesters have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured.

Police clampdown on protesters continues daily. Authorities have tried to stop organized protests by opposition parties over the past month by refusing to license them and using tear gas on those who turn up.

The opposition coalition wants full powers for the elected parliament and a cabinet fully answerable to parliament.

Amnesty International has announced that more than 200 people, arrested as part of the clampdown against Shiite political opposition in Bahrain, are at the risk of being tortured. Around 250 individuals in Bahrain, who are believed to have been detained, are at risk of torture, the group said. Human Rights Watch also accused Bahrain of restricting the travel of rights activists to prevent them from talking about the arrest of opposition members.

The Sunni-dominated government has intensified the crackdown against the Shiite population, arresting dozens of opposition figures on the allegation of planning to topple the government.

The population of Bahrain is predominantly Shiite. However, the majority group has long complained of being discriminated against by the Sunni-dominated government in obtaining jobs and receiving services.

Defining imperialism
Farooq Sulehria – 2 January, 2013

Is there a Saudi imperialism? No, there is not. Still, the term ‘Saudi imperialism’ is fast creeping into left-liberal narratives. Drawing our attention to ‘Saudi imperialism’, such narratives refer to the increasing Saudi influence in Pakistan. As a matter of fact, Saudi penetration of Pakistani politics, economy, and culture is a least-discussed but largely accepted fact. Also, Saudi Arabia (along with other Gulf sheikhdoms) casts its influence not merely over Pakistan but a host of other Muslim countries. For instance, one finds similar trends in Egypt, Bangladesh and Jordan. Since the outbreak of the Arab spring, Riyadh has assumed an increasingly important role. While Saudi Arabia played Big Brother in the Gulf – containing the revolution in Bahrain and mediating change in Yemen – it is patronising Islamists in Tunisia, Syria and Egypt. Since intervention and domination are two overriding characteristics of imperialism, one often also hears terms like ‘Punjabi imperialism’ in Pakistan.

This is because, to quote David Harvey, “Imperialism is a word that trips easily off the tongue.” But attempts at defining and describing imperialism often run into difficulties. Liberals have frequently reduced imperialism to domination and intervention. While domination is implicit in it, imperialism cannot be reduced to dominance or intervention alone. For instance, Punjab’s oppression and exploitation of Balochistan is based on nationalism. Similarly, Ethiopian intervention in Somalia or the Sinhalese domination of Tamils do not make Ethiopia or Sri Lanka imperialist countries. In all such cases, we are dealing with national questions even if domination, exploitation and brutal oppression feature in every instance.

Similarly, another misconception – sometime deliberately projected by liberals and post-modernists – is either to reduce imperialism to empire or present empire and imperialism as essentially concomitant features. In other words, you cannot have empire (that lords over colonies) without imperialism and imperialism without empire. Even scholars such as Edward Said run into trouble when defining imperialism.

For instance, in his seminal work Culture and Imperialism, Edward Said describes imperialism as a practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan centre ruling a distant territory; ‘colonialism’, which is almost always a consequence of imperialism, is the implanting of settlements on distant territories. In his support, Said quotes Michael Doyle: “Empire is a relationship, formal or informal, in which one state controls the effective political sovereignty of another political society. It can be achieved by force, by political collaboration, by economic, social, or cultural dependence. Imperialism is simply the process or policy of establishing or maintaining an empire.” While Doyle’s definition is flawed in view of contemporary imperialism, whereby colonialism has ended (Israel being the only exception), Said himself contradicts himself in the same breath. Having quoted Doyle, he asserts: “In our time, direct colonialism has largely ended; imperialism…lingers where it has always been, in a kind of general cultural sphere as well as in specific political, ideological, economic, and social practice.” Similarly, John Tomlinson describes imperialism as “a specific form of domination…associated with ‘empire’. “

However, if imperialism lingers on, why has colonialism ended? Said does not explain this. Likewise, the US is an imperialist country but has no formal empire. And if domination is the defining characteristic, as Tomlinson writes, one cannot differentiate between national oppression and imperial exploitation.

Also, historical experiences do not fit into this characterisation. For instance, imperial exploitation of Latin America by England in the 19th century even when Latin American countries had attained formal political liberation is a case in point. Likewise, if empire and imperialism are concomitant, should the Roman, Mongol and Ottoman empires also qualify as imperialisms? Such problems remain unsolved in non-Marxist definitions of imperialism. These definitions, even when coined by brilliant theoreticians like Edward Said, remain stuck in the apparent characteristics attributed to imperialism and are, hence, always contradictory.

This writer thinks that a sound understanding of imperialism is only offered by Marxist tradition. In the first place, imperialism can neither be understood nor properly defined if it is delinked from capitalism. In the famous words of Lenin, it is always the “latest stage of capitalism.” We must acknowledge that imperialism is a metamorphosing phenomenon. As capitalism assumes new forms, imperialism also adapts to these new forms. …more

Germany Approves Another Armored Vehicle Sale to Saudi Arabia
1 January, 2013 – theTrumpet.com

Germany has approved in principle the sale of up to 100 Dingo 2 armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia, the Bild am Sonntag reported December 30. The Dingos are mine-resistant and designed to defend their occupants against nuclear radiation, as well as biological or chemical attacks.

Citing sources close to talks on the deal, Bild am Sonntag reported that Saudi Arabia plans to buy 30 of the vehicles for around €100 million (over us$130 million). Over the long term, it plans to buy 70 more.

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, which makes the Dingos along with Bruker Daltonik, advertises them as “the safest and best-protected wheeled vehicle in its class,” showing “outstanding performance on extremely difficult terrains and under extreme climatic conditions.”

Each vehicle can carry up to eight men. As standard, it has a remote-controlled machine gun in the roof, with the option to mount other weapons.

Bild am Sonntag reports that Germany’s national security council is yet to reach a final decision, but has given it the go-ahead, in principle.

This is just another example of Germany’s new policy of using strategic arms sales to build up alliances with other nations. Germany’s arms trade with Saudi Arabia could grow very large. According to some German media reports, Saudi Arabia wants to buy 600 to 800 German Leopard ii tanks. This is part of a concerted effort by Germany to arm and ally with opponents of Iran, as prophesied in the Bible. For more on this important subject, see our recent article “The Truth Behind Germany’s Record Military Exports.” ▪
…source

Saudis protest regime’s killing of teen
1 January, 2012 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province to protest against the killing of a teenage demonstrator.

The protest was held following the funeral of the teenager, Ahmad al-Marar, who was killed when Saudi forces opened fire on a group of demonstrators in the Qatif district of the province on December 27.

According to local reports, several protesters were arrested and some others were injured during the December 27 demonstration, which was held to demand the release of political prisoners in the country’s oil-rich Eastern Province.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, as well as an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province.

Amnesty International has called on Saudi authorities to stop using excessive force against the protesters.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.” …source

US-backed Terrorists Renew Threat to Use Chemical Arms against Syrians and Damascus Gov’t
2 January, 2013 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

Political Advisor to the so-called Free Syrian Army Bassam ed-Dade acknowledged FSA’s chemical weapons capability, and renewed the rebels’ threat to use the lethal weapons against the Syrian Army.

Speaking to Turkish Anadolu News Agency, ed-Dade said that the FSA has achieved the capability to produce chemical arms.

He said the FSA has acquired the raw materials for the production of chemical weapons and has achieved the capability to produce chemical weapons using some defected members of the Syrian army.

He added that the group will use these lethal weapons to target bases and centers of the Syrian government if necessary.

Late last month, armed rebels released a second film on the Internet which shows them testing a poisonous chemical agent on an animal in Western Syria.

The footage shows terrorists testing a chemical substance on a rabbit in the coastal city of Latakia, the Lebanese television al-Manar reported.

On the same day, the armed rebels used chemical weapons in their attacks against the Syrian army in Darya district of Reef (outskirts of) Damascus.

“The terrorists have already thrown three cube-shaped plastic bags towards the (Syrian) army’s forces that killed seven forces due to the gases emerging from the bags,” a commander of the Syrian Presidential Guard told the Iran-based Arab-language Al-Alam news channel at the time.

The commander noted that a yellow button is installed on the bags and by pushing that a yellow gas came out and those who inhaled it died after nearly one hour.

Since several weeks ago, different media had reported about the presence of chemical weapons in Syria and the possibility of its use by armed rebels.

Terrorists have tried hard in the last several days to make Syrian cities unsafe for citizens, but the army has purged them from most neighborhoods and districts, killed tens of them and arrested many others.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad. …source

Mossad agents in the Al-Qaeda unit that attacked the Yarmouk camp
Voltaire Network – 2 January 2013

The battle that raged starting December 9 in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp (south of Damascus) has revealed new alliances.

The strategic objective was to involve Palestinians in the war in Syria, mobilizing them on a sectarian basis (they are mostly Sunni) against the secular regime. But the refugees did not allow themselves to be manipulated, no more than in Lebanon in 2007, when the mercenaries of Fatah al-Islam tried to mobilize the Palestinians of Nahr el-Bared against Hezbollah.

Elements of Hamas loyal to Meshaal allowed fighters of the Al-Nousra Front (Levantine branch of Al-Qaeda) to enter the camp where they mainly clashed with men of the PFLP (nationalists and Marxists).

It now appears that the al-Qaeda fighters were not only made up of Muslim extremists, but also included Israeli Mossad agents. They had specific plans for cornering the leaders of other Palestinian factions and eliminate them. Not finding them, they allowed the other members of Al-Qaida to systematically loot the empty apartments of these leaders.

After a week of heavy fighting, elements of al-Qaida, Mossad-included, retreated and the camp was declared a “neutral zone.” Of the 180 000 inhabitants, about 120,000 had fled the camp at the request of the Syrian authorities and were relocated by them to Damascus. Most are now back home. …source

The Mukhabarat was not a monolithic unit. Instead it was a vast, complex labyrinth of security organizations with their own intelligence and military units pervading all layers of Iraqi society. The five main agencies are the al-Amn al-Khas (Special Security), al-Amn al-Amm (General Security), al-Mukhabarat (General Intelligence), al-Istikhbarat (Military Intelligence) and al-Amn al-Askari (Military Security). In addition, there are myriad Baath security agencies, civil police forces, paramilitary militias and special military units that protected the regime.

Bahrain Grants Citizenship to 1,000 Saddam Loyalists
2 January, 2013 – FNA

TEHRAN (FNA)- Bahrain’s national air carrier, Gulf Air, has transited a total of 1,000 loyalists to Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein to Manama on several flights, including on Gulf Air Flight No. GF976, on December 22, informed Arab sources disclosed on Wednesday.

“The Bahraini government has begun granting nationality to and recruiting (former Iraqi dictator) Saddam Hussein’s forces and has already attracted 1,000 of these forces who have become Bahraini citizens after going through administrative procedures,” an informed source at the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) told FNA.

The Saddam loyalists were immediately granted Bahrain’s citizenship, given houses, and recruited by the country’s security organization upon their arrival in the tiny Persian Gulf country.

They were the last group of Saddam’s loyalists who were transferred to Manama International Airport from Amman, Jordan’s capital. They had fled Iraq through the country’s land borders with Jordan.

A former commander of Iraq’s presidential guard, Tareq al-Shamri, was in charge of transferring Saddam’s loyalists to Bahrain from Jordan.

This is not the first time that the Bahrain’s Al Khalifa regime grants Bahraini citizenship and recruits mercenaries from other countries in a bid to continue with the suppression of its opponents who attend daily protests in Manama and other cities across the country in thousands.

The Bahraini government which feels desperate to bring back calm to the crisis-hit country had also earlier recruited about 5,000 Salafis from Jordan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, tens of protesters have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured.

Police clampdown on protesters continues daily. Authorities have tried to stop organized protests by opposition parties over the past month by refusing to license them and using tear gas on those who turn up.

The opposition coalition wants full powers for the elected parliament and a cabinet fully answerable to parliament.

Amnesty International has announced that more than 200 people, arrested as part of the clampdown against Shiite political opposition in Bahrain, are at the risk of being tortured. Around 250 individuals in Bahrain, who are believed to have been detained, are at risk of torture, the group said. Human Rights Watch also accused Bahrain of restricting the travel of rights activists to prevent them from talking about the arrest of opposition members.

The Sunni-dominated government has intensified the crackdown against the Shiite population, arresting dozens of opposition figures on the allegation of planning to topple the government.

The population of Bahrain is predominantly Shiite. However, the majority group has long complained of being discriminated against by the Sunni-dominated government in obtaining jobs and receiving services. …source

Al Khalifa, Persian Gulf Sheikhs unable to quell Bahrain Revolution: Mohsen Saleh
26 December, 2102 – Interview, Mohsen Saleh – PressTV

Well, it seems that they are going in this harsh dealing in the crackdown of the people and the protesters in Bahrain but it seems they have gotten a kind of help or aid from the summit, the so-called Sheikhs in the Persian Gulf, and I guess the Bahrainis would not be silent or quiescent about these atrocities and these harsh dealing with them.”

A Beirut-based political commentator believes that the demonstrations of the Bahraini people against the Saudi-backed Al Khalifa regime will continue until their demand for the establishment of a democratically elected government is met.

Bahraini forces have attacked protesters holding a demonstration against the Al Khalifa regime in the village of Eker. The Saudi-backed regime forces attacked a group of youth protesters and beat them during the demonstration on Tuesday. Several people were injured and arrested.

On December 23, police attacked the demonstrators who had thronged the streets in several towns and villages, chanting slogans against King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The uprising in Bahrain began in mid-February 2011. The Manama regime promptly launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mohsen Saleh, a political analyst in Beirut, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV: Mr. Saleh, let’s jump right in, illegal detentions, prosecution and persecution of medics and doctors in addition to a continuous Saudi-backed crackdown. Just how far are the Al Khalifa’s willing to go to quell these protests?

Saleh: Well, it seems that they are going in this harsh dealing in the crackdown of the people and the protesters in Bahrain but it seems they have gotten a kind of help or aid from the summit, the so-called Sheikhs in the Persian Gulf, and I guess the Bahrainis would not be silent or quiescent about these atrocities and these harsh dealing with them.

They are continuing until they win this battle. But the international community, now when they claim about democracy and freedom, they should meet with the protesters in order to achieve justice and freedom for the Bahrainis.

The Bahrainis are continuing and now they are waiting for the international community and the so-called Arab Awakening in order to help them and to defend their rights in their dignity and honor for a good life. …more

Bolivia: Evo Morales’ “Manifesto of the Island of the Sun”
01 January, 2013 – By Jean Ortiz, L’Humanite – Translated by Kristina Wischenkamper and reviewed by Henry Crapo.

On December 21, Evo Morales, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia chose to celebrate the Summer Solstice on the Island of the Sun. Here he gave a speech: “The Manifesto of the Island of the Sun”. In view of its importance, this text deserves to be widely known, and we have translated some passages that seem most representative.

“From the island of the sun, from our sacred Lake Titicaca, we tell you that we are here on December 21, not to await the end of the world (…), but on this new dawn to give hope to the people “(…).

“This island is where time began and history began with the sons of the Sun. But then darkness fell with the arrival of foreign invaders.” (…) “Today from this island, the birthplace of the ‘Tahuantinsuyo’ (Inca Empire), we proclaim the end of that age of darkness and ‘non-time’ and the beginning of the age of light, the ‘Pachakuti’ (Andean legend of renaissance, new age, and regeneration of cosmic harmony. OJ). Once again it is time for the peoples of the world, social movements, and all those who have been marginalized, discriminated against or humiliated to unite, organize, mobilize, become aware and rise up as in the times of the ‘Pachakuti’. The world has been plunged into a global crisis (…). This age of capitalism and unbridled consumerism, this age where man thinks himself superior to Mother Earth and makes her the object of his ruthless domination and predation has come to an end.”

“On the one hand there is ever more capitalism, ever more privatization, commodification, irrational exploitation and destruction of natural resources, and increasing protection for businesses and private profits.

On the other there are fewer and fewer social rights, less public health, less free and public education, less protection of human rights. Today, the companies and the people of developed countries are living through this dramatic crisis of capitalism, which has been generated by market forces. Their capitalist governments believe that saving the banks is more important than saving the people. (…) In this capitalist system, banks have privileged economic rights and are treated as first class citizens, so that the banks have become more important than life itself. In this savage jungle, men and women and peoples are not brothers and sisters, are not citizens (…). They are only bad debtors, those living on benefits, tenants, customers.”

“We are witnessing the Green Reign: monetary policy, sustainable development and ecological policy are all green like the dollar. Faced with a new wave of capitalist systemic crisis, its ideologues advocate the privatization of nature through what they call ’the green economy’, or ’green capitalism’. But market forces, liberalism and privatization, have only ever brought poverty, exclusion, hunger and marginalization. ” (…)

“On this 21 December, the first day of ’Pachakuti’ (…) let us witness the end of this age of violence against human beings and nature and let us move into a new age. An age where human beings and Mother Earth are one, and where all people live in harmony and balance with the entire cosmos. (…) We are the Rainbow Warriors, the Warriors of the ’vivir bien’, the Rebels of the world. Here we give you ten ways to confront capitalism and start building a culture of life:

– Rebuild democracy and politics, transferring power to the poor and putting it at the service of the people

– More social and human rights, not the commodification of human needs

– Decolonize our peoples and cultures to build a “socialisme communautaire du buen vivir” (communitarian socialism of well-living)

– A real environmental policy to stand against the ‘environmental colonialism of the green economy’

– Sovereignty over natural resources as a prerequisite for the emancipation from neocolonial domination and a movement towards
integral development of peoples

– Food sovereignty and the human right to food

– The alliance of the peoples of the south against interventionism, neo-liberalism and colonialism

– The development of knowledge and technology for all

– The construction of a global institutional union of peoples

Economic development should not have as its goal capital accumulation and profit, nor market income, but must be ’holistic’, and seek people’s happiness and harmony with Mother Earth.”

(These ten points are largely detailed by Evo Morales in the Manifesto.)

“This new age is one of the power of work, of the power of ’communities’, of the solidarity of all peoples, of the communion of all living beings with Mother Earth, all working together towards building the ’communitarian socialism of well-living.’

Our vision of a communitarian socialism of well-living is based on rights and not on market forces; it is based on the fulfillment and happiness of humankind.” …source