EEUU condena a Mansur Arbabsiar a 25 años de cárcel

EEUU condena a Mansur Arbabsiar a 25 años de cárcel
http://www.hispantv.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=227004
http://spanish.irib.ir/noticias/item/143116-eeuu-condena-a-mansur-arbabsiar-a-25-años-de-cárcel
Actualizado: 31/05/2013 01:41 GMT

Un juez federal de Nueva York ha emitido este jueves una sentencia de 25 años de cárcel contra el estadounidense de origen iraní Mansur Arbabsiar por su supuesta participación en un complot destinado a asesinar en 2011 al embajador de Arabia Saudí en EE.UU.

Al leer el dictamen, el juez federal John Keenan ha alegado que el acusado "era cabalmente consciente de su acción" y que debía "aprender la lección".

Los abogados de Arbabsiar, tras insistir que su cliente sufría un síndrome bipolar que afectaba su comportamiento y acciones, pidieron sin éxito que se rebajara la condena a 10 años.

Arbabsiar, de 57 años de edad, fue detenido el 29 de septiembre de 2011 en el aeropuerto internacional John F. Kennedy en Nueva York, por supuestamente planear el asesinato del embajador saudí en Washington, Adel al-Jubeir.

La Corte Federal de Nueva York inició el proceso contra Arbabsiar el 24 de octubre de 2011, poco después la misma dirimió y lo declaró inocente.

Estados Unidos afirma que Arbabsiar tiene vínculos con el Cuerpo de Guardianes de la Revolución Islámica de Irán (CGRI), pero las autoridades iraníes han rechazado enérgicamente la acusación e insisten en que Washington no tiene ninguna prueba sobre tales alegaciones infundadas.

Por otra parte, la familia de Arbabsiar señaló hace dos semanas que el acusado había sido engañado sobre los términos de un acuerdo firmado con el fiscal.

ka/nl/msf

Arbabsiar, engañado por EEUU sobre un acuerdo con el fiscal

Arbabsiar, engañado por EEUU sobre un acuerdo con el fiscal
http://www.hispantv.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=225136
Actualizado: 17/05/2013 04:17 GMT

La familia del estadounidense de origen iraní, Mansur Arbabsiar, que fue detenido en Estados Unidos por cargos de planear un asesinato, declaró que fue engañado sobre los términos de un acuerdo que había firmado con el fiscal.

Después de su arresto en septiembre de 2011, se firmó un acuerdo entre las partes a propuesta del fiscal para el Distrito Sur de Nueva York, Preet Bharara.

Arbabsiar había sido engañado sobre el acuerdo de culpabilidad por Sabrina Shroff, un defensor público federal designado por el tribunal para que lo representara, anunció su familia, al subrayar que el acuerdo con el fiscal fue firmado bajo coacción.

“Después de la detención de mi tío, había un acuerdo con el fiscal en virtud del cual, a cambio de su confesión, éste lo condenaría a tres años de arresto domiciliario en lugar de 25 años de prisión. Si nos negábamos a aceptar el acuerdo con el fiscal, el caso iría a la corte”, dijo su sobrino, Mohamad Hosein Arbabsiar.

“El abogado de mi tío, Sabrina Shroff, que fue designado por el tribunal, nos dijo sobre el acuerdo y bajo su asesoramiento mi tío lo firmó con el fiscal. Tras el aplazamiento de la sentencia en cuatro ocasiones, ahora el fiscal pide la pena máxima, 25 años”, agregó.

Arbabsiar, de 57 años de edad fue detenido el 29 de septiembre de 2011 en el aeropuerto internacional John F. Kennedy en Nueva York, por supuestamente planear el asesinato del embajador saudí en Washington, Adel al-Jubeir.

La Corte Federal de Nueva York inició el proceso contra Arbabsiar el 24 de octubre de 2011, poco después la misma dirimió y le declararon inocente.

Estados Unidos afirma que Arbabsiar tiene vínculos con el Cuerpo de Guardianes de la Revolución Islámica de Irán (CGRI), pero las autoridades iraníes han rechazado enérgicamente la acusación e insisten en que Washington no tiene ninguna prueba sobre tales alegaciones infundadas.

ha/ybm/nal

Iranian-American given 25-yr jail term

Iranian-American given 25-yr jail term
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/30/306324/iranianamerican-given-25yr-jail-term/
http://english.irib.ir/news/political4/item/112068-iranian-american-given-25-yr-jail-term
Thu May 30, 2013 11:33PM GMT

Iranian-American citizen Mansour Arbabsiar

An American judge has passed a 25-year prison sentence for the Iranian-American citizen Manssor Arbabsiar over allegations of his participation in a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US.

On Thursday, New York federal Judge John Keenan passed the maximum sentence and said Arbabsiar must be taught a lesson for his involvement in a plot that Washington cannot tolerate.

His lawyers argued for a jail term of 10 years and said that he is suffering from mental disorders.

Arbabsiar was arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on September 29, 2011.

He was detained on charges of planning to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in a bomb attack at a restaurant in Washington.

Arbabsiar signed a plea bargain offered to him by Preet Bharara, US attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was represented by Sabrina Shroff, a federal public defender, appointed by the court.

Arbabsiar’s family says that the plea bargain was signed under duress. They add that Shroff misguided them about the terms of the plea agreement.

Iran has said the case was a false scenario made up by American and Israeli officials.

IA/HN

Mansour Arabsiar signed a plea bargain but receieved no bargain

Mansour Arabsiar signed a plea bargain but receieved no bargain
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/14/303535/mansour-arabsiar-plea-bargain-imprisonement-court-judgment/
Arash Khalatbari, Press TV, Tehran
Tue May 14, 2013 6:28PM GMT

This is Mansour Arbabsiar, Iranian-American who was arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on September 29, 2011. He was arrested on charges of planning to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in a bomb attack at a restaurant in Washington. He signed a plea bargain offered to him by Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mansour Arbabsiar was represented by Sabrina Shroff, a federal public defender, appointed by the court. Arbabsiar’s family says that the plea bargain was signed under duress. They add that Shroff misguided them about the terms of the plea agreement.

Experts say, a defendant who goes to trial and is found guilty of a serious felony receives, on the average, a prison sentence that is twice as long as the sentence offered in a plea bargain for the same offense. Arabsiar’s plea bargain agreement states “The defendant acknowledges that his entry of a guilty plea to the charged offenses authorizes the sentencing court to impose any sentence, up to an including the statutory maximum sentence”. Iran’s foreign Ministry Spokesman touched upon this issue in his press conference.

According to Black’s Law Dictionary, the defendant will plead guilty to a less serious charge, or to one of several charges, in return for the dismissal of other charges; or it may mean that the defendant will plead guilty to the original criminal charge in return for a more lenient sentence.

Iranian-American signed plea agreement because his lawyer told him to sign

Iranian-American signed plea agreement because his lawyer told him to sign
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/31/306456/plea-bargain-agreemetn-court-us-justice-system-criminial-mansour-arbabsiar-terrirism-saudi-arabi-ambassador/
Arash Khalatbari, Press TV, Tehran
Fri May 31, 2013 3:33PM GMT

Mansour Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American used car salesman, was arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on September 29, 2011. He was charged with planning to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in a bomb attack on a restaurant in Washington. He signed a plea bargain offered to him by Preet Bharara, U-S Attorney for the Southern District of New York. After this one-sided out of court deal, which benefited the District Attorney, Arbabsiar was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. He was represented by Sabrina Shroff, a federal public defender appointed by the court. Arbabsiar’s family says that Shroff used unethical means to make her client sign the plea bargain.

Experts say a defendant who goes to trial and is found guilty of a serious felony receives, on average, a prison sentence that is twice as long as the sentence offered in a plea bargain for the same offense. Yet Arbabsiar’s plea bargain agreement says that he “acknowledges that his entry of a guilty plea to the charged offenses authorizes the sentencing court to impose any sentence, up to and including the statutory maximum sentence”. Arbabsiar’s family says that he signed this agreement with his lawyer’s guidance and advice. They question why she would have advised him to enter into an agreement that was so detrimental to him. Arbabsiar’s mother has spoken to Press TV about her son.

His nephew also talked to Press TV. He stated that his uncle was at times influenced by action movie characters and talked liked them. He says he never thought his jokes would be used against him by US judiciary officials.

At the sentencing hearing, Shroff argued that Arbabsiar had committed the crime due to a longstanding, untreated bipolar disorder. Yet she had previously advised him to plead guilty in terms of a plea bargain.

Fighters, Flowing to Syria, Guard Shiites

Fighters, Flowing to Syria, Guard Shiites
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323463704578497021387416606.html
MIDDLE EAST NEWS May 23, 2013, 7:06 p.m. ET
Battling Beside Assad Forces, Iraqis and Lebanese Answer Calls to Protect Shrines and Counter Sunnis
By SAM DAGHER

SEYDA ZEINAB, Syria—This town on Damascus's southern fringe, with a shimmering golden-domed shrine at its center and a heavily patrolled perimeter of berms and concrete barriers, has become the first stop for many foreign fighters entering Syria to battle alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Mourners in Basra, Iraq, on May 17. Relatives say Shiite fighter Mohammed Aboud was killed by a sniper's bullet in the town of Seyda Zeinab, Syria. His coffin reads 'Sigh in grief, Zeinab.'

Shiite fighters, primarily from Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, are now flowing into Syria in greater numbers to bolster government forces, say Syrians familiar with them. They are arriving to defend Mr. Assad's regime, but more fundamentally to protect the Shiite faith from what they see as a regional Sunni onslaught, say people in Seyda Zeinab and the fighters' hometowns.

The influx provides more concrete illustration of how Syria's conflict, long viewed as a civil war fought largely along sectarian lines, is now a full-fledged religious conflagration drawing its oxygen from across the region.

The dynamics have been most visible over the past week in the battle for rebel-held Qusayr, whose capture would bring the regime secure logistical lines in the center of the country, running from Damascus to the pro-Assad Syrian coast and into sympathetic territory inside Lebanon.

In Qusayr, Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon have battled openly alongside forces loyal to Mr. Assad, whose regime is dominated by the Shiite-linked Alawites. On Thursday, Hezbollah's media arm said regime forces were in control of roughly the southern half of Qusayr and were pressing ahead with an air and ground offensive to take the whole town.

But Shiite militants are increasingly involved in combat elsewhere in the country as well. These include fighters from Hezbollah, from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and from Iraq's Asaib Ahl al-Haq—an Iran-backed group that was responsible for some of the most sophisticated and lethal attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq—according to militia members and Syrians familiar with the fighters.

In a June 2012 photo, Syrian soldiers stand at the site of a car bombing in Seyda Zeinab, a town on Damascus's outskirts that is the site of one of Shiism's holy sites.

Such fighters have been active in campaigns launched this year to wrest control of Damascus suburbs from the rebels, said Maher Ajeeb, the commander of a Syrian pro-regime militia in Seyda Zeinab. Many Shiite warriors have answered calls to protect important shrines like the one here, a mausoleum where Shiites believe Zeinab, a saint-like granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad, is buried.

Mr. Ajeeb said he faced a dilemma when Syrian rebels launched an assault here on New Year's Day this year. His brother was battling on one front, he said. Pressing against rebels on a second front, he said, was a group of fighters he called "the friends"—members of Hezbollah.

Mr. Ajeeb, whose group was mustered the previous month, backed up the Hezbollah fighters. The town's defense proved successful. But his brother Hussein was killed, he said.

"They are my brothers, too," said Mr. Ajeeb of his choice to battle alongside Hezbollah. "And we are all servants of Seyda Zeinab."

The number of Shiite foreign fighters in Syria isn't clear. President Assad told an Argentine newspaper last week that only senior Iranian and Hezbollah military experts with long-standing ties to the Syrian army are in the country. But Syrians and Iraqis fighting alongside the regime say hundreds of foreigners have come this year, compared with dozens late last year.

"I personally get dozens of calls each day from people in the provinces and Baghdad who want to go," said a commander of Asaib, the Iraqi militia. "We send well-trained ideological fighters."

The Shiite shrine in Seyda Zeinab, a heavily guarded pro-government town. Rebels recently fired mortar shells that narrowly missed the shrine, which rebels, in text messages, have also threatened to turn into an ice-skating rink.

These Shiites form a counterpoint to similarly religiously motivated fighters who have entered the country to aid the predominantly Sunni rebels. Many Syrian rebels are increasingly under the sway of al Qaeda fighters, clerics and benefactors from Gulf Arab states who extol the eradication of "heretic" communities of Shiites and Alawites.

Foreign Sunni fighters represent more than two dozen nationalities, from Saudi and Turkish to Chechen, Mr. Assad and other Syrian officials have said. Some 500 to 700 Europeans are among the nearly 6,000 Islamist foreign fighters who have come to Syria to support the rebels since the start of the war, a European diplomat said. In April, the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation placed the number of European rebel fighters at 135 to 590, with the largest numbers from the U.K., France and the Netherlands, basing its count on media reports and martyrdom notices.

The religious fervor extends to fighters' communities as far away as Kuwait, Libya, Iran and Saudi Arabia—on dueling satellite channels, online chat forums and social-media websites. Some Shiite clerics are propagating the idea that the war in Syria is laying a foundation for the imminent return of the Messiah-like Imam Mahdi, who Shiites broadly believe will wage an end-times battle against evil on Syrian soil.

"We must be ready for the reappearance and committed to its aftermath because the process won't be easy," Jalaleddin al-Saghir, an Iraqi Shiite cleric and politician, said in October in one of his many sermons in Baghdad about the topic.

The influx of Shiite fighters to Syria has triggered calls, particularly from Syrian rebel backers and clerics in Gulf Arab Sunni states, for all-out jihad against Iran and its allies in Syria. Faisal bin Jasim al-Thani, a member of Qatar's royal family, warned on his Twitter account Tuesday that Shiites in the region would now face revenge attacks. "Iran and its tails will be crushed in Syria," he wrote.

This regional reach makes a political compromise to end fighting that much more elusive.

"I have every right to ask a Lebanese military expert to help me with my just cause," said Fadi Burhan, a Syrian Shiite cleric in Seyda Zeinab. Mr. Burhan heads public relations at a local office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader who also conveys religious guidance through offices serving Shiite communities around the world.

Mr. Burhan, a tall and imposing figure in his 30s, lifts his shirt to show scars on his stomach from three bullets that he says were from a failed assassination attempt in Seyda Zeinab in April 2012. His assailants, he said, were two Sunni teenagers—members of the many Sunni families who had sought refuge here because, at the time, it was safer than other areas. The attempt on his life came two weeks after another Syrian Shiite cleric, Naser al-Alawi, was killed here in a similar manner.

By July, most Sunnis had left Seyda Zeinab. At the same time, Shiites and Alawites were brutally chased from a neighboring district, Hajeera, that is now under the control of extremist Sunni rebels and foreign jihadists, according to residents.

Seyda Zeinab is now a virtual fortress accessible only through army checkpoints. The shrine's perimeter is sealed off with concrete walls. Rebels recently fired mortar shells that narrowly missed the shrine. They have also threatened in text messages sent this year to some residents to level the shrine and turn it into an ice-skating rink, said residents.

Hundreds of male residents have joined government-sponsored paramilitary groups tasked with securing the town and participating in operations against rebels around Damascus.

The very name of Mr. Ajeeb's militia, the Abu al-Fadhel al-Abbas Brigade, positions it within the sectarian drama: Al-Abbas was the half-brother of revered Shiite Imam Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad. The brothers were among the Shiites slaughtered more than 1,300 years ago in Karbala, in present-day Iraq, by forces dispatched by the Damascus-based Sunni caliph. The shrine here to the men's sister is one of Shia Islam's holy sites.

The brigade's creation, coupled with the threats against the shrine, have attracted volunteer fighters. especially from Lebanon and Iraq, Mr. Ajeeb said. Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah both issued in April what amounted to religious justification to Shiites fighting in Syria.

"To be martyred in Syria is like being martyred in Karbala" 1,300 years ago, said Mr. Ajeeb, a bearded and stocky 30-year-old in a military uniform, who said that before the conflict he owned a fruit and vegetable stand in town.

In Lebanon and Iraq, funerals for fighters slain in Syria are now an almost daily occurrence.

"At your service, Zeinab!" read one of the banners carried in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniyah on Saturday at the funeral of Muthana al-Karawi, whom a local news website identified as a fighter killed in Syria a week ago.

—Ali A. Nabhan in Baghdad contributed to this article.

Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared May 24, 2013, on page A9 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Fighters, Flowing to Syria, Guard Shiites.

State Dept. Report Says Countries Have Repressed Religious Freedom With Laws

State Dept. Report Says Countries Have Repressed Religious Freedom With Laws
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/world/report-cites-countries-use-of-laws-to-repress-faith.html
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: May 20, 2013

WASHINGTON — Countries around the world, including allies of the United States, have used laws on blasphemy and apostasy to suppress political opponents, the State Department said on Monday in an annual report chronicling a grim decline in religious freedom that has resulted in rising bigotry and sectarian violence.

The report singled out eight countries for particularly egregious and systemic repression of religious rights: China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan. In China, the report said, religious freedoms declined in the last year, highlighted by punitive actions against Christians, Muslims and Buddhists in Tibet, where 82 monks, nuns or laypeople killed themselves in acts of self-immolation last year.

Proliferating laws against blasphemy or apostasy, including in several countries undergoing political transitions after the Arab spring, are not protecting religions, as officials often claim, but rather targeting other faiths, at times selectively.

“These laws are frequently used to repress dissent, to harass political opponents and to settle personal vendettas,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in remarks at the State Department when introducing the report, which Congress has mandated for the past 15 years.

He did not identify specific countries, but the report did in detail. It noted arrests in Saudi Arabia, which prohibits all faiths except Islam, and in Iran, where adherents of Bahaism faced arbitrary arrests and imprisonment. In Pakistan, blasphemy laws “have been abused to settle personal disputes and silence legitimate political discourse,” the report said. It cited the widely publicized case of Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl who faced blasphemy charges last year that were dropped only after national and international protests.

Another troubling new trend the report cited was growing religious intolerance in countries that have experienced at least nominally democratic transitions. Egypt, Tunisia and Libya — all countries that have overthrown autocratic governments with American support since 2011 — adopted restrictive new laws or carried out prosecutions against minority faiths.

Egypt’s new Constitution prohibits “undermining or subjecting to prejudice all messengers and prophets” of Islam, but does not extend explicit protections to Christianity or Judaism. Defamation against all three faiths was prohibited by statute under the rule of Hosni Mubarak. Egypt’s new government, dominated by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, also has done little to prosecute those involved in religious violence against Christians, creating an atmosphere of impunity that the report noted in many countries facing strife among different believers.

The report is an annual exercise to highlight the priority of religious freedom in American foreign policy. Freedom of religion is not “an American invention,” Mr. Kerry said, but rather a “universal value.”

“And when necessary, yes, it does directly call out some of our close friends, as well as some countries with whom we seek stronger ties, and it does so in order to try to make progress, even though we know it may cause some discomfort,” Mr. Kerry said, referring to the report. “But when countries undermine or attack religious freedom, they not only unjustly threaten those whom they target. They also threaten their countries’ own stability.”

The report also warned of growing sectarian conflict, particularly between Sunnis and Shiites, in an arc from Syria to Iraq to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, a close American ally whose Shiite majority has chafed under the Sunni-dominated government of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.

And the report noted an increase in anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East. In his remarks, Mr. Kerry announced the appointment of a new special envoy on the issue, Ira N. Forman, a former director of the National Jewish Democratic Council who also served as the director of Jewish outreach in President Obama’s re-election campaign.

“Holocaust denial and glorification remained troubling themes, and opposition to Israeli policy at times was used to promote or justify blatant anti-Semitism,” the report said. “When political leaders condoned anti-Semitism, it set the tone for its persistence and growth in countries around the world.”

The report singled out Egypt, Iran and Venezuela, but also cited anti-Semitic commentary, vandalism or violence last year in France, Greece, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine. At the same time, Israel also came under criticism for “abuses of religious freedom, including arrests and detentions” and “numerous restrictions that affected minority groups,” including non-Orthodox Jews, women seeking greater rights to worship and Muslims.

The report also chronicled a rise in anti-Muslim attitudes in Europe that have shaped government policies. “Government restrictions, which often coincided with societal animosity, resulted in anti-Muslim actions that affected everyday life for numerous believers,” the report said. “The impact ranged from education, to employment, to personal safety within communities.”

Let Syria be Syria: Neither Salafi nor Shia

Let Syria be Syria: Neither Salafi nor Shia
http://www.shiapac.org/2013/05/20/let-syria-be-syria-neither-salafi-nor-shia-2/
May 20, 2013 in Saudi Arabia, Syria

Syrian rebels prepare for an attack on a Syrian Army base in Damascus

Syria, an ancient land on the Mediterranean Sea has witnessed many upheavals in last few centuries. Its history as well as its geography went through trials and tribulations of the time, and the French granted the country its independence in 1946. The population comprises of almost 74% Sunni Muslims, 16% Alawites and Druze, 10% Christians awwzznd a tiny Jewish minority mainly in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo. For the past 45 years, this country has been ruled by the Baath party and the al-Asad clan has been at the helm. Like any other Arab state in the region, Syria has had its share of dissension in the past. An uprising in 1980, orchestrated by Ikhwan ul Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood) and some Salafi elements, was restricted to the city of Aleppo and was successfully crushed by Hafez el-Assad, the father of the current president Bashar el-Assad. Since it has been a member of the club known as the “confrontation states”, Syria has fought two wars (1967 and 1973) against Israel and ended up as a loser, particularly in the 1967 War, where a large chunk of its territory, the Golan Heights, was captured by Israel. As a member of the Arab League, Syria has been secular ever since the Baath Party takeover of 42 years ago. Also, Syria has been quite staunch in support of Hamas faction of the Palestinian movement and it also supported the U.S and its allies in the Gulf War I and Gulf War II against Iraq’s Saddam Hussain.

The Arab Spring, inspired by the freedom of Iraq in 2003, commenced with great vehemence in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen while made soft landings in Morocco, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and finally descended upon Syria. Since the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen were of grassroots nature, and no mercenaries or foreign fighters participated, these countries promptly and with minimal violence, succumbed to the changes in their respective regimes. The monarchies of Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, however, were able to escape unscathed by baiting their citizenry with the offers of reform and improvement in their day to day life. Saudi Arabia even sent its troops to Bahrain to support the fledgling regime there – the bloody suppression of Bahrain’s population continues to date, as the Western powers, despite the most perilous plights of the Bahraini masses, have chosen to look the other way. The Shia citizens of Bahrain, who are in majority but largely disenfranchised, are being tortured and tormented on a daily basis by their rulers. Inside Saudi Arabia, the minority Shia Muslim community is not fairing any better either as the Saudi Kingdom continues to violate their most basic human rights and have essentially established a religious apartheid against the helpless Saudi Shia. Members of Shia clergy are arrested on a routine basis and they are imprisoned and tortured without any judicial due process. Also, Saudi based and financed Al-Qaida and Al-Nusra Front are creating havoc in Iraq by stoking sectarian strife and bloodshed.

To the east of the troubled Iraq lies Syria where the civil war has entered its third year. Almost 70,000 people (including 20,000 Syrian soldiers, 10,000 foreign fighters, and nearly 40,000 civilians caught in the bloody crossfire) have lost their lives. Almost 1.2 million Syrians have landed in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon as refugees and the number of displaced Syrians has reached 4.5 million. According to independent accounts, 40,000 foreign fighters from as far as Albania and Zambia are engaged in this brutal conflict. Bashar al-Assad, no saint by any stretch of the imagination, is doing everything he possibly can to cling to the power he inherited from his father Hafez al-Assad almost a decade ago. In terms of longevity of his reign, he is no more or less of an evil than the other Arab rulers, be that a monarch or a president. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are arming and financing the fighters predominantly belonging to Al- Qaida, Jabhat el-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front) and the Muslim Brotherhood, while Jordan is facilitating the training of these rebels. Ironically, Palestinians (Hamas), whose cause was championed by Syria more than by any other Arab state, have opted to ditch in favor of the petro dollars from the State of Qatar. The “Friends of Syria” and other rag tag rebel groups that had launched the initial peaceful uprising are now openly collaborating with the aforementioned factions simply because they themselves are not the quality of fighters whom Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar would prefer to arm and finance for the Syrian conflict. France and the United Kingdom, after failing to persuade their fellow EU members to join this conflict, have embarked upon providing non-lethal support and training to the rebels. Russia and, to a lesser extent, China are siding with Syria and the scope and magnitude of their support is increasing by the day despite the ongoing pressure by the Western powers. Iran and Hezbollah, in a spirit of quid pro quo, are also providing Syria with arms and military assistance to stave off the insurgency.

Modern day warfare requires two very essential ingredients in order to avert a crisis of this nature. First and foremost, the troops on the ground that Syria has employed for the past two years to counter the opposition have been somewhat effective, and the regime seems to be comfortable with their performance. Despite frequent claims of triumphalism by the insurgents, and regardless of all the lethal and non-lethal supplies they have been receiving from outside, the Syrian Army, in all likelihood is expected to prevail. The other ingredient that is critically essential in a vicious venture of this sort is for all parties to pursue a formidable propaganda and lobbying campaign. This requires tremendous amount of capital, and Syria in comparison with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is but penurious. Saudi Arabia with its trillions can buy and sell all the lobbying and PR firms, while Qatar has Al-Jazeera, the tried and tested powerful Arabic and English propaganda network that has quite recently acquired an American network for a half a billion dollars. The tiny Island-State of Bahrain has purchased the services of 13 most reputable Public Relations firms to lobby and advance its criminal agenda of suppressing and persecuting its populace. The Turks, the erstwhile Ottomans, for the past few years have spent millions to suppress the most tragic fact that they massacred almost 1.5 million Armenians in an act of genocide that took place in 1915. Also, during the contemporary times, Turkey is guilty of suppressing its Kurdish minority of 17 million by inflicting one pogrom after another against these helpless Kurds resulting in the loss of almost 40,000 lives in the past decade. The Black September of 1970 bears witness to thousands of Palestinians being slaughtered by Jordan on a nod from the Hashemite King Hussain.

And then, there exists this moralist group of the so-called hawkish U.S Senators led by John McCain (R-Arizona) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), which continues to prod President Barack Obama with daily pontifications that U.S must not look the other way while bloodshed in Syria continues. These Senators, joined by an ill-informed media and a few self proclaimed experts on the Middle East, have been articulating numerous proposals and scenarios that U.S government should follow in arming and financing the Syrian opposition. This group, however is conveniently overlooking the acts of State sponsored terrorism being perpetrated by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bahrain and Qatar upon the innocent Shia, Kurdish, Alawite, and Christian citizens of Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The triumvirate of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, in the meantime, is busy looking for every opportunity to raise the temperature of this conflict to a point where the US and its NATO allies can, somehow, be lured in to entering the fray to change the regime and topple Bashar al-Assad.

At the onset of the Iraqi War in 2003, when U.S. and its allies wanted to use Turkish space to launch an attack from northern Iraq, Turkey flatly rejected the request despite Saddam’s despotic demeanor and his ruthless reign of 35 years that resulted in the massacre of a million Iraqi Shias and Kurds. During the tenure of U.S. President Bill Clinton, and prior to the famous Dayton agreement, almost a quarter million Yugoslavian Muslims were massacred and maimed by the Serbs in a systemic pogrom of ethnic cleansing, while in Rwanda, almost a million Hutus and Tutsis perished as result of Civil War. In both of these most horrific and tragic instances the Western powers in general and the UN in particular remained bystanders. The U.S. and its allies did not venture to liberate Afghanistan from the cruel claws of Al-Qaida and Taliban, until the horrors and tragedies of 9/11 magnitude were inflicted against its innocent citizens. Nor were Saddam and his despotic Baath regime in Iraq dismantled by them until Saddam had invaded Kuwait, a fellow Arab state, and had perpetrated countless acts of terror, tyranny and bloodshed against his own people.

There is no simple option available to solve this Syrian crisis, and as such the Western powers will be best off keeping away from any involvement at this juncture, but the geo-political nature of this crisis compels U.S. in particular to seek a few alternatives. Divisions among the U.S.’s Arab and Muslim allies are impeding Obama administration’s efforts to forge unified responses to Syrian crisis. These regional divisions are driven by religious, political and economic rivalries that have been exacerbated by the revolutions and rebellions that have swept across the Middle East. Qatar and Turkey whose leaders are supportive of political Islam have shown a tilt towards Muslim Brotherhood, whereas Saudi Arabia, U.A.E. and Jordan and other Sunni Monarchies are hostile towards the Muslim Brotherhood, and its potential for destabilizing their political and economic systems. As a result, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are backing different factions within the Syrian opposition and that frustration has prompted Moaz al-Khatib, Chairman of the Syrian opposition Coalition, to resign. Al-Khatib, a paramount voice of reason wanted to communicate with the Syrian government to seek a diplomatic end to the war.

Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran are being shut-off by the West out of the resolution process of the Syrian conflict when it is almost impossible to achieve a solution without their involvement. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has quite recently met with the Russians on the possibility of holding an International conference in the near future, aimed at ending the Syrian conflict. Whether the warring parties will participate or not, any intervention by the West, particularly in arming the insurgents will result in more bloodshed and sufferings for the Syrian civilians. Since the nations do not use piety and sainthood as the criterion to elect or select their leaders, and of course Bashar al-Assad like his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan has none of that background, any attempt to replace him will not only backfire but will also result in a disintegrated and partitioned Syria where Al-Qaida, Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Nusra will rule as warlords à la Afghanistan. The decision to replace or keep Bashar al-Assad can only be made by the Syrian people, and that moment has yet to arrive!

Bashar al-Asad’s reign may have become untenable, but Syria must survive and if its history is any guide it probably will. Despite defection of politicians and members of the Armed Forces, and after all the destruction and desecration of mosques, shrines and grave sites, Syria continues to prove that it is quite capable of turning on the switch of “shock and awe” on Al-Qaida, Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Nusra empire. If Syria does indeed turns this switch and prevails, the balance of power in the region will decisively pivot towards Russia and China and away from the United States, which would certainly not be the most desirable outcome. An international conference to find a solution is certainly a good start but for a tenable outcome it must include Iran, Iraq and Lebanon alongside Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Only a broad coalition of nations such as this can impose a peaceful, secular and democratic solution – a solution that will let Syria be Syria, neither Salafi nor Shia.

By Agha (Shaukat) Jafri

Hezbollah Aids Syrian Military in a Key Battle

Hezbollah Aids Syrian Military in a Key Battle
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/world/middleeast/syrian-army-moves-to-rebel-held-qusayr.html
By ANNE BARNARD and HWAIDA SAAD
Published: May 19, 2013

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government forces backed by Lebanese fighters from the militant group Hezbollah pushed Sunday into parts of Qusayr, a strategic city long held by rebels, according to an antigovernment activist and pro-government news channels. If the advance holds, it would be a serious setback for opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.

The battle for Qusayr, Syria, raged on Sunday. A photo from a citizen journalist captured what was said to be the results of military airstrikes and artillery assaults.

Both sides called it one of the war’s most intense ground battles. The fight seemed likely to inflame regional tensions as Hezbollah plunges more deeply into the conflict in Syria, increasing fears of a regional conflagration.

The Syrian military hammered Qusayr, on the Lebanon border, with airstrikes and artillery, killing at least 52 people and wounding hundreds as civilians cowered, unable to flee the city, activists said. By day’s end about 60 percent of the city, including the municipal office building, was under the army’s control for the first time in months, one activist said. Residents said rebels kept fighting into the night in Qusayr, killing a number of Hezbollah and government fighters.

Syrian state television said the army had “tightened the noose on the terrorists,” the government’s term for its armed opponents, by attacking from several directions. State news media said the army had “restored security and stability” to most of the city, killing many rebel fighters and capturing others.

The battle for the city, in heavily contested Homs Province, is viewed by both loyalists and government opponents as a turning point that could, in the words of one activist in Qusayr, “decide the fate of the regime and the revolution.”

“It is one of the hardest days all over Syria,” said the activist, Tarek, who would give only his first name because he was concerned for his safety. “If Qusayr is finished, it will be the end of the revolution in Homs.”

Mr. Assad, according to people who have spoken with him, believes that reasserting his hold in Homs Province is crucial to maintaining control of a string of population centers in western Syria, and eventually to military campaigns to retake rebel-held territory in the north and east. Many analysts say it is unlikely that the government will be able to regain control of those areas, but that it could consolidate its grip on the west, leading to a de facto division of the country.

The battle has brought Hezbollah’s role in Syria to the forefront as the war becomes a regional conflict, pitting Shiite-led Iran, the main backer of Mr. Assad and Hezbollah, against the Sunni Muslim states and their Western allies that support the uprising.

In the Hezbollah heartland in southern Lebanon, residents were electrified by a new sense that they were at war, according to Ali, a local resident who is related to a Hezbollah fighter sent to Qusayr. Ali said that 14 Hezbollah fighters had died on Sunday, a figure that is consistent with claims by rebels and with those on unofficial Hezbollah Web sites. If it is confirmed, the toll would make the battle by far the group’s most costly action since it entered the Syrian conflict.

“It reminds me of the July 2006 war,” Ali said Sunday night, referring to Hezbollah’s war with Israel, its last major battle. “All the people are still up. They are waiting anxiously; they’re praying for victory for our fighters.”

Tensions have risen in Lebanon as Syrian rebels have shelled Hezbollah-controlled areas. On Sunday, they hit the Lebanese town of Hermel with Grad rockets, activists said.

Ali said his relative reported in a text message from Qusayr: “Things are fine. They are perfect.”

He said he supported Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria because it would deter the rise of Sunni extremist groups like Al Nusra Front among the rebels. “If we don’t defend our villages,” he said, referring to Shiite villages in Syria, “Al Nusra will be outside our homes the next day.”

Residents of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, bordering Syria, have reported a recent increase in the funerals of Hezbollah fighters there. One resident described Lebanese Shiites in the area as being concerned about their relatives in the ranks. “They are soldiers — they have to go,” the resident said.

Though many Lebanese Shiites support Mr. Assad, there is quiet consternation over the fact that Hezbollah fighters are being killed in battles with fellow Arab Muslims, in a country where they have many ties, rather than fighting the group’s primary enemy, Israel.

Perhaps seeking to address such concerns, Hezbollah, which depends on Mr. Assad for its shipments of weapons from Iran, recently acknowledged its military role in Syria more openly. The group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has said the group would not allow Qusayr, or the Syrian government, to fall to a rebellion that it views as being instigated by Israel and the West.

For weeks, Hezbollah — which is both Lebanon’s most powerful political party and a militant group regarded by the United States government as a terrorist organization — has fought alongside the Syrian military and pro-government militias in villages near Qusayr.

The small city, about 100 miles north of the Syrian capital, Damascus, is crucial to supply routes for both sides. Qusayr is a conduit for rebel supplies and fighters from Lebanon, and it links Damascus to the Mediterranean coast, which is the heartland for Mr. Assad’s minority Alawite sect.

The Syrian government appears to be trying to regain as much territory as possible, to strengthen its negotiating position while Russia and the United States try to organize peace talks for next month.

The rebels have issued pleas for help, saying they are running out of ammunition. A Syrian opposition figure with ties to the Saudi government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Sunday that support and ammunition from Persian Gulf countries is reaching insurgents in Qusayr, but added that the government’s increasing control of supply routes made delivery difficult.

“They are getting help,” the opposition figure said, “but the other side is much stronger and better equipped and trained.”

Even so, one Qusayr resident, a doctor who works in field hospitals and whose brother is a rebel fighter, said that Qusayr’s rebels were more highly motivated than government fighters. He said a ground assault on the city, where about 7,000 local fighters have spent months preparing defenses and ambushes, would cost many lives.

“They’re defending their fields, their land,” said the doctor, Zahereddine, who is currently in the Bekaa Valley. “But those aggressors, what goal do they have? It’s not their town; they don’t dare to go inside and die — for what?”

In Qusayr, the doctor’s brother filmed himself standing on a rooftop as smoke rose over the city. “Qusayr is being destroyed,” he said.

Ammar, a Qusayr resident reached through Skype, said hundreds of shells had flattened houses across the city and that his brother had lost a leg and could not be evacuated. “I never saw the sky in Qusayr that black,” he said.

Tarek, the activist in Qusayr, said that more than 25,000 civilians remained in the city, blocked from leaving by government forces.

Syrian state television said that the government had provided a safe corridor for civilians to flee the city. But activists said that the route leads residents to government-controlled areas, where they fear prosecution and torture, especially in the wake of the killings of scores of Sunni Muslims in government-held Tartus Province this month.

“They would massacre them there,” he said. United Nations officials have also expressed fears that civilians could be targets of attacks if the government storms the city.

“Civilians are besieged,” Tarek said. “No way to get them out.”

Videos from Qusayr uploaded on the Web by opposition groups showed helicopters bombing a heavily damaged neighborhood while clouds of smoke drifted into the sky, amid the near-constant sounds of gunfire and shelling. Other activists uploaded images of dead bodies with their bloody faces wrapped in white cloth.

Anne Barnard and Hwaida Saad reported from Beirut. Hala Droubi contributed reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Syria mutilation footage sparks doubts over wisdom of backing rebels

Syria mutilation footage sparks doubts over wisdom of backing rebels
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/14/syria-mutilation-footage-rebels-eat
Anti-Assad fighter appears to eat internal organ of dead government soldier in horrific footage

Free Syrian Army fighters in Homs, cradle of the Farouq Brigades. Photograph: Yazan Homsy/Reuters

Ian Black and Martin Chulov

Horrific video footage of a Syrian rebel commander eating the heart or lung of a dead government fighter has aroused furious international controversy, fuelling an already heated debate over western support for the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The grisly film had been circulating for several days, attracting extensive comment on social media networks such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. But in the face of an often vicious propaganda war between the government and rebels, early doubts about the film's authenticity faded when the perpetrator, named as Khaled al-Hamad, admitted that he had mutilated the corpse of an unnamed soldier as an act of revenge.

"We opened his cell phone and I found a clip of a woman and her two daughters fully naked and he [the dead soldier] was humiliating them, and sticking a stick here and there," Hamad told the Time news website.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), an independent monitor, said: "The figure in the video cuts the heart and liver out of the body and uses sectarian language to insult Alawites [Assad's minority sect]. At the end of the video [the man] is filmed putting the corpse's heart into his mouth, as if he is taking a bite out of it."

Hamad, also known as Abu Sakkar, said he also had video footage of himself using a saw to cut a Shabiha government militiaman into "small and large pieces".

Yasser Taha, a fellow fighter, told the Guardian an unnamed female relative of Abu Sakkar had been raped and killed by government soldiers. Time said he had in fact eaten the dead man's lung, not his liver or heart.

The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), the main western and Arab-backed anti-Assad political grouping, quickly condemned the incident as a crime and pledged to bring the perpetrator to justice.

Atrocities have been reported since the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, but few images have been as repulsive as this one. Film of prisoners apparently being buried alive turned out to have been faked, but other shocking footage proved genuine.

"It is not enough for Syria's opposition to condemn such behaviour or blame it on violence by the government," said Nadim Houry of HRW. "The opposition forces need to act firmly to stop such abuses."

The SOC said: "Such an act contradicts the morals of the Syrian people as well as the values and principles of the Free Syrian Army. The FSA has been [fighting] and continues to fight for the dignity of every Syrian striving for freedom.

"The FSA is a national army above all, formed to defend civilians and deliver the Syrian people from the mentality of revenge and crime. It completely rejects the ill-treatment of the wounded and the disfigurement of the dead."

The video is a blow to faltering western efforts to raise and mentor a credible opposition force to fight for democracy, in the event that the Assad regime falls.

International revulsion seems likely to affect discussions in western capitals about supporting the FSA. Britain and France have been seeking to amend or drop the EU arms embargo on Syria. The Obama administration has signalled that it may start openly supplying the rebels but has not done so yet. The CIA has reportedly been co-ordinating arms deliveries by anti-Assad Gulf states.

Opposition supporters complained that one savage act was getting massive global media coverage while the death of an estimated 80,000 people was being tolerated by the international community.

"This distressing incident is one example of warfare gone completely askew, but it clearly doesn't represent the Syrian opposition at large," said Julien Barnes-Dacey of the European Council for Foreign Relations in London. "It doesn't compare in scale with massacres and atrocities committed by the Syrian regime. But it does play into fears about where the conflict is going and whether arming the rebels is the right approach."

Sakkar was a well-known member of the Farouq Brigades, a unit that rose from the ruins of the Baba Amr suburb of Homs and became one of the rebels' best resourced fighting forces.

During the first 18 months of the war, the Farouq Brigades were seen as a cohesive militia with mainstream leanings, which could credibly fight under the banner of the FSA. Then and now, the FSA has struggled to assemble a command-and-control structure to control the large numbers of rebel-aligned groups, which mostly answer to local leaders.

"It highlights the fact that we are not talking about a centrally controlled and well-organised rebel force," Barnes-Dacey said. "These are rebels fighting in distinct areas according to their own needs and ambitions. Some are driven by a thirst for revenge, criminalisation, sectarianism … These are the array of forces that have been unleashed in Syria today."

Farouq became established in Idlib, where it was backed by Qatar and at times Saudi Arabia. Late last year, Sakkar formed a splinter group, which he called the Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade.

For the last six months this small unit has joined the fray in Qusayr, which borders Lebanon and is seen as a strategic crossroads by regime and rebels.

Sakkar's sectarian rhetoric has hardened considerably lately, and he has often been recorded denouncing Alawites and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militia that is heavily involved in battles near Homs.

Hamad told Time that Syria's revolution started peacefully. "They [the Alawites] were the ones who killed our children in Baba Amr and raped our women," he said. Then, referring to the recent massacre of Sunni villagers in Bayda, near Baniyas – attributed by rebels to the regime – he added: "They were the ones who slaughtered the children and women in Bayda. We didn't start it; they started it."

Swearing to avenge every death, he said: "Our slogan is, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."

Additional reporting by Mona Mahmood

Derrota de EU y México en la OMC: revuelta en la granja de BRICS

Derrota de EU y México en la OMC: revuelta en la granja de BRICS
http://islammdp.blogspot.com/2013/05/derrota-de-eu-y-mexico-en-la-omc.html
15/05/13
Etiquetas: america latina, brasil, EE.UU, latinoamerica, mejico, unasur

Nunca debieron haber competido por la dirección de la disfuncional OMC dos países de Latinoamérica (de acuerdo con la añeja clasificación de la guerra fría): respectivamente su primera y segunda potencias geoeconómicas, Brasil y México.

Desde el TLCAN (firma, 1992; en vigor, 1994), la secuencia generacional de la absorción de México al perímetro de seguridad de Estados Unidos y el NorthCom/NORAD/OTAN se ha profundizado.

La absorción del “México neoliberal itamita/ Chicago boys” a la entelequia energético-militar y de seguridad de Norteamérica se ha consumado con mayor profundidad después del 11/S (infame documento Nuevos horizontes, cofirmado por el ITAM), la captura de la banca nacional y las aseguradoras con Zedillo, el ASPAN foxiano, las tres entregas calderonistas: 1) Iniciativa Mérida (calca del Plan Colombia); 2) cesión de las transfronteras a Estados Unidos para la explotación de hidrocarburos, y 3) la Alianza del Pacífico (TPP, por sus siglas en inglés) para contener a China; sin contar su demencial cuan delincuencial promiscuidad de asociación con Repsol, y ahora con el obsequio integral de las telecomunicaciones y las playas. Sólo falta el último clavo en su féretro soberano: Pemex.

El concepto estadunidense de Norteamérica ha establecido de facto una nueva estructura geopolítica/geoeconómica en la añeja clasificación de Latinoamérica –que desea absorber a toda Centroamérica mediante el CAFTA y con nuevos tratados de seguridad energética en los que Norteamérica sería el abastecedor–, que colisiona con Sudamérica, donde Brasil opera como líder.

Se fractura así Latinoamérica (concepto añejo) que se divide de facto en dos bloques:
1) Norteamérica, que absorbió al México neoliberal, que incluye a Centroamérica como su satélite regional y
2) Sudamérica, que encabeza Brasil con su proyecto Unasur.

Más allá de las personalidades de los dos candidatos –que, a mi juicio, no fue determinante en el resultado, porque se trataba de un asunto estructural más que sicoanalítico–, el brasileño Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo, diplomático de carrera exitoso, y el economista mexicano Herminio Alonso Blanco Mendoza, se trató de una colisión entre el candidato de Estados Unidos/Unión Europea/OTAN y el seleccionado por los BRICS y los países no alineados (de Latinoamérica, África y Asia, con predominio de países árabes e islámicos).

El pasado tétrico del candidato de Estados Unidos no era muy blanco, con varios cadáveres en el clóset: fundamentalista neoliberal del corte Chicago boy, muy cercano a los Bush (Universidad Rice, Texas), jefe negociador del cataclísmico TLCAN, facilitador de 32 de los 34 tratados comerciales a cuestas de México (para lo que sirven) y el pestilente Renave (con el criminal argentino Ricardo Miguel Cavallo y un extraño suicidado: su subsecretario Raúl Ramos Tercero: La Jornada, 28/10/11), que obviamente no perturbó a Estados Unidos (tan quisquilloso con sus rivales).

Hechos

Desde su creación, la OMC (sucesora del GATT) no había contado con un director que no hubiese sido impulsado por Estados Unidos y su caduco orden unipolar.

No es poca cosa: se trata de la primera derrota de Estados Unidos, y sus aliados tanto en el norte del Atlántico como en el resto del mundo, en una elección de los organismos internacionales Bretton Woods oriundos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

El México neoliberal paga los platos rotos de su gradual absorción a la entelequia de Norteamérica patrocinada por Estados Unidos, lo cual lo deja aislado en Latinoamérica –de la que fue su líder incontestado durante la guerra fría– y, más que nada, del resto del mundo, en especial su innecesaria colisión con los países denominados BRICS (Brasil, Rusia, India, China y Sudáfrica) y sus aliados.

A mi juicio, constituyó un grave error de juicio de Washington tratar de imponer a un segundo mexicano a la cabeza de un organismo internacional, concomitante a la controvertida presencia de José Ángel Gurría en la OCDE (mejor conocida como el club de los ricos: una anómala aberración en un país con una de las mayores tasas de miserables en el planeta).

El preocupante aislamiento diplomático de México se agudizó con la dupla Fox/Castañeda Gutman, que se peleó prácticamente con la mayor parte de los países importantes de Sudamérica (Brasil, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, etcétera) debido a su fundamentalismo latinofóbico a favor de Estados Unidos e Israel.

Es conocida la anécdota de la frivolidad de la diplomacia foxiana cuando su canciller desacralizó las estatuas de terracota, en donde jugó puerilmente a las escondidas con su compañera, lo cual ultrajó al gobierno chino.

Por lo visto, la reciente visita de Peña Nieto a China no fue suficiente para curar las heridas añejas legadas por el inmaduro PAN.

Se ha filtrado que de los 159 miembros de la OMC, 96 se volcaron a favor del diplomático brasileño y contra el candidato mexicano.

Los multimedia anglosajones han escamoteado los alcances del triunfo del candidato de BRICS a la dirección de la OMC, que simboliza el asentamiento del nuevo orden multipolar que se instala paulatinamente en el resto de los organismos internacionales donde Estados Unidos y sus aliados todavía dominan en forma preponderante (FMI y Banco Mundial), lo cual es notable, porque opera sin el epílogo de una guerra mundial de por medio.

La derrota de Estados Unidos y sus aliados, de la que el México neoliberal fue un miserable instrumento, traduce el fin del caduco orden unipolar y el vuelo del incipiente nuevo orden multipolar.

Tampoco se puede soslayar que la derrota del candidato de Estados Unidos en la OMC se gesta en medio de su decadencia global, que lo ha obligado a replegarse de la región del gran Medio Oriente/Asia Central/subcontinente indio para reposicionarse en la región del Asia Pacífico mediante la doctrina Obama del pivote, con el objetivo de cercar a China.

Conclusión

El triunfo del candidato de Estados Unidos tenía como intención recuperar el control perdido desde la Ronda de Doha en 2001 (fecha de ingreso de China después de la aciaga Ronda de Uruguay), cuando colisionan el norte y el sur en Cancún. Hoy la OMC cuenta con un director proveniente del sur geoeconómico y geopolítico.

A mi juicio, el significado del triunfo del diplomático brasileño apuntalado por BRICS no tiene tanta relevancia mercantilista, ni siquiera geoeconómica, sino más bien geopolítica, como reflejo del incipiente nuevo orden multipolar, cuando la desregulada globalización financierista neoliberal hace agua por doquier.

Detonó ya la revuelta en la granja de BRICS, que comienzan a colocar a sus candidatos en los organismos internacionales del viejo orden mundial.

El México eterno se ha clavado demasiado a la estructura estadunidense de Norteamérica y se olvida de que es un país latino que debe tender un puente civilizatorio tanto con Norteamérica (donde la demografía latina se está imponiendo, tanto en Canadá como en Estados Unidos) como con sus hermanos de Centro y Sudamérica. Esa debe ser la misión ontológica de un genuino México moderno.

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La Jornada

The Fork-Tongued Tirade from CAIR: A Dossier of Defamation

The Fork-Tongued Tirade from CAIR: A Dossier of Defamation
http://www.shiapac.org/2013/05/15/the-curse-of-cair-a-dossier-of-defamation/
May 15, 2013 in Press Releases

In the days since the awful Boston Marathon bombings, a controversy has exploded inside the Muslim-American community. The Shi’a Public Affairs Committee (ShiaPAC) – an organization founded to combat the defamation, discrimination and persecution of the Shi’a Muslims – cannot remain silent while other organizations claiming to speak in the name of Muslim-Americans spread fitna.

When President Obama came to Boston for an interfaith memorial service, a representative from the American Islamic Congress (AIC) was asked by the office of Governor Patrick to offer a reflection. At the time, the Marathon killers had not yet been identified, but already Muslim-Americans were in spotlight. In that difficult environment, AIC’s representative Nasser Weddady appeared at the podium with America and the world watching. He gave a brief speech that people of any faith could find moving and inspiring.

Instead of saluting Weddady’s eloquent remarks and important effort to present an appealing Muslim-American message at a time of national crisis, some organizations claiming to speak in the name of Muslim-Americans have instead attacked Weddady and AIC. Specifically, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has widely and publicly spread an article attacking AIC.

ShiaPAC would first like to commend Weddady (who is not a Shi’a) for speaking effectively as a Muslim American to fellow Americans throughout the Boston Marathon crisis. We also feel compelled to recognize the work of AIC for the past eleven years under the leadership of Zainab Al-Suwaij, who has shown dauntless determination towards numerous Islamic and humanitarian causes.

ShiaPAC notes that AIC is one of the few Muslim civic organizations headed by a Shi’a woman. Ms. Al-Suwaij is a native of Iraq who was nearly killed while participating in the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein, an uprising initially encouraged by then-President Bush. When America failed to make good on its promise, Al-Suwaij had to flee her homeland before settling in the US and becoming a proud American. After September 11 attacks, again in the midst of a national crisis, Al-Suwaij launched AIC as a non-religious group that could foster interfaith understanding and tolerance while promoting civil rights at home and abroad. AIC has launched innovative programs around the world that empower individuals and foster inclusive communities.

AIC has worked on the ground in very difficult environments and Ms. Al-Suwaij regularly puts herself at personal risk in order to advance AIC’s unique approach to International Development. This includes pioneering programs in Iraq amidst a violent civil war, as well as bold efforts in Egypt under Hosni Mubarak’s repression and is now helping Syrian refugees. She has helped engage women and youth and in the process become a source of inspiration for non-Muslims and Muslims alike, Sunni as well as Shi’a.

Her accomplishments come at a time when Saudi-funded Islamic organizations including those based in the United States, are unfortunately working to marginalize and disenfranchise Shi’a Muslims across the globe. ShiaPAC must note that Saddam Hussein butchered nearly a million Shi’a and Sunni Muslims during his 35 year old reign, while Al-Qaeda and its underlings, the Taliban, have massacred en masse Muslims of all sects in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Saudi Arabia continues to suppress its Shi’a minority and has collaborated with Bahrain in suppressing and persecuting that Island’s Shi’a citizens (a majority of the population). These crimes against Humanity are intensifying by the day, and yet CAIR and many of its allies fail to speak up on behalf of these innocent victims. CAIR does not hesitate to attack federal, State, or local arms of the U.S government, for alleged cases of civil rights violations against American Muslims. It frequently cries of Islamophobia in defense of American Muslims, yet it ignores the frequent and flagrant Human Rights violations against Shi’a and other fellow Muslims by the Wahabi and Salafi States.

Millions of US Citizens hailing from Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond owe their survival to the United States. While these immigrants were persecuted for committing no crime, CAIR does not stand up to save victims like Zainab Al-Suwaij. Yet now that she is a free woman in a democratic country exercising her right to free speech and free association, CAIR comes along to chastise her. CAIR and related organizations established by the Muslim Brotherhood unfairly try to impose a monopoly on representing Islam and Muslims in America, Europe and beyond. They claim to defend Muslims and Islam, but only do so in a manner that serves their purpose.

CAIR in a distasteful manner has attacked Ms. Al-Suwaij and AIC publicly – apparently in an attempt to ostracize her via character assassination and defamation. This was hardly an act of civility, much less proper Islamic behavior. We judge AIC and Ms. Al-Suwaij by their actions. She and her organization have led ground-breaking work to protect the civil rights of people of all backgrounds. She and AIC have pioneered new avenues of inter and intra-faith understanding. And most importantly, she and many of her colleagues have risked physical danger to put their principles into action on the ground.

Now, only a few weeks after the awful Marathon bombings, is a time for healing and respect, not division. In that spirit, ShiaPAC calls on CAIR – which launched an unprovoked attack on another organization doing important work around the world – to publicly apologize to AIC and Ms. Al-Suwaij.

Carlos Slim: “Más que una crisis de Europa, vivimos un cambio de civilización”

Carlos Slim: “Más que una crisis de Europa, vivimos un cambio de civilización”
http://islammdp.blogspot.com/2013/05/carlos-slim-mas-que-una-crisis-de.html
04/05/13
Etiquetas: capitalismo, ciencia occidental, civilizacion moderna, economía, union europea

Nota de Islam en Mar del Plata: subimos esta nota simplemente, porque entre lineas podemos leer el proyecto de estos tipos. También ellos señalan un cambio de civilización, pero tramposo. Solo dan un nombre para estructurar a las sociedades a las nuevas tecnologías y las necesidades de las multinacionales. Vale la pena leer esta entrevista. Saludos

A los 72 años de edad, el hombre más rico del mundo hace un alegato en contra del retiro a temprana edad. Carlos Slim Helú tiene una apretada agenda y no ha terminado una reunión cuando ya se están congregando en torno a su mesa los convocados a la siguiente. En esta entrevista sobre la situación europea argumenta que en su modelo actual el Estado de bienestar construido en Europa se ha vuelto insostenible. Explica que, entre otras cosas, se requieren ajustes para garantizar que quienes están en el paro reciban capacitación para empleos ligados a las nuevas necesidades. Aboga además por establecer una edad de retiro más alta que incluya un esquema donde en los últimos años se trabajen menos, aunque más largas, jornadas laborales.

El presidente honorario de Grupo Carso (América Movil) ofrece su consejo para salir más pronto de la crisis: “Lo que Europa debe hacer son dos cosas: vender activos, que bajen su endeudamiento y sus déficits, pero también invitar al sector privado a que haga la inversión que el Estado ya no tiene por qué seguir haciendo”.

Pregunta. Recientemente usted declaró en una entrevista: “Tú lees los números y los números te dicen lo qué está pasando”. ¿Qué le dicen los números de Europa? ¿Que está pasando ahí?

Respuesta. Es una combinación de números, de conceptos y tiene también que ver incluso con la historia y la evolución de las cosas. Desde hace 10.000 años, en las sociedades la tecnología ha ido provocando los avances de civilización: la rueda, el alfabeto, la navegación, los molinos, todo. Ese avance normalmente ha sido paulatino, continuo. Pero de repente hay grandes cambios tecnológicos, revoluciones tecnológicas, que provocan grandes cambios de civilización. Pasó con la sociedad industrial, sobre todo en su segunda etapa, a principios del siglo XX, y ahora con la sociedad tecnológica, avanzada, acelerada. Después de pasar por una época posindustrial estamos viviendo esta nueva civilización en la que los paradigmas son muy diferentes a los de las sociedades agrícolas, en donde el poder era monolítico, había esclavitud, no había derechos humanos. Hoy estamos 180 grados al revés, esta nueva civilización es de democracia, libertad, derechos humanos, cuidado del medio ambiente, competencia, productividad, globalización... Este gran cambio tecnológico tiene muchas consecuencias. Después de la II Guerra Mundial ha habido un gran desarrollo de Europa, un gran crecimiento económico, crecimiento de la población también, pero sobre todo un gran crecimiento de la incidencia fiscal de los gobiernos, que hacen una recaudación sustancialmente alta del producto interno y, además de eso, tienen déficit. Entonces están tomando una gran parte del producto interno. Y las razones principales de lo que está pasando son que, después de la II Guerra Mundial, los gobiernos y el Estado establecieron un Estado de bienestar cada vez mayor que ya se volvió insostenible. Es necesario hacerle algunos ajustes a este Estado de bienestar establecido. Se necesitan algunos cambios estructurales, que se ve que no están haciendo, y están acudiendo a la tradicional receta del ajuste del déficit fiscal a través de aumento de impuestos o reducción de gasto público. En ese Estado de bienestar las personas se están jubilando a los 60 años en algunos lados, cuando la esperanza de vida cuando alguien llega a los 60 años probablemente es de 85 o más años, y es de esperar que siga creciendo. Hay programas de salud universal, que son muy importantes, pero poco eficientes y muchas veces abiertos a los turistas. Entonces empieza a haber un seguro de salud que no obedece a causas normales, sino que los turistas se aprovechan de esas condiciones para hacer uso de los servicios médicos, acceder a operaciones quirúrgicas o prótesis yendo al país que los ofrece gratuitamente. Lo más grave que está pasando, y ahí sí los números hablan de una manera implacable, es la gran cantidad de desempleados, especialmente jóvenes. Eso desde el punto de vista social, económico y en general es muy preocupante en el caso de Europa. Y no se ve que se esté pensando en la solución de ello. Ya no es importante si el PIB crece un punto o dos o menos dos. De todas maneras los niveles de ingreso per cápita siguen siendo altos, no habrá una regresión a niveles de subdesarrollo. Lo grave es que ya los niveles de desempleo son muy altos, y que algunas políticas recesivas que están siguiendo para hacer los ajustes agudizan más el problema.

P. ¿Qué cambios estructurales se requieren para el Estado de bienestar?

R. La edad de retiro debe ser mayor, porque en el pasado eran sociedades de mucho trabajo físico, en la sociedad industrial había que estar en la máquina, había que trabajar físicamente y había un gran desgaste. Ahora son sociedades de servicios, en donde lo importante no es la fuerza física ni el trabajo físico, sino la experiencia y el conocimiento. En una sociedad del conocimiento, es una tristeza que a la mejor edad del ser humano alguien deje de estar ocupado cuando a los 60 años está en su mejor momento.

P. ¿Usted ya estaría retirado?

R. ¡Uy, desde hace mucho! Eso es absurdo. En una sociedad del conocimiento la gente con más experiencia y conocimiento se desaprovecha porque se queda sin trabajo. Creo que debe haber una jubilación mucho más tardía. Yo diría a los 70 años por dar una cifra, pensando en que las personas van a vivir 85 y más años; cuando ya una persona llega a los 65 o 70 años la esperanza de vida es mayor, la esperanza de vida hoy puede ser 75 o 77 cuando se nace, pero el que ya libró los primeros 70 años de vida se puede ir más para adelante. Cuando ya llegó uno a esas edades la esperanza es mayor. Por otro lado creo que hay que buscar por supuesto continuar con la salud universal, más eficiente, mejor cuidada, regulada, evitando los abusos, con más inteligencia. También debe haber redes de protección social a un nivel adecuado y que en los programas de retiro se les pague a las personas por capacitarse para una reconversión laboral. Es decir: yo no tengo empleo, entonces en lugar de que me den 1.000 euros, sí, que me los den, pero tengo que ir de tal hora a tal hora a capacitarme en equis número de actividades en las que va a haber demanda laboral, no en las que ya no hay demanda laboral. Es muy importante que los gobiernos estudien, y en general los especialistas, en dónde se van a generar los nuevos empleos en los próximos 5 o 10 años para desde ahora capacitar a las personas para esos empleos, e impulsar las actividades en donde se van a generar esos nuevos empleos para darle cabida a las personas nuevas que lo demanden. Además también cabe hacer programas de empleo, sobre todo en el caso de Europa, con fórmulas de trabajo de tres o cuatro días. En lugar de cinco días de ocho horas laborales, que se trabajaran tres días de 11 horas. Los tres o cuatro días restantes serían de un descanso que permite leer, actividades de entretenimiento, la convivencia familiar, acceso a la cultura, educación, viajes...

P. Es un cambio cultural.

R. Estamos viviendo un cambio de civilización total, con nuevos paradigmas y lo que tenemos que hacer son los cambios estructurales que este requiere. Hay que hacer los cambios. No es posible pensar en que haya un 50% de jóvenes sin empleo, o 30% o 25%. No es posible pensar que el sistema de bienestar siga creciendo reduciendo la edad a la que se jubila la gente. Los planes de paro o de seguro al desempleo deben estar ligados a una reconversión laboral para que persona que está desempleada hoy, que se dedicaba a cierta actividad, se le prepare para otras actividades, porque si no nunca va a encontrar empleo en lo que sabe hacer, tiene que aprender para tener una capacidad multiempleo, que tenga capacidad para diversos empleos. Cuanta más preparación tiene una persona, más posibilidades tiene de ser una oferta mejor y más facilidad de emplearse. Hace cuatro décadas, Alvin Toffler hablaba de las crisis que se provocan en los cambios de civilización. Lo que está pasando en Europa, y en el mundo en general, es una crisis de cambio de civilización. Al aumentar la productividad, al ser más eficientes, al globalizarse, al dejar de ser competitivos para la producción de ciertos bienes, empiezan a provocarse este tipo de problemas ante los que se tienen que hacer cambios de fondo para resolverlos. Y hablando de números, los números no dan para sostener estos programas. Si se hacen los números de cuánto cuesta el valor actual de la jubilación de la población económicamente activa con empleo y sin empleo, resulta insostenible. Entonces lo que hay que hacer son esos ajustes y, claro, ofrecer algo a cambio, las gentes trabajan más años y trabajan menos horas durante probablemente los últimos 15 años, o los últimos 10 años o 20 años. Está ligado a trabajar más años y probablemente menos días, menos horas y eso permite además una vida más plena. Porque al final lo que combate la pobreza es el empleo, el empleo satisfactorio, que además dignifica a la persona, el empleo no solo es una responsabilidad social, sino una necesidad emocional.

P. Desde los ojos de un inversionista, ¿dónde están en este momento las oportunidades en Europa? ¿En qué sectores?

R. Primero es muy importante que se resuelvan estos problemas estructurales. Veo difícil que los países una vez que han alcanzado el desarrollo regresen al subdesarrollo, no hay muestras sustanciales de ello. Sí hay muestras de que otros avanzan más que ellos, que adelantan... Europa pasará algunos tiempos difíciles, pero habrá que llegar a encontrar las soluciones y continuar su desarrollo. Hay actividades que van a ser más generadoras de empleo, porque son actividades que van a ser más intensas y amplias en su funcionamiento. Una de ellas es la tecnología de la información, son campos atractivos, con futuro. Por supuesto la salud va a ser muy importante como inversión, la educación, el entretenimiento, el cuidado de las personas mayores, el turismo... En el momento en que se corrijan las cosas todas estas actividades van a ser generadoras de empleo. Muchas de las que van en esa dirección serían interesantes inversiones para las personas en Europa y en el mundo, en cualquier lugar van a ser cada vez más demandantes, con más inversión, con más actividad económica y más empleo. Es una sociedad, debe estar muy claro, la mundial, de servicios.

P. Aunque todo el mundo está muy preocupado y pesimista, usted está haciendo inversiones en Europa ¿es sintomático de que ya está esperando la recuperación?

R. No, no. Pero creo que las inversiones en negocios de tecnología son muy intensivas en capital, y hay cambios tecnológicos muy rápidos y siempre ha sido uno de nuestros principios mantenernos en la vanguardia de la modernidad y de la tecnología. El que no invierte, si ya está en el negocio, pierde calidad en sus servicios, pierde la alternativa de ofrecer más servicios o pierde participación de mercado y atención a sus clientes. Los clientes van a escoger a aquellas empresas que tengan inversiones que les permitan ofrecer los servicios de vanguardia, la preferencia de los clientes en general están ligadas a ello, y por eso es muy importante en este sector que hagamos estas inversiones. El sistema nervioso de esta civilización es la tecnología de la información y estamos al principio de su desarrollo. Aunque lo que hemos visto en estos últimos 10 años es enorme y muy importante, estamos al principio. El potencial de inversión y de actividad en estos campos creemos que es muy grande.

P. Sus inversiones, como las recientes en empresas telefónicas de Holanda y Austria, ¿constituyen el principio de una estrategia de incursión más agresiva en el mercado europeo?

R. Ya lo estamos haciendo, porque el objetivo de haber entrado en forma minoritaria es apoyar a la administración y a las empresas, principalmente, para que incrementen sus inversiones para poder tener una mejor infraestructura, lo más avanzada que se pueda, e impulsar la inversión de estas empresas.

P. ¿Está descontando que los líderes europeos se van a tener que poner de acuerdo muy pronto?

R. No veo por qué tiene que ser una decisión conjunta, cada país debería tomar sus propias decisiones. Lo que necesitan hacer son los cambios estructurales y cada país debe hacerlos y corregir. Cuando un país europeo tiene una captación fiscal muy grande y además tiene un déficit, creo que en algunos casos más de la mitad del producto interno lo manejan los gobiernos, incluyendo el déficit fiscal, y aparte de que tiene una gran captación fiscal, tiene también endeudamiento porque tiene déficit fiscal, pues ¿cómo puede corregir esos déficit fiscales excesivos? Supuestamente subiendo ingresos, es decir, subir impuestos, que ya son altos; o bajando egresos que significa recesión, o vender activos. Yo creo que lo que debe hacer Europa es vender activos. El Estado hace demasiadas cosas. Lo que debe hacer son dos cosas: vender activos, que bajen su endeudamiento y sus déficits, pero también invitar al sector privado y a esos grandes recursos que hay en todo el mundo, por la política monetaria laxa que hay en Estados Unidos y en Europa también, y por las bajas tasas de interés, a que hagan la inversión que el Estado ya no tiene por qué seguir haciendo. Uno de los paradigmas de esta nueva civilización es que el Estado se hace más chico y la sociedad civil se hace más grande. El mundo está atrasado en ese sentido. Tiene que haber una mayor promoción de la sociedad civil, que participe más en muchas actividades de gobierno, pero también que invierta en lugar de que todo lo tenga que invertir el Estado, por ejemplo en las autopistas. Hasta los hospitales y las escuelas pueden ser financiadas con dinero privado y con eso el Estado quita presión a sus necesidades financieras. Se necesita inversión para que haya actividad económica y para que haya empleo se necesita actividad económica.

P. ¿Ve resistencia a entrar a ese modelo?

R. No, no sé por qué no se hace. Yo creo que es inercia. Inercia. Porque estamos viendo que además la medicina que se está planteando es la tradicional, es la que se aplica a los países en desarrollo hace muchos años. Antes yo decía que las crisis en los países subdesarrollados las pagaban los consumidores y en los desarrollados, los ahorradores. En los países desarrollados acudían simplemente a bajar la tasa de interés y se componía todo. Pero son tantos los excesos que ha habido, básicamente es un problema de excesos, que hay que sacrificarse ahora, el ahorrador con tasas negativas, y el consumidor con políticas recesivas.

P. ¿Cuál es su posición sobre el futuro del euro?

R. Creo que debe sobrevivir. Deben buscar políticas fiscales que se cumplan. Lo único que podría observar es que un tipo de cambio del euro muy alto, ante un dólar que ha buscado devaluarse con todas las monedas para hacer algunas correcciones de tipo comercial y de cuenta corriente, queda de un nivel tan alto que le quita competitividad a Europa, entonces en muchos sentidos provoca que Europa se vuelva una especie de economía cerrada, en donde solamente los que están alrededor del euro pueden comerciar entre ellos, pero que les cueste trabajo exportar hacia otros lados o tener capacidad competitiva.

P. ¿Cuál es su plan a medio y largo plazo en Europa?

R. Nosotros no vamos a lo coyuntural, lo que estamos invirtiendo es con un concepto de largo plazo. Las inversiones que hemos hecho, y nuestro planteamiento, es de largo plazo. No estamos invirtiendo porque vale 100 y para que suba a 120 o 200 y venderla. Largo plazo en el que por eso se vuelve muy importante la inversión, capex le llaman allá ¿no?, inversiones de capital para tener empresas de vanguardia en los mercados en donde están.

P. ¿A los líderes europeos les ha faltado imaginación, creatividad, arrojo?

R. Se antojaría más liderazgo.

P. ¿Qué de la experiencia mexicana de lidiar con crisis le recuerda lo que está pasando en Europa?

R. Por ejemplo en el sistema bancario sería ideal un poco más la fórmula americana de la capitalización preferente que a fondo perdido, minimizar el pago de la sociedad, que sea más una especie de capitalización temporal, por ejemplo, un saneamiento. Otra cosa: los gobiernos están muy endeudados. ¿La deuda la tiene quién? Privados. Bueno, pues buscar cambiar activos por deuda, reducir las deudas, eliminar los déficit fiscales, bajarlos. He sostenido que en virtud de la crisis de la deuda externa de 1982, y con el Consenso de Washington, nos volcamos hacia el exterior, más exportación, aperturas comerciales, tipos de cambio con flexibilidad para poder exportar mejor con devaluaciones, apertura a la inversión, privatizaciones que sanearon al sistema fiscal de nuestros países... Desde hace varios años creo que es muy importante volcarnos a apoyar el desarrollo de la economía interna, la economía doméstica. Como se van a cerrar los mercados externos creo que es muy importante volcarnos en nuestros países, sin menoscabo de nuestro comercio exterior y nuestra actividad externa, a desarrollar mucho la actividad doméstica. Eso permitiría más actividad, más empleo, subir la masa salarial de manera importante, que va a ser la solución que China va a encontrar, hay que ver qué tanto logra China hacer para que lo que deja de exportar sea sustituido por consumo interno. Lo que debe hacer Europa es corregir sus problemas, hacer los cambios de fondo que tenga que hacer, más allá de que su peso económico en el corto plazo disminuya o se mantenga. Creo que haciendo las correcciones Europa sigue siendo una zona con un gran potencial de desarrollo, que puede estar a la vanguardia en muchos sentidos, sobre todo si hace las correcciones y anticipa muchas de las cosas que habrá que hacer, como lo que hablábamos de la edad de jubilación combinado con los días de trabajo, y que eso dé capacidad de que trabajen otras personas, porque ahorita lo importante es que las máquinas trabajen 24 horas y que las personas sean las que trabajen menos.

It is not a Condemnation, Stupid!

It is not a Condemnation, Stupid!
http://www.shiapac.org/2013/05/07/it-is-not-a-condemnation-stupid/
May 7, 2013 in Press Releases

Member of al-Nusra front Pose at the desecrated grave site of Hujr ibn Adi

Say what you will about Al-Qaeda and its Wahabi and Salafi patrons, they sure have the savvy of attracting world’s wrath for their despicable deeds, and yet they seem to have mastered the art of deflecting not only the most formidable of western powers, they continue to baffle even some fellow Muslims, who tacitly support them by their deafening silence. Western powers and their policies towards Al-Qaida, Taliban and al-Nusra have been contradictory and hypocritical at best, simply because the Western policy makers supposedly consider these evil entities as terrorists that must once and for all be wiped out from the face of this planet. Yet, according to western print and broadcast media, Al- Qaida of Iraq in collaboration with al-Nusra are being financed as well as armed by Saudis, Qataris and Turks, regimes considered allies by France, U.K and the U.S. Al-Qaeda and al-Nusra have become the merchants of destruction and bloodshed whose actions are fueling a civil war in Syria that has caused the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.

During the past week, the desecration of the grave site of a revered figure, Hajar Ibn Adi al-Kindi, one of the companions of Prophet Mohammad (SAWW), took place in Adra, a town north of Damascus, again perpetrated by the same genocidal gang comprising al-Nusra front & Al-Qaida fighters and patronized by Wahabi regimes. As usual numerous Shia Muslim organizations, in a knee-jerk manner, issued statements of condemnation, while the so-called mainstream Muslim organizations did not even bother to utter a single word.

If history is any guide, in 1925 the mausoleums in Jannat-ul- Baqi, in Madinah, housing the graves of Fatima Zehra (AS), the only daughter of the Prophet SAWW, his grandsons Hasan Ibn Ali (AS), Ali ibnil Husain (AS), Muhammad Al-Baqir (AS) and Ja’far Al-Sadiq AS as well as of seven thousand companions of the Prophet (SAWW) were demolished by the Wahabi king Ibn Saud. Also, demolished in the same year, were the tombs of holy personalities in Jannat-ul- Mualla, Makkah, where the Holy Prophet’s mother, Bibi Aamina (AS), his wife Bibi Khadija (AS), his grandfather Adul Muttalib (AS), his uncle Abu Talib (AS) and other ancestors are buried. Destruction of sacred sites in Hijaz continues by Wahhabi / Salafi criminals to this very day. Muslim pilgrims while visiting Saudi Arabia (Madinah and Makkah) attempting to offer Fatiha (Supplications) at numerous grave sites including that of the Holy Prophet (SAWW) are frequently confronted and get maligned by the Saudi Mutawwas (Religious police) and unabashedly told that if they wish to worship the grave of the Prophet (SAWW), they are more than welcome to take the Holy Shrine to their respective countries. Although a most abhorrent and most tragic predicament, it is not beyond the sick psyche of these satanic Salafis to someday demolish and desecrate the holy shrine of the Prophet (SAWW), towards which an attempt was previously made but aborted because of world-wide Muslim protest.

Let there be no mistaking the fact that this is not a statement of condemnation against the cruel and criminal Wahhabi and Salafi bandits. The global Muslim Ummah is the one that should be condemned for its apathy, its hypocrisy and its acts of deception and deviousness. By staying quiet the Muslim Ummah is becoming an accomplice to such heinous acts. The moment has, however, arrived to take this dastardly bull by the horns. Let us not get simply angry, let us get strategic and help open the eyes of the Western Powers. It is just a matter of time when the scorpion will sting the very fish that tried to help it cross the river!

Sin atribuciones Peres invitó al Papa visitar Jerusalén

Sin atribuciones Peres invitó al Papa visitar Jerusalén
http://islammdp.blogspot.com/2013/05/sin-atribuciones-peres-invito-al-papa.html
01/05/13
Etiquetas: cristianismo, israel, Palestina, sionismo
Por Suhail HaniDaher Akel (*)

El Papa recibe el obsequio de Peres en el Vaticano. La Biblia de Jerusalén profanada con el escudo israelí

En medio de los tambores de guerra que suenan por estas horas en Gaza rodeada por tanques israelíes; la judaización de Jerusalén, mancillada y poniendo en riesgo los predios sagrados de musulmanes y cristianos; los avances de los ilegales asentamientos y la limpieza étnica palestina bajo el apartheid israelí, el presidente de la potencia ocupante, Shimon Peres, responsable de crímenes de guerra en las invasiones a Gaza, ‘Plomo Fundido’(2008) y ‘Pilar Defensivo’ (2012), visitó Roma y fue recibido en la mañana del martes (30/4) por el Papa argentino Francisco. El encuentro privado de 30 minutos, tuvo lugar en la Biblioteca personal del Pontífice en el Palacio Apostólico del Vaticano.

Desde las decisiones ilegales que se atribuye el presidente Peres, sin mayores títulos que la de ocupante, invitó al Papa visitar Jerusalén, expresándole: “Lo espero en Jerusalén, no sólo yo sino todo el pueblo israelí”. En tanto, los palestinos volvieron a ocupar la banca de ‘convidados de piedra’ de su propia capital, al igual que lo fueron en 1947 en la partición de su patria en la ONU.

Durante el encuentro reservado se abordó la situación política y social en Medio Oriente, donde persisten las realidades conflictivas. El Papa, exhortó “llegar a un acuerdo que debería respetar las legítimas aspiraciones de los dos pueblos y contribuir decididamente a la paz y la estabilidad de la región”.

Así mismo, el cardenal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, quien tuve la oportunidad de conocer, hoy Papa,le manifestó al presidente israelí su preocupación por el conflicto que asola a Siria, en el que “espera una solución política que privilegie la lógica de la reconciliación y el diálogo”. Una dolorosa situación donde Israel tendió sus tentáculos, ahondando la crisis siria y el desangre de su pueblo.

Simultáneamente en el preciso momento de la llegada de Peres al Vaticano, los cristianos palestinos, descendientes de los primeros cristianos, desde Beit Yala, cerca de Belén, lugar de nacimiento del palestino Jesús, le hicieron llegar una carta al Papa, instándolo a oponerse al muro de apartheid israelí. “Lloramos Su Santidad con un sentimiento de desesperación y la urgencia de mantener viva nuestras esperanzas en que la justicia y la paz todavía son posible…La ocupación militar israelí comenzó anexar nuestras tierras palestinas con su famoso muro, así como en otras regiones de Jerusalén y lugares santos…Respetuosamente pedimos que haga uso de esta reunión para transmitir un mensaje claro…Necesitamos acciones concretas para poner fin a la impunidad de Israel y poder vivir con dignidad en nuestro Estado independiente”.

A la hora del os presentes protocolares el Papa le entregó las tres ‘Medallas Papales del Vaticano’ y en contraparte, Peres, volvió atribuirse con derechos no correspondidos, en este caso de los cristianos, entregándole la ‘Biblia de Jerusalén’ encuadernada en cuero, profanando el sagrado Libro al grabar en su tapa el escudo israelí y debajo su impresa dedicatoria al Papa.

Luego, los franciscanos en la Basílica de San Francisco de Asís lo envistieron con la ‘Medalla de Honor por la Paz’. La buena predisposición del Vaticano es diametralmente opuesta a los precarios sentimientos de paz de Szymon Persky, el nombre real de Peres, uno de los europeos polaco-judío que llegó a Palestina para desplazar violentamente a su pueblo y fundar sobre sus restos a Israel en 1948. Promoviendo en 1952 el programa nuclear israelí asistido por Francia.

Con una espinosa personalidad, Peres, supo seducir con su frágil figura octogenaria un compromiso de paz. Incluso, logró el premio ‘Nobel de Paz’. Sin embargo, debió ser un ejemplo cuando la seducción se desbarató al sacudir la conciencia de los miembros del Comité Nobel noruego, quienes molestos con Peres por aceptar como canciller de Ariel Sharon, el cerco militar al premio Nobel de Paz, Yasser Arafat, se lamentaron haberle concedido el premio. Hanna Kristine Kvanmo, miembro activa del Comité, comentó: “Desearía que fuese posible que pudiéramos retirar el premio...Lo que está ocurriendo hoy en Palestina es grotesco e increíble. Peres, es responsable, en tanto que es miembro del gobierno ha expresado su acuerdo con el primer ministro Ariel Sharon. De no estar de acuerdo con Sharon debía retirarse del gobierno”. (Agencias Oslo, Noruega, 10/4/2002). Por disposición legal el Comité no puede retirar un premio otorgado.

En política internacional nadie peca por omisión. Seguir recibiendo a hombres israelíes comprometidos con la ocupación y crímenes de lesa humanidad, galardonándolos con títulos honorarios, es legitimar la política de opresión contra el pueblo palestino, negado de su Estado, de su dignidad, de sus derechos humanos y su libertad desde hace 65 años.

(*) -Fueel primer Embajador del Estado de Palestina en la Argentina
-Fue el premier Representante de la OLPen la Argentina
-Analista internacional sobre la situaciónde Palestina

©Copyright, Suhail Hani Daher Akel, Se puede publicar, traducir o distribuir sin modificar el contenido y citando la fuente y el autor. 1° de Mayo de 2013

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