Text Fwd: Bahraini MP: Arab Turmoil U.S. Greater/Broader/New Mideast Plot / Russia's Putin Warns West Against Whipping Up Mideast "Democracy"

Stop NATO
Bahraini MP: Arab Turmoil U.S. Greater/Broader/New Mideast Plot
Russian Information Agency Novosti
February 24, 2011

Bahrain lawmaker accuses U.S. of being behind Arab revolutions

-"These riots and revolutions we are observing today in Arab countries are the
implementation of the global U.S. project entitled 'New Middle East.' This
program started with Iraq [2003], followed by Lebanon [2005]."

Manama: The popular unrest in Arab countries that led to the fall of regimes in
Tunisia and Egypt is part of a U.S.-designed strategic project dubbed "New
Middle East," a Bahraini deputy said Thursday.

The term "New Middle East" was introduced in 2006 by then U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice. Analysts say the project defines Washington's policy on
a vast territory including the Arab countries and Central Asian states.

"These riots and revolutions we are observing today in Arab countries are the
implementation of the global U.S. project entitled 'New Middle East.' This
program started with Iraq, followed by Lebanon," Bahraini deputy and journalist
Samira Rajab told RIA Novosti.

"A new stage of its implementation that will take at least a decade started from
2011," she said, adding that the U.S. strategy in the region is aimed at
weakening the ruling regimes and introducing opposition groups into their
governments.

A wave of unrest, which has already toppled authoritarian regimes in Tunisia and
Egypt, is sweeping through the Muslim world, stoking mass popular uprisings in
Libya, Bahrain and Yemen.

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Stop NATO
Russian Information Agency Novosti
Russia's Putin Warns West Against Whipping Up Mideast "Democracy"
February 24, 2011

Putin warns against whipping up democratic processes

-Asked by European media whether he felt any concern about events in the Middle
East and their possible "echo" in the North Caucasus, Putin replied in the
affirmative, but added that the impact of those shocks would be felt not only in
the North Caucasus, but in all countries, including those in Europe.

BRUSSELS: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned Moscow's partners in
the West against attempts at whipping up democratic processes in other countries
in connection with the ongoing events in North Africa. He was speaking at a
joint news conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso,
devoted to the results of the full-scale meeting of the Russian government and
the EU Commission.

Asked by European media whether he felt any concern about events in the Middle
East and their possible "echo" in the North Caucasus, Putin replied in the
affirmative, but added that the impact of those shocks would be felt not only in
the North Caucasus, but in all countries, including those in Europe.

"We are concerned, firstly, about the number of casualties in the events in
North Africa. We are concerned about that despite the soothing claims a rise to
power or growth in the influence of radical groups in northern Africa are
unlikely."

"And if that really happens, it cannot but affect other parts of the world,
including, of course, the North Caucasus," he said.

"As you may know,??continued Putin, ? Today we express concern about what is
happening in Libya. Please, to take note of the fact that the North African cell
of al-Qaeda, too, is concerned about what is happening in Libya. Is that just a
coincidence???

Having made this historical allusion, Putin recalled that the former leader of
the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, before his return to Tehran and the
overthrow of the Shah's regime had lived in Paris, and the Western policy of
"inoculation of democracy??in the Palestinian territories caused bloody
conflicts and brought to power Hamas, very unpleasant for many in the West.

"The people are to be allowed to decide their own fate and their own future,?? he said. ? We must give them an opportunity to build their own destiny in a
natural way without any interference from outside."

"Society must move toward democratic institutions, toward self-regulation,
towards its own system, with reliance on the internal processes of development,"
underlined the prime minister.
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Text Fwd: Mullen finds Middle East leaders anxious about upheaval in the region

Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates armed forces, talked about the uprisings sweeping the Middle East at a massive international arms expo in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Kevin Baron/Stars and Stripes
________________________________________

Defense News
Stars and Stripes
Mullen finds Middle East leaders anxious about upheaval in the region
By Kevin Baron
Stars and Stripes
Published: February 22, 2011

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Adm. Mike Mullen said Persian Gulf leaders have told him they are anxious about uprisings elsewhere in the Middle East and are hoping for peaceful resolution across the region.

“We all agree that this is a time of enormous change, and it needs to be resolved peacefully, without violence, without loss of life, and leaders have to step forward in that regard,” Mullen said, after meeting with Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces.

Keeping up with the region’s rapid developments, Mullen condemned the Libyan military’s violent response against its citizens.

“That kind of loss of life, that kind of military firing on its own people, killing its own people, is absolutely unacceptable,” said Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mullen and Zayed met for more than an hour in a corner of a crowded food court in an exhibition hall at the Middle East’s largest arms expo.

The glitzy five-day International Defense Exposition and Conference is hosting more than 1,000 companies, 110 from the U.S., showcasing everything from drones to armored vehicles and the latest rifles.

As Arabic television remains rapt with wall-to-wall coverage of collapsing regimes, Mullen’s tour of Persian Gulf states has quickly become an exercise in delicate diplomacy. The top U.S. military officer is meeting with autocratic rulers, royal families and military chiefs the Pentagon has supported for decades. The reason: To listen to their perspectives and offer reassurances to longtime friends, he said.

Mullen’s first stop was to see Saudi military leaders in Riyadh, where state television one day earlier had stopped airing Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language cable news network widely credited with keeping the revolutionary movement alive through live, unflinching broadcasts from the streets of Cairo, Tripoli and Manama.

Mullen then visited Qatar, the home of Al-Jazeera, where he met with Maj. Gen. Hama al-Attiyah, the chief of staff; and his heir apparent, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, among others.

But a short flight later Mullen was walking the convention floor at IDEX, where U.S. weapons manufacturers will log billions of dollars in orders this week from friendly militaries across the region.

Mullen also appeared unaware that across the peninsula an Iranian naval frigate and a supply ship had passed through the Suez Canal on Tuesday – the first Iranian ships to do so in roughly 30 years.

“That’s something that the government of Egypt controls, the Suez Canal,” he said, flatly. “Actually, this is news to me.” baronk@stripes.osd.mil
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See also
New York Times
Protests in Bahrain Become Test of Wills
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and NADIM AUDI
Published: February 22, 2011

Reuters
INTERVIEW-Mideast unrest shows need for alternative fuels-Mabus
Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:39am GMT

U.S. Reviews Arms Sales Amid Turmoil(Wall Street Journal)
By Adam Entous
The Obama administration has launched a review of military assistance and prospective weapons sales to countries caught up in a wave of popular revolts, underlining growing uncertainty about how the turmoil sweeping the Middle East will alter fundamentals of U.S. policy in the region.

Text Fwd: Bahrain: The Social Roots of Revolt Against Another US Ally

Global Research
February 18, 2011
Bahrain: The Social Roots of Revolt Against Another US Ally

Bahrain, February 18. 2011. “Have you ever seen an island with no beaches?” The question posed by the young Bahraini taxi man standing among thousands of chanting anti-government protesters seemed at first to be a bit off the wall. But his explanation soon got to the heart of the grievances that have brought tens of thousands of Bahrainis on to the streets over the past week – protests which have seen at least seven civilians killed amid scenes of excessive violence by state security forces. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll much higher.

Many Bahrainis, like the young taxi man, have witnessed huge wealth sloshing around their diminutive country of less than 600,000 indigenous people (perhaps another 300,000 are expatriates, official figures are vague). But so little of that wealth – especially in the last seven years of high oil prices when Bahrain’s national revenue tripled – has found its way into creating jobs and decent accommodation. More than 50,000 Bahraini families are estimated to be on waiting lists for homes. Some families have been waiting for over 20 years to be housed, with several generations sharing the one roof, in cramp conditions with poor sanitation.

All the while, these people have come to feel like strangers in their own land, with their squalid conditions in inner-city areas and villages being in sharp contrast to the mega shopping malls and multi-storey buildings that have sprung up to attract US and European investors, financiers, companies and rich tourists.

The Gulf island’s oil wealth has been channeled into diversifying the economy away from dependence on oil and gas revenues into other sectors such as property development and international banking. The self-styled kingdom, which is sandwiched less than 30 kilometers on either side between the oil and gas giants of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has leveraged its hydrocarbon wealth to earn a reputation as a finance and trade hub in the Middle East on a par with Dubai located further south along the Arabian Peninsula in the United Arab Emirates.

But that reputation for being a cutting-edge capitalist hub – Bahrain is the only country in the Gulf region to have signed a free trade agreement with the US – comes at a heavy social and ecological cost. And it’s a cost that seems to have pushed a large section of the population too far, to the point where they are emulating the protests in Tunisia, Egypt and other parts of the Arab world to demand long-overdue democratic rights.

In the early hours of Thursday, up to five thousand Bahraini protesters were forced from the main demonstration site at the Pearl Roundabout, a landmark intersection in the capital, Manama. The Bahraini authorities deployed helicopters, dozens of tanks and armoured personnel carriers, with army and police firing teargas and live rounds. Among the protesters were hundreds of women and children.

At the centre of the site is the Pearl Monument, which alludes to the country’s traditional pearl diving and fishing industries – industries that were the mainstay of communities.

Within view of the monument are the iconic skyscrapers of Bahrain’s newfound wealth, including the Financial Harbour and the World Trade Center. Only a few years ago, this entire area of the capital was sea, the land having been reclaimed and developed. Up to 20 per cent of Bahrain’s total land area has been reclaimed from the sea over the past three decades.

However, this vast reclamation and development drive has, according to local environmental groups, devastated the island’s marine ecology and fish stocks in particular. The rampant development – which has made fortunes for the country’s elite – has had an equally devastating effect on local communities who have depended on the sea for their livelihoods. While these communities have suffered the blight of unemployment and poverty, they also have witnessed roaring property development, land prices and profits benefiting the ruling elite.

These communities have watched their country’s oil wealth being directed to serve elite interests with development plans that are geared to lure international capital. This has led to swathes of coastal areas being confiscated by members of the extended Al Khalifa royal family, to be earmarked for future reclamation and skyscraper development. That is how Bahrain has become something of a paradox – an island without any beaches. And it is this lopsided, elite-orientated development that is fuelling deep social grievances among the masses, grievances that are now being directed at those elites. Further state repression against such protests can only amplify these grievances.

Bahrain’s unstable social formation is underpinned by unwavering US diplomatic and military support. The island serves as the base for the US Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf. The latest wave of state repression has tellingly elicited only a subdued, ambivalent comment from Washington, urging “all sides to refrain from violence” – Washington-speak that translates into support for the government. Last year, Bahrain received $19.5 million in US military aid, which, on a per capita basis, equates to greater than that delivered to Egypt.

Once again, another uprising against another US-designated “important ally” seems to be underway in the Arab world. And once again, the contradiction of elite rule and widespread poverty – all the more glaring in oil-rich countries – is ultimately undermining Washington’s imperial designs.

Finian Cunningham is a journalist and musician: finianpcunningham@yahoo.ie, www.myspace.com/finiancunninghammusic

Text & Video Fwd: OUTRAGE IN BAHRAIN

Bruce Gagnon's Organizing Notes
Friday, February 18, 2011
OUTRAGE IN BAHRAIN



"Washington is now faced again with another hard choice…," wrote Graham Fuller, a former senior CIA Mideast analyst who teaches at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, in the International Herald Tribune on the eve of Thursday's attack. He warned that the naval base could be lost if the regime falls.

"Continue to go with local repressive regimes out of a misguided sense of 'American interests'? Hold on to unpopular military bases at all costs – thereby deepening local anger and perhaps giving Iran ultimately a greater voice in events?" he asked. "Or should it quietly drop support for this repressive regime, allow events to take their course and accept that long-overdue change is coming?"

"We should speak out more strongly in support of change and democratic process and stop clinging to traditional dictators even if they're pro-American," Fuller said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

The United States last year provided Bahrain with about $21 million in military assistance, a substantial amount given the country's relatively small size. Of that total, about $1 million was designated for counterterrorism aid, much of it to the police and military forces that are suppressing the protests in the country's capital.

Text Fwd: The Struggle for Self-Determination in the Arab World: The Alliance between Arab Dictators and Global Capital

Global Research
The Struggle for Self-Determination in the Arab World: The Alliance between Arab Dictators and Global Capital
PART II: Is 1848 Repeating Itself in the Arab World?
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
February 14, 2011

Is history repeating itself? Have the events of 1848 in Europe repeated themselves in the Arab World? Will 2011 see the same outcomes as 1848? Only the Arab people can decide. Their fate is in their hands, but they should learn from the mistakes of 1848 and seriously address the role of the capitalist class.


PART II

The Struggle for Self-Determination in the Arab World

The Arabs are seeing their second wave of revolt against colonialism. The first wave of revolt started between the First World War and at the end of the Second World War. It involved the Great Arab Revolt, with British and French support, against Ottoman Turkey during the First World War and then Arab revolt against Britain, France, and Italy during and after the Second World War. [3]

During the formal period of colonialism, the authority of the colonial powers (Britain, France, and Italy) were politically visible. Today, the Arab World is under the "invisible authority" of the neo-colonial powers. These include the U.S., Britain, and France.

The modern-day neo-colonial powers maintain control over Arab countries through the supervision of their economies and the control of their political leaders, who serve neo-colonial interests as vassals. Thus, 2011 is not only the start of the second wave of Arab revolt against foreign rule via imposed dictators and corrupt regimes, but it is also part of a broader struggle against neo-colonialism.

Starting with Tunisia, revolts and protests have broken out across the Arab World. Algeria, Yemen, Jordan, the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories, Mauritania, Sudan, and Egypt have all been electrified with activism. Added to this is the political tension in Lebanon, continued instability in Iraq under American-led foreign military occupation, building tensions in Bahrain, and the balkanization of Sudan.

At first glance the Arab World seems to be in turmoil, but there is much more than meets the eye.

The people of the Arab World have not awoken, they were already awake. They have watched the resources and wealth of their countries being handed out to foreign corporations and squandered by their corrupt leaders. The Arab people have watched as these same leaders supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. They have watched as Israel has oppressed the Palestinians with the help of their governments, they have watched as Lebanon was attacked in 2006 with the tacit blessing of their regimes, they have watched as the Gaza Strip was re-invaded in 2008 by the Israeli military, and they have watched as the Egyptian regime has helped Israel starve Gaza.

The Arabs have not awoken, they have watched in anger and frustration. The Arab people are now mobilizing. The Arab masses, like the immune system of a body, are now combating the diseases that have been infecting the Arab World. The Arabs are in action.

Arab Leaders as Comprador Elites serving Foreign Interests

Class polarization has grown as the gap between the rich and the poor widens. Intergenerational mobility, a change in social class that takes place in one person's lifetime, and intragenerational mobility, a change that takes place from one generation to the next generation within a family, have been stunted.

The Arab people grasp the fact that their ruling class and governments are not only corrupt regimes, but also comprador elites, namely the local representatives of foreign corporations, governments, and interests. The capitalist class that these local Arab comprador elites are subservient to are properly called parasite or parasitic elites, because they siphon off local wealth and resources on behalf of their neo-colonial masters.

This structure of comprador elites prevails in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority.

READ MORE