Yemeni Civilians in Crowded Market Pay with Their Lives as Trump Keeps Building Saudi Arsenal

More U.S. Weaponry is headed for Saudi Arabia just as the Kingdom unleashed fresh airstrikes on the crowded Al-Thabit Market in Yemen.

by Ahmed Abdulkareem

SADAA, YEMEN — At least 14 civilians, including four children, were killed and at least 26 injured when Saudi Arabia targeted the crowded Al-Thabit Market in the border town of Qataber in Yemen’s Sadaa province on Monday. The airstrike occurred at a time when the market was crowded with shoppers. At least 10 of the wounded are in critical condition, according to Yemen’s health minister, who said that the death toll was likely to rise.

The rubble of burnt and mangled fruit and vegetable stalls littered the marketplace on Monday, as rescuers lined up bodies onto nylon sheets near the market while efforts to recover more bodies continued.

Taha Mutawakil, Yemen’s health minister, said more than 20 people, including 12 children, were critically injured and that the remains of some of the victims had not yet been identified. Mutawakil called on international organizations to assist in rescue efforts and to press the Saudi-led Coalition to lift its blockade on the Sana’a International Airport so that the wounded could be sent abroad for treatment.

Victims of a Saudi airstrike on the Al-Thabit Market in Yemen. Photo | AMC

Saleh Qorban, the head of the Republican Hospital in nearby Sadaa said that 36 dead and wounded had arrived at the hospital’s emergency room, adding that the hospital, one of the largest in the province, could not cope with the flood of casualties given the lack of facilities, equipment, and medical personnel.

Yemen’s health minister confirmed in the wake of the attack that most of the province’s health centers have already been completely destroyed by Saudi airstrikes as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its bombing campaign against the province.

Warning | Graphic Content

For its part, Saudi Arabia has accused the Houthis of being behind the attack, claiming they used a Katyusha rocket launcher to attack an area under their own control in order to exact “collective punishment for the people’s rejection of the Houthi rebellion, their realization of the danger of the Houthi project, and its disruption of the social fabric and its igniting of a futile war against the legitimate authority.” Yemeni officials ridiculed these statements, pointing out that previous attacks were initially denied by Saudi Arabia and later confirmed to have been carried out by the Kingdom, including an attack on a school bus full of children.

 

Billions in U.S. weapons headed to Saudi Arabia

This latest Saudi attack against civilians in Yemen comes after the U.S. Senate permitted the controversial sale of $8.1 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia on Monday by failing to override President Donald Trump’s veto of congressional resolutions blocking the deal. The move has increased anger against the United States in Yemen.

Trump sought approval for 22 separate sales of aircraft support maintenance, precision-guided munitions and other weapons and equipment to countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.  Both countries are heavily involved in the devastating war in Yemen.

A spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi movement strongly condemned the deadly strikes on the Al-Thabit Market. Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said, “The Kingdom’s heinous crimes are enjoying the support of the United States.” He was referring to Washington’s arms support and logistical backing for the war.

The Saudi attack could also complicate efforts to implement a UN-sponsored agreement in the port city of Hodeida. The agreement is meant to pave the way for peace talks to end the conflict, which the UN said has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis

Since 2015, international human-rights organizations have documented thousands of unlawful Coalition airstrikes, which have hit homes, markets, hospitals, schools and mosques. Some of these attacks appear to amount to war crimes.

 

Death toll and destruction keeps rising

More than 70,000 people have been killed in Yemen since January 2016 according to a report by the Armed Conflict and Location Event Data Project (ACLED), including 10,000 people who were killed in the past five months alone. The ACLED report recorded 3,155 direct attacks that targeted civilians, resulting in more than 7,000 civilian deaths.

Victims of the Saudi airstrike on the the Al-Thabit Marke at the Republican Hospital in Sadaa. Photo | Ahmed AbdulKareem

In retaliation for the Saudi attack on the Al-Thabit Market, Yemen’s Houthi-allied army announced it launched several drone strikes against a military airbase in southwestern Saudi Arabia, targeting war-plane hangars and important military sites.

On Monday, Army spokesman Yahya Sare’e said in the wake of the attack that Yemeni aircraft had also struck the King Khalid Airbase in Saudi Arabia’s Asir region. The counter-raid used Qasef 2K unmanned aerial vehicles, he added.

Feature photo | A man injured by a Saudi airstrike on the Al-Thabit Market in Yemen’s Saada province, July 29, 2019. Naif Rahma | Reuters

Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.

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من سيخرج رابحاً في لعبة عض الأصابع: طهران أم واشنطن؟

يوليو 31, 2019

حميدي العبدالله

بات واضحاً أنّ المواجهة المباشرة بين إيران والولايات المتحدة، رغم مصلحة أطراف عديدة في وقوعها، إلا أنها احتمال ضعيف.

تحلّ الآن محلّ المواجهة المباشرة تبادل اللكمات والتحديات، من مثل إسقاط الطائرة المسيّرة الأميركية واستهداف مواقع إيرانية ولحلفاء إيران في العراق من جهات مجهولة، وتوجيه ضربات لناقلات النفط في الفجيرة من دون إعلان رسمي عن الجهة التي قامت بذلك. وتبادل التحديات اللكمات هذا أقرب إلى أن يكون لعبة عضّ أصابع.

عادة عندما يسلك الصراع والمواجهة مثل هذا المسار يصبح السؤال المطروح والأكثر إلحاحاً: من سيخرج رابحاً في لعبة عضّ الأصابع, واشنطن أم طهران؟ تبدو الإجابة على هذا السؤال ليست إجابة سهلة لأنّ كلا الطرفين يملك أوراق قوّة كبيرة. الولايات المتحدة لديها قوّة عسكرية كبيرة جداً في المنطقة، تتمثل بحاملات الطائرات وقواعد عسكرية منتشرة على امتداد الخليج، وتمتلك حلفاء لديهم قدرات عسكرية ومالية كبيرة مثل الكيان الصهيوني والمملكة العربية السعودية. وتستطيع الولايات المتحدة التي تفرض عقوبات اقتصادية واسعة وغير مسبوقة على إيران، وهيمنتها الدولية التي دفعت دولاً عديدة لتقليص علاقاتها الاقتصادية مع إيران أن تلحق أذى كبيراً بإيران، ربما أقسى من ذلك الأذى الذي تسبّبت به السياسة الأميركية منذ انتصار الثورة الإيرانية وسقوط نظام الشاه حليف الولايات المتحدة و«إسرائيل» والغرب، في وقت تشهد فيه إيران سجالات سياسية بين تيارات مختلفة بعضها يجاهر بالدعوة إلى إعادة النظر بالسياسة التي اعتمدتها إيران منذ انتصار الثورة، لا سيما في مواجهة الولايات المتحدة والغرب. لكن في المقابل لدى إيران أوراق قوّة لا يمكن لأيّ باحث جدّي عن الحقيقة تجاهلها. إيران تملك الموقع الجيوسياسي الذي يعطيها ميزة على خصومها في هذه المواجهة من ناحية العمق، ومن ناحية تأثيرات وتداعيات أيّ مواجهة عسكرية. إيران تملك ورقة قوّة أخرى تتمثل في أنّ حجم قواتها من حيث العديد والعتاد هو الأكثف إذا وقعت مواجهة مباشرة على تخوم وحدود إيران لا تتوفر للولايات المتحدة وحلفائها.

إيران تملك أوراقاً أخرى إضافية في هذه المواجهة تتمثل بوجود حلفاء أقوياء لإيران في العراق قادرون على تهديد وجود القوات العسكرية الأميركية في هذا البلد الذي بات ساحة اختبار للسياسة الأميركية، ويمثل وضعاً رمزياً نظراً لكلفة احتلاله من قبل الولايات المتحدة.

وتمتلك إيران ورقة أخرى بوجود حلفاء سوريين ولبنانيين وفلسطينيين يمكن أن يشعلوا مواجهة مع الكيان الصهيوني، انتقاماً من اعتداء أميركي على إيران كان لتل أبيب دور أساسي فيه، تحريضاً وربما مشاركة، و«إسرائيل» هي عقب أخيل الولايات المتحدة.

في ضوء توزع أوراق القوة بين الجانبين، فالأرجح أنه في لعبة عضّ الأصابع، سيكون خيار تسوية على قاعدة «رابح + رابح» هو المآل الأخير لهذه المواجهة.

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With Criticism Crushed in the West, Israel Can Enjoy Its Impunity

By Jonathan Cook

Global Research, July 29, 2019

Recent events have shone a spotlight not only on how Israel is intensifying its abuse of Palestinians under its rule, but the utterly depraved complicity of western governments in its actions.

The arrival of Donald Trump in the White House two-and-a-half years ago has emboldened Israel as never before, leaving it free to unleash new waves of brutality in the occupied territories.

Western states have not only turned a blind eye to these outrages, but are actively assisting in silencing anyone who dares to speak out.

It is rapidly creating a vicious spiral: the more Israel violates international law, the more the West represses criticism, the more Israel luxuriates in its impunity.

This shameless descent was starkly illustrated last week when hundreds of heavily armed Israeli soldiers, many of them masked, raided a neighbourhood of Sur Baher, on the edges of Jerusalem. Explosives and bulldozers destroyed dozens of homes, leaving many hundreds of Palestinians without a roof over their heads.

During the operation, extreme force was used against residents, as well as international volunteers there in the forlorn hope that their presence would deter violence. Videos showed the soldiers cheering and celebrating as they razed the neighbourhood.

House destructions have long been an ugly staple of Israel’s belligerent occupation, but there were grounds for extra alarm on this occasion.

Traditionally, demolitions occur on the two-thirds of the West Bank placed by the Oslo accords temporarily under Israeli control. That is bad enough: Israel should have handed over what is called “Area C” to the Palestinian Authority 20 years ago. Instead, it has hounded Palestinians off these areas to free them up for illegal Jewish settlement.

But the Sur Baher demolitions took place in “Area A”, land assigned by Oslo to the Palestinians’ government-in-waiting – as a prelude to Palestinian statehood. Israel is supposed to have zero planning or security jurisdiction there.

Palestinians rightly fear that Israel has established a dangerous precedent, further reversing the Oslo Accords, which can one day be used to justify driving many thousands more Palestinians off land under PA control.

Most western governments barely raised their voices. Even the United Nations offered a mealy-mouthed expression of “sadness” at what took place.

A few kilometres north, in Issawiya, another East Jerusalem suburb, Israeli soldiers have been terrorising 20,000 Palestinian residents for weeks. They have set up checkpoints, carried out dozens of random night-time arrests, imposed arbitrary fines and traffic tickets, and shot live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets into residential areas.

Israel: Ethnic Cleansing, Land Theft, Apartheid and Racism against Palestinians

Ir Amim, an Israeli human rights group, calls Issawiya’s treatment a “perpetual state of collective punishment” – that is, a war crime.

Over in Gaza, not only are the 2 million inhabitants being slowly starved by Israel’s 12-year blockade, but a weekly shooting spree against Palestinians who protest at the fence imprisoning them has become so routine it barely attracts attention any more.

On Friday, Israeli snipers killed one protester and seriously injured 56, including 22 children.

That followed new revelations that Israeli’s policy of shooting unarmed protesters in the upper leg to injure them – another war crime – continued long after it became clear a significant proportion of Palestinians were dying from their wounds.

Belatedly – after more than 200 deaths and the severe disabling of many thousands of Palestinians – snipers have been advised to “ease up” by shooting protesters in the ankle.

B’Tselem, another Israeli rights organisation, called the army’s open-fire regulation a “criminal policy”, one that “consciously chose not to regard those standing on the other side of the fence as humans”.

Rather than end such criminal practices, Israel prefers to conceal them. It has effectively sealed Palestinian areas off to avoid scrutiny.

Omar Shakir, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, is facing imminent deportation, yet more evidence of Israel’s growing crackdown on the human rights community.

A report by the Palestinian Right to Enter campaign last week warned that Israel is systematically denying foreign nationals permits to live and work in the occupied territories, including areas supposedly under PA control.

That affects both foreign-born Palestinians, often those marrying local Palestinians, and internationals. According to recent reports, Israel is actively forcing out academics teaching at the West Bank’s leading university, Bir Zeit, in a severe blow to Palestinian academic freedom.

Palestinian journalists highlighting Israeli crimes are in Israel’s sights too. Last week, Israel stripped one – Mustafa Al Haruf – of his Jerusalem residency, tearing him from his wife and young child. Because it is illegal to leave someone stateless, Israel is now bullying Jordan to accept him.

Another exclusion policy – denying entry to Israel’s fiercest critics, those who back the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement – is facing its first challenge.

Two US congresswomen who support BDS – Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who has family in the West Bank – have announced plans to visit.

Israeli officials have indicated they will exempt them both, apparently fearful of drawing wider attention to Israel’s draconian entry restrictions, which also cover the occupied territories.

Israel is probably being overly cautious. The BDS movement, which alone argues for the imposition of penalties on Israel until it halts its abuse of Palestinians, is being bludgeoned by western governments.

In the US and Europe, strong criticism of Israel, even from Jews – let alone demands for meaningful action – is being conflated with antisemitism. Much of this furore seems intended to ease the path towards silencing Israel’s critics.

More than two dozen US states, as well as the Senate, have passed laws – drafted by pro-Israel lobby groups – to limit the rights of the American public to support boycotts of Israel.

Anti-BDS legislation has also been passed by the German and French parliaments.

And last week the US House of Representatives joined them, overwhelmingly passing a resolution condemning the BDS movement. Only 17 legislators demurred.

It was a slap in the face to Omar, who has been promoting a bill designed to uphold the First Amendment rights of boycott supporters.

It seems absurd that these curbs on free speech have emerged just as Israel makes clear it has no interest in peace, will never concede Palestinian statehood and is entrenching a permanent system of apartheid in the occupied territories.

But there should be no surprise. The clampdown is further evidence that western support for Israel is indeed based on shared values – those that treat the Palestinians as lesser beings, whose rights can be trampled at will.

*

Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.

A version of this article first appeared in the National, Abu Dhabi.

Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His books include “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His website is http://www.jonathan-cook.net. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

The original source of this article is Global Research

Copyright © Jonathan Cook, Global Research, 2019

قانون حلب لا يزال سارياً… والباقي مناورات

يوليو 31, 2019

ناصر قنديل

– أسئلة كثيرة تدور في أذهان وعقول المتابعين للوضع العسكري شمال سورية، خصوصاً مع المبادرات الأميركية حول منح الأتراك منطقة آمنة في شمال منطقة شرق الفرات، والكلام التركي عن عملية عسكرية كبرى في المنطقة، وبالتوازي الدعم التركي المثبت بالوثائق والصور الفضائية لجماعات إرهابية موصوفة كجبهة النصرة وسواها في معارك ريفي حماة وإدلب، ويبني كثيرون أسئلتهم على إحدى فرضيتين، لا يستقيم بدون إحداهما أي استنتاج نوعي ذي قيمة، إما أن أنقرة باتت تشعر بعد صفقة الـ أس 400 مع روسيا أنها في وضع يسمح لها بالتلاعب بحدود دورها في سورية، أو أن واشنطن بعد تصعيد مواجهتها مع إيران قرّرت جعل سورية ساحة اشتباك فعلية.

– بدون أي من هاتين الفرضيتين، يبقى قانون حلب قائماً وحاكماً للتطورات في سورية وشمالها على وجه الخصوص، حيث الفرصة لمعركة تركية أو معركة أميركية، أو أميركية تركية مشتركة، كانت في حلب وعندها لم يكن بيد الجيش السوري بعد، لا مناطق البادية ولا تدمر ولا دير الزور ولا الغوطة ولا ريفي حمص ودمشق ولا جنوب سورية كله، وكان الاستنفار الدبلوماسي الدولي في ذروته بوجه روسيا. وإذا كانت الشروط ذاتها التي حكمت الموقف الروسي يومها لا تزال قائمة والشروط ذاتها التي حكمت الموقف الأميركي يومها قائمة، فإن الشروط ذاتها التي حكمت الموقف التركي يومها ستحكم الموقف التركي اليوم، أي المناورة العسكرية والسياسية واللعب على حافة الهاوية لكسب الوقت وتحقيق ما يمكن من مكاسب وتفادي ما يمكن من خسائر، ولكن في النهاية الاستدارة خلف خط الاشتباك نحو التفاوض والتسليم بالمعادلات التي يفرضها الجيش السوري وحلفاؤه في الميدان.

– في الحسابات الروسية في كل معركة فاصلة في سورية يظنّ كثيرون أن روسيا لن تكون شريكاً فيها، وتفاجئهم الوقائع بالعكس، لأن الذين يبنون استنتاجاتهم على كون روسيا مهتمة بالعلاقة بتركيا وبـ»إسرائيل» أيضاً، يتجاهلون ان قانون جذب تركيا و»إسرائيل» للاقتراب من روسيا يقوم في موسكو على معادلة إثبات القوة وفتح الباب الخلفي للتفاهمات، وفي كل مرة تكون التفاهمات المعروضة على حساب سورية يرفضها الروس لأنها تسقط فرضية إظهار القدرة، وتعرّض المنجز الاستراتيجي في سورية للتفكك، وبالتوازي في كل مرة يصعّد الأميركيون كلامياً يظنّ الكثيرون أنهم جاهزون للمواجهة ولا تلبث الوقائع ان تفاجئهم بوقوف التصعيد عند حدود الكلام. وفي شمال سورية يتلاعب الأميركيون بالأتراك والأكراد بالكلمات ولن يتغيروا حتى تدق الساعة السورية بدعم روسي وإيراني نحو قرار الانسحاب فيبدأون بالتفاوض الجدي.

– لا الـ أس 400 ولا السيل الجنوبي مع تركيا، يعادلان ما تحقق لروسيا من التحوّل إلى دولة عظمى حاضرة على المتوسط وحاكمة لمعادلات المنطقة والعالم، بل هما أصلاً تحققا بفضل هذا الإنجاز في سورية، والمواجهة الأميركية مع إيران إن فرضت تغييراً في الحركة الأميركية في سورية فهو تغيير باتجاه الانكفاء لأن الوجود الأميركي في سورية مكشوف أمام الاستهداف المفترض في أي مواجهة. وكل ما يدور حول المواجهة من إسقاط إيران للطائرة الأميركية إلى حرب الناقلات يقول إن أميركا لم تتغيّر.

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Bassam Shakaa: The Making of a Palestinian ‘Organic Intellectual’

Between his birth in Nablus in 1930 and his death, Bassam Shakaa fought a relentless struggle for Palestinian rights. He challenged Israel, the PA, US imperialism and reactionary Arab governments. Throughout this arduous journey, he survived exile, prison and an assassination attempt.

by Ramzy Baroud

July 29th, 2019

t would be unfair to claim that Palestine has not produced great leaders. It has, and Bassam Shakaa, the former Mayor of Nablus, who passed away on July 22 at the age of 89, was living proof of this.

The supposed deficit in good Palestinian leadership can be attributed to the fact that many great leaders have been either assassinated, languish in prison or are politically marginalized by Palestinian factions.

What was unique about Shakaa is that he was a true nationalist leader who struggled on behalf of all Palestinians without harboring any ideological, factionalist or religious prejudice. Shakaa was an inclusive Palestinian leader, with profound affinity to pan-Arabism and constant awareness of the global class struggle.

In a way, Shakaa exemplified the ‘organic intellectual’ as described by Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci. Indeed, Shakaa was not a mere “mover of feelings and passions” but an “active participant in practical life, as constructor and organizer – a permanent persuader, not just a simple orator”.

Shakaa’s base of support was, and remained, the people – ordinary Palestinians from Nablus and throughout Palestine who always stood by his side, most memorably when the Israeli government attempted to exile him in 1975; when the Palestinian Authority (PA) placed him under house arrest in 1999 and when he was finally laid to rest in his beloved home town of Nablus, a few days ago.

Between his birth in Nablus in 1930 and his death, Shakaa fought a relentless struggle for Palestinian rights. He challenged Israel, the PA, US imperialism and reactionary Arab governments. Throughout this arduous journey, he survived exile, prison and an assassination attempt.

But there is more to Shakaa than his intellect, eloquence, and morally-guided positions. The man represented the rise of a true democratic Palestinian leadership, one that sprang from, spoke and fought for the people.

It was in the mid-1970s that Shakaa rose to prominence as a Palestinian nationalist leader, an event that changed the face of Palestinian politics to this day.

Following its occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in June 1967, the Israeli government moved quickly to fashion a new status quo, where the Occupation became permanent and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was denied any political base in the newly occupied territories.

Among other things, the Israeli government aimed at creating an ‘alternative’ Palestinian leadership that would engage with Israel with trivial, non-political matters, therefore marginalizing the PLO and its inclusive political program.

In April 1976, the Israeli government, then led by Yitzhak Rabin, conducted local elections in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel had, by then, assembled another group of Palestinian ‘leaders’, which consisted mostly of traditional heads of clans – a small, self-seeking oligarchy that historically accommodated whatever foreign power happened to be ruling over Palestinians.

Israel was almost certain that its hand-picked allies were ready to sweep the local elections. But the Occupation had its unintended consequences, which surprised the Israelis themselves. For the first time since Israel’s creation, all of historic Palestine was now under Israeli control. This also meant that the Palestinian people were, once again, part of the same demographic unit, which allowed for coordinated political mobilization and popular resistance.

These efforts were largely facilitated by the Palestinian National Front (PNF) which was founded in 1973 and comprised all Palestinian groups throughout Occupied Palestine. What irked Israel most is that the PNF had developed a political line that was largely parallel to that of the PLO.

To Israel’s dismay, the PNF decided to take part in the local elections, hoping that its victory could defeat the Israeli stratagem entirely. To thwart the PNF’s initiative, the Israeli army carried out a massive campaign of arrests and deportation of the group’s members, which included intellectuals, academics and local leaders.

But all had failed as Palestine’s new leaders won decisive victories, claiming most mayoral offices and bravely articulating an anti-occupation, pro-PLO agenda.

“We are for the PLO, and we say this in our electoral speeches,” the elected Mayor of Ramallah, Karim Khalaf, said at the time. “The people who come along to our meetings do not ask about road improvements and new factories; we want an end to the Occupation.”

Bassam Shakaa was at the forefront of that nascent movement, whose ideals and slogans spread out to all Palestinian communities, including those inside Israel.

Bassam Al Shakaa following an assassination attempt

Despite decades of exile, fragmentation and Occupation, the Palestinian national identity was now at its zenith, an outcome the Israeli government could never have anticipated.

In October 1978, Shakaa, Khalaf and the other empowered mayors were joined by city councilors and leaders of various nationalist institutions to form the National Leadership Committee, the main objective of which was to challenge the disastrous Camp David agreement and the resulting marginalization of the Palestinian people and their leadership.

On July 2, 1980, a bomb planted by a Jewish terrorist group, blew up Shakaa’s car, costing him both of his legs. Another targeted Khalaf, who had one of his legs amputated. The leaders emerged even stronger following the assassination attempts.

“They ripped off both my legs, but this only means that I am closer to my land,” said Shakaa from his hospital bed.

“I have my heart, my intellect and a just aim to fight for, I don’t need my legs.”

In November 1981, the Israeli government dismissed the nationalist mayors, including Shakaa. But that was not the end of his struggle which, following the formation of the PA in Ramallah in 1994, acquired a new impetus.

Shakaa challenged the PA’s corruption and subservience to Israel. His frustration with the PA led him to help draft and to sign, in 1999, a “Cry from the Homeland”, which denounced the PA for its “systematic methodology of corruption, humiliation and abuse against the people.” As a result, the PA placed Shakaa, then 70, under house arrest. 

However, it was that very movement created by Shakaa, Khalaf and their peers that sowed the seeds for the popular Palestinian uprising in 1987. In fact, the ‘First Intifada’ remains the most powerful popular movement in modern Palestinian history.

May Shakaa rest in peace and power, now that he has fulfilled his historic mission as one of Palestine’s most beloved leaders and true organic intellectuals of all times.

Feature photo | Bassam Al Shakaa poses in front of an Israeli police vehicle just one week after being released from an Israeli jail.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His last book is ‘The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story’ (Pluto Press, London). Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and was a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara. His website iswww.ramzybaroud.net

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect MintPress News editorial policy.

The One People Americans Are Encouraged to Hate

July 30, 2019

by Yvonne Lorenzo for The Saker Blog

How would you react if you read the following statements and found that they were spoken by government employees who are part of the American Deep State and have a great deal of power over the nation and you? Wouldn’t the prejudice appall and disgust you?

“I do always hate the Israelis,” Lisa Page, a senior FBI lawyer on the Israel probe, testified to Congress in July 2018. “It is my opinion that with respect to Western ideals and who it is and what it is we stand for as Americans, Israel poses the most dangerous threat to that way of life.” As he opened the FBI’s probe of the Trump campaign’s ties to Israel in July 2016, FBI agent Peter Strzok texted Page: “fuck the cheating motherfucking Israelis… Bastards. I hate them… I think they’re probably the worst. Fucking conniving cheating savages.” Speaking to NBC News in May 2017, former director of national intelligence James Clapper explained why US officials saw interactions between the Trump camp and Israeli nationals as a cause for alarm: “The Israelis,” Clapper said, “almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever, which is a typical Israeli technique. So we were concerned.”

Of course, readers of The Saker know that the officials quoted never actually made those remarks about the Israelis; nor did they express their hatred of Germans, Saudi Arabians, Turks, French, Libyan, Congolese, Somalians, Germans, Italians, British, Canadians, Greeks, or even Chinese.

No; the actual nation and people named were the Russians. Here is the link to the original excellent piece published in The Nation. Yet it seems perhaps not with a touch of irony the speakers were engaging in projection and discussing themselves, the so-called America elites.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember how I found The Saker, originally not on this official site of his but at his Blogspot blog. Yet as an American slowly waking up to the terrible truths of the corruption and destructive actions engaged by the American government and its “Deep State” from reading LewRockwell.com (where I later became a contributor to Lew’s site via this link) and supporting Ron Paul, I was horrified to discover that American “fair play” was only an illusion. Nevertheless, I am astonished by the hatred that I quoted. In this time of extraordinary oppression against any individual who dares challenge certain dogmas, that is to say if anyone is White and a true follower of the Way of Jesus Christ especially, for example, as The Saker himself wrote recently on the whole homosexual brouhaha here, then the full force of the establishment, the powers that be, will be brought to bear—your employment, perhaps your life would be at risk. Not that Lisa Page or Peter Strozk would ever dare to criticize Israel, or look into the mirror and see themselves as they truly are, but if they did, they’d probably be taken to a CIA black site and waterboarded for their troubles.

A few years ago, I was truly haunted by a photograph posted on the Saker’s site of a beautiful young woman and her infant child; I can’t recall the link yet I believe the post was by a Saker contributor. The two were murdered by shelling from the Neo-Nazi Ukrainians. I wonder why Putin in his interview with Oliver Stone didn’t, in his usual calm yet convincing manner, discuss the terrible loss of life and the tens of thousands of refugees, the human suffering caused by the American Empire, for after all Victoria Nuland admitted that billions were poured into Ukraine in support of “regime change.” Nevertheless, what astonishes me is the complete lack of empathy, in fact the evident enjoyment in wreaking havoc and death around the world on the part of America’s political class especially.

Meanwhile, back in America, America itself is breaking apart at the seams. How can one maintain an empire when the empire itself is built on sand? As Boyd D. Cathey noted in his piece “Is It Time for America to Break Apart?”:

“There are then, palpably, two Americas. They still use the same language, but they are increasingly incapable of communicating with each other. Almost weekly words and terms are redefined beyond comprehension, and those ‘devil terms’ have become the modern equivalents of linguistic hydrogen bombs deployed by the progressivists. They illustrate what political theorist Paul Gottfried has called a ‘post-Marxist’ praxis that has actually moved beyond the assaults of cultural Marxism towards a new and imposed template.

“No dissent from this template is permitted in our society. If it demands you call black, white; then you must comply, or suffer the consequences. If your eyes tell you one thing, but the collective media and elites tell you something else, ‘who you gonna believe, them or your lying eyes’?”

I shared the Nation piece, since the news of the statements by the corrupt Page and Strozk were new to me, with The Saker and SmoothieX12, Andrei Martyanov who posted about it on his blog. I think this insight Martyanov offers is important but not the full picture.

He writes, “It is always funny to read about ‘values’ and ‘ideals’–if that ‘way of life’ continues, the end-result will be precisely [the] total elimination of everything of true value [the] combined West ever produced with the US Constitution being shredded to pieces. Ah, wait, I forgot–these are the thoughts of people who are directly involved in [a] criminal coup attempt, which by definition is anti-constitutional and violates this very same ‘way of life’ these people allegedly try to protect. One has to have, of course, [an] appreciation of their fever-pitch hatred of Russians and, what matters here, this is not private, [not] an exception that is, attitude. It is not a secret that [a] very large strata of US policy-makers is afflicted by Russophobia. A large part of this Russophobia, apart from being racial–you know, dirty Slavs and all that jazz–is very much a suppressed complex of inferiority. Throughout all 20^th and 21^st century not only Russia presented itself as an inconvenient impediment to America-the-savior-of-humanity narrative, but Russia remains the only nation which can remove the United States from the map and can conventionally defeat any combination of forces the United States can assemble. This simple fact makes many in US ‘elite’, which is largely ignorant on the issues of real war, very uncomfortable.”

In due time, I hope to have soon a conversation to be published with The Saker on the topic of Christianity in general and Orthodox Christianity in particular; while SmoothieX12’s secular commentary and observations are entirely correct, I truly believe something far more sinister is taking place. On display in these Russophobic statements is a malevolence, not just willful blindness, fear or arrogance. Is this an Adobe Photoshopped manipulated image or truly the real face and eyes of Peter Strozk taken during his Congressional testimony? What do believers see when they look at this?

Peter Strozk

Philip Giraldi wrote about Jeffrey Epstein and his connections to the rich and powerful “elites” and likely intelligence agencies here at Unz.com and also here on the Strategic Culture website. Aside from the intelligence angle, Vanity Fair discusses the people Epstein “collected” in this article:

“Epstein remained a fixture in elite circles even after he was a registered sex offender. A few years ago, for example, he was a guest at a dinner in Palo Alto hosted by LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman for the MIT neuroscientist Ed Boyden. At the dinner, Elon Musk introduced Epstein to Mark Zuckerberg. (‘Mark met Epstein in passing one time at a dinner honoring scientists that was not organized by Epstein,’ Zuckerberg spokesman Ben LaBol told me. ‘Mark did not communicate with Epstein again following the dinner.’)…

“One source who’s done business with Epstein told me that Epstein’s 21,000-square-foot townhouse on East 71st Street welcomed a steady stream of the Davos crowd in the past decade. The source said Bill Gates, Larry Summers, and Steve Bannon visited the house, which has been called one of the largest private residences in Manhattan. ‘Jeffrey collected people. That’s what he did,’ the source said. Gates and Summers did not respond to requests for comment.”

The site Vigilant Citizen, run by anonymous individuals who investigate the occult hallmarks of the Western “elites,” discussed Epstein on this post via this link and noted his connections to the rich and powerful along with occult symbolism on structures on his island:

The fact that a “temple” was built on an island known for extreme depravity is disturbing. However, when one fully understands the mindset of the occult elite, it makes perfect sense. It is all about symbolism and ritual.

For instance, the “temple” has a striking resemblance with Hammam Yalbugha – a Mamluk-era public bath located in Syria.

Why did Epstein model his “temple” on this specific building? Because of the symbolism attached to it. Indeed, the hammam is a classic example of architecture from the Mamluk era. In Arabic, the word “mamluk” literally means “property” and is used to designate slaves.

During the Mamluk era, children were captured by the ruling class to become slaves. Boys were usually trained to become soldiers while girls were groomed to become the personal concubines of their masters. Considering the fact that Epstein island was used to import child sex slaves for the elite, the symbolism is perfectly fitting.

In order to give the “temple” an unmistakeable occult dimension, the building was adorned with golden statues representing gods (Neptune) and owl-like birds. The building is also surrounded by maze-like patterns, similar to those found in Islamic architecture.

To get a better feel of Epstein island, I suggest you view this drone footage which provides great shots of some truly bizarre elements.

Epstein Island Temple

Hammam Yalbugha Aleppo, Syria

In my opinion, something far worse is going on than fear and self-loathing within the souls of the rich and powerful who rule the Western world, not merely decadence. Global Western “elites” are malevolent sociopaths (although I suspect several of the individuals in the Russian “Fifth column” Saker writes about are as well); while America is disintegrating around them, these elites still can cause great mischief. Reader of my words who are Americans must do all they can to resist and challenge these monsters in power; for monsters they are. Yes, they are presumed innocent until proven guilty but the fact remains the armies they control have killed and maimed millions of innocents throughout the world, including children. That I as a believer I think there is something evil behind them and within them is not provable by the scientific method perhaps; but I trust that my concerns are valid. If the reader of my words is a believer, please pray.

Yvonne Lorenzo [send her mail] makes her home in New England in a house full to bursting with books, including works on classical Greece and by Mises, Murray Rothbard, Tom Woods, Joseph Sobran, and Lew Rockwell. Her interests include gardening, mythology, ancient history, The Electric Universe, and classical music, especially the compositions of Handel, Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and the Bel Canto repertoire. She is the author Son of Thunder and The Cloak of Freya.

ماذا يعني الاختراق الروسي لبحار الخليج؟

يوليو 31, 2019

د. وفيق إبراهيم

تتحضّر روسيا لإرسال بوارجها الى المحيط الهندي وبحر عدن حتى حدود مضيق هرمز الفاصل بين المجالات البحرية لإيران وعمان، بذريعة إجراء مناورات عسكرية مشتركة مع البحرية الإيرانية.

لا بدّ هنا من الإشارة الى الطابع الجيوبوليتيكي لهذا الدخول باعتبار أن الاتحاد السوفياتي السلف الذي ورثته روسيا الحالية، لم تكن لديه مرافئ صديقة في الخليج، للرسو والتموين من التزوّد بالوقود. فإيران كانت شاهنشاهية معادية له في ما كان الجانب العربي من الخليج خاضعاً لهيمنة أميركية كاملة تمسك بالأجواء والبحر الى درجة الخنق وتحت شعارات العداء للإلحاد الشيوعي.

ما هي مصلحة روسيا في هذا التطوّر؟

يملأ أولاً حاجة روسيا لحيازة مكان هام في قلب حركة الصراع على الشرق الأوسط من بوابة بحاره وأمن الملاحة فيه، متحالفاً مع إيران التي تقف في وجه المحاولات الأميركية لتدميرها كطريقة لإنعاش تفرّدها بالقرار الدولي لذلك فإن هذا الدخول الروسي له أهداف تبدأ بتقليص قوة الضغط الأميركية على عنف إيران، ما يعني استتباعاً، المزيد من تقهقر الأحادية الأميركية مقابل الاستمرار في الصعود الروسي والصيني.

لكن لروسيا حساباتها الخاصة الإضافية المؤدية الى الأهداف نفسها، وتتعلق اولاً بنمو حاجتها للدخول الى اليمن عبر الصراع اليمني مع الأميركيين والسعوديين على الساحل الغربي والحديدة، أي المنطقة المشرفة على باب المندب الذي لا يقل أهمية استراتيجية عن مضيق هرمز، بما يعني مراكمة أهميات جيوبوليتيكية عند الذي يهيمن على حركته البحرية أو يشارك في جزء من إدارته.

وهكذا تبدو الحركة الروسية الجديدة، وكأنها تتدحرج على هدي العلاقة مع إيران فتطمح لدور يمني يخترق موانئ الحديدة من زوايا الصراع الأميركي ـ السعودي والإيراني من جهة ثانية.

للإشارة فإن سياسة الرئيس الروسي بوتين تتحاشى أي سوء في علاقاتها مع السعودية، ما يجعلها تكتفي بالتحرك البحري حتى حدود هرمز الإيراني أي بعيداً عن الساحل السعودي المطلّ على الخليج.

أما الأسباب فعلى ارتباط بالتنسيق الروسي ـ السعودي الذي أدّى حتى الآن الى استقرار النفط أسعاراً وأسواقاً بمواكبة نمو تدريجي لعلاقات اقتصادية واعدة تشمل احتمالات شراء السعودية لمنظومة سلاح روسي جوّي وبرّي.

هذا ما يجعل التحرك الروسي في الخليج حذراً ولن يتقدم بسرّعة إلا بعد صدور صرخات استغاثة أميركية نتيجة فشل مرتقب لعقوباتها على إيران. وهناك احتمال آخر وهو نجاح الأميركيين بتركيب حلف ما يزعمون أنه لأمن الملاحة في الخليج مع الأوروبيين وبلدان عربية ودول من آسيا وأوستراليا.

عند هذا الحد لن يكتفي الروس بالتدحرج التدريجي نحو بحار الشرق الأوسط بل يرفعون من عيار سرعتهم بمعونة صينية مع دول أخرى من منظمتي البريكس وشانغهاي، فالصراع في الخليج ليس على مياه بحاره، بل على اقتصاده وثرواته من النفط والغاز وقدرته على استهلاك أي نوع من السلع، لأنه لا ينتج شيئاً.

تكفي الإشارة هنا إلى أن صحراء الربع الخالي تحتوي بمفردها على أضعاف عدة من الغاز الموجود في العالم، وربما أكثر حسب ما يتسرّب من مراكز أبحاث الطاقة في الغرب الذي يبرر اندلاع جزء من الصراع الدولي على الشرق الأوسط تحت مسمّيات أمن الملاحة فيه.

هناك إذاً خشية روسية من الإمساك الأميركي بالشرق الأوسط مجدداً فتتجاوز واشنطن بلعبة أمن الملاحة خسائرها في سورية والعراق واليمن، فتستعيده بتشكيل هذا الحلف الملاحي الماخر عباب الأمواج بحثاً عن الغاز والنفط.

كما تُجهض بذلك محاولات أوروبية للخروج من هيمنتها التي امسكت بتلابيب القارة العجوز منذ 1945 وأجلستها على المقاعد الخلفيّة لنفوذها، ترى الثروات وقد تشارك في جبايتها، إنما من الحق باقتطاع أي شيء منها باستثناء الفتات المتساقط جراء تعثر قوة الهضم الأميركية.

لكن موسكو لا تتوقع نجاحاً أميركياً بتشكيل تحالف دولي ملاحي لغايات أبعد، وتراهن على التردّد الأوروبي الباحث عن استقلالية واستمرار الصمود الإيراني والإحباط الذي يسري في المشاريع السياسية للدول العربية في الخليج، التي كانت تعتقد أن واشنطن عازمة على تدمير إيران بضربة ساحقة ماحقة، لا تحتاج لقصف لمدة أسبوع، لكنها ترى وبعد أشهر على بدء التوتير الحربي أن إيران تتمرد على الجبروت الاميركي وبعض التلاعب الأوروبي وتهديدات «إسرائيل»، وهذا ما استولد إحباطاً عميقاً عند عرب الخليج، كما يراهن بوتين أيضاً على تأجيج الصراع التركي ـ الأميركي، بما يخدم الصعود الروسي نحو القرار الدولي وبالتالي التراجع الأميركي عن السيطرة المطلقة على العالم.

لذلك، فإن ما أعلنه الادميرال قائد القوات البحرية الإيرانية حسين خان زاده في موسكو منذ يومين حول بدء المناورات المشتركة بين البحريتين الإيرانية والروسية من المحيط الهندي، إلى مضيق هرمز، انما هو رسالة الى الأوروبيين وبضرورة الحياد عن المشروع الأميركي في الخليج، ويشبه تهديداً الى الأميركيين بأن روسيا لن تتخلى عن إيران بحسابات خاصة تتعلّق بطموحها لدور في القرار الدولي، ولن تسمح بالتالي بعودة الأحادية الاميركية الى خنق روسيا والصين وأوروبا والاستئثار بالاقتصاد العالمي كما فعلت في مرحلة 1990 ـ 2018 هذه المرحلة التي جعلت الأميركيين يمسكون بمفاصل العالم ثقافياً وسياسياً واقتصادياً وعسكرياً، مواصلين احتفاظهم بجزء كبير منها حتى اليوم.

هذه إذاً رسالة، لكنها قابلة للتنفيذ وما الدليل على انها رسالة إلا توسيعها لمدة المناورات حتى بدء السنة الفارسية الجديدة في آذار 2020.

وهذا يكشف أن التحرك الاميركي الفعلي في بحر الخليج لن يبدأ إلا بعد الانتخابات الرئاسية الأميركية في 2020 أيضاً كما يعتقد الروس، بما يشير إلى أن الصراعات البحريّة في الخليج الدائرة ضمن أحلاف تتطلّب وقتاً وظروفاً خاصة بها.

أما الذي لا شك فيه، فهو مشروع ولادة حلف صيني روسي إيراني قد تنضم إليه الهند وتركيا، بوسعه إعادة نصب صراع دولي متوازن يقلّص من حجم الهيمنة الأميركية، معيداً شيئاً من الاحترام للقانون الدولي وليس «قانون الأقوى»، لكن العرب بمفردهم لإعلانه لهم بما يجري لأنهم لا يزالون على متن النوق في القرون الوسطى.

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فورد: علاقة واشنطن مع «قسد» ستنتهي يوماً ما

لن تتدخّل القوات الأميركية في إدلب.. وهي تحتلّ منطقة التنف 

يوليو 30, 2019

رأى السفير الأميركي السابق لدى سورية روبرت فورد، أن العلاقة الخاصة بين الولايات المتحدة و»قوات سورية الديمقراطية» قسد سوف تنتهي يوماً ما، وأكد أنه لن يكون هناك تدخل أميركي بالنسبة للوضع في إدلب.

ولفت في مقالة له، الانتباه إلى أن العلاقة الخاصة بين أميركا و»قوات سورية الديمقراطية» قسد ستنتهي يوماً ما.

وأشار السفير السابق إلى أن الولايات المتحدة لن تتدخل في مسألة الوضع في إدلب معتبراً أن سورية لم تهاجم الولايات المتحدة وبالتالي ليس من حق واشنطن التدخل في هذه الحالة، أما الطريق الثاني وهو التدخل عن طريق مجلس الأمن، أوضح أن الولايات المتحدة لم تحصل على تفويض من مجلس الأمن بسبب المواقف الروسية والصينية.

وقال فورد في هذا الصدد، «ها أنا قد تقاعدت عن العمل لدى الحكومة، وأستطيع التحدث بصراحة.

أولاً، في ما يخص الشرعية الدولية، كي يتدخل بلد ما عسكرياً ضد دولة أخرى، عادة ما يحتاج ذلك البلد إما إلى الردّ على هجوم مباشر أو إلى موافقة مجلس الأمن الدولي. لكن سورية لم تهاجم الولايات المتحدة، وستستخدم روسيا والصين حق النقض الفيتو ضد أي قرار لمجلس الأمن يمنح الأميركيين الإذن باستخدام القوة».

وحذر فورد أنه وفي حال شرعت القوات الجوية الأميركية في التحليق فوق إدلب، سيكون هناك احتمال حقيقي للاشتباك مع الطائرات الحربية الروسية. والحقيقة هي أنه لا أحد في الولايات المتحدة على استعداد للمخاطرة بحرب عالمية ثالثة.

فورد، كشف أن «الأميركيين الذين يحتلون منطقة «التنف» السورية «لا يقدمون أي مساعدة لتخفيف المعاناة الشديدة للنازحين في مخيم الركبان»، موضحاً أن الهدف من القاعدة الأميركية في التنف هو «منع إيران من إيجاد طريق هناك»، وفق تعبيره.

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British Marines Used ‘Excessive Force’ While Seizing Iranian-operated Tanker – Captain

By Staff, Agencies

The captain of an Iranian-operated supertanker that has been seized by the UK said the British marines used excessive force while detaining the vessel in the Strait of Gibraltar off Spain.

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, the captain, an Indian national, said he received a radio call for police to board his ship and that he lowered the ladder at the time of the incident on July 4.

But instead of police boarding, he said, a military helicopter landed on the ship in “a very dangerous move,” and about 30 marines disembarked.

He said the marines then acted aggressively even though the crew was unarmed.

“How do you come on a ship like this with armed forces and such brute force? For what reason?” he said.

He said he identified himself as the captain, but the marines ignored him and instead had his unarmed crew kneel at gunpoint, shouting “Look forward, look forward!”

“They didn’t care whether I was master… there was no regulations… we had 28 unarmed crew. I was in a state of shock, everybody was in a state of shock,” the captain said.

The marines could have boarded the ship and simply told him he had been arrested, he said.

This is while Gibraltar police had earlier claimed that “minimum force” was used to detain the vessel.

The British naval forces seized the supertanker Grace 1 on the allegation that it was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in violation of the European Union [EU]’s unilateral sanctions on the Arab country.

Iran denied that the vessel was heading for Syria, and Spain later said that London had ordered the confiscation at the request of the United States, which has been trying to hamper Iran’s international oil sales.

Tensions escalated quickly between Tehran and London after the illegal seizure.

Later in the month, Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker sailing in the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf because it refused to stop after hitting an Iranian fishing boat, a violation of international maritime rules.

Tehran has sternly cautioned London against attempting further provocation.

Britain has, however, dispatched two warships — the HMS Duncan and the HMS Montros — to the Gulf under the pretext of trying to “protect” the British ships sailing in the waters.

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SYRIA COMBATTING TERRORISM: SAA STORMS KBANAH IN FRAMEWORK ADVANCE IN SOUTHERN PART OF IDLIB

South Front

Click to see the full-size image

On July 30, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the National Defense Forces renewed their attempts to capture the town of Kbanah from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and other radical militant groups.

Pro-government sources argue that this advance was launched in the framework of the wider effort to pressure militants along the contact line creating a wider buffer zone that should prevent them from shelling civilian areas.

During the past few months, government forces launched several attempts to capture Kbanah, but all of them was repelled by militants.

On July 28 and July 29, the SAA and its allies liberated the villages of Jibeen and Tell Meleh from radical militants.  According to pro-government sources, miltiant groups lost several pieces of military equipment and around a dozen of their members in these clashes.

According to the Russian military, positions of miltiants in the southern part of the de-escalation zone were recently reinforced by 500 members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

MORE ON THE  TOPIC:

• Military Situation In Syria On July 29, 2019 (Map Update)

Syrian Army scores first advance after launching new offensive in northwestern Hama

By News Desk

 –

2019-07-31

Syrian Army fires artillery at rebel positions in As-Suwayda province (Source: Syrian Arab Army).

BEIRUT, LEBANON (6:45 A.M.) – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has scored their first advance since launching their new offensive in the northwestern countryside of the Hama Governorate.

Led by the Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army began their offensive last night when their troops stormed the western axis of Zakat from their positions at nearby Tal Malah and Jibeen in northwestern Hama.

Following a fierce battle, the Syrian Arab Army was able to take control of the farms located southwest of Zakat.

Last night’s advance by the Syrian Arab Army marked the first time since June that they have captured any ground that wasn’t previously under the control in northwestern Hama.

As a result of this advance, the Syrian Arab Army is now within three kilometers away from the Jaysh Al-Izza stronghold of Kafr Zita and approximately four kilometers away from Al-Latamnah.

The Syrian Arab Army also now has positions along two roadways leading Kafr Zita, including the Hamamiyat-Kafr Zita Road.

ST

Created on Monday, 29 July 2019 08:14

Despite the fact that the UN Security Council has adopted several resolutions to combat Takfiri terrorism, the world is still suffering from this devastating phenomenon. The reason is that the US and its Western allies have politicized these resolutions to achieve the objectives of their colonialist project in the Middle East region, which aims, among other things, to end the axis of resistance and enable Israel to invade the Arab region politically, economically and culturally.

The main responsibility for the failure of the international community in fighting terrorism is due to certain UNSC member states’ lack of commitment to implementing the global counter-terrorism strategy, their breaches of relevant Security Council resolutions, and the carelessness in holding these terrorism-sponsoring states responsible.

Effectiveness and success in combating terrorism require political will, commitment by all member states, and refraining from breaching relevant Security Council resolutions or using terrorism as a political and military tool to interfere in states’ affairs.

The UN Charter advocates a peaceful world in which peace, justice, respect, and solidarity prevail, a world that is based on respecting the sovereignty, independence and territorial  of states. Despite of these supreme principles, some states, especially the US, have violated those principles under fragile pretexts that contradict with   the UN Charter and the provisions of the international law in a way that negatively reflected on international peace and stability.

One of the most dangerous reasons behind undermining the regional and international peace and security is the spread of the phenomenon of benefiting from terrorism on the regional and international levels. The tragic events which the world is witnessing nowadays, particularly the terrorist operations by Daesh (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra and all the other affiliated terrorist organizations in Syria and in many parts of our Arab countries and all over the world, are clear evidence on the aggravating phenomenon of terrorism.

Ignoring the phenomenon of supporting terrorism by some influential states and their adoption of  double-standards policy in facing that phenomenon prove that  there is no political will to eliminate that phenomenon and that the international community hasn’t reached the required level of combating terrorism. The only way for combating terrorism is through the full implementation of the Security Council’s relevant resolutions. What the Syrian Government and its allies are doing in that regard for eradicating terrorism from every inch of the Syrian territories is a sovereign right and a legitimate practice of Syria’s constitutional duty in protecting its citizens and preserving its sovereignty from the terrorist acts.

Syria has the right to retaliate to the attacks against its sovereignty and territorial integrity according to the provisions of the international law and the UN Charter. The Israeli occupation authorities have gone far in practicing state terrorism after the failure of their acts of aggression and conspiracies since the beginning of the crisis in Syria with the aim of supporting  terrorist groups and preventing the Syrian Arab Army from defeating Daesh, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations which are partners with “Israel” in terrorism. All the Israeli acts of aggression haven’t and will not be able to intimidate the Syrian people who have become more determined to achieve victory over terrorism and to restore the occupied Syrian Golan till June 4, 1967 borderlines, despite of all the attempts by the US President Donald trump to undermine that right.

The unilateral coercive economic measures imposed by the US and the European Union on some states including Syria, Venezuela, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and others are means for achieving certain political goals and agendas.

The continued destructive US interference in Syrian affairs aims at prolonging and complicating the crisis. All US-Turkish understandings are a blatant aggression on Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. These understandings  constitute a blatant aggression on Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity being a flagrant violation of the International Law principles and UN Charter.

The   pretexts being promoted by the Turkish regime in its aggression on Syria under the disguise of protecting its national security are disproved by the behaviors and policies of this regime, which has been the fundamental base and main sponsor of terrorist groups. In fact, Turkey has been  one of the main reasons behind the continuity of crisis in Syria through its open war against Syria people.  Erdogan’s regime was also behind providing terrorist organizations with chemical weapons to commit crimes against Syrian people.

If the international community is serious in combatting terrorism and finding out a peaceful solution for the crisis in Syria, the first step should be putting deterrent measures to Erdogan and other regional states which have been funding terrorist organizations and supporting their criminal acts against Syrian people.

K.Q.

Syrian army units recapture 2 towns in Hama countryside

HAMA, (SANA)_A military source declared on Monday that Syrian army units recaptured Tal Melh and al-Jabeen towns in the north-western countryside of Hama after eliminating a huge number of terrorists.

The source was quoted on the Syrian News Agency (SANA) as saying that army units positioned at the north-western side of Hama continue to make advance and recapture Tal Melh and al-Jabeen towns.

“The army units that cleansed the two towns carried out qualitative operations against armed terrorist gatherings, destroying the terrorist leaders’ hideouts and cutting off the axes of their movements,” the source said, confirming that huge number of terrorists died in the operations while the remaining terrorists run away.

Basma Qaddour

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NATO planned to openly interfere in the war in Donbass

July 30, 2019

by Ruslan Ostashkodon

Translated and subtitled by Eugenia

 

Following Saudi Massacre, Yemeni Drones Strike Airbase in Asir

By Staff, Agencies

Yemeni drones targeted an airbase in southwestern Saudi Arabia was hit several times in retaliation for the Saudi regime’s ongoing aggression against the Arabian Peninsula country.

On Monday, army spokesman Yahya Saree was quoted by the al-Masirah television network as saying that the aircraft had stricken the King Khalid Airbase in the kingdom’s Asir region.

The counter-raid used unmanned aerial vehicles of the Qasef 2K make, he added.

“The attack targeted warplane hangers and important military sites accurately,” Saree was cited by the network as saying.

Most recently, Saudi airstrikes massacred least 14 people, including children at a market in Yemen’s Saada province.

“There are two children among the martyrs,” the manager of the local al-Jomhouri Hospital, Saleh Qorban told Reuters, adding that the sorties had also injured 23 others, including 11 minors.

The army official said that the retaliatory drone strike had come in response to the continued aggression against the Yemeni people, which has been compounded by a siege employed against the country by the Saudi-led coalition.

A spokesman for Yemen’s Ansarullah revolutionary movement, which has been defending the country against the invaders shoulder to shoulder with the army, strongly condemned the deadly strikes.

Mohammed Abdul-Salam said the kingdom’s heinous crimes were enjoying the support of the United States and the United Kingdom. He was referring to Washington and London’s arms support and logistical backing for the invasion.

Abdul-Salam also called on the international community to help stop the Saudi crimes.

Yemeni forces regularly target positions inside Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the Saudi-led war on Yemen, which began in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall a former regime and eliminate the Ansarullah movement, which has been defending the country along with the armed forces.

The Western-backed military aggression, coupled with a naval blockade, has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Yemenis, destroyed the country’s infrastructure, and led to a massive humanitarian crisis.

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ما دور روسيا في «الحرب الناعمة» بين أميركا وإيران في سورية؟

يوليو 29, 2019

د. عصام نعمان

الحرب بين أميركا وإيران متواصلة ومتصاعدة. طابعها الظاهر اقتصادي، لكنها في الواقع متعدّدة الساحات والجوانب. آخر مظاهرها اللافتة ما حدث ويحدث في الجولان السوري. ففي غضون شهر ونصف الشهر شنّت حليفتها «إسرائيل» هجومين على موقعٍ للجيش السوري في تل الحارة يشكّل نقطة استطلاع بصري والكتروني الى مسافة بعيدة داخل الأراضي التي تحتلها قوات العدو في سورية.

يدّعون في «إسرائيل» انّ إيران وحزب الله أقاما، بالتعاون مع سورية، بنية تحتية مكوّنة من مواقع استطلاع ومنشآت استخبارتية لجمع المعلومات التي تخدم تنفيذ عمليات ضدّها. كما تدّعي «إسرائيل» انّ حزب الله ووحدات المقاومة التي يديرها في المنطقة هو مَن يقوم بتنفيذ هذه العمليات. ذلك انّ رجال الحرس الثوري الإيراني ممنوعون، بموجب «الاتفاق» الذي تمّ التوصل إليه بوساطة روسية، من التواجد على بُعد أقلّ من 80 كيلومتراً إلى الشرق من الحدود مع الجولان المحتلّ راجع مقالة المحلل العسكري رون بن يشاي في «Ynet»، 2019/7/24 .

لا يجوز، بطبيعة الحال، الركون الى ما تتقوله وسائل الإعلام العبري، لكن من الأكيد انّ ما تكشفه في هذا المجال، سواء كان صحيحاً او مختلَقاً، يتمّ بموافقة الرقابة العسكرية ويمثّل تالياً وجهة نظر «إسرائيل».

في هذا السياق، كان رئيس الحكومة الإسرائيلية بنيامين نتنياهو قد كشف في مقابلة مع صحيفة «يسرائيل هَيوم» 2019/7/19 انه في الإجتماع الثلاثي الذي عُقد في نهاية الشهر الماضي بين مستشاري الأمن القومي لأميركا وروسيا و»إسرائيل» في القدس المحتلة جرى التوصل الى اتفاق لإخراج إيران من سورية.

قناةُ التلفزة الإسرائيلية 13 كانت قد نقلت عن مسؤول أميركي رفيع المستوى انّ تل ابيب وواشنطن طالبتا روسيا بضرورة ان يشمل ايّ اتفاق مستقبلي بشأن الوضع في سورية إنسحاباً عسكرياً إيرانياً ليس من سورية فقط بل من لبنان والعراق ايضاً «معاريف» 2019/7/18 . القناةُ نفسها أوضحت أنه لم تتوافر أنباء بشأن الردّ الروسي على المطالب الإسرائيلية والأميركية، لكنها أشارت في الوقت عينه إلى أنه في اثر اللقاء الأمني المذكور، دافع مستشار الأمن القومي الروسي بتروشيف عن إيران وأكد دعم روسيا لوجودها العسكري المستمرّ في سورية.

إلى ذلك، جاء في التحليل العسكري لرون يشاي المُشار اليه آنفاً «انّ قوات الشرطة العسكرية الروسية تقوم بمراقبة المنطقة وتنفيذ الاتفاق فيها». المنطقة المقصودة هي محيط موقع تل الحارة الذي استهدفته «إسرائيل» فجرَ يوم الأربعاء الماضي، والمقصود بالاتفاق ما تزعمه «إسرائيل» عن وجود تفاهم بين أميركا وروسيا و»إسرائيل» يقضي بمنع قوات الحرس الثوري الإيراني من التواجد على بُعد أقلّ من 80 كيلومتراً الى الشرق من الحدود مع الجولان المحتلّ.

كلّ هذه الواقعات والتقوّلات المار ذكرها، سواء كانت صحيحة او مختلَقة، تشير الى انّ ثمة تفاعلات وعمليات تجري في جنوب سورية، والمرجّح أنها تصبّ في مخطط الولايات المتحدة و»إسرائيل» الرامي الى تفادي الحرب بالنار مع إيران بالنظر الى تكلفتها الباهظة، والإستعاضة عنها بتأجيج الحرب الناعمة ومن ضمنها مشاغلة حلفاء إيران، وفي مقدّمهم سورية وحزب الله، بصنوف من المناوشات والضغوط والعمليات العسكرية المحدودة، كلُّ ذلك بقصد تشديد الحرب الإقتصادية على إيران وحلفائها. ذلك انّ إدارة ترامب تظنّ انّ الحرب الاقتصادية بدأت تعطي ثمارها بدليل انّ إنتاج إيران من النفط انخفض من 2,5 مليون برميل يومياً، كما كانت عليه الحال قبل العقوبات، الى أقل من 400 الف برميل يومياً الأمر الذي سيُكره طهران على الرضوخ لمطلب واشنطن بالعودة الى المفاوضات وذلك تفادياً لخروج الناس الفقراء الى الشوارع، بحسب تقديرات واشنطن.

«إسرائيل» المشغولة بانتخاباتها البرلمانية في شهر أيلول/ سبتمبر المقبل تميل قياداتها السياسية والعسكرية الى التسليم بجدوى الحرب الاقتصادية الأميركية، كما تفضّل عدم التصعيد في هذه الآونة تجنّباً لاستفزاز إيران وحلفائها ودفعهم الى ردّ الكيل كيلين. ذلك انّ فريقاً من القياديين السياسيين والعسكريين في الكيان الصهيوني يتخوّفون من ان تكون أطراف محور المقاومة قد تقوّت مؤخراً بما حدث من مجابهات ووقوعات في المنطقة صبّت في مصلحتها. فالناقلات التي جرى نسفها في موانئ الإمارات العربية المتحدة، والناقلة البريطانية التي حجزتها البحرية الإيرانية وجرّتها الى ميناء بندر عباس بعد أن رفعت عليها العلم الإيراني، وإعلان الإمارات عن عزمها سحب قواتها العاملة في جبهات الحرب اليمنية، وتصعيد الحوثيين وحلفائهم حرب الطائرات المسيّرة على القواعد العسكرية والمطارات السعودية في الرياض وأبها، ونجاح حزب الله وسورية في بناء معامل متخصّصة بتأمين دقة تصويب الصواريخ الدقيقة… كلّ هذه الأحداث والإنجازات قد تحمل إيران وحزب الله في حسبان بعض القياديين الإسرائيليين على تصعيد عمليات ميدانية، برية وبحرية، من شأنها إرباك حكومات أميركا وبريطانيا و»إسرائيل» في وقت يمرّ كلٌ منها في ظروف داخلية دقيقة.

غير انّ كلّ هذه التطورات والاحتمالات لا يمكن ان تحجب سؤالاً ملحاحاً يمور في أذهان قادة محور المقاومة السياسيين والميدانيين: ما دور روسيا في كلّ ما يجري، لا سيما في جنوب سورية وشمالها الشرقي وغربها؟ هل هي حليف مشارك، ام حليف مساند، ام مجرد شرطي مراقب لمدى امتثال الأطراف المتحاربة لبنود اتفاقات سياسية وميدانية قيل إنه جرى إقرارها بين دول كبرى وأخرى إقليمية؟

وزير سابق

‘Israeli’ Regime Summons 3-Year Old Palestinian Boy ‘for Interrogation’

 

By Staff, Agencies

In the latest violation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, ‘Israeli’ occupation authorities on Monday issued a summons for a 3-year-old child to be brought to the occupied al-Quds police station for interrogation.

During an invasion of al-‘Isawiya neighborhood in occupied al-Quds Monday night, the ‘Israeli’ enemy forces stormed the home of 3-year old Mohammad Rabi ‘Alian, and handed a summons to his parents for him to appear the following day for interrogation about possible ‘stone throwing.’

At the time of the summons, dozens of Palestinian residents of al-‘Isawiya accompanied the small boy to the interrogation center, holding a protest outside while he headed in to be interrogated by the Zionist police.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society called for an investigation into the incident, which they called a blatant example of the occupation’s criminality against children.

The head of the Commission, Maj. Gen. Kadri Abu Bakr, condemned the enemy’s authorities for summoning the 3-year old child, stressing that the occupation is committing open and clear crimes against minors.

Abu Bakr added that Palestinian childhood is in grave and constant danger in light of the silence of the international community towards ‘Israeli’ violations of international law and the global convention on children’s rights.

He stressed that the ‘Israeli’ occupation authorities have stepped up their targeting of occupied al-Quds during the last few years. It was noted that there is an organized campaign against its people in particular, and that arresting them have escalated.

The Dragon lays out its road map, denies seeking hegemony

July 29, 2019

By Pepe Escobar – posted with permission

The key merit of China’s National Defense in the New Era, a white paper released by the State Council in Beijing, is to clear any remaining doubts about where the Middle Kingdom is coming from, and where it’s going to by 2049, the mythical date to, theoretically, be restored as the foremost global power.

Although not ultra-heavy on specifics, the white paper certainly should be read as the Chinese counterpoint to the US National Security Strategy, as well as the National Defense Strategy.

It goes without saying that every sentence is being carefully scrutinized by the Pentagon, which regards China as a “malign actor” and “a threat” – the terminology associated with its “Chinese aggression” mantra.

To cut to the chase, and to the perpetuating delight of China’s supporters and critics, here are the white paper’s essentials.

What global stability?

The Beijing leadership openly asserts that as “the US has adjusted its national security and defense strategies, and adopted unilateral policies” that essentially “undermined global strategic stability.” Vast sectors of the Global South would concur.

The counterpart is the evolution of “the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era,” now playing “a significant role in maintaining global strategic stability.”

In parallel, Beijing is very careful to praise the “military relationship with the US in accordance with the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.” The “military-to-military relationship” should work as “a stabilizer for the relations between the two countries and hence contribute to the China-US relationship based on coordination, cooperation and stability.”

Another key counterpart to the US – and NATO – is the increasingly crucial role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is “forging a constructive partnership of non-alliance and non-confrontation that targets no third party, expanding security and defense cooperation and creating a new model for regional security cooperation.”

The white paper stresses that “the SCO has now grown into a new type of comprehensive regional cooperation organization covering the largest area and population in the world”, something that is factually correct. The latest SCO summit in Bishkek did wonders in featuring some of the group’s much-vaunted qualities, especially “mutual trust,” “consultation,” “respect for diverse civilizations” and “pursuit of common development.”

On hot spots, contrary to Western skepticism, the white paper asserts that, “the situation of the South China Sea is generally stable,” and that a “balanced, stable, open and inclusive Asian security architecture continues to develop.”

There should be no illusion regarding Beijing’s position on “Taiwan independence” – which will never deviate from what was set by Little Helmsman Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s: “Separatist forces and their actions remain the gravest immediate threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the biggest barrier hindering the peaceful reunification of the country.”

And the same applies to “external separatist forces for ‘Tibet independence’ and the creation of ‘East Turkestan’.” How Beijing dealt with – and economically developed – Tibet will continue to be the blueprint to deal with, and economically develop, Xinjiang, irrespective of the Western outcry over China’s subjugation of more than a million Uighurs.

In regard to the turmoil Hong Kong and the degree it reflects interference by “external forces,” the white paper shapes Hong Kong as the model to be followed on the way to Taiwan. “China adheres to the principles of ‘peaceful reunification,’ and ‘one country, two systems,’ promotes peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and advances peaceful reunification of the country.”

On the South China Sea, the white paper notes that

“countries from outside the region conduct frequent close-in reconnaissance on China by air and sea, and illegally enter China’s territorial waters and the waters and airspace near China’s islands and reefs, undermining China’s national security.”

So there won’t be any misunderstanding, it says: “The South China Sea islands and Diaoyu Islands are inalienable parts of the Chinese territory.” ASEAN and Japan will have to deal with what Beijing says are facts.

Chinese soldiers in the PLA Hong Kong Garrison take part in a drill during an open day on June 30 to mark the 22nd anniversary of the return of the city from Britain to China. Photo: AFP

No hegemony, ever

While noting that “great progress has been made in the Revolution in Military Affairs with Chinese characteristics” – the Sino-version of the Pentagon’s – the white paper admits that “the PLA still lags far behind the world’s leading militaries. The commitment is unmistakable to “fully transform the people’s armed forces into world-class forces by the mid-21st century.”

Special emphasis is placed on China’s relatively quiet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy. “China has played a constructive role in the political settlement of regional hotspots such as the Korean Peninsula issue, the Iranian nuclear issue and Syrian issue.” The corollary could not be more clear-cut. “China opposes hegemony, unilateralism and double standards.”

Arguably the most important point made by the white paper – in stark contrast with the “Chinese aggression” narrative – is that “Never Seeking Hegemony, Expansion or Spheres of Influence” is qualified as “the distinctive feature of China’s national defense in the new era.”

This is backed up by what could be defined as the distinctive Chinese approach to international relations – to respect “the rights of all peoples to independently choose their own development path,” and “the settlement of international disputes through equal dialogue, negotiation and consultation. China is opposed to interference in the internal affairs of others, abuse of the weak by the strong, and any attempt to impose one’s will on others.”

So the road map is on the table for all to see. It will be fascinating to watch reactions from myriad latitudes across the Global South. Let’s see how the “Chinese aggression” system responds.

Iranian Official: Netanyahu-Dreamt Middle-East Never Takes Shape

TEHRAN (FNA)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dream to create a new Middle-East in collaboration with the US and certain regional states will never come true, said a senior official at the office of Iran’s Commander-in-Chief Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

“Netanhayu is suffering a type of illusion and the Middle-East that he dreams will never take shape,” Deputy Head of the Political-Religious Bureau of Iran’s Commander-in-Chief for Political Affairs Rasoul Sanayee Raad said in an interview with the Persian-language Ana news agency on Monday.

“The Middle-East desired by Netanyahu for the sake of which they started the 33-day war and launched a proxy war in Syria will never be materialized,” he said.

Sanayee Raad also warned of certain Arab states’ cooperation with the US to implement the Deal of the Century plot, and said such measures do not endure and the Palestinian people’s wrath will make them regret.

In relevant remarks in late May, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani, in a video address to a conference in the Gaza Strip under the title of “No to Deal of Century”, reassured that the Palestinian nation will defeat the US-devised plot, dubbed “the deal of the century,” through resistance.

“The deal of century will be defeated at the hands of the resisting people of Palestine,” Shamkhani added.

He said the plan aims at “complete elimination of Palestine,” speaking via video link at the event, which was held in Gaza City in the coastal enclave with senior leaders of Palestinian resistance groups in attendance.

Using the scheme, Washington is trying to abuse the “ignorance, laxity, and the treacherous nature” of some of its vassal states to “permanently do away with the issues of the Palestinian refugees’ return [to their homeland] and formation of an independent Palestinian state,” he added.

Also joining the conference were Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of Hamas resistance movement, Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian resistance movement’s leader in Gaza, and Ziyad al-Nakhaleh, the leader of the Islamic Jihad resistance group.

The conference came in the run-up to International Quds Day.

The day was so named, Shamkhani said, as a token of support for anti-Israeli resistance until the ultimate liberation of the entirety of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Iran stands with all the nations that resist oppressors,” Iran’s security chief said, citing Imam Khomeini as saying, “As long as there is oppression in the world, there is struggle too. And as long as there is struggle, we stand up too.”

“In line with the viewpoint of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, we once again in the Islamic Republic insist on supporting the resistance, especially in the occupied Palestine, and will not cease this support despite all hardships, political pressures and economic sanctions, as the Islamic Republic considers supporting the resistance fighters a religious obligation,” Shamkhani added.

The Iranian official then highlighted how the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979 was followed by creation of resistance movements that defeated Israel in all their confrontations with the regime, liberating Gaza and southern Lebanon. He saluted the resistance fighters, who brought about the victories.

Further in the conference, the leader of Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip, Yehya al-Sinwar, said the US-devised “deal of the century” will not go ahead.

He also asserted that the Palestinian resistance front will not abandon the Palestinian cause, including liberation of all Israel-occupied territories, most notably the holy city of Jerusalem al-Quds.

“We will not sell al-Quds …We believe liberation of al-Quds will come soon,” he noted.

A comprehensive history of everything awful Boris “the clown” Johnson has said

A comprehensive history of everything awful Boris Johnson has said

A comprehensive history of everything awful Boris Johnson has said

By Micha Frazer-Carroll

Image via BackBoris2012 Campaign Team / Flickr

So many gaffes! Maybe so many that we need to stop calling them “gaffes”! Blunderous BoJo, what ever shall we do with him? We all make slip ups sometimes. But the former foreign secretary, who today will become our PM, has had his fair share of headlines surrounding Alleged Accusations Of “Racially Charged” Race-Related Comments Reportedly Said By Some To Be Motivated By Race. Or as we like to call it: racism.

He’s also ventured into misogyny and classism in his time – and over the weekend became part of a conversation around the rise of the far-right, led by David Lammy. In the name of the public record, we took a deep dive and pulled together a comprehensive history of times Boris has really, really fucked up. Chronologically. Buckle up!

• In his 2002 column in the Spectator, Boris penned an article titled: “Africa is a mess, but we can’t blame colonialism”.
• In the piece, Boris described the continent as a “blot” and suggested that it would be better off if it was colonised again, writing: “The problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge any more…the best fate for Africa would be if the old colonial powers, or their citizens, scrambled once again in her direction; on the understanding that this time they will not be asked to feel guilty.”
• In 2002, in a column in the Telegraph, BoJo described black people as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles”.
• In 2004, Boris was asked to apologise to Liverpudlians after writing in the Spectator that they were “wallowing” in “victim status” after the Hillsborough disaster. Boris said those who lived in the city needed to acknowledge the role played “by drunken fans at the back of the crowd who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground”.
• In the 2005 leadership contest, bumbling BoJo said “voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3”.
• Boris described Papua New Guineans as prone to “cannibalism” and “chief-killing” in his column in the Telegraph in 2006.
• Boris blamed rising house prices on women graduates in his Spectator column in 2007. It’s almost as if people should stop giving him columns.
• In the same article, he managed to wrap classism into sexism, writing: “The result is that in families on lower incomes the women have absolutely no choice but to work, often with adverse consequences for family life and society as a whole – in that unloved and undisciplined children are more likely to become hoodies, NEETS, and mug you on the street corner.”
• Also in 2007, BoJo described Hillary Clinton as looking like a “sadistic nurse in a mental hospital”.
• In 2008, Boris allowed a piece to be printed that claimed black people have lower IQs, under his editorship at the Spectator. “Orientals…have larger brains and higher IQ scores,” the piece read. “Blacks are at the other pole.”
• London assembly member Jennette Arnold accused BoJo of all-round sexist conduct in 2012, arguing that he generally treats women assembly members in a “disrespectful, patronising” way that was different to the men.
• In 2013, Boris suggested that the increase in Malaysian women going to university was down to the fact that they have “got to find men to marry”. Groans were reportedly heard from Malaysian women in the audience.
• Boris dabbled as a wordsmith in 2016 when he wrote a poem about the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “There was a young fellow from Ankara / Who was a terrific wankerer / Till he sowed his wild oats / With the help of a goat / But he didn’t even stop to thankera.” Boris won a £1,000 poetry prize for the limerick.
• In a Tory party conference speech in 2016, Boris claimed that “the values of global Britain are needed more than ever” and that British “beliefs” are necessary to “lift the world out of poverty”.
• In the same speech, he called Africa a “country”.

• After Barack Obama suggested that the UK should remain in the EU, BoJo said that the then-president should stay out of the conversation as he was “part-Kenyan” and had an “ancestral dislike” for the UK.
• In 2017, Boris met with Steve Bannon, founder of Breitbart News, a self-described “platform for the alt-right”.
• Boris also apologised to political prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe in 2017 after saying she was in Iran “training journalists”, when she was in fact on holiday. He was accused of risking adding an extra five years to her time in prison due to the mistake.
• Boris was asked to apologise after referring to Emily Thornberry using her husband’s name to ridicule her in the commons in early 2018.

• Last summer, Boris wrote in his column in the Telegraph that the burqa was “oppressive and ridiculous”, comparing Muslim women to “bank-robbers” and “letterboxes”.

What a silly bumbling, potential Prime Minister he is. Good thing people’s views don’t tend to have an impact on their policies or anything

هل يُنقِذُ النظام الإيراني «الشرق الأوسط» وقوى أخرى صاعدة…؟

يوليو 30, 2019

د. وفيق إبراهيم

يدافعُ النظام السياسي في إيران عن جمهوريته أولاً، في وجه أكبر استهداف أميركي غير مسبوق، لكن نجاحه في هذا المشروع يُطلق رذاذاً إقليمياً يُصحّحُ العلاقة بين الأميركيين والدول المستتبعة لهم بدرجات كبيرة، رافعاً من متانة حلفائه وفاتحاً أبواباً كبيرة أمام تغيّرات عالمية.

لذلك تتسم الحرب على إيران بمميّزات إيرانية وعربية وشرق أوسطية وعالمية، وهذا ليس من قبيل المبالغة بقدر ما يعكس قراءات متأنية لمكاتب دراسات عالمية تعتبر أنّ حرب الخليج هي بديل من الحرب العالمية الثالثة «المستحيلة» إنما بأدوات «موضعية» لا تفني الأرض وتحقق الغرض المرجو.

إنّ أسباب الاتجاه الأميركي نحو عقوبات اقتصادية قاتلة تدريجياً لها علاقات بأبحاث أميركية دقيقة، اعتبرت أنّ هذه الحرب ذات أمد طويل إذا كانت تقليدية بالأسلحة الكلاسيكية حتى المتطوّرة منها، وذلك بسبب اتساع مساحة إيران وقدرتها على التحمّل وما تملكه من بنية تسليحية معتبرة.

وهذه وضعية تسمح لتحالفاتها في الإقليم بالتحرك وتفجير مدى كبير يتحوّل بسرعة نزاعاً دولياً مفتوحاً.

هناك أسباب أخرى على تماس مع اقتراب موعد الانتخابات الرئاسية في 2020 ما يفرض على المرشحين ومنهم الرئيس الأميركي الحالي ترامب تحاشيها قدر الإمكان بسبب نمو مزاجٍ شعبي أميركي جديد رافض للحروب المستنزفة للاقتصاد.

كما أنّ الحرب الطويلة تشجع البلدان ذات الطموحات الاقتصادية والساعية الى ادوار عالمية، بالتموضع فيها، لتحسين مواقعها في مراكز القوى المنتظرة. وهذا حال أوروبا والصين وروسيا، فمن كان يتصوّر أنّ بلداً مثل كوريا الجنوبية يرسل سفينة حربية إلى مياه الخليج للمشاركة بالمشروعين الأميركي والأوروبي، لحماية أمن الملاحة فيها على حدّ زعمها.

هناك إذاً نزوع عالمي للانتماء الى «أزمة الخليج» بالمشاركة في أمن الملاحة فيها بعد تيقن كلّ الاتجاهات السياسية في العالم بصعوبة الحسم فيها، وذلك تطبيقاً لمفهوم «أنّ كلّ من يحضر السوق يبيع ويشتري».

في المقابل يستفيد البيت الأبيض من قدرته على جذب الأوروبيين والآسيويين وعرب الخليج الى مشروعه بخنق إيران معتقداً انه يستدرجهم بالتلويح الوهمي لهم بإمكانية قبوله بأدوار اقتصادية لهم في الشرق الأوسط إلا أنّ الأميركيين يظنون أنهم نجحوا في الفرار من فكرتي الحرب الكلاسيكية الشديدة الكلفة والحرب النووية ذات الآفاق الكونية وذلك في اتجاه حرب اقتصادية لها مفاعيل الحروب التدميرية لا تكلفهم إلا استعمال هيمنة الأحادية الأميركية في العالم بفرض عقوبات لا تستطيع تجاوزها إلا الدول ذات القدرات العالمية وقد لا تنجح، لتمكن الاقتصاد الأميركي من الإمساك بالعالم الاقتصادي بالدولار من جهة ونفوذ الاسواق الأميركية بيعاً وشراءً من جهة ثانية بالاضافة الى النفوذ الجيوبوليتيكي الأميركي الذي ينشر نحو 800 قاعدة عسكرية في العالم، تؤمن ولاء مئات الدول من دون الحاجة الى استثمار مباشر.

لذلك تفرز هذه المعطيات ثلاث قراءات: أميركية ترى انّ أسلوب الخنق الاقتصادي فاعل يؤدّي غرضه وتؤيّدها «إسرائيل» وبلدان الخليج وبلدان أخرى بعيدة عن المسرح المباشر، اما الثانية فمعظم أوروبا التي تعتقد انّ أزمة الخليج لن تنتج رابحاً من الطرفين الأميركي والإيراني فتستطيع بهذه الحالة الاستفادة من إنهاك إيران للأميركيين فتدخل الى الشرق الأوسط من بوابة الصمود الإيراني.

بدوريهما تعمل روسيا والصين على إسناد إيران لأنهما متأكدتان من انّ خروجها السليم من الخنق الأميركي لا يعني إلا اتساع تحالفات إيران في الشرق الأوسط على حساب النفوذ الأميركي، وهذا يتيح لهما حرية حركة واسعة في ميدان استراتيجي اعتادت الدول الكبرى ان تصبح عظمى من خلال السيطرة عليه، أليس هذا حال فرنسا وانجلتره وحالياً الولايات المتحدة الأميركية في المراحل التاريخية الأخيرة؟

ألا تؤكد هذه القراءات على اعتماد دول كثيرة على الصمود الإيراني لتحسين مواقعها في الشرق الأوسط؟ لكنها لا تستطيع التعبير عن نياتها بشكل علني، أو توفير سياسات واضحة تؤدي إليه خشية جذب غضب أميركي عليها قد لا تحمد عقباه؟

ماذا الآن عن إيران الطرف المستهدَف بالخنق؟

ردود فعل إيران تكشف أنّ فريقها الحاكم يعرف لماذا اختار الأميركيون العقوبات القاتلة ضدّها؟

فقسموا أزمة الأميركيين معهم إلى ثلاث نقاط: نووي باليستي – وتحالفات سياسية، مدركين انّ الذريعة النووية ليست حقيقية لأنهم لا يملكون سلاحاً نووياً وكذلك فإنّ الصواريخ سلاح دفاعي يقصف إمكانات الخصم ولا قدرة احتلالية فيه، اما التحالفات السياسية فتجسّد قوى تجتمع مع الإيرانيين بالسياسة، لكنها عربية وتعبّر عن قسم هام من توجهات شعوب المنطقة الرافضة للحلف الأميركي الخليجي الإسرائيلي.

أين المشكلة اذاً؟ موجودة في إيران نفسها، وعلى مستوى نظامها السياسي حصراً، فاستمراره يؤدي الى استمرار العداء الإيراني مع تحالفاته الإقليمية للنفوذ الأميركي في الشرق الاوسط والعالم الإسلامي.

وقد يذهب في مراحل معينة لإنتاج النووي وتطوير الباليستي ما يتيح لإيران التموضع في مواقع بين المستويين الإقليمي والدولي على حساب التمدّد الأميركي.

لذلك تكشف هذه القراءات بوضوح ما ذهب إليه مؤتمر فيينا الأخير لدول الأربع زائد واحد أعضاء الاتفاق النووي الذي انسحب منه الأميركيون في 2018، وهي روسيا والصين وفرنسا وبريطانيا وألمانيا، فهذه الدول لا تريد خنقاً أميركياً لإيران لكنها تخشى اتخاذ تدابير داعمة لتحاشي الغضب الأميركي، فتحاول التحايل بتدابير خفيفة على طريقة «لا تقتل الذئب ولا تفني الغنم».

وتراهن في الوقت نفسه على صمود إيران لمنع الاحتكار الأميركي للعالم، بموازاة تحرك روسي صيني مدعوم أوروبياً هو الوحيد القادر على تزويد إيران بالحدّ المقبول من دعم اقتصادي يُحبط الخطة الأميركية بما يشبه التسوية وليس «الغُلب».

بذلك يمنحُ الصمود الإيراني الشرق الأوسط وروسيا والصين وأوروبا فرصة الاستفادة من الخيبة الأميركية دافعاً نحو إعادة تشكل المراكز الجديدة للقوة التي تدفع نحو شرق أوسط جديد يلتحق بالقرن الواحد والعشرين متخلياً عن دولة القرون أوسطية

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The creepy French “intellectual” Bernard-Henri Levy gets it wrong

The creepy French “intellectual” Bernard-Henri Levy gets it wrong

PHILIP GIRALDI • JULY 30, 2019

Eight days ago eleven Palestinian buildings containing seventy family apartments located in the illegally Israeli occupied East Jerusalem village of Wadi al-Hummus were demolished in a military-led operation by more than 1,000 Israeli soldiers, policemen and municipal workers using bulldozers, backhoes and explosives. Residents who resisted were beaten by the soldiers, kicked down flights of stairs and even shot at close range with rubber bullets. The soldiers were recorded laughing and celebrating as they did their dirty work. Occupants who did not resist and who held their hands up in surrender were also not spared the rod, as were also foreign observers who were present to add their voices to those who were protesting the outrage. The injuries sustained by some of the victims have been photographed and are available online.

Twelve Palestinians and four British observers were injured badly enough to be hospitalized. The British reported that they were “stamped on, dragged by the hair, strangled with a scarf and pepper sprayed by Israeli border police.” One who was hospitalized described how Israeli soldiers dragged him by his feet, lifting him up, and kicking him in the stomach, while one soldier stamped on his head four times “at full force” before standing on his head and pulling his hair. Another suffered a fractured rib after “[the policeman] then stamped on my throat and others started punching my torso. It was a sadistic display of violence…”

Yet another foreign observer was dragged out of the house, “…her hands were crushed so badly that she suffered a fractured knuckle on her left hand, and her right hand suffered severe tissue damage ‘which will be permanently misshapen unless she gets cosmetic surgery.’”

Edmond Sichrovsky, an Austrian activist of Jewish origin, who was in one of the houses, described how Israeli forces broke the door down, first dragging out the Palestinians,

“knocking the grandfather to the floor in front of his crying and screaming grandchildren.” Cell phones were forcibly removed to eliminate any picture taking or filming before soldiers began attacking him and four other activists. “I was repeatedly kicked and kneed, which left a bloody nose and multiple cuts, as well breaking my glasses from a knee in the face. Once outside, they slammed me against a car while shouting verbal insults at me and women activists, calling them whores.”

The buildings were destroyed due to claims that they were too close to Israel’s illegal separation wall, with the Benjamin Netanyahu government citing “security concerns.” The families living in the buildings that did not have either the time or ability to remove their furniture and other personal items will now have to comb through the rubble to see what they can recover, if the Israeli soldiers will even allow them that grace. They will also have to find new places to live as the Israelis have made no provision for housing them.

The homes were legally constructed on land that is nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), a fine point that the Israeli authorities chose to consider irrelevant. When the Palestinians object to such arbitrary behavior, they are sent to Israeli military courts that always endorse the government decisions. And the Netanyahu regime of kleptocrats has made clear that it does not recognize international law about treatment of people who are under occupation.

The buildings were destroyed a few days after rampaging Israeli settlers on the West Bank continued their campaign to destroy the livelihoods of their Palestinian neighbors. Hundreds of olive trees were burned on the West Bank on July 10th, a deliberate attempt to drive the Arabs from their land by making it impossible to farm, strangling the local economy. Olive trees are particularly targeted as they are a cash crop and the trees take many years to mature and produce. The Israeli settlers have also been known to kill livestock, poison water, destroy crops, burn down buildings, and beat and even kill the Palestinian farmers and their families. And in Hebron the settlers have surrounded the old town, dumping excrement and other refuse on the Palestinians shops below that are still trying to do business. It should surprise no one that the Jewish settlers who engage in the violence are rarely caught, even less often tried, and almost never punished. The ghastly Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has declared that what was once Palestine is now a country called Israel and it is only for Jews. Killing a Palestinian by a Jewish Israeli is considered de facto to be a misdemeanor.

And meanwhile the carnage continues in Gaza, with the death toll of unarmed demonstrating Palestinians now at more than 200 plus several thousand wounded, many of them children and medical workers. Recently, orders to the Israeli army snipers direct them to shoot demonstrators in the ankles so they will be crippled for life. This is what it takes to be the “most moral army” in the world as defined by French fop pseudo intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy, demonstrating only yet again that the tribe knows how to stick together. But the war crimes carried out by Israel also require unlimited support from the United States, both in money and political cover to allow it all to happen. Israel would not be killing Palestinians with such impunity if it were not for the green light from Donald Trump and his settler-loving mock Ambassador David Friedman backed up by a congress that seems to cherish Israelis more than Americans.

How is it that the horrific treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis as aided and abetted by the worldwide Jewish diaspora is not featured in headlines all over the world? Why isn’t my government with its highly suspect but nevertheless declared agenda of bringing democracy and freedom to all saying anything about the Palestinians? Or condemning Israeli behavior as it once did regarding South Africa?

Can one even imagine what The New York Times and Washington Post would be headlining if American soldiers and police were evicting and beating the residents of a housing project in a U.S. city? But somehow Israel always gets a pass, no matter what it does and politicians from both parties delight in describing how the “special relationship” with the Jewish state is cast in stone.

In the wake of the home demolitions, Washington yet again shielded Israel from a United Nations censure for its behavior by casting a Security Council veto. The Jewish state is consequently never held accountable for its bad behavior, and let us be completely honest, Israel is the ultimate rogue regime, dedicated to turning its neighbors into smoking ruins with U.S. assistance. It is evil manifest and it is not in America’s own interest to continue to be dragged down that road.

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org

Hezbollah Missiles Will Lay Heavy Siege to ‘Israel’ during Upcoming War: Zionist Analysts

Hezbollah Missiles Will Lay Heavy Siege to ‘Israel’ during Upcoming War: Zionist Analysts

July 29, 2019

The Zionist media outlets continued assessing the dimensions of the potential military confrontation with Hezbollah, highlighting the destructive capabilities of the resistance group’s missile arsenal.

The Israeli analysts stressed that the ‘home front’ is unable to cope with the rocket fire which will cause massive destruction across the entity, adding that ‘Israel’ will be besieged as airports and seaports will be struck.

The analysts added that the Lebanese can be more steadfast than the Israelis who will lose the main services (electricity, internet, …) during any upcoming war because of Hezbollah rockets, stressing that the ZIonist anti-missile systems are unable to cope with this threat.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

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