Yearly Archives: 2013

Car bomb rocks Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon

"Syria's civil war is increasingly being fought along sectarian lines, with Sunnis dominating the rebel ranks fighting Assad's regime, which is composed mostly of Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. At least one Syria-based Islamist brigade claimed responsibility for the attack on its Facebook page, but its authenticity could not be verified. The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group denounced 'in the strongest terms the terrorist explosion.' Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar blamed 'Israel and its tools in the region' for the attack. Hezbollah, like the Syrian regime, refers to those fighting to topple Assad as agents of Israel and the U.S." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCar bomb rocks Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon

Deep Divides Threaten Egypt’s Path Forward

"It is a good 15-minute drive from Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo to Raba'a al-Adaweya Square in the Nasr City quarter of the capital. Yet worlds divide the Egyptians who have been gathering at the two sites in recent days. In Tahrir Square on Tuesday, people were selling posters of the country's new strongman, General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who toppled then-President Mohammed Morsi last week. On Raba'a al-Adaweya Square, however, demonstrators held images of Morsi aloft. They are the followers of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement -- and they have vowed not to vacate their tent city until Morsi is back in office."Deep Divides Threaten Egypt's Path Forward Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDeep Divides Threaten Egypt’s Path Forward

Reality of Egypt – Not What You Think?

"The Muslim Brotherhood was the first choice of Western powers, from what we can tell, and was only discarded when its leadership declined to go along with a US$4 billion International Monetary Fund plan. The military, meanwhile, has been portrayed as being of one piece, but as we have pointed out previously, it may be a mistake to believe that the military is cohesively pro-Western and at the service of the Pentagon. It may be at the top, but who can speak for the rank-and-file? The social chaos and bloody destruction now being predicted for Egypt may not simply be the result of a scripted clash between the military and Islamic factions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReality of Egypt – Not What You Think?

Egypt orders arrest of ousted Brotherhood leaders after army kills 53 protesters

"Washington, treading a careful line, has neither welcomed Mursi's removal nor denounced it as a 'coup', which would require it to halt aid, including the $1.3 billion it gives the army each year. The Brotherhood's downfall has, however, been warmly welcomed by three of the rich Arab monarchies of the Gulf. Kuwait promised Egypt $4 billion in cash, loans and fuel on Wednesday, a day after Saudi Arabia pledged $5 billion and the United Arab Emirates offered $3 billion. Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. agency chief, has been named vice president and supports a stalled $4.8 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt orders arrest of ousted Brotherhood leaders after army kills 53 protesters

UN: Iraq violence could lead to civil war

"The level of violence reached its lowest level in 2011, with 2,771 people killed, according to UN figures. But it is once again on the rise, fuelled by widespread Sunni discontent with the Shiite-led government, and fanned by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. 'A lot of the radical groups are getting oxygen from what is going on there,' Motta said of Syria. 'The more people die (in Iraq), the greater the chance of counter-reaction and the greater chance it has to spiral out of control,' he said. 'If the casualties keep going at this rate it will be well over 5,000 at the end of the year, so we’re looking back at figures of 2008,' he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUN: Iraq violence could lead to civil war

Accelerate a Complete Withdrawal From Afghanistan

"Isn’t it shocking that Obama has threatened to change American policy just because Karzai is being difficult? Should a policy that allegedly has fulfilled US vital security interests be drastically altered because of mere personal animosity? Yet we have been down this erratic policy road before. The Obama administration argued that keeping a residual postwar US military force in Iraq was vitally necessary, only to nix a settlement when the Iraqi government refused to exempt US soldiers from Iraqi law in the event they committed crimes—a rather imperial request to say the least. We can thus surmise that perhaps such residual occupation forces were never very vital to US security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAccelerate a Complete Withdrawal From Afghanistan

A brand-new $34 million U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan. And nobody to use it.

"The U.S. military has erected a 64,000-square-foot headquarters building on the dusty moonscape of southwestern Afghanistan that comes with all the tools to wage a modern war. A vast operations center with tiered seating. A briefing theater. Spacious offices. Fancy chairs. Powerful air conditioning. Everything, that is, except troops. The windowless, two-story structure, which is larger than a football field, was completed this year at a cost of $34 million. As American troops pack up to return home, U.S.-funded contractors are placing the finishing touches on projects that are no longer required or pulling the plug after investing millions of dollars." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA brand-new $34 million U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan. And nobody to use it.

The Myth of the Efficent Government Organized First Responders

"As critically injured passengers lay on the tarmac near the wreckage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, other passengers pleaded with emergency dispatchers to send ambulances to help the victims, according to 911 tapes released Wednesday.[...] 'There are no ambulances here. We've been on the ground 20 minutes,' one woman said on the tape, which was obtained by NBC Bay Area. 'There are people laying on the tarmac with critical injuries, head injuries,' the woman continued. 'We're almost losing a woman here. We're trying to keep her alive.' Another female passenger told a dispatcher that there were not enough medics to treat the injured." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Myth of the Efficent Government Organized First Responders

Biden urges end to hacking, human rights abuses by China

"'We both will benefit from an open, secure, reliable Internet. Outright cyber-enabling theft that US companies are experiencing now must be viewed as out of bounds and needs to stop,' Biden said. A recent US study said that corporate America was losing hundreds of billions of dollars a year through a vast, organized hacking campaign to steal US trade, government and military secrets. Biden also raised concerns about human rights, days after Chinese troops reportedly opened fire on Tibetans celebrating the birthday of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBiden urges end to hacking, human rights abuses by China

Parched Jordan to start pumping radium-laced water from 300,000-year-old aquifer

"The water ministry says Jordan, where 92 percent of the land is desert, will need 1.6 billion cubic metres of water a year to meet its requirements by 2015, while the population of 6.8 million is growing by almost 3.5 percent a year. Officials say the project has required 250,000 tonnes of steel and the digging of 55 wells to pump water from Disi to Amman, where the per capita daily consumption [is 42 gallons]. A 2008 study by Duke University, in the United States, shows that Disi’s water has 20 times more radiation than is considered safe, with radium content that could trigger cancers. But the government has brushed aside those concerns." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingParched Jordan to start pumping radium-laced water from 300,000-year-old aquifer