tagged w/ Arab
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Despite the Arab League observers’ report verifying the threat that the Free Syrian Army (or the “Free Army” (FA) as critics prefer to call it in reference to the fact that many of the organisation’s members are of non-Syrian origin) the European Union responded to the clearly defensive military operation by threatening further sanctions against the Syrian people. Predictably, the NATO and GCC media, in perfect unison with the warmongering stance of their states, published unsubstantiated claims from unverifiable sources that the Syrian government was committing a massacre against Homs’ civilian population. Arab League observers in Syria Ahmed Manaï in Tunisian publication Nawaat where he stressed that the same media who accused the government of a massacre of 200 in Homs on February 4th (the day of the vote on the United Nations Security Council Resolution that if passed would have paved the way for military intervention in Syria) “were making fun of our intelligence”. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43059-how-russias-support-for-syria-is-qdefending-the-whole-world-from-fascismq-
video ----- Now we will see a service in which NATO propaganda (Al Jazeera) accuses the Syrian Army, of killing the Syrian child Sari Saoud. In the service, Al Jazeera shows the mother crying, while she embraces her child. Then you'll see the interview released by the very same woman, who reveals that the baby was not killed by the Army, but by the very same entities that the Army is fighting.Despite the Arab League observers’ report verifying the threat that the Free... more
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worrg
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22 hours ago
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The UN's failure to agree to a resolution on Syria is "disastrous" for the country's people, Ban Ki-moon has said today as President Assad's government launched its most intense bombardment of the city of Homs.
Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, Ban said he had briefed the security council about a plan proposed by the head of the Arab League, Nabil al-Araby, for a possible joint UN-Arab League observer mission to Syria.
The statement issued by Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky, is the latest and one of the strongest UN condemnations of Syrian government tactics, said Ban was "appalled" by the mounting death toll.
"Such violence is totally unacceptable before humanity," it said.
"No government can commit such acts against its people without its legitimacy being eroded."
The statement said Ban "strongly condemns" the onslaught. The failure of the U.N. Security Council on Saturday to pass a resolution on Syria because of vetoes by Russia and China, "gives no license to the Syrian authorities to step up attacks on the Syrian population," it added.
"All violence must end immediately," the statement said.
"The Secretary-General reminds the government of Syria that it is accountable under international human rights law for all acts of violence perpetrated by its security forces against the civilian population."
Ban called for "an inclusive Syrian-led political process, in accordance with international law, that respects the will and legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people to a democratic and pluralistic political system."
The UN's failure to agree to a resolution on Syria is "disastrous" for... more
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In a questionable move and without offering a valid response to the Press TV CEO's letters, the British Office of Communications (Ofcom) has revoked Press TV's broadcasting license and finally removed the channel from the Sky platform. Press TV has interviewed Lizzie Phelan, freelance journalist, Damascus about Britain's hypocrisy in condemning other countries over freedoms of expression while abusing those freedoms at home and how actions by British state institution OFCOM reflects the demands of the one percent. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview. --------------- Meanwhile in Syria ------------ About four days ago I visited Zabadani late at night after watching an Al-Arabiya report that stated thousands of so-called "Free Syrian Army" officers had taken the city. Later the channel showed footage of a convoy of approximately 10 cars filled with armed fighters apparently in the city. When I drove into the city, there was just one checkpoint on the way in. The legitimate Syrian Army soldiers there who were busy building a fire to keep warm in light snow waved us through. We drove for about ten minutes into the city and the streets were completely dead, nno gunshots no "Free Syrian Army" checkpoints, nothing. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43053-freelance-journalist-lizzie-phelan-talking-about-the-brits-crackdown-on-iranian-freedom-of-speechIn a questionable move and without offering a valid response to the Press TV... more
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worrg
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14 days ago
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The Arab League observer mission charged with helping bring about an end to the violence in Syria claimed several accomplishments on Monday, noting that the government has withdrawn tanks and artillery from cities, and has released nearly 3,500 prisoners.
link:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/world/middleeast/arab-league-criticized-over-syria-observer-mission.htmlThe Arab League observer mission charged with helping bring about an end to the... more
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Exactly one year ago, a university-educated Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in the provincial city Sidi Bouzid, after police confiscated his unlicensed fruit and vegetable cart because he refused to pay bribes to three council inspectors. Bouazizi was 26 years old and supported eight people on $150 a month. His hope had been to trade up from a wheelbarrow to a pick-up truck. Because Bouazizi refused to pay the bribes, his cart was seized and he was beaten. After he was not granted an audience with the governor, Bouazizi poured a can of fuel over himself and set himself on fire. He was taken to the hospital with burns over 90 percent of his body and died on January 5.
On December 17, 2011 — a year in which the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, was ousted and tried in a cage as global audiences watched; in which Libya’s long-time dictator Muammar el-Gaddafi was deposed and killed; in which the President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, finally agreed to a transition of power after 30 years; in which a popular uprising has persisted in the wake of a bloody crackdown in Syria – Tunisians unveiled a statue of Bouazizi. As Moncef Marzouki, an activist who became Tunisia’s president last week after the country’s first democratic vote, was quoted by Al Jazeera:
“Sidi Bouzid, which has suffered from marginalisation, restored the dignity of all Tunisians. We have pledged to restore the joy of life to these areas.”
Al Jazeera reports that tens of thousands rallied and danced in Sidi Bouzid’s main square; streets were adorned with photographs of Tunisians killed in the popular revolution that, a month after Bouazizi’s self-immolation, led to the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power. Celebrations will continue through the weekend and include Nobel Peace Prize-winning Yemeni opposition activist Tawakkol Karman, among other international figures.
Economic and Social Challenges Remain
But while the revolution has brought democratic freedoms, poverty and joblessness remain the reality for the vast majority of Tunisians. Unemployment was at 13 percent at the end of 2010 and is now at 18.3 percent and even higher for young people. The revolution has actually set Tunisia’s economy back as tourists and foreign investors have stayed away, says Al Jazeera:...... more
http://www.thivest.com/?page=31Exactly one year ago, a university-educated Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on... more
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JERUSALEM — Israel’s vice premier declared Monday that many Arab countries aren’t ready for democracy — a comment sure to rankle many in the Middle East, where thousands have died and thousands more have risked their lives in uprisings against brutal dictators.
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I say show me a true democracy and i'll show you a portal to the closest habitable planet.JERUSALEM — Israel’s vice premier declared Monday that many Arab countries... more
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Novek
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1 month ago
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by Susan Lindauer ............ Hillary Clinton and President Sarkozy might loath to admit it, but the desire to turn back the clock on women rights in Libya constitutes one of the chief goals for NATO Rebels on the Transitional Council. For NATO Rebels—who are overwhelmingly pro-Islamist, regardless of NATO propaganda (see www.obamaslibya.com) — it's a matter of restoring social obedience to Islamic doctrine. However the abaya is more than a symbol of virtue and womanly modesty. It would usher in a full conservative doctrine, impacting women's rights in marriage and divorce, the rights to delay childbirth to pursue education and employment—all the factors that determine a woman's status of independence. That makes this one War Libya's women cannot afford to lose. .. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43014-why-western-woman-must-support-gaddafiby Susan Lindauer ............ Hillary Clinton and President Sarkozy might loath to... more
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worrg
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4 months ago
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It worked in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Now, taking their cue from social-media fueled uprisings in places like Egypt and Iran, a band of online activists hopes it will work on Wall Street.
link:http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/16/tech/social-media/twitter-occupy-wall-street/index.htmlIt worked in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Now, taking their cue from social-media... more
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Anonymous’s rapid rise from the depths of geekdom to becoming a catalyst and nerve centre for real-life revolutionaries is one that has taken even some of its own members by surprise. The loosely-knit hive brings anonymous techies, hackers and, increasingly, activists together under a single appellation, united in their non-violent but often illegal collective action. With high-profile campaigns, centred on “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks that knock target websites offline, it has been transformed from a fringe group of law-breaking pranksters that emerged in 2006 into an international movement that draws new recruits by their thousands. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/free-stuff/42983-anonymous-and-the-arab-uprisingsAnonymous’s rapid rise from the depths of geekdom to becoming a catalyst and... more
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worrg
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added this
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7 months ago
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A Horrific Eye-opening Article, about ARAB child sex Slavery that is going on, under our very EYES!!A Horrific Eye-opening Article, about ARAB child sex Slavery that is going on, under... more
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Migrant workers caught in the crossfire of the ongoing upheavals in Bahrain and Libya highlight the need to develop international migration policies based on migrants' rights rather than the economic interest of labour sending and receiving countries, knowledgeable sources say.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55179Migrant workers caught in the crossfire of the ongoing upheavals in Bahrain and Libya... more
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If the Delaware Senate has its way, the marijuana will soon be legalized in the region, under tight scrutiny of course.
Since the time the marijuana has been found to possess the capabilities to cure some of the major ailments that cannot be treated otherwise, a lot of contention has been triggered with many debating if it should be legalized or not.
The cannabis was found to be effective in the treatment against cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis, or any disease that causes severe chronic pain or nausea by some pilot medical studies that took place in the past.
http://topnews.ae/content/26853-marijuana-may-soon-become-legal-cure-diseasesIf the Delaware Senate has its way, the marijuana will soon be legalized in the... more
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Living in a region controlled by authoritarian regimes has forced cyber-activists in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to find alternative channels to push the limits of democratic expression online by creating informal networks indigenous activists to adapt strategies of resistance and action.
http://simbarusseau.com/arab-cyber-activists-spread-democracy-in-a-region-without-it/Living in a region controlled by authoritarian regimes has forced cyber-activists in... more
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Neocons and liberal interventionists stampeded Obama into imposing a no-fly zone against Libya—despite the absence of vital U.S. interests there. Leslie H. Gelb on the hypocrisy among world leaders and how the experts abuse historical analogies. There's nothing like a foreign-policy crisis, real or imagined, to ignite the worst among world leaders and foreign-policy experts. Out pop the nuclear weapons of the trade: phony analogies and unabashed hypocrisy. The manufactured crisis in Libya is a prime case in point. No foreign states have vital interests at stake in Libya. Events in this rather odd and isolated land have little bearing on the rest of the tumultuous Mideast region. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/41090-secret-libya-psyops-caught-by-online-sleuthsNeocons and liberal interventionists stampeded Obama into imposing a no-fly zone... more
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worrg
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11 months ago
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President Obama and his national security team worked behind the scenes Sunday to try to shore up support within the Arab world for the military mission in Libya, with top White House aides reaching out to officials of the Arab League to insist the bombing does not exceed the scope of a U.N. mandate, according to senior administration officials.
The senior officials described the Obama team's phone calls as making clear to the Arab League that bombing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses falls within the U.N. Security Council resolution's scope of imposing a no-fly zone and taking "all necessary measures" to stop the dictator from attacking civilians in his own country.
"We don't believe this goes beyond the resolution," said one senior administration official in describing the White House's message to the Arab League.
The lobbying came after Arab League officials complained earlier Sunday that airstrikes by the U.S. military and other allies inside Libya exceeded the scope of merely instituting a no-fly zone.
The senior officials noted that Obama also personally called King Abdullah of Jordan as part of the effort to keep key Arab allies on board with the mission.
The Obama phone call was in addition to calls made by Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday to leaders in Algeria and Kuwait.
Meanwhile, senior officials say they believe the allied campaign is hitting Gadhafi's military hard.
"We've essentially made substantial progress in wiping out his air defenses," one official said.
The official added that the White House is still confident that the administration will be able to hand off "later this week" much of the mission to allies, who will actually enforce the no-fly zone after the initial U.S. bombing clears the way for it.President Obama and his national security team worked behind the scenes Sunday to try... more
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A 20-year-old Arab American from San Jose sued the racist FBI on Wednesday for secretly attaching a tracking device to his car and threatening him with federal charges when he refused to give it back.
Yasir Afifi is not politically active, has no connection to terrorist groups and has no idea why the FBI put him under surveillance, said attorney Zahra Billoo of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which filed the lawsuit. She said the FBI has disclosed some of the contents of its file on Afifi but has not said why he is being monitored.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/02/BALI1I2KL1.DTL#ixzz1FYvbGnVpA 20-year-old Arab American from San Jose sued the racist FBI on Wednesday for... more
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NiceN
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11 months ago
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PART II
The Struggle for Self-Determination in the Arab World
The Arabs are seeing their second wave of revolt against colonialism. The first wave of revolt started between the First World War and at the end of the Second World War. It involved the Great Arab Revolt, with British and French support, against Ottoman Turkey during the First World War and then Arab revolt against Britain, France, and Italy during and after the Second World War. [3]
During the formal period of colonialism, the authority of the colonial powers (Britain, France, and Italy) were politically visible. Today, the Arab World is under the "invisible authority" of the neo-colonial powers. These include the U.S., Britain, and France.
The modern-day neo-colonial powers maintain control over Arab countries through the supervision of their economies and the control of their political leaders, who serve neo-colonial interests as vassals. Thus, 2011 is not only the start of the second wave of Arab revolt against foreign rule via imposed dictators and corrupt regimes, but it is also part of a broader struggle against neo-colonialism.
Starting with Tunisia, revolts and protests have broken out across the Arab World. Algeria, Yemen, Jordan, the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories, Mauritania, Sudan, and Egypt have all been electrified with activism. Added to this is the political tension in Lebanon, continued instability in Iraq under American-led foreign military occupation, building tensions in Bahrain, and the balkanization of Sudan.
At first glance the Arab World seems to be in turmoil, but there is much more than meets the eye.......
Continue reading at:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23050
Part 1 of this report can be found at:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23096PART II
The Struggle for Self-Determination in the Arab World
The Arabs are... more
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In one fell swoop, the candor of the cables released by WikiLeaks did more for Arab democracy than decades of backstage U.S. diplomacy.
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Did the Wikileaked State Department cables that described Tunisia's deposed leader Zine el-Abedin Ben Ali as the head of a corrupt police state play any role in encouraging the democratic uprising against him -- and thus spark the wave of protests now spreading across Egypt?
I asked our experts at Human Rights Watch to canvass their sources in the country, and the consensus was that while Tunisians didn't need American diplomats to tell them how bad their government was, the cables did have an impact. The candid appraisal of Ben Ali by U.S. diplomats showed Tunisians that the rottenness of the regime was obvious not just to them but to the whole world -- and that it was a source of shame for Tunisia on an international stage. The cables also contradicted the prevailing view among Tunisians that Washington would back Ben Ali to the bloody end, giving them added impetus to take to the streets. They further delegitimized the Tunisian leader and boosted the morale of his opponents at a pivotal moment in the drama that unfolded over the last few weeks.
This point might not be worth dwelling on, except that it suggests something interesting about how the United States, and the State Department in particular, approaches the challenge of promoting human rights and democracy in countries like Tunisia. Consider the following proposition: None of the decent, principled, conscientious, but behind the scenes efforts the State Department made in recent years to persuade the Tunisian government to relax its authoritarian grip -- mostly through diplomatic démarches and meetings with top Tunisian officials -- had any significant impact on the Ben Ali regime's behavior or increased the likelihood of democratic change. Nor did the many quiet U.S. programs of outreach to Tunisian society, cultural exchanges and the like, even if Tunisians appreciated them and they will bear fruit as the country democratizes.
Instead, the one thing that did seem to have some impact was a public statement exposing what the United States really thought about the Ben Ali regime: a statement that was vivid, honest, raw, undiplomatic, extremely well-timed -- and completely inadvertent.
Had anyone at the State Department proposed deliberately making a statement along the lines of what appears in the cables, they would have been booted out of Foggy Bottom as quickly as you can say "we value our multifaceted relationship with the GOT." Most State Department professionals have long believed that explicit public criticism of repressive governments does little more than make the critic feel good. They argue that real progress toward ending human rights abuses or corruption in countries with which the United States has important relationships, like Egypt or Pakistan or Indonesia, is more likely to come when such problems are raised behind closed doors.
Indeed, one of the most delightful ironies of the leaked Tunisia cables is that they make precisely this argument. One missive -- after laying out more juicy details about how and why Ben Ali had "lost touch with the Tunisian people" (the very commentary that, when publicly revealed, actually seemed to affect the situation on the ground) -- concluded that the U.S. should "dial back the public criticism" and replace it with "frequent high-level private candor."
At least in Tunisia, the State Department did not disavow its condemnation of the Ben Ali government after its publication. Elsewhere, officials rushed to deny the obvious. In Sri Lanka, a leaked embassy cable "revealed" the supposedly stunning insight that the country's leaders can't be counted on to prosecute those who committed war crimes in their recently ended fight with the Tamil Tiger rebels, since the leaders were themselves responsible for those crimes. This only confirmed what everyone knew the U.S. government knew about Sri Lanka. Yet the U.S. embassy in Colombo issued a public statement trying to take it back.
American diplomats have many reasons to avoid saying publicly what they think privately about their less savory partners. An obvious and logical one is that they want to preserve relationships that are necessary to advance other U.S. goals -- securing Egypt's support for the Middle East peace process, for example, or shoring up Ethiopia's cooperation in fighting terrorism, or getting Kyrgyzstan's assent to hosting a U.S. military base.
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~In one fell swoop, the candor of the cables released by WikiLeaks did more for Arab... more
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