Rage against the House of Saud

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

"The key slogan in Tahrir Square in Egypt was "the people want the downfall of the regime". When it comes to Saudi Arabia, it's more like "the House of Saud wants the downfall of its people"....

The US$36 billion question in Saudi Arabia concerns whether an ailing monarch can bribe his subjects into submission with oil money and escape the furious freedom winds of the great 2011 Arab revolt. The world will be able to watch a preview this Friday, as a Facebook-organized "Day of Rage" hits the globe's largest gas station.....

Washington and European capitals are shaken to the core with the prospect of those northern African winds producing a freedom storm in Saudiland - and the Persian Gulf.

So forget about "democracy" or "human rights". Enter the brand new Barack Obama administration "regime alteration" doctrine, where popular aspirations in the Gulf - from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain and Oman - are ditched to the benefit of the "stability" afforded by "key allies", swing producers House of Saud and hosts of the 5th Fleet the al-Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain. Moreover, the House of Saud has told the al-Khalifa that if they do not crush their own Shi'ite-majority revolt, Saudi forces will. And Washington won't bat an eyelid. As it won't bat an eyelid if this Day of Rage turns into a bloodbath."

Naomi Klein on Anti-Union Bills and Shock Doctrine American-Style: "This is a Frontal Assault on Democracy, It’s a Kind of a Corporate Coup D’Etat"

"As a wave of anti-union bills are introduced across the country in the wake of Wall Street financial crisis, many analysts are picking up on the theory that award-winning journalist and author Naomi Klein first argued in her 2007 bestselling book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. In the book, she reveals how those in power use times of crisis to push through undemocratic and extreme free market economic policies. “The Wisconsin protests are an incredible example of how to resist the shock doctrine,” Klein says....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Libyan aircraft bomb Ras Lanuf

"Libyan military aircraft piloted by officers loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the embattled leader of the country, have bombed targets in the rebel-held oil town of Ras Lanuf.

The attacks are the latest in a series of counter-offensives by Gaddafi's military against anti-government forces, which also include members of the military who refuse to recognise Gaddafi's authority.

Al Jazeera's Lawrence Lee reports on the latest developments in the country."

Al-Jazeera Video: Anger grows against Yemen's ruler

"A police raid on an anti-government protest at a university campus in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, has left at least one person dead, and several others seriously injured.

In a separate clash between pro- and anti-government protesters in the country's south, one supporter of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, was killed.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra in Sanaa has more on the brewing political crisis in Yemen."

Al-Jazeera Video: Iraq fears repression and intolerance

"As change sweeps the Middle East, there are fears of a new crackdown in Iraq.

After anti-government demonstrations last week, security forces beat and arrested hundreds of protestors. Although
officials have since apologised, but protesters fear that further repressive measures may be on the way.

Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reports from Baghdad."

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Al-Qaeda's role in the Arab world

"As the ripple effects of revolutionary change continue to be felt throughout much of the Arab world, al-Qaeda has been conspicuously silent. Has al-Qaeda played any role in the Arab revolts sweeping across the region?"

Al-Jazeera Video: Libya oil tanks seen as 'time bomb'

"The oil producing town of Ras Lanuf has seen some of the worst fighting in the last few hours.

Oil workers fear one wrong move from either side could see an oil or gas tank hit, causing a catastrophe.

They spoke to Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley."

Al-Jazeera Video: Yemeni police fire on protesters

"Security forces in Yemen have fired on anti-government protesters in the capital Sanaa

As many as 100 people were injured..

For weeks they have been calling for president Ali Abudullah Saleh to step down.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports."

I know, let's sell weapons to a lunatic

By Mark Steel
The Independent

"The Western leaders now condemning Colonel Gaddafi as a madman must be perplexed as to what's gone wrong with him, because up until a month ago they obviously thought he was perfectly sane and well-balanced – otherwise they wouldn't have sold him all those tanks. They must wonder if the stress of being a dictator has got to him, and if he'd had a fortnight off and started yoga all this trouble could have been avoided.

So maybe the best way to intervene is to send him a good shrink. Then they could make a report for the UN that went: "His desire to refer to his fellow Libyans as 'Cockroaches' who must be killed suggests the patient is experiencing the trauma of feeling he's a woman trapped in a Colonel's body. And the need to make speeches while under an umbrella is a classic symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, so maybe we shouldn't send him any tanks for at least three weeks, until he's better."

They should have been prepared for this, because they all said he was mad for 30 years, then suddenly decided he was rational about 10 years ago, by coincidence around the time he announced he'd back the West in the war on terror. To be fair, some of those who embraced him at this time are impressively unrepentant. For example, Peter Mandelson insists when Gaddafi renounced his desire for weapons of mass destruction we had to "bring him into the fold" with deals for oil and arms.

Because when a dictator tells you he no longer wants destructive weapons, what else can you do but welcome his change of heart, by selling him a desertful of destructive weapons? It's like wandering up to someone at Alcoholics Anonymous and saying: "Congratulations on finally renouncing drink. Now to celebrate let's go and get pissed.".....

So the rebels seem to be aware that while the West can offer expert advice on the weaponry they're up against, seeing as it was the West that made it, on the other hand being supported by the British and American army won't help their aim of winning mass popularity amongst the Libyan people....."

The "Yes We Can" President, by Dave Brown

إسرائيل ونجل القذافي.. تعاون وتكتم

A VERY IMPORTANT PIECE

محمد محسن وتد-أم الفحم

"تلتزم إسرائيل الصمت حيال أخبار تفيد بعلاقة شركاتها الأمنية والعسكرية بتجنيد فرق مرتزقة تساند نظام معمر القذافي في قمع ثورة الشعب الليبي، حيث يرجح أن تكون تل أبيب أطلقت نشاط شركاتها الأمنية بأفريقيا عام 2002 للإشراف على تدريب وتسليح جماعات مرتزقة.

وتنشط الشركات بمجال الاستخبارات وتجارة الأسلحة والمعدات الأمنية وتقديم الإرشاد والمعونات للجماعات ورؤساء دول وقبائل، وتحولت إلى عصابات يستعان بخدماتها في حالات الطوارئ لخلق التوتر والانشقاقات، خصوصا بالدول غير الموالية لإسرائيل.

دون تعقيب
ويرفض الصحفيون والمحللون الإسرائيليون التعليق والتعقيب على الموضوع، أو التطرق إليه بادعاء جهلهم بالمعلومات.

وتحدث أحدهم عن موضوع بالغ الحساسية، تفرض رقابة عسكرية عليه ولا يسمح لوسائل الإعلام بالنشر فيه، وأكد أن "المنتجات الأمنية والعسكرية تعتبر من أكبر صادرات إسرائيل، دون ذكر حجمها والأسواق التي تباع بها".

وقدم النائب العربي بالكنيست طلب الصانع استجوابا لوزير الدفاع إيهود باراك حول تصريحات مندوب ليبيا بهيئة الأمم المتحدة عبد الرحمن شلقم الذي قال إن إسرائيل تقدم للقذافي المشورة والمساعدة العسكرية لقمع الثوار.

وتساءل في استجوابه "هل تقدم إسرائيل مساعدات ومعدات عسكرية وإرشادات أمنية واستخباراتية للقذافي لقمع الثوار؟ وهل هناك عسكريون إسرائيليون مشاركون في تجنيد المرتزقة لمحاربة الثوار؟ ومدى تدخل إسرائيل في الحرب الجارية بليبيا؟

شركات أمنية
ولم يستبعد زهير أندراوس الذي يرصد الإعلام الإسرائيلي ضلوع شركات أمنية إسرائيلية في أحداث ليبيا، لافتا إلى وجود حراك نشط لهذه الشركات منذ سنوات بدول عديدة في أفريقيا وأميركا اللاتينية.

وقال أندراوس للجزيرة نت "العديد من الخبراء العسكريين الإسرائيليين والجنرالات المتقاعدين يستثمرون تجربتهم في إقامة شركات أمنية لأهداف مختلفة، يسجلونها على أنها أوروبية".

وأضاف "لا يسمح لهذه الشركات بالعمل، إلا بعد حصولها على تصديق رسمي من وزارة الدفاع الإسرائيلية، حيث ينشط الجنرالات في تقديم المشورة والنصائح والخدمات الأمنية على مختلف أشكالها في دول أفريقيا وأميركا".

ولا يستبعد أندراوس أن "تقوم هذه الشركات الأمنية بطرق التفافية بتجنيد فرق مرتزقة دربتها بالسابق، ووضعتها تحت تصرف القذافي ليقمع الثوار، مقابل حصولها على مبالغ طائلة".

تعاون وتكتم
وتتكتم وسائل الإعلام العبرية على ما نشر من معلومات حول علاقة النظام الليبي وتحديدا سيف الإسلام القذافي بإسرائيل.

ونسجت العلاقات الأولى بين سيف الإسلام وشخصيات إسرائيلية، عام 2005 خلال مؤتمر دافوس الدولي الذي عقد بالأردن، وتطورت إلى صلات مع شخصيات إسرائيلية تملك شركات أمنية وشركات غاز وبترول، وعقدت لقاءات عمل دورية عزز خلالها التعاون التجاري في مجال النفط والأمن.

واعتاد نجل القذافي التواصل مع هذه الشخصيات عبر لقاءات في الأردن وإيطاليا، حيث أبرمت صفقات بموجبها بيع النفط الليبي للشركات الإسرائيلية.

نقطة تحول
وشهد 2010 نقطة تحول جوهرية في العلاقات التي خرجت من السرية والكواليس إلى العلن، حيث أفرجت ليبيا بتاريخ 8 أغسطس/ آب الماضي عن يهودي اعتقل في سجون القذافي قرابة خمسة أشهر، بشبهة عمالته لإسرائيل.

وتمت الصفقة بمبادرة من وزير خارجية إسرائيل أفيغدور ليبرمان، الذي طالب صديقا له وهو رجل أعمال نمساوي بالتدخل لدى سيف الإسلام الذي تربطه علاقات وطيدة به.
....."

Obama does not get it

If independent, democratic, governments are formed in the Middle East, they won't follow Washington's orders.

AN EXCELLENT COMMENT

Lamis Andoni
Al-Jazeera

"Barack Obama, the US president, has still not fully grasped the essence of the revolutions underway in the Arab world. He genuinely seems to believe that the people rallying for democracy in the region are making a pro-Western, if not pro-Israeli, statement.....

But to say that these forces could be natural allies of Israel and the West is to take a huge leap into a highly inaccurate assessment of the situation. The US president is misreading the message of the protesting Arab masses.

Rewriting history

From Tunisia to Egypt to Bahrain, and in many places in between, protesters have been calling for free and accountable governments. Decades of bitter experience have shown them that unrepresentative governments are often willing to accept - or at the very least are unable to resist - subordination to Western, and particularly American, political and economic diktats.....

Defining democracy

This kind of misreading of the situation derives not from facts but from an Orientalist attitude that has long dominated American thinking and large sections of the American media.....

But, it is, in fact, this thinking that is utterly undemocratic. If we assume that democratic values are universal values and move away from a Western ethno-centric interpretation, we will find that the rejection of occupation is totally consistent with ideas of freedom and human dignity – two supposedly integral components of democratic thought.

Just as rejecting racial discrimination asserts a belief in freedom, so does the refusal to simply accept the Israeli and American occupations of Arab lands and subordination of Arab people.

So unless Obama is talking about ending the US occupation of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, why would he imagine that the Arab revolutionaries who rose against their oppressors would be natural allies of the US?......

Those in Washington and Tel Aviv who have sought to minimise the role of the Palestinian cause in Arab politics, would be well advised to read an article by the famous Egyptian blogger and activist Hossam el-Hamalawy in the Guardian, in which he argues that it was the demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian intifada in 2000 and the 2003 protests against the US war in Iraq that served as the precursors of the Egyptian revolution.

The delusion that movements against the injustice of dictatorship and the injustice of occupation will somehow contradict each other reflects a grave misinterpretation of the sentiments of the Arab masses - unless, of course, Obama is simply hoping to use this flawed reasoning to justify the continuation of equally flawed policies in the region."

Video: A hypocrite exposed and denounced المنافق مرشح النظام عمرو موسى

From Hossam El-Hamalawy

Yemeni police fire on protesters

Security forces in Yemen have opened fire on peaceful protesters in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday, wounding at least 75 people demonstrating for an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule.
Three of the wounded were in a serious condition, according to medical sources.
Policemen and security agents in civilian clothes opened fire as they tried to prevent people from joining thousands of
protesters who have camped out for weeks in front of Sanaa University, the epicentre of the demonstrations.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the capital Sanaa, said the security forces were "clearly given orders to disperse the crowd."
"This is a dramatic turn of events that will likely raise tensions. The protesters were trying to move to Tahrir Square, and the government seems to have panicked," he added.
Our correspondent points out that the shooting comes few weeks after president Saleh pledged to protect peaceful protesters.
There was no immediate government comment.

The pen versus the sword

The Gaddafis enjoyed a political facelift from the West whilst carefully avoiding blowback - until now.

Larbi Sadiki
Al-Jazeera

"The quill may be mightier than the sword. But this is a story of how some Western academics have succumbed to the power of the cheque book.

Which leads me to ask the question: is it money that makes the world go round? Whatever happened to the strength of liberal ideals, humanism, democracy and all that spiel?

There is a Libyan connection, which is the context of this story. Maybe Gaddafi, sons and henchmen have survived till now and may kill more Libyans due to the fact that many experts and academics, some brilliant voices of the global democratic agenda, have chosen to accept the Libyan regime's illicit funding over the ethics they preach to their own students.

Knowledge is power

It may be so that knowledge is power, but surely not when knowledge serves dictatorships.

I first wrote this story for Al Jazeera more than two weeks ago. A few months ago Libyan friends (who have lost loved ones in the fight for Zawiya and before for Benghazi) shared with me and others documents coming from Monitor Group, the Harvard-based global consulting group.

This is the firm which was hired by the Gaddafis to revamp their image. That was before the eruption of the current anti-Gaddafi uprising in Libya.

A few observations are noteworthy here.....

Literati or spin doctors?

Richard Perle going to Libya is something. But why did Francis Fukuyama, Anthony Giddens, Bernard Lewis, Nicholas Negroponte, Benjamin Barber, Joseph Nye, and Robert Putnam meet Gaddafi?......"

War Criminal Wants a Convicted Traitor Released: Kissinger asks Obama to release spy for Israel

"JERUSALEM -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is urging President Barack Obama to release an American convicted of spying for Israel 24 years ago.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Kissinger wrote to Obama, "I believe justice would be served by commuting" Jonathan Pollard's life sentence.

Pollard, now 56 years old, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy. He was convicted in 1987 of passing classified information to Israel......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Interview with Civil Committee for Misurata Affairs

"Al Jazeera is joined on the line by Mohammad Ali, from the Civil Committee for Misurata Affairs -- which is also part of the Opposition National Council.

Misurata is around 200 kilometres east of Tripoli - and has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent days."

Video: ثورة الشعب في ليبيا .. اليوم العشرون .. د. عزمي بشاره

Saudi Arabia is losing its fear

There's no doubt the kingdom is ripe for revolution, and any security forces violence at Friday's protests could ignite the fuse

Eman Al Nafjan
(Eman Al Nafjan is the author of the Saudiwoman's Weblog, a blog on Saudi society, culture, women and human rights issues. She is based in the Saudi capital, Riyadh)

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 March 2011

".......It's very difficult to predict what will happen on Friday. My guess is that there will be protests. The larger protests will be in the eastern region and mostly by Shia Muslims. I also expect smaller protests in Riyadh and Jeddah. What tactics the security forces use will greatly influence not only the demonstrators but also the people watching from their homes. If undue violence is used against the demonstrators, it could possibly ignite the same fuse that led to full-blown revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Whether or not it comes to that, we as a people have changed forever. No longer do I see the frightened hushing of political discussion – everyone is saying what they believe and aspire for out in the open without fear. As Fouad Alfarhan, a prominent Saudi activist, tweeted:

"Probably not much will happen, however the biggest gain is the awareness raised in a large faction of our young people of their human and political rights in this post-Bouazizi world.""

Libya regime treating journalists like idiots – but ones who are useful to them

At surreal press conferences in Tripoli reporters hear scripted praise for Muammar Gaddafi while being told black is white, attack is retreat and 'the colonial English' are fomenting conspiracy

Peter Beaumont in Tripoli
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 March 2011

"....For the journalists in Tripoli, it was the sixth paragraph that stood out.

"No restrictions are imposed on the foreign media," it said. "Media correspondents work freely in Libya, and all necessary facilities are provided for them. They have freedom of movement, except in areas controlled by al-Qaida terrorists."

Which would suggest, on recent experience including that of the Guardian, that most of the country is controlled by al-Qaida – including areas controlled by the government.

The reality is that journalists cannot operate freely in Tripoli at all, despite repeated promises from individuals including Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, and the deputy foreign minister, Khalid Khayem.

In recent days the Guardian has been held twice for testing this promise.....

Each day journalists gather at the Rixos to see if there will be a bus trip to a location where – inevitably – they will be met by a staged demonstration of regime loyalists who have often been paid to attend or given a holiday from work to attend.

Journalism then is a question of enduring the shouted pro-forma praise for the regime and waiting for an encounter with those who oppose Gaddafi, even in these circumstances, when people will come and speak quietly amid the clamour.

As the country becomes ever more difficult to report from, what is happening to ordinary Libyan civilians is ever more effectively being censored.

And at some point, by our very presence, in being ineffective we will become accomplices in that censorship."