…from beneath the crooked bough, witness 230 years of brutal tyranny by the al Khalifas come to an end

BCHR Open Letter to Head of the Bahraini Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) re statement to Reuters
09 Aug 2011
Open Letter:

Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni
Commission Chair, Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry

Dear Sir,

Subject: Your interview with Reuters on 5 August 2011

Your appointment to the independent commission tasked with investigating recent human right abuses in Bahrain was encouraging news for all those involved in the field of human rights. It is, therefore, with deep disappointment and regret that we at the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) read your recent comments. The comments suggest that, without completing anywhere near a full investigation, you are willing to espouse the view of the political establishment whilst paying lip-service to the concept of a fair and independent enquiry.

This is all the more surprising as your hasty comments contradict a vast range of published reports by well respected human rights groups who have spent time and resources investigating the situation in Bahrain. Indeed, your comments that “there was never a policy of excessive use of force” in Bahrain contrasts grimly with the news, published just days before, of an armed raid on the offices of Médecins Sans Frontières by the Bahraini authorities. Claims of torture by detainees are so widespread that it is hard to believe that they were carried out by a few bad eggs within the security forces.

Countless reports catalogue a range of human rights abuses which targeted specific segments of society, most notably medical workers. The well respected human rights group, Physicians for Human Rights, published a thorough report which detailed the systematic persecution of medical workers. Such organised, wide scale discrimination strongly indicates the collusion of high ranking government officials and renders your initial judgment that such abuses were “a case of people at the lower level acting, and there not being an effective chain of communication, control” premature and, potentially, extremely damaging to the credibility of the commission.

Even if we were to accept the extremely unlikely situation that the Minister of Interior (as currently suggested by you) was unaware of the actions of lower level government officials, Bahrain is still subject to the obligations outlined in the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which requires it, in Article 16, to prevent acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. Bahrain has clearly failed to maintain its obligations under this Convention.

Your current views seem to be based on a range of false assumptions. Most notably, that “it’s totally untrue that people are afraid of coming forward”. These comments are surprising, as those interviewed by the commission thus far are not representative of the vast range of people affected by the governmental crackdown on protestors. We are aware of a number of individuals who, initially subjected to torture, have since been subjected to further torture as punishment (and as a warning to others) for speaking out about the treatment they received. Whilst we, and a number of other organisations, are strongly encouraging individuals to come forward and speak to the commission about their treatment, the off-hand comments of the commission are insulting to those who have suffered, and continue to suffer, under the policies of the current regime and discourage participation in the commission’s investigation.

These concerns lead us to seriously question the legitimacy of this commission and its ultimate findings. You appear to have accepted without question the assertions of the government as to the number of political prisoners, the treatment they received and the governments “willingness” to rectify the mistakes of “rogue” individuals within the government framework. Because the Ministry of the Interior is ‘extraordinarily willing’ to listen to the commission, it does not follow that there was not a systematic policy of violence. This argument is a non-sequitur and questionable at best.

This defies the very objective of the commission; to reach an independent and impartial conclusion as to the human rights abuses committed in Bahrain and the cause of such abuses. Recent news regarding the release of prisoners, whilst encouraging, should in no way subtract from the commission’s stated goal.

Nabeel Rajab
President
Bahrain center for Human Rights
09 Aug 2011
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Reconciliation in Bahrain still faces obstacles
National Editorial – Aug 9, 2011

Six months after demonstrations in the Pearl Roundabout degenerated into violence, Bahrain is still troubled by regular street protests. The crackdown on the opposition and subsequent reconciliation efforts have so far failed to restore complete calm, much less heal the deep political divisions.

There have been efforts. In the past week, an international commission investigating the violence has made some progress. Two former MPs from the opposition Al Wefaq party were set free on Sunday, among 41 prisoners who reportedly have been released.

In the worst of the violence, there was wrongdoing on both sides. But there will be no reconciliation possible unless security forces are held to account. The commission, appointed by King Hamad Al Khalifa, has indicated its readiness to investigate regime loyalists, visiting Al Gareen prison to interview prisoners from the opposition and arresting police officers on charges of torturing detainees. This investigation needs to show its evenhandedness if it is to resolve the bloodshed.

But even that is just a starting point. There needs to be a distinction between investigating the crimes of the recent protests and the fundamental process of reform that was at issue in the first place. It remains clear that only a political solution can provide for Bahrain’s future.

For decades, Bahrainis have been negotiating issues including fairness in housing and land allotments, political prisoners, representation in parliament and the constitution. The February protests began as a peaceful, cross-sectarian movement to address these issues. The subsequent violence, encouraged radical elements on both sides and aggravation of the Shiite-Sunni split has only made a resolution more difficult. …source

Panic on the Streets of London
Published on Tuesday, August 9, 2011 by Penny Red
by Laurie Penny

I’m huddled in the front room with some shell-shocked friends, watching my city burn. The BBC is interchanging footage of blazing cars and running street battles in Hackney, of police horses lining up in Lewisham, of roiling infernos that were once shops and houses in Croydon and in Peckham. Last night, Enfield, Walthamstow, Brixton and Wood Green were looted; there have been hundreds of arrests and dozens of serious injuries, and it will be a miracle if nobody dies tonight. This is the third consecutive night of rioting in London, and the disorder has now spread to Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham. Politicians and police officers who only hours ago were making stony-faced statements about criminality are now simply begging the young people of Britain’s inner cities to go home. Britain is a tinderbox, and on Friday, somebody lit a match. How the hell did this happen? And what are we going to do now?

Hole in the Wall

In the scramble to comprehend the riots, every single commentator has opened with a ritual condemnation of the violence, as if it were in any doubt that arson, muggings and lootings are ugly occurrences. That much should be obvious to anyone who is watching Croydon burn down on the BBC right now. David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, called the disorder ‘mindless, mindless’. Nick Clegg denounced it as ‘needless, opportunistic theft and violence’. Speaking from his Tuscan holiday villa, Prime Minister David Cameron – who has finally decided to return home to take charge – declared simply that the social unrest searing through the poorest boroughs in the country was “utterly unacceptable.” The violence on the streets is being dismissed as ‘pure criminality,’ as the work of a ‘violent minority’, as ‘opportunism.’ This is madly insufficient. It is no way to talk about viral civil unrest. Angry young people with nothing to do and little to lose are turning on their own communities, and they cannot be stopped, and they know it. Tonight, in one of the greatest cities in the world, society is ripping itself apart.

Violence is rarely mindless. The politics of a burning building, a smashed-in shop or a young man shot by police may be obscured even to those who lit the rags or fired the gun, but the politics are there. Unquestionably there is far, far more to these riots than the death of Mark Duggan, whose shooting sparked off the unrest on Saturday, when two police cars were set alight after a five-hour vigil at Tottenham police station. A peaceful protest over the death of a man at police hands, in a community where locals have been given every reason to mistrust the forces of law and order, is one sort of political statement. Raiding shops for technology and trainers that cost ten times as much as the benefits you’re no longer entitled to is another. A co-ordinated, viral wave of civil unrest across the poorest boroughs of Britain, with young people coming from across the capital and the country to battle the police, is another. …more

Professor McCormack rebuts misrepresentation & inaccuracies in official statements in the Bahrain media re Irish delegation.

Professor Damian McCormack, head of the recent Irish humanitarian delegation to Bahrain rebuts the misrepresentation and inaccuracies contained in recent official statements and commentary in the Bahrain media re the visit of the delegation. He also reiterates the delegation’s concern at ongoing risk of torture and ill treatment of medics in custody.

Full Text of Press Release
PRESS RELEASE

On 13 July 2011 an Irish humanitarian delegation travelled to Bahrain to offer solidarity to doctors, nurses and other health professionals currently held in prison or facing charges in Bahrain. The delegation consisted of myself Professor Damian Mc Cormack, Professor Eoin O’Brien, Ms Marion Hakin MEP, Ms Averil Power TD (member of the Irish Parliament) and Front Line representatives Deputy Director Andrew Anderson and Khalid Ibrahim.

In the course of the mission we heard repeated testimonies of torture and ill treatment, including the threat of sexual assault. One testimony stated:

“I was taken to a room blindfolded and handcuffed with my hands behind my back. After hours of standing against a wall I was verbally insulted and then placed in solitary confinement for 10 days in a small dirty cell, during which time I was tortured, sexually molested by both male and female interrogators and beaten with a hose on the back and neck. I was then moved to a gaol where I could hear other prisoners being tortured and I was interrogated repeatedly. I was filmed signing many papers the content of which no longer mattered to me, but among which was a confession that I had stolen drugs from the Hospital and that I had incited disturbance.”

This is typical of the experiences recounted to us and it should be added that all the statements given were clear, consistent and credible and on the basis of these interviews the delegation would like to reiterate our call for the release of the doctors nurses and other health professionals still in detention on humanitarian grounds pending the outcome of the Independent Commission of Inquiry and any resumption of cases in the civil courts. …more

Bahrain protests: ‘The repression is getting worse’
Ian Black Sitra – UK Guardian – August 8 2011

Months after its brief exposure to the Arab spring, Bahrain’s cat-and-mouse routine of protest and repression continues

Masked youths in the village of Daih, Bahrain, protest against the government from behind makeshift barriers. Photograph: Hasan Jamali/AP

Hassan Ali Salman is a stocky, fit-looking young man. But he flailed in vain as the police officers grabbed him, one forcing his T-shirt roughly up over his head as three or four others laid in with their wooden batons, dragging and pushing him to a line of waiting Land Cruisers and more helmeted cops.

Behind him, on a bare breezeblock wall, crudely drawn nooses encircle the names Hamad and Khalifa – in reference to the king of Bahrain and his uncle the prime minister – alongside graffiti demanding their execution and the overthrow of the regime.

The recent scene in Sitra, a short drive from central Manama, the capital, provided an ugly glimpse into the cat-and-mouse routine of protests and repression in this Gulf island state. Filmed secretly, posted on YouTube and distributed on Twitter, it exposes what Bahrain’s western-backed government prefers foreigners not to see.

In the nearby cemetery lies the grave of Zainab al-Juma, a disabled woman who died in July after inhaling tear gas from a police grenade. The black flag that marks her “martyrdom” hangs limp in the hot, still air. Another local victim was Ahmed Farhan, shot in March, his brains spilling out of his shattered head live on camera as horrified screams sounded all around.

Bahrain is far quieter now than during its brief exposure to the winds of the Arab spring in February and March, but unrest continues. Every night cries of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) echo through the villages of a Shia underclass that has chafed under the Sunni Al Khalifa dynasty since the country’s independence from Britain in 1971.

“We go up on to the roofs and shout and then try to march to the entrance of our village,” said Abu Ali, a thirtysomething accountant and former prisoner from Karzakan who supports al-Wifaq, the Islamist movement demanding democracy and equal rights for all. “The repression is getting worse.”

Haydar, from nearby Diraz, described a savage beating, curses and threats of rape as he was forced to kiss the boots of the police officers who tormented him on 26 June. “They pulled my shirt over my head and every hundred metres they hit me in the face and kicked me,” he said. …more

Bahrain releases more than 140 detainees
By the CNN Wire Staff – August 8, 2011

(CNN) — Bahraini authorities have released more than 140 detainees, including two ranking former opposition members of Parliament and a prominent opposition lawyer, government officials said.

The two former MP’s are members of the largest Shiite opposition group, Al-Wefaq, which resigned from Parliament in February over the killing of pro-reform protesters, most of whom were Shiites.

Former Al Wefaq MPs Matar Matar and Jawad Fairuz were “tortured” while in the custody of Bahraini national security forces, Matar said. Following an interrogation with a military prosecutor, Matar said he, Fairuz and a few others were taken to what he believes was a military site. They were brought to an open area outside and told to raise their hands. Approximately five men began to beat them with sticks for about 30 minutes, Matar said.

The beating took place after Matar said he had completed answering questions from a military investigator. The security forces “didn’t want information.” They wanted to “send a message that we have a green light,” to do whatever they want, Matar said.

Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said he believes — based on what people previously in detention have told him — about 98 percent of people in custody had suffered physically abuse, including beatings, elect shocks and sexual assaults. “No one was immune… very rarely will you find someone who was not abused,” Rajab said. There have other been credible allegations of torture by Bahraini security forces from human rights groups, including Physicians for Human Rights. …more

‘Rage Revolution’ slams police, military in Tahrir
Posted on August 7, 2011 by mat

The military police and riot police reportedly used force to break up a Ramadan iftar in Tahrir on Friday.
The ‘Rage Revolution’ page on the social networking site Facebook said that it was the third time in a week that the military police had used “excessive force and violence against peaceful demonstrators”.
It considered what happened on Friday after a collective iftar “for no clear reason” to be a blatant and scandalous aggression on freedoms”.

Activists on the page called on all “revolutionaries, political powers and the masses to take part in demonstrations next Friday to protest the continuous aggression”, after they had decided earlier to suspend their protests in the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

On Friday, activists and families were taking part in the iftar, which breaks the daytime fast during Ramadan.
“We were about 150 people, gathered near Omar Makram Mosque, when military police with batons dispersed us and started hitting us,” one of the participants, Ahmed Fares, told AFP.

“After the iftar, some people started calling for the hanging of [ousted president Hosni] Mubarak. The police charged us with batons, forcing us to run away down into the Metro station,” said activist Ahmed Naim. …source

Read more about Almahfoodh HERE

…source

New refugees face Tasers, tear gas
Saturday, August 6, 2011
By Jay Fletcher
Australian federal police drill on Christmas Island.

Federal riot police have the go-ahead to use Tasers, tear gas, batons, capsicum spray and handcuffs to force refugees onto a flight to Malaysia from Christmas Island. Immigration officials say they will film the ordeal to put online as a “potent message” to other refugees.

The first asylum seekers to undergo this ordeal arrived in Australian waters less than a week after the “Malaysia solution” came into effect. A boat carrying 55 Afghan, Iranian and Iraqi refugees was intercepted near Scott Reef on July 31.

More than one third of the asylum seekers on the boat are children.

A “cattle run” has been built to move the refugees into the island’s Phosphate Hill detention compound, the Daily Telegraph said.

News Limited published footage from the island of police in riot gear practising military drills and shouting “get back”.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave them authority to “use appropriate force” if the refugees try to resist their deportation.

She said the federal police were there to “do what was necessary” and it was “not a question of volunteering”.

“It means taking appropriate steps to get people to board the plane and disembark the plane at the other end,” she said on August 1.

The inclusion of Tasers in the “appropriate force” measures has been heavily criticised by human rights and legal groups.

Tasers have already led to several deaths in Australia. As well, the beanbag bullets police fired at refugees during protests in March may have fractured one refugee’s leg.

However, these “less lethal” weapons continue to be used with impunity.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance president, Greg Barns, said Gillard had authorised the use of dangerous and harmful weapons against traumatised people.

He told ABC Online: “These are vulnerable people who, in many, cases, have been brutalised by police in their own country.

“This is heavy-handed, jackbooted and unnecessary … [Gillard] is playing politics with human life.”

The Christmas Island Shire president Gordan Thompson expressed similar fears: “It’s going to be very disturbing for the people involved, both the asylum seekers and the people charged with removing them.”

When the new arrivals were told of the government’s plans, they began a hunger strike on August 5.

Michelle Dimasi, founder of advocay group Asylum Seekers Christmas Island, said a man from among the new arrivals phoned her. He said: “We need help … The women and children are in a bad way.”

But the immigration department denied it. A spokesperson said: “Just because someone misses a meal or two does not mean they are on voluntary starvation.”

Immigration minister Chris Bowen has repeatedly said the government would not back away from its “tough message”.

He told Sky News on August 1 there was now “no question, that if you take that boat journey to Australia we’re going to take you back to Malaysia”.

Immigration spokesperson Sandi Logan later added: “We will be documenting [the forced deportations] so pictures get out far and wide.”

Immigration and customs officials will film the nightmare trial for the refugees from their moment of arrival to the distressing moment they are forced on planes bound for Malaysia.

The footage will likely be added to the federal government’s YouTube channel “No to people smuggling” — a government fear campaign against refugees trying to seek asylum in Australia.

The channel has operated since May 2010. It broadcasts short videos showing images of the inhumane conditions in Australia’s detention centres, the Christmas Island shipwreck in December and a graphic portrayal of a man drowning at sea.

A new video on the “refugees swap”, translated into eight languages, was uploaded on June 25.

It’s starkly similar to the Howard government’s scare tactics in 2000, when then-immigration minister Philip Ruddock designed similar videos — with sharks, crocodiles and spiders — to scare off asylum seekers from attempting to reach Australia.

At the time, Ruddock said: “Now when you see them you might think that they are a little sensational. You may think that they’re horrific.” But he said the videos were based on “fact” and were necessary to keep refugees away from Australia.

The Labor government has taken this cynical stance to a new level, taking drastic measures to deter people seeking asylum in Australia but ignoring the refugee crisis worldwide.

The immigration department says it wants to reduce the time it takes to deport refugees to within 72 hours of their arrival in Australia. This stands in stark contrast to the 12 months or longer some refugees spend in detention while their claims are processed.

Refugee and human rights groups around the country have damned the refugee swap with Malaysia, labelling it a criminal human-trafficking deal.

Advocacy group Asylum Seekers Christmas Island said on August 4 the deal was “ethically abhorrent, legally questionable and practically unsustainable”.

“Australia can no longer call itself a compassionate, humanitarian country,” the group said.

Protests have been planned by refugees groups around the country to oppose mandatory detention and the “Malaysia solution”.

The Refugee Action Coalition Sydney said on July 26: “Australia should do everything it can to find new homes for refugees currently suffering in Malaysia. But this must not be at the cost of the wholesale undermining of Australia’s basic humanitarian obligation to welcome refugees in this country.” …source

Front Line delegate: A Gap between the Terrorism Law and its application on the “Security Cases” in Bahrain
02 October 2010 – Manama- Amani Almaskati – AlWasat News

The Head of the European Union office of Front Line, Mr. Vincent Forest, has stressed that there is a gap between the content of the law to protect society from terrorism acts in Bahrain and its application to detainees due to the security issues in Bahrain. Particularly in regards to not allowing them to meet with lawyers as provided for by law and international conventions which were adopted by the Kingdom of Bahrain, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was issued in Bahrain as law No. (56) for the year 2006.

This was during an interview conducted by the «Alwasat Newspaper» with Forest, who visited Bahrain to meet with Bahraini officials and diplomats in regards to those detained in relations to security issues.

He (Mr. Forest) stated that the targeting of human rights defenders in any country, would restrict the whole of society, and that countries that seek to put themselves in an advanced stage in the field of human rights, must realize that they must not differentiate between legislation and reality and have to work on reducing this gap.

Following is the text of the interview with Mr. Forest:

What is the Purpose of your visit to Bahrain?

– I am an envoy from «Front Line» on a mission for a period of three days to meet a number of senior officials, diplomats and human rights defenders in Bahrain, to discuss the matter of those detained in relations to security issues, and the dissolving of the board of the Bahrain Society for Human Rights as well as the prevention of a number of activists from traveling.

The basic idea of these meetings is to obtain information and answers to our questions by local officials on these issues, especially regarding the issue of the blogger Ali Abdulemam, as well as to express our concern and fears on these issues on the diplomatic level, and in this context, I met with officials in the French , American, German and British embassies. It is a part of our strategy at «Front Line» to exert pressure if anything happens to human rights defenders in any country.

Who are the officials you have met with?

– I met with officials in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Justice, Islamic Affairs and Social Development. This came after a formal request we made a week before the date of the meetings through the embassies in Belgium and Britain.
I am happy with the consent of the official authorities to these meetings, because it enabled us to raise our concern and our questions on subjects related to these cases.

What was the officials response to the questions you raised?

– In respect to those detained in relations to security issues, I was informed by officials from the Ministry of the Interior that the investigation is still ongoing, and when I asked about the charges brought against them I was assured that the picture was still incomplete, and they are still gathering information in order to obtain a complete picture in regards to the charges.

But we have noticed in «Front Line» that there is a gap between the contents of the anti-terrorism law in Bahrain, which has been applied to those detained in security issues, and what is applied in practice. For example, in the case of Abdulemam, it has been more than a month since his detention and interrogation without allowing him to meet with his lawyer, who asked to meet him seven times without getting any response. The same applies to other detainees, although the law gives the detainees the right to meet with their lawyers after two weeks of their detention.

This is a clear violation of the law, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was issued in Bahrain as law No. (56) for the year 2006, and this is a negative thing that has us concerned about the mechanism used in dealing with detainees, especially in light of the silence that has been ongoing through the investigation of their cases. ..more at BCHR

Open Letter to:Head of the Bahraini Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI)
August 7th, 2011 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

Open Letter:

Mr. Cherif Bassiouni

Head of the Bahraini Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI)

Dear Sir,

Subject: Questions Relating to Your Interview with Reuters on 05/08/2011

WE, at the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), along with many people in Bahrain, had been very skeptical upon receiving news that a commission of inquiry, appointed by the King of Bahrain, had been established. Especially, since we were expecting one to be set up by the High Commission for Human Rights at the United Nations. This was until we heard the names of the individuals who were charged with the commission, for they were renowned for their work in international justice and human rights. We then became hopeful, that this may present itself as an opportunity for the victims of the latest human rights violations, to have their cases heard, documented and reported by a commission run by individuals whose reputation precedes them.

We therefore welcomed the commission from the start (HERE), and encouraged people to cooperate by testifying to your investigators, although many had been skeptical and frightened from coming forward.

Consequently, you cannot imagine our disappointment upon reading the content of your interview with Reuters (HERE). There are several points we wished to bring to your attention:

1. You stated in your interview that: “It’s totally untrue that people are afraid of coming forward. It’s not the case that they don’t have anxieties, but that’s because they’ve had bad experiences and they don’t know where this is going.” WE, at the BYSHR work directly with victims, and have been active the entire period following the February unrest in documenting cases of torture, abuse and mistreatment. We do not hesitate in stating that from our deliberations with victims, many, if not most, have told us that they are genuinely afraid of the consequences of their testifying once your esteemed Commission has left. Yet they came forward, despite that fear, in hope that this may help the situation and document the mass violations that took place. This is also despite the fact that we could not provide any real guarantees for their safety other than, as you mentioned, “the kings promise” which for many victims is no protection.

2. You stated in your interview: “What I have found so far is the extraordinary willingness of the minister to listen to anything we bring to his attention and act on it, whether it’s suspension of police officers, arrest of police officers, or release of detainees,”.

“It leads me to believe that on his part there was never a policy of excessive use of force or torture…that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I think it was a case of people at the lower level acting, and there not being an effective chain of communication, control.”

There are two point worth mentioning relating to this point. Firstly, we at the BYSHR believe that it is too early for a conclusion like that to be made given that the inquiry is still ongoing, and do not believe that cooperation on the part of the Minister exonerates him from responsibility. There are credible reports from international human rights organizations for many years now stating that torture and other violations in Bahrain are systematic. That you have concluded that it is not so, just 3 weeks into the investigation and before the commission concludes its work is unprofessional and puts the entire Commissions proceedings into question. Furthermore, it hurts the credibility of the Commission, as many victims now are refusing to testify to the commission when we refer them. …more

Bahrain protests to Qatar over al-Jazeera film

Doha-based news channel under fire over documentary showing how Facebook was used to target pro-democracy activists.

Bahraini papers accused the film, which was shown on al-Jazeera English, not its sister Arabic channel, of ‘lies and slander’. Photograph: Martin Godwin

Bahrain has protested to its neighbour Qatar about a film produced by al-Jazeera, the Doha-based satellite TV channel, which highlights continuing anti-government protests by Bahraini Shias. Bahraini papers attacked “lies and slanders” in the 50-minute documentary, which shows how Facebook was used to target pro-democracy activists – “unmasking Shia traitors” – and catalogues human rights abuses by the regime.

The film was shown on al-Jazeera English, not its sister Arabic channel, which has been attacked for pulling its punches in coverage of the unrest in Bahrain compared with its sympathetic approach to revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria.

Khamis al-Rumaihi, a pro-government Sunni MP, alleged a “hidden agenda” and accused al-Jazeera, owned by the emir of Qatar, of trying to foment unrest and undo the benefits of Bahrain’s national dialogue. Qatar, like the other members of the Gulf Co-operation Council, supported the Saudi-led Peninsular Shield military intervention in March, but unlike Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates did not send any troops.

Matar Matar, an al-Wifaq MP interviewed in the film and later jailed, was released from prison on Sunday pending his trial in a civilian court.

Until now the Bahraini government has been far more exercised by al-Alaam, the Iranian government’s Arabic-language channel, which is widely watched by Bahraini Shias and makes no secret of its hostility to the Al Khalifa dynasty. Bahrain has also attacked al-Manar, the TV channel of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, for broadcasting propaganda.

Bahrain’s foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, denied reports on Gulf websites that Bahrain was being urged by Saudi Arabia to sever diplomatic relations with Qatar. “Relations between Manama and Doha are larger and deeper than a negative television programme,” he wrote on Twitter.
…source

Bahrain frees detainees including ex-MPs after unrest
DUBAI | Sun Aug 7, 2011 2:36pm EDT

DUBAI (Reuters) – Bahrain has released a group of detainees, including two former members of parliament, charged over anti-government protests in the Gulf state earlier this year, opposition sources and state media said Sunday.

Those released included Jawad Fairouz and Matar Ibrahim Matar, former MPs from the Sunni-ruled kingdom’s largest Shi’ite opposition group Al-Wefaq, a member of the bloc said.

“I saw them and embraced them,” said Al-Wefaq member Sayed Hadi al-Mousawi. The bloc’s MPs quit parliament after Bahrain called in troops from fellow Sunni-led kingdoms to help crush the Shi’ite-led protests in February and March.

Bahrain has sentenced eight opposition members to life imprisonment over the protests, which demanded an end to the discrimination which Bahraini Shi’ites say they face, and called for a constitutional monarchy. A few Shi’ite groups sought the monarchy’s abolition.

Bahrain’s state news agency quoted the public prosecutor on Sunday as saying a decision had been taken to release some detainees whose cases were transferred from a military tribunal to civilian courts for review.

It referred to the MPs, who pleaded not guilty last month to spreading false news and joining illegal gatherings, as well as to previous releases of defendants who had been detained for a period equivalent to possible jail sentences.

It did not specify how many cases might continue.

The head of an international lawyers’ commission which Bahrain has asked to investigate the protests, the crackdown and its aftermath told Reuters Thursday that he expected the release of about 150 detainees.

Over 1,000 people were detained in the crackdown and at least four of them died in custody.

The commission follows a state-organised “National Dialogue” over the protests and crackdown in the kingdom, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

That process proposed last month expanding the powers of the elected parliament, a move Bahrain’s king approved while preserving the dominance of an upper house picked by his court. Opposition groups denounced the results as a farce. …source

(Writing by Joseph Logan; Editing by David Stamp)

Bahrain denies entry for Aljazeera staff: Report Sunday, 07 August 2011 02:14

DOHA: Bahraini authorities are so upset with Doha-based Aljazeera TV Channel that they are reportedly not allowing the Channel’s staff — both Qatari nationals and expatriates — into the country.

There is an unofficial entry ban on Aljazeera staff into Manama, say social networking sites in Qatar as well as in Bahrain. The move might be fallout of a documentary English Aljazeera telecast on Wednesday, they suggested.

This, however, could not be independently confirmed by this newspaper since it was a weekend and officials were not available for comment.

The documentary entitled ‘Shouting In The Dark’ aired a shocking account of the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

The film follows the unraveling of the protests in Bahrain from its initial days last February and documents the ruthless ways in which the security agencies handled the uprising.

The documentary has, meanwhile, triggered a heated debate on social networking sites in Qatar and Bahrain with a majority of participants faulting Aljzaeera English Channel for its portrayal of the Bahraini uprising.

People have also been twitting messages with most of them saying that they are with Bahrain and that Aljazeera English Channel had no business focusing on the goings on in the neighboring Bahrain.

People commenting on social websites in Qatar say they wonder how the Bahraini authorities have been able to blacklist entire Aljazeera staff and not allow them entry into their territory.

“It’s surprising how Bahraini authorities come to know that a particularly Qatari visiting Manama is working with Aljazeera because Qatari passports do not mention the holder’s nature and place of work,” said a commentator.

Another commentator said that one of his fellow Qatari friends who went to Manama by air was not allowed entry into the country and turned back by the airport immigration authorities.

“This is even true of those going to Bahrain by road via Saudi Arabia, They are being turned back from the border although they are all Qatari citizens,” said yet another commentator.

According to still another commentator, a senior administration official of Al Jazeera who resigned a year ago, was also not allowed to enter Bahrain.

The commentators are largely unhappy with Al Jazeera English Channel and say they wonder why it is supporting Shia protesters in Bahrain and spoiling Qatar’s relations with the friendly neighbour.

At least one commentator said that he backed the Bahraini move to prevent Al Jazeera staff from entering the country because the English channel was constantly supporting the Shia protesters.

A website in Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, reported yesterday that the Al Jazeera documentary could seriously strain Doha’s relations with Manama.

The Peninsula …source

“Your Congress professes concern for our security needs and then threatens to undermine it without realizing it. Our security cooperation with the Palestinians is worth infinitely more than another missile or airplane package and is all the more vital at a time when the time honored political process is stuck. [The Palestinian Security Forces] have become true professionals, not for you and certainly not for us. That is why we trust them now, they are acting in their interests for their future. Tell your Congress to finish what you have started. Threats to cut aid! What are these people thinking?”

No countries for old men

Posted By Steve White Friday, August 5, 2011 – 10:17 AM

After serving nearly six years as the special advisor to the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, I came home convinced of one thing, cognizant of another. The first was that a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not only in the vital security interests of Israel and the future state of Palestine, but also the United States. The second, initially noted two years ago by a former IDF Chief of Staff, was that, “The USSC, the IDF and the Palestinian Security Services were buying time, time for the politicians…. [A]nd they’re wasting it.” As we approach the United Nations General Assembly session in September, the first conviction remains immutable, while sadly, the reality of the general’s observation appears not to have changed in the slightest.

T. E. Lawrence wrote in the aftermath of the First World War, “…[W]hen we achieved, and the new world dawned, the old men came out again and took our victory to re-make in the likeness of the former world they knew… We stammered that we had worked for a new heaven and a new earth, and they thanked us kindly, and made their peace.”

It is ironic then that nearly a century later, both a Palestinian and an Israeli security professional would note something similar by asking me why Congress was threatening to abandon them in wake of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s recent hearing, “Promoting Peace, Reexamining U.S. Aid to the Palestinian Authority.” My Palestinian friend wrote, “Look what we did for ourselves — with your help. Compare that to Iraqis and Afghans where you’ve had to do it for them. Don’t they understand the potential magnitude of our work?”

My Israeli friend intoned: “Your Congress professes concern for our security needs and then threatens to undermine it without realizing it. Our security cooperation with the Palestinians is worth infinitely more than another missile or airplane package and is all the more vital at a time when the time honored political process is stuck. [The Palestinian Security Forces] have become true professionals, not for you and certainly not for us. That is why we trust them now, they are acting in their interests for their future. Tell your Congress to finish what you have started. Threats to cut aid! What are these people thinking?”

Great progress has been achieved on the ground, often at great sacrifice by the security organizations on both sides. Yet the “old men” are on the verge of taking the victory achieved by courageous Palestinian and Israeli security men and women, and remaking it in the likeness of the former world they knew. Is there truly no way out of this stalemate?

Let’s consider this path forward: The first step is a realization in the United States that Israel’s security, while clearly tied in a strategic sense to Washington, will in the final analysis best be worked out on the ground with its Palestinian neighbors. The Israeli defense establishment clearly understands this as it continues to quietly deepen its coordination with a professionalizing Palestinian security establishment. This nascent cooperation has been facilitated by the office of the USSC, with participation by Canada, the UK, a variety of European countries, and Turkey.

The result is a security situation in the Palestinian territories that is unprecedented, where Israeli Defense Force commanders suffer more attacks from radical Israeli settlers than Palestinian “terrorists.” In the aftermath of the second Intifada, the currency and miracle of this dynamic is made a reality today via the daily actions of those who do not predicate their actions on promotions, election outcomes or potential future political appointments, but rather on the long term interests of the peoples they serve and protect. Their selfless service has created the true basic foundations that enabled the renewal of a negotiations process, and underlay the facilitation of Palestinian economic and civil governance progress.

Renewed security cooperation has been the enabler, not a retardant, through the renewal of Palestinian Israeli security coordination — and a modicum of U.S. aid — combined with the presence of a trusted senior U.S. military coordinator. Now is not the time to throw the security “baby” out with the “political” bath water. It is time to recognize the value of the hard-won endeavors of the past five years, preserve the accomplishments, and then act in a worthy political manner.

Through the dedicated efforts of the Israelis, Palestinians, Americans, Canadians, British, and others on the ground, we have approached “victory” of the sort described by Lawrence 90 plus years prior. We have worked for a “new heaven and new earth,” and the progress is remarkable. But the “old men” are there, whether they are backward-looking Islamist rejectionists, backward-looking Israeli settler zealots, or well-intentioned but ill-informed members of the U.S. political establishment. And the danger of remaking our success into “the likeness of the former world they knew” is very real. Unless…

Steve White is a Washington-based independent consultant currently writing the history of the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Territories. …source

Remembrance, Reflection, and Resistance
By David Krieger, August 6, 2011 – ceasefire magazine

We must come to understand Hiroshima and Nagasaki as war crimes. And we must resist the double standard that makes crimes committed by our enemies punishable under international law, while the same crimes committed by our leaders are deemed to be acceptable.

We remember the horrors of the past so that we may learn from them and they will not be repeated in the future. If we ignore or distort the past and fail to learn from it, we are opening the door to repetition of history’s horrors.

In August, we remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which took place on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. Both were illegal attacks on civilian populations, violating long-standing rules of customary international humanitarian law prohibiting the use of indiscriminate weapons (as between combatants and non-combatants) and weapons that cause unnecessary suffering.

In a just world, those who were responsible for these attacks, in violation of the laws of war, would have been held to account and punished accordingly. They were not. Rather, they were celebrated, as the atomic bombs themselves were celebrated, in the false belief that they brought World War II to an end.

The historical record is clear about these facts: First, at the time Hiroshima and Nagasaki were leveled, each with a single atomic bomb, Japan had been trying to surrender. Second, the US had broken the Japanese codes and knew that Japan had been trying to surrender. Third, prior to the use of the atomic bombs, the only term of surrender offered to Japan by the US was “unconditional surrender,” a term that left the Emperor’s fate in US hands. Fourth, the precipitating factor to Japan’s actual surrender, as indicated by Japanese wartime cabinet records, was not the US atomic bombs, but the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against them. Fifth, when Japan did surrender, after the atomic bombings, it did so contingent upon retaining the Emperor, and the US accepted this condition.

The US drew a self-serving causal link from the bombings, which was: we dropped the bombs and won the war. In doing so, we reinforced the US belief that it can violate international law at times and places of its choosing and that US leaders can attack civilians with impunity. …more

Editorial Real Arab democracy Vs mythical “regional stability”
By Hicham Yezza

As an Arab, and an activist, the past few weeks have proven to be some of the most moving and exhilarating moments of my generation. After decades of hope and despair, it seems the iron grip of the Arab authoritarian kleptocracy has been, at long last, irrevocably broken. In every discussion I’ve had with fellow activists (some in Egypt and Tunisia, but also others in many other Arab countries on the cusp of change), one truth is evident: this generation is determined to reclaim, and restore, the legacy of its nation’s revolutionary struggle for independence from colonialism, a legacy spoiled and defiled by decades of dictatorship and repression.

However, one of the less charming aspects of observing the media deluge around the monumental events in Tunisia and Egypt, is the seemingly robotic framing, by people who should know better, of the options facing the ‘West’. Pundit after pundit, article after article, interview after breathless interview, the debate continues to oscillate between two choices: ‘democracy for untested Arabs’, on the one hand, and a vague, near-mystical notion called “stability in the region” on the other.

Of course, the very idea that freedom is something the West grants to carefully-selected, less enlightened Untermenschen, whilst being astonishingly patronising, is hardly new to anyone with a passing knowledge of Imperialist history. After all, women, black people and countless groups from the ranks of the oppressed have all been told, at some point or other in the not-too-distant past, that they too needed to earn their right to be equal. For decades, seriously-taken men solemnly pontificated in “civilized” circles about whether other quasi-human groups were “ready” to be “invited”, amidst concerns that granting them equal rights could lead to unspeakable catastrophes.

Paul Valery memorably called politics “the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.” For millions of Arabs, it has been very revealing to see many Western pundits and politicians publicly, and in all seriousness, agonise over the seemingly tricky conundrum of “allowing” Arabs to take control of their own destinies, and whether this incredible act of generosity might turn out to be a mistake if, heaven forbid, the lucky candidates prove to be unworthy recipients by electing the ‘wrong’ leaders.

Over the past few days, the inalienable right of eighty million Egyptians (and a quarter billion Arabs) to have a say in their own lives has been routinely dismissed as a mere geo-political consideration that ought not to distract from the bigger, more pressing calculus of realpolitik-inspired “stability”. Take, for instance, the calls by Barack Obama, Tony Blair, Hilary Clinton and others, for something called an “orderly transition” in Egypt that would, conveniently enough, allow Mubarak to hold on to power for a few more months. Egyptians are being asked to wait for their freedom until the US says they can have it (or, according to realpolitik-inspired cynics, until a suitably-pliant replacement is ready).

As to the much-vaunted regional “stability” (apparently under threat from the horrid prospect of ordinary Egyptians getting involved in their own affairs,) to call the notion Orwellian is to combine cliché with understatement. Indeed, whilst the regional elites and their Western patrons have been enjoying the fruits of “stability”, generations of ordinary Arabs have been subjected to half a century of quasi-pathological state brutality, institutional thuggery, systemic corruption, a crushing denial of basic rights of expression, communication, travel, and protest; not to mention entire generations of youths condemned to lives of abject misery and pointlessness, as well as millions of women infantilised and brutalised by a combination of patriarchy and bureaucracy.

Make no mistake, these are not distant, occasional aberrations dotted sparingly across national timelines, but hourly occurrences, to this very day, taking place, to varying degrees, across most of the Arab world. They are not sporadic excesses committed by errant foot soldiers but constitute the very Modus Operandi of entire systems of power, and inform their survival mechanisms. This is the “stability” the US and its allies are scrambling to safeguard. And to defend it as some sort of venerable achievement is to add insult to the injuries of its dozens of millions of victims.
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“The ability to articulate our experiences, feelings and demands depends on us having the necessary language to formulate and communicate them, both to ourselves and to each other. Without this skill, it is near-impossible to think, organise and act. It is for this reason that those in power attempt to subtly water down the language of empowerment, and it is this subtlety which we must be aware and suspicious of. It is only through articulating our own politics that we have the agency to deliver accurate critiques and build our own alternatives.”

The Anti Imperialist Language as Weapon

By Adam Elliott-Cooper

The professionalization of race equality is a phenomenon that has been written about extensively. The social movements fighting racism in the 1960s through to the 1980s were transposed to more manageable institutions by the Thatcher government. The CRE (Commission for Racial Equality), which is now the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission), numerous government posts, particularly within the Home Office, and a host of think tanks and charities attempted to co-opt the intellectual minds involved in these movements, offering progressive research, a comfortable salary and a prestigious title.

For many people, these types of organisations are inviting; for others, they feel like a poor set of options. There has been a long struggle between the advocates of mainstream dominance and the more critical and radical voices who have entered these institutions and attempted to re-link them to the grassroots struggles for racial justice. The mainstream has worked hard to water down and de-politicise race equality, and one of the tools used to do this is language.

Few have observed the way in which language is used to water down radical critique or depoliticise the struggle for justice more eloquently than George Orwell. In his book 1984, he refers readers to the appendix, in which Newspeak, the government-imposed language of the dystopic Ingsoc, is deconstructed. For the totalitarian government in 1984 “Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible”. This sounds like a far-fetched idea belonging only in science fiction; however, Orwell goes on to explain how this can be done:

“The name of every organization, or body of people, or doctrine, or country, or institution, or public building, was invariably cut down into the familiar shape; that is, a single easily pronounced word with the smallest number of syllables that would preserve the original derivation.… It was perceived that in thus abbreviating a name one narrowed and subtly altered its meaning, by cutting out most of the associations that would otherwise cling to it. The words Communist International, for instance, call up a composite picture of universal human brotherhood, red flags, barricades, Karl Marx, and the Paris Commune. The word Comintern, on the other hand, suggests merely a tightly-knit organization and a well-defined body of doctrine. It refers to something almost as easily recognised, and as limited in purpose, as a chair or a table. Comintern is a word that can be uttered almost without taking thought, whereas Communist International is a phrase over which one is obliged to linger at least momentarily.”

Whether or not we agree with Orwell’s description of ‘Communist International’ is irrelevant. For many people in the powerful anti-capitalist movements of the time, the words ‘Communist International’ contained huge significance and symbolism. This can be transposed to words like African Caribbean or Black in the field of race equality today. For me, Black, in the British context, is a political term that was reclaimed in the 1950s to mean any person who suffers racial oppression, be they of African, American, Asian or Australasian descent. Being politically Black engenders ideas of Malcom X, the Black Panthers, the Brixton Uprisings, roots reggae and the Notting Hill Carnival. When someone says ‘African Caribbean’, it conjures up an image of people who are from the Caribbean but who have their roots in Africa. It immediately links to imperialism, slavery, the destruction of indigenous Caribbean peoples and the former British Empire which brought Africans them to Europe.
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Veolia AGM – BDS Action For Palestine
inminds – 25 May 2011

On Tuesday 17th May 2011, ten BDS activists from the UK, from various groups including London BDS, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the BDS National Committee, as well as Innovative Minds travelled to Paris to show solidarity and support for French BDS activists in their action outside the Veolia AGM.

Three French BDS groups had come together for the action: Association France Palestine Solidarite (AFPS), Campagne BDS-France and CAPJPO EuroPalestine.

Veolia has long been complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

Veolia is helping build and operate the Jerusalem Light Railway, a project which the UN Human Rights Council has declared is a “clear violation of international law”. The tram line runs across stolen Palestinian land connecting illegal Israeli settlements to Israel thereby helping consolidate the occupation.

JAMA: Human Rights Report Details Violence Against Health Care Workers in Bahrain
By M. J. Friedrich – 3 August 2011

When antigovernment protesters marched in February and March of this year on the streets of Manama, the capital of Bahrain, peacefully calling for political and economic reforms, a brutal response by the country’s security services followed.

The majority of the injured and dead were brought to Salmaniya Hospital in Manama. Rather than being a safe haven for the wounded, however, this facility, the largest modern medical facility in the country, was declared by the government to be a stronghold of opposition protesters. Security forces occupied the building. According to human rights organizations such as Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), patients were beaten and abused. Physicians, nurses, and other health care workers who treated the civilian protesters were systematically abducted, detained, and interrogated, and many now are facing trial for allegedly using the hospital as a base to try to overthrow the royal government.

Several human rights organizations such as PHR and Doctors Without Borders have reported abuses against patients and health care workers.

Richard Sollom, MA, MPH, deputy director at PHR and forensic pathologist Nizam Peerwain, MD, chief medical examiner, Tarrant County, Texas, carried out medical evaluations of torture survivors and spoke with people who witnessed physician abductions. They described their findings in a report released by PHR in April, Do No Harm: A Call for Bahrain to End Systematic Attacks on Doctors and Patients (
https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_Reports/bahrain-22April_4-45pm.pdf). The report also documents the use of medical transport for military purposes, the destruction of medical facilities and medical records, and the obstruction of medical care and treatment.

When reports about the injured protesters hit the international media, Sollom said, the Bahraini government put its own spin on the information, claiming that physicians were instigating political unrest, fomenting violence, turning the hospital into a political headquarters, and depriving thousands of people of treatment.

Many of the physicians targeted are the country’s leading medical specialists, physicians with 20 to 30 years of experience and impeccable medical credentials, said Sollom. “It strains credulity to believe that these physicians would suddenly, out of the blue, start deliberately harming patients rather than helping them, as Bahrain’s government has alleged,” he said.

At press time, dozens of physicians, nurses, and paramedics who were arrested for treating protesters were on trial before a military court. The government’s use of a military trial for these cases calls into question whether the rights of the accused can be adequately protected. Families of the defendants have reported to PHR and other human rights organizations that the defendants have been tortured and forced to sign false confessions in detention.

Sollom noted that he and other human rights observers speculate that the Bahraini government has systematically targeted physicians and other health care professionals because these caregivers, who treated protesters taken to the hospital, have firsthand evidence of the excessive force used by the government security forces. “This is one of the most egregious sets of violations of medical neutrality and breaches of international law that I’ve seen personally and we as an organization have seen in decades,” said Sollom. Medical neutrality refers to the ethical duty of medical professionals to care for and treat those in need without regard to race, religion, or political affiliation and to have a neutral and safe space provided by the state to carry out their work. …more

Panic on world markets
Author: Michael Burke of Socialist Economic Bulletin
IrishLeftReview.org – Published: August 6th, 2011

International business news and other TV channels are offering a Babel-like interpretation of the current slump in world financial markets. European (including British) stations are reporting the Wall Street-led declines as a response to the continued debt crisis in Europe. But this makes no sense. An EU crisis would have been felt first in EU markets and perhaps not at all in the US – US stocks had been rising over a prolonged period while Europe has been in turmoil. (And, despite what we may think, Greece or Ireland might fall into the sea while causing barely a ripple in the Hang Seng and the other plummeting Asian stock indices).

US channels have no explanation at all for the crisis- and analysis is limited to individual stocks, the scale of losses for investors and a generalised antipathy to Washington.

The Asian networks come closest to identifying the source of the current crisis- which isn’t in Europe at all. Their consensus is that markets are plunging because of the slowdown in the US economy.

But, why now? We are repeatedly told that financial markets react instantaneously to new information. The US GDP data for the 2nd quarter of 2011 were truly awful, up just 0.7%. As the BEA annualises quarterly data (multiplies by 4) this means that the US economy grew by under 0.2% from the 1st quarter.

On closer inspection the data were even worse. Large downward revisions to both the prior quarter and further back mean that economy fell by 5% in the recession, and has not recovered that prior peak in activity yet, as had been previously thought. This is the weakest US recovery from recession in the post-WWII period. Yet these data were published last Friday. If they were the immediate cause of the panic, it is a slow motion reaction.

No, the new news is the compromise agreement in Congress on Tuesday to raise the Federal debt ceiling in return for large scale cuts in Federal spending. This can only have one consequence- slower growth. Since the anticipated profits derived from growth drive stock prices, it is natural for stocks to fall when growth prospects are lowered. As Wall Streeters say, the US has just suffered a derating.

The crisis is driven by ‘austerity’- US austerity.

EU financial markets are caught in the backwash of this, as slower US growth certainly harms global growth prospects. This is felt most keenly in their weakest link, the sovereign debt markets, since these have assumed all the stresses of the EU economies and financial systems. But we should not expect stock and other markets in Europe to remain unscathed, especially bank stocks.

In particular, as reaction to the latest bailout of Greece’s creditors shows, bond markets do not reflect any confidence in these repeated prescriptions. Instead a first bailout of the economy is required, in Greece, Ireland and elsewhere.

There was a fondness before for asserting that Ireland was closer to Boston than Berlin. With the German economy recovering far more robustly than the US, we will hear less of that in the years ahead.

It might be wise instead to focus on the German and other answers to the crisis. This was not just short-term economic stimulus, but long-term productive investment.

For too long this economy has been a weigh-station for US companies counting their profits. Instead of listening to their self-serving advice on economic policy (while following German strictures on fiscal policy) policymakers in Ireland should emulate what works, in Germany, Sweden and most of Asia, investment-led growth initiated and guided by the State. ...source

US Economy lost , Debt more than its GDP, Apple has more cash than US Govt
August 4, 2011 – Written by jafrianews

JNN 03 Aug 2011 : The US Department of the Treasury says the country’s debt has topped 100 percent of its gross domestic product amid concerns over the slow pace of economic recovery.

Washington’s gross debt rocketed $238 billion on Tuesday to reach 100 percent of its GDP immediately after US President Barack Obama signed into law the congress legislation to raise the country’s borrowing ceiling, AFP reported on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Obama voted in favor of a controversial bipartisan plan to raise the debt ceiling of the United States in exchange for spending cuts, just hours before the first ever default in US history.

The US Treasury figures show the new borrowing has increased Washington’s total public debt to $14.58 trillion, which stands higher than the end of 2010 GDP of $14.53 trillion.

It has also put the US within a coterie of countries whose public debt exceeds their GDP, including Japan (229 percent), Greece (152 percent), Lebanon (134 percent), Italy (120 percent), and Ireland (114 percent).

According to the default-preventing compromise bill, the US debt ceiling was raised by $2.4 trillion, to reach a total of $16.7 trillion.

With its colossal debt topping its GDP, the United States is now also within the group of highly indebted countries like Italy and Belgium.

The last time America’s debt surpassed the size of its annual economy was in 1947, two years after the end of World War II.

Credit ratings agencies such as Moody’s Investors Service, have warned Washington to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio quickly, otherwise it may face losing its triple A rating.

Figures from the US Treasury Department have indicated that Apple Inc. has more cash to spend than the government of the United States.
The latest report of the United States Treasury on cash and debt operations put the country’s cash balance at $73.7 billion, but Apple’s reserves are currently $76.4 billion, the state-run BBC reported on Friday.

The United States is currently spending around $200 billion more than it collects in revenue every month.

However, Apple’s market is growing at a tremendous rate. For example, in the three-month period ending on June 25, its net income was 125 percent higher than the same period in the previous year.

The US debt ceiling is currently capped at $14.3 trillion, up from $10.6 trillion when President Barack Obama took office in 2009, and the administration says that if it is not elevated by August 2, the government will default on its obligations.

But, economists say that if the United States refuses to increase its debt limit, it could be devastating for the US and other economies around the world.

Although US lawmakers are engaged in heated arguments on whether to cut spending for public services, such as education and elderly healthcare, increase taxes, or raise the borrowing level, they continue to authorize the US government to spend tens of billions of dollars for military interventions in other countries. …source

As Iran Celebrates Journalists’ Day, Many Journalists Remain Imprisoned
Washington – August 5, 2011

As Iranians commemorate Journalists’ Day on August 8 (17th of Mordad in the Iranian calendar), Iran remains one of world’s most dangerous countries for reporters. Freedom House condemns the Iranian regime’s ongoing crackdown on journalists and calls for the release of Bahman Ahmadi Amouee and all other journalists who remain unfairly imprisoned.

“When journalists are not free to do their job – i.e., hold authorities up to scrutiny — governments are then free to rule without consequences,” said Freedom House president, David J. Kramer. “The Iranian government’s ongoing crackdown on journalists is a shameful attempt to prevent citizens from understanding the regime’s true nature. Freedom House stands in solidarity with all wrongfully imprisoned journalists in Iran and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.”

In particular, Freedom House is worried by the continued imprisonment of Bahman Ahmadi Amouee. A prominent journalist, Bahman was arrested on June 20, 2009 in the aftermath of Iran’s disputed presidential election. The Iranian regime detained Bahman and his journalist wife, Jila Baniyaghoub, after they wrote articles critical of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Jila was released after two months. Bahman remains in Tehran’s Evin prison. …more

Open Letter to Mr. Obama
05/08/2011 – 11:00 am | Hits: 61

Mr. Obama,

Closely observing how pro-democracy youth in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries have led the revolutions and toppled two strong US allies dictators, the youth in Bahrain have formed the *February 14th Youth Coalition* to lead and represent a peaceful pro-democracy revolution that aims to create a real democratic system, where all people, Sunnis or Shiia are equal.

On 13th of March, when the revolution was about to attain real democracy, the Saudis invaded Bahrain with thousands of heavily armed troops backed by hundreds of tanks and tens of Apache helicopters with one mission: search-and-destroy anyone who had dared to call for democracy and anything related to the Pearl (Lulu) square, including the square itself!

This happened only two days after your Assistant Secretary of State, Jeffery Feltman had met with the authorities in Manama and in front of the 5th Navy Fleet, which turned blind eyes to the Saudi forces as they launched full-scale attack against the unarmed protesters. In these attacks, at least 35 so far have been killed including women and children and thousands injured. The main Salmaniya hospital was occupied by the Saudi and Bahraini military who prevented the injured from receiving treatment. The Saudis were not satisfied by ‘cleansing’ the square but have also pursued the protesters to their far villages and even workplaces. In this vicious attack, which took ugly sectarian dimension at least 30 Shiia mosques were demolished in one of the most outrageous crimes of modern history.

It is widely believed that the Saudis would not have invaded our country without prior permission from the US Navy HQ in Manama. If this is true, these acts made the US Administration complicit in the crimes committed by the Saudis and their GCC allies. The official statements about Al Khalifa regime calling for “help” from neighboring GCC countries was only a facade. Robert Fisk, who was in Bahrain during the invasion, stated on 14th June that “*Bahrain didn’t invite the Saudis to send their troops; the Saudis invaded and received a post-dated invitation*”.

We perceive the US and Saudi stands as complimentary rather than conflicting, playing the bad cop and good cop game. But rest assured, playing the good cop part is not going to put you and your administration on the “right-side” of history!

While we welcome any credible and honest initiative toward real reform that stripes the brutal regime of Al Khalifa from their dominating power, brings to justice anyone who was involved in the crimes associated with the crackdown (including the King and Prime Minister themselves) and addresses political, social and economic problems originally created by Al Khalifa dynasty, we regard the current “National Dialogue” as nothing but yet another American tactic to confuse the revolution and salvage the Al Khalifa and the Al Saud from the quagmire. This would also give the Al Khalifa regime the time they need to disturb the demographic balance further by naturalizing tens of thousands from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Iraq and more recently Sudan. The so called National Dialogue has failed before it started. The pro-democracy supporters re-iterated their original demands, especially the downfall of Al Khalifa hereditary dictatorship. The opposition parties, which joined the dialogue have lost much of their credibility and people’s support and pull out at the end.

Despite the brutal repression and tragedy, the peaceful pro-democracy revolution in Bahrain will never stop until real democracy is attained regardless of the cost and time. Our courage and determination is strengthened by the murder of our people, detention of our men, women and children, the vicious torture of detainees and the process of starving Bahrainis by the ruling family.

Unfortunately, your administration has not learnt the lessons of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq and has chosen to be on the wrong side of history once again. We have learnt that peaceful protest and civil disobedience are indeed the best weapons to fight for our rights. We started the revolution peacefully and will continue to be so until we obtain our rights and freedom. However, with its current policies, your administration has insisted on taking sides against our people and supporting the tyrants, dictators, torturers and enemies of humanity.

To show otherwise, we suggest the Fifth Fleet be moved to another country that is not included your own list of human rights abusers!

Regards,

Pearl Revolution Political Center
28th July, 2011
…source