The Arab Spring and "the War on Terror"

[TrentVilla]

I see the Hague (no the shinny head version) is set to announce the UK will re-open the British embassy in Tehran.

 

A clear indication of our current policy on Iraq and our new found allies to this new found enemy.

 

Never a dull day in the Middle East.

[snowychap]

'I Am Peter Greste'

I appreciate that it's not always easy to love journalists, but that should not detract from an eternal truth: it is always essential to value journalism.

Especially in places where governments want to restrict free access to information. Places like Egypt, for example, where the generals are cracking down hard on journalists and accusing some of them of being terrorists. Among the dozens who have been rounded up are 20 from the al-Jazeera TV network, including their award-winning and much-respected correspondent Peter Greste, a former colleague of mine at the BBC.

He has managed, with great courage, to smuggle two letters out of prison since he was detained more than a month ago, and I would urge you to read them - they are here and here. Just as a taste, here's an extract from the second letter, in which he describes the "new normal" of an Egypt ruled, once again, by an unelected military junta.

"The state here seems to see itself in an existential struggle that pits the forces of good, open, free society against the Islamist 'terrorists' still struggling to seize control. In that environment, 'normal' has shifted so far from the more widely accepted 'middle' that our work suddenly appeared to be threatening. We were not alone in our reporting, but our arrest has served as a chilling warning to others of where the middle is here."

This, alas, is where the heady days of the Arab Spring three years ago have led. And yet, disgracefully, the considered view from Western governments seems to amount to not much more than "Oh dear, but at least they're better than the other lot ..." By which they mean, of course, the Muslim Brotherhood, of whom they were deeply suspicious. (Just to be clear, I'm not a huge fan of the Brotherhood either - but that's not the same as backing their violent overthrow.)

Tony Blair, former prime minister, and now a would-be global statesman, went out of his way to offer his support to the generals when he was in Cairo a few days ago - they overthrew the elected government, he said, "at the will of the people ... to take the country to the next stage of its development, which should be democratic". Which frankly leaves me lost for words ...

Journalists around the world have mounted a campaign to press for the release of their colleagues imprisoned in Egypt -- if you're on Facebook, you might like to add your support to the Free Peter Greste page. (On Twitter, use #freeAJStaff.) Because this is something that should concern not just journalists, and not just those who care about Egypt and the future shape of the Middle East.

We live in an era when it is easier than ever before for more people to have more access to more information more quickly. Thanks to the internet, mobile phones and social network sites, information can flow across the globe at unprecedented speed and with unprecedented freedom. It empowers popular movements and terrifies governments.

So the crackdown on journalists in Egypt is part of a much bigger picture. Whether it's the Turkish government introducing tough new internet access controls in the midst of a major corruption scandal, or the kidnapping and murder of journalists in Syria, or UK intelligence agents insisting that The Guardian smashes up its computers to destroy leaked security material from Edward Snowden - governments are desperate to control the flow of information.

There's nothing new about this, of course. In the 1990s, it was illegal in Britain to broadcast even the voice of any member of the Republican Sinn Fein movement. The ban was a total farce, and succeeded only in creating regular work for Irish actors who were hired to impersonate Sinn Fein leaders like Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

A free press is an essential part of a functioning democracy. Locking up journalists for trying to do their job is an affront to anyone who cares about the world we live in and believes that we have a right to be properly informed about what's going on in some its darkest corners. (There'll be other opportunities to reflect on phone-hacking and other journalistic misdeeds - because even I wouldn't dream of trying to persuade you that all journalists, everywhere, are saints.)

In Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film Spartacus, when captured Roman slaves are asked to identify which of them is the rebel leader Spartacus, each of them leaps to his feet and replies: "I am Spartacus."

So in that same spirit, and with no disrespect to the many other imprisoned journalists in Egypt and elsewhere: I am Peter Greste.

He and his two fellow Al-Jazeera journalists have been given seven year sentences.

[Risso]

I see the Hague (no the shinny head version) is set to announce the UK will re-open the British embassy in Tehran.

 

A clear indication of our current policy on Iraq and our new found allies to this new found enemy.

 

Never a dull day in the Middle East.

 

I imagine there'll be a stampede amongst the FO staff for that gig.   Suddenly a 5 year post in St Helena doesn't seem so bad.....

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Didn't Egypt just jail hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood chaps?

 

Clearly not content with killing a few thousand of them.

[snowychap]

Confirmed the death sentence for 180 odd as the result of their mass trial, I believe.

Edited June 23, 2014 by snowychap

[maqroll]

 

I see the Hague (no the shinny head version) is set to announce the UK will re-open the British embassy in Tehran.

 

A clear indication of our current policy on Iraq and our new found allies to this new found enemy.

 

Never a dull day in the Middle East.

 

I imagine there'll be a stampede amongst the FO staff for that gig.   Suddenly a 5 year post in St Helena doesn't seem so bad.....

 

John Kerry suddenly wants to do business with Iran too. I guess their nuclear capacity might be a good thing now...

 

I have a feeling that when ISIS decides Baghdad is too big to conquer, they're gonna go after the Kurds. It's a total horror show there.

 

If only there was a strongman-type who could keep all these bickering sects in line and keep Islamic extremists out of his country.....

[NoelVilla]

A kurdish friend from work told me he was travelling to Erbil. I asked him if that was a good idea with everything going on. His reply was, it is controlled by the kurdish army so its no problem. Even birds are afraid to fly over Erbil.

 

ISIS will need bigger numbers if they are going after the Kurds.

[HanoiVillan]

Yes, that won't happen. The 'Iraqi Army' largely consisted of poorly-paid Shia soldiers fighting a long way from home, who had the option of running away to somewhere safer. The Kurds are on home soil, and it's fair to say they're not for messing around with. ISIS may take more land to the south, but I wouldn't bet on that either. 

[snowychap]

The UK wants to support the rebels against Assad in Syria; the UK wants to continue to support the Iraqi government with the assistance of Iran against Isis and so on.

In the mean time two British men who went to Syria to fight for the rebels are terrorists.

 

I wonder what would have happened during the Spanish civil war.

[snowychap]

It's ok to fight on foreign soil as long as it for financial rather than idealistic reasons.

[snowychap]

Should I have put a smiley to indicate the intended sarcasm? I don't recall many articles about the abundance of British mercenaries in virtually every warzone being charged with terrorism offences.

Oh no, you shouldn't. I was joining in, I hoped.

[snowychap]

link

 

Israeli jets and naval gun fire pounded the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing at least 22 people and injuring 90 more, as the government of Binyamin Netanyahu launched a large-scale military operation against the Islamist militant group Hamas in the coastal enclave.

Israel announced it had authorised the call-up of up to 40,000 reservists for a possible ground operation, even as it began moving convoys of additional tanks and other armour to the Gaza border.

"We have been instructed by the political echelon to hit Hamas hard," General Moti Almoz, the chief military spokesman, told army radio. He said the action would take place in stages.

The announcement came as explosions boomed across the Gaza Strip, sending plumes of grey smoke into the sky and shaking buildings in streets already largely emptied of people.

From the other side, armed factions in Gaza fired about 140 rockets into southern Israel on Tuesday. There were no reports of deaths from rockets fired out of Gaza.

The Israeli military, threatening a long-term offensive, hit more than 150 sites and said that Operation Protective Edge aimed to strike Hamas and end the rocket fire that has reached deeper into Israel and intensified in recent weeks.

"We will not tolerate rocket fire on Israel's cities, and we are preparing to expand the operation with everything at our disposal to strike Hamas," said Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's defence minister, who announced a special state of emergency in the south of the country.

In a nationally televised statement, Netanyahu said continued rocket attacks on Israeli communities would not be tolerated.

"Therefore I have ordered the military to significantly broaden its operation against Hamas terrorists and against the other terrorist groups inside Gaza," he said. "I call on you to display patience because this operation could take time."

The White House condemned the rocket attacks against Israel. "No country can accept rocket fire aimed at civilians and we support Israel's right to defend itself against these vicious attacks," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, called on Israel to halt the airstrikes immediately and appealed for calm. "The Palestinian leadership is conducting intensive and urgent contacts with regional and international parties to stop the escalation," he said.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday night it had foiled an attempt by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to infiltrate southern Israel by sea, the first such infiltration effort in recent memory, a spokesman said. Lt Col Peter Lerner said four attackers were killed after coming ashore on Zikim beach.

After the worst outbreak of violence along the Gaza frontier since an eight-day war in 2012, the Israeli military said a ground invasion of the enclave was possible, though not imminent, and urged citizens within almost 25 miles of the territory to stay close to bomb shelters.

The military said it struck militant compounds, concealed rocket launchers and other militant infrastructure sites. Most were targeted by airstrikes, and three were attacked from the sea.

In the most serious single incident, seven Palestinians including two children were killed and about 25 wounded in an attack on a house in the Khan Younis area in south Gaza.

Residents said the house belonged to the family of a Hamas member and the casualties occurred when the property came under attack for the second time on Tuesday.

After the first strike people had gathered on the roof of the house as "human shields", hoping their presence would deter a second strike, the residents said. The Israeli military made no immediate comment about the incident.

The military offensive is taking place against a background of rising tensions across Israeli and Palestinian areas following the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers, which Israel blamed on Hamas, and a gruesome killing, believed to be in revenge, by Jewish extremists of a Palestinian teenager last week that sparked widespread violent protests.

In one strike three Hamas members from the Qassam brigades were killed in their car at a crossroads in Zarkar, along with two bystanders, residents said. One of those killed was Mohammad Abu Shaban, a senior figure in Hamas's military wing.

As the residents began to describe what had occurred three further explosions detonated loudly, sending them scattering.

A strike in the early hours of Wednesday on a house in Beit Hanun in the north of the Strip killed six people, including a senior leader of the militant group Islamic Jihad. Hafez Hamad, two of his brothers and his parents were killed along with an unidentified woman, Gaza interior ministry said. That brought the death toll since Israel began its offensive to 22: Hamad, four Hamas gunmen and 17 civilians, including seven children.

At Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Ahmad Arafat, 33, and Mohammad Abu Tawilah, 16, were being treated in separate rooms after being caught in a blast in the eastern neighbourhood of Shujai'a.

Speaking through a bloody wad of cotton wool after shrapnel broke his teeth, Arafat, who used to work for the Palestinian Authority but is now unemployed, said he hoped "all of Israel's cities" would be struck by missiles in response to the latest air strikes. "God knows what is going to happen, but I want the resistance to hit Tel Aviv. We need suicide bombings against the Israelis."

In a room a few doors down, Bashir Abu Tawliah was bending over his unconscious son Muhammad, 16, dabbing away a dribble of blood from his son's broken nose. "He was with his friends in the street when the strike occurred. They were very close. They weren't involved in firing rockets. What did my son do? What do I want? I want it to escalate. I want them to feel the same pain as we do. Gaza is Hamas. They can't dismantle Hamas without dismantling Gaza."

Israel Defence Forces said on Tuesday night that 117 rockets had struck the country in the past 24 hours and an additional 29 had been intercepted. Militants twice fired rockets at Tel Aviv, both intercepted by the "Iron Dome" rocket defence system. Hamas said it fired a salvo of four rockets toward Jerusalem, and two distant booms could be heard from the city's centre. Police said there were no injuries.

The army was also checking reports that rockets had flown north of Tel Aviv which would be the deepest strikes ever carried out by Hamas.

Netanyahu at first seemed unwilling to be drawn into a prolonged and bloody conflict over Gaza, offering "quiet for quiet" if Hamas halted its rocket fire. But the death of six Hamas members in an explosion in a tunnel on Monday prompted immediate threats of retaliation and escalation of rocket fire.

Hamas, which has been badly hit by an Egyptian blockade that has closed the Rafah tunnels and halted the flow of goods and funds into the strip, might believe it could gain from a prolonged conflict – as the group did after Operation Cast Lead, the 2009 invasion of Gaza.

"We have repeatedly warned Hamas that this must stop and Israel's defence forces are currently acting to put an end of this once and for all," said Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev.

[TrentVilla]

Seems like the normal well judged, calm and proportionate response from Israel.

[Awol]

 

 

Should I have put a smiley to indicate the intended sarcasm? I don't recall many articles about the abundance of British mercenaries in virtually every warzone being charged with terrorism offences.

Oh no, you shouldn't. I was joining in, I hoped.

Sorry, I am dim.

 

If you can't tell the difference between guarding engineers, aid workers and the like (private security) and fighting against a foreign government for money (mercenary), then I'd have to agree.

[Awol]

In the mean time two British men who went to Syria to fight for the rebels are terrorists.

 

I wonder what would have happened during the Spanish civil war.

Brit's who went to Spain were going to fight fascism. Brit's going to join bands of fascist killers like Jabhat al Nusra (AQ in Syria) and ISIS are clearly terrorists.

 

If you doubt that then treat yourself to some of their exploits on youtube or liveleak with copious amounts of be-heading, crucifixions etc, all to the joyous chants of "god is great".  

 

We should be killing every last of them as they travel home in the interests of national security.

[snowychap]

We should be killing every last of them...

Would you be joyously chanting while you were doing it?

[Awol]

 

We should be killing every last of them...

Would you be joyously chanting while you were doing it?

 

No. Have you watched the videos?

[snowychap]

I have no inclination to watch videos of people murdering other people.

[Awol]

I have no inclination to watch videos of people murdering other people.

If you're not prepared to watch and then defend their handiwork, please don't attempt to draw a moral equivalence between the International Brigades in Spain and those going to join AQ and ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

[snowychap]

If you're not prepared to watch and then defend their handiwork, please don't attempt to draw a moral equivalence between the International Brigades in Spain and those going to join AQ and ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

The good news for you is that I wasn't drawing (or attempting to draw) a moral equivalence between those two groups. I was attempting, probably rather clumsily, to highlight what would appear to be the messy and rather conflicting nature of UK government policy (at any point in time) in a couple of areas: one, in the foreign policy in Syria/Iraq/Iran and other places; two, of allowing or not allowing people to leave the shores in order to fight abroad in a not officially recognized capacity.

As for the 'defend their handiwork' nonsense - I would say that's a grossly stupid case of putting words in someone's mouth but you probably already knew that.

Edited July 9, 2014 by snowychap