uk: how many casa pia?

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http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2010/05/mysterious-deaths-of-children.html

Thursday, May 20, 2010

MYSTERIOUS DEATHS OF CHILDREN

Lianne Smith and her daughter.

On 20th May 2010 we read about Lianne Smith.

Lianne Smith ran a nursery for children aged 3 to 6 in Barcelona.

In the UK, she was head of the Cumbria County Council department set up to protect children.

She is supected of killing her two young children, five-year-old Rebecca and 11-month-old Daniel, in a Spanish hotel.

On 8 may 2010, in Barcelona, her partner, Martin Smith, was arrested.

The 'former TV psychic' is accused of rape, gross indecency, indecent assault and attempted rape, all against a child under 16.

The allegations date back to 1995.

It was back in December 2007 that Lianne Smith, her daughter Rebecca, and Martin Smith went missing from the UK.

Dylan, who was found hanged at a UK children's home

On 20 October 2009 we learnt that 11 year old Dylan McDonald had been found hanged at a children's home, the Appletree Centre, in Cumbria in the UK.

The school caters for up to 14 children aged six to 12.

Dylan's family were due to apply to regain custody of their son in November 2009.

Dylan's body was spotted by kids playing outside, hanging outside his bedroom window.

Teachers found him still alive, suspended from a large Victorian window.

Dylan was driven to a hospital in Lancaster where died.

His family said he had showed no warning signs of a desire to commit suicide.

Uncle Shaun McDonald told how Dylan had been excitedly looking forward to trips back home to see his dad Peter and mum Sharon at Hallowe'en and Christmas.

Mr McDonald, from Warrington, said: "When Peter went to see him on Sunday, he was laughing and joking.

"They took him out for meals and Dylan was really looking forward to coming back home later this month.

"We've been told he may have had an argument with a teacher, or another pupil on Monday, and he was a bit down on Tuesday.

"But, essentially, why he did this is a mystery."

Knowsley Council, whose care Dylan was in, stated that an enquiry was underway.

Dylan had spent the last three years at the care home.

His uncle said that he had a good relationship with his parents and would see them every fortnight on visits.

Jersey in the UK has links to child abuse.

A sex abuse victim at Jersey's Haut de la Garenne children's home "told how two of his pals hanged themselves after being raped."

"Carl Denning also chillingly recalled how a boy died mysteriously in a sick bay used by staff and their paedophile pals. (Jersey kids' home Haute de la Garenne Sex abuse victim Carl.)

A boy of 14 hanged himself because he could not bear going back to the notorious Jersey children's home, Haut de la Garenne.

Michael O'Connell had told best friend Terence Bizouarn in 1966 he would kill himself rather than return to Jersey's Haut de la Garenne - and he took his own life four days later. (Boy hanged himself over return to Jersey's Haut de la Garenne care home)

'Disinformation agent' David Rose has tried to make out that the problems at Haut de la Garenne were exaggerated. (Bungled Jersey child abuse probe branded a '£20million shambles.)

This is the same David Rose who told us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. (David Rose - disinformation agent?)

Neve Lafferty and Georgia Rowe, who were staying at a care home, fell to their deaths from the Erskine Bridge.

Neve Lafferty, 15, from Helensburgh in Scotland, and Georgia Rowe, 14, from Hull in England, were staying at the Catholic Church's Good Shepherd care home in Renfrewshire, in Scotland.

On 4 October 2009, the two girls fell to their deaths from the Erskine Bridge over the River Clyde. ('Suicide' girls' care home reveals runaway figures.)

On 6 October 2009, we read about a damning report into Birmingham's children's services following a series of child deaths. (Social services deemed 'unfit' to protect city's needy children)

In 2009, the Ryan Commission revealed endemic abuse in children's institutions in Northern Ireland.

Ireland's most notorious paedophile, Fr Brendan Smyth, regularly preyed on children in the Nazareth institutions. (Spotlight on catalogue of cruelty)

Goldup

In October 2009, we learnt that the UK Government’s childcare watchdog (Ofsted) has appointed John Goldup as its social care director. (Top Ofsted job for official embroiled in council child sex scandal.)
Goldup will have effective control of the protection of kids in care homes and nurseries across the UK.

During the Eighties and early Nineties, Goldup was the second top person in the children’s department at Islington Council in London.

A major child sex ring operated throughout Islington borough’s care homes in the 1980s and 1990s.

On 1 October 2009, we read about a child abuse scandal at the council-run Merkland Children's Home in Moffat, in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.
Peter Harley, the officer once in charge at the home, was jailed for 15 years. (Council makes £20000 payout to sex abuse victims after children's ...)

In Thailand, and elsewhere, it is agents of the government who reportedly keep the child brothels in business.

In Belgium, it was top policemen and judges who reportedly protected Dutroux's child abuse network.

In the USA, the military have been linked to organised child sex abuse networks.

Is it the same in the UK?

On 6 May 3009, The Guardian (UK) revealed that children from a UK children's home have ended up in UK brothels.

(Trafficked children lost by care home)

A 59-bed local authority home "has been used as a clearing house for a trade in children that stretches across four continents."

Since March 2006, at least 77 children have gone missing from the home, which is operated by the London borough of Hillingdon.

Some of the children "simply walk out of the front door into waiting cars."

Where are the police?

Wathelet - allegations of child abuse

In 1992, Belgian Justice Minister Melchior Wathelet released Marc Dutroux on parole.

Dutroux had served slightly more than three years of a 13 year sentence for raping young girls.

Dutroux was later convicted of having kidnapped, tortured and sexually abused six girls during 1995 and 1996, ranging in age from 8 to 19, two of whom he murdered. - Melchior Wathelet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following comes from Werkgroep Morkhoven :

"According to a police document from the Dutroux enquiry, obtained by The Sprout, serious allegations about Wathelet’s involvement in paedophilia came to light.

"In these documents, a police source and senior psychotherapist informed a colleague of a session he had been having with a client. The client disclosed the details of events in Verviers (where Wathelet was Mayor) during 1992. He spoke of orgies that had been taking place in a country house where two children had been involved.

"These children, between 8 and 10 years old, had come from a children’s home, with the complicity of the director of the home. The 'party', it is alleged in the police documents, was organised partly by Wathelet. The client reported his involvement in the parties to the children’s welfare office in Verviers and to the local police. In return he received threats from both organisations and from other parties...

"This case was never investigated; as the police report confirms: 'the 2 dossiers on the child welfare services have disappeared'.

"Three years after this report, Wathelet became Belgium’s Minister for Defence in June 1995 but was rapidly nominated to the post of Belgium’s representative at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, where he arrived on the 2nd September."

The Jersey Attorney General, William Bailhache ( AG defends rape case bail decision)

Sir Philip Bailhache, Bailiff of Jersey

According to The Times, 14 August 2008, the Jersey child abuse case appears to be being hampered by certain important people.

Jersey detective’s fury as release of abuse suspects 'scares off 'witnesses.

Former policeman Lenny Harper claims that the island’s Attorney-General, William Bailhache, and his office are held in 'total contempt' by victims of child abuse after repeatedly failing to bring offenders to justice.

Mr Harper’s memo claims suspects are being freed without charge on apparently spurious grounds.

In the UK, it has been alleged that dangerous child abusers held key positions in certain local government authorities, such as Islington in London.

It has been alleged that these dangerous child abusers had links to child abuse on the island of Jersey and beyond.

(aangirfan: Jason Swift; Islington children's home; hundreds of ... / aangirfan: THE ZANDVOORT NETWORK, JERSEY, DUTROUX, PORTUGAL...)

In The Mail on Sunday, 3 August 2008, Eileen Fairweather, wrote that Birmingham council illegally sent children into care on Jersey, according to a report by John Hemming, Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley.

According to The Mail on Sunday:

1. Member of Parliament John Hemming discovered that Children were illegally placed in care on Jersey by Birmingham social services.

The whereabouts of at least one of these children remains unknown.

2. John Hemming, believes children from other parts of the UK were taken to Jersey.

3. Hemming says: 'The Government has refused to order councils to check properly because it does not want to open a can of worms, on the links between abusers in England and Jersey.'

4. UK Schools Minister Kevin Brennan has told Parliament that children from the UK cannot be placed in care in Jersey without a court order.

Yet Birmingham children were sent to Jersey without such orders.

5. Hemming has asked English councils (local governments) to check their records but 'Most seem only to have done cursory checks, just checking recent electronic files, or asking around the office.'

Some councils, including Islington, have refused to check their records.

6. In Islington in North London a child sex network infiltrated 12 children's homes, while Margaret Hodge (friend of Tony Blair) was council leader.

Key staff, The Mail on Sunday revealed, were from Jersey or had strong Channel Islands connections.

Liz Davies, a former Islington senior social worker, said:

'It is becoming clear that children at Haut de la Garenne (on Jersey) were sent on holiday to children's homes in England which were also notorious for abuse, while the children in the English homes they went to were sent to Haut de la Garenne. They literally swapped beds...

'I am perturbed that police in Britain have not written to all local authorities on the mainland to demand they check which children they sent to Jersey.'

Jason Swift

In 1985, 14-year-old Jason Swift was killed by a child-abuse gang.

Jason is believed to have lived in Islington council's Conewood Street children's home. (Jersey child abuse link to Islington, London)

Sidney Cooke, Leslie Bailey, Robert Oliver, and Lennie Smith, were imprisoned in 1989 for the manslaughter of Jason Swift.

Cooke and his gang had sexually tortured and prostituted a number of boys.

The gang is believed to have killed at least nine children.[2]

Cooke was sentenced to 19 years in prison.

In 1998, Cooke was let out of prison eight years early.

There have been allegations that very powerful people have been involved in a child-abuse ring connected to Islington children's homes. ( Jersey child abuse link to Islington, London)

In 1982 Margaret Hodge (nee Oppenheimer) became Islington council leader.

She became a close friend of Tony Blair, who lived in Islington, a few doors away from Hodge.

In February 1990 Liz Davies and David Cofie, senior social workers, discovered evidence of sex abuse of children and reported it to a residents' meeting attended by Mrs Hodge.

In May 1990 Mr Cofie and Ms Davies were told by Lyn Cusack, assistant director of social services, to stop interviewing children about the abuse claims.

On 1 May 1997 Tony Blair moved from Islington to Downing Street.

In June 2003 Mrs Hodge was made minister for Children. (Another minister under fire: call for Hodge to quit over child ...)

The Independent, 9 March 2008, has an article on missing children (Our children are missing: Most vulnerable youngsters are targeted) which tells us the following:

Sarah Benford, 14, disappeared from Welford House children's home in Northampton in April 2000.

She is still missing.

The UK's Police National Missing Persons Bureau has 1,418 "open cases" of missing children.

According to Police figures more than 100 children who should be in care have been missing for at least four years.

Many children who go missing are not reported to the police.

Member of parliament Helen Southworth says: "All figures on children missing from anywhere are estimates because, astonishingly, there is no requirement for data to be recorded or collected nationally."

Almost 1,000 children went missing from UK residential and foster care in 2007.

The number that went missing from care increased from 570 in 1997 to 950 in 2007.

1. Cosham's Children's Cottage Homes in Portsmouth, across the water from Jersey, is at the centre of a child abuse scandal.

Two former child residents of Cosham's Children's Cottage Homes claim children were taken from their dormitories during the night and disappeared.

Reg Tugatt, 59, a former resident of Cosham's Children's Cottage Homes says he saw 'suspicious holes dug'.

Reg has given police a map showing holes dug in the vicinity of Cosham's Children's Cottage Homes - in a wood and near an orchard. (Police handed map of holes at child abuse scandal home / Second 'abuse' victim speaks out)

Reg said he was taken into care at the home in 1956, aged eight, and stayed there for three years.

2. A spokeswoman for Hampshire Police said: 'We have no plans to dig up any sites in Portsmouth and continue to hold the position that there are no links between allegations made in reference to the Children's Cottage Homes in Cosham and the ongoing investigation in Jersey.'

3. Les Cummings, 63, is campaigning for an apology from Portsmouth City Council for the abuse he claims to have at the hands of his foster father and at the Children's Cottage Homes.

A total of 21 men and women told detectives they suffered physical and sexual abuse as children at Children's Cottage Homes.

A 78-year-old woman from Devon was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault but when police passed the file to Crown Prosecution Service lawyers they decided there was not enough evidence to charge her.

Les Cummings went to police to ask them to look again at their earlier investigation into the claims of 21 men and women.

The Crown Prosecution Service examined allegations against the centre but decided not to prosecute.

Both Reg and Les claim that a number of children were taken from their dormitories during the night and disappeared.

4. In 2001, former Mayor of Portsmouth Freddie Emery-Wallis, 'was jailed for nine months after he was found guilty on five counts of indecent assault against two teenage boys.' (Polar)

5. There have been allegations of a large child abuse ring, involving top people, in the Portsmouth area - Cached

6. Police announced on 25 February 2008 that they were investigating claims that the Jersey case was linked to abuse at the Children’s Cottage Home in Portsmouth. - Policed reopen Hampshire child home investigation

7. Fort Monckton, near Portsmouth is reportedly used for the training of MI6 recruits - (Sacked spy's blog takes on MI6).


Child abuse in the UK: Jersey, Kincora, North Wales...

Edward Paisnel, the Beast of Jersey, was the son of wealthy Jersey landowners.

During the period 1958 - 1971, Paisnel abducted and abused a number of children.

Paisnel was a fan of the 15th-century Breton, Gilles de Rais, who murdered around 200 children.

The authorities discovered that Paisnel had a secret satanic chamber. (Sir Peter Crill obituary - Times Online)

Paisnel claimed he was a member of a satanic group. File: /files/Religion/Wicca/witchcraftDeviltry.txt
No other members of the 'black magic group' were ever arrested.

In 1971, Paisnel was convicted of thirteen sex offences against young children, ( The Human Beast ) and sent to jail.

Paisnel, the Beast of Jersey, visited Jersey's Haut de la Garenne orphanage dressed as Father Christmas during his reign of terror in the 1960s (Notorious paedophile dubbed the 'Beast of Jersey' linked to ...)

The police and MI5 are alleged to have links to child abuse in Northern Ireland.

Kincora Boys

1. "For years, MI5 had been aware of a homosexual vice ring operating within the Kincora Boys Home in East Belfast, which was run by William McGrath, a notorious homosexual....

"McGrath... was employed by MI5 since the mid 1960s.

"Amongst various other Loyalist members of the homosexual ring were John McKeague, who ran the Loyalist paramilitary organisation, the Red Hand Commandos, which was involved in many sectarian killings...

"So, MI5 allowed the ill-treatment and sexual abuse of residents at the Kincora Boys Home to continue..."

2. "The role of MI5 sponsored boys homes/abuse circles in Kincora, Northern Ireland, Dunblane, Scotland and probably Cardiff mirrors on a smaller scale the systematic role that State- sponsored child abuse has played in the centres of power in the US and Brussels."- portland imc - 2007.05.11 - Scotland’s May 2007 Election Fiasco

3. "Scallywag Magazine alleged that MI5 used to take foreign diplomats to the North Wales homes, give them boys to 'play' with, secretly filmed them as they buggered, abused and tortured boys then kept the tapes as evidence.

Over a dozen victims who complained of abuse by the paedophile ring 'have met suspicious deaths'." - North Wales paedophile ring, top people, the police and the security services

Now defunct magazine Scallywag covered events at Bryn Alyn in detail

October 1997 (PUBLIC FIGURES NAMED IN PAEDOPHILE RING By Nick Davies 1997) :

"Policemen, social workers and prominent public figures have been accused of belonging to a paedophile ring which indulged in a relentless campaign of physical and sexual abuse in children's homes in North Wales.

"The names of the alleged members of the ring have been given by witnesses in public sessions of the North Wales Child Abuse Tribunal, but they have been suppressed by the tribunal's chairman, Sir Ronald Waterhouse QC, who has threatened the media with High Court proceedings if they print them.

"The Guardian today publishes for the first time detailed evidence about the alleged ring, which is said to have been based in Wrexham, and to have infiltrated local children's homes over a 20 year period.

"Witnesses claim that members of the ring used their connections with police and social services to conceal their activities. All of the accused have denied the allegations.

"Those named to the tribunal include:

"A man who bears the same surname as a prominent Conservative supporter. Two witnesses have told the tribunal of a rich and powerful man who belonged to the alleged ring.

"The son of an influential peer who admitted to police that he had been having sex with an under-age boy from one of the homes. Despite his admission, he was never prosecuted.

"A powerful public official who has previously been cleared of abuse. Six witnesses have given separate accounts to the tribunal of his alleged rape of young boys. Another has reported him attending parties in Wrexham which were supplied with boys from a children's home.

"Two social workers and two police officers, one of whom was accused of abuse on four separate occasions and exonerated each time, another of whom has since been jailed in another part of the country for gross indecency with a child.

"More than a dozen other local men, including an executive with a local authority, a senior probation officer and a director of a major company."

4. "I believe that Hamilton was a major provider of pornographic photographs and videos to a ring of men prominent in Central Scotland, including police officers who protected him from numerous allegations of physical abuse at boys' camps and clubs he ran." - aangirfan: Dunblane

5. Margaret Hodge (née Margaret Oppenheimer) was linked to the alleged cover up of a pedophile scandal. In 2003, Hodge was appointmented as Minister for Children by Tony Blair.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,1074,1087250,00.html

Allegations of child abuse at the Islington children's home were borne out by official inquiries.

6. In a number of Leicester children's homes, between 1973 and 1986, various adults were involved in sexual abuse of children. (Uncovering The Past Abuse of Children in Care ).

These were homes run by Frank Beck. At his trial in 1991, Beck was found guilty of 17 counts of physical and sexual abuse.

There was a Police Complaints Authority investigation into why so many of the complaints made to police by children had been ignored.

7. Quarriers Homes, Nazareth House and St Ninians in Scotland - An independent report for the Scottish government found that there has been massive child abuse in Scottish care homes. (Scotland’s shame )

The Herald, 23 November 2007, provides the details (‘These are the voices that need to be heard’) :

"When she was nine - or thereabouts - she (Elizabeth McWilliams) was raped by the man Quarriers called her house father. 'He took his chance,' she said matter-of-factly.

"Some children complained of abuse. That had consequences. 'Boys,' she said. 'Well, they were hung up on door hangers and their penises tied to doorhandles.'"

Quarriers Homes is a Christian community.

Helen Holland was sent to Nazareth House in Kilmarnock, a children's home run by nuns.

At Nazareth House Helen was raped by a priest.

"When she was eight, a nun pulled a hood over her head to help a priest rape her. The sexual abuse went on for three years until, aged 11, she fell pregnant. The same nun kicked her in the stomach until she miscarried."

She was 'beaten to a pulp' by a nun.

There was abuse at many other homes (The landmark cases: abuse in children's homes )

At St Ninians: "In 2003 Michael Murphy, 69, formerly known as Brother Benedict, a monk with the de la Salle order, was jailed for two years on ten charges of physical abuse during the 1960s, including torturing pupils with an electric shock device, force-feeding them vomit and whipping them with knotted boot laces."

8. Moira Anderson



11-year-old Moira Anderson was last seen boarding a bus in Coatbridge, near Glasgow, Scotland, in 1957.

She was on her way to the shops to buy a box of chocolates for her mum’s birthday.

According to The Sunday Times (Pressure on police to release paedophile dossier), 23 April 2006, Strathclyde Police have a dossier listing members of a child-abuse ring.

This dossier may identify the people who kidnapped Moira.

The dossier is said to implicate senior public figures, including senior police officers and members of the Crown Office and former Scottish Office.

These public figures are said to have abused children in Strathclyde (the Glasgow area) during the 1950s and 1960s.

The dossier is said to list vehicles and safe houses used in Glasgow, Monklands and Paisley where children were hidden before being taken to sex parties.

Strathclyde police have decided not to release the dossier.

The dossier was written by James Gallogley, a convicted child-abuser who died in Peterhead prison in 1999.

Satanic child abuse and the police

Cover-up of the Jersey-Portsmouth link?

PORTSMOUTH AND JERSEY

The British security services, fascism and child abuse.

Corrupt Jersey policemen try to block Jersey child abuse and murder investigation.

Jersey child abuse link to Islington, London

Jason Swift; Islington children's home; hundreds of missing children

Torture and death of British children; the death of Gareth.

The 1999 child abuse scandal in Latvia

The Police Chief, the Judge and Child Abuse

'Jersey care home boss raped his own foster daughter'

Jersey; top people; a cover-up?

Child abuse

Bryn Estyn Boys' Home in North Wales

Child abuse at the Kincora boys' home

Jersey: the cover-up begins?

Jersey, Dutroux and cover-ups

Jersey - Channel TV names top people caught up in the child abuse scandal

Philip Martin Bailhache and Haut de la Garenne in Jersey

Dukes, Freemasons, Jersey...

Jersey victims

Child abuse in the UK: Jersey, Kincora, North Wales, Dunblane, Islington, Leicester, Quarriers Homes, Nazareth House, St Ninians, Coatbridge

Satanic child abuse and the police

Rapes and murders in Canadian boarding schools; thousands died.

Child abuse and murder in Canada

Jersey and famous people

The bin Laden links to the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey)

Child abuse; Jersey; Kincora; North Wales; Dunblane

Satanic child abuse on Jersey.

related posts:

thailand: pedophilia, us diplomats, religious org

"baby p": another dutroux or casa pia?

sarko chad children chilling...

long recap on paedophilia belgium and more...

update: 4 june 2010

Blundering council staff 'forgot' suspected child abuse victims
Hundreds of suspected child abuse victims were “forgotten” by council staff and wrongly left waiting several weeks to be assessed by social workers, officials admitted.

strategy shift in the middle east

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http://www.voltairenet.org/article165434.html

source: Reseau Voltaire

Strategy shift in the Middle East

Thierry Meyssan

The failure to reshape the Greater Middle East has left the field open to a new alliance, the Tehran-Damascus-Ankara triangle. Since nature is allergic to vacuums, Moscow is filling the space left vacant by Washington. The wind has changed and it’s blowing strong. In a matter of a few months, the entire regional balance of power has tipped.

16 May 2010

The new formula for the Middle East: the Turkey-Iran-Syria triangle (L to R, Presidents Gül, Ahmadinejad and Assad).

In recent months the equilibrium of the Middle East has undergone a complete shift. First of all, the capabilities and positions of a number of players have changed.

The Israeli armed forces, who had gone from one victory to another for decades, are no longer able to control the ground. During their offensive against Lebanon (2006) and against Gaza (2008), they displayed an increase of destructive power, but showed they are not longer capable of achieving their goals, in this case the destruction of Hezbollah and Hamas. In addition, their arsenal, equipped as required by the United States, no longer guarantees their domination. Their tanks have become vulnerable to Russian RPG, when they used to constitute the major component of their blitzkrieg. Their navy is threatened by the land-sea missiles supplied to Hezbollah by China, which are now equipped with an anti-jamming system that they lacked in 2006. Finally, their air dominance will not resist for long to the proliferation of Russian S-300, currently being shipped to the region.

The quasi-independence of Iraqi Kurdistan engineered by the United States, the economic development of this quasi-state under Israeli control and Washington’s blatant support of the separatist Kurds under the PKK umbrella, compelled the Turkish military to a complete turnaround. The Atlantic Alliance is no longer a warrant for Turkish territorial integrity and Israel becomes an enemy. While Ankara is careful to placate Washington, the tone with Tel Aviv has continued to escalate since the altercation between Recip Erdogan and Shimon Peres at the Forum in Davos, and the diplomatic incident linked to the Turkish television series The Valley of the Wolves.

The Iraqi chaos and the creation of a quasi-state in Kurdistan have forced neighbouring states to work together to avert a spillover effect, especially since Washington has already attempted to destabilize them all to keep them out of the Iraqi game. Thus the United States and Israel covertly supported Kurdish separatists in Turkey (PKK), those in Iran (Pejak) and those in Syria. As a result, the Iran-Syria axis has been replaced by the Iran-Syria-Turkey triangle. This new alliance enjoys a historical legitimacy without parallel. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has been the leader of the Shiites. After Paul Bremmer’s destruction of the Iraqi Baath party, Syria stepped in as the undisputed leader of the secular camp. Finally, Turkey, heir to the Ottoman Caliphate, is the cradle of Sunni Islam. Taken together, these states cover nearly the entire field of Middle Eastern politics. This alliance has closed the curtain on the Divide et Impera (divide and rule) policy, successfully applied by the colonial powers to dominate this vast region. In particular, it puts an end to the Fitna, that is to say the Islamic "civil war" between Sunnis and Shiites. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has already invited Iranian President Ahmadinejad to join him in a pilgrimage to Mecca, of which he is the custodian. As the heir of the Ottomans, Turkey embodies the historical legacy of Sunni Islam. In addition, the new triangle widens Ankara’s horizons constantly blocked by the endless procrastinations of the European Union.

The "de-Baathisation" process of Iraq, i.e. the hunting season against the former executive officers of the country, has caused a mass exodus. In six years, more than one million Iraqis have been welcomed to Syria. Such Arab hospitality includes totally free admission to schools and universities as well as access to the overall health system. Initially, this vast immigration wave caused a serious economic crisis, but once digested, it has provided Syria with highly qualified executives and has injected a new dynamism.

The turmoil organized by the United States in Yemen forced the Saudi royal family to support King Abdhallah’s policy of appeasement towards Syria and Iran. Consequently, the Hariri Lebanese-Saudi clan was asked to reconcile with President Bashar al-Assad and to recognize the legitimacy of the armed Lebanese Resistance. Suddenly, the ambivalent results of the rigged 2009 parliamentary elections - where General Aoun and Hezbollah won by a majority of votes, but where a majority of seats was obtained by the coalition formed around the pro-American clan Hariri and the extreme Christian right - took on a different meaning, opening the way for a government of national unity. While the warlords like socialist Walid Jumblatt made a 180 ° turn in order to go with the tide.

However, this trend remains fragile since Washington may still have the possibility to destabilize the new troika. Be that as it may, several attempts by corrupt Syrian generals to overthrow Bashar al-Assad were foiled even before they could act. The multiple attacks orchestrated by the CIA in the non-Persian provinces of Iran failed to trigger separatist revolts. While the colour revolution, organized by the CIA and MI6 during the presidential election, was been drowned out by a human tidal wave. To the tens of thousands of protesters in the northern neighbourhoods of Tehran, the rest of the country responded with a massive demonstration of 5 million people. Finally, it appears that Washington is incapable of resorting again to Gladio to establish a military dictatorship in Turkey. On the one hand because the new generation of Turkish generals no longer buttressed to Kemalism and secondly because the AKP Muslim-Democratic is intent on dismantling Ergenekon (current version Turkish Gladio).

Washington and Tel Aviv could also fabricate fraudulent files to justify military action. Thus, since 2007, they have been alleging that Israel discovered and bombed a military nuclear research center in Syria and that Iran is developing a vast programe of a similar nature. More recently, the same powers have accused Syria of having introduced Scuds into Lebanon. However, these accusations do not stand up to analysis any more than those formulated by Secretary of State Colin Powell before the United Nations Security Council United Nations regarding Iraqi’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction. The numerous IAEA inspection teams that visited Iran only found evidence of civilian activities, and the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon have denied the presence of Scuds in the country.

Russian makes its entrance

The loss of U.S. influence is so palpable that General David Petraeus, Commander of U.S. Central Command, has set off alarm bells in Washington. In his view, the game played by the Israelis not only in Palestine, but especially in Iraq, has thwarted U.S. plans in the region. Moreover, the stagnation of the GIs situation in Iraq and Afghanistan has made them hostages to Turkey, Syria and Iran, the only ones able to pacify the rebellious populations. In a complete reversal of roles, the strategic ally of the Pentagon has become a burden, while its regional enemies are now its shields.

Noting the failure of U.S. plans to reshape U.S. Greater Middle East, Moscow has repositioned itself on the regional scene on the occasion of President Dmitry Medvedev’s visits to Damascus and Ankara.

With regard to Israel, Russia reaffirmed that the political settlement of the conflict should be based on the relevant UN resolutions (including the inalienable right of return for Palestinians) and the principles of the Madrid conference (return of the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, in exchange for a peace treaty). Moreover, Dmitry Medvedev confirmed his country’s preference for the two-state solution. Given the presence of one million ex-Soviets in Israel, Moscow wants to forestall a foreseeable exodus in case the Zionist regime should fall. In this context, he advocated for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, and met Khaled Mechaal, the political leader of the Palestinian resistance, notwithstanding Washington’s stigmatisation of Hamas as a "terrorist" organisation. This represents a decisive step for Russia: President Medevedev had refused three times to receive Mechaal when he passed through Moscow; this time he had an interview with him and, what is more, in Damascus. On this occasion, the Russian president stressed the increasing urgency of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and deplored Washington’s lack of interest in solving this tragedy. Finally, alluding to Israeli threats to bomb the convoys of weapons from Syria to Lebanon, he warned Tel Aviv against an escalation of tension.

Russia supports the political and economic rapprochement in progress between Iran, Syria and Turkey. The three leading States in the Middle East have entered a phase of intense cooperation. In a matter of months, they have opened their borders and liberalised their trade at an accelerated pace. Their economies which were paralised by years of war have suddenly been energised. Russia has no intention of staying out of this new area of prosperity. Immediately, Ankara and Moscow have lifted visa requirements for their citizens. In this way, a Turk can enter Russia without any formalities while he cannot do the same in the United States nor the EU, despite the fact that Turkey is a NATO member and a EU candidate.

Moscow has set up permanent consultative bodies at high diplomatic and economic levels with Damascus and Ankara, in contrast with the policy of the United States. Earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had ordered Syria to distance itself from the Resistance. In response, President Bashar al-Assad immediately appeared alongside his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and ironically signed a document titled "Treaty of reduced distance". The meeting was convened short notice and Khaled Mechaal could not attend, but Hamas was nevertheless involved in the process. Following up on his threats, President Barack Obama has renewed economic sanctions against Syria for another two years.

Rosatom and Atomstroyexport, which are completing the construction of a civilian nuclear plant in Iran (Bushehr) and are contemplating new ones, will build another one in Turkey for 20 billion dollars. It should be launched in seven years. A similar project is under study in Syria. The lack of electricity in a region that withstood Israeli bombardments is the main obstacle to economic development. From a Middle Eastern point of view, Russia’s eagerness to build these power stations stems less from a commercial appetite than from a desire to provide the populations concerned with the means to accelerate the economic development that Westerners have denied them for so long. In addition Stroitransgaz and Gazprom will ensure the transit of Syrian gas to Lebanon, Beirut being prevented by its Israeli neighbour from exploiting its large reserves offshore.

Militarily, Russia has taken delivery of its new naval base in Syria. This will allow it to restore the balance in the Mediterranean from which Russia has been more or less absent since the dissolution of the USSR. It also confirmed the forthcoming delivery of S-300 missiles to Tehran to protect Iran from U.S. and Israeli threats of bombardment.

While condemning Iran’s provocations, Russian diplomats have reiterated that they do not believe in Western accusations about Iran’s and Syria’s alleged nuclear weapons programme. While the protocol among the states bordering the Caspian Sea only provides for a supply of arms to Iran in case of attack, President Dmitry Medvedev spoke of a possible direct involvement of Russia and warned the United States against a war in Iran that could degenerate into a Third World War. On this basis, he endorsed the denuclearization plan of the region, that is to say the dismantling of the Israeli nuclear arsenal. The case has recently been brought before the IAEA.

Russia attaches special importance to helping Turkey resolve its ancient disputes with Greece and Armenia, including the Cyprus and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts. Thus, Ankara could move away permanently from Tel Aviv and Washington and recover its full independence. Important, albeit insufficient, steps have been made by President Abdullah Gül vis-à-vis Yerevan. Ignoring 95 years of hatred, Turkey and Armenia established diplomatic relations. Further progress should follow vis-à-vis Athens with the blessing of the Orthodox Patriarch Cyril I of Moscow. From this point of view, Recip Erdogan’s visit to Greece marks a historical event that boosts the process of reconciliation in the Aegean Sea, which began in the 30s and was interrupted by the Second World War.

Disrupting U.S. strategy in the Black Sea and the Caspian, Ankara accepted a huge Russian investment to build a pipeline between Samsun to Ceyhan. It is expected to carry Russian oil from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean without having to use the straits, unfit for the transit of pollutants. Identically, Ankara is considering its possible involvement in the Russian South Stream gas pipeline project. If it were to be confirmed, it would render ineffectual the competing Nabucco project sponsored by the United States and the European Union.

Ultimately, Russia’s support ensures the sustainability of the Tehran-Damascus-Ankara triangle in the face of U.S. and European hostility. The strategic balance in the Middle East has tipped. The shockwave could spread to the Caucasus.

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http://www.voltairenet.org/article165394.html

Basculement stratégique au Proche-Orient

Thierry Meyssan

L’échec du remodelage du Grand Moyen-Orient a laissé le champ libre à une nouvelle alliance, celle du triangle Téhéran-Damas-Ankara. La nature ayant horreur du vide, Moscou comble l’espace laissé vacant par Washington. Le vent a tourné et il souffle fort. En quelques mois, c’est tout l’équilibre régional qui a été bouleversé.

La nouvelle donne au Proche-Orient : le triangle Turquie-Iran-Syrie (de gauche à droite, les présidents Gül, Ahmadinejad et Assad).

L’équilibre du Proche-Orient a été entièrement modifié au cours des derniers mois. Tout d’abord, les capacités et les positions de plusieurs acteurs ont changé.

Les forces armées israéliennes, qui avaient enchaîné victoire sur victoire durant des décennies, ne sont plus capables de maîtriser le terrain. Au cours de leur offensive contre le Liban (2006), puis contre Gaza (2008), elle ont montré qu’elles ont accru leur puissance de destruction, mais qu’elles ne parviennent plus à atteindre les objectifs qu’elles se fixent, en l’occurrence détruire le Hezbollah et le Hamas.
En outre, leur arsenal, alimenté autant que de besoin par les Etats-Unis, ne garantit plus leur domination. Leurs chars sont devenus vulnérables aux RPG russes, alors qu’ils formaient l’outil central de leur blitzkrieg. Leur marine est menacée par les missiles sol-mer livrés par la Chine au Hezbollah et désormais dotés des système anti-brouillage qui leur manquaient en 2006. Enfin, leur domination aérienne ne résistera pas longtemps à la prolifération des S-300 russes, en cours de livraison dans la région.

La quasi-indépendance du Kurdistan irakien organisée par les Etats-Unis, le développement économique de ce quasi-Etat sous tutelle israélienne, et le soutien trop visible des USA aux séparatistes kurdes du PKK ont contraint les militaires turcs à un revirement complet. L’Alliance atlantique n’apparaît plus comme la garante de l’intégrité territoriale turque et Israël devient un ennemi.
Si Ankara veille à ménager Washington, le ton n’a cessé de monter avec Tel-Aviv depuis l’algarade opposant Recip Erdogan à Shimon Peres lors du Forum de Davos, à l’incident diplomatique relatif à la série télévisée La Vallée des loups.

Le chaos irakien et la création du quasi-Etat du Kurdistan ont contraint les Etats riverains à se concerter pour se protéger de la contamination. D’autant que Washington a tenté de les déstabiliser tous pour les tenir à l’écart du jeu irakien. Ainsi les Etats-Unis et Israël ont soutenu en sous-main les séparatistes kurdes de Turquie (PKK), ceux d’Iran (Pejak) et ceux de Syrie.
Par conséquent, l’axe Iran-Syrie a fait place à un triangle Iran-Syrie-Turquie. Celui-ci dispose d’une légitimité historique sans équivalent.
Depuis la Révolution islamique, l’Iran est le chef de file des chiites. Après la destruction du Baas irakien par Paul Bremmer, la Syrie est devenue le leader incontesté du camp laïque. Enfin, la Turquie, héritière du califat, est le berceau du sunnisme. A eux trois, ces Etats couvrent la presque totalité du champ politique proche-oriental.
Cette alliance clos le chapitre du Divide et Impera (diviser pour régner), que les puissances coloniales avaient su appliquer pour dominer cette très vaste région. Elle met particulièrement un point final à la Fitna, c’est-à-dire à la guerre civile musulmane entre sunnites et chiites. Déjà le roi Abdallah d’Arabie saoudite avait invité le président iranien Ahmadinejad à faire avec lui le pèlerinage à La Mecque, dont il est le gardien. Mais la Turquie est l’héritière des Ottomans, et à ce titre incarne le sunnisme historique.
De plus, pour Ankara, ce nouveau triangle élargit enfin un horizon bouché par les interminables atermoiements de l’Union européenne.

La dé-baasisation de l’Irak, c’est-à-dire la chasse ouverte contre les anciens cadres administratifs du pays, a provoqué un exode massif. En six ans, plus d’un million d’Irakiens ont été accueillis en Syrie. Cette hospitalité arabe inclut l’accès gratuit sans contrepartie aux établissements scolaires et universitaires ainsi qu’à l’ensemble du système de santé. Dans un premier temps, cette ample vague migratoire a provoqué une grave crise économique dans le pays, mais une fois digérée, elle lui apporte des cadres très qualifiés et une nouveau dynamisme.

Les troubles organisés par les Etats-Unis au Yémen ont contraint la famille royale saoudienne à soutenir la politique du roi Abdhallah d’apaisement avec la Syrie et l’Iran. Par voie de conséquence, le clan libano-saoudien Hariri a été prié de se réconcilier avec le président Bachar el-Assad et de reconnaître la légitimité de l’armement de la Résistance libanaise.
Du coup, le résultat ambigüe des élections législatives truquées —gagnées en voix par la coalition conduite par le général Aoun et le Hezbollah, mais gagnées en sièges par la coalition pro-US formée autour du clan Hariri et de l’extrême-droite chrétienne— a changé de signification et ouvert la voie à un gouvernement d’union nationale. Tandis que des chefs de guerre comme le socialiste Walid Jumblatt opéraient un virage à 180° pour s’aligner sur le sens du vent.

Cependant, cette évolution est fragile, Washington ayant peut-être la possibilité de déstabiliser la nouvelle troïka.
Quoi qu’il en soit, plusieurs tentatives de renversement de Bachar el-Assad par des généraux corrompus ont été éventées avant même qu’ils ne puissent passer à l’acte.
Les multiples attentats orchestrés par la CIA dans les provinces non-persanes d’Iran n’ont pas donné le signal de révoltes séparatistes. Tandis que la révolution colorée, organisée par la CIA et le MI6 à l’occasion de l’élection présidentielle, a été noyée par une marée humaine. Aux quelques dizaines de milliers de contestataires des quartiers nord de Téhéran a répondu une manifestation monstre de 5 millions de personnes.
Enfin, Washington semble dans l’incapacité d’user une nouvelle fois du Gladio pour instaurer une dictature militaire en Turquie. D’une part parce que la nouvelle génération de généraux turcs n’est plus arc-boutée au kémalisme et d’autre part parce que le gouvernement démocrate-musulman de l’AKP s’est appliqué à démanteler l’Ergenekon (version actuelle du Gladio turc).

Washington et Tel-Aviv peuvent aussi monter des dossiers mensongers pour justifier d’actions militaires.
Ainsi ont-ils laissé entendre depuis 2007 qu’Israël aurait découvert et bombardé un centre de recherche militaire nucléaire en Syrie et que l’Iran conduirait un vaste programme de même nature. Plus récemment, les mêmes puissances ont accusé la Syrie d’avoir fait entrer des Scud au Liban.
Toutefois ces imputations ne résistent pas plus à l’analyses que celles délivrées par le secrétaire d’Etat Colin Powell au Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies à propos des prétendues armes de destruction massive irakiennes. Les diverses inspections de l’AIEA n’ont mit en évidence que des activités civiles, et la force de maintien de la paix des nations Unies au Liban a démenti la présence de Scud dans le pays.

L’entrée en scène de la Russie

La perte d’influence des Etats-Unis est si palpable que le général David Petraeus, commandant en chef du Central Command a sonné l’alarme à Washington. A ses yeux, le jeu joué par les Israéliens non seulement en Palestine, mais surtout en Irak, a plombé les projets états-uniens dans la région.
Plus encore, l’enlisement des GI’s en Irak et en Afghanistan en fait des otages de la Turquie, de la Syrie et de l’Iran, seuls en mesure d’apaiser les populations révoltées.
Dans une complète inversion des rôles, l’allié stratégique du Pentagone est devenu un boulet, tandis que ses ennemis régionaux sont ses boucliers.

Prenant acte de l’échec du remodelage US du Grand Moyen-Orient, Moscou s’est repositionné sur la scène régionale lors du voyage du président Dmitry Medvedev à Damas et Ankara.

Concernant les conflits avec Israël, la Russie a réaffirmé que le règlement politique devait être fondé sur les résolutions pertinentes de l’ONU (incluant l’inaliénable droit au retour des Palestiniens) et les principes de la conférence de Madrid (restitution des territoires occupés, dont Jérusalem-Est et le Golan syrien, en échange d’un Traité de paix).
En outre, Dmitry Medvedev a confirmé la préférence russe pour la solution à deux Etats. Compte tenu de la présence d’un million d’ex-Soviétiques en Israël, Moscou veut prévenir un exode prévisible en cas de chute du régime sioniste. Dans cette perspective, il a souhaité une réconciliation entre le Fatah et le Hamas, et a rencontré Khaled Mechaal, le leader politique de la Résistance palestinienne, alors même que celui-ci est qualifié de « terroriste » par les Etats-Unis. Il s’agit bien d’un pas décisif de la Russie : le président Medevedev avait refusé par trois fois de recevoir M. Mechaal de passage à Moscou, il a cette fois eu une entrevue avec lui, et qui plus est à Damas. A cette occasion, le président russe a souligné l’urgence croissante de la situation humanitaire à Gaza et déploré le désintérêt de Washington à résoudre ce drame.
Enfin, faisant allusion aux menaces israéliennes de bombarder les convois d’armes passant de Syrie au Liban, il a mis en garde Tel-Aviv contre une escalade de la tension.

La Russie soutient le rapprochement politique et économique en cours entre l’Iran, la Syrie et la Turquie. Les trois Etats leaders au Proche-Orient sont entrés dans une phase d’intense coopération. En quelques mois, ils ont ouvert leurs frontières et libéralisé leurs échanges à marche forcée. Leurs économies bloquées par les années de guerre ont été soudainement ventilées. La Russie entend ne pas rester à l’écart de cette nouvelle zone de prospérité. Immédiatement, Ankara et Moscou ont abrogé la nécessité de visas pour leurs ressortissants. Ainsi un Turc peut entrer sans formalité en Russie alors qu’il n’y est toujours pas autorisé ni aux USA, ni dans l’Union européenne, bien que la Turquie soit membre de l’OTAN et candidate à l’UE.

Moscou a créé des instances permanentes de concertation à haut niveau, aux plans diplomatique et économique, avec Damas et avec Ankara, qui contrastent avec la politique des Etats-Unis.
En début d’année, la secrétaire d’Etat US, Hillary Clinton, avait sommé la Syrie de prendre ses distances avec la Résistance. Pour toute réponse le président Bashar el-Assad s’était immédiatement affiché aux côtés de son homologue iranien Mahmoud Ahmadinejad et du secrétaire général du Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah et avait signé un document ironiquement qualifé de « Traité de distance réduite ». La rencontre avait été improvisée de sorte que Khaled Mechaal n’avait pas eu le temps de s’y rendre, mais le Hamas était associé à la démarche.
Mettant ses menaces à exécution, le président Barack Obama a répliqué en reconduisant pour deux ans des sanctions économiques contre la Syrie.

Rosatom et Atomstroyexport, qui terminent la construction d’une centrale nucléaire civile en Iran (Bushehr) et sont en discussion pour de nouvelles, en construiront une autre en Turquie pour 20 milliards de dollars. Elle devrait être inaugurée dans sept ans. Un projet similaire est à l’étude en Syrie. Le manque d’électricité, dans une région qui a souffert des bombardements israéliens, est le principal handicap au développement économique. Du point de vue proche-oriental l’empressement russe à construire ces centrales n’est pas tant imputable à un appétit commercial qu’à une volonté de donner aux peuples concernés le moyen d’accélérer le développement économique que les Occidentaux leur ont si longtemps interdit.
En outre Stroitransgaz et Gazprom vont assurer le transit du gaz syrien vers le Liban, Beyrouth étant empêché par son voisin israélien d’exploiter ses importantes réserves off shore.

Au plan militaire, la Russie a pris livraison de sa nouvelle base navale en Syrie. Celle-ci lui permettra de rétablir l’équilibre en Méditerranée dont elle est plus ou moins absent depuis la dissolution de l’URSS. Elle a également confirmé la prochaine livraison de missiles S-300 à Téhéran afin de protéger l’Iran des menaces de bombardement états-uniennes et israéliennes.

Tout en stigmatisant les provocations iraniennes, les diplomates russes ont répété qu’ils ne croient pas aux accusations occidentales à propos de prétendus programmes nucléaires militaires iranien ou syrien. Alors que le protocole des Etats riverains de la Caspienne ne prévoit qu’une fourniture d’armes à l’Iran si celui-ci était attaqué, le président Medvedev a évoqué une possible intervention directe de la Russie et mis en garde les Etats-Unis contre une guerre en Iran qui dégénérerait en Troisième Guerre mondiale. Sur ce fondement, il a apporté son soutient au projet de dénucléarisation de la région, c’est-à-dire de démantèlement de l’arsenal nucléaire israélien. L’affaire vient d’être portée devant l’AIEA.

Moscou attache une importance particulière à aider la Turquie à régler ses contentieux séculaires avec la Grèce et l’Arménie, incluant les conflits de Chypre et du Haut-Karabagh. De la sorte, Ankara pourrait s’éloigner définitivement de Tel-Aviv et de Washington et reprendre sa complète indépendance. Des pas importants, mais insuffisants, ont été accomplis par le président Abdullah Gül vis-à-vis d’Erevan. Passant outre 95 ans de haine, la Turquie et l’Arménie ont établi des relations diplomatiques. D’autres avancées devraient suivre vis-à-vis d’Athènes avec la bénédiction du patriarche orthodoxe Cyril Ier de Moscou. De ce point de vue, la visite de Recip Erdogan en Grèce est un événement historique qui relance le processus de réconciliation en Mer Egée, amorcé dans les années 30 et interrompu par la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

Bouleversant la stratégie US en Mer Noire et dans la Caspienne, Ankara a accepté un gigantesque investissement russe pour la construction d’un pipe-line reliant Samsun à Ceyhan. Il devrait permettre d’acheminer le pétrole russe de la Mer Noire vers la Méditerranée sans avoir à emprunter les détroits, impropres au transit de matières polluantes. Identiquement, Ankara étudie sa possible participation au projet de gazoduc russe South Stream. Si celle-ci devait être confirmée, elle rendrait inutile le projet concurrent des Etats-Unis et de l’Union européenne, Nabucco.

En définitive, le soutien russe garantit la pérennité du triangle Téhéran-Damas-Ankara face à l’hostilité des Etats-Unis et de l’Union européenne. L’équilibre stratégique du Proche-Orient vient de basculer. L’onde de choc pourrait se propager au Caucase.