Protests raging across M. East, E. Africa against U.S., its Allies

Egyptian protest

“Why don’t they like us?”

Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett  

“What is happening in Syria is a heart-rending tragedy but one positive thing to emerge from the suffering is the glaring truth for the world to see: who exactly constitutes the ‘axis of evil.’ An American president’s words are coming back to haunt in a way that he never imagined. What the world is witnessing in Syria is the American axis of evil.

“This truth is obliging us to look back at past decades and to recognize the ultimate source of violence, conflict and wars down through modern history. This truth is compelling us to look at the present with eyes opened as to why poverty, social decay and misery sit alongside unaccountable elite wealth, power and warmongering. The axis of U.S.-led powers that serve a global elite are ransacking their own societies and any other that stands in their way of dominance. This truth can set us free.”

—Finian Cunningham—

Egyptian protest

EGYPT (U.S. allied with previous authoritarian, Mubarak)

Egyptians to Clinton—“Get out Hillary”

Wire reports during the Clinton visit says, “Clinton got a taste of democracy in action when protesters demonstrated outside her five star hotel. Most of the demonstrators were reportedly backers of the old regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, a long-time U.S. who was ally toppled by popular protests last year.

Protesters chanted “Get out Hillary” and carried signs reading “America, Support Liberty Not Theocracy” and “Egypt Majority is not Islamist.”

Hundreds of Egyptian demonstrators have held protests in Cairo against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The protesters gathered outside the presidential palace on Saturday as Clinton met with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi “to discuss Egypt’s transition to democracy and plans to provide economic assistance to the country.” (Reuters)

Egyptian soldiers and tanks were positioned outside the U.S. Embassy, which has been the scene of anti-U.S. protests since the popular uprising that toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011. This most recent demonstration was reportedly organized by Shabab Maspero, a group of Coptic Christian youth activists.

The United States is in a somewhat delicate position in Egypt, having for three decades strongly supported Mubarak, who worked to repress and to marginalize the Muslim Brotherhood, including at times imprisoning the now-president Morsi.

Saudi Arabia protest

SAUDI ARABIA (U.S. allied with authoritarian)

Protests against the Riyadh regime have increased in number over the past few days in several towns despite the violent crackdown by the security forces.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the Qatif region and Awamiyah in Eastern Province. They have called for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

After the November 2011 killing of five protesters and injuring many others by Saudi security forces in Eastern Province, demonstrations have turned into protests against the (U.S-allied) Al Saud regime.

In the past few days, despite the violent crackdown by the security forces, protests increased against the Riyadh regime in several towns. On July 13, Saudi security forces in the town of Awamiyah killed an 18-year-old protester during a demonstration held near a police station in support of Sheikh Nemr. At least 10 female protesters have also been arrested in the city of Buraydah, about 380 kilometers northwest of the capital. Demonstrators have condemned the brutal police crackdown and demand the release of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr, who was attacked, injured and arrested on July 8.

Iraqis/Saudis (U.S. allied with authoritarian and occupying)

Iraqi protesters have held a demonstration in the central province of Babil following the disappearance of 55 Iraqi pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. The demonstrators yesterday demanded to know the whereabouts of their fellow countrymen who went missing while on Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia a couple days ago.

Iraq/Kurds/Turkey/Black Gold: Oil (U.S. (U.S. allied and occupying)

In a statement issued today by a representative of the Iraq government “‘Turkey must stop the unauthorized export of oil through its land. Exporting oil from the Kurdistan region to Turkey is illegal.’”

Middle East
East Africa

The Iraqi government and the Kurdish region have been engaged in a dispute over oil exports in the past few months.  The government representative says the situation risks damaging economic relations.

In earlier stories Press TV reported that “ExxonMobil and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had angered Iraq’s central authorities by signing a large-scale contract in November 2011 without the approval of the Oil Ministry in Baghdad.” Then “Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said the government had received a letter on March 5 from ExxonMobil stating that the corporation had frozen its deal with the country’s semi-autonomous KRG.

“ExxonMobil is already producing an estimated 370,000 barrels of oil per day from the West Qurna field in southern Iraq, under a service contract negotiated with Baghdad.”

ISRAEL (U.S.-principal Middle East ally)

Activists say that last year’s rallies involving hundreds of thousands of people marching and setting up protest camps across the Occupied Territories, protesting high costs of living and social inequalities and calling for the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu have failed to change the situation.

Now “an Israeli protester has set himself on fire during a demonstration in Tel Aviv, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accountable for the poor condition of people.”

Bahrain protest

BAHRAIN (U.S. allied with authoritarian)

Home of U.S. Fifth Fleet

Bahrainis have been staging demonstrations since mid-February 2011. Initially they called for implementation of political reforms and establishment of a constitutional monarchy. Later, following the dictator’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protests, the demonstrators expanded their demands to outright removal of the ruling Al Khalifa family.

Scores of people have been killed and many others injured in the Saudi-backed campaign of suppression. Bahrainis hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the deaths and arrests.

A Saturday news update reported, “Bahraini security forces on Saturday attacked the homes of anti-government protesters in the northern town of Bilad al-Qadim as the crackdown on demonstrations continued.

Also on Saturday, reports said, “Young people took to the streets in several villages near Manama and blocked roads [and] the Bahraini regime deported American filmmaker Jen Marlowe following the shooting of a documentary on the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters.”

PALESTINE (U.S. allied against)

Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the Middle East: Palestinians uprooted by force of arms, faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next, 

Representing the Palestinian people, the Chairman of the Palestinian National Council (PNA) today condemned the Israeli regime’s propaganda against Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program. He lashed out at arrogant powers for keeping silent on the nuclear arsenals of Israel and noted that the United States and Israel have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the ‘option’ of a military strike based on the allegation that Iran’s nuclear energy program may include a covert military aspect.

According to news reports, Chairman Salim Zanoun’s message to Iran’s Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani said, “The Palestinian people express their solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran in its attempt to achieve peaceful nuclear energy.” Further, that he was ready “to expand joint cooperation with Iran’s Majlis to adopt necessary measures toward countering the criminal acts of the Israeli regime.”

Pakistan protest

PAKISTAN (U.S. bombed U.S. ally)

In a demonstration organized by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan’s most powerful Islamic political party, thousands of Pakistanis took to the streets on Sunday in the port city of Karachi, Pakistan’s south (on the coast of the Arabian Sea immediately northwest of the Indus River Delta), to voice their opposition to Islamabad’s decision to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

Last week, more than 50,000 Pakistanis held a ‘Long March’ protest from the eastern city of Lahore to the capital. At the end of that march, demonstrators reportedly gathered outside the Pakistani parliament and chanted, among other things, ‘Death to the USA.’

Karachi, Pakistan
Indus River
Arabian Sea

In Sunday’s demonstration, protesters called on Islamabad to immediately close passageways used for the transfer of supplies to the U.S.-led forces deployed in Afghanistan. Jamaat-e-Islami’s president (ameer), Syed Munawar Hasan, told Press TV that Pakistan must revisit its foreign policy. He said, “Our foreign policy should be [an] independent foreign policy; … we should look after our own priorities, not the American priorities.”

From October 2001 to November 2011, Pakistan was used as the main stopover for the supplies headed for the U.S.-led forces occupying Afghanistan. Pakistan blocked the passageways in protest of November 2011 U.S.-led airstrikes on two checkpoints in the country’s northwest that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead. On July 4, 2012, Islamabad agreed to reopen the crossings after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military.”

Sunday’s protesters shouted “Stop NATO supplies” and carried a banner reading “Restoration of NATO supply is license to kill Muslims!”

Yemen protest

YEMEN (U.S. allied with authoritarian)

In massive demonstrations in the capital Sana’a and the northern city of Sa’ada on Friday, protesters chanted slogans against the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia and demanded that Washington halt the drone attacks in southern Yemen.

The U.S. military has used assassination drones in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen.

Press TV reports that these thousands of Yemeni demonstrators called for “the expulsion of U.S. Ambassador Gerald M. Feierstein, the resignation of Yemen’s government, and an end to United States and Israeli interference in their country’s internal affairs.”

APROPOS

With great irony or just downright mendacity, a UK-concocted report is apparently claiming that Bahrain’s human rights situation improved in the period of April to June 2012. An analysis called the report, purportedly on human rights in 28 Middle Eastern and North African countries, released by the British Foreign Office “the last example of the British government’s political play with international concepts and norms” in the face of what any news reader knows: that Bahrainis’ peaceful protests to achieve the most basic social and human rights have been harshly put down by the Saudi-backed Al Khalifa regime; and by extension, the United States of America.

Asia
East Africa

How could I omit a place where what goes for news reporting is hearsay based on this, that or the other vested interest, private vendetta or personal agenda?

Author and media commentator and Middle East and East Africa specialist Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs. He was based in Bahrain and witnessed the political upheavals here and the subsequent Saudi-led brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protests. Cunningham was expelled from Bahrain in June 2011 for his critical journalism in which he highlighted many human rights violations by the Western-backed regime.

In a July 10 article, Finian Cunningham contextualizes…

SYRIA (U.S. allied against)

Middle East Asia
Africa

“The people of the world should be very thankful to Syria. For in this agonizing time, the conflict-torn country is revealing an important truth. From the bloodshed, ravages and mayhem that the Syrian people are enduring, the world is empowered to see with crystal clarity a crucial fact — the fact of who and what is the real cause of violence.

“This real cause of violence is not just afflicting Syria, but [it rages] right across the globe.

“Forget about oft-repeated Western admonishments against Islamic extremists, rogue states, corrupt regimes, authoritarian superpowers as being ‘the enemy’ of freedom-loving people.

“It is the American government and its allies who are the real ‘axis of evil’ confronting the world.

Middle East
Russian Federation

“… What is the position of the United States and its allies?

Rejecting any internal Syrian solution, Washington, London, Paris and their allies Turkey and the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies have vowed to increase financial and material support for the armed groups that have waged a campaign of terrorist subversion over the past 16 months.

“The U.S.-led axis insists that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad must go immediately at their say-so. Speaking like a Mafia moll, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Russia and China will be made to ‘pay a price’ for their (reasonable) position. Clinton then made the sinister warning that Assad’s ‘days are numbered’ and that if a political transition does not occur on American terms then the Syrian people face ‘a catastrophic assault that would be very dangerous not only to Syria, but to the region.’

“That is the mindset and language of a fascist rogue state.

What is happening in Syria is a heart-rending tragedy but one positive thing to emerge from the suffering is the glaring truth for the world to see: who exactly constitutes the ‘axis of evil.’ An American president’s words are coming back to haunt in a way that he never imagined. What the world is witnessing in Syria is the American axis of evil.

This truth is obliging us to look back at past decades and to recognize the ultimate source of violence, conflict and wars down through modern history. This truth is compelling us to look at the present with eyes opened as to why poverty, social decay and misery sit alongside unaccountable elite wealth, power and warmongering. The axis of U.S.-led powers that serve a global elite are ransacking their own societies and any other that stands in their way of dominance. This truth can set us free.

Sources and notes

EGYPT

“Clinton greeted with protests in Cairo ‘Get out Hillary’ chanted supporters of the Mubarak regime,” (Reuters published Sunday, July 15, 2012), http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/clinton-greeted-with-protests-in-cairo-2012-07-15-1.467214

Press TV

Hundreds of Egyptian demonstrators have held protests in Cairo against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The protesters gathered outside the presidential palace on Saturday as Clinton sat down with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to discuss Egypt’s transition to democracy and plans to provide economic assistance to the country, Reuters reported,

July 15, 2012, http://presstv.com/detail/2012/07/15/250966/egyptians-hold-demos-over-clinton-visit/

Image

Press TV Egyptian riot police stand guard as demonstrators protest against the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outside the US embassy in Cairo on July 14, 2012-PRESS TV

SAUDI ARABIA

“Islamic Awakening set off countdown for Al Saud fall: Iran MP,” July 15, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/15/251067/countdown-begun-for-al-saud-fall/

Saudi protesters continue anti-regime demos despite police brutality, July 15, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/15/251041/saudis-continue-antiregime-demos/

“Iraqi protesters hold demo for missing pilgrims in Saudi Arabia,” July 14, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/14/250867/iraqis-hold-demo-for-missing-pilgrims/

IRAQ

“Iraqi oil export from Kurdistan to Turkey illegal: Baghdad’ July 15, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/15/251061/iraqi-oil-export-to-turkey-illegal/

“ExxonMobil freezes Iraqi Kurdistan contract,” March 17, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/03/17/232067/exxonmobil-kurdistan-contract/

IRAQ/ TURKEY

Related:

“Turkish FM censures demonstration outside consulate in Iraq —Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has criticized a recent demonstration by Iraqis outside the Turkish consulate in the southeastern city of Basra. Protesters were reportedly demanding “the Turkish government hand over fugitive Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi to Baghdad.” Protesters also criticized Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his position on this issue.”  May 20, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/20/242152/turkey-demonstration-consulate-basra-iraq/

BAHRAIN

“Bahraini forces raid protesters’ homes, July 15, 2012, news update,

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/15/250994/bahraini-forces-raid-protesters-homes/

Related:  “Bahrain expels American filmmaker —The Bahraini regime has deported American filmmaker Jen Marlowe following the shooting of a documentary on the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters,” July 15, 2012,

ISRAEL

“Israeli man sets himself on fire in Tel Aviv during protest”, July 15, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/15/250980/israeli-selfimmolates-in-tel-aviv/

PALESTINE

“PNA slams Israeli propaganda against Iran's nuclear energy program,” July 15, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/15/251033/palestine-censures-israel-antiiran-bids/

http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2012/07/protests-against-clintons-visit-to.html

PAKISTAN
“Pakistanis protest NATO supplies reflow,” July 15, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/15/251108/pakistanis-protest-nato-supplies-reflow/

YEMEN

“Yemenis hold anti-govt. demos in Sana’a and Sa’ada,” July 14, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/14/250791/antigovt-demos-held-in-sanaa-and-saada/

“Human rights report proves UK hypocrisy— The 2011-2012 Human Rights and Democracy Report highlighted the political and social situation in some countries such as Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, occupied Palestinian territories, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen,” July 12, 2012, http://presstv.com/detail/2012/07/12/250584/uk-human-rights-report/

SYRIA

“Syrian conflict exposes America’s Axis of Evil,” July 10, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/10/250252/syrian-conflict-exposes-americas-axis-of-evil/

Finian Cunningham continued

Originally from Belfast, Ireland, Finian Cunningham has been an editor and writer for The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.  He is now based in East Africa where is writing a book on Bahrain and the Arab Spring.  Many of his recent articles have appeared on the Canadian-based news website Globalresearch. His interests include capitalism, imperialism and war, socialism, justice and peace, agriculture and trade policy, ecological impact, science and technology, and human rights. He is also a musician and songwriter.

Cunningham took his academic credentials at Cambridge. 

Maps Worldatlas
Photos: Press TV
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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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Embarrassing belligerence in U.S. foreign relations

No position to lecture any nation or its leaders
Re-reporting by Carolyn Bennett

“Reset” incident

Hillary Clinton meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Careless ignorance dangerous and shameful

Flag of Syria

Russian reporters in 2009 looked on in laughter as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a mock ‘reset’ button to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, symbolizing, she said, U.S. hopes to mend frayed ties with Moscow.

Press stories quoted Clinton boasting how hard her staff had “worked to ensure” the accuracy of what was an apparent blunder.

“Was it right?” she asked the Russian foreign minister.

No, he said, “You got it wrong.”

What careless Americans translating Russian called “reset” was a Russian word, “peregruzka,” meaning “overloaded” or “overcharged.” The Daily newspaper Kommersant had a front-page laugh: “Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton push the wrong button.”

This was prelude to four years of gaffes and a deepening of boorish, belligerent, coarse outbursts from the U.S. Secretary of State, her staff, and her administration.   

Recklessly breaching character of diplomacy

In a joint press conference with India’s prime minister last month, the U.S. Secretary declared that the United States was not sending “military support” to the “opposition” in Syria.

She said, “All of our support has been medical and humanitarian.” She demanded that the Russian government “cut all military ties” with and “suspend all further support and deliveries” to Syria.

Her belligerence seems to know no bounds. Quoted by Democracy Now and other sources today, Mrs. Clinton boorishly labeled the Russians liars. “We have confronted the Russians about stopping their continued arms shipments to Syria,” she said.

The Russians have said “… everything they’re shipping is unrelated to their (Syria’s) actions internally [but] that’s patently untrue; and we are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria….”

Russia’s defense minister responds

The same Russian foreign minister with whom Hillary Clinton had embarrassed herself and the United States in 2009 responded to the statements about Russian military supplies to Syria.

Sergei Lavrov said the Russian Federation supplies only what “Syria would need in the event of an armed attack on it from without. … We do not supply Syria or anyone else with things that are used to fight against peaceful demonstrators—unlike the United States, which regularly supplies that region with such special equipment.”

The Russian defense minister pointed out that Clinton’s comments were at direct variance with U.S. Defense Department (Pentagon) reports that had denied having information showing Russian weapons exports to Syria as charged by Secretary Clinton. The United States on the other hand has recently made such a shipment “to one of the Gulf countries, [a move] which the Americans consider…to be acceptable.”

Russian analyst Konstantin Makiyenko added to Lavrov’s statement.

The United States has no moral right to lecture Russia on weapons supply to Syria, he said. “Even if we assume that combat helicopters are indeed being passed to Syria, this action would not at all contradict current norms of international law dealing with weapons trade.”

Moreover, the deputy director of the Center for Strategies and Technologies Analysis said, the United States “sells huge amounts of weapons to the repressive Saudi regime, which took part in the tough suppression of peaceful Shiite protests against the despotic regime in Bahrain”; and in Saudi Arabia, there is “Systematic suppression of the opposition.”

As a major provider of military weapons to many global hotspots, the United States, Makiyenko said, “has no moral right to lecture Russia on who should get weapons and who should not.”

Makiyenko concluded that “the U.S. state secretary’s invectives are part of a broad media war being waged in the West against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”

Failed U.S. relations in pre- and post-Cold War Middle East

At the end of May, a news article posted at the Russia Television website commented rather cynically but painfully on point. “With the arrival of Barack Obama at the White House four years ago, many in Moscow [and elsewhere] genuinely believed there would be a normalization of relations [remember the “reset” incident] between the two former Cold War opponents.”

“There is no crime in dreaming,” the writers said.

However, in relations with the Middle East, “America’s behavior seems inconsistent with that of an impartial, objective observer.”  The United States behaves “like a third party to the turmoil with a lot to gain should the Syrian government fall.

“Instead of waiting for an official investigation to determine the identity of the culprits in the latest massacre, the Houla massacre,” the United States “is instigating the situation by tossing rhetorical grenades, needlessly provoking the situation.

“After all, there are many actors in the region who stand to gain in the event that Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad is removed from power.” The strong U.S. ally in the region, seemingly “on a collision course with Iran …, the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would benefit from the overthrow of Assad.”

A further truth is, the United States has not been an honest broker in the Middle East for the past thirty years; in more distant times, not since 1945 or 1946.

The Cold War is recorded historically as having reached its peak in 1948–53. In this period the Soviet Union “unsuccessfully blockaded the Western-held sectors of West Berlin (1948–49). The United States and its European allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a unified military command to resist the Soviet presence in Europe (1949).” The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic warhead (1949), thus ending the U.S. monopoly on the atomic bomb. The Chinese communists came to power in mainland China (1949) and the Soviet-supported communist government of North Korea invaded U.S.-supported South Korea (1950), “setting off an indecisive Korean War that lasted until 1953.”

The United States internally experienced an extended “Red Scare,” McCarthyism in which citizens were haunted, hunted down, hauled before rabid Congressmen, their professional lives destroyed or subjected to constant threat. The causes of human rights stymied.

Years passed in which sleepwalking Americans believed they were in the “good times”: “Ossie meets Harriet,” “Daddy knows best.” Today some on the Left and Right nostalgically pine for those times.

In late 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and 15 newly independent nations were born and Russians held a “democratic” election. The Cold War was over. But in the years since the end of the Cold War—from another Bush and another Clinton through several governments seated in Washington—there has been a shameful waste of foreign relations opportunity.

The United States of America in the twenty-first century is burdened with a kind of leadership that is defined by belligerence, boorishness, superficiality, willful ignorance and incompetence. It is not only void of moral sensibility but is woefully lacking in requisite imagination.

Sources and notes

“Button gaffe embarrasses Clinton,” BBC, March 7, 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7930047.stm

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/6/13/is_syria_in_a_civil_war

“‘Russia does not sell combat helicopters to Syria’ – Lavrov” (Robert Bridge, RT),

June 13, 2012, http://rt.com/politics/us-russia-syria-weapons-lavrov-689/

“Al-Qaeda behind terror attacks in Syria, Russia warns” (Robert Bridge, RT), May 14, 2012,

http://rt.com/politics/al-qaeda-syria-russia-opposition-220/

“Is U.S. preparing for broad Middle East conflict?” May 31, 2012,  

http://rt.com/politics/us-russia-iran-syria-missile-defense-opposition-688/

Historical note revised from Britannica

Images
WW3 Trigger: U.S. Implement Syria Aerial Blockade,Despite repeated warnings from Russian and China to respect the sovereignty of Syria’s airspace, the US plans on implement an aerial blockade without UN backing
http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2012/02/ww3-trigger-us-to-implement-syria.html

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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All-are-our-enemies entrenched contempt, lawlessness

Excerpting, editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett

If all are enemies, we have no friends

Bush - Obama administrations blurring spying and diplomacy — the breach implied in U.S. embassy cables released over the weekend cannot be expunged by more bullying and belligerence from Washington.

There is apparently great paranoia and continuing recklessness at the highest levels of U.S. government. This government remains at war with the world. When no nation is deemed friend, when other nations and peoples are suspect and routinely subjected to military invasion and occupation and other covert and overt offense; when nations and peoples are held in continuous contempt — who will come to the aid of this solitary power, its nation and people when they are seriously in need?

“The operation targeting the United Nations appears to have involved all of Washington’s main intelligence agencies: the CIA’s clandestine service, the U.S. Secret Service, and the FBI … alongside the U.S Department of State. …” The Guardian in Britain was reporting on Sunday’s release by WikiLeaks of “U.S. Embassy Cables.” These are edited excerpts from the Guardian’s report.

Spying on the world

“A directive from Hillary Clinton ordered U.S. diplomats to gather biometric information on the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign targeting the leadership of the United Nations, including the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the permanent UN Security Council representatives from China, Russia, France and the UK.

Under U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s name, a July 2009 classified directive “which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to U.S. diplomats. [The directive] demanded forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.

“[The directive] called for detailed biometric information ‘on key UN officials, to include undersecretaries, heads of specialized agencies and their chief advisers, top SYG [Secretary General] aides, heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders’ as well as intelligence on [Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s] ‘management and decision-making style and his influence on the secretariat.’

“A parallel intelligence directive sent to diplomats in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi said biometric data included DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.

“Washington also wanted credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and ‘biographic and biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives.’

“The secret ‘national human intelligence collection directive’ was sent to U.S. missions at the UN in New York, Vienna and Rome; 33 embassies and consulates, including those in London, Paris and Moscow.

“The operation targeted at the UN appears to have involved all of Washington’s main intelligence agencies. The CIA’s clandestine service, the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI were included in the ‘reporting and collection needs’ cable alongside the U.S. State Department under the heading ‘collection requirements and tasking.’”

Questions of impunity, law and lawlessness

“The leak of the directive is likely to spark questions about the legality of the [U.S. State Department] operation and about whether State Department diplomats are expected to spy,” Guardian editors wrote.

“The level of technical and personal detail demanded about the UN top team’s communication systems could be seen as laying the groundwork for surveillance or hacking operations.

“It requested ‘current technical specifications, physical layout and planned upgrades to telecommunications infrastructure and information systems, networks and technologies used by top officials and their support staff,’ as well as details on private networks used for official communication, ‘to include upgrades, security measures, passwords, personal encryption keys and virtual private network versions used.’

“Citing the 1946 UN convention on privileges and immunities which states: ‘The premises of the United Nations shall be inviolable. The property and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any other form of interference, whether by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action’ — the United Nations has previously asserted that bugging the Secretary General is illegal’

“The 1961 Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, which covers the UN, also states, ‘the official correspondence of the mission shall be inviolable.’

“The emergence of the directive also risks undermining political trust between the United Nations leadership and the United States…”

Friend or foe
If everyone is our enemy, we have no friends

“The UN is not the only target. The cables reveal that since 2008 the U.S. State Department has issued at least nine directives to embassies around the world which set forth ‘a list of priorities intended to guide participating U.S. government agencies as they allocate resources and update plans to collect information.’

“The directives are packed with detailed orders and, while embassy staff members are particularly encouraged to assist in compiling biographic information, the directive on the mineral and oil-rich Great Lakes region of Africa requested detailed military intelligence, including weapons markings and plans of army bases.

“A directive on ‘Palestinian issues’ sent to Cairo, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Amman, Damascus and Riyadh demanded the exact travel plans and vehicles used by leading members of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, without explaining why.

“In one directive that would test the initiative — never mind moral and legal scruples — of any diplomat, Washington ordered staff in the [Democratic of Congo], Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi to obtain biometric information of leading figures in business, politics, intelligence, military, religion and in key ethnic groups.

“Fingerprints and photographs are collected as part of embassies’ consular and visa operations, but it is harder to see how diplomats could justify obtaining DNA samples and iris scans.

“In central Africa, embassy officials were ordered to gather details about countries’ military relations with China, Libya, North Korea, Iran and Russia. Washington assigned high priority to intelligence on the ‘transfer of strategic materials such as uranium,’ and ‘details of arms acquisitions and arms sales by government or insurgents, including negotiations, contracts, deliveries, terms of sale, quantity and quality of equipment, and price and payment terms.’

“The directives, signed simply ‘Clinton’ or ‘Rice,’ referring to the current and former U.S. secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, form a central plank of America's intelligence effort and reveal how Washington is using its 11,500-strong foreign service to glean highly sensitive information on both allies and enemies.…”

Sources and notes

The U.S. embassy cables: U.S. diplomats spied on UN leadership, guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 28, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un?intcmp=239

Also: Democracy Now program, Monday, November 29, 2010, http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2010/11/29

AMY GOODMAN:

“ I’m looking at The Guardian, one of the participants in the WikiLeaks release: ‘Washington running a secret intelligence campaign targeted at the leadership of the United Nations, including Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the permanent Security Council representatives from China, Russia, France, and the U.K. The classified directive, which appears to [have been] issued to U.S. diplomats under Hillary Clinton’s name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communication systems used by top UN officials including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications. It called for detailed biometric information on key UN officials to include undersecretaries, heads of specialized agencies and their chief advisers, top SIG- that’s Secretary General Aides- heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders, as well as intelligence on Ban’s management and decision making style and his influence on the secretariat. A parallel intelligence directive sent to diplomats sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and biometric data including DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.’”

UN Security Council Membership in 2010
The Council is composed of five permanent members — China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States— and 10 non-permanent members (with year of term’s end):

1. Austria (2010)
2. Japan (2010)
3. Turkey (2010)
4. Bosnia and Herzegovina (2011)
5. Lebanon (2011)
6. Uganda (2010)
7. Brazil (2011)
8. Mexico (2010)
9. Gabon (2011)
10. Nigeria (2011)

The General Assembly elected Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms starting January 1, 2011. The newly elected countries will replace Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda.

The Presidency of the Security Council is held in turn by the members of the Security Council in the English alphabetical order of their names. Each President holds office for one calendar month.

Ten non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms and are not eligible for immediate reelection. The number of non-permanent members was increased from six to ten by an amendment of the Charter, which came into force in 1965.

Under the Charter, all Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. While other organs of the United Nations make recommendations to Governments, the Council alone has the power to take decisions which Member States are obligated under the Charter to carry out, http://www.un.org/sc/members.asp

The United Nations is comprised of 192 Member States, http://www.un.org/en/m

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