R. Zain's Blog, page 4

Bahrain’s Formula One again the only controversial race

The former world champion Damon Hill has challenged Jean Todt, the president of Formula One’s ruling body the FIA, to make his position clear on the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix in April. The Guardian and their counter parts constantly address the race in Bahrain while failing to mention or to question the ethics of the likes of Damon Hill who find no cause for concern with human rights issues elsewhere.

Last year it was the GRID with “Do you think F1 should race in Bahrain”. In the process and despite races prior to the Bahrain F1 they did not launch “Do you think F1 should race in Australia(In a wealthy and prosperous nation, aboriginal people live in third world conditions), or Malaysia(where people are arrested for protesting electoral reform) or China(where artists are arrested and activists disappear)” And let’s not forget the land of the free and Americas deplorable human rights records.

So ask yourself, are you going to cancel the F1 altogether?

Every year Bahrain has been the prime target of such discussions and condemnation based once again on the bias mass media and organisations that label themselves as human rights and each year the same people seem to fall for it. While The Guardian is concerned about the race, they raised no concerns or article on a foiled terrorist attempt although the rest of the media managed to articulate the four arrests.It seems The Guardian follows the same pattern as Al Wefaq who made no mention of the recent attacks .

To understand a little more of how Al Wefaq and their human rights representatives operate read Human rights all wrong and how highly critical false information that was presented to the United Nations has yet to be retracted.

The NGO’s followed by the mass fooled media have become a monopoly for these representatives that only provide their side of news and views without any interest in anyone else that opposes them. If they followed any ethics at all they would realize  if they don’t believe in freedom of expression for people they despise, they don’t believe in it at all.

It is a well known fact by now that the majority of these international human rights associations have the same members in each and everyone of their organisations especially when you look at the representatives and advisers on the Middle East. The same names with the same agenda.

It seems we live in an era where people are spoon fed and believe all that they read without looking at both sides and without actually researching the names in each of these organisations that disseminate information. Go and look up the NGO’s and look at the general secretary names or board members and you will find same names pop up with their own bias one sided political not really human rights agenda.

Bahrain has been through enough and this constant hypocritical approach to corner Bahrain is completely unjustified.

Arab Region: A Major Western Political Engineering Project

In recent decades the Arab region has been the object of a major Western political engineering project. (At that cost of thousands of innocent lives might I add.)Following the end of the bipolar world order, and riding on the tide of the Third Democratization wave, a broad coalition of Western actors, national, international and non-governmental, engaged in promoting liberal democracy in the Arab region.

Although US democracy promotion in the early 1990s did not prioritize that region, in 1995 the EU launched its Barcelona Process, which aimed at creating a ‘ring of friendly countries’ in the southern Mediterranean neighbourhood by stick and carrot measures involving, for example, conditions for cooperation based on assessments of the Arab countries’ performance in the fields of human rights and democracy.

In 2005, the Barcelona Summit agreed on a five-year work programme [47 KB] and a Euro-Mediterranean Code of Conduct for Countering Terrorism [37 KB] , as well as adding migration as a fourth key pillar of the Partnership.

Since 1995, the European Commission has supported the Barcelona Process with the provision of €16 billion from the Community budget [20 KB] . Loans from the European Investment Bank amount to approximately €2 billion per year.

US democracy promotion in the Arab region took a leap forward in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Pitched by President Bush in several speeches during 2002 as a central US security priority, in 2003 the US administration formulated a full Middle East strategy based on the claim that terrorism should be overcome by winning Arab hearts and minds over to a ‘universal’ set of liberal democratic ideals and values represented by the US and its allies.

To realize this strategy in 2002 and 2003 the US government created a number of policy instruments such as the ‘Middle East Partnership Initiative’, which provided funding for the promotion of Arab civil society and educational, economic and political reforms, as well as the ‘Middle East Free Trade Area’, which offered economic trade agreements with the US in return for political reform.

Despite the Facade,the US engagement in democracy promotion in the Arab World was backed, at least rhetorically, by a number of Western and Arab international actors such as the UN, the World Bank, the OECD, the Arab League, the G8 and numerous national and international NGOs.It was further underpinned by national democracy promotion programs launched by individual Western countries, including Germany, France, Britain, Holland, Sweden and of course Denmark.

The Danish engagement in generating political change in the Arab World consisted in military and civil support to the broader US security policy priorities in the region.  One wonders if destroying Iraq’s water supply, covert military force, bombing Libya’s water supply is part of the “security policy”.

Already in December 2010, the liberal-conservative government (VK) had provided militarily assistance to the US in its ‘War of Terror’ in Afghanistan.

In March 2003, the government, under protests from the opposition parties, used its marginal parliamentary majority to support the US-led war in Iraq without a clear mandate from the UN, thereby opening up close unilateral cooperation with the US at the expense of Denmark’s tradition of multilateral engagement.

Simultaneously, the VK government launched its own civil political reform program targeting the Arab region, this time with broad parliamentary backing. Compared to other development initiatives run by DANIDA, ‘the Arab Initiative’, as the Danish reform program was entitled, was granted a relatively modest annual budget of DKK 100 million.

From the outset the Danish program was explicitly framed as a distinct ‘Danish way’ of engaging in the region. DANIDA MENA Partners as below, that must have received a very generous donation for “Media Monitoring”, and read more here Partnerskab for dialog og reform regionalt medieprogram.

In particular it sought to downplay the democracy-related jargon, which in the wake of the war in Iraq had come under criticism in European policy circles as an excuse for American unilateralism. Instead the Danish government presented its civil engagement as a combination of promoting intercultural dialogue between Denmark and the Arab world and promoting democratic reforms.

As the then Minister of Foreign Affairs in the VK government, Per Stig Møller, explained, the dialogue track was meant as a tool for handling what he believed to be the practically inevitable ‘clash of civilizations’. By promoting democratic norms and the values of freedom among Muslims, the government hope to be able to marginalize radical Islamist fundamentalism.(So far haven’t really seen much in terms of marginalizing radical Islamic Fundamentalism, however I have seen the blind eye promotion)

The reform track was explicitly framed as a multilateral engagement based on the suggestions developed by the UN’s Arab Human Development Report, namely promoting 87 knowledge-based societies, promoting women’s participation and promoting good governance. On the technical level the Danish program was designed to operate through ‘partnerships’ between the Danish government and its Arab counterparts, as well as between non-governmental organizations in Denmark and in the respective Arab countries. Activities should be demand driven, reflecting local actors’ assessments of reform possibilities and needs rather than the prejudices and ideas held by the Danish partner organizations.

On an ethical level the modality of the activities was that they should be implemented in an atmosphere of mutual respect and recognition. In spite of the attempts to frame the Danish reform program in the Arab region as a distinct ‘Danish’ initiative, the overlap in program modalities, core democratic aims, timing and geographical preferences suggests a close strategic alignment with American democracy promotion programs, an interpretation that is further backed by Denmark’s close military support to

the US engagement in the region.

The Danish program to promote democracy has in general received good reviews and good evaluations. In late 2010, data from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that, within its annual budget of DKK 100 million for the period 2009-2010, the Danish program had involved 220 Danish and 440 Arab non-governmental organizations and state institutions in its activities.

A major Western political engineering project. Even if statements are false, we are just a democratic experiment, a project. Now the usual will jump up and shout and cry conspiracy but just read the following PDF file Danish democracy promotion by the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)

Download:

English (PDF · Page 84 to 105 · 215 KB)

Author:

Rasmus Alenius Boserup

Publication:

Danish Foreign Policy Yearbook 2012

 

 

 

Sorry,It’s called the Arabian Gulf

The new maps and the world insist on calling it the Persian Gulf. I want to make this clear.

As you can see clearly, the area that the West likes to refer to as the Persian Gulf  is surrounded by Arab States.

Al Ahwaz (once an Arab Independent State), Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The Gulf has always been ruled by Arabs. The Gulf is bordered by Arab states. Al Ahwaz (which new maps refer to as Iran) has been under Iran’s illegal occupation since 1925. The United Nation’s who pretends to care so much for humanity and human rights has remained silent. 

Ahwaz has a population of more than eight million Arabs and has the second largest wealth of oil( four billion barrels) natural gas and agriculture. Ahwaz is one of the Arab countries that is located east of the Arab homeland and was an independent country before it was occupied by Iran. For years Iran has been ethnically “cleansing” and targetting Arabs and has been a “dirty secret” hidden from the world.

As Gerald A. Honigman recently wrote (read more here)

Whom and what do you think the following excerpts are referring to below?

_ _ _ _ _ has discriminated against the Arabs of _ _ _ _ _ since their homeland’s occupation and annexation; they are being treated as third-class citizens, abandoned to primitive living standards and without even the basic political rights.

The dispossessed _ _ _ _ _ Arabs…accuse the I_ _ _ _ government of racially-based political and economic prejudice, which is why some groups are calling for _ _ _ _ _ to be liberated and recognised as an independent Arab state. However, the government is attempting to manipulate demographics by setting-up self-contained farming settlements and bringing in _ _ _ _ _ to work there.

According to Amnesty International, “Land expropriation by the I_ _ _ _ authorities is reportedly so widespread that it appears to amount to a policy aimed at dispossessing Arabs of their traditional lands…”

It is believed that the government is also trying to eradicate the _ _ _ _ _ culture. I_ _ _ _ authorities will not register birth certificates to Arab new-borns unless they assume _ _ _ _ _ names. Schools in _ _ _ _ _ are barred from teaching Arabic, which is also banned from parliament and ministries. Arabic media is forbidden in the territory. Journalists who write against this cultural barbarism are routinely imprisoned.

Eight million _ _ _ _ _ Arabs…have as much Arab blood flowing through their veins as nationals of GCC states. I would, therefore, request Arab countries to call upon the Arab League to put their right of self-determination before the UN Security Council. Their abandonment is nothing less than a stain upon the Arab Nation to which the Arabs of _ _ _ _ _ proudly belong.

The historic claim of the Ahwazi Arabs to their Arab homeland is solid. Al Ahwaz was once a thriving province of Mesopotamia known for its Muslim scholars, poets and artists. From the mid-7th century until the mid 13th century, its people were ruled variously by Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, their numbers swelled by Arab tribes from the Arabian Peninsula.

Al Ahwaz came to be known as the semi-autonomous region of ‘Arabistan’ towards the end of the 16th century when it received an influx of Arab tribes from southern Iraq as well as a clan of the powerful Bani Ka’ab with origins in Central Arabia.

Led by Shaikh Jabir Al Ka’abi, the Bani Kaab fought to stave-off British and Ottoman invasions. Shaikh Jabir was a wise governor who established law and order and turned the coastal city of Mohammerah into a bustling free port. On the cusp of 20th century, oil was discovered around Mohammerah when the British founded the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and entered into an oil exploration treaty with Shaikh Jabir’s son Khaz’al. The UK guaranteed Arabistan’s security and agreed payments to both Shaikh Khaz’al and the Shah of Iran.

What should have been a blessing for the Ahwaz Arabs was a curse. When Shaikh Khaz’al realised that Reza Shah’s ambitions extended to Arabistan’s oil wealth, he asked the British to defend the Ahwazi people and back their homeland’s independence as an Arab state. Forced to choose, Britain reneged on its treaty with Khaz’al and supported the Shah. Read more here.

No different than Ahwaz is Abu Musa and the Tunbs. Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs are located in the Strait of Hormuz and is of strategic importance with more than one fifth of the worlds oil supplies passing through. Read more here.
More recently Iran has stretched it’s tentacles to Iraq and again the world sits silent and turns a blind eye.

I don’t care what the Brits say, what the Greeks said, what the White House claims. The area is surrounded by the majority which has always consisted of Arabs and Arab States. As for Al Ahwaz, Abu Musa and The Tunbs, they are not negotiable and should be returned to their rightful owners.
I’m not even ready to discuss this one.

Al Jazeera, Nick Kristof and the Al Khawaja Farce Goes On

I was reading an article from Al Jazeera . Apparently it’s an “in depth opinion”. Judging by what was wrote all I can say is that it is an imaginary over exaggerated one that only a moron would believe.

Written by an “Anonymous” person it states “X is a documentary filmmaker who has been working on a film about non-violent resistance through the lens of revolution in Libya, Bahrain, Syria and Egypt for the past two years.”

First thing that struck me was this miracle:

“A young man called Ammar (a pseudonym) was thrown off the roof of a three story building, had his head beaten against a wall repeatedly and was then arrested, imprisoned and severely tortured for six months. He missed his high school final exams because he was in jail at the time the tests were administered – he did not graduate. Upon exiting prison he was not allowed to re-enroll to finish school due to his activities in the pro-democracy protests. Ammar’s future is now written for him. His options are limited and his anger has quadrupled. At the age of 18, Ammar is a wanted man; he travels Bahrain in constant fear of checkpoints and has already accepted he will likely be in jail again soon, for he has no plans of sitting out the revolution and he will not stop until their basic demands are met. Ammar is not an exception – his story is one of the thousands that make up the tapestry of resistance in Bahrain.”


Apparently this young man was thrown off the roof of a three story building, had his head beaten against a wall repeatedly, arrested, imprisoned, severely tortured for six months yet lives to tell the tale. So far not one journalist has picked up on this miracle other than “X” and the usual like Al Wefaq and Maryam Al Khawaja.

The article goes on;
“Zainab Alkhawaja, more famously known as @angryarabiya, is currently on a hunger strike(but don’t worry readers as she drank water yesterday) – she is demanding to see her 3 year-old baby girl. Zainab has been denied visitation rights for refusing to wear her prison uniform. In a letter smuggled out of jail, Zainab tells us, when security guards told her it was “just a uniform” she replied “Would you have told Rosa Parks it was ‘just a seat’”? “

For those not aware for the Alkhawaja family, it’s a family affair. Not just Abdulhadi himself, who is extremely active in both the BCHR and the opposition movement as a whole, particularly in gaining international media coverage.  His daughter Zainab created a Twitter account, @angryarabiya, which garnered a good deal of media attention, both within the MENA and around the world. She has continued to remain prominent within the opposition scene due to a number of well-publicized media stunts and protest-related arrests.

Another of Abdulhadi’s daughters, Maryam, has likewise maintained a conspicuous media presence through her own popular Twitter account @MARYAMALKHAWAJA (this one in both Arabic and English), through continued appearances in international media, and as acting president of the BCHR.

Maryam’s sisters husband, Mohammed Al Maskati (@MohdMaskati), is a former member of the BCHR and president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, which maintains strong ties with international human rights groups, Bahraini youth groups, and the socialist opposition society Wa’ad. Abdulhadi’s brother, Salah Alkhawaja, is currently serving a five year prison sentence related to his documentation of the 14 February uprisings for the international media. He is also vice president of the Islamic Action Society, the aforementioned modern descendent of the militant Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain and whose president Shaikh Mohammed Ali Mahfoodh was an associate of Abdulhadi’s during their exile in Damascus together during the 1980s. Abdulhadi’s wife, Khadija Al Mousawi (@tublani2010), is a close relative of Hadi Al Mousawi (@SHalMosawi), a former MP for the Al Wefaq society and chairman of the trade union for BATELCO, the state-operated telecommunications company. Read more here ”Human Rights All Wrong”.

Zainab AlKhawaja’s letter “Why I am on Hunger Strike in Bahrain” is placed in no other than Nick Kristofs’ Blog comparing herself to Rosa Parks.

Let’s not compare Bahrain to 1950′s America. We go to the same schools, sit in the same bus, same park bench and eat in the same restaurants. We don’t and have never live in such a society. Let’s not compare going to jail and a prison uniform (which is mandatory anywhere in the world in every prison- this is not high school) as any similarity to a real struggle for the basic rights of equality.

During the 90 years between the Civil War and the civil rights movement, racism had a way of hiding from Americans who didn’t want to see it. According to the Constitution, blacks had the right to vote; but in fact, all over the South they were kept away from the polls by taxes, literacy tests, and shotguns. According to custom, blacks had equal — though separate — facilities; but in fact, their schools were run-down and their bus seats were at the back. According to law, murder was illegal; but in fact, week after week, blacks were lynched on dark nights while white sheriffs looked the other way.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American woman who worked as a seamstress, boarded this Montgomery City bus to go home from work. On this bus on that day, Rosa Parks initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality.

She sat near the middle of the bus, just behind the 10 seats reserved for whites. Soon all of the seats in the bus were filled. When a white man entered the bus, the driver (following the standard practice of segregation) insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the man could sit there. Mrs. Parks, who was an active member of the local NAACP, quietly refused to give up her seat.

Her action was spontaneous and not pre-meditated (unlike Bahrain protests which are never spontaneous and all pre-meditated) although her previous civil rights involvement and strong sense of justice were obvious influences. “When I made that decision,” she said later, “I knew that I had the strength of my ancestors with me.”

She was arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segregation, known as “Jim Crow laws.” Mrs. Parks appealed her conviction and thus formally challenged the legality of segregation.

At the same time, local civil rights activists initiated a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. In cities across the South, segregated bus companies were daily reminders of the inequities of American society. Since African Americans made up about 75 percent of the riders in Montgomery, the boycott posed a serious economic threat to the company and a social threat to white rule in the city.

“I’d see the bus pass every day,” she said. “But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world” read more here.

Zainab a keen supporter of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, goes on to write: “When I look into the eyes of Bahraini protesters today, too many times I see that hope has been replaced by bitterness. It’s the same bitterness Martin Luther King Jr. saw in the eyes of rioters in the slums of Chicago in 1966. He saw that the same people who had been leading non-violent protests, who were willing to be beaten without striking back, were now convinced that violence was the only language the world understood.”

Non violent protests? Yes perhaps with regards to Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks but in the case of Bahrain?

As mass media likes to label pro government or police individual acts as collective , well I can say the same for the below. (Viewer discretion advised).

 

Freedom House is a Farce

This is Freedom House’s latest map.

I can only guess that they missed this..

In the United States  a threat against the president carries up to five years in prison and assaulting a federal officer carries up to 20 years. Read more here.

When it comes to Bahrain “human rights” Freedom House appointed advocates can call for riots, fall of the government, call to violate laws , any law and yet Freedom House calls for their release.

First, they refer to themselves as an independent watchdog dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world, whilst ignoring the lack of freedom in the United States. The U.S. regime-funded pro-democracy organization was founded in 1941 and parades around as an advocate for human rights where in actual fact the reality is that their main work is for democratic change in the interests of America under the facade of “monitoring freedom”, according to the way they define the term whilst ignoring the lack of democratic freedom at home..

They refer to themselves as independent or an NGO (non government organisation) when they receive the bulk of their funding from the US regime. (yes note the term regime, how does that feel).  For those who don’t know, a NGO is supposed to be an organization that is not part of a government and not founded by states.

First, most of Freedom House’s directors are former US officials. Second, its “expert-based” evaluations have been regularly criticized by academics for a completely subjective and systematically biased methodology. Third, to pay any credence or grant any legitimacy on the subjects of “freedom and democracy” to an organization whose directors and board members have systemically included a host of war-mongering neoconservatives and American exceptionalists like Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Zbigniew Brzezinski is an exercise in the absurd.

 

As of mid-2011, Freedom House’s executive director was David Kramer, a former assistant secretary of state during the George W. Bush presidency whose experience includes working as a fellow for the Project for the New American Century and the German Marshall Fund.

One wonders what the term freedom means when anyone opposed to their view is considered non grata or demonized.

On the 25th September 2012 I sent an email followed by a registered letter to Freedom House. To date I have yet to receive a response or even acknowledgement and to be honest, I don’t expect one.

United States Propaganda to Control Nations by Producing a Facade

“No country in the world has benefited more from the worldwide advance of democracy than the United States. Not all autocracies are or have been enemies of the United States, but every American enemy has been an autocracy. Because of geography and US military power, most autocracies over the last 200 years have lacked the capacity to attack US territory.” Francis Fukuyama and Michael McFaul

History repeats itself time and time again. A propaganda termed democracy to control nations by producing a facade, to implement their own agenda. First they claimed weapons of mass destruction.

Having failed to discover weapons of mass destruction, Washington shifted its propaganda to “establishing democracy.” That flatly refutes their earlier claim that the “only question” was whether Saddam would disarm. But with a sufficiently obedient intellectual class, and loyal media, the farce can proceed untroubled. To evaluate the new propaganda claim, a rational person would ask how those who know proclaim their “yearning for democracy” have in fact acted, and act today, when their interests are at stake.

This 72-minute film shows the evolution of the United States government’s case for military action against Saddam Hussein’s regime, leading to the Iraq War which began in 2003 by argonium79.

The results? After four years the American invasion and occupation of Iraq resulted in more than 100,000 civilian and military deaths. Millions of Iraqis were displaced from their homes with approximately 2,000,000 fleeing the country. In addition untold numbers have been physically and mentally wounded. Last but not least America’s war in Iraq handed victory to Iran on a plate.

Ahmed Chalabi, the man who had lied to persuade the United States to topple Saddam Hussein, claimed to take up the cause of “freedom fighters” around the Arab world. Ironic the term freedom fighters for a man who quells freedom from within Iraq, a land he initially claimed to want to free.

Kelly McEvers wrote, “That hand is coming from Chalabi, and it’s not just the Bahrainis he’s helping. Chalabi’s group is talking to Egyptians who want to purge their ranks of officials once loyal to ousted leader Hosni Mubarak — just as Chalabi has done with those once loyal to Saddam. Chalabi is talking to Libyan rebels, advising them on how to look more legitimate on TV. And he’s talking to Yemeni’s about the possibility of offering separatist leaders shelter in Iraq. In his modernist sitting room, Chalabi receives petitioners like a powerful sheik. He says Iraq should serve as an example to the region. “Iraq has overthrown one of the most terrible dictatorships and bloodthirsty dictators in the 20th century,” he says. “Now Iraq can claim, rightfully, that it has a democratic government, it has [an] elected Parliament and free elections, and there is a dialogue — a political dialogue — going on.”

So much for the democracy he claims, look at Iraq today.

On Apr 19, 2011, the National Iraqi News Agency reported Baghdad (NINA) — Head of the Iraqi National Conference INC, Ahmed Chalabi, discussed with head of the Iranian Shura Council, Ali Larijani, bilateral relations and means to develop them, a statement issued by INC mentioned on Tuesday. “Chalabi discussed with Larijani and a number of Iranian MPs mutual relations, especially the economic, during his visit to Tehran,” the statement added.

On the 26th of January 2012, the New York Times reported Western intelligence officials expressing concerns that Chalabi was working with the leading opposition group in Bahrain, Al Wefaq National Islamic Society. A French intelligence official said, “When we hear that some members of the opposition are in touch with Hezbollah or with shady figures like the Iraqi Ahmed Chalabi, of whom we think he is acting on behalf of Iran, then this worries us”.

So it worried them. Yet they haven’t condemned it. Neither have they ever questioned Chalabis’ relation with Iran.

Tunisia Today 2013,  what has changed? The same shocking images, the same issues.  The only change is the lack of media coverage. Why? Because they are now an American exported “democracy”.

“On the 12th of March 2013 a young man’s self-immolation in Tunis is yet another reminder of the social toll of Tunisia’s stalled political and economic reforms, and of the failure of the country’s two main parties to reach any sort of consensus on governing.” Mail Online Stall or no stall, people’s lives won’t change.

Egypt Today:  What has changed? Promises have yet to be fulfilled, aspirations have yet to be achieved and while the government has changed the problems have remained.

In 2011 argonium79 wrote, ”I think it’s ironic that at the time when Egyptians were massing in Tahrir Square, there were 70,000 Serbs marching in Belgrade, protesting unemployment and poverty – in protest over the policies that had been introduced after the democratic reform. And I think that within a few years the Arab protesters will feel the same disillusionment that the protesters in Serbia,Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere felt, when they had their health and education cut, and their fuel and food subsidies cut… Nineteen percent of Serbia’s working population is jobless; those in work earn an average net wage of 390 euros a month. This protester said he lived with great difficulty, and could barely survive after losing his job. I think we’re going to see the same disillusionment in Middle Eastern countries.”  

Libya, what has changed? For some, nothing. While supporters of the NATO intervention still write optimistic articles, even they start to become worried about the thousands of Gaddafi supporters who are still kept in prison and the hundreds of thousands who live in exile, and the pessimist voices are increasing. Read more here.

Dan Glazebrook wrote about the post-revolutionary law in Libya, where you can go for life in prison for praising Gaddafi while the revolutionary fighters have been pardoned from all their war crimes. He has also documented how the attack on Libya prevented African unity and led to trouble in Mali.

And then the world won’t really notice as Chalabi is advising them on how to look more legitimate on TV.

Bahrain, well we see actions like this and this occurring every day and yet the mass media and as well as their selected bias human rights nudge off as peaceful.

“The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.” Obama 2009. And yet when extremism is confronted, we are condemned.

“It remains a very high priority to control the Gulf resources, which are expected to provide 2/3 of world energy needs for some time to come. Quite apart from yielding “profits beyond the dreams of avarice,” as one leading history of the oil industry puts the matter, the region still remains “a stupendous source of strategic power,” a lever of world control. Control over Gulf energy reserves provides “veto power” over the actions of rivals, as the leading planner George Kennan pointed out half a century ago.” Noam Chomsky

Middle East analyst and investigative journalist Maidhc Ó Cathail exposed the Israel partisans, embedded in US governmental and quasi-governmental agencies that have been involved behind the scenes in encouraging “democratic” reform in the Middle East.

For those who still don’t know, the United States announces quite frequently and openly that we are the chosen emirate and we are in a spring which has sprung into constructed chaos. It is beyond comprehension how something announced so often and frequently is just as frequently ignored.

The fact that we are considered a project-  POMED- Project on Middle East Democracy- as if we are specimens in a laboratory explains it all. Bahrain is the chosen emirate a gateway into the GCC states and the US actors went into play promoting the democracy facade.

The U.S. efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East have several components. The first and most visible component is the statements issued by the president and other high government officials. In addition, there is quiet diplomatic engagement with several countries in the region. The third, less understood component consists of a diverse array of assistance programs implemented by governmental and non-governmental actors.

Most democracy promotion programs are funded and designed by the U.S. government, although some private foundations also provide financial support. The U.S. government does not implement projects directly, but relies on a variety of non-profit and for-profit implementing agencies like their Missionaries of Empire.

In 2009 Obama gave a speech in Cairo. 

He stated the cycle of suspicious discord must end. After all the evidence in place, an organized predetermined winter with the obvious actors that assisted, it’s time to hold accountable those actors in the uprising and the events of 2011 that don’t just occur and not to such an extent. Otherwise how can the suspicious cycle ever end.

He stated “There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, “Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.” That is what I will try to do”.

While we have been listening for the last few decades, and with the constant American interference the sustained effort to be heard has fallen on deaf ears.

 

 

 

Obama: Be conscious of God and hear always the truth

“No country in the world has benefited more from the worldwide advance of democracy than the United States. Not all autocracies are or have been enemies of the United States, but every American enemy has been an autocracy. Because of geography and US military power, most autocracies over the last 200 years have lacked the capacity to attack US territory.” Francis Fukuyama and Michael McFaul

History repeats itself time and time again. A propaganda termed democracy to control nations by producing a facade, to implement their own agenda. First they claimed weapons of mass destruction.

Having failed to discover weapons of mass destruction, Washington shifted its propaganda to “establishing democracy.” That flatly refutes their earlier claim that the “only question” was whether Saddam would disarm. But with a sufficiently obedient intellectual class, and loyal media, the farce can proceed untroubled. To evaluate the new propaganda claim, a rational person would ask how those who know proclaim their “yearning for democracy” have in fact acted, and act today, when their interests are at stake.

This 72-minute film shows the evolution of the United States government’s case for military action against Saddam Hussein’s regime, leading to the Iraq War which began in 2003 by argonium79.

The results? After four years the American invasion and occupation of Iraq resulted in more than 100,000 civilian and military deaths. Millions of Iraqis were displaced from their homes with approximately 2,000,000 fleeing the country. In addition untold numbers have been physically and mentally wounded. Last but not least America’s war in Iraq handed victory to Iran on a plate.

Ahmed Chalabi, the man who had lied to persuade the United States to topple Saddam Hussein, claimed to take up the cause of “freedom fighters” around the Arab world. Ironic the term freedom fighters for a man who quells freedom from within Iraq, a land he initially claimed to want to free.

Kelly McEvers wrote, “That hand is coming from Chalabi, and it’s not just the Bahrainis he’s helping. Chalabi’s group is talking to Egyptians who want to purge their ranks of officials once loyal to ousted leader Hosni Mubarak — just as Chalabi has done with those once loyal to Saddam. Chalabi is talking to Libyan rebels, advising them on how to look more legitimate on TV. And he’s talking to Yemeni’s about the possibility of offering separatist leaders shelter in Iraq. In his modernist sitting room, Chalabi receives petitioners like a powerful sheik. He says Iraq should serve as an example to the region. “Iraq has overthrown one of the most terrible dictatorships and bloodthirsty dictators in the 20th century,” he says. “Now Iraq can claim, rightfully, that it has a democratic government, it has [an] elected Parliament and free elections, and there is a dialogue — a political dialogue — going on.”

So much for the democracy he claims, look at Iraq today.

On Apr 19, 2011, the National Iraqi News Agency reported Baghdad (NINA) — Head of the Iraqi National Conference INC, Ahmed Chalabi, discussed with head of the Iranian Shura Council, Ali Larijani, bilateral relations and means to develop them, a statement issued by INC mentioned on Tuesday. “Chalabi discussed with Larijani and a number of Iranian MPs mutual relations, especially the economic, during his visit to Tehran,” the statement added.

On the 26th of January 2012, the New York Times reported Western intelligence officials expressing concerns that Chalabi was working with the leading opposition group in Bahrain, Al Wefaq National Islamic Society. A French intelligence official said, “When we hear that some members of the opposition are in touch with Hezbollah or with shady figures like the Iraqi Ahmed Chalabi, of whom we think he is acting on behalf of Iran, then this worries us”.

So it worried them. Yet they haven’t condemned it. Neither have they ever questioned Chalabis’ relation with Iran.

Tunisia Today 2013,  what has changed? The same shocking images, the same issues.  The only change is the lack of media coverage. Why? Because they are now an American exported “democracy”.

“On the 12th of March 2013 a young man’s self-immolation in Tunis is yet another reminder of the social toll of Tunisia’s stalled political and economic reforms, and of the failure of the country’s two main parties to reach any sort of consensus on governing.” Mail Online Stall or no stall, people’s lives won’t change.

Egypt Today:  What has changed? Promises have yet to be fulfilled, aspirations have yet to be achieved and while the government has changed the problems have remained.

In 2011 argonium79 wrote, ”I think it’s ironic that at the time when Egyptians were massing in Tahrir Square, there were 70,000 Serbs marching in Belgrade, protesting unemployment and poverty – in protest over the policies that had been introduced after the democratic reform. And I think that within a few years the Arab protesters will feel the same disillusionment that the protesters in Serbia,Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere felt, when they had their health and education cut, and their fuel and food subsidies cut… Nineteen percent of Serbia’s working population is jobless; those in work earn an average net wage of 390 euros a month. This protester said he lived with great difficulty, and could barely survive after losing his job. I think we’re going to see the same disillusionment in Middle Eastern countries.”  

Libya, what has changed? For some, nothing. While supporters of the NATO intervention still write optimistic articles, even they start to become worried about the thousands of Gaddafi supporters who are still kept in prison and the hundreds of thousands who live in exile, and the pessimist voices are increasing. Read more here.

Dan Glazebrook wrote about the post-revolutionary law in Libya, where you can go for life in prison for praising Gaddafi while the revolutionary fighters have been pardoned from all their war crimes. He has also documented how the attack on Libya prevented African unity and led to trouble in Mali.

And then the world won’t really notice as Chalabi is advising them on how to look more legitimate on TV.

Bahrain, well we see actions like this and this occurring every day and yet the mass media and as well as their selected bias human rights nudge off as peaceful.

“The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.” Obama 2009. And yet when extremism is confronted, we are condemned.

“It remains a very high priority to control the Gulf resources, which are expected to provide 2/3 of world energy needs for some time to come. Quite apart from yielding “profits beyond the dreams of avarice,” as one leading history of the oil industry puts the matter, the region still remains “a stupendous source of strategic power,” a lever of world control. Control over Gulf energy reserves provides “veto power” over the actions of rivals, as the leading planner George Kennan pointed out half a century ago.” Noam Chomsky

Middle East analyst and investigative journalist Maidhc Ó Cathail exposed the Israel partisans, embedded in US governmental and quasi-governmental agencies that have been involved behind the scenes in encouraging “democratic” reform in the Middle East.

For those who still don’t know, the United States announces quite frequently and openly that we are the chosen emirate and we are in a spring which has sprung into constructed chaos. It is beyond comprehension how something announced so often and frequently is just as frequently ignored.

The fact that we are considered a project-  POMED- Project on Middle East Democracy- as if we are specimens in a laboratory explains it all. Bahrain is the chosen emirate a gateway into the GCC states and the US actors went into play promoting the democracy facade.

The U.S. efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East have several components. The first and most visible component is the statements issued by the president and other high government officials. In addition, there is quiet diplomatic engagement with several countries in the region. The third, less understood component consists of a diverse array of assistance programs implemented by governmental and non-governmental actors.

Most democracy promotion programs are funded and designed by the U.S. government, although some private foundations also provide financial support. The U.S. government does not implement projects directly, but relies on a variety of non-profit and for-profit implementing agencies like their Missionaries of Empire.

In 2009 Obama gave a speech in Cairo. 

He stated the cycle of suspicious discord must end. After all the evidence in place, an organized predetermined winter with the obvious actors that assisted, it’s time to hold accountable those actors in the uprising and the events of 2011 that don’t just occur and not to such an extent. Otherwise how can the suspicious cycle ever end.

He stated “There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, “Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.” That is what I will try to do”.

While we have been listening for the last few decades, and with the constant American interference the sustained effort to be heard has fallen on deaf ears.

 

 

 

The Arab Agenda

Knowledge is power

The emotions of the Arab Spring and the fear of the uprising that spread across the Arab world lead me to note down the events as a witness and as they occurred one by one, Arab nation after Arab nation swept into an abyss of chaos.

Whether the Arab Spring happened by accident, whether it was predetermined with the assisted actors, it’s time to raise questions.

In my recent book, My Arab Spring, it was laced with emotions and a personal experience of a side that was never raised, neither by an activist or a loyalist.

Dark days and nights that never seemed to end. I never wrote the book to justify anything other than my personal journey.

The Arab Agenda will take the reader to a journey behind the scenes of the uprisings and start to question how and why the events occurred.

Where did it all start and do those involved understand the actions of where this is heading.

A wrong turn in the Arab Spring uprisings was the spread to Bahrain. Or perhaps it was calculated. Bahrain cannot be compared to Tunisia or Egypt, however, if only Bahrain was not strategically important to the West and Iran. But it was and still is.

One can perhaps comprehend the reasons behind Egypt and Tunisia, but they are not the same reasons when discussing the Arab Spring in Bahrain. However even uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia did not just occur.

“What happens in Bahrain sets the tone for much of the rest of the gulf,” Kristin Smith Diwan

Whatever happens in Bahrain will be what other nations in the region will emulate. If it turns out to be a sham in Bahrain, the other nations will install sham democracies. If it turns out to be a genuine system, then other nations will feel the pressure from their own people to install a genuine system of participation and fairness. That’s what is at stake and the West must do what it can to preserve a favorable outcome.

That was a mention from an American blogger. However it is strange to mention the term “democracy” when it doesn’t really exist even in the United States. A genuine system has yet to be established even in the Republic of the United States.

Aindriu Colgan  recently wrote, “Firstly, America is not a democracy. It is not, never was, nor ever was intended to be a democracy. And for very good reason.

Democracy–dēmocratía (“power/rule by the people”)–is a horrible system of government. It is maintained by violence, mob rule, and a pernicious envy–an envy that arises when one of its citizens rises too far above the others, an envy that drives that democracy to rip them down. The rights of the individual are always supplanted by “the will of the people”.

Consider the go-to historical example: Athens. It was not a mythical utopia of philosophers and scientists based on the rule of reason; rather, Athenian democracy was governed by terror, violence, and corruption. It made tyranny its modus operandi. The lives and happiness of its citizens were held hostage to the collected will of their neighbours.

It forced the allied cities of the Delian League into political and economic submission and then massacred those cities that wished to withdraw. And in a wild frenzy, abandoned reason and law and summarily executed its ten leading generals–its only hope of victory against Sparta. Finally, in 404 BC, after a mere century, Athenian democracy imploded and eked out a meagre existence for the remainder of the millennium.

Its legacy? Consider Socrates’ pupil and intellectual heir. In Plato’s Republic, his ideal state is ruled not by popular assembly or elected council, but by a king–democracy’s antithesis. So ended the “great” experiment in democracy.

I write this not as a defence of dictatorship, oligarchy, or any other such form of government, but merely to illustrate that democracy is as capable of tyranny as they, perhaps capable of greater tyranny as dictatorship is the tyranny of one over many and democracy the tyranny of many overall.”

The Arab Spring sprung years ago; it’s not something that just occurred. Nothing just occurs. Everything is predetermined. Nobody wakes up one day and decides to protest. Everything happens for a reason. For most people the current ‘Arab Spring’ started in Tunisia.

On the 17th December Mohamed Bouazizi a 26 year old from Sidi Bouzid set up his stall as a street trader selling fruit. Within minutes Faida Hamdi, a municipal inspector and two other officers tried to confiscate his merchandise because he did not have a trading permit. According to other fruit and veg peddlers, vendors have a choice when faced with a municipal inspector: they can flee, and leave behind both barrow and merchandise; pay a fine equivalent to several days’ earnings: or fork out a bribe. Bouazizi, it seems, was not prepared to do any of these things.

When Hamdi began seizing his apples, he tried to grab them back, and she slapped him in the face. This was the turning point. Had Hamdi been a man, perhaps the story would probably have ended there, just another incident of low-level, routine degradation visited by the powerful on the weak. But to be slapped by a woman, in public, is the height of humiliation for an Arab man. He tried to complain through all the official means available but was told flatly “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

At 11.30am, less than an hour after the initial altercation with Hamdi, Bouazizi was back in front of the governor’s building. He sat down in front of the gates, poured 2 bottles of paint-thinner over himself, and demanded, once more, to see an official. Then he lit his cigarette lighter. The rest is current history however the same situations have arisen. On the 12th of March 2013, the Mail Online reported yet another unemployed Tunisian man setting himself alight in protest which echoes shocking images of the Arab Spring .

But this is not where the Arab Spring really began. In modern times, it all started in Iraq; however for some the real Arab Spring sprang into action when the last monarch of the House of Pahlavi (Iranian monarchy) was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution and when Khomeini returned to Iran in February, 1979.

There was a national referendum and Khomeini won a landslide victory. Ruhollah Khomeini was a religious scholar and in the early 1920’s rose to become an ‘ayatollah’, a term for a leading Shia scholar. He declared an Islamic republic and was appointed Iran’s political and religious leader for life. Islamic law was introduced across the country, and Iran became the world’s first Islamic republic. Iran’s revolution would not stop there.

Many believe that Iran is a nation within a geographic area that has an unjust regime, disrespecting human rights and causing chaos in the Middle East. Well you thought wrong. The truth is Iran is not a regime, it is an Icon and generations have been raised to worship this Icon, which represents a vision of raising an empire through certain beliefs.

An Icon is not limited to a geographic area; it extends all around the world through the followers of its belief. The story of Iran and how it became an Icon goes back 300 years when there was a country called Faris “Persia”, which was mainly a part of current Iran. The coast was ruled by Arabs, a country later called Ahwaz and beneath it there was a country called Hormoz, the whole coast was called Arabstan. In the middle of the gulf there were islands, one of them called Qashim, all of these areas were ruled by Arabs, Mostly by the Al Qassimi Royal Family. But that’s another story and another part of history.

Now when Khomeini came to power in Iran in 1979, he wrote down a 50 year plan to take over the Arabian Gulf, the sequence of the plan is as follows. Take over Iraq (check), take over Bahrain (working on it), take over Kuwait (not sure yet how this will pan out), take over the East side of KSA (the Shia unrest has already begun, but I have doubts it will ever emerge into anything), take over UAE (this won’t be so easy), take over Oman, take over Qatar, take over the rest of KSA (very doubtful). I am up for arguments and everyone has an opinion but simultaneously there was another plan in the making. A parallel plan, as if one plan complimented the other.

Wesley Clarke had stated seven countries. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and then eventually Iran. Parallel to this plan and besides the ongoing democracy promotion, there was an Iranian 50 year plan that wanted to export their revolution and rule the Middle East which has constantly affected the GCC states. Founded on 26 May 1981, the aim of this collective was to promote coordination between member states in all fields in order to achieve unity. The GCC states consist of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, and the Republic of Yemen. Together, these countries (excluding the Republic of Yemen) constitute the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

We can all read the driving force behind the fighting in Somalia. The “success” in Iraq, until Iran, with no objection from the West, got in the way, however just recently on December 12th 2012 after a period of semi calm, Sunni Muslims began protesting against the Shi’ite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Many academics today can be quoted as saying that Iraq was handed to Iran on a golden platter.

The United States and their coordinating allies never found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and its failure lead to a façade of reasons to democratize the Middle East. “Having failed to discover weapons of mass destruction, Washington shifted its propaganda to “establishing democracy.” That flatly refutes their earlier claim that the “only question” was whether Saddam would disarm. But with a sufficiently obedient intellectual class, and loyal media, the farce can proceed untroubled. To evaluate the new propaganda claim, a rational person would ask how those who know proclaim their “yearning for democracy” have in fact acted, and act today, when their interests are at stake. “It remains a very high priority to control the Gulf resources, which are expected to provide 2/3 of world energy needs for some time to come. Quite apart from yielding “profits beyond the dreams of avarice,” as one leading history of the oil industry puts the matter, the region still remains “a stupendous source of strategic power,” a lever of world control. Control over Gulf energy reserves provides “veto power” over the actions of rivals, as the leading planner George Kennan pointed out half a century ago.” Noam Chomsky

Today most of the Middle East and North Africa is in turmoil including Sudan which has been divided and continues to suffer the constructed designed chaos. The US secret Libyan war (not very secret anymore) went ahead as planned and as a prelude it wants to destroy Syria, Lebanon and eventually Iran(although Iran somehow seems as a media designed propaganda facade) which in turn will effect what remains of the Middle East.

For decades the Arab world has been under our allies “protection”, our allies “condoning”, and our allies’ “condemnation”. For every minute issue that arises we seek their praise, or wait for their vilification. We have forgotten our faith as we allow judgment by mere Hippocratic mortals. Empires have come and gone, Hittite, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedonia, Roman, Byzantine, Sassanid, Mongol, Ottoman to name a few, but not one of those Empires like the European Colonization, established nation states and chalked borders that we adhere to today quite faithfully.

Britain by itself, has invaded almost 90 percent of the world’s countries and each one more brutally than the last. Our allies have war crimes and torture everywhere and yet they turn to the rest of the world condemning via their missionaries demanding accountability, not in the real name of human rights but in the result of complete control.

The USA’s accountability to address these crimes has disappeared as everything else does after elections. If human rights were such a concern didn’t they notice that the Palestinians lost their human right to exist in their own land when the State of Israel was founded in 1948? A good example of this is Ilan Papp’e who wrote “The 1948 Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”.

Had any western nation cared for human rights they would have spoken up at the time or even now. Israel expanded under the Armistice Agreements and what is left of Palestine today? If installing or promoting a democracy was the real concern then a step back in Iran’s history proves otherwise.

In 1951, Dr Mohammad Mossadegh was nominated for the position of Prime Minister where he had won 90 percent of the votes. By January 1952 he was named “Man of the year” by Times magazine. As a leader of Iran, Mossadegh sponsored laws for a clean government, independent court systems and he defended freedom of religion, political affiliations and promoted free elections.

He implemented many social reforms and fought for rights of women, workers and peasants. Following Iran’s oil nationalization under Mossadegh, an unhappy Britain, undermined Mossadeghs’ authority by inciting division in the country, tightening the worldwide embargo on the purchase of Iranian Oil, freezing Iranian assets and threatening Iran with invasion by amassing a Naval force in the Gulf. When all attempts failed, Britain concluded, “Mossadegh must go” despite the fact that he was democratically elected.

Working jointly with the American CIA, they plotted a coup to overthrow his democratically elected government. On August 15th, 1953 with the participation of the Shah and Iranian collaborators and CIA drafted plan “Operation Ajax” went into action however failed.

By the 19th of August, 1953, the violent over throw of Mossadegh and the government was accomplished. He was tried as a traitor in a military court and on the 19th of December, 1953 he pronounced:

“Yes my sin- my greater sin.. And even my greatest sin is that I nationalized Iran’s oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world’s greatest empire…This is at the cost to myself, my family; and at the risk of losing my life, my honor and my property… With God’s blessing and the will of the people, I fought this savage and dreadful system of international espionage and colonialism. I am well aware that my fate must serve as an example in the future throughout the Middle East in breaking the chains of slavery and servitude to colonial interests”.

Mossadegh was convicted of treason for serving his country and not Western interests.

The Middle East and North Africa in some shape or form has never been fully decolonized. The Arab world while we like to declare our independence has been the target of continual interference and intervention. We have been bordered into artificial states that suit the forever dependence on our allies which leaves us under a falsehood of independence. As for the West, they have for decade’s conjured plans, always to remain in control.

The Arab Agenda is now available and can be purchased at Amazon.com

With Friends Like this, Who Needs Enemies

By  Joseph Aronson

The international community has grown used to hearing how the US has intervened in the domestic affairs of its adversaries such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya; these are reflections of long-term US approaches to the region. Yet, there are a number of cases where the US involves itself in a friendly, even allied, state to further its interests regardless of the affects such actions may produce.

Perhaps the greatest enemy facing the US today is its own State Department personnel, who seem to run-at-the-mouth for the sake of showing-off to peers and potential lovers. And thankfully I was there and bear witness to the latest plan of the US regarding Bahrain.

I heard the words and saw the gestures. My only hope is that this note awakens people to the plight facing Bahrain at the hands of the US. I also want to point out that I am very respectful to and of the US naval personnel stationed here in Manama; they are not responsible for the cloak-and-dagger policy of destabilization of Bahrain and should not be held to account for the errors made on their behalf.

The episode I am referring to started with the receipt from a friend of a video titled “Economic Hit man Bahrain”,

Interesting as it was, I did not pay much attention to the message, CIA were behind Bahrain’s current woes, possible, I thought no more.

That was until in Trader Vic’s following last Wednesday’s (06 March) Oil Conference at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Seef, Bahrain when I suddenly realized that I was possibly witnessing such a plan, with my own eyes coming to fruition.

In the tropical splendor of the restaurant, the first hint something was up was when I overheard a US diplomat in a drunken conversation with one of his non-American peers.

The content of the discussion was based on US’s moves –  I assume by that he meant pressure – to coerce King Hamad to plant into the office of the Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman, his son the Crown Prince Salman. This, it seems, was part of the policy of appeasement the US has adopted towards the sectarian (Shia) Al Wefaq National Islamic Society who the US succors as the main opposition.

The world cannot have failed to notice that this actually occurred on the 11th of March, for indeed the Crown Prince was appointed as 1st Deputy Prime Minister, with a role full of ambiguity “for the Development of the Performance of the Executive Authorities.” One cannot assume with any degree of certainty, that Sheikh Salman was even aware that his appointment might be part of this latest US plot.

In the dirty world of international politics, the Americans probably consider him naïve, and were cashing in the on the enormous kudos Shaikh Salman had generated during his previously failed, but noble, attempts at reconciliation for ending the crisis in Bahrain in 2011.

The US, on the other hand is the master of subterfuge, they are surely using Shaikh Salman and in doing so are violating the national sovereignty of the Kingdom and its constitution.

On the 7th of  March former Ambassador to Bahrain and President of the American Academy of Diplomacy, Ronald Neumann, visited. Those with whom he met were told on hearing complaints about the performance of the current US ambassador to Bahrain rumor has it, were fobbed off with the usual diplomatic responses. It was Neumann incidentally according to cables published by Wikileaks who initiated and introduced to the world the erroneous message that the opposition represented the majority; the infamous 70%.

On the 8th of March this headline hit the news-stands “Saudi Arabia is encouraging the government of its neighbour and ally Bahrain to forge a settlement with its opposition.” It was a story leaked apparently by the opposition in Bahrain to a single sympathetic reporter but the Saudi source was not identified.

A day later, on the 9th of March (reported on the 12th) the US Ambassador Thomas Krajesk was spotted leaving the remote venue of the National Dialogue just moments before negotiations were due to start. It is common knowledge here that the ambassador had been meeting with the owner of Al-Wasat’s newspaper Mansour al-Jamri, a former opposition activist during the Shia uprising in the 1990s, who had returned to Bahrain in 2001 following a royal pardon and with Khalid Janahi previously on the board at the EDB. The EDB or the Economic Development Board is a government advisory board run by the Crown Prince.

Then, on the 11th of March, to the amazement of most people in Bahrain, the BNA announced that the Crown Prince or CP had been made a Deputy Prime Minister. With no foresight or awareness of the internal dynamics in Bahrain, the US in my opinion had prepared this palace coup.

Let me answer some questions, which were nearly shouted out during the Trader Vic’s session.

The Who?

The US supports Al Wefaq’s Head, Ali Salman – a frequent visitor to the US Embassy in Manama – in his efforts to destabilize the Kingdom and has, apparently, given its consent to the ‘seven orders’ Al Wefaq has brought with them to the National Dialogue, even though these violate Bahrain’s constitution. One of these ‘talking points’ also shows that the US supports Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad to assume to role of PM, which would undermine the political process of the country and be applauded as a success by Al Wefaq since it would signal success derived from political blackmail via the violence which has unfolded on the streets of Bahrain over the past 24 months.

The What?

The US wants a coup – an illegal, but non-violent – change of government that would ultimately see Sheikh Khalifa ibn Salman replaced by Crown Prince Salman. At the same time, the US wants a greater role for Al Wefaq in political decision making even though the bloc does not represent the spectrum of Bahraini society and is deeply aligned to both domestic terrorist groups and Iran.

The When?

It is hard to determine the timing of the US coup, but it seems that it will be part of the concluding arrangements of the National Dialogue. The first steps have already been undertaken.

The Why?

Many will be asking why the US is so keen to appease Al Wefaq and to use Sheikh Salman, what are their interests. On this point, no real explanation was gleaned in my over-hearing of the Trader Vic’s discussion (perhaps I arrived too late).

But there are a few possibilities. First, many people in the Al Wefaq-and-friends circle have long established ties to the US and they likely confirmed that US interest, such as the Fifth Fleet Presence would be maintained.

This would be an empty promise since Al Wefaq is connected to Iran and hence the US is again showing its ignorance. Second, the US does benefit from upheaval in the region and supporting Al Wefaq may add an element to regional politics that the US could enter to solve and then look as though it is a broker of peace. This may sound conspiratorial, however this has been widely practiced by successive US governments.

The US is playing a dangerous game that needs to be exposed.

Bahrain’s political situation under reconstruction and reform and if the US takes the opportunity and empowers a political coup against Sheikh Khalifa ibn Salman who has greatest personal support and respect of any leader in Bahrain, it will not only be a violation of the treaty based alliance between the two countries, a breach of trust and an unethical intervention; it will also shatter the national unity of Bahrain which needs to stay cohesive in light of the unfolding violence sponsored by Iran.

Bahrain’s political system is not the business of the US and it should have learned that it is best served by allowing things in allied states to play themselves out rather than to jump into unknown waters (to it) where it has yet learned to swim. At the end of the day the US ploy was unsuccessful because of the overwhelming support of the Bahraini people to their Prime Minister, Khalifa Bin Salman, who is regarded as the father of modern Bahrain and has steered the entire political community through all the hurdles of statehood for the better part of a half-century.

 

Joseph Aronson

Bahrain, Strength is in our Unity

“A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which, in truth, are really one, constitute this soul, this spiritual principle. One is in the past, the other in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is the present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to continue to value the undivided heritage one has received….

To have the glory of the past in common, a shared will in the present; to have done great deeds together, and want to do more of them, are the essential conditions for the constitution of a people…. One loves the house which one has built and passes on. “  Ernest Renan

 

On the 21st of February, I and thousands like me went out to stand up for the the Kingdom of Bahrain. February 21st was a turning point in Bahrain’s history. The silent majority went out to stand for King and Country. On that day I went out for nothing more than to restore this nation to what it once was although that will take time and patience and as Ernest Renan I will always love the house which one has built and passes on…

United we stand, divided we fall.