Zbigniew Brzezinski on Afghanistan and the American strategy for Eurasia and the world
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A killer blow against US-Iran ties
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Asia Times
"The assassination of Dr Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a Tehran University nuclear physicist, on Tuesday, blamed by the Iranian government on the United States and Israel and their fifth-column allies inside Iran, is the latest sign of an ominous, growing shadow war with Iran over its nuclear standoff with the West.........
Tuesday's assassination follows the disappearance of another Iranian nuclear scientist, Shahram Amiri, who went missing while on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in late May 2009. Tehran has adamantly claimed that he was abducted by the US Central Intelligence Agency. Unconfirmed reports in December said Amiri had been transferred into the US government's custody by Saudi authorities.
The two cases could be viewed as an attack on Iran's human nuclear assets, as the next best substitute for outright military invasion. There is also a relentless public relations campaign in the West against Iran's nuclear program.....
There is a grave danger in this shadow war, in that should it get much worse, Iran could decide to strike back where it can, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, with the US and Iran practically co-dependent in regional security, imperiled by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, it is not in the interests of either country to allow a worsening of their relations at this delicate juncture.....
The notion that Iran will back down in the face of such threats is an inheritance of the previous US administration of George W Bush; it did not work then, nor is it likely to work now.
The Barack Obama administration would be best-served to salvage its self-wrecking ship of Iran diplomacy by veering back to its initial intuition of what works with Iran, that is, persuasive diplomacy. Unfortunately, as the smoke of the bomb explosion that killed Mohammadi clears in Tehran, the hazy thickness of an undeclared shadow war with Iran grows."
Asia Times
"The assassination of Dr Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a Tehran University nuclear physicist, on Tuesday, blamed by the Iranian government on the United States and Israel and their fifth-column allies inside Iran, is the latest sign of an ominous, growing shadow war with Iran over its nuclear standoff with the West.........
Tuesday's assassination follows the disappearance of another Iranian nuclear scientist, Shahram Amiri, who went missing while on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in late May 2009. Tehran has adamantly claimed that he was abducted by the US Central Intelligence Agency. Unconfirmed reports in December said Amiri had been transferred into the US government's custody by Saudi authorities.
The two cases could be viewed as an attack on Iran's human nuclear assets, as the next best substitute for outright military invasion. There is also a relentless public relations campaign in the West against Iran's nuclear program.....
There is a grave danger in this shadow war, in that should it get much worse, Iran could decide to strike back where it can, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, with the US and Iran practically co-dependent in regional security, imperiled by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, it is not in the interests of either country to allow a worsening of their relations at this delicate juncture.....
The notion that Iran will back down in the face of such threats is an inheritance of the previous US administration of George W Bush; it did not work then, nor is it likely to work now.
The Barack Obama administration would be best-served to salvage its self-wrecking ship of Iran diplomacy by veering back to its initial intuition of what works with Iran, that is, persuasive diplomacy. Unfortunately, as the smoke of the bomb explosion that killed Mohammadi clears in Tehran, the hazy thickness of an undeclared shadow war with Iran grows."
Don’t Blame China
By Robert Scheer
"The Chinamen did it. In the great American tradition of finding foreign scapegoats for our problems, the hunt is on to somehow hold China responsible for the misery that Wall Street financiers inflicted upon the world. Even the normally restrained New York Times editorial page argued Tuesday that China’s tying its currency to the dollar was a devious trick that “is exacerbating economic weakness around the globe.”
Tell that to the shoppers at Wal-Mart and Costco who are managing to stay decently clothed while still affording some of the diversionary electronic trinkets that keep them from going crazy-mad at the bankers who cost them their jobs and homes. How absurd to blame China for a crisis brought on by Wall Street hustlers operating within a mile of the Times’ home office. The bankers’ greed was unleashed by a radical deregulation of the financial industry that the newspaper had once encouraged.....
Bomb explosion injures three in south Lebanon
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Press TV
COMMENT
Connect the dots: IOF jets have been bombing Gaza almost daily with half a dozen Palestinians murdered in just one day; a terrorist bomb murders an Iranian scientist and professor in Tehran; and now this terrorist bombing in South Lebanon.
Massive training exercises to prepare the Israeli public for possible "chemical attacks" have just taken place, with gas masks issued to all.
Pray tell, who is agitating for war?
"Three people, including two children waiting for their school bus, have been injured in a bomb blast that struck Kfar Fila in southern Lebanon. Naharnet news website cited unnamed security officials in reporting that that blast took place at 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) Wednesday at the entrance to a three-storey building.
The security sources identified one of the tenants in the building as Mohammed Zreik, believed to be a Hezbollah official.
Two of Zreik's children — Hasan, 7 and Diala, 11 — were among the wounded. The third casualty was identified as Zainab Hazimeh, 15, Naharnet added. The elder of the two youngsters injured lost a leg in the blast while the other suffered slight wounds to his face, AFP later reported, quoting hospital officials in the nearby town of Nabatiyeh.
It was not immediately clear whether the owner of the building, identified as Hussein Saeed Hamdan, was the target of the bombing or if he was in the building when the bomb went off.
Kfar Fila is a village located 15 kilometers (10 miles) east of the port city of Sidon, and is viewed as one of the bases for the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement."
Iran, 1979 and 2010
by Dilip Hiro and Tom Engelhardt, January 13, 2010
"The Obama administration’s Iran policy is a riddle wrapped inside a conundrum folded into a pickle. So many signals are being sent in so many directions that it’s a wonder the Iranians (or other involved parties) have any idea what’s going on. Barack Obama came into office pledging to reach out diplomatically to Iran. In fact, the administration did so in only a halfhearted way, even as the president quickly began setting deadlines for the Iranians to respond (on their nuclear program) in a way Washington considered satisfactory – or face further "crippling" sanctions. Now, the latest of these deadlines, Jan. 1, 2010, has passed and a move toward new sanctions, especially against companies associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls significant parts of the country’s economy, is evidently being prepared. But China, which holds the presidency of the Security Council for the month of January, recently rejected even a debate on the subject. Like the Russians, the Chinese are deeply involved in developing long-term energy relations with Iran, which means that no sanctions which might "cripple" that country’s economy are likely to make it through the Security Council, no matter which country has the presidency.
In the meantime, rumors, circulating for years, about an impending Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities (which is a polite way of saying Iranian military defenses of every sort) continue to fly. President Obama reportedly even used his supposed inability to hold the Israelis back as a way to urge China’s president to fall into line on sanctions. .......
Regime Change in Tehran?
Don’t bet on it… yet
by Dilip Hiro
The dramatic images of protesters in Iran fearlessly facing – and sometimes countering – the brutal attacks of the regime’s security forces rightly gain the admiration and sympathy of viewers in the West. They also leave many Westerners assuming that this is a preamble to regime change in Tehran, a repeat of history, but with a twist. After all, Iran has the distinction of being the only Middle Eastern state that underwent a revolutionary change – 31 years ago – which originated as a mild street protest.
Viewed objectively, though, this assumption is over-optimistic. It overlooks cardinal differences between the present moment and the 1978-1979 events which led to the overthrow of the shah of Iran and the founding of an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. History shows that a revolutionary movement triumphs only when two vital factors merge: it is supported by a coalition of different social classes and it succeeds in crippling the country’s governing machinery and fracturing the state’s repressive apparatus......"
"The Obama administration’s Iran policy is a riddle wrapped inside a conundrum folded into a pickle. So many signals are being sent in so many directions that it’s a wonder the Iranians (or other involved parties) have any idea what’s going on. Barack Obama came into office pledging to reach out diplomatically to Iran. In fact, the administration did so in only a halfhearted way, even as the president quickly began setting deadlines for the Iranians to respond (on their nuclear program) in a way Washington considered satisfactory – or face further "crippling" sanctions. Now, the latest of these deadlines, Jan. 1, 2010, has passed and a move toward new sanctions, especially against companies associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls significant parts of the country’s economy, is evidently being prepared. But China, which holds the presidency of the Security Council for the month of January, recently rejected even a debate on the subject. Like the Russians, the Chinese are deeply involved in developing long-term energy relations with Iran, which means that no sanctions which might "cripple" that country’s economy are likely to make it through the Security Council, no matter which country has the presidency.
In the meantime, rumors, circulating for years, about an impending Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities (which is a polite way of saying Iranian military defenses of every sort) continue to fly. President Obama reportedly even used his supposed inability to hold the Israelis back as a way to urge China’s president to fall into line on sanctions. .......
Regime Change in Tehran?
Don’t bet on it… yet
by Dilip Hiro
The dramatic images of protesters in Iran fearlessly facing – and sometimes countering – the brutal attacks of the regime’s security forces rightly gain the admiration and sympathy of viewers in the West. They also leave many Westerners assuming that this is a preamble to regime change in Tehran, a repeat of history, but with a twist. After all, Iran has the distinction of being the only Middle Eastern state that underwent a revolutionary change – 31 years ago – which originated as a mild street protest.
Viewed objectively, though, this assumption is over-optimistic. It overlooks cardinal differences between the present moment and the 1978-1979 events which led to the overthrow of the shah of Iran and the founding of an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. History shows that a revolutionary movement triumphs only when two vital factors merge: it is supported by a coalition of different social classes and it succeeds in crippling the country’s governing machinery and fracturing the state’s repressive apparatus......"
US denies role in Iran terror despite claims by LA group
Press TV
"Even though a Los Angeles-based terror group claims responsibility for the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran, Washington denies responsibility in the attack.
"The idea that charged the United States with having anything to do with a murder in Tehran in absurd," Gordon K Duguld, Deputy Spokesman of the US State Department said late Tuesday.
The American denial comes despite the fact the US-based monarchist group, the Iran Royal Association, declared responsibility for the terrorist attack only hours after the incident. It announced in a statement that its "Tondar Commandos" were behind the assassination of Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi.
The obscure monarchist group, which seeks to reestablish the Pahlavi reign in Iran, operates a radio broadcast station in the United States and had previously stated that they were based in Los Angeles....."
"Even though a Los Angeles-based terror group claims responsibility for the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran, Washington denies responsibility in the attack.
"The idea that charged the United States with having anything to do with a murder in Tehran in absurd," Gordon K Duguld, Deputy Spokesman of the US State Department said late Tuesday.
The American denial comes despite the fact the US-based monarchist group, the Iran Royal Association, declared responsibility for the terrorist attack only hours after the incident. It announced in a statement that its "Tondar Commandos" were behind the assassination of Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi.
The obscure monarchist group, which seeks to reestablish the Pahlavi reign in Iran, operates a radio broadcast station in the United States and had previously stated that they were based in Los Angeles....."
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
تهديد الأمن القومي المصري
An Excellent Analysis (Arabic)
By Dr. Abdul-Sattar Qassem
"اتفاقية كامب ديفيد المأساوية
انكشاف الأمن المصري
غزة وترتيبات سيناء
أمن النظام وأمن مصر
....
أصرّت إسرائيل على هذه الترتيات الأمنية في سلامها مع مصر والأردن، واتفاقياتها مع السلطة الفلسطينية، وأصبح هؤلاء العرب أدوات تسهر على راحة وأمن إسرائيل. بالنسبة لسيناء، تضع اتفاقية كامب ديفيد معايير أمنية منها:
1- تحتفظ مصر بلواء عسكري واحد إلى الغرب من ممري متلا والجدي الإستراتيجيين والواقعين تقريبا عل حافة الثلث الغربي من سيناء، وهو وجود عسكري رمزي هدفه فقط حفظ ماء الوجه لمصر. هذا لواء لا يقوى على الهجوم ولا على الدفاع، ولا يحق له إدخال معدات قتالية إضافية، ويخضع للرقابة المستمرة من قبل القوات الأجنبية الموجودة في سيناء.
2- بإمكان مصر الاحتفاظ بقوة شرطية في سيناء تحمل أسلحة فردية متمثلة بالبنادق الرشاشة والمسدسات وذلك بهدف حفظ الأمن الداخلي المدني، وملاحقة المتسللين، والإرهاب والإرهابيين. هذه قوة غير قتالية، ويخضع عملها وتسليحها للرقابة. وقد أيقن الجميع مؤخرا أن مصر لا تملك صلاحية زيادة هذه القوات أو تقليصها، أو تغيير قواعد ومجال عملها، وذلك عندما وجدت نفسها أمام نقص في الأفراد أثناء تدمير شعب غزة للحدود الاستعمارية بين غزة وسيناء. كان على مصر أن تطلب إذن إسرائيل بزيادة عدد القوات، وإدخال بعض مركبات مكافحة الشغب.
3- ليس بإمكان مصر تغيير الواقع السكاني والعمراني والإنشائي في سيناء بدون موافقة إسرائيل. فمثلا لا تستطيع بناء مدن وقرى جديدة ترفع من أعداد السكان في سيناء، الأمر الذي يعتبر حيويا لأمن مصر، ولا تستطيع إقامة مشاريع اقتصادية وزراعية كيفما تشاء خاصة أن مثل هذه المشاريع تأتي بعمال من قلب مصر ويستقرون في سيناء. إسرائيل معنية ببقاء سيناء غير مأهولة حتى لا تواجه مشاكل أمنية مستقبلا، وهي لم تسمح إلا بتطوير مشاريع زراعية محدودة لم يكن لها تأثير إستراتيجي، وتطوير منتجعات سياحية تسهل مراقبتها أمنيا وعلى رأسها منتجع شرم الشيخ حيث يقيم الرئيس المصري أحيانا.
4- لا تستطيع مصر بناء مطارات عسكرية في سيناء، أو بناء مطارات مدنية يمكن أن تستقبل الطيران العسكري، ولا تستطيع أيضا التحليق فوق سيناء بطائرات عسكرية أو طائرات عمودية قتالية.
5- تشرف على سيناء من الناحيتين الأمنية والعسكرية قوات متعددة الجنسيات بقيادة الولايات المتحدة، وتتمركز في ممري متلا والجدي، وتملك أجهزة إنذار مبكر وأدوات استطلاع ومراقبة على رأسها الأجهزة الفضائية. أميركا تملك صلاحيات الرقابة والتدقيق، وضباطها ودبلوماسيوها يتحركون في سيناء بحرية تامة، بل هم سادة سيناء، ويأمرون المصريين.
باختصار، مصر تتمتع بحكم ذاتي محدود في سيناء، ولا تستطيع ممارسة سيادة، وكل ما يسمعه العربي من مسؤولين مصريين حول سيادة مصر لا أساس له، وهو من قبيل التمنيات الهادفة إلى التبرير.
.....
مصر شبيهة بالسلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله من حيث الحصول على الأموال الأجنبية لقاء تحويل البلد إلى بؤرة عبث للأميركيين وحلفائهم الصهاينة.
أميركا متغلغلة في مصر، وتستطيع تنفيذ مهام بكفاءة عالية ضد النظام إذا شعرت أنه يخل بقواعد الإذعان، أو قواعد التعاون المطلوب. حصل النظام على بعض الخيرات، ومقابل ذلك عليه أن يقدم الكثير من التنازلات والخدمات ولو على حساب مصر.
أمن مصر الآن مكشوف إسرائيليا وأميركيا، وأي محاولة لاستعادته ستعرض النظام المصري للخطر. والسؤال: أيهما أهمّ أمن النظام أم أمن مصر؟ الجواب واضح لدى أغلب الأنظمة العربية وعلى رأسها نظام مصر وهو أن أمن النظام أولى، وليذهب العرب إلى الجحيم إذا كانت خدمة العدو تخدم النظام.
....
النظام المصري يراعي المصالح والرؤى الأميركية على حساب المصالح القومية العربية والوطنية المصرية، ويفرط في الكثير من أسباب القوة ليتمسك بأسباب الضعف، وهو بذلك لا يخل بإستراتيجية أغلب الأنظمة العربية القائمة على الضعف والتبعية. ولهذا لا غرابة بأن أغلب الأنظمة العربية تتعاون مع إسرائيل سرا وعلانية، أكثر مما يتعاون بعضها مع بعض."
By Dr. Abdul-Sattar Qassem
"اتفاقية كامب ديفيد المأساوية
انكشاف الأمن المصري
غزة وترتيبات سيناء
أمن النظام وأمن مصر
....
أصرّت إسرائيل على هذه الترتيات الأمنية في سلامها مع مصر والأردن، واتفاقياتها مع السلطة الفلسطينية، وأصبح هؤلاء العرب أدوات تسهر على راحة وأمن إسرائيل. بالنسبة لسيناء، تضع اتفاقية كامب ديفيد معايير أمنية منها:
1- تحتفظ مصر بلواء عسكري واحد إلى الغرب من ممري متلا والجدي الإستراتيجيين والواقعين تقريبا عل حافة الثلث الغربي من سيناء، وهو وجود عسكري رمزي هدفه فقط حفظ ماء الوجه لمصر. هذا لواء لا يقوى على الهجوم ولا على الدفاع، ولا يحق له إدخال معدات قتالية إضافية، ويخضع للرقابة المستمرة من قبل القوات الأجنبية الموجودة في سيناء.
2- بإمكان مصر الاحتفاظ بقوة شرطية في سيناء تحمل أسلحة فردية متمثلة بالبنادق الرشاشة والمسدسات وذلك بهدف حفظ الأمن الداخلي المدني، وملاحقة المتسللين، والإرهاب والإرهابيين. هذه قوة غير قتالية، ويخضع عملها وتسليحها للرقابة. وقد أيقن الجميع مؤخرا أن مصر لا تملك صلاحية زيادة هذه القوات أو تقليصها، أو تغيير قواعد ومجال عملها، وذلك عندما وجدت نفسها أمام نقص في الأفراد أثناء تدمير شعب غزة للحدود الاستعمارية بين غزة وسيناء. كان على مصر أن تطلب إذن إسرائيل بزيادة عدد القوات، وإدخال بعض مركبات مكافحة الشغب.
3- ليس بإمكان مصر تغيير الواقع السكاني والعمراني والإنشائي في سيناء بدون موافقة إسرائيل. فمثلا لا تستطيع بناء مدن وقرى جديدة ترفع من أعداد السكان في سيناء، الأمر الذي يعتبر حيويا لأمن مصر، ولا تستطيع إقامة مشاريع اقتصادية وزراعية كيفما تشاء خاصة أن مثل هذه المشاريع تأتي بعمال من قلب مصر ويستقرون في سيناء. إسرائيل معنية ببقاء سيناء غير مأهولة حتى لا تواجه مشاكل أمنية مستقبلا، وهي لم تسمح إلا بتطوير مشاريع زراعية محدودة لم يكن لها تأثير إستراتيجي، وتطوير منتجعات سياحية تسهل مراقبتها أمنيا وعلى رأسها منتجع شرم الشيخ حيث يقيم الرئيس المصري أحيانا.
4- لا تستطيع مصر بناء مطارات عسكرية في سيناء، أو بناء مطارات مدنية يمكن أن تستقبل الطيران العسكري، ولا تستطيع أيضا التحليق فوق سيناء بطائرات عسكرية أو طائرات عمودية قتالية.
5- تشرف على سيناء من الناحيتين الأمنية والعسكرية قوات متعددة الجنسيات بقيادة الولايات المتحدة، وتتمركز في ممري متلا والجدي، وتملك أجهزة إنذار مبكر وأدوات استطلاع ومراقبة على رأسها الأجهزة الفضائية. أميركا تملك صلاحيات الرقابة والتدقيق، وضباطها ودبلوماسيوها يتحركون في سيناء بحرية تامة، بل هم سادة سيناء، ويأمرون المصريين.
باختصار، مصر تتمتع بحكم ذاتي محدود في سيناء، ولا تستطيع ممارسة سيادة، وكل ما يسمعه العربي من مسؤولين مصريين حول سيادة مصر لا أساس له، وهو من قبيل التمنيات الهادفة إلى التبرير.
.....
مصر شبيهة بالسلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله من حيث الحصول على الأموال الأجنبية لقاء تحويل البلد إلى بؤرة عبث للأميركيين وحلفائهم الصهاينة.
أميركا متغلغلة في مصر، وتستطيع تنفيذ مهام بكفاءة عالية ضد النظام إذا شعرت أنه يخل بقواعد الإذعان، أو قواعد التعاون المطلوب. حصل النظام على بعض الخيرات، ومقابل ذلك عليه أن يقدم الكثير من التنازلات والخدمات ولو على حساب مصر.
أمن مصر الآن مكشوف إسرائيليا وأميركيا، وأي محاولة لاستعادته ستعرض النظام المصري للخطر. والسؤال: أيهما أهمّ أمن النظام أم أمن مصر؟ الجواب واضح لدى أغلب الأنظمة العربية وعلى رأسها نظام مصر وهو أن أمن النظام أولى، وليذهب العرب إلى الجحيم إذا كانت خدمة العدو تخدم النظام.
....
النظام المصري يراعي المصالح والرؤى الأميركية على حساب المصالح القومية العربية والوطنية المصرية، ويفرط في الكثير من أسباب القوة ليتمسك بأسباب الضعف، وهو بذلك لا يخل بإستراتيجية أغلب الأنظمة العربية القائمة على الضعف والتبعية. ولهذا لا غرابة بأن أغلب الأنظمة العربية تتعاون مع إسرائيل سرا وعلانية، أكثر مما يتعاون بعضها مع بعض."
Only Psychiatrists Can Explain Israel's Behavior
by Gideon Levy
".....Can it be rationally explained how a country, to which all of the Arab nations have presented a historic peace proposal, refuses to even discuss this? It is a country that the president of Syria (whose major ally, Iran, is threatening Israel) is begging to come to a peace agreement with, yet it remains insistent in its refusal. Only psychiatric experts could possibly explain how the continued occupation of the Golan Heights and the missed opportunities for peace relate to security or logic. At the same time, they should try to explain the connection between the sanctity of historic sites and sovereignty over them. And above all, they should clarify how such a smart and talented society participates in this march of folly without anyone objecting.
True, it's a difficult case to figure out - all the more reason to recommend the country be sent for observation."
".....Can it be rationally explained how a country, to which all of the Arab nations have presented a historic peace proposal, refuses to even discuss this? It is a country that the president of Syria (whose major ally, Iran, is threatening Israel) is begging to come to a peace agreement with, yet it remains insistent in its refusal. Only psychiatric experts could possibly explain how the continued occupation of the Golan Heights and the missed opportunities for peace relate to security or logic. At the same time, they should try to explain the connection between the sanctity of historic sites and sovereignty over them. And above all, they should clarify how such a smart and talented society participates in this march of folly without anyone objecting.
True, it's a difficult case to figure out - all the more reason to recommend the country be sent for observation."
Al-Jazeera Video: Riz Khan - GAZAS OPEN WOUNDS
"A year has gone by since Israel launched a crushing military offensive against the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. For 22 days in December 2008 and January 2009, Israel bombed the territory from the air, land and sea, killing 1,400 Palestinians. Thirteen Israelis were killed during the war.
Israeli officials gave many reasons for the war, including a stop to the Palestinian missile attacks launched from Gaza, ending the illicit tunnel trade between Egypt and the Palestinians, and even, at one point, ending Hamas' control of Gaza.
The United Nations found that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes in the course of the fighting. Israel was accused of deliberately targeting civilians, industrial sites and water installations, and using disproportionate force to destroy civilian property and infrastructure. Hamas was criticized for using civilians as human shields, and for firing rockets into Israel to spread fear among Israeli civilians.
A year on, Palestinians have largely not been able to rebuild their homes, schools, ministries, water and sanitation networks, roads or hospitals largely due to the ongoing Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.
In this episode, Riz takes a closer look at the human toll of the war. He speaks with Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish, a Palestinian gynecologist who practiced medicine in Israel and Gaza, and who was well known to Israelis as a peace activist. He lost three daughters and a niece when the Israeli military bombed his home in Gaza 20 days into the war. Riz also speaks with Eyad Sarraj, a prominent Palestinian human rights activist from Gaza who also heads the efforts to reconcile the two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas. "
Al-Jazeera Video: Jordan embarrased by Al Qaeda links
"Jordanian authorities are struggling in their fight to curb Al Qaeda's influence in their country.
As news emerges of another Jordanian with Al Qaeda links, killed in Pakistan, Nisreen El Shamalyeh reports on the growing influence of Al Qaeda ideology amongst the US allied country's youth. "
Al-Jazeera Video: Israel to build wall along Egyptian border
"Israel has approved plans to erect a wall along part of its southern border with Egypt, a project that will cost at least $270 million dollars.
Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said in a statement on Sunday that the wall is a "strategic decision to ensure the Jewish and democratic character of the state of Israel."
However, Palestinians believe the new barrier is another example of Israeli land grab.
Israeli police estimate that 100 to 200 people infiltrate Israeli's 210-kilometer southern border every week while a large majority of those are refugees from northern Africa illegaly crossing the border.
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Jerusalem."
Soldiers Invade Ramallah, Kidnap a Czech Peace Activist
"The Israeli Army invaded on Monday at night the center of the West Bank city of Ramallah, and kidnapped a Czech citizen, identified as Eva Nováková, who started her activities as the media coordinator of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) three weeks ago.
The ISM reported that Israeli forces broke into the home of Nováková in Al Manara Square and kidnapped her. The raid was carried out by the Israeli army and members of the OZ Immigration Police. Soldiers occupied rooftops of nearby buildings and kidnapped Nováková before taking her to the Givon detention center in preparation to deport her to the Czech Republic....
Such raids have been conducted in the villages of Bil’in – where 32 residents have been arrested in the past six month, Ni’ilin – where 94 residents have been arrested in the past 18 months, the cities of Nablus and Ramallah and East Jerusalem. The past three weeks have seen raids on ex-ISM bases in both Bil’in and Ni’lin, near Ramallah.
Among those arrested in this recent campaign are five members of the Bil’in Popular Committee have been arrested in suspicion of incitement, including Adeeb Abu Rahmah, who has already been held in detention for almost six months and Bil’in’s Popular Committee coordinator, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, the ISM added.
Israel continues to hold captive dozens of grassroots activists from several Palestinian areas, especially in Ramallah, Nablus and Jayyous. Some of the prominent activists held by Israel are Wael Al Faqeeh from Nablus, Jamal Juma' from East Jerusalem, Mohammad Othman from Jayyous and member of the Stop The Wall NGO which is involved in nonviolent resistance against the Wall and divestment from Israel.
No charges were brought against the detained activists as they are being held captive under a so-called ‘secret file’. Israel does not show this ‘secret file’ even to the lawyers of the detainees. "
The ISM reported that Israeli forces broke into the home of Nováková in Al Manara Square and kidnapped her. The raid was carried out by the Israeli army and members of the OZ Immigration Police. Soldiers occupied rooftops of nearby buildings and kidnapped Nováková before taking her to the Givon detention center in preparation to deport her to the Czech Republic....
Such raids have been conducted in the villages of Bil’in – where 32 residents have been arrested in the past six month, Ni’ilin – where 94 residents have been arrested in the past 18 months, the cities of Nablus and Ramallah and East Jerusalem. The past three weeks have seen raids on ex-ISM bases in both Bil’in and Ni’lin, near Ramallah.
Among those arrested in this recent campaign are five members of the Bil’in Popular Committee have been arrested in suspicion of incitement, including Adeeb Abu Rahmah, who has already been held in detention for almost six months and Bil’in’s Popular Committee coordinator, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, the ISM added.
Israel continues to hold captive dozens of grassroots activists from several Palestinian areas, especially in Ramallah, Nablus and Jayyous. Some of the prominent activists held by Israel are Wael Al Faqeeh from Nablus, Jamal Juma' from East Jerusalem, Mohammad Othman from Jayyous and member of the Stop The Wall NGO which is involved in nonviolent resistance against the Wall and divestment from Israel.
No charges were brought against the detained activists as they are being held captive under a so-called ‘secret file’. Israel does not show this ‘secret file’ even to the lawyers of the detainees. "
Empire reloaded
A Good Piece
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
"According to United States President Barack Obama, AfPak is still the epicenter of al-Qaeda, but the Yemen chapter is a more serious problem. Thus comes into play still one more rehash of the same old narrative: a fragile dictator, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, needs America to defeat the terrorists.....
It's Pearl Harbor time
As much as 9/11 was the "Pearl Harbor" dreamed of by the neo-conservatives to unleash the American Eagle - which started with the bombing of Afghanistan and morphed into the disastrous invasion of Iraq - Abdulmuttalab's failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day in the skies above Detroit is a godsend mini-Pearl Harbor destined to advance the Pentagon's "full spectrum dominance" doctrine.
Yemen could not be a more strategically mouth-watering proposition - with Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden to the south leading to the Arabian Sea, and on the other side, in Africa, Somalia......
The idea of "full spectrum dominance" is about threatening to cut energy flows not only to China but even to the European Union (EU) or anyone for that matter who crosses Washington's policy makers. And it's as much about Saudi Arabia as about China. As Saudi oil exports also have to negotiate the Bab el-Mandab, US "interest" in Yemen means a graphic warning to the House of Saud: don't even think of trading oil in euros or in a basket of currencies including the Chinese yuan.....
Obama is packaging his strategy as a "war on al-Qaeda". It's not a war. And even if the counter-insurgency gang in the Pentagon conducts it, it's destined to fail. Meanwhile, there's not the remotest chance in sight of a real US withdrawal from Iraq, the end of the AfPak war, or a viable, non-apartheid Palestinian state.
Now that would be a real, concerted counter-terrorist operation, to finish once and for all with the ghost of all those "al-Qaedas". It won't happen. The name of the game is "full spectrum dominance" and empire reloaded. Fasten your body scanners; the decade promises a bumpy ride."
Asia Times
"According to United States President Barack Obama, AfPak is still the epicenter of al-Qaeda, but the Yemen chapter is a more serious problem. Thus comes into play still one more rehash of the same old narrative: a fragile dictator, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, needs America to defeat the terrorists.....
It's Pearl Harbor time
As much as 9/11 was the "Pearl Harbor" dreamed of by the neo-conservatives to unleash the American Eagle - which started with the bombing of Afghanistan and morphed into the disastrous invasion of Iraq - Abdulmuttalab's failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day in the skies above Detroit is a godsend mini-Pearl Harbor destined to advance the Pentagon's "full spectrum dominance" doctrine.
Yemen could not be a more strategically mouth-watering proposition - with Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden to the south leading to the Arabian Sea, and on the other side, in Africa, Somalia......
The idea of "full spectrum dominance" is about threatening to cut energy flows not only to China but even to the European Union (EU) or anyone for that matter who crosses Washington's policy makers. And it's as much about Saudi Arabia as about China. As Saudi oil exports also have to negotiate the Bab el-Mandab, US "interest" in Yemen means a graphic warning to the House of Saud: don't even think of trading oil in euros or in a basket of currencies including the Chinese yuan.....
Obama is packaging his strategy as a "war on al-Qaeda". It's not a war. And even if the counter-insurgency gang in the Pentagon conducts it, it's destined to fail. Meanwhile, there's not the remotest chance in sight of a real US withdrawal from Iraq, the end of the AfPak war, or a viable, non-apartheid Palestinian state.
Now that would be a real, concerted counter-terrorist operation, to finish once and for all with the ghost of all those "al-Qaedas". It won't happen. The name of the game is "full spectrum dominance" and empire reloaded. Fasten your body scanners; the decade promises a bumpy ride."
'We're Sailing Again – Join Us!'
The Free Gaza Movement
"This spring, the Free Gaza Movement is sending at least six boats to Gaza to break Israel’s illegal blockade on 1.5 million Palestinians. This blockade constitutes an act of collective punishment, a crime prohibited under international humanitarian law. Gaza's man-made and internationally perpetuated crisis is set to deepen as Egypt builds an Iron wall 30 meters deep and 20 meters high on the southern Rafah border, closing off the final route for Palestinians to get basic supplies.
The urgency of breaking the blockade grows by the day as Palestinians living in this prison are denied their most basic rights....
We sailed four more successful missions to Gaza since August 2008, and we intend to come back this year with a small flotilla, so you still have time to get boats and come with us. We are calling on all NGOs, human rights organizations and communities around the world to join us. If you already have funding for boats, we can provide the logistical and technical advice on how get them ready to join the flotilla. If you want to help in other ways, we have listed five below.....
To help, organize a fundraiser, suggest passengers and offer support, please email us at friends@freegaza.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and we will follow up immediately. We have only two to three months to finish organizing, raise the additional funds, and to set sail.
Join us as we sail together to Gaza this spring!"
"This spring, the Free Gaza Movement is sending at least six boats to Gaza to break Israel’s illegal blockade on 1.5 million Palestinians. This blockade constitutes an act of collective punishment, a crime prohibited under international humanitarian law. Gaza's man-made and internationally perpetuated crisis is set to deepen as Egypt builds an Iron wall 30 meters deep and 20 meters high on the southern Rafah border, closing off the final route for Palestinians to get basic supplies.
The urgency of breaking the blockade grows by the day as Palestinians living in this prison are denied their most basic rights....
We sailed four more successful missions to Gaza since August 2008, and we intend to come back this year with a small flotilla, so you still have time to get boats and come with us. We are calling on all NGOs, human rights organizations and communities around the world to join us. If you already have funding for boats, we can provide the logistical and technical advice on how get them ready to join the flotilla. If you want to help in other ways, we have listed five below.....
To help, organize a fundraiser, suggest passengers and offer support, please email us at friends@freegaza.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and we will follow up immediately. We have only two to three months to finish organizing, raise the additional funds, and to set sail.
Join us as we sail together to Gaza this spring!"
Marching to the Empire's Orders....Syria's Assad to Visit Saudi Arabia
Al-Manar
"12/01/2010 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to travel to Riyadh on Wednesday for talks with King Abdullah, who paid a landmark visit to Damascus last October, Saudi Arabia's official news agency SPA said.
The visit on Wednesday comes amid stepped-up efforts by Riyadh to build Arab unity around the Palestinians ahead of a possible resumption of peace talks with Israel. [providing the Arab fig leaf to the Palestinian traitor to "resume negotiations." Next will come an "emergency" meeting of Arab eunuchs, AKA Arab foreign ministers, ....How many times have we seen this old and boring film? ....Barf!!.....This is "Arab unity" in surrender and defeat.]
Damascus-Riyadh ties were severely strained for years, partly over Syria's role in Lebanon and its support for Hezbollah, before a thaw marked by King Abdullah's trip to Damascus. But the two countries still differ over Lebanese politics, over the Palestinian division between the Hamas and Fatah factions, and Iran's role in the region, according to diplomats and analysts."
"12/01/2010 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to travel to Riyadh on Wednesday for talks with King Abdullah, who paid a landmark visit to Damascus last October, Saudi Arabia's official news agency SPA said.
The visit on Wednesday comes amid stepped-up efforts by Riyadh to build Arab unity around the Palestinians ahead of a possible resumption of peace talks with Israel. [providing the Arab fig leaf to the Palestinian traitor to "resume negotiations." Next will come an "emergency" meeting of Arab eunuchs, AKA Arab foreign ministers, ....How many times have we seen this old and boring film? ....Barf!!.....This is "Arab unity" in surrender and defeat.]
Damascus-Riyadh ties were severely strained for years, partly over Syria's role in Lebanon and its support for Hezbollah, before a thaw marked by King Abdullah's trip to Damascus. But the two countries still differ over Lebanese politics, over the Palestinian division between the Hamas and Fatah factions, and Iran's role in the region, according to diplomats and analysts."
Yemen 'cannot contain al-Qa'ida'
Donald Macintyre ventures into the new stronghold of extremism – and finds out why the battle against terror is failing
The Independent
"....The difficulties faced by Abyan's most senior official provide a rare insight into the problems in conducting the so-called "war on terror" in a relatively remote, rugged and undeveloped country where deep poverty, tribalism and religious conservatism allow radical influences to flourish.
Despite reports from Sana'a, the capital, that Yemen is currently moving reinforcements into areas like Abyan in a new crackdown on the resurgent militants, the governor said he had seen no sign of it........"
The Independent
"....The difficulties faced by Abyan's most senior official provide a rare insight into the problems in conducting the so-called "war on terror" in a relatively remote, rugged and undeveloped country where deep poverty, tribalism and religious conservatism allow radical influences to flourish.
Despite reports from Sana'a, the capital, that Yemen is currently moving reinforcements into areas like Abyan in a new crackdown on the resurgent militants, the governor said he had seen no sign of it........"
Galloway right to relish Egypt expulsion
In making an enemy of Hosni Mubarak's regime, George Galloway has taken a lead western governments should follow
Ajmal Masroor
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 January 2010
"George Galloway was deported from Egypt on Friday as "persona non grata" by the Egyptian authorities, accusing him of undermining Egyptian security. What a bizarre, twisted and demented accusation from a dictatorial regime that has ruled Egypt for over 30 years and which has been an accomplice with Israel to the Gaza blockade causing untold suffering of the Palestinian people.
Ajmal Masroor
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 January 2010
"George Galloway was deported from Egypt on Friday as "persona non grata" by the Egyptian authorities, accusing him of undermining Egyptian security. What a bizarre, twisted and demented accusation from a dictatorial regime that has ruled Egypt for over 30 years and which has been an accomplice with Israel to the Gaza blockade causing untold suffering of the Palestinian people.
Let me declare my interest from the outset, I am not a great fan of Galloway, in fact I am standing as the Liberal Democrats' parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow, where he is the current MP, and in the next general election I will be providing a direct challenge to his party, Respect.
However, leaving aside party or political differences I agree with Galloway when he says "It's always been a badge of honour to be deported by a tinpot dictator"......."
Terror Unto The Nations: Bomb blast kills Iranian professor
Al-Jazeera
"An Iranian nuclear physics professor has been killed in a bomb blast in the north of the capital, Tehran, state media has reported.
Massoud Mohammadi, a professor at Tehran University, was killed on Tuesday when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle was triggered by remote control outside his home.
"The explosion took place near the professor's home in Qeytariyeh neighbourhood, in northern Tehran," the state-run Press TV said.....
Baqer Moin, an Iranian author and journalist in London, said Iranian media have accused "Zionist agents" as being behind the blast......."
"An Iranian nuclear physics professor has been killed in a bomb blast in the north of the capital, Tehran, state media has reported.
Massoud Mohammadi, a professor at Tehran University, was killed on Tuesday when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle was triggered by remote control outside his home.
"The explosion took place near the professor's home in Qeytariyeh neighbourhood, in northern Tehran," the state-run Press TV said.....
Baqer Moin, an Iranian author and journalist in London, said Iranian media have accused "Zionist agents" as being behind the blast......."
Monday, January 11, 2010
ضغوط أميركية وعربية أفشلت التبادل
Al-Jazeera
"كشفت مصادر دبلوماسية موثوق بها للجزيرة نت أن ضغوطًا أميركية وعربية دفعت إسرائيل للتراجع وسحب بعض الموافقات التي أنجزها الوسيط الألماني في صفقة تبادل الأسرى لإحراج حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس).
وكانت مصادر فلسطينية قد كشفت للجزيرة نت في وقت سابق من الشهر الماضي أن إسرائيل تراجعت عن بعض ما وافقت عليه سابقًا في صفقة التبادل، وأهم ما تم التراجع عنه هو رفض إطلاق سراح مروان البرغوثي وأحمد سعادات
وزيادة أعداد الأسرى المتوقع إبعادهم.
وقالت المصادر التي فضلت إغفال هويتها إن المبعوث الأميركي لعملية السلام في الشرق الأوسط جورج ميتشل ووزيرا عربيا مارسا ضغوطا على إسرائيل لحثها على عدم تقديم تنازلات لحماس من شأنها أن ترفع شعبيتها وتزيد التأييد لها.
وأشارت نفس المصادر إلى أن ميتشل أجرى اتصالا قبل شهر مع رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو وطلب منه وضع الإدارة الأميركية في صورة تطورات صفقة التبادل، وحينما سمع من نتنياهو مواقف إسرائيل طلب منه التراجع.
تحتاج لهذه الفرصة
وقالت المصادر إن ميتشل أبلغ نتنياهو أن حماس تحتاج لهذه الفرصة وأن عملية السلام ستتراجع إذا ما قدمت هدية كهذه للحركة، موضحا –حسب ميتشل- أنها ستضعف السلطة الفلسطينية والرئيس محمود عباس.
وأكدت المصادر أيضا أن وزيرا عربيا نشيطا دعا نتنياهو إلى عدم الاستجابة لحماس وشروطها لتبادل الأسرى، مؤكدا أن هناك حلاً أفضل يركع الحركة وهو خنقها وجعل حياة قطاع غزة جحيمًا، مما قد يؤدي لتراجع من حماس. (has to be Break-Their-Legs-Abul-Gheit; who else??)
ونقلت المصادر عن الوزير العربي قوله لنتنياهو إن "حماس ستعود راكعة إذا ما ضيقنا عليها الحصار أكثر وقطعنا شريان الأنفاق التي تمد غزة بالطعام والمحروقات، ولكن علينا أيضا أن نمنع حركتهم عبر معابرنا الحدودية".
وأكدت المصادر أن الوزير العربي أكد أن إسرائيل سوف تحصل على الأسير الإسرائيلي جلعاد شاليط بأقل الأثمان إذا ما عملت على تخويف قيادة حركة حماس في غزة ودمشق."
"كشفت مصادر دبلوماسية موثوق بها للجزيرة نت أن ضغوطًا أميركية وعربية دفعت إسرائيل للتراجع وسحب بعض الموافقات التي أنجزها الوسيط الألماني في صفقة تبادل الأسرى لإحراج حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس).
وكانت مصادر فلسطينية قد كشفت للجزيرة نت في وقت سابق من الشهر الماضي أن إسرائيل تراجعت عن بعض ما وافقت عليه سابقًا في صفقة التبادل، وأهم ما تم التراجع عنه هو رفض إطلاق سراح مروان البرغوثي وأحمد سعادات
وزيادة أعداد الأسرى المتوقع إبعادهم.
وقالت المصادر التي فضلت إغفال هويتها إن المبعوث الأميركي لعملية السلام في الشرق الأوسط جورج ميتشل ووزيرا عربيا مارسا ضغوطا على إسرائيل لحثها على عدم تقديم تنازلات لحماس من شأنها أن ترفع شعبيتها وتزيد التأييد لها.
وأشارت نفس المصادر إلى أن ميتشل أجرى اتصالا قبل شهر مع رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو وطلب منه وضع الإدارة الأميركية في صورة تطورات صفقة التبادل، وحينما سمع من نتنياهو مواقف إسرائيل طلب منه التراجع.
تحتاج لهذه الفرصة
وقالت المصادر إن ميتشل أبلغ نتنياهو أن حماس تحتاج لهذه الفرصة وأن عملية السلام ستتراجع إذا ما قدمت هدية كهذه للحركة، موضحا –حسب ميتشل- أنها ستضعف السلطة الفلسطينية والرئيس محمود عباس.
وأكدت المصادر أيضا أن وزيرا عربيا نشيطا دعا نتنياهو إلى عدم الاستجابة لحماس وشروطها لتبادل الأسرى، مؤكدا أن هناك حلاً أفضل يركع الحركة وهو خنقها وجعل حياة قطاع غزة جحيمًا، مما قد يؤدي لتراجع من حماس. (has to be Break-Their-Legs-Abul-Gheit; who else??)
ونقلت المصادر عن الوزير العربي قوله لنتنياهو إن "حماس ستعود راكعة إذا ما ضيقنا عليها الحصار أكثر وقطعنا شريان الأنفاق التي تمد غزة بالطعام والمحروقات، ولكن علينا أيضا أن نمنع حركتهم عبر معابرنا الحدودية".
وأكدت المصادر أن الوزير العربي أكد أن إسرائيل سوف تحصل على الأسير الإسرائيلي جلعاد شاليط بأقل الأثمان إذا ما عملت على تخويف قيادة حركة حماس في غزة ودمشق."
The shameless lies of Mubarak's official media
A Very Good Editorial
Palestine Information Center
"The state-run media in Egypt is shamelessly indulging in wild lies about Hamas’s efforts to break the cruel blockade being clamped on more than 1.6 million Palestinians seeking freedom and food. The largely-stupid propaganda would have us believe that Hamas is threatening Egypt, causing the blockade of Gaza to persist, working with Iran to destabilize Egyptian security, and so on and so forth.
Well, this is the classical way tyrannical regimes behave when they face bankruptcy in terms of their relations with their masses. People simply stop believing the lies of the regimes as is the case now all over the Arab world.
In fact, however, the main reason behind the Egyptian media attacks on Hamas is because the Palestinian Islamic movement is refusing rather stubbornly to surrender to Israel and the U.S. as Egypt had done more than three decades ago when the Egyptian leadership accepted an arrangement barring the Egyptian armed forces from accessing the bulk of the Sinai peninsula.
Another reason has to do with Hamas exposing the naked Egyptian collaboration and collusion with the cancerous Zionist entity against the forces of resistance and freedom in the Arab world......
With this in mind, it seems that the autocratic Egyptian regime is sensing a different threat coming from the small coastal enclave called Gaza. It is terrified by the prospects of its 80-million masses contracting the disease of freedom from across the border. That is the real reason behind this outburst of rabid propaganda against Hamas, a freedom movement that has given the word dignity a new meaning.
As we all know, the Egyptian regime worships itself and is planning to stay in power until its natural, e.g. biological end. This is the regime’s ultimate goal and strategy. This is why the entire country and its means, resources, and potentials are being utilized to sustain the regime for as long as possible.
Some say that Egypt has never witnessed a regime so despotic and so morally bankrupt since the era of the Pharaohs.
Of course, the Egyptian media are nothing more than mouthpieces for Mubarak, the American-Israeli puppet tyrant who has morphed Egypt from a decent, civilized country into a mere fiefdom for himself and his family. They are Mubarak’s barking dogs, with no freedom or independence of their own to think for themselves.........
A brief look at the situation in Egypt today reveals a dilapidated country resembling a hapless police state where the state is even unable to provide sufficient food, especially bread, for its citizens. It is a state where every sector is collapsing, including industry and agriculture, all because serving Egypt is actually not on the agenda of the regime whose main, if not only, strategy is remaining in power.
We all remember that this regime has been collaborating with Israel against the people of Gaza. Well, didn’t the former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declare the war on Gaza in December, 2008, during a press conference with her Egyptian counterpart Abu al Gheit?
Moreover, Hasn’t Egypt been trying to perfect and complete the Israeli siege of Gaza by preventing the people of Gaza from accessing food and other vital consumer products on the Egyptian side of the borders?
This treasonous policy, which is now manifesting its brutal ugliness once again by building this shameful steel wall, with American and French aid and presumably with behind-the-scene Israeli supervision, constitutes a national blasphemy, to say the very least.
And now the disgraced regime is instructing its parroting media, even its hypocritical Sheikhs, to vilify Hamas, as if Hamas were responsible for all the ills of Egypt and sins of the bankrupt Mubarak regime. Well for what? For defending the Arab and Muslim honor and refusing to surrender to Jewish murderers and terrorists? For standing up to the Israeli army while a neighboring Arab-Muslim country with 80 million people and a strong army looking on as if all the massacre were happening on a different planet?
Or perhaps for having the guts to win the elections in occupied Palestine in 2006 which the Egyptian regime viewed as constituting a looming danger that could awaken the dormant Egyptian masses and make them rise up against the tyrannical regime which torments and impoverishes Egypt on Israel’s behalf and in order to serve the interests of the United States?
I don’t know what is the ultimate price that the Egyptian and Palestinian peoples have to pay so that Mubarak and his cohorts remain in power? The obscenely ugly equation is very simple. In order for Mubarak and his son Jamal to stay in power, he has to have a permanent certificate of good conduct from Israel and the U.S. But Mubarak can’t obtain such a certificate, saturated with disgrace and perfidy, without pacifying and repressing the Egyptian masses and killing and starving the Palestinians across the borders.
And since Mubarak lacks the national credentials of a dignified Arab or Muslim leader, he sees nothing wrong in shamefully submitting to the Israeli-American conditions for obtaining the certificate of “good” conduct. Hence, the shameless surrender and disgraceful capitulation to Israel.......
Well, but who colluded with Israel against the Gazans in the first place? Who conspired with Israel to shut off Gaza from the West while Israel does the same from the east? Let the Egyptian regime look itself in the mirror to see its ugliness........
In truth, the Egyptian regime, or any other tyrannical Arab regime, is in no moral position to attack or lecture Hamas, a movement which is unlike these regimes has earned its survival by refusing to give in, even in the face of the imminent danger of death."
Palestine Information Center
"The state-run media in Egypt is shamelessly indulging in wild lies about Hamas’s efforts to break the cruel blockade being clamped on more than 1.6 million Palestinians seeking freedom and food. The largely-stupid propaganda would have us believe that Hamas is threatening Egypt, causing the blockade of Gaza to persist, working with Iran to destabilize Egyptian security, and so on and so forth.
Well, this is the classical way tyrannical regimes behave when they face bankruptcy in terms of their relations with their masses. People simply stop believing the lies of the regimes as is the case now all over the Arab world.
In fact, however, the main reason behind the Egyptian media attacks on Hamas is because the Palestinian Islamic movement is refusing rather stubbornly to surrender to Israel and the U.S. as Egypt had done more than three decades ago when the Egyptian leadership accepted an arrangement barring the Egyptian armed forces from accessing the bulk of the Sinai peninsula.
Another reason has to do with Hamas exposing the naked Egyptian collaboration and collusion with the cancerous Zionist entity against the forces of resistance and freedom in the Arab world......
With this in mind, it seems that the autocratic Egyptian regime is sensing a different threat coming from the small coastal enclave called Gaza. It is terrified by the prospects of its 80-million masses contracting the disease of freedom from across the border. That is the real reason behind this outburst of rabid propaganda against Hamas, a freedom movement that has given the word dignity a new meaning.
As we all know, the Egyptian regime worships itself and is planning to stay in power until its natural, e.g. biological end. This is the regime’s ultimate goal and strategy. This is why the entire country and its means, resources, and potentials are being utilized to sustain the regime for as long as possible.
Some say that Egypt has never witnessed a regime so despotic and so morally bankrupt since the era of the Pharaohs.
Of course, the Egyptian media are nothing more than mouthpieces for Mubarak, the American-Israeli puppet tyrant who has morphed Egypt from a decent, civilized country into a mere fiefdom for himself and his family. They are Mubarak’s barking dogs, with no freedom or independence of their own to think for themselves.........
A brief look at the situation in Egypt today reveals a dilapidated country resembling a hapless police state where the state is even unable to provide sufficient food, especially bread, for its citizens. It is a state where every sector is collapsing, including industry and agriculture, all because serving Egypt is actually not on the agenda of the regime whose main, if not only, strategy is remaining in power.
We all remember that this regime has been collaborating with Israel against the people of Gaza. Well, didn’t the former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declare the war on Gaza in December, 2008, during a press conference with her Egyptian counterpart Abu al Gheit?
Moreover, Hasn’t Egypt been trying to perfect and complete the Israeli siege of Gaza by preventing the people of Gaza from accessing food and other vital consumer products on the Egyptian side of the borders?
This treasonous policy, which is now manifesting its brutal ugliness once again by building this shameful steel wall, with American and French aid and presumably with behind-the-scene Israeli supervision, constitutes a national blasphemy, to say the very least.
And now the disgraced regime is instructing its parroting media, even its hypocritical Sheikhs, to vilify Hamas, as if Hamas were responsible for all the ills of Egypt and sins of the bankrupt Mubarak regime. Well for what? For defending the Arab and Muslim honor and refusing to surrender to Jewish murderers and terrorists? For standing up to the Israeli army while a neighboring Arab-Muslim country with 80 million people and a strong army looking on as if all the massacre were happening on a different planet?
Or perhaps for having the guts to win the elections in occupied Palestine in 2006 which the Egyptian regime viewed as constituting a looming danger that could awaken the dormant Egyptian masses and make them rise up against the tyrannical regime which torments and impoverishes Egypt on Israel’s behalf and in order to serve the interests of the United States?
I don’t know what is the ultimate price that the Egyptian and Palestinian peoples have to pay so that Mubarak and his cohorts remain in power? The obscenely ugly equation is very simple. In order for Mubarak and his son Jamal to stay in power, he has to have a permanent certificate of good conduct from Israel and the U.S. But Mubarak can’t obtain such a certificate, saturated with disgrace and perfidy, without pacifying and repressing the Egyptian masses and killing and starving the Palestinians across the borders.
And since Mubarak lacks the national credentials of a dignified Arab or Muslim leader, he sees nothing wrong in shamefully submitting to the Israeli-American conditions for obtaining the certificate of “good” conduct. Hence, the shameless surrender and disgraceful capitulation to Israel.......
Well, but who colluded with Israel against the Gazans in the first place? Who conspired with Israel to shut off Gaza from the West while Israel does the same from the east? Let the Egyptian regime look itself in the mirror to see its ugliness........
In truth, the Egyptian regime, or any other tyrannical Arab regime, is in no moral position to attack or lecture Hamas, a movement which is unlike these regimes has earned its survival by refusing to give in, even in the face of the imminent danger of death."
Uphill battle for academic freedom in US universities
Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada, 11 January 2010
(Nora Barrows-Friedman is the co-host and Senior Producer of Flashpoints, a daily investigative newsmagazine on Pacifica Radio. She is also a correspondent for Inter Press Service. She regularly reports from Palestine, where she also runs media workshops for youth in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.)
"In 2009, Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, became the first American higher educational institution to successfully pressure its Board of Trustees to divest from Israel-tied mutual funds. The victory came three decades after the college similarly disinvested from funds linked to apartheid South Africa. Across North America, student-led Palestine activism groups have used the methods formulated by the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) "to implement divestment initiatives against Israel, similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era, until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law." Hampshire College's divestment move was a victory for the students and the administration of Hampshire College, and an inspirational model for hundreds of activism groups across North American campuses.
But despite the expanding and momentous student-led BDS movement, open dialogue around the reality of the situation in occupied Palestine continues to be an uphill battle for many professors inside the classrooms. Educators who openly align with the BDS movement, or speak out against Israeli-US policy in Palestine and the region, are being harassed, threatened, blacklisted, denied tenure and fired from their academic posts...."
(Nora Barrows-Friedman is the co-host and Senior Producer of Flashpoints, a daily investigative newsmagazine on Pacifica Radio. She is also a correspondent for Inter Press Service. She regularly reports from Palestine, where she also runs media workshops for youth in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.)
"In 2009, Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, became the first American higher educational institution to successfully pressure its Board of Trustees to divest from Israel-tied mutual funds. The victory came three decades after the college similarly disinvested from funds linked to apartheid South Africa. Across North America, student-led Palestine activism groups have used the methods formulated by the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) "to implement divestment initiatives against Israel, similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era, until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law." Hampshire College's divestment move was a victory for the students and the administration of Hampshire College, and an inspirational model for hundreds of activism groups across North American campuses.
But despite the expanding and momentous student-led BDS movement, open dialogue around the reality of the situation in occupied Palestine continues to be an uphill battle for many professors inside the classrooms. Educators who openly align with the BDS movement, or speak out against Israeli-US policy in Palestine and the region, are being harassed, threatened, blacklisted, denied tenure and fired from their academic posts...."
Entering Egypt, by Khalil Bendib
(Click on cartoon to enlarge)
Khalil is too polite to call the Pharaoh by his true name (Asshole), but that is what the bird is trying to say (lower right hand corner of the cartoon).
One Year After Israeli Assault on Gaza, Survivors From Samouni Family Remember the Tragedy that Killed 29
Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman
"One year after Israel’s assault on Gaza, we back to a deadly attack that took place on one Gazan neighborhood. The Samouni family, who live in an agricultural area in the Zaytoun area of Gaza City, lost 29 members of their family in the attack. Anjali Kamt and Jacquie Soohen visited the surviving members of the family in March.
We go now to Gaza where at least five Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids over the weekend....
Also this weekend Egypt said it would ban all humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza from traveling across Egypt. On Friday Egypt deported British lawmaker George Galloway who had led the Viva Palestina aid convoy to Gaza last week and declared him “persona non grata,”.....
Report from Gaza, filed by Anjali Kamat and Jacquie Soohen."
With Amy Goodman
"One year after Israel’s assault on Gaza, we back to a deadly attack that took place on one Gazan neighborhood. The Samouni family, who live in an agricultural area in the Zaytoun area of Gaza City, lost 29 members of their family in the attack. Anjali Kamt and Jacquie Soohen visited the surviving members of the family in March.
We go now to Gaza where at least five Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids over the weekend....
Also this weekend Egypt said it would ban all humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza from traveling across Egypt. On Friday Egypt deported British lawmaker George Galloway who had led the Viva Palestina aid convoy to Gaza last week and declared him “persona non grata,”.....
Report from Gaza, filed by Anjali Kamat and Jacquie Soohen."
Real News Video: Rio: Olympic City - Pt. 2
Rio de Janeiro between favelas and Olympic plans
"An explosion of joy on the streets of Rio greeted the announcement that the city would be hosting the 2016 Olympic games. Two weeks later, and Rio saw an explosion of violence when a police helicopter was shot down by drug traffickers. The governments reaction has been to intensify the crackdown on the citys slums or Favelas. A Human Rights Watch report last month accused Rio and Sao Paolo police of killing over 11,000 people since 2003. Many, the report claims, were executed by the police, shot at point blank range. Many were innocent. And on many occasions, the police tried to cover up the evidence. This week, Fault Lines travels to Rio to look at the crackdown in Rios Favelas, and what it means for the people of the city."
"An explosion of joy on the streets of Rio greeted the announcement that the city would be hosting the 2016 Olympic games. Two weeks later, and Rio saw an explosion of violence when a police helicopter was shot down by drug traffickers. The governments reaction has been to intensify the crackdown on the citys slums or Favelas. A Human Rights Watch report last month accused Rio and Sao Paolo police of killing over 11,000 people since 2003. Many, the report claims, were executed by the police, shot at point blank range. Many were innocent. And on many occasions, the police tried to cover up the evidence. This week, Fault Lines travels to Rio to look at the crackdown in Rios Favelas, and what it means for the people of the city."
Israeli general Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam denies Iran is nuclear threat
Times Online
"A general who was once in charge of Israel’s nuclear weapons has claimed that Iran is a “very, very, very long way from building a nuclear capability”.
Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, 75, a war hero and pillar of the defence establishment, believes it will probably take Iran seven years to make nuclear weapons.
The views expressed by the former director-general of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission contradict the assessment of Israel’s defence establishment and put him at odds with political leaders....."
"A general who was once in charge of Israel’s nuclear weapons has claimed that Iran is a “very, very, very long way from building a nuclear capability”.
Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, 75, a war hero and pillar of the defence establishment, believes it will probably take Iran seven years to make nuclear weapons.
The views expressed by the former director-general of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission contradict the assessment of Israel’s defence establishment and put him at odds with political leaders....."
The Weird Factor
The panty bomber mystery deepens
by Justin Raimondo, January 11, 2010
".....The official narrative has been in flux, due in part to the political firestorm that surrounds the event: President Obama’s characterization of the Undie Bomber as an "isolated" individual, unconnected to a larger network, began to fall apart almost before it was uttered. As the links between Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab and the specter of "al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula" surfaced – along with the incredible story of how Mutallab’s father, a prominent Nigerian banker, personally reported his son to the US embassy and the CIA – the official story had to be amended. Now it’s "the buck stops here," an admission of failure, and the inevitable calls for making everyone’s flying experience more problematic and unendurable than ever......
What we do know is this: the bare bones scenario, aired by the President in his earliest remarks, is incorrect. What we don’t know – yet – is how much broader was the conspiracy to down flight 253. If the eyewitnesses are right, then the activities of Mutallab’s well-dressed companion certainly point to a pro-terrorist auxiliary, of some sort, providing Mutallab with invaluable assistance. This scenario is also implied by the "man in orange," whose identity and whereabouts are a complete mystery at this point. As for the person who videotaped the entire proceedings – I have no idea what to make of it. It’s the Weird Factor – and it’s pretty strange, even considering how far down this particular rabbit hole we have gone."
by Justin Raimondo, January 11, 2010
".....The official narrative has been in flux, due in part to the political firestorm that surrounds the event: President Obama’s characterization of the Undie Bomber as an "isolated" individual, unconnected to a larger network, began to fall apart almost before it was uttered. As the links between Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab and the specter of "al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula" surfaced – along with the incredible story of how Mutallab’s father, a prominent Nigerian banker, personally reported his son to the US embassy and the CIA – the official story had to be amended. Now it’s "the buck stops here," an admission of failure, and the inevitable calls for making everyone’s flying experience more problematic and unendurable than ever......
What we do know is this: the bare bones scenario, aired by the President in his earliest remarks, is incorrect. What we don’t know – yet – is how much broader was the conspiracy to down flight 253. If the eyewitnesses are right, then the activities of Mutallab’s well-dressed companion certainly point to a pro-terrorist auxiliary, of some sort, providing Mutallab with invaluable assistance. This scenario is also implied by the "man in orange," whose identity and whereabouts are a complete mystery at this point. As for the person who videotaped the entire proceedings – I have no idea what to make of it. It’s the Weird Factor – and it’s pretty strange, even considering how far down this particular rabbit hole we have gone."
Iran Uses Fear of Covert Nuclear Sites to Deter Attack
by Gareth Porter, January 11, 2010
".....But all the evidence indicates that the real story is exactly the opposite: far from wanting to hide the existence of nuclear facilities from the outside world, Iran has wanted Western intelligence to conclude that it was putting some of its key nuclear facilities deep underground for more than three years.
The reason for that surprising conclusion is simple: Iran’s primary problem in regard to its nuclear program has been how to deter a U.S. or Israeli attack on its nuclear sites. To do that, Iranian officials believed they needed to convince U.S. and Israeli military planners that they wouldn’t be able to destroy some of Iran’s nuclear sites and couldn’t identify others.....
One indication of that the Iranian strategy has had an impact on Israeli calculations is that Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze’evi Farkash, the head of intelligence for the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) from 2002 to 2006, supported an attack on Iran by the U.S. Air Force – a standard Israeli position – at a meeting at the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy last October.
But Farkash warned that Western intelligence still may not know about all of Iran’s nuclear sites. In other statements, Farkash has opposed an Israeli strike."
".....But all the evidence indicates that the real story is exactly the opposite: far from wanting to hide the existence of nuclear facilities from the outside world, Iran has wanted Western intelligence to conclude that it was putting some of its key nuclear facilities deep underground for more than three years.
The reason for that surprising conclusion is simple: Iran’s primary problem in regard to its nuclear program has been how to deter a U.S. or Israeli attack on its nuclear sites. To do that, Iranian officials believed they needed to convince U.S. and Israeli military planners that they wouldn’t be able to destroy some of Iran’s nuclear sites and couldn’t identify others.....
One indication of that the Iranian strategy has had an impact on Israeli calculations is that Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze’evi Farkash, the head of intelligence for the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) from 2002 to 2006, supported an attack on Iran by the U.S. Air Force – a standard Israeli position – at a meeting at the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy last October.
But Farkash warned that Western intelligence still may not know about all of Iran’s nuclear sites. In other statements, Farkash has opposed an Israeli strike."
UK troops 'executed Iraqi grandmother'
Royal Military Police investigate latest allegation of abuse in Basra
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
The Independent
"Allegations that a 62-year-old Iraqi grandmother was tortured and executed by British soldiers after her family home was raided three years ago are being investigated by the Royal Military Police.
The Army's involvement in the death and abuse of Sabiha Khudur Talib is one of the most serious charges to be made against Britain during its six-year occupation of southern Iraq...."
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
The Independent
"Allegations that a 62-year-old Iraqi grandmother was tortured and executed by British soldiers after her family home was raided three years ago are being investigated by the Royal Military Police.
The Army's involvement in the death and abuse of Sabiha Khudur Talib is one of the most serious charges to be made against Britain during its six-year occupation of southern Iraq...."
Half-brother of UAE ruler cleared of torturing merchant
High-profile case involving Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan caused intense embarrassment to US-backed Gulf state
Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 January 2010
"The half-brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has been acquitted on charges of torturing and raping an Afghan trader in a high-profile case sparked by harrowing video images of the alleged abuse.
The case caused intense embarrassment to the US-backed Gulf state, one of the world's biggest oil exporters, and cast unwelcome light on its political system and human rights practices....
The story emerged last year when America's ABC news screened a harrowing videotape showing Issa beating a merchant, Muhammad Shah Poor. Issa, assisted by a uniformed man, appeared to abuse Shah Poor with a cattle prod, force sand into his mouth, beat him with a wooden plank with a nail and pour salt in his wounds. A Mercedes SUV then repeatedly ran over the Afghan.....
The tape surfaced during a US lawsuit by Issa's former associate, the Lebanese businessman Bassam Nabulsi, who is suing the sheikh in Texas for millions of dollars he claims he is owed....
Issa claimed Nabulsi and his brother Ghassan orchestrated the incident and filmed it to blackmail him. The two Lebanese were sentenced in absentia to five years each in prison. A Nepalese security guard shown in the video was also acquitted, but a Syrian was given one year in jail for beating Shah Poor. An Indian and a Palestinian were given three years for sodomising him with a stick. [How about that for a "justice" system?]
The Issa case was a grave blow to the international image of the UAE, which has been keen to develop relations with wealthy western politicians, universities and corporations and promote an aura of moderation and tolerance. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said she was shocked by the video......"
Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 January 2010
"The half-brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has been acquitted on charges of torturing and raping an Afghan trader in a high-profile case sparked by harrowing video images of the alleged abuse.
The case caused intense embarrassment to the US-backed Gulf state, one of the world's biggest oil exporters, and cast unwelcome light on its political system and human rights practices....
The story emerged last year when America's ABC news screened a harrowing videotape showing Issa beating a merchant, Muhammad Shah Poor. Issa, assisted by a uniformed man, appeared to abuse Shah Poor with a cattle prod, force sand into his mouth, beat him with a wooden plank with a nail and pour salt in his wounds. A Mercedes SUV then repeatedly ran over the Afghan.....
The tape surfaced during a US lawsuit by Issa's former associate, the Lebanese businessman Bassam Nabulsi, who is suing the sheikh in Texas for millions of dollars he claims he is owed....
Issa claimed Nabulsi and his brother Ghassan orchestrated the incident and filmed it to blackmail him. The two Lebanese were sentenced in absentia to five years each in prison. A Nepalese security guard shown in the video was also acquitted, but a Syrian was given one year in jail for beating Shah Poor. An Indian and a Palestinian were given three years for sodomising him with a stick. [How about that for a "justice" system?]
The Issa case was a grave blow to the international image of the UAE, which has been keen to develop relations with wealthy western politicians, universities and corporations and promote an aura of moderation and tolerance. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said she was shocked by the video......"
Apartheid Unto the Nations: Another Israeli wall to protect 'Jewish character'
Press TV
"Israel has approved plans for construction of a barrier along the border with Egypt, a move that clearly indicates that it wants to remain a religious apartheid regime.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the decision was taken to secure Israel's “Jewish character”, BBC reported on Monday......"
"Israel has approved plans for construction of a barrier along the border with Egypt, a move that clearly indicates that it wants to remain a religious apartheid regime.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the decision was taken to secure Israel's “Jewish character”, BBC reported on Monday......"
UAE prince acquitted of torture charges
Press TV
"An Abu Dhabi prince has been acquitted of charges of torturing an Afghan citizen after a United Arab Emirates court ruled he had been drugged and so was “unaware of his actions.”
Allegations against Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the half brother of Abu Dhabi's president, emerged after US network ABC aired a video in April that appears to show him torturing an Afghan grain dealer.
“The court acquitted Sheikh Issa after establishing he was not responsible,” for the torture, said his lawyer, Habib al-Mulla, on Sunday. “The court accepted our defense that the sheikh was under the influence of drugs (medicine) that left him unaware of his actions,” he added......
The victim needed months of hospital care following the torture, during which he was beaten with whips, electric cattle prods, and a wooden plank with protruding nails.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) harshly criticized the trial, saying in a statement that the UAE “needs to do more than quietly prosecute Sheikh Issa… if it is to restore confidence in the country's justice system”.
“If the UAE government really wants to stop torture and to restore its sullied image, one trial will not be enough,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
Sheikh Issa was once charged with endangering a life, causing bodily harm, and rape in 2004.
He has been in custody for several months and was charged at an opening hearing in October. "
"An Abu Dhabi prince has been acquitted of charges of torturing an Afghan citizen after a United Arab Emirates court ruled he had been drugged and so was “unaware of his actions.”
Allegations against Sheikh Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the half brother of Abu Dhabi's president, emerged after US network ABC aired a video in April that appears to show him torturing an Afghan grain dealer.
“The court acquitted Sheikh Issa after establishing he was not responsible,” for the torture, said his lawyer, Habib al-Mulla, on Sunday. “The court accepted our defense that the sheikh was under the influence of drugs (medicine) that left him unaware of his actions,” he added......
The victim needed months of hospital care following the torture, during which he was beaten with whips, electric cattle prods, and a wooden plank with protruding nails.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) harshly criticized the trial, saying in a statement that the UAE “needs to do more than quietly prosecute Sheikh Issa… if it is to restore confidence in the country's justice system”.
“If the UAE government really wants to stop torture and to restore its sullied image, one trial will not be enough,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
Sheikh Issa was once charged with endangering a life, causing bodily harm, and rape in 2004.
He has been in custody for several months and was charged at an opening hearing in October. "
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Al-Jazeera Video: UAE sheikh cleared of torture - 10 Jan 10
"A court in Abu Dhabi has acquitted the man accused of beating an Afghan grain trader in 2004.
Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, a member of the UAE royal family, claimed he was drugged by two other men, and therefore unaware of his actions, which included torturing the man with electric prods, driving over him and raping him.
The men who released the tape have been given five years in jail.
Al Jazeera's Zeina Awad reports."
COMMENT:
What a fraud and an outrage! This is the "justice" system of one of USrael's staunchest Arab allies.
The brothers who released the graphic tape showing clear evidence of torture are sentenced to 5 years in jail (for releasing "unauthorized" tape!), and the royal who committed the torture goes free!
I Am Yusef and This Is My Brother: A Palestinian story about Palestinians
In the war of 1948, thousands of Palestinians were uprooted from their homes never to return, and playwright Amir Nizar Zuabi is determined to tell their stories
Rory McCarthy
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 January 2010
(Left: Amir Nizar Zuabi)
".....Next week, a compelling new play opens at London's Young Vic, promising to thrust the discomforting story of that war back into public scrutiny. At the age of 33, Amir Nizar Zuabi, the play's writer and director, is from a generation of Palestinians raised on stories of the Nakba, haunted by tales of how hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were uprooted from their homes, never to return. "We have it as a covert partner in everything," says Zuabi. "Two of us can sit having coffee and the third person will be Mr Nakba."
Zuabi was brought up in Nazareth, in the Galilee, where there is a large population of Palestinians living within Israel, and where all around there is evidence of the 1948 war, including ruined villages. One of the razed villages was Baissamoon, a tiny Palestinian community. It is here that Zuabi set his play, I Am Yusuf and This Is My Brother, which tells of two brothers, an ill-fated love, and the dislocation and tragedy brought about by the war.
The play, says Zuabi, began as a personal investigation to scrape away layers of myth. "Why did people make the decision to leave? Or did they make the decision to leave? What would you have done?" Zuabi, living in Israel, found the story had been "hushed up": "It's the big taboo, because it's the primal sin. It is the mother of all problems here. They don't like talking about it.".........
He has been surprised by the reaction to the play across the generations. In Jerusalem, an elderly man came up to him after one performance and said: "Thank you very much for telling my story." In Haifa, a woman in her 20s told him: "I understand my parents better now."........"
Real News Video: Fault Lines - Rio: Olympic City - Pt. 1
Rio de Janeiro between favelas and Olympic plans
"An explosion of joy on the streets of Rio greeted the announcement that the city would be hosting the 2016 Olympic games. Two weeks later, and Rio saw an explosion of violence when a police helicopter was shot down by drug traffickers. The governments reaction has been to intensify the crackdown on the citys slums or Favelas. A Human Rights Watch report last month accused Rio and Sao Paolo police of killing over 11,000 people since 2003. Many, the report claims, were executed by the police, shot at point blank range. Many were innocent. And on many occasions, the police tried to cover up the evidence. This week, Fault Lines travels to Rio to look at the crackdown in Rios Favelas, and what it means for the people of the city."
"An explosion of joy on the streets of Rio greeted the announcement that the city would be hosting the 2016 Olympic games. Two weeks later, and Rio saw an explosion of violence when a police helicopter was shot down by drug traffickers. The governments reaction has been to intensify the crackdown on the citys slums or Favelas. A Human Rights Watch report last month accused Rio and Sao Paolo police of killing over 11,000 people since 2003. Many, the report claims, were executed by the police, shot at point blank range. Many were innocent. And on many occasions, the police tried to cover up the evidence. This week, Fault Lines travels to Rio to look at the crackdown in Rios Favelas, and what it means for the people of the city."
Al-Jazeera Video: (Segments-2) As'ad Abukhalil on "حوار مفتوح" [With English Subtitles]
"Prof. As'ad Abukhalil http://angryarab.blogspot.com/,
segments of "حوار مفتوح" on AlJazeera,
on 09/01/2010.
انقسامات النخب والجماعات العربية, غسان بن جدو, أسعد ابو خليل
...."
Old threat rings true today
How bin Laden lured U.S. into costly, bloody war
By ERIC MARGOLIS
By ERIC MARGOLIS
The Toronto Sun
"The year: 1986.......Then Sheik Azzam told me, "When we have driven the Communist imperialists from Afghanistan, we will go on and drive the American imperialists from Arabia and the rest of the Muslim world."
I was floored......
"The year: 1986.......Then Sheik Azzam told me, "When we have driven the Communist imperialists from Afghanistan, we will go on and drive the American imperialists from Arabia and the rest of the Muslim world."
I was floored......
But after the U.S.S.R. collapsed, absolute power absolutely corrupted Washington's ruling circles and drove them to seek "full spectrum domination" of the globe and its energy resources.
Sheik Abdullah Azzam was the teacher and spiritual mentor of a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden.....
Bloody attacks would enrage the U.S. and lure it into one quagmire after another. Presidents Bush and Obama fell right into bin Laden's trap. Bin Laden's words haunt us as we witness hysteria engulf America's air travel system and hear calls to invade Yemen.....
The American colossus continues to stumble ever deeper into the Muslim world's violent, tangled affairs at a time when Washington is bankrupt and only runs on Chinese loans. In 2009, the U.S. deficit was $1.4 trillion US.
American soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. special forces, air units and CIA mercenaries are involved in combat operations in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, West Africa, North Africa and the Philippines. A new U.S. base at Djibouti is launching raids into Yemen, Somalia and northern Kenya. U.S. forces aided the failed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. New U.S. bases are planned in oil-producing West Africa.....
Washington is quietly engineering the breakup of troubled Sudan, Africa's largest nation, in order to dominate south Sudan's important oil resources and undermine the regime in Khartoum which Washington has marked for termination.
Even Egypt is growing shaky. The U.S.-backed Mubarak military dictatorship that has ruled the Arab world's most populous nation since 1981 faces a succession struggle once the 82-year old pharaoh is gone...... "
Sheik Abdullah Azzam was the teacher and spiritual mentor of a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden.....
Bloody attacks would enrage the U.S. and lure it into one quagmire after another. Presidents Bush and Obama fell right into bin Laden's trap. Bin Laden's words haunt us as we witness hysteria engulf America's air travel system and hear calls to invade Yemen.....
The American colossus continues to stumble ever deeper into the Muslim world's violent, tangled affairs at a time when Washington is bankrupt and only runs on Chinese loans. In 2009, the U.S. deficit was $1.4 trillion US.
American soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. special forces, air units and CIA mercenaries are involved in combat operations in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, West Africa, North Africa and the Philippines. A new U.S. base at Djibouti is launching raids into Yemen, Somalia and northern Kenya. U.S. forces aided the failed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. New U.S. bases are planned in oil-producing West Africa.....
Washington is quietly engineering the breakup of troubled Sudan, Africa's largest nation, in order to dominate south Sudan's important oil resources and undermine the regime in Khartoum which Washington has marked for termination.
Even Egypt is growing shaky. The U.S.-backed Mubarak military dictatorship that has ruled the Arab world's most populous nation since 1981 faces a succession struggle once the 82-year old pharaoh is gone...... "
Arming Yemen would play into al-Qa'ida's hands
An unpopular government, tribal fiefdoms and Western aid make it easy for al-Qa'ida to grow in this ravaged country on the Arabian peninsula
By Patrick Cockburn
"Protesters are walking confidently down a street in the southern Yemeni port of Aden when there is a rattle of gunfire as the security services shoot into the crowd and panic-stricken people run seeking cover. A man in a checked shirt is left lying face down in the dust in the empty street, a stream of blood flowing from a bullet wound in his head.
In northern Yemen, government tanks and artillery pound the mountains trying to dislodge Shia rebels holding positions among the crags. Plumes of white smoke rise from exploding shells......
Nobody in the West paid much attention to violent incidents like these in Yemen last year, though both of those described above were recorded on film.......
The US and Britain will face a similar difficulty in Yemen as they already do in Afghanistan. They will be supporting an unpopular and corrupt government. It is not that al-Qa'ida is strong, but that it is swimming in sympathetic waters because the government is weak......
As in Afghanistan, foreign intervention in Yemen would soon create a counterreaction of which al-Qa'ida would be able to take advantage."
By Patrick Cockburn
"Protesters are walking confidently down a street in the southern Yemeni port of Aden when there is a rattle of gunfire as the security services shoot into the crowd and panic-stricken people run seeking cover. A man in a checked shirt is left lying face down in the dust in the empty street, a stream of blood flowing from a bullet wound in his head.
In northern Yemen, government tanks and artillery pound the mountains trying to dislodge Shia rebels holding positions among the crags. Plumes of white smoke rise from exploding shells......
Nobody in the West paid much attention to violent incidents like these in Yemen last year, though both of those described above were recorded on film.......
The US and Britain will face a similar difficulty in Yemen as they already do in Afghanistan. They will be supporting an unpopular and corrupt government. It is not that al-Qa'ida is strong, but that it is swimming in sympathetic waters because the government is weak......
As in Afghanistan, foreign intervention in Yemen would soon create a counterreaction of which al-Qa'ida would be able to take advantage."
And Now...(drum roll please).....The Latest and Greatest...Grotesque Contraption for” Peace": The United States of Jordan! Yup! You Reard that Right..
Former Israeli N.S. Adviser Eiland Calls to Establish 'U.S. of Jordan'
Al-Manar
"10/01/2010 “Forget a two-state solution, the way to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to create a United States of Jordan that would include three states governed by a federal government in Amman [reporting directly to the CIA director, of course]: the East Bank, West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” former Israeli National Security Adviser Giora Eiland said in a study called "Regional Alternatives to the Two-State Solution," released Thursday by Bar-Ilan University's BESA Center.
In the 41-page booklet, Eiland - a former head of the Israel Army’s Planning Department and today senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies - argues that the conventional wisdom of how to deal with the conflict is stale and mistaken.
What is needed, he argues, is a completely new way of looking at possible solutions, widening the lens to come up with fresh ideas beyond the idea of a two-state solution......"
Al-Manar
"10/01/2010 “Forget a two-state solution, the way to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to create a United States of Jordan that would include three states governed by a federal government in Amman [reporting directly to the CIA director, of course]: the East Bank, West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” former Israeli National Security Adviser Giora Eiland said in a study called "Regional Alternatives to the Two-State Solution," released Thursday by Bar-Ilan University's BESA Center.
In the 41-page booklet, Eiland - a former head of the Israel Army’s Planning Department and today senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies - argues that the conventional wisdom of how to deal with the conflict is stale and mistaken.
What is needed, he argues, is a completely new way of looking at possible solutions, widening the lens to come up with fresh ideas beyond the idea of a two-state solution......"
Galloway: Britain, Egypt need leaders like Erdogan
Press TV
"British lawmaker George Galloway has slammed Egypt for its support of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, hailing Turkey's support for the Palestinian people.
Galloway, who headed the Viva Palestina aid convoy for the Gazans, was deported from Egypt.
"I wish that Egypt and Britain had leaders like [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan," Turkey's Yenisafak quoted Galloway as saying on Saturday.
He hailed the Turkish government's support for the humanitarian convoy.
The member of the Respect Party noted that he will never visit Egypt again, stressing that the Egyptian people are different from the "dictatorship" running the country and said that he will miss them.
Galloway said that he is discussing a new plan with Turkish officials to carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip directly from Turkey via the Mediterranean Sea. He said that such a move is expected to take place in March........"
"British lawmaker George Galloway has slammed Egypt for its support of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, hailing Turkey's support for the Palestinian people.
Galloway, who headed the Viva Palestina aid convoy for the Gazans, was deported from Egypt.
"I wish that Egypt and Britain had leaders like [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan," Turkey's Yenisafak quoted Galloway as saying on Saturday.
He hailed the Turkish government's support for the humanitarian convoy.
The member of the Respect Party noted that he will never visit Egypt again, stressing that the Egyptian people are different from the "dictatorship" running the country and said that he will miss them.
Galloway said that he is discussing a new plan with Turkish officials to carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip directly from Turkey via the Mediterranean Sea. He said that such a move is expected to take place in March........"
الزحف العربي الى واشنطن
الزحف العربي الى واشنطن
عبد الباري عطوان
" يتقاطر وزراء خارجية دول الاعتدال الى العاصمة الامريكية واشنطن بحثا عن مخرج من حال الجمود الحالية التي تحيط بعملية السلام، فقد التقت وزيرة الخارجية الامريكية هيلاري كلينتون يوم امس بوفدين عربيين، الاول اردني برئاسة السيد ناصر جودة، والثاني مصري يضم اللواء عمر سليمان رئيس جهاز المخابرات، والسيد احمد ابو الغيط وزير الخارجية، وهناك انباء عن زيارات اخرى في الايام القليلة المقبلة.
من الواضح ان السيدة كلينتون تمارس ضغوطا على شركائها العرب لايجاد سيناريو مقبول، او بالاحرى توفير المظلة، لاستئناف المفاوضات بين الجانبين الفلسطيني والاسرائيلي بأسرع وقت ممكن، ودون الزام الطرف الاسرائيلي بتجميد كامل للاستيطان في الضفة والقدس المحتلة.
ادارة الرئيس باراك اوباما تعيش اصعب ايامها، فقد مُنيت بصفعتين امنيتين قويتين في الثلاثين يوما الماضية، احداها عملية اقتحام عرين المخابرات المركزية الامريكية في خوست من قبل انتحاري اردني (همام البلوي) وقتل سبعة من اهم قياداتها، الى جانب الشريف علي بن زيد ضابط الاتصال الاردني، والثانية نجاح المواطن النيجيري عمر الفاروق عبد المطلب في اختراق الاجراءات الامنية المشددة في المطارات الغربية ومحاولة تفجير عبوة ناسفة في طائرة مدنية فوق مدينة ديترويت الامريكية.
ولعل الصفعة الاقوى والاكثر اهانة فهي تلك التي تلقتها من ايران التي رفضت التجاوب مع طلباتها بتخصيب اليورانيوم في الموعد المحدد اي نهاية العام الماضي، واقدمت على تحدي هذه الادارة برد استفزازي باطلاق صاروخ 'سجيل 2' بعيد المدى، واحتلال بئر نفطية عراقية.
وسط هذه الانتكاسات، تتطلع ادارة اوباما الى تحقيق 'انجاز ما' في الشرق الاوسط، حيث تطاردها الاخفاقات في العراق وافغانستان، ولهذا تلجأ الى 'حلفائها العرب المخلصين' لبث بعض الدماء في شرايين العملية السلمية المتيبسة، للايحاء بأنها ما زالت ملتزمة بتعهداتها باقامة الدولة الفلسطينية.
المنطق يقول بان دول محور الاعتدال العربي يجب ان تستغل هذه الحاجة الامريكية، وممارسة ضغوط بالتالي على ادارة اوباما التي تتهاوى شعبيتها الى معدلات غير مسبوقة، لاتخاذ موقف حازم ضد سياسات نتنياهو الاستيطانية الاستفزازية. ولكن متى كانت هذه الدول منطقية في قراراتها او مواقفها، ومتى قدمت خدمات غير مجانية لسيد البيت الابيض؟ فماذا جنت مقابل تورطها في الحرب على العراق، او الحرب على الارهاب غير المزيد من التبعية والاذلال؟
' ' '
وزراء الخارجية العرب، سواء الطائفين بالبيت الابيض، او القارين في عواصمهم، سيبدأون وحكوماتهم في الايام القليلة المقبلة، بممارسة الضغوط على الطرف الاضعف، اي على الرئيس الفلسطيني محمود عباس، الذي شرب 'حليب السباع'، وقلب الطاولة على الامريكيين والاسرائيليين وعرب المبادرة السلمية، عندما رفض العودة الى المفاوضات دون تجميد كامل للاستيطان، وقرر عدم الترشح في اي انتخابات فلسطينية رئاسية مقبلة.
الرئيس عباس تلقى إهانات كثيرة في السنوات الاربع الماضية من رئاسته، مثلما ارتكب اخطاء عديدة بوضعه البيض كله في سلة عملية سلمية مهينة، واسقاط الخيارات الاخرى، ولكنه برفضه العودة الى المفاوضات في ظل استمرار الاستيطان، انقذ الكثير من سمعته، وشطب بعض خطاياه، ولذلك فإن عليه ان يُكثر من الحسنات لعلها تُذهب السيئات التي التصقت به وبرئاسته، من خلال التمسك بموقفه هذا وعدم التراجع عنه مهما تعاظمت الضغوط.
ما يدفعنا الى قول هذا هو ما لمسناه من بوادر تراجع عبّر عنها الرئيس الفلسطيني في حديثه الاخير لمحطة 'الجزيرة' عندما قال انه طالما اختار العرب السلام واستمروا في خيارهم هذا فإنه ملتزم بخيارهم، ولن يخرج عن ارادتهم، وهذا يعني انه سيلبي طلباتهم اذا ما قرروا العودة الى المفاوضات، او المشاركة في قمة اقليمية بحضور بنيامين نتنياهو في شرم الشيخ، وهي قمة تخطط السيدة كلينتون لعقدها ربما في الشهر المقبل.
الرئيس عباس ينسى ان حركة 'فتح' التي يتزعمها لم تشاور النظام الرسمي العربي عندما اطلقت الرصاصة الاولى قبل 45 عاماً، وتمسكت دائماً بالخيار الوطني المستقل، فلماذا التراجع الآن عن هذا الخيار، والالتزام بمواقف دول عربية مرتهنة للمشاريع الامريكية في المنطقة، وهي مشاريع مضادة للمشروع الوطني الفلسطيني في العدالة والاستقلال؟
السيدة كلينتون وادارتها تسرّب معلومات عن عزمها تحقيق التسوية واقامة الدولة الفلسطينية في حدود عامين وفق جدول زمني محدد، وبورقة ضمانات امريكية للطرف الفلسطيني بالالتزام بحدود حزيران/يونيو عام 1967.
الا يذكرنا هذا الكلام بنظيره الذي اطلقه الرئيس جورج بوش الاب بحل القضية الفلسطينية في اطار مؤتمر مدريد الدولي، بعد انجاز هدف 'تحرير' الكويت، او الذي تعهد به جورج بوش الابن قبل غزو العراق واحتلاله عام 2003 باقامة دولة فلسطينية مستقلة قبل عام 2005؟
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ادارة الرئيس اوباما تقف الآن امام اختبارين صعبين، الاول يتعلق بتصعيد 'الحرب ضد الارهاب'، وبالتحديد ضد تنظيم 'القاعدة'، والثاني اتخاذ خطوات حاسمة ضد النظام الايراني الذي اهانها وتحداها بطريقة استفزازية، قد تبدأ بحصار اقتصادي خانق، يتطور الى قصف جوي لاحقاً، او الاثنين معاً.
في الحالين، تحتاج ادارة اوباما الى عرب الاعتدال، فلا يمكن ان ينجح حصار ضد ايران دون مشاركة العرب، والخليجيين منهم جيران ايران بالذات، ولا يمكن ان تحقق الغارات الجوية الاسرائيلية او الامريكية ضد المنشآت النووية الايرانية اهدافها دون الانطلاق من قواعد في الدول العربية، او المرور من اجوائها.
ومثلما اشترطت دول الاعتدال على واشنطن امدادها بأوراق التوت من اجل تغطية عوراتها مقابل تعاونها في الحربين على العراق وافغانستان، من خلال 'تحريك' عملية السلام لامتصاص نقمة الشارع، او جزء منها على الاقل، تريد الآن تكرار السيناريو نفسه بالتعجيل باستئناف المفاوضات.
فلاحو بلادنا كانوا يعتبرون وصول طير 'ابو فصادة' مؤشراً لنضوج الزيتون، وبدء موسم الحصاد، ونحن نرى ان هذه اللهفة على استئناف المفاوضات، وفي ظل التحديات الحالية للمشاريع الامريكية، هي مقدمة لحرب جديدة ضد ايران وحلفائها في لبنان وغزة، وتصعيد للحرب القائمة حاليا ضد الارهاب.
في المرات السابقة 'سلمت الجرة'، او بالاحرى الجرار الامريكية والعربية الحليفة، وربما لن يكون الحال كذلك في المرة المقبلة، او هكذا نعتقد.
فعندما يكتشف عرب الاعتدال فجأة اهمية 'الهوية العربية' ويطالبون 'حماس' بتقديمها على الهويات الاخرى، اي الايرانية او الاسلامية، وهم الذين كانوا اكبر اعدائها والمحاربين لها، والمتهمين لحامليها بالزندقة والكفر والعلمانية الملحدة، فإن علينا ان نتوقع الاسوأ.
فالهوية الاسلامية 'جيدة' عندما كانت مهادنة، مستكينة، موظفة لخدمة المشاريع الامريكية، والهوية العربية، 'سيئة' لانها كانت هوية مقاتلة لهذه المشاريع، الآن انقلبت الآية في لمحة بصر، وانقلبت معها المواقف.
عزاؤنا ان عمر هذا التضليل بات قصيراً او يقترب من نهايته، فالمنطقة تقف على ابواب التغيير النهائي، وربما يكون العام الحالي هو عام الحسم.
"
عبد الباري عطوان
" يتقاطر وزراء خارجية دول الاعتدال الى العاصمة الامريكية واشنطن بحثا عن مخرج من حال الجمود الحالية التي تحيط بعملية السلام، فقد التقت وزيرة الخارجية الامريكية هيلاري كلينتون يوم امس بوفدين عربيين، الاول اردني برئاسة السيد ناصر جودة، والثاني مصري يضم اللواء عمر سليمان رئيس جهاز المخابرات، والسيد احمد ابو الغيط وزير الخارجية، وهناك انباء عن زيارات اخرى في الايام القليلة المقبلة.
من الواضح ان السيدة كلينتون تمارس ضغوطا على شركائها العرب لايجاد سيناريو مقبول، او بالاحرى توفير المظلة، لاستئناف المفاوضات بين الجانبين الفلسطيني والاسرائيلي بأسرع وقت ممكن، ودون الزام الطرف الاسرائيلي بتجميد كامل للاستيطان في الضفة والقدس المحتلة.
ادارة الرئيس باراك اوباما تعيش اصعب ايامها، فقد مُنيت بصفعتين امنيتين قويتين في الثلاثين يوما الماضية، احداها عملية اقتحام عرين المخابرات المركزية الامريكية في خوست من قبل انتحاري اردني (همام البلوي) وقتل سبعة من اهم قياداتها، الى جانب الشريف علي بن زيد ضابط الاتصال الاردني، والثانية نجاح المواطن النيجيري عمر الفاروق عبد المطلب في اختراق الاجراءات الامنية المشددة في المطارات الغربية ومحاولة تفجير عبوة ناسفة في طائرة مدنية فوق مدينة ديترويت الامريكية.
ولعل الصفعة الاقوى والاكثر اهانة فهي تلك التي تلقتها من ايران التي رفضت التجاوب مع طلباتها بتخصيب اليورانيوم في الموعد المحدد اي نهاية العام الماضي، واقدمت على تحدي هذه الادارة برد استفزازي باطلاق صاروخ 'سجيل 2' بعيد المدى، واحتلال بئر نفطية عراقية.
وسط هذه الانتكاسات، تتطلع ادارة اوباما الى تحقيق 'انجاز ما' في الشرق الاوسط، حيث تطاردها الاخفاقات في العراق وافغانستان، ولهذا تلجأ الى 'حلفائها العرب المخلصين' لبث بعض الدماء في شرايين العملية السلمية المتيبسة، للايحاء بأنها ما زالت ملتزمة بتعهداتها باقامة الدولة الفلسطينية.
المنطق يقول بان دول محور الاعتدال العربي يجب ان تستغل هذه الحاجة الامريكية، وممارسة ضغوط بالتالي على ادارة اوباما التي تتهاوى شعبيتها الى معدلات غير مسبوقة، لاتخاذ موقف حازم ضد سياسات نتنياهو الاستيطانية الاستفزازية. ولكن متى كانت هذه الدول منطقية في قراراتها او مواقفها، ومتى قدمت خدمات غير مجانية لسيد البيت الابيض؟ فماذا جنت مقابل تورطها في الحرب على العراق، او الحرب على الارهاب غير المزيد من التبعية والاذلال؟
' ' '
وزراء الخارجية العرب، سواء الطائفين بالبيت الابيض، او القارين في عواصمهم، سيبدأون وحكوماتهم في الايام القليلة المقبلة، بممارسة الضغوط على الطرف الاضعف، اي على الرئيس الفلسطيني محمود عباس، الذي شرب 'حليب السباع'، وقلب الطاولة على الامريكيين والاسرائيليين وعرب المبادرة السلمية، عندما رفض العودة الى المفاوضات دون تجميد كامل للاستيطان، وقرر عدم الترشح في اي انتخابات فلسطينية رئاسية مقبلة.
الرئيس عباس تلقى إهانات كثيرة في السنوات الاربع الماضية من رئاسته، مثلما ارتكب اخطاء عديدة بوضعه البيض كله في سلة عملية سلمية مهينة، واسقاط الخيارات الاخرى، ولكنه برفضه العودة الى المفاوضات في ظل استمرار الاستيطان، انقذ الكثير من سمعته، وشطب بعض خطاياه، ولذلك فإن عليه ان يُكثر من الحسنات لعلها تُذهب السيئات التي التصقت به وبرئاسته، من خلال التمسك بموقفه هذا وعدم التراجع عنه مهما تعاظمت الضغوط.
ما يدفعنا الى قول هذا هو ما لمسناه من بوادر تراجع عبّر عنها الرئيس الفلسطيني في حديثه الاخير لمحطة 'الجزيرة' عندما قال انه طالما اختار العرب السلام واستمروا في خيارهم هذا فإنه ملتزم بخيارهم، ولن يخرج عن ارادتهم، وهذا يعني انه سيلبي طلباتهم اذا ما قرروا العودة الى المفاوضات، او المشاركة في قمة اقليمية بحضور بنيامين نتنياهو في شرم الشيخ، وهي قمة تخطط السيدة كلينتون لعقدها ربما في الشهر المقبل.
الرئيس عباس ينسى ان حركة 'فتح' التي يتزعمها لم تشاور النظام الرسمي العربي عندما اطلقت الرصاصة الاولى قبل 45 عاماً، وتمسكت دائماً بالخيار الوطني المستقل، فلماذا التراجع الآن عن هذا الخيار، والالتزام بمواقف دول عربية مرتهنة للمشاريع الامريكية في المنطقة، وهي مشاريع مضادة للمشروع الوطني الفلسطيني في العدالة والاستقلال؟
السيدة كلينتون وادارتها تسرّب معلومات عن عزمها تحقيق التسوية واقامة الدولة الفلسطينية في حدود عامين وفق جدول زمني محدد، وبورقة ضمانات امريكية للطرف الفلسطيني بالالتزام بحدود حزيران/يونيو عام 1967.
الا يذكرنا هذا الكلام بنظيره الذي اطلقه الرئيس جورج بوش الاب بحل القضية الفلسطينية في اطار مؤتمر مدريد الدولي، بعد انجاز هدف 'تحرير' الكويت، او الذي تعهد به جورج بوش الابن قبل غزو العراق واحتلاله عام 2003 باقامة دولة فلسطينية مستقلة قبل عام 2005؟
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ادارة الرئيس اوباما تقف الآن امام اختبارين صعبين، الاول يتعلق بتصعيد 'الحرب ضد الارهاب'، وبالتحديد ضد تنظيم 'القاعدة'، والثاني اتخاذ خطوات حاسمة ضد النظام الايراني الذي اهانها وتحداها بطريقة استفزازية، قد تبدأ بحصار اقتصادي خانق، يتطور الى قصف جوي لاحقاً، او الاثنين معاً.
في الحالين، تحتاج ادارة اوباما الى عرب الاعتدال، فلا يمكن ان ينجح حصار ضد ايران دون مشاركة العرب، والخليجيين منهم جيران ايران بالذات، ولا يمكن ان تحقق الغارات الجوية الاسرائيلية او الامريكية ضد المنشآت النووية الايرانية اهدافها دون الانطلاق من قواعد في الدول العربية، او المرور من اجوائها.
ومثلما اشترطت دول الاعتدال على واشنطن امدادها بأوراق التوت من اجل تغطية عوراتها مقابل تعاونها في الحربين على العراق وافغانستان، من خلال 'تحريك' عملية السلام لامتصاص نقمة الشارع، او جزء منها على الاقل، تريد الآن تكرار السيناريو نفسه بالتعجيل باستئناف المفاوضات.
فلاحو بلادنا كانوا يعتبرون وصول طير 'ابو فصادة' مؤشراً لنضوج الزيتون، وبدء موسم الحصاد، ونحن نرى ان هذه اللهفة على استئناف المفاوضات، وفي ظل التحديات الحالية للمشاريع الامريكية، هي مقدمة لحرب جديدة ضد ايران وحلفائها في لبنان وغزة، وتصعيد للحرب القائمة حاليا ضد الارهاب.
في المرات السابقة 'سلمت الجرة'، او بالاحرى الجرار الامريكية والعربية الحليفة، وربما لن يكون الحال كذلك في المرة المقبلة، او هكذا نعتقد.
فعندما يكتشف عرب الاعتدال فجأة اهمية 'الهوية العربية' ويطالبون 'حماس' بتقديمها على الهويات الاخرى، اي الايرانية او الاسلامية، وهم الذين كانوا اكبر اعدائها والمحاربين لها، والمتهمين لحامليها بالزندقة والكفر والعلمانية الملحدة، فإن علينا ان نتوقع الاسوأ.
فالهوية الاسلامية 'جيدة' عندما كانت مهادنة، مستكينة، موظفة لخدمة المشاريع الامريكية، والهوية العربية، 'سيئة' لانها كانت هوية مقاتلة لهذه المشاريع، الآن انقلبت الآية في لمحة بصر، وانقلبت معها المواقف.
عزاؤنا ان عمر هذا التضليل بات قصيراً او يقترب من نهايته، فالمنطقة تقف على ابواب التغيير النهائي، وربما يكون العام الحالي هو عام الحسم.
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Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - The politics behind the Viva Palestina convoy - 7 Jan 2010
"George Galloway's Viva Palestina convoy finally arrived in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday with a cargo of activists and humanitarian aid. Their month-long journey was marked by diplomatic tensions, enforced changes of route, and in the final hours, violent clashes with Egyptian security forces. So was it worth it and could it have been handled differently? "
Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll
The question in this latest poll is:
Do you support Cairo's decision to restrict aid transfer to Gaza to the Egyptian Red Crescent (society)?
With about 400 responding (it is very early), 83% said no.
Do you support Cairo's decision to restrict aid transfer to Gaza to the Egyptian Red Crescent (society)?
With about 400 responding (it is very early), 83% said no.
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