Serial Assassins CIA - MOSSAD - Assef Shawkat -Senior Partner, ALL BEIRUT-Damas Murders.

Bashar ASSAD's Mafia of assassins, Maher and Asef SHAWKAT are not worth saving...but Syria is....

2011-11-30T01:32:00.001-08:00

Bashar ASSAD's Mafia of assassins, Maher and Asef SHAWKAT are not worth saving...but Syria is....

Isn't there a lot Russia could do to make a Syrian intervention too costly to consider?

for example,

1) slow down NATO supplies in Afghanistan. Don't even have to cut it off completely, just enough to make it uncomfortable.

2) Provide Anti-aircraft systems to Syria right now. If training is an issue, Russians can unofficially operate them. They don't have to defeat an air attack. Just loosing some aircraft would be a big blow to NATO prestige.

3) since the actual intervening will be done by Turkey, I'm thinking Russia has some sort of leverage point they can use against them.

I agree Assad is not worth saving. But Syria is. And a NATO intervention could turn Syria into a Mega Lebanon of the 70's and 80's.

I'm suggesting that Russia has the means to prevent an intervention without risking a war. Failing that, they can make it hard for NATO to profit from its crimes.

Russia is not without interests here. Drawing the line against another war enhances Russia's international standing and it's influence. It will also force the west to take it more seriously....

slow down NATO supplies in Afghanistan. Don't even have to cut it off completely, just enough to make it uncomfortable.

That is most definitely an option, which has been threatened yesterday by Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin (keep an eye on this guy, he is very much an insider, top player, and very smart; I definitely see him as a possible Minister of Defense, if not more, in the future). And yes, that would really hurt NATO. The issue is whether Russia should do that to influence the situation in Syria or not. I am confident to say that this "big stick" will only be used by Russia in case its own vital and strategic interests are directly threatened by the US/Israeli Empire.

Provide Anti-aircraft systems to Syria right now Very hard to do covertly and you can imagine the kind of hysterical anti-Russian propaganda such a move would trigger. The Syrians, by the way, are excellent soldiers and many have trained in Soviet and Russian military academies. I am confident that they could skillfully operate such systems as the Tor M1 9M330 or any other. And yes, NATO would loose aircraft to such a system, but the political costs to Russia would be huge. Why would Russia do that?

since the actual intervening will be done by Turkey, I'm thinking Russia has some sort of leverage point they can use against them

Yes, plenty. But so does Turkey against Russia (think Chechens here). Russia and Turkey have a complex, delicate, relationship. Both sides have some very real leverage on each other (tourism, construction business, security cooperation, commerce, etc.), and both sides know that they cannot afford a frontal conflict against each other and they will not do so unless something really important is at stake (Russia did - quietly but firmly - threaten Turkey during the war in Ossetia, and the Turks got the message and backed down).

As always, excellent points...., and possible measures Russia could take is a good one. But when said; I agree Assad is not worth saving. But Syria is.... you are assuming that a) either somehow the two can be de-coupled or b) that saving Assad is compatible with the idea of saving Syria. I am not so sure.

I think that we all agree that saving Syria - unlike saving Assad - would be highly desirable. But could it be that Assad himself is destroying Syria in the first place?

Also, Russia is not the USA, it is not the self-appointed worldwide "righter or wrongs". Morally, WHY should Russia get involved in the first place? Because we would like it?

See, Russia used to be a global empire, and so was the Soviet Union. But I strongly believe that Russia now strongly wants to be a *country*, not an empire, and that it does not want to meddle in every conflict out there. Would you not agree that this is fundamentally sound? Yes, the USSR used to be a global opponent of the USA, but Russia does not want to take on that burden any more. Sure, it wants the US empire to crumble and for the USA to also become a 'normal' country (which, I believe, is also in the USA's national interest!), but Russia will not pro-actively oppose the USA unless it is directly threatened.

Do you believe that it is in the Russian national interest to get involved in the Syrian conflict and to support the Assad regime under the heading of "saving Syria"?

a) do you believe that a majority of Syrians would welcome a Russian intervention?

b) Iran and Hezbollah could intervene in Syria, I think. Yet, and contrary to some propaganda put out by the anti-Assad forces, they have not done so (or, at least, there is no evidence of it having done so).

How do you explain the fact that neither Iran nor Hezbollah are intervening?

Why should Russia taken on a burden which even Iran and Hezbollah seem to have no inclination to take upon themselves even though they are DIRECTLY impacted by the events in Syria?

A Russian cruiser's air defense radar in a Syrian port surely would cover Israeli airspace, and possibly provide Iran with warning about an air strike leaving?

A) I don't know about a majority of Syrians, but a very substantial proportion would be happy if Russia prevented a NATO backed invasion. I don't think anyone in Syria would want to see massive sanctions, etc. It would be catastrophic for ordinary Syrians, just as it is for Cubans and Iraqis.

B) When I say intervene, I mean intervene against foreign invasion. They are not, and must not, intervene to stop Syrians from demonstrating or even armed resistance. Those are things Syrians have to solve for themselves.

But if Syria is actually invaded, I suspect both Iran and Hezbollah will do whatever they can to make the invasion as painful as possible for the invaders. I don't know if that will amount to much, but I don't think they will sit idly by.

Lastly, regarding Russian interests, neutrality is the best policy for almost any country almost all the time. But by now Russians should have figured out that NATO and the west do not have benevolent intent towards them. And so, in my view, it is in Russia's interests to keep the west as distracted as possible elsewhere and to do so with the least expense and risk to Russia. I still believe the suggestions I made in my first comment would accomplish those goals.....

ايلي حبيقة افتدى لبنان واللبنانيين

2011-11-22T01:24:00.001-08:00

ايلي حبيقة افتدى لبنان واللبنانيين

إن الإنسان المؤمن بربه وبكتبه المقدسة وبتعاليمه وبموت وقيامة السيد المسيح لا يموت، بل يرقد على رجاء القيامة بانتظار يوم الحساب الأخير، والرب الذي وهب الإنسان نعمة الحياة هو وحده يقرر متى يستردها وليس أي مخلوق أخر.

اليوم ونحن نصلي في الذكرى التاسعة لروح الشهيد النائب والوزير الراحل ايلي حبيقة نردد بايمان وخشوع ووقار ما قاله النبي أيوب رغم كل المصائب التي حلت عليه فيما كان الشيطان يحاول جاهداً إيقاعه في التجربة دون أن يتمكن من أن يحقق هدفه اللعين هذا كون إيمان أيوب بربه كان قوياً وراسخاً: "عرياناً خرجت من بطن أمي، وعرياناً أعود إلى هناك، الرب أعطى والرب أخذ تبارك اسم الرب". (ايوب01/21).

يقول السيد المسيح: "أَنَا هُوَ الْقِيَامَةُ وَالْحَيَاةُ. مَنْ آمَنَ بِي، وَإِنْ مَاتَ فَسَيَحْيَا" (يوحنا 25/11). إن تعلقنا بلبناننا الحبيب حتى الشهادة يعزينا ويقوي إيماننا ويرسخ الرجاء في نفوسنا ويساعدنا على تقبل غياب الشهداء الأبرار برضوخ كامل لمشيئة أبينا السماوي فهم لا يموتون بل يبقون أحياء في وجداننا وضمائرنا وقلوبنا وعقولنا وفي كل عمل نقوم به يهدف لخدمة ومساعدة الآخرين الذين هم بحاجة إلينا.

يقول الشاعر: "ما استحق أن يعيش، من عاش لنفسه فقط". لذلك فالشخص المؤمن يجد لذته في أن يحيا لأجل غيره، عملاًً بقول الرب، "تحب قريبك كنفسك" (متى39/22). ولهذا يحب كل الناس من أعماق قلبه وتكون محبته للآخرين محبة عملية حسبما قال الرسول يوحنا: "يا أبنائي، لا تكن محبتنا بالكلام أو باللسان بل بالعمل والحق". (1يو18:3).

هذه المحبة العظيمة، والله هو محبة، تتميز بالعطاء والبذل والتفاني سواء من الناحية الجسدية، أو الناحية الروحية. لذلك فإن الشخص المؤمن والمعطاء والصادق هو بطبيعته إنسان نقي وتقي وشفاف وصادق ومحب يخاف الله الذي خلقه على صورته ومثاله.

هذا الإنسان يجهد بفرح كبير ليكون خادماً يخدم غيره في كل المجالات، لا لأنه مطالب بهذا، وإنما لأن الخدمة جزء من طبيعته ونفسيته وثقافته، ومكون أساسي من مكونات كيانه الإيماني. في خدمة الآخرين يشعر بالحب ويتغذى روحياً من تقديم الخدمات أكثر مما يغذي غيره بها. وإذا كانت الخدمة هي من عمل الملائكة (عبرانيين14:1)، فكم بالأولى البشر. وقد أعطانا السيد المسيح المثال الأبلغ في هذا الشأن إذ قال: "ومن أراد أن يكون الأول فيكم، فليكن لكم عبدا، وهكذا ابن الإنسان جاء لا ليخدمه الناس، بل ليخدمهم ويفدي بحياته كثيراً منهم". (متى 20/27 و28)

جاء في إنجيل القديس يوحنا (15/13): "ما من حب أعظم من هذا: أن يضحي الإنسان بنفسه في سبيل أحبائه". وقال الشهيد النائب والوزير الراحل ايلي حبيقة: "إن الوطن الذي لا يفتديه شبابه بأرواحهم لا يستمر ويزول. إن خدمة الآخرين وبذل الذات من أجلهم هي أعمال مقدسة والمسيح الإله قبل الصلب والعذاب والإهانات وقدم نفسه على الصليب فداء للإنسان ليعتقه من نير وعبودية الخطيئة ويحرره.

إن الشهيد لا يطلب شيئاً لنفسه من مقتنيات هذه الدنيا الفانية، وإنما يسعي لنيل بركات الله ليستحق بجدارة أفعاله وإيمانه العودة إلى منزل أبيه السماوي، والمسيح قال لنا: "ماذا ينفع الإنسان لو ربح العالم كله وخسر نفسه". (متى 16/26).

الشهيد هو قربان طاهر يقدم نفسه طواعية على مذبح الله بمحبة واندفاع وفرح من أجل أحبائه تماماً كما هو حال كل شهيد من شهداء لبنان الأبرار. عرفاناً بجميلهم نقول أنه وبفضل استشهادهم بقينا، وسوف نبقى بإذن الله طالما بقي الشباب اللبناني مؤمنا بلبنان وبرسالته وعلى استعداد تام ودائم للشهادة.

الشهيد النائب والوزير الراحل ايلي حبيقة لم يمت لأنه باق في كل جهد وعمل يقوم بهما أي لبناني من أجل الحفاظ على سيادة واستقلال وحرية وطنه الحبيب، ولصون كرامة وعزة اللبنانيين، كما أن عائلة حبيقة هي نبع معطاء لا ينضب في دفق الإيمان والوطنية والشهادة للحق والشهداء من أجل لبنان الرسالة والقداسة والقديسين.

نصلي من أجل أن يسكن الله روح الشهيد النائب والوزير الراحل ايلي حبيقة فسيح جناته إلى جوار البررة والقديسين وأن يلهم عائلته ومحبيه الصبر والسلوان

A Snap shot of the World today and the dying criminal ZOG Empire...It ain't pretty...

2011-09-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

A Snap shot of the World today and the dying criminal ZOG Empire...It ain't pretty...

Quake, upgraded to 6.9, deaths reported in Sikkim, Darjeeling, Nepal, and Bihar. Many villages in Sikkim and eastern Nepal are remote, so the death count may rise from current numbers. Relief will be slow as Sikkim does not have an airport. 63 dead reported in latest count.

Before the Himalayan quake, there was a reported discharge of foul-smelling gases and oozing black fluid from the floor of the Indian Ocean off Kerala, said to be caused by quakes and geological shifts. The planet is undergoing a major existential change but the U.S. and some other governments are covering up the impact and extent of the change with military automated "sock puppets" writing on blogs that all these quakes are normal. After gas discharge, quake hits Maharashtra.

Atlas redrawn as a result of earth changes. Map of Greenland drastically altered.
4.1 quake hits Queensland. NICDR.
4.1 quake hits near Ottawa. NICDR.
Mount Tambora volcano, with a deadly past, comes back to life in Indonesia. Farmers flee as mountain rumbles.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS:

Strauss-Kahn says sex with maid was moral fault. So, this dirt bag admits to having sex with the maid, after all. This, after Strauss-Kahn's tribe insults and intimidates the lady from the Peule tribe of Guinea.
Greece on edge of financial disaster thanks to global bank shysters. Strauss-Kahn rapes a Guinean maid, while Strauss-Kahn's peeps rape an entire nation.
India, non-permanent member of UN Security Council, supports Palestine's UN membership. It's Hollywood that is controlled by the Zionists, not Bollywood.
Opposition now has "tailwind" to oust Merkel. The Pirate Party receives 9 percent of vote in Berlin.

NATIONAL NEWS:

Just in time for UN vote, US State Department releases anti-Semitism report. Poor little Israel is worried, so it uses all the propaganda measures at its disposal, including having run on WETA-26 (PBS), "Fiddler on the Roof." During last Gaza aid flotilla, the channel ran the Zionist propaganda movie, "Exodus." Important quote in Huffington Post ". . . some in the State Department have privately complained that it lately feels like they work for the Israeli government." True, the U.S. government now appears to be the once-fanciful "Zionist Occupation Government." ZOG does exist!
Shell Oil spy operation starts up in New York. Hakluyt targets environmental groups.

COUNTRY FOCUS: Greece. Protester sets fire to himself outside Greek bank. It was the self-immolation of a Tunisian protester that caused the overthrow of the Tunisian government. The Greek government should go the same way -- a Revolutionary People's Council governing in Athens; Greek withdrawal from NATO, EU, World Bank, and IMF; nationalization of all key industries and banks; revolutionary tribunal trials for bankers; and expulsion of wealthy foreigners without compensation for their previously stolen Greek real estate. Let it be Greece where People rule is re-established, once and for all....!

المناخ الإقليمي الذي تربص بالتجربة اللبنانية وأحبط تطورها

2011-06-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

أزمة تكوين السلطة, جزء مهم من هذا التراجع كان المناخ الإقليمي الذي تربص بالتجربة اللبنانية وأحبط تطورها

يحصد العنف المزيد من الضحايا في غير بلد عربي. لا يقبل الحاكم مشاركته في السلطة ولا يقبل التنازل عنها طوعاً. كل الحكّام العرب استولوا على السلطة وكوّنوا من حولها شرعية ومبررات. قلة منظمة فاعلة تسيطر على مجتمعات تم إلغاء دورها وقدرتها على التأثير في السياسات الجارية. لم يعد هذا الأمر ممكناً اليوم حين صار الجمهور خارج «الأمية السياسية». هذا المتغير الكبير في ثقافة المنطقة هو الثورة بذاتها. تريد الشعوب العربية أن تختار وتشارك وتراقب وتحاسب شأنها شأن معظم شعوب العالم. هذا المخاض يصدر عن محرّضات كثيرة سياسية واجتماعية وثقافية.

مجتمعاتنا التي استوعبت هذا الكم من الكبت والعنف السلطوي لا بد أنها تضخ عنفاً مضاداً. هذا الاشتراك في العنف المتبادل دليل على أزمة ممارسة السياسة وتخلف المستوى السياسي لا على نزعة جوهرية في ثقافة المنطقة. الثقافات الحصرية الدينية أو المدنية تساهم في شحن السلوك العنيف وهذا ما حصل ويحصل في أي بيئة غير البيئة العربية. مجرد أن تكون في حال من الإلغاء المتبادل معنوياً، والعجز عن إدارة حوار بين أطراف يجب الاعتراف بوجودها نذهب إلى العنف فوراً.

ينطبق الأمر على التجربة اللبنانية التي قفزت من الليبرالية السياسية إلى الفاشية الطائفية نتيجة المأزق الذي بدأ في الحرب الأهلية. تأصلت هذه الثقافة وتوسعت لتشمل كل القوى السياسية حيث لا حلول سياسية للمشكلات يتقدم العنف.

العنف ليس ظاهرة قوة بل ظاهرة فشل. اجتاز اللبنانيون محطات كثيرة من التسويات ثم خرجوا عليها. خرجوا على التسويات لأن الحلول السياسية لم تكن جذرية بمعنى أنها لم تعالج جذور المشكلات. يدور التاريخ اللبناني على نفسه بسبب البحث عن فكرة الهيمنة والغلبة لا عن فكرة المساواة.

شجع على هذا الأمر سهولة الحصول على القوة المادية والرهان عليها. لكن أي طرف لبناني حقق مكتسبات ومميزات وامتيازات لم يستطع أن يجعلها شرعية وطنية. كل آليات التحكّم أو التوازن بين مواقع السلطة برغم عدم تساويها في الفاعلية هي موضع طعن وحسد الطرف الآخر. لا نعرف على وجه اليقين أين مرجعية السلطة وأين العقدة وأين الحل بين جميع المؤسسات لأن الممارسة تنتمي إلى قوى الأمر الواقع لا إلى القواعد الدستورية.

تراجع المجتمع اللبناني عن الخيار اللاطائفي. في جزء مهم من هذا التراجع كان المناخ الإقليمي الذي تربص بالتجربة اللبنانية وأحبط تطورها. في أساس «الخوف اللبناني» هذا البعد الإقليمي الذي تعاظم في هيمنته على لبنان وهو الذي يكبح رغبة اللبنانيين في البحث عن صيغة متقدمة لعيشهم واجتماعهم السياسي. في هذه اللحظة بالذات ما يزال الأفق العربي غامضاً، لأن النظام العربي قد جرى تدويله ولم تعد احتمالاته موقوفة على فاعلية القوى المحلية. في شكل ما هذا «خوف عربي» لا يمكن تجاهله. لكن هذا العنف ليس إلا ردة فعل على مساكنة بالإكراه بين أشكال السلطة والجمهور وليس بين مكونات المجتمع. هذه هي التجربة اللبنانية في وجهها الإيجابي، أي الصراع بين التفكك والوحدة، بين الخصومة السياسية والرغبة في العيش معاً. لم يطرح سؤال العيش في لبنان إلا على قاعدة الصراع على السلطة. في كل مكان من دنيا العرب أزمة العلاقات الشعبية أو الأهلية هي أزمة تكوين السلطة لا أزمة تنابذ الهويات الثقافية الفرعية، في العراق واليمن والبحرين والسودان وليبيا وسوريا ومصر ما يحصل هو حادث تاريخي مستجد، هو ظاهرة اجتماعية نشأت في ظروف تداعيات الفشل عن إدارة مجتمعات بواسطة الاستبداد. يتفق الجميع أن الحال لم تكن قبل نصف قرن على هذا المنوال ولن تكون في المستقبل كذلك.

الإسلام السياسي حدث عارض في الشكل الذي يتصدر فيه المسرح الآن. ربما يتجه نحو المزيد من الانغلاق وربما نحو مزيد من الحرية. لكن ليس هذا الاحتمال في عالم الغيب طالما أن واقع العصر وتحدياته يفرضان منطق الملاءمة. هكذا لا تعود تجربة أي بلد عربي أو مسلم بنجاح التعددية شذوذاً واستثناءً ولا يجب أن نفهمها كذلك. عاش العرب عقوداً طويلة في ظل أنظمة شبه علمانية أو مدنية. لم تكن عوائق تطور تلك الأنظمة ثقافة شعوبها الإيمانية بقدر ما كانت ثقافتها السياسية السلطوية. الأنظمة السياسية التي أدارت الحياة الوطنية هي التي أنتجت كل الظواهر السلبية لواقعنا الراهن.

لم تعد المفاضلة الآن بين الاستقرار وبين الحركات الشعبوية ذات الثقافة التقليدية. ما يحصل أن المنظومة ذاتها بعنصريها السلطوي والشعبوي قد انفجرت أمام احتياجات التغيير والتطور. معظم جمهور المجتمعات العربية يعاني هذا الحصار بين شكلين من السياسات التي تنطوي على إقصاء وتهميش وإلغاء، أو على احتمالات السيطرة.

لبنان نفسه في هذا المستوى من التحدي بسبب تقاطع ثقافة الاستبداد والثقافة الطائفية. لا تضمن الدساتير وحدها كل شيء. هذه الموجة الصاخبة من التأزم السياسي لا بد أن تنحسر أمام واقع جديد يفرض نفسه في المنطقة. القبول بالتعددية والقبول بالآخر ثقافياً وسياسياً من شروط الاستقرار والعيش والتصدي لقضايا ومشكلات تتفاقم خارج اللغة الإيديولوجية الدينية والمدنية. الثورة ليست إلا لحظة في التاريخ والعنف كذلك. لم يتراجع «مشروع الثورة» بل بدأت مهمات ما بعدها

Isn’t the issue here that Lebanon isn’t a single nation – it is a geographic place in which there are a number of communities or ‘nations’ – Maronite, Sunni, Shiia, Orthodox, Melkite, Armenian, Jews, Druze and many other smaller denominations, numbering 18....

The Cabinet has always been like the U.N.S.C. – right of veto for the major players, with the smaller communities with smaller representation in the Non-Veto General Assembly (Parliament) where a seat is saved for minorities, for Armenian Catholics, two for the Alawi etc.

I have always thought Lebanon was the best in the region – but with Tunisia and Egypt now advancing, Lebanon will have to innovate and perfect that wonderful gathering Democratically...

And Lebanon is still superior to 20 of the Arab League state suffering tyranny, and far superior to what happened south of the border in Israhell, where 4 communities have claim to Holy Land but only 2 communities have full rights (Jews and Druze) while the other two (Sunni and Christian) either have no right to live in their own country or – if they are stuck in Gaza or West Bank – face tyranny of the sort that is typical in the other tyranny regimes like Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Turkey, Morocco and Syria....

Lebanon is best in the region – that is the record.

It has by far the best record in terms of openness and ability to participate in the Middle East in terms of record over the past 60 years. Turkey is ahead to day – but it had years under military dictators – and heavy media censorship – for significant periods over the last 60 years.

Lebanon leaves in the dust the apartheid states of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, the ”Jewish state’ in the south or anywhere else you care to mention.

Just consider the ‘Jewish state’ (in the geographic region to which equally valid claims exist for at least 3 significant communities – Orthodox Christian Palestinians, Jews & Sunni Palestinians: That is a state that says that those born in the country but of the “wrong” community are barred – yes barred! – from living in their own country and are confined to refugee camps in neighboring states.

The equivalent scenario would be were Lebanon to have barred large parts of its shiia or Druze or Sunni or Orthodox community to neighbor-state refugee camps – because they were the “wrong” race/religion/community.

That is a repulsive thought.

When Israelis (of Orthodox or Sunni background) try to walk back home, they are shot at by the IDF. Killed for trying to return home! And it isn’t even news – its been going on since the 1940s and getting no better. In Nazareth and Haifa and Jaffa – senior officials openly strategize in terms that may have made sense in 1890s Europe, make no sense in the global society of the 21st century.

If the Orthodox and Sunni subjects of the ‘Jewish state’ happen to live in the Israeli territories of Judea, Samaria, alquds and Gaza, they collectively put behind walls bigger than the Berlin Wall and are searched and humiliated daily if they want to travel five kilometers from Beit Lahem or Beit Jalla to attend church in Jerusalem.

Totally repulsive. Lebanon has by far the best record in the region – but the region’s record is so poor. The challenge in the wake of Tunisia and Egypt, is for Lebanon to stay up with the best in the region...

If Qaddafi wins, watch for the inevitable counter-revolution everywhere....

2011-03-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

If Qaddafi wins, watch for the inevitable counter-revolution everywhere....

Counter-revolution already under way in Bahrain, Yemen and beyond, courtesy of USA's DOD/CIA/MOSSAD/MI6...

After the uprisings are crushed, will the people of MENA be able to frame a new modernism with freedom and democracy?

For what it is worth, I draw a sharp distinction between assisting rebels in an organic revolution, already begun by the people, in which the aim is self determination as contrasted to a Jacobin revolution that operates under the pretext of spreading democracy via military conquest.

The differences are stark and cannot be overemphasized.

Self determination by those involved in the rise of Islamic awareness may not lead to the freedom and democracy as envisioned by Westerners, particularly as was espoused by Jacobins who successfully promoted engineered revolutions built upon lies, including the pretext of spreading democracy.

The notion of "deconstruction" followed by "reconstruction" has little to do with self determination.

Anytime a Jacobin speaks of spreading freedom and liberal democracy in the Middle East, one, imo, should apply a strict scrutiny standard to determine intent.

Odds are reasonable that rebel leaders who are Muslim and educated as to US foreign policy in the Middle East would do the same. Could explain why so many say, “Yankee go home” or equivalent thereof.

If we want to become the “good guys” to use good professor’s words, then, imo, the focus should stay on self determination for the Libyan people and nothing more.....

No one anywhere on earth can believe a single word that comes out of the mouth of an American "leader" at this time. Period.

Extreme? Ask the "rebels" in Libya. Ask the victims of fraudulent foreclosures okayed by the Federal Reserve in the U.S.

If elected representatives lie constantly to the people, what is left?

As Jesuits say...there is an exception to every rule....

I think the benefits to the US reputation in acting for the Libyan opposition to a mad dictator, aside from the humanitarian considerations, are that exception. We should provide what the rebels request and only what they request.
But we all know that the US AF could get rid of Qaddafi in 20 minutes if we wanted to....

Libya, Syria, Jordan, KSA and the GCC for that matter, Yemen included.

All of them should be toppled pronto.
Saudi forces came to Beirut in 1976…they quickly left with their tales behind their backs…what are they doing in Bahrain and Yemen…?
This will inflame the whole situation even further…
If the WEST has any Brains left…they should redeem themselves and help the rebels in Libya YESTERDAY…..But I think it is exactly the opposite happening from Bahrain to Libya…courtesy of the US DOD planners….

Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, Qaboos Bin Al Said of Oman, Abdullah II of Jordan, Bashar Assad of Syria – these autocrats cannot be hailed as stakeholders in Libya’s march to democracy…
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regimes are tottering on the abyss and themselves hoping NATO will salvage them. Their rulers keep their personal wealth of tens or hundreds of billions of dollars hoarded in Western banks and the umbilical cord cannot easily be broken….
(Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday: “I would like to ask NATO and the US with honor and humbleness and not with arrogance to stop their operations in our land. We are a very tolerant people but now our tolerance has run out.”)
The only “Arab revolt” Abdullah or Abdullah II ever knew is what British intelligence and Lawrence of Arabia financed in the debris of the Ottoman Empire a hundred years ago….LOL…
A post-House of Saud Saudi Arabia will involve inventing a new political culture and the new economic contracts that would go with it, ones that will be indigenous and, hopefully, democratic in new and surprising ways…

Which brings us back to Turkey. It’s perfectly feasible that Islam will be one of the building blocks of something entirely new, something no one today has a clue about, something that will resemble what was, in Europe, the separation between politics and religion. In the spirit of May 1968, perhaps we can even picture an Arab Banksy plastering a stencil across all Arab capitals:

Imagination in Power!

Those CIA tools within the Maronite Church....

2011-02-24T00:29:00.000-08:00

Unless a denomination has apostolic continuity and the very same faith as the one "the Lord gave, was preached by the Apostles, and was preserved by the Fathers" it cannot be considered stricto-sensu 'Christian'.

I hope that I am not misunderstood on this point....

The Opus Dei Patriarch and the CIA....

Beshara Al-Ra3i is positioning himself to become the next Patriarch....and he is one of those CIA tools within the Maronite Church....unfortunately....

Bechara Raï is Opus Dei/CIA. He will be implementing the politics/policies of the Vatican...more and more tied to CIA. Period...Since CIA still controls Syria fully...despite the loud mouthed Baathists in Damascus...the Patriarch will come out fully supporting the ASSAD Mafia in Syria soon regardless its sordid deeds in Lebanon, together with the infamous White House Murder INC, in the Levant....courtesy of CIA shenanigans....

أبلغ مرجع روحي مسيحي في العالم، زار المنطقة مؤخراً، بعض القيادات اللبنانية أن دعم العـاصمة الأميركية الكبرى للنظام السوري لن يتغير قيد أنملة

DEC. 2011....LOL

http://csis.org/files/publication/110908_Malka_CrossroadsUSIsrael_Web.pdf

There are also other "secrets" about this man which I will not indulge into right now... Suffice it to say that people should pray to God, Jesus, Mary, the Saints and the Angels...and stay away from the crooked Clergy, at least some of them, because not all of them are devious....there are some who are Saints in today's world and we should respect them and encourage them in their Devotion to Christ and our Virgin Mary.

Michel Sleiman is a CIA Puppet as well..., Unfortunately....

قال شو روما بدها حدا حيادي!!! بس مشوار سليمان على روما ما راح ديعان.... يا عيب الشوم وين صار الدين والكنيسة

Bshara Al-Ra3i is a CIA stooge lock, stock and Barrel, has been for years....

It seems that the Whole Vatican apparatus is run by CIA. Period.

It's utterly Pathetic and disgusting to say the least...

من تلاتين سنة كتب زياد الرحباني غنيّة: راجعة بإذن الله ، على أنحس بإذن الله ، لا تفكّرها عم بتتقدّم ، راجعة بإذن الله

فالراعي الذي كانت مواقفه السياسية في غالب الأحيان تميل في اتجاه تبني كل ما يصدر عن تيار المستقبل وحلفائه، وتسويقه عبر إعطائه صبغة "مبدئية"، ورفعه من إطاره السياسي الضيق إلى سياق وطني عام، والراعي الذي كان يرفض أن يرى احتمال الخطأ في أي خطوة يقدك عليها رئيس الجمهورية ميشال سليمان، انطلاقاً من موقف كنسي عام تجاه الرئاسة المارونية، ولكون سليمان ابن رعيته... هذا الراعي نفسه الذي كاد أن يعارض العودة إلى قانون انتخاب نيابي على أساس القضاء رافعاً شعار "عدم العودة ستين عاماً إلى الوراء"، وهذا الراعي الذي سأله أحد الصحافيين يوماً عن رأيه في القانون الانتخابي الأفضل، فلم يحصل على جواب يتخطى العموميات، مكتشفاً أن المطران المذكور لا يدرك تفاصيل التوزع المذهبي للناخبين في المناطق، وتحديداً في العاصمة بيروت... هذا الراعي نفسه قال، وفي شكل مفاجئ بتاريخ 23 شباط 2011، ورداً على سؤال عن تشكيل الحكومة الراهنة، والحديث الدائر على خلاف بين الرئيس سليمان ورئيس تكتل التغيير والإصلاح العماد ميشال عون حول حقيبة الداخلية والبلديات، قال: "الحل ليس بإعطاء رئيس الجمهورية وزراء لأنه يصبح حزباً ويصير بالتالي طرفاً. الحل هو بتعزيز الصلاحيات الرئاسية عبر تخطي المشكلة التي بدأت في اتفاق الطائف الذي أوجد ثغرات في الدستور اللبناني تتعلق برئيس الجمهورية. رئيس البلاد ليس رئيس حزب أو تكتل نيابي ليعطى وزراء، وهذه المشكلة الحصصية بدأت في الدوحة لخلق توازن بين فريقين متنازعين، وهذا الأمر لم يعد قائماً في الحكومة العتيدة. أما القول بأن كل الحياديين هم مع الرئيس فليس صحيحاً على الإطلاق".

يوم كان البحث قائماً لتشكيل حكومة سعد الحريري، خرج البطريرك الماروني مار نصرالله بطرس صفير بنظرية مفادها أن "العربة التي يجرُّها حصانان لا يستقيم مسارها"، لأنه كان يرفض دخول المعارضة السابقة في الحكم، ويريده كاملاً لتيار المستقبل وحلفائه.

أما اليوم، وبعدما صار ما يسمى تجمع 14 آذار خارج السلطة، فنسي البطريرك الأحصنة وصار مع حكومة وحدة وطنية.

وكما بالنسبة للبطريرك، كذلك بالنسبة إلى الراعي، فهل لموقف الأخير علاقة بالتحولات السياسية التي حدثت، أو تلك الكنسية التي ستحدث؟ أم أن الأمر مجرَّد تطبيق جديد لمعادلة شاوول- بولس الإيمانية المعروفة، والتي تطبق حيناً في شكل صحيح، وأحياناً في صورة معكوسة؟

لقد أثبتت السعودية دائما ومنذ سبعينات القرن الماضي والوقائع عربياً وعالمياً، انها طائفية حتى العظم تُدخل البلد في حرب الحضارات بالشعارات التي ترفعها، وهي شعارات عنصريّة وتحريضيّة وداعمة لسلطة ومال طائفتها وأميرها الحريري في لبنان

على القضاء المختص التحرك تلقائيا وفورا لرفع الحصانات ومحاسبة المفتنين والعابثين بالامن الاهلي... يجب تطبيق القانون ووقف الشحن المؤذي

أن الأمر قد انتهى وان الإستراتيجية قد حُسمت منذ أن تم التوافق في البيان الوزاري لحكومات على معادلة "الجيش والشعب والمقاومة" التي تمثل أفضل صيغة دفاعية

بدنا هيك رئيس يعمل حكومة بلا عملاء اسرائيل, و يفتح كل الملفات

الحريري ومسيحيّو أميركا ينفذون هذه الاستراتيجية بمهاجمة سلاح المقاومة ودعم المحكمة....

ميشال سليمان من ألغام وعملاء أميركا ولا يُمثّل حليفاً مسيحياً يُمكن التعويل عليه جدياً في تأليف الحكومة أو في الانتخابات النيابيّة

في لقاء البطريرك الماروني مار بشارة بطرس الراعي مع الرئيس الفرنسي نيكولا ساركوزي عبّر البطريرك عن مخاوفه إزاء ما يحدث في العالم العربي وبخاصة في سوريا ومدى انعكاسه على الأقليات، محذراً فرنسا من السير في مشروع إطاحة نظام الرئيس الأسد بقوله: "إحذروا من استبدال نظام متشدد في سوريا بنظام أكثر تشدداً "، هذه الهواجس المشروعة تأتي ضمن سياسة جديدة يتبعها الفاتيكان تجاه المسيحيين المشرقيين، هي بمثابة إنذار أخير لما يتهدد المسيحيين العرب في وجودهم في هذا الشرق.

هذه السياسة الجديدة التزمتها بكركي والتي يعبر عنها البطريرك الراعي في خلال جولاته على المناطق اللبنانية، جولات الهدف منها توجيه رسالتين: الأولى الى المسلمين وهي رسالة تعايش وصفه الراعي بالنموذج الذي لا يملكه الغرب المسيحي، والثانية الى المسيحيين للقول ان البطريرك هو الذي يزور رعيته ويتفقد أحوالهم مشجعاً إياهم البقاء في ارضهم وعدم بيعها للإنتقال الى المناطق المكتظة مسيحياً، بل الاستمرار في التفاعل مع محيطهم المسلم بغض النظر عن عددهم في هذه المناطق، هي الرسالة نفسها التي يوجهها الفاتيكان على مستوى المشرق العربي لإبقاء المسيحيين في أوطانهم وعدم مغادرتها باتجاه الغرب المسيحي لإدراك الفاتيكان اهمية الكنيسة الشرقية في حماية المسيحية نفسها من الضلال.

أمّا في السياسة وعلى رغم عدم جواز إلباس هذا الموضوع رداء لا يناسبه، فبعض الأطراف المحلية المتضررة من السياسة الجديدة لبكركي أخذت الموضوع الى زواريبها الضيقة واضعة كلام الراعي في إطار زمني ومكاني ضيق؛ هي قوى الأقلية التي تنقسم بدورها الى قسمين: مسيحيي 14 آذار بمصطلحاتهم الخاصة من جهة، والسلفيين المدعومين من حزب المستقبل من جهة أخرى.

الفريق الأول كان أكثر غيرة على التطرف في الاسلام من السلفيين أنفسهم، (وللتوضيح فقط، ان مصطلح السلفيين وهم عدة ملل، منهم السلف الصالح، وأنا لا أقصده هنا، أما الذي أشير اليه هو السلفي التكفيري؛ ونقدي يندرج فقط في اطار الكشف عن النزعات العنصرية والسياسية التي تحملها معتقداته، ولا أنوي مناقشة أي فلسفة فكرية أو عقيدة دينية، والأخوان المسلمون يدرجون حالياً في خانة الاسلام المعتدل، لكن هم في واقع الأمر أبعد ما يكون عن الاعتدال بعكس ما يسوّق رئيس الوزراء التركي رجب طيب اردوغان، هذه الدعاية تدعمها الادارة الأميركية والإعلام الأميركي في إطار خطة ممنهجة لوصول الأخوان المسلمين الى الحكم في الدول العربية، لتتمكن تركيا من استعادة سيطرتها على هذه الدول في حلمها لإعادة إحياء الامبراطورية العثمانية السيئة الذكر، وبالتالي لتمكين الولايات المتحدة من إعادة السيطرة على منطقتنا بعد فقدانها لها بفضل تحطم مشروعها على صخرة التيار الممانع والمقاوم.

ولكن ما هي مصلحة حزب المستقبل بدعم هذا التوجه السلفي في لبنان بالتحديد؟ وهم تحولوا في الوقت الراهن الى جبهة متقدمة في الدفاع عن هذا التيار في وقت كان حزب المستقبل يتباهى منذ سيطرة الحريرية السياسية على الحكم في لبنان بأنه يشكل الوجه المعتدل للإسلام، أما اليوم فيسير في ركاب حزب العدالة والتنمية في تركيا وحزب التحرير في مصر والأخوان في سوريا من دون ان ننسى إرتباطه الوثيق بالوهابية، الأكثر تطرفا من الأخوان، في السعودية.

والجواب واضح، بعد أن خسر هذا الفريق رهاناته في البقاء في السلطة، فشل نتيجتها في إكمال مشروعه بالقضاء على ما تبقى من مقومات وجود الدولة والإجهاز على الوطن، وحاول طوال هذه السنوات فتفتت الشعب اللبناني وتحويله الى ملل متناحرة متصارعة، فالحريرية السياسية أخذت العبر من تاريخ لبنان حيث كان شعبه بعيد أزماته المصيرية يعيد بناء الدولة من جديد لمحافظته على حدّ أدنى من تضامنه وتماسكه وبالتالي وحدته.

OSP and the Pentagon Assassins....

2011-02-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

OSP, the Pentagon Assassins...and the Infamous White House Murder INC, Worldwide...

SST opposed the invasion of Iraq on the basis of a lack of justification. "Curveball," the Iraqi HUMINT source, provided false witness to American intelligence concerning supposed Iraqi biological weapons. He admits now that he deliberately did this to trick the US into going to war. He wanted Saddam gone. The neocon run "Office of Special Plans" in the Rumsfeld's DoD rammed "Curveball" down the throat of DIA....

The guilt for the bloodshed of Iraq rests with the neocons led by Dick Cheney and his criminal gang of assassins, who pulled the Inside Job of 9/11 and people like Wolfowitz, Feith and Perle....

We are now in the 10^th year of the first decade of the ‘war on terror.’ So the inevitable anniversary assessments are beginning to make an appearance. Iraq reappraisals are back in vogue. They favor the drawing of balance sheets. They leave something missing – something of paramount importance. That is the effects on Iraqis themselves. Not Iraqis in the abstract, not as figures in a statistical category of sects. Rather, as flesh and blood and feeling persons. Frankly, most of the discourse about Iraq from day one has had a disengaged quality to it. That is the norm for dominant powers on the world stage; and for the seminar strategist. That was not always the norm by which Americans referenced war and violence

abroad in the 20^th century when we truly believed in our proclaimed ideals.

To illuminate the point, here are some too readily slighted facts. 100,000 – 150,00 Iraqis are dead as the consequence of our invasion and occupation. That is the conservative estimate. Untold thousands are maimed and orphaned. 2 million are uprooted refugees in neighboring lands. Another 2 million are displaced persons internally. The availability of potable water and electricity is less than it was in February 2003. The comparable numbers for the United States would be 1.1 – 1.6 million dead; an equal number infirmed; 22 million refugees in Mexico and Canada; 22 million displaced persons within the country. We did not do all the killing and maiming; we did most of the destruction of infrastructure. To all these tragedies we are accessories before and during the fact.

Digits make less of an impact on us than observed reality. That is always the case. And very few have been in a position to see the human effects of our actions first hand. So let me suggest a couple of ways to approximate that experience. Go to your nearest cemetery; read and count the tombstones up to ten. Do that ten times, then multiply by a thousand. Try visualizing only half that number since it is in the nature of all of us to diminish drastically the affect and identity for those who are not part of our community. Step two: go to RFK stadium, imagine it full. Do that 3 times and then imagine them all – men, women and children - in their graves. Imagine. Imagine them hobbling on one leg, lying crippled or maimed on a cot in a cinderblock house. Imagine them as Americans – men, women and children – who placed USA stickers on their cars, hoisted the Stars & Stripes on holidays, lustily sang the national anthem. Imagine them all as the victims of an invasion and occupation by Iraqi Muslims who were deceived by their lying leaders who had their own dark purposes. An occupation that featured the likes of L. Mahmoud Chalebi IV and Bashi Bazouks of the Blackwater ilk. Imagine that these altruistic Iranians leave behind a Vice-Regal Embassy on the banks of the Potomac, giant airbases scattered around the country, and 550,000 troops (proportional) – all out of concern for our health and safety. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Imagine your counterparts in Baghdad now drawing up balance sheets.

Next Step: go back to the study and reconstruct your Iraq balance sheet.

Does this imply that pacifism is the only ethically acceptable conduct? No – but it does give us a better fix on the true meaning of our misadventure in Iraq. Moreover, keep in mind that the Iraqis never gave us permission to do those things to them. We willfully imposed our them based on the accusation of a pre-fabricated threat.

Who assigns value in the equation to the dead, the maimed, the orphaned, the distressed, the uprooted? Who assigns value to being free of Saddam's police? Who distributes the values among Shia, Sunnis, Kurds, Christains and Turkomen? Who decides on the relevant time frame? Who determines what constitutes sufficient evidence to support any of these judgments?

Who has the right, the authority, the legitimacy to do this? To do so before the event? To do so after the event in a post hoc justification of the actions that produced these effects?

Who is prepared to reach a definitive judgment? Is it God? Or is it those who instigated and supported those actions in the righteous conceit that they were acting as His surrogate? I place myself in neither category. “Let humanity be the ultimate measure of all that you do” is a Confucian admonition meant to guide the behavior of officials. America today pays it scant regard and it's utter corruption, criminality, murder, assassinations and is loathed & despised the world over....

2011: A Brave New Dystopia and Reagan's secret legacy....

2011-02-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

A Brave New Dystopia and Reagan's secret legacy....

By Chris Hedges

The two greatest visions of a future dystopia were George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” The debate, between those who watched our descent towards corporate totalitarianism, was who was right. Would we be, as Orwell wrote, dominated by a repressive surveillance and security state that used crude and violent forms of control? Or would we be, as Huxley envisioned, entranced by entertainment and spectacle, captivated by technology and seduced by profligate consumption to embrace our own oppression? It turns out Orwell and Huxley were both right. Huxley saw the first stage of our enslavement. Orwell saw the second.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4rBDUJTnNU&feature=player_embedded

We have been gradually disempowered by a corporate state that, as Huxley foresaw, seduced and manipulated us through sensual gratification, cheap mass-produced goods, boundless credit, political theater and amusement. While we were entertained, the regulations that once kept predatory corporate power in check were dismantled, the laws that once protected us were rewritten and we were impoverished. Now that credit is drying up, good jobs for the working class are gone forever and mass-produced goods are unaffordable, we find ourselves transported from “Brave New World” to “1984.” The state, crippled by massive deficits, endless war and corporate malfeasance, is sliding toward bankruptcy. It is time for Big Brother to take over from Huxley’s feelies, the orgy-porgy and the centrifugal bumble-puppy. We are moving from a society where we are skillfully manipulated by lies and illusions to one where we are overtly controlled.

Orwell warned of a world where books were banned. Huxley warned of a world where no one wanted to read books. Orwell warned of a state of permanent war and fear. Huxley warned of a culture diverted by mindless pleasure. Orwell warned of a state where every conversation and thought was monitored and dissent was brutally punished. Huxley warned of a state where a population, preoccupied by trivia and gossip, no longer cared about truth or information. Orwell saw us frightened into submission. Huxley saw us seduced into submission. But Huxley, we are discovering, was merely the prelude to Orwell. Huxley understood the process by which we would be complicit in our own enslavement. Orwell understood the enslavement. Now that the corporate coup is over, we stand naked and defenseless. We are beginning to understand, as Karl Marx knew, that unfettered and unregulated capitalism is a brutal and revolutionary force that exploits human beings and the natural world until exhaustion or collapse.

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake,” Orwell wrote in “1984.” “We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”

The political philosopher Sheldon Wolin uses the term “inverted totalitarianism” in his book “Democracy Incorporated” to describe our political system. It is a term that would make sense to Huxley. In inverted totalitarianism, the sophisticated technologies of corporate control, intimidation and mass manipulation, which far surpass those employed by previous totalitarian states, are effectively masked by the glitter, noise and abundance of a consumer society. Political participation and civil liberties are gradually surrendered. The corporation state, hiding behind the smokescreen of the public relations industry, the entertainment industry and the tawdry materialism of a consumer society, devours us from the inside out. It owes no allegiance to us or the nation. It feasts upon our carcass.

The corporate state does not find its expression in a demagogue or charismatic leader. It is defined by the anonymity and facelessness of the corporation. Corporations, who hire attractive spokespeople like Barack Obama, control the uses of science, technology, education and mass communication. They control the messages in movies and television. And, as in “Brave New World,” they use these tools of communication to bolster tyranny. Our systems of mass communication, as Wolin writes, “block out, eliminate whatever might introduce qualification, ambiguity, or dialogue, anything that might weaken or complicate the holistic force of their creation, to its total impression.”

The result is a monochromatic system of information. Celebrity courtiers, masquerading as journalists, experts and specialists, identify our problems and patiently explain the parameters. All those who argue outside the imposed parameters are dismissed as irrelevant cranks, extremists or members of a radical left. Prescient social critics, from Ralph Nader to Noam Chomsky, are banished. Acceptable opinions have a range of A to B. The culture, under the tutelage of these corporate courtiers, becomes, as Huxley noted, a world of cheerful conformity, as well as an endless and finally fatal optimism. We busy ourselves buying products that promise to change our lives, make us more beautiful, confident or successful as we are steadily stripped of rights, money and influence. All messages we receive through these systems of communication, whether on the nightly news or talk shows like “Oprah,” promise a brighter, happier tomorrow. And this, as Wolin points out, is “the same ideology that invites corporate executives to exaggerate profits and conceal losses, but always with a sunny face.” We have been entranced, as Wolin writes, by “continuous technological advances” that “encourage elaborate fantasies of individual prowess, eternal youthfulness, beauty through surgery, actions measured in nanoseconds: a dream-laden culture of ever-expanding control and possibility, whose denizens are prone to fantasies because the vast majority have imagination but little scientific knowledge.”

Our manufacturing base has been dismantled. Speculators and swindlers have looted the U.S. Treasury and stolen billions from small shareholders who had set aside money for retirement or college. Civil liberties, including habeas corpus and protection from warrantless wiretapping, have been taken away. Basic services, including public education and health care, have been handed over to the corporations to exploit for profit. The few who raise voices of dissent, who refuse to engage in the corporate happy talk, are derided by the corporate establishment as freaks.

Attitudes and temperament have been cleverly engineered by the corporate state, as with Huxley’s pliant characters in “Brave New World.” The book’s protagonist, Bernard Marx, turns in frustration to his girlfriend Lenina:

“Don’t you wish you were free, Lenina?” he asks.

“I don’t know what you mean. I am free, free to have the most wonderful time. Everybody’s happy nowadays.”

He laughed, “Yes, ‘Everybody’s happy nowadays.’ We have been giving the children that at five. But wouldn’t you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for example; not in everybody else’s way.”“I don’t know what you mean,” she repeated.

The façade is crumbling. And as more and more people realize that they have been used and robbed, we will move swiftly from Huxley’s “Brave New World” to Orwell’s “1984.” The public, at some point, will have to face some very unpleasant truths. The good-paying jobs are not coming back. The largest deficits in human history mean that we are trapped in a debt peonage system that will be used by the corporate state to eradicate the last vestiges of social protection for citizens, including Social Security. The state has devolved from a capitalist democracy to neo-feudalism. And when these truths become apparent, anger will replace the corporate-imposed cheerful conformity. The bleakness of our post-industrial pockets, where some 40 million Americans live in a state of poverty and tens of millions in a category called “near poverty,” coupled with the lack of credit to save families from foreclosures, bank repossessions and bankruptcy from medical bills, means that inverted totalitarianism will no longer work.

1984 George Orwell Movie Trailer (1984), posted with vodpod

We increasingly live in Orwell’s Oceania, not Huxley’s The World State. Osama bin Laden plays the role assumed by Emmanuel Goldstein in “1984.” Goldstein, in the novel, is the public face of terror. His evil machinations and clandestine acts of violence dominate the nightly news. Goldstein’s image appears each day on Oceania’s television screens as part of the nation’s “Two Minutes of Hate” daily ritual. And without the intervention of the state, Goldstein, like bin Laden, will kill you. All excesses are justified in the titanic fight against evil personified.

The psychological torture of Pvt. Bradley Manning—who has now been imprisoned for seven months without being convicted of any crime—mirrors the breaking of the dissident Winston Smith at the end of “1984.” Manning is being held as a “maximum custody detainee” in the brig at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Virginia. He spends 23 of every 24 hours alone. He is denied exercise. He cannot have a pillow or sheets for his bed. Army doctors have been plying him with antidepressants. The cruder forms of torture of the Gestapo have been replaced with refined Orwellian techniques, largely developed by government psychologists, to turn dissidents like Manning into vegetables. We break souls as well as bodies. It is more effective. Now we can all be taken to Orwell’s dreaded Room 101 to become compliant and harmless. These “special administrative measures” are regularly imposed on our dissidents, including Syed Fahad Hashmi, who was imprisoned under similar conditions for three years before going to trial. The techniques have psychologically maimed thousands of detainees in our black sites around the globe. They are the staple form of control in our maximum security prisons where the corporate state makes war on our most politically astute underclass—African-Americans. It all presages the shift from Huxley to Orwell.

“Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling,” Winston Smith’s torturer tells him in “1984.” “Everything will be dead inside you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”

The noose is tightening. The era of amusement is being replaced by the era of repression. Tens of millions of citizens have had their e-mails and phone records turned over to the government. We are the most monitored and spied-on citizenry in human history. Many of us have our daily routine caught on dozens of security cameras. Our proclivities and habits are recorded on the Internet. Our profiles are electronically generated. Our bodies are patted down at airports and filmed by scanners. And public service announcements, car inspection stickers, and public transportation posters constantly urge us to report suspicious activity. The enemy is everywhere.

Those who do not comply with the dictates of the war on terror, a war which, as Orwell noted, is endless, are brutally silenced. The draconian security measures used to cripple protests at the G-20 gatherings in Pittsburgh and Toronto were wildly disproportionate for the level of street activity. But they sent a clear message—DO NOT TRY THIS. The FBI’s targeting of antiwar and Palestinian activists, which in late September saw agents raid homes in Minneapolis and Chicago, is a harbinger of what is to come for all who dare defy the state’s official Newspeak. The agents—our Thought Police—seized phones, computers, documents and other personal belongings. Subpoenas to appear before a grand jury have since been served on 26 people. The subpoenas cite federal law prohibiting “providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations.” Terror, even for those who have nothing to do with terror, becomes the blunt instrument used by Big Brother to protect us from ourselves.

“Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating?” Orwell wrote. “It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself.”

http://neithercorp.us/npress/2011/02/the-great-global-debt-prison/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skQuhoG7fFM&feature=player_embedded

Reagan's secret legacy....

Peter Chamberlin

On this, the one-hundredth birthday of Ronald Reagan, the Reagan worshippers are coming out of the woodwork. It seems that the self-appointed leaders of the “Tempest in the Teapot” party (or whatever they call themselves), even Obama himself, are trying to ride Reagan’s fame to new political heights. That’s good, because Reagan had a serious weakness, his notoriety associated with his extremist beliefs, which we should all take time to remember today.

Ronald Reagan did something very bad to this country; he planted a poisonous seed that has now put forth fully ripened fruit, in our own era, fruit which makes the heart cold and intoxicates the minds, filling them with visions of untold wealth and power. Reagan imbibed deeply on his own poison, giving substance to his own hallucinatory visions, which he shared with his followers. It his delusional military and economic theories that are directly responsible for the dual crises that threaten the civilized world today. His nonsensical faith-based “supply-side economics” theory (which George Bush described as “voodoo economics”) set loose the dangerous speculative economics that have plagued us, giving credence to the “borrow our way to prosperity” theories that have imperiled the world economy.

His was a “faith-based” policy, in that it required a leap of blind faith in Reagan’s promises, that the investor class would reinvest the enormous profits Reagan was sending their way, back into the American economy. Instead, they pocketed the cash, sending much of it to offshore bank accounts, or into building new factories in “Third World” countries, instead of modernizing American production lines. In short, Reagan promised that if we basically trusted his plan his rich friends would turn the American economy around, after he basically handed them the keys to the national treasury.

Deregulation took the lid off. In effect, financial institutions were urged to adapt the same policies used by the CIA over the years to raise cash for covert operations. Risky investments were encouraged, any investments, so long as there was some form of cash flowing or other capital to be used as new collateral for new loans, to increase investment pools for new ventures. Reagan unleashed a massive pyramid scheme, to use as a weapon to economically bludgeon Russia and its allies. In the end, all of us have come to feel the hard end of the economic weapon.

His crazy ideas of hiring militants to fight our enemies for us (so that the American military and the CIA might disavow the contracts) have lived on, eventually coming back to bite us all on the ass, in today’s “war on terrorism.” The war in Afghanistan, then Iraq, soon in Pakistan as well, are all clean-up operations, trying to eliminate some of the same militant groups which we have created to fight for us in the past.

The “Reagan revolutionaries,” who came to be known as the “neocons,” were masters in the science of propaganda, having spent their academic years studying European fascism (under the pretense of finding preventive measures with which to defend against new fascism). The key to effective propaganda is the ability to say one thing publicly and mean the exact opposite of that thing, revealing the truth only to a select group of insiders. The “neoconservatives” successfully took over the “conservative movement by using this technique. Both groups used the same words and phrases, but the neocons group lied about their definitions, using those words instead, as code words, understandable only to the elite, who knew that when Reagan spoke of reining-in the multinational corporations, he really intended to empower them. When he spoke of deregulation and privatization as being keys to unlocking the American economy, the insiders knew that only the wealthy few would be deregulated and that privatization would not improve anyone’s lives, other than the American oligarchs who would be handed vast segments of federal programs to cannibalize for their own profits, just like Russia’s oligarchs.

Which of Reagan’s many delusional values should Americans really want to “reconnect with”? The “patriotism” reflected in his “crusade for democracy,” which turned-out to be a front for international destabilization and limited warfare operations. His National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has been behind every “colored revolution” in former Soviet space. The attempts by these funded groups to foment democratic revolutions in Iran, Tunisia and Egypt have manipulated growing discontent, to agitate the masses and initiate popular reactions against America’s favorite puppets, puppets which have been targeted by the NED revolutionaries for regime change. The conceit that motivates Obama’s minions to destabilize the Middle East and Africa, as well as Central Asia, to further American plans for world control is a threat to the entire world.

The events now unfolding across North Africa are another American psy-op gone public (SEE: Egypt protests: America’s secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising ), just like the recent Kyrgyz uprisings and the previous Future Movement attempts to ignite an anti-Hezbollah civil war in Lebanon. Having failed in its previous attempts to takeover the former Soviet governments through the so-called “colored revolutions,” and in its attempts in former Soviet Georgia to ignite a war against Russia, the American “deep state” has returned to its scheme to use democratic revolution to force its will upon the world.

Reagan’s team peddled a synthetic version of “democratic-revolution,” creating popular revolutions against targeted regimes, that were really not really “of the people,” even though they were obviously “by the people.” The legions of government scientists and psychologists had finally figured-out how to magnify negative emotions and to manipulate behavior, through a combination of bribery, threats and appeals to false ideals, so that the people themselves could be turned into guided weapons, much like the psychology of a suicide bomber. Reagan’s “Project Democracy” was a form of low-level warfare, capable of “weaponizing” the masses and directing them at their own governments.

Everyday people by the hundreds of thousands have been deceived by sincere-sounding agitators into putting their lives at risk in the streets, unleashing their anger in reaction to provocation. A real revolution “of the People” does not have an already formed “unity government” waiting in the wings, while agitators steer the “people power” revolution in the streets.

Every national politician since Reagan, of either party, has supported the chain of lies that the Reagan years have strengthened this country. All news media since the very beginning have promoted this idea, maintaining the fiction that this country has not been in regression, both economically and militarily, ever since Reagan unleashed his revolution. The sad truth is, that this country will continue its deadly downhill slide until we all realize just how badly we have been lied to by all of our leaders and take our own actions to correct the course that they have set us upon. Until we bravely face the truth about the total lack of truth in all of our national leaders and stand-up to them all, America is doomed.

Until we break free from this dumbed-down alternative America that Reagan has locked us into, by actually overthrowing the system that keeps empowering the cut-throats and the liars, we will never know true American greatness. Until we face the truth about who we are and understand why most of the world now hates us as the “evil empire” (a complete reversal of roles from Reagan’s world), we will not understand or see the path to national salvation which still lies open before us. Until the day that we take the future away from people like Obama and Palin, and Bush and Reagan, and Clinton and Gore, Bush and Cheney, we will truly have no future. Until we face the facts about just how wrong our leaders have all been and see the intricate blanket of lies used to cover their crimes, we will be unable to do anything to save ourselves.

Sitting idly by, while the Obama government endangers the roots of civilization itself, squandering any remaining investment potential in a failing gambit to save the American system of organized robbery and government by extortion, is not an option. If Obama is going to continue Reagan’s quest to overthrow the world order, forcing global “regime change,” then we will have no other choice but to defeat him and disrupt the great plan. If revolution is America’s last remaining exportable product, then it must also be revolution here at home.

There are two visions or ideologies that are propelling this country into the future, one of these visions promotes the idea that all of our counterfeit government leaders are instead, great men, with Ronald Reagan being venerated as perhaps among the greatest of all men. This political vision, or ideology, which has been carefully crafted by psychological warfare experts for our entertainment and control, glorifies what America has done to the world over the past thirty years, under the guise of sowing the seeds of Democracy and protecting them. This Reagan-worshipping cult of personality is content with Reagan’s original plan for a two-tiered America (kept in power by endless military adventurism), divided very unequally between a small, powerful, ruling elite and their mercenary force of bureaucratic technocrats, and the rest of us.

Then there is America’s alternative vision, one shared by a rapidly growing grass-roots movement, which focuses upon America’s secret military history. This vision, shared by much of the rest of the human race considers America’s string of “limited wars” to be a series of war crimes, military acts of aggression, which are more accurately defined as terrorism than as legitimate military action, since all of the mercenary forces hired or tricked into fighting for us have been “non-military combatants” (thugs, criminals and jihadists). In reality, America’s secret wars were dishonorable adventurism that real patriots or a heroic warrior class would not be associated with.

America’s alternative news services exist to post reports about America’s secret news, reports on countless little wars of aggression, that have been waged upon both friends and foes alike. Until America produces a generation of American leaders who are both willing to take-on the real debate about the American deep state at the state or national level and run on an anti-war-crime platform, then nothing will get better.

Reagan was not a “noble warrior,” riding on a white horse, come to save America. Nay, he was the slayer of America, riding a pale horse, come to finish-off what previous Empire-builders had started. Despite Reagan’s politically charged rhetoric, we know that the Empire he seduced us into helping him build was not American at all, except for a few of the multinational corporations with home offices in New York.

Reagan’s revolution was a counterfeit revolution, taking America in a direction the Founding Fathers never intended. History has been hijacked by an international cartel, intent upon creating a Fascist global government, subservient to the dictates of the cartel. Reagan and all those who come after him have merely been puppets of that international cartel. The sooner we all face that fact the sooner we begin a real resistance movement here in our homeland. Honoring Reagan or the forces he has set into motion is a disservice to the past.

The political crisis sweeping the Middle East is another part of Ronald Reagan’s dark legacy that is shattering into chaos even as the United States prepares to lavishly celebrate his 100th birthday.

Upon taking office in 1981, Reagan turned the United States onto a new course, away from Jimmy Carter’s intensive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and toward tolerance of the Likud strategy of expanding settlements on the West Bank and lashing out at Israel’s enemies in Lebanon and the Occupied Territories.

This Reagan-Likud cooperation also affected politics and media inside the United States. In the early 1980s, with Reagan’s assistance and blessings, a group of articulate operatives known as neoconservatives emerged as a powerful political/media force. Their dual role was to buttress U.S. support for the security interests of Israel and to rebuild a consensus around the U.S. global agenda, which had been shattered by the Vietnam War.

The neocons – through their work inside the Reagan administration and in key parts of the U.S. news media, such as The New Republic and the Washington Post’s opinion section – became, in essence, the arbiters of Washington’s conventional wisdom, setting the parameters of acceptable debate.

Even before the days of Fox News, their voices were prominent on the TV talk shows, the likes of Charles Krauthammer, Fred Barnes and William Kristol, or as publishers of influential opinion journals, such as Martin Peretz, Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz.

As the Reagan era advanced in the 1980s, journalists and politicians who showed skepticism about U.S. foreign policy — the sort of attitude that had been common in the 1970s — were dismissed as “blame America firsters,” a phrase coined by Reagan’s UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick.

Skeptics who continued to insist on challenging the Reagan/neocon propaganda saw their careers damaged or destroyed.

More malleable journalists ensured their status in the well-paying world of Washington media by bending to the prevailing winds. Many politicians did the same, recognizing the trouble they could get into by crossing Reagan’s team and its ideological heirs.

Reagan’s Middle East policy shifts — and the influence of the neocons — created space for Israel’s Likudniks to pay lip service to granting Palestinians a homeland while systematically encroaching onto more and more Palestinian land, a process that Likud called “changing the facts on the ground.” The expanding settlements essentially killed chances for a viable Palestinian state.

Reagan’s approach, in effect, turned the Middle East into a political pressure cooker with the Arab “street” steaming over the humiliations of the Palestinians and furious over the timidity of bought-off Arab leaders.

As the pressure built – with occasional outbursts of Muslim outrage, including acts of terrorism – Washington’s desire for “stability” required ever more repression. The Reagan administration stepped up security assistance to the region’s dictators.

Leading to Invasion

The cumulative effect of Reagan’s tough-guy legacy – and the neocons’ climb to the top of Washington’s opinion hierarchy – paved the way for George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq with remarkably little resistance from the U.S. media/political elite.

The Iraq invasion represented the fulfillment of the idea that American force could bring into line Muslim governments that resisted U.S. dictates or that threatened Israel.

In the heady days after Saddam Hussein was knocked from power, the neocons joked about whether to turn next to Syria or Iran. The thinking went that once those nation-state targets were neutralized Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestine’s Hamas would have no choice but to beg for peace on whatever terms Israel deigned to offer.

However, events didn’t work out quite the way the neocons had diagrammed. After the initial victory in Iraq, the war went badly. The dreams of imposing pro-U.S./pro-Israeli regimes in Syria and Iran had to be deferred. Indeed, the U.S. ouster of Sunni leader Saddam Hussein in Iraq ended up increasing the relative power of Shiite-ruled Iran.

Closer to Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas – rather than pleading for mercy – grew stronger, while pro-U.S. dictators in places like Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Jordan grew more unpopular. Many Egyptians sharply criticized President Hosni Mubarak for standing aside while Israel’s military pummeled Gaza in a brutal campaign in late 2008 and early 2009.

Meanwhile, the global financial collapse that marked the end of Bush’s Reagan-redux presidency added more steam to the Middle East pressure cooker, which was getting ready to blow. The only question was when.

The explosion started with a popular uprising in Tunisia, where the longtime dictator Ben Ali resigned and fled into exile. The popular revolt soon spread to Egypt, the most populous Arab country.

There, massive street demonstrations forced Mubarak to agree not to seek reelection, though protesters have kept up their demands that he leave immediately. Monarchies in Jordan and Saudi Arabia were shaken, too.

So, even as a lavish celebration is readied for Reagan’s 100th birthday — including a special act of homage to the late president at the Super Bowl — the Middle East is becoming just the latest part of his legacy to come undone.

The region now appears to be careening toward potentially bloody upheavals and possibly future war, especially if Israel with its high-tech weapons (and nuclear arsenal) fears its survival is threatened.

A Different Narrative

Things could have been very different if Reagan had not succeeded in wresting the White House from Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Carter was pushing a starkly different approach to the region, pressuring Israel to surrender Arab lands conquered in 1967 in exchange for peace agreements with its neighbors.

In 1978, Carter secured the first step in this peace process, the Camp David Accords in which Israel’s Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin agreed to return the Sinai to Egypt in a peace deal.

However, Begin was furious, feeling that Carter had bullied him into accepting the arrangement. Beyond that resentment, Begin feared that Carter would use his second term to push Israel into accepting a Palestinian state on West Bank lands that Likud considered part of Israel’s divinely granted territory.

Former Mossad and Foreign Ministry official David Kimche described Begin’s fury in the 1991 book, The Last Option.

Kimche wrote that Israeli officials had gotten wind of “collusion” between Carter and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat “to force Israel to abandon her refusal to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem, and to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

Kimche continued, “This plan – prepared behind Israel’s back and without her knowledge – must rank as a unique attempt in United States’s diplomatic history of short-changing a friend and ally by deceit and manipulation.”

However, Begin recognized that the scheme required Carter winning a second term in 1980 when, Kimche wrote, “he would be free to compel Israel to accept a settlement of the Palestinian problem on his and Egyptian terms, without having to fear the backlash of the American Jewish lobby.”

In his 1992 memoir, Profits of War, Ari Ben-Menashe, an Israeli military intelligence officer who worked with Likud, agreed that Begin and other Likud leaders held Carter in contempt.

“Begin loathed Carter for the peace agreement forced upon him at Camp David,” Ben-Menashe wrote. “As Begin saw it, the agreement took away Sinai from Israel, did not create a comprehensive peace, and left the Palestinian issue hanging on Israel’s back.”

So, in order to buy time for Israel to move more Jewish settlers into the West Bank, Begin felt Carter’s reelection had to be prevented. A different president also presumably would give Israel a freer hand to deal with problems on its northern border with Lebanon.

The evidence is now clear that Begin found that new partnership with Ronald Reagan and his foreign policy team. Begin would do what he could to help Reagan defeat Carter in 1980, finally sliencing Carter’s incessant nagging.

Though Carter may not have understood his predicament, his position was even more precarious because he had made other powerful enemies, including the CIA’s “Old Boys” network. His CIA director, Stansfield Turner, had reined in their operations and cashiered some of their leaders, the likes of Ted Shackley who left the operations directorate and went to work for the campaign of former CIA Director George H.W. Bush.

In the Republican primaries, Bush competed with Reagan for the nomination but ultimately accepted the second spot on the GOP ticket, bringing along Shackley and a host of other disgruntled CIA veterans who were itching for payback against Jimmy Carter.

Carter’s human rights lectures also had riled America’s right-wing and anti-communist allies, especially after the brutal Shah of Iran was driven from power by a popular uprising in late 1978 only to get replaced by the similarly brutal Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Carter was viewed as a bumbling do-gooder who needed to be shown the door for the good of the Western world. Reagan, a former B-movie actor, may not have been the optimal replacement, but he was surrounded by Republican national security experts, including Bush, who knew their way around the global chessboard.

‘CIA Within the CIA’

In 1990, looking back on those events, legendary CIA officer Miles Copeland told me that “the CIA within the CIA” – the inner-most circle of powerful intelligence figures who felt they understood best the strategic needs of the United States – believed Carter and his naïve faith in American democratic ideals represented a grave threat to the nation.

“Carter really believed in all the principles that we talk about in the West,” Copeland said, shaking his mane of white hair. “As smart as Carter is, he did believe in Mom, apple pie and the corner drug store. And those things that are good in America are good everywhere else. …

“Carter, I say, was not a stupid man,” Copeland said, adding that Carter had an even worse flaw: “He was a principled man.”

The anti-Carter sentiments of “the CIA within the CIA” and Begin’s Likudniks appeared to stem from their genuine beliefs that they needed to protect what they regarded as vital interests of their respective countries. The CIA Old Boys thought they understood the true strategic needs of the United States – and Likud believed fervently in a “Greater Israel.”

Both groups saw Carter as a dangerous threat.

But the lingering mystery of Campaign 1980 is whether these two groups followed their strongly held feelings into a secret operation in league with Republicans to prevent Carter from gaining the release of 52 U.S. hostages then held in Iran and thus torpedoing his reelection hopes.

Carter’s inability to resolve that hostage crisis did set the stage for Reagan’s landslide victory in November 1980 as American voters reacted to the long-running hostage humiliation by turning to a candidate they believed would be a tougher player vis-à-vis America’s enemies.

Reagan’s macho image was reinforced when the Iranians released the hostages immediately after he was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1981, ending the 444-day standoff.

The coincidence of timing, which Reagan’s supporters cited as proof that foreign enemies feared the new president, gave momentum to Reagan’s larger agenda, including sweeping tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, reduced government regulation of corporations, and renewed reliance on fossil fuels. (Carter’s solar panels were removed from the White House roof.)

Reagan’s victory also was great news for CIA cold-warriors who were rewarded with the choice of World War II spymaster (and dedicated cold-warrior) William Casey to be CIA director.

Casey then purged CIA analysts who were detecting a declining Soviet Union that desired détente. He replaced them with people like the young and ambitious Robert Gates, who agreed that the Soviets were on the march and that the United States needed a massive military expansion to counter them.

Casey also embraced old-time CIA swashbuckling in Third World countries and took pleasure in misleading or berating members of Congress when they insisted on the CIA oversight that had been forced on President Gerald Ford and had been accepted by President Carter. To Casey, CIA oversight became a game of hide-and-seek.

Time for Expansion

As for Israel, Begin was pleased to find the Reagan administration far less demanding about peace deals with the Arabs, giving Israel time to expand its West Bank settlements.

Reagan and his team also acquiesced to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, a drive north that expelled the Palestine Liberation Organization but also led to the slaughters at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Israel’s Lebanon invasion eventually drew U.S. troops into the Lebanese civil war, with 241 getting killed by a suicide bombing on Oct. 23, 1983.

Behind the scenes, Reagan also gave a green light to Israeli weapons shipments to Iran (which was fighting a war with Israel’s greater enemy, Iraq). The weapons sales helped Israel rebuild its network of contacts inside Iran while creating large profits which helped finance West Bank settlements.

In another significant move, Reagan credentialed a new generation of pro-Israeli American ideologues known as the neocons. That paid big dividends for Israel as these bright operatives fought for Likud’s interests both inside the U.S. government and through their opinion-leading roles in the major American news media.

In other words, if the disgruntled CIA Old Boys and the determined Likudniks did participate in the so-called October Surprise scheme to sabotage Carter’s Iran-hostage negotiations and thus seal his doom, they surely got much of what they wanted.

Yet, while motive is an important element in solving a mystery, it does not constitute proof by itself. What must be examined is whether there is evidence that the motive was acted upon, whether Begin’s government and disaffected CIA officers covertly assisted the Reagan campaign in contacting Iranian officials to thwart Carter’s hostage negotiations.

This evidence is strong though perhaps not ironclad. A well-supported narrative does exist describing how the October Surprise scheme may have occurred with the help of CIA personnel, Begin’s government, some right-wing intelligence figures in Europe, and a handful of other powerbrokers in the United States. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “CIA/Likud Sinking of Jimmy Carter” or Robert Parry’s Secrecy & Privilege.]

It’s also clear that Reagan – after becoming president – did nothing to retaliate against Iran for the hostage-taking and instead rewarded Khomeini’s regime by secretly approving Israeli arms shipments to Iran. That hidden reality became apparent to some U.S. government officials after one of Israel’s supply planes crashed just inside Soviet territory on July 18, 1981.

In a PBS interview nearly a decade later, Nicholas Veliotes, Reagan’s assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, said he looked into the incident by talking to top administration officials who insisted that the State Department issue misleading guidance to the press.

“It was clear to me after my conversations with people on high that indeed we had agreed that the Israelis could transship to Iran some American-origin military equipment,” Veliotes said.

In checking out the Israeli flight, Veliotes came to believe that the Reagan camp’s dealings with Iran dated back to before the 1980 election.

“It seems to have started in earnest in the period probably prior to the election of 1980, as the Israelis had identified who would become the new players in the national security area in the Reagan administration,” Veliotes said. “And I understand some contacts were made at that time.”

If the October Surprise narrative is true, then Reagan’s Iran-Contra arms deals in 1984-86 would have been essentially a sequel, not a stand-alone story, with Iran getting more weapons in exchange for its help in freeing other American hostages then held in Lebanon.

Yet, whatever one thinks of the October Surprise story – whether you believe that the Republicans sabotaged President Carter or not – there can be little doubt that the shattering events of that period propelled the Middle East down a course that changed the region’s history – and has today left the world at another dangerous crossroads.

A three-decade epoch was begun with the neocons and the Reaganites emerging as the dominant forces in Washington; with stepped-up security protecting autocratic Arab leaders from the angry “street”; with Shiite-ruled Iran supplying militant Muslim organizations to undercut the mostly Sunni autocrats and to pressure Israel; and with Likud and its vision of a Greater Israel guaranteeing little sustainable progress toward a Palestinian state.

It was an epoch that Ronald Reagan and his foreign policy team helped launched in 1980-81; it was an epoch that Jimmy Carter’s second term might have prevented; and it is an epoch that may be collapsing into violence and disorder now.

CIA-MOSSAD-MI6, ROTHSCHILDS, SPICE GIRL, WIKILEAKS

2010-12-21T06:08:00.000-08:00

Sacha Gervasi and Jessica de Rothschild (Website for this image)

On 21 December 2010, Jessica de Rothschild (36) is to marry Sacha Gervasi (44). (confidante)

Gervasi once had a relationship with Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and their offspring is Bluebell Madonna Halliwell. (Sacha Gervasi - Wikipedia)

Geri Halliwell (Website for this image)

Reportedly, Gervasi once had a £200-a-day heroin and crack cocaine habit. (Father of Geri Halliwell's baby is a former junkie.)

Sacha Gervasi's father, Sean Gervasi, was an economic adviser to John F. Kennedy; Sean Gervasi became "a leading member of the anti-Vietnam war movement."

Sacha Gervasi's uncle, Tom Gervasi, was an expert on intelligence matters. [23][24]

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild....

Jessica de Rothschild is the daughter of banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild is the son of Anthony Gustav de Rothschild (1887-1961) and Yvonne Cahen d'Anvers (1899-1977).

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild has had three wives:

1. In 1966 he married Jeannette Bishop (1940-1981), a niece of Sir Stanley Hooker, the jet-engine engineer. The marriage ended in divorce in 1971.

2. In 1973, he married Victoria Lou Schott (b. 1949), the stepsister of American news correspondent Felicia Taylor, whom he divorced in 2000.

The three children of this marriage are:

1. Jessica (b. 1974)

2. Anthony (b. 1977) (Rothschilds and Geography)

3. David (b. 1978) (Rothschilds and Geography)

Lynn Forester (centre)

3. In 2000, Sir Evelyn married the American lawyer and entrepreneur Lynn Forester.

She is the former wife of Andrew Stein, a New York City political figure.

By this marriage, Sir Evelyn has two stepchildren, Benjamin Forester Stein (b. 1985) and John Forester Stein (b. 1988).

Sir Evelyn and his family live at Ascott House, a country estate owned by the National Trust in Buckinghamshire.

According to the Daily Mail, 21 December 2010, Jessica de Rothschild met Sacha Gervasi at a stage show premiere. (RICHARD KAY: confidante)

Jessica "is an heir to Sir Evelyn’s £450 million fortune and a successful theatre producer.

"Her company, Sweet Pea Productions, staged the successful West End run of The Misanthrope, which starred Keira Knightley.

"Gervasi... wrote the screenplay for the Tom Hanks hit The Terminal."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1340384/Betrayal-royal-confidante.html#ixzz18jQaM4cq

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild was chairman of The Economist from 1972 to 1989.

His wife Lynn Forester de Rothschild currently sits on The Economist's board.

The Rothschild family also has a sizeable shareholder interest in The Economist.

In 2008, CIA/Wikileaks's Julian Assange was granted The Economist's New Media Award.....

Julian Assange's lawyer Mark Stephens, of Finers Stephens Innocent, is the legal adviser to the Rothschild Waddesdon Trust. (Who is Behind Wikileaks?)

~~

So Who Exactly is Sowing Strife in Lebanon?

2010-12-11T02:24:00.000-08:00

State Department's Wikipocrisy....

So Who Exactly is Sowing Strife in Lebanon?

Beirut

On October 24, 1970, during its 25th session, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration of Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

The UN Declaration provides in part:

“No State has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. Consequently, armed intervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threats against the personality of the State or against its political, economic and cultural elements, are in violation of international law.”

Perhaps not since the Vietnam War, with the exception of Iraq, has an American Embassy so inextricably inserted, bullied and entangled itself into the internal affairs of another country, than the U.S. Embassy here in Beirut. Or so brazenly targeted a nationalist political party that won the largest number of votes in the most recent election and that likely represents a majority of the country’s population. Not since 1982 has it occurred in Lebanon.

Myriad extra-consular activities by ‘Embassy Beirut’, many of which violate American as well as international laws including the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, present serious problems for Lebanon. They ultimately constitute major problems for the American people who increasingly seek an even-handed American Middle East policy and friendship with all legitimate countries in the region.

The de-facto American Ambassador to Lebanon and Syria remains Undersecretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Jeffrey CIA Feltman/assassin in chief.... who on 12/9/10 during a phone conference with Arab reporters in Washington, London and some Arab capitals, complained: “ the Wilkileaks information is being used to sow strife in Lebanon.” He added that he was “afraid that some Lebanese nationalists would be harmed for cooperating with the U.S and for better ties between Washington and Beirut.” He added, “The release of private conversations calls for disgust and anger.”

Not for the first time, Jeffrey CIA Feltman/assassin in chief.... has his analysis precisely backwards . For it is not some leaked cables, which to date have revealed nothing not already widely known or suspected in Lebanon, but rather it is the intense US interference in Lebanese internal affairs on behalf of Israel that is causing deep distrust and suspicion of American motives—all across the region—as well as among American citizens living here and at home. These fundamental causes include, what every school child in Lebanon has witnessed in one form or another, directly or through relatives or friends. That is the massive US weapon supplies delivered to Israel , used to repeatedly and ferociously attack Lebanese civilians, killing more than 30,000, wounding more than 200,000, and displacing more than two million, during a quarter century of Israel’s use of American weapons against Lebanon.

In addition to regularly unleashing and green lighting Israeli aggression against Lebanon, there is the continuing and ever evolving ‘Embassy Beirut’ based Welsh Club “ Lebanon Project List” (LPL) which lengthened in early 2005 and endures following Mr. Welsh’s retirement in 2009 . It is from this informal unit that State Department lawyers urged the White House to establish the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (UNSCR 1757) under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

“The duty not to intervene in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of any State, in accordance with the UN Charter.” UN Declaration Concerning Friendly Relations among States.

At various times joint US-Israeli Welch Club projects included plans for an airbase to be shared with Israel and NATO at Kleiat near the Sunni area of Akkar as part of a ‘Northern Sunni army’ to confront Southern Shia Hezbollah; moving the US Embassy and its electronic equipment to a hillside overlooking Dahiyeh with the capacity to listen in on virtually to all conversations and watch the movements of many Hezbollah officials; setting up Druze leader Walid CIA Jumblatt as front man to confront the Resistance over its secure telecommunications system, and one of their supporters in charge of aspects of Beirut airport security; to helping bring in Salafists, among others and implanting them in certain areas including Nahr al Bared and Ein el Helwe Palestinian Refugee camps; igniting, at every opportunity, sectarian tensions among, Sunni, Shia and various Christian sects; labeling certain media outlets, and publishing the names of their investors, and social service organizations as “terrorists’;channeling USAID/CIA projects, to chosen sects rather than on the basis of equality for all Lebanese; and more than a dozen projects to keep Lebanon divided, and weakened in its capacity to confront Israeli aggression, or to emerge from its history of domination by foreign powers.

In addition, ‘Embassy Beirut’ continues to function as salon and sounding board for all many of schemes to re-shape Lebanon to Israel’s liking, including this week’s confirmation of the earlier rumored Israeli-backed Saudi brainstorm to establish an “All Arab Force” to invade Lebanon and fight Hezbollah.

US interference on behalf of Israel, even to the degree of a willingness to cede Lebanese sovereign territory to Israel, allow daily air and sea invasions of Lebanese sovereignty, has sown strife in Lebanon. It is not some leaked Embassy cables that prevents “better ties between Washington and Beirut” which Jeffrey CIA Feltman/assassin in chief.... and no fewer than 43 visiting US officials have bleated to Lebanese media about over the past several years.

It was on April 17, 1983, after a similar intense period of US Embassy meddling in Lebanese internal affairs and using its diplomatic compound as a base to support one pro-Israeli Lebanese faction that many innocents were killed because the US Embassy had become a virtual command center and hence a legitimate military target....

U.S. Israeli intrigue in Lebanon....

2010-12-08T07:33:00.001-08:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/08/lebanon-funding

December , 2010 -- U.S. Israeli intrigue in Lebanon....

U.S. involvement with Lebanon wiretaps. Where did UN tribunal obtain cell phone evidence linking Hezbollah to Hariri assassination and were the intercepts doctored by the neocon cells in the US intelligence community?

From the cables not released by Wikileaks to the Western newspapers. From Al Akhbar of Lebanon. U.S. interfernce in the UN investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al Hariri [also note that Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi were solicited for funds for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, both countries are interested in linking Hezbollah and Iran to the assassination when it is common knowledge that Israel's Mossad, and CIA , were behind the truck bombing, after Bamboozling Asef SHAWKAT into carrying out the whole operation, from A to Z..., and this is well known as the infamous White House Murder INC, ever since the assassination of Mr. Elie HOBEIKA, January 24th 2002 by Asef SHAWKAT's goons squad....]

لمفروض ان يتم التحقيق مع المر بشأن هذا الكلام لانه كلام خطير لشخص يجلس في وزارة الدفاع وهذا يرتقي الى الخيانة العظمى لانه يدل على ان من قال هذا الكلام اي المر انه يتعامل مع اسرائيل

Elias El-Murr is an American-Israeli SPY first and foremost...., like father like son...,"Syrian Intelligence DOGS" and like their crooked uncle GABY MURR and his family of spies for CIA/MOSSAD....

http://al-akhbar.com/ar/node/216466

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إلياس المر صعد قطار الخيانة, فهل يكون آخـر

الخونة...؟

2. (S) Charge, Defense Attache and ODC Chief met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Elias Murr on March 10 at his home in Rabieh. The atmosphere of the meeting was cordial and friendly.....like in a [SCIF...].....

5. (S) As for the areas further north in Lebanon such as Keserwan and the Metn, Murr confirmed that Shia are renting in high numbers there because they feel that Israel is going to attack soon. Such action could take place as early as April 2008, he warned. ....Murr also told us that Hassan Nasrallah's cousin has moved his family out of the southern suburbs, the Dahiyya, and rented a chalet in the resort town of Farayya for a year. According to Murr, this means that Nasrallah is on high alert. In addition to renting homes in these areas, Hizballah is making many concessions to the Christians who live in these areas. In a meeting three weeks ago between top Hizballah officials such as Wafiq Safa and March 14 members at MoD Headquarters in Yarze, Hizballah agreed to all of the Christians demands. The two most notable concessions were that Hizballah will not place any signage with Nabih Berri or Hassan Nasrallah's image in these locations and that Hizballah will not have a visible presence in these areas...... During this same meeting, March 14 members learned that Hizballah has rockets that can fly over 200 kilometers.

7. (S) Murr told us that Hizballah is not "internally convinced" that it can win this time. It was internally convinced that it could win in 2006. Murr predicted that Hizballah's war with Israel will not be like 2006 .... Murr harbors no illusion that they will not get bogged down in the village a second time. Instead, Murr thinks they will bypass strongholds in villages and pursue the main forces, the rockets. "I am sure Hizballah is scared and they are preparing for a severe lesson this time," Murr said. ...... (S) Murr related that Saudi journalist Ghassan Charbel of the Al-Hayat newspaper recently returned to Beirut from Damascus where he met with Bashar Al-Assad. .....He does not see anything at all happening this year in Lebanon, Charbel had said. Murr seemed to think otherwise, reporting that Syria has recalled 250,000 migrant agricultural workers from Lebanon who also serve in the Syrian military reserves....... Returning to the theme of a wary Hizballah, Murr told us that "they (Hizballah) are scared, terrorized. They know the Israelis will not lose again." Murr thinks that Ehud Barak is a very different Minister of Defense... Additionally, President Bush is coming to Israel in May, so they think that this new war must be completed by that time.

13. (S) When asked what role Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is playing right now, Murr deadpanned that he is "going insane." Retired BG Fouad Ashkar, an Aoun advisor dating to Aoun's time as Lebanese Army Commander, came to see Murr on March 9 to discuss weapons permits for Aoun's bodyguards. Murr told Ashkar that he was authorized only ten permits. Aoun had recently contacted Murr's father to try and pressure the MinDef into agreeing to fifty weapons permits. A defiant Murr told Ashkar to "go get some of your Hizballah suicide bombers to serve as bodyguards," the sub-context being that perhaps Michel Aoun would get blown up along the way......

18. (S) Making clear that he was not responsible for passing messages to Israel, Murr told us,...if Israel has to bomb all of these places in the Shia areas as a matter of operational concern, that is Hizballah's problem. According to Murr, this war is not with Lebanon, it is with Hizballah. ..... As such, Murr is trying to ascertain how long an offensive would be required to clean out Hizballah in the Beka'a. The LAF will move to pre-position food, money, and water with these units so they can stay on their bases when Israel comes for Hizballah--discreetly, Murr added. (S) Murr also gave guidance to Sleiman that the LAF should not get involved "when Israel comes." .... that he promised Sleiman the political cover for LAF inaction. .....For Murr, the LAF's strategic objective was to survive a three week war "completely intact" and able to take over once Hizballah's militia has been destroyed. ......

http://anaconda-manifesto.blogspot.com/2008/02/why-is-more-important-than-how-in.html

ليس المر هو العرص ولكن العرص هو من اصر على جلبه وزيرا للدفاع مع علمه بانه خائن

هناك مشكلة في لبنان إسمها ما هيدا لبنان ....

لك أيه كـ........ ام لبنان إذ بدو يضل الياس المر وزيرا للدفاع في دولة تزعم المقاومة فيها أنها أنهت العصر الاسرائيلي في وقت لا تزال لاسرائيل جزر إستناد ورؤوس جذور تبدا من القصر الجمهوري ولا تنتهي في بطريركية صفير مرورا بالعميل الصغير فؤاد السنيورة والعميل الاصغر الاسخر إبن خوفو الحرامية رفيق الحريري

....http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_61535.shtml

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2019
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, PINR, UNSC, LE, SY
SUBJECT: LEBANON: UNIIIC COMMISSIONER ON THE FOUR GENERALS,
REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL SYRIA-LINKED INFORMATION

REF: USUN NEW YORK 000044

Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

SUMMARY
-------

1. (S/NF) UNIIIC Commissioner Daniel Bellemare explained to
the Ambassador in a January 26 meeting the issues surrounding
the release or transfer to The Hague of the four generals
currently in Lebanese custody in connection with former PM
Rafiq Hariri's assassination. According to Bellemare, the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has 60 days starting March
1 to request a transfer of the generals from Lebanese custody
to the STL. Once they are transferred, Bellemare suspects he
will face pressure by the STL to bring a case against the
generals or release them. Replying "no comment" on whether
he has enough evidence to bring a case, he nonetheless went
on to say that if the judges were released in the
Netherlands, he (and the Dutch) fear they could seek asylum
from the Dutch government. If Bellemare does not request the
transfer, the Lebanese could continue to detain the generals,
in the face of mounting public pressure, or release them.
Bellemare stressed the need for information from the U.S. to
assist him in his final investigations in Syria under Chapter
VII authority. Bellemare also raised internal UN management
issues that continued to soak up his time. End summary.

WHEN TO RELEASE
FOUR DETAINED GENERALS
----------------------

2. (S/NF) The Ambassador, accompanied by LegAtt and PolOff,
met with UNIIIC Commissioner Daniel Bellemare in Monteverde
on January 26. Bellemare explained that the Special Tribunal
for Lebanon (STL) has 60 days starting March 1 to request the
GOL to transfer the four generals, currently held in Lebanese
custody in connection with the assassination of former PM
Rafiq Hariri, to the STL in The Hague. Bellemare, carefully
asserting that he had "no comment" on whether or not he has a
case against the generals, added that there is no time frame
from the date of request by which they must actually be
transferred.

3. (S/NF) Bellemare said he suspected that Lebanese Public
Prosecutor Saiid Mirza wants the generals transferred to the
STL. Bellemare explained that, while it has been pointed out
to him that no one can dictate to the STL how long the STL
can detain the generals, implying that Bellemare could detain
them indefinitely in The Hague, he disagreed with this
approach in part because he feared that he might face legal
pressure (by the STL itself) to release them immediately if
he did not have a case. Bellemare added that the generals
could not be released on bail (per the Lebanese code of
criminal procedure, Section 108), but could be released
without condition. In such a scenario, the GOL could put
them under surveillance, he noted.

4. (S/NF) Bellemare noted that one concern held by the Dutch
government is that the generals would seek asylum if released
by the STL. Another worry is that one of the four, former
Surete Generale DG General Jamil Sayyad, would run in the
parliamentary elections, an idea evidently supported by
opposition leader Suleiman Franjieh and Hizballah.

5. (S/NF) Bellemare further expressed concern that
transferring the generals could be a dangerous operation,
noting that Hizballah does not want the generals to leave
Lebanon. A transfer would need to be coordinated with
Lebanese authorities, making the operation even more
vulnerable because of possible Hizballah penetration of those
authorities, in his view. If the GOL decides to release the
four, it should put as much distance between the generals'
release and the parliamentary elections on June 7, Bellemare
recommended. (Note: We agree. End note.)

"IF THERE IS ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE,

BEIRUT 00000109 002 OF 003

PROVIDE IT NOW"
-----------------------------------

6. (S/NF) Noting that he would return to Syria in February
for the last time under Chapter VII authority, Bellemare
stressed the urgency of receiving information from the U.S.
to use during interrogations. "If there is assistance to
provide," he pleaded, "Please provide it now." Specifically,
he requested information on "human vulnerabilities,
suggestions on questions to ask, people who do not fit into
our charts, partial answers we can use to test the subjects."
Bellemare explained that the level of interrogation his
consultants would employ during this trip to Syria would be
"very different from previous visits, but I need the
ammunition to conduct these interrogations."

7. (S/NF) Bellemare complained that the Syrians treat UNIIIC
as "school kids in short pants." He explained, "They provide
us with 40,000 pages in Arabic. After we translate them and
find nothing of interest, they feign surprise and hand us
another 40,000 pages in Arabic." He assessed that the
Syrians are nervous because they do not know what information
UNIIIC has collected to date.

CONCERNED ABOUT SAFETY OF STL JUDGES
------------------------------------

8. (S/NF) Bellemare said that the four of the eleven STL
judges who are Lebanese have chosen to move back and forth
between The Hague and Lebanon. Acknowledging the security
concern, Bellemare said he suspected the judges conditioned
their acceptance to the position on retaining freedom of
movement. (Comment: One of our Embassy LES members
suggested that he knew the identity of one of the judges
because the Internal Security Forces had recently beefed up
security outside of the judge's residence. End comment.)

ISSUE OF APPOINTING A DEPUTY PROSECUTOR
---------------------------------------

9. (C) According to Bellemare, appointing a Lebanese Deputy
Prosecutor has become problematic. He reported that during
January 2008, he interviewed candidates and the UN Office of
Legal Affairs (OLA) will submit his confidential
recommendation to the cabinet, which will appoint the
individual. He expected that the cabinet would discuss the
appointment in time for the March 1 deadline (reftel).
However, he relayed that he heard majority leader Saad Hariri
was displeased with his recommendation, believing the
candidate is "too independent", and may request his Future
Movement ministers to block the appointment.

10. (C) Bellemare noted that Public Prosecutor Saiid Mirza,
close to Saad, supported Bellemare's recommendation.
Acknowledging that he could start work without a deputy,
making an appointment without delay is nonetheless important
for symbolic purposes because the deputy position is a
Lebanese national.

11. (C) The power of the veto also worried Bellemare as he
considered the potential composition of the next cabinet.
Bellemare wondered whether a cabinet dominated by what is
currently the opposition would attempt to stop GOL funding to
the STL, despite its obligations under an international
agreement.

STILL PLAGUED BY MANAGEMENT ISSUES
----------------------------------

12. (C) Bellemare expressed his frustration that the STL
Management Committee ruled that the STL would not participate
in the Interagency Mobility Accord (reftel), which is
designed to facilitate mobility between organizations
participating in the UN common system. Declaring that he
would seek a revision to this decision, Bellemare argued it
was more expensive to recruit new people than to transfer
them from within the UN system. He also stressed that he
needed the "best individuals possible" and did not want to

BEIRUT 00000109 003 OF 003

discourage qualified applicants because of a tedious transfer
process that could cost them some of their benefits.
A SMALL UNIIIC PRESENCE TO REMAIN
---------------------------------

13. (S/NF) Mentioning that he would travel to The Hague in
February to find an apartment and attend the next interagency
working group, Bellemare said that a small field office of
UNIIIC would remain in Beirut. He said the remaining 10 or
20 individuals would likely change the location of their
offices, but that was not yet decided.

SISON

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2018
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, PINR, UNSC, SY, LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: UNIIIC COMMISSIONER HAPPY WITH USG
ASSISTANCE BUT SEEKS TWO CRIMINAL ANALYSTS

REF: BEIRUT 1348

Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (SBU) This is an action request. See paragraph 10.

SUMMARY
-------

2. (S/NF) In an October 3 meeting with the Ambassador, Daniel
Bellemare, Commissioner of the UN Independent Investigative
Commission (UNIIIC), was generally pleased with USG
assistance to date, and repeated a single request: that the
USG loan two criminal analysts who would work out of The
Hague (reftel). He expressed his flexibility to make this
work, stressing that these analysts were his priority.
Noting that UNIIIC's mandate will expire at the end of the
year, he said the investigation component will not stop. He
was feeling the deadline pressure, but remarked that the
investigation was moving aggressively. The Special Tribunal
budget is awaiting approval by the Management Committee in
New York, he reported. He did not yet foresee a problem with
approval, but he informed the Ambassador that the UNIIIC
budget was short two to three million dollars and he had
requested approval for a supplementary budget. The FBI would
continue to pay the analysts' salaries, which would be
considered a USG contribution, and UNIIIC would cover travel
and per diem expenses, he suggested. End summary.

INVESTIGATION MOVING ALONG;
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
---------------------------

3. (S/NF) The Ambassador, accompanied by LegAtt and PolOff,
met Daniel Bellemare, Commissioner of the UN Independent
Investigative Commission (UNIIIC), at his office in
Monteverde on October 3. A confident Bellemare said he felt
things are bubbling in his investigation and that his
operation was running aggressively like a "police
investigation," while noting that time was running out.
(Note: UNIIIC's mandate will expire on December 31, 2008.
End note.) He expressed a concern about Syria, saying
simply, "We are afraid we may run out of witnesses. Time is
of the essence, but we do not want to strike prematurely."

HAPPY WITH USG ASSISTANCE;
REQUESTS CRIMINAL ANALYSTS
---------------------------

4. (S/NF) LegAtt reported that the USG had responded to
almost all of the outstanding RFAs, but warned that the FBI
may not be able to provide the criminal analysts requested
(reftel). Bellemare inquired what was necessary to make
these individuals available to UNIIIC. Bellemare proposed
that the analysts work out of The Hague, where he said space
was not an issue, on a contract basis. The FBI would
continue to pay the analysts' salaries, which would be
considered a USG contribution, and UNIIIC would cover travel
and per diem expenses, he suggested.

5. (S/NF) Appearing satisfied with USG assistance, Bellemare
said in reference to previous requests for data-mining
analysts, "I would never turn down help. If I have to
prioritize, I need the criminal analysts the most." He said
he hoped for analysts' assistance as soon as possible, to
work until UNIIIC's mandate expires. He inquired whether the
clearance for the new UNIIIC Chief of Investigations, Garry
James Loeppky, was granted for the Intelligence Community
Working Group.

6. (S/NF) While UNIIIC's mandate will expire, he continued,
the investigation will not, implying that he would still need
many of the analysts currently contracted out to UNIIIC. He
noted that he had started contacting organizations to see if
they will agree to transfer their contracted personnel to The
Hague, to which he had received positive responses.
Bellemare said there was a provision in the draft budget for
"internal contractors and secondees."

BEIRUT 00001451 002 OF 002

PRESS REPORT "UNHELPFUL"
------------------------

7. (S/NF) Addressing the October 1 al-Anwar article
purporting that Bellemare will name 120 suspects in his final
report, Bellemare said he had no idea who or how this story
was concocted. He explained that he had to have his new
spokesperson respond to the press report, though he usually
preferred to remain silent. He suggested that the Ambassador
could be helpful in letting political figures know that these
kinds of articles are unhelpful.

8. (S/NF) He said he had visited President Michel Sleiman and
PM Fouad Siniora in the previous month to convey to them that
his investigation would not be tied to a political timetable.
He added that in the coming two months, UNIIIC investigators
would be more visible as they conduct interviews with
political figures.

AWAITING BUDGET APPROVAL
------------------------

9. (S/NF) Bellemare said that he had submitted the operating
budget to the Special Tribunal's Management Committee, and
was now awaiting approval. On UNIIIC's budget, he relayed
that currently he was having internal discussions with the
new UN comptroller on a supplementary budget because he
projected that he will be two or three million dollars short.
It was not a problem yet, he said, but he wanted to make the
Ambassador aware in case the amount was not approved. He
said that he may need USG assistance in pushing for the
supplementary budget's approval.

ACTION REQUEST
--------------

10. (S/NF) Post requests a response to UNIIIC's request that
the USG loan two criminal analysts to interview witnesses, or
information on what response is given to Bellemare. End
Action Request.
SISON

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DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA, IO/FO-HOOK, WARLICK,
IO/UNP-AMORRISON, L/FO-JBELLINGER, JTHESSIN,
L/AN-LJACOBSON, L/UNA-TBUCHWALD, INR/GGI-MARGULIES,
CIA/CNC-JFINKEL, JBRODERERICK, CIA/CTC-JBEAN, DOJ-JEVY,
USUN-KHALILZAD, WOLFF, SCHEDLBAUER, NSC FOR
ABRAMS/RAMCHAND/YERGER/MCDERMOTT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2018
TAGS: PREL, PTER, PGOV, PINR, UNSC, LE, SY
SUBJECT: LEBANON: BELLEMARE ANXIOUS FOR MORE USG ASSISTANCE
THAN HE HAS SEEN

REF: THE HAGUE 744

Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b), (d)

SUMMARY
-------

1. (S/NF) In a September 12 meeting with the Ambassador,
Daniel Bellemare, Commissioner of the UN Independent
International Investigative Commission (UNIIIC) made three
specific requests for USG assistance and additional requests
for USG action. First, he asked that the USG provide
intelligence information that UNIIIC has formally requested.
Second, that the USG loan UNIIIC two criminal investigators
TDY. UNIIIC needs "investigators who can question a witness"
to interview some 200 persons currently in prison who may
have some relevant information. Third, that the USG urge the
UK to do more to help UNIIIC, particularly with intelligence
information (the UK has provided loaned personnel).

2. (S/NF) In addition, Bellemare asked for USG support when
the Management Committee considers the Tribunal operating
budget on September 25 -- the same day that Lebanese
President Sleiman will meet President Bush in Washington. He
also raised the prospect of consultations among the P-5 on a
new resolution to clarify some legal issues. Finally he
repeated earlier requests for a USG reaction to 26 sketches
of possible suspects that UNIIIC had given the USG and asked
about getting access to alleged Hizballah defectors
reportedly in the U.S.

3. (S/NF) On other matters, Bellemare said that the GOL has
not asked that UNIIIC investigate the latest political
assassination (the September 10 attack on opposition Druze
member Saleh Aridi). He is concerned about a new
Telecommunication Ministry directive that may impede his
plans for using wiretaps. End Summary.

GOL HAS NOT ASKED THAT UNIIIC
INVESTIGATE LATEST ASSASSINATION
--------------------------------

4. (S/NF) The Ambassador and DCM met on September 12 with
Daniel Bellemare, Commissioner of the UN Independent
International Investigative Commission (UNIIIC), in his
office in Monteverde. The Ambassador asked if UNIIIC would
investigate the case of Saleh Aridi, a Druze political
official assassinated in a car bomb attack near Beirut on
September 10. Bellemare explained that for UNIIIC to take on
a case, first the GOL must ask the UN SYG, then the SYG and
Security Council must approve. He said that the GOL had
shown no indication that it would request that UNIIIC
investigate the Aridi killing. UNIIIC is interested in
finding out more about the Aridi attack, since details are
similar to other cases it is investigating. If it is not
invited to investigate but wants information about a case,
UNIIIC must submit a request to the Lebanese chief
prosecutor. The criteria the GOL uses to decide on
requesting UNIIIC assistance is "a mystery to me" Bellemare
said. (NOTE: The Aridi assassination is the first of a
pro-Syrian politician. END NOTE.)

WIRETAPPING
-----------

5. (S/NF) Bellemare was concerned about something he had
learned the day before that might affect wiretapping. The
Telecommunications Ministry had directed two private telecom
companies in Lebanon to inform the Ministry about any
requests for wiretapping. He noted that it is well known
that the Internal Security Forces (ISF), the national police,
conduct wiretapping even though the legal basis for their
authority to do so is weak. The Telecom Ministry's move may
have been directed against the ISF. The order, however, also
could limit the ability of UNIIIC to conduct wiretaps if the
phone companies fear that they will have to report those

BEIRUT 00001348 002 OF 003

efforts to the Telecommunications Ministry.

6. (S/NF) The Ambassador asked if Bellemare believed the
action was targeted at UNIIIC, noting that the new
Telecommunications Minister is from the opposition.
Bellemare replied that he was not in a position to say. At
his meeting with PM Fouad Siniora earlier in the week, on
September 8, Siniora told Bellemare to inform him if he runs
into any problems with cooperation from government officials.
He said he might discuss this with the PM if it looks as if
this new telecom directive will be a problem, but first he
will meet with officials of the two telecom companies next
week. The Ambassador offered to support his efforts at
resolving this issue.

7. (S/NF) Bellemare noted that at his August 14 meeting in
The Hague with the USG Interagency Working Group (IWG), he
had asked for USG help with wiretapping capability. He said
that trying to work wiretapping through the Lebanese ISF or
military intelligence would be like "putting the names (of
targets) in the paper". He explained that UN legal experts
were currently looking into the possibility that UNIIIC has
legal authority to carry out wiretaps. Beyond legal
authority for wiretapping, though, Bellemare said he needs
technical capability.

ASSISTANCE FROM THE USG
-----------------------

8. (S/NF) Bellemare expressed frustration that USG has not
provided more in response to his requests for assistance, and
noted that he has discussed this with State Department
officials. He outlined three requests for USG assistance for
his investigation.

-- One, provide intelligence information that UNIIIC has
formally requested, or inform him that it cannot be provided,
so that he knows not to pursue the requests.

-- Two, provide two loaned criminal analysts on TDY. UNIIIC
needs "investigators who can question a witness" to interview
some 200 persons currently in prison who may have some
relevant informtion.

-- Three, using USG influence, urge the U government to
provide more to UNIIIC, particulaly regarding intelligence
information. Bellemare said he has requests in to MI-6, but
has not received much. On personnel, Scotland Yard has
provided a loaned investigator.

9. (S/NF) Bellemare showed a good understanding of the
problems associated with complying with the first two
requests from his several meetings with USG officials, but
his frustration was nonetheless evident. "You are the key
player. If the U.S. doesn't help me, who will?" The USG has
"a big investment in the Tribunal" and being more forthcoming
on UNIIIC's requests is a way of making that investment pay
off, he said.

10. (S/NF) During the meeting, Bellemare made several other
requests for USG action:

-- USG support when the Committee considers the Tribunal
operating budget, scheduled for September 25, the same day
that Lebanese President Sleiman will meet President Bush in
Washington. He warned that the budget includes high travel
costs, but that these are necessary because of the need for
frequent travel between the Hague and Lebanon. Bellemare
thanked the USG for what he said was a much improved attitude
on the part of the Tribunal Management Committee. His
requests have been more favorably received than was the case
previously.

-- He raised the prospect of consultations among the P-5 on a
new resolution to clarify some legal issues. He mused about
the possibility of getting Chapter VII authority for the

BEIRUT 00001348 003 OF 003

Tribunal via such a new resolution, but seemed to think that
was not doable in the Council.

-- He asked for a reaction to the 26 sketches of possible
suspects that UNIIIC had given the USG.

-- Finally, he asked about getting access to alleged
Hizballah defectors reportedly in the U.S., or a definitive
negative response to the request. The answers the USG has
given him so far on this subject, he said, have been not
sufficiently definitive.

INTERVIEWS IN SYRIA
-------------------

11. (S/NF) On this issue, Bellemare repeated what he said in
the IWG meeting (reftel): that he did not want to go to Syria
until the USG or other sources had provided names of leads he
should ask to interview and other information. If Syria
denied his request to interview these people, then he would
have evidence of Syrian non-cooperation. Just asking would
give some indication to others in Syria where his
investigation might be headed, which could provoke more
cooperation "if I hit the right person."

12. (S/NF) Bellemare emphasized the urgency for responding
to his request related to Syria, first, because UNIIIC's
mandate and with it Chapter VII authority expires at the end
of the year, and second, the importance of conducting the
interviews before the interviewees disappear by being killed
or other means.

OTHER ISSUES: NEW MINISTER OF JUSTICE,
UNIIIC PRESS SPOKESPERSON
------------------------------

13. (C ) Bellemare said he had a very positive impression of
new GOL Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, who had told
Bellemare he wanted to be helpful. Najjar's predecessor,
Charles Rizk, was a vocal supporter of the Tribunal but also
known for public criticisms of Bellemare and the previous
Commissioner, Serge Brammertz. Bellemare, a Canadian, noted
that Najjar had taught at McGill University in Montreal and
they had some mutual acquaintances.

14. (SBU) UNIIIC now has a press spokesperson who started
work the week before, Bellemare reported. The official had
good relevant experience as the spokesperson for the
Yugoslavia Tribunal and most recently for the UN Legal
Affairs office. The new spokesperson is currently working up
a strategy for UNIIIC's press interaction.

15. (C) Bellemare said he had been advised by several
persons to not make statements in public that might be seen
as disrupting the current relative calm in Lebanon. He
planned to follow that advice, (NOTE: Bellemare traveled to
Saudi Arabia September 15, we understand. We will seek
further information from UNIIIC contacts. END NOTE.)
SISON

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NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/YERGER/GAVITO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2018
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PTER, PINR, SY, LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: ANTI-HIZBALLAH SHIA FIGURE TALKS UP
FORMER HIZBALLAH SECRETARY GENERAL TUFAYLI

REF: A. BEIRUT 456

B. BEIRUT 554

Classified By: CDA Michele J. Sison for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
-------

1. (C) Independent Shia figure Ahmad Assad argued that former
Hizballah Secretary General Subhi Tufayli is "ready" to join
forces against Hizballah, but that first he needs to have
resolution of criminal charges against him for involvement in
the killing of an LAF officer and a French citizen. (Note:
Tufayli remains on the USG Terrorist Watch List. End note.)
Assad introduced a board member of his anti-Hizballah
political party, Amcit Abdallah Bitar, a prominent
businessman from Shia-dominated Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.
End summary.

2. (C) In preparation for his second trip of the year to the
U.S. to garner support for his anti-Hizballah movement,
independent Shia figure Ahmad Assad introduced a member of
his four-person delegation, Abdallah Bitar, to the Charge on
April 23. Bitar, an Amcit, is the head of the Chamber of
Commerce in the Shia-dominated city of Nabatieh in southern
Lebanon, and recently joined the board of Assad's political
party Lebanese Options Group (LOG) (Ref A). DCM and EmbOffs
also attended the meeting.

FORMER HIZBALLAH SECRETARY GENERAL
"READY TO LEAVE"
----------------------------------

3. (C) Like Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea (ref B),
Assad mentioned the name of former Hizballah Secretary
General Sheikh Subhi Tufayli, arguing that he is "away from
his old rhetoric and ready to leave (his past alliance)" and
the U.S. should work with him. Assad explained that Tufayli
has been accused of giving orders to kill a Lebanese Armed
Forces (LAF) officer during the 1990's. Tufayli claims he is
innocent and is ready for a trial, Assad said, but his case
has been shelved despite an outstanding Lebanese warrant for
his arrest.

4. (C) Assad said that several years ago majority leader Saad
Hariri had purportedly offered assistance to Tufayli to push
the case along, but dropped his efforts, citing French
resistance. Saad reportedly told Tufayli to wait until the
last French presidential election, but Tufayli has not
received a positive response to his appeals from Saad since
President Sarkozy took office.

5. (C) Arguing that the U.S. should push the GOL to give
Tufayli a trial, Assad said that Tufayli would be a valuable
asset in countering Hizballah's influence. He could direct
"a few thousand votes" in the Bekaa, Assad predicted, which
would be a blow against Hizballah. Assad acknowledged that
Tufayli has not yet departed from his anti-U.S. views.
(Note: Tufayli remains on the USG Terrorist Watch List. End
Note.)

HIZBALLAH INFLUENCE IN THE SOUTH
--------------------------------

6. (C) A prominent Shia from Nabatieh, Bitar reported that
Iran, through its "Iranian Organization for Rebuilding
Lebanon," is busy with improvements in the south, including
building streets, parking lots, etc. The organization
employs many Lebanese and pays them directly, he added.
Bitar explained that people in the south currently have no
assistance from the government, and are in need of social
services and medical aid.

7. (C) Bitar said he has always communicated with everyone,
naming Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizballah Secretary General
Hassan Nasrallah, in particular. He caveated that he has not
spoken with Nasrallah in some time. I am not switching sides
by joining Assad, he explained, just moving from an
apolitical stance to becoming more politically engaged. He
noted that Hizballah is currently unhappy with him because of
his friendship with Assad.

8. (C) Assad said that he is trying to work on the Shia
clerics in Nabatieh to part with Hizballah, but they are

BEIRUT 00000571 002 OF 002

afraid in part because their salary is controlled by
Hizballah. Moreover, Assad continued, there is internal
pressure from the residents to continue supporting Hizballah.
He clarified that the Shia won't switch to March 14 if they
leave Hizballah, but instead are looking for another Shia
movement to support.

PUSHING FOR PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
---------------------------------------

9. (C) Assad said that head of the National Bloc party Carlos
Edde (allied with March 14) and a March 14 MP are on his side
in terms of advocating for proportional representation in a
new electoral law. Assad said they are considering doing a
joint press conference, but fear creating friction within the
March 14 coalition.

COMMENT
-------

10. (S/NF) This is the second time in two days Tufayli's name
was passed to us. Assad was vague about Tufayli's exit from
Hizballah. We know that Tufayli was expelled in 1998 from the
organization and has since tried to rejoin as late as 2005.
He was a founding member of Hizballah and served as Hizballah
Secretary General from 1989-1991. He is wanted by the

SIPDIS
Lebanese authorities for killing soldiers and civilians in
1998 clashes. The list of his anti-U.S. rhetoric is long,
including praise for the 9/11 attacks and a desire to have
participated in the 1983 U.S. Marine barracks bombings. We
plan to ask the French about their own interest in Tufayli.
Our assessment is that Tufayli would not bring much Shia
strength to Ahmed al Assad's organization; indeed, with
Tufayli's reputation, legal problems, and reputation for
corruption, he would more likely bring discredit. End
comment.

SISON

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NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/YERGER, STATE FOR NEA/ELA,

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/16/2018
TAGS: PTER, ECPS, PINR, LE, IR, SY
SUBJECT: LEBANON: HIZBALLAH GOES FIBER OPTIC

REF: BEIRUT 490

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michele Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)

SUMMARY

1. (S) Requesting a special meeting with Charge,
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh decried the
establishment of a complete fiber optics network by Hizballah
throughout Lebanon. The GOL has been sharing this
information widely among friends of Lebanon, to include the
governments of France, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE.
Hamadeh sees only two choices for the GOL: approach the UN
Security Council, or use the "cover" of March 14-friendly
municipalities to cut the lines. However, he questioned
whether the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Internal
Security Forces (ISF) have the "guts" to do so, given that
Hizballah already stated to Lebanese security officials that
it would view this as equal to an Israeli act of aggression,
and would then take action against the GOL. Hamadeh hopes
that Saad Hariri, now in Geneva, will return soon to Lebanon
so that March 14 can meet to formulate a strategy. End
summary.

GOL HAS BEEN SHARING
HIZBALLAH FIBER OPTIC MAP,
REPORT WIDELY
-------------

2. (S) &Iran Telecom is taking over the country!8 were the
first words out of the mouth of Minister of
Telecommunications Marwan Hamadeh when he met with Charge and
Econoff on April 16. He was referring to the discovery of a
complete fiber optic system (FiOS) installed by Hizballah
throughout Lebanon - reftel. In addition, Hizballah has
introduced Wi-Max in Beirut's southern suburbs. Hamadeh
pointed out that although Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
(LBC) television had run a story the previous night about the
Hizballah FiOS network, it was already widely known. The LBC
story was not planted by the GOL, nor planned, but in
Hamadeh's opinion it was no bad thing to get the story out
there. Hamadeh himself has been sharing the news both within
the GOL and outside, with &friends,8 which includes the
Arab countries, the U.S., France (Sarkozy was &stunned") and
Terje Roed-Larsen of the UN. He briefed Bernard Kouchner,
Jean-David Levitte, Boris Bouillon and Michel Barnier while
in Paris. In Beirut he spoke to Charge Andre Parent of
France and Ambassador Abdul Aziz Khoja of Saudi Arabia. Saad
Hariri, when he heard, sent a private plane from Saudi Arabia
to pick up a copy of the map, which traces in detail the
route of the system, to share with Saudi King Abdullah and
Intelligence Chief Prince Mukrin bin Abdul-Aziz. PM Siniora
briefed the Jordanians and Emiratis, as well as Arab League
SYG Amr Musa on the network during his recent trip around the
region, Hamadeh confirmed. Within Lebanon Hamadeh says that
the first person he told, after the Prime Minister and Druze
leader Walid Jumblatt was Maronite Patriarch Sfeir. Hamadeh
described the strategic implications of the Hizballah plan,
which he says is targeting the Christian areas, despite a
denial of that by Hizballah. In addition to Hamadeh and PM
Siniora, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Defense Minister
Michel Murr have been active in the GL information campaign
on the network.

INTERFERENCE IN TELECOMS
LINKED TO NETWORK
-----------------

3. (S) While the confrontation over the FiOS system was
taking place with Hizballah, mobile telecommunications were
being subject to interference by Syria in the north, Israel
in the south and possibly by the UN at sea, according to
Hamadeh. The information about Israeli interference was
passed &unofficially8 by UNIFIL, since, in a recurring
complaint by Hamadeh during the conversation, the LAF has not
reported any problems officially. The Syrian interference is
similar to that occurring during the Nahr al-Barid fighting,
and highlights the ability of the Syrians to communicate
within Lebanon through non-Lebanese mobile systems. Because
the system in the part of Syria bordering on northern Lebanon
is a private company, MTM, Hamadeh believes that they offer
political cover to the Syrian government, who he nevertheless
believes is behind the problem. Hamadeh views these events
as part of the same strategic interference in Lebanon, both
internally and externally. Hamadeh has a map that delineates

BEIRUT 00000523 002 OF 004

the interference, in an arc that runs from the north to the
south of Lebanon.

MARCH 14 NEEDS TO MEET,
BUT SAAD SHOULD BE THERE
------------------------

4. (S) Hamadeh said that he, the Prime Minister and Minister
of Defense Elias Murr are all danger, but he and Murr will
take the biggest risk in exposing the Hizballah FiOS network.
Hamadeh told the PM that he could not assume the risk alone
for a showdown with Hizballah. He also used the risk of
physical harm as a deterrent with Jumblatt, who wanted to
hold a press conference to expose the Hizballah system.
Hamadeh believes that this is a March 14 issue, and cannot be
resolved without the participation of Saad Hariri. Hamadeh
complained that there has not yet been either a March 14
meeting or a cabinet meeting to discuss this matter. He says
he asked for such discussions in a meeting with PM Siniora
April 15, and will raise it again when they meet April 16.
Hamadeh also discussed the issue with Larsen, whom he met
with recently in Paris, although he did not give Larsen the
map. If the GOL decides to raise the issue with the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) he will then provide the map,
said Hamadeh.

HIZBALLAH RESPONSE
- DON'T TOUCH!
--------------

5. (S) Hamadeh reported that LAF G-2 Brigadier General
Georges Khoury and ISF Major General Ashraf Rifi saw Wafiq
Safa, the Hizballah liaison to the Lebanese intelligence
services, together. Khoury asked Safa to take down two parts
of the network as a first step; Safa refused. Safa stated
that the network is part of Hizballah's ability to defend
Lebanon, and that Hizballah would regard any attack on the
network as an act of aggression. However, PM Siniora only
got a written report from Khoury ten days after the meeting,
Hamadeh complained. Even then, the report was unsigned and
thus returned to Khoury for signature. According to their
report, Hizballah argued that the PM, Hamadeh and Murr are
only raising the issue of the FiOS system in order to bring
up the issue of Hizballah weapons. Safa stated categorically
that the FiOS system is not up for discussion because it is a
key part of the Hizballah arsenal. Safa freely acknowledged
to Rifi and Khoury that the network exists. It could only be
discussed as part of a defense strategy, he said, adding that
the network has no commercial or trade implications. He
maintained that it does not penetrate the Christian areas.

HIZBALLAH ASSERTIONS UNTRUE
-----------------

6. (S) Hamadeh believes both Hizballah assertions to be
untrue. He refutes the Hizballah claim that the system
exists solely to give them defensive communications
throughout the country, saying that there are "centrales"
or hubs in many villages along the route, and no doubt these
have lines running off to other villages and residences. He
also believes that Hizballah crews are only waiting for the
snows in the Christian regions of Metn and Kswaran to melt
before completing penetration of these regions from the east.

WORK DONE UNDER
VARIOUS FORMS OF COVER
-----------------

7. (S) To complete the installations and at the same time
stay below the radar, Hamadeh says that Hizballah has used
the municipalities to issue local permits. For example, in
Sidon they are working under the cover provided by Abdel
Rahman Bizri, the mayor. In another case the Ministry of
Energy issued a permit for work that was "to reinforce
energy lines," although Hamadeh says that was clearly not
true. Hamadeh says that the whole of the Bekaa valley was
done with local permits, and installations were done by
different groups, each unaware of what the others were doing.
However, he also says that some of the work was done with
the knowledge of resigned Minister of Energy Fneish, a
Hizballah member.

DISCOVERY AND REPORT
--------------------

8. (S) The first official report was from the region of

BEIRUT 00000523 003 OF 004

Chouifat, which reported installation of an unknown fiber
optic system, and asked the Minister of the Interior to stop
it. No one did anything because, in Hamadeh's opinion, they
"had no guts." At the time of the earlier exposure of the
Hizballah telephone lines running through Beirut, and even
along the wall of the French embassy, the GOL asked Hizballah
to remove those lines, which Hizballah did, and Hamadeh said
that he believed at the time that would be the end of the
network in the south. The full Ministry of
Telecommunications report on the system was compiled by
engineers in the ministry and others, including Shia
engineers from the south, who Hamadeh believes could be in
great danger because of the report. Once again Hamadeh
pointed out that there were no official reports yet from ISF
Major General Rifi or LAF G-2 Brigadier General Khoury.

FUNDING FROM IRAN
-----------------

9. (S) The current installations, as per the map Hamadeh has
given us, shows lines running from Beirut, around both sides
of the airport, into the south below the Litani and back up
through the Bekaa valley to the far north. It covers the
Palestinian camps, and the Hizballah training camps in the
Bekaa, and is penetrating deep into the Christian Metn and
Ksarwan areas. Although Hamadeh says he has &a few names,8
he did not list the companies who are responsible for the
installation, but said that information would be made
available shortly. He cited the Iranian Fund for the
Reconstruction of Lebanon as the source of the funding. This
same group has been rebuilding roads and bridges since the
July 2006 war with Israel, and has been accused before of
installing telecommunications lines in parallel with new
roads. Hamadeh said that he wants to get the list of
companies involved and black list them with the GOL.

STRATEGIC VICTORY
-----------------

10. (S) Hamadeh highlights the system as a strategic victory
for Iran, since it creates an important Iranian outpost in
Lebanon, bypassing Syria. He sees the value for the Iranians
as strategic, rather than technical or economic. The value
for Hizballah is the final step in creating a nation state.
Hizballah now has an army and weapons; a television station;
an education system; hospitals; social services; a financial
system; and a telecommunications system. As a sign of its
confidence Hizballah official Safa told Khoury and Rifi that
any move against the FiOS system would be taken as "an
Israeli attack" and dealt with accordingly. When Khoury and
Rifi pointed out that the people in the area might not accept
this and might show hostility to Hizballah in this case, Safa
replied, "We don't care; we will accept hostile reactions."
At that point, according to Hamadeh, the GOL decided it
needed to inform its friends and make a decision on the next
steps to be taken.

HAMADEH PREPARES
INTERNAL CAMPAIGN
-----------------

11. (S) Meanwhile, Hamadeh is preparing a "very strong"
internal campaign. This campaign, he said, has the potential
to "destroy" Aoun and mobilize Christians, as well as
influence those Shia who are already beginning to worry about
Hizballah. He is waiting for a March 14 meeting to discuss
this campaign. Saad has apparently traveled to London and
Geneva this week, and is expected to be back in Riyadh by
4/20. Saad has been out of Lebanon for some several weeks
and it is not known when he will return. Hamadeh sees only
two choices for the GOL: approach the UN Security Council
directly, or take on Hizballah by cutting lines. But do the
Lebanese security forces have the "guts" for that, or are
they frightened by Safa's statement that those actions would
be considered an act of aggression, he wonders.

12. (S) Comment: Last year, when Hamadeh's
telecommunications ministry "discovered" the well-known
Hizballah telephone system, including the line strung along
the wall of the French embassy, he maintained that the GOL
would not tolerate the erosion of its "last monopoly" by
Hizballah, However, aside from the ceremonial cutting of the
French embassy line, there was no further action. This time
around, it appears that by sharing as widely as possible the
details of the plan, the GOL may hope that someone else will
take on the challenge. End cmment.

BEIRUT 00000523 004 OF 004

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2018
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PTER, SY, LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: GEAGEA PROPOSES REVAMPING GOVERNMENT WITH
CHRISTIAN MINISTERS

Classified By: CDA Michele J. Sison for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
-------

1. (C) Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea conveyed his
thoughts to the Charge on the political impasse shortly
before departing on his three-week trip to the U.S. He
believes Lebanon should boycott the March 29-30 Arab League
summit in Damascus if no president is elected. At a minimum,
the summit should be held outside of Syria. On the electoral
law -- one of the obstacles to reaching an agreement on the
Arab League initiative -- Geagea pressed for proportional
representation, explaining that such a system would benefit
the March 14 Christians and weaken both Hizballah strongholds
and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun's bloc.

2. (C) Proposing that March 14 enlarge its reach, Geagea said
he wanted to join forces with non-Hizballah Shia, and in
particular, Ahmad Assad, leader of Lebanon Intimaa
("Belonging"), an anti-Hizballah "third way Shia" political
movement. Geagea is still proposing to elect a president
with a half plus one majority, but, acknowledging the
proposal's lack of support, he advocated revamping Prime
Minister Fouad Siniora's government by replacing current
ministers in key positions with Christians. End summary.

3. (C) The Charge, accompanied by PolOff, met with Lebanese
Forces leader Samir Geagea on March 4, days before he departs
on a three-week trip to the U.S. Geagea advisors Elie Khoury
and Joseph Nehme attended the meeting.

BOYCOTT THE ARAB LEAGUE SUMMIT
------------------------------

4. (C) Geagea opposed what he believes is Saudi Arabia's
current position on attendance at the March 29-30 Arab League
summit in Damascus: Saudi Arabia will attend if Syria
invites Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government. Instead,
Geagea wants Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to condition attendance
on the election of a president in Lebanon, a position he
believes Druze leader Walid Jumblatt (with whom, we note,
Geagea is often at odds) would support. At a minimum, Geagea
wants the summit to be held outside of Syria, as an
extraordinary summit, so that it is not under Syrian
leadership. Geagea believes that Siniora would accept the
invitation if extended. However, he questions whether Syria
would invite only Siniora, who is Sunni, suspecting that
Damascus would include Shia Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri,
in order to avoid giving the impression that Syria recognizes
the Siniora government.

MARCH 14 REJECTS MOUSSA'S LATEST IDEA
-------------------------------------

5. (C) Geagea reported that it was not clear whether Arab
League Secretary General Amr Moussa would return to Beirut
this week. He explained that Moussa's latest proposal to
majority leader Saad Hariri was to elect a president, then
form a national unity government in which the prime minister
is not from March 14, an idea which March 14 promptly
rejected.

PRESSING FOR PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
----------------------------------------

6. (C) Revisiting Moussa's most recent attempt at
negotiations, Geagea said electoral reform remains an
obstacle, even within March 14. Geagea is calling for
proportional representation, a system he argues would
advantage March 14 Christians and break Hizballah
strongholds. Moreover, he added, proportional representation
would divide Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun's opposition
bloc by at least 50 percent. Another advantage could be the
election of March 14 Shia MPs, he posited. However, he
acknowledged, some of Saad Hariri's MPs may lose and Jumblatt
would need convincing, and requested that the U.S. urge them
to support proportional representation. (Note: Berri told
Charge in their February 25 meeting that he favored
proportional representation, although he advocated one large
electoral district, whereas Geagea favors small districts.

End note.)

ALLYING WITH NON-HIZBALLAH SHIA
-------------------------------

7. (C) Charge, having just met earlier in the day with Ahmad
Assad (septel), leader of Lebanon Intimaa ("Belonging"), an
anti-Hizballah political movement, inquired about Geagea's
relationship with him. Geagea responded that he has good
relations with Assad (who also supports proportional
representation, he noted) and that he was interested in
bringing him into the March 14 alliance. Claiming that Assad
is best positioned to lead a large Shia coalition, Geagea
sees potential in Assad but remarked that he needed funding.
He cautioned that Saad is opposed to Assad, in part because
the Saudis (Saad's allies) do not want to be at loggerheads
with Hizballah. Therefore, Geagea concluded, any U.S.
support for Assad should be kept quiet. According to Geagea,
when Assad ran for parliament as an independent, he received
15-20 percent of the votes cast in his district. (Note: we
are skeptical; our information is that he received far fewer.
End note.)

8. (C) Other potential Shia include Labor Minister Trad
Hamadeh's family and independent journalist Okab Saqr. That
was the extent of the possibilities, claimed Geagea. Geagea
said the U.S. aid to southern Lebanon was not successful at
shifting residents' allegiance away from Hizballah, and
therefore U.S. aid should go to Assad, in the south, as well
as to Christians in the north.

REVAMP THE GOVERNMENT WITH
CHRISTIAN MINISTERS
--------------------------

9. (C) Looking at the political impasse today, Geagea sees
three scenarios: 1) Status quo continues; 2) March 14 elect
a president with a half plus one majority; or 3) Revamp the
cabinet by placing Christians into key ministerial posts.
Geagea, still supporting the half plus one option, recognizes
that it is a risky move that lacks the necessary support at
this time. He suggested revamping the cabinet and putting
three representative Christians into important ministerial
posts such as Interior, Education, and Economy. As some of
these slots are currently filled by technocrats, Geagea
argued that since Lebanon is not really doing much as a
government these days, it does not need technical skills, but
rather symbolically important Christian representation. "Now
it is seen as a Hariri government; we want it to be seen as a
March 14 government," Geagea explained.

USS COLE: THE U.S. IS IN A BIND
-------------------------------

10. (C) "You put yourself in big trouble," warned Geagea
referring to the presence of the USS Cole off Lebanon's
coast. He reasoned that if someone were to try something,
the U.S. will look bad if it does not react. Conversely, he
said, if the U.S. reacts, he is reminded of 1983. The U.S.
cannot sit idle, nor can it retreat at this point. He
suggested the U.S. could be more supportive if it imposed a
travel embargo on Syria, preventing all airlines from flying
in and out of Syria. Geagea opined that the Europeans would
be more amenable to an embargo after Imad Mugniyeh's
assassination, which provided the smoking gun to the world
that Syria harbors terrorists.

11. (S/NF) Geagea also provided the Charge with unconfirmed
intelligence describing an Iranian delivery to Syria of 15
submarines. Information was passed to DAO.

COMMENT
-------

12. (C) We were surprised to hear about what appears to be
Geagea's relatively developed relationship with Assad and to
spot a copy of "The Shia Revival" by Vali Nasr on his desk.
Geagea and Berri's shared preference for proportional
representation is also interesting. End comment.

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TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PTER, PARM, PHUM, PINR, SY, IS, LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: HARIRI PROVIDES ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE ON
MAKLOUF, SHAWKAT FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS

REF: A. BEIRUT 215
B. DAMASCUS 70

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Michele J. Sison for Reasons: Se
ction 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (S/NF) In the course of a February 11 meeting with the
Charge (Ref A), majority leader Saad Hariri and advisor
Ghattas Khoury provided anecdotal information regarding
alleged financial transactions of Rami Maklouf and Syrian
Directory of Military Intelligence Asef Shawket. They
alleged that Maklouf had assisted Syrian President Bashar
Asad in moving funds out of Syria to Dubai. Most of the
money was funneled through the Damascus airport he said.
Maklouf also allegedly owns a hotel in Romania and other real
estate in Dubai. Shawkat reportedly facilitated the transfer
of $50 million from Qatar in Free Patriotic Movement leader
General Michel Aoun's OTV, in the names of Aoun's daughters.

2. (S/NF) As they have before, Hariri and Khoury urged that
the USG designate Maklouf and Shawkat as a means of punishing
Syria for it's interference in Lebanon and because their
activities promote corruption.
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TAGS: PGOV, PREL, UNSC, PTER, SY, IS, LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: PM GRATEFUL TO RECEIVE PRESIDENT'S STRONG
LETTER OF SUPPORT

REF: BEIRUT 00175

Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
--------

1. (C) Under Secretary of Defense Edelman delivered the
President's personal letter to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora
during their meeting in Beirut on February 12. The Prime
Minister was grateful for the letter, saying he was pleased
to see such "strong and firm support on many important
issues." The Prime Minister reached out directly to KSA
officials, who informed him that the Saudi contribution for
the Special Tribunal "had likely already happened." The
Prime Minister asked for the international community to join
together for clear and united statements of support for the
March 14th majority and immediate presidential elections. He
asked for additional economic support and called recent
Israeli actions along the southern border unhelpful.
Finally, he acknowledged that the Palestinian refugee camps
still present a security challenge. He asked for
international donors to support the reconstruction of the
Nahr al-Barid camp in order to provide "a new model for camps
in Lebanon. End Summary.

Grateful for the President's Letter
-----------------------------

2. (C) Prime Minister Siniora paused at the opening of his
February 11 meeting with Ambassador and USD/P Eric Edelman to
carefully read the text of the personal letter from the
President that Edelman had just handed to him. The PM
acknowledged that the letter was coming at an important time,
as March 14th prepares to commemorate the third anniversary
of PM Rafik Hariri's assassination on February 14.

3. (C) The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude for the
letter and said that he had no doubt about the President's
personal commitment to Lebanon. However, he was anxious to
"move forward with a literal translation of this support on
the ground," mentioning the need for continued support for
Lebanon's military and the Special Tribunal.

PM Reaches Out to KSA Officials for Tribunal Funding Update
-----------------------------

4. (C) During his last meeting with the Ambassador (reftel),
the Prime Minister said he would follow up personally with
the KSA for contributions to the Special Tribunal. When
asked by the Ambassador for an update on his efforts, he said
that he had personally spoken with Prince Saud al Faisal, the
KSA Foreign Minister, about the issue and sent a reminder on
February 11. With the U.S. delegation still in the room, he
phoned Saudi Prince Bandar for an update. At the conclusion
of the conversation, he told us that "The Saudis want to do
this, but they want to do it without noise." He did not
elaborate on this comment.

5. (C) He also took a call from Prince Mukrin bin Abdel al
Aziz, Director of Saudi General Intelligence. At the end of
this conversation, Siniora told us that he had been told that
the Saudi transfer of funds had "most likely already
occurred." Siniora asked Prince Mukrin for his assistance in
following up on the pledges from both the Kuwait and the UAE.
(Note: After this meeting, DCM spoke with Hariri senior
advisor, Ghattas Khoury, who said that Saad Hariri planned to
personally call Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and Abu
Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed on the evening of
February 12 to urge formal and rapid tranfer of their
donations into the UN Special Tribunal accounts. End Note.)

Lebanese Majority Has Already Compromised Too Much
--------------------------------

6. (C) As it had been four months since his last conversation
with Ambassador Edelman, PM Siniora provided an overview of
recent events "to put things in a Lebanese perspective." He
said the majority has already sacrificed and compromised too
much. They have shelved the right to use their "50 plus 1"
majority to elect a president and they have agreed to support
a presidential candidate who comes from outside of their own

BEIRUT 00000251 002 OF 003

cadre of March 14th loyalists. The Prime Minister pointed
out that March 14th had gone along with the French initiative
and said, "We were let down."

7. (C) Siniora reiterated that the opposition still insisted
on obtaining veto power in the new government and they were
holding the presidential election hostage until their demand
was met. "We want the blackmail to end," emphasized Siniora.

Lebanon Needs Allies to Speak with One Voice
------------------------------

8. (C) In Siniora's opinion, the many "sidebar" consultations
with Syria to date have failed to produce meaningful results.
"The Syrians are masters at seeing light between the cracks
and playing allies against each other. If the Syrians can
see any room for negotiation, they will bring a situation to
the brink in pursuit of the best possible deal for
themselves. We have to stop the blackmail and escalating
accusations. Dialogue should not take the form of violence
in the streets - nobody wants that."

9. (C) Siniora would like the Arabs, Europeans, Russians and
Americans to deliver one coordinated message to the Syrians,
which he admitted is difficult to do. He emphasized the
potential for Russia to play a positive role, stating that
they had perhaps the greatest ability to influence internal
decision-making in both Syria and Iran. Siniora was pleased
with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Saltanov's statement
earlier this week which contained clear language calling for
an immediate election in Lebanon. King Abdullah had been in
Moscow earlier this week and reported to Siniora that Lebanon
had been an agenda item during his meetings at the Kremlin.

10. (C) Siniora also confirmed that Lebanon had not yet
received an invitation from Syria to the March Arab League
Summit in Damascus, although it is clear that there is no way
for Syria to get around the issue of Lebanon's participation.
The PM doubts that Syria will invite him to participate as
head of state, despite the fact that he is currently carrying
out executive functions in accordance with the Lebanese
constitution. The alternative is that there will be an empty
seat behind the Lebanese flag on the table during the
meeting. Neither option seems palatable to Arab League
member states, Siniora said.

GOL Needs Assistance to Face Challenges
------------------------------

11. (S/NF) Siniora said that he would shortly be traveling to
Kuwait, London, Paris and Berlin to seek additional political
and economic assistance for Lebanon. He also said he had
approached the KSA and UAE, but told us in a resigned tone,
"I've spoken to them and visited them frequently. These
things take time." He wondered aloud if these allies were
starting to become ashamed of helping Lebanon. "Well, we are
not," Ambassador Edelman emphasized. He told the Prime
Minister that he would be discussing with Deputy Prime
Minister and Defense Minister Murr a new USG donation of USD
7.4 million in additional military assistance. He would also
be providing the first results of some new intelligence
sharing and proposing ways to build on existing LAF training
programs for future cooperative programs.

12. (C) Prime Minister Siniora shared that he had a good
working relationship with both the World Bank and the IMF,
proudly telling us that the GOL was exceeding expectations
despite the current challenges it faces. Siniora, a former
Finance Minister, then launched into some statistics. The
rising price of oil has hit Lebanon hard and the GOL, which
subsidizes electricity production, is losing USD 1.2 billion
per year. After Paris III, the GOL also agreed to reduce
import taxes and Siniora said that they have to contend with
USD 600 million per year on lost fuel excise taxes. He said
he has been speaking with two countries to arrange for less
expensive oil purchasing agreements. Kuwait has agreed to
sell Lebanon oil at the same price it sells to the U.S.,
which Siniora claims "is not cheap." Siniora also plans to
dispatch a delegation to Iraq to negotiate a purchase of
crude oil which could be shipped to Lebanon via Turkey.

"Syrians Use Sheba'a Farms to Justify the Presence of

BEIRUT 00000251 003 OF 003

Hizballah"
-----------------------------

13. (C) The Prime Minister also raised one of his frequent
talking points -- the need to find a resolution for the
Sheba'a Farms issue. He asked the USG to "do something
helpful. Don't make us have to deal with the Syrians to find
a solution for this. They like having this bleeding wound on
the border. They use it to justify the preence of
Hizballah."

Israelis "Not Helpful" forStability in Lebanon
----------------------------

14. (C) Ambassador Edelman mentioned that he would shortly be
meeting with Israeli interlocutors who, in general, respected
the work of the Siniora government given the current
difficult challenges that it faces. Siniora said Israeli
actions continued to exacerbate tensions in southern Lebanon,
specifically highlighting the continued illegal overflights,
the lack of cooperation in identifying the location of
cluster munitions from the 2006 war, and the recent
kidnapping of shepherds and shooting death by IDF forces
firing into Lebanese territory. He also said that Israeli
representatives were "unhelpful" in UN-led border
coordination meetings, especially on border demarcation
issues. According to Siniora, all of these tiny things
combined to put great pressure on the GOL's ability to
maintain stability in southern Lebanon.

Palestinian Camps Still Sources of Trouble
---------------------------

15. (C) In response to Ambassador Edelman's request for
information about the Ayn al Hulwah Palestinian refugee camp,
the Prime Minister acknowledged that this and other camps
continue to be sources of trouble. The Lebanese Armed Forces
(LAF) have been able to exert some control in the camps and
to make offenders aware of the GOL's determination to
maintain order, but the PM said the camps are still, in
reality, microstates.

16. (C) When asked how the GOL would address this issue, the
Prime Minister responded by saying that a new model for camps
was needed in Lebanon. He called on international donors to
contribute to the rebuilding of the Nahr al-Barid refugee
camp. "We must show the people progress and give them a
sense of hope for a better future. We paid a terrible price
to gain control of that camp. We have to make it mean
something."

Conclusion
----------
17. (C) The Prime Minister ended that meeting by telling
Ambassador Edelman that the current political crisis was
"bigger than Lebanon." He said that, if not resolved
quickly, the Lebanese model will have profound implications
on "societal openess in the rest of the region.
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2018
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, IS, KPAL, LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: THEORIES ABOUT MUGHNIEH'S ASSASSINATION

REF: TD 314-011416-08

Classified By: DCM William Grant for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
--------

1. (C) Two days after the February 12 Damascus car bomb
attack that killed senior Hizballah commander Imad Mughnieh,
theories abound in Beirut on who was behind the assassination
and why. The timing of the killing also cannot be ignored,
occurring just two days before the third anniversary of the
assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri and a March 14
commemorative rally in downtown Beirut. With tensions in
Lebanon already high -- and both sides hardening their
positions -- due to the ongoing political impasse, many
Lebanese are predicting that Lebanon will pay the price for
Mughnieh's death.

2. (C) The assassination of a figure who was an icon for the
Lebanese Shia resistance, but one of the U.S.' and Israel's
most sought after terrorist fugitives, raises questions about
who wanted Mughnieh dead now, and why. While most regional
finger pointing is directed at Israel, with the U.S. coming a
close second, several local political and intelligence
sources believe the Syrian regime had good reasons to rid
itself of Mughnieh.

3. (C) As the Hizballah controlled southern suburbs of
Beirut are in deep mourning for the February 14 burial of
one of their own, reaction from members of the pro-government
March 14 bloc ranges from private satisfaction to the sober
condolence statement issued by Future Movement leader Saad
Hariri. However, the possibility that March 14 could have
been involved has also surfaced in the rumor mill. There is
widespread concern that retaliation will not be good for
Lebanon. End summary.

CONCURRENT MAJORITY AND
OPPOSITION MEMORIALS
-----------------------

4. (C) On a dreary and wet February 14 afternoon Hizballah
buried its hero, Imad Mughnieh, in a mass funeral service
that included speeches by Hizballah SYG Hassan Nasrallah and
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. A few hours
earlier, and just a short drive from Mughnieh's funeral, the
pro-government March 14 bloc held a mass rally in Martyrs'
Square commemorating the third anniversary of the
assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri. The mass gathering
of March 14 supporters (claims of attendance ranged from
100,000 to a million supporters) was an attempt to
re-energize the majority's base and regain the political
initiative against the opposition. Nasrallah vowed "open
war" with the "Zionists," pledging to carry out operations
against Israel outside of Lebanon in retaliation for
Mughnieh's death. The speechmaking at the peaceful March 14
rally focused on the need for Lebanese "consensus and
agreement," and the immediate election of a president. Among
the many speakers, only Druse leader Walid Jumblatt came out
tough on Syria and its opposition allies, vowing that Lebanon
will not be "handed to Damascus or to the black
Syrian-Iranian world."

MARCH 14'S PUBLIC CONDEMNATION:
MORE THAN CROCODILE TEARS?
-------------------------

5. (C) On February 13, March 14 leader MP Saad Hariri
publicly denounced Mughnieh's assassination and offered his
condolences to Hizballah SYG Hassan Nasrallah. In an LBCI
television interview the same day, Hariri agreed with
Hizballah's accusation that Israel was behind the killing.
However, Hariri also hinted at a Syrian role when he noted
that Mughnieh was killed in Damascus, near an Iranian school,
and in an area controlled by Syrian intelligence.

6. (C) The day of the assassination. March 14 SYG Fares
Suaid spoke of Mughnieh's death as though it were a lesson
for Hizballah. Namely, Hizballah should realize that its
only protector and guarantor is the Lebanese state and the
Lebanese army and not/not the Syrian security apparatus and
its arsenal.

7. (C) Meanwhile Druse leader and March 14 member Walid
Jumblatt, believes that either the Israelis, for obvious

BEIRUT 00000237 002 OF 002

reasons, or the Syrians, for reasons unknown, eliminated
Mughnieh. In any case, Jumblatt, candid as usual, called
Mughnieh's death "good news."

8. (C) A number of majority politicians, including former
Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Simon Karam and National
Liberal Party leader Dory Chamoun, believe Syria liquidated
Moughnieh as a "gift to the Americans." Both hoped that the
deal will not turn out to be at Lebanon's expense.

9. (C) Minister of the Interior Hassan Sabaa told
Ambassador that he was relieved that Mughnieh was not killed
on Lebanese soil, otherwise March 14 would have been accused
of conspiring with Israel against Hizballah. Sabaa,
undecided as to the identity of the perpetrator, commented it
could be Syria wanting to send a message to Hizballah or to
the U.S., or even the result of a split within Hizballah.
He, too, expressed concern that Lebanon could pay a price in
case the message was directed to the U.S. as reminder that
the U.S should deal with Syria over the presidential election
and Hizballah.

10. (C) Another theory in the Beirut rumor mill has it that
the Saudis and the Hariri family collaborated with Syrian
Sunni jihadis to deal a blow to the opposition and their
allies Syria and Iran. This idea is based on previous
allegations that Saad Hariri and Saudi Arabia were involved
in arming Sunni militants in an effort to counter Hizballah.

ISF OFFICIALS SEE BASHAR'S HAND
-------------------------------

11. (S/NF) Mid-level officials from Lebanese Internal
Security Forces (ISF) told emboffs they believe Syrian forces
affiliated with President Bashar al-Asad may be responsible
for the assassination in an effort to force a compromise in
the ongoing political impasse by lessening pressure on Syria
(Ref A). The officials further speculated that the attack
would be a severe blow to Hizballah, leading to extensive
confusion and lack of cohesion. They attribute their
assessment to alleged tension between al-Asad and his
military intelligence chief Asef Shawkat resulting from a
disagreement between the spouses of the two men. The ISF
officials further noted that al-Asad was becoming
increasingly independent, sidelining
previously trusted advisors such as Shawkat.

SOME OPPOSITION OBSERVERS
DOUBT ISRAELI "GUILT"
-------------------------

12. (C) While most observers in the Lebanese opposition
rallied behind Hizballah's accusation against Israel,
Aoun-bloc MP Ghassan Mokheiber noted privately to emboffs
that it was bizarre that Moughnieh was killed after stepping
out of a Syrian intelligence office, adding that Mughnieh's
death represented a big challenge for Hizballah. Mokheiber
commented that the days ahead would probably reveal the
nature of a possible "deal" made.
SISON

هم القتلة السفلة

2010-11-10T04:16:00.000-08:00

شريك في دماء كل من قتلتهم فتنة آل الحريري و شريك لجورج بوش في قتل اللبنانيين في تموز لان الاسرائيلي كان يقتلهم لتمكين آل الحريري من رقاب اللبنانيين

والقاتل يمشي خلف نعش القتيل. يعزّي أهله ومحبّيه لكنه لا يذرف دموع التماسيح. إنه يبتسم فقط.

كل القتلة يبتسمون.

ينهض القاتل من نومه كل صباح ويرتدي ابتسامته كما يرتدي ربطة عنقه.

الابتسامة قناع.

الابتسامة خنجر في الظهر.

كم مرّة ابتسم القاتل للقتيل؟ كم مرّة سدّد ابتسامته إلى قلبه؟

الإجرام ليس شكلاً. ليس تقطيب حاجبين أو تكشيرة أسنان. الإجرام ذهنية.

كل المجرمين والسفاحين والقتلة غلّفوا جرائمهم بالشعارات، كلهم ادّعَوا العفّة والطهارة

.....

مهام ليلية ونهارية وربط منطقة رأس النبع بالسوديكو

هواة اللعب بالنار من المتسلطين بقوة المال والسلطة على رقاب العباد، يستعدون لجولة جديدة من تجاربهم الفاشلة بأرواح الناس وحياة الشباب وبمستقبل البلاد.. لكن هل يعمل المغرَّر بهم بالنصيحة القائلة "من جرّب المجرَّب كان عقله مخرَّب".. نتمنى أن يعملوا بموجبها قبل فوات الأوان، وتكرار مأساة 7 أيار 2008، وإضافة هزيمة جديدة للروح الوطنية، التي يصر مقاولو الدم على تنفيذها بحق هذا الوطن الصغير، واستئناف اللهو بالدم وبالنار وبالرصاص الذي لا يجر إلا إلى الويل على أكثر من مدينة ومنطقة في لبنان، بعد نشر السلاح الميليشياوي الطائش في الشوارع، وبين أياد شابة بريئة دفعها العوز وغياب فرص العمل، والتحريض الطائفي والمذهبي، الذي صاغه أصحاب المال والسلطة ووضعه أمامهم دون سواه، وهو بالانخراط الملزم بالدفاع عن مصالح أولي الأمر، من أمراء الطوائف ووكلاء الطاعة للأمريكان في حرق الأوطان، إكراماً لمواصلة التحكم برزق العباد.

تجار دماء البشر يستعدون على قدم وساق لجولة تفجير جديدة (ندعو الله عز وجل أن يتلطف ويحجبها عن البلاد والعباد)، ويعمل للتحضير لشرورها خدامهم من المرتزقة بنشر أكثر من 450 مجموعة محترفة أعيد تأهيلها مجدداً وتسليحها في العاصمة وعدد من المناطق نورد تفاصيلها بالأسماء والأرقام وأنواع سلاحها ومناطق انتشارها استناداً إلى تقرير مفصل لمصادر موثوق بها.

ذكرت معلومات دقيقة وفّرتها مصادر سياسية وأمنية مطلعة، أن تياراً أكثرياً قد أتمّ في تشرين الثاني الماضي إنجاز بناء الجسم العسكري الخاص به، على أسس جديدة تختلف عن ما كانت عليه قبل أحداث 7 أيار عام 2008، حينما كان الجسم العسكري لهذا التيار قائماً على شكل شركات أمنية، التي لم تكن سوى غطاء لما يمكن أن تقوم به قوات هذا التيار وبعض وحدات سرايا التدخل السريع التابعة لجهاز رسمي، كان من المفترض آنذاك أن تنحصر مهمة هذه الوحدات في خوض المواجهة الأساسية ضد مجموعات المقاومة والمعارضة في بيروت وبعض المناطق، وهذا ما يفسر حقيقة أن أكثر المشاركين في ارتكاب مجزرة حلبا كانوا من المجندين في سلك رسمي.

وقد وُزعّت المهام العسكرية في التنظيم الجديد الذي يرأسه العميد المتقاعد (م. ج) وبشكل سري، وفقاً لهذه المصادر، إلى أربعة مفاصل أساسية:

المفصل الأول: وهو المسؤول عن تنظيم الأفراد والقطاعات، وتحديد المسؤولين والرواتب المستحقة لمن يعتبرون من القوة الضاربة الأساسية في هذا التيار.

مهام ليلية ونهارية

المفصل الثاني، وهو جهاز أمني يعتمد في تشكيله على عدد من الضباط العاملين في أجهزة أمنية رسمية، التي تقوم وتحت غطاء عملها الرسمي بتجنيد المخبرين، ودفع الأموال اللازمة من الميزانية الرسمية، مع ربط ضباط اتصال بهم بالتنظيم العسكري للتيار برئاسة (م. أ)، وجميعهم بمركز تحليل المعلومات التابع للتيار، والناشطون الأساسيون في هذا المفصل هم: (خ.ي) و(خ.ع) و(أ.س) و(خ.غ) يديرون مجموعات استخباراتية ومقاتلين، إضافة إلى 42 مسؤول مجموعة متخصصة ومتفرعة، و450 مناصراً، وجميعهم مسلحون.

إضافة إلى هذه المجموعات، هناك مجموعات أخرى موزعة في بعض المناطق بيروت تنقسم إلى إدارتين:

أـ إدارة المجموعات الليلية، وهي عبارة عن شباب يشكل كل اثنين منهم مجموعة مجهزة بأسلحة فردية وأجهزة لا سلكية، مرتبطة مباشرة بقيادة إدارة المجموعة الليلية التي يرأسها شخص يدعى (أبو ماهر)، ومعه (م.ع.ش) و(س.س).

ب ـ إدارة المجموعات النهارية، وهي مؤلفة من وحدات استطلاع مزودة بأجهزة لاسلكية ومسدسات، تتنقل على درجات نارية، وهي بقيادة شخص ملقب (أبو .م) اسمه (خ.غ) وهو مؤهل أول متقاعد من الجيش، إضافة إلى (ر.س).

أما المهمة المحددة لهذه المجموعات فهي مراقبة وتحديد أية خروقات لقوى المعارضة في بيروت والمناطق التي يعتبرها هذا التيار مناطق مغلقة له.

ربط منطقة رأس النبع بالسوديكو

المفصل الثالث، وهو مفصل إدارة عمليات التدريب، والمسؤول عنها هو (ع.ح)، وهو ضابط متقاعد معروف بالهوس المذهبي. يقوم (ع.ح) بإعداد قوائم أوامر عمليات مشتركة مع مسؤولين أمنيين حزب (ق.ل) في منطقة المنية وطرابلس وعكار والكورة والبترون وبعض مناطق بيروت، كما يسعى (ع.ح) لتجهيز مجموعات مدربة تدريباً عالياً تحت إشرافه المباشر، وذلك في جرود الشمال، وقد قام مؤخراً بإرسال مجموعة مدربة للتمركز في منطقة رأس النبع للتواصل مع المجموعات "القواتية" في منطقة السوديكو ولغاية مستديرة ساسين.

وهنا يذكر أن مخابرات الجيش اللبناني قد ألقت القبض منذ شهر على (غ.ك)، الذي كان مكلفاً بالتنسيق مع مجموعات هذا التيار لربط منطقة رأس النبع وامتدادها بمنطقة السوديكو، وفي هذا السياق كشفت المصادر أن اجتماعاً تنسيقياً جمع (م.ج) المعروف بـ(الحاج جهاد) مع عميد متقاعد من الجيش يدعى (س.خ) محسوب على وزير بارز في منطقة (مستشفى غريّب) في رأس النبع، إلا أن (س.خ) تعرض لاعتداءات من قبل بعض الأفراد الذين تجمهروا احتجاجاً على تنسيق التيار مع هذا الحزب مما دفع (م.ج) إلى الاعتذار من (س.خ) مبرراً له "عصبية الشباب الذين لم يقبضوا رواتبهم منذ فترة، وأمّن له انسحاباً من الاجتماع الذي لم يستمر إلا 20 دقيقة.

وبالعودة إلى المسؤول عن المفصل الثالث من الجهاز العسكري للتيار (ع.ح) فإنه يعمل بالتخطيط والتنسيق مع الأمنيين في حزب (ق.ل.) على تجنيد مجموعات شبابية في منطقة عكار هدفها وفق الخطة الموضوعة من الجانبين بعملية السيطرة على المناطق.

كما يقوم (ع.ح) بتوزيع السلاح بشكل كثيف في مناطق الكورة والبترون، وتجنيد ضباط ارتباط بين مجموعات متنوعة من فريق 14 آذار في هذه المناطق من أجل مواجهة أي تحرّك محتمل لأنصار النائب سليمان فرنجية (المردة).

تخريب وقناصون في عرمون ـ بشامون

أما في منطقة خلدة، فإن الفرضيات التي وضعها (ع.ح) تقضي بتجهيز مجموعات "تخريب" لوضع المتفجرات والعبوات، ونشر قنّاصين متحركين في منطقتي عرمون وبشامون في محاولة لإرباك هذه المنطقة الحيوية التي تعتبر خط امتداد للمقاومة.

لكن حتى الآن، ورغم كل الإغراءات المادية، وآخرها عرض دفع مبلغ 10 آلاف دولار شهرياً لمجموعة من 10 أشخاص ومحاولة تغطية عملهم العسكري بعمل حزبي سياسي تحت أسم منسقية عمرون ـ بشامون للتيار، غير أن (ع.ح) لم يلق تجاوباً سوى من مجموعة صغيرة لم تزل مترددة بسبب تجاربها السابقة بعدم جدية المنسق المعروف عنه فراره، واختفاؤه عن السمع إبّان أحداث 7 أيار 2008، أما الأفراد المتجاوبين حتى الآن فهم: (ع.ض) و (د.ض) و(ح.ز) و(م.ز) و (ف.ع) و (س.ح) و (خ.د) و (س.ن) و (ب.غ).

توزيع السلاح عند الساعة صفر

المفصل الرابع وهو المتعلق بتوزيع السلاح والذخيرة على القطاعات والفصائل والحظائر حسب تقسيمها في مختلف المناطق التي ينوي التيار تحريكها أمنياً عند اللزوم، قائد هذا المفصل يعد الجميع أنها خلال 48 ساعة من بدء العمليات العسكرية، كما يسميها، فإنه سيكون هناك آلية توزيع تؤمن انتشاراً شاملاً لكافة أنواع الأسلحة المتوفرة الثقيلة والمتوسطة والخفيفة بما فيها أسلحة الدعم من مدفعية الهاون وراجمات (آرغون ستالين 107 ملم).

وتلفت المصادر إلى أن الكثير من قادة القطاعات المعينين مؤخراً يشتكون من قلة الذخيرة والمخازن فضلاً عن الأسلحة التي بحوزتهم، ويطرحون دائماً تجربة 7 أيار 2008 وما جرى خلالها عندما تخلى عنهم من حمّلهم السلاح، وتشير التقارير الأمنية في هذا الصدد إلى أن ما يزيد عن 17 ألف قطعة سلاح مع ذخيرتها قد وزعت في 7 أيار 2008 على أفراد ومجموعات لهذا التيار ومن يدور في فلكه، إلا أنها بيعت أكثريتها إلى الفريق الخصم قبل بدء العمليات في 7 أيار 2008.

لذلك فقد قام قائد الجسم العسكري السري للتيار (م.ج) بتوزيع كميات كبيرة من الأسلحة مع ذخيرتها في منطقة الطريق الجديدة، شملت حوالي 800 قذيفة (بـ7) وعدد غير معروف من الرشاشات المتوسطة (بي ـ كي ـ سي)، وذلك في مناطق بيروت المختلفة، خصوصاً رأس بيروت وعائشة بكار.

إعلام حربي

وقد أرفق هذا الجسم العسكري الجديد بجهاز إعلامي هو أشبه بـ"إعلام حربي"، وعيّن على رأسه (ف.ش)، وذلك بشكل سري، نظراً إلى كونه ينتمي إلى التيار بشكل علني، ومرتبط مادياً بأحد الأجهزة الأمنية، ويعكف (ف.ش) على وضع خطة إعلامية، تهدف من ضمن ما تهدف إليه، إلى إخفاء ما يُحضر له عسكرياً للمعركة المقبلة، وذلك من خلال بث إشاعات التسريبات الموثقة من قبل الجهاز الأمني الذي يعمل لصالحه، والتي تهدف إلى اتهام أطراف المعارضة، خصوصاً السُّنية منها، بتوزيع السلاح والتدريب، تزامناً مع التأكيد على أن التيار لا يملك سلاحاً وأن المواجهة إذا ما وقعت فإنها ستكون مع الأهالي والنساء

Malaysia - gateway to Islamic finance

2010-11-03T06:54:00.001-07:00

Malaysia - gateway to Islamic finance
By Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene

KUALA LUMPUR - Over the past decade or so, Malaysia has quietly become the leading international player in Islamic finance and its gateway. The government of Malaysia, through its two principal agencies, Bank Negara (the central bank) and the Security Commission, has actively promoted Islamic finance. More specifically, Islamic finance has been given formal prominence in the Financial Sector Master Plan (FSMP) and the Capital Market Master Plan (CMP), which were initiated in Malaysia in 2001.

Malaysia's achievements have been quite remarkable in developing market institutions and Islamic financial products, in boosting capital flows, and in establishing the country's dominant position in the world of Islamic finance; it has become the leading player in the global sukuk (Islamic bond) market and in developing innovative products in money markets, derivatives, and in liquidity management.

The recent gathering of the Global Islamic Finance Forum 2010 (GIFF) in Kuala Lumpur under the auspices of Bank Negara is a further confirmation of Malaysia's continuing commitment to embracing and advancing Islamic finance.

The emergence of Malaysia at the top of the international Islamic finance pyramid is by no means accidental. The country has one of the most advanced financial systems among emerging market economies. Its financial system has been liberalized and integrated into the global capital markets. Its advanced financial infrastructure, relative to all other Muslim countries, was supportive of Islamic financial innovation and development and establishing Malaysia as the dominant country in Islamic finance.

Malaysia is an emerging market economy that has achieved sustained economic growth over a number of years and reached a high level of development. Its strong economic performance has been founded on efficient and relatively democratic institutions. Strong institutions, modern infrastructure, growing human capital and financial development, have all contributed to its emergence as the present force Islamic finance.

In fact, two recent studies on the "Islamicity" of countries ranked Malaysia at the top of all 56 Muslim countries in the world.

What is Islamic finance? What are its main foundations that make it supportive of financial stability, economic prosperity and social justice?

Islamic finance draws its scaffolding from divine rules (the Quran and the life of the Prophet Mohammad) that embrace risk-sharing (profit and loss sharing) and ban risk shifting (debt that embodies interest), prohibit interest (riba), gambling, speculation, and any unjust appropriation of wealth, and make zakat (alms) a mandatory obligation for preserving an equitable distribution of income and social justice. Although debt is not forbidden, it has to be interest free, and hence debt plays a negligible role in Islamic finance.

In its pure form, Islamic financial finance can be defined as a two-tier financial system, restricting commercial bank activities to (i) cash safekeeping, and (ii) investing client money as in a mutual fund. Banks accept deposits for safekeeping only (as for example in a system with 100% reserve requirement) and charge a fee for providing this service and for check-writing privileges.

In their intermediation capacity, banks identify and analyze investment opportunities and offer them to clients; the bank charges a fee for this service, much as with a traditional investment bank. The bank does not assume any asset-liability risk on its balance sheet; instead, gains or losses accrue directly to client investors.

However, the bank can at the same time invest its own equity capital in these and in other investment projects, as can its client investors. In such cases, the bank does not assume any asset-liability exposure, just a potential loss of some (not all or its multiple) of its capital, which does not endanger the bank's solvency.

In other words, in this example of a financial system, there is no debt financing by institutions, only equity financing; and there is no risk shifting, only risk sharing. Banks do not create money as under a fractional reserve system. Financial institutions serve their traditional role as intermediaries between savers and investors but with no debt on their balance sheets, no leveraging and no predetermined interest rate payments as an obligation.

Because of the structure of Islamic finance outlined above, it has received increasing attention in the aftermath of the global financial crisis that broke out in August 2007. It is considered as a more stable financial system, capable of promoting sustained growth of income and employment. Prohibiting interest and interest-debt contracts, Islamic finance eliminates money creation and destruction by the banking system through the credit multiplier; it establishes one-to-one mapping of financial and real sectors of the economy. That is, it is based on real trade and production activities.

The financial sector cannot expand beyond the real economy, and is immune to un-backed credit expansion and speculation that are characteristics of conventional finance and have destabilized even the most sophisticated and complex financial systems.

Islamic finance operates with one rate of return, which is the rate of profit. Conventional finance operates with two rates of return - the rate of interest and the rate of profit. The distortion between these two rates and the destabilizing effect on credit and prices were extensively analyzed by Thornton (1802) and Wicksell (1898). Its modern form is known as the "equity premium", namely the return on equities exceeds the rate of interest by about 6%-12%, depending on markets and time-periods.

Proposals along these lines are not new. Financial systems in some such form or other have been practiced throughout recorded history. Recently, such an approach was recommended in the "Chicago Plan". This reform plan was formulated in a memorandum written in 1933 by a group of renowned Chicago professors, including Henry Simons, Frank Knight, Aaron Director, Garfield Cox, Lloyd Mints, Henry Schultz, Paul Douglas and A G Hart, and was forcefully advocated and supported by the noted Yale University professor Irving Fisher.

Fisher wrote: "I have come to believe that that plan is incomparably the best proposal ever offered for speedily and permanently solving the problem of depressions; for it would remove the chief cause of both booms and depressions."

More recent than the Chicago Plan, James Henry and Laurence Kotlikoff have made a proposal along similar lines, coining it as Limited Purpose Banking (LPB); writing in Forbes (2010), they said:

Were we really serious about fixing our financial system, there's a very simple alternative - Limited Purpose Banking. LPB would transform all financial intermediaries with limited liability into mutual fund companies. Under LPB a single regulatory agency - the "Federal Financial Authority" - would organize the independent rating, verification, custody and full disclosure of all securities held by the mutual funds. Voila, by dint of competition and transparency, "liar loans", off-balance sheet gimmickry, and toxic assets would all disappear. LPB would let the financial sector do only what Main Street needs it to do - connect lenders to borrowers and savers to investors. The financial sector's job is not to take taxpayers to the casino and collect the winnings.

Recurrent financial crises in recent and distant pasts have established the fact that conventional finance needs support or is doomed to significant instability and potential collapse. Conventional banking needs a central bank as lender of last resort, deposit insurance and bailouts from government.

Conventional finance can be socially unjust; it creates money out of thin air, called "counterfeiting" by Maurice Allais, and enables borrowers to acquire free wealth. It is inflationary and it extols an inflation tax. The US Fed has as one of its two main objectives price stability; yet the US dollar in 2010 has less than 5% of its real purchasing power of 1920.

Experiences of hyperinflation in Germany and Latin America demonstrate how economies have been ruined by inflation. During the 19th and 20th centuries, conventional finance caused increasing social inequities, resulting in the emergence of powerful labor unions to defend real incomes against the rapid erosion caused by inflation that is rooted in fiat-based conventional finance. Over the last 40 years, some of the growing disparity in income and wealth in the United States is attributable to finance.

Conventional finance has been accompanied by high uncertainty, exchange rates instability, competitive devaluations and beggar-thy neighbor policies that are detrimental to foreign trade. John Maynard Keynes (1936) likened asset and commodity markets to a casino. In 2010, the price of gold hit $1,284/ounce; it was $35/ounce in 1971. The price of oil hit $147/barrel in 2008; it was $2/barrel in 1971.

Reserve currency countries have been trying to resolve the current financial crisis using the same policies that led to the crisis in the first place; namely, forcing interest rates to near-zero, printing money out of thin-air to inflate their way out of the crisis, forcing more debt, and increasing fiscal deficits.

Islamic finance is essentially immune to financial crises, inflation, and factor price distortions. There is no wealth redistribution via debt and inflation. Investment is based solely on equity financing. Zakat (alms) is mandatory and helps to eliminate the need for borrowing by the poor.

Islamic finance does not orient resources to consumption, as one cannot finance consumption by resorting to debt, and instead it orients them to investment and accelerates the process of capital accumulation. Demand and supply grow in harmony; namely, demand cannot be inflated through debt creation. There is no credit expansion that triggers asset bubbles. The economic growth path is sustainable, steady, and does not gyrate as in conventional finance. Full-employment is preserved.

The only possible shortcoming of Islamic finance is the unproven contention that conventional finance is more supportive of economic growth. This, however, is an empirical point that must be assessed over a long period, assessing growth over cycles of booms and busts.

Because of the attractive features of Islamic finance, Malaysia has positioned itself as an Islamic investment gateway to the world, with a niche in Islamic fund and wealth management. The comprehensive Islamic financial system developed by Malaysia operates in parallel with the conventional financial system and includes banking and takaful (Islamic insurance) components, and Islamic money and capital markets.

Following the development of a robust and vibrant domestic market, there are now initiatives under way to raise the international profile of the Malaysian Islamic financial system. These include a wide range of liberalization measures that include attracting foreign entities in the field of Islamic finance to Malaysia system by issuing new licenses - including to Islamic fund management companies - and allowing for greater percentage of foreign ownership in Malaysian domestic financial institutions.

Liberalization has also involved the potential for greater foreign participation in Malaysia's conventional domestic financial markets.

Islamic banking has also spurred efforts by non-bank financial intermediaries, such as the development financial institutions, savings institutions, and housing credit institutions, to introduce Islamic schemes and instruments to meet their customer demands. In addition, the capital market has seen the rapid growth of sukuks and equity markets.

To complement these developments, the Labuan Offshore Financial Center has embarked on a serious effort to establish an International Islamic Financial Market to stimulate the creation of liquidity and financial instruments as well as to enhance investment opportunities aimed at greater mobilization of Islamic funds.

The number of Shariah-compliant securities on Bursa Malaysia was 847 in May 2010, representing 88% of the total listed securities and 63.8% of the total market capitalization. The FTSE Hijrah Shariah index and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia EMAS Shariah index provide a broad benchmark for Shariah-compliant investments. These indices are designed for investors who wish to invest in Shariah-compliant stocks.

Islamic funds include unit trust funds (UTF), which are Islamic equity funds, and mutual funds (sukuks and other Sharia-compliant securities), real estate investment trusts (REITs), venture capital funds, and exchange traded funds (ETFs).

As of June 2010, there were 156 approved Islamic funds. Sukuks are structured securities and most financing deals have been structured along the concepts of Murabahah (where the seller informs the buyer of a commodity the cost that has been incurred on the commodity and adds that as a known mark-up in the sale); Ijarah (lease or rent) and Bai' Bithaman Ajil (sale of goods on a deferred payment basis).

To sustain the tax competitiveness of Malaysia's Islamic capital market, the government has extended tax deductions on sukuk issuance expenses. It has also established a financial guarantee institution to provide credit enhancements for sukuks, which would increase the creditworthiness of these and reduce the time required to place new issues.

Malaysia's position as a center of innovation was reinforced with the launching of the world's first Shariah-based commodity trading platform, Bursa Suq Al-Sila, in 2009. This was a collaborative effort of the Security Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia, and Bursa Malaysia and was supported by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, the Malaysian Palm Oil Association and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council.

Malaysia has made Islamic finance a priority and placed it at the center of its financial and capital market development plans. The decision to accelerate the development of Islamic finance was a reasoned one to promote future financial stability and sustained growth, in contrast to the financial crisis that the country experienced under the conventional financial in 1997-98.

Moreover, as Islamic finance is growing rapidly the world over and can be expected to do so in the foreseable future in part because of rising oil revenues, Malaysia is well positioned to become the combined New York and London of Islamic finance, a position that it should maintain and solidify for years to come.

‘ROLE OF FORCE IN STRATEGIC AFFAIRS’ Decline and Fall of the West

2010-10-23T00:41:00.000-07:00

World's capital markets: an out-of-control computerized Casino!

I had made an observation for comments by the presiding deity led by Sir Lawrence Freedman (involved with Chilcot Enquiry that I have written about as the usual British whitewash) in the session before lunch, on 21 October. I had compared the current decades to end 16 century East West confrontation when the Eastern power the Ottomans , successors of Aryans, Arabs ,Mongols,Tatars ,Turks etc had reached the maximum overstretch upto the gates of Vienna .Europe , and then the US at head after WWII, had rolled back eastern armies ,colonized and still exploits the nations of the east .After the collapse of the USSR in 1990, West and Nato installed pro-west rulers in Ukraine (,Yushchenko, removed early this year), in Georgia and use of base in Kyrgyzstan , but now the shift has begun for the decline (and fall) of the west .USSR collapsed because of high defense expenditure .US now spends $700 billions as much as the rest of the world put together ,but its armed are forces caught in a quagmire in Iraq , with Tehran now calling the shots in Baghdad.(with acting Iraqi PM Maliki in Iran for help)

It may be recalled that after centuries of warfare between the Byzantine and Persian empires , both were exhausted .Then the Bedouins from the deserts of Arabia ,with the new egalitarian ideology of Islam conquered almost all their territories .Moscow collapsed , now what about Washington?!

This was not seriously dealt with by the Chair .I had then left.

Unless we take into account the coming fast decline of the West ,India cannot formulate any realistic strategic policies .India’s strategic community is still ruled by US –UK theories and writings and propaganda and remains beholden to pre October 2009 era ( decline announced by the collapse of Lahman Brothers and Merryl Lynch , basically the financiers have always ruled the world ).

On the subject of economic and financial decline and possible fall of the West here is my last piece on the subject. It has URLs of my articles about the decline of the US led West with a piece Decline of the American Century dated 11 Sep 2002 .

The Looming Mother of all Economic and Social Crisis

http://www.mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/2405-k-gajendra-singh.html, http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0596.html,http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/.../looming-mother-of-all-economic-and.html etc

“Keynes's collective work amounted to a powerful argument that capitalism was by its very nature unstable and prone to collapse. Far from trending toward some magical state of equilibrium, capitalism would inevitably do the opposite. It would lurch over a cliff," --- Hyman Minsky.

On Thursday, May 6, 2010, ninety minutes before the end of the trading day, the U.S. stock market almost melted down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 1,000 points. The market recovered before the end and closed down 348 points, or 3.2%, like a giant 747 narrowly averting a crash landing, but the questions of the day are: What happened? And what does it mean?

Said Robert Reich on his blog on May 6, “at this point no one knows why. Some say it was a sudden burst of worries about Greece's debt and the increasing possibility of a default that might cause a run by global investors. Others point to a "trading error." Giant high-speed computers generate millions in trade based on instructions embedded in computer programs designed to move fast enough to beat everyone else.”

Again on Friday, May 7, Dow fell another 140 points in a wild trading day. The decline wiped out US market gains for the year. The Dow closed down to 10,380!

World's capital markets: an out-of-control computerized Casino!

“Regardless of why it happened, it's further evidence that the nation's and the world's capital markets have become a vast out-of-control casino in which fortunes can be made or lost in an instant—which would be fine except for the fact that most of us have put our life savings there. Pension funds, mutual funds, school endowments—the value of all of this depends on a mechanism that can lose a trillion dollars in minutes without anyone having a clear idea why. So much of the market now depends on computer programs and mathematical models that no one fully understands, so much trading is in the hands of a few people whose fat thumbs or momentary carelessness might sink the economy, so much of global wealth now depends on who can move their money quickest at the slightest provocation—that we are toying with financial disaster every day. The luck or foolishness of a few traders, and inside knowledge and information that some possess and others don't, combined with ultra high-speed computers, put us all at the whim of a system whose risk is way out of proportion to any public benefits,” concluded Reich.

Greek Sickness Infects EU -PIGS to Slaughter

The austerity plans and the bailout packet for Greece which have adversely dented the ruling coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party in the just concluded regional elections in Germany, because Berlin has to foot the bill, would spread around Europe and beyond. It believed that the debt of five EU members Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIGS) totals around $3.9 trillion. Britain’s debt is larger than any one of them.

Well-known US economist and political activist Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. voiced strong condemnation “the British swine have once again imposed a 1923-style hyper-inflationary collapse on modern Germany, with the trillions-dollar bailout scheme imposed on the Euro zone this past weekend. Only the immediate enactment of a Glass-Steagall law could prevent the United States itself from falling into the same fate now destined for continental European victims such as, above all other targets for total destruction, the Federal Republic of Germany.”

Bank of England Chief King paints a disastrous future for the country

London’s financially precarious position, which has been known for quite some time, was further unveiled by Edmund Conway, the Economics Editor of the Telegraph, UK. Conway revealed that US economist David Hale, who recently met with Mervyn King, Bank of England boss, was told by the latter that, "whoever wins this election will be out of power for a whole generation because of how tough the fiscal austerity will have to be."

Edmund Conway went on to further expose the untenable crisis awaiting UK:

"…no one yet comprehends just how tough the next five years will be. For obvious reasons: we have not experienced anything like it in our lifetimes. We have been insulated from the full pain of the financial/economic crisis so far by unprecedented low interest rates and by the bank bailouts. At some point, the anesthetic will wear off and we will face a period of austerity that may well make the ruling party so unpopular that it effectively becomes unelectable for decades. There will be strikes; there will be stagnation; there will probably be a double dip of some variety. But this time the pain will be unmistakably imposed by the politicians."

This analysis was further strengthened by former British minister, Michael Portillo, who said that the "financial crisis ravaging Britain would take 20 years to resolve, but the next five years would be critical!"

The Institute for Fiscal Studies had earlier warned that all three parties were hiding the full details of their plans to cut the deficit from voters. It said that the scale of cuts following the election could be the deepest since comparable records began just after World War II.

“Instability is an inherent and inescapable flaw of capitalism."

Hyman Minsky, a hitherto obscure macro-economist, who saw what was coming, predicted, decades ago, almost exactly the kind of meltdown that is hammering the global economy.

Minsky believed in capitalism, but he also believed it had almost a genetic weakness. Modern finance, he argued, was far from the stabilizing force that mainstream economics portrayed: rather, it was a system that created the illusion of stability while simultaneously creating the conditions for an inevitable and dramatic collapse.

Minsky's vision might have been dark, but he was not a fatalist; he believed it was possible to craft policies that could blunt the collateral damage caused by financial crises.

In his writings, Minsky looked to his intellectual hero, Keynes, arguably the greatest economist of the 20th century. But where most economists drew a single, simplistic lesson from Keynes--that government could step in and micromanage the economy, smooth out the business cycle, and keep things on an even keel--Minsky had no interest in what he and a handful of other dissident economists came to call "bastard Keynesian-ism."

Instead, Minsky drew his own far darker lessons from Keynes's landmark writings, which dealt not only with the problem of unemployment, but with money and banking. Although Keynes had never stated this explicitly, Minsky argued that Keynes's collective work amounted to a powerful argument that capitalism was by its very nature unstable and prone to collapse. Far from trending toward some magical state of equilibrium, capitalism would inevitably do the opposite. It would lurch over a cliff.

Minsky’s "Financial Instability Hypothesis"

In the wake of a depression, he noted, financial institutions are extraordinarily conservative, as are businesses. With the borrowers and the lenders who fuel the economy all steering clear of high-risk deals, things go smoothly: loans are almost always paid on time, businesses generally succeed, and everyone does well. That success, however, inevitably encourages borrowers and lenders to take on more risk in the reasonable hope of making more money. As Minsky observed, "Success breeds a disregard of the possibility of failure."

As people forget that failure is a possibility, a "euphoric economy" eventually develops, fueled by the rise of far riskier borrowers--what he called speculative borrowers, whose income would cover interest payments but not the principal; and those he called "Ponzi borrowers," whose income could cover neither, and could only pay their bills by borrowing still further. As these latter categories grew, the overall economy would shift from a conservative but profitable environment to a much more freewheeling system dominated by players whose survival depended not on sound business plans, but on borrowed money and freely available credit. Once that kind of economy developed, any panic could crash the market. The failure of a single firm, for example, or the revelation of a staggering fraud, could trigger fear and a sudden economy-wide attempt to shed debt.

"Minsky Moment"

This watershed moment - later dubbed the "Minsky moment" - would create an environment deeply inhospitable to all borrowers. The speculators and Ponzi borrowers would collapse first, as they lost access to the credit they needed to survive. Even the more stable players might find themselves unable to pay their debt without selling off assets; their forced sales would send asset prices spiraling downward, and inevitably, the entire rickety financial edifice would start to collapse. Businesses would falter, and the crisis would spill over to the "real" economy that depended on the now-collapsing financial system. (Note: the write up on Minsky has been extracted from “Why Capitalism Fails“by Stephen Mihm in the Boston Globe of 14 September, 2009.)

”Humanity faces the most serious crisis in modern history.”

In a book titled “The Global Economic Crisis, the Great Depression of the XXI Century,” edited by Prof Michel Chossudovsky and Andrew Gavin Marshall (to be released by end May), over a dozen distinguished economists and writers, Ellen Brown, Tom Burghardt, Michel Chossudovsky, Richard C. Cook, Shamus Cooke, John Bellamy Foster, Michael Hudson, Tanya Cariina Hsu, Fred Magdoff, Andrew Gavin Marshall, James Petras, Peter Phillips, Peter Dale Scott, Bill Van Auken, Claudia von Werlhof and Mike Whitney look under the glittering facade of western Capitalism and reveal a complex web of deceit and media distortion which serves to conceal the workings of the global economic system and its devastating impact on people's lives.

Despite the diversity of viewpoints and perspectives presented within this volume, all of the contributors ultimately come to the same conclusion: humanity is at the crossroads of the most serious economic and social crisis in modern history.

The economic recession is deep-seated in all major regions of the world, resulting in mass unemployment, the collapse of state social programs and the impoverishment of millions of people. The crisis—in tandem with a worldwide process of militarization, a "war without borders" led by Washington and its NATO allies—is intimately related to the restructuring of the global economy. The global financial architecture sustains strategic and national security objectives of the US-led West and their powerful business elites which control and dominate the functions of civilian government.

This book explains how the Federal Reserve (a private body), the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bank for International Settlements, and corporate boardrooms on Wall Street take far-reaching financial transactions routinely from computer terminals linked up to major stock markets, at the touch of a mouse button.

“The meltdown of financial markets in 2008-2009 was the result of institutionalized fraud and financial manipulation. The "bank bailouts" were implemented on the instructions of Wall Street, leading to the largest transfer of money wealth in recorded history, while simultaneously creating an insurmountable public debt.”

This process of economic decline is cumulative. The payments system of money transactions is in disarray. Payments of wages are no longer implemented, credit is disrupted and capital investments are at a standstill. Meanwhile, in Western countries, the "social safety net" inherited from the welfare state, which protects the unemployed during an economic downturn, is also in jeopardy.

The Myth of Economic Recovery

While the existence of a "Great Depression" on the scale of the 1930s is often acknowledged, it is veiled by false claims: "The economy is on the road to recovery". (The US recovered from the 1930s depression by the booming economic industrial production during and posts WWII, when it had a vibrant and expanding industrial economy with European powers dependent on it–a process carried on after the War’s end, which shifted the financial centre from London to Wall Street.)

The financial meltdown is not simply composed of the housing real estate bubble--which has already burst--but there are many more bubbles, all of which dwarf the housing bubble burst of 2008.

Regarding the so called economic recovery, already in early 2010, the "recovery" of the US economy has been predicted and confirmed through a carefully worded barrage of media disinformation. The social plight of increased unemployment in the US has been scrupulously camouflaged. Economists view bankruptcy as a macroeconomic phenomenon. The media reports on bankruptcies fail to provide an overall picture of what is happening at the national and international levels. When all these simultaneous plant closures in towns and cities across the land are added together, a very different picture emerges: entire sectors of a national economy are closing down.

Public opinion continues to be misled as to the causes and consequences of the economic crisis, not to mention the policy solutions. People are led to believe that the economy has a logic of its own which depends on the free interplay of market forces, hiding the role of powerful financial actors who pull the strings in the corporate boardrooms and have willfully influenced the course of economic events.

“The American Dream” morphs into a nightmare for the majority

The relentless and fraudulent appropriation of wealth is upheld as an integral part of "the American dream", a means of spreading the benefits of economic growth. A myth becomes entrenched that "without wealth at the top, there would be nothing to trickle down." This is pure hogwash.

Media disinformation largely serves the interests of a handful of global banks and institutional speculators who use their command over financial and commodity markets to amass vast amounts of wealth. The "bank bailouts", presented to the public as a requisite for economic recovery, have facilitated and legitimized a further process of appropriation of wealth. With inside information and foreknowledge, major financial players, using the instruments of speculative trade, have the ability to fiddle and rig market movements to their advantage, precipitate the collapse of a competitor and wreak havoc on the economies of developing countries. These tools of manipulation have become an integral part of the financial architecture; they are embedded in the system.

The Failure of Mainstream Economics

The economics profession rarely addresses the actual "real world" functioning of markets. Theoretical constructs centered on mathematical models serve to represent an abstract, fictional world far removed from reality. By failing to examine the interplay of powerful economic actors in the "real life" economy, the processes of market rigging, financial manipulation and fraud get overlooked. The concentration and centralization of economic decision-making, the role of the financial elites, the economic thinks tanks, the corporate boardrooms: none of these issues are examined in the universities’ economics programs. The theoretical construct is dysfunctional; it cannot be used to provide an understanding of the economic crisis.

Economic science has become an ideological construct to camouflage and justify the New World Order. The powers of market manipulation which serve to appropriate vast amounts of wealth are rarely addressed. And when they are acknowledged, they are considered to belong to the realm of sociology or political science. This means that the policy and institutional framework behind this global economic system, which has been shaped in the course of the last thirty years, is rarely analyzed by corporate hired economists.

Poverty and Social Inequality
The global political economy thus enriches the very few at the expense of the vast majority. The crisis has contributed to widening social inequalities both within and between countries. Under global capitalism, mounting poverty is not the result of a scarcity or a lack of human and material resources. The structures of social inequality have, quite deliberately, been reinforced, leading not only to a generalized process of impoverishment but also to the demise of the middle and upper middle income groups.
Bankruptcies have hit several of the most vibrant sectors of the consumer economy. The middle classes in the West have, for several decades, been subjected to the erosion of their material wealth. It exists in theory, built and sustained by household and other debts. With the demise of the civilian economy, the development of America’s war economy, supported by a whopping near-trillion dollar defense budget, has reached new heights. As stock markets tumble and the recession unfolds, the advanced weapons industries, the military and national security contractors and the up-and-coming mercenary companies (among others) have experienced a thriving and booming growth of their various activities.
War and the Economic Crisis
Wars lead to the impoverishment of people at home and around the world. The provision of essential goods and services to meet basic human needs has been replaced by a profit-driven "killing machine" in support of America’s "Global War on Terror". While the poor are made to fight in Iraq and elsewhere, wars enrich the upper class, which control industry, the military, oil and banking. “Western nations, particularly the United States, spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year to murder innocent people in far-away impoverished nations, while the people at home suffer the disparities of poverty, class, gender and racial divides.”
An outright "economic war" resulting in unemployment, poverty and disease is carried out through the free market. In the last twenty years, the global "free market" economy has brought poverty and social destitution to the lives of millions of people. Instead of tackling the impending social catastrophe, Western governments, to serve the interests of the economic elites, have installed a "Big Brother" police state, with a mandate to confront and repress all forms of opposition and social dissent. George Orwell’s 1984 are being created in USA.
The economic and social crisis has by no means reached its climax, and entire countries, including Greece and Iceland, are at risk. One need only look at the escalation of the Middle East Central Asian war and the US-NATO threats to China, Russia and Iran to witness how war and the economy are intimately related.
The Decline of the West and a Depressing Scenario
In the blog Global Guerrilla, John Robb, writing on The Decline of the West states, “the current sovereign debt crisis is another battle in a war for dominance between "our" integrated, impersonal global economic system and traditional nation-states. At issue is whether a nation-state serves the interests of the governed or the interests of a global economic system.
The global economic system is winning. The 2008 financial crisis, the first real battle of this war (as opposed to the early losses in skirmishes in Russia, Argentina, the Balkans, etc) was a resounding defeat for nation-states. The current crisis in the EU will almost certainly end with the same results.
When this war ends, and it won't be long, the global economic and financial system will be the victor. The nation-states of the West will join with those of the global south, mere shells of states that serve only to enforce the interests of the global economic system. More market-states than nation-states, citizens’ incomes will fall to developing world levels (made easy to due highly portable productivity), and wealth will stratify. Regulatory protections will be weak. Civil service pensions will be erased and corruption will reign. The once-dominant militaries of the West will be reduced to a small fraction of their current size, and their focus will be on the maintenance of internal control rather than on external threats. The clear and unambiguous message to every citizen of the West will be “you’re on your own.”
It will fragment society and lead to perpetual stagnation/depression, endemic violence/corruption, and squalor. New sources of order will see the rise of the criminal entrepreneur, whether they are the be-suited corporate gangster or the gang tattooed thug. For in the world of hollow states (without a morality that limits behavior) and limitless connectivity to the global economic system, these criminal entrepreneurs quickly become dominant, violently coercing or corrupting everyone in the path to their enrichment. (In former socialist states of east and central Europe, local and migrant mafias form an important segment of the new ruling elites.)
Recap
The author has kept a watch and written about the decline and fall of US hegemony since 11 September, 2002, when a declining US empire appeared at its most dazzling, like the afternoon sun past its prime.
The decline of the American Century Sept 11, 2002 Atimes: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DI11Ak06.html
The US Empire –Beginning of the End Game 24 Nov, 2006 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15729.htm
The Decline and Coming Fall of US Hegemony March 30, 2008 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m42600&hd=&size=1&l=e
-- An editorial titled 'Collapse of U.S. economy' in Belleville Intelligencer of 27 Feb, 2008 confirms the by now generally accepted ill health of US economy. Harry Koza in the Globe and Mail recently quoted Bernard Connelly, the global strategist at Banque AIG/CIA... in London that the likelihood of a Great Depression is growing by the day. Martin Wolf of U.K.'s Financial Times cited Dr. Nouriel Roubini of the New York University's Stern School of Business, who outlines how the losses of the American financial system will grow to more than $1 trillion, an amount equal to all the assets of all American banks.
The next domino to fall will be credit card defaults, and after that...who knows? There are so many exotic funds out there, with trillions of dollars in paper--or rather computer-screen money--and all about to disintegrate into nothingness. Over the next couple of years, scores of banks that have thrived on these devices, based on quickly disappearing equities, will fail.
The most frightening forecast so far comes from the Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin (GEAB), "The end of the third quarter of 2008 will be marked by a new tipping point in the unfolding of the global systemic crisis. In the United States, this new tipping point will translate into - get this - a collapse of the real economy, (the) final socio-economic stage of the serial bursting of the housing and financial bubbles and of the pursuance of the U.S. dollar fall. The collapse of U.S. real economy means the virtual freeze of the American economic machinery: private and public bankruptcies in large numbers, companies and public services closing down."
We are not experiencing a "remake" of the 1929 crisis or a repetition of the 1970s oil crises or 1987 stock market crisis. What we will have, instead, is truly a global momentous threat - a true turning point affecting the entire planet and questioning the very foundations of the international system upon which the world was organized in the last decades."
Western Military-Capitalist Civilization in Disarray September 25, 2008 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m47513; http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0386.htm
"Credit easing does not and cannot substitute for earnings, wages or tax revenues."---Max Fraad Wolff
"The [US] financial system is out of control and has led the economy into a wildly turbulent sea of heavily leveraged speculation. … The road ahead is dark and unknown." Steve Fraser author of" Wall Street: America's Dream Palace."
"Before the US economy can truly begin to expand again, the savings rate must rise to pre-bubble levels of 8pc--$2 trillion of household debt must be eliminated",---Economist David Rosenberg
Corporate Culture and Greed Sink the American Republic 17 May, 2009 http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0442.htm
"Over-grown military establishments are. Under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty."--George Washington (1732-1799), First US President.
"It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear." --General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, May 15, 1951
"[The] conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. . . . In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." --Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), 34th US President, Farewell Address, Jan. 17, 1961
Confirmation of Pressure on Dollar and US Decline 8 October, 2009 http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0493.html
And finally,
Falling Empires and their Currencies Rome, France, England and the USA Part 2: From England to the United States of America Rolf Nef January 16, 2007 http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/2007/0116.html

Soviet Collapse Ruined the U.S.A.....

2010-10-04T03:48:00.000-07:00

Georgi Arbatov was right–depriving us of an enemy might have been the worst thing that Gorbachev could have done to us. When the “evil empire” was no longer there to force us into adopting a “good” counterpoint, we were without purpose. Lucky for us that the CIA had a ready-made nemesis for us to posture against, a global network of super terrorists–an army of Islamic James Bonds, otherwise known as “Al-CIAda.” All they had to do was to point us in their direction.]

04 October 2010

By Alexei Bayer

In 2005, then-President Vladimir Putin called the collapse of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. As time passes, I find myself agreeing with him more and more.

To be sure, my regrets are fundamentally different from Putin’s. I’ve been a U.S. citizen for three decades, and my son is as American as they come. The United States is clearly my home, and I consider myself a patriotic American. This is why I decry the disappearance of the Soviet empire. Its demise may have dealt a potentially mortal blow to the United States.

The Soviet Union strained its resources and pauperized, exploited and oppressed its own people in order to compete with the United States, the embodiment of the bitterly adversarial capitalist system. Most Soviets didn’t believe the authorities who told them that they were living and working in a “workers’ paradise.” It was a struggle that its leaders believed would prove the supremacy of communism. It was bad for the Soviet Union but a godsend for the United States.

The Soviet propaganda droned incessantly about how workers are impoverished and exploited under capitalism. It tried to flip the truth on its head: to deny that the U.S. government after the Great Depression implemented policies that helped raise incomes while drastically improving the work conditions and financial well-being of workers.

In the 1950s, things got even better for U.S. workers. The gap between the rich and the poor was the narrowest in U.S. history, and the U.S. middle class reached new levels of prosperity.

Soviet forays into post-colonial Africa and Asia and the revolutionary movements it fomented in Latin America forced Washington to pay attention to those countries and assist in their development. Even discounting support for the occasional tyrant, it did much good and helped spread U.S. influence and American values around the world. Even if they are not always followed in practice, democracy and free enterprise have become dominant political values globally.

To counter the Soviet “Evil Empire,” the United States willy-nilly had to go for the moral high ground and become a moral arbiter in world affairs. Now, China is gradually replacing U.S. influence the world over.

Finally, the Soviet Union strained its dysfunctional economic system to create a first-rate scientific and military complex. Sputnik, launched in 1957, galvanized the United States into action. A huge government effort to improve math, science and engineering followed. Funding for education and research was increased sharply, and the government and private universities expanded programs for the brightest students to go to the best universities, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay. The space race did little for the average Russian, but it did create a broad infrastructure for science and technology in the United States that set the foundation for U.S. supremacy in innovation, which the United States enjoys to this day.

After the Soviet collapse, Washington found a different adversary: Al-CIAda.... As a result, the leading 21st-century military and economic power is wasting its resources on a medieval war, gradually descending to the level of its new foe.

Osama bin Laden may be history’s greatest military strategist. He made Washington abandon its lofty moral ideals, forced the United States into a sea of debt and played a key role in pushing the United States off its pedestal of being the world’s supreme economic power. But ultimately, it is the collapse of the Soviet Union that is to blame.

Alexei Bayer, a native Muscovite, is a New York-based economist.

9/11 New WTC Ground Zero Aftermath Kurt Sonnenfeld FEMA Video 2010 Release

2010-10-02T03:21:00.000-07:00

A great shot of steel beams ejected from one of the towers by explosive force and embedded in a nearby building at 1:58.

also see: 9/11 World Trade Center Steel Artifacts

video source

Kurt Sonnenfeld: A witness for the persecution

B.C.C.I.: The Dirtiest Bank of All

2010-10-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

http://pubrecord.org/special-to-the-public-record/8387/inside-global-banking-intelligence/

B.C.C.I.: The Dirtiest Bank of All....the CIA/MOSSAD Bank....

http://www.pakalertpress.com/2010/10/21/the-covert-origins-of-the-af-pak-war-the-road-to-world-war-iii/

By JONATHAN BEATY and S.C. GWYNNE NEW YORK;Cathy Booth/Miami, Jay Branegan/Hong Kong and Helen Gibson/

"I could tell you what you want to know, but I must worry about my wife and family -- they could be killed."

-- a former top B.C.C.I. officer....

"We better not talk about this over the phone. We've found some bugs in offices that haven't been put there by law enforcement."

-- a Manhattan investigator probing B.C.C.I.

Bank-fraud cases are usually dry, tedious affairs. Not this one. Nothing in the history of modern financial scandals rivals the unfolding saga of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International, the $20 billion rogue empire that regulators in 62 countries shut down early this month in a stunning global sweep. Never has a single scandal involved so much money, so many nations or so many prominent people.

Superlatives are quickly exhausted: it is the largest corporate criminal enterprise ever, the biggest Ponzi scheme, the most pervasive money-laundering operation and financial supermarket ever created for the likes of Manuel Noriega, Ferdinand Marcos, Saddam Hussein and the Colombian drug barons. B.C.C.I. even accomplished a Stealth-like invasion of the U.S. banking industry by secretly buying First American Bankshares, a Washington-based holding company with offices stretching from Florida to New York, whose chairman is former U.S. Defense Secretary Clark Clifford.

But B.C.C.I. is more than just a criminal bank. From interviews with sources close to B.C.C.I., TIME has pieced together a portrait of a clandestine division of the bank called the "black network," which functions as a global intelligence operation and a Mafia-like enforcement squad. Operating primarily out of the bank's offices in Karachi, Pakistan, the 1,500-employee black network has used sophisticated spy equipment and techniques, along with bribery, extortion, kidnapping and even, by some accounts, murder. The black network -- so named by its own members -- stops at almost nothing to further the bank's aims the world over.

The more conventional departments of B.C.C.I. handled such services as laundering money for the drug trade and helping dictators loot their national treasuries. The black network, which is still functioning, operates a lucrative arms-trade business and transports drugs and gold. According to investigators and participants in those operations, it often works with Western and Middle Eastern intelligence agencies. The strange and still murky ties between B.C.C.I. and the intelligence agencies of several countries are so pervasive that even the White House has become entangled. As TIME reported earlier this month, the National Security Council used B.C.C.I. to funnel money for the Iran-contra deals, and the CIA maintained accounts in B.C.C.I. for covert operations. Moreover, investigators have told TIME that the Defense Intelligence Agency has maintained a slush-fund account with B.C.C.I., apparently to pay for clandestine activities.

But the CIA may have used B.C.C.I. as more than an undercover banker: U.S. agents collaborated with the black network in several operations, according to a B.C.C.I. black-network "officer" who is now a secret U.S. government witness. Sources have told investigators that B.C.C.I. worked closely with Israel's spy agencies and other Western intelligence groups as well, especially in arms deals. The bank also maintained cozy relationships with international terrorists, say investigators who discovered suspected terrorist accounts for Libya, Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization in B.C.C.I.'s London offices.

.....The bank's intelligence connections and alleged bribery of public officials around the world point to an explanation for the most persistent mystery in the B.C.C.I. scandal: why banking and law-enforcement authorities allowed the bank to spin out of control for so long.

In the U.S. investigators now say openly that the Justice Department has not only reined in its own probe of the bank but is also part of a concerted campaign to derail any full investigation. Says Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, who first launched his investigations into B.C.C.I. two years ago: "We have had no cooperation from the Justice Department since we first asked for records in March 1990. In fact they are impeding our investigation, and Justice Department representatives are asking witnesses not to cooperate with us."

Continued:
------www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973481-2,00.html

1976: CIA and Other Intelligence Agencies Use BCCI to Control and Manipulate Criminals and CIA Terrorists Worldwide

[Source: Terry Kirk / Financial Times]

Investigative journalist Joseph Trento will later report that in 1976, the Safari Club, a newly formed secret cabal of intelligence agencies (see September 1, 1976-Early 1980s), decides it needs a network of banks to help finance its intelligence operations. Saudi Intelligence Minister Kamal Adham is given the task. “With the official blessing of George H. W. Bush as the head of the CIA, Adham transformed a small Pakistani merchant bank, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), into a world-wide money-laundering machine, buying banks around the world to create the biggest clandestine money network in history.” BCCI was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani named Agha Hasan Abedi, who was an associate of Adham’s. Bush himself has an account at BCCI established while still director of the CIA. French customs will later raid the Paris BCCI branch and discover the account in Bush’s name. [Trento, 2005, pp. 104] Bush, Adham, and other intelligence heads work with Abedi to contrive “a plan that seemed too good to be true. The bank would solicit the business of every major terrorist, rebel, and underground organization in the world. The intelligence thus gained would be shared with ‘friends’ of BCCI.” CIA operative Raymond Close works closely with Adham on this. BCCI taps “into the CIA’s stockpile of misfits and malcontents to help man a 1,500-strong group of assassins and enforcers.” [Trento, 2005, pp. 104] Soon, BCCI becomes the fastest growing bank in the world. Time magazine will later describe BCCI as not just a bank, but also “a global intelligence operation and a Mafia-like enforcement squad. Operating primarily out of the bank’s offices in Karachi, Pakistan, the 1,500-employee black network has used sophisticated spy equipment and techniques, along with bribery, extortion, kidnapping and even, by some accounts, murder. The black network—so named by its own members—stops at almost nothing to further the bank’s aims the world over.” [Time, 7/22/1991]

In 1977 Zbigniew Brzezinski, as President Carter’s National Security Adviser, forms the Nationalities Working Group (NWG) dedicated to the idea of weakening the Soviet Union by inflaming its ethnic tensions. The Islamic populations are regarded as prime targets. Richard Pipes, the father of Daniel Pipes, takes over the leadership of the NWG in 1981. Pipes predicts that with the right encouragement Soviet Muslims will “explode into genocidal fury” against Moscow. According to Richard Cottam, a former CIA official who advised the Carter administration at the time, after the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1978, Brzezinski favored a “de facto alliance with the forces of Islamic resurgence, and with the Republic of Iran.” [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 241, 251 - 256]

1978: CIA Begins Covert Action in Afghanistan....to draw the Soviets in.....

The CIA begins covert action against the Communist government in Afghanistan, which is closely tied to the Soviet Union. Some time this year, the CIA begins training militants in Pakistan and beaming radio propaganda into Afghanistan. By April 1979, US officials are meeting with opponents of the Afghan government to determine their needs. [Blum, 1995, pp. 344] Robert Gates, who will become CIA Director in the early 1990s, will later recall that in a meeting on March 30, 1979, Under Secretary of Defense Walter Slocumbe wonders aloud whether there is “value in keeping the Afghan insurgency going, ‘sucking the Soviets into a Vietnamese quagmire.’” [Gates, 1996, pp. 145] In March 1979, there is a major revolt in Herat province, and in June and August there are large scale army mutinies. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 5] President Carter will formally approve covert aid to opponents of the government in July (see July 3, 1979), which will result in a Russian invasion in December (see December 8, 1979).

Central Intelligence Agency, Robert M. Gates, Walter Slocumbe

War in Afghanistan....
Soviet-Afghan War, Counterterrorism Action Before the inside job of 9/11

November 1978-February 1979: Some US Officials Want to Support Radical Muslims to Contain Soviet Union

In December 1978, President Carter’s National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says, “An arc of crisis stretches along the shores of the Indian Ocean, with fragile social and political structures in a region of vital importance to us threatened with fragmentation. The resulting political chaos could well be filled by elements hostile to our values and sympathetic to our adversaries.” [Time, 1/8/1979] There is widespread discontent and rioting in Iran at the time. State Department official Henry Precht will later recall that Brzezinski had the idea “that Islamic forces could be used against the Soviet Union. The theory was, there was an arc of crisis, and so an arc of Islam could be mobilized to contain the Soviets.” [Scott, 2007, pp. 67] In November 1978, President Carter appointed George Ball head of a special White House Iran task force under Brzezinski. Ball recommends the US should drop support for the Shah of Iran and support the radical Islamist opposition of Ayatollah Khomeini. This idea is based on ideas from British Islamic expert Dr. Bernard Lewis, who advocates the balkanization of the entire Muslim Near East along tribal and religious lines. The chaos would spread in what he also calls an “arc of crisis” and ultimately destabilize the Muslim regions of the Soviet Union. The Shah will later comment in exile, “I did not know it then, perhaps I did not want to know? But it is clear to me now that the Americans wanted me out. Clearly this is what the human rights advocates in the State Department wanted. What was I to make of the Administration’s sudden decision to call former Under Secretary of State George Ball to the White House as an adviser on Iran? Ball was among those Americans who wanted to abandon me and ultimately my country.” [Engdahl, 1992] While there is later debate about US policy towards Iran actually is at this time, it will be noted that the Carter administration had “no clear policy” due to internal divisions and confusion. [Keddie, 2003] The Shah abdicates on January 16, 1979, and Ayatollah Khomeini returns from exile to Iran on February 1, 1979, taking over the government. Brzezinski will attempt to create a de facto alliance with Khomeini’s new fundamentalist government, but his efforts will come to a half with the Iranian hostage crisis in November 1979 (see February-November 4, 1979).

Entity Tags: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, Jr., George Ball, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Bernard Lewis, Henry Precht, Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini
War in Afghanistan

Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Counterterrorism Policy/Politics, US Dominance, US Intel
February-November 4, 1979: US Attempt to Create De Facto Alliance with Khomeini’s Iranian Government Ends Disastrously

After the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi is deposed in Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini takes over as Iran’s new leader in February 1979, the US is interested in continuing to work with the Iranian government. At first the US is taken aback by the new fundamentalist Islamic government, and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski contemplates fomenting a military coup to stop Khomeini. But Khomeini is fiercely anti-communist, and Brzezinski soon decides that Iran’s new government can become part of an effective anti-Soviet alliance he calls the “arc of crisis’ (see November 1978-February 1979). The US embassy in Teheran, Iran, remains open, and more US officials come to Iran and begin tentative talks there. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 236-243] The CIA in particular begins secretly collaborating with Iranian intelligence, providing information about the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The CIA and Iran both covertly work to destabilize the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 264-265] In early November 1979, Brzezinski secretly meets with Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, as well as Iran’s foreign minister and defense minister, in Algiers, Algeria. But shortly before the meeting, the US agrees to allow the Shah, dying with cancer, to come to the US for medical treatment. Khomeini is enraged, and on November 4, just three days after the Algeria meeting begins, Khomeini arranges for students to take over the US embassy in Teheran and seize hostages. This realigns political forces in Iran and allows Khomeini to sideline Bazargan and other others meeting in Algeria, rendering the negotiations there moot. Brzezinski’s attempts to create a de facto alliance with Iran collapse. The US hostages will be held for over a year before finally being freed. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 240-243]

Case in point is the PROMISE spyware sold to Khalid bin Mahfouz the eldest son of a Saudi entrepreneur who founded the National Commercial Bank in Saudi Arabia indicted in financing the 9/11 attack and international terrorism and former Chief executive of BCCI and get this Osama Bin Ladins brother in law by marriage to Mahfouz sister.

http://www.users.on.net/~osbornep/

As well as setting up oil venture with the Taliban regime.

In 1996, Delta Oil Company formed a joint-venture with Nimir Petroleum Company, a company controlled by Osama Bin Laden’s brother in law, financial backer, and sponsor of international terrorism Defendant Khalid Bin Salim Bin Mahfouz.
This joint venture was known as Delta Nimir Khazar Limited and its purpose was to negotiate with the Taliban regime.
In December 1996, the Taliban announced that the Taliban government had agreed to allow a proposed pipeline through Afghanistan.

Delta Oil Company p.331

With Khalid bin Mahfouz, Nimir Petroleum engaged in a relationship with the Taliban regime in or about 1994. Nimir agreed to partner with the Saudi Delta Oil Company, by forming a joint-venture known as Delta Nimir Khazar Limited. Soon after, due to Nimir and Khalid bin Mahfouz’ influence, an agreement was reached between a consortium of oil companies and the Taliban. Nimir’s efforts to lobby for the consortium to reach an agreement with the Taliban regime included a meeting in November 1997 with a Taliban delegation to Texas.

NIMIR LLC p.333

http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/1239.pdf

Also note that this was one of the proposed pipeline routes outlined in Brzezinski’s book The Grand Chessboard....

Genocide francais en Algerie : Les services francais DST (sa filiale DRS) ont participé a la décapitation des moines de Tibhirines

2010-09-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

Moines de Tibéhirine: trois rapports secrets sèment le trouble

http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/220910/moines-de-tibehirine-trois-rapports-secrets-sement-le-trouble

Mediapart, Fabrice Arfi, Fabrice Lhomme, Mediapart, 26.9.10

Le rôle ambigu des services secrets algériens dans l'affaire des moines de Tibéhirine apparaît désormais comme un élément central de l'enquête du juge Marc Trévidic. C'est ce qui ressort des informations contenues dans plusieurs rapports du contre-espionnage français qui ont été récemment déclassifiés à la demande du magistrat.

Ces documents, dont Mediapart a pu prendre connaissance et que nous publions en intégralité (voir pages suivantes), sont notamment constitués de trois notes «confidentiel défense» rédigées par le général Philippe Rondot, alors en poste à la Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST, aujourd'hui DCRI), où il fut en première ligne sur le dossier de l'enlèvement puis de l'assassinat des moines de Tibéhirine.

Le général Rondot, qui est aujourd'hui à la retraite, doit être entendu comme témoin, lundi 27 septembre, par le juge Trévidic. Il devra s'expliquer sur ses écrits de l'époque, que le militaire qualifiait lui-même de «considérations amères». Ceux-ci pointaient notamment la «lenteur perceptible» des services secrets algériens dans la gestion de cette affaire et leur «tolérance relative» à l'égard de l'un des principaux leaders des Groupes islamiques armés (GIA), Djamel Zitouni, soupçonné d'être à l'origine du rapt et de la mort des moines.

Sept religieux français du monastère de Tibéhirine, situé à 90 kilomètres au sud d'Alger, dans la région de Médéa, avaient été enlevés dans la nuit du 26 au 27 mars 1996. Leurs têtes seront découvertes quelques semaines plus tard, fin mai, au bord d'une route, pour certaines d'entre elles suspendues à un arbre, dans des sacs en plastique ; leurs corps n'ont, eux, jamais été retrouvés.

Près de quinze ans après les faits, aucune vérité judiciaire n'a pu émerger de l'épais brouillard qui entoure encore les circonstances du massacre. La thèse islamiste, défendue par Alger et validée pendant des années par le premier juge français antiterroriste en charge du dossier, Jean-Louis Bruguière, est aujourd'hui sérieusement battue en brèche, pour deux raisons au moins.

La première: en juillet 2009, l'ancien attaché militaire de l'ambassade de France à Alger, le général François Buchwalter, a affirmé à la justice qu'il avait recueilli des informations selon lesquelles les moines avaient été victimes d'une bavure militaire de l'armée algérienne, après leur enlèvement. Il avait aussi déclaré que la diplomatie française lui avait alors demandé de garder le silence sur ses révélations.

La seconde: de nombreux indices laissent aujourd'hui penser que deux des principaux terroristes mis en cause dans la disparition des moines, Djamel Zitouni, émir du GIA, et son adjoint, Abderrazak El-Para, ont, au mieux, bénéficié d'une certaine complaisance du pouvoir algérien de l'époque, ou, au pire, été des agents à la solde de l'appareil militaire, infiltrés au sein des GIA afin de les manipuler. A n'importe quel prix.

Se préparer au pire...

La lecture des rapports de synthèse déclassifiés du général Rondot, que le juge Trévidic a reçus avant l'été, jette pour le moins le trouble sur l'attitude de l'appareil sécuritaire algérien lors des événements de Tibéhirine.

Sous l'intitulé «Opération Tibéhirine», la première de ces notes date du 8 avril 1996. Il s'agit d'un compte rendu de mission du maître-espion à Alger, où le général s'est rendu du 5 au 7 avril, quelques jours après l'annonce de la disparition des moines trappistes. Le document, comme ceux qui suivront, est adressé au préfet Philippe Parant, alors patron de la DST.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/37977298/RONDOT-1

Rapidement, l'agent spécial du contre-espionnage français note à l'endroit des services secrets algériens, avec lesquels il est en relation permanente, que «la priorité donnée à la survie des moines tempère la vigueur des recherches entreprises et, donc, la lenteur perceptible dans le recueil et l'exploitation des renseignements».
Le référent de Philippe Rondot est le général Smaïn Lamari, le patron de la DCE, le contre-espionnage algérien, dont la DST française est alors particulièrement dépendante. Trop, peut-être. Dans son premier rapport, le militaire français note ainsi que «si la coopération de la DCE semble acquise – à condition de rester dans le cadre fixé par Alger – il faut bien convenir que notre seule source opérationnelle sur le terrain reste ce service [...]». Il poursuit, non sans pessimisme: «Restons donc prudents dans nos analyses et circonspects par rapport au “produit” livré par la DCE, tout en nous préparant au pire.»

Un mois plus tard, le 10 mai 1996, le général Rondot rédige un deuxième rapport. Le ton est plus sec, parfois tranchant. Son objet parle pour lui: «Considérations (amères) sur la gestion de l'affaire de moines de Tibéhirine et propositions (malgré tout) d'action».

http://www.scribd.com/doc/37977335/RONDOT-2

Les moines n'ont toujours pas été retrouvés. L'inquiétude monte. «Depuis le 30 avril, nous sommes dans l'attente», déplore Philippe Rondot. «De réunion en réunion, nous nous sommes contentés d'échafauder des hypothèses, sans pour autant définir avec discernement et précision quelle conduite nous devrions adopter», ajoute-t-il.

«Nous ne pouvons rester plus longtemps dans l'expectative», s'agace-t-il, déplorant encore une fois la «dépendance» de la DST à l'égard des «services algériens», lesquels, précise-t-il, «ont sans aucun doute d'autres impératifs (politiques et sécuritaires) que les nôtres, s'agissant de la survie et de la libération des religieux.» Le général va même plus loin dans son argumentation en écrivant: «Ils peuvent être, en effet, tentés de régler brutalement ce qu'ils considèrent comme un simple “fait divers” (selon une formule entendue), lequel fait obstacle à la normalisation des relations franco-algériennes (élément que n'ignore pas le GIA).»

Quand la DST prônait «l'élimination» de Zitouni

Les mots sont de plus en plus durs. «Le général Smaïn Lamari m'avait dit, dès le début, que ce serait “long, difficile et hasardeux”. C'est bien le cas», tranche le général Rondot dans ce deuxième rapport. Il fait part de son malaise face à l'attitude équivoque de son principal interlocuteur au contre-espionnage algérien. «On n'oubliera pas non plus que figure, au nombre des prisonniers à libérer, Abdelhak Layada, détenu en Algérie et qu'il paraît exclu que le gouvernement algérien soit prêt à céder sur ce cas», écrit-il. «Mais les propos tenus tant par le général Smaïn Lamari que par certains islamistes, à ce sujet, sont ambigus.» Le mot est lâché.

Pour Philippe Rondot, la seule issue possible pour les services secrets français serait d'établir un contact direct avec le GIA pour «connaître l'enjeu réel de cette prise d'otages», ce qui suppose donc une opacité et des non-dits dans la version officielle livrée par Alger. «Je veux bien en prendre le risque», conclut le militaire.

Son troisième et dernier rapport, daté du 27 mai 1996, sera celui d'un cuisant constat d'échec – les moines sont officiellement morts, mais leurs dépouilles pas encore retrouvées.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/37977371/RONDOT-3

Une nouvelle fois, le général français ne cache pas son amertume à l'encontre des services secrets algériens. «La coopération entre la DST et la DCE, sur cette affaire, a été continue, même s'il a fallu, trop souvent, “relancer” nos interlocuteurs algériens», note-t-il. Puis: «En revanche, on ne peut dire que l'apport des services algériens a été déterminant, puisque nos sept moines ont perdu la vie [...] Les forces de l'ordre ont davantage subi que dominé la situation.»

«A vrai dire, continue le général Rondot, dans la guerre sanglante que connaît l'Algérie, le sort des sept moines ne semblait devoir être considéré, par les responsables militaires algériens, comme plus important que le sort d'autres, même si les relations franco-algériennes risquaient de souffrir d'une mauvaise gestion de l'affaire et plus encore d'une issue fatale.» Ce qui est alors précisément le cas...

Puis la sentence tombe. «Très (trop) longtemps – et pour des raisons d'ordre tactique – Djamel Zitouni et ses groupes ont bénéficié d'une relative tolérance de la part des services algérien: il aidait (sans doute de manière involontaire) à l'éclatement du GIA et favorisait des luttes entre les groupes armés.»

Selon Philippe Rondot, «pour tenter d'effacer l'échec, la DCE se doit d'éliminer, par tous les moyens, Djamel Zitouni et ses comparses. C'est notre devoir de l'encourager et peut-être même de le lui imposer». Djamel Zitouni est mort en juillet 1996, un mois après l'enterrement des moines de Tibéhirine, dans des circonstances qui n'ont jamais été vraiment tirées au clair.

http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/220910/moines-de-tibehirine-trois-
rapports-secrets-sement-le-trouble

Kosovo is American...

2010-08-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

Kosovo is American... it's part and parcel of a Global plan of thousands of Tribes with flags to ensure the success of the Full Spectrum Dominance of the USA and DOD/CIA/MOSSAD threesome of evils...

http://en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=3230

“Kosovo is Serbian”, is one of the key slogans in every political statement throughout Belgrade and Serbian Diaspora-meetings all-around the world. Orthodox monasteries all over the country seem to prove this point of view. “Kosovo is Albanian territory”, is the answer of the majority of the 1,9 million people living on this territory. Their proof seems to be based on the simple quantity of ethnic majority, which – by the way – does not necessarily have to do with statehood. “Kosovo is European”, is the statement of Brussels authority underlining the fact of Kosovo being part of the “Euro”-zone and under EU-supervision. Historically Serbian, ethnically Albanian, economically European periphery. Yes and no. However, geopolitically, Kosovo is American.

What about statehood? On the 22nd of July 2010, 10 out of 14 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague approved the Kosovarian declaration of independence as compatible with the standards of international law. Independence had been declared on the 17th of February 2008 by an “Assembly of Kosovo” in the parliament in Prishtina. The statement of the ICJ is restricted to the proclamation of the independence and does not refer to the legality of secession. This is a minor contradiction. A more serious contradiction lies in the fact that the Kosovarian assembly in the parliament at the time formally was (and is till today) not representing Kosovo in international belongings. The UN-Resolution 1244 of 1999 put in a “Special Representative of the Secretary General“ as the official representative of the province, which is defined as an integral part of Yugoslavia respectively Serbia. To put it strictly: The Kosovarian parliament was not entitled to represent Kosovo on the international arena. According to international law, no legal body had asked for independence. In the Press release of the ICJ one can read about legality of the „Assembly of Kosovo“ which declared independence: “On this point, the Court arrives at the conclusion that the authors of the declaration of independence . . . did not act as one of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government within the Constitutional Framework, but rather as persons who acted together in their capacity as representatives of the people of Kosovo outside the framework of the interim administration (..) The authors of the declaration of independence were not bound by the framework of powers and responsibilities established to govern (...)“. Therefore the ICJ “finds that the declaration of independence did not violate the Constitutional Framework”. In other words: because the body which declared independence did not consist of legal representatives of Kosovo, rules of international law were not broken. This is a major contradiction.

The ICJ with its verdict de facto followed the position of the USA and the majority of the EU-states. The Western alliance had already tried before the declaration of independence to implement a so-called “independence under surveillance” by the United Nations. The Ahtisaari Plan was wrecked by Russia (and South Africa). So Washington, Paris, London and Berlin implemented this plan without UN-mandate.

De jure, UN-resolution 1244 is still valid. Kosovo thereby is a part of Serbia and the UN-administration officially rules status-neutrally.

The appeal to the ICJ put the question of state independence on an international level. And it was Serbia asking for it. So Belgrade cannot simply ignore the verdict of the ICJ. To repeat the slogan “Kosovo is Serbian” will not help to overcome its defensive position. Not to speak of the Serbian refusal to take into account the Kosovarian reality. 90% of the population is not willing to accept Serbian national markings. This fact cannot be ignored.

Precedent case

As a precedent the ICJ-verdict on the declaration of Kosovarian independence is far reaching. First of all it underlines the shift from international law towards a human rights preponderating conflict management. In the last two decades Western conflict management more and more operates with human rights arguments instead of international law. The whole NATO-war on Yugoslavia, which broke international law when it started in March 1999, followed the human rights argument to rescue the Albanian population assuming a Serbian aggression. The code of the law of nations thereby was put aside, outruled. NATO war on Yugoslavia also put an end to the juridical framework of e.g. CSCE guaranteeing national sovereignty, territorial integrity and respecting national borders. Since then, instead of codified international law, human rights served as arguments for military aggressions and interventions (e.g. also in Afghanistan). The range of possible interpretations of human rights makes it easy to use them as manipulative arguments serving as instruments for one’s interest.

The acceptance of Kosovo’s independence against the will of Belgrade also is a precedent for many concrete cases. On the territories of Ex-Yugoslavia foremost. After the verdict of the ICJ, it will be harder to explain, why “Republika Srpska” should stay within the federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and why it should be impossible to split and unite with Serbia. Equally it will not be easy to explain to the Albanian minority in Makedonia, why it should be against international law to declare independence from Skopje or unite with Albania and/or Kosovo. Not to speak of the Serbs in the north of Kosovo who do not accept Prishinta’s authority. Why should they stay in a common state with Albanians? Their possible independence and/or unification with Serbia would follow the same ICJ’s logic.

ICJ’s declaration deepens the argument of national independence far beyond Ex-Yugoslavia. As a precedent it is important e.g. also for Tiraspol. The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) since 20 years asks for independence from Moldova and for international recognition. Only hours after the ICJ-verdict on Kosovo the PMR-authorities underlined their point of view. And in the Georgian periphery the precedent case of Kosovo already led to a reaction from the Russian side when Moscow recognised the declarations of independence of Abchasia and of South-Ossetia in August 2008.

Self-determination versus colonial governance

Kosovo’s declaration of independence, its recognition by – at the moment – 69 states (out of 192) and the ICJ-verdict cannot hide that Kosovo in reality is not independent at all. This was not intended by the USA anyhow. Self-determination is far out of reach.

In military respect this is most evident. After Russian troops withdrew in June 1999 and later in 2003, the US-led NATO settled down in every corner of the country. In Camp Bondsteel, named after an US-officer who was killed in Vietnam, the US-army installed its biggest military camp in Europe covering a territory of almost 4 square kilometres. But also the civil administration is not in the hands of the local government or parliament. The Ahtisaari Plan of March 2007 is the blueprint of the Kosovarian constitution. This constitution clearly notes the colonial status in article 143: “All authorities in the Republic of Kosovo shall abide by all of the Republic of Kosovo’s obligations under the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement dated 26 March 2007 (which is the Ahtisaari-Plan; HH). (...) . The provisions of the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement dated 26 March 2007 shall take precedence (priority, HH) over all other legal provisions in Kosovo. (...) If there are inconsistencies between the provisions of this Constitution, laws or other legal acts of the Republic of Kosovo and the provisions of the said Settlement, the latter shall prevail.”

“Independence under surveillance” was (and is) the key word of Western politics planned for Kosovo. The profiteers of this “independence under surveillance”, besides the organised criminals knowing to handle businesses between legal and illegal structures, are tens of thousands of colonisers. Under abbreviations like UNMIK, EULEX and thousands of NGO’s they fill their bank accounts with monthly wages 10 to 20 times higher than an average local employee. Kosovo is a huge field for experiments: military, political, juridical, administrative. Respecting the fact that executive and legislative power are not divided under the administration of UNMIK’s “Special Representative of the Secretary General” (SRSG) and EULEX’s “International Civilian Representative” (ICR), this shows how politics can be made without Western political proceedings. The SRSG- and the ICR-administrations stand above local laws and international standards.

Since Russia could not stop the implementation of the Ahtisaari Plan, there seems to be no alternative to the colonial status of the region. Belgrade’s proposal from 2007 to combine territorial integrity and substantial autonomy for Kosovo doesn’t even find enough support in Serbia any more. The most reasonable solution would be to divide Kosovo along the river Ibar. The Serbian population north of it would become what they de facto are: Serbian citizens. South of Ibar a second Albanian state has become reality since 1999. Parallel to this split an anti-colonial move could lead to self-determination within Albanian Kosovo.

Several obstacles stand against this vision: the government in Prishtina, which acts as an extended body of Washington and lately threatened with a military intervention in case of Serbs in the north would declare independence from Prishtina; the government in Belgrade, which follows Brussels’ guidelines; and the geopolitical and economic interests of the United States and the European Union. Vague promises from the side of Brussels to integrate Kosovo into the framework of the European Union are not to be taken seriously. Already today Brussels has all economic means in its hands and controls currency and privatisation process. A closer integration would confront Brussels with US-interests. So the status quo is practical for both sides, although it is realised by playing off Serbs and Albanians against each other.

Top 10 Most Expensive Military Planes (Photo Gallery)

2010-08-27T03:33:00.000-07:00

F/A-18 Hornet

http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/domestic-spying-rises-to-cold-war-levels/

F/A-18 Hornet: $94 million.

First entering service in the 1980s, the twin-engine fighter plane was the U.S.'s first strike fighter — an aircraft capable of attacking both ground and aerial targets. It has seen action in Operation Desert Storm and as the aircraft of the Navy's Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron. The F/A-18 is also used by Canada, Australia, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain and Switzerland.

The Photo Gallery starts here ....

Modern Top Of The Line MiG Design Bureau --

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921768,00.html

The MIG Design Bureau and plant. is the country's major producer of jet fighter aircraft. It developed the family of technologically advanced MiG aircraft, including the Soviet Union's first jet fighter. The MiG design bureau is part of the state-owned multifirm aerospace complex VPK MAPO (Military-Industrial Complex-Moscow Aircraft Production).

Read more ....

My Comment: Quite a difference from an F-22 assembly line plant.

The application of advanced avionics software in the F/A-22 is key to the Raptor's revolutionary performance advantage over any other fighter. In the air-to-air arena, the stealthy F/A-22 will be virtually unseen on radar, while its sophisticated array of sensors and advanced radar will allow it to reach out and strike adversary aircraft undetected from long range. The advanced software package will also enhance the Raptor's ability to deliver precision air-to-surface weapons on target, day or night, in any weather.

Editor: The link to an impressive collection of F-22 pictures is here.

Russia Orders £2000 Inflatable Copies Of Planes, Tanks And Missiles To Fool Enemies --

The Russian Defense Ministry has ordered elaborate inflatable copies of its most ubiquitous planes, tanks and missiles at a cost of almost £2,000 per model to fool its enemies in future conflicts.

The purchase has drawn sharp criticism from military analysts, who say the Kremlin should be spending its oil wealth on buying real military hardware rather than rubber copies.

"Inflatable military hardware is most effective in conflict situations when there is a need to confuse the enemy," the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper argued .....

Read more ....

Comment: While real military hardware is preferable, this type of deception cannot be underestimated. My own take, this is going to be highly effective, especially if countries like Iran are able to get their hands on such perfect (and deceptive) copies.....

لمن لا يعلم انجيل برنابا

2010-08-26T01:18:00.000-07:00

لمن لا يعلم انجيل برنابا

مقدمة:

ما هو انجيل برنابا؟ وكاتبه؟ وفي اي زمن كتب؟ وأسباب كتابته؟ والى من يتوجه؟ كل هذه الاسئلة وسواها تعطينا الاجوبة الصحيحة لأسئلة كثيرة تبعد الشك إذا كان اصحاب الشك مصرين على الذهاب بعيداً في شكوكهم ونياتهم السيئة في زرع الفتنة بين المسيحيين والمسلمين، عن قصد أو عن غير قصد منهم.

فالمسلمون على الصعيد الشعبي يقتنون انجيل برنابا في منازلهم لاعتقادهم بأنه الانجيل الصحيح الذي لا يعترف به المسيحيون، لأسباب كثيرة. وأن الفاتيكان يخفي في كواليس مكتبته الانجيل الحقيقي الذي يشير الى النبي محمد وسواها من الامور التي تعطي قيمة وتقدما للإسلام على المسيحية. وهذا ما سمعته من كثيرين منهم على الصعيد الشخصي بطبيعة عملي الاعلامي واختصاصي الديني واختلاطي بالكثيرين من الإخوة المسلمين.

لذا أحببت أن أعرّف عن هذا الانجيل وما يتعلق به معلومات علمية حتى تتوضح الصورة لدى من يقرأ هذا الموقع وينشر هذه المعلومات علنا نستفيد من نشر الحقيقة ونسير بدرب تؤدي الى الوفاق أكثر منه الى النفاق والتفرقة.

إنجيل برنابا

منذ بدء القرن العشرين وكثر الجدل حول "إنجيل برنابا" فقلة قليلة تدَّعى أن هذا هو الإنجيل الصحيح وأن الكنيسة قد أخفته عن أتباعها منذ القرون الأولى. فما هي قصة هذا الكتاب؟ ولماذا يتمسك البعض به؟ وهل هناك أدلة على أنه كتاب مزيف؟ هذا ما سوف نناقشه في هذه المقالة وهدفنا هو الوصول إلى الحقيقة. أولاً: مقدمة تارخية: يوجد إنجيل برنابا الآن في مخطوطة وحيدة مكتوبة باللغة الإيطالية، محفوظة في المكتبة القومية بالنمسا وهى تعود للقرن السادس عشر كما أكد الدارسون، وذلك من خلال نوع الورق المستخدم، فهو مصنوع من ألياف قطنية، وعليه علامة مائية على هيئة مرسلة سفينة، وهو نوع الورق الذي كان يُستخدم في إيطاليا في ذلك الوقت، وأول ذكر لهذه المخطوطة كان في بداية القرن الثامن عشر. وهناك مخطوطة أسبانية مفقودة، تحدث عنها جورج سال في بداية القرن الثامن عشر، وفيها يذكر قصة اكتشاف هذا الإنجيل ويقول إن راهب يُدعى مارينو كان في زيارة بابا روما، وبينما هما معاً في المكتبة نام البابا، وبينما يبحث مارينو في المكتبة وجد إنجيل برنابا، فأخفاه أي سرقه، وعندما قرأه اعتنق الإسلام ونشر هذا الكتاب وبالطبع هذه القصة يشوبها كثير من الكذب. ولم يُعرف إنجيل برنابا معرفة حقيقية حتى قام لوندال ولورا راج بترجمته من الإيطالية إلى الإنجليزية سنة 1970م، وقد قاما بكتابة مقدمة أثبتا فيها أن هذا الكتاب مزيف ويعود للقرن الرابع عشر ولكن للأسف كل الترجمات التي أخذت عنهما حذفت هذه المقدمة النقدية. في سنة 1908 ترجم د. خليل سعادة هذا الإنجيل إلى اللغة العربية، ونشره الشيخ محمد رشيد رضا، أحد تلاميذ الشيخ محمد عبده، ومؤسس مجلة المنار. والطبعة العربية الموجودة حالياً بها مقدمة د. سعادة، ومقدمة كتبها الشيخ محمد رشيد رضا. وهناك ترجمة عربية أخرى قام بها د. أحمد طاهر وصادرة عن دار المعارف بمصر تحت عنوان "الأناجيل دراسة مقارنة". ثانياً: إنجيل برنابا والقديس إيريناوس: ذكر جورج سال في مقدمة ترجمته للقرآن عندما تحدث عن قصة اكتشاف إنجيل برنابا أن الراهب مارينو عثر على رسائل للقديس إيريناوس وفي أحداهن يندد بالرسول بولس، وأنه أسند تنديده هذا إلى إنجيل برنابا. وبالطبع هذا القول كاذب، ومحاولة فاشلة لإثبات أن لهذا الكتاب وجود في القرن الثاني. وهناك أدلة على ذلك: القديس إيريناوس عاش في القرن الثاني الميلادي، واستمع في شبابه إلى عظات القديس بوليكارب أسقف سميرنا وتلميذ الرسل يوحنا، ذهب إلى فرنسا (الفال) وسيم كاهناً على كنيسة ليون، ثم صار أسقفاً سنة 177م. وقد كرس حياته لدحض البدع وخاصة الغنوسية وكتب "ضد الهرطقات، برهان التعليم الرسولي.. وغيرها" وبدراسة هذه الكتب نجد أنه اقتبس فيها من الأناجيل الأربعة ورسائل القديس بولس، منادياً بنفس التعاليم، ولم يندد بالرسول بولس، وليس هناك أي ذكر لإنجيل برنابا، بل إن ما جاء بكتبه وعظاته يتعارض مع ما جاء في إنجيل برنابا، الذي ينكر أسس الإيمان المسيحي المعروفة. ثالثاً: من هو كاتب إنجيل برنابا؟ يجمع مؤيدو إنجيل برنابا على أن كاتبه هو برنابا المذكور في الكتاب المقدس (سفر أعمال الرسل، رسالة غلاطية 1:2- 9، رسالة كولوسي 10:4، الرسالة الأولى للكورنثوس6:9). ومثال لما يقولونه ما كتبه الشيخ أبو زهرة: "إن برنابا كان مع الدعاة الأولين الذين عملوا في الدعوة عملاً لا يقل عن عمل بولس، فلابد أن تكون له رسالة أو إنجيل" (محاضرات في النصرانية، ص 70).

وهذا الادعاء غير صحيح لما يلى :

1- نعم لقد كان برنابا من الدعاة الولين، ولكن ليس من المحتم أن كل واحد من تلاميذ المسيح ورسله وأتباعه في بدء الدعوة، أن يكتب رسالة أو إنجيل، فقد اختار الله بعضهم وأوحى إليهم بالروح القدس وكتبوا "لأنه لم تأت نبوة قط بمشيئة إنسان بل تكلم أناس الله القديسون مسوقين من الروح القدس" (2بط21:1).

2- إن قائمة أسماء التلاميذ والمذكورة في (مت2:10- 4، لو13:6- 16، مر16:3- 18، أع13:1) لا يوجد بها اسم برنابا أي أنه لم يكن واحد من الاثنى عشر، وبرنابا المذكور في الكتاب المقدس لم يكن اسمه برنابا بل يوسف، والذي دعاه بهذا الاسم هم التلاميذ وذلك بعد صعود المسيح، "ويوسف الذي دُعى من الرسل برنابا الذب يُترجم ابن الوعظ وهو لاوى قبرصى الجنس" (اع36:4).

3- إن كاتب إنجيل برنابا يسجل في مقدمته وفي الاصحاح الأخير إنكاره للتعاليم التي نادى بها التلاميذ وبولس والدعاة الأولين مثل: (أن يسوع المسيح هو ابن الله، موت وقيامة المسيح، عدم ضرورة الختان للخلاص.. وغيرها). وهذا يوضح أنه يمكن أن يكون كاتبه هو برنابا، وذلك للأسباب التالية: أ- عندما آمن شاول (بولس) بالمسيح "حاول أن يلتصق بالتلاميذ وكان الجميع يخافونه غير مصدقين أنه تلميذ، فأخذه برنابا وأحضره إلى الرسل وحدثهم كيف أبصر الرب في الطريق وأنه كلمة وكيف جاهر في دمشق باسم يسوع، كان معهم يدخل ويخرج في أورشليم ويجاهر باسم الرب يسوع" (أع26:9- 8)، وكان "شاول مع التلاميذ الذين في دمشق أياماً، وللوقت جعل يكرز في المجامع بالمسيح أنه هذا هو ابن الله" (أع19:9- 20) وهنا نرى برنابا يقدم بولس للتلاميذ، ويكرزان معاً بأن يسوع هو الله. بينما كاتب إنجيل برنابا يهاجم هذا التعليم بشدة. ب- عندما نمت الكنيسة في أنطاكية قرر الرسل أن يرسلوا برنابا إلى أنطاكية ليعلَّم ويشجع المؤمنين هناك. وعندما ذهب برنابا إلى هناك ورأى اتساع العمل "خرج برنابا إلى طرسوس ليطلب شاول، ولما وجده جاء به إلى أنطاكية، فحدث أنهما اجتمعا في الكنيسة سنة كاملة وعلَّما جمعاً غفيراً، ودُعى التلاميذ مسيحيين في أنطاكية أولاً" (أع25:11- 26)، وكرزا معاً بأن يسوع هو ابن الله وأن الله أقامه من الموت (أع33:13- 35). وهذا يخالف إنجيل برنابا الذي ينكر أن المسيح هو ابن الله، وينكر موته وقيامته. 4- لقد استغل مؤيدو إنجيل برنابا بعض النصوص الكتابية للبرهنة على أن كاتبه هو برنابا المذكور في أسفار العهد الجديد، وبدراسة هذا النصوص نرى سوء النية في التفسير... أ- مشكلة الختان: "وانحدر قوم من اليهودية وجعلوا يعلَّمون الإخوة إن لم تختتنوا حسب عادة موسى لا يمكنكم أن تخلصوا، فلما حصل لبولس وبرنابا منازعة ومباحثة ليست بقليلة معهم رتبوا أن يصعد بولس وبرنابا وأنا آخرون منهم إلى الرسل والمشايخ في أورشليم من أجل هذه المسئلة" (أع1:15- 2) وادَّعوا أنه قد حدث خلاف عقيدى بين بولس وبرنابا بسبب الختان، حيث أن الخلاف هنا ليس بين بولس وبرنابا في الإنجيل المزيف الذي يذكر أن الكلب أفضل من رجل غير مختون (برنابا2:22)، وأن غير المختون محروم من دخول الفردوس (برنابا16:23). ب- الخلاف بين بولس وبرنابا بسبب مرقس والمذكور في سفر (اعمال الرسل36:15- 41)، والخلاف هنا ليس بسبب التعاليم أو العقيدة، ولكنه حول مرافقة مرقس لهما في الرحلة التبشيري الثانية. إذن لم يكن هناك خلافات حول العقيدة والتعاليم بين بولس وبرنابا، والوحد في ارساليتها ورسالتهما واضحة جداً في سفر أعمال الرسل (أع36:4، 26:9 و27، 22:11- 25، أع24:12، أع1:13- 5.. الخ).

ومن هنا نستنتج أن إنجيل برنابا لم يُكتب بواسطة برنابا، بل بواسطة شخص آخر ارتكب أعظم خطأ باختياره برنابا- شريك الرسول بولس- ليكون كاتب هذا الكتاب.

* من هو كاتب إنجيل برنابا: هناك رأيان:

الرأي الأول: هو شخص يهودي أسباني أُجبر على اعتناق المسيحية في القرن السادس عشر أثناء محاكم التفتيش عندما كان الآب فيلبس بيير دى مونتلو هو المسئول عن محاكم التفتيش، وهو الذي أصبح فيما بعد البابا سكستيوس الخامس الذي جاء اسمه في مقدمة المخطوطة الأسبانية. وقد أراد هذا الشخص (الراهب مارينو) الانتقام من هذا البابا باختراع قصة وجود إنجيل برنابا في مكتبته، وذلك بعد اعتناقه الإسلام، ولسوء حظ كاتب إنجيل برنابا أن إنجيله لم يُكتشف في وقت الباب أسكستيوس الخامس، ولكنه نُقل إلى أمستردام وقد تُرك في مكتبة المؤرخ جوريجور بولي إلى فيينا.

الرأى الثاني: هو شخص مسلم، بعد سقوط الأندلس، ظهرت كثير من الكتب المزيفة وخاصة في مدينة غرناطة وإنجيل برنابا واحد من هذه الكتب المزيفة، الذي ينسج على منوال الأناجيل مع إدخال بعض العقائد والتعاليم الإسلامية بغرض نشرها في المجتمع المسيحي الأسباني، ومحاولة لنقص أساسيات الإيمان المسيحي بالهجوم المستتر وغير الواضح. رابعاً: الأدلة على أن إنجيل برنابا كتاب مزيف كُتب في العصور الوسطى: يرى الدارسون أن هناك أدلة خارجية، وأخرى داخلية: 1- الأدلة الخارجية: أ- الأدلة الخارجية من خلال الفكر المسيحي: - لا يوجد إنجيل برنابا في أى مخطوطة للعهد الجديد. - لا يوجد إنجيل برنابا في أي قائمة لأسماء أسفار الكتاب المقدس. - لم يقتبس منه ولا واحد من آباء الكنيسة في القرون الأولى. - لم يُذكر في قرارات المجامع سواء ككتاب قانونى مسموح بقرأته أو غير قانوني ممنوع قرأته. ب- الأدلة الخارجية من خلاف الفكر الإسلامي: - لم يأت ذكره لا في القرآن ولا في كتب الأحاديث.

لم يذكره المؤرخون القدامى مثل المسعودى واليعقوبي، والبيرونى... وغيرهم. - لم يذكره المفسرون مثل الطبرى، وابن كثير، والقرطبى، والرازى... وغيرهم. - لم يذكره المجادلون والمهاجمون مثل ابن حزم، والخزرجى، والشهرستانى... وغيرهم. -

لم يذكره فهارس الكتب مثل