country:bahrain

REVEALED: Both sides of Gulf crisis listed as ’priority markets’ for UK arms export push | Middle East Eye
▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/revealed-both-sides-gulf-dispute-listed-priority-market-uk-arms-11274

http://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/main-images/BAE%20Typhoon%20fighter%20AFP.jpg

The UK government is being accused of fanning the flames of the Gulf crisis after it included both sides of the dispute in a newly published list of countries identified by officials as “priority markets” for the UK’s £12bn defence industry, Middle East Eye can reveal.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain are listed alongside regional rival Qatar on a list of 46 nations highlighted by Whitehall officials as potentially lucrative markets for weapons.

The list, which has been seen by MEE, comes on the eve of the world’s largest arms fair in London next week. It signals a dramatic expansion in efforts to boost arms sales to the Middle East in the wake of the Brexit vote.

In addition to including both sides of the Gulf crisis, which has divided the region for three months, the list of countries to be to be targeted for sales by officials of the Department for International Trade’s Defence and Security Organisation includes a string of Middle East states on the UK government’s own “human rights priority registers”.

Concern for human rights?

Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have all been named priority arms export markets by the Department for International Trade despite being listed by the Foreign Office as a “human rights priority”.

#Armes #Royaume_uni #marchand_de_mort #golfe #donneurs_de_leçon

Dark Signs in the Persian Gulf

Blog | Graham E. Fuller
▻http://grahamefuller.com/blog

The political and economic assault against Qatar by a Saudi-led coalition so far shows no signs of succeeding in bending Qatar to its will. More seriously, it raises ominous signals for the future of geopolitics in the Arabian Peninsula. That future may have less to do with Iran and more to do with a Saudi Arabia that is demonstrating a newfound aggressive drive towards hegemony in the Arabian Peninsula. 

Saudi Arabia is now the de facto leader of a counter-revolutionary—one might even say counter-evolutionary—bloc dedicated to quashing any replay of the kind of tumultuous regime change we witnessed in the Arab Spring of 2011. In those events four autocratic regimes bit the dust—Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen—and Syria nearly so. Autocrats of course place top priority on retaining power. 

More disturbing however, is that Saudi Arabia seems engaged in a long-term process of expanding its authority, and eventually its sovereign control across the Arabian Peninsula in fulfillment of a kind of Wahhabi “Manifest Destiny.” Saudi Arabia is the chief promoter of narrow and intolerant Wahhabi-Salafi interpretations of Islam from the UK to Indonesia to South Africa. Riyadh does not support terrorism as such, but bankrolls the schools and mosques from which ideological justification for terrorism almost invariably proceeds. Saudi territorial expansion of dominance in the Peninsula will only increase that problem.

Gulf Arab politics have traditionally been characterized by conservative social mores and cautious autocratic rule that abhors any form of political radicalism—at least at home. Saudi Arabia, as the overwhelmingly largest Gulf state, has long sought to dominate the fringe of small states and shaykhdoms that ring the Peninsula’s coasts—from Oman, in the south, to the federation of small shaykhdoms now under the federal umbrella of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the north, the island of Bahrain just a few miles off the Saudi coast, and the very small peninsula of independent Qatar attached to the Saudi mainland. Kuwait at the top of the Gulf, too, in principle belongs to this grouping within the Gulf Cooperation Council, but has fairly successfully managed to maintain its distance from Saudi pressures. Impoverished Yemen, with its feisty political culture on the southwest corner of the Peninsula, has for centuries fiercely struggled to fight off Saudi domination and is still doing so.

Qatar shipper Milaha plans base in Oman after trade hit by diplomatic rift
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/gulf-qatar-shipping-idUSL5N1KT2E4

Qatar Navigation (Milaha), a top Doha-based shipping and logistics group, said it was shifting its regional trans-shipment hub from Dubai to the Omani port of Sohar after a diplomatic crisis in the region disrupted Qatar’s trade.

Milaha is setting up a warehousing and logistics operation at Sohar, on Oman’s northern coast, and is exploring other opportunities to expand in that country, the company said on Monday.

The plan suggests Qatar is making long-term preparations to cope with sanctions imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, which cut diplomatic and transport ties on June 5, accusing Doha of backing terrorism.
[…]
Milaha’s logistics base in Oman will increase companies’ options to access the Qatari market, the shipping firm said, adding that it currently called at two Omani ports, Sohar and Salalah, and was considering a further expansion of services.

Companies can also use three Indian ports served by Milaha - Nhava Sheva, Mundra and Kandla - as trans-shipment hubs for trade with Qatar, it added. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Suites juridiques internationales de la #nuit_torride entre le Qatar et ses faux-frères arabes ! Bahreïn et les Emirats rouvriraient des couloirs aériens pour le Qatar.

أنباء عن فتح البحرين والإمارات مجالاً جويًّا مُراقبًا أمام قطر | رأي اليوم
▻http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=722557

Etonnant développement de la #nuit_torride ! L’ambassadeur des Emirats aux USA eplique sur une télé nordaméricaine que l’objectif des pays qui s’en prennent au Qatar est de mettre en place "des gouvernements séculiers (laïcs)"
“ما تريده الإمارات والسعودية والأردن ومصر والبحرين للشرق الأوسط هو حكومات علمانية”
Tempête de protestations sur les réseaux sociaux, y compris de la part de membres de la famille royale saoudienne.

ردًّا على تصريحات سفير الإمارات في واشنطن بشأن علمانية حُكومات الدول المُقاطعة لقطر.. أُمراء سعوديون غاضبون من مُستقبل مملكتهم | رأي اليوم
▻http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=718594

‘Declaration of war :’ Hajj controversy widens row between Saudi Arabia & Qatar — RT News
▻https://www.rt.com/news/398027-qatar-hajj-saudi-restrictions-war

#nuit_torride. Le développement du moment, c’est « l’internationalilsation des lieux-saints » musulmans, demandée par Qatar, et qui reprend un dossier très chaud déjà évoqué par les Iraniens, ce qui n’est pas innocent bien entendu.

The feud between the Saudi-led block and Qatar escalated over the weekend, with Doha protesting to the UN over restrictions on its citizens flying to Mecca, and Riyadh threatening “war” over what it considers calls to “internationalize the holy sites” in Mecca and Medina.

Sinon, on note également la mise en place de couloirs de secours pour les vols de l’aviation civile. Curieusement, Qatar dément... ▻https://arabic.rt.com/middle_east/891350-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%8

Government approved arms sales to 20 countries on its own list of human rights abusers, say campaigners
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-arms-deals-sales-countries-human-rights-abusers-bahrain-saudi-arab

The Government has approved licences for arms deals to two-thirds of the countries on its own list of human rights abusers, a campaign group has said.

Boris Johnson’s Foreign Office released its annual human rights report on Friday including a list of 30 countries, like Bahrain, China, Saudi Arabia and Israel, it had given “priority” status in 2016.

But in the same year, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) said, the UK licensed £820m of arms to 20 countries on the list.

Lobbyists cash in on dispute between Qatar, Saudi Arabia
▻http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/19/lobbyists-cash-in-on-qatar-240735

Meanwhile, the opposing sides hope to head off any punitive measures from Washington while seeking favorable terms in any American-brokered settlement. The Qatari government appeared to spend less than $300,000 per month with four firms in the months before the Saudis and their allies cut off relations, according to Justice Department filings. Now, after hiring three more firms, they’re spending at least $1.4 million per month.

It’s less clear how much the Saudis and their allies are spending due to complexities in the filing documents. Saudi Arabia has spent nearly $250,000 a month with three of its six lead lobbying firms, disclosures showed, though the total for all its firms is likely much higher. During the last three months of 2016 and the first three months of 2017, when Saudi lobbying was unusually heavy, they spent more than $6.2 million with one firm alone. The UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have their own lobbyists in Washington.

Al Jazeera Responds to the Qatar-Gulf Crisis
▻http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/al-jazeera-responds-to-the-qatargulf-crisis

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain want Al Jazeera - including AJ+ - to be shut down. Here’s what Al Jazeera journalists think of that.

#Bell_Pottinger reputation muddied by South African scandal

For years, the British public relations group Bell Pottinger has advised on burnishing the standing of controversial regimes from Belarus to Bahrain, but its work for South Africa’s #Gupta family has seen it become mired in scandal this week, inflicting major reputational damage on the firm itself.

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Qatar: Saudi led coalition lists the closure of Al Jazeera among conditions to end crisis
International Federation of Journalists, le 23 juin 2017
▻http://www.ifj.org/nc/news-single-view/backpid/1/article/qatar-saudi-led-coalition-lists-the-closure-of-al-jazeera-among-conditions-to-e

Saudi Arabia led coalition today sent an ultimatum to Qatar with 13 demands to be met within the next 10 days in order to end Qatar crisis, including the closure of Al Jazeera and other news outlets funded by Qatar.

Reports said that, following the decision early June of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen and Egypt of cutting ties with Qatar, Kuwait has today presented a list of 13 demands to this country as part of its mediation in the talks.

Among the Opens external link in new windowdemands, the coalition is asking Qatar to shut down Al-Jazeera and its affiliate stations, as well as the news outlets funded directly and indirectly by this country, media added.

The IFJ recently has called on the coalition to Opens external link in new windowstop using journalists as political footballs and respect journalists doing their jobs and their families. The Federation warned that the crisis is having an impact on thousands of people, in particular journalists working in Doha for Al Jazeera and other Qatari media who are under pressure to leave the country or lose their nationality.

“Al Jazeera is a source of information for citizens in the Middle East and beyond. The restriction of freedom of speech and media pluralism in the region risks worsening the crisis, instead of solving it. In addition, dozens of journalists face losing their jobs with devastating effects for them and their families,” said IFJ President Philippe Leruth. “The Middle East needs journalists to speak the truth to power and banning any media outlet is an outrageous attempt to censure the public debate.”

In late May, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates moved to block the websites of Al Jazeera and other Qatari media outlets. On June 7, Jordan closed Al Jazeera’s Amman bureau and stripped it of its operating license. Saudi Arabia followed suit the next day, closing Al Jazeera’s Riyadh bureau, according to reports.

For any media request please contact the IFJ President Philippe Leruth (EN-FR-ES).

For more information, please contact IFJ on + 32 2 235 22 16

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 141 countries

#Qatar #Al_Jazeera #nuit_torride #liberté_d'expression #iberté_de_la_presse #presse #média #information #International_Federation_of_Journalists #journalistes #syndicats #solidarité

Is the State Dept. losing patience with KSA/UAE over Qatar? — The Arabist

▻https://arabist.net/blog/2017/6/21/is-the-state-dept-losing-patience-with-ksauae-over-qatar

There was a statement yesterday by the spokesperson of the State Department, Heather Nauert, whose language and tone seemed to be shifting blame/responsibility for the continuing Qatar crisis on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. See the video below at 01:00.

Transcript here:

Since the embargo was first enforced on June the fifth, the Secretary has had more than twenty phone calls and meetings with Gulf and other regional and international actors. The interactions have included three phone calls and two in-person meetings with the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, three phone calls with the Foreign Minister of Qatar, and three calls with the Qatari Emir. Numerous other calls have taken place with the leaders of UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, and others.

**Now that it has been more than two weeks since the embargo started, we are mystified that the Gulf States have not released to the public, nor to the Qataris, the details about the claims that they are making toward Qatar. The more that time goes by the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Bahrain royal family members face London police investigation | Middle East Eye
▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bahrain-members-royal-family-face-london-police-investigation-1538880

Evergreen and OOCL suspend Qatar shipping services | Daily Mail Online
▻http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-4580614/Evergreen-OOCL-suspend-Qatar-shipping-services.html

Taiwan’s Evergreen and Hong Kong’s OOCL said on Wednesday they had suspended shipping services to Qatar after Arab countries severed diplomatic ties with the Gulf state and imposed port restrictions this week.
[…]
Evergreen, the world’s no.6 container shipping line and OOCL, the world’s no. 7 carrier, said in separate statements that they had temporarily suspended services to and from Qatar until further notice.

Evergreen said this was “in light of the blockade imposed on Qatar”, while OOCL cited “the current political climate in the region”.

“We are working closely with our stakeholders to address the impact on services,” OOCL added.

Denmark’s Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping line, said on Tuesday it was unable to transport goods in or out of Qatar because it could not take them through the United Arab Emirates port of Jebel Ali. Maersk added that it was trying to find alternative routes.

In contrast, the world’s No.2 line, MSC of Switzerland, said on Wednesday “cargo acceptance to and from Qatar is still ongoing”.

“The company is in dialogue with the relevant authorities and assessing the potential impact on its operations,” MSC said.

The ban imposed earlier this week has meant that container ships and other types of vessels sailing to and from Qatar will be prevented from calling at major ports in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which include Jebel Ali, as well as Bahrain.

The UAE said on Wednesday that more moves against Qatar, including further curbs on business, remained on the table.

Larger container ships are unable to dock at ports in Qatar due in part to shallow waters so shipping lines especially use feeder services, which transport container boxes from the larger port of Jebel Ali.

Evergreen said before the suspension it had offered a direct service to Doha by taking cargo slots on ships operated by France’s CMA CGM, the world’s no.3 line.

Evergreen said other cargoes had been separately transhipped via Jebel Ali.

CMA CGM did not immediately respond to requests for comment over whether it had suspended services.

La traduction de la déclaration officielle du MAÉ du Qatar : Qatar regrets the decision by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE to sever relations
▻http://www.qatarliving.com/forum/news/posts/qatar-regrets-decision-saudi-arabia-bahrain-uae-sever-relations

http://static.qatarliving.com/styles/horizontal_large/s3/post/2017/06/05/Qatar%20flag%202.jpg

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the following Press release on its official website mofa.gov.qa and pertains to several countries severing relations with Qatar.

(Bizarre la photo du drapeau sur « Qatar Living » : c’est tout de même plus rouge que violet. Ça ressemble plus au drapeau de Bahreïn que du Qatar.)

By backing Saudi Arabia’s vision of the Middle East, Trump may be sowing the seeds of conflict
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/by-backing-saudi-arabias-vision-of-the-middle-east-trump-may-be-sowing-the-seeds-of-conflict/2017/05/27/3afcda92-4181-11e7-b29f-f40ffced2ddb_story.html

“One goal transcends every other consideration,” he said to the assembled leaders in the Saudi capital, in an address that shifted between stark realism and startling optimism. “We pray this special gathering may someday be remembered as the beginning of peace in the Middle East,” he said.

But instead of peace, the Middle East was battered by a wave of conflict in the days that followed, awash with recriminations and repression that suggested that, far from uniting the region, Trump’s words had only aggravated its divides.

#Qatar and Saudi Arabia launched a bizarre and unexpected war of words that highlighted their longtime competition for regional influence and their often sharply contrasting visions.

As that dispute raged last week, the leaders of Bahrain and Egypt embarked on unusually vicious crackdowns on political opponents at home, killing five people and arresting hundreds.

And leaders in #Iran, Saudi Arabia’s principal rival, where voters earlier this month reelected a reformist president, went on the offensive, condemning Trump’s announcement of billions of dollars in weapons sales to the Saudis while revealing the existence of an underground ballistic missile facility.

Analysts said the tensions were almost surely a consequence of Trump’s visit to Riyadh: a forceful American endorsement of Saudi leadership in the Arab world, punctuated by the weapons sales, which had stirred panic and anxiety among the kingdom’s competitors and enemies while emboldening its loyal and authoritarian allies.

#Arabie_saoudite #Bahrein #Egypte

Hack, fake story expose real tensions between Qatar, Gulf
▻https://apnews.com/f5da3293be18401a954d48249f75394e

While Qatar quickly denied the comments attributed to ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Saudi-owned satellite channels repeatedly aired them throughout the day Wednesday. The incident revived suspicions that exploded into the open three years when several Gulf nations pulled their ambassadors from Qatar over similar worries about its politics.

The alleged hack happened early on Wednesday morning and hours later, the website of the Qatar News Agency still was not accessible.

The fake article quoted Sheikh Tamim as calling Iran an “Islamic power” and saying Qatar’s relations with Israel were “good” during a military ceremony.

Online footage of Qatari state television’s nightly newscast from Tuesday showed clips of Sheikh Tamim at the ceremony with the anchor not mentioning the comments, though a scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen had the alleged fake remarks. They included calling Hamas “the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” as well as saying Qatar had “strong relations” with Iran and the United States.

“Iran represents a regional and Islamic power that cannot be ignored and it is unwise to face up against it,” the ticker read at one point. “It is a big power in the stabilization of the region.”

The hackers also purportedly took over the news agency’s Twitter feed and posted alleged quotes from Qatar’s foreign minister accusing Arab nations of fomenting a plot against his country. A series of tweets said Qatar had ordered its ambassadors to withdraw from Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates over the plot. The tweets were later deleted.

Israel fighting to stop FIFA from suspending settlement soccer teams -
Move against six teams initiated by Palestinians, backed by FIFA panel; Israelis pessimistic

Barak Ravid Apr 20, 2017
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.784442

Israel is increasingly concerned that when the FIFA Congress holds its annual meeting in another four weeks, the international soccer federation will decide to suspend six Israeli soccer teams based in West Bank settlements.
Consequently, ambassadors in dozens of capitals worldwide have been ordered to work with officials of their host countries to foil the move.
An official involved in the issue said that two weeks ago, Israel learned that Palestinian Football Association President Jibril Rajoub had asked to put the issue of the settlement teams on the agenda of both the FIFA Council, which will meet in Manama, Bahrain on May 9, and the FIFA Congress, which will meet in the same city on May 10 and 11.
On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry sent a cable to dozens of Israeli embassies instructing embassy staffers to try to persuade their host countries to remove the issue from FIFA’s agenda or ensure that no vote on it takes place. But the official said Israel must be prepared for the worst-case scenario, in which a vote does take place. If so, Israel’s chances of winning are negligible.
“Our growing assessment is that the FIFA Congress is liable to make a decision on suspending six Israeli teams that play over the Green Line, or even on suspending Israel from FIFA,” the cable said. “We urge you to contact your countries’ representatives on the FIFA Council as soon as possible to obtain their support for Israel’s position, which rejects mixing politics with sport and calls for reaching an agreed solution between the parties ... and to thwart an anti-Israel decision if it is brought before the council.”

#BDS #Israel #Palestine

Open data is a right | Simon Roger

▻https://simonrogers.net/2017/03/27/open-data-is-a-right

Simon Roger est l’ancien datajournaliste du Guardian et travaille maintenant chez Google.

https://simonrogersdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/opendata1_5.png

Open data is a right
Posted by Simon Rogers ⋅ March 27, 2017 ⋅ Leave a comment
Filed Under data journalism, government, open data

It’s not that long ago that open data was set to change the world. Governments across the globe opened their vast vaults of data. By mid-2010, it looked like the river of data was unstoppable.

#open_data #data #données
First the US launch of data.gov, then data.gov.uk — and then a “tsunami” of open data around the globe, from Bahrain to Ghana. Choose a country, it probably has an open data portal that anyone can access. It matters because that open data promises a golden age of transparency that allows us, the people who after all pay for that data to be collected, to access to the raw information of government.

Here’s something I wrote at the time:

The most toxic country in the world | The Eco Experts
▻http://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/most-toxic-countries?_ga=1.9054387.702319549.1486161397

Je ne sais pas ce que ça vaut mais j’avoue que je n’avais pas pensé à ce problème sous cet angle : en tête des pays les plus pollués du monde, les monarchies pétrolières du Golfe. Dans l’ordre : Arabie saoudite, Koweït, Bahreïn, Qatar, Emirats, Oman (Tuménistan, Libye, Kazakhstan et Trinidad pour la suite du palmarès).

Saudi Arabia is the most toxic country in the world, having the highest recorded air pollution, surpassing India and even China.

Neighbouring oil-rich countries including Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) dominate the top 10 most toxic countries in the world, and have some of the lowest renewable energy production despite having an ideal climate - low rainfall and prolonged daylight hours - for solar energy.

The research also shows that countries in the Middle East have some of the highest number of deaths attributable to air pollution; Turkmenistan witnesses 108 deaths per 100,000 every year.

▻http://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/sites/default/files/filemanager/most-toxic-countries-small-615

Ignore the Tough Talk – Trump’s Iran Policy Will Be Much Like Obama’s
▻http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2017/02/14/ignore-the-tough-talk-trumps-iran-policy-will-be-much-like-obamas

It is true that the possibility of a much more aggressive military policy from the Trump administration cannot be completely ruled out, but any policy proposal involving the threat or use of force would have to be approved by the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and that is very unlikely to happen.

The last time the US contemplated a military confrontation with Iran was in the George W Bush administration. In 2007 Vice-President Dick Cheney proposed that the US attack bases in Iran within the context of the Iranian involvement in the Iraq war against US troops. But the secretary of defense, Robert M Gates, supported by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, headed off the effort by insisting that Cheney explain how the process of escalation would end.

There was a very good reason why the plan didn’t pass muster with the Pentagon and the JCS. The time when the US could attack Iran with impunity had already passed. In 2007, any attack on Iran would have risked the loss of much of the US fleet in the Gulf to Iranian anti-ship missiles.

Today, the cost to the US military would be far higher, because of the greater capability of Iran to retaliate with missiles and conventional payloads against US bases in Qatar and Bahrain.

In the end, the main contours of US policy toward Iran have always reflected the views and the interests of the permanent national security state far more than the ideas of the president. That fact has ensured unending US hostility toward Iran, but it also very likely means continuity rather than radical shifts in policy under Trump.

Trump to approve weapons packages to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain blocked by Obama
▻http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/7/trump-ready-to-approve-weapons-packages-to-saudi-a

FORSAKING THE SYRIAN REVOLUTION : AN ANTI-IMPERIALIST HANDBOOK
Fadi A. Bardawil

The Left had no qualms cheering the revolutions when they were targeting US supported regimes such as Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain. When it got to Syria though, the support vanished. It was replaced by a blindness to the plight of Syrians and a deafness to their suffering. Syria signaled, a second divorce, analogous to Césaire’s earlier one between Metropolitan Leftist politics and the struggle for emancipation in the peripheries. This time around it is not the divorce of anti-colonial struggles from their subordination to the centrality of class struggle. It is the divorce of struggles against the postcolonial Authoritarian Arab State from their subordination to Metropolitan geo-political considerations.

#Syrie #gauche #anti-colonialisme #Césaire #révolution #Assad

▻http://aljumhuriya.net/en/syrian-revolution/forsaking-the-syrian-revolution-a-metropolitan-anti-imperialist-handboo

Pour rappel : ficher les musulmans aux États-Unis, ça a déjà été fait : National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS)
▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Entry-Exit_Registration_System

Certain non-citizens who were in the United States prior to September 10, 2002, have been required to register in person at an INS office.[3] This procedure is required of males over the age of sixteen who entered the United States legally on particular types of visa (primarily student, work, and tourist) from certain countries. Countries were named on four occasions:

Group 1: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan or Syria
Group 2: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen
Group 3: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
Group 4: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait

[…]

Immigrant rights advocates criticized the program, particularly the domestic portion of it, for profiling on the basis of ethnicity and religion as well as generally undermining immigrants’ rights. They noted that 24 of the 25 countries included on the list are predominantly Muslim, while all of the countries are in Asia or Africa. Some national security experts said that the program was likely to be ineffective.[citation needed] Given the large numbers involved and the nature of the requirements, they argued, it was unlikely to find any members of Al Qaeda. NSEERS was probed in the documentary film “Aliens Among Us” by Martina Radwan, for the devastating effect it had on immigrant families of Arab origin.[4]

Collectively failing Syrian society
▻https://peterharling.com/2012/01/24/collectively-failing-syrian-society

C’est une archive :
Originally published in Foreign Policy, 24 January 2012

https://synapsworld.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/jacopo_da_ponte_-_the_betrayal_of_christ_-_wga01462.jpg?w=1200

FOR MONTHS, neither the Syrian regime, the international community, nor the opposition in exile have offered much hope in a dangerously deteriorating crisis. Increasingly, they seem to be unintentionally conniving in bringing about a civil war although it will serve no one’s interests, destabilize Syria for years, and suck in the rest of the region. Their enduring pursuit of maximalist demands may sabotage what chance still exists for a negotiated transition.

The regime’s vision consists in cracking down decisively against residual pockets of foreign-backed trouble-makers, then opening up politically within sensible boundaries — similar to Jordan’s or Bahrain’s promise of limited reforms. Outside players currently bent on its demise, it wagers, ultimately will realize it cannot be destroyed; already hesitant for lack of good options and fear of ensuing chaos, they will grudgingly move to softer forms of pressure and, in time, even resume engagement. The regime’s sympathizers and allies are all too keen to believe that it is strong, that the reach of the protest movement is wildly exaggerated by hostile media, that the foreign conspiracy is both all-encompassing and impotent, and that Syrian society is so disease-ridden — a hodgepodge of fundamentalists, thugs, and third party proxies — that it cannot but deserve the security services’ tough medicine.

#syrie #peter_harling