Thursday, October 20, 2011
Al-Jazeera Video: Fleeing Syrians refused refugee status
"Syrians fleeing the military crackdown are finding it hard to re-settle in neighbouring Jordan.
Many have family ties there, but the government is refusing to recognise them as refugees.
Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reports from the capital Amman."
Real News Video: Why was Shalit deal reached now?
While hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and Gilad Shalit return home, hundreds others go into exile.
Doubts Shadow Egyptian Election
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, Oct 20, 2011 (IPS) - Egypt's interim government has begun accepting candidacy applications for parliamentary polls slated to begin Nov. 21. But as the country prepares for its first post-Mubarak elections, a number of political parties say they are considering boycotting the contest.....
"Election laws as they currently stand will allow NDP remnants to run in elections," leading union member Essam Sherif told IPS. "And I wouldn't put it past them to employ violence against their opponents and fix elections as they have in the past."
Barouma voiced similar fears, saying that participation in elections by NDP holdovers would lead to a "bloodbath", especially given the current security vacuum and the post-revolution "proliferation of weapons among the citizenry."
"The council has stated that if large numbers of people are killed in elections-related violence, it would suspend the polling," Barouma said. "And this would provide it with a perfect excuse to further extend the transitional period and remain in power."
Within the last three days, a number of SCAF and government officials have reiterated promises to enact laws banning Mubarak regime officials from contesting the polls - but only in cases in which judicial authorities had found the official in question guilty of corruption.
"The law in this form is totally worthless," said Youssef. "Corruption cases against former officials will take years. In the meantime, they'll win seats in parliament using bribery and coercion."
He added: "This will derail Egypt's ongoing revolution by allowing elements of the former regime, slowly but surely, back into power.""
"CAIRO, Oct 20, 2011 (IPS) - Egypt's interim government has begun accepting candidacy applications for parliamentary polls slated to begin Nov. 21. But as the country prepares for its first post-Mubarak elections, a number of political parties say they are considering boycotting the contest.....
"Election laws as they currently stand will allow NDP remnants to run in elections," leading union member Essam Sherif told IPS. "And I wouldn't put it past them to employ violence against their opponents and fix elections as they have in the past."
Barouma voiced similar fears, saying that participation in elections by NDP holdovers would lead to a "bloodbath", especially given the current security vacuum and the post-revolution "proliferation of weapons among the citizenry."
"The council has stated that if large numbers of people are killed in elections-related violence, it would suspend the polling," Barouma said. "And this would provide it with a perfect excuse to further extend the transitional period and remain in power."
Within the last three days, a number of SCAF and government officials have reiterated promises to enact laws banning Mubarak regime officials from contesting the polls - but only in cases in which judicial authorities had found the official in question guilty of corruption.
"The law in this form is totally worthless," said Youssef. "Corruption cases against former officials will take years. In the meantime, they'll win seats in parliament using bribery and coercion."
He added: "This will derail Egypt's ongoing revolution by allowing elements of the former regime, slowly but surely, back into power.""
How to Kill an Ambassador
by Philip Giraldi, October 20, 2011
"An increasing number of former intel officers that I network with are convinced that the alleged plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington is not only completely implausible as described by the Justice Department and White House but also possibly the contrivance of an intelligence or security service other than that of Iran. There is a consensus that the Iranian government has no motive for carrying out the attack, as it would have only further isolated Tehran internationally and could easily have led to massive retaliation. The “rogue element” theory that Iran’s fractured politics might mean that someone in the Quds group was actually trying to embarrass someone else in the government has a certain plausibility, but no one who knows anything about Iran actually believes it to be true. Nor is it likely that Iran mounted the complicated operation to avenge the assassinations of several of its nuclear scientists. The scientists were killed by the Israelis, who would have been the target if that had been the case. So the only question becomes, who is doing what to whom and why?.....
....Would Israel be bold enough to stage a major terror operation in the United States capital? The Lavon Affair, the USS Liberty, Jonathan Pollard, and the still unexplained actions of Israel before 9/11 suggest that it might. If an Iranian plotter had killed the Saudi ambassador in Washington while blowing up a restaurant full of people, it would have been an act of war, a Pearl Harbor moment. If Tehran had apparently plotted to do so and failed because the plot was discovered, it could still be construed as an act of war by those willing to see it that way (Sen. Carl Levin, for instance). Either way it is blamed on the Iranian government, not on the actual false-flag perpetrator....."
"An increasing number of former intel officers that I network with are convinced that the alleged plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington is not only completely implausible as described by the Justice Department and White House but also possibly the contrivance of an intelligence or security service other than that of Iran. There is a consensus that the Iranian government has no motive for carrying out the attack, as it would have only further isolated Tehran internationally and could easily have led to massive retaliation. The “rogue element” theory that Iran’s fractured politics might mean that someone in the Quds group was actually trying to embarrass someone else in the government has a certain plausibility, but no one who knows anything about Iran actually believes it to be true. Nor is it likely that Iran mounted the complicated operation to avenge the assassinations of several of its nuclear scientists. The scientists were killed by the Israelis, who would have been the target if that had been the case. So the only question becomes, who is doing what to whom and why?.....
....Would Israel be bold enough to stage a major terror operation in the United States capital? The Lavon Affair, the USS Liberty, Jonathan Pollard, and the still unexplained actions of Israel before 9/11 suggest that it might. If an Iranian plotter had killed the Saudi ambassador in Washington while blowing up a restaurant full of people, it would have been an act of war, a Pearl Harbor moment. If Tehran had apparently plotted to do so and failed because the plot was discovered, it could still be construed as an act of war by those willing to see it that way (Sen. Carl Levin, for instance). Either way it is blamed on the Iranian government, not on the actual false-flag perpetrator....."
A Saudi-Iranian cold war takes shape
By Rami G. Khouri
The Daily Star
"The Middle East continues to experience one of its most tumultuous moments of structural change in several generations, and countries are reconfiguring both their domestic power structures as well as their intra-regional relations.
In this context, we can expect much of the diplomatic maneuvering in the region to revolve around the axes of two major ideological confrontations. The first is the Arab-Israeli conflict, the second the invigorated Saudi-Iranian confrontation. It remains unclear if the national interests of Saudi Arabia and Iran are genuinely threatened by the other side, or whether we are simply in a situation where mediocre leaderships are using the exaggerated threat of the other, coupled with their own sense of vulnerability, to turn a local feud into a major cause of region-wide tension and proxy warfare.
I tend to believe the latter case is true....
This rivalry and open confrontation seems to be driven more from the Saudi side than the Iranian side for now, because the Saudis feel more vulnerable that their world, as they know it, is threatened with change. Their ferocious response, which contrasts with the traditional low-key Saudi style of diplomacy, is a sign that the kingdom feels in danger and will take the initiative to protect itself.
A new regional cold war is taking shape, adding to the threats the region is already facing from the repercussions of the Arab-Israeli conflict."
The Daily Star
"The Middle East continues to experience one of its most tumultuous moments of structural change in several generations, and countries are reconfiguring both their domestic power structures as well as their intra-regional relations.
In this context, we can expect much of the diplomatic maneuvering in the region to revolve around the axes of two major ideological confrontations. The first is the Arab-Israeli conflict, the second the invigorated Saudi-Iranian confrontation. It remains unclear if the national interests of Saudi Arabia and Iran are genuinely threatened by the other side, or whether we are simply in a situation where mediocre leaderships are using the exaggerated threat of the other, coupled with their own sense of vulnerability, to turn a local feud into a major cause of region-wide tension and proxy warfare.
I tend to believe the latter case is true....
This rivalry and open confrontation seems to be driven more from the Saudi side than the Iranian side for now, because the Saudis feel more vulnerable that their world, as they know it, is threatened with change. Their ferocious response, which contrasts with the traditional low-key Saudi style of diplomacy, is a sign that the kingdom feels in danger and will take the initiative to protect itself.
A new regional cold war is taking shape, adding to the threats the region is already facing from the repercussions of the Arab-Israeli conflict."
The US power grab in Africa
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
"Libya - where United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a whistle-stop visit on Tuesday but didn't get to see the devastation in Sirte - is just one angle of a multi-vector US strategy in Africa. Washington's Uganda surge, where 100 "advisors" now have their boots on the ground, is a classic Pipelineistan gambit and it's not hard to fathom where that country's oil contracts will eventually land.....
In Libya, the objective is to occupy an absolutely strategic crossroads between the Mediterranean, northern Africa and the Middle East, with the added (nostalgic?) benefit of the West - as in Paris, London and Washington - finally getting to hold military bases as when King Idris was in power (1951 to 1969). As a whole, control must be established over northern Africa, central Africa, eastern Africa and - more problematically - the Horn of Africa.
The trillion-dollar question ahead is how China - which plots strategic moves years in advance - is going to react. As for Amazon Clinton, she must be beaming. In Iraq, Washington meticulously destroyed a whole country over two long decades just to end up with nothing - not even a substantial oil contract. Clinton at least got a private army - the "advisers" who will be stationed in the bigger-than-the-Vatican US Embassy in Baghdad.
And considering that Obama's new African "advisers" will be paid by the State Department, now Clinton's also got her own African private army. After November 2012, Clinton might well consider a move into the contractor business. In the sacred name of R2P, naturally. "
Asia Times
"Libya - where United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a whistle-stop visit on Tuesday but didn't get to see the devastation in Sirte - is just one angle of a multi-vector US strategy in Africa. Washington's Uganda surge, where 100 "advisors" now have their boots on the ground, is a classic Pipelineistan gambit and it's not hard to fathom where that country's oil contracts will eventually land.....
In Libya, the objective is to occupy an absolutely strategic crossroads between the Mediterranean, northern Africa and the Middle East, with the added (nostalgic?) benefit of the West - as in Paris, London and Washington - finally getting to hold military bases as when King Idris was in power (1951 to 1969). As a whole, control must be established over northern Africa, central Africa, eastern Africa and - more problematically - the Horn of Africa.
The trillion-dollar question ahead is how China - which plots strategic moves years in advance - is going to react. As for Amazon Clinton, she must be beaming. In Iraq, Washington meticulously destroyed a whole country over two long decades just to end up with nothing - not even a substantial oil contract. Clinton at least got a private army - the "advisers" who will be stationed in the bigger-than-the-Vatican US Embassy in Baghdad.
And considering that Obama's new African "advisers" will be paid by the State Department, now Clinton's also got her own African private army. After November 2012, Clinton might well consider a move into the contractor business. In the sacred name of R2P, naturally. "
Tunisia's election: a day of hope for the entire Arab world
The obstacles are huge – but on Sunday we Tunisians can light a democratic beacon for our neighbours
A GOOD COMMENT
A GOOD COMMENT
Moncef Marzouki
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 October 2011
Read this article in Arabic
"Immediately after independence on 20 March 1956, Tunisians convened their first constituent assembly, with the goal of establishing the political system and type of society they had aspired to for decades under French colonial rule. The assembly sat for three years but it did not build a democratic state and a just society. Instead, it established a system that was republican on the surface but monarchist in reality, with Habib Bourguiba as its vulgar king.
Bourguiba inserted a clause in the constitution in 1974 decreeing his presidency for life under a one-party state, propped up by a powerful political police....
On the other hand, there are positive indicators that give hope. The election is real, and not the type of show for which Tunis was renowned; and the campaign has passed peacefully so far.
Tunisians are engaged in a never-ending political debate; they follow the many meetings convened by the parties with great interest. These include the Facebook users – now estimated at a fifth of the 10 million population – who played a major role in triggering the revolution. Tunisians are now politicised to an unprecedented level. Those parties that think democracy is on sale may well be in for a surprise.
All of the Arab countries are monitoring the Tunisian experience with interest. Will our country continue to act as a beacon of hope for its neighbours by passing its first democratic test and establishing a new society? Or will it slide yet again into tyranny? If the latter, it would lead it to revolution once again – but this time it would not take half a century."
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 October 2011
Read this article in Arabic
"Immediately after independence on 20 March 1956, Tunisians convened their first constituent assembly, with the goal of establishing the political system and type of society they had aspired to for decades under French colonial rule. The assembly sat for three years but it did not build a democratic state and a just society. Instead, it established a system that was republican on the surface but monarchist in reality, with Habib Bourguiba as its vulgar king.
Bourguiba inserted a clause in the constitution in 1974 decreeing his presidency for life under a one-party state, propped up by a powerful political police....
On the other hand, there are positive indicators that give hope. The election is real, and not the type of show for which Tunis was renowned; and the campaign has passed peacefully so far.
Tunisians are engaged in a never-ending political debate; they follow the many meetings convened by the parties with great interest. These include the Facebook users – now estimated at a fifth of the 10 million population – who played a major role in triggering the revolution. Tunisians are now politicised to an unprecedented level. Those parties that think democracy is on sale may well be in for a surprise.
All of the Arab countries are monitoring the Tunisian experience with interest. Will our country continue to act as a beacon of hope for its neighbours by passing its first democratic test and establishing a new society? Or will it slide yet again into tyranny? If the latter, it would lead it to revolution once again – but this time it would not take half a century."
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Son of Africa claims a continent’s crown jewels
A GREAT PIECE
By John Pilger
20 October 2011
"On 14 October, President Barack Obama announced he was sending United States special forces troops to Uganda to join the civil war there. In the next few months, US combat troops will be sent to South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. They will only "engage" for "self-defence", says Obama, satirically. With Libya secured, an American invasion of the African continent is under way.
Obama's decision is described in the press as "highly unusual" and "surprising", even "weird". It is none of these things. It is the logic of American foreign policy since 1945. Take Vietnam. The priority was to halt the influence of China, an imperial rival, and "protect" Indonesia, which President Nixon called "the region's richest hoard of natural resources... the greatest prize". Vietnam merely got in the way; and the slaughter of more than three million Vietnamese and the devastation and poisoning of their land was the price of America achieving its goal. Like all America's subsequent invasions, a trail of blood from Latin America to Afghanistan and Iraq, the rationale was usually "self defence" or "humanitarian", words long emptied of their dictionary meaning....
For more than a decade the US has tried to establish a command on the continent of Africa, AFRICOM, but has been rebuffed by governments, fearful of the regional tensions this would cause. Libya, and now Uganda, South Sudan and Congo, provide the main chance. As WikiLeaks cables and the US National Strategy for Counter-terrorism reveal, American plans for Africa are part of a global design in which 60,000 special forces, including death squads, already operate in 75 countries, soon to be 120. As Dick Cheney pointed out in his 1990s "defence strategy" plan, America simply wishes to rule the world.
That this is now the gift of Barack Obama, the "Son of Africa", is supremely ironic. Or is it? As Frantz Fanon explained in 'Black Skin, White Masks', what matters is not so much the colour of your skin as the power you serve and the millions you betray."
By John Pilger
20 October 2011
"On 14 October, President Barack Obama announced he was sending United States special forces troops to Uganda to join the civil war there. In the next few months, US combat troops will be sent to South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. They will only "engage" for "self-defence", says Obama, satirically. With Libya secured, an American invasion of the African continent is under way.
Obama's decision is described in the press as "highly unusual" and "surprising", even "weird". It is none of these things. It is the logic of American foreign policy since 1945. Take Vietnam. The priority was to halt the influence of China, an imperial rival, and "protect" Indonesia, which President Nixon called "the region's richest hoard of natural resources... the greatest prize". Vietnam merely got in the way; and the slaughter of more than three million Vietnamese and the devastation and poisoning of their land was the price of America achieving its goal. Like all America's subsequent invasions, a trail of blood from Latin America to Afghanistan and Iraq, the rationale was usually "self defence" or "humanitarian", words long emptied of their dictionary meaning....
For more than a decade the US has tried to establish a command on the continent of Africa, AFRICOM, but has been rebuffed by governments, fearful of the regional tensions this would cause. Libya, and now Uganda, South Sudan and Congo, provide the main chance. As WikiLeaks cables and the US National Strategy for Counter-terrorism reveal, American plans for Africa are part of a global design in which 60,000 special forces, including death squads, already operate in 75 countries, soon to be 120. As Dick Cheney pointed out in his 1990s "defence strategy" plan, America simply wishes to rule the world.
That this is now the gift of Barack Obama, the "Son of Africa", is supremely ironic. Or is it? As Frantz Fanon explained in 'Black Skin, White Masks', what matters is not so much the colour of your skin as the power you serve and the millions you betray."
Greece crippled as its people say no to poverty
Patrick Cockburn witnesses a nation – from youth and unions to middle classes – unite in strikes against cuts
"Greece has been paralysed by a 48-hour general strike that began yesterday and cast doubt on the unpopular government's ability to implement reforms demanded by the European Union in return for further bailout money....
Real reform in Greece is unlikely to come from a government distrusted as self-serving and corrupt; the ex-minister said it did not have the political strength to impose change while facing powerful special interests."
"Greece has been paralysed by a 48-hour general strike that began yesterday and cast doubt on the unpopular government's ability to implement reforms demanded by the European Union in return for further bailout money....
Real reform in Greece is unlikely to come from a government distrusted as self-serving and corrupt; the ex-minister said it did not have the political strength to impose change while facing powerful special interests."
Real News Video: Egyptian Political Parties Represent the Country's Elite
Lina Attalah: Many Egyptians are skeptical that upcoming Parliamentary elections will lead the country through democratic change, and vow to continue striking to meet demands
Palestinian view: 'Despite the siege and the suffering, we can share in a feeling of victory'
By Catrina Stewart in Gaza City
The Independent
"In a show of strength rarely displayed these days, masked and heavily armed militants from Hamas's armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, joined the hundreds of thousands of jubilant Palestinians who crowded into Gaza City's Al-Katiba Square to greet the arrival of nearly 300 newly freed prisoners.
The sight of so many fighters in plain view was a throwback to another much bloodier era, but it seemed that Hamas, the engineer of the most lopsided prisoner exchange in Israel's history, intended to drive home the message that the language of force had worked.
"It is a victory for the resistance, a victory for the Palestinian people," said Raida al-Uff, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman. "Despite the siege and the suffering, Palestinians can be happy, even if only for one reason."...."
The Independent
"In a show of strength rarely displayed these days, masked and heavily armed militants from Hamas's armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, joined the hundreds of thousands of jubilant Palestinians who crowded into Gaza City's Al-Katiba Square to greet the arrival of nearly 300 newly freed prisoners.
The sight of so many fighters in plain view was a throwback to another much bloodier era, but it seemed that Hamas, the engineer of the most lopsided prisoner exchange in Israel's history, intended to drive home the message that the language of force had worked.
"It is a victory for the resistance, a victory for the Palestinian people," said Raida al-Uff, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman. "Despite the siege and the suffering, Palestinians can be happy, even if only for one reason."...."
Syria's opposition is unified and peaceful
Bashar al-Assad may claim his opposition are violent Islamists, but the birth of the Syrian National Council shows otherwise
Mohanad Hage Ali
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 October 2011
"The birth of the Syrian National Council in Istanbul earlier this month challenges the Assad regime's claims that the opposition is Islamist, backward and violent.
Since the uprising began seven months ago, the regime's media has been trumpeting reports of clashes with Islamist extremist gangs to undermine the revolution internationally, and to nurture a fear of change inside Syria. The relative absence of a unified voice for the opposition and the revolution has played into the regime's narratives.
But the emergence of the SNC largely demystifies Syria's opposition map, which is mostly divided into the old guard and the revolutionary youth organised under co-ordination committees.
The old guard are pre-revolution opposition groups and independent dissidents, whether secular or Islamist (including the Muslim Brotherhood). The new youth groups, also represented on the SNC, are the revolution's "engines", officially known as the local co-ordination committees and the Syrian Revolution General Commission....
The Syrian opposition now has a somewhat unified voice. What remains unclear is how the confrontation will unfold. In the words of one Syrian dissident: "The regime's fate is known; the two unknowns are only the time and the heavy price we have to pay.""
Mohanad Hage Ali
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 October 2011
"The birth of the Syrian National Council in Istanbul earlier this month challenges the Assad regime's claims that the opposition is Islamist, backward and violent.
Since the uprising began seven months ago, the regime's media has been trumpeting reports of clashes with Islamist extremist gangs to undermine the revolution internationally, and to nurture a fear of change inside Syria. The relative absence of a unified voice for the opposition and the revolution has played into the regime's narratives.
But the emergence of the SNC largely demystifies Syria's opposition map, which is mostly divided into the old guard and the revolutionary youth organised under co-ordination committees.
The old guard are pre-revolution opposition groups and independent dissidents, whether secular or Islamist (including the Muslim Brotherhood). The new youth groups, also represented on the SNC, are the revolution's "engines", officially known as the local co-ordination committees and the Syrian Revolution General Commission....
The Syrian opposition now has a somewhat unified voice. What remains unclear is how the confrontation will unfold. In the words of one Syrian dissident: "The regime's fate is known; the two unknowns are only the time and the heavy price we have to pay.""
Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman Demands Security Council Take Action on Yemen
As violence in Yemen erupts again, Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman calls on US (??) and UN to help.
"....Karman is scheduled to come to the United States today. Her first planned stop is the United Nations, where she intends to join a protest demanding that the Security Council, which could vote on a Yemen resolution today, take tough action to end Saleh’s rule.....
Karman hopes her new stature will help sway international policy on Yemen, including with her fellow Nobel laureate Barack Obama. [Say what? Are you that naive Tawakkul??]
“I want to talk to the Obama administration to get support for the Yemeni revolution,” said Karman, who always refers to the Yemeni protests with the R word.
While in the United States, Karman said, she would call on the United States and the United Nations to ban Saleh from traveling and to freeze his assets. She also will call for Saleh to be referred to the International Criminal Court for the attacks on protesters.
Obama has deplored the attacks in Yemen and called for Saleh’s immediate resignation. But like other world leaders, he has been reluctant to seek sanctions against Saleh, who has been a fickle yet close partner in combating Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Indeed, Yemeni officials have decried Obama’s continued insistence that Saleh must go following Yemen’s cooperation in a controversial U.S. drone strike last month that killed the Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Obama describes Awlaki as an al-Qaeda leader......"
"....Karman is scheduled to come to the United States today. Her first planned stop is the United Nations, where she intends to join a protest demanding that the Security Council, which could vote on a Yemen resolution today, take tough action to end Saleh’s rule.....
Karman hopes her new stature will help sway international policy on Yemen, including with her fellow Nobel laureate Barack Obama. [Say what? Are you that naive Tawakkul??]
“I want to talk to the Obama administration to get support for the Yemeni revolution,” said Karman, who always refers to the Yemeni protests with the R word.
While in the United States, Karman said, she would call on the United States and the United Nations to ban Saleh from traveling and to freeze his assets. She also will call for Saleh to be referred to the International Criminal Court for the attacks on protesters.
Obama has deplored the attacks in Yemen and called for Saleh’s immediate resignation. But like other world leaders, he has been reluctant to seek sanctions against Saleh, who has been a fickle yet close partner in combating Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Indeed, Yemeni officials have decried Obama’s continued insistence that Saleh must go following Yemen’s cooperation in a controversial U.S. drone strike last month that killed the Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Obama describes Awlaki as an al-Qaeda leader......"
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