position:king

  • A King’s Orders To The U.S. Navy – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/kings-orders-u-s-navy-avoid-excess-detail-orders-instructions

    In the wake of the USS John S. McCain incident. “Every Captain in the whole military industrial complex received multiple emails demanding better ship handling from every officer.” said one pilot.” The USNS xxx’s Master said he got over 20 of them… forwarded and cc’d around the globe, covering everyone’s butt.” Another pilot said “I’ve seen these emails. Some are broad but many contain detailed lists of actions that should be taken by crews. None contain anything that will prevent the next collision at sea.”

    Most mariners will shake their heads in disgust at this #C.Y.A. mentality but few will flag them as dangerous. Which they most certainly are.

    In the short term, C.Y.A. messages send the clear message that mistakes will not be tolerated. The authors of these emails often believe they are doing good by keeping the men on their toes and focused on the problems at hand. They are partly correct, C.Y.A. messages do narrow a crew’s focus. These signals focus the mind on problems – not solutions – they also induce stress and fear and repress original thought. A watchstander needs to approach heavy traffic with plenty of rest, a clear mind and the ability to engage the problems ahead intuitively… not worried about his career and the possibility of being hit by another ship.
    […]
    #Intrusive_leadership becomes especially dangerous when dictated by leaders who lack training and experience at the helm of a ship. The Secretary of the Navy is a USMC Aviator. Chief Of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, is a submarine commander. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran, is an aviator. Adm. Scott Swift, the commander of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet and the man selected to fix the problems, is an aviator.

    In the wake of the USS Fitzgerald incident the small handful of senior U.S. Navy leaders with shipboard experience, like Adm. Michelle Howard, were not dispatched to Japan – where her indomitable leadership might have found solutions – but to ribbon cutting ceremonies in Europe.

    Joseph Konrad éditeur de gCaptain reste en pointe…
    Il appelle à la rescousse les grands anciens (directive du 21/01/1941)…
    #cover_your_ass

    And that person is a man with significant watchstanding experience aboard ships, Admiral Ernest J. King, USN, Commander in Chief of Naval forces in WWII.

    7. The corollaries of paragraph 6 are:
    (a) adopt the premise that the echelon commanders are competent in their several command echelons unless and until they themselves prove otherwise;

    (b) teach them that they are not only expected to be competent for their several command echelons but that it is required of them that they be competent;

    (c) train them — by guidance and supervision — to exercise foresight, to think, to judge, to decide and to act for themselves;

    (d) stop ‘nursing’ them;

    (e) finally, train ourselves to be satisfied with ‘acceptable solutions’ even though they are not “staff solutions or other particular solutions that we ourselves prefer.”

    • Dans une US Navy qu’il décrit comme étant commandée essentiellement par des aviateurs – et un sous-marinier, des hommes, blancs, Joseph Konrad déplore le non recours à l’expérience maritime (de navigation et de commandement à la mer) d’une amirale, femme, afro-américaine qu’on préfère employer à inaugurer les chrysanthèmes en Europe…

      Michelle Howard — Wikipédia
      https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Howard

      Michelle Janine Howard, née le 30 avril 1960 sur la March Air Reserve Base (Californie), est une amirale américaine. Elle est la première femme afro-américaine à commander un navire militaire (1999), première femme à devenir amiral quatre étoiles, à devenir femme vice-chef des Opérations navales (2014-2016), à diriger l’United States Naval Forces Europe (depuis 2016) puis l’Allied Joint Force Command Naples (depuis 2016).

    • Mêmes conclusions ici. Avec extension à la dépendance globale de la société aux technologies…

      USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain Mishaps Reveal Vulnerability | Observer
      http://observer.com/2017/08/navy-uss-john-s-mccain-collision

      First, neither the Naval Academy nor OCS produces naval officers qualified to fill seagoing billets without further training. The Surface Officer Warfare School that conducted this preparation was eliminated and ensigns were sent to sea in large numbers. Commanding officers and distance learning means were put in place to conduct this training. That did not work.

      Technology is also a culprit. The bridge of a modern warship is loaded with super technology. Radars and sonars have been augmented with infrared sensors and night vision devices. Computers navigate by GPS (global positioning system) and alert watch standers of potential dangers of collision or when in restricted waters. Seaman’s eye and good seamanship have been partially replaced by technology. As a result, traditional mariners’ skills have atrophied.

      Each of the services faces potential similar problems mandated by judgments at the time that made sense given the pressures and demands. These institutional decisions have vulnerabilities of their own. For example, American military forces are entirely dependent today on the network and GPS that provide the life’s blood of C3I (command, control and intelligence) to logistics and from firing precision ordinance against the enemy to supplying cheeseburgers and smart phones to forward operation bases.

      Similarly, society at large is dependent on the Internet, cell phones and electronic everything from depositing money in banks to paying bills and having intimate conversations with friends. Cyber attacks and hacking are the most well known disrupters that exploit these vulnerabilities.

      The Pentagon is well aware of many of these vulnerabilities. Naval officers are oiling ancient sextants to navigate by the sun and stars. Soldiers and marines are reading maps instead of iPads. And “distributed operations” that assume the “net” no longer works are being practiced.

      Given that the other services may face issues similar to the Navy’s, the Pentagon would be well advised to conduct a major review of these potential vulnerabilities created by institutional choices. Two topics are less visible although possibly more important. The first has to do with preparing flag and general officer for higher command and geopolitical and strategic issues. The second has to do with civilian control of the military.

    • Maybe today’s Navy is just not very good at driving ships
      https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2017/08/27/navy-swos-a-culture-in-crisis

      In the wake of two fatal collisions of Navy warships with commercial vessels, current and former senior surface warfare officers are speaking out, saying today’s Navy suffers from a disturbing problem: The SWO community is just not very good at driving ships.

      The two collisions — and a total of 17 sailors lost at sea this summer — have raised concerns about whether this generation of surface fleet officers lack the basic core competency of their trade.

      The problem is years in the making. Now, the current generation of officers rising into command-level billets lacks the skills, training, education and experience needed to operate effectively and safely at sea, according to current and former officers interviewed by Navy Times.
      […]
      For nearly 30 years, all new surface warfare officers spent their first six months in uniform at the Surface Warfare Officer’s School in Newport, Rhode Island, learning the theory behind driving ships and leading sailors as division officers.

      But that changed in 2003. The Navy decided to eliminate the “SWOS Basic” school and simply send surface fleet officers out to sea to learn on the job. The Navy did that mainly to save money, and the fleet has suffered severely for it, said retired Cmdr. Kurt Lippold.

      The Navy has cut training as a budgetary device and they have done it at the expense of our ability to operate safely at sea,” said Lippold, who commanded the destroyer Cole in 2000 when it was attacked by terrorists in Yemen.

      After 2003, each young officer was issued a set of 21 CD-ROMs for computer-based training — jokingly called “SWOS in a Box” — to take with them to sea and learn. Young officers were required to complete this instructor-less course in between earning their shipboard qualifications, management of their divisions and collateral duties.

      The elimination of SWOS Basic was the death knell of professional SWO culture in the United States Navy,” Hoffman said. “I’m not suggesting that … the entire surface warfare community is completely barren of professionalism. I’m telling you that there are systemic problems, particularly at the department head level, where they are timid, where they lack resolve and they don’t have the sea time we expect.

    • The chickens come home to roost’ - the meaning and origin of this phrase
      http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/chickens-come-home-to-roost.html

      The notion of bad deeds, specifically curses, coming back to haunt their originator is long established in the English language and was expressed in print as early as 1390, when Geoffrey Chaucer used it in The Parson’s Tale:

      And ofte tyme swich cursynge wrongfully retorneth agayn to hym that curseth, as a bryd that retorneth agayn to his owene nest.

      The allusion that was usually made was to a bird returning to its nest at nightfall, which would have been a familiar one to a medieval audience. Other allusions to unwelcome returns were also made, as in the Elizabethan play The lamentable and true tragedie of Arden of Feversham, 1592:

      For curses are like arrowes shot upright, Which falling down light on the suters [shooter’s] head.

      Chickens didn’t enter the scene until the 19th century when a fuller version of the phrase was used as a motto on the title page of Robert Southey’s poem The Curse of Kehama, 1810:

      Curses are like young chicken: they always come home to roost.

      This extended version is still in use, notably in the USA.

      The notion of the evil that men create returns to their own door also exists in other cultures. Buddhists are familiar with the idea that one is punished by one’s bad deeds, not because of them. Samuel Taylor Coleridge revived the imagery of a bird returning to punish a bad deed in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, 1798. In the poem the eponymous mariner kills an albatross, which was regarded as an omen of good luck, and is punished by his shipmates by having the bird hung around his neck:

      Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
      Had I from old and young!
      Instead of the cross, the Albatross
      About my neck was hung.

  • Little-Known Qatari Sheikh Embraced by Saudi in Sudden Move
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-20/little-known-qatari-sheikh-embraced-by-saudi-in-surprise-move

    Crise du #Golfe : un cheikh du Qatar mis en avant par l’Arabie saoudite
    http://www.atlasinfo.fr/Crise-du-Golfe-un-cheikh-du-Qatar-mis-en-avant-par-l-Arabie-saoudite_a8469

    L’#Arabie_saoudite, en crise ouverte avec le #Qatar, a accru la pression sur Doha en traitant la question sensible du hajj avec un membre de la famille royale qatarie, présenté par certains comme un potentiel rival de l’actuel émir, affirment des experts.

  • DNA from Viking cod bones suggests 1,000 years of European fish trade | University of Cambridge
    https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/dna-from-viking-cod-bones-suggests-1000-years-of-european-fish-trade

    Norway is famed for its cod. Catches from the Arctic stock that spawn each year off its northern coast are exported across Europe for staple dishes from British fish and chips to Spanish bacalao stew.

    Now, a new study published today in the journal PNAS suggests that some form of this pan-European trade in Norwegian cod may have been taking place for 1,000 years.

    Latest research from the universities of Cambridge and Oslo, and the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology in Schleswig, used ancient DNA extracted from the remnants of Viking-age fish suppers.

    The study analysed five cod bones dating from between 800 and 1066 AD found in the mud of the former wharves of #Haithabu, an early medieval trading port on the Baltic. Haithabu is now a heritage site in modern Germany, but at the time was ruled by the King of the Danes. 

    The DNA from these cod bones contained genetic signatures seen in the Arctic stock that swim off the coast of Lofoten: the northern archipelago still a centre for Norway’s fishing industry. 

    Researchers say the findings show that supplies of ‘stockfish’ – an ancient dried cod dish popular to this day – were transported over a thousand miles from northern Norway to the Baltic Sea during the Viking era.

    Prior to the latest study, there was no archaeological or historical proof of a European stockfish trade before the 12th century.

    #Hedeby Commerce de la #morue #Vikings

    • Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany
      http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/08/01/1710186114

      Abstract
      Knowledge of the range and chronology of historic trade and long-distance transport of natural resources is essential for determining the impacts of past human activities on marine environments. However, the specific biological sources of imported fauna are often difficult to identify, in particular if species have a wide spatial distribution and lack clear osteological or isotopic differentiation between populations. Here, we report that ancient fish-bone remains, despite being porous, brittle, and light, provide an excellent source of endogenous DNA (15–46%) of sufficient quality for whole-genome reconstruction. By comparing ancient sequence data to that of modern specimens, we determine the biological origin of 15 Viking Age (800–1066 CE) and subsequent medieval (1066–1280 CE) Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) specimens from excavation sites in Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Archaeological context indicates that one of these sites was a fishing settlement for the procurement of local catches, whereas the other localities were centers of trade. Fish from the trade sites show a mixed ancestry and are statistically differentiated from local fish populations. Moreover, Viking Age samples from Haithabu, Germany, are traced back to the North East Arctic Atlantic cod population that has supported the Lofoten fisheries of Norway for centuries. Our results resolve a long-standing controversial hypothesis and indicate that the marine resources of the North Atlantic Ocean were used to sustain an international demand for protein as far back as the Viking Age.

  • The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب : And now a Kuwait-Saudi rift
    http://angryarab.blogspot.fr/2017/08/and-now-kuwait-saudi-rift.html

    The GCC will never be the same and it will never recover from the splits and divisions which came out in the open in full force during the recent crisis. Yesterday, Kuwait banned the mouthpiece of King Salman, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, from entering Kuwait due to series of articles (especially the last one) in which `Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashid (who emerged lately as the one who gives the earliest signals about the shifts and turns in Saudi foreign policies). Al-Rashid has been criticizing Kuwait for its “neutrality” and reminding it—over and over again—that it had a debt toward Saudi Arabia because the rightly Saudi army liberated Kuwait in 1991.

    1001 #nuit_torride

  • Hero of Israel
    Gideon Levy | Jul 27, 2017
    http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.803684

    Netanyahu, Einat Schlein, Israel’s ambassador to Jordan and Ziv, an embassy security officer, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, July 25, 2017. Haim Zach / GPO

    The new hero of Israel wears torn jeans, lives in a religious cooperative community in the south, has a girlfriend and he kills Arabs. Heroes of Israel have always killed Arabs, but sometimes they did so bravely; today they do so with rather pathetic cowardice. They’re scared of a teen with a screwdriver.

    The hero of Israel kills Arabs indiscriminately, including ones who are innocent or who did not deserve to die. The Israeli hero is a young man of principles, principles he absorbed while serving in the occupied territories. He learned dehumanization in the Givati Brigade and how to kill civilians in Operation Protective Edge. He learned that the first action to take against an Arab is always to shoot to kill; the alternatives can be considered later.

    He learned that it’s perfectly fine, even heroic, to kill an Arab, no matter why. He trained in the territories and put it to use in Jordan — what difference does it make, all Arabs are the same, whether on the east or the west bank of the Jordan River. His friends say he’s a “man’s man,” that this wasn’t his first time in a tough situation, like that teen with a screwdriver, and that he’s calm and considered. Imagine what might have happened if he weren’t. He might have killed five people, maybe 10.

    The hero of Israel killed civilians: a physician, for no reason, and a teenager who was assembling furniture and who threatened him with that doomsday weapon, the screwdriver, in the heat of some argument, not even an attack. The hero of Israel didn’t blink. A hero of Israel never counts to 10. He draws and fires. Two dead, two more kill notches.

    Our newest hero’s name is Ziv, but we can’t show his face. His blurred visage as he is embraced by the prime minister only adds to his aura. He replaces his predecessor, the more exalted Elor Azaria. The former killed a dying man, the latter killed two civilians. Don’t accuse him. That’s what he was taught to do in “tough situations” in the territories — to shoot and to kill. That’s what he was trained to be, a blind machine gun.

    He is considered a hero. No one would dream of seriously questioning him as a suspect, beyond the formality promised to Jordan, and it’s already been said it would lead to nothing. Perhaps he committed murder, or perhaps negligent manslaughter? Perhaps he violated the rules of engagement? How would we know? We won’t know. We don’t want to know. Instead of that, we got the prime minister’s unsurprising phone call to him. “Did you make a date with your girlfriend yet?” asked Benjamin Netanyahu in that fatherly manner reserved for heroes. After that came the brave embrace in his office. Look, Jordan, look, these are the heroes of Israel, your sister in peace, the killers of your citizens. And the Palestinians are accused of exalting terrorists.

    When a Jordanian soldier killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in Naharayim in 2007, Jordan’s King Hussein cut short his trip to Spain and hurried to Beit Shemesh to kneel before the grieving families and beg forgiveness. He also visited the wounded and his kingdom paid compensation. But when an Israeli government security guard kills two Jordanians, at least one of them completely innocent, the Israeli prime minister won’t even consider apologizing. Condemnations we demand only from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. We can only fantasize about a condolence call or the payment of compensation. Why, who died, as the saying goes? Two Arabs, nothing more.

    King Hussein of jordan consoling an Israeli family whose daughter was killed by a Jordanian soldier during a class trip to Naharayim, 2007.Avi Ohayon / GOP

    Two dead Arabs, and a hero of Israel who returned home safely, overcoming his injuries. Ziv the hero will recite his version of events, and perhaps even return to service. Tens of thousands of young Israelis dream of being Ziv. They dream of serving in the territories in the occupation army, of abusing and killing Arabs, of traveling to India and to Guatemala before becoming embassy security guards. If they’re lucky, they might even get to kill some teenager with a screwdriver and a doctor who happened to be there, as in the good old days in Qalandiyah.

    Salute the heroes of Israel. They are the finest of our youth.

    #Jordanie #Ziv

  • Saudi Arabia says king’s contact with U.S. helped ease Al-Aqsa mosque tensions
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-saudi-idUSKBN1AC17J

    The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, has held contacts with many world leaders over the past few days,” the announcement from the Saudi royal court, published by state news agency SPA, said.

    Saudi Arabia is custodian of Islam’s most revered places in Mecca and Medina while Jordan is the custodian of Al-Aqsa mosque, its third holiest site, which is also revered by Jews.

    King Salman contacted the U.S. government and called for an end to restrictions on entry to the mosque, the statement said, saying that developments showed this push had been successful.

    Non seulement, il n’est pas mort, mais il fait reculer Israël à lui tout seul…

    • Le Waqf (seuls muslim leaders cités dans l’article), quant à lui, appelle les croyants à revenir à Al Aqsa

      Muslim leaders urge worshippers to return to Al-Aqsa after Israel backs down
      http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKBN1AC0UF

      But Muslim elders declared themselves satisfied with Israeli authorities reverting security to how it was before July 14.

      “The technical report showed that all obstacles the occupation (Israel) put outside Al-Aqsa mosque were removed,” said Abdel-Azeem Salhab, the head of the Waqf, the Jordanian-funded trust that oversees Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites.

      We praise this stand in the past two weeks outside Al-Aqsa and we want this stand to continue outside Al-Aqsa and now inside Al-Aqsa,” he said, urging worshippers to return to pray.

      Palestinian political factions issued statements supporting the Waqf announcement, which may help quell the unrest. Before the announcement, factions had been calling for a “day of rage” on Friday, which would probably have fueled the violence.

  • Jordan demands Israel turn over embassy guard over deadly shooting incident
    July 24, 2017 5:37 P.M. (Updated: July 24, 2017 5:43 P.M.)
    http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?ID=778321

    BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Jordanian government has reportedly issued a judicial order banning the Israeli security guard who was involved in a deadly shooting at the Israeli embassy in Jordan on Saturday night from leaving Jordan.

    Government sources told Ma’an that Jordan was demanding that Israeli authorities hand over the guard, who shot and killed two Jordanian carpenters in unclear circumstances, to Jordanian authorities for interrogation and legal procedures.

    Sources stressed that Jordan will “escalate diplomatic steps” if the guard was not turned in to Jordanian authorities.

    Israel has been refusing to allow Jordanian authorities to question the injured Israeli security guard, citing his immunity under the Vienna Convention, while all security personnel and diplomatic employees were confined to the embassy compound, according to reports.

    On Sunday, Haaretz reported that Israel had decided to immediately evacuate all Amman embassy staff, fearing that the incident would lead to riots and attempts to attack the embassy.

    On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Twitter that he had spoken twice with Israeli Ambassador to Jordan Eynat Schlein overnight Sunday, and with the security guard.

    “I gained the impression that she (Schlein) is managing matters there very well. I assured the security guard that we will bring him back to Israel,” Netanyahu said, adding that “I told them that we are holding ongoing contacts with security and government officials in Amman on all levels, to bring the incident to a close as soon as possible.”

    #Amman #Ambassade_israélienne
    https://seenthis.net/messages/617083
    #Jordanie #Ziv

    • Reports: Israeli, US officials travel to Jordan to discuss Al-Aqsa, embassy security guard
      July 24, 2017 10:15 P.M. (Updated: July 24, 2017 10:15 P.M.)
      http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=778330

      BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli media reported on Monday evening that during a “dialogue” between Israeli and Jordanian authorities, Jordan “did not condition the release of an Israeli embassy security guard back to Israel on the removal of the metal detectors at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.”

      Israel’s Channel 10 reported that the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the dialogue went “well,” and that United States envoy Jason Greenblatt would be heading to Amman from Jerusalem, where he arrived earlier Monday, “to convince the King to end the crisis of the embassy guard.”

      Earlier Monday, Jordanian government sources told Ma’an that the Jordanian government issued a judicial order banning the Israeli security guard who was involved in a deadly shooting at the Israeli embassy in Jordan on Saturday night that left two Jordanians dead, from leaving Jordan.

      Government sources said that Jordan was demanding that Israeli authorities hand over the guard, who shot and killed two Jordanian carpenters in unclear circumstances, to Jordanian authorities for interrogation and legal procedures.

      Sources stressed that Jordan will “escalate diplomatic steps” if the guard was not turned in to Jordanian authorities.

      Israel has been refusing to allow Jordanian authorities to question the injured Israeli security guard, citing his immunity under the Vienna Convention, while all security personnel and diplomatic employees were confined to the embassy compound, according to reports.

      Prior to Channel 10’s report, Israeli media had reported that Netanyahu would be calling the Jordanian King to discuss the issue of the embassy security guard, as well as the ongoing crisis surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where tensions have continued to rise since Israel installed metal detectors and security cameras inside the compound following a deadly shoot out at the holy site on July 14.

      Israeli media had reported that chief of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence agency, Nadav Argaman was sent to Jordan, and that Israel would be removing all metal detectors and replacing them with thermal cameras, a report that could not be verified by Ma’an (...)

      .

    • Israel rules to replace contested Al-Aqsa metal detectors with ’smart’ surveillance
      July 25, 2017 11:03 A.M. (Updated: July 25, 2017 11:03 A.M.)
      http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=778334

      BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Israeli security cabinet decided during a meeting late on Monday night to remove metal detectors, which had recently been installed at the entrances of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, only to replace them with more advanced surveillance technology in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.

      Israeli authorities installed metal detectors, turnstiles, and additional security cameras in the compound following a deadly shooting attack at Al-Aqsa on July 14 — sparking protests from Palestinians, who said the move was the latest example of Israeli authorities using Israeli-Palestinian violence as a means of furthering control over important sites in the occupied Palestinian territory and normalizing repressive measures against Palestinians.

      In a statement, the security cabinet said it had “accepted the recommendation of all of the security bodies to incorporate security measures based on advanced technologies ("smart checks") and other measures instead of metal detectors in order to ensure the security of visitors and worshipers in the Old City and on the Temple Mount” — using the Israeli term for the Al-Aqsa compound.

      Religious leaders in Jerusalem were scheduled to hold a meeting Tuesday to discuss the new Israeli plan, as Islamic endowment (Waqf) official Sheikh Raed Daana told Ma’an that both religious leaders and the Palestinians wouldn’t accept any changes to the status quo.

      “We won’t accept cameras or (metal) posts,” Daana said on Monday evening.

      The plan will reportedly take up to six months to implement, and cost an estimated 100 million shekels ($28 million).
      (...)
      According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, at least 1,090 Palestinians had been injured since July 14 during demonstrations which were violently repressed by Israeli forces across the occupied Palestinian territory. According to Ma’an documentation, 11 Palestinians and five Israelis have been killed since July 14.

    • Israeli embassy staff, including guard who killed 2, leave Jordan amid investigation
      July 25, 2017 3:46 P.M. (Updated: July 25, 2017 7:54 P.M.)
      http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=778337

      BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Staff members of the Israeli embassy to Jordan, including a security guard who killed two Jordanians, returned to Israel on Monday night after a day of tensions between the two countries over the deadly shootout.

      A Jordanian investigation into the shooting, in which Muhammad Zakariya al-Jawawdeh, 17 , and Bashar Hamarneh were killed, revealed that the deadly incident started off as a professional dispute, official Jordanian news agency Petra reported on Monday.

      According to Jordanian police, al-Jawawdeh had accompanied a relative delivering furniture to the security guard’s apartment in the Israeli compound in Amman, when an argument over alleged delays turned physical.

      Witnesses said that al-Jawawdeh attacked the Israeli security guard — whom Israeli media have referred to as Ziv — with a screwdriver, after which the Israeli shot at him and Hamarneh, the apartment building owner.

      Petra reported that the case had been referred to a prosecutor for further legal steps, as Jordan and Israel have sparred over whether the security guard should be handed over to Jordanian custody.

      Israel, meanwhile, has refused to allow Jordanian authorities to question the injured Israeli security guard, citing his immunity under the Vienna Conventions — a body of international law which Israel has been accused of regularly violating.

      Nadav Argaman, the director of Israel’s intelligence service, the Shin Bet, traveled to Jordan in an attempt to resolve the situation, whereas Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call with Jordan’s King Abdullah over the case.

      The Israeli security guard thanked Netanyahu for helping him leave Jordan without facing interrogation or criminal charges.

      "I know an entire country stands behind us. You told me yesterday I’d return home, and you calmed me down, and then it happened. I thank you wholeheartedly,” Israeli news outlet Ynet quoted him as saying.

      Despite reports that Israeli authorities would remove metal detectors at the entrance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem in exchange for securing the return of the security guard, Netanyahu denied that such an agreement had taken place.

      #Ben_voyons

    • Tuesday, July 25, 2017
      http://angryarab.blogspot.fr/2017/07/from-funeral-of-muhammad-jawawdeh-16.html

      From the funeral of Muhammad Jawawdeh, 16, who was shot by an Israeli embassy terrorist in Amman

      It says “death to Israel”.
      Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil at 8:38 AM

      ““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““
      Tuesday, July 25, 2017
      Netanyahu warmly welcomes the terrorist who shot a 16-year old Jordanian
      http://angryarab.blogspot.fr/2017/07/netanyahu-warmly-welcomes-terrorist-who.html

      When will they stop teaching and practicing hate? Who will change their curricula?
      Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil at 11:17 AM

    • Investigation into Israeli embassy shooting completed
      http://petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspx?lang=2&site_id=1&NewsID=311051&CatID=13

      Amman, July 24 (Petra) — The Public Security Department (PSD), said Monday evening that the investigation launched into a shooting incident inside the Israeli embassy compound in Amman on Sunday was completed.

      A statement released by the PSD said the investigation was completed after collecting information from the crime scene and listening to a number of eyewitnesses, who were present at the scene.

      A PSD special investigation team has found that there was a prior agreement between people working in carpentry to supply bedroom furniture for an apartment rented by an Israeli embassy employee, the statement indicated, adding that two people came to furnish the bedroom of the Israeli employee’s apartment inside the compound.

      During the process, a dispute has erupted between one of the carpenters, who was the furniture shop owner’s son, and the Israeli diplomat. The two had a verbal argument as the Israeli diplomat claimed that there was a delay in completing the agreed upon work on time.

      The altercation escalated to physical confrontation where the carpenter attacked and injured the Israeli diplomat who in turn shot the carpenter and the apartment’s owner, who and the building’s doorman were present at the scene, the statement added, citing the testimony given by the other person who came with the carpenter.

      The team also listened to the doorman’s testimony, who corroborated the story as mentioned in the investigation.

      Then case has been referred to the competent prosecutor for further legal action.

      //Petra// AF

      25/7/2017 - 12:00:24 AM

  • Revealed : the insidious creep of pseudo-public space in London | Cities | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/24/revealed-pseudo-public-space-pops-london-investigation-map

    Pseudo-public space – squares and parks that seem public but are actually owned by corporations – has quietly spread across cities worldwide. As the Guardian maps its full extent in London for the first time, Jack Shenker reports on a new culture of secrecy and control, where private security guards can remove you for protesting, taking photos ... or just looking scruffy
    Explore the map – and tell us what we’re missing

    #dfs #espace_public #privatisation

  • Saudi King’s Son Plotted Effort to Oust His Rival
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-mohammed-bin-nayef-mohammed-bin-salman.html

    Before midnight, Mohammed bin Nayef was told he was going to meet the king and was led into another room, where royal court officials took away his phones and pressured him to give up his posts as crown prince and interior minister, according to United States officials and an associate of the royal family.

    At first, he refused. But as the night wore on, the prince, a diabetic who suffers from the effects of a 2009 assassination attempt by a suicide bomber, grew tired.

    Meanwhile, royal court officials called members of the Allegiance Council, a body of princes who are supposed to approve changes to the line of succession. Some were told that Mohammed bin Nayef had a drug problem and was unfit to be king, according to an associate of the royal family.

  • Saudi Arabia investigates video of woman in miniskirt - BBC News
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40633687

    The authorities in Saudi Arabia are investigating a young woman who posted a video of herself wearing a miniskirt and crop-top in public.

    The woman, a model called “Khulood”, shared the clip of her walking around a historic fort in Ushayqir.

    The footage sparked a heated debate on social media, with some calling for her arrest for breaking the conservative Muslim country’s strict dress code.

    Other Saudis came to the woman’s defence, praising her “bravery”.

    Women in Saudi Arabia must wear loose-fitting, full-length robes known as “abayas” in public, as well as a headscarf. They are also banned from driving and are separated from unrelated men.

    Saudi women criticise cleric’s advice
    Saudi women’s rights video goes viral
    Are Saudi women really that oppressed?

    #arabie_saoudite pour changer

  • Map of the known world comissioned by Henry II of France in 1550
    The British Library MS Viewer

    http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_24065_f001r

    1550, Map of the known world comissioned by Henry II of France (r. 1547–59) or the Duc de Montmorency. One of the earliest maps to show Canada and Australia (‘Terre Australle’). Includes twenty-six long descriptive texts, for which no other source is known.Decoration:Hand-painted illustrations of cities, kings, exotic peoples, animals, ships, and sea-monsters. Arms of King Henry II of France (lower left corner of the map) and the Duc de Montmorency (lower right).
    1550, Map of the known world comissioned by Henry II of France (r. 1547–59) or the Duc de Montmorency. One of the earliest maps to show Canada and Australia (‘Terre Australle’). Includes twenty-six long descriptive texts, for which no other source is known.Decoration:Hand-painted illustrations of cities, kings, exotic peoples, animals, ships, and sea-monsters. Arms of King Henry II of France (lower left corner of the map) and the Duc de Montmorency (lower right).

    #cartographie #cartes_anciennes #cartographie_anciennes #cartographie_historique

  • “Moroccan anger over the UAE and KSA’s attempts at dealing with Morocco as an annexed princedom…” | The Mideastwire Blog
    https://mideastwire.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/moroccan-anger-over-the-uae-and-ksas-attempts-at-dealing-with

    On June 19, the electronic Rai al-Youm daily newspaper carried the following report: “The honeymoon between Morocco and the Gulf States mainly Saudi Arabia and the UAE has ended on the backdrop of these countries’ conflict with Qatar. The Moroccans’ anger increased when Abu Dhabi and Al-Riyadh tried to exploit the file of the Western Sahara to attack Morocco.

    “In their conflict with Qatar whom they’re accusing of supporting terrorism, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the two countries that are leading the campaign against Doha, considered that Morocco will be siding with them just as the case of the Yemeni war. However, and in light of its local political problems caused by the [popular] movement in the Moroccan Rif, Morocco opted for full independence from the Saudi-Emirati axis mainly the UAE minister of defense and Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Zayed, the friend of King Mohammad VI. Morocco thus distanced itself in fear of a military adventure against Qatar…

    http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=695287

    #Maroc #Golfe

  • Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is good news for Israel and U.S.

    Saudi crown prince Bin Salman agrees with U.S. on Russia, Assad, Iran and ISIS and according to some reports, he’s also met with top Israeli officials

    Zvi Bar’el Jun 21, 2017
    read more: http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-1.797007

    New Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s appointment as Saudi Arabia’s heir apparent was only a matter of time. The “boy,” who will mark his 32nd birthday in August, has been leading the country de facto anyway. He already calls the shots on foreign policy. Many expect that in the not-too-distant future, King Salman, who is ill, will step down and hand the scepter to his son.
    Bin Salman has been undergoing training for the throne since Salman’s coronation two and a half years ago, both through foreign missions carried out on behalf of his father, and also through the war in Yemen that – as defense minister – he planned and carried out (albeit not particularly successfully).
    >>Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro: The impulsiveness of the king-in-waiting should worry Israel and the U.S.
    Before the new crown prince’s advent, his cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, had been in charge of relationships with Washington, especially with the CIA. In short order, Nayef was pushed out and the Americans understood exactly who the strong man in town was.
    Bin Salman became the contact not only between the kingdom and Washington, but also with Russia: the new heir met with President Vladimir Putin several times to coordinate policy on Syria and Iran.
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    Until now, Mohammed bin Salman has been good news for Israel and the United States, as his firm anti-Iranian positions make him an important partner – and not only in the struggle against Iran. Bin Salman agrees with America on the need to thwart Russian influence in the region; to topple President Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria; and to act firmly against ISIS and other radical organizations, from the Muslim Brotherhood to Hezbollah. During the last two years, several Arab websites have reported that bin Salman also met with top Israelis.

    File photo: US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the White House on March 14, 2017.NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP
    >> Cluster bombs and yachts: 5 things you should know about Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince
    According to these reports, one such meeting took place in Eilat in 2015; another on the margins of the Arab summit in Jordan this March, and there are regular meetings between Saudi and Israeli officers in the joint war room where Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United States coordinate. What is not yet known is to what extent Bin Salman can and might want to advance the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan, and whether he can turn around relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
    In a series of tweets this week, the Saudi blogger known as “Mujtahidd” revealed a “plot” by Crown Prince bin Salman and the heir to the Abu Dhabi throne, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to stage a coup in Qatar.
    Mujtahidd – many of whose tweets have proven accurate, and who apparently relies on whispers from the Saudi Arabia monarchial court – wrote, among other things, that the two heirs intended to send Blackwater mercenaries (of Iraqi notoriety) to Qatar, together with forces from the UAE, to seize the government. After that, somebody from the ruling Al-Thani family who would be loyal to them would be appointed. Thusly, according to Mujtahidd, the two thought to reduce the crisis and bend Qatar to Saudi Arabia’s will. Based on these tweets, it was the United States that pressed, indirectly, to torpedo the notion.
    By the way, this information has not been verified, and there is no certainty that these tweets rely on any actual fact. But what is unquestionable is the depth of relations between the two young heirs, a relationship that has created an axis of youth confident of the global mission – or at least Arab mission – placed on their shoulders, and confident that none but them are suited to run the Middle East.

    Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R) talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 19, 2017. HANDOUT/REUTERS
    This is a new generation that includes the ruler of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, 37. It is a generation that came late to the Gulf states, having been predated by youthful leaders in Morocco, Jordan and Syria.
    Arab leaders like Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi and King Abdullah have felt the whip of Saudi foreign relations. Both have been lashed over their “behavior” – and they were punished, too. Saudi Arabia cut off the oil supply to Egypt six months ago because of Cairo’s support for the Russian proposal on Syria, and because what Saudi Arabia felt was Egypt’s retreat from the proposal to return the Sanafir and Tiran islands in the Red Sea to it. Saudi Arabia also suspended aid to Jordan until recently because Jordan refused to let Gulf forces operate from its territory against Syrian forces.

    Mohammed bin Salman, newly appointed as crown prince, left, kisses the hand of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, June 21, 2017./AP
    But the hardest blow was suffered, of course, by Qatar, which was declared non grata by the Gulf nations, Egypt, Yemen and Jordan, which turned the terrestrial and aerial blockade of the Gulf state into an economic one.
    The new crown prince was the living spirit behind all these decisions, which required no more than a formal nod from his father.
    The appointment, which has passed without opposition so far, and with the overwhelming support of the Allegiance Council (which, under the constitution, has the power to approve the appointment of heirs) is not expected to cause any new jolts in the kingdom.
    Potential opponents have already been “summoned for a chat” in the king’s court. The new interior minister, Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef, is another youngster, just 34, and is very close to Mohammed bin Salman. From now on, he will be the one responsible for managing the struggle against internal terrorism. He will also be the crown prince’s partner in oppressing subversion.
    To gratify the subjects ahead of the change, King Salman announced the extension of Id al-Fitr (to mark the end of Ramadan) by another week. He also returned all the financial emoluments that were recently taken away from government and army officials. A pay raise is a time-honored way of maintaining quiet calm in the Saudi kingdom.

  • Poetry Lovers’ Page - Rudyard Kipling : Screw-Guns
    https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/screw_guns.html


    Un poème militaire de Rudyard Kipling et sa caricature par Bert Brecht et Kurt Weill

    The Screw Gun
    http://oldbritishguns.com/the-screw-gun

    The Screw Gun was the brainchild of Colonel Cecil Brook le Mesurier of the Royal Artillery in 1877. His proposal was to break the gun down into parts to be carried by pack mules. The maximum practical load at the time for a mule was 200 pounds, so the 400 pound barrel was divided into two parts, to be screwed back together for action. It took at least 5 mules for the barrel, carriage and associated bits, then more mules for ammunition and powder.
    ...
    The gun was used all over Afghanistan and India, and was even present in the Sudan at the Battle of Abu Klea, during the relief of Khartoum. It was also well used in Africa by the West African Frontier Force and the King’s African Rifles.

    RML 2.5 inch Mountain Gun
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RML_2.5_inch_Mountain_Gun

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqJmBfgXRUQ

    Smokin’ my pipe on the mountings, sniffin’ the mornin’ cool,
    I walks in my old brown gaiters along o’ my old brown mule,
    With seventy gunners be’ind me, an’ never a beggar forgets
    It’s only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets — ’Tss! ’Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns — the screw-guns they all love you!
    So when we call round with a few guns, o’ course you will know what to do — hoo! hoo!
    Jest send in your Chief an’ surrender — it’s worse if you fights or you runs:
    You can go where you please, you can skid up the trees, but you don’t get away from the guns!

    They sends us along where the roads are, but mostly we goes where they ain’t:
    We’d climb up the side of a sign-board an’ trust to the stick o’ the paint:
    We’ve chivied the Naga an’ Looshai, we’ve give the Afreedeeman fits,
    For we fancies ourselves at two thousand, we guns that are built in two bits — ’Tss! ’Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns . . .

    If a man doesn’t work, why, we drills ’im an’ teaches ’im ’ow to behave;
    If a beggar can’t march, why, we kills ’im an’ rattles ’im into ’is grave.
    You’ve got to stand up to our business an’ spring without snatchin’ or fuss.
    D’you say that you sweat with the field-guns? By God, you must lather with us — ’Tss! ’Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns . . .

    The eagles is screamin’ around us, the river’s a-moanin’ below,
    We’re clear o’ the pine an’ the oak-scrub, we’re out on the rocks an’ the snow,
    An’ the wind is as thin as a whip-lash what carries away to the plains
    The rattle an’ stamp o’ the lead-mules — the jinglety-jink o’ the chains — ’Tss! ’Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns . . .

    There’s a wheel on the Horns o’ the Mornin’, an’ a wheel on the edge o’ the Pit,
    An’ a drop into nothin’ beneath you as straight as a beggar can spit:
    With the sweat runnin’ out o’ your shirt-sleeves, an’ the sun off the snow in your face,
    An’ ’arf o’ the men on the drag-ropes to hold the old gun in ’er place — ’Tss! ’Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns . . .

    Smokin’ my pipe on the mountings, sniffin’ the mornin’ cool,
    I climbs in my old brown gaiters along o’ my old brown mule.
    The monkey can say what our road was — the wild-goat ’e knows where we passed.
    Stand easy, you long-eared old darlin’s! Out drag-ropes! With shrapnel! Hold fast — ’Tss! ’Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns — the screw-guns they all love you!
    So when we take tea with a few guns, o’ course you will know what to do — hoo! hoo!
    Jest send in your Chief an’ surrender — it’s worse if you fights or you runs:
    You may hide in the caves, they’ll be only your graves, but you can’t get away from the guns!

    A propos du texte et de la musique de Screw Guns
    http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_screwguns1.htm

    Der Kanonen Song
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bEKU70_7E8

    John war darunter und Jim war dabei
    Und Georgie ist Sergeant geworden
    Doch die Armee, sie fragt keinen, wer er sei
    Und sie marschierte hinauf nach dem Norden.
    Soldaten wohnen
    Auf den Kanonen
    Vom Cap bis Couch Behar.
    Wenn es mal regnete
    Und es begegnete
    Ihnen ’ne neue Rasse’ne braune oder blasse
    Da machen sie vielleicht daraus ihr Beefsteak Tartar

    Johnny war der Whisky zu warm
    Und Jimmy hatte nie genug Decken
    Aber Georgie nahm beide beim Arm
    Und sagte „Die Armee kann nicht verrecken“.
    Soldaten wohnen
    Auf den Kanonen
    Vom Cap bis Couch Behar.
    Wenn es mal regnete
    Und es begegnete
    Ihnen ’ne neue Rasse’ne braune oder blasse
    Da machen sie vielleicht daraus ihr Beefsteak Tartar

    John ist gestorben und Jim ist tot
    Und Georgie ist verißt und verdorben
    Aber Blut ist immer noch rot
    Und für die Armee wird jetzt wieder geworben!
    Soldaten wohnen
    Auf den KanonenVom Cap bis Couch Behar.
    Wenn es mal regneteUnd es begegnete
    Ihnen ’ne neue Rasse’ne braune oder blasse
    Da machen sie vielleicht daraus ihr Beefsteak Tartar

    L’esprit militaire
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-commissioned_officer#United_Kingdom

    Sergeant Jamie Shannon of the 105 Regiment Royal Artillery stands in the Middle Ward, Edinburgh Castle. As District Gunner, he has just supervised the firing of the One O’Clock gun, which points east over the Mills Mount Battery wall. The rest of the gunners are formed up behind the gun, to the right.

    #Royaume_Uni #Allemagne #histoire #militarisme #colonialisme #impérialisme #théâtre #musique #poésie

  • Troubled waters in the Gulf
    http://www.petroleum-economist.com/articles/politics-economics/middle-east/2017/troubled-waters-in-the-gulf

    Even before the Qatar controversy erupted, the population of the Gulf was witnessing a radical change in leadership styles—at least in two of the key GCC states, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Two charismatic and ambitious leaders, Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the son of the king of Saudi Arabia, and Muhammad bin Zaid, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and the strongman of the UAE, have led the way.

    These two young and energetic princes have challenged the traditional structures and mechanisms of Gulf leadership, offering a new approach that’s more decisive, but less accountable and less predictable.

    [...]

    The continuation of this new leadership trend would gradually give the two men involved a status more akin to an all-powerful president than a king, more like Sisi of Egypt than the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. For many Gulf citizens this represents a traumatic break with tradition, disturbing in a region where change has always been gradual and measured, and the future has never looked anything other than calm and secure.

    There is a danger that the populations could feel even more disenfranchised than before. And with the solid support of the Trump administration, which has cast aside Obama’s dictum that Arab states adhere to high standards of human rights, dissent would be firmly stifled.

    #golfe

    • Avec les deux versions de la folle #nuit_torride du 24 mai

      There are at least two narratives for how we got here. If you believe the government of Qatar, the official Qatar News Agency was hacked on May 24 and a fake news story was transmitted quoting Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani as saying, “There is no reason behind Arabs’ hostility to Iran.” The allegedly false report reaffirmed Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian offshoot, Hamas, as well as claiming Doha’s relations with Israel were good.

      The government-influenced media in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, adopted an alternative narrative, treating the news story as true and responding quickly with a burst of outrage. The emir’s comments were endlessly repeated and, to the anger of Doha, internet access to Qatari media was blocked so that the official denial could not be read.

      There is a possibility that the initial hacking was orchestrated by Tehran, which was annoyed by the anti-Iran posture of the May 20-21 summit in Riyadh, when President Donald Trump met King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud Salman and representatives of dozens of Muslim states.

    • Washington can play an important role in defusing this potentially explosive situation. U.S. officials may believe that Qatar was being less than evenhanded in its balancing act between the United States and Iran — but a drawn-out conflict between Riyadh and Doha, or a struggle that pushes Qatar into Tehran’s arms, would benefit no one. In this respect, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is arguably well-placed. ExxonMobil, where he was CEO before joining the U.S. government, is the biggest foreign player in Qatar’s energy sector, so he presumably knows the main decision-makers well.

    • Crise du Golfe : le Qatar a-t-il été piégé par les Emirats arabes unis ?
      http://www.latribune.fr/economie/international/crise-du-golfe-le-qatar-a-t-il-ete-piege-par-les-emirats-arabes-unis-74414

      Les Emirats arabes unis seraient à l’origine d’une cyberattaque visant les réseaux sociaux et les sites du gouvernement qatari fin mai, assurent plusieurs membres des renseignements américains interrogés par le Washington Post. Ces plateformes ont affiché de fausses déclarations attribuées à l’émir qatari, cheikh Tamin ben Hamad Khalifa Al-Thani, dans lesquelles il faisait l’éloge du Hamas et surtout de l’Iran, l’ennemi juré des pays du Golfe.

      L’opération s’est déroulée le 24 mai, soit peu de temps après la tournée du président américain Donald Trump dans les pays du Golfe. A cette occasion, l’Arabie saoudite et ses alliés n’ont pas manqué de rappeler qu’ils considéraient l’Iran comme un «  facteur de déstabilisation  » dans la région en raison de son «  interventionnisme  » dans plusieurs pays notamment la Syrie, l’Irak et le Yémen. Dans son discours à Riyad le 21 mai, Donald Trump a fait part du même diagnostic, appelant «  toutes les nations de conscience » à « travailler ensemble pour isoler l’Iran  ».

      Citant ces fausses déclarations de l’émir du Qatar, l’Arabie saoudite, les Emirats arabes unis, Bahreïn et l’Egypte ont interdit les médias qataris, puis imposé des sanctions diplomatiques dès le 5 juin. Doha a déjà averti ses voisins que ses plateformes avaient été piratées. Les Qataris ont d’ailleurs ouvert une enquête, toujours en cours, et n’ont pour l’instant désigné aucun coupable. De son côté, Abou Dabi réfute toute tentative de cyberattaque suite à l’article du Washington Post.

      Ces révélations surviennent alors que, depuis plusieurs mois, des e-mails hackés de l’ambassadeur des Emirats arabes unis à Washington et publiés par l’organisation pro-qatari GlobalLeaks, démontraient la détermination d’Abou Dabi de rallier les Etats-Unis à sa cause dans sa querelle avec Doha.

  • U.S. Support for Saudi Arabia Tough to Explain for Top State Department Official
    http://www.newsweek.com/state-department-official-struggle-us-support-saudi-arabia-618327

    Stuart Jones, who was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq by former President Barack Obama in 2014 before assuming the title of assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs in January, took a long, silent pause after an Agence France-Presse reporter asked the official how President Donald Trump could criticize Iran’s democracy, while standing next to Saudi Arabian officials. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, where every position of power is appointed by either the king or other members of the Al Saud royal family from which the nation derives its name. Trump recently visited Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the U.S., and took the opportunity to deeply criticize the two nations’ mutual foe, Iran, and its commitment to democracy weeks after it held its presidential election.

  • What McDonald’s doesn’t want you to know about its ‘British’ beef | The Independent
    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/mcdonalds-beef-burgers-amazon-rainforest-deforestation-cargill-bunge-

    In a report in February, campaign group Mighty Earth revealed how land was being cleared to make way for soy plantations in the Brazilian Cerrado and Bolivian Amazon.

    Now, in a follow-up report, they said “large industrial farms” were still selling to major global food companies that supply household names like #McDonald’s, #Burger_King, #Dunkin’Donuts, #Kellogg’s and #Kraft_Heinz.

    #déforestation #forêt #soja #viande #Bolivie #Brésil

  • Saudi Media: Muslim Leaders Invited to Summit with Trump — Naharnet

    http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/229820

    King Abdullah II of Jordan, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou are among leaders invited by Saudi King Salman for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

    The Arab-Islamic-American Summit will be among a series of talks expected to be held in Riyadh on May 20-21, Saudi officials said.

    Trump has frequently been accused of fueling Islamophobia but aides described his decision to visit Saudi Arabia as an effort to reset relations with the Muslim world.

    There will also be a separate meeting between monarchs of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and Trump, as well as bilateral talks between the Saudi and U.S. leaders, Riyadh’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has said.

    In addition to heads of state from Jordan, Algeria and Niger, the official Saudi Press Agency reported that Salman asked Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to attend.

    The leaders of Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq and Tunisia have also received invitations, the Arab News daily reported on Wednesday.

  • Saudi Reforms and the Future of Mohammed bin Salman | New Eastern Outlook A russian point of view
    http://journal-neo.org/2017/04/29/saudi-reforms-and-the-future-of-mohammed-bin-salman

    On April 22, as was already customary in the era of King Salman and his son, Prince Mohammed, a series of royal decrees were unexpectedly adopted and immediately published. The essence of these decrees is twofold: on the one hand, the level of salaries and bonuses for state employees will be restored, after having been canceled in September 2016, and they, respectively, will be increased by twenty percent. In addition, two salaries are paid at once to servicemen fighting in Yemen. On the other hand, a number of resignations and new appointments have been announced, which can also be divided into two parts – the appointment of new ministers and new governors.Rather significant figures have been dismissed from the group of appointees of Mohammed bin Salman himself, such as the Minister of Information and Culture, and technocrats, mostly not from the royal family, are listed in their place; whereas the posts of provincial governors and their deputies everywhere are taken up primarily by young princes of royal blood. The most notable appointment is the new ambassador to the United States – another son of King Khaled bin Salman. Yet another son, Abdelaziz bin Salman, changed from the Deputy Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources to State Minister for Energy (the post is more honorary than influential).

    Behind all these decisions is the iron logic of power. If we speak about raising salaries and paying benefits, then the emergence of this decree is dictated by the need to calm the maturing opposition in the Saudi society and the frustration that is flaring up in social media. They accuse the young prince, who is responsible for the economic, defense and foreign policy of the country, of living wastefully against the backdrop of the misfortunes of the Saudi population (although those are quite relative compared with other countries), which has begun to live significantly worse, given the fall in oil prices and measures to reduce the budget deficit, which amounted to a record $75 billion in 2016. Muhammad bin Salman is also accused of inept, ill-conceived reforms that do not produce proper results, and of delaying the costly military campaign in Yemen, which has not yet yielded any results. In this context, the increase in salaries and the payment of bonuses were absolutely necessary to strengthen the young prince’s shaky positions. The royal finances now provide some opportunities for this because of the stabilization of oil prices at $52-55 per barrel, although they are not enough to solve the problems of a budget deficit – for this the price for oil would need to soar to $78 per barrel, which so far looks unrealistic.

    http://journal-neo.org/2017/04/29/saudi-reforms-and-the-future-of-mohammed-bin-salman

    #Russie #Arabie