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EricMargolis.com – Stop the hysteria or risk war with Iran

February 15, 2012 in Articles, Spotlight

*Image from bollyn.com

Posted on 15 February 2012 – 05:13am | By Eric Margolis

THE war of words between the US, Israel, and Iran intensifies by the day. The parties involved are shamelessly playing to domestic audiences in this election year. Israel keeps issuing threats it will attack Iran’s nuclear power installations, though some of its senior security officials downplay an alleged threat from Iran.

US intelligence still maintains Iran is not working on nuclear weapons. UN nuclear inspectors confirm this view, though they have been pressured by the US, which pays a quarter of UN salaries, to suggest Iran might be working on something nefarious – though all Iran’s nuclear sites are under strict UN inspection and satellite surveillance.

Not a peep from the UN about what global damage would be caused by an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites. Radioactive dust storms, to say the least.

The US Congress pulsates with war fever, fuelled by oncoming elections and huge cash donations. North America’s media pounds the war drums.

Iran shows spectacular public relations ineptitude by fulminating against Israel, calling it a “tumour” that must be removed, firing obsolete tactical missiles and staging flamboyant military exercises by its feeble armed forces.

In fact, Iran is doing the work of Israel’s hard-right Likud government by convincing the world that the Jewish state faces another Holocaust. Canada’s blustering, ill-informed foreign minister just repeated this absurd canard even though Iran is not believed to have any nuclear weapons. He preposterously compared Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler.

Even Israel’s hawkish defense minister recently opined that Iran is still some years away from having the ability to deploy a nuclear-armed missile.

Few ask the sensible question: why would Iran risk nuclear vaporisation by Israel or the US just to launch a small number of its inaccurate missiles at Israel? US and Israeli early warning satellites would spot any Iranian missile at launch and bring down a nuclear holocaust on the Islamic republic.

Israel’s North American partisans, whipped into a frenzy of alarm by a clever scare campaign designed to boost the fortunes of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, reply that Iran is run by madman who seeks nuclear martyrdom.

Over in the Mideast and parts of Europe, Israel’s Likud leadership, notably the Russian-born foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who Israeli leftists often denounce as a deranged fascist, is regarded with as much alarm as Iran’s hot-headed leaders. “Those crazy Iranians and Israelis are going to start a nuclear disaster on our doorstep,” one European politician said to me.

The Iran crisis has benefited politicians in the US and Israel by defocusing public anger from the ongoing economic crisis in both nations, and by almost totally obscuring the Palestinian quest for recognition and statehood. Little wars are famously beneficial to politicians.

Both Barack Obama and Netanyahu expect to reap dividends from “getting tough” on the latest miscreant in a long line of Muslim bogeymen. Think back to the western powers’ demonisation of Gamal abdel-Nasser, whom Anthony Eden called “Hitler on the Nile”; to “arch terrorist” Yasser Arafat; to “mad dog of the Mideast” Muammar Ghaddafi; to “Butcher of Baghdad” Saddam Hussein; “Mr 9/11” Osama bin Laden; and now “the new Hitler” Ahmadinejad.

Here we go again. These targets of western wrath and vilification actually seem to enjoy their starring roles as villains and hate figures. Any publicity is better than no publicity.

*Image from palestinianpundit.blogspot.com

Lost amid all the threats is another simple question. Why are Iran and Israel at scimitars drawn? After all, under the late, unlamented Shah, Israel and Iran used to be bosom buddies. Even under the late Ayatollah Khomeini – a big hate figure in the Jewish world – Israel secretly sold some US$5 billion (RM15.3 billion) worth of US arms and spare parts to Iran during its long, bloody 1980s war with Iraq.

The main reason is that Islamic Iran has become the primary champion of the Palestinians now that the Arab states – and notably Syria – are on the ropes. Iraq, formerly a leading champion of the Palestinians, was crushed by the US. Iran is next on the chopping block if the US American-Israel Public Affairs Committee has its way.

A fair Israel-Palestinian deal would end the crisis between Israel and Iran. So would a Mideast nuclear-free zone. But no one dares pose this simple solution.

Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist, writing mainly about the Middle East and South Asia.

*Photo from snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.com


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The Sun – Time for West to apologise for Egypt

December 16, 2011 in Articles, Spotlight

*Image from amroali.com

December 16, 2011 | By Eric S. Margolis

CAIRO: Tahrir Square, epicentre of the earthquake that ousted Egypt’s western-backed dictator, Husni Mubarak, is quiet – for the moment.

There are banner-wavers, speakers and youngsters milling about. But the by now world-famous square has a forlorn, leftover look, with more street people than revolutionaries. Violence crackles like static electricity.

Heavily armed riot and security police and their armoured vehicles are massed nearby. In the ancient Khan al-Khalili Bazaar, I saw van loads of government thugs waiting to attack demonstrators. I was almost arrested when I started taking photos.

Demonstrators at Tahrir showed me cans of expended tear gas that caused some deaths and many casualties. Whether they were the usual anti-riot CS gas or the six times stronger, carcinogenic CR that can kill or blind, I could not tell. But the canisters were marked “Made in the USA” and everyone knew it.

While Hillary Clinton was gushing about democracy in Egypt, shipments of US-made anti-riot gear, including truncheons, gas and rubber bullets, are being airlifted in from the US. Clinton’s US State Department appears to be timidly backing Egypt’s revolution, but the real power in US foreign policy, the Pentagon, is standing firmly behind Egypt’s 500,000-man armed forces.

I just observed Egypt go to the polls in a series of complex parliamentary elections. The vote was remarkably clean and fair, a triumph for all Egyptians.

Two more regional polls are yet to be held, but the outcome is clear. The Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamic ally, Wasat, won over 40% of the vote. The Salafist al-Nur Party, which seeks a state run under Islamic law, won 24%. The secular Egyptian Bloc won only 13.4%. All the preppy, upscale youth armed with cell phones and Blackberries first seen in Tahrir that became the darlings of the western media vanished. Revolutions are made by political and economic issues, not social media.

Egyptians clearly want democracy and parliamentary government, as do people across the Arab world. But Egypt’s mighty military-security establishment and its western backers do not: they are fighting a bitter action to slow down real democracy and to safeguard their privileges and power. Egypt’s military gets nearly $3 billion (RM9.7 billion) in US funds and arms each year, plus millions more in “black” money from CIA and the Pentagon – in addition to millions in economic aid. The US supplies all of the military’s key weapons systems and retains control of the spare parts keeping them operating.

The most important US intelligence and security agencies maintain large stations in Cairo to protect the regime. Half of Egypt’s food imports are financed by the US. Many of Egypt’s key generals “trained” at US military colleges and defence courses where they were vetted by CIA and the Defence Intelligence Agency. As with Turkey’s large armed forces – at least until nine years ago – Egypt’s military was joined at the hip to the US defence establishment and arms industry. In exchange, Egypt agreed to become a tacit ally of Israel.

Given Egypt’s role as a virtual US protectorate, the flood of hypocrisy now issuing from Washington, London, Paris and Ottawa over their alleged support of Egyptian democracy is striking. For the past thirty years, these powers have ardently backed Egypt’s notably ruthless, brutal dictatorship whose security forces used torture, rape and murder to terrorise its citizens.

While Egyptians want democracy, the military wants political figureheads and the right to intervene in politics to protect its interests aka “national security” – the same demands used for decades by the right-wing Turkish military to block democracy. Egypt’s generals insist there be no investigations of human rights abuses. Washington is trying to sustain the Egypt-Israel alliance that all Egyptians detest.

The military, its US backers, Israel and some misinformed western media warn that the Muslim Brotherhood will turn Egypt into another Iran. This is nonsense. The Brotherhood is conservatives, timid and focused on social issues. In Egypt’s political context, it is a moderate party. Egyptians want jobs, housing, food, education and a rescue for the deeply ailing economy, not worldwidejihad.

If western powers fail to seize this historic opportunity and work with the Brotherhood’s moderates, they will end up with the scimitar-wavers. The west can begin by apologising for so long supporting Mubarak’s brutal dictatorship.

Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist, writing mainly about the Middle East and South Asia. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

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The Guardian – US pulls Unesco funding after Palestine is granted full membership

November 1, 2011 in Articles, Spotlight

*Photo from http://www.todayszaman.com

October 31, 2011 | By Harriet Sherwood

Controversial move endorsed in UN cultural agency vote despite US threat of withholding £50m in funds

he UN cultural and educational agency Unesco has granted Palestine full membership in a move that Israel and the United States say could harm Middle East peace efforts Link to this video

The United States has cut off funds to Unesco as a punitive action after the Palestinian Authority was accepted into the UN agency as a full member in defiance of American, Israeli and European pressure.

The overwhelming backing for the Palestinians’ bid to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was a huge boost for their campaign for international recognition of an independent state, and a blow to Israel and the US, who had opposed the move.

Members voted by 107 votes to 14 to accept Palestine as a full member state to loud cheers from delegates in Paris. Fifty-two countries, including the UK, abstained.

Within hours, the US announced it would withhold its huge contribution to Unesco’s budget as a result of the vote. State department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US had no choice due to a 21-year-old law prohibiting the payment of funds to any UN body accepting the Palestinians as full members.

A $60m (£38m) transfer that was due later this month would be halted in a move that will have serious consequences for Unesco activities. The US contributes 22% of the agency’s annual budget.

Unesco’s decision was “regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace [between Israelis and Palestinians]“, said Nuland.

Israel also hinted at punitive measures. A statement from the foreign ministry said it would “consider its further steps and ongoing co-operation” with Unesco following the decision. The move was a “unilateral Palestinian manoeuvre which will bring no change on the ground but further removes the possibility for a peace agreement”, it added.

Nimrod Barkan, Israel’s ambassador to Unesco, described the vote as a “tragedy”. “Unesco deals in science, not science fiction. They forced on Unesco a political subject out of its competence,” he said.

Palestinian officials, who described the vote as historic, were jubilant. “This vote will erase a tiny part of the injustice done to the Palestinian people,” foreign minister Riyad al-Malk told the Unesco gathering in Paris.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said the vote “represents support for freedom and justice”.

In a statement to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, he said: “This vote is for the sake of peace and represents international consensus on support for the legitimate Palestinian national rights of our people, the foremost of which is the establishment of its independent state.”

Some ridiculed the US response. “You would think we were asking to be accepted by al-Qaida,” senior official Nabil Shaath said before the vote.

The swift action of the US in withdrawing funding is likely to increase cynicism among Palestinians about the credibility of the US as a mediator between them and the Israelis.

Membership of Unesco is largely symbolic, although it will allow the Palestinian Authority to seek world heritage status for historical sites. Israel would be expected to vigorously object to applications for sites in areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem currently under its control. The Palestinian Authority is expected to seek Unesco world heritage status for the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.

A nomination attempt was rejected earlier this year because the Palestinians were not a full Unesco member. The nomination of other sites is expected to follow.

The vote was the first taken in a UN body since the Palestinians embarked on their campaign for recognition of an independent state in the international arena. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, submitted a formal application for full membership of the UN in September in defiance of US opposition.

The process has become mired in UN bureaucracy after the security council set up a subcommittee to examine the application. No date has been set for a decision, which is bound to go against the Palestinians as the US has pledged to veto the move.

The Palestinians may then take their case to the UN general assembly, which is barred from granting full membership without security council approval.

Monday’s vote at the Unesco general conference is an indication of the extent of support for the Palestinian case in the international community.

France was among those voting in the Palestinians’ favour, a move which could indicate its as yet unstated stance in the forthcoming security council vote on full membership of the UN.

The UK has not declared its voting intentions but is expected to line up with the US.

Others countries that voted in favour included China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa. The US, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands voted against. US and European diplomats made unsuccessful efforts to seek a postponement of the Unesco vote in the runup to the debate at the general conference in Paris.

Despite US and EU insistence that negotiations are the only way to secure a lasting settlement and an independent Palestinian state, efforts led by the Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair to restart talks between the two parties have made little progress.

Palestinian negotiators have largely despaired of securing a state through talks with Israel while the latter continues to build and expand settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

They are also deeply disappointed in the lack of pressure exerted on Israel by the US. Many feel that taking the Palestinian cause into the international arena has a greater potential for progress.

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BERNAMA – Devastated Sewerage Systems In Gaza Will Affect Israel Too, Says Tun Mahathir

June 6, 2011 in Tun Dr. Mahathir

SEPANG, June 4 (Bernama) — Israel should actually support the mission to send humanitarian aid of 7.5km PVC pipes to Gaza as it will benefit Israelis as well, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“Their whole sewerage system has broken down and because of that a lot of dirty effluent goes into the sea. It can carry diseases not only in Gaza but also neighboring countries including Israel,” he said.

“So actually Israel should support this but you know the Israelis, they don’t care at all for humanitarian aid. They just want to show they have power and they can stop people.”

Dr Mahathir was met at the KL International Airport (KLIA) after welcoming seven more crew members from the ship MV Finch who had joined the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) mission to send the PVC pipes to Gaza.

They were Captain Jalil Mansor, Mohd Jaffrey Ariffin, Zainuddin Mohamad, Matthias Chang, Derek Graham, Jenny Graham and Julie Levasque.

There were two other crew members who returned directly to India namely Sharma Chandan Shimia and Pal Satya Prakash.

Dr Mahathir, who is the president of the foundation, however regarded the mission which was resuming “The Spirit of Rachel Corrie”, as a success.

“The mission is to show that we did not regard Israel as having the right to blockade as this is an open sea. It is a sea belonging to Gaza and therefore we want to show that we don’t respect Israel’s blockade and we want to break through the blockade.”

“In fact, they succeeded as it was only about 400 meters more (to go) but unfortunately Israel fired guns and all that,” he said, adding that he had given specific instruction that if the Israelis turned violent, “we will not to resist it.”

“So for me the mission is a success,” said Dr Mahathir who was still passionate over the mission although he had just been discharged after being admitted for 10 days at the National Heart Institute from May 18.

Earlier today, PGPF adviser, Datuk Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir said the PVC pipes consignment would be delivered by the representative of the foundation, Tan Sri Samsudin Hitam who is now in El-Arish, Egypt, and assisted by the Malaysian Embassy in Egypt.

He said the PGPF would continue its efforts to send the pipes measuring 7.5km long to Gaza via Rafah.

Last Wednesday, three more members who boarded the ship arrived safely at KLIA.

They were Bernama journalist Mohd Faizal Hassan, a journalist from New Straits Times, Iskandar Alang Bendahara and a volunteer worker from Felda Liaison Office in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mohd Radzillah Abdullah.

The lone vessel departed from the Port of Piraeus, Greece to challenge the illegal Israel-imposed siege of the Gaza Strip on May 11 and had succeeded to break the siege five days later.

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BERNAMA – PGPF Still Proud Although Mission Unable To Reach Gaza

June 3, 2011 in Articles

June 1, 2011

SEPANG, June 1 (Bernama) — Although the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) Malaysia failed in its mission to send humanitarian aid right to the people of Gaza, it is proud of having broken Israel’s illegal seige of Gazan waters.

PGPF chairman Tan Sri Norian Mai said this success was meaningful for PGPF, apart from the spirit and courage of those onboard the cargo ship MV Finch carrying the humanitarian aid, regarding them as warriors.

“Although this mission cannot be said to be 100 per cent successful, it managed to break Israel’s illegal seige as the ship managed to enter the Gazan waters before being stopped by the Israeli navy,” he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, here, Wednesday.

Norian and PGPF adviser Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali were at the airport to welcome home Bernama reporter Mohd Faizal Hassan, New Straits Times reporter Iskandar Alang Bendahara and Mohd Radzillah Abdullah, a volunteer from the Felda publicity office under the Prime Minister’s Department.

He said although faced with the blockade, PGPF would still work at sending humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza soonest possible.

Norian said nine other volunteers onboard MV Finch, including four Malaysians, were expected to return to their countries after making the necessary arrangements for the PVC pipes to be sent to Gaza.

He also denied that mission leader Matthias Chang had been detained by the Egyptian authorities but was only refused the right to enter Egypt.

“This is the decision of the Egyptian authorities and we have sent an appeal letter through the Malaysian embassy there for Chang to be allowed to enter Egypt and fly home to Malaysia,” he said.

Dr Siti Hasmah said her husband, former premier and PGPF president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was proud of all the mission volunteers and thanked them for their sacrifice.

“Dr Mahathir is unable to be present here to welcome home the heroes today, but he wishes to congratulate and thank them for their sacrifice….he’s very proud of these warriors.

“We and their families have continuously prayed for their safety and should be happy now that they (some of them) are back home,” she said and joked with Mohd Faizal and Iskandar Alang that they should now have a floral bath.

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