
Sunday, 23 April 2017
The Speech That Killed Sharon الكلمة التي قتلت شارون
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
Why Washington is Terrified of Russia, China
By Pepe Escobar
April 22, 2017 “Information Clearing House” – “Sputnik” – The Russia-China strategic partnership, uniting the Pentagon’s avowed top two “existential” threats to America, does not come with a formal treaty signed with pomp, circumstance – and a military parade.
Enveloped in layers of subtle sophistication, there’s no way to know the deeper terms Beijing and Moscow have agreed upon behind those innumerable Putin-Xi Jinping high-level meetings.
Diplomats, off the record, occasionally let it slip there may have been a coded message delivered to NATO to the effect that if one of the strategic members is seriously harassed — be it in Ukraine or in the South China Sea – NATO will have to deal with both.
For now, let’s concentrate on two instances of how the partnership works in practice, and why Washington is clueless on how to deal with it.
Exhibit A is the imminent visit to Moscow by the Director of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Li Zhanshu, invited by the head of the Presidential Administration in the Kremlin, Anton Vaino. Beijing stressed the talks will revolve around – what else — the Russia-China strategic partnership, “as previously agreed on by the countries’ leaders.”
This happens just after China’s First Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli, one of the top seven in the Politburo and one of the drivers of China’s economic policies, was received in Moscow by President Putin. They discussed Chinese investments in Russia and the key energy angle of the partnership.
But most of all they prepared Putin’s next visit to Beijing, which will be particularly momentous, in the cadre of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) summit on May 14-15, steered by Xi Jinping.
The General Office of the CCP – directly subordinated to Xi — only holds this kind of ultra-high-level annual consultations with Moscow, and no other player. Needless to add, Li Zhanshu reports directly to Xi as much as Vaino reports directly to Putin. That is as highly strategic as it gets.
That also happens to tie directly to one of the latest episodes featuring The Hollow (Trump) Men, in this case Trump’s bumbling/bombastic National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. HR McMaster.
In a nutshell, McMaster’s spin, jolly regurgitated by US corporate media, is that Trump has developed such a “special chemistry” with Xi after their Tomahawks-with-chocolate cake summit in Mar-a-Lago that Trump has managed to split the Russia-China entente on Syria and isolate Russia in the UN Security Council.
It would have taken only a few minutes for McMaster to read the BRICS joint communiqué on Syria for him to learn that the BRICS are behind Russia.
No wonder a vastly experienced Indian geopolitical observer felt compelled to note that, “Trump and McMaster look somewhat like two country bumpkins who lost their way in the metropolis.”
Follow the money
Exhibit B centers on Russia and China quietly advancing their agreement to progressively replace the US dollar’s reserve status with a gold-backed system.
That also involves the key participation of Kazakhstan – very much interested in using gold as currency along OBOR. Kazakhstan could not be more strategically positioned; a key hub of OBOR; a key member of the Eurasia Economic Union (EEU); member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO); and not by accident the smelter of most of Russia’s gold.
In parallel, Russia and China are advancing their own payment systems. With the yuan now enjoying the status of a global currency, China has been swiftly promoting their payment system, CIPS, careful not to frontally antagonize the internationally accepted SWIFT, controlled by the US.
Russia, on the other hand, has stressed the creation of “an alternative,” in the words of Russian Central Bank’s Elvira Nabiullina, in the form of the Mir payment system — a Russian version of Visa/ MasterCard. What’s implied is that were Washington feel inclined to somehow exclude Russia from SWIFT, even temporarily, at least 90 percent of ATMs in Russia would be able to operate on Mir.
China’s UnionPay cards are already an established fixture all across Asia – enthusiastically adopted by HSBC, among others. Combine “alternative” payment systems with a developing gold-backed system – and “toxic” does not even begin to spell out the reaction of the US Federal Reserve.
And it’s not just about Russia and China; it’s about the BRICS.
What First Deputy Governor of Russia’s Central Bank Sergey Shvetsov has outlined is just the beginning: “BRICS countries are large economies with large reserves of gold and an impressive volume of production and consumption of this precious metal. In China, the gold trade is conducted in Shanghai, in Russia it is in Moscow. Our idea is to create a link between the two cities in order to increase trade between the two markets.”
Russia and China already have established systems to do global trade bypassing the US dollar. What Washington did to Iran — cutting their banks off SWIFT – is now unthinkable against Russia and China.
So we’re already on our way, slowly but surely, towards a BRICS “gold marketplace.” A “new financial architecture” is being built. That will imply the eventual inability of the US Fed to export inflation to other nations – especially those included in BRICS, EEU and SCO.
The Hollow Men
Trump’s Generals, led by “Mad Dog” Mattis, may spin all they want about their need to dominate the planet with their sophisticated AirSeaLandSpaceCyber commands. Yet that may be not enough to counter the myriad ways the Russia-China strategic partnership is developing.
So more on than off, we will have Hollow Men like Vice-President Mike Pence, with empurpled solemnity, threatening North Korea; “The shield stands guard and the sword stands ready.” Forget this does not even qualify as a lousy line in a cheap remake of a Hollywood B-movie; what we have here is Aspiring Commander-in-Chief Pence warning Russia and China there may be some nuclear nitty-gritty very close to their borders between the US and North Korea.
Not gonna happen. So here’s to the great T. S. Eliot, who saw it all decades in advance: “We are the hollow men / We are the stuffed men/ Leaning together
/ Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! / Our dried voices, when
/ We whisper together
/ Are quiet and meaningless
/ As wind in dry grass /
Or rats’ feet over broken glass /
In our dry cellar.”
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
Does The US Love Freedom of Information?
Created on Wednesday, 19 April 2017 09:27
My dear friend, Kris Janssen, was part of the visiting delegation to Syria. The delegations comprises journalists from the United States, Australia and eight European countries.
According to statements by Dr. Jamal Daoud, head of the delegation, the aim of the visit is to have future media cooperation as to convey the reality of events in Syria, and as voice solidarity with and support for the steadfastness of the Syrian People, Army and Leadership in their fight against terrorism.
I was so honored yesterday with the private visit of my friend Kris to the Syria Times headquarters. Mr. Kris, voiced his pleasure over the delegation meeting with Minister of Information, Mr. Mohammad Ramez Turjman.
Kris said that Minister Turjman “gives good explanation,” and was ” open, honest talking in an open way.” Minister Turjman spoke ” frankly and answered even critical questions”, added Kris.
Kris, however, added that “Unfortunately, the Western media reverse the truth and the reality. ” I said, your frequent visits are welcome as to clarify and depict the ongoing on the ground.
With this in mind, came the said and written by my facebook friend, Miguel Valenzuela , who wrote his own observations and impressions following the meeting with Minister Turjman:
I met the Syrian Minister of Information today in Damascus. He described the war as a culture of life vs a culture of death. He said that despite the war, we still have festivals and activities, and protect all faiths, as I’ve witnessed, while the “opposition” tries to destroy all of this and impose their way, as I’ve also witnessed.
He said that the Syrian government maintains two things: That there is no place in Syria for terrorism, and that the leader of Syria must be chosen by way of the ballot box; while the “opposition” only repeat two sentences: “Assad must go” and “Give us the keys to power in Syria.” But there are more than 1,200 armed groups in the “opposition”, so who exactly will get the power?

He said that when he became the Minister 6 months ago, he met with one of the strongest armed groups called Jayish al Islam. The group started to have trouble with the other groups nearby and within two weeks there were more than 700 killed between these groups. He asked them what can we expect if they’re leading this nation when they’re already killing each other? He asked them why are they dismantling factories and medicine manufacturers and selling them to Turkey? He said that real revolutions protect these vital infrastructure, but this is not a real revolution.
He said the plot against Syria was discussed openly long ago during the Condoleezza Rice talks. Essentially, they want to dismantle our nations and establish a “New Middle East”. He said this is the plan of the United States but it won’t work. They have tried to spread sectarian hate to divide us but it didn’t work. Syria is united.
“Regarding the ‘chemical attacks’ that we are being accused of by the United States, which supposedly was the reason for launching a missile attack on our airbase, there are many important questions to ask. Why were there so many civilians present in the uninhabitable area where the ‘chemical attack’ allegedly took place? Why were the so called ‘White Helmets’, who were first on the scene wearing masks and some were not? Why did they not wear gloves when touching the bodies, if it was indeed a ‘chemical attack’? Why would the Syrian government attack these people? What’s the point? What do we have to gain from this?
There needs to be an independent analysis to find out what is true and what is false before responding, but the US did not wait for one, they generally don’t, even though in the media they always say that they’re defending ‘truth and freedom’
I’ll give you an example as well of how much the US “loves freedom of information”…the first thing they did when the crisis started was ban satellite TV from broadcasting Syrian channels and they pulled their ambassadors out of Syria. Syrian broadcasting headquarters, Alakhbaria, Syria TV was attacked many times by mortars and suicide bombings. Syria TV headquarters was completely destroyed. Many journalists were killed in these attacks, but in spite of this, journalists are still going to work because they believe that they are on the right side of history.”
“We depend on good people like you from around the world. We want you to take all that you have witnessed here back to your country. We understand that most people are scared of coming to Syria especially now with the US attacks and all the hysteria in the media, but you are here. We welcome you to Syria and we thank you for your courage.”
Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
Ramzan Kadyrov on Western Intelligence services provocations

Russia: EXCLUSIVE Western intelligence did ‘everything possible to destroy’ Russia – Kadyrov
Apr 19, 2017
“Western and European intelligence agencies have done everything possible to destroy the sovereign state of Russia,” Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov stated in an exclusive interview with RT in Grozny on Tuesday.
“For all these years, Western and European intelligence agencies have done everything possible to destroy the sovereign state of Russia. And the Chechen Republic was chosen as an arena for a showdown and there were fierce battles here in the last 10 years and not only with a certain group of bandits but with soldiers highly trained by Western special services. According to our data, they represented more than 50 states. Russia defended and proved that it is a strong state and that it will not allow anyone to joke with the state and with the people.”“The people said that they wanted to live within the Russian Federation. We don’t need this war. I’ve never been against the federal centre, I’ve never been behind. I have always been with my people. And my people obliged us to serve by faith and truth. And my religion also obliges us to be loyal to the supreme commander-in-chief, the president. If this country and the president allow you to build mosques and pray, you must die for this president. Therefore, I am a convinced infantryman. Wherever I am, I’m a convinced infantryman; I’m one hundred percent ready to fulfill any order, for this we are preparing day and night. It’s not just words. I am indebted to Vladimir Putin because he helped in the most difficult days of our republic, in the most difficult days after the death of my father, our first president; he personally helped me, reached out his hand. I will never forget this.”
Apr 19, 2017
Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov said Western countries have “accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of all sins” without providing any evidence, in an exclusive interview with RT in Grozny on Tuesday.
“[They] were forced to leave Syria; their situation is very difficult. We see what Western side is doing. Western countries bomb government troops without consulting first and violate all international laws and then again accuse Russia. The chemical attack has not been proven; they accused Assad of all sins. Please provide us with any evidence or information if you have such a thing. They once killed Saddam Hussein, they wanted to destroy Egypt, they destroyed Libya. Here is the same thing: without conscience, without honour, they continue to do their own thing. And the whole world including the European Parliament and other Western institutions are silent, they don’t say a word.”“They don’t look at the life of people. There are so many disabled children, orphans; we help them as we can. I have been calling for the Arab countries, let’s help them together. Well, if you think that Assad is to blame, the people are not guilty of anything. People suffer a humanitarian catastrophe, we must help, we are Muslims. But the Western countries, Europe don’t want to help anyone. They only want to use all the resources against Russia; they want to see us kneeling before them.”
‘Everyday they write articles on nonsense’ – Kadyrov on media claims
RT spoke exclusively about the issue with the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov after Russian newspaper’s report caused controversy over its claims that quote ‘over a hundred men’ were recently detained in the Chechen Republic because of their alleged homosexuality – accusations local authorities deny.
Russia: Gay prisons in Chechnya ‘unconfirmed facts’ – Chechen leader Kadyrov
Ramzan Kadyrov alluded to recent media reports of arrests and killings of gay men in the Chechen republic, during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. The leader stated that the claims were “unconfirmed facts.”
“So-called good people are writing that in our republic, it is even awkward to say, the people are being detained and killed” he stated.
He went on to make an example of a man named Tepsurkayev Hasu who was reported to have been killed while he was “alive and healthy at home.”
In early April, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a report of mass arrests of gay men in the Chechen Republic. The article claimed that around 100 people were detained while at least three people were killed. Novaya Gazeta later published material on special prisons for homosexuals, where they have been allegedly tortured.
“I would like to inform you that those provocative articles that are written about the Chechen Republic, about the people, about those events that allegedly take place, about detentions.”
President Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Russian): [off camera] “Which ones?”
“So-called good people are writing that in our republic, it is even awkward to say, the people are being detained and killed. They even gave one name – Tepsurkayev Hasu, he is our main person in ideology, the Sufi. They said that he was killed but he is at home. They insulted him first then accused authorities of killing him, and he is alive and healthy at home.”“Such unconfirmed facts around the republic happen two or three times a year, and since the beginning of the year, this is the first situation of this kind. Generally, in terms of security, our republic is in good standing. We do not have street crime; we do not have serious terrorist threats. The republic, so to speak, is confidently moving forward.”
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Russian): “But there was a demonstration [against the crime], there was an attack on the unit of the National Guard so not all the questions apparently have been solved, but, of course, all of them are being resolved. I see that they are resolved well and of course it should be done on the basis of economic and social development. The fact that you manage to comply with the decrees of the President of Russia from 2012 is very important.”
Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said on Thursday the complaints about alleged persecution of gay men in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya may be a provocation.
“TASS – On April 1, Novaya Gazeta published an article on its website entitled “Honor Killing” which referred to some alleged abductions and possible killings of Chechen residents over their non-traditional sexual orientations or on suspicion of being gay. The paper cited anonymous sources in law enforcement agencies and also victims, without revealing their names.
“TASS – On April 1, Novaya Gazeta published an article on its website entitled “Honor Killing” which referred to some alleged abductions and possible killings of Chechen residents over their non-traditional sexual orientations or on suspicion of being gay. The paper cited anonymous sources in law enforcement agencies and also victims, without revealing their names.
Moskalkova said according to some claims “more than 100 homosexuals went missing in Chechnya,” but no such cases have been registered with the Prosecutor-General’s Office, the Investigative Committee, the Interior Ministry and Chechnya’s prosecutors.
On Wednesday, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said at the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that media publications on the alleged detentions and killings of civilians in Chechnya were a provocation. “I feel awful to speak about this. They claim we’re arresting and even killing people. They even named one of the victims.” In the final run, the man who had allegedly been killed was found safe and sound at home.
The Civil Society and Human Rights Council under Chechnya’s leader said it had scrutinized the article and found no confirmations at all, even indirect ones, that the alleged incidents actually took place. A corresponding statement by the regional council was published on the website of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights on April 4
The Civil Society and Human Rights Council under Chechnya’s leader said it had scrutinized the article and found no confirmations at all, even indirect ones, that the alleged incidents actually took place. A corresponding statement by the regional council was published on the website of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights on April 4
Religious Affairs Adviser to Chechnya’s leader, Adam Shakhidov, said that the Novaya Gazeta (New Newspaper) would be sued in court for slander shortly.”
River to Sea
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Barcelona Votes to End «Israeli» Occupation & Illegal Settlements
Barcelona City Council passed a historic declaration on Wednesday upholding the right to boycott the “Israeli” entity over its violations of Palestinian rights.

The motion condemns the apartheid entity’s occupation of Palestinian land, calls for the immediate end to the decade-long Gaza blockade and ensures that the city’s public procurement policies exclude companies that profit from “Israel’s” human rights abuses.
It also admonishes the “Israeli” entity for its intransigence in the face of repeated warnings from the international community to stop its illegal colonization of Palestinian land, according to the Catalan daily Ara.
The council recognizes “nonviolent campaigns promoted by Palestinian and international civil society for defending international and human rights law in Palestine” – a clear nod to the BDS movement.
The city joins dozens of Spanish municipalities which have declared themselves “free of ‘Israeli’ apartheid.”
A coalition of Spanish and Catalan boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] groups welcomed the vote.
“We celebrate this victory because we believe it to be a great step forward in raising the awareness of the role of local government in the defense of human rights and in breaking the complicity that inherently bolsters apartheid and the occupation of Palestine,” the groups state.
“This resolution is an institutional recognition of civil society demands for an end to complicity in violations of international law through nonviolent struggle, as practiced by the BDS movement,” the groups add.
The city’s recognition of the right to engage in “Israel” boycott activism, at a time when more European governments move to protect such activism, “is a triumph for free speech and democratic rights in Europe,” said Rafeef Ziadah of the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
“It gives further recognition to BDS as an inclusive, inspiring, anti-racist movement rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that upholds the basic principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity,” Ziadah added.
For years, Spanish and Catalan activists had engaged in direct action against academic and cultural partnerships with “Israeli”-backed institutions.
In 2014, dozens of activists occupied the offices of Catalan government representatives to protest a wave of newly signed academic collaboration deals between the autonomous region and the “Israeli” entity.
The action forced the representatives to agree to examine proposals aimed at ensuring the new deals do not benefit institutions and companies that participate in the entity’s occupation.
More than 350 Catalan academics and university staff backed the action, calling for the boycott of “Israeli” academic institutions.
The “Israeli” regime, meanwhile, has expressed worry over the growing popularity of BDS activism in Spain, especially as larger cities such as Barcelona, led by left-wing mayor Ada Colau, vote to support Palestinian rights.
A 2016 cable from the “Israeli” embassy in Spain described “the phenomenon of anti-‘Israeli’ activity in Spain” as “bothersome and worrisome, but in the past was centered in small cities.”
But the cable warned that Barcelona city council members were considering canceling a sister-city agreement with Tel Aviv, according to The Jerusalem Post.
After Wednesday’s city Council Vote, David Bondia Garcia, a professor of international law and president of the Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya, a human rights organization, asserted in the newspaper el Periódico that a break in the twinning agreement with Tel Aviv would be the next logical step.
The Barcelona motion comes just two months after pro-“Israel” groups in Spain filed charges against Palestine solidarity activists for calling on a music festival two years ago to cancel a performer who had used his celebrity to fundraise for the “Israeli” army and to support anti-Palestinian causes.
Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian human rights activist and co-founder of the BDS movement, called the charges “legal intimidation.”
israel | barcelona | bds | spain | israeli apartheid
Source: EI, Edited by website team
21-04-2017 | 13:02
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الأميركيون على الأبواب وعيون الأسد بالمرصاد
أبريل 22, 2017
محمد صادق الحسيني
مرة أخرى يحاول الأميركيون تجريب حظّهم لقطع الطريق على الإيرانيين والروس من التدفق السلس والمرن الى شرق البحر الأبيض المتوسط كقوة مقاومة للعنجهية الأميركية الظالمة..!
مرة أخرى يحاول الأميركيون السيطرة على طرق أنابيب الغاز على الجغرافيتين العراقية والسورية بعد فشل أدواتهم الرجعية في تحقيق ذلك على مدى ستة أعوام خلت…!
مرة أخرى يقرّر الأميركيون التشمير عن سواعدهم والنزول بأنفسهم للإشراف على الجبناء والعملاء والأجراء الذين خذلوا أسيادهم وتكسرت أمواجهم على صخور جبال سورية والعراق من حلب الى الموصل…!
وفي هذا السياق، فإن المتتبّعين تغيير إدارة ترامب أساليبها وأدواتها القديمة المنتهية الصلاحية بانتهاء عمر كل من داعش والنصرة وأخواتهما يسجلون التالي:
أولاً: ثمة استعدادات أميركية واسعة النطاق، في قاعدة عين الأسد وقاعدة التقدم الجوية الأميركية بالقرب منها، لشن هجوم واسع، بالتعاون مع قوات العشائر التي درّبها الأميركيون في الأردن، وكذلك قوات أردنية خاصة تذكّروا اجتماع ملك الأردن مع قائد القوات الخاصة الأميركية قبلحوالي ستة أسابيع ، نعم لشنّ هجوم واسع على مدينة القائم للسيطرة عليها كمرحلة أولى ومن ثمّ على البوكمال في مرحلة مقبلة لمنع الحشد الشعبي من السيطرة على هذا القاطع بحدود نهاية الشهر الحالي …
ثانياً: تتضمّن الخطة الأميركية السيطرة على بلدتي راوة وعانة قبل بدء الهجوم على القائم.
ثالثاً: وصول لواء القوات الخاصة الأميركية مع تجهيزاته كافة الى عين الأسد كجزء من الاستعدادات، علماً أن تعزيزات إضافية سيتم استقدامها من إمارة الكويت قوامها كتيبتي إنزال جوي معززتين بكتيبة مدفعية هاون عيار 120 ملم.
رابعاً: لا بدّ من التذكير بما كنا قد نبّهنا إليه في عرض سابق حول احتمالات تطور العدوان على سورية والتي تتضمّن بندين أساسيين:
– الجبهة الجنوبية.
– الجبهة الشرقية.
حيث يتضمن البند الثاني تفاصيل كثيرة عن الحشود المتموضعة في منطقة التنف/ البوكمال / الميادين…
واللافت في التحركات الأميركية المتسارعة هذه أنها جاءت بالتزامن مع تسلّم دفعات جديدة من أموال البترودولار السعودي من جانب وزير الحرب الأميركي خلال زيارته الأخيرة للرياض…
الأمر الذي يؤكد أن الهدف الجديد الذي يسعى إليه الراعي الأميركي لتحالف الرجعية العربية والكيان الصهيوني وثالثهما اللاهث العثماني هو مرة أخرى محاولة إحياء مشروع السيطرة على قرار دمشق من بوابة الطاقة وخطوطها وموقع كل من العراق وسورية الجيو استراتيجي في هذا السياق…
وأن العنوان كان ولايزال دائماً أن «تجاوبي يا سورية معنا وابتعدي عن إيران وحزب الله ومشروع المقاومة ولك ما تريدين…!».
ولنتذكّر جميعاً العرض الذي حمله في أواسط العام 2010 محمد بن زايد للرئيس بشار حافظ الأسد والقاضي بهبة مقدارها 150 مليار دولار وإعادة الجولان مقابل التخلي عن المقاومة في فلسطين وحزب الله وإيران…!
ولما رفض الرئيس السوري مثل هذا العرض كانت الحرب المفتوحة التي انطلقت منذ خريف العام نفسه، عندما أدخل القطريون وعن طريق عملاء أردنيين ولبنانيين ما قيمته نحو 500 مليون دولار عتاد وأدوات وإمكانات مترافقة مع عناصر القاعدة استعداداً لتفجير الساحات السورية في ربيع العام 2011، وهكذا كانت الحرب الكونية على قرار الدولة الوطنية السورية المستقل الى يومنا هذا…
إنها المقاومة، أيها الكاوبوي الغبي، المقاومة التي ليس فقط لم تستطع ثنيها خلال ست سنوات مضت من الدفاع عن أسوار الشام وتخوم بغداد بل استوى عودها وقوي واشتدّ ساعدها حتى صار قادراً على الضرب في الجليل وما بعد بعد الجليل بفاعلية جيوش الدول العظمى…!
بل إنها صارت تحبس أنفاسك وتطلع إليك ليس فقط من الجبال والوديان، بل ومن السواحل، السواحل كلها، من الأبيض المتوسط الى سواحل هرمز وحتى سواحل باب المندب، والمقبل من الأيام سيثبت لك أنها قادرة على ملاحقتك حتى وأنت تشدّ الرحيل الى مالاقا والبحر الاصفر بعد ان خرج لك المارد الكوري ماسكاً الزمام…
فإن كنتَ تريد تجريب حظك من عين الأسد العراقية هذه المرة، فلتعلم بأن:
عيون الأسد ترصدك في كل مكان…
ويبقى سلطانك قائماً سيدي الإمام
حيث يتحرّك رجالك وسائر الأنام…
بعدنا طيّبين قولوا الله…
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America's Yemen Crisis Is Bigger than Just Yemen

EDITOR’S CHOICE | 22.04.2017
America’s Yemen Crisis Is Bigger than Just Yemen
Broken alliances and competing political factions are emperiling America’s goals
Mohamed ZEESHAN
Long before the Trump administration launched missiles at an Assad regime air base in Syria and dropped the world’s most lethal nonnuclear bomb in Afghanistan, it undertook its first military offensive in Yemen. In late January, just two weeks into his term, President Trump ordered a military raid on suspected Al Qaeda targets in that country.
That operation then became infamous for the death of a Navy SEAL, but it has been followed more recently by increased U.S. military attacks on terrorists holed up in Yemen. But whether or not Washington’s military involvement is part of a larger policy in Yemen, America needs to deal with an increasingly difficult conflict of interests in that country, which threatens to make the war against terrorist groups far harder.
It all started in 2011, when the Arab Spring came to Yemen. On the heels of the Tunisian revolution, protesters and opposition parties demanded the departure of then president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had ruled the country since North and South Yemen united in 1990. The following year, Saleh was forced to abdicate in favour of his vice president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Hadi was put in charge of the transition government, established by a national dialogue process sponsored by the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council.
But Hadi’s stronghold on the country was short-lived. In September 2014, the new resident was forced to flee to the south, after his presidential palace and the capital city of Sanaa were captured by Shiite rebels called the Houthis. Hadi attempted to move his capital city to the southern port city of Aden, but in early 2015, he fled to Riyadh in exile, where he still resides despite the odd flying visit to Aden.
Meanwhile, Saleh has begun to exert increased influence over the Houthi establishment in Sanaa, leaving his imprints on its leadership and filling in positions in its rebel government with his own people. Yet, today, Yemen still lacks an effective centralised authority. Neither the rebels in Sanaa, nor Hadi’s government in Aden, seems to have the capacity to control the entire country.
The underlying cause of this complicated civil war could be traced back to the age-old divisions between the North and the South. While Yemen was reunited in 1990, the resource-rich South always held resentment towards what it saw as the unfair exploitation of its economy by the Saleh government in the North, where the capital Sanaa is located. Saleh’s crackdown on protesters in the South strengthened calls for secession from leaders in the region.
When Saleh was deposed in 2012, the national dialogue process that followed had promised to heal these old wounds. Hadi was himself from the South, and therefore raised hopes among fellow southerners. Yet, despite protracted negotiations, the talks could not produce an agreement on the political status of the South: several popular southern leaders boycotted the negotiations and campaigned for secession, and while the dialogue finally agreed on a federal structure with greater autonomy for the South, it was unable to work out the details of the devolution of power.
The breakdown of the transition government—and the takeover of Sanaa by rebels, increasingly controlled by Saleh—only tested the South’s patience further. Now, with Hadi away in Riyadh, reports suggest that secessionist leaders have once again come to dominate the South’s political landscape, with no compromise in sight. Even in Aden today, the transition agreement seems all but dead, with the local governor and police chief calling the shots, as the Houthis make inroads. As one southerner was quoted as saying, “Hadi has already brought the Houthis to Aden, and then brought al-Qaeda, so we are not stupid to trust him anymore.”
In the midst of all this, the international community is struggling to salvage the irreparably crippled Hadi government—despite most public opinion across the country now seeming to be against him. Saudi forces have been bombing rebel holdings in the North, causing widespread collateral damage but doing nothing to strengthen the transitional government. United Nations resolutions have placed embargoes on the Houthi rebels, and repeatedly called for the complete implementation of the transition agreement that put Hadi in charge.
But the Iranians also seem determined not to let the Saudi-sponsored agreement see the light of day. In recent months, they have stepped up weapons support to the Houthi rebels, turning the Yemeni battlefield into the latest theater in the Middle East’s own Cold War. With Hadi away in exile and his government being overwhelmed by secessionists in Aden, it seems inconceivable at this point that the Iranians would lose this battle to the Saudis.
With all this chaos in the background, America’s war against Al Qaeda and ISIS is under threat. On the one hand, Washington wants to preserve its alliance with the Gulf states, who are fighting to save their irretrievably lost transition agreement. As a former U.S. Defense Department official pointed out in the Atlantic recently, when Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed visited the United States last month, the red carpet was well and truly rolled out.
Yet, on the other hand, Washington can’t afford to let Yemen’s chaos prolong indefinitely, lest ISIS militants cash in on the instability and lawlessness, just as they lose territory in Syria. In August of last year, a UN report said that both Al Qaeda and ISIS have already begun to gain a foothold in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
The challenge for Trump would be in reconciling his Saudi alliance with the fact that the Saudi-backed Hadi government is no longer in a position to rule. Backing the aimless Saudi operation—whether verbally or militarily—will only make Iranian interests in the country more deeply entrenched, and the conflict unending. If Trump wants to get rid of militants in Yemen, he’s going to have to find a way to bring the Middle East’s Cold War rivals to agree on a government.
Mohamed Zeeshan is a scholar of international affairs at Columbia University and online editor of the Columbia Journal of International Affairs. He has written for The Diplomat, India Today and HuffPost India.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
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Over Passover, Settlers (Jewish Terrorists) Attacked Three Grandmothers. I Was One.
We, three women in our 60s and 70s, wanted to see the settlement reality for ourselves. We got a smaller but bitter taste of the violence and hatred Palestinians in the area experience as routine.
By Carol Cook
During Passover, I traveled to the West Bank with two other women, all of us members of Machsom Watch, an Israeli human rights group. Our goal was to visit two Palestinian villages: in one, Kafr a-Dik, settlers had recently cut down some olive trees; in the other, Urif, residents had tried to work in their olive groves, but, even though they had arranged this with the army, settlers stopped them from doing so. We wanted to see with out own eyes, rather than reading about, the places where all this had happened. Both villages are less than 10 kilometers east of the Green Line, about 30 miles from either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
Accompanied by a resident of Kafr a-Dik, we got as far as the settlement of Alei Zahav, on whose outskirts another settlement, Leshem, is being built. Tractors were working and some kind of a tour was going on, possibly for prospective buyers of what indeed appears to be what will be a lovely neighborhood. (A promo for Leshem on the settlers’ Arutz 7 website calls it “one of Israel’s fastest growing communities…situated on the charming Samarian hilltops…a haven of fresh air and serenity…affordable, top quality homes.”)
But we could not go any farther to reach the village farmlands, because a closure had been imposed on the territories for the duration of Passover, the Feast of Freedom, and our Palestinian guide would not be allowed in.
So we proceded to Urif, a few kilometers northeast. There we met Adel, a young field worker for B’tselem, a human rights organization that works in partnership with Machsom Watch for these tours, and drove to the outskirts of the village, whose lands border the infamously hardline settlement of Yitzhar.
Besides Adel, we were three women in our 60s and 70s. Together we walked up a gentle slope covered with low shrubs and wildflowers to the edge of a ridge overlooking an olive grove below. On the opposite ridge stood the homes of Yitzhar, whose radical yeshiva is a beneficiary of the Kushner family’s charitable donations. We stood there for about 10 minutes, while Adel told us what had happened in the grove about a week before, when Palestinian farmers arrived there by prior arrangement with the IDF. Settlers had come down and threatened them, a clash ensued, the army fired tear gas and the farmers were forced to leave.
We were ready to go back to the car when we saw several figures emerge from the bushes and rocks on the hill opposite – first one, then two, then three people, apparently young men or older teens.
As we watched, some put on masks and started coming down the hill toward us. Knowing Yitzhar’s reputation as one of the most extreme West Bank settlements, with a long history of violent harassment of their Palestinian neighbors, as well as numerous incidents of assaults on the Israeli army and police, I was definitely not interested in any encounter with them. I had come to learn and observe, not to engage in deliberate heroics. Two of us started walking quickly toward the car, while the third, more defiant, stood her ground and watched as they made their way down the hill.
As they came closer, I could see that the leader, who seemed older than the others, had a club or heavy stick in his hand. Then, suddenly, they started throwing stones at us. All three of us women now ran to the car. But Adel picked up a stone, threw it back at them, and made a phone call.
By the time we reached the car, several men he had apparently summoned by phone from the Palestinian village – including an older man with a white beard, two younger men and a couple of kids – were arriving at the hilltop. This ended the incident; the settlers, seeing reinforcements, and with no soldiers around to intervene, apparently decided it would be best to withdraw. They retreated up the hill, and we quickly got in the car and drove home.
This had been a routine visit by Machsom Watch, its aim being to witness and bear witness to Israel’s settlement project. We came away with a small but bitter taste of what the Palestinians in the area have to face on a regular basis – in a place where the mere presence of one Palestinian and three women easily identifiable as “leftists” was enough for the neighboring settlers to arm themselves with sticks, stones and hatred.
We returned to Israel through the Shomron Crossing (for Israeli vehicles only), where the suspicious female security guard opened the car door and scrutinized our Israeli ID cards carefully, asking: “Where do you live? Where have you been?” I am still considering my answer.
Carol Cook is a journalist and editor at Haaretz
River to Sea
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
جولة للحريري إلى عرسال؟
جولة للحريري إلى عرسال؟
أبريل 22, 2017
ناصر قنديل
– لقيت جولة رئيس الحكومة اللبنانية سعد الحريري في الجنوب إثر الجولة الإعلامية التي نظمها حزب الله وأوصل خلالها رسائل الردع التي يريدها، اهتمام «الإسرائيليين» خصوصاً بتعليقاتها الخجولة على ما قاله حزب الله، بعدما كانت قناته التلفزيونية قد قالت كلاماً قاسياً بحق الجولة واعتبرتها خرقاً خطيراً للقرار 1701 وانتظر «الإسرائيليون» سماع ذلك من الحريري فلم يسمعوه، لتصير الجولة من موقع تجاهل ما قام به حزب الله نوعاً من التغاضي المبتادل على البارد لقضية خلاف، أنهتها مأدبة غداء بدعوة من رئيس المجلس النيابي في صور، حضرها الحريري والوزير محمد فنيش ممثلاً حزب الله، و«يا دار ما دخلك شرّ».
– أُحبط «الإسرائيليون» وما بقي إلا ما قاله وما فعله حزب الله، فسقف اهتمام مَن راهنت أنهم سيقفون بوجه حزب الله، هو مخاطبة المجتمع الدولي بمعادلة، مهما فعل حزب الله، فالحكومة ملتزمة بالقرار 1701، وطالما «إسرائيل» التي تنتهك القرار لا تجرؤ على المراجعة بما تسمّيه انتهاكات لحزب الله، فرئيس الحكومة لن يفتح معركة مجانية مع الحزب، ليحقق الحزب بواسطة رئيس الحكومة بنداً من بنود أهداف الجولة، وهو ربط كلّ نقاش حول القرار الأممي بالانتهاكات «الإسرائيلية» بداية، وبقيت سائر الرسائل التي تقصّدها حزب الله من الجولة تفعل فعلها وتشغل الإعلام والسياسة والأمن في كيان الاحتلال، وضاعت كلمات قناة المستقبل وأخواتها والعزف المنفرد الذي رافقها لرئيس القوات، في الهواء.
– لبنانياً، بدت زيارة رئيس الحكومة غير المقرّرة، بمثابة دعوة وجّهها حزب الله للمشاركة بجولته تمّت بتأخير يوم واحد لتلتقي مع موعد دعوة مأدبة غداء رئيس المجلس النيابي في صور، بينما الوضع في الجنوب بحكم جهوزية الجيش والمقاومة لا يؤذن بمخاطر قريبة أو جدّية، فمعادلات الردع التي تحكم المواجهة هناك تجعل الحرب خطراً بعيداً، بينما الحرب خطر داهم على جبهة عرسال، بعدما أتمّ الجيش السوري تقدّمه في جبهات القتال المحيطة كلّها، سواء من ناحية حي الوعر في حمص أو من ناحية الزبداني، ويتهيأ الجيش للتقدّم لحسم الوضع في بقية القلمون، حيث التداخل الحدودي يفترض خطر نزوح مسلحي النصرة وداعش نحو عرسال اللبنانية، ويفرض لمنع المحاذير تنسيقاً لبنانياً سورياً وحضوراً فاعلاً بغطاء سياسي للجيش اللبناني، لا يحتاج الجيش أيّاً منهما جنوباً.
– جولة لرئيس الحكومة برفقة وزير الدفاع وقائد الجيش إلى الحدود الشمالية الشرقية إيذاناً بمرحلة جديدة في التعامل مع الوضع السائد في عرسال تبدو ضرورية، ولا أحد يعلم ما إذا كانت مشروطة بجولة ينظمها حزب الله إعلامياً على تلك الجبهة ومأدبة غداء في اليوم الثاني يدعو إليها رئيس المجلس النيابي. ولا مشكلة في أن يُسأل رئيس الحكومة عن رأيه بجولة ينظمها حزب الله على مواقعه في القلمون، وأن يقول هناك لا علم لنا بالجولة ولا نؤيدها، لكن الحكومة حاضرة هنا، كما في البيان الوزاري للحكومة أمام المجلس النيابي؟
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