Len Colby Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 And the PTB backed Mubarak till it was obvious his fall was inevitable, which didn't stop people from protesting. The majority of Egyptians support the MB, similar or more radical groups. And this is irrelevant to your theory regarding Syria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share Posted March 29, 2013 (edited) The majority of Egyptians support the MB, // COLBY ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Golly I dont know that ; I do know that Britian seems supportive of the MB government in Egypt. I do know (because of a recent resignation) the true head of the Syrian opposition is A Bush supporting Dallas Texas small business man Republican. AND I DO KNOW YOU INSIST THE MB ARE NOT PART OF THE WEST'S GEOPOLITICAL GAMEPLAN. I do know I question your common sense. Egypt: It's the politics, stupid | The Economistwww.economist.com/.../21574495-economy-faces-collapse-broader-...CachedYou +1'd this publicly. Undo51 mins ago – A broader-based government is needed to take tough decisions ... Terrified that its already falling popularity will plunge further, the government has ... Egypt needs a government that can take some difficult decisions swiftly.################################# CAUSE I CUT AND PASTED IT 53 minutes ago as of this posting. Edited March 29, 2013 by Steven Gaal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share Posted March 29, 2013 (edited) The majority of Egyptians support the MB, // COLBY OH REALLY ?? // Gaal Is a Second Egyptian Revolution on the Way? People walk away from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes with protesters on Qasr el-Nil bridge, in Cairo, Jan. 29, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih) Read more: http://www.al-monito...l#ixzz2OwRcx8nV By: Mustafa al-Labbad Translated from As-Safir (Lebanon). اقرا المقال الأصلي باللغة العربية On the second anniversary of its heroic popular revolution, Egypt returned to the forefront of the regional and international scene with demonstrations that swept major cities. The revolution was able to bring down the head of the former regime, but not its social and economic discrepancies. Confrontations between the protesters and the security forces have intensified and inflicted dozens of casualties. The image promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood — as the country’s largest political force enjoying the Egyptians’ confidence and with an insignificant political opposition — has been shaken. The question now is: What are the implications of these events on the Egyptian political scene? We try to analyze the new Egyptian landscape and predict how the Muslim Brotherhood will try to contain the situation. About This Article Summary : It seems that the Muslim Brotherhood has overreached and may experience a revolution similar to the one that overthrew Hosni Mubarak, but only if the opposition organizes in a more effective way, argues Mustafa al-Labbad. Publisher: As-Safir (Lebanon) Original Title: Egypt in 2013: The Muslim Brotherhood and their New Political Tricks Author: Mustafa al-Labbad First Published: January 28, 2013 Posted on: January 29 2013 Translated by: Rani Geha Categories : Egypt A failed transition Egypt’s post-revolutionary transition has failed. Various political, economic, social and security powers struggled to maintain their power or participate in the new order, resulting in a highly chaotic scene. The transition started when the army pressed President Hosni Mubarak to step down in order to maintain order and prevent the demonstrations from evolving into a popular revolution that would topple the entire regime and replace it with another. There was a convergence of interests between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood. The two sides agreed on a roadmap that would reverse the revolution’s gains in return for the Muslim Brotherhood's reaching power. Throughout the year 2011 and in spite of ongoing demonstrations, that roadmap was proceeding apace, supported by regional and international powers. The request to write a new constitution was rejected in favor of patching up Mubarak’s constitution and opening the way for parliamentary elections within six months, whereby the highly-organized and well-funded Muslim Brotherhood will come out victorious in exchange for them promising to preserve the economic and foreign policies of the former regime. So in 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood formed an alliance with the remnants of the former regime. The two sides revised the constitution, installed the Brotherhood’s Essam Sharaf as prime minister, who also belonged to Mubarak’s policy committee, and allowed the military to retain its full privileges. Parliamentary elections were held in 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood won 45% of the vote because of the above factors and because the party skillfully recast the main battle between the forces of revolution and the forces of tyranny into a battle between Islam and secularism in a way that served the Brotherhood’s interests. The Brotherhood did not use normal political means. They used the mosques to mobilize the masses against the secularists. However, the Muslim Brotherhood’s tendency to control all aspects of the state caused them to clash with some of the former regime’s power centers, which had previously allied with them. Other forces decided to stand on the sidelines after having secured their economic interests. Some have mistakenly thought that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was wrestling with the Islamists. But the truth was eventually revealed when the secret deal between the two sides came to light. In the deal, SCAF would hand over political power to the Brotherhood and allow Mohammed Morsi to become president (a president with no constitution, no parliament and unprecedented presidential powers) in exchange for granting SCAF’s leaders safe exit and allowing the military establishment to keep all its economic privileges. The erosion of the Muslim Brotherhood’s legitimacy Morsi was elected president by a slim majority when, in the second electoral round, the Egyptians were given a choice between a Muslim Brotherhood candidate and Mubarak’s last prime minister. But the situation did not stabilize. Morsi’s pronouncements have failed to legitimize a non-representative and unconstitutional constituent assembly or convince the Egyptians to support a hastily-written constitution that would set the foundations for a Sunni-style Velayat-e faqih. The attractive religious slogans failed to alleviate the dire economic situation facing tens of millions of Egyptians nor to “Brotherhoodize” the state institutions and transform the popular uprising — at whose start the Brotherhood did not participate — into a Brotherhood revolution to unconstitutionally occupy state institutions and install Brotherhood members throughout the government bureaucracy. The credibility of this hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that the ruling party, according to its representative at the presidential palace, is still an illegal group that is not registered and with absolutely no supervision on its funding or activities, unlike Egypt’s other parties or political currents. But despite that, Brotherhood members are being installed throughout the government structure. In short, two years after the popular uprising, the Muslim Brotherhood’s legitimacy is eroding to the point where it can be likened to that of the former president. But does that mean that it is all over for the Muslim Brotherhood? The answer is not yet. The Salvation Front and its structural problems The opposition’s Salvation Front is suffering from structural problems related to its inability to translate the demonstrations against Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood into political victories. That is because of the Front’s loose structure: The Front is made of liberal, leftist, and nationalist currents, as well as parties such as Amr Moussa’s, and that diversity is hindering agreement on what specific steps to take. The Front includes committed forces as well as currents that have joined only to serve a temporary interest. The Front does participate in demonstrations but never leads them. Case in point is the emergence of the “ultras” football enthusiasts at the forefront of the scene. We know from the court ruling on the Port Said incident (in which 72 Al-Ahly fans were killed in Port Said Stadium last year at the conclusion of a football match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly clubs) that last Saturday’s massive demonstration was not caused by the harsh court ruling against those accused in the incident. In Cairo, there were sporadic clashes but no violent demonstrations. In Port Said on the other hand, violent clashes killed at least 30 Egyptians. The government is expected to ask the army to control the unrest because the police do not have the political backing for such an operation. In short, the Salvation Front opposition alliance has until now been unable to lead or direct million-man demonstrations, which means that the Front cannot translate the Brotherhood’s dropping popularity into political gains. Since the government’s legitimacy is eroding and the Front is unable to translate that into political pressure, the Brotherhood will try to split the opposition, buy some time, and try to dilute the essence of the quarrel. The expected political maneuvers There will probably soon be calls for a so-called “national dialogue,” which Morsi has exploited in the past months to pretend that he was open to other political forces but without him providing any guarantees that the dialogue will succeed. It was simply a photo-op with the opposition while Morsi maintained the same policies. In effect, he had cornered the opposition: If the opposition refuses to engage in dialogue, the president would appear as seeking consensus while the opposition is being obstructionist. If on the other hand the opposition agrees to engage in dialogue, the dialogue will be used to dilute the opposition’s support among the masses and the revolutionary forces. Now, after the demonstrations have intensified and gotten out of control through traditional police methods, especially in Port Said, the “national dialogue” trick may not succeed in deceiving the Egyptians once again (past dialogue sessions were among publishers, journalists, and lawyers who are in the Islamist orbit). Therefore it is more likely that the president would seek a “national unity government” that would include some Salvation Front members and that this government would oversee the upcoming parliamentary elections and manage the faltering government operations in preparation for the parliamentary elections, which are not guaranteed to be free and fair, and whose purpose would only be used by the Brotherhood to reclaim its eroding popular support. It is likely that the Muslim Brotherhood’s deteriorating support would spur the Obama administration, which is the Egyptian government’s sponsor, to expand the Egyptian ruling coalition (made up of the Brotherhood, the military establishment, and the economic nerve center of the old regime) whereby it would include parties and movements currently in the Salvation Front, specifically some businessmen. That may help reduce the political tensions and get the Brotherhood off the hook, at least temporarily.(watching with bated breath,GAAL) Therefore, the second revolution can produce political gains for the opposition only if the latter is committed and is restructured in such a way as to allow the revolutionary forces inside of the Salvation Front to effectively fight the Brotherhood government, which has betrayed the revolution, and accomplish the as yet unrealized revolutionary objectives. Read more: http://www.al-monito...l#ixzz2OwRWMNb6 Edited March 29, 2013 by Steven Gaal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share Posted March 29, 2013 (edited) I contend MB part of West's Geopolitical operartions. The King of Jordon Agrees. How exactly does this support 'your thesis that the Syrian revolution is an EoZ/NWO plot'? // Colby Jordan’s King Warns Obama; America Backs Muslim Brotherhood Agent as Syria’s Next Ruler Details Published on Thursday, 28 March 2013 05:57 Written by Barry Rubin +++++++++++++++++++o0o+++++++++++++++++++++++ ”Don’t scare anyone. But once you gain ground then move ahead. You must utilize as many people as possible who may be of use to us.” –Joseph Stalin to future Communist dictator of Hungary Mattyas Rakosi, December 5, 1944. It really isn’t too hard to understand what is happening in the Middle East if you watch the facts. Jordan’s King Abdallah, who President Barack Obama just visited, is clearly telling us what’s going wrong: that the Muslim Brotherhood is dangerous and so why is the United States supporting it? Presumably, this is what Abdallah told Obama. U.S. policy is now escalating support for a Muslim Brotherhood regime in Syria and the Syrian rebels increasingly have open Brotherhood leadership. Repression is gradually escalating in Egypt with arrests of moderates, Islamists being sent to the military academy, and many more measures. Regarding Jordan, Jeffrey Goldberg’s has done an extremely valuable profile of Abdullah. The Jordanian monarch is telling Western visitors that their countries are making a big mistake by supporting the Islamists. He complains that the U.S. State Department is ignoring his complaints and that U.S. officials are telling him, “The only way you can have democracy is through the Muslim Brotherhood.” He responds that the Brotherhood wants to impose anti-American reactionary governments and that his “major fight” is to stop them. No margin may be left for relative moderate and pro-American states between a Sunni Islamist alliance led by Egypt and including Turkey versus a Shia Islamist alliance led by Iran says Abdallah and he’s right. The only difference, Abdallah explains, between the Turkish and Egyptian regimes are their timetables for installing dictatorships. Egypt’s new president, says the king, is obsessed with a hostile view of Israel. Meanwhile, while President Barack Obama was love-bombing Israel during his visit, U.S. policy was helping to install a Muslim Brotherhood supporter as the putative next leader of Syria. Obama’s strategy is, with appropriate adjustments to the national scene, the same as his disastrous policy in Egypt. The new leader of the opposition coalition is Ghassan Hitto, an obscure figure who has been long-resident in the United States. His actual election contained two hints: He only received 35 votes from 63 members of the Syrian National Coalition. That show of support matches the number of Muslim Brotherhood’s supporters there. Only 48 out of the 63 even cast a ballot at all, showing lack of enthusiasm and possible U.S. pressure on groups to abstain rather than oppose Hitto. During the Cold War, American policy toward Third World countries frequently looked for a “third way” democratic alternative, leaders who were neither Communists nor right-wing authoritarians. Today, however, the Obama Administration doesn’t do the equivalent at all, despite pretenses to the contrary. Rather it seeks leadership from the most seemingly moderate people who represent Islamist groups. Of course, this moderation is largely deceptive. That was the pattern in Egypt; now it is the same failed strategy in Syria. Hitto is a typical example of such a person. He has lived in the United States and went to university there, so presumably knows America and has become more moderate by living there. He is involved in hi-tech enterprises so supposedly he is a modern type of guy. Remember how now-dictator of Syria Bashar al-Assad was lavishly praised because he studied and lived in London and was supposedly interested in Internet? In addition, nobody has (yet) come up with an outrageous Hitto statement. His ties to the Brotherhood are not so blatant—even though they are obvious—that the Obama Administration and the mass media cannot deny and ignore them. Yet the connections between Hitto and the Muslim Brotherhood—and those are only the ones documented quickly following his election—are extensive. He is founder of the Muslim Legal Fund of America, largely directed by Muslim Brotherhood people.. He was a secretary-treasurer of the American Middle Eastern League for Palestine (AMELP), which is closely linked to the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), which supports Hamas and terrorism against Israel. Hitto was vice president of the CAIR Dallas/Fort Worth chapter and director of the Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center of Dallas which was a Muslim Brotherhood front group. The list goes on and on. As if to sum up the situation, Hassan Hassan of the United Arab Emirates newspaper The National, published an article entitled “How the Muslim Brotherhood Hijacked Syria’s Revolution.” -- Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal, and a featured columnist forPajamasMedia. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan) Edited March 29, 2013 by Steven Gaal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Colby Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I contend MB part of West's Geopolitical operartions. The King of Jordon Agrees. How exactly does this support 'your thesis that the Syrian revolution is an EoZ/NWO plot'? // Colby No that's just your misreading of Rubin's misquote of Goldberg's quote of the king, none of these men believe what you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 RUBIN Meanwhile, while President Barack Obama was love-bombing Israel during his visit, U.S. policy was helping to install a Muslim Brotherhood supporter as the putative next leader of Syria. Obama’s strategy is, with appropriate adjustments to the national scene, the same as his disastrous policy in Egypt. The new leader of the opposition coalition is Ghassan Hitto, an obscure figure who has been long-resident in the United States. His actual election contained two hints: He only received 35 votes from 63 members of the Syrian National Coalition. That show of support matches the number of Muslim Brotherhood’s supporters there. Only 48 out of the 63 even cast a ballot at all, showing lack of enthusiasm and possible U.S. pressure on groups to abstain rather than oppose Hitto. During the Cold War, American policy toward Third World countries frequently looked for a “third way” democratic alternative, leaders who were neither Communists nor right-wing authoritarians. Today, however, the Obama Administration doesn’t do the equivalent at all, despite pretenses to the contrary. Rather it seeks leadership from the most seemingly moderate people who represent Islamist groups ..... ++++++++++++++ LIKE WESTERN TOOL MB MAN A Bush supporting Dallas Texas small business man Republican. HITTO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Colby Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Sorry this isn't ammo for your theories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Sorry this isn't ammo for your theories. +++++++++++++++++ JUST CANT WAIT TILL HE BUCKS WEST AND TAKES ON ISRAEL ....waiting.waiting,waiting,waiting,waiting,waiting,waiting,waiting waiting,waiting,waiting ......oh yeah he owes everything to WEST.....gone to wait forever on that one !! HITTO PROVES MY POINT (oh BTW TUNISIA Leader same) pattern,pattern that any person with common sense can see...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Colby Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Sorry this isn't ammo for your theories. +++++++++++++++++ JUST CANT WAIT TILL HE BUCKS WEST AND TAKES ON ISRAEL ....waiting.waiting,waiting,waiting,waiting,waiting,waiting,waiting waiting,waiting,waiting ......oh yeah he owes everything to WEST.....gone to wait forever on that one !! HITTO PROVES MY POINT (oh BTW TUNISIA Leader same) pattern,pattern that any person with common sense can see...... Simply saying so doesn't make it so, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) Simply saying so doesn't make it so, // COLBY YUP COLBY GOT IT IN ONE,HOWEVER 180 DEGREES OFF. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Mass Protests shake US-backed Islamist Regime in Tunisia ================(notice operative words US-backed Islamist Regime,Gaal)========= By Barry Grey Global Research, February 11, 2013 World Socialist Web Site ========================================================== Tens of thousands of Tunisians demonstrated Friday to mourn the death of secularist opposition politician Chokri Belaid and demand the removal of the US-backed Islamist government. A one-day general strike called by the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) shut factories, banks, offices, schools and shops in the capital and other cities, and state-owned Tunis Air cancelled all of its flights. Bus service continued to run, however. It was the first general strike in Tunisia in 35 years. Belaid, 48, a leading member of the left-liberal Democratic Patriots’ Movement, one of 12 parties that make up the Popular Front coalition, was shot and killed Wednesday as he left his home in the Jebel al-Jaloud district of Tunis and headed for work. He was gunned down by an assassin who fled on a motorcycle. While no one has taken credit for the killing, Belaid’s widow accused the Ennahda party government of colluding with far-right Salafists to murder her husband. Belaid had sharply criticized Ennahda, an offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood, for allowing Salafists to attack cinemas, theaters, bars and secularist groups in recent months. He had made known that he was the target of repeated death threats and had requested police protection. Over 50,000 people gathered near Belaid’s home on Friday and marched to the Jallaz cemetery, where he was buried. They shouted antigovernment and revolutionary slogans such as “The people want a new revolution,” and “The people want the downfall of the regime.” Mourners also demanded “Bread, freedom and social justice,” one of the main slogans of the 2011 revolution. At the funeral, demonstrators called Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Ennahda, “a butcher and a murderer.” Ominously, an Ennahda official appearing on Al Jazeera television blamed the violence on “foreign hands” and said, “There are foreign intelligence apparatuses operating in Tunisia.” Two security helicopters hovered overhead and the regime mobilized the army, rather than the hated security police, to contain the huge march. However, police fired tear gas at protesters on the fringe of the march outside the cemetery, as well as at demonstrators who marched to the Interior Ministry. A ministry spokesperson said the police arrested 150 demonstrators in Tunis. Police fired tear gas to disperse antigovernment protesters in the southern town of Gafsa, a center of the county’s critical potash mining industry and a stronghold of support for Belaid. In Sousse, protesters demanded the resignation of the provincial governor. Some 10,000 marched in Sidi Bouzid, the southern town known as the birthplace of the Tunisian revolution. It was there in December of 2010 that Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself in protest over the confiscation by police of his vegetable cart. Bouazizi’s death sparked an explosion of mass protests and strikes that could not be contained by the pro-regime UGTT and led to the flight of US–backed dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali the following month. Just weeks later, revolution broke out in Egypt, leading to the downfall of US- and Israeli-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak. The current eruption in Tunisia, the most widespread since the events of late 2010 and early 2011, occurs just days before the second anniversary of Mubarak’s fall. Belaid’s murder stunned the country and became the trigger for an explosion of pent-up social anger that had been building since shortly after Ennahda came to power, having polled a plurality of votes in October 2011 elections for a constituent assembly. The source of the anger was not only the government’s use of police repression and Salafist violence against its opponents. More fundamentally, it stemmed from the lack of any relief from the mass unemployment and grinding poverty that had sparked the working-class uprising that toppled Ben Ali just over two years ago. The Islamist regime in Tunisia, like the Muslim Brotherhood Mursi regime in Egypt, is a bourgeois regime supported by Washington. The Ennahda government backed the US-NATO war for regime-change in Libya. It is currently negotiating the terms of a standby loan with the International Monetary Fund, which will include austerity measures directed against Tunisian workers. (THESE ACTIONS SUPPORT ,GAAL purpose of this thrread) Within hours of news of Belaid’s assassination on Wednesday, barricades went up in Tunis and crowds attacked Ennahda offices in at least 12 cities. On Thursday, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, secretary general of Ennahda, announced on nationwide television that he planned to dissolve his government and replace it with an unelected government of technocrats to rule until parliamentary elections, scheduled for June. The announcement, intended to calm popular outrage, only fuelled it. Hundreds of youth stormed a police station in the center of Tunis, throwing furniture, files and equipment into the street. The police responded by firing tear gas. In Gafsa, hundreds of stone-throwing demonstrators confronted riot police firing tear gas. The army was deployed to contain mass protests in Sidi Bouzid. The crisis of the Tunisian regime was compounded late Thursday when Prime Minister Jebali’s call for a “nonpartisan” and technocratic government was repudiated by his own party. The Ennahda party issued a statement declaring that Tunisia needed a “political government” based on the results of the October 2011 elections. The same day, four opposition groupings, Belaid’s own Popular Front bloc, the Call for Tunisia party (Nidaa Tounes), the Al Massar party and the Republican Party, announced that they were pulling out of the national constituent assembly and called for a general strike. The UGTT, fearing the mass protests might escalate into a new revolutionary upheaval, announced a one-day general strike for Friday in an attempt to contain the movement. The Popular Front bloc is led by the Maoist Workers Party, headed by Hamma Hammami. Hammami and his party have long functioned to head off any independent political movement of the working class and keep Tunisian workers tied to liberal and secularist factions of the bourgeoisie. They are playing the same role in the current crisis. One of the four bourgeois opposition parties to which the Popular Front is allied, Nidaa Tounes (Call for Tunisia), is led by Béji Caid Essebsi, 86, a long-serving official under the dictatorial regimes of Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali. On Friday, Prime Minister Jebali repeated his call for a new government in a somewhat altered form. He said he would not require the approval of the constituent assembly and was confident he would have the support of his party because he was not dissolving his government, but merely replacing all of its members. However, he indicated that if his plan were blocked, he would step down as prime minister. Edited March 31, 2013 by Steven Gaal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Colby Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 LOL at one moment you are citing far-right (JBS, Holocaust deniers) sources, the next kooky Libertarians and when it suits you far-left (Trotskite) ones get back to us with evidence the popularly elected Tunisian gov't is US backed or killed Belaid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 get back to us with evidence the popularly elected Tunisian gov't is US backed // Colby ========================================================================== THE ARAB STREET AGREES WITH GAAL Tunisia rally hails revolutionary movements, urges Muslim unity http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/30/295766/tunisia-rally-hails-revolutionary-movements-urges-muslim-unity/ Under the rule of the ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the civil society, youth organizations and revolutionary political parties in Tunisia were oppressed. Therefore, public meetings were banned but the fall of the former dictator has changed the situation across the country. For the first time after the Tunisian revolution two years ago, People gathered in the Al Manar City to support the leading resistance movements against tyranny and injustice of the former regime which was backed by the West and Israel. Foreign participants also came to show solidarity with people who denounce Israeli crimes and defy Western hegemony. Demonstrators said Israel and its western allies are trying to control the Muslim world by suppressing the legitimate resistance not only in the occupied Palestinian territories but also in the rest of the region. Activists from different walks of life chanted revolutionary songs and called for unity in order to support the resistance movement People in several Muslim countries including Tunisia, Egypt and Iran have risen against their tyrannical regimes in the past. And the shared vision of a just and peaceful world now continues to shorten distances by bringing Muslims together. . ===================================== CIA and Mossad Rebuilding Spy Ring in Tunisia By Global Research News Global Research, February 22, 2012 According to the Tunisian Magazine Al-Musawar, the CIA and the Mossad are revitalizing their spying networks in Tunisia since the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. YNet News reported: The journal cited a report compiled by the Egyptian Yafa Research Center, which found that the Mossad’s intelligence net is spread across several Tunisian metropolises – each branch with its own speciality. The branch stationed in Tunis, for example, tracks targets in Alegria. The one placed in Djerba, an island located 500 kilometers southeast of the capital, traces Libyan targets. The Sousse office deals with Tunisian internal affairs, the report claimed. (Roi Kais, Report: Mossad bolsters activity in Tunisia, YNet News, 14 February, 2012) The spy rings, established in collaboration with the CIA, would be used for “sabotage and incitement purposes, to follow the development of events in neighbouring Algeria and Libya, and to track what is left of the Palestinian groups in Tunisia as well as Islamic and Salafi movements that are active there.” (Ibid.) The Mossad will allegedly follow Tunisian opposition groups “especially those who oppose the peace process with Israel”, YNet News stated. Julie Lévesque contributed to this report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Colby Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 get back to us with evidence the popularly elected Tunisian gov't is US backed // Colby ========================================================================== THE ARAB STREET AGREES WITH GAAL Tunisia rally hails revolutionary movements, urges Muslim unity http://www.presstv.i...s-muslim-unity/ [...] LOL PressTV again, try again with a credible source. But once again your reading comprehension has failed you. Even the mullah's propaganda machine said the PREVIOUS regime (not the current one) was “was backed by the West and Israel” and there was no indication the people were protesting against “Western hegemony” in Tunisia. ===================================== CIA and Mossad Rebuilding Spy Ring in Tunisia By Global Research News Global Research, February 22, 2012 According to the Tunisian Magazine Al-Musawar, the CIA and the Mossad are revitalizing their spying networks in Tunisia since the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. YNet News reported: [...] Sorry Charlie RIF, neither the Global Research article nor the Ynet one it was based on indicated this was being done with cognizance, let alone the approval of the Tunisian gov't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 McKeever Institute Nato : On 10 May, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tunisia, H.E. Mr. Kamel Morjane, visited NATO Headquarters for a bilateral meeting with the Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen. During the meeting, they discussed the way forward in NATO-Tunisia cooperation within the framework of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue. They also exchanged views on new and emerging security challenges. Source : http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-627D9B30-9347CA2E/natolive/news_63625.htm +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ World Social Forum Meets in Tunisia By Abayomi Azikiwe Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire 70,000 gather to discuss a myriad of issues including refugees, Saharawi and Palestine questions By Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire Tens of thousands of people marched through the capital of Tunisia on March 26 to initiate the World Social Forum (WSF). The march went down Habib Bourguiba Avenue where over two years ago demonstrations took place that resulted in the overthrow of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, 2011. This event which was organized by activists reportedly attracted 70,000 people under the theme “Another World is Possible.” WSF was started in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil and meets on a bi-annual basis. With the Forum being held this year in Tunisia, it took on an added significance in light of the upheavals that have swept through North Africa and the Middle East since late 2010. After the uprising in Tunisia and the fall of Ben Ali, unrest spread to Egypt where long time ruler President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down on February 11, 2011. A war in Libya that was engineered by the United States and NATO sought to place itself within the context of the so-called “Arab Spring,” soon led to the first full-scale military operation of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The current government in Libya was installed by the Pentagon and NATO where ongoing extra-judicial killings and assaults are taking place on a daily basis. In Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood has taken power through the allied Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). Demonstrations and rebellions have continued all over the country where many feel that the FJP has hijacked the revolution with no fundamental changes being made in both the domestic and foreign policy of the government in Cairo. In Tunisia, the Ennahda Party, an Islamist formation, has dominated the administrative and legislative branch of the government since the fall of Ben Ali. Similar to Egypt, the state has remained within the orbit of U.S. and European imperialism resulting in continuing high unemployment and political repression. According to Ahmed Ben Messaoud, a supporter of the opposition Patriotic Democratic Unified Party, whose leader, lawyer Chokri Belaid, was assassinated in February, “If the Tunisian experience leads to a kind of democracy that brings a different conception to countries in Africa and the Middle East, it will give people hope to think that democracy is possible. The country is in a big dilemma: Islamists want a totalitarian government, and civil society wants a more open, more secular government.” (truth-out.org, March 29) After the assassination of Belaid, unrest spread quickly throughout the country largely organized by the Popular Front leading to the resignation of the government. A new government has been established that is tasked with drafting a permanent constitution. Messaoud says of the current situation that “It’s not going to be an easy task to write this Constitution and to lead the country from dictatorship to democracy. We’re not just making a Constitution to go—one that gives the chance of another dictatorship in the future takeover. We want a Constitution for the next generation.” Trade Unions and the Debt Crisis One major criticism of the WSF is that it lacks representation from major political parties, social movements and organized labor. This observation was reflective of the discussions held in a panel entitled “Which Labor Unions and Non-Profit Alliances to Face the Debt?” In this session European workers discussed how the debt crisis has become a major factor in fighting neo-liberalism even in the industrialized states. One speaker from Belgium was quoted as saying “We have to demystify the question of indefinite financing and think about how we’re creating debt in Europe and then create a common front against debt.” (truth-out.org., March 29) The mechanism proposed for this struggle was a “Citizens Debt Audit.” Another trade unionist from Senegal noted that his country in West Africa was being strangled by $6 billion in foreign debt which has eroded state services within various sectors of the economy. This same worker from Senegal said that “Trade unions realized that they had to work on this question of debt in Senegal. Now they’re seeing they must work on it, because it’s not the population that created the debt, but the small number of people who benefitted from it. The question of the debt audit is international.” A trade unionist from the Basque territory in Spain also raised similar concerns in the face of the rising unemployment and poverty inside this southern European country. The so-called bailouts in Europe are really designed to ensure that the banks are paid at the expense of social needs. “The reason they give us for cutting services is that there is no money,” the Basque unionist said. “But under President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, they changed the Constitution to institute a measure obligating the country to pay its debts before it handles social needs, with nasty consequences for the working class. For this reason, the question of debt plays an essential role for organized labor.” A Citizens Debt Audit, said trade unionists at the panel, is to provide a legal and policy mechanism on the municipal and federal levels to encourage communities to raise questions as to whether these debts are legitimate or not. The Basque trade unionist said that “If the debt isn’t legitimate, we don’t need to pay it.” The Plight of Libyan Refugees Highlighted Also at the WSF 2013 in Tunisia, the plight of refugees stemming from the imperialist war against Libya was brought into focus. There were millions of people displaced as a result of the rebel actions against the Jamahiriya and the bombing of the country for seven months by the Pentagon and NATO. Bright, a Nigerian youth who is stuck at the Choucha refugee camp in Tunisia near the border with Libya spoke at the WSF. He and several hundred displaced persons have been stranded there for two years in the aftermath of the destruction of Libya. Most of the refugees are from sub-Saharan African states. These residents of Libya were attacked by the U.S.-NATO rebels who claimed they were fighting alongside the loyalist forces in defense of the Jamahiriya. 50 Africans who have been dislodged since the Libya war made it to the WSF and began a hunger strike outside the United Nations Refugee Agency in Tunisia. The camp where they are located will reportedly be closed by the U.N. in June creating an even greater crisis. A Ghanaian, Mousa Ibrahim, says there are 80 people from Ghana at the Choucha camp. He stressed to the WSF that “I registered in the camp because they promised that they would recognize us as refugees.” (IPS, March 31) He went on to say that “The Tunisian refugee commission has rejected me. They say I have two options: to go back to my country or return to Libya. In Ghana I would be thrown into prison or killed. And in Libya, black people are persecuted.” Many of the refugees from the Libya war want to be recognized by the U.N. and sent to third countries. The situation will obviously become more aggravated with the deadline for closing the camp in two months. Saharawi People and the Plight of the Palestinians Two major unresolved national questions are the situations of the Saharawi under Moroccan control at the aegis of imperialism and the oppression of the Palestinians by the State of Israel and the U.S. Both nationally oppressed peoples have waited for decades for a resolution to their quest for liberation and self-determination. In reference to the Saharawi issue, the WSF expressed support for the independence of the territory from Moroccan control. A statement issued in this regard was reported by the Sahara Press Service. The statement “announced that the leftist forces and the International Socialist Movement ‘strongly’ supports the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, which drove the Moroccan delegation to withdraw from the workshop in a provocative way, as it usually does in such occasions.” In addition the Secretary General of the Tunisian Worker’s Party received the Saharawi delegation at their headquarters in Tunis. With respect to the Palestinian question, the Ma’an News Agency reported that “The World Social Forum expressed support for Palestinian popular resistance and called for the rights of Palestinians refugees in its closing statement Sunday. The week-long anti-globalization forum, held in Tunis, also called for the release of Palestinian political prisoners, the dismantling of Israel’s wall and an end to Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip.” Climate Change and the Water Crisis Other prominent issues at the WSF in Tunisia dealt with the growing problems related to climate change. Kristy Wright wrote that “One of the key themes of the week has been the need to look at how all the issues facing the world, and causing the climate crisis are interrelated—that we need to see the connections between problems that may seem separate at first glance.” (World Development Movement, March 30) Related to this topic is the way in which water is being hoarded and contaminated in various parts of the world. A panel featuring activists from Peru, Greece and Tunisia addressed the crisis based on events in their own countries. In Peru a community leader explained how the mining industry was polluting the water resources in this South American state. A leader from Greece told how the gold mining interests are also destroying water resources in this European country. A trade unionist from Tunisia pointed out that the water system in the country was great but there were efforts underway to privatize the resources. He also pointed out that by 2025 shortage will in all likelihood exists requiring increased efforts to fight the corporatization of the access to water. Related posts: The Federal Government is providing one million euro to protect refugees in Tunisia U.S. Secretary’s Remarks: Assistance to Tunisia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Colby Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 McKeever Institute Nato : On 10 May, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tunisia, H.E. Mr. Kamel Morjane, visited NATO Headquarters for a bilateral meeting with the Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen. During the meeting, they discussed the way forward in NATO-Tunisia cooperation within the framework of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue. They also exchanged views on new and emerging security challenges. Source : http://www.nato.int/.../news_63625.htm I'm not sure if you are a fraudster or a fool; I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and lean towards the latter. That's from May 10, 2010, i.e. before Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immulation let alone the fall of the Ben Ali regime. World Social Forum Meets in TunisiaBy Abayomi Azikiwe […] In Tunisia, the Ennahda Party, an Islamist formation, has dominated the administrative and legislative branch of the government since the fall of Ben Ali. Similar to Egypt, the state has remained within the orbit of U.S. and European imperialism resulting in continuing high unemployment and political repression The only relevant part of the 2nd article I noticed was the paragraph above. So an obscure African author thinks the Islamist led gov't of Tunisia is too close to the West. “Opinions” as the old adage goes “are like...” The ruling coalition is made up of the top three parties in the 2011 election Ennahda and two center-left parties, the current president is from one of the latter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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