Posts from — December 2013

World Renowned Peace Activist Collaborated with Stratfor and CIA
Global Research – 4 December, 2013 – Steve Horn and Carl Gibson

Serbia’s Srdja Popovic is known by many as a leading architect of regime changes in Eastern Europe and elsewhere since the late-1990s, and as one of the co-founders of Otpor!, the U.S.-funded Serbian activist group which overthrew Slobodan Milošević in 2000.

Lesser known, an exclusive Occupy.com investigation reveals that Popovic and the Otpor! offshoot CANVAS (Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies) have also maintained close ties with a Goldman Sachs executive and the private intelligence firm Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting, Inc.), as well as the U.S. government. Popovic’s wife also worked at Stratfor for a year.

These revelations come in the aftermath of thousands of new emails released by Wikileaks’ “Global Intelligence Files.” The emails reveal Popovic worked closely with Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based private firm that gathers intelligence on geopolitical events and activists for clients ranging from the American Petroleum Institute and Archer Daniels Midland to Dow Chemical, Duke Energy, Northrop Grumman, Intel and Coca-Cola.

Referred to in emails under the moniker “SR501,” Popovic was first approached by Stratfor in 2007 to give a lecture in the firm’s office about events transpiring in Eastern Europe, according to a Stratfor source who asked to remain confidential for this story.

In one of the emails, Popovic forwarded information about activists harmed or killed by the U.S.-armed Bahraini government, obtained from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights during the regime’s crackdown on pro-democracy activists in fall 2011. Popovic also penned a blueprint for Stratfor on how to unseat the now-deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in September 2010.

Stratfor’s Global Activist Connector

Using his celebrated activist status, Popovic opened many doors for Stratfor to meet with activists globally. In turn, the information Stratfor intended to gain from Popovic’s contacts would serve as “actionable intelligence”—the firm billed itself as a “Shadow CIA”—for its corporate clients.

Popovic passed information to Stratfor about on-the-ground activist events in countries around the world, ranging from the Philippines, Libya, Tunisia, Vietnam, Iran, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Tibet, Zimbabwe, Poland and Belarus, Georgia, Bahrain, Venezuela and Malaysia. Often, the emails reveal, Popovic passed on the information to Stratfor without the consent of the activists and likely without the activists ever knowing that their emails were being shuttled to the private security firm.

In the U.S., this investigation’s co-author, Carl Gibson (representing US Uncut), and the Yes Men’s Andy Bichlbaum had a meeting with Popovic shortly after their two respective groups used a media hoax to play a prank on General Electric, ridiculing the company over itsnon-payment of U.S. taxes.

The pair gave Popovic information about both groups’ plans for the coming year and news later came out that Stratfor closely monitored the Yes Men’s activities. …more

9/11 Link To Saudi Arabia Is Topic Of 28 Redacted Pages In Government Report; Congressmen Push For Release
By Jamie Reno – 9 December, 2013 – IBTimes

Since terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, victims’ loved ones, injured survivors, and members of the media have all tried without much success to discover the true nature of the relationship between the 19 hijackers – 15 of them Saudi nationals – and the Saudi Arabian government. Many news organizations reported that some of the terrorists were linked to the Saudi royals and that they even may have received financial support from them as well as from several mysterious, moneyed Saudi men living in San Diego.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied any connection, and neither President George W. Bush nor President Obama has been forthcoming on this issue.

But earlier this year, Reps. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., and Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., were given access to the 28 redacted pages of the Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry (JICI) of 9/11 issued in late 2002, which have been thought to hold some answers about the Saudi connection to the attack.

“I was absolutely shocked by what I read,” Jones told International Business Times. “What was so surprising was that those whom we thought we could trust really disappointed me. I cannot go into it any more than that. I had to sign an oath that what I read had to remain confidential. But the information I read disappointed me greatly.”

The public may soon also get to see these secret documents. Last week, Jones and Lynch introduced a resolution that urges President Obama to declassify the 28 pages, which were originally classified by President George W. Bush. It has never been fully explained why the pages were blacked out, but President Bush stated in 2003 that releasing the pages would violate national security.

While neither Jones nor Lynch would say just what is in the document, some of the information has leaked out over the years. A multitude of sources tell IBTimes, and numerous press reports over the years in Newsweek, the New York Times, CBS News and other media confirm, that the 28 pages in fact clearly portray that the Saudi government had at the very least an indirect role in supporting the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attack. In addition, these classified pages clarify somewhat the links between the hijackers and at least one Saudi government worker living in San Diego.

Former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who chaired the Joint Inquiry in 2002 and has been beating the drum for more disclosure about 9/11 since then, has never understood why the 28 pages were redacted. Graham told IBTimes that based on his involvement in the investigation and on the now-classified information in the document that his committee produced, he is convinced that “the Saudi government without question was supporting the hijackers who lived in San Diego…. You can’t have 19 people living in the United States for, in some cases, almost two years, taking flight lessons and other preparations, without someone paying for it. But I think it goes much broader than that. The agencies from CIA and FBI have suppressed that information so American people don’t have the facts.”

Jones insists that releasing the 28 secret pages would not violate national security.

“It does not deal with national security per se; it is more about relationships,” he said. “The information is critical to our foreign policy moving forward and should thus be available to the American people. If the 9/11 hijackers had outside help – particularly from one or more foreign governments – the press and the public have a right to know what our government has or has not done to bring justice to the perpetrators.”

It took Jones six weeks and several letters to the House Intelligence Committee before the classified pages from the 9/11 report were made available to him. Jones was so stunned by what he saw that he approached Rep. Lynch, asking him to look at the 28 pages as well. He knew that Lynch would be astonished by the contents of the documents and perhaps would join in a bipartisan effort to declassify the papers.

“He came back to me about a week ago and told me that he, too, was very shocked by what he read,” Jones said. “I told him we need to join together and put in a resolution and get more members on both sides of the aisle involved and demand that the White House release this information to the public. The American people have a right to know this information.”

A decade ago, 46 senators, led by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded in a letter to President Bush that he declassify the 28 pages. …more

Hezbollah disavows Al-Manar ‘apology’
10 December, 2013 – By Rayane Abou Jaoude – The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Hezbollah will decide the fate of an Al-Manar delegation, which recently issued a public apology to Bahrain without consulting its parent organization, when the group returns from Tunisia, a Hezbollah spokesperson said Monday.

At a meeting in Tunis of the Arab States Broadcasting Union, Hezbollah’s media arm, Al-Manar, publicly apologized for its coverage of the Bahraini anti-government protests. Hezbollah responded Sunday night by saying it was not responsible for the apology and reaffirmed its support for the people of Bahrain.

The Hezbollah spokesperson told The Daily Star that no further decision would be taken until the Al-Manar delegation returned to Lebanon. A representative from the TV station said he could neither confirm nor deny that more information would be released concerning the apology.

“The stance that was taken by the delegation representing the Lebanese Communication Group was its own and the Hezbollah leadership was not consulted over the issue,” Hezbollah said in a statement. The Lebanese Communication Group is the parent company of Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar television and Al-Nour radio stations.

“Our support of the oppressed people of Bahrain did not change at all, and we consider that the oppression practiced by the Bahraini authorities against its people is great, and it still persists in depriving the Bahraini people of their right in participating in political life,” Hezbollah said Sunday.

The Bahrain News Agency published what it said was the original copy of the apology. In it, the Lebanese Communication Group said it would re-evaluate its editorial policies to ensure compliance with international agreements and vowed to work on maintaining good relations with Arab countries, particularly Bahrain.

The statement was read by union Director Salaheddine Maaoui during its 90th General Assembly meeting that took place Saturday in the Tunisian capital.

Maaoui tasked the ASBU’s general manager to follow up on the implementation of the Lebanese group’s decision, and take any necessary measures if the group reneged on its commitment.

Contradicting the apology issued by its media arm, Hezbollah said in a statement that the apology should have been addressed to the Bahraini people, “who have shown rare patience for over two and a half years as they suffer repression and all patterns of abuse by the ruling authorities.”

Hezbollah also accused the Bahrain authorities of intimidating anyone who supports the Bahraini people.
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Mandela must have died a bitter man. To honor his legacy, we should focus on the unfulfilled promises his leadership gave rise to.

If Nelson Mandela Really Had Won, He Wouldn’t Be Seen as a Universal Hero
by Slavoj Žižek – 9 December, 2013 – Common Dreams

In the last two decades of his life, Nelson Mandela was celebrated as a model of how to liberate a country from the colonial yoke without succumbing to the temptation of dictatorial power and anti-capitalist posturing. In short, Mandela was not Robert Mugabe, and South Africa remained a multiparty democracy with a free press and a vibrant economy well-integrated into the global market and immune to hasty socialist experiments. Now, with his death, his stature as a saintly wise man seems confirmed for eternity: there are Hollywood movies about him – he was impersonated by Morgan Freeman, who also, by the way, played the role of God in another film; rock stars and religious leaders, sportsmen and politicians from Bill Clinton to Fidel Castro are all united in his beatification.

Is this, however, the whole story? Two key facts remain obliterated by this celebratory vision. In South Africa, the miserable life of the poor majority broadly remains the same as under apartheid, and the rise of political and civil rights is counterbalanced by the growing insecurity, violence and crime. The main change is that the old white ruling class is joined by the new black elite. Second, people remember the old African National Congress that promised not only the end of apartheid, but also more social justice, even a kind of socialism. This much more radical ANC past is gradually obliterated from our memory. No wonder that anger is growing among poor, black South Africans.

South Africa in this respect is just one version of the recurrent story of the contemporary left. A leader or party is elected with universal enthusiasm, promising a “new world” – but, then, sooner or later, they stumble upon the key dilemma: does one dare to touch the capitalist mechanisms, or does one decide to “play the game”? If one disturbs these mechanisms, one is very swiftly “punished” by market perturbations, economic chaos and the rest. This is why it is all too simple to criticize Mandela for abandoning the socialist perspective after the end of apartheid: did he really have a choice? Was the move towards socialism a real option?

It is easy to ridicule Ayn Rand, but there is a grain of truth in the famous “hymn to money” from her novel Atlas Shrugged: “Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns or dollars. Take your choice – there is no other.” Did Marx not say something similar in his well-known formula of how, in the universe of commodities, “relations between people assume the guise of relations among things”?

In the market economy, relations between people can appear as relations of mutually recognized freedom and equality: domination is no longer directly enacted and visible as such. What is problematic is Rand’s underlying premise: that the only choice is between direct and indirect relations of domination and exploitation, with any alternative dismissed as utopian. However, one should nonetheless bear in mind the moment of truth in Rand’s otherwise ridiculously ideological claim: the great lesson of state socialism was effectively that a direct abolition of private property and market-regulated exchange, lacking concrete forms of social regulation of the process of production, necessarily resuscitates direct relations of servitude and domination. If we merely abolish the market (inclusive of market exploitation) without replacing it with a proper form of the communist organization of production and exchange, domination returns with a vengeance, and with it direct exploitation.

The general rule is that when a revolt begins against an oppressive half-democratic regime, as was the case in the Middle East in 2011, it is easy to mobilize large crowds with slogans that one cannot but characterize as crowd pleasers – for democracy, against corruption, for instance. But then we gradually approach more difficult choices, when our revolt succeeds in its direct goal, we come to realize that what really bothered us (our un-freedom, humiliation, social corruption, lack of prospect of a decent life) goes on in a new guise. The ruling ideology mobilizes here its entire arsenal to prevent us from reaching this radical conclusion. They start to tell us that democratic freedom brings its own responsibility, that it comes at a price, that we are not yet mature if we expect too much from democracy. In this way, they blame us for our failure: in a free society, so we are told, we are all capitalist investing in our lives, deciding to put more into our education than into having fun if we want to succeed.

At a more directly political level, United States foreign policy elaborated a detailed strategy of how to exert damage control by way of rechanneling a popular uprising into acceptable parliamentary-capitalist constraints – as was done successfully in South Africa after the fall of apartheid regime, in Philippines after the fall of Marcos, in Indonesia after the fall of Suharto and elsewhere. At this precise conjuncture, radical emancipatory politics faces its greatest challenge: how to push things further after the first enthusiastic stage is over, how to make the next step without succumbing to the catastrophe of the “totalitarian” temptation – in short, how to move further from Mandela without becoming Mugabe.

If we want to remain faithful to Mandela’s legacy, we should thus forget about celebratory crocodile tears and focus on the unfulfilled promises his leadership gave rise to. We can safely surmise that, on account of his doubtless moral and political greatness, he was at the end of his life also a bitter old man, well aware how his very political triumph and his elevation into a universal hero was the mask of a bitter defeat. His universal glory is also a sign that he really didn’t disturb the global order of power. …source

Iran’s Defense Minister Warns Arab Neighbors of US ‘Psychological Warfare’
8 December, 2013 – Nasim

Nasim—Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan warned Persian Gulf countries to be aware of “US psychological warfare.”

Speaking on Sunday, Iranian defense minister stressed that “diplomacy will result if it is based on rationality and logic not on using force, belligerent approaches and violating others’ right”, replying to the US Defense Minister Chuck Hagel’s statements a day earlier.

“Diplomacy with Iran must be backed up by U.S. military might”, Pentagon chief said Dec. 7 in a speech addressed to Gulf allies referring to the nuclear deal with Tehran. He also promised to maintain a 35,000-strong force in the Gulf region, as well as an armada of ships and warplanes, despite the recent deal with Tehran.

Brigadier General Dehghan also underlined that language of war and threat is not accepted in the public minds, adding that employing “belligerent rhetoric will increase nations’ hatred and distrust in the speaker.”

He described Hagel’s promise to sell more weapons to Persian Gulf countries as “an evidence of US Iranophobia project,” underlining that the region’s security lies in “constructive interaction and cooperation with good will among the countries. …source

US embarrassment at terror list inclusion
7 December, 2013 – By Jo Biddle – Irish Examiner

In 2008, just before his 90th birthday, the United States gave Nelson Mandela a special present, striking him from a decades-old terror watch list and ending what US officials called “a rather embarrassing matter”.

By then the anti-apartheid icon had long left behind the jail cells where he was incarcerated for 27 years, and was already enjoying retirement and his status as one of the most revered statesmen of the 20th century after becoming South Africa’s first black president.

In past years, US officials have beaten a path to his door in his family village, hoping some of his almost saint-like aura would rub off on them.

On Thursday, when Mandela died, aged 95, US President Barack Obama hailed him as belonging “to the ages” and ordered that flags on US government buildings be flown at half-mast — a rare tribute to a foreign leader.

Yet decades ago, many in America did not share in the adulation of Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC), which had been billed a terrorist organisation by South Africa and the US. His severest right-wing critics painted him as an unrepentant terrorist and a communist sympathiser.

It was even reported that the CIA had helped engineer Mandela’s 1962 arrest when an agent inside the ANC supplied South African security officials with a tip-off to track him down.

In the 1980s however, late Democratic US senator Ted Kennedy drafted legislation with senator Lowell Weicker that would eventually become one of the global catalysts leading to the collapse of the apartheid system.

President Ronald Reagan sought to bury their 1986 anti-apartheid bill aiming to impose economic sanctions on South Africa, by imposing his veto, saying he believed it would only lead to more violence and repression for black South Africans.

But for the first and only time that century, Congress rebelled and overrode Reagan’s veto on a foreign policy issue, passing legislation that slapped sanctions on Pretoria, snapped direct air links and cut vital aid.

Some observers maintain that the story of Mandela’s redemption and the undeniable justness of his cause hold lessons for Washington as it grapples with other abuses of human rights by repressive regimes around the world.

Brian Dooley, who worked with Kennedy on the game-changing legislation and is now a director with Human Rights First, chafes at the rationale that the US pursues “constructive engagement” with autocratic regimes for the greater good and to ensure security interests. …more

Hagel says U.S. commitment to Mideast security endures
By David Alexander – Reuters – 7 December, 2013

MANAMA: Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel told Gulf Arab leaders on Saturday that the United States has a proven and enduring commitment to Middle East security, backed by diplomatic engagement as well as warplanes, ships, tanks, artillery and 35,000 troops.

The U.S. defense secretary, speaking at a regional security forum, acknowledged Gulf leaders’ concerns about the direction of U.S. policy in the Middle East, especially negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. But he said the U.S. emphasis on diplomacy should not be misinterpreted.

“We know diplomacy cannot operate in a vacuum,” Hagel said. “Our success will continue to hinge on America’s military power, and the credibility of our assurances to our allies and partners in the Middle East.”

Hagel’s remarks to the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain came at a time of heightened tension with Washington’s longtime Gulf Arab partners.

Leaders in the region fear that the United States will lose focus on the Middle East as it strategically rebalances to Asia. They also are frustrated by the U.S. response to the Arab Spring protests and the Syrian civil war.

In particular, the United States distanced itself from Saudi Arabia’s decision to send forces to help Bahrain’s Sunni Muslim ruler put down protests by the island’s majority Shi’ites in 2011.

Washington has also irritated Gulf powers with its cautious approach in backing rebels fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al Assad, informed by concern over divisions among the disparate groups and a reluctance to bring Islamist militants to power.

In Manama, Hagel said that, while the United States would continue to provide aid to Syrian refugees and the neighboring countries of Jordan and Turkey, the rise of violent extremism in Syria had to be addressed.

“We will continue to work with partners throughout the region to help bring about a political settlement to end this conflict,” Hagel said, calling for efforts to ensure that aid for the opposition “does not fall into the wrong hands”.

Hagel said an interim agreement that six world powers reached with Iran over its disputed nuclear enrichment program had “not diminished our focus on the challenges posed by Iran”, which has long vied with the Gulf Arabs for regional dominance.

” Iran has been a profoundly destabilizing influence, and a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an unacceptable threat to regional and global stability,” the U.S. defense chief said.

He said the accord “bought time for meaningful negotiation, not for deception”, and that U.S. diplomacy would ultimately be backed up by the military commitments and cooperation it has with its regional partners.

A former Iranian nuclear negotiator, Hossein Mousavian, now a visiting scholar at Princeton University in the United States, asked Hagel from the floor why he had not mentioned Israel in his speech when, he said, it possessed 400 nuclear weapons. Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal, though it will not comment on the issue.

Hagel did not mention Israel in his reply, noting that Iran was in violation of many U.N. resolutions and the world was “very clear-eyed” about the implementation of the interim deal.

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Third in a series of seven op-eds examining the history of US foreign policy in the Middle East
Dances on quicksand: US and the Arab Spring
Khaled Mansour – 7 Decemebr, 2013

It has been a truism for decades to attribute the drivers of US foreign policy in the Middle East to two realist drivers; free flow of oil from the major Gulf producers and Israel’s security, with the latter seen as part of the US power projection in this region since the cold war era and increasingly also a domestic policy concern since the late 1960s.

Glibert Achcar in his tour de force of the recent Arab revolutions in The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising (University of California Press and Saqi Books, 2013), views US foreign policy in the region as an exclusive domain for the realists (who care most about the free flow of oil and Israel as a strategic asset in the Cold War and now the only reliable one in a shaky region).

In this he is supported by former assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, Martin Indyk, who argues that unlike the balance the US had always to strike between the national interest and the nation’s values, “in the Middle East…every American president since Franklin Roosevelt has struck that balance in favour of the national interest, downplaying the promotion of America’s democratic values because of the region’s strategic importance.”

It has to be noted that national interest, according to Indyk who now works with the Brookings Institution, stands for economic and security interests which can be measured in the short term.

Timothy Mitchell, in his seminal work, Carbon Democracy (Verso Books, 2011), argued for seeing democracy, human rights and the Wilsonian tradition in general as instruments deployed to stabilise the capitalist project in the region, and the world at large, in a much more effective way compared to brutal autocracies. In other words, democracy and human right are necessary instruments sometimes.

Let us look more deeply into the vast oil question.

The US is the ultimate guarantor of energy supplies from the Middle East, which provides about a third of global oil production (nearly 14 percent of total global energy production) and is the main provider for Europe, China and Japan. The Arab region has about 50 percent of world oil reserves.

Although the US does not primarily depend on this oil for own energy needs, it is extremely important for main players in the world economy, whose financial health affects that of the US in the interdependent global economic environment. This policeman function should also provide Washington DC with a clout when negotiating trade and other economic issues with the rest of the industrialised world.

Historically, it was oil that attracted the US to the region, especially after WWII when the US became the region power broker and security guarantor. The 1956 Suez Crisis signaled the end of 40 years of imperial control by the French and the British following the 1904 Sykes-Picot agreement.

Saudi Arabia, the largest oil producer in the world, provides the best example of how American values can become so subservient to hard interests. With no constitution nor real parliament, the royal family exercises absolute authority, which is formally vested in the king but legitimated by an alliance with an extremely conservative clergy, which controls education, public space and is financially well-endowed.

Mitchell, and others, argue that this political and social arrangement in Saudi Arabia is not primarily natural or an expression of indigenous factors only, but has been as well built by external intervention, mainly British, and then sustained by the Americans who punished deviations from this model. …more

Visiting service members in Bahrain, Hagel vows continued U.S. presence in Persian Gulf
By Ernesto Londoño – 6 December, 2013 – Washington Post

MANAMA, Bahrain — Speaking to American sailors standing at attention on the deck of the USS Ponce, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel vowed on Friday that the United States would keep a robust military presence in the Persian Gulf and build stronger ties with the region’s Arab states, even as it pursues negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

The service members, part of the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet, were likely to be the secretary’s easiest audience during a three-day trip to this tiny gulf kingdom.

As the first U.S. Cabinet member to visit Bahrain since the spring of 2011, when popular revolts roiled the Arab world, Hagel waded into a region where the U.S. faces a tide of criticism. Bahrain’s pro-democracy activists charge that Washington has not done enough to curb the kingdom’s crackdown on dissidents from the country’s Shiite majority because it wants to safeguard a strategic alliance.

Gulf Sunni monarchs, meanwhile, are angered by Washington’s talks with Iran, a country they view as an existential threat. A six-month temporary accord with Tehran over its nuclear program, and the prospect of a permanent deal, have further strained relationships frayed by the robust support some Sunni states have given to Syrian rebels with ties to al-Qaeda.

Hagel appeared more interested in mollifying the monarchs than the protesters.

“I will assure our partners that we’re not going anywhere,” Hagel told troops aboard the Navy ship, one of several docked in Bahrain. He said U.S. officials were “clear-eyed” about the complexity of negotiating with Iran and remained committed to keeping a robust military deterrence architecture in a region he described as “dangerous, combustible and unstable.”

U.S. defense officials said Hagel intended to use his visit to Bahrain — where he is attending a yearly meeting of defense chiefs known as the Manama Dialogue — to counter the notion that America’s budget crisis and a renewed focus on Asia have made it an unreliable ally in the Middle East. …more

Manama Rocked by Mass Protest Ahead of International Forum
7 Decemebr, 2013 – FARS

TEHRAN (FNA)- Anti-regime protesters in Bahrain staged a mass demonstration near Manama ahead of an international forum on Middle East security to be held in the capital city.

Thousands of people rallied in the village of Sa’ar, West of Manama, responding to a call of the main opposition bloc al-Wefaq to protest against a crackdown on opposition activists, press tv reported.

The protesters were carrying pictures of jailed opposition leaders and banners containing messages for top international officials who are attending the two-day Manama Dialogue forum opened on Friday evening.

“To those meeting at the Manama Dialogue (conference): Are you aware that there are female detainees in Bahraini jails?” read one banner.

“Why do you support democracy for people of other countries… (and not) in Bahrain?” read another banner.

Police attacked the protesters with tear gas and sound bombs trying to disperse them.

Similar protests were also held in the villages of Sanabis, Deraz, Sitra and Diya, where protesters burned tires and at some points clashed with security forces.

The protests come as British Foreign Secretary William Hague is planned to deliver the keynote address at the annual security forum upon its opening.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will also give a speech on Saturday, the second day of the forum which is organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa ruling family to step down.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government to crush the peaceful protests.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in the Saudi-backed crackdown. …source

Hagel, King of Bahrain Discuss Regional Security Issues
American Forces Press Service – 6 Decemebr, 2013

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2013 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with His Majesty King Hamad al Khalifa of Bahrain at Safria Palace in Bahrain and the two leaders exchanged views on shared regional security challenges, including Iran and the signed joint plan of action between the P5+1 and Iran, Assistant Pentagon Press Secretary Carl Woog said in a statement issued today.

Woog’s statement reads as follows:

Secretary Hagel met with His Majesty King Hamad al Khalifa of Bahrain this afternoon at the Safria Palace.

Secretary Hagel and the king discussed the long history of the United States – Bahrain bilateral relationship. Secretary Hagel emphasized the U.S. commitment to Gulf security and discussed the speech he will present to the IISS Manama Dialogue tomorrow.

The secretary and the king exchanged views on shared regional security challenges, including Iran and the signed joint plan of action between the P5+1 and Iran.

The meeting included significant discussion of reform in Bahrain and the importance of political inclusiveness for long term stability. The secretary thanked King Hamad for hosting the U.S. 5th fleet and ongoing security cooperation. …source

Bahrain: Authorities attack religious rituals preserved by Constitution
7 December, 2013 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) In November 2012, Al-Wefaq Islamic Society has sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay, regarding restrictions on religious freedom on one of the religious sects in Bahrain, stating, “The authorities in Bahrain, during the religious season of (Muharram 1434 AH) are following an approach based on directions from high influential bodies in the State, stirring public anger and undermining the people’s right to practice their religious rituals. Citizens of a certain sect of the population feel that their religious beliefs and rituals are being targeted, without any reason, whether related to maintaining security, the State’s safety or any other claims. This attack is similar to what happened during the National Safety period, in March/May 2011, as had been reported by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) and the UN Human Rights Council delegation during its visit to Bahrain in December 2011.”

Included with the letter was a list, prepared by the Liberties and Human Rights Unit in Al-Wefaq Society, that contained 42 documented cases of preachers, religious performers and a group of individuals responsible of “Matams” (Shi’a religious places) who were summoned to police stations for interrogation. The interrogation “focused on the usual phrases that were included in their religious speeches, and which are related to ideological, religious and historical beliefs. The authorities considered repeating these sayings, in the Shi’a culture, as an incitement toward hatred of the regime!” In addition to this, there are 9 other cases of attack on the rituals of the Ashura religious commemoration. …more

UK foreign secretary seeks to reassure Gulf allies
By ADAM SCHRECK – 6 December, 2013 – The Bellingham Herald

MANAMA, Bahrain — Britain’s top diplomat voiced his country’s strong commitment to the security of the Gulf states on Friday, seeking to reassure wary Arab allies in the wake of last month’s nuclear deal with their regional rival Iran.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told representatives at a regional security summit in the Bahraini capital Manama that last month’s deal between world powers and Iran in Geneva does not imply any lessening of the U.K.’s commitments to its alliances in the region.

“The U.K. and other Western countries must retain and also strengthen our commitment to stability in the Gulf,” Hague said, adding that Britain is extending “deliberately and for the long-term” its defense and security cooperation with the region.

“We will remain solidly committed to intensifying and building up these links based on common interest and the deepest possible mutual understanding,” he said.

Iran agreed to freeze parts of its nuclear program for six months in exchange for some relief from Western sanctions.

The Gulf states generally welcomed the deal, and Iran’s foreign minister this week paid visits to four of them — Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — in an early indication of the warming ties.

Even so, Gulf leaders remain suspicious of Iran’s broader intentions and fear that better relations with the West could embolden Tehran, destabilizing the region. Heavyweight Saudi Arabia in particular sees Iran as a threat to its own influence, and it and other Sunni-ruled Gulf nations are important backers of the Syrian rebels fighting to topple the Iran-allied government of Bashar Assad in Syria.
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Protesters, police clash in Bahrain Shia villages
7 December, 2013 – Gulf Times

Demonstrators calling for democratic reform clashed with police yesterday in Shia villages near Manama ahead of an international forum on Middle East security, witnesses said.

A Shia-led uprising to demand changes in the kingdom was crushed in March 2011 but almost weekly protests against the authorities have been since staged in Shia villages around Manama.

Yesterday, dozens of protesters, mostly youths, clashed with police in the villages of Sanabis, Deraz, Sitra and Diya, hurling stones and petrol bombs at the security forces, witnesses said.

The protesters also blocked roads with burning tyres, the witnesses said.

Police responded by firing teargas and sound bombs to disperse them, they added. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

In the village of Sar near Manama, thousands of people took to the streets at the call of the main Shia opposition bloc Al Wefaq to protest against a crackdown on opposition activists.

Witnesses said the protesters held up pictures of jailed Shia opposition leaders and banners carrying “messages” for top officials, including from Britain and the United States, attending the two-day Manama Dialogue forum.

“To those meeting at the Manama Dialogue (conference): Are you aware that there are female detainees in Bahraini jails?” read one banner.

“Why do you support democracy for people of other countries … (and not) in Bahrain?” read another banner.

Witnesses said police beefed up security in Shia villages ahead of the forum and set up checkpoints on roads leading to the hotel hosting the four-day conference in the Seef area near the capital.

Bahraini authorities have banned protests from taking place in Manama.

At least 89 people have been killed since the protests began, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

Authorities arrested hundreds of activists, mostly Shias, in the wake of the 2011 uprising. Dozens have have been sentenced to jail terms.

Rights groups have denounced the arrests and trials in Bahrain.

Bahrain is home to the US Fifth Fleet, a crucial naval hub that oversees aircraft carriers and other warships patrolling the strategic Gulf sea lanes.

Washington views Bahrain of “great strategic importance”, but has withheld some military assistance as part of an effort to urge Manama “to lift restrictions on civil society” and “engage in a deliberate reform process”, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice said on Wednesday. …source

Protesters clash with police in Bahrain
7 December, 2013 – The Peninsula

MANAMA: Demonstrators calling for democratic reform clashed with police yesterday in Shiite villages near Manama ahead of an international forum on Middle East security, witnesses said.

A Shia-led uprising to demand changes in the kingdom was crushed in March 2011 but almost weekly protests against the authorities have been since staged in Shia villages around Manama.

Yesterday, dozens of protesters, mostly youths, clashed with police in the villages of Sanabis, Deraz, Sitra and Diya, hurling stones and petrol bombs at the security forces, witnesses said.

The protesters also blocked roads with burning tyres, the witnesses said.

Police responded by firing tear gas and sound bombs to disperse them, they added. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

In the village of Sar near Manama, thousands of people took to the streets at the call of the main Shia opposition bloc Al Wefaq to protest against a crackdown on opposition activists.

Witnesses said the protesters held up pictures of jailed Shiite opposition leaders and banners carrying “messages” for top officials, including from Britain and the United States, due to attend the two-day Manama Dialogue forum that opens last evening.

“To those meeting at the Manama Dialogue (conference): Are you aware that there are female detainees in Bahraini jails?” read one banner.

“Why do you support democracy for people of other countries… (and not) in Bahrain?” read another banner.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague is due to deliver the keynote address at the annual forum that focuses on Middle East security when it opens at around 1800 GMT.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will also give a speech today, the second day of the forum which is organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Witnesses said police beefed up security in Shiite villages ahead of the forum and set up checkpoints on roads leading to the hotel hosting the four-day conference in the Seef area near the capital.

Bahraini authorities have banned protests from taking place in Manama.

At least 89 people have been killed since the protests began, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

Authorities arrested hundreds of activists, mostly Shias, in the wake of the 2011 uprising,dozens have faced trials and as many have been convicted to jail terms.

Rights groups have denounced the arrests and trials in Bahrain.

Bahrain is home to the US Fifth Fleet, a crucial naval hub that oversees aircraft carriers and other warships patrolling the strategic Gulf sea lanes. …source

Nasrallah links Saudi Arabia to Iran embassy attack
NOW – 3 December, 2013

BEIRUT – Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday linked Saudi Arabia to the November 19 bombings that targeted the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

“We believe the Abdallah Azzam Brigades’ claim of responsibility for the attack, and it is my belief they are under the administration of Saudi intelligence,” he told OTV in an interview.

Nasrallah also purported a Saudi motive in the attack, saying that Riyadh “holds Iran responsible for the failure of its projects in the region.”

The Al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings outside the Iranian embassy hours after the attack and warned it would strike again in Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia denounced the bombings that left 23 people dead outside the Iranian embassy, while pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akbhar on November 20 blamed Riyadh for the attack.

The bombing came days after the Syrian regime and Hezbollah troops launched an offensive against rebels in Syria’s mountainous Qalamoun region along the Lebanese border.

The fighting sparked a mass exodus of Syrian refugees into Lebanon’s Beqaa and raised fears of a spillover of fighting into Lebanon.

However, Nasrallah insisted in his interview with OTV that his party was safeguarding the country from terror attacks originating in Qalamoun.

“If militants take control of border areas with Lebanon, we would be prone to dozens of car bomb attacks.”

The Hezbollah chief alleged that “three car bombs were found in [Qalamoun’s] Nabak that were rigged to be sent to Lebanon.”

He also said that “the car bombs that exploded in Lebanon came into the country from [Qalamoun’s] Yabrud and Nabak through [the northern Beqaa’s] Arsal and its outskirts.”

“If Hezbollah did not fight in Syria, there would have been a civil war in Lebanon and hundreds of car bombs,” Nasrallah added.

However, he told OTV that his Shiite party had a “minimal” role in the fighting in the Qalamoun region, adding that the regime was bearing the brunt of the fighting.

Nasrallah also hailed the interim nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 world powers in Geneva on November 24.

He said the “region’s people are the biggest winners from the deal” because it forestalls any military action against Iran.

“Israel cannot possibly bomb nuclear facilities without a US green light.”

The Hezbollah chief delved into the regional ramifications of the deal, saying that “it is too early for Iran to head toward normalization with the US.”

Yemen says Saudis behind attack
6 December, 2013 – By AHMED AL-HAJ – Associated Press

ADEN, Yemen (AP) – Saudi militants were behind the massive car bombing and assault on Yemen’s military headquarters that killed more than 50 people, including foreigners, investigators said in a preliminary report released Friday. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for U.S. drone strikes that have killed dozens of the terror network’s leaders.

The attack – the deadliest in Sanaa since May 2012 – marked an escalation in the terror network’s battle to undermine the U.S.-allied government and destabilize the impoverished Arab nation despite the drone strikes and a series of U.S.-backed military offensive against it. U.S. forces also have been training and arming Yemeni special forces, and exchanging intelligence with the central government.

Military investigators described a two-stage operation, saying heavily armed militants wearing army uniforms first blew up a car packed with 500 kilograms (more than 1,100 pounds) of explosives near an entrance gate, then split into groups that swept through a military hospital and a laboratory, shooting at soldiers, doctors, nurses, doctors and patients.

Officials earlier said 11 militants were killed, including the suicide bomber who drove the car. It was not clear if the 12th attacker was captured or escaped.

The investigative committee led by Yemen’s Chief of Staff Gen. Ahmed al-Ashwal, said militants shot the guards outside the gates of the military hospital, allowing the suicide bomber to drive the car inside, but a gunfight forced him to detonate his explosives before reaching his target. It said the 12 militants killed, included Saudis.

Two military officials told The Associated Press that wounded soldiers had told them the assailants who stormed the hospital separated out the foreigners and shot everybody in the head.

Other military officials said American security agents were helping with the investigations, but that could not be confirmed. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to brief reporters.

Yemeni commandos and other security forces besieged the militants before they could reach the ministry’s main building, preventing them from going further than the ministry’s entrance gate. All the attackers were killed by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the committee.

Yemeni security forces launched a manhunt in the capital to find the perpetrators, sparking gunbattles that killed five suspected militants and a Yemeni commando, officials said. …more

Amid allegations of torture and abuse U.S. military remains supportive of brutal monarchy in Saudi Arabia
Robert Tilford – GroundReport – 6 December, 2013

The Department of Defense Assistant Press Secretary Carl Woog today provided the following read out on the Pentagon webpage regarding advanced weapon sales to Saudi Arabia :

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel met with Saudi Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Salman bin Sultan on the eve of the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain to discuss regional issues, including Iran, Egypt and Syria.

The secretary underscored the strength of the bilateral relationship and noted the centrality of the defense partnership in maintaining the long-standing ties between the two countries. Secretary Hagel conveyed that the United States remained committed to regional security and stability, a shared objective with Saudi Arabia.

The secretary indicated U.S.-Saudi defense cooperation is essential to maintaining our shared priorities. He highlighted the Saudi purchase of F-15SA aircraft and advanced weapons as an example of future of improved interoperability and coordination between both militaries.

Source: DOD

It should be noted that Saudi Arabia record on human rights is abysmal:

“Saudi Arabia has stepped up arrests and trials of peaceful dissidents, and responded with force to demonstrations by citizens. Authorities continue to suppress or fail to protect the rights of 9 million Saudi women and girls and 9 million foreign workers. As in past years, thousands of people have received unfair trials or been subject to arbitrary detention, and public and other executions continue. Human rights defenders and others regularly face trial for peaceful expression or assembly, or for demanding political and human rights reforms” (source: HRW ).

These abuses of human rights are so bad that you wonder how the United States can allow advanced weapons sales to that brutal monarchy., especially advanced fighter planes like the F-16? …source

Hussain AlMahfoodh

In the name of God

Official Statement of Sh. AlMahfoodh Recent Condition

We received confirmations that Sh. Mohamed Ali AlMahfoodh is sent to hospital as his health has dramatically deteriorated. Thus, there are serious concerns about his safety especially after six days passed since the recent attacks as reported from Jaw Center of Detention. Since six days, there has been no news or calls from Sh. AlMahfoodh and the rest of the detained in the Ward of Hope/Ward One. All what is confirmed is that the ward is on hunger strike since six days.

The last contact with Sh. AlMahfoodh was on Sunday December 1st 2013. In his short abrupt call, his voice was weak and thin, and the call was under strict supervision of the ward guards. He personally confirmed that the rumors about the incident are real and the ward is put under punishment. Consequently, the call increased the concerns among the family of Sh. AlMahfoodh.

As for the recent rumors that claim Sh. AlMahfoodh case to be comforted or settled, there is no certain reliable proof or trace, and the source is anonymous. There is no confirmation of any relief in the Ward’s condition especially after the new impunity restrictions enforced on the detained in the ward.

We, the family of Sh. Mohamed Ali AlMahfoodh send an urgent call to the concerned international community and the Human Rights organizations to investigate and follow the case if Sh. AlMahfoodh. We call to arrange immediately to meet him in person to check his safety and health status. We also demand the immediate unconditional release of Sh. AlMahfoodh and all the other prisoners of conscience.

The family of Sh. Mohamed Ali AlMahfoodh
Bahrain
December 3rd 2013

Bahrain court rejects jailed activist’s plea for release
by Rania El Gamal – The Star Online – 3 December, 2013

DUBAI (Reuters) – A Bahraini court has rejected a request by a prominent human rights advocate that he be freed after serving three-quarters of a prison term for taking part in unlicensed protests.

Bahrain, where the Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family rules over a majority Shi’ite population, has been in political turmoil since Shi’ite-led pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011.

The island kingdom is a base for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols oil shipping lanes in the Gulf region.

Lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi said rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab, sentenced last year to two years in prison for cases related to organising and participating in protests, had a legal right to early release after spending a year and half in jail.

“But the court rejected the request to release him without giving any reasons,” Jishi told Reuters by telephone from Manama after Monday’s ruling, which several foreign diplomats attended.

The government’s Information Affairs Authority confirmed the court had deemed Rajab “not eligible” for early release.

“Rajab has continuously called upon the citizens to defy the laws of public gathering which resulted in violence,” the IAA said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Tuesday.

It said many security personnel had been wounded by people throwing petrol bombs and steel rods as a result.

“Rajab’s speeches included encouraging youths to confront the authorities,” the IAA said. “Incitement of any sort is a violation of the constitution and laws of Bahrain that are in line with international standards.”

Rajab shot to prominence in 2011 when he campaigned against a crackdown on protesters. With 217,000 followers on Twitter he is one of the Arab world’s best-known online activists.

A hero to protesters but a villain to those Bahrainis who fear they will bring Shi’ite Islamists to power, Rajab is the founder of the non-governmental Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.

An organiser of many protests against the powers of the Al Khalifa dynasty, he was sentenced to three months in jail last year in a separate case over a tweet criticising the veteran prime minister, the king’s uncle. The ruling was overturned, but only after Rajab had already served his sentence.

London-based Amnesty International and U.S.-based Human Rights First have called for him to be freed.

“It’s depressing but no big surprise that Nabeel Rajab was not released,” said Brian Dooley, of Human Rights First.

“Recent weeks have seen an increased targeting of human rights defenders by the authorities and freeing him would have gone against that trend.”

Bahrain, which effectively bans protests and gatherings not licensed by the government, has been caught up in a struggle for influence between Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.

Bahrain quelled the 2011 revolt with help from Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled Gulf states, but protests and small-scale clashes persist and bomb attacks have multiplied since mid-2012.

Talks between the government and opposition have failed to end the political standoff. Many Shi’ites complain of political and economic discrimination, a charge the authorities deny. …source