beirut bombing: dgse + mossad

.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article176399.html

The Sore Losers of the Syrian Crisis

Thierry Meyssan
Beirut, 1 November 2012

In 2010, France made the choice to breath new life into its colonial policy. This led her to instigate a regime change in the Ivory Coast and Libya, and to aim for the same result in Syria. But faced with the fiasco of the latter operation, Paris got carried away by the wave of events that she herself unleashed. After having armed and trained terrorist groups in Syria, the DGSE has now struck at the heart of the Lebanese capital. 

During a recent Round Table in Ankara, Admiral James Winnfeld, Vice-Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that Washington would reveal its intentions toward Syria once the 6 November presidential elections were over. He made it plainly understood to his Turkish counterparts that a peace plan had already been negotiated with Moscow, that Bashar al-Assad would remain in power and that the Security Council would not authorize the creation of buffer zones. For his part, Herve Ladsous, the U.N. Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, announced that he was studying the possible deployment of peacekeepers ("blue helmets") in Syria.

All regional actors are preparing for the cease-fire which will be overseen by a U.N. force composed principally by troops of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikstan). These events signify that the United States is effectively continuing a process, begun in Iraq, of retreat from the region and has accepted to share its influence with Russian.

At the same time, the New York Times revealed that direct negotiations between Washington and Iran are slated to restart even as the United States continues its attack on Iranian monetary values. It is becoming clear that, after 33 years of containment, Washington is acknowledging that Teheran is an established regional power, all the while continuing to sabotage its economy.

This new situation comes at the expense of Saudi Arabia, France, Israel, Qatar and Turkey all of whom had placed their bets on regime change in Damascus. This diverse coalition is now suffering divisions between those demanding a consolation prize and those trying to sabotage outright the process underway.

Ankara has already changed its tune. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, previously ready for the worst, is now actively seeking reconciliation with Teheran and Moscow. Several days after insulting the Iranians and harrassing the Russian diplomats in his country, he is now all smiles. He took advantage of the Organization of Economic Cooperation in Baku to approach President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He proposed a complex framework for discussing the Syrian crisis which would allow Turkey and Saudi Arabia not to be left by the wayside. Careful not to humilate the losers in the conflict, the Iranian president indicated he was open to such an initiative.

As for Qatar, it is already seeking new horizons for its ambitions. Emir Hamad took off on a trip to Gaza, posing as the self-appointed protector of Hamas. He advocates the overthrow of the King of Jordan, the transformation of the Hashemite monarchy into a Palestinian republic and the installation in power of his proteges from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Only Israel and France remain in the opposition camp. The new scheme would offer a guarantee of protection to the state of Israel but it would also alter its special status on the international scene and end its expansionist dreams. Tel-Aviv would be relegated to being a secondary power. France, also, would lose influence in the region, particularly in Lebanon. Accordingly, the intelligence services of both states have concocted an operation to collapse the U.S.-Russia-Iran agreement which, even if it fails, would allow them to erase the traces of their involvement in the Syrian crisis.

France started by circulating the rumor that President Bashar al-Assad sponsored a Hezbollah plan to assassinate five Lebanese leaders: the head of the security forces, the head commander of the Ministry of the Interior, the Grand Mufti, the Maronite Patriarch and former prime minister, Fouad Siniora. Then, Paris took out Michel Samaha, who had served as liaison to the Syrian armed forces but who, having been disgraced in Damascus, was no longer of use. This brilliant and adept politician fell into the trap set for him by General Wassam el-Hassan, head of the Free Syrian Army and himself a liaison with the Salafists. Next, Paris eliminated General Wassam el-Hassan himself, who had not only become useless in the eventual advent of peace in Syria but also dangerous because of what he knew. The French rumor became reality : the number one name on the list of targets is dead and a pro-Syrian figure was arrested as he was preparing an attack on another name on the list.

At the core of these machinations is General Puga. The former Commander of Special Operations and Director of French Military Intelligence was the head of the personal general staff of President Nicolas Sarkozy and has been retained in that post by Francois Hollande. Linked by his unconditional support for the Jewish colonial occupation of Palestine [1] and having close connections to American neoconservatives, he carried forward French colonial policies in the Ivory Coast, Libya and Syria. Bypassing democratic institutions, he determined on his own the direction of French policy in the Middle East, despite his having no official appointment.

Thierry Meyssan

[1] "Gaza: France oversees the extension of the Separation Wall," Voltaire Network, 26 December 2009.

Translation
Michele Stoddard

Source
Information Clearing House (USA)


http://www.voltairenet.org/article176425.html

Moral Collapse and Mental Disorder

Pierre Khalaf, Ghaleb Kandil
Beirut, 30 October 2012

During the last few days, the Lebanese watched live on television some of the chapters of the resounding collapse of the March 14 forces in the streets of Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon, one which reached its dramatic peak with the scandalous attempt to storm the Serail. This constituted a failed and outrageous act, both politically and morally.

Firstly, the moral and cultural collapse of the March 14 forces has been featured in their actions since the assassination of General Wissam al-Hassan. Indeed, the political front that delivered lectures and launched campaigns in rejection of the weapons, all weapons, under the headline that the state and the national institutions were the only guarantors of all aspects of life, and the front which claimed to be peaceful since the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005 and tried to appear oppressed and aggressed, unleashed a campaign of political and security violence which led the country to the brink of civil war. It did so by exploiting the assassination, without raising one slogan related to the investigations and the trials. It thus sought the use of the crime to achieve an immoral goal, i.e. return to power, without having a political program or making any pledges to change the situation. The only aim was to replace Prime Minister Najib Mikati with leader of the Future Movement Saad al-Hariri.

Secondly, what happened on the ground was not a street anarchy as some like to claim to lift any responsibility which might fall on the March 14 command for having recruits thugs and riff-raff in an organized sabotage campaign, during which the citizens were assaulted and public life was paralyzed due to the mobile riots and violence. Indeed, the Lebanese regions witnessed the erection of checkpoints controlled by armed elements that beat the passersby, attacked the cars and practiced provocative sectarian violence against hundreds of Lebanese in the Bekaa and the coastal road linking Beirut to the South. At this level, information circulated about the fact that many young men were thrown off the Awwali Bridge, while dozens were stabbed with knives in the Naame and Katermaya regions. In the meantime, shootings occurred in an organized way in Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon and Akkar, in addition to the emergence of a form of political terrorism which led to the killing of a Sunni sheikhs and cadres opposing the Future Movement on the political level. Moreover, armed groups from the Future Movement militias, the so-called Free Army and Takfiri organizations were deployed, thus causing the streets to be occupied by Lebanese or Syrian armed gangs. Hence, the street mayhem did not feature a spontaneous popular action, and this marked the epitome of moral collapse.

Thirdly, the goal which is linked to the return to power through the spread of methodic chaos and anarchy stripped the March 14 forces of any moral quality and exposed the core of their action. At this level, the facts registered a popular abstinence from cooperating with these forces’ calls, despite their exploitation of the shed blood once again and their use of all possible means, including the spread of rumors, the mobilization of a massive media machine, the rallying of thousands of Syrian refugees and the distribution of money. All these measures failed to revive the old scenes of the consecutive events organized in the years which followed the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The storming of the Serail on the other hand constituted the peak of the mental and political disorder prevailing over the March 14 command, which raised the slogan of toppling the government while thinking it could lead to Mikati’s exit upon the orders and calls of Al-Sanioura against the backdrop of the assassination. It was as though the Lebanese had forgotten about the fact that the man remained unaffected by and did not even consider resignation in light of the series of assassinations which occurred during his term. This command thought that its faltering political muscles had the ability to amend the American and Israeli positions which revolved around the necessity of sparing stability in Lebanon, as it was clearly seen in the Baabda declaration which constituted a strong blow to Al-Hariri’s and Geagea’s illusions.

Fourthly, the storming of the Serail in itself confirmed the moral collapse. This was clearly detected by the citizens when comparing what was done by the March 14 forces during the days of Al-Sanioura’s government, i.e. when they fiercely defended the premiership and its headquarters, and was recalled by Mufti Sheikh Rashid Qabbani. At this level, the emergence of the gangs of the so-called Free Army constituted a dramatic and expressive turning point, especially after they placed their flag above the Lebanese flag on the Serail door, in parallel to the presence of Israeli agents among the crowds which could not be widened despite the calls of Deputy Nouhad al-Mashnouk and the shouting of Deputy Muin al-Merhebi, with the sole purpose of enhancing the attack on the Serail guards.

The desperate team following the collapse of the wager on Syria’s fall and the attempts to return to power at whichever price, acted without any cover from its American and European sponsors, knowing that the latter have no intention of becoming involved in a battle or a coup in Lebanon out of fear from the consequences of this the lethal adventure inside their last area of influence. This reveals the mental and nervous disorder prevailing over the March 14 command, one which led it to adopt hysterical and arbitrary decisions as it is proceeding with its game in the North and seeking the besieging of the Lebanese army with depletion. The regional and international balances and calculations have changed, and political stupidity mixed with spite can only lead this team to commit foolish acts. That is the reality behind the events witnessed during the last few days in a country whose people yearn for civil peace and reject strife, at a time when the March 14 forces are recruiting mercenaries to attack the Lebanese army and state which they are trying to reach, as it was stated by the prime minister.

News Analysis.

By Nasser Kandil

...
Syria.

During his meeting with United Nations Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and the delegation accompanying him, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad discussed the developments affecting the situation in Syria, the efforts deployed By Brahimi and the outcome of his recent tour in a number of states in the region. President Al-Assad stressed Syria’s support of the efforts of the UN envoy, assuring it was open to any honest attempts to seek a political solution to the crisis, based on the respect of Syrian sovereignty and the rejection of foreign intervention. He added that any initiative or political process should be based on ending terrorism, with all that this requires in terms of commitments by the states implicated in supporting and arming the terrorists in Syria to stop doing so.

...

On the other hand, President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree granting a general pardon for all the crimes committed before 23/10/2012. In statements to the national news agency SANA, Justice Minister Dr. Najm Hamad al-Ahmad said that the pardon issued by President Al-Assad was the most comprehensive in the history of the Syrian Arab Republic, and fell in the context of social tolerance, national unity and the requirements of coexistence on the occasion of the Holy Eid al-Adha. He considered that this constituted a step in a series of steps announced by President Al-Assad on more than one occasion.

...

Source
New Orient News (Lebanon)

attentat beyrouth: dgse + mossad

.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article176392.html

Les mauvais perdants de la crise syrienne

Thierry Meyssan
Beyrouth, 28 octobre 2012

En 2010, la France a fait le choix de relancer sa politique coloniale. Cela l’a conduit à changer le régime en Côte d’Ivoire et en Libye, puis à essayer de la faire en Syrie. Mais face à l’échec de cette troisième opération, Paris se trouve emporté par les événements qu’il a provoqués. Après avoir armé et encadré des groupes terroristes en Syrie, la DGSE a frappé au cœur de la capitale libanaise.  

Lors d’une table ronde à Ankara, l’amiral James Winnefeld, chef d’état-major adjoint des USA, a confirmé que Washington révélerait ses intentions à l’égard de la Syrie, dès l’élection présidentielle du 6 novembre terminée. Il a clairement fait comprendre à ses interlocuteurs turcs qu’un plan de paix avait déjà été négocié avec Moscou, que Bachar el-Assad resterait en place et que le Conseil de sécurité n’autoriserait pas la création de zones tampons. De son côté, le secrétaire général adjoint de l’ONU chargé des opérations de maintien de la paix, Hervé Ladsous, a confirmé qu’il était en train d’étudier les possibilités de déploiement de casques bleus en Syrie.

Tous les acteurs de la région se préparent donc à un cessez-le-feu imposé par une force onusienne principalement composée de troupes de l’Organisation du Traité de sécurité collective (Arménie, Biélorussie, Karazkhstan, Kirghizistan, Russie, Tadjikistan). De facto, cela signifie que les Etats-Unis poursuivent leur retrait de la région, débuté en Irak, et acceptent d’y partager leur influence avec la Russie.

Simultanément, le New York Times a révélé que des pourparlers directs vont reprendre entre Washington et Téhéran, alors même que les États-Unis s’appliquent à couler la monnaie iranienne. En clair, après 33 ans de containement, Washington admet que Téhéran est une puissance régionale incontournable, tout en continuant à saboter son économie.

Cette nouvelle donne se fait au détriment de l’Arabie saoudite, de la France, d’Israël, du Qatar et de la Turquie qui avaient tous misé sur un changement de régime à Damas. Cette coalition hétéroclite se divise désormais entre ceux qui réclament un lot de consolation et ceux qui tentent de saboter le processus en cours.

D’ores et déjà, Ankara a changé son fusil d’épaule. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, qui se disait prêt au pire, tente de se réconcilier avec Téhéran et Moscou. Quelques jours après avoir insulté les Iraniens et fait molester des diplomates russes, il est devenu tout sourire. Il a profité du sommet de l’Organisation de Coopération Economique à Bakou pour rencontrer le président Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Il lui a proposé de mettre en place un dispositif complexe de discussion sur la crise syrienne qui permette à la fois à la Turquie et à l’Arabie saoudite de ne pas rester au bord du chemin. Soucieux de ne pas humilier les perdants, le président iranien s’est montré ouvert à cette initiative.

Le Qatar, de son côté, est déjà en quête de nouveaux espaces pour ses ambitions. L’émir Hamad s’est offert un voyage à Gaza et s’est posé en protecteur du Hamas. Il verrait d’un bon œil le renversement du roi de Jordanie, la transformation du royaume hachémite en une république palestinienne et l’installation au pouvoir de ses protégés de la Confrérie des Frères musulmans.

Restent Israël et la France qui ont constitué un front du refus. La nouvelle donne serait une garantie de protection pour l’État d’Israël, mais mettrait fin à son statut particulier sur la scène internationale et ruinerait ses rêves expansionnistes. Tel-Aviv serait ravalé au rang de puissance secondaire. Quand à la France, elle y perdrait son influence dans la région, y compris au Liban. C’est dans ce contexte que les services secrets des deux États ont conçu une opération pour faire échouer l’accord USA-Russie-Iran. Dans l’hypothèse où cette opération échouerait, elle devrait quand même permettre d’effacer les preuves de l’ingérence dans la crise syrienne.

La France a d’abord fait circuler une rumeur selon laquelle le président Bachar el-Assad aurait commandité au Hezbollah l’assassinat de cinq personnalités libanaises : le chef des Forces de sécurité intérieure, le directeur des forces du ministère de l’Intérieur, le grand mufti, le patriarche maronite et l’ancien Premier ministre Fouad Siniora. Puis, Paris a sacrifié Michel Samaha —qui lui servait d’agent de liaison avec les services syriens, mais venait de tomber en disgrâce à Damas et était donc devenu inutile—. Le brillant et versatile politicien est tombé dans un piège tendu par le général Wissam el-Hassan —chef des FSI et lui même agent de liaison avec les salafistes—. Puis, Paris a sacrifié le général Wissam el-Hassan, qui non seulement était devenu inutile en cas de paix en Syrie, mais dangereux tant il savait de choses. Ainsi la rumeur française s’est réalisée : le premier sur la liste des cibles est mort, et une personnalité pro-syrienne a été arrêtée en préparant un attentat contre une autre cible de la liste.

Au cœur de cette machination, on trouve le général Benoît Puga. Cet ancien commandant des Opérations spéciales et directeur du Renseignement militaire français a été chef de l’état-major particulier du président Nicolas Sarkozy et a été maintenu à son poste par le président François Hollande. Affichant un soutien inconditionnel à la colonie juive de Palestine [1] et des relations privilégiées avec les néo-conservateurs US, il a relancé la politique coloniale de la France en Côte d’Ivoire, en Libye et en Syrie. Il était l’agent traitant à la fois de Michel Samaha et de Wissam el-Hassan. Il est aujourd’hui l’homme fort à Paris. En violation des institutions démocratiques, il gouverne seul la politique proche-orientale de la France, bien que cette attribution ne corresponde pas à ses fonctions officielles.

[1] « Gaza : la France supervise le prolongement du Mur de séparation », Réseau Voltaire, 26 décembre 2009.


http://www.voltairenet.org/article176417.html


Le 14-Mars multiplie les erreurs : rupture avec Walid Joumblatt 

29 octobre 2012

Depuis l’assassinat du général Wissam al-Hassan, le 14-Mars multiplie les erreurs politiques. Il a d’abord fait de mauvais calculs, en pensant pouvoir rééditer le scénario de 2005, lorsqu’il a pris le pouvoir dans le sillage de l’assassinat de l’ancien Premier ministre, Rafic Hariri. En optant pour l’agitation populaire et la violence dans la rue, il a pensé que, le chef du gouvernement, le centriste Najib Mikati, intimidé, démissionnerait de son poste. Mais ce dernier, fin limier de la politique, a su saisir les tendances internationales et a compris que la stabilité du Liban est la priorité des pays occidentaux. Déterminé, il a résisté à toutes les pressions et fait face à la campagne de terreur. Et c’est avec la bénédiction de la « communauté internationale » que l’Armée libanaise a repris le contrôle du terrain, occupé un temps par les milices du Courant du futur. 

...

• Le Hezbollah a qualifié de « calomnies » les accusations du chef des Forces libanaises, Samir Geagea, dans l’affaire de l’assassinat du général Wissam al-Hassan. « Le chef des Forces libanaises, qui est condamné dans une série de grands crimes qu’il avait perpétrés contre des individus et des groupes libanais, et notamment contre l’ancien Premier ministre Rachid Karamé, nous a gratifiés d’une rengaine d’accusations infondées à propos d’un rôle d’exécutant qu’aurait tenu le Hezbollah dans l’assassinat du général martyr Wissam el-Hassan », indique le communiqué. « Nous rejetons entièrement ces accusations et nous y voyons une tentative flagrante de jeter de l’huile sur le feu sectaire et d’aggraver la tension dans le pays ». « Cela, aucun sage ne saurait l’accepter à l’exception de ceux qui ont bien voulu servir gratuitement l’ennemi israélien et ses complots criminels », conclut le communiqué.

• Les enquêteurs libanais dans l’assassinat du général Wissam al-Hassan ont reçu le soutien, jeudi, d’une équipe de la police fédérale US. Les agents du FBI sont déjà sur le lieu de l’attentat, à d’Achrafié, à la recherche d’éléments et d’indices. La venue d’enquêteurs du FBI avait été convenue lors d’un entretien téléphonique, lundi, entre Najib Mikati et Hillary Clinton. Le Hezbollah avait exprimé son mécontentement de la venue des policiers états-uniens. Le secrétaire général adjoint du parti, cheikh Naïm Kassem, avait réclamé une enquête à 100 % libanaise.

• Selon le quotidien libanais Ad Diyar, une entreprise française spécialiste de la protection des personnalités et de la sécurité des établissements a proposé au Liban d’envoyer 300 responsables de sécurité et agents anti-terroristes contre une somme de 120 millions de dollars par an. L’entreprise indique qu’elle est en mesure de déjouer 95 % des éventuels incidents à condition qu’elle dispose d’une grande liberté d’action. Problème : pourra-t-elle se rendre dans la banlieue sud de Beyrouth ?

...

Revue de presse

...

Al Akhbar (24 octobre 2012)
Ibrahim El-Amine
À la suite de l’assassinat du général Wissam el-Hassan, les forces du 14-Mars n’ont pas tardé à pointer du doigt la Syrie. L’unique objectif de cette accusation était de mobiliser son public, sachant qu’elle ne sort pas du contexte politique de l’action de ce camp qui mise sur la chute du régime syrien.
Cependant, les déclarations des responsables sécuritaires et des ténors du 14-Mars correspondent-elles aux éléments ressortant de l’enquête relative à l’attentat ? L’enquête s’articule, pour le moment, sur trois éléments principaux. Le premier est lié aux données tangibles concernant la scène de l’attentat. Il consiste à identifier les personnes observées par une caméra de surveillance installée dans les lieux de l’attentat. Les images montrent que quelques heures avant l’explosion, une voiture, garée dans la ruelle où l’attentat a eu lieu, a cédé sa place à la voiture Toyota de type RAV4, qui a était piégée. L’enquête est en cours pour savoir si la première voiture en question y était stationnée dans l’objectif de réserver une place au véhicule piégé. Le deuxième élément de l’enquête relève d’un procédé déductif qui consiste à analyser les données téléphonique et décrypter les appels qui ont eu lieu dans la région avant et après l’explosion dans une tentative d’identifier les auteurs potentiels de l’attentat. Le troisième élément consiste à savoir par quels moyens le général Wissam el-Hassan a été surveillé. À cet effet, les appels effectués par el-Hassan avant et après avoir quitté Berlin où il était accompagné du Directeur général des FSI, Ashraf Rifi, et d’une délégation sécuritaire, ont été examinés. Et la liste des personnes que le responsable sécuritaire a contactées durant cette période a été mise en place. Les autorités judiciaires compétentes ont rapporté qu’el-Hassan avait contacté une journaliste, et qu’ils s’étaient entendus pour se rencontrer dans son bureau secret d’Achrafié vendredi matin, soit le jour de l’attentat. La justice demandera, par conséquent, aux enquêteurs de convoquer la journaliste, qui était l’un des informateurs d’el-Hassan, afin de recueillir sa déposition. Cette mesure permettrait à la justice de répondre aux questions suivantes : Y avait-il un moyen de communication entre la journaliste et el-Hassan autre que le téléphone portable ? Le contact entre eux a-t-il eu lieu avant ou après l’arrivée d’el-Hassan au Liban ? La journaliste a-t-elle informé une partie tierce, en personne, par téléphone, ou par un autre moyen de télécommunication électronique de sa rencontre prévue avec el-Hassan ? Aurait-elle évoqué la présence du bureau secret d’el-Hassan ? La journaliste a-t-elle passé des appels téléphoniques après avoir quitté le bureau d’el-Hassan à Achrafié ?

...

Ad Diyar (Quotidien libanais proche de la majorité-25 octobre 2012)
Une source officielle syrienne haut placée affirme que c’est la France qui aurait assassiné le général Wissam el-Hassan en raison de certaines informations confidentielles qui étaient en sa possession. Quant à la Syrie, qui a déjà suffisamment de problèmes, elle ne fera rien qui puisse lui en causer d’autres. Wissam el-Hassan, poursuivent ces sources, aurait commencé, grâce à Michel Samaha, à faire la lumière sur les relations secrètes entre la Syrie et la France : l’ancien ministre l’aurait en effet mis au courant d’informations dangereuses portant sur la relation entre ces deux pays ainsi que sur son propre rôle secret d’intermédiaire. Samaha aurait donc dévoilé les dessous de la relation syro-française, au niveau des services de renseignements en particulier, ce qui a poussé la France à vouloir liquider Wissam al-Hassan. Il n’est d’ailleurs pas exclu que Michel Samaha soit éliminé à son tour pour enterrer les grands secrets relatifs aux renseignements français et syriens. La France ne souhaiterait en tout cas pas que les États-uniens découvrent ses relations secrètes et son rôle en Syrie et dans la région, d’autant plus que Wissam el-Hassan avait commencé à tisser des liens avec les États-Unis.

L’Orient-Le Jour (Quotidien francophone proche du 14-Mars)

...

Pierre Khalaf

Source
New Orient News (Liban)

nato betrays syrian rebellion and nevrotic erdogan

.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article176266.html

NATO packs it in; Turkey on the verge of a nervous breakdown 

Thierry Meyssan
Damascus, 16 October 2012

On October 8, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSO) began maneuvers dubbed "Inviolable Fraternity" ("НЕРУШИМОЕ БРАТСТВО"). The scenario focuses on the deployment of a peace force in an imaginary country where international jihadists and terrorist organizations operate against a backdrop of ethnic and confessional divisions. The accredited diplomatic corps, which was invited to attend the exercises, listened attentively to the opening address of the deputy secretary general of the organization. He clearly indicated that the CTSO is preparing for an eventual intervention in the Greater Middle East. And for those feigning deafness, Nikolai Bordyuzha specified that his deputy was not speaking of Afghanistan.

The Geneva Declaration negotiated by Kofi Annan on June 30 foresaw the deployment of a peace force if the Syrian government and the opposition jointly made the demand. The Free Syrian Army rejected the accord. The term "opposition" refers only to the political parties who have been meeting since in Damascus, under the aupices of the Russian and Chinese ambassadors. As the Geneva Accord was validated by the Security Council, the deployment of the "blue chapkas" can be set in motion without requiring an ad hoc resolution. Valery Semerikov stated that 4,000 men had already been enlisted in the Peace Force with 46,000 others in the wings available for the rapid mobilization.

With this as background, the signs of Western retreat from Syria are multiplying. The influx of Western arms and combatants is drying up except for the ongoing transfers funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Even more surprising: on six successive occasions, the NATO Command at Incirlik gave jihadists instructions to regroup within specified zones to prepare for huge offensives. While the Syrian Arab Army, which was formed to confront the Israeli Army, may be ill-adapted for guerilla warfare, it is highly effective in conventional combat. In each of these engagements, it easily encircled and wiped out the assembled units of the Free Syrian Army. Though the initial defeats suffered by the jihadists could have been attributed to a tactical error or to an incompetent commander, after the sixth debacle another hypothesis must be considered: that NATO is willingly sending these combatants to their deaths.

In contrast to popular perceptions, the motivation of the jihadists is not, properly speaking, ideological or religious but rather, aesthetic. They are not looking to die for a cause and are not focused on the future of Jerusalem. They strike a romantic posture and seek to intensify their sensations whether through drugs or through death. Their behavior makes them easy to manipulate; they seek extreme situations which they are then placed in, and their movements are totally steered. Over the last years, Prince Bandar bin Sultan became the leading architect of these assemblages, including those of al-Qaeda. He supplied them with preachers promising a paradise where seventy virgins would provide them with ecstatic pleasures not if they accomplished a particular military or political feat but only if they died as martyrs wherever Bandar had need for them.

It seems Prince Bandar has disappeared from the scene since the attack on him on July 26. He may well be dead. From Morroco to Zinjiang, the jihadists have been left to their own devices, without any real coordination. They could be recruited by any number of actors, as the recent assassination of the U.S. Ambassador in Libya confirms. As a result, Washington wants to unload this risky and burdensome rabble or at the very least reduce their number. The orders that NATO gives to the jihadists are designed to expose them to fire by the Syrian Arab Army which is eliminating them en masse.

Recently, the French police killed a French Salafist who attacked a Jewish business establishment. The investigation that followed revealed that he belonged to a network including individuals that had gone to do jihad in Syria. The British police made a similar discovery four days later.

The message from Paris and London is that the French and British killed in Syria were not agents on a secret mission but fanatics who acted on their own initiative. This is obviously false because certain of these jihadists were carrying communication instruments of NATO specification, supplied by France and the United Kingdom. Whatever the case, these events are marking the end of the Franco-British involvement alongside the Free Syrian Army, while Damascus discretely exchanges its prisoners. A page has been turned.

Under the circumstances, one can understand the frustration of Turkey and the Wahhabist monarchies who at the request of the Alliance invested in the secret war unreservedly, but who now must assume alone the failure of the operation. Going for broke, Ankara threw itself into a series of provocations designed to prevent NATO from pulling out. Anything goes, from the firing of Turkish artillery into Syrian territory to the pirating of a civil airline. But these gestures are counterproductive.

Specifically, the Syrian air plane coming from Moscow which was turned around by Turkish fighters contained no weapons but rather high-explosive detection equipment to be used for the protection of civilians. Turkey, actually, did not seek to prevent Russia from delivering material aimed at protecting Syrian civilians from terrorism but aimed instead to increase tension by mistreating the Russian passangers and refusing to allow their ambassador to render assistance. Wasted effort: NATO did not react to the imaginary accusations put forward by Recep Tayip Erdogan. The only consequence is that President Putin has postponed sine die his visit to Ankara originally scheduled for the first half of December.

There is a long way still to go on the path to peace. But even if Turkey now or the Wahhabist monarchies later attempt to prolong the war, a process has been set in motion. NATO is packing up and the media are turning their gaze to other horizons.

Translation
Michele Stoddard

Source
Information Clearing House (USA)
http://www.voltairenet.org/article176269.html

L’Otan plie bagage, la Turquie au bord de la crise de nerfs 

L’Organisation du Traité de Sécurité Collective (OTSC) a débuté au Kazakhstan, le 8 octobre, des manœuvres intitulées « Fraternité inviolable » (« НЕРУШИМОЕ БРАТСТВО »). Le scénario est celui du déploiement d’une force de paix dans un pays imaginaire où œuvrent des jihadistes internationaux et des organisations terroristes sur fond de divisions ethno-confessionnelles. Le corps diplomatique accrédité, qui a été invité à assister à l’exercice, a écouté avec attention le discours d’ouverture du secrétaire général adjoint de l’Organisation. Il a clairement indiqué que l’OTSC se prépare à intervenir éventuellement au Grand Moyen-Orient. Et pour ceux qui font la sourde oreille, Nikolai Bordyuzha a précisé que son adjoint ne parlait pas de l’Afghanistan.

La Déclaration de Genève, négociée par Kofi Annan le 30 juin, prévoit le déploiement d’une force de paix si le gouvernement syrien et l’opposition en font l’un et l’autre la demande. L’Armée « syrienne libre » a rejeté cet accord. Le terme « opposition » désigne donc uniquement les partis politiques qui ont été réunis depuis, à Damas, sous la houlette des ambassadeurs russe et chinois. L’accord de Genève ayant été validé par le Conseil de sécurité, le déploiement de « chapkas bleues » peut être mis en œuvre sans résolution ad hoc. Valery Semerikov a précisé que 4 000 hommes sont d’ores et déjà affectés à cette force de paix, tandis que 46 000 autres sont formés et peuvent être mobilisés rapidement en renforts.

Dans ce contexte, les signes du retrait occidental de Syrie se multiplient. Le flux d’armes et de combattants occidentaux s’est interrompu, seuls continuent les transferts financés par l’Arabie saoudite et le Qatar.

Beaucoup plus surprenant : six fois de suite, le commandement Otan d’Incirlik a donné aux jihadistes des instructions de regroupement dans des zones particulières pour se préparer à de vastes offensives. Or, si l’Armée arabe syrienne, conçue pour affronter l’Armée israélienne, est inadaptée à la guérilla, elle est au contraire très efficace dans les combats classiques. Elle a donc, chaque fois, encerclé et anéanti les éléments rassemblés de l’Armée « syrienne libre ». On pouvait penser la première fois à une erreur tactique, la seconde à l’entêtement d’un général incompétent, mais à la sixième fois, on doit envisager une autre hypothèse : l’Otan envoie volontairement ces combattants à la mort.

Contrairement à la perception commune, la motivation des jihadistes n’est pas à proprement parler idéologique ou religieuse, mais esthétique. Ils n’entendent pas mourir pour une cause et se désintéressent d’ailleurs du sort de Jérusalem. Ils épousent une posture romantique et cherchent à exacerber leurs sensations que ce soit par des drogues ou dans la mort. Leur comportement les rend facilement manipulables : ils cherchent des situations extrêmes, on les y place et on guide leur bras. Au cours des dernières années, le prince Bandar bin Sultan était devenu le grand architecte de ces groupuscules, incluant Al-Qaeda. Il les encadraient avec des prédicateurs leur promettant un paradis où 70 vierges leur offriraient des plaisirs paroxystiques, non pas s’ils atteignaient un objectif militaire particulier ou un but politique, mais uniquement s’ils mouraient en martyrs là où Bandar avait besoin d’eux.

Or, le prince Bandar a disparu de la scène depuis l’attentat dont il a été victime le 26 juillet. Il est probablement mort. Du Maroc au Xinjiang, les jihadistes sont livrés à eux-mêmes, sans aucune coordination véritable. Ils peuvent se mettre au service de n’importe qui, comme l’a montré la récente affaire de l’assassinat de l’ambassadeur états-unien en Libye. Par conséquent, Washington veut désormais se débarrasser de cette piétaille devenue encombrante et dangereuse, ou tout au moins en restreindre le nombre. L’Otan donne des ordres aux jihadistes pour les exposer au feu de l’Armée arabe syrienne qui les élimine en masse.

Par ailleurs, la police française a abattu le 6 octobre un salafiste français qui avait commis un attentat contre un commerce juif. Les perquisitions qui ont suivi ont montré qu’il appartenait à un réseau incluant des individus partis faire le jihad en Syrie. La police britannique a fait une découverte similaire quatre jours plus tard.

Le message de Paris et de Londres, c’est que les Français et les Britanniques morts en Syrie n’étaient pas des agents en mission secrète, mais des fanatiques agissant de leur propre initiative. C’est évidemment faux puisque certains de ces jihadistes disposaient de matériels de communication aux normes Otan, fournis par la France et le Royaume-Uni. Quoi qu’il en soit, ces mises en scène marquent la fin de l’implication franco-britannique aux côtés de l’Armée syrienne libre, tandis que Damas restitue discrètement des prisonniers. Une page est tournée.

Dès lors, on comprend la frustration de la Turquie et des monarchies wahhabites qui, à la demande de l’Alliance, se sont investies sans réserve dans la guerre secrète, mais devront assumer seules l’échec de l’opération. Jouant le tout pour le tout, Ankara s’est lancé dans une série de provocations visant à empêcher l’Otan de se dérober. Tout y passe, depuis le positionnement de pièces d’artilleries turques en territoire syrien jusqu’à la piraterie d’un avion civil. Mais ces gesticulations sont contre-productives.

Ainsi, l’avion de Syrian Air en provenance de Moscou qui a été détourné par les chasseurs turcs ne contenait aucune arme, mais des engins électroniques de protection civile destinés à détecter la présence de fortes charges explosives. A vrai dire, la Turquie n’a pas voulu empêcher la Russie de livrer un matériel destiné à protéger les civils syriens du terrorisme, mais a tenté d’accroître la tension en maltraitant des passagers russes et en empêchant leur ambassadeur de leur porter assistance. Peine perdue : l’Otan n’a pas réagit aux accusations imaginaires proférées par Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Pour seule conséquence, le président Poutine a annulé sine die sa visite prévue à Ankara le 15 octobre.

Le chemin vers la paix est encore long. Mais, même si la Turquie aujourd’hui, ou les monarchies wahhabites demain, essayent de prolonger la guerre, le processus est enclenché. L’Otan plie bagage et les médias tournent progressivement leurs regards vers d’autres cieux.

see also: 

 Turkish minister slams EU as world's most hypocritical body

October 16

Turkey's economy minister condemned the European Union on Tuesday as the most hypocritical organisation in the world, in vitriolic remarks which underlined the EU candidate country's growing alienation from Brussels.
...
Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said it made him laugh when he heard the EU had won the Nobel Peace Prize last week for promoting peace, democracy and human rights over six decades.
"The EU is the most two-faced union of all time. It is the most hypocritical organisation in the world. This EU has kept Turkey waiting at its door for 50 years," state-run Anatolian news agency reported Caglayan as saying.
He attacked the EU for imposing visa requirements on Turkish business visitors and quotas on goods, describing this as a "a crime against humanity" and "torture" and condemned the award of the Nobel prize to a body responsible for unfair competition.
"If you award the EU with a prize for duplicity or hypocrisy, rather than one for peace, then we'd say fair enough, we accept that," he said.
...
Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis told Reuters that Erdogan deliberately chose not to refer specifically to Europe at the party congress as a "message to the narrow-minded politicians of Europe".
...

http://www.voltairenet.org/article176167.html

Towards a Western retreat from Syria 

 The Syria war drags on. Continuing it has become too expensive and too dangerous for its neighbors. Russia, which aims to re-establish itself in the Middle East, is trying to show the United States that it is in their best interest to allow Moscow to resolve the conflict.

Thierry Meyssan
Damascus, 9 October 2012

The military situation in Syria is turning against those in Washington and Brussels who hoped to change the regime there by force. Two successive attempts to take Damascus have failed and it has become clear that that objective cannot be achieved.

On July 18th, an explosion killed the leadership of the Council of National Security, signalling the beginning of a vast offensive during which tens of thousands of mercenaries descended on the Syrian capital from Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. After several days of pitched battles, Damascus was saved when the fraction of the population hostile to the government chose out of patriotism to assist the National Army rather than bid welcome to the forces of the FSA.

On September 26, al-Qaeda jihadists were able to penetrate the interior of the Defense Ministry, disguised as Syrian soldiers and carrying false papers. They intended to detonate their explosive vests in the office of the joint chiefs of the military but did not get close enough to their target and were killed. A second team attempted to take over the national TV station to broadcast an ultimatum to the President but were not able to reach the building as access was blocked moments after the first attack. A third team targeted government headquarters and a fourth was aimed at the airport.

In both cases, NATO coordinated the operations from its Turkish base in Incirlik, seeking to provoke a schism at the core of the Syrian Arab Army and rely on certain generals for the purpose of overthrowing the regime. But the generals in question had long been identified as traitors and marginalized from effective command. In the aftermath of the two failed attacks, Syrian power was reinforced, giving it the internal legitimacy necessary to go on the offensive and crush the FSA.

These failures put a damper on those who had been crowing in advance that the days of Bashar al-Assad were numbered. In Washington, consequently, those counselling withdrawal are carrying the day. The question is no longer how much time the «Assad regime» will hold out but whether it costs the U.S. more to continue the war than to stop it. Continuing it would entail the collapse of the Jordanian economy, losing allies in Lebanon, risking civil war in Turkey, in addition to having to protect Israel from the chaos. Stopping the war would mean allowing the Russians to regain foothold in the Middle East and strengthening the Axis of Resistance to the detriment of the expansionist dreams of the Likud.

While Washington’s response takes the Israeli dimension into account, it has stopped heeding the advice of the Netanyahu government. Netanyahu ended up undercutting himself through his manipulations behind the assassination of Ambassador Chris Stevens and through his shocking interference in the American presidential campaign. If the long-term protection of Israel is the goal rather than folding to the brazen demands of Benjamin Netanyahu, a continued Russian presence is the best solution. With one million Russian-speaking Israelis, Moscow will never allow that the survival of that colony to be imperiled.

A glance backward is necessary here. The war against Syria was decided by the Bush Administration on September 15, 2001 during a meeting at Camp David, as confirmed notably by General Wesley Clark. After having suffered several setbacks, NATO action had to be cancelled due to the vetos of Russia and China. A «Plan B» then emerged, involving the use of mercenaries and covert action once deploying uniformed soldiers had become impossible. Given that the FSA has not scored a single victory against the Syrian Army, there have been multiple predictions that the conflict will become interminable and will progressively undermine the states of the region, including Israel. In this context, Washington signed onto the Geneva Accord, under the auspices of Kofi Annan.

Subsequently, the war camp torpedoed this agreement by organizing leaks to the press concerning the West’s secret involvement in the conflict, leaks that led to Kofi Annan’s immediate resignation. It also played its two trump cards with the attacks on July 18 and September 26 and lost them both. As a result, Lakhdar Brahimi, Annan’s successor, has been called on to resuscitate and implement the Geneva Accord.

In the interim, Russia did not remain idle: it obtained the creation of a Syrian Ministry of National Reconciliation; supervised and protected the meeting in Damacus of national opposition parties; organized contacts between the U.S. and Syrian general staff; and prepared the deployment of a peace force. The first two measures scarcely registered in the Western press while the last two were flatly ignored.

Nevertheless, as revealed by Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russia addressed the fears of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff concerning Syrian chemical weapons. It verified that these were stored in locations sufficiently secure not to fall into the hands of the FSA, be seized by jihadists and used by them indiscriminately. Ultimately, it gave credible guarantees to the Pentagon that the continuation in power of so determined a leader as Bashar el-Assad is a more manageable situation, for Israel as well, than allowing the chaos in Syria to spread further.

Above all, Vladimir Putin accelerated the projects of the CSTO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the anti-NATO defense alliance that unites Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tadjikstan and Russia itself. The foreign ministers of the CSTO adopted a shared position on Syria and a logistical plan was drawn up for an eventual deployment of 50,000 men. An agreement was signed between the CSTO and the U.N. Peacekeeping Department that these «blue chapkas» would be used in the zones of conflict under a U.N. Security Council mandate. Joint drills between the two are to take place from 8 to 17 October in Kazakhstan under the label of «Inviolable Fraternity» to complete the coordination between these two intergovernmental organizations. The Red Cross and the IOM will also participate.

No official decision will be taken in the U.S. during the presidential campaign. Once that ends, peace might become conceivable.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article176139.html

Vers un retrait occidental de Syrie

La guerre de Syrie s’éternise. Sa poursuite est devenue trop coûteuse et trop dangereuse pour ses voisins. La Russie, qui ambitionne de se réinstaller au Proche-Orient, tente de démontrer aux Etats-Unis que leur intérêt bien compris est de la laisser résoudre le conflit. 

Damas, 8 octobre 2012

La situation militaire en Syrie s’est retournée au détriment de ceux qui espéraient à Washington et à Bruxelles parvenir à changer le régime par la force. Les deux tentatives successives de prise de Damas ont échoué et il est désormais clair que cet objectif ne pourra pas être atteint.

Le 18 juillet, une explosion décapitait le Conseil de sécurité nationale et donnait le signal d’une vaste offensive de dizaines de milliers de mercenaires convergeant de Jordanie, du Liban, de Turquie et d’Irak sur la capitale. Après quelques jours de bataille acharnée, Damas était sauvée, la fraction de la population hostile au gouvernement choisissant par patriotisme d’aider l’Armée nationale plutôt que d’accueillir l’ASL.

Le 26 septembre, des jihadistes d’Al-Qaida pénétraient dans l’enceinte du ministère de la Défense, déguisés en soldats syriens et munis de faux papiers. Ils voulaient faire sauter leurs ceintures d’explosifs dans le bureau de l’état-major, mais ne parvinrent pas à proximité suffisante de leur cible et furent abattus. Une seconde équipe devait s’emparer de la télévision nationale et lancer un ultimatum au président, mais elle ne put s’approcher du bâtiment car son accès avait été bloqué dans les minutes suivant la première attaque. Une troisième équipe s’est dirigée vers le siège du gouvernement et une quatrième devait attaquer l’aéroport.

Dans les deux cas, l’OTAN, qui coordonnait les opérations depuis sa base turque d’Incirlik, espérait provoquer une fracture au sein de l’Armée arabe syrienne et s’appuyer sur certains généraux pour renverser le régime. Mais les généraux en question avaient été identifiés comme traîtres depuis longtemps et privés de tout commandement effectif. Il ne s’est donc rien passé de significatif et le pouvoir syrien est sorti renforcé de ces deux coups ratés. Il a trouvé la légitimité intérieure nécessaire pour se permettre de passer à l’offensive et d’écraser rapidement l’ASL.

Ces échecs ont fait perdre leur superbe à ceux qui caracolaient par avance en affirmant que les jours de Bachar el-Assad étaient comptés. Par conséquent, à Washington, les partisans du retrait sont en train de l’emporter. La question n’est plus de savoir combien de temps le « régime de Bachar » tiendra encore, mais s’il est plus coûteux pour les États-Unis de continuer cette guerre ou de l’arrêter. La continuer, c’est provoquer l’effondrement économique de la Jordanie, c’est sacrifier ses alliés au Liban, c’est risquer la guerre civile en Turquie, et c’est devoir protéger Israël de ce chaos. L’arrêter, c’est laisser les Russes se réinstaller au Proche-Orient et c’est renforcer l’Axe de la Résistance au détriment des rêves expansionnistes du Likoud.

Or si la réponse de Washington tient compte du paramètre israélien, elle ne prend plus en considération l’avis du gouvernement Netanyahu. Celui-ci a fini par indisposer à la fois en raison de ses manipulations derrière l’assassinat de l’ambassadeur Chris Stevens et à cause de son ahurissante ingérence dans la campagne électorale US. En définitive, si l’on envisage la protection à long terme d’Israël et non pas les exigences extravagantes de Benjamin Netanyahu, la présence russe est la meilleure solution. Avec 1 million d’Israéliens russophones, jamais Moscou ne laissera mettre en péril la survie de cette colonie.

Un retour en arrière est ici nécessaire. La guerre contre la Syrie a été décidée par l’administration Bush, le 15 septembre 2001 lors d’une réunion à Camp David, comme l’a notamment attesté le général Wesley Clark. Après avoir été repoussée plusieurs fois, l’action de l’OTAN a dû être annulée en raison des vétos russe et chinois. Un « plan B » a alors été mis sur pied : recourir à des mercenaires et à l’action secrète puisque le déploiement de soldats en uniforme était devenu impossible. Cependant, l’ASL n’ayant pas marqué une seule victoire contre l’Armée arabe syrienne, beaucoup ont pronostiqué que le conflit serait interminable et minerait progressivement les États de la région, y compris Israël. Dans ce contexte, Washington a conclu le 30 juin un accord avec la Russie à Genève, sous la houlette de Kofi Annan.

Toutefois, le camp de la guerre a fait capoter cet accord en organisant des fuites dans la presse sur l’engagement occidental secret dans le conflit ; fuites qui ont contraint Kofi Annan à la démission immédiate. Le camp de la guerre a joué ses deux cartes maîtresses les 18 juillet et 26 septembre et a perdu. Dès lors, Lakhdar Brahimi, le successeur d’Annan, a été prié de ressusciter et de mettre en œuvre l’Accord de Genève.

Pendant ce temps, la Russie n’a pas chômé. Elle a obtenu la création d’un ministère syrien de la Réconciliation nationale, elle a supervisé et protégé la réunion à Damas des partis d’opposition nationale, elle a organisé des contacts entre les états-majors US et syrien, et elle a préparé le déploiement d’une force de paix. Les deux premières mesures ont été prises à la légère par la presse occidentale et les deux dernières ont été carrément ignorées.

Pourtant, comme l’a révélé le ministre russe des Affaires étrangères, Sergey Lavrov, la Russie a répondu aux craintes de l’état-major US relatives aux armes chimiques syriennes. Elle a pu vérifier que celles-ci étaient stockées dans des lieux suffisamment sécurisés pour ne pas tomber dans les mains de l’ASL, être détournées par des jihadistes et utilisées par eux aveuglément, sauf changement de régime. Elle a pu donner ainsi des garanties crédibles au Pentagone que le maintien au pouvoir d’un leader qui a prouvé son sang-froid comme Bachar el-Assad est une situation plus gérable, y compris pour Israël, que l’extension du chaos à la Syrie.

Surtout, Vladimir Poutine a accéléré les projets de l’Organisation du Traité de sécurité Collective (OTSC), l’Alliance défensive anti-OTAN réunissant l’Arménie, la Biélorussie, le Kazakhstan, le Kirghizistan, le Tadjikistan et bien sûr la Russie. Les ministres des Affaires étrangères de l’OTSC ont adopté une position commune sur la Syrie [1]. La logistique a été installée pour un éventuel déploiement de 50 000 hommes [2]. Un accord a été signé entre l’OTSC et le département onusien de maintien de la paix pour que des « chapkas bleues » puissent être déployées dans les zones de conflit sous mandat du Conseil de sécurité [3]. Et des manœuvres communes ONU/OTSC auront lieu du 8 au 17 octobre au Kazakhstan sous le titre « Fraternité inviolable » pour finaliser la coordination entre les deux organisations intergouvernementales. La Croix-Rouge et l’OMI y participeront [4].

Aucune décision ne saurait être officialisée par les États-Unis durant leur campagne électorale présidentielle. Dès que celle-ci sera terminée, la paix sera envisageable.

gulf arabs offered russia & china $5b for unsc vote

.
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20120227

Gulf Arabs offered bribe to Russia for yes vote on Syria

by courtesy of Wayne Madsen
February 27-28, 2012

Informed diplomatic sources have reported to WMR that Bahrain, representing the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), offered Russia a bribe of $5 billion if it did not use its veto in the Security Council to defeat an Arab League-sponsored resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. In the February 4 vote on the resolution, Russia, along with China, used their vetos to shoot down the resolution. U.S. ambassador to the UN Susan Rice called the vetoes "disgusting" and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton referred to the Russian and Chinese action as "despicable," with Germany's UN ambassador Peter Wittig calling the vetoes a "disgrace."

But in what could be termed disgusting, despicable, and disgraceful was the reported offering of a $5 billion bribe for Russia's yes vote by Bahrain's Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa during a trip to Moscow prior to the UN Security Council vote. Our sources report that the Russian government flatly turned down the offer of the money, which was bundled by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.

WMR has also learned that a similar bribe by the GCC was offered to China in return for its yes vote on the Syria resolution. The offer, which was scoffed at by the Chinese government, was reportedly made during a visit by Chinese Prime Minister Wei Jiabao to Doha, the Qatari capital, on January 18.

Under U.S. law, specifically, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the involvement of any GCC financial institutions in arranging for bribe offers to Russia or China could be construed as a violation of the law. If Rice or other U.S. officials were involved with the GCC in making such offers, they could also be found in violation of federal law.

Wayne Madsen

Investigative journalist, author and syndicated columnist. His columns have appeared in a wide number of newspapers and journals. Madsen is a regular contributor on Russia Today. He has written The Handbook of Personal Data Protection (London: Macmillan, 1992); Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999 (Edwin Mellen Press, 1999); Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops & Brass Plates and Overthrow a Fascist Regime on $15 a Day and co-authored America’s Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II (Dandelion, 2003).

north africa middle east oil exporters chart

.
http://www.crudeoilpeak.com/wp-content/gallery/libya/north_africa_middle_east_main_exporters_1986_2009.jpg

cold war british skies and saudi-emirates hot war

.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7074891.ece

March 25, 2010

RAF intercepts Russian bombers over Stornoway

(PA:Press Association) A Russian Tu-160 Blackjack bomber is escorted by an RAF Tornado F3 near Stornoway, in the Outer Hebrides

Mike Wade

Two Russian Blackjack bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, have been intercepted by RAF fighters over Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, and escorted out of British airspace.

The action was described as “not unusual” by Wing Commander Mark Gorringe, of 111 Squadron, scrambled to intercept the bombers. He said that RAF crews had been involved in similar incidents on more than 20 occasions since the start of 2009, equivalent to once every three weeks.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed yesterday that two RAF Tornado F3 fighter jets from RAF Leuchars, in Fife, had been alerted in the early hours of March 10.

The aircraft shadowed the supersonic Tu160 bombers as they flew in the direction of the Clyde estuary, before the Russians turned north towards the Antrim coast. The Russian aircrfat left British airspace and after four hours, the Tornado crews were stood down.

The MoD took the unprecedented step of issuing photographs of the two Russian aircraft.

Wing Commander Gorringe accepted that the public would be surprised by the frequency of such incidents. “Our pilots, navigators and indeed all the support personnel at RAF Leuchars work very hard to deliver the UK Quick Reaction Alert Force 24 hours a day, to defend the UK from unidentified aircraft entering our airspace, or aircraft in distress,” he said.

Experts say that the Russian missions have a mixture of motives. “There is probably a little bit of submarine-watching around the Clyde, there are naval exercises scheduled about now off the Scottish coast and there is probably a bit of muscle-flexing, saying “Hey, we are still here’,” said one defence source.

“These guys are not in contact with air traffic control in the UK. Any aircraft has to be identified, because one day there could be a risk.”

During the Cold War, Britain’s northern air defences were frequently tested by Soviet aircraft.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/7521219/Naval-battle-between-UAE-and-Saudi-Arabia-raises-fears-for-Gulf-security.html

Naval battle between UAE and Saudi Arabia raises fears for Gulf security

A naval clash in the Gulf has reignited fears over the security of the world's most important shipping lanes and disputed oilfields.

Richard Spencer in Dubai
26 Mar 2010

The United Arab Emirates navy is thought to have opened fire on a small patrol vessel from Saudi Arabia after a dispute over water boundaries.

According to one report, two Saudi sailors were injured in the alleged bombardment.

The Saudi vessel was forced to surrender, and its sailors were delivered into custody in Abu Dhabi for several days, before being released and handed over to the Saudi embassy earlier this week.

The incident has shocked diplomats who hope the countries, both key American allies, will help implement the West's strategy to constrain Iran's nuclear and military ambitions.

The clash happened in disputed waters between the coasts of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and the peninsula on which the gas-rich state of Qatar sits.

The seabed is rich with oil deposits, while the Dolphin pipeline project to carry natural gas direct from Qatar to Abu Dhabi has provoked irritation in the Saudi authorities. Nevertheless, direct conflict between the two countries' armed forces is highly unusual.

The Gulf is one of the most heavily armed regions in the world. The Saudi government has been building up its army and air force for years in response to what it sees as a regional threat from Iran.

The UAE was slower to join the arms race, despite a long-running row with Iran over three Gulf islands previously under Abu Dhabi control which were seized by the late Shah in 1971 on the night the Emirates celebrated their independence.

But now the UAE, despite its small size, is the fourth largest purchaser of weaponry on the international market in the world.

Western governments are exasperated that the two countries are unable to co-operate because of a series of long-running border disputes, largely influenced by oil reserves.

Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil producer, while Abu Dhabi, though ranking only number four in OPEC, is by some counts the richest city per head of population in the world.

"It looks as though attempts were made to keep this quiet, which is predictable given the important relationship between the two countries and the strategic relationship with Iran," a Gulf-based diplomat said. "But it does remind us of the simmering rows that there are in this part of the Gulf."

The Gulf is the shipping route for 40 per cent of the world's oil trade. The lack of agreed naval boundaries leads to repeated arrests of civilian vessels, including a British yacht by the Iranian navy last November, but more serious is the threat of Iranian retaliation for any attack by Israel or American forces on its nuclear installations.

The Iranian government has threatened to mine the Straits of Hormuz at the tip of the Gulf, or target the western navies moored in Gulf Arab ports.

"This is getting serious," a local defence analyst said. "The Dolphin pipeline is a critical interstate energy project to bring gas from Qatar to the UAE, so a fight (with Saudi Arabia) is affecting the relations between these three countries at a time when they should be co-operating."

A spokesman for the UAE ministry of defence said he was unable to give details of the incident.

related text:

saudi neibourhood troubles on the petrol side

us preparing islamabad's occupation

.
http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/article_detail.php?id=782

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=194868

The Sneaking US Occupation Of Islamabad

Pakistan was reported to have expelled the head of an American NGO providing cover to Blackwater operations on Pakistani soil. Now this deported American, Crag Davis, is back in Pakistan. And he is not alone. Close to 2,000 Hummers have arrived at a Pakistani port that are not destined for Afghanistan. The world's biggest US embassy is under construction in Islamabad. As if this is not enough, the US embassy has hired a huge number of houses across the Pakistani capital to serve as unofficial local franchises. Welcome to the silent American occupation of Pakistan, with the blessing of the elected Pakistani politicians and a silent Pakistani military.

By SHIREEN M. MAZARI

Saturday, 29 August 2009.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was given orders to the contrary, press reports of August 6 show that its spokesman, Mr. Basit, on August 5, at the Karachi Press Club, had already given out the fact of the 1,000 US Marines coming to Pakistan for the protection of the new, imperial US embassy in Islamabad.

Now we are seeing houses being barricaded for US personnel all across the capital and we know of the 300 plus 'military trainers' already ensconced in Tarbela.

In addition we have the notorious Blackwater (now hiding under a new label, Xe Worldwide) and the rather obvious CIA front-company, Creative Associates International, Inc. (CAII), operating not only in Peshawar but now in Islamabad also it transpires – and a recent reflection of this was the sealing off of the road in Super Market [a stone throw away from the houses of senior Pakistani officials] last week right in front of a school!

Whatever the US embassy gives out or the terrified Pakistani leadership echoes, the reality is that there is a questionable and increasingly threatening US armed presence in Pakistan and this may be augmented soon by an ISAF/NATO presence. Incidentally, to add to the suspicions of the US presence, reports are coming in of around 3,000 Hummer vehicles, fully loaded, awaiting transportation from Port Qasim.

Will some of these go to the Pentagon's assassination squads, who may take up residence in some of the barricaded Islamabad houses and with whom the present US commander in Afghanistan was directly associated? Ordinary officials at Pakistani airports have also been muttering their concerns over chartered flights flying in Americans whose entry is not recorded – even the flight crews are not checked for visas and so there is now no record-keeping of exactly how many Americans are coming into or going out of Pakistan. Incidentally the CAII's Craig Davis who was deported has now returned to Peshawar! And let us not be fooled by the cry that numbers reflect friendship since we know what numbers meant to Soviet satellites.

Govt. Selling Pakistan's Agri Land To Foreigners

Now another threat, in the making for some time, is becoming more overt. Pakistan's precious and fertile agricultural land is up for grabs to the highest foreign bidder. Pakistan is not alone in being targeted thus by rich countries with little or no food resources. The UN has already condemned this purchase of agricultural land as a form of neo-colonialism. Over the past five years in a hardly-noticed wave of investment, rich agricultural land and forests in poor countries are being snapped up by buyers from cash-rich countries. Leading this grab of poor country resources are the rapidly industrialising states and the oil-rich countries who have, between 2006-2009, either directly through governments or through sovereign wealth funds and companies, already grabbed or are in the process of grabbing between 37 to 49 million acres of developing countries' farmland (a July 2009 report by Robert Schubert of Food and Water Watch).

Wealthy countries like Japan and South Korea are acquiring farmlands abroad for food security while oil-rich countries are seeking cheap water and cultivated crops to be shipped home. The land buyers from the oil-rich arid countries are seeking water as much as land because by buying or leasing land with sufficient water, they can divert their own domestic irrigation water to municipal water supplies.

The foreign land purchases destabilize food security since land given to foreign investors cannot be used to produce food for local communities – the foreign investors' intent being to take the food back to their own food-scarce countries. Many of the land purchases comprise tens of thousands of acres which are then turned into single-crop farms – and these dwarf the small-scale farms common in the developing world, where nearly nine out of ten farms (85 per cent) are less than five acres. Such land grabs have now been recognised as harming the local communities by dislodging smallholder farmers, aggravating rural poverty and food insecurity.

With Gulf countries importing 60 per cent of their food on average, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading the investments into Asia and Africa to secure supplies of cereals, meat and vegetables. The rise in demand for food imports for the GCC comes at a time when exportable agricultural surplus worldwide has declined.

How does all this impact Pakistan? Pakistan has rich agricultural land and adequate water although the latter's distribution has been subject to political machinations. There has also been a seemingly deliberate effort by successive ruling elites to undermine the country's agricultural potential and nowhere is this more brazenly evident than at present with power outages preventing crucial water supply through tubewells; and many rich lands being converted into housing colonies! Then we have had artificially created sugar and wheat shortages – 'artificial' because for the last few years our wheat and sugarcane crops have been bountiful. As for the wonderful local fruit, that is also being diverted to feed external populations through exports that are not only depriving the locals of their land's bounty but also raising local prices so only the rich elite can consume what is left.

Now it has come out that we are selling land to the Gulf states, thereby undermining our local agriculture further. Abraaj Capital and other UAE entities have acquired 800,000 acres of farmland in Pakistan (we have learnt no lessons from the sale of the KESC and the PTCL). Qatar Livestock is investing $1 billion in corporate farms in Pakistan. But all this produce will be taken out, so the argument that this foreign investment will bring in new technologies into our agricultural sector does not hold. In any case, one does not have to sell one's land to foreign forces to acquire new technology which is available in the open market and the government can help local farmers acquire it.

Not surprisingly, the Gulf countries are pleased with Pakistan's rulers bending over backwards to accommodate their needs at the expense of the ordinary Pakistani – for none of the food produced on these lands will be available cheaply for Pakistanis; it will go to feed the Gulf populations. Gulf countries are happy because their imported food bill will cost 20-25 per cent less, positively impacting on their present high inflation rate. We may import this food from them for a price, just as our government has now decided to import sugar from the UAE. Of course the UAE itself imports sugar so the absurdity should be abundantly clear to all, including our profiteers!

In the visibly servile mindset of our leaders, instead of offering incentives on a similar scale to local farmers, Islamabad is offering legal and tax concessions, with legislative cover, to foreign investors in the form of specialized agricultural and livestock 'free zones' and may also introduce legislation to exempt such investors from government-imposed tax bans. The most worrisome aspect of such wheeling-dealing is the government's decision to develop a new security force of 100,000 men spread across the four provinces to ensure stability of the Arab investments. This will cost the Pakistani state around $2 billion in terms of training and salaries and the real fear is that this force will be used to forcibly eject local small farmers from their lands. Concerns have been further heightened because no labour laws will be applicable to corporate agricultural companies and there will be no sales tax or customs duties on import of agricultural machinery by these investors. Nor will their dividends be taxed and 100 per cent remittances of capital and profits will be permitted. So where is there even an iota of advantage for the ordinary Pakistani as opposed to the rulers?

With the US increasingly occupying Pakistan with their covert and overt armed presence, and the Gulf states taking over our rich agricultural lands our rulers are voluntarily making us a colony again – as we were under the British who used our men to fight their wars and our cheap labor to ship the finished produce back to Britain!

Have we come full circle after 62 years of our creation?

This article is extracted from the original published by The News International on Aug. 26, 2009. Dr. Mazari can be reached at callstr@hotmail.com

© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
..........................................................................................................................................................................

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=24192

War is suicidal, let’s go for talks: Qureshi

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Says Pakistan dismayed over Manmohan’s statement

By Mariana Baabar

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday hit out hard at statements issued by India, as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi warned New Delhi that a war would be suicidal.

“War is suicidal. When war is not an option, the only option left is talks,” he said while talking to newsmen at the Foreign Office here.The minister was asked to comment on a statement made in Barmer, in which Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had said relations with Pakistan were not conducive for the two sides to have talks at any level.

Earlier in New Delhi, Indian National Security Adviser MK Narayanan said people had tried to misinterpret the Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement and stressed that India would not resume the composite dialogue process until it saw concrete evidence that Pakistan had acted against terrorism.

Qureshi, while commenting on Manmohan Singh’s statement, admitted that he had not seen it. He, however, expressed his shock and dismay. “Then what about Sharm el-Sheikh? If there is to be no dialogue, then where are we heading?” he said.

“India told us that it was scared of more attacks, but when we ask them for information, they do not give it to us. Then you say no talks. What is the way out? Pakistan is not suffering from any inferiority complex, but for the sake of regional prosperity, we have to engage ourselves.”

When asked why in his opinion India was making these statements on the eve of meetings between the two foreign secretaries and the foreign ministers, Qureshi said it seemed that the Indian domestic politics was playing a major role in this regard.

“For example, a former Indian foreign minister writes a book. You can say you do not agree with it or intellectually challenge it. (The reaction to Jaswant Singh’s book) shows a certain mindset. They are falling prey to this. Who has the positive approach? Mumbai (attacks) were sad, very sad and I condemn them, but then what is the way out?

“Should we then give our agenda to terrorists? Where is the leadership (in India)? Politicians find ways out of blind alleys. What more can I say?” Qureshi added. Responding to a query about the reluctance of India to agree to a date for the foreign secretary-level talks, he said: “Why feel shy? We have written to the Indian foreign secretary and I shared this in the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FODP) meeting that Pakistan was willing to engage.

“This meeting was agreed upon by the two foreign ministers and (Indian) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was committed to dialogue. Responsibilities have been given to the foreign ministers for a meeting, but there has been no response from India.”

He said this clearly showed that Pakistan wanted to engage. “We are ready to sit face to face, as we know how to argue our case and how to talk,” Qureshi said. Replying to another question, he said Pakistan had no qualms about the foreign secretaries meeting in a third country.

“We have no issue with a third venue. We are happy to receive the Indian foreign secretary in Islamabad. But if it is a third place, so be it,” he said. Answering a query, Qureshi said as far as the policy on India was concerned, there was unanimity of opinion among all the major political parties in Pakistan.

“All views are identical and there is a consensus on the way forward and how to deal with India,” he said. Asked about Pakistan’s position on India’s claims that its nuclear tests were unsuccessful, he said this was being claimed by the Indian media. “I have no knowledge and do not know whether this is correct. We will wait and see, but we do not have to react prematurely,” he said.
...........................................................................................................................................................................
.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/print1.asp?id=195414

Spy vs spy

Friday, August 28, 2009

By By Shakeel Anjum

ISLAMABAD: Brig (retd) Imtiaz Ahmed is an American agent planted by the American agencies mainly to defame the Pakistani intelligence agencies, former director Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Malik Mumtaz Ahmad said on Thursday.

While addressing a press conference, he said after having played a key role in toppling the Benazir government in 1990, Brig Imtiaz was now bent on destabilising the present government.

Malik Mumtaz claimed that he had informed the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto through her special secretary (security) of the conspiracy plan ‘Midnight Jackal’ of Brig (retd) Imtiaz and Maj (retd) Amar. She contacted the then Army chief Gen Aslam Baig but he had denied.

Malik Mumtaz claimed that Benazir had sent her interior minister Nasirullah Khan Babar to Aslam Baig but the Army chief had again denied the report, asking him to produce evidence about the conspiracy.

“He is playing in the hands of American agencies to destabilise the political system,” Malik Mumtaz averred. “He is opposing Mian Nawaz Sharif to get entrance in the PPP camp,” he added.

He appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice against Brig Imtiaz and reopen his corruption cases. He claimed Brig Imtiaz’s “anti-state activities” were creating confusion in the political system.

The former FIA chief alleged Brig Imtiaz had collected illegal wealth during his tenure as IB head. Malik said that a corruption case was lodged with the FIA after the brigadierís removal during the Benazir government. However, the FIA did not pursue the case in the court, and, consequently, it was dismissed.

Malik said Brig Imtiaz made 27 valuable properties and a heavy account in a bank of London, adding, he got himself freed from the cases by using his influence during the Nawaz government in 1997.

The second case of corruption against Brig Imtiaz was registered by the Account Appellate Bureau chairman in 2000, Malik said, adding that the detailed list of his properties was attached with the petition. The properties included three houses and three commercial units in Islamabad as well as foreign exchange bearing certificates to the tune of Rs 20.8 million.

He said a court sentenced Brig Imtiaz to eight years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 7 million, also confiscating his assets. The court disqualified him for ten years for holding any public office or statutory or local authority. But he, taking advantage of the NRO, managed to retake his property.

Malik disclosed that before his “retirement at fault” from the Army in 1988, Brig Imtiaz had declared his total asset as a two-kanal plot at the Lahore Cantt Officers Society (Phase-II) and a 2,000-square-yard plot in the Defence Housing Society, Karachi. He questioned how Imtiaz made property worth billions of rupees as IB chief.
.........................................................................................................................................................................

http://www.thenews.com.pk/blog/blog_details.asp?id=62

7th october 2008?

Conspiracies against Pakistan

Pakistan is passing through one of the most crucial periods of its 61-year history. The situation in NWFP and tribal areas is apparently going out of control with each passing day. Following is a piece by Mr. Ahmad Qureshi on this situation and he has given his point of view and analysis. We invite write-ups and comments on this subject from experts on the subject and the people who have an opinion on this crisis situation and how they see the available options for Pakistan. Write-ups should be concise and thought provoking.

Land of conspiracies

By Ahmed Quraishi


In a recent email exchange, one of the ideological founders of the country's largest left-oriented parties said that he believed that the "core strategic objective of the US" was to "establish its control over the Pakistan Army – to weaken it when it is strong and strengthen it when it is weak but maintain total control over it." He went on to say that the only long-term potent weapon that the Pakistan Army has is "the support of the people of Pakistan". The support General Kayani received from the people on the few words he said about not allowing foreigners to violate the territory of Pakistan is extremely significant."

This is where the defeatist stance of Pakistan's elected government on US belligerence becomes inexplicable. Gen Kayani does not need votes. Those who do need them are wasting a perfect opportunity to earn more of them. That is why Prime Minister Gilani's statement saying 'Pakistan can't wage war with US' comes as a shock. Even if true, why would the prime minister say this because it only serves to deprive Pakistan of the strategic psychological impact created by the army chief's warning.

America has been a duplicitous ally during the past seven years, using Pakistani cooperation on Afghanistan to gradually turn that country into a military base to launch a sophisticated psychological, intelligence and military campaign to destabilize Pakistan itself.

In one sign of the grand double game, despite poor relations with Iran, Washington has encouraged Karzai and the Indians to complete the construction of a road that links Afghanistan to an Indian-built Iranian seaport. The purpose is to end the dependence of both the US army and the Karzai regime on Pakistan. The recent demonization of Pakistani intelligence agencies is a pretext.

Apologists for the US position need to understand that Pakistan has a legitimate right to protect it interests in the region. Everyone does. The problem is not our intelligence agencies. It is how Washington deliberately trampled on the legitimate interests of its ally in favour of strengthening the position of our competitors. Maybe, had the Americans been as considerate to us as we have been to them, our spies wouldn't have needed to re-establish contacts with the militants. If we are doing this, it is protect our interest.

Pessimists fear that if our military tries to block US border violations, there is a possibility of armed conflict. Also, in case of conflict, Washington is expected to signal to India to open a front in the east to divert Pakistani military resources. But Pakistan is not without options. In fact, the Pakistani position is stronger than what it appears to be. Islamabad can activate old contacts with a resurgent and rising Afghan Taliban inside Afghanistan. The entire Pakistani tribal belt will seize this opportunity to fight the Americans. There is a possibility that Pakistani tribesmen could cross the border in large numbers using secret routes to dodge aerial bombardment and join the Afghan Taliban and find their way to Kabul. The misguided and suspicious 'Pakistani Taliban' – whom the NWFP governor has described on Sept 12 as an extension of the US military in Afghanistan – will also come under pressure of the tribesmen and will be forced to target the occupation forces instead of fighting the Pakistani government and people.

But the situation between Islamabad and Washington does not have to come to this. Islamabad can help tip the scales in Washington against the hawks who want a war with Pakistan. Not all parts of the US government accept this idea and this must be exploited. Pakistan must make it clear that it will retaliate.

US military posturing aside, Washington has recently seen a string of diplomatic defeats. Russia has cut American meddling in Georgia to size. In Iraq, a coalition of Shia parties is forcing the Americans to set a timetable for departure. And both Bolivia and Venezuela have expelled US ambassadors, and, in Bolivia's case, the world has suddenly become alert to Washington's intrusive meddling in that country's domestic politics and the role of the US ambassador in fuelling separatism. This is not very different from the US role inside Pakistan, where American diplomats have caused political chaos by directly engaging the politicians.

The only way to entrap Pakistan now is to either orchestrate a spectacular terrorist attack on the mainland US and blame it on Pakistan, or to assassinate a high profile personality inside Pakistan and generate enough domestic strife to scuttle military resistance to US attacks. It's called realpolitik.
.........................................................................................................................................................................

http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/article_detail.php?id=766

American NGO Covers For Blackwater In Pakistan?

Reports suggest Pakistan has expelled a US Blackwater mercenary, but Pakistanis ask, 'Who rules our streets, the Pakistani government or the Americans?' And who let them in?

In May, a US diplomat was caught arranging a meeting between a suspected Indian spy and senior Pakistani officials in the privacy of her house. In June when Pakistani officials confronted Washington with evidence that terrorists in Pakistan were using sophisticated American weapons, US media quickly leaked stories about American weapons missing from the US-trained Afghan army. And now reports confirm that the dirty secret arm of the US government – the mercenaries of Blackwater – have infiltrated sensitive regions of Pakistan. Blackwater works as an extension of the US military and CIA, taking care of dirty jobs that the US government cannot associate itself with in faraway strategic places. The question: Who let them in? And who deported one of them, if at all?

By AHMED QURAISHI

Wednesday, 5 August 2009.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Three weeks ago a group of concerned Pakistani citizens in Peshawar wrote to the federal interior ministry to complain about the suspicious activities of a group of shadowy Americans in a rented house in their neighborhood, the upscale University Town area of Peshawar.

A NGO calling itself Creative Associates International, Inc. leased the house. CAII, as it is known by its acronym, is a Washington DC-based private firm. According to its Web site, the company describes itself as "a privately-owned non-governmental organization that addresses urgent challenges facing societies today … Creative views change as an opportunity to improve, transform and renew …"

The description makes no sense. It is more or less a perfect cover for the American NGO's real work: espionage.

The incorporated NGO is more of a humanitarian front that alternates sometimes for undercover US intelligence operations in critical regions, including Angola, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Gaza, and Pakistan. Of the 36 new job openings, the company's Web site shows that half of them are in Pakistan today. Pakistan is also at the heart of the now combined desperate effort by the White House-military-CIA to avert a looming American defeat in Afghanistan by shifting the war to its next-door neighbor.

In Peshawar, CAII, opened an office to work on projects in the nearby tribal agencies of Pakistan. All of these projects, interestingly, are linked to the US government. CAII's other projects outside Pakistan are also linked to the US government. In short, this NGO is not an NGO. It is closely linked to the US government.

In Peshawar, CAII told Pakistani authorities it needed to hire security guards for protection. The security guards, it turns out, were none other than Blackwater's military-trained hired guns. They were used the CAII cover to conduct a range of covert activities in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.

The infamous Blackwater private security firm operates as an extension of the US military and CIA, taking care of dirty jobs that the US government cannot associate itself with in faraway strategic places. Blackwater is anything but a security firm. It is a mercenary army of several thousand hired soldiers.

Pakistani security officials apparently became alarmed by reports that Blackwater was operating from the office of CAII on Chinar Road, University Town in Peshawar. The man in charge of the office, allegedly an American by the name of Craig Davis according to a report in Jang, Pakistan's largest Urdu language daily, was arrested and accused of establishing contacts with 'the enemies of Pakistan' in areas adjoining Afghanistan. His visa has been cancelled, the office sealed, and Mr. Davis reportedly expelled back to the United States.

It is not clear when Mr. Davis was deported and whether there are other members of the staff expelled along with him. When I contacted the US Embassy over the weekend, spokesman Richard Snelsire's first reaction was, "No embassy official has been deported." This defensive answer is similar to the guilt-induced reactions of US embassy staffers in Baghdad and Kabul at the presence of mercenaries working for US military and CIA.

I said to Mr. Snelsire that I did not ask about an embassy official being expelled. He said he heard these reports and 'checked around' with the embassy officials but no one knew about this. "It's baseless."

So I asked him, "Is Blackwater operating in Pakistan, in Peshawar?"

"Not to my knowledge." Fair enough. The US embassies in Baghdad and Kabul never acknowledged Blackwater's operations in Iraq and Afghanistan either. This is part of low-level frictions between the diplomats at the US Department of State and those in Pentagon and CIA. The people at State have reportedly made it clear they will not acknowledge or accept responsibility for the activities of special operations agents operating in friendly countries without the knowledge of those countries and in violation of their sovereignty. Reports have suggested that sometimes even the US ambassador is unaware of what his government's mercenaries do in a target country.

Official Pakistani sources are yet to confirm if one or more US citizens were expelled recently. The government is also reluctant in making public whatever evidence there might be about Blackwater operations inside Pakistan. But it is clear that something unusual was happening in the Peshawar office of an American NGO. There is also strong suspicion that Blackwater was operating from the said office.

There are other things happening in Pakistan that are linked to the Americans and that increase the chances of Blackwater's presence here.
These include:

1. One of the largest US embassies – or military and intelligence command outposts – in the world is being built in Islamabad as I write this at a cost of approximately one billion US dollars. This is the biggest sign of an expansion in US meddling in Pakistan and a desire to use this country as a base for regional operations. Interestingly, US covert meddling inside Pakistan and nearby countries is already taking place, including in Russia's backyard, in Iran, and in China's Xinjiang.

2. A large number of retired Pakistani military officers, academics and even journalists have been quietly recruited at generous compensations by several US government agencies. These influential Pakistanis are supposed to provide information, analysis, contacts and help in pleading the case for US interests in the Pakistani media, in subtle ways. Pakistanis would be surprised that some prominent names well known to television audiences are in this list.

3. CIA and possibly Blackwater have established a network of informers in the tribal belt and Balochistan; there have also been reports of non-Pakistanis sighted close to sensitive military areas in the country. Considering the intensity and frequency of terrorist acts inside Pakistan in the past four years, there is every possibility that all sorts of saboteurs are having a field day in Pakistan.

4. Members of separatist and ethnic political parties have been cultivated by various US government agencies and quietly taken for visits to Washington and the CENTCOM offices in Florida.

The possibility of the existence of mercenary activities in Pakistan is strengthened by the following events:

5. Pakistani officials have in recent months collected piles of evidence that suggests that terrorists wreaking havoc inside Pakistan have been and continue to receive state of the art weapons and a continuous supply of money and trainers from unknown but highly organized sources inside Afghanistan. A significant number of these weapons is of American and Israeli manufacture. Indians have also been known to supply third-party weapons to terrorists inside Pakistan.

6. Some Pakistani intelligence analysts have stumbled on circumstantial evidence that links the CIA to anti-Pakistan terror activities that may not be in the knowledge of all departments of the US government. One thing is for sure, that CIA's operations in Afghanistan are in the hands of dangerous elements that are prone to rogue-ish behavior.

7. In May, a US woman diplomat was caught arranging a quiet [read 'secret'] meeting between a low-level Indian diplomat and several senior Pakistani government officials. An address in Islamabad – 152 Margalla Road – was identified as a venue where the secret meeting took place. The American diplomat in question knew there was no chance the Indian would get to meet the Pakistanis in normal circumstances. Nor was it possible to do this during a high visibility event. After the incident, Pakistan Foreign Office issued a terse statement warning all government officials to refrain from such direct contact with foreign diplomats in unofficial settings without prior intimation to their departments.

8. Pakistani suspicions about American foul play inside Pakistan are not new. On July 12, 2008 in a secret meeting in Rawalpindi between military and intelligence officials from the two countries these concerns were openly aired. The Americans accused ISI of maintain contacts with the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani answer was that normal low-level contacts are maintained with all parties in the area. NATO and the Kabul regime were doing the same thing in Afghanistan. In return, the Pakistanis laid out evidence, including photographs, showing known terrorists meeting Indian and pro-US Kabul regime officials. Was the United States supporting these anti-Pakistan activities is the question that was posed to the US military and CIA.

9. Further back into history, in 1978 the ISI broke a spy ring made up of Pakistani technicians working for the nascent Pakistani nuclear program who were recruited by CIA. Pakistan chose not to raise the issue publicly but did so privately at the highest level in Washington.

Now there are reports that the Zardari-Gilani government is consulting Pakistan's Naval headquarters on a proposal to construct a US navy base on the coast of Balochistan. When things have reached this level of American meddling in Pakistan, Blackwater seems like a small issue. Some Pakistani analysts are of the view that elements within the Pakistani security establishment need to be very careful about where they intend to draw the red line for CIA operations in and around Pakistan.

© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
.........................................................................................................................................................................

http://www.haqeeqat.org/2009/08/29/un-in-collaboration-with-government-is-promoting-illegal-prostitution-in-pakistan/

UN in Collaboration with Government is Promoting Illegal Prostitution in Pakistan

Saturday, August 29, 2009

By OmEr Jamil

Sex awareness workshops are okie, but delivering in a way that appreciates the professions for prostitutes (whores) and encourages them to continue it with dignity- that too in a Muslim country with Islamic laws and constitutions where the profession and acts like such are not only prohibited by law but also punished- is I believe worth a thousands condemnations!

I agree with the point that such workshops for prostitutes and whores also provide sex-health-safety and HIV awareness to these personnel. Yes, the workshop might have created much awareness and done 90% good! But in this regard, the illegal and extra-martial sexual activities where Islam has a clear stance of activities like such being one among the greatest sins, this 10% of evil message leads to such an agenda that sums up the expressions and confidence of these whores to speak up and feel like “…now I can continue my profession with more confidence“

Like a friend on Facebooks said; ‘Someone considers Pakistan as favorite state for conducting first of its kind research workshop for Sex workers, War in favor of USA made Pakistan learn an enlightened way to live their life, this is truly not Danda Bardaar nor a people who demand something but just a little bit more freedom. These people are not extremists but well enlightened moderate Muslims, this will be told to us if we question or government may consider it as small misconduct. The flag of enlightened moderation is now openly raised by UN which is still not banned and will never suffer any until democracy or dictatorship rules the land.’

The workshop was organized by Sindh AIDS Programme, Government of Sindh in collaboration with the United Nations! Now they- the very United Nations- are trying to train these Pakistani whores as how to carry on their ill and illegal deeds more “professionally” and ‘”confidently”; a direct or indirect appreciation & support of an illegal profession of course is a violation of the state!

Prostitution is a crime. The question is why these women are being trained under government patronage to commit crime in a safe way. This is like training a robber to commit robbery in a safe way!!! Instead of teaching safe sex, the government should give them vocational training so that they could earn their livelihood with dignity!!!

Also, lets look at what Dr. Shahid Masood has to say on this: check video with upper link

Also, see this post on Haqeeqat.Org already:

Prostitution in the Islamic Nation of Pakistan

Now, lets please have a look as BBC explains the proceedings:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8155840.stm

Lessons for Karachi sex workers

By Arman Sabir

BBC, Karachi

Zeba Ramzan is a 28-year-old Pakistani sex worker. Born into the profession in Karachi’s red light district of Napier Road, she plies her trade all over the city. She is celebrating the launch of an initiative to promote health awareness among sex workers.

“We are now revealed to society,” says Ms Ramzan.

But prostitution remains illegal and anathema to many in Muslim-majority Pakistan. It is an ever-present fact of life, but never really acknowledged. The last two decades, given the increasing Islamisation of Pakistani society, have further reinforced stereotypes about such women. But the profession has only grown. Karachi alone has at least 100,000 female sex workers, according to data gathered by local welfare organisations. Lahore has 75,000 sex workers while the military garrison town of Rawalpindi has at least 25,000.

‘Spirit of openness’

Pakistan’s first workshop on health awareness among sex workers has contributed to a new spirit of openness in the profession.

“Earlier we were doing our jobs secretly, but now we can raise our voice for our rights,” Ms Ramzan says.

The three-day event was recently held in Karachi by Gender & Reproductive Health Forum (GRHF) – a local social welfare organisation – in collaboration with the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA).

“I am very happy that a number of sex workers attended the workshop,” says Ms Ramzan.

“This has provided us an opportunity to gather and exchange views and experiences.”

She is not the only one to have benefited.

“I became a sex worker five years back,” says Nadia, 26. Nadia said that she learned about safe sex measures at the workshop. “I had heard about HIV/Aids, but I thought that it could only be transmitted through blood transfusions. “I did not know that precautionary measures should be taken during sex as well,” she said. Before the workshop, most sex workers who attended did not know about measures for safe sex, Nadia added.

Dr Ghulam Murtaza, the head of the GRHF and the man behind the workshop, said the organisation was working to create awareness of safe sex among female sex workers. “It was very difficult to gather sex workers under one roof. Many were simply afraid of being arrested,” he said. “We offered several incentives and assurances and paid them 1,000 rupees ($20) per day for their attendance,” he said. “Finally, we succeeded in gathering almost 100 sex workers at the workshop held at a local hotel.”

Most of the sex workers who attended avoided the cameramen there, saying they were afraid of being exposed to their families.

Many said their husbands or family members did not know they were sex workers. They told their families that they worked for private firms.

Despite these barriers, Dr Murtaza said the workshop had been successful. “We have trained some female sex workers. They will now go to their community to create awareness among their co-workers.”

‘Reinvigorated’

The international participants at the workshop were of the view that Pakistan was still relatively safe as far as HIV/Aids was concerned. The UNFPA representative, Dr Safdar Kamal Pasha, said at least 100 HIV-positive sex workers had been found in central Punjab. But the number of HIV-positive women was not high among female sex workers in Pakistan.

“It can be controlled by creating awareness about the disease among sex workers and about usage of precautionary measures,” he said.

The workshop was widely considered to be a success and Dr Pasha said they were considering organising a national convention for sex workers next year.

The sex workers themselves were moved by the workshop.

“Having attended the workshop, I feel reinvigorated,” Zeba Ramzan declares.

“I can now continue with my profession with more confidence.”