Middle East

Our Moral Crisis

"It seems official, the United States is a permanent wartime state. Senior Obama Administration officials have stated that the War on Terror, in its 'limitless form,' will carry on for another decade, possibly two. Given our role in the world, as an economic and military super-power, and given the economic, social and environmental crisis we see the world in, we must no longer deny that US foreign policy is a great agent of repression. We are a global threat to peace, security, liberty and the environment. Violence has become our foreign policy – it is the status quo. Perhaps what is most disturbing is the support the public lauds on politicians who support aggressive foreign policy." Continue reading →

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Video of Syrian rebel fighter cutting out heart of soldier and eating it condemned

[May 2013] "Human Rights Watch and the Syrian opposition National Coalition have condemned a gruesome video apparently showing a Syrian rebel fighter cutting out the heart of a regime soldier and eating it. 'International news agencies and social media websites have been circulating a video clip in which a person claiming to be a member of the rebels in Homs performs a horrific and inhumane act,' the National Coalition said. Human Rights Watch said the man depicted in the video appeared to be from a rebel brigade in central Homs province that fired indiscriminately at Lebanese villages earlier this year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVideo of Syrian rebel fighter cutting out heart of soldier and eating it condemned

John Kerry: Syria guilty of ‘a moral obscenity’

"Speaking amid reports that Washington and its allies are preparing to launch a punitive cruise missile strike on Syrian targets, US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Bashar al-Assad’s regime of engaging in a cover-up. Kerry said Washington would provide more evidence of who was behind the attack, and that US President Barack Obama was determined that the guilty would face consequences. With China and Moscow expected to boycott any resolution backing a military strike, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the West could act even without full UN Security Council backing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJohn Kerry: Syria guilty of ‘a moral obscenity’

UK’s secret Mid-East internet surveillance base is revealed in Edward Snowden leaks

"Britain runs a secret internet-monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept and process vast quantities of emails, telephone calls and web traffic on behalf of Western intelligence agencies, The Independent has learnt. The station is able to tap into and extract data from the underwater fibre-optic cables passing through the region. The information is then processed for intelligence and passed to GCHQ in Cheltenham and shared with the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States. The Government claims the station is a key element in the West’s 'war on terror' and provides a vital 'early warning' system for potential attacks around the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUK’s secret Mid-East internet surveillance base is revealed in Edward Snowden leaks

Bush Winks, Sends Millions in Untraceable Cash to Musharraf [2007]

"After Pervez Musharraf declared martial law this weekend, Condoleezza Rice vowed to review U.S. assistance to Pakistan, one of the largest foreign recipients of American aid. Musharraf, of course, has been a crucial American ally since the start of the Afghanistan war in 2001, and the U.S. has rewarded him ever since with over $10 billion in civilian and (mostly) military largesse. A considerable amount of the money the U.S. gives to Pakistan is administered not through U.S. agencies or joint U.S.-Pakistani programs. Instead, the U.S. gives Musharraf's government about $200 million annually and his military $100 million monthly in the form of direct cash transfers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBush Winks, Sends Millions in Untraceable Cash to Musharraf [2007]

Terrorism: The Latest Salvo on LNG Exports

"In the latest twist, a U.S. lawmaker said capitalizing on the natural gas boom through exports would expose the country to national security risks from terrorism. Several news outlets, citing unnamed or anonymous sources, reported al-Qaida militants killed four soldiers in their sleep in an attack on Balhaf, the country's lone liquefied natural gas export terminal. Drone strikes over Yemen increased in the wake of an early August security warning linking al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to Yemen's al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and a security source working in the energy sector said the raid on Balhaf was in response to those incidents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTerrorism: The Latest Salvo on LNG Exports

Investors Nervous: Erdogan’s Witch Hunt Endangers Economy

"'Umut Keles,' a Turkish analyst with an American investment bank, removes the battery from his mobile phone, afraid of being wiretapped by the Turkish government. The investment banker believes that the government would take action against him if it knew his identity. 'There's a witch hunt underway here at the moment,' he says. Levent is Turkey's financial center, home to the offices of banks like HSBC and Deutsche Bank. They helped finance the Turkish economic boom in recent years, but now the government suspects them of supporting putschists and terrorists. 'We're all afraid,' says Keles. Some of his colleagues are thinking about leaving the country for good." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInvestors Nervous: Erdogan’s Witch Hunt Endangers Economy

Singapore firm launches in-flight Muslim prayer app

"A Singapore-based company has launched an iPhone app alerting Muslims when to pray and in which direction they should face even when they’re 35,000 feet in the air. Travellers input the flight details and are provided with prayer times during their journey, as well as the direction of the Muslim holy city of Mecca. Crescentrating, a firm that gives 'halal' or Islam-compliant ratings to hotels and other travel-related establishments, plans to make the free app, called Crescent Trips, available to Android smartphones within months. Spending by Muslim tourists is growing faster than the global rate and is forecast to reach $192 billion a year by 2020, up from $126 billion in 2011." Continue reading →

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Why are sales of non-alcoholic beer booming?

"For one thing, people are more aware than before of the damaging effects of alcohol. And better technology means that it is tastier than before, Mr Durkan claims. One chunk of the market is taking off for other reasons. The Middle East now accounts for almost a third of the worldwide sales by volume of non-alcoholic beer. In 2012 Iranians drank nearly four times as much of it as they did in 2007. It is popular in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where alcohol is either wholly or partially banned. Partly this is for religious reasons. But it also taps into growing consumer aspirations. As a statement of a globalised lifestyle beer, even if non-alcoholic, may be more potent than Coca-Cola." Continue reading →

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Learn Bobby Tay’s $2.7 Trillion Sigma Secret

"His company was so impressive to the Arabs that they sent Mr. Tay home with $100 million to invest in Singapore’s industrial-property market. Sabana is a shari’ah-compliant REIT, meaning it adheres to Islamic financial principles. That’s appealing to a large swath of the Middle East that is eager to find a place outside the U.S. and Europe to put money to work. Singapore is a natural destination because of the safety of the banking system and the surety of the legal system. In 2011, an estimated $2.7 trillion was looking for a shari’ah-compliant home, and with a shari’ah-compliant REIT kicking off a dividend of 10% at the time, well there was no question the Arabs would invest." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLearn Bobby Tay’s $2.7 Trillion Sigma Secret