Open Letter to President of Venezuela

Soon, the Battle for Venezuela
by ANDRE VLTCHEK – 21 February, 2014

They are already sewing your funeral gown, Venezuela. They are now ready to welcome you back to that world of the lobotomized, destroyed nations that are fully submissive to Western political and economic interests – Indonesia, Philippines, Paraguay, Uganda, Kenya, Qatar, Bahrain, and almost the entire Eastern Europe. There are so many places like that – it is impossible to list them all.

They want you back in their deadly embrace; they want you to be corrupt and hopeless, as you were before the “Bolivarian Revolution”.

They want you to be the top oil exporter, but with all those horrific slums hanging, like relentless nightmares, over your cities. They want your elites and your military top brass to speak English, to play golf, to drive luxury cars and to commit treason after treason, as they used to commit treason for decades, before your brave predecessor, President Hugo Chavez, began serving and literally saving the poor, in Venezuela and all over Latin America.

Those who are planning to destroy you, those who belong to the so called ‘opposition’, in their heads, are already portioning you; they are dividing your beautiful body – fighting over which parts should be taken where and by whom. They are arguing which pieces of you should stay at home, and what should be taken abroad – a leg, an arm, and your deep melancholic eyes, the color of the profound pools under the mighty waterfalls of Canaima. They want to sell your jet-black hair, as black as those evenings in the mountains, or like that endless night sky above Ciudad Bolivar.

They want everything, all that is under your skin as well as what is deep inside your body. They want your skin, too, as well as your heart.

They want your dreams, which are almost everybody’s dreams – the dreams of all those people from all over the world, people that have been oppressed, and humiliated, for centuries, up to today. They want to take your dreams and to step on them, dirty them, spit on them and to crush them.

But it is not over; it is all far from being over. You are loved and admired, and therefore you will be defended. By all means – we who love you will not be ungenerous; we will not be negotiating the price!

For many men and women, for millions all over the world, you used to be a girl; a brave, rebellious, wonderful young woman… then suddenly you became a mother and then you turned to a motherland – for all those who lacked one until this very moment. For me, too, you became a motherland… for me too!

***

I am not a Venezuelan citizen. I wish I could be, but I am not. But I have fought for Venezuela, in my own way, through my reports and speeches, through films and in my books. I fought ever since Hugo Chavez became the President, ‘my President’.

And I am proud that I fought. And now, when Venezuela is once again under vicious attack, I want to stand firmly by her side, by the side of her Revolution, by the side of El Processo, and of her great Presidents – both Chavez and Maduro!

And I want to say this, and I will say this loudly, carajo: I don’t care what passport is hanging from my pocket, but Caracas is now my capital, and Caracas is what we are going to defend, if we have to. Because in Caracas, we will be fighting for Havana, for Harare and Johannesburg, for Cairo and Calcutta, for the tiny atoll nations in the Pacific Ocean, for Hanoi, for Beijing, and even for Moscow, Asmara, La Paz, Valparaiso, Quito, Managua and for so many of the other independent, freedom-loving places of this wonderful world.

The violent activities undertaken by those so-called ‘protesters’ in Caracas have to be stopped, immediately, and if necessary, by force.

‘The opposition’ has been paid from abroad, as it has been paid, in the past and now, in China, in Eastern Europe, in Syria, Ukraine and in Thailand, as it has been paid everywhere else in the world, where the West could not manage to easily strip those ‘rebellious’ countries of all their riches, while keeping them humiliated, and on their knees. …more

Formula 1 – Red Bull hit yet more testing trouble in Bahrain
Reuters – 21 February, 2014 – eurosport.com

Australian Daniel Ricciardo managed just 28 laps at the Sakhir circuit before the team decided to suspend running to prepare the car for the final day of the second pre-season test on Saturday.

Red Bull, winners of the last four drivers’ and constructors’ titles with Sebastian Vettel, have struggled to get their Renault-powered car running reliably while Mercedes and Ferrari-powered rivals have been getting in the laps.

Vettel did 59 laps on Thursday, more than twice as many as the team had managed in all five previous days of testing in Spain and Bahrain, but the gremlins returned for his new Australian team mate.

Ricciardo did his best to sound positive, however, and said the car was definitely making progress.

“It’s coming together bit by bit. We’d love a big chunk all at once but obviously that’s not the way these things work, so we have to be a bit patient for now,” he said.

The team’s race engineering co-ordinator Andy Damerum said the mechanics had their work cut out and explained that the mechanical issue was not one the team had experienced previously. …more

Britain’s Prince Charles to visit Bahrain
Habib ToumiBureau – 20 February, 2014 – gn

Manama: Prince Charles will visit Bahrain and call on the royal family on Friday, the British embassy in Manama said.

“The Prince’s visit will follow his visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which took place from Monday 17 to Friday 21 February 2014,” the statement released on Friday said.

“The Prince of Wales will be welcomed by His Highness Prince Salman Bin Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Prince of Wales will then call on His Majesty King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa,” the embassy said.

Iain Lindsay, the UK ambassador in Bahrain said that the UK-Bahrain relationship “is a warm, close and long-standing one.”

“Our first agreement of friendship dates from 1816, which is why over the next two years, leading up to 2016, we shall be celebrating the bicentenary of bilateral relations,” he said in the statement. “I am delighted His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales is visiting Bahrain. The British Royal Family has a strong and well-established relationship with the Bahraini Royal Family. This visit underlines the strength of the UK’s bilateral ties with Bahrain,” he said. …source

U.S., allies agree on standards for which opposition groups in Syria will receive aid
By Karen DeYoung – 20 February, 2014 – Washington Post

The United States and its principal European and Arab allies have agreed on a unified way of providing Syrian rebel groups with aid, classifying them into those who should receive arms supplies and other assistance, those who are ineligible because of clear extremist ties, and those whose eligibility requires further discussion, according to U.S. and allied officials.

Along with new initiatives by the United States and others to increase weapons shipments, rebel training, intelligence and other support, the plan — set during a U.S.-led meeting of intelligence chiefs here last week — is designed to overcome divisions among governments that have been deeply split over which opposition groups to aid and what to supply.

“The idea is that no country will act unilaterally and all will abide by the same understanding,” said one Arab official. The official called the listing a “living document” that will be constantly updated as rebel alliances shift.

It is far from the first effort to organize outside assistance over the past two years of Syria’s grueling civil war. Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, France and the United States, among those who participated in last week’s meeting, have often disagreed over how to bolster the opposition and undermine Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But officials from several European and Arab governments represented at the intelligence gathering and at other high-level U.S. meetings in recent weeks — many of whom have complained in the past about a lack of administration leadership — said there has been a substantive shift toward a more aggressive U.S. posture and a willingness by others to follow that lead. …more

URGENT – Bahrain Photographers in Peril
20 February, 2014

Mohammed Al Oraibi, 30 years old, freelance photographer, got arrested from the airport coming from Lebanon, on the 2nd Feb 2014. Disappeared.

He was arrested previously in Sep 2012, for 3 months. His cameras and electronic organs were confiscated the next day, when 5 policemen in a plain clothes, raided the house, Mohammed was with them to lead them where his devices are and since then, no one knows anything about him.

He usually publishes his pictures through his account on Facebook.

– Sayed Ahmed Salman Al Mousawi, 26 years old, free lance photographer, who owns his own studio and is a winner of more than 120 international prizes in photography. He was arrested this morning

(10 Feb 14) with his brother from his place in Duraz. His brother Sayed Mohammed was beaten during detention but not him. His cameras and electronic organs were confiscated during the arrest.

No arrest warrant was presented from the plain clothes masked policemen.

– Sadiq Al Shabaani, theatre and TV actor, was arrested on the 27th Jan 2014, in Oman at the request of the Bahraini government. His family knows nothing about where he is and his situation, and whether he is in Bahrain or in Oman. He was arrested for a month in June 2012 accused of illegal gathering and incitement to hatred of the regime.

He is accused being part of 14Feb media network, calling and participating at unauthorized demonstrations, inciting the regime hatred and having connection with some Bahraini opposition living in exile.

– Hussain Hubail is a freelance photographer, 21 years old, accused of being part of 14Feb media network, calling and participating at unauthorized demonstrations, inciting the regime hatred and having connection with some Bahraini opposition living in exile.

Hubail was arrested on 31 July 2013, he was forced to stand for three days and he was punched and kicked. He was exposed to insults and humiliation while he was interrogated. At the last court session Lieutenant Fawaz AlSameem who was summoned to be a witness of proof and Hussain faced him and accused him for being responsible for his torture and threatening him with rape.

His next court session on the 16th Feb 2014.

– Qassim Zain Aldeen, 25 years old, freelance cameraman, was arrested earlier in 2012 for more than 6 months, then arrested again on Friday 2nd August. He films opposition protests in Bahrain, has had his work published by local websites and blogs. He was accused of participating in illegal gathering, now accused of vandalism in prison. He got sentenced 3 months for illegal gathering and then on 5th Jan 14, he got sentenced 6 months for illegal gathering and vandalism., He awaits another sentence on the 16th Feb for vandalism inside the court.

– Ahmed Humaidan, freelance photographer, arrested on the 29th December 2013 is still in jail, accused of attacking police station in Sitra with Molotov cocktails. 7 cancelled court session.

His next court session is on 26th March 14 for verdict. In trial hearings there is no evidence against Humaidan, as he had been tortured during his detention through psychological threats to get confession.

– Abdulla Al Jerdabi, photographer, arrested on 13 Sep 13, was sentenced on 22nd Jan 14, 6 months in prison on charges of illegal assembly & misuse of social networking.

– Jassim Alnuiami, online activist, Scriptwriter and works with production teams to produce videos, was arrested on the 31 July 2013, after raid on his house in Sehla, and all his electronic devices were confiscated. He was taken to the CID building for 3 days, where he was beaten, tortured, threatened and insulted, he stated to his family that he was beaten while blindfolded on his head, kidneys, and on his private parts. He was threatened by Lieutenant Fawaz AlSameem who was summoned to be a witness of proof in the last court session that his mom and sisters will be raped if Jassim didn’t confess.

He is accused of participating in an illegal gathering, and publishing false news, using social media to Inciting hatred against the regime and other accusations related to his online activities.

His next court session on the 16th Feb 2014.

– Hassan Matooq, photographer, charged with publishing false and malicious news and statements, and inciting public contempt and hatred of the regime, in addition to take photos of the protesters at pearl roundabout and delivering the images to the media tent., And participating in an illegal gathering. sentenced for 3 years since March 2011. Concern: Will he be released?

– Mahmood AbdulSaheb, photographer, charged with publishing false and malicious news and statements, and inciting public contempt and hatred of the regime. Taking photos of the protesters at pearl roundabout and delivering the images to the media tent, and participating in an illegal gathering. He was sentenced for 3 years since March 2011. Will he be released?

– Jaffar Marhoon, 25 years old, cameraman, was arrested from a barber shop on 26th Dec 13, he is accused of an explosion in Dimistan, where he lives. He worked in the fields of filming and theater in the past few years. According to his family, he was exposed to torture for 3 days in CID, and then he was transferred to Dry Dock prison.

Wahabi Terrorist Stone to Death a Young Girl for Operating a Facebook Account in Syria
22 February, 2014 – Jafria News

Fatoum Al-Jassem was taken to One of a Self Made Sharia court after she was caught using the social networking website, in Rakka, Syria. The Sharia court declared that using a Facebook account amounts to adultery and the girl should be punished by stoning, according to a news report published in Iran’s FARS news agency which quoted a report published in Arabic-language Al-Rai Al-Youm.

The members of the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were behind the incident.

The ISIS, or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is an Pure Wahabi / Salafi group based in Iraq. They have been fighting an active war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the government forces in Iraq.

The group’s ideology is based on extremely strict Ale Saud’s interpretation of Islam.

Ironically, the Al-Nusra Front operates a Facebook account of its own.

A Girl Strangled to Death as per the Punishment Declared by the Wahabi Terrorist , who rule some parts of War Torn Syria .

But War in Syria has so far claimed over 1,40,000 lives and forced millions of people to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. Historians have described the war as one of the most tragic in recent times. …more

Four die in eastern Saudi Arabia police raid
20 February, 2014 – BBC

Two police officers and two men they were trying to arrest have been killed in a gunfight in Saudi Arabia’s restive Eastern Province, officials say.

The interior ministry said the officers came under fire while trying to detain “armed troublemakers” in al-Awamiya, and had “responded to the source”.

It named the civilians who were killed as Ali al-Faraj and Hussein al-Faraj.

However, opposition activists said there had been no exchange of fire and that the two men had been unarmed.

The police officers had burst into the house of a man in search of his wanted brother who was not there, they added.

Ali, the house owner’s 22-year-old son, was shot 11 times while running away, one activist told the Reuters news agency. Hussein, a 34-year-old local photographer, died “as he documented the raid”, the activist said.

The local news website mirataljazeera.net said Hussein had documented anti-government demonstrations and the funerals of the more than 20 people who have been killed in Eastern Province since early 2011.

The oil-rich Eastern Province is home to a Shia majority that has long complained of marginalisation at the hands of the Sunni ruling family.

Protests erupted there when the pro-democracy uprising in neighbouring Bahrain, which has a Shia majority and a Sunni royal family, was crushed with the assistance of Saudi and other Gulf troops. …more

UN Human Rights Report on North Korea could be about the U.S. or South Korea
By Stephen Gowans -Global Research – 20 February, 2014

Surely one could be forgiven for thinking that when the Washington Post’s Chico Harlan (February 17) described the conclusions reached by the UN Human Rights Commission’s investigation into North Korea that he was really describing his own country, the United States. Harlan wrote,

“The report makes for devastating reading, laying out the way North Korea conducts surveillance on its citizens (see Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s spying on US citizens…and everyone else), bans them from travel (anyone up for a visit to Cuba?), discriminates against them based on supposed ideological impurities (has the United States ever been kind to Marxist-Leninists?), tortures them (water boarding and Abu Ghraib) and sometimes banishes them to isolated prison camps, where they are held incommunicado” (recently Guantanamo and other CIA torture camps around the world to which opponents of the US regime have been rendered, more distantly, the incarceration of German-, Italian- and Japanese-Americans during WWII.)

The report recommends that North Korea be referred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, but if the charges against North Korea are true, then surely the case for referring the United States to the same court is at least as compelling. Add the United States’ record of extrajudicial assassination, its world-leading rate of incarceration, its illegal wars, and its support for the most vile human rights violators on the planet, among them Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain, and the case for referring US leaders to The Hague is overwhelming.

The UN report says that North Korea is committing human rights violations “without any parallel in the contemporary world,” a conclusion that could only be reached by wilful blindness to the human rights violations of the United States, its democracy-abominating allies in the Gulf, and its south Korean neo-colony. South Korea, whose affronts against human rights are passed over largely in silence by the Western media (and it seems by the UN Human Rights Commission too), conducts surveillance on its citizens, bans them from travel to North Korea, discriminates against them if they hold views sympathetic to North Korea, its official Juche ideology or Marxism-Leninism, and uses its highly repressive National Security Law to lock up and intimidate anyone who has a good word to say about North Korea. …more

Five Bahraini chanters arrested following mass march
22 February, 2014

SHAFAQNA (International Shia News Association) – Five Bahrainis have been arrested for leading the gigantic mass prodemocracy march that took place last Saturday afternoon, February 15th. Around 300, 000 Bahrainis participated in the march demanding democratic transition and an end to the current tyrannical rule in Bahrain.

Al Wefaq said the arrests contradicts basic humanitarian principles and reflects the type of doctrine that is controlling the political situation. “Punishing citizens for expressing their opinions is a war on freedom of expression and peaceful political activism”, Al Wefaq added. It also pointed out that these measures reflect the regime’s preference of a security solution over a political one, thereby, further complicating the situation. …more

Saudi Forces Attack Protesters in Qatif Region
22 February, 2014 – FARS

TEHRAN (FNA)- Saudi security forces attacked anti-regime protesters in the Qatif region of Eastern Province.

Security forces used live fire to break up anti-government protests in the town of Awamiyah on Friday, press tv reported.

In reaction to the attack, protesters set fire to an armored police vehicle during the clashes.

The move is considered as part of a fresh crackdown on anti-regime protests in Saudi Arabia.

On February 20, two anti-government activists were killed when regime forces supported by armed vehicles stormed a neighborhood in Awamiyah.

One day earlier, a Saudi court sentenced seven people to jail terms of up to 20 years for taking part in protests in Qatif.

Human rights groups have censured the verdicts and called on Saudi authorities to release the detainees.

Activists say there are over 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.

The men were also convicted of chanting slogans against the government as well as possession and making of petrol bombs and throwing them at the security forces.

Eastern Province has been the scene of violent clashes between anti-regime protesters and Saudi forces for some three years.

Riyadh has strictly banned any gatherings across the kingdom. Several people have died in the regime crackdown on protests. …more

Bahrain sentences protester to death, jails 8
19 February, 2014 – Al Akhbar

A Bahrain court Wednesday sentenced a protester to death and jailed six others for life after they were convicted of killing a policeman a year ago, a judicial source said.

Two others were sentenced to five and six years in prison respectively on similar charges.

The officer, Mohamed Atef, died on February 14, 2013, after he was hit by a petrol bomb during clashes with protesters in a village near the capital.

In addition to killing the policeman, the nine defendants were also convicted of taking part in an “unlicensed protest”.

Death sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment – 25 years – in the Gulf kingdom.

Scores have been tried over unrest in Bahrain that erupted during Arab Spring-inspired protests against the ruling al-Khalifa family in mid-February 2011.

Last year the authorities increased the penalties for those convicted of violence, introducing the death penalty or life terms in cases which resulted in deaths or injuries.

A policeman was killed in similar circumstances on February 14 this year during protests marking the third anniversary of the uprising.

And on Sunday, a Bahrain court handed down 15-year jail terms to two people convicted of trying to kill police officers.

The International Federation for Human Rights says at least 89 people have been killed since the uprising began three years ago.

…source

Obama, Putin speak after Ukraine deal
22 February, 2014 – By Stephen Collinson – Agence France Presse

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama held “constructive” talks Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he pressed for swift implementation of a deal to end Ukraine’s deadly crackdown on protesters.

The phone call came at a prickly time in US-Russia relations with both sides at odds over Ukraine, Syria and other issues, but also after Obama took pains to reject the idea that a new Cold War-style confrontation was brewing.

A senior US official described the call as “constructive,” but also warned that the agreement reached in Kiev between the government and top opposition leaders was “very, very fragile.”

Putin and Obama agreed that the Ukraine agreement needed to be swiftly implemented and that all sides needed to refrain from violence, as they also pressed for the need to stabilize the economy.

The call touched on other issues as well, including Syria, where Russia backs President Bashar al-Assad, and the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Washington had offered staunch support for protesters in Kiev, demanding political concessions from the Moscow-backed government of President Viktor Yanukovych and had warned of “consequences” if violence, which has killed 100 people, did not stop.

The White House gave an initial welcome to the deal and praised European Union diplomats who helped to broker it. …more

– Hassan Jamali, AP photojournalist was stopped by police yesterday (12 Feb 14) post funeral clashes, and they revoke his accreditation, the one that Ministry of Interior give it to journalists working with foreign media to allow them to be present in the demonstrations and clashes. and they didn’t gave it back to him, which might prevent him from covering the events in the coming few days.

– Hussain Hubail, photographer, collapsed last night in prison, he was transferred to Salmaniya Hospital for treatment as he was suffering low sugar, high blood pressure & heart rate disorder, they took him back at nine in the morning. Dry Dock Prison demonstration denied Hubail his medication since then.

– Mohammed Al Oraibi, photographer, his family had the chance to see him today (13 Feb 14) in Dry Dock Prison after he got arrested on the 2nd Feb 14, he told them that he was tortured for 6 days in CID about his trip to Lebanon and Syria then he was transferred to Dry Dock prison on the 8th Feb.

URGENT ACTION

Ahmed Mohammad Saleh al-Arab continues to be denied family visits after 27 days of detention. There are fears the authorities are hiding that he has been tortured while held incommunicado. He has been denied medical care.

Ahmed Mohammad Saleh al-Arab, aged 22, was arrested on 9 January 2014 during a police raid on the family home of one of his friends in Hamad Town, central Bahrain, where he was hiding. He was forced into hiding after his arrest and torture in February 2012 during protests marking the first anniversary of the uprising in Bahrain. During his arrest on 9 January, Ahmed and his friend were beaten and other people from the house were searched and threatened.
a href=”http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE11/008/2014/en/05e2c393-5bdc-4e16-bffe-22a6b20634c9/mde110082014en.html” target=”_blank”>…more