Activists and lawmakers say Saudi crown prince must face consequences after US intelligence report confirmed he was responsible for Khashoggi murder
By Ali Harb, Umar A Farooq in Washington
Published date: 27 February 2021 00:06 UTC |
The virtual ink on a US intelligence report blaming Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi had not dried when the Biden administration ruled out imposing sanctions on the crown prince – a move that rights groups say would be fundamental for ensuring justice for the slain journalist.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on Friday that Washington will not take action against the crown prince himself.
The US State and Treasury departments had announced sanctions against dozens of Saudi individuals over their involvement in the Khashoggi murder and other rights violations without identifying them.
“What we’ve done by the actions that we’ve taken is really not to rupture the relationship but to recalibrate it to be more in line with our interests and our values,” Blinken told reporters.
Earlier on Friday, the State Department unveiled new visa restrictions dubbed the “Khashoggi Ban” that would allow Washington to target “individuals who, acting on behalf of a foreign government, are believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities”.
For its part, the Treasury said it imposed sanctions on several Saudi officials, including Ahmed al-Asiri, former deputy head of military intelligence at the time of Khashoggi’s assassination, and members of the hit team that carried out the murder, known as the “Tiger Squad” or Rapid Intervention Force.
However, without sanctions against MBS, who the US government now publicly acknowledges was responsible for the killing, some advocates and lawmakers are saying the mastermind of the assassination is getting away with murder.
Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch, called failure to impose sanctions on MBS over the killing “unconscionable”.
“The fact that the US has sanctioned so many of MBS’s associates but not him sends a terrible message that the higher up in a government you are, the more likely it is you can commit crimes with impunity,” Prasow told MEE.
“It also undermines US credibility. It’s hard to see what incentive MBS has to alter his conduct, whether inside Saudi Arabia, in his conduct in the war in Yemen, or in other extraterritorial attacks on dissidents, when he knows he can literally get away with murder.”
Khashoggi, a former Saudi government insider and journalist who wrote for the Washington Post and Middle East Eye, resided in the United States before his death.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved Khashoggi murder, US report says
Saudi government agents murdered him and dismembered his body at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, while he was trying to retrieve personal paperwork, in October 2018.
After initially insisting that Khashoggi left the building alive, Saudi officials acknowledged that the journalist was killed more than two weeks after the murder. But Riyadh insists that the assassination was a rogue operation that happened without the approval of top officials.
The murder sent shockwaves throughout Washington, amplifying criticism against the kingdom in Congress, but former President Donald Trump moved to shield Riyadh and particularly the crown prince from the fallout.
The Trump administration had refused a legally binding congressional request to release a report on the US intelligence community’s findings about the involvement of Saudi officials in the murder.
The administration of President Biden, who had called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” as a presidential candidate in 2019, made the report public on Friday, documenting what experts had been saying for years – that the murder, which involved the crown prince’s aides, could not have happened without his blessing.
Saudi Arabia was quick to reject the findings, calling the US assessment “negative, false and unacceptable”.
While rights groups hailed the release of the report as a step towards ensuring accountability for the murder, the administration’s failure to impose sanctions on the lead perpetrator left many disappointed.
“The Biden administration is trying to thread the needle. They want to continue to work with a partner that has committed a heinous act against a US resident, while taking some steps toward accountability,” Seth Binder, advocacy officer at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), told MEE.
“But if human rights is really going to be at the center of US foreign policy, as the administration has repeatedly stated, then it can’t give murderers a free pass.”
Before taking office, Biden vowed to “reassess” US-Saudi relations. Since his inauguration, he has paused some arms sales to Riyadh and announced an end to Washington’s support for the kingdom’s “offensive operations” in Yemen.
Still, many rights advocates and lawmakers are demanding a more forceful approach to Riyadh and MBS from Washington.
‘We’re calling on the Biden administration to move ahead with accountability measures to sanction MBS personally’
– Raed Jarrar, DAWN
“We’re calling on the Biden administration to move ahead with accountability measures to sanction MBS personally, along with everyone else who is implicated in that killing,” said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).
Established last year in Washington, DAWN, a rights group, was envisioned by Khashoggi before his murder.
Speaking at a news conference after the release of the report, Jarrar urged ending US weapons sales to the kingdom. “Transparency is meaningless without accountability,” he said.
Philippe Nassif, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA, said many rights advocates are “disappointed” in Washington’s decision against sanctioning MBS.
He added that Congress and the Biden administration should halt offensive arms sales to Saudi Arabia, not only over the murder of Khashoggi, but also for the mistreatment of dissidents at home and war crimes in Yemen.
“And this goes for France. And this
Leading Congress members from Biden’s own Democratic Party said on Friday that the president should impose sanctions on MBS.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar announced on Friday that she will be introducing a bill to penalise the crown prince. She called the release of the report a “turning point” in US-Saudi relations.
“To this day, we continue to supply Saudi Arabia with US arms that are used to commit human rights abuses around the world,” the congresswoman said in a statement.
“To this day, we still cooperate with the Saudi regime on defensive war efforts – including intelligence sharing. These must end. And there must be direct consequences for Mohamed bin Salman and his functionaries.”Will the CIA report cost Mohammed bin Salman his throne?
Congressman Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee who has been pushing for making the report public, hailed releasing the assessment but said the administration should do more to hold MBS accountable.
He decried going after those who carried out the assassination, but not the leader who ordered it.
“The report itself is pretty remarkable in saying in no uncertain terms that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ordered the capture or killing of an American resident and journalist, that essentially the crown prince has blood on his hands,” Schiff told CNN.
“I would like to see the administration go beyond what it is announced in terms of repercussions to make sure there are repercussions directly to the crown prince.”
Ron Wyden, a key Senate Democrat, also underscored the need to ensure that MBS is punished for the murder.
“By naming Mohammed bin Salman as the amoral murderer responsible for this heinous crime, the Biden-Harris administration is beginning to finally reassess America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and make clear that oil won’t wash away blood,” he said in a statement.
“There is still far more to do to ensure that the Saudi government follows international laws. There should be personal consequences for MBS – he should suffer sanctions, including financial, travel and legal – and the Saudi government should suffer grave consequences as long as he remains in the government.”
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By Yossi Melman in Tel Aviv, Israel
Published date: 24 February 2021 15:34 UTC
From the perspective of the Israeli security establishment, it would have been better if the scheduled Palestinian elections would not take place at all.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered general elections to be held on 22 May, a presidential one on 31 July and Palestinian National Council polls on 31 August.
Hamas, the main opposition to Abbas’ Fatah movement currently running a parallel administration in Gaza, welcomed the announcement.
About two million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and besieged Gaza Strip are eligible to vote. Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 in a move never recognised by the international community, most likely will not allow Jerusalemites to vote.
‘The elections pose for Israel more risks than opportunities’
– Colonel Michael Milshtein, ex-Israeli Military Intelligence
But Israel also remembers how it was shocked to realise that Hamas had won the last elections for the Palestinian legislature in 2006. Judged to be free and fair by international observers, Hamas defeated Fatah, which had been established by its founding father Yasser Arafat and led since his death by Abbas.
“The elections pose for Israel more risks than opportunities,” says Colonel Michael Milshtein, who headed the Palestinian branch in the research department of Israeli Military Intelligence, known by its Hebrew acronym as Aman.
A year after the elections, Hamas took power in Gaza in a coup following violent clashes with Fatah – and has controlled the coastal enclave ever since.
The general elections are a promising development to enhance the democratic process, increase public trust, create international support for the Palestinian predicament and refresh the stagnated Palestinian politics and its ageing politicians.
Fatah suffers from internal tensions, factional rifts and a deteriorating public image. Meanwhile, Hamas shows determination, a high degree of unity and organisational skills.
These traits were already present in the turbulent years of 2006-2007, which resulted in Hamas’s election victory and domination of Gaza.
Thus, Israeli security officials from Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet, who monitor and analyse developments in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, are worried.
According to Israeli security officials, Abbas and his top lieutenants are no less concerned than Israel. They say that Abbas was very reluctant to agree to call the elections.
Abbas’s weakening leadership is challenged by Marwan Barghouti, who is considered the most popular leader among Fatah and Palestinian Authority supporters. So far, all attempts by Abbas to persuade Barghouti to drop his candidacy have failed.
To facilitate Abbas’s aim, Israeli security officials went out of their way to allow the president’s advisers to visit Barghouti in his prison cell, where he is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted of murder by an Israeli court during the Second Intifada.Palestine elections: Gaza voters sceptical about upcoming polls.
But, eventually, Abbas succumbed to the pressure, which was mounted on him by the younger generation of Palestinians that hope to see a change of guard, and by Egypt.
Egypt has over the years played a major role in the attempts to bring about a genuine national Palestinian reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, which has so far failed. Calling the elections is another effort to unify the Palestinian people.
Abbas now faces a dilemma. Without the elections, his attempts to bring national unity and to reinstate Fatah as a significant force in Gaza are doomed to fail. But if the elections take place, Fatah may be defeated again and Hamas would increase its power, not only in its solid base of Gaza but also in the West Bank.
The Israeli security perception is that the elections are a threat.
If Hamas wins the elections, it will increase its self-confidence to challenge Israel more drastically.
Military Intelligence and Shin Bet analysts have already drawn up scenarios arguing that if Hamas emerges as the winner, or only increases its power in the elections, it will employ the same military tactics used in Gaza – launching rockets, planting bombs and using hit and run tactics – against Israeli troops and Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Israel’s approach is: why rock the boat?
However, there is truly little that Israel can do. It cannot openly oppose the elections, and it knows that it has no real measures to influence them.
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تتزاحم الشجون والمشاعر والذكريات والمحطات في ذهني كما تتزاحم الأقلام اليوم في رثائك يا أنيس هذا اليوم، ولا أدري من أين أبدأ وأين انتهي معك وأنت اليوم صرت كلّ الحكاية… ولا تقل «انتهيت وماتت الرواية»… فنحن لا ننتهي بل ننتقل من هذه الدنيا الفانية الى تلك الآخرة الباقية…
حاولت يا أنيس أن أرثيك بقلمي المكسور وظهري المنحني حزناً وقلبي المفجوع برحيلك الفجائي، كما ينبغي، فما وفقت ولكنني أكتب إليك بضع كلمات لعلها تشفي وجعي…
لقد رحلت عنّا من دون وداع ولا استئذان، إلا من عمّتنا العقيلة زينب عليها السلام والتي زرتها مودّعاً ومستئذناً قبل أيام من إصابتك بهذا الوباء اللعين، كما هي عادتك وولعك الهندسيّ في رسم المثلثات والمكعّبات وتشفير الرسائل والكلمات فبحت للعقيلة الحوراء ما لم تبحه للآخرين ورحلت.
آه يا أنيس كم مرةٍ كنت قد قرّرتَ الرحيل وما أذن الله لك…
دعني أبدأ معك من حيث البداية الهندسية للرواية…
هل تتذكر أول مرة تعرّفتُ فيها عليك في مكتبك لهندسة الديكور في كورنيش المزرعة في سبعينيات القرن الماضي، يوم كنت تخطط مع رهط عظيم من أصحابك مثل هاني فاخوري وعلي يوسف ونزار الزين ومحمد بركات ومحمود هلال رسلان ونذير الأوبري وخالد الشحيمي ومروان الكيالي وعبد الحسن الأمين وعصمت مراد وسمير الشيخ وربيع الجبل ومحمد عرندس وعشرات آخرين من الرموز والقامات الأخرى «للاستيلاء» على لبنان كلّ لبنان وتسليمه كله لفلسطين، هدية من بيروت كليمة البحر والبحّارين العاشقين للسفر الى المحيط الأرحب، بيروت العصية على الدخلاء والغرباء إلا من آمن بالله ورسله وأنبيائه، ونحت في صخورها ورسم على جدرانها وهندس ديكورها بلوحات فلسطين؟
هل تذكر كيف اخترقتَ يومها كلّ حواجز و»سيطرات» القرار الدولي والاقليمي والمحلي المتكلس بنمطيات «لبنان قوي بضعفه» و»لبنان مرآة عاكسة لتناقضات المحيط» و»العين ما فيها تقاوم المخرز»، لتتمكن من إيصال منشوراتك الى قرى جبل عامل تدعوها للقيام.. وزدت على ذلك طموحاً بتجنيد بعض ضباط الأمم المتحدة على الطرف الآخر من الأسلاك الشائكة ليوصلوا صوتك الجهوريّ وصوت حركتك لبنان الأرض بتتكلم عربي الى أهلنا في فلسطين؟
كيف أرثيك اليوم وأنت أنت، أنت الذي هويت اليوم من علياء جبل قاسيون بقوّة فرط صوتية لم نألفها فيك ولا منك، وفي عينيك اللتين كانتا دوماً مسدّدتين الى جبل الشيخ والجليل الأعلى فإذا بهما تغفوان على سفوح جبل عامل ودماوند فاستحضرت مع رحيلك المدوّي هذا أبا جهاد خليل الوزير ومحمد صالح الحسيني وعماد مغنية وآخرين كثراً من رجال المشروع الأممي المقاوم المبدعين.. وإصراري على ذكر هؤلاء الثلاثة تحديداً لأنهم كانوا المواكبين والملهمين لك في لحظات التحوّل والتغيير الأساسية في عمرك السياسيّ، وإنْ أصبحتَ «ملهماً فاق ملهميه» في بعض فصول عطائه بأشواط.
رثاؤك يا أنيس ليس بالأمر السهل وأنت كنت عنوان التحوّل والإبداع والهندسة الديناميكيّة في ثلاث محطات أساسية:
1
ـ أنيس لبنان العربي
يوم اجتمع الكون كله ليخطفه من عروبته وفلسطينه فكنت سيد المرحلة في الدفاع عن عروبة لبنان الرديفة لفلسطين بكلّ تقاسيم العروبة والإسلام مانعاً المرجفين من سلخ لبنان عن بحره ومحيطه والمتحجّرين الظلاميين عن التفريط بإسلام محمد الأصيل.
2
ـ أنيس إسلام الخميني
يوم اجتمع الكون كله ليمنع ولادة إيران الإسلام معلنين الحرب عليها لأنها نادت بإيران اليوم وغداً فلسطين.
فكانت نخوتك العربية وصفاء روحك ومن عشقت من السهرودي وملا صدرا وعرفان إمام العصر لتتجلى وحدة العقيدة لديك في نظريتك التي أحببت وآمنت بأنّ مهندس هذا الكون واحد ونوره واحد، ما عنى لك أن تترجمه بانتقالك الى المرحلة الأرقى وهي الجمع بين جناحي الأمة الإسلامية عنيت به مرحلة الإسلام المحمدي الأصيل على سنة محمد وفي تشيّع علي والتي تمثلت لديك وتبلورت بالانتماء.. نعم الانتماء لمدرسة ونهج محقق حلم الأنبياء ووارث آدم والحسين عليهما السلام، عنيت به الإمام روح الله الموسوي الخميني.
3
ـ أنيس حضارة المشرق
يوم اجتمع الكون كله لينتقم من كلّ حواضر الأمة العربية والإسلامية ممثلة بشام المسيح ومحمد، وبعثوا جيوشهم الناطقة بعربية زائفة كاذبة والحاملة راية ظلامية سوداء تحمل في جوفها عدة وعديد بقايا عصابات الهاغانا وشتيرن وسواهما من جيوش الشجرة الملعونة في القرآن، فكنت أيضاً سيد المرحلة وعنوانها منذ اليوم الأول، ولم تختلط عليك الأمور ولم تشتبه، فأطلقت نداءك الشهير بأن هيا لننتقل من الاشتباك «المنفرد» الى التشبيك «المتحد» لتصبح الساحات والدماء واحدة متّحدة كما هو هدفنا الواحد الموحّد…
ويوم صرعت الإمبريالية والصهيونية على بوابات الشام وصعد من صعد الى بارئه من القادة والأحباب وأخيرهم وارث كلّ علم الحروب والمقاومات وابن الخميني البار ومالك علي الخامنئي الى السماء، عنيت به أسطورة الشرق الحاج قاسم سليماني، قرّرت أن تذهب أنت بكليتك الى دمشق لتخوض ما كنت تعتقد وأنت محقّ بأنها المعركة الأخيرة ما قبل الصعود إلى الجليل الأعلى، أيّ معركة منع تكرار سيناريو العراق الذي يحضر لسورية الأسد ولبنان، ولكن هيهات لهم ذلك. وقد نجحت في أداء واجبك وقسطك في المعركة، مبدعاً وملهماً.
وبينما جيش سورية الأسد وحلفاؤه الأوفياء يستعدون لتطهير ما تبقى من أرض الأنبياء وأرض المعراج الى السماء، والكلّ يعدّ العدّة ممن تعرفهم وآخرين جدد يأتون الينا من كلّ حدب وصوب ومأرب… فإذا بك تفاجئنا بالترجّل عن صهوة فرسك والرحيل…
لماذا يا أنيس…!؟
سؤال يُمعن في إيلامنا، لكن الله يقول لنا بلسان الوحي :
«ولكلّ أمة أجَل فإذا جاء أجلهم لا يستأخرون ساعة ولا يستقدمون».
آمنا بالله وهو الحق والموت حق …
رثاؤك صعب يا أنيس بعد أن قلّ الأنيس لولا أبي هادي الأمين وبعض رهطه وحوارييه…
وبعد أن صار لنا في السماء أكثر مما لنا في الأرض، وبعد أن اشتعل الشيب فينا لهباً…!؟
ولكن لا يا أنيس، فعهدنا وإياك ألّا نستسلم، لا للجنرال كلل ولا للجنرال ملل، ولا للجنرالات الآخرين إحباط ويأس وقنوط، فرحمة الله واسعة…
وعهدُنا الأول نحن «جمعية المصدقين» هل تذكر.. هكذا كانوا يسمّوننا.. بأننا مصدقون أنّ الأمور بخير وانّ كلّ شيء على ما يُرام وانّ التحرير آتٍ وانّ أمر محمد وآل محمد قائم…
نعم يا أنيس قسماً بمن أحببت وبمن آمنت وبمن التحقت أننا على العهد باقون والى الجليل وجبل الشيخ صاعدون ونحن نردّد …»نحن اللي خلينا الدنيا تحكي بلهجة فلسطين» و»أنا ابن فتح ما هتفت لغيرها» طبعاً فتح التي كانت تعني فلسطين كلّ فلسطين وكلّ من حمل البندقية بعدها وقرّر الاشتباك خيراً دائماً لأجل فلسطين حرة عربية مستقلة تسبح في محيطها العربي والاسلامي، ومدعومة من كلّ أحرار العالم الذين أحببتهم وأحبّوك يا أنيس الإنسان ..
نم قرير العين يا أنيس واطمئن، وعندما تستفيق غداً أخبر حواريي عيسى المسيح وجند محمد عندك من ضيوف الرفيق الأعلى بأننا قادمون وكلّ واحد من أهل الاختصاص فينا، قد أخذ موقعه الخاص به في المستوطنة او المستعمرة التي سيحرّر… وسنصلي في القدس…
ولكن مع ذلك يا أنيس…
ثمة وجع وألم وحنين في قلبي لعودتك وعودة مَن معك هناك في الفردوس الأعلى وأنتم حول محمد وعلي وفاطمة والحسن والحسين متحلقون…
ولكن الحزن عليك يا أنيس جاء أضعافاً مضاعفة
كما أخبرتك أعلاه فأنت برحيلك استحضرت كلّ القامات والهامات التي سبقتك…
ولم يبق في جعبتي إلا هذه الأبيات التي رثا فيها الشريف الرضي صديقه أبا اسحق الصابي :
اعلمت من حملوا على الأعواد
أرأيت كيف خبا ضياء النادي
جبل هوى لو خرّ في البحر اغتدى
من وقعه متزاحم الإزباد
ما كنت أعرف قبل حطك في الثرى
أن الثرى يعلو على الأطواد
اقبلها مني أوتاراً في غمد سيفً ملئ بالشجن
لا أقول لك وداعاً يا أنيس حتى النفوس المستوحشة من بعدك، فأنت من جنس الشهداء… حيّ بيننا وان كانت كورونا قد فتكت بك على حين غرة بالوكالة عن العدو الأصيل الذي هزمته في أكثر من ميدان…
قادمون يا أنيس من هرمز التي جهّزت راداراتها البحرية بيديك، الى باب المندب التي كنتَ تعمل على تحضير سفينة كارين لها، حتى مع غياب عماد …
ومن البصرة التي لطالما نصحت بحسم أمرها قبل فوات الأوان الى بنت جبيل التي لطالما حرست تلالها أنت والقامات الكبرى التي كبرت وكبرت حتى حققت الانتصارين وصار عدوّك وعدوّنا أوهن من بيت العنكبوت…
أنت رحلت بدمك يا أنيس مرفوع الهامة منتصراً
ونحن بقينا هنا ننتظر إشارة حبيبك وحبيبنا معركة يوم القيامة التي نكاد نلامسها بين يوم وآخر في معادلة قوة جديدة لجغرافيا آخر الزمان.
ستبعث فيها أنت ورفاقك الذين سبقوك لتقاتلوا معنا من جديد بهندسة هذه المرة من نسج رب الكون.
الله وياك الله وياك الله وياك.
بعدنا طيبين قولوا الله…
بعث السيد الرئيس بشار الأسد اليوم برقية تعزية إلى أسرة المفكر والمناضل العروبي أنيس النقاش الذي وافته المنية في دمشق أمس.
وقال الرئيس الأسد في برقيته…
ببالغ الحزن والأسى تلقينا نبأ وفاة المفكر والمناضل العروبي أنيس النقاش.. ونتقدم اليكم وإلى جميع المناضلين والمقاومين الأحرار بأحر التعازي القلبية سائلين الله العلي القدير أن يتغمده بواسع رحمته ويسكنه فسيح جنانه وأن يلهمكم الصبر والسلوان.
وأضاف الرئيس الأسد.. لقد أمضى الفقيد حياته مقاوماً ضد الاحتلال واتباعه في منطقتنا ومدافعاً عن القضايا العربية بجسده وبفكره فكان وسيبقى دائماً أحد الرموز المشرفة التي ستخلد في الذاكرة العربية لتستلهم منها الأجيال معنى التمسك بالأرض والدفاع عنها والنضال من أجل القضايا المحقة.. وكما احتضنته دمشق في أيامه الأخيرة فإن الشعب السوري سيحتضن في وجدانه على الدوام ذكراه العطرة.
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Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations [UN] said the US claim for legitimate self-defense in case of the January 2020 assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani is overwhelmingly rejected.
At the UN Security Council Open Arria Formula Meeting which was held in New York on February 24, Majid Takht Ravanchi called on the world to strongly stand against some countries which misuse “legitimate self-defense” to excuse their illegitimate measures.
The Feb 24 UN meeting focused on ” Upholding the collective security system of the UN Charter: the use of force in international law, non-state actors and legitimate self-defense.”
“First, the prohibition of the threat or use of force, save the two exceptional cases authorized by the Charter, is one of the greatest accomplishments of our Organization. This is a cardinal principle of international law, the preservation and full observance of which is our collective responsibility that must be fulfilled responsibly,” Takht-Ravanchi said.
“Second, states have intrinsically an obligation to protect their citizens and territories and accordingly, enjoy an inherent right to self-defense. The term “inherent”, clearly and adequately reflects the natural foundations and essential importance of this right, which of course, must be exercised only “if an armed attack occurs”. These are the well-drafted and well-crafted terms of the Charter. Obviously, it must also meet the criteria of necessity, proportionality, and immediacy,” he added.
There is a growing tendency by some states to resort to the threat or use of force through abusing the inherent right to self-defense, the ambassador noted, explaining that when the US forces, at the direct order of their President, brutally assassinated martyr Soleimani in Iraq, in gross violation of the basic norms and principles of international law, the US Government, through its communication to the Security Council President, desperately attempted to justify such an obvious act of terrorism through a series of fabrications and an extremely arbitrary interpretation of the Charter’s Article 51.
“Many international law scholars and practitioners have categorically rejected such an interpretation of the right to self-defense,” Takht -Ravanchi underscored.
Fourth, this alarming trend must be a source of serious concern to all States, and every effort must be made to reverse this extremely dangerous process. If unchecked, the right to self-defense will not only be abused more frequently by such States but also, will institute further exceptions to the principle of the prohibition of the threat or use of force, he added.
Fifth, measures taken in self-defense shall be reported to the Council “immediately”, Iran’s envoy emphasized.
February 24, 2021©
California now fulfills Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s nightmare vision in his prophetic masterpiece “The Possessed” as to what unlimited liberalism must inevitably create – if not stopped in its tracks and rolled back.
Where California goes today, the rest of the United States and much of the Western world goes tomorrow. But what we are now seeing in America’s most populous state is the complete internal collapse of the entire liberal progressive civilization and the society that has most frantically tried to fulfill it
For well over a hundred years, California, the self-styled “Golden State” has trail-blazed the future of America especially through the two famously American industries of aerospace and motion pictures. Telecommunications, computers and Artificial Intelligence are now led from Silicon Valley and the state has dominated the national politics of the United States too.
California rapidly grew into the wealthiest and largest population US state. It has produced two two-term presidents (Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan), one of the most important Chief Justices of the Supreme Court (Earl Warren) and the likely next president – current Vice President Kamala Harris if 78-year-old Joe Biden cannot complete his term.
From 1928 to 2004, 14 out of 19 winning presidential election tickets included someone from either California or Texas and Biden’s choice of Harris put California back at the heart of national electoral politics last year.
Politically, California remains rock solid liberal. It has not elected a single Republican to national or statewide office since reelecting incumbent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. In 2016, then-Governor Jerry Brown notoriously notoriously handed out state accreditation and driving licenses to untold hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, secure in the knowledge that they would all vote Democrat and so it proved. Registered Democrats now hold a 46 percent to 24 percent advantage over registered Republicans statewide.
California also holds a cast-iron grip on the national Democratic leadership in Congress through House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her key allies such as Congressman Adam Schiff, whose farcical bungles in the two impeachments of President Donald Trump did not dent his immutable position as one of Pelosi’s most youthful favored sons (he is merely 60) at all.
Yet now, California is in terminal collapse and crisis. Governor Gavin Newsom, farcically promoted by the national Mainstream Media (MSM) as a heroic White Knight in Shining Armor in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring has been exposed even in his own state as a catastrophic bungler and hypocrite who has never had a clue what he was – or more usually was not – doing. As I write, California’s sick and tired citizens are close to providing the 1.5 million signatures necessary to pull Newsom into what would certainly be a chaotic recall election.
California was also ravaged last year by the worst wild fires in its history. The slavish media – told what to think by the mindless Los Angeles Times (once a great newspaper) and even more infantile San Francisco Chronicle – bent over backwards to avoid acknowledging the real causes but they have been exhaustively documented.
Witless romantic Green environmental policies scrapped the centuries old, wise practices of creating firebreaks in forests between clumps of trees that would limit fire outbreaks in hot weather. Far from “protecting the trees” and wildlife, as the kneejerk Greens demanded, the ending of windbreak spaces instead allowed forest fires to blaze on an unprecedented scale and at record speed.
At the same time, multiple millions of people sweated in even luxury suburbs through the rolling heat waves without any air conditioning relief because the state electric grid -another victim of ignorant Green prejudice falsely masquerading as “science” – repeatedly collapsed, unable to generate the necessary reliable requisite power levels at vital times.
Los Angeles, the state’s largest city and arguably the most populous now in the United States, has become a byword for violent crime and especially the stronghold of the enormous, ultraviolent and rapidly growing MS 13 organization, routinely mislabeled as a mere “gang” in media reports. MS 13 has up to 50,000 members worldwide of whom at least 10,000, officially, and probably twice as many according to the private assessments of many police officers are in LA.
The Trump administration had remarkable success – again unacknowledged in the liberal media – in deporting many thousands of MS 13 members. However, President Joe Biden has already ensured with his initial Executive Orders that the old open border policies of both Democratic presidents (Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) and Republican ones (Ronald Reagan and both George Bush’s) is being restored so they can flood back in again.
San Francisco – America’s “anything goes” city – is in even worse shape. Its most famous, historically popular and beautiful stylish locations are now swamped with aggressive, unsanitary street people who openly urinate and defecate in the streets. Public services, long superb, are now appalling.
Even the mindless liberal suburban classes who have relentlessly voted for and imposed these catastrophic polices over the past 40 and more years are now fleeing California as property values crash and taxes become too crushing even for them.
If California continues to trail-blaze the future for the rest of the United States, that future is now clear: It is a high taxation society with a huge, impoverished, unemployed and unemployable destitute class where the middle class is annihilated, organized gangs and general chaotic street crime including muggings, rapes and murders metastasize in all major urban areas and gangs more numerous and heavily armed than the police operate openly with impunity.
It is a society where unlimited abortion on demand to and even beyond the point of birth is acclaimed as a “moral” imperative supposedly superior to all the Ten Commandments.
For California now fulfills Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s nightmare vision in his prophetic masterpiece “The Possessed” or “The Devils ” as to what unlimited liberalism must inevitably create – if not stopped in its tracks and rolled back.
As goes California, so goes the rest of the United States: For a hundred years, since the infant silent movie industry entranced the entire world before and during World War I, that simple mantra has held true.
But if America’s future now has no future – what future can the rest of America look forward to?
February 25, 2021
Biden has been a major disappointment for those who hoped that he’d change course regarding America’s pathological involvement in overseas conflicts.
The new White House Team has been in place for more than a month and it is perhaps time to consider where it is going with America’s fractured foreign policy. To be sure, when a new administration brings in a bunch of “old hands” who made their bones by attacking Syria and Libya while also assassinating American citizens by drone one might hope that those mistakes might have served as valuable “lessons learned.” Or maybe not, since no one in the Democratic Party ever mentions the Libya fiasco and President Joe Biden has already made it clear that Syria will continue to be targeted with sanctions as well as with American soldiers based on its soil. And no one will be leaving Afghanistan any time soon. The Biden team will only let up when Afghanistan is “secure” and there is regime change in Damascus.
A big part of the problem is that the personnel moves mean that the poison from the Barack Obama years has now been reintroduced into the tottering edifice that Donald Trump left behind. Obama’s United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice once made the case for attacking the Libyans by explaining how Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi provided his soldiers with Viagra so they could more readily engage in mass rapes of presumably innocent civilians. Unfortunately, Sue is back with the new administration as the Director of the Domestic Policy Council where she will no doubt again wreak havoc in her own inimitable fashion. She is joined at the top level of the administration by Tony Blinken as Secretary of State, Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence, Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor, Samantha Power as head of USAID and retired General Lloyd J. Austin as Secretary of Defense. All of the appointees are regarded as “hawks” and have personal history working with Biden when he was in Congress and as Vice President, while most of them also served in the Obama administration.
Be that as it may, Joe Biden and whoever is pulling his strings have assembled a group of establishment warmongers and aspirant social justice engineers that is second to none. Those who expected something different than the usual Democratic Party template have definitely been disappointed. Hostility towards China continues with warships being sent to the South China Sea and the president is seeking to create a new Trans-Atlantic alliance directed against both Beijing and Moscow. The Europeans are reportedly not enthusiastic about remaining under Washington’s thumb and would like some breathing room.
In a phone conversation where it would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall, Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the United States would no longer ignore his bad behavior. The official White House account of the call included the following pithy summary: “President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ firm support for Ukraine’s sovereignty. He also raised other matters of concern, including the SolarWinds hack, reports of Russia placing bounties on United States soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 United States election, and the poisoning of Aleksey Navalny.”
And to be sure, there have already been a number of issues that Biden might have dealt with by executive order, like lifting the illegal and unjustified blockade of Cuba, that could have inspired some hope that the new administration would not be just another bit of old wine in new bottles. Alas, that has not taken place but for a series of moves to unleash another wave of illegal immigration and to “protect LGBTQ rights globally.” Biden has also retained a heavy military presence in Washington itself, possibly as part of a Constitution-wrecking plan to tackle what he is referring to as “domestic terrorism.” The domestic terrorists being targeted appear to largely consist of people who are white working and middle class and voted for Trump.
In some ways, foreign policy might have been the easiest fix if the new administration were really seeking to correct the misadventures of the past twenty years. Quite the contrary, Biden and his associates have actually reversed the sensible and long overdue policies initiated by Donald Trump to reduce troop strength in Germany and bring the soldiers home from Syria and Afghanistan. Biden has already committed to an indefinite stay in Afghanistan, America’s longest “lost” war, and has covertly sent more soldiers into Syria as well as Iraq.
As regards Latin America, the U.S. clearly is prepared to double down on regime change in Venezuela, continuing its Quixotic support of Juan Guaido as president. Meanwhile, the new Secretary of State Tony Blinken has clearly indicated that there will be no end to deference to Israeli interests in the Middle East. Under questioning by Congress, he has insisted that Israel will be “consulted” on U.S. policy to include arms sales in the region, which has been interpreted to mean that Jerusalem will have a veto, and has confirmed that his view on Iran is identical to that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both are apparently promoting the view that Iran will have enough enriched uranium to construct a weapon within a few weeks, though they have not addressed other technical aspects of what would actually be required to build one. Netanyahu has been making the claim about the Iranian threat since the 1980s and now it is also an element of U.S. policy.
Biden and Blinken have also moved forward slowly on a campaign commitment to attempt renegotiation of the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran that President Trump withdrew from in 2017. As a condition to re-start discussions, the Iranian leadership has demanded a return to the status quo ante, meaning that the punitive sanctions initiated by Trump would have to be canceled and Iran would in return cease all enrichment activities. Biden and Blinken, which admittedly sounds a bit like a vaudeville comedy duo, have reportedly agreed to withdraw the Trump sanctions but have also suggested that Iran will have to make other concessions, to include ending its ballistic missile development program and ceasing its “meddling” in the Middle East. Iran will refuse to agree to that, which means that the bid to renegotiate could turn out to be nothing more than a bit of theater involving multilateral “discussions” hosted by the European Union and the pointless hostility between Washington and Tehran will continue.
And speaking again of Israel, there have been concerns expressed by the usual suspects because Biden had not called telephoned Netanyahu immediately after the inauguration. It may be true that the president was sending a somewhat less than subtle message signaling that he was in charge, but the call has now taken place and everything is hunky-dory. As a separate issue, the Jewish state has, of course, the world’s only secret nuclear arsenal, estimated to consist of at least 200 bombs, and it also has several systems available to deliver them on target. For no reasons that make any sense, the United States since the time of President Richard Nixon has never publicly confirmed the existence of the weapons, preferring to maintain “nuclear ambiguity” that allows Israel to have the weapons without any demands for inspections or constraints on their use. The most recent four presidents have, in fact, signed secret agreements with Israel not to expose the nuclear arsenal. Biden has apparently not done so yet, but appeals by international figures, including most recently South African Desmond Tutu, had produced some expectations that the new administration might break with precedent.
Giving aid to Israel is, in fact, illegal due to the Symington Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act, which bans U.S. economic and military assistance to nuclear proliferators and countries that seek to acquire nuclear weapons. But Biden has already indicated that he would not under any circumstances cut aid to Israel, so the matter would appear to be closed. In any event the Symington Amendment includes an exemption clause that would allow the funding to continue as long as the president certifies to Congress that continued aid to the proliferator would be a vital U.S. interest. Given Israel’s power in both Congress and the White House it is not imaginable that its aid would be affected no matter what Netanyahu and his band of criminals choose to do.
So, it would seem that Biden is unprepared to either pressure or pursue any distancing from Israel and its policies, not a good sign for those of us who have encouraged some disengagement from the Middle East quagmire. And one final issue where some of us have hoped to see some movement from Biden has also been a disappointment. That is Julian Assange, who is fighting against efforts to have him extradited from England to face trial and imprisonment in the U.S. under the Espionage Act. Many observers believe that Assange is a legitimate journalist who is being set up for a show trial with only one possible outcome. The entire process is to a large extent being driven by a desire for revenge coming largely from the Democratic Party since Assange was responsible for publishing the Hillary Clinton emails as well as other party documents. Biden has already indicated that the process of extraditing Assange will continue.
So, Biden has been a major disappointment for those who expected that he might change course regarding America’s pathological involvement in overseas conflicts while also having the good sense and courage to make relations with countries like Iran and Israel responsive to actual U.S. interests. Finally, it would be a good sign if Assange were to be released from the threat of trial and prison, if only to recognize that free speech and a free press benefit everyone, but that is perhaps a bridge too far as the United States moves inexorably towards a totalitarian state intolerant of dissent.
Description:
TV report on the strategic importance of Ma’rib province for the fate of the ongoing conflict in Yemen, particularly following reports that Sana’a-led forces were on the verge of taking control over the entire Ma’rib governate.
Source: Al Maydeen TV
Date: Feb 20, 2021
(Important Note: Please help us keep producing independent translations for you by contributing as little as $1/month here )
Transcript:
Television presenter:
Welcome. The Yemeni army and armed forces are advancing in Ma’rib. We are witnessing a decisive battle because we are talking about the last northern city in Yemen that remains under the control of the government of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Establishing control over this city would deal a heavy blow to this government and would be a major advantage to the (Sana’a-led) armed forces and the tribes of Ma’rib. So why Ma’rib?
The strategic, oil-rich governorate of Ma’rib lies to the east of the capital, Sana’a, about 120 km away from it. Al-Mayadeen sources confirm that Sana’a-led forces have taken control of Tala’at al-Hamra and surrounding sites in the Sarwah district, west of the (Ma’rib) governorate. This is taking place after a series of concentrated military operations on multiple fronts over the past year. (Following these operations, Sana’a-led forces) have gained control over multiple regions in Ma’rib, including Mahliya and Rahba in the south, Serwah about 30 km west of Ma’rib, and have seized control over the Coufal camp (i.e. the largest Hadi government military camp). In the meantime, hit-and-run raids continue in the north and northeastern districts of Ma’rib, such as Raghwan, Hailan, Al-Kassara, Jabal Murad, and others.
For the forces of Sana’a, gaining control over Ma’rib represents the fall of the last stronghold of the Hadi administration, and a further step towards controlling northern Yemen as a whole. It also provides an open road to the southern governorates such as Shabwa and Hadramout, leading to “the liberation of every inch of Yemen”, as a military commander in Ansarullah says.
According to the Carnegie Middle East Center, for the Hadi administration, Ma’rib is the last resort in the north for its political team, especially for the Islah party. AFP says the city was seen as a Saudi protectorate in which Riyadh invested heavily. Perhaps this is what explains the information gained by Al Mayadeen sources indicating that Hadi’s forces and the Saudi coalition are trying to use refugee camps in Ma’rib as human shields to prevent the (Sana’a-led) army and (popular) forces from advancing.
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