Can Arab revolutions disregard USraeli filters?

[Guest Adnan Darwash]

The ongoing Arab uprisings have no doubt surprised everybody including the pro-Israeli advisors infesting the State Department, the Pentagon and the Whitehouse. After a short pause, the USraelis started to dispatch teams of ‘specialists’ in disinformation, bribery, intimidation, sabotage and dirty works. The CIA and MOSSAD went further to set up filters and red lines for the Arab revolutions. But would the Arabs, who have been witnessing the American unlimited support for Israeli atrocities and the West’s anti-Islamic crusade, accept to fall in USraeli traps? It is true that the Americans have sent CIA and DIA agents to support the anti-Gadaffi and Anti Assad protests, but these efforts were undermined by the American refusal to support the Bahraini, the Yemenis, the Saudis, the Omani and the Jordanian uprisings. Slowly but surely, the Egyptian and the Tunisian revolutions will attain most of their goals. These will be followed by the success in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and Jordan. There is currently a strong pressure on Iraq occupation government not to extend the presence of US troops in the country beyond the end of 2011 as Al-Maliki and his government will be held responsible for the consequences. Many believe that the days of the USraeli hegemony are numbered and that a new alliance between Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria may dominate future events in the Middle East, away from the USraeli influence.

Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

[Guest Desert Rat]

Wishful thinking. Turkey is a member of NATO. But, I am glad that you include them. They are good role models for you to follow.

[Guest Thaqalain]

Investigative Journalist Wayne Madsen

Investigative Journalist Wayne Madsen believes that the US and its allies are trying to influence uprisings across the Arab world.

 

“There is a conscious attempt by the United States and its allies to influence the outcome,” he said.

 

“The six million dollars may not sound like a lot of money, but it is the tip of the iceberg. That is the official money from the State Department. We do not know how much money has been laundered through other agencies.”

 

Syria is a candidate for becoming the Unite Nations top human rights body.

 

However, the Obama administration says it would be hypocritical of the Syrian government to take such a role.

 

Madsen says the United States is hypocritical and has a double standard on human rights in individual countries.

 

“We see close US allies in Bahrain, for example, and other countries certainly not getting this kind of treatment as we are applying against Syria and Libya. And I think this does show the hypocrisy of the United States,” he said.

 

[Guest Desert Rat]

The response has been a slow by Clinton and Obama. Which has created a lost opportunity to replace these brutal regimes.

[Guest Adnan Darwash]

The response has been a slow by Clinton and Obama. Which has created a lost opportunity to replace these brutal regimes.

 

Who says that the Americans wanted to topple ruthless autocrats while they serve USraeli interests? It is never too late for the Americans to introduce democracy to Bahrain, Israel, Yemen, Kuwait or to Saudi Arabia. As you may know that the so-called Israeli democracy doesn't alow Arabs (making 20% of the population) proportionate representation in the Knesset. While Saudi Arabia has no parliament and the government of Bahrain, like that of Kuwait, is made of members from the same family, Al-Thani and Al-Sabah, respectively. It is a common practice for the American foreign policy to undermine democracies and to promote corrupt dictators and manipulated elections.

Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

[Guest Thaqalain]

20 Apr 2011 20:55

 

 

 

Source: Content partner // Human Rights Watch

 

http://baghdadtobasra.blogspot.com/2011/02/mufti-warns-of-revolution-in-saudi.html

 

 

 

(Munich) - Saudi authorities have arrested over 160 peaceful dissidents in violation of international human rights law since February 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abd al-?Aziz Al Sa'ud, to order the immediate release of peaceful dissidents, including Nadhir al-Majid, a writer and teacher arrested on April 17.

 

Allies of Saudi Arabia have not publicly protested these serious and systematic violations. The European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said on April 18 that she had been "very pleased" with her two-day visit to Riyadh and made no public comments about the political prisoners. Neither Tom Donilon, the US national security adviser who visited Riyadh on April 13, nor Robert Gates, US defense secretary who visited on April 6, publicly commented on the kingdom's human rights violations.

 

 

 

 

 

"The EU's silence on the brazen arrest of a peaceful dissident on the first day of its chief foreign policy representative's visit looks like a pat on the back for an authoritarian state," said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Silence when more than 160 peaceful dissidents are locked up should not be an option for Brussels or Washington."

 

 

 

Officials of the General Investigations Department (al-mabahith al-?amma), the domestic intelligence service, arrested al-Majid at his school in Khobar, in the Eastern Province. At the same time, mabahith officers searched his house in the presence of his wife and children, who said that officers confiscated al-Majid's personal belongings. Al-Majid had written an article entitled "I Protest, Therefore I Am" on April 2, in which he said that with the Saudi government's "call to stop demonstrations, we see history bypassing us, and this speaks volumes to the ingrained blindness in political vision, analysis, and consciousness."

 

 

 

 

 

Several user groups on Facebook had called for protests on a Saudi Day of Anger on March 11, but a heavy security presence prevented demonstrations in all but the Eastern Province. In Riyadh, Khalid al-Juhani, a Saudi citizen, appeared to be the sole person to brave the security presence to speak to assembled journalists. In an interview with the BBC, al-Juhani described how he lost his fear and despite knowing he would be arrested wanted to experience the freedom of speaking his mind. Al-Juhani's brother, Abdullah, told Human Rights Watch that mabahith officers arrested al-Juhani at his home later that day and that Interior Ministry officials told his family that he is being detained incommunicado in Riyadh's ?Ulaisha intelligence prison.

 

 

 

Protests in the Eastern Province continued on April 14 and 15 in Qatif and ?Awwamiyya, two predominantly Shia towns. The protesters, many of them women, held a candlelight vigil to demand the release of Shia detainees who have been imprisoned without charge or trial for 12 years and longer on suspicion of involvement in a 1996 bombing. The demonstrators also called for the release of over 120 detainees still being held for peaceful protests in Qatif and al-Ahsa' provinces since February. Only several dozen have been released, and none of those arrested have been charged with violence.

 

 

 

The Sa'ud family rules Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarchy - there are no national elections and no effective means of popular participation in decision making. In early March, the Interior Ministry and the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, the highest law-interpreting body, reiterated a ban on demonstrations. In February, mabahith officers arrested eight people who announced they were founding what they intended to be the kingdom's first political party, the Islamic Nation Party.

 

In March, several dozen women and some men protested once a week for three weeks in front of Interior Ministry headquarters in Riyadh for the release, or the speedy and fair trial, of their male relatives who have been detained, most of them without charge, for years in the country's intelligence prisons. The mabahith arrested several of the peaceful protesters.

 

 

 

 

 

Saudi authorities have also held a human rights activist, Shaikh Mikhlif bin Dahham al-Shammari, in Dammam central prison since June 2010 on the charge of "annoying others" over articles he wrote criticizing religious extremists and incompetent officials.

 

In 2009, Saudi Arabia acceded to the Arab Charter for Human Rights, which guarantees in article 32 the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The kingdom is one of few countries that have not yet signed the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

 

"As the list of Saudi political prisoners grows longer, the silence of the US and the EU becomes more deafening," Wilcke said.

 

 

 

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[Guest Feodor]

Start paying attention to the Russian Foreign Ministry

 

http://www.midspammer/brp_4.nsf/e78a48070f128a7b43256999005bcbb3/8a2f0895ae153061c32578810039399a?OpenDocument

 

Current situation in Syria

 

Following the recent clashes of protesters with police in several cities with casualties among civilians and law enforcement officials a tense situation remains in Syria. The authorities of the country on April 25 launched a special operation to restore law and order in the city of Deraa and some other populated areas. We hope that Damascus will carry out a transparent and effective investigation into all the excesses that resulted in deaths, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

 

We presume that violence in the course of peaceful marches and demonstrations should be avoided. The processes taking place in Syria, as in other countries of the Middle East region, must receive their resolution in the domestic political field and within the legal framework, without outside interference. Of particular fundamental importance is the early implementation of all the moves announced in Damascus to carry out political reforms and socioeconomic change.

 

With regard to the priority issue for us about the safety of the citizens of the Russian Federation, the Russian Embassy in Damascus is closely monitoring the related situation, maintaining direct contact with the major groups of seconded experts, persons employed under contract, students and other categories of our compatriots currently in Syria.

 

 

Current situation in Libya

 

The situation on the theater of military operations in Libya has not undergone major changes in the last few days. As before, fighting between troops loyal to Tripoli and opposition forces rages mainly in the Ajdabiya area and in the city of Misurata, where they clash with heavy artillery most fiercely now. Simultaneously, NATO coalition aviation, having recently included US drones and Italian warplanes, continues to inflict air and missile strikes on army units and various targets, among them infrastructural and civilian facilities, in a number of Libyan cities, including the capital. As a result of the unceasing violence, civilians suffer and are killed every day.

 

Moscow is concerned by this development, primarily having in mind both the indiscriminate shelling of residential areas in Misurata by troops loyal to the Libyan regime and the fact that coalition actions increasingly exceed the scope of UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973. Information on arms supplies to Benghazi and the dispatch by some NATO countries of military instructors and advisers there, suggests the danger of the coalition being pulled into a confrontation on the ground in support of one of the parties in the intra-Libyan conflict. We believe such steps are incompatible with the resolutions’ objectives and are fraught with an escalation of violence.

 

In this regard, we once again urge all parties involved to strictly follow the letter and spirit of UNSCR 1973. We are convinced that the only way to ensure the safety of civilians and stabilize the situation in Libya is an immediate ceasefire and the start of a dialogue between the intra-Libyan parties to the conflict, with support, not interference from outside.

 

 

Detention in Libya’s territorial waters of Anwar Libya oil tanker

 

I was asked the following question: Coalition naval forces under NATO command a few days ago detained an oil tanker in Libya’s territorial waters that was heading to Tunisia for gasoline for the needs of the Libyan population. How does Moscow regard this incident in terms of coalition actions complying with the letter and spirit of UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973?

 

The Russian Foreign Ministry took note of the recent media reports about NATO’s arrest of the tanker on April 21.

 

Under UNSCR 1973, member states, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, in order to ensure strict implementation of the Libyan arms embargo, may inspect, in particular, on the high seas, vessels bound to or from Libya, if the state concerned has information that provides reasonable grounds to believe that the cargo contains items the supply of which to Libya is prohibited by the relevant Security Council resolutions, including the provision of arms and related materials or armed mercenary personnel.

 

To our formal question on this issue NATO Secretariat officials said the coalition had suspicion that the Anwar Libya was carrying embargoed goods, but with no prohibited items found onboard, the tanker was released.

 

But we find it bewildering that NATO has failed to notify either the UN Secretariat or the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee of the detention and inspection of the Anwar Libya vessel and possibly also of other such incidents as explicitly prescribed by UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973.

 

In our contacts with NATO, as well as in the relevant UN structures we emphasized that we consider such a selective approach to the provisions laid down in the resolutions as their violation. The sanctions measures, including inspections of ships at sea, were adopted by the Security Council, and it should be fully informed about their implementation and, if necessary, control the legitimacy of the actions of states in implementing the measures imposed.

 

We hope that coalition member states will strictly adhere to the provisions of Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973, doing everything possible to improve, not aggravate the humanitarian situation in Libya.

 

 

Developments in Yemen

 

Against the background of the continuing internal political tensions and ongoing popular uprisings in the Republic of Yemen, there are discussions around a plan to secure an end to the crisis, prepared by Yemen’s neighbors, the member countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC). Under this initiative, President Ali Abdullah Saleh would announce the formation of a government of national unity composed of the ruling General People’s Congress and the opposition Common Forum bloc and within 30 days transfer his powers to the country's vice-president. After that a presidential election would be organized within 60 days. The current leadership of Yemen and the opposition camp basically support the GCC proposals.

 

In connection with the events in Yemen we would like to reiterate our support of the mediation efforts the GCC members are undertaking to provide options for a peaceful settlement of the civil confrontation that has engulfed the Republic of Yemen in recent months. We hope that the current additional negotiations and consultations will be completed successfully and the question of power in Yemen will find a solution acceptable to all the local parties.