position:undersecretary

  • US ‘To End Contacts’ With Afghan NSA Over His Recent Remarks | TOLOnews
    https://www.tolonews.com/afghanistan/us-%E2%80%98-end-contacts%E2%80%99-afghan-nsa-over-his-recent-remarks

    Mohib in a Washington news conference on March 14 accused the US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad of “delegitimizing” the Kabul government by excluding it from peace negotiations with the #Taliban and acting like a “viceroy”. He also said that the US has created an information vacuum regarding the peace talks with the Taliban. 

    According to the Reuters report, the day after Mohib made his comments, David Hale — the US undersecretary of state for political affairs — told Ghani by phone that Mohib would no longer be received in Washington and that US civilian and military officials would not do business with him.

    #afghanistan #etats-unis

  • Abordage de l’USS Fitzgerald, enquête détaillée de ProPublica dans un remarquable format long pour le web.
    (article du 6/02/2019)

    Death and Valor on an American Warship Doomed by its Own Navy
    https://features.propublica.org/navy-accidents/uss-fitzgerald-destroyer-crash-crystal


    Propublica image designed by Xaquín G.V.

    ProPublica reconstructed the Fitzgerald’s journey, relying on more than 13,000 pages of confidential Navy investigative records, public reports, and interviews with scores of Fitzgerald crew members, current and former senior Navy officers, and maritime experts.
    The review revealed neglect by Navy leadership, serious mistakes by officers — and extraordinary acts of valor and endurance by the crew.

  • Turkish court authenticates audio that revealed spy agency MIT’s false flag in Syria – Nordic Monitor
    https://www.nordicmonitor.com/2019/01/turkish-court-authenticates-audio-that-revealed-intel-agency-mits-fal

    A Turkish court recently confirmed the authenticity of a leaked audio clip in which top-ranking Turkish officials are heard discussing the possibility of an intervention in Syria in a false flag operation conducted by Turkish intelligence agency MİT.

    In the leaked recording, then-Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, then-Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan and then-Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler are heard discussing military operations in Syria in Davutoğlu’s Foreign Ministry office on March 13, 2013.

    Fidan says in the recording: “If needed, I would dispatch four men to Syria. [Then] I would have them fire eight mortar shells at the Turkish side and create an excuse for war.”

    The judicial confirmation of the scandalous content was inadvertently revealed when the public prosecutor tried to pin the leak on a group critical of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of espionage charges. The statements in the leak, included in the indictment as allegations, were formally confirmed by the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court in a reasoned decision that was announced on Jan. 16, 2019.

    #syrie

  • Egypt to decline any request by US to send troops to Syria: former intelligence official - Egypt Independent
    http://www.egyptindependent.com/egypt-to-decline-any-request-by-us-to-send-troops-to-syria-former-

    In response to a recent report published by American newspaper The Wall Street Journal regarding an alleged request by the United States to Egypt to send armed forces to Syria, former undersecretary of Egypt’s General Intelligence Mohammad Rashad said that Egypt will summarily decline any such invitation.

    “The Egyptian Armed Forces are not mercenaries [and cannot be] leased or ordered by foreign states to deploy forces in a certain area. This is not acceptable and no one […] should dare to direct or give instructions to Egypt’s army,” Rashad told Egypt Independent.

    #syrie #mercenaires

  • À cette riche actualité militaire, il manquait la cerise d’un énième épisode du feuilleton du F-35…

    F-35 delivery pause indicative of more stringent Pentagon standards, Lord says
    https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/04/13/f-35-delivery-pause-indicative-of-more-stringent-pentagon-standards-lor

    Both the Defense Department and Lockheed Martin had become too relaxed in ensuring deliveries of new F-35s met requirements, but recent pause on F-35 deliveries exemplifies how the department will now hold Lockheed to stricter standards, the Pentagon’s top acquisition official said Friday.

    On Wednesday, Lockheed Martin confirmed that the Pentagon had stopped accepting deliveries of some F-35s due to a disagreement over whether the government or the company should pay for repairs for more than 200 F-35As with fastener holes that were not treated with the appropriate corrosion-preventing primer.

    The issue itself is well on its way to being resolved,” Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters during a roundtable.

    However, the debacle establishes the “department’s point of view” that Lockheed had gotten sloppy in meeting the specified manufacturing requirements — and that the Pentagon got not been rigorous enough in enforcing them, she said.

    The department, in an effort to move forward with the program, has perhaps not been as thoughtful as we want to be from this point forward in terms of what we consider acceptable performance,” she said. “I think this corrosion issue is one example where we have expectations for workmanship, and at this point we’re not seeing those workmanship levels being achieved.

  • In wake of Haaretz report, lawmakers demand debate on Israeli efforts to bolster Bashir’s Sudan
    http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium-1.740883

    Lobbying israélien pour que les Etats-Unis et leurs alliés occidentaux se réconcilient avec Omar al-Bashir

    Haaretz reported Wednesday that Israel has contacted the U.S. government and other Western countries and urged them to take steps to improve relations with Sudan in the wake of the break in relations between the Arab-African country and Iran in the past year.

    Senior officials in Jerusalem raised the issue last week during a visit of Thomas Shannon, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Haaretz reported.

    Citing Israeli officials, the report said one of the messages conveyed to Shannon by Foreign Ministry officials was the need to improve relations between the U.S. and Sudan. The Foreign Ministry believes Sudan cut its ties with Iran about a year ago, that arms smuggling from Sudan to the Gaza Strip has been halted and that Khartoum has moved closer to the axis of Sunni Muslim states led by Saudi Arabia.

    Israeli officials said another message relayed to Shannon was that the positive steps taken by Sudan must not be ignored, and that American gestures toward Khartoum could be helpful. One thing Sudan has been seeking in the past year is for Washington to remove it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Foreign Ministry officials told the Americans they understand that the U.S. will not lift its sanctions on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, but that increasing the American dialogue with others in the Sudanese government would be a positive move.

    In addition to talking to the American administration about Sudan, in the past year #Israel has held similar talks with France, Italy and other European countries. One Jerusalem official said Israeli diplomats asked their contacts in Europe to assist Sudan in dealing with its vast external debt, which stands at close to 50 billion dollars, and to consider erasing some of it, as has been done with other countries that have fallen into severe economic crisis. Israel warned that an economic collapse in Sudan could further undermine stability in this part of Africa and end up strengthening terrorist elements there.

    http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.740676

    • Middle East’s leaders cross the Red Sea to woo east Africa
      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/middle-east-scramble-power-east-africa-sudan-kenya-ethiopia

      Somalia and Sudan both dumped alliances with Iran earlier this year in favour of new ties with Saudi Arabia. Somalia received pledges from Riyadh of aid worth $50m within hours of the decision. Heavily sanctioned Sudan may have gained billions – a crucial financial lifeline.

      “What we are seeing is a shift in … agendas of major players in the Gulf. There’s a historical context to the relationship … but the [region] is now being seen as part of their ‘near abroad’, and an important sphere of influence,” said Soliman.

      [...]

      One of the most active of the new players in east Africa is #Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, the rightwing prime minister, has led a push for better relations across Africa, particularly in the east, where he has reinforced ties with old allies such as Kenya.

      #Soudan #Arabie_saoudite

  • Is Fatah reconciliation underway ahead of local elections?
    http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/09/fatah-reconciliation-abbas-dahlan-local-elections.html

    It seems difficult to talk about efforts for internal Fatah reconciliation without discussing the Palestinian preparations for the local elections to be held Oct. 8, in light of Hamas’ high competitiveness and Fatah’s and Israel’s concerns about an expected victory for Hamas. These concerns are justified by the ongoing internal division within Fatah, which prompted the Fatah movement to seek reconciliation between Abbas and Dahlan to unify the movement’s ranks and guarantee a win in the upcoming local elections.

    A Palestinian minister told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The last meeting held by Fatah’s Central Committee on Aug. 30 addressed the Egyptian and Arab efforts for reconciliation between Abbas and Dahlan. The meeting even discussed possible scenarios, which included Dahlan’s apologizing to Abbas for accusing him of financial corruption on several occasions. Some Fatah leaders are expected to visit Cairo in early September to discuss the terms of reconciliation, while Fatah’s leadership has agreed in principle on the return of certain members close to Dahlan who were dismissed in recent years. If the efforts succeed, Dahlan will arrive in Ramallah in a few weeks, but maybe not before the election take place on Oct. 8.”

    For its part, Hamas did not issue an official statement and did not comment on the Arab and Egyptian efforts to achieve reconciliation within Fatah. Hamas may be aware that reconciliation may strengthen Fatah and give it a lifeline to win in the upcoming local elections.

    Ahmed Youssef, former Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former political adviser to deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, told Al-Monitor, “Hamas sees in any internal Palestinian reconciliation a national goal that must be encouraged and supported. Division among Palestinians only serves Israel, and any Arab step aiming at reconciliation within Fatah pleases us. We hope that this reconciliation would be followed by steps toward strengthening our project and national goals.”

    Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/09/fatah-reconciliation-abbas-dahlan-local-elections.html#ixzz4JJbv9kE5

  • AKP deputy opens electricity hike to debate in commission
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/akp-deputy-opens-electricity-hike-to-debate-in-commission-.aspx?p

    Recent hikes in electricity costs have produced anger even among ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) parliamentarians, prompting a defense from the Energy Ministry.

    Turkish residents have been reacting to the recent 6.8 percent hike in electricity prices, AKP Bursa deputy Cemalettin Kani Torun said during a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Commission. “Almost half of the bill is for distribution costs.”

    Electricity prices rose by 6.8 percent on Jan. 1 in Turkey.

    In an information note signed by Deputy Energy Ministry Undersecretary Seda Sadık Aytekin, the Energy Ministry declared that rising costs in distribution and transmission, as well as the increase in the minimum wage, were to blame for the rise

    #Turquie #Electricité

  • Israeli, Turkish officials meet in secret, reach agreements
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4740867,00.html

    Mossad chief Yossi Cohen Joseph Ciechanover, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special envoy to Turkey, met secretly in Switzerland on Wednesday with Feridun Sinirlioğlu, the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary. The two nations agreed on a number of steps: Israel will found a compensations fund for victims of the raid on the Marmara; all charges against Israel will be cancelled; the ambassadors will be returned to work; and high-ranking #Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri will be banned from entering Turkey.

    Additionally, discussions on a gas pipeline from Israel to Turkey are expected to begin soon.

    #Turquie #Israel #Israël

  • Syria’s refugee crisis in maps : a visual guide (Wired UK)
    http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-09/11/europe-syria-refugee-crisis-maps

    Ça regroupe un ensemble de liens et de cartes parfois carrément bizarres mais je référence.

    The Syrian conflict has been pushing citizens out of their homes since 2011, but the internal turmoil caused by shifting borders between different factions since March 2014 has been particularly tumultuous.

    The UN undersecretary estimated in August 2015 that 250,000 civilian deaths have been caused by the conflict. It’s unsurprising then that many Syrians have fled the country. The refugee crisis is epic in size, spilling over into every country in Europe.

    One way to attempt to comprehend it is to look at it through the lens of cartography.

  • L’Assemblée des turkmènes syriens (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Turkmen_Assembly) s’est réunie à Gaziantep (Turquie) pour décider que les différents groupes de combattants turkmènes qui opèrent sous la bannière de l’ASL, en étroite coordination avec les militaires turcs, soient unifiés au sein d’un commandement militaire unique visant à combattre et refouler les kurdes du YPG (beaucoup) et éventuellement Da3ich (un peu, si les Turcs s’entendent avec les Américains) :
    https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/565547-syria-turkmen-move-to-form-anti-kurd-army

    Syrian Turkmen military and political officials, who are close to Turkey, have been moving to form a unified army in northern Syria capable of confronting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as a terror group.
    “Turkmen fighting groups in Syria have taken the decision to offer greater support to each other and work to create a Turkmen army if conditions permit,” Syrian Turkmen Assembly chief Abdel Rahman Mustafa told Turkish Anadolu news on Monday.
    The Turkmen official’s comments came as the Syrian Turkmen Assembly held a meeting in southern Turkey’s Gaziantep that brought together Turkmen representatives from Aleppo, Tal Abyad, Jarabulus, Latakia, Idlib, Raqqa and the Golan.
    Alaraby Aljadeed reported that the Turkmen military and civilian officials in the meeting decided to form a military council which reports to the Syrian Turkmen Assembly, a pro-opposition group with ties to the Turkish government.
    The decision to form the council comes after calls emerged from Turkmen military formations to fight both ISIS and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party that controls the YPG, the London-based daily added.
    Syrian Turkmen have already armed themselves in a series of brigades throughout Syria that are loosely affiliated with each other and count on about 10,000 armed men in total, with the largest fighting units operating in the Aleppo province.
    Turkey’s security institutions maintain close links with the Turkmen units in Syria, providing special forces training to the brigades, which are affiliated with the Free Syrian Army and have taken part in operations in Aleppo, Idlib and outside Latakia.

    Erdogan tente-t-il une voie médiane pour peser sur les évènements au Nord et éviter un contrôle par la milice kurde des routes d’approvisionnement de Da3ich et des rebelles d’Ansar al-Chariah (al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Cham et les débris de l’ASL) sans avoir à recourir à une intervention militaire directe qui rencontre l’hostilité de certains militaires turcs et des States ?
    Toujours est-il que deux envoyés militaires américains ont rencontré aujourd’hui des officiels turcs pour discuter de la Syrie selon l’AFP :
    http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/afp/2015/07/syria-conflict-turkey-us-military-diplomacy.html

    The US special envoy for the coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group was in Ankara on Tuesday to meet Turkish officials, after speculation Turkey could launch a military intervention inside Syria, sources told AFP.
    “General John Allen will hold talks in Ankara today,” a Turkish official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the talks were “naturally” expected to focus on the fight against IS.
    Accompanied by US Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Christine Wormuth and military officials, Allen is expected to meet with Feridun Sinirlioglu, the Turkish undersecretary of the foreign ministry as well as military chiefs, the source said.
    Turkey has reinforced its military presence on the volatile border over the past week, deploying tanks and anti-aircraft missiles there as well as additional troops.
    The moves come as fighting between Islamist-led groups an
    d Syrian regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo has intensified.

  • Rasmus Tantholdt de la 2e chaine de la télévision danoise filme les migrants battus à coup de bâton à Misrata en Libye.

    “The sad life of #Migrants in #Misrata #Libya. Beaten with a stick while we are filming today. #migrantcrisis #euco http://t.co/HqJbUngnEz

    https://twitter.com/RasmusTantholdt/status/591320937359867904

    The sad life of #Migrants in #Misrata #Libya. Beaten with a stick while we are filming today. #migrantcrisis #euco

    #migrations #asile #libye

    • GNA’s Interior Ministry holds a meeting with international diplomats to discuss the migrant situation in #Misurata

      The Undersecretary for Immigration of the Interior Ministry of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, Mohamed Al-Shaibani, held a meeting on Sunday with ambassadors and representatives of the countries whose nationals are present inside a ship in the port of Misurata, refusing to disembark in Libya.

      According to a statement by the Tripoli-based Ministry, Al-Shaibani stressed the need to work with the negotiating team as soon as possible, and to involve embassies to solve this humanitarian crisis. Al-Shaibani offered some solutions to the crisis in cooperation with the international organizations concerned with the migration dossier.

      Al-Shaibani said that the Ministry is dealing with this crisis “with all human values” and it’s “avoiding violence as a final solution.”

      The representatives and ambassadors present at the meeting were Ambassador of Bangladesh and his assistant, Consul General of the Embassy of Sudan, Consul General of the Embassy of Pakistan, and a representative of the Embassy of Somalia.

      On 10 November, a cargo ship reached the port of Misurata (187 km east of Tripoli), carrying 95 migrants who were intercepted at sea in the attempt to reach Europe. The migrants, subsequently refused to disembark the boat onto Libyan soil. On 14 November, a total of 14 individuals, including a woman and a three-month-old baby, voluntarily disembarked the vessel.

      Amnesty International issued a statement on Friday calling on Libyan and European authorities not to force the migrants to disembark in Libya.

      http://www.addresslibya.com/en/archives/36473

      Et ce message reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop:

      From Sara Creta (journalist/MSF) on facebook 11 hours ago : "Today, diplomats from Somalia, Eritrea, Bangladesh, Sudan in Libya went to Misrata to encourage their fellow citizens to disembark, assuring that they will protect them. The people on board NIVIN since more than a week reaffirmed that they prefer to die than go back to Libya.
      Later, the diplomats offered them to go back to Eritrea, Darfur, and Somalia. “You will be safe there”. "

  • Top Intel Official : U.S. Facing ‘Unprecedented’ Array of Threats | Foreign Policy
    http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/26/top-intel-official-u-s-facing-unprecedented-array-of-threats

    U.S. special operations forces now face a widening array of “non-geopolitical threats” that challenge them in realms in which the United States once held undisputed sway, a senior Pentagon intelligence official said Wednesday.

    As an example, Garry Reid, a top deputy to Michael Vickers, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, cited the widespread availability of commercial satellite imagery. “Where once you could assume that only you had the bird’s-eye view of the target area, now just about anybody can have [it],” he said during an address to a gathering of current and former special operations personnel here.

    Reid said the proliferation of “quite challenging” commercial encryption capabilities also threatens U.S. dominance in signals intelligence, the difficult act of cracking into phone, Internet, and other forms of telecommunications networks around the world. “It’s not as easy as it once was to exploit adversary communications,” he said.

    And without saying so in as many words, Reid suggested that technological advances are making it increasingly difficult for the United States to place intelligence operatives undercover. “Global biometrics, identity management, and the ability to track people [using] your electronic signature around the world becomes a challenge for us,” he said.

    In his remarks, Reid led the audience on a global tour of what he described as an “unprecedented” plethora of challenges facing the United States, from the rise of the Islamic State and other violent Islamist extremist groups to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and Russian aggression against Ukraine. The confluence of so many asymmetrical challenges will continue to place a high demand on U.S. intelligence and special operations forces well into the future, he said.

    Bref #c'était_mieux_avant mais on a toujours beaucoup de pain sur la planche.

    We’re sitting on top of the most powerful military arsenal … ever assembled,” he said, but added that most “conventional forces and strategic forces are barely applicable to any of these problems. That is quite a vexing scenario.

    C’est quand même fou que les méchants ne s’arrêtent pas au constat de notre supériorité classique écrasante. C’est même la preuve qu’ils sont vraiment vicieux qu’ils cherchent à la contourner…

    Sinon, qu’on se rassure,…

    Disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward #Snowden have exposed many of the agency’s techniques for intercepting foreign communications, but Reid said that “despite leaks and despite exposures, [the U.S. ability to tap overseas phones and computers] continues to be an area of dominance.

  • Bahrain Accuses Qatar Of Luring Citizens To Switch Nationality » Gulf Business
    http://gulfbusiness.com/2014/08/bahrain-accuses-qatar-luring-citizens-switch-nationality

    BNA quoted the Interior Ministry’s Undersecretary for Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs, Sheikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, as saying Qatar had “targeted specific families and singled out a particular category of people” with no consideration to Bahraini laws.

    “The naturalisation of Bahrainis would affect Bahrain’s national security and vital interests negatively,” the agency said on its English website late on Wednesday, quoting the official.

    Sheikh Rashid gave no details on who was being targeted for naturalisation or how many had been granted Qatari citizenship.

    Bahrain is acutely sensitive to changes in its demographic balance between Shi’ite Muslims and Sunnis.

  • Israel firing experimental weapons at Gaza’s civilians, say doctors | The Electronic Intifada

    http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israel-firing-experimental-weapons-gazas-civilians-say-doctors

    Addressing reporters at a press conference on Sunday, Youssef Abul Resh, undersecretary of the health ministry in Gaza said, “Medical teams have registered injuries consistent with those caused by DIME [dense inert metal explosives] and other banned weapons.” 

    He added, “Israel has mercilessly targeted Palestinian civilians leaving many of them with life-threatening injuries and future handicaps.” 

    In the last week, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 190 people, eighty percent of them civilians, including at least 34 children.

  • #Iran, #US announce unprecedented talks
    http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iran-us-announce-unprecedented-talks

    Iran and the United States will on Monday and Tuesday hold their first direct talks in decades, in an unprecedented move toward securing a comprehensive nuclear deal between Tehran and the West. The discussions will take place in Geneva, with the US delegation led by Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and Undersecretary Wendy Sherman, who is responsible for Iran negotiations. Iran will be represented at vice foreign minister level in what is the most senior direct bilateral contact on the nuclear issue so far. read more

  • Israel’s UN ambassador is going overboard with the ’anti-Semitism’ charge - Haaretz
    By Amira Hass | Apr. 14, 2014
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.585464

    Israel’s UN ambassador, Ron Prosor, has found his new anti-Semite of the hour: Dr. Rima Khalaf, UN undersecretary general and executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. In two letters sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over the past month, Prosor calls for Khalaf’s suspension until an investigation, which he demands be conducted, is completed.

    The first letter was sent on March 5, the second on April 7. In the first, Prosor refers to a February 25 speech by Khalaf in Tunisia; Prosor says Khalaf falsely accused Israel of violating minority rights and reviving the idea of “state ethnic and religious purity, which caused egregious human suffering during the twentieth century.” Prosor adds: “As you are well aware, Israel is the only nation in the Middle East that safeguards and empowers its minorities.”

    In the first letter, Prosor does not mention the occasion on which Khalaf gave her speech: the presentation of the report “Arab Integration – A 21st-Century Development Imperative,” initiated by the commission she heads. The 300-page report (including appendices) was two years in the making. The research and analysis were conducted by a wide spectrum of academics, intellectuals, writers and artists from Arab countries — both establishment and opposition figures, right-wingers and left-wingers, neoliberals and socialists, secular and religious people.

    Inspired by the uprisings in the Arab world, the report proposes a vision: the establishment of a united political, cultural and economic entity based on reforms that aim for equality. Integration is seen as an objective and a means to extricate the Arabs from chronic “oppression, foreign intervention and stifled development.” In the document’s preface, Khalaf replies to skeptics with something along the lines of “If you will it, it is no dream.”

    Was Prosor aware of the report? I posed this question to the Foreign Ministry three weeks ago, but the strike at the time by the ministry staff left me without an answer. The UN secretary general’s office said two weeks ago it plans to respond to Prosor, a response that obviously has not yet been sent because the ambassador wrote a second letter, which refers to the report.

    Hitler’s role

    The following are the diplomat’s words in his April 7 letter. “Ms. Khalaf may have a PhD in Systems Science, but she deserves a PhD in science fiction …. Ms. Khalaf also preposterously claims that Hitler, who was responsible for the murder of six million Jews, sought to create a safe haven for the Jewish people in the Middle East.” (I have not found any such statement in the report. If Khalaf said this elsewhere, Prosor provides no citation, and I was unable to find any such reference on Google.)

    Hitler is mentioned as having held a negative view similar to Britain’s on the subject of Arab unity. “Arab unity was incompatible with the Transfer Agreement [Hitler] had concluded with the Zionist movement to facilitate the emigration of German Jews to Palestine,” the report says. Prosor charges that the report “goes so far as to accuse Israel of fostering discord and instigating regional conflicts.” Such accusations “represent the epitome of modern-day anti-Semitism,” he writes.

    Yes, several pages of the report are devoted to Israel in terms of Western-colonialist control of the region, the dispossession of the Palestinians in 1948, the occupation in 1967 and the wars since then. Yes, the description is not flattering. The report’s references to Nazi Germany evade that regime’s systematic murderous nature.

    The essence of the report

    But the lion’s share of the report is inward-looking, at the Arab world, as the following statements from the document illustrate:

    “The Arab popular uprisings were triggered by young Arabs who finally took a stand against long-running tyranny and oppression.”

    International and regional conflicts infiltrated the Syrian uprising, transforming the conflict from one between the regime and pro-democracy opponents, to a geopolitical struggle over Syria in which the Syrian people are perhaps the greatest losers.”

    “In the absence of democratic governance and equal citizenship rights in most Arab countries, poor integration has stoked ethnic, religious and sectarian identity conflicts.”

    “A fifth of the population of the Arab region is poor, and it is the only region that has not achieved any significant progress in poverty reduction in the past two decades.”

    “Arab countries spend more on defense or consumer goods than on scientific research and technological development.”

    “The crisis of the Arab Islamic culture has produced groups with extreme and exclusionary doctrines that limit public rights and freedoms – especially those of women and non-Muslims. These groups seek to impose a rigid version of sharia on society.”

    The report does not explain how the united Arab nation will overcome a problem that has plagued long-standing democracies: the concentration of resources and the accumulation of capital in the hands of the few — resources and capital that are the product of the majority.

    But that’s not what worries Prosor. His aggressive demand for Khalaf’s dismissal reflects Israel’s deep disdain for the countries of the region in which we live and for the issues that concern them. The excessive use by him and his ilk of the “anti-Semitism” charge is bringing us closer to the day when “anti-Semite” is a compliment.

  • Egypt : Teachers’ Syndicate takes legal action against Ministry of Education undersecretary and Fayoum governor - Daily News Egypt

    http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/03/03/teachers-syndicate-takes-legal-action-ministry-education-undersecret

    The Teachers’ Syndicate’s Fayoum branch has filed a lawsuit against undersecretary of the Ministry of Education Mahmoud abo el-Gheat, and Fayoum Governor Hazem Atyat-Allah in response to their decision to unseat elected council members.

  • Ça commence à faire du monde...

    Arabia deports 800,000 illegal foreign workers - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page
    Saudihttp://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/09/22/Saudi-Arabia-deports-800-000-illegal-foreign-workers.html

    Saudi Gazette, Riyadh
    More than 800,000 illegal expatriate workers have been deported so far thanks to the extended grace period, an Arabic language daily newspaper quoted Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor for Labor Affairs Ahmad Al-Humaidan as saying on Saturday.
    “This will be reflected on Saudi youth and they will get more job opportunities. We, in the Ministry of Labor, are pleased that the Saudi market is now clean of those who were tampering with internal matters. Even though the figures are not precise, they are good numbers that bode well for a bright future for the labor market in Saudi Arabia,” he said.
    Al-Humaidan described the number of workers whose status has been rectified as “good.”
    He confirmed that deporting workers who try to circumvent regulations in the country is in the interest of Saudi citizens as this will provide them jobs.
    He further called on those who claim to be serious in rectifying the status of their workers to do so as soon as possible, otherwise they will bear the consequences.
    He reiterated that there will be no exemptions for big businesses from the implementation of labor regulations even if they have 250,000 workers or more.

  • Saudi government to donate $300,000 to help end maritime piracy in Somalia
    Text of report in English by Somali news website Mareeg on 18 September

    The Saudi government announced yesterday that it would donate $300,000 to a trust fund that aims to abolish maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia and to support the prosecutorial legal process.

    Prince Turki bin Muhammad bin Saud Al-Kabeer, undersecretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Relations in the UAE, made the announcement in his speech in Dubai during the 3rd conference against maritime piracy. The theme of the conference was “Anti-Piracy: A Continuing Task to Build Regional Capacity.”

    Saudi Arabia is known for its active role in combating piracy around the world, as it greatly affects local and international sales of goods in the entertainment industry.

    Last year, the government adopted the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) to further boost the Kingdom’s campaign against piracy.

    The Kingdom also provided expert training courses for coast guards to identify, prosecute and apprehend pirates in the Arabian Sea’s borders.

    Piracy along the Somali coast has threatened the international shipping industry since the Somali civil war.

    International deliveries are frequently interrupted along the Somali coast, which has resulted in an unprecedented rise in shipping expenses amounting to around $6.6-6.9 billion a year, according to statistics provided by Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP).

    Source: Mareeg website in English 0000 gmt 18 Sep 13

    BBC Mon AF1 AFEauwaf 200913/mau

    © Copyright British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

    #piraterie #somalie

  • Bahrain summons Lebanese charge d’affaires | GulfNews.com
    http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/bahrain-summons-lebanese-charge-d-affaires-1.1219982

    Bahrain’s foreign ministry has summoned the acting Lebanese charge d’affaires in Manama to protest against the holding of a press conference in Lebanon calling for civil disobedience in the Gulf kingdom.
    Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Abdullah Abdul Lateef told Ebrahim Assaf that Bahrain was keen on the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported on Tuesday. [...]

    On Sunday, a Bahraini Salafi society called for “prompt and effective” action against Lebanon over reportedly targeting the kingdom’s national security.
    The Islamic Asala Society charged that Lebanon threatened the Kingdom’s stability and hosted “terrorist elements who incited chaos, violence and disturbances in Bahrain.”
    MP Abdul Halim Murad, a leader in the society represented by several lawmakers at the parliament, said that Lebanon “had regretfully hosted a press conference by Tamarrod Al Bahrain movement in which it called for a repeat of the February 2011 scenario.