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Showing posts with label global governance africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global governance africa. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

SYRIA WATCH- ISRAHELLI INTELLIGENCE AGENT NISMAN : If Hezbollah Wins Syria Unchecked, Tehran and its ally will emerge more aggressive than ever http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578553380445251720.html 
 By DANIEL NISMAN (ZIONIST AGENT)
daniel nisman
For those who have hoped that the Syrian quagmire might swallow up Iran's influence in the region, it's time to wake up: Tehran and its ally Hezbollah are set to emerge from the Syrian conflict more aggressive than ever.Israel more than most stands to lose from a resurgent Hezbollah. Despite sustaining hundreds of losses in Qusayr alone, [[[[[[[Hezbollah's fighters are gaining valuable combat experience that could be useful in a future conflict with Israeli forces.]]]]]][[[[[[[ After witnessing Hezbollah's ability to capture large swaths of territory in Syria, Jerusalem can no longer shrug off Mr. Nasrallah's threats to invade Israel's Galilee region in the next war.]]]]]]
Iran is also likely to continue leveraging the Assad regime to transport weapons to Hezbollah's coffers, despite threats of additional Israeli airstrikes. Hezbollah's acquisition of Iranian anti-air, anti-ship and surface-to-surface missiles would not only guarantee Mr. Nasrallah long-term military hegemony within and without Lebanon. It would also provide Tehran with a greater deterrent against any future Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities.It's doubtful whether the West fully comprehends the implications of Hezbollah's growing involvement in Syria. The European Union continues to fumble over whether or not to blacklist Hezbollah as a terror group, which would do untold damage to the group's financial operations across the Continent. The U.S., meanwhile, has only begun to warm up to the idea of arming the Syrian rebels.
[ed notes:he means openly as opposed to covertly as they been doing since conflict began,mostly thru allies gcc and turkey...
Rather than confront the looming threat of Hezbollah, Western strategists are still grappling with concerns over which rebel group to arm, or what regime might replace Assad's. They fail to realize that if Hezbollah's involvement continues unchecked, these questions will become irrelevant. The time has come for the West to stop obsessing about the risks of stopping the Assad regime, Hezbollah and Iran, and start considering the consequences of not stopping them.
[ed note: Mr. Nisman is a zionist dog,and a pig,hes posing as journalist is a front,he was a soldier and is now really intelligence operative for israhellunder that guise...now hes the Middle East and North Africa intelligence director at Max Security Solutions, a geopolitical and security risk consulting firm. That firms headquarters are in Israhell tel aviv... Max Security Solutions Ltd.
‎Max Security Solutions Ltd. Max Security is a global leader in provid- ... Tel Aviv 67060,. Israel. Tel: 972-3-6196297. Fax: 972-3-6195852. Max-India. 
[ed note:Wait it gets juicier... Military service  In November 2004, Nisman was drafted in the Israeli Defense Forces, where he was accepted into the Nahal infantry brigade's reconnaissance unit. https://portal.idc.ac.il/en/Argov/Fellows/Pages/Students.aspx During his service, he participated in the 2005 Gaza disengagement, the 2006 Lebanon War, http://www.degania-b.org.il/info/daf-shavua/2006/daf-1938/gvool.htm
 and counter terrorism operations in the West Bank.http://www.friendasoldier.com/en/?page_id=84
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Thursday, January 24, 2013

 ZIO ARAB SPRING OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED IN TUNISIA ,
MUSHRIKUN BROTHERHOOD ENSLAVES COUNTRY TO WORLD BANK
According to reports, the World Bank has approved a $500 million loan to Tunisia to support budgetary needs and provide an economic boost. The Daily Star writes, “The new loan follows another of the same amount last November to support economic recovery by providing funds to improve the business and financial sectors and reform social services.” Yesterday, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim arrived in Tunisia to “take stock of the progress of reforms undertaken by Tunisia and which constitute a priority for the transition process.” Kim met with Investment and International Co-operation Minister Riadh Bettaieb, emphasizing “the need to diversify the bank’s interventions as regards reinforcing support to the private sector and to a new generation of enterprises on the basis of efficiency, profitability and guaranteeing access to foreign markets.”

Tuesday, December 4, 2012


UN Calls on Israel to Open Nuclear Program to Inspections

by John Glaser (source: antiwar.com) December 4, 2012
The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on Israel to open its nuclear program for inspection “without further delay.” ››read more

Thursday, August 16, 2012


SYRIAN OPPOSITION AND ISRAHELLI MINISTERS ENVOY HOLD TALKS IN BULGARIA,THE LIKUDNIKS ATTEMPT DAMAGE CONTROL!!! 

Deputy Minister's aide holds talks with Syria opposition, presents himself as 'official' Israeli envoy

Meeting between Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara’s bureau chief, Syrian dissidents takes place in Bulgaria; FM Lieberman demands Netanyahu reprimand Kara.

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/deputy-minister-s-aide-holds-talks-with-syria-opposition-presents-himself-as-official-israeli-envoy.premium-1.458772
Why is Deputy Minister for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee Ayoob Kara’s bureau chief traveling around world presenting himself as the State of Israel's envoy in charge of dialogue with the Syrian opposition?This is exactly the question that Israel’s Ambassador to Bulgaria Shaul Kamisa asked in a harsh cable he sent recently to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.Kara’s bureau chief Mandi Safadi arrived in Sofia three weeks ago. A press release issued by Kara’s bureau before the trip stated that the deputy minister had been invited to meet with people from the Syrian opposition at the parliament in Sofia, but since he was unable to go himself he was sending his bureau chief in his stead.The embarrassing events that followed were detailed in the ambassador's cable, dispatched on August 13 under the heading “Conduct requiring examination and action – Is Mr. Safadi the deputy minister for the development of the Negev and the Galilee? Diplomatic involvement?”“Two and a half weeks ago Mr. Safadi phoned and identified himself to the secretary as the deputy minister for the development of the Negev and the Galilee,” wrote the ambassador. “In a conversation with me he identified himself as an aide to and envoy of Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara who intends to visit Bulgaria as Kara’s envoy to deal with contact and cooperation with the Syrian opposition in Bulgaria, through a number of meetings with parliamentarians.”Kamisa inquired as to whether Deputy Minister Kara’s bureau chief was sent an official representative of the government of Israel, and made it clear that if so he had to coordinate his visit through the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Only after I receive confirmation from the Foreign Minister will I cooperate with your visit, Kamisa told Safadi.In the cable, Kamisa wrote that from that point on he had no further contact with Kara’s bureau chief. However, a week later the embassy received a phone call from the editorial offices of The Standard, the second largest newspaper in Bulgaria. The reporter told the embassy press officer that he had conducted an interview with Safadi, who presented himself as an official envoy of the State of Israel working on cooperation with the Syrian opposition.The informing of the embassy and the understanding of the gravity of the interview prior to its publication and the damage that was liable to be caused as a result of this led the undersigned and the embassy staff to apply pressure on the newspaper editorial offices to stop the distribution of the interview,” wrote Kamisa in the cable. “The pressure was successful and the report was not published.”Kamisa added that he had made it clear to the editors that Safadi “was working solely on his own and without any connection or coordination with the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem or with the embassy.”Kamisa also reported that Safadi had showed up at the home of the bus driver who was killed in the terror attack in Burgas and introduced himself to the family as an official representative of the government of Israel.“I recommend examining whether Mr. Safadi is indeed an official employee of the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee and what his status and authority are concerning diplomatic activities and sensitive issues like liaison and mediation vis-à-vis the Syrian opposition in Bulgaria,” wrote Kamisa.The ambassador is considered to be close to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who named him to his as a political appointment. According to a Foreign Ministry source, when Kamisa’s cable reached Lieberman, the foreign minister reacted angrily, briefed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded that he reprimand Deputy Minister Kara.A few months earlier, Lieberman had already sent Netanyahu a letter of complaint against Kara in the wake of a series of meetings the latter held in Austria with representatives of an extreme right-wing party whose members are perceived by the Jewish community and the Israeli Embassy as identified with a neo-Nazi ideology.At that time Netanyahu did not reprimand Kara, but this time he could not ignore Lieberman’s complaint. Netanyahu spoke with Kara, reprimanded him and stressed that he must avoid such conduct in the future.On Wednesday, I phoned both Deputy Minister Kara and his bureau chief Mandi Safadi to get their version of the incident. Contrary to the press release issued by his bureau prior to Safadi’s trip, in conversation Kara denied any connection to his bureau chief’s trip. He insisted that Safadi had indeed gone to Bulgaria as an official representative of the State of Israel. “My aide was sent to Sofia on behalf of elements in the government, but not on my behalf,” he maintained.Subsequently, Kara modified his version a bit. “My aide was invited by the Bulgarian Parliament for a discussion of the Syrian issue and met with persons who cannot be spoken about publicly,” said the deputy minister. “I don’t want to talk about this because it is a sensitive matter. These are things one doesn’t talk about in the media. I am not a party to this at all and it was not done on my behalf.”Kara’s bureau chief Mandi Safadi also insisted that his trip to Bulgaria, along with his meeting with Syrian opposition figures, were conducted at the behest of an unnamed government body.“There are things the ambassador doesn’t know,” Safadi told me. “There are also things I do that Deputy Minister Kara doesn’t know about, which I can’t expand on in the media. If, in addition to his official position, a public servant can do service for another body that belongs to the same government, then he does it.”
Safadi, a native of the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, claimed to have extensive connections with the Syrian opposition and hinted that, in the past, he had organized meetings between the foreign minister and Syrian opposition figures.“When Lieberman wanted me to organize meetings for him he had no problem,” said Safadi. “I do not intend to expand on with whom and about what.”Safadi also claimed that, contrary to what the ambassador claimed, he had in fact informed people at the Foreign Ministry about his trip to Bulgaria and had also briefed Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon about his talks upon his return to Israel.According to Safadi, the ambassador’s letter of complaint stemmed solely from egoistic motives. “I informed the ambassador of my trip and my timetable,” said Safadi. “What angered the ambassador was the publication of my visit to the family of the driver who was killed in the attack in Burgas. His ego got the better of him and he sent a cable that has no basis in truth.”

[ED NOTES:SAFADI ADMITS THE FOREIGN MINISTRY HAD KNOWLEDGE OF THIS MEETING,I LOVE IT..HERE IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE,THAT INDEED THIS WAS A BACKCHANNEL MEETING BETWEEN ISRAHELLS ENVOY AND SYRIAN OPPOSITION IN BULGARIA...WHEN STANDARD PAPER GOT WIND OF THIS AND ISRAHELLI AMBASSADOR GOT WIND OF IT,HE TRIED TO SILENCE THE REPORT BY APPEALING TO ITS EDITORS.. THEN THE  LIKUDNIKS WENT INTO DAMAGE CONTROL TO CLAIM THIS WASNT SANCTIONED AT TOP ECHELONS OF GOV IN ISRAHELL ..I LOVE IT...EXPOSED AGAIN..ALSO SEE Israel deputy minister's aide meets with Syria opposition

Sunday, July 15, 2012

BOMBSHELL: Defected Syrian Ambassador Admits Role in Killing US Troops

In Telegraph interview, Western-coddled Nawaf Fares admits he organized “Jihadi units” to fight US troops in Iraq.
by Tony Cartalucci
July 14, 2012 – Nawaf Fares, former Syrian Ambassador to Iraq who just recently defected and is now harbored in Qatar, admitted in an interview with the London Telegraph that he personally organized “Jihadi units” to fight US troops in Iraq. Fares maintains that he did so under orders by the Syrian government, and that a recent string of bombings in Syria were carried out by “Al Qaeda” in coordination with Syrian security forces.

Image: Nawaf Fares, hailed a “hero” by the West for “defecting” from the Syrian government and joining the suspect “Syrian National Council,” has now admitted he was behind organizing “Jihadi units” that fought and killed US troops in Iraq. Undoubtedly these units he claims he created also killed British troops, as well as Iraqi fighters and civilians. His “hero” status is indicative of the dysfunction and morally depraved state of Western foreign policy.
Unfortunately for Nawaf Fares, who has just admitted to being an international terrorist, not only does he fail to provide any actual evidence to suggest the Syrian government had ordered or condoned his terrorist activities during the US occupation of Iraq (as even the Telegraph notes), nor provide any evidence at all that “Al Qaeda” had coordinated its bombing campaigns with Syrian security forces, but a myriad of confirmed reports and evidence already exist contradicting entirely Fares’ statements.
That President Bashar al-Assad is a “collaborator” with Al Qaeda is farcical at face value. The following headlines help illustrate the absurdity of Fares’ claims: “Al Qaeda head calls for fall of Assad” (AP), “Top US official: Al Qaeda in Iraq joining fight against Syria’s Assad” (McClatchy), “Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri calls for war to oust Syria’s Assad” (AP), just to name a few. Additionally it was reported by Seymour Hersh in a 2007 New Yorker article titled, “The Redirection,” that not only was Al Qaeda being arrayed against the Syrian government since as early as 2007, but it was in fact the United States, Israel, and the Gulf States that were organizing, funding, and arming them.
Casting further doubt on Fares’ claims, particularly regarding allegations that the Syrian government was behind bombings sweeping the country, Reuters in April 2012, ran an entire article covering the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and their “tactical switch” to terrorist bombings in the face of superior military weapons and tactics employed by government security forces. Titled, “Outgunned Syria rebels make shift to bombs,” it states that Syrian extremists who had honed their skills fighting US and British troops in Iraq, had joined the ranks of the FSA militants to employ their bomb-making abilities against, not in collaboration with, the Syrian government. 


The Reuters article specifically states: 
“Some of these bombing skills may have been
brought back from fighters who joined the Sunni insurgency in
neighboring Iraq against the U.S. occupation forces. The presence of
hardliners from a Syrian Sunni majority that feels oppressed by Assad
and his fellow Alawites who dominate the administration has been among
causes for concern among those who fear a sectarian civil war similar to
that which devastated Iraq over the past decade.”
While even the Reuters article attempts to allay the fears of readers, suggesting that the anti-government militants would never attack civilian targets, reports from both Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the UN have documented cases where militants have committed sweeping atrocities specifically targeting civilians, including kidnapping for ransom, torture, and murder.
The HRW report titled, “Syria: Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses,”
is broken into three parts, kidnapping, torture, and executions. And
while the report attempts to focus mainly on atrocities carried out
against security forces and government supporters, the mention of civilian victims is made as well.
In the face of such evidence, Reuters and Fares’ assurances that FSA terrorists are limiting their attacks only to military targets is wishful thinking at best, insulting deceit at worst, and illustrate a pattern of serial deceit used to manipulate the public’s perception to see in a positive light what is in reality a terrorist campaign.   
Nawaf Fares – Indicative of the Fraud and Depravity of the Syrian “Opposition” 
Fares, a self-confessed terrorist who admits he organized death squads to fight and kill Americans and undoubtedly civilians in neighboring Iraq, has leveled a series of accusations with no evidence, to provide the maximum amount of demonization possible against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He has left a “regime” he finds unbearable, which he claims without evidence was carrying out a terrorist bombing campaign against its own people, and who supported “Jihadi units” to fight its regional neighbors – to then join a militant organization that has demonstratively and admittedly carried out bombing campaigns against the Syrian people, consists of extremist mercenaries from abroad sent to destabilize and destroy his nation, and guilty, by HRW and the UN’s own admissions, of the same atrocities and horrors Fares has claimed he defected from the government over.
Nawaf Fares comes across as a exaggerating opportunist, so overly eager to play his role, that he has tripped over himself and found both feet lodged firmly in his mouth. While the London Telegraph seems not to have a problem sitting down and talking with a man who admits he organized death squads that killed US and British troops, perhaps because of the complicit role Telegraph’s propaganda played in sending those troops into harm’s way to begin with, it will be more difficult for the US and British governments to similarly ignore his hamhanded admissions, if only to maintain a semblance of consistency. Qatar also finds itself in a quandary harboring a self-confessed terrorist.
If the US and British governments refuse to acknowledge or act upon this, perhaps the armed forces will – finally taking insult to having shed blood and lives for over a decade fighting the “War on Terror” only to see their perceived enemies given five-star lodging in Qatar and airtime on the evening news.
And finally, it is the people of all nations who must recognize, expose, boycott, and replace the corporate-financier interests driving this destructive increasingly unhinged agenda who – interests that are ultimately responsible for the creation, cultivation, and harboring of individuals like Nawf Fares.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Syria - Arab League want to close Syrian Channels (VOICE OF TRUTH) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5E_vzia1rg
The National Media Council (NMC) on Saturday condemned the Arab Foreign Ministers Council's unjust decision on asking Arabsat and Nilesat to stop the broadcast of Syrian satellite TV channels.The Council described the decision as a "flagrant interference in the Syrian internal affairs and unprecedented violation of the media freedom in the Arab nation,"The NMC stressed that the decision is a media terrorism against the Syrian people, calling on the Nilesat and Arabsat to commit themselves to the contracts with the Syrian channels and refuse to be a political tool in the hands of some Arab governments.Journalists Union Denounces Arab Foreign Ministers' DecisionThe Syrian Journalists Union denounced the unjust decision of the Arab Foreign Ministers Council on stopping the broadcast of Syrian satellite channels, saying that this is an unprecedented and unjustifiable step that contradicts all norms and rights.In a statement, the Union said that this decision was mad because Syrian channels managed to uncover the fake nature and falsity of the legations made by sedition promoters on certain channels which the proponents of toppling the Syrian states through military intervention have been relying on.The statement said that this decision is an assault on freedom of expression and speech and a threat against human culture and Arab people's rights, strongly condemning this attempt to silence the Syrian voice and preventing it from reaching Arab and international public opinion.The Union said that Syria's creative journalists and technicians are capable of overcoming such a reprehensible step, and that the Arab League's decision is a clear indicator of the mentality of its makers who seek to eliminate the differing opinion and shows how corrupt they are and how deeply they're involved in the plot targeting Syria.The statement said that this suspect decision is an act of terrorism and pressure on Arabs and Syrian, and that it was made in collusion between the Ministerial Council, Istanbul Council and known Zionist Bernard Levy who always calls for a military invasion of Syria, which was evident in the calls of using Chapter 7 of the UN charter against Syria.It also affirmed that the attempts to isolate Syria will fail, as Syria's enemies have tried every method to undermine its steadfastness, including vandalism, murder, bombings, economic, diplomatic and media warfare, attacking the Syrian media, and finally the calls for foreign military intervention.On a relevant note, the Union sent a letter to the Arab Journalists Union denouncing the decision, demanding that a clear stance be made and that the Arab League Secretary General stop making such decisions.Arab Writers Union Denounces Arab Foreign Ministers Council's DecisionSimilarly, the Arab Writers Union denounced the decision of the Arab Foreign Ministers Council on stopping the broadcast of Syrian satellite channel, describing it as unethical and contradictory to the journalism code of honor.In a statement, the Union affirmed commitment to the truth and freedom of speech and expression, voicing its adherence to confronting all those who seek to stifle it, lauding the role of the Syrian media.The statement said that this decision shows certain Arab countries' dismay with the Syrian media that showed Arab citizens the scale of media misdirection used by these countries' channels, and that the decision shows that most Arab regimes are subservient to those who pay or influence them, with the Arab League becoming a willing tool in the hands of Qatar and Saudi Arabia who are carrying out a clear Zionist agenda.The statement called upon Arab writers to assume their role in defending the freedom of speech and expression, affirming that the truth spoken by Syria's writers, people and media must reach all Arabs who seek the truth and uncover the conspiracies of those who serve the United States and Israel.
Syrian Observatory for the Victims of Violence and Terrorism Condemns Arab League's Demand of UNSC to Use UN 7th Chapter against SyriaFor its part, the Syrian Observatory for the Victims of Violence and Terrorism condemned the decision of the Arab Foreign Ministers Council on asking the UN Security Council to adopt resolution under Chapter VII against Syria." This request reveals the dangerous role played by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and their involvement in shedding the Syrian blood," the Observatory said in a statement.The statement said that KSA and Qatar were annoyed by the reality of the events which the Syrian channels were broadcasting, especially the violations committed by the so-called Istanbul Council and the terrorist Wahabi gangs.The statement added that the decision is against the human rights and freedom of expression and media.

Friday, June 1, 2012

CIA/MOSSAD BACKED MEK TERROR CULT WATCH...






MKO Terrorists? Us?

MKO Terrorists? Us?
May 31 2012

the MEK’s hard work has not been in vain. There’s something else to bear in mind. As one world-weary observer in Washington put it recently, ‘Hillary Clinton is a politico. Right now a lot of her coll ...     Full Article

Wednesday, May 23, 2012


"I am in charge ... outside the state..."

By: Ibrahim al-Amin


 The tensions erupting and moving to different areas indicate that a big problem is looming over the country. The main political forces do not need to be told. The exceptional intensity of anger at street-level is enough to turn a minor incident into a major explosion. The killing of a politically-active sheikh thus threatens to set the country ablaze.

The basic issue is clear, though many try to avoid or to embellish it.

Sunni clerics gather after a meeting in Dar al-Fatwa, 21 May 2012.
(Photo: Marwan Tahtah)

Anger is gripping the Sunni street.
Its causes vary. Domestically, it is due to the exclusion from power of the forces which lead the majority of Sunnis. Regionally, it is due to the Syrian crisis, and the failure to topple a regime which for most Sunnis represents minority rule by a different sect.

But the enraged Sunni street is not, at present, seeking to hold its own to account for their shortcomings. It is instead punishing them by ignoring their wishes.

This constituency wants to secure the “rights” it believes it has been robbed of. These are not confined to regaining an agreed share of power, or getting rid of those they do not consider to be their genuine representatives. They extend to acquiring the right to support the Syrian opposition with money and arms, not just politically and rhetorically.
Either me, or the Salafists

This constituency has lost trust in the state so long as it is not under its supervision. People now want the realization of Saad Hariri’s slogan: Either me, or the people’s wrath.

This is happening under the heavy fallout of developments in Syria. As the borders of Iraq, Jordan and Turkey could not be turned into effective support bases for the Syrian opposition, especially the armed component, recourse was inevitably made to Lebanon - where there is a big base of political support for the Syrian opposition; where the central state is weak and dismembered; where there is a geographical connection between parts of the country and hotspots in Syria; where political, human and ideological resources exist; and where it is possible to build the capacity to support the opposition inside Syria.

The parts of Lebanon concerned are essentially the North and some areas of the northern Bekaa. This explains the unprecedented amount of political, intelligence and diplomatic activity there has been there. The question is: have Syria’s enemies now decided to establish that base, or have Syria’s allies decided to deliver a pre-emptive strike?

But developments tell of a different political spectacle unfolding. The government is engrossed in playing a game of “dissociation” which is rejected by the street on both sides, especially the Sunni street. The army meanwhile faces a test of its legitimacy as representative of the country’s unity. And the other security forces face a test of their submission to political control.
When leaders with powerful influence on the ground demand the expulsion of the army or its replacement by the Internal Security Forces, and insist on one court jurisdiction rather than another, that is enough to tell us that these leaders and the regions where they hold sway have become outside the state. They have begun selecting what parts of the state suit them temporarily, until they have fashioned their own state.

The new element in this is the violent blow that has been dealt to the power of the political parties.

Yesterday, leaders of both political camps in Lebanon were making similar statements about the need for calm. But what matters is their authority on the ground. Those who took to the streets no longer listen much to these speeches.

Yesterday, supporters of the Salafi current, in Lebanon generally and the North in particular, proved that the decision is now in the hands of the street – and more precisely, in the hands of those who are capable of abandoning considerations of political realism and taking the confrontation forward.
It is true that the state losing its authority in large parts of the North is a setback for all of Lebanon. Likewise, the blow struck to the army’s standing there will undermine its standing in other areas. The isolation and self-isolation of these areas will also cause many difficulties for their inhabitants.

Truer still, however, is that the culprit has become the victim. The reference here is to the March 14 coalition led by the Future Movement, which never ceased to exploit the masses in battles concerning the interests of this group’s leaders. Now, they have proven incapable of containing those masses.
Yesterday, it was Future Movement MPs, along with March 14 legislators and figures, who were in the highest state of shock. They raised their voices louder than usual, but in the back of their minds was a new image: of a new player sitting at the table.

This player has many names and addresses today, but it will rapidly take shape as an entity with its own figureheads, modus operandi and demands. This new player would not have gained the sympathy of the Sunni grassroots in the rest of the country had they not felt that the traditional leadership, to which they have been giving their mandate for years, has only brought them setbacks and defeats.

Yesterday’s events, and the anticipated aftermath, signal the demise of a pernicious weapon with which Saad Hariri used to threaten his Lebanese adversaries. He would give them a choice: Either me, or the Salafists with the angry street behind them. Hariri ignored the fact that the angry masses, like the Salafis, have a genuine point of view, and that they cannot be used all the time. Now they are telling them that they are turning rhetoric into action, and thathe can either join them, or keep off...
In short, yesterday the street said: I’m in charge:

The leadership of the Future Movement and the March 14 groups should be watched over the coming few days. Will they join the popular anger, and announce their rejection of the state as the ceiling above everyone? Or will they search for a new trick, in an age when there are no longer any magicians, not even in children’s stories?

Ibrahim al-Amin is editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar.


Puerto Rico: Empire’s Grip and a Glimmer of Hope  http://www.tiwy.com/news.phtml?id=233


Puerto Rico: Empire’s Grip and a Glimmer of Hope



The U.S. Administration explains that the hyperactivity of the FBI and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community in Puerto Rico is a part of the response to the threat posed by terrorist groups, drug cartels, and agents of hostile regimes. The U.S. hit list, it must be noted, includes as legitimate targets the radical separatists who, in fact, are ordinary Puerto Ricans trying to press for the independence of their country. The U.S. started to maintain a grip on Puerto Rico since the 1898 war with Spain. As a result, the former colonialism gave way to a new form of control: as of today, the U.S. government papers describe Puerto Rico as an associate free state and, whatever it may mean, an organized unincorporated territory. The FBI, the CIA, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, DEA, etc. enjoy full freedom of maneuver in the country which, due to its strategic location, conveniently serves as a launch pad for covert operations against its Latin American peers, especially Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, and the rest of the populist camp. In Puerto Rico, the U.S. agencies spy on the embassies and trade missions of Washington’s potential foes, while Puerto Ricans routinely complain about phone tapping and pervasive surveillance.

Puerto Rico is the country were U.S. curators meet with representatives of the Venezuelan opposition. Puerto Rican «friends of Chavez» got a glimpse of one of such encounters in La Concha hotel in January, 2009. It was organized by U.S. diplomatic envoy to Venezuela John Caulfield whose records of jobs in conflict zones leaves little doubt that the gentleman must be on the CIA payroll.

Monitoring the atmosphere across the Puerto Rican society along with the allegedly extremist groups, and spotting the epicenters of brewing discontent are, for the most part, the tasks handled by the FBI. The FBI operatives started working in Puerto Rico in 1935. At the time, they screened the country for Comintern agents and the nationalist group led by Albizu Campos - for radicals, while also helping the regime suppress popular protests. The 1937 Ponce massacre which occurred when the police fired on a completely peaceful march, killing 20 and wounding over 100, is remembered in Puerto Rico as the bloodiest episode in the country's history.

The FBI archive portraying the U.S. offensives against resistance groups and Puerto Rico in 1930-1970 - a total of over 120,000 pages - was partially published by the Puerto Rican studies Center of Hunter College of the City University of New York. The materials gave scholars an unprecedented insight into the FBI activities. An instruction penned by Edgar Hoover urged the U.S. Government agents to cultivate sources of information about leaders and activists of Puerto Rican resistance groups and about their lifestyles and habits, obviously as a form of preparation for preemptive strikes. Anyhow, resistance to the Empire's colonial dictate never dried up in Puerto Rico as hundreds of people sacrificed their lives to make it a free country. In 1950s, Puerto Rican patriots launched raids against the governor's residence in San Juan, Harry Truman's residence in Washington, and the U.S. House of Representatives. The FBI struck back, arrested leaders of Puerto Rican nationalists and leftist groups, sent its local partners to hunt down their relatives, and organized attacks against the «extremists’» headquarters.

Puerto Ricans managed to bounce considerable concessions out of the U.S.: at the moment, they have self-governance, some kind of constitution, and - in a fairly diluted form - the representative, executive, and judicial authorities. Still, the supreme authority in Puerto Rico is exercised by the U.S. Congress, meaning that «the associate state» is being run from Washington. Public protests forced the U.S. to formally close 13 military bases in Puerto Rico and to stop using the Vieques Island military facilities, though the truth is that the infrastructures are properly maintained and would take virtually no time to revitalize.

The declassification of the above materials prompted debates over the current state of the U.S. intelligence community's operations against the Puerto Rican proponents of independence. The inescapable conclusion seems to be that nothing in the sphere changed since the Cold War, the epoch when practically any steps could be justified by simply citing the Soviet peril. The detention of Puerto Rican Nationalist Party president Francisco Torres at an airport in Panama, with the police agents saying at the moment of the arrest that they acted on instructions from the FBI representative in the country, highlighted the proportions of the problem. Torres was allowed to continue with his trip when the blunt demonstration of the FBI might was over. Another detention followed upon his return to Puerto Rico. This time, he was frisked and his credit cards and photos of relatives were copied, though no official warrant of any kind was shown. Quite a few leftist and nationalist activists report similar humiliations, but their right-wing opponents should have no illusions - information about them is also being carefully collected for future use.

In Washington, the hopes of the Puerto Rican nationally oriented forces for a reunion with other Latin American nations are seen as a risk to the U.S. interests in the region. There is no shortage of forecasts that an independent Puerto Rico would drift towards Cuba and Venezuela, the two populist camp champions persistently voicing calls to erase the current colonial status of the country. Moreover, the no longer short-leashed Puerto Rico might actually join ALBA, considering that several Caribbean island countries – Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - are already there. In December, 2011, a cohort of Puerto Rican parties - El Partido Nacionalista, El Frente Socialista, El Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano – asked CELAC for assistance in the region’s efforts to shake off the residues of colonialism and called for stronger backing Puerto Rico in its more than a century-long struggled against the Empire. The U.S. was described in the corresponding joint statement as a colonial power responsible for the present-day situation. On the other hand, Puerto Ricans are fully aware that they and nobody else can bring about serious change.

Expressions of public support for Puerto Rico's aspirations are a permanent background of the political live throughout Latin America. The XI ALBA forum which convened last February passed a declaration on the independence of Puerto Rico. The document was read by H. Chavez who stressed that Puerto Ricans are a unique Latin American and Caribbean nation with its own history, whose sovereignty was stolen by the U.S. with the help of the colonial system a century ago. The Venezuelan leader said the Puerto Rican push for independence must be upheld by the entire Latin America with all of its collective bodies, the CELAC in the first place. The declaration also carried the demand that the U.S. release all political prisoners jailed over their struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico.

Manifestations broadcasting solidarity with Puerto Rico reached such proportions in Latin America that U.S. President B. Obama paid a visit to San Juan on June 14, 2011 as a countermeasure. Notably, this was the first time a U.S. leader traveled to Puerto Rico over the past 50 years. On the surface, the tour was styled as a part of Obama’s fund-raising campaign, but the agenda centered around Washington’s support for the annexionists dreaming to see Puerto Rico incorporated into the U.S. was thinly veiled. The Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuno, a neoliberal elected to the post from the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico, is open about his eagerness to convert the country into 51st U.S. State.

Washington is obviously unprepared to greenlight the plan, the rationale being that appreciable benefits can be ripped given the status quo. At the moment, investments in Puerto Rico yield decent returns, while integrating it as a state would take giant financial infusions with the aim of driving the local socioeconomic standards up to the average U.S. level.

Loud protests accompanied Obama’s stay in Puerto Rica. Altogether, they combined into a kind of a street referendum in which Puerto Ricans made it absolutely clear which avenue towards self-determination - independence or merger into the U.S. - attracts them. The Puerto Rican media, in the meantime, are selling the unraveling crisis as a pretext to convince the audiences that Washington's help is the only cure and an independent Puerto Rico would in no time sink to the level of Haiti.

Governor Fortuno is simply denying his own country a future. These days, rampant unemployment leaves masses of young people with no option but to john criminal groups and to do the drug business. Currently, around 10,000 students have no money to pay tuition fees and are about to drop out of universities. Many of the educated young who see no prospects for employment become political activists. It should also be taken into account that quite a few young Puerto Ricans had served in the U.S. Army. It is common for the young to feel that only independence can open up to them a tolerable range of opportunities, and, by all means, H. Chavez tops the popularity ratings among the population group.

The April, 2012 appointment of Hector Pesquera to the post of Puerto Rican police chief promises a tide of political repression in the country. Fortuno made the decision after consultations of Washington, and Pesquera is known to have been an FBI special agent in Miami who was in touch with Cuban immigrant groups, was involved in the assassination of Los Macheteros popular army commander Filliberto Orjeda Rios and in the plot to kill Danilo Andersen, the Venezuelan persecutor that investigated the April, 2002 coup attempt. Pesquera was instrumental in the arrest of five Cuban spies sent to the U.S. to identify terrorists en route to Cuba. The Puerto Rican patriots suspect that Pesquera’s career jump is a prologue to a new round of repressions against pro-independence movements and suggest immediately forming a maximally inclusive popular front for self-defense.

No matter what, Puerto Ricans are natural optimists. Roberto Torres Collazo wrote in the wake of Obama's visits to Puerto Rico that the tour was a minor event to the majority of the country's population: «80% of Puerto Ricans speak Spanish only and most of them prefer their own music and food to the U.S. pop-culture and McDonald’s. From birth, we are spontaneous, simple, and fun people, like most of our Latin American peers. Our customs and traditions place us much closer to the Latin and Central America than to North America».
Ethic Cleansing / Land Theft & Destruction / Apartheid / Refugees


Netanyahu: Israel will continue to build Jerusalem and keep it united
Marking Jerusalem Day, PM says 'Israel without Jerusalem is like a body without a heart'; thousands of religious-Zionist youths march through the city and Arab neighborhoods.


Fayyad: Water crisis due to Israel's control of resources 
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israel's control of Palestinian water resources in the West Bank is responsible for the water crisis, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Monday. Opening a conference on water and the prospects for agricultural development in Palestine, Fayyed said strategic vision and a long-term plan were needed to resolve the crisis.


Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem sells Real Estate to Zionists 
The Hebrew newspaper "Maariv" has revealed, on Monday, a new scandal about selling real estate in Jerusalem to the occupation by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.


The occupation escalates its siege on Jerusalem 
The occupation authorities have imposed strict military measures since Sunday morning, around the city of Jerusalem.
 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Named for the crash site of an airforce plane shot down during the Six Day War in 1967, Givat HaMatos may yet prove the place where Palestinian hopes of a creating a capital in Jerusalem also plunge to earth. 'Airplane Hill' lies on the southern fringes of Jerusalem's city limits -- rock-strewn land dotted with shabby, prefabricated bungalows and the occasional pine tree.

Jerusalem Day in the Old City: The Conflict Marches On, Karl Vick
Sunday was Jerusalem Day in Israel, a holiday once again observed by thousands of young Jews who chanted as they marched through Arab neighborhoods conquered in the 1967 Six Day War. The tension is always highest in the narrow passages of the largely Palestinian Old City.


The IOF suppress counter-demonstration held in Jerusalem 
The occupation forces suppressed hundreds of Jerusalemites who demonstrated in response to the Zionist settlers’ marches on the anniversary of what they call "Jerusalem Day", on Sunday night.
Nahr al-Bared was the first official Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. It was then completely destroyed by the Lebanese army during clashes with Fatah al-Islam in 2007. Although the government designated the newly built camp as a military zone, residents insist that their return is a symbolic step towards return to Palestine.

The Meaning of the Nakba, Naseer Aruri 
During the middle of May, Zionists celebrate an event that they call the War of Independence. The same occasion is observed by Palestinians, who call it al-Nakba, meaning the catastrophe, which began with the internal displacement of some 200,000 Palestinians, reaching 800,000 or two-thirds of the population by the armistice of 1949, plus the organized destruction of some 600 Palestinian villages.
Detainees and Other Prisoner News

Palestinians arrest 10 Islamic Jihad members 
Palestinian security forces arrested 10 members of the Islamic Jihad in the Jenin refugee camp on Monday, a local leader of the radical movement said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Islamic Jihad holds PA security responsible for assaults on its cadres
 
The Islamic Jihad said that the PA security men broke into houses of a number of the Islamic Jihad leaders and cadres, on Monday, in the Jenin refugee camp in Burkin town.


IOF soldiers nab ten Palestinians including three children in Jerusalem and Al Khalil

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up ten Palestinians in Al-Khalil and Jerusalem over the past 24 hours including three children.
In the past twenty-four hours, three male Palestinian children have been arrested in separate raids by Israeli soldiers in Beit Ommar. Jowad Muhammad Jameel Za’aqiq (15 years old) was arrested at around 5pm on Monday, 21 May, 2012. He was helping his father tend to his family land when the arrest took place. His father asked the soldiers present why his son was being taken. He was informed that Jowad (his son) had been seen throwing stones. Muhannad Mershad Awad (12 years old) and Alaa Yousef Mohammad Abu Maria (14 years old) were both arrested from their respective family homes in night raids at around 2am on Tuesday, 22 May, 2012. The reason for their arrests is unknown. Night raids are an almost daily occurrence in Beit Ommar. Night raids typically target Palestinian minors, activists and organizers involved in popular resistance initiatives against the Israeli occupation. Israeli soldiers often fail to explain why the ‘suspect’ is being arrested. The 

IOF soldiers detain child, summons liberated prisoner
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained a 15-year-old child in Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Monday evening, local sources said.
Israeli police arrest six Jerusalemites
Israeli border police arrested six Jerusalemite youths in confrontations in Tur suburb in occupied Jerusalem on Monday after they tried to prevent the policemen from kidnapping a child.

 
Khaled Abu Qash, a student activist at Bir Zeit University, was seized by undercover occupation forces from his home in the town of Abu Qash, Ramallah district on Friday, May 18, 2012. Abu Qash is the secretary of the Progressive Student Action Front at Bir Zeit University and was active in events at Bir Zeit and mass demonstrations in Ramallah in solidarity with the prisoners over the past month. This arrest has come among a number of arrests that have taken place against youth and student activists in recent weeks, and Palestinian activists have noted that these arrests have specifically targeted students and youth who engaged in and led many of the protests and solidarity events supporting the 28-day hunger strike of over 2500 Palestinian prisoners.

 
PARIS, May 22, 2012 (WAFA) - Reporters Without Borders strongly condemned on Monday the arrest by Israeli troops of Baha Mousa, director of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel, which broadcast from the northern West Bank city of Jenin. The troops raided the station on May 17, arrested Mousa and seized broadcasting equipment, computers, video cameras and documents. “Such abuses aimed at stifling the Palestinian media must cease,” the press freedom organization said in a statement.

 
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A Gaza engineer kidnapped by Israel in the Ukraine last year is the last remaining prisoner held in solitary confinement, after the hunger-strike deal sought to end the practice, his lawyer said Tuesday. Dirar Abu Sisi is still being held in an isolation cell in Ashkelon prison, while all others have been returned to normal wards, lawyer Karim Karim Ajwah said, noting his case was "kept secret in an unusual way."


VIDEO: "We are All Palestinian Prisoners" Exclusive Interview with Artist Hafez Omar
Hafez Omar, the young Tulkarm-based artist and activist, is the man behind many of the images we have come to associate with online Palestinian and Arab revolutionary campaigns--from the hunger striker Khader Adnan's stencil with a lock for a mouth to the late Egyptian Azharite Sheikh Emad Effat killed by the military police in Cairo in December. His most recent design, that of a faceless, blindfolded Palestinian prisoner became a Facebook sensation as thousands adopted it and other variations of the image to raise awareness about the countless prisoners observing a hunger strike in Israeli jails in protest of harsh conditions and inhumane detention procedures. Within 24-hours of posting the image on his Facebook page Hitan, Omar's design became a meme across the globe, prompting variations from Egypt and Syria to Ireland and the United States.