Global Pulse: Middle East & N. Africa Archives

Category: Middle East & N. Africa

Hamaswood: A Hollywood for the Radical

AP via IHT 07 Nov 2007 @ 19:03 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Expect more propaganda as usual and not 'Hamas does Dallas.' The radical Palestinian group wants to add a Hollywood-style movie studio to its arsenal of media outlets. The production park, to be named Madinat Asda'a (City of Echoes), will occupy a former West Bank settlement abandoned by Israelis two years ago. The cost of building the media city, complete with amusement parks, is estimated at US$200 million, which the head of the project admits is hard to raise.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 19:03 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: Control | Hamas | Media

Cécilia: Au Revoir, Nicolas Sarkozy!

16 Oct 2007 @ 18:02 GMT | Permalink | Comments

The former model who helped make President Nicolas Sarkozy appears all but certain to dump him in a scandal that would be a first in French politics. Palais de l'Élysées has not denied the rumor but confirmed today that Cécilia Sarkozy, who has been skipping out on him for months, will not join him on a state visit to Morocco next week.

"The divorce will be announced next Wednesday, the morning of October 17," La Tribune reported Friday, citing an unnamed source.

There have been signs that the French press is waking up from a long tradition of staying out of the presidential bedroom--an unspoken belief that an adulterous man doesn't make an adulterous president and that such an affaire de l'Etat is only for high society's consumption. Still most media outlets were more cautious.

Another Gemayel Assassinated

21 Nov 2006 @ 11:58 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Pierre Gemayel Jr., a prominent Maronite anti-Syrian politician, was assassinated in Jdeideh, a Beirut suburb.

Pierre Gemayel Jr. became the fifth victim of high-profile assassinations in Lebanon in the past two years and the third in his family to be killed. His death has the potential to further destabilize a country already wrecked by competing foreign designs and internal sectarian divides.

Today's killing is an affront to Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, both of which Syria recognizes but refuses to accept. Suspicion instantly fell on Damascus, which was involved in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Shortly before the assassination, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad transmitted a cable to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud to mark the country's National Day. Lebanon formally gained independence from France on November 22, 1943.

Syria has denied any involvement in the latest assassination.

Who Is Robert M. Gates?

10 Nov 2006 @ 17:49 GMT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Robert M. Gates Becomes U.S. Defense Secretary

Former Director of Central Intelligence Robert M. Gates becomes the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Bob Gates brings his shady past into the new office.

The new U.S. Defense Secretary is someone the public will never get to know. Deft at dodging political and legal bullets, Mr. Gates is a skilled intelligence man, a long-time ally of the Bush family and a great liar. He is the new chief of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Here are some words, phrases and comments associated with Mr. Gates.

Banca Nazionale del Lavoro: the Atlanta branch of the Rome-based banking giant that funneled US$5 billion in taxpayer-guaranteed loans to Iraq so Saddam could buy weapons and dual-use technology in the 1980s. Multiple departments in the elder Bush administration were complicit in the affair. Britain and Italy had full knowledge of the loan diversion. The F.B.I. and Mr. Gates, then D.C.I., covered it up and lied to Congress.

Iran-Contra Scandal: the clandestine funding of Nicaraguan Contras with profits from arms sale to Iran in the 1980s. Mr. Gates lied about his knowledge of the operations in sworn testimonies.

Iran: a country Mr. Gates wants to befriend maybe like in the olden days of Iran-Contra.

B.C.C.I.: The Pakistan-based Bank of Credit and Commerce International was set up in the 1970s with the purpose of laundering money, financing terrorists and skimming creditors. The C.I.A. is widely believed to have worked with, used, and worked against the bank in the 1970s and 1980s.

Crack Cocaine: something the C.I.A.-linked associates did not sell to Americans during the Iran-Contra affair. Mr. Gates conducted a three-day internal "investigation" and closed the door.

Intelligence Czar: a figurehead post passed up by Mr. Gates in 2005. Instead the U.S. ended up with John Negroponte.

National Intelligence Estimates: an analysis Mr. Gates had a habit of skewing to suit the political needs of the Reagan administration.

'Direct Contradiction': what The Wall Street Journal said about the appointment of Mr. Gates.

'Cooking the Books': what The New York Times said about his habit of skewing the intelligence in an October 18, 1991, editorial "The Once and Future C.I.A."

'Formidable Memory': something that lapses only when it's time to lie to Congress about his knowledge of the Iran-Contra scandal. (In the same editorial as above.)

Iraq: a country with which Mr. Gates illegally shared intelligence and to which he illegally transferred arms and then lied about it to Congress. (New York Times Editorial "Mr. Gates's Past, the C.I.A.'s Future"; 4 November 1991)

T.H.Y. Flight Hijacked to Protest Pope's Visit

03 Oct 2006 @ 11:43 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Türk Hava Yolları Flight 1476, service from Tirane, Albania, to İstanbul was hijacked this afternoon by two Turkish nationals who were protesting Pope Benedict's pilgrimage to Turkey in late November.

The plane landed in Brindisi, located on the heel of the boot that makes up Italy.

The Boeing 737-400 was carrying 107 passengers and 6 crew members, according to daily Hürriyet. It was scheduled to leave at 15:30 local time but did not leave until 16:20, according to the airline. The plane was scheduled to arrive in Istanbul at 18:30.

The pilot changed his transponder code to notify ground control of a hijacking, which occurred over Greek airspace, La Repubblica said. Unidentified Greek military jets escorted the plane to the international border with Italy, where two F-16 fighter jets from Trapani Air Base in Sicily intercepted the passenger plane.

Even in secular Turkey, Pope Benedict XVI's controversial speech on Islam has stirred anger as well as protests against his visit. Pope Benedict is scheduled to visit Istanbul to meet with Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople at the end of November partly to calm tension with Muslims and partly to patch things up with the orthodox church.

At his speech in Regensburg, Germany, Pope Benedict quoted Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologos as telling a Persian scholar, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The Pope has since apologized repeatedly and sought dialogue with various Muslim leaders in Europe and elsewhere to show he has nothing but respect for their faith. Yet it has failed to convince hard-liners in the Muslim world.

Mehmet Ali Ağca, the would-be assassin of Pope John Paul II, warned Pope Benedict last month that his life would be in jeopardy.

"Assassination of the Pope" (Papa'ya Suikast in Turkish), a novel by Yücel Kaya, has been rising steadily in popularity among hard-line Turks.

The book, published in May, appears to be like the "Da Vinci Code" involving secretive groups that are vying for the upper hand.

The Guardian sums up the plot:

In the Muslim city of Istanbul, once the Christian capital of Constantinople, the Pope arrives on a huge mission: to undo the Great Schism of 1054 and reunite Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. This is not to everyone's liking: reactionaries from Opus Dei, the dark operators of Turkey's security "deep state", and the evil geniuses of Italy's P-2 masonic lodge form an alliance to stop the Vatican. In Istanbul, a journalist is contracted to assassinate the pope.

'Tour Katyusha-Damaged Israel!'

28 Aug 2006 @ 23:26 GMT | Permalink | Comments

That's the message being sent out by some Israeli tour operators in the aftermath of Hezbollah's shelling of the northern parts of the country. Act now before Israel attempts to clean up or life returns to normal.

Usually someone somewhere pockets wads of cash in a war. Bechtel was among the first to take that challenge and win. Germany, too, has pocketed a good chunk of change from selling Israel two nuclear-capable submarines.

The Fall of Osama; The Rise of Iran

25 Aug 2006 @ 16:00 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Graphics for Iran Osama bin Laden Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Osama bin Laden is losing steam fast, as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran gain jihadist stature.

Osama bin Laden is facing fierce competition in what had been his exclusive domain since the September 11 attacks -- leadership of the global jihadi movement. Tucked away somewhere between the Hindu Kush and the Waziristan Hills, Mr. Bin Laden is presumably in failing health and has avoided the press.

In contrast, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah churned out professional videos faster than the I.D.F. could target his last hideout. Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad loves the attention he gets every time he says "nuclear/atomic." And he will say it again soon to announce Iran's "nuclear birth" later this month.

But is any one of these extremist leaders running the show? Mr. Bin Laden has faded from the press, thanks to a successful "forget about the six-foot-tall Arab" campaign by the White House. Mr. Nasrallah has at least temporarily won the hearts and minds of both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. But his Shi'a Muslim Hezbollah is a proxy that handles Iran's outsourced tasks.

And lest we forget, the age-old conduit between Hezbollah and Iran has been Imad Mugniyeh, the world's most wanted terrorist who has eluded the C.I.A. and the Mossad.

Who is he?

WHO: Stop Female Genital Mutilation

12 Jun 2006 @ 13:00 GMT | Permalink | Comments

A new study calls for an end to this horrible practice that puts young girls women and their babies at risk. The World Health Organization-sponsored study on Female Genital Mutilation [FGM] deplores the "medicalization" (when done by trained physicians) of this ritual.

Amnesty International estimates that 135 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected one of three levels of genital mutilation. It is practiced in at least 28 countries in Africa; in Egypt, Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East and North Africa; and by some Muslims in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. But it has also been reported in industrialized countries like Britain and the United States primarily among immigrants from countries where it is still common practice.

Sexual, sociological, hygienic, health and religious reasons are cited commonly. Still it harms women physically and emotionally and places them at increased risk of complications during childbirth.

Unicef estimates that more than two million girls are at risk each year of having their genitals cut or mutilated. (WHO calls it "FGM," but Unicef calls it "FGM/C" to include cutting.) WHO defines three levels of genital mutilation:

Type I (FGM 1) - excision of the prepuce, with or without excision of part or all of the clitoris

Type II (FGM II) - excision of the clitoris with partial or total excision of the labia minora;

Type III (FGM III) - excision of part or all of the external genitalia and stitching/narrowing of the vaginal opening (infibulation).

The study appears in the June issue of The Lancet.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 13:00 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sex, Lies and Terrorist Attacks

25 May 2006 @ 15:39 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Exotic dancer "Samantha" tells the San Francisco Chronicle about her encounter with a 9/11 hijacker.

Terrorists, as well as would-be terrorists, have been caught relaxing with hardcore porn. Not a pastime for a pious Muslim. When the F.B.I. arrested a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old and searched their homes, what fell out of a suitcase was a pirated copy of a hard-core porn flick. Several of the September 11 hijackers were also seen "engaged in some decidedly un-Islamic sampling of prohibited pleasures" before the attacks. Why?

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 15:39 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Turkey On Brink of Political Upheaval

19 May 2006 @ 16:29 GMT | Permalink | Comments (2)

The murder of high-ranking judge, who upheld the controversial ban on headscarves, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party's radical rhetoric that incited the incident places Turkey on the brink of another political upheaval. If political and grassroots pressure fails to unseat the misguided prime minister, the military, which sees itself as the guardian of the country's secular nature, could be forced to intervene again.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 16:29 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Is Saudi Arabia Building a Nuclear Bomb?

03 Apr 2006 @ 12:31 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Saudi Arabia is developing nuclear weapons with the help of Pakistani scientists who have entered the kingdom disguised as pilgrims, German magazine Cicero reports. These scientists were tracked by Western intelligence between 2003 and 2005, during which some of them disappeared from their hotels. This follows earlier claims that Saudi Arabia has a self-destruct button wired to dirty bombs to blow up all oil facilities.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 12:31 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Got Insurgency? Buy a U.S.-Made Brigade!

29 Mar 2006 @ 20:54 GMT | Permalink | Comments

It's not a proposition for anyone. But if you are a country suffering from insurgency, call Blackwater USA for help. The rising star in the private military industry wants to sell its services at a fraction of the cost of operating NATO or U.N. peacekeepers. Blackwater officials have hinted at this type of future operations by insisting that a private army would not only be cheaper, but also provide real security instead of simply watching massacres in the next village. Private armies may very well be efficient and cost effective, but the dangers of using them are easy to spot.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 20:54 | Permalink | Comments (0)

U.S. Military Returns to Lebanon, Quietly

21 Mar 2006 @ 21:15 GMT | Permalink | Comments

A quarter-century after the U.S. military's failed Lebanese Army Modernization Program, and the humiliating withdrawal in 1984, the Pentagon is quietly laying the groundwork for re-establishing close ties with the Lebanese military. The United States now has an opportunity to rebuild Lebanon's weak military and intelligence apparatus and help contain Syria, which is now under late President Hafez al-Assad's "less gifted son Bashar," and subdue radical elements in the south.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 21:15 | Permalink | Comments (0)

C.I.A. Shuttled Prisoners Out of Poland

05 Dec 2005 @ 22:07 GMT | Permalink | Comments

The following Al-Qa'ida (Qaeda) operatives were hastily shuttled out of a C.I.A. "black site" in Poland to a remote location in a North African country, ABC News reported.

Following is a list of 12 high-value targets housed by the C.I.A.

Abu Zubaydah: Held first in Thailand then Poland
Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi: Held in Poland. Previously held in Pakistan/Afghanistan
Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi: Held in Poland
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri: Held in Poland
Ramzi Binalshibh: Held in Poland
Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman: Held in Poland
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed: Held in Poland
Waleed Mohammed bin Attash: Held in Poland
Hambali: In U.S. custody. Kept isolated from other high-value targets.
Hassan Ghul: Held in Poland.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani: Held in Poland
Abu Faraj al-Libbi: Held in Poland

[Source: ABC News]

437 C.I.Air Flights Upset Germany

04 Dec 2005 @ 23:48 GMT | Permalink | Comments

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's secret use of German airspace to shuttle suspected terrorists could lead to debates in the Bundestag over Washington's use of Germany to station troops or wage the war in Iraq, Spiegel reported. In neighboring France, Le Figaro tracked at least two C.I.A. flights which the paper dubbed "Guantanamo Express."

Iraq: Vacation Hot Spot?

08 Nov 2005 @ 14:12 GMT | Permalink | Comments

"The cradle of civilization" must be a fascinating destination for history buffs and archeologists. Even to them, it is not easy tracing the ruins and uncovering treasures which are in poor condition. But the Iraqi tourist board, armed with a staff of 2,400 in 10 offices, is ready to open up the country. Are you up for theme parks converted from Saddam Hussein's palaces? Who knows? You might get a glimpse of a spooky torture chamber.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 14:12 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cicero: Iran's Jihadist Future & Al-Qa'ida

28 Oct 2005 @ 00:42 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Iran's Revolutionary Guard is shielding about 25 top-ranking members of Al-Qa'ida which includes Osama bin Laden's sons and the "Who's Who" of the terrorist network, German magazine Cicero reports in its November edition. (The author of the article, journalist Bruno Schirra, sparked a debate over press freedom in Germany after Interior Minister Otto Schily authorized raids on the magazine's editorial office and the reporter's home.)

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 00:42 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: Germany | Press Freedom

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