Al-Qaida Leaders Welcome Arab Uprisings, Says Cleric
THE GUARDIAN: Anwar al-Awlaki uses online magazine to explain why the Middle East revolts are not a setback for al-Qaida
Senior al-Qaida leaders have welcomed the uprisings in the Arab world in their first comprehensive statement on recent events, published in an internet magazine earlier this week. Anwar al-Awlaki – the radical preacher who grew up in America but is now a fugitive in Yemen – used a lengthy article in an English-language magazine called Inspire to explain why the revolts sweeping the Middle East were not a setback for al-Qaida.
"Our mujahideen brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and the rest of the Muslim world will get a chance to breathe again after three decades of suffocation," Awlaki wrote in an article entitled The Tsunami of Change.
The magazine also featured translated excerpts of earlier statements by senior figures in al-Qaida, such as deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri which had previously only been posted in obscure extremist forums.
Zawahiri calls on the "people of freedom and honour in Tunisia, Egypt and in each of the Islamic lands" not to let their recent efforts go to waste. His statement appears to have been written before the fall of President Hosni Mubarak nearly two months ago. » | Jason Burke | Thursday, March 31, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Yémen, Bahreïn, Syrie: La révolte persiste
leJDD.fr: Alors que la situation en Libye pourrait très prochainement basculer, les mouvements de révolte se poursuivent dans d’autres pays du monde arabe. Au Yémen, la répression se fait sanglante: une cinquantaine de personnes ont été tuées par les forces de l’ordre.
Il y a deux jours à peine, la contre-offensive sanglante menée par le colonel Kadhafi en Libye augurait de sombres perspectives pour le printemps des révolutions arabes. Commencé en Tunisie, poursuivi en Egypte, le mouvement s’est étendu à de nombreux pays, des rives de la Méditerranée jusqu’au Golfe persique. L'hypothèse d’une victoire du dictateur libyen menaçait l’avenir des révoltes menées dans d’autres pays, au premier rang desquels, Bahreïn et le Yémen. Après l’adoption d’une résolution de l’ONU sur le cas libyen jeudi, les manifestants n’ont pas cédé face à la répression.
Le président yéménite, Ali Abdallah Saleh, a proclamé vendredi l’état d’urgence. Les forces de l’ordre ont tiré sur la foule qui manifestait dans la capitale, Sanaa, pour exiger le départ du dirigeant au pouvoir depuis 32 ans. Bilan: 46 morts, au moins, et 400 blessés. Le président des Etats-Unis, Barack Obama, a fermement condamné ces violences. "J’appelle le président Saleh à tenir sa promesse d'autoriser les manifestations à se dérouler pacifiquement", a-t-il ajouté. » | Adrien Gaboulaud (avec agences) - leJDD.fr | Vendredi 18 Mars 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Inside Story - Security in the Gulf
December 05, 2010: The Manama talks are taking place in Bahrain to discuss security in the Gulf with one of the big issues being the involvement of foreign powers, particularly when it comes to Iran. Can those powers help establish security, or should Gulf countries work it out on their own - remembering the mistrust that has been revealed by WikiLeaks?
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Tariq Ramadan on the Turmoil in the Maghreb, Noth Africa, Middle East
REUTERS: Anti-government protests inspired by popular revolts that toppled rulers in Tunisia and Egypt are gaining pace around the Middle East and North Africa despite political and economic concessions by nervous governments.
Clashes were reported for the first time in tightly controlled Libya, sandwiched between Egypt and Tunisia, while new protests erupted in Bahrain, Yemen and Iran on Wednesday.
The latest demonstrations against long-serving rulers came after U.S. President Barack Obama, commenting on the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, declared: "The world is changing...if you are governing these countries, you've got to get out ahead of change, you can't be behind the curve."
With young people able to watch pro-democracy uprisings in other countries on satellite television or the Internet, and to communicate with like-minded activists on social networks hard for the secret police to control, governments across the region have grounds to fear contagion. >>> Paul Taylor | Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
La grande peur des sunnites : être lâchés par les Etats-Unis
LE MONDE: C'est le cauchemar que redoutent, depuis 1979, la plupart des alliés arabes des Etats-Unis : un lâchage américain. Qu'il s'agisse du royaume saoudien, des principautés du Golfe, ou de la monarchie hachémite en Jordanie, tous ont gardé en mémoire le sort du chah d'Iran. Pièce maîtresse de l'endiguement soviétique et d'un "grand jeu" pétrolier mis en place par Washington, après le renversement du premier ministre, Mohammad Mossadegh, en 1953, cet autocrate fut abandonné en rase campagne, une génération plus tard, par une administration américaine qui le jugeait désormais indéfendable.
Silencieux pendant la révolution tunisienne, inquiets par la tournure prise par les événements en Egypte, les monarchies autoritaires de la région ne peuvent qu'être déstabilisées par la succession de déclarations américaines incitant le président Hosni Moubarak à répondre au plus vite à la pression de sa rue.
L'Arabie saoudite est sortie de sa réserve traditionnelle en tonnant, jeudi 10 février, contre "l'ingérence de certains pays étrangers". Pour la dynastie saoudienne, les Etats-Unis alimentent la contestation par ces prises de position pressantes. Qu'un pays affaiblisse ainsi son allié leur paraît inconcevable et incompréhensible, surtout dans un contexte régional où tout ce qui pénalise l'axe des pays arabes présentés comme "modérés" (c'est-à-dire proches des Occidentaux) renforce le voisin iranien déjà débarrassé de l'endiguement assuré par l'Irak à la suite de l'invasion américaine de 2003.
Avec une Egypte paralysée pour longtemps par ses tumultes intérieurs, cet axe perd l'un de ses deux principaux moteurs. Même diminuée par le vieillissement du régime et la réduction de son influence régionale aux affaires palestiniennes, l'Egypte conservait jusqu'à présent des atouts : un appareil et un savoir-faire diplomatiques sans équivalent dans la région et une puissance économique émergente.
Le second moteur arabe, le saoudien, n'est pas sans défaillances, alors que la Jordanie connaît également quelques troubles. La convalescence du roi saoudien Abdallah au Maroc, après des opérations du dos subies aux Etats-Unis, en décembre 2010, a mis en évidence la fragilité d'une dynastie confrontée à la perspective de successions répétées compte tenu de l'âge avancé du roi (86 ans), de celui du prince héritier, Sultan (83 ans), et du suivant dans l'ordre de succession, le prince Nayef (77 ans). >>> LeMonde | Friday, 12 Février 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Arab Leaders Warned of 'Revolution'
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Head of Arab League warns regional leaders that recent political upheaval is linked to deteriorating economic situation.
Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, made no reference to the Tunisian revolt in his opening speech [EPA]. Photo: Al Jazeera English
The head of the Arab League has told the region's leaders that the recent upheaval in Tunisia is linked to deteriorating economic conditions throughout the Arab world, warning them that their people's anger has reached unprecedented heights.
Amr Moussa told an Arab economic summit in Egypt that "the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession."
"This is in the mind of all of us," Moussa said in his opening address to the 20 Arab leaders and other representatives of Arab League members gathered in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The summit is the first top level Arab meeting since protests fuelled by joblessness and other economic woes in Tunisia forced Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the president, to flee, bringing an end to his 23-year rule of the country.
The unrest has helped inspire similar protests around the Arab world and calls for political change, though activists face vast security forces heavily vested in the status quo backing hardline regimes ready to crack down on challenges to their rule.
"The Tunisian revolution is not far from us," Moussa warned. "The Arab citizen entered an unprecedented state of anger and frustration."
He called for an Arab "renaissance" to lift people from their frustration. >>> Source: Agencies | Wednesday, January 18, 2011
Britain Forms Plan for Gulf Evacuation in Event of War with Iran
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The British armed forces are drawing up contingency plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands of British residents and tourists from Dubai and other Gulf cities in the event of war with Iran.
The Coalition government under David Cameron ordered an immediate review of British military planning in the Gulf after the election last May. The Daily Telegraph can reveal that new proposals are being drawn up to coordinate military activity in the region with local allies hostile to Iran, particularly the United Arab Emirates.
Planners have realised they had to tear up existing emergency plans for local British residents. Since the previous review in the 1990s, the expatriate population has grown to more than 100,000 in the UAE alone, while a million British tourists, from businessmen on stopovers to England footballers with marital problems, come to Dubai every year.
It is feared they might be at risk if, as it has promised, Iran retaliates for any military strikes on its nuclear sites with missile attacks on "western interests" in the Gulf.
Royal Navy warships, along with their American and French counterparts, regularly patrol the Gulf and tie up in UAE ports, while Iran has also threatened to mine the strategically crucial Straits of Hormuz.
The region's gearing up for the possibility of a war stands in contrast to the relaxing tourists on beaches or the opulent expat villa compounds. >>> Richard Spencer, Dubai | Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
British Foreign Policy to Change Reflecting Arab Concerns on Middle East
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: British foreign policy will change to reflect Arab concerns over the Middle East peace process as part of the Coalition's efforts to seal a strategic agreement with the Gulf during the Queen's visit to the region.
That may mean yet further withdrawal of traditional British support for Israel, with criticism of its government already more marked under Mr Hague than it was under New Labour government. – The Daily Telegraph
Whitehall officials said Foreign Secretary William Hague's decision to reach out to Gulf states in an effort to secure better diplomatic and trade ties meant Britain had to "take on board" Arab foreign policy goals.
Requesting better ties would be a two-way street, not just plea for more defence contracts and exports, they said.
"It will be a six lane highway with movement in both directions," said one diplomat. "We have to respond to what Gulf States want. If we want a long-term partnership on foreign policy, then changes in our stance have to be part of it."
The Queen arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, at the start of a five-day visit that will also take in Oman.
Both countries are long-standing allies, where the royal family also has strong personal ties with local leaders. The United Arab Emirates end of the visit was rearranged after a planned tour last year was cancelled at the last minute.
The visit to Oman is to join the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of Sultan Qaboos's ascension to the throne.
But the visit has taken on a more significant, and unusually political context both with the change of government in Britain and increasing tensions with Iran a short distance away on the other side of the Gulf.
Mr Hague set improving relations with the Gulf and India as his first policy goals, and both David Cameron, the prime minister, and Liam Fox, the defence secretary, visited Abu Dhabi within a month of taking office. >>> Richard Spencer in Abu Dhabi and Damien McElroy | Wednesday, November 24, 2010
So this is the new coalition government in action is it?
Our relations with the Gulf states has always been close and friendly HOWEVER it seems that the UK must now cringe and crawl and change our foreign policies and strategic partnerships to suit islam? What price does the UK have to pay for this new arrangement?
Are we really that desperate for Arab cash that they can now summon our Queen to go barefoot and covered into their mosque and make our fake foreign secretary crawl and creep to beg for money?
The UK is being islamised at an alarming pace now and the coalition are at the centre of it, not for them the dignity and pride of HM governments of old, these Quislings just have to abase themselves and us.
Isnt it funny how WE have to note and address THEIR concerns and adapt OUR policies and alliances and interests to suit THEIRS? Look on this visit with shame and humiliation as our government crawls and creeps and cringes and gives in to demand after demand. The truth is that these states need us more than we need them, they need our support in the face of their own regional threats and we do not need to creep and crawl to them at all.
A friendship that requires one side to change its other alliances or friendships or strategic goals is no friendship at all, a friend that bullies and threatens and demands obedience from the other is not a friend at all. We are either an equal partner where we stand up for our own interests or we are a stooge lackey lickspittle unfit to have a seat at the UN top table. Trade? They either wish to trade with us or they do not, they have NO right to dictate to us about our foreign policies and alliances and how we must change to suit their prejudices and hatreds. If that is the price of a trade deal then they should really go buy their stuff from North Korea or Russia. What would they say to us if we demanded that they change their policies and goals to suit us? Yeah! they would rightly tell us to piss right off and no mistake!
MAIL ONLINE: Shoeless and wearing a beekeeper-style shawl and hat, the Queen walked across the world’s largest carpet last night as she met Islamic students in Abu Dhabi at the start of her five-day state visit to the Gulf.
No sooner had the Queen and Prince Philip stepped off their chartered British Airways flight from London than they were taken straight to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, the country’s largest.
The Queen in the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. Photograph: Mail Online
The floor of its main prayer hall is covered in a 35-ton carpet which took 1,200 Iranian women two years to stitch by hand.
In keeping with tradition, the Queen removed her shoes before entering and padded in in stockinged feet.
While other female members of the party wore a traditional 'abaya' or full-length cloak over their clothes and a 'sheela' or scarf, the Queen wore a gold brocade coat embroidered with Swarovski crystals over her matching dress, both designed by her dresser, Angela Kelly.
Protect the Human Rights of Migrant Workers in the Middle East
Immigrant Worker Abuse in Middle East Condemned by Human Rights Group
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: International human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has implored Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to make more effort to protect its immigrant workers, after shocking stories emerged about the abuse of three domestic workers.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, HRW said that it had received allegations from a maid in Kuwait whose employer drove nails into her body, a maid in Saudi Arabia who had nails forced into her body, and a maid in Jordan who had been both beaten and forced to swallow nails.
The watchdog said the stories implied a “broader pattern of abuse”, and that the goverments of the three countries needed to create a stronger legal framework to protect their foreign workers.
"The wanton brutality alleged in these cases is shocking, but reports of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and labour exploitation such as non-payment of wages are nothing new,'' said Nisha Varia, a senior women's rights researcher at HRW.
Many domestic workers in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait come from Asia, Africa and other countries in the Middle East in the hope of receiving higher salaries. Because employers in Middle East countries often act as workers' "sponsors" however, they exert extreme power over their staff. Employers can prevent workers changing jobs or leaving the country, and often withold salaries for years. >>> Leah Hyslop | Thursday, November 18, 2010
Indonesian Maid Tortured in Saudi Arabia, Another Beaten to Death
MIGRANT RIGHTS: This week, two cases of severe abuse of Indonesian maids by their Saudi sponsors have surfaced, one of them ending in death and the other in serious injuries.
The first case, of 23-year-old Sumiati BT Salan Mustapa was first reported by the Saudi Gazette. This initial report mentioned that Mustapa arrived in Saudi-Arabia in July to work for a family in Madina. On November 6th Mustapa was admitted to a private hospital in Madina injured from head to toe in an unconscious state. The private hospital was unable to treat her serious injuries and she was transferred to the King Fahd hospital. A worker there told the Gazette that Mustapa’s body “was burned on many places, both legs were almost motionless, some parts of her skin on her head were removed and strong marks of old wounds were on her body including skin loss on lips and head, a fractured middle finger and a cut near an eye.” Mustapa also showed signs of malnutrition or excessive blood loss. >>> | Friday, November 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Islamic Games Cancelled in Arab-Iran Row Over Persian Gulf Name
THE TELEGRAPH: The Islamic Solidarity Games, designed to strengthen ties among Muslim nations, have been cancelled after a dispute between Arab countries and Iran over the name of the waterway dividing them.
Arabs call the waterway the Arabian Gulf but Iranians insist it is the Persian Gulf. Photo: The Telegraph
The Saudi-based Islamic Solidarity Games Federation says they cancelled the sporting event, which were meant to be held in Tehran in the spring, after Iran put "Persian Gulf" on the logo.
Arabs call the waterway the Arabian Gulf and many were offended by references to its other common name. >>> | Sunday, January 17, 2010
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Gold gefragt wie noch nie: Preis pro Feinunze klettert auf Rekordhoch
NZZ ONLINE: Für die Feinunze Gold wird derzeit ein Preis von exakt 1036.40 Dollar bezahlt. Dieser neue Höchstwert überbietet den bisherigen Rekordpreis um 5.60 Dollar aus vom März vergangenen Jahres.
Der Goldpreis ist auf einen neuen Rekordstand geklettert. Die Dollarschwäche trieb den Preis für eine Feinunze (etwa 31 Gramm) in der Spitze auf 1036.40 Dollar. Damit wurde die alte Rekordmarke vom März 2008 bei 1030.80 Dollar übertroffen. >>> sda/dpa | Dienstag, 06. Oktober 2009
Dollar Tumbles on Report of Its Demise
THE INDEPENDENT: Gold price at record high as Independent story sends global markets into a frenzy
The price of gold is surging on world markets amid fears that the old economic order based on the supremacy of the US dollar could be breaking down.
A new spike has sent the cost of the precious metal to a level not seen before. The dollar slid sharply after yesterday's report in The Independent that Gulf Arab states are secretly planning to stop trading oil in dollars, and a senior UN official said that the US should be stripped of its position as the main source of currency reserves for other countries.
The developments come on top of speculation that the Obama administration is operating a policy of benign neglect of the dollar, engineering a devaluation that could help repair some of the economic damage caused by the recession.
Not since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971 has gold been treated as the equivalent of a world currency, but The Independent reported that it could form part of a basket of currencies that would be used for oil trading by the end of the next decade.
Aram Shishmanian, the chief executive of World Gold Council, said: "The financial and economic instability of the past 18 months has brought gold's historical role into sharp focus and has continued to increase its prominence among policy advisers, central banks, and investors around the world.
Across the world, investors have been reaching for gold as an alternative to the dollar and to other US assets, fearing that the American currency is headed inexorably lower.
The dollar index – which measures the greenback against other currencies – fell 0.7 per cent yesterday and the dollar was lower against all major currencies except the British pound. >>> Stephen Foley in New York | Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Robert Fisk: A Financial Revolution with Profound Political Implications
THE INDEPENDENT: Such large financial movements will have major political effects in the Middle East
The plan to de-dollarise the oil market, discussed both in public and in secret for at least two years and widely denied yesterday by the usual suspects – Saudi Arabia being, as expected, the first among them – reflects a growing resentment in the Middle East, Europe and in China at America's decades-long political as well as economic world dominance.
Nowhere has this more symbolic importance than in the Middle East, where the United Arab Emirates alone holds $900bn (£566bn) of dollar reserves and where Saudi Arabia has been quietly co-ordinating its defence, armaments and oil policies with the Russians since 2007.
This does not indicate a trade war with America – not yet – but Arab Gulf regimes have been growing increasingly restive at their economic as well as political dependence on Washington for many years. Of the $7.2 trillion in international reserves, $2.1trn is held by Arab countries – China holds about $2.3trn – and the nations interested in moving away from dollar-trading in oil are believed to hold over 80 per cent of international dollar reserves.
Saudi Arabia's denials of any such ambitions were regarded by Arab bankers as a normal part of Gulf politics. The Saudis, of course, managed to deny that Iraq had invaded Kuwait in 1990 – even when Saddam Hussein's legions stood along the Saudi frontier, until the US broadcast the news of Iraq's aggression to the world. >>> Robert Fisk | Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Monday, May 14, 2007
Ahmadinejad Calls for End to Presence of US Troops in Gulf
KUWAIT TIMES: ABU DHABI: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for an end to the presence of US troops in the Gulf during a visit to the US-allied United Arab Emirates yesterday, an Iranian news agency reported. "With each other's help, we can turn the Persian Gulf to the gulf of peace and friendship," the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a meeting with his UAE counterpart Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan. "We all wish that foreign troops would leave the region and give a chance to countries in the region to establish security in the region themselves," Mehr quoted Ahmadinejad as saying at the start of his two-day visit, the first to the Gulf Arab country by an Iranian head of state. Ahmadinejad calls for US forces to quit Gulf (more)
Iran will not gain nuclear weapons and nor will it dominate the Middle East, says Cheney
BBC: US Vice-President Dick Cheney has issued a warning to Iran from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf.
He said Washington and its allies would keep Tehran both from restricting sea traffic and developing nuclear arms. Cheney warns Iran on Gulf visit (more)
THE GUARDIAN: Anwar al-Awlaki uses online magazine to explain why the Middle East revolts are not a setback for al-Qaida
