Painful Truths

Egypt allows US-Israeli armada through Suez Canal to intimidate Iran

An armada of more than twelve US and Israeli warships has passed through the Suez Canal toward the Red Sea and is reportedly heading to the Persian Gulf.

Egypt allowed the vessels to pass through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea Friday, UPI reported on Saturday.

The final destination of the fleet, which also includes an aircraft carrier, is not yet known; but some say it may be heading towards the Persian Gulf.

Special security measures were implemented by the Egyptian authorities for the safe passage of what is believed to be the largest US armada to pass through the canal in years.

All commercial and civilian traffic through the Suez Canal was halted and beefed-up security forces were posted along both sides of the waterway.

 

via www.presstv.ir

No doubt the armada is on its way to intimidate or attack Iran. 

When will the Egyptian people wake up, realize that whoring for the United States and Israel will get them nowhere and topple the senile Pharaoh, Husni Mubarak, and his eunuchs?

Arabs and their self-inflicted image problem

It's no secret that image and PR are not among the greatest strengths of Arabs, especially but by no means exclusively those from the Arabian Peninsula. I wonder how often the typical Arab from Qatar, Kuwait or Saudi Arabia looks in the mirror and asks what impression he is giving to others about himself, his family, his country and indeed the whole Arab world. 

 

I am prompted to write this by two incidents. The first is a Qatari family in London's Hyde Park. It was a hot and sunny day and people of various nationalities were out enjoying the sun, a rarity in the British wilderness. Some were in shirt sleeves, others wore normal clothers – suits, frocks, jeans, etc. – and others still were scantily clad. Then there was a Qatari family: a pot-bellied man, over-suited and over-prefumed (I could smell the perfume one hundred metres away); two women completely covered in black, very much akin to walking tents; and a large number of children. 

The second incident was at London's Heathrow airport. I was sitting in an airport cafe, awaiting departure. There was a long queue of people waiting to order food or drinks at the till – about nine people in all. Then, all of a sudden a middle-aged Arab couple, evidently from the Arabian peninsula – they could have been Saudis or Qataris, I wasn't sure – appeared. The woman, clad in black from head to toe and only her eyes and her lips visible through a slot in the the head cover of her tent, walked right in front of the queue, bypassing the nine people who had been patiently waiting their turn to order. The man, presumably her husband, stood gormlessly in the middle of the cafe, saying and doing nothing. Everyone in the queue was too polite to complain.

The point I am trying to make is that, before stepping outside the desert, Arabs need to think about the image they portray of themselves. And for those who live in Europe, they need to adapt themselves to the environment in which they live, or else they must seriously consider packing their bags and going home. All need to be considerate and polite – indeed, they need to be so wherever they are – and they must think about the dreadful attire they inflict on themselves and others. 

There is nothing – absolutely nothing – in the Koran or the Hadith (the Prophet Muhammad's sayings) which says you have to look awful and behave worse in order to be a good Muslim. One has to dress modestly but modesty does not mean wearing rags or tents.

Please think about it, brothers and sisters, and save yourselves and your kith and kin the ridicule and hostility which at the moment, I hate to admit it, you fully deserve.

Britain's MI6 complicit in Mossad murder of Hamas official in Dubai?

Collusion. That's what it's all about. The United Arab Emirates suspect – only suspect, mark you – that Europe's "security collaboration" with Israel has crossed a line into illegality, where British passports (and those of other other EU nations) can now be used to send Israeli agents into the Gulf to kill Israel's enemies. At 3.49pm yesterday afternoon (Beirut time, 1.49pm in London), my Lebanese phone rang. It was a source – impeccable, I know him, he spoke with the authority I know he has in Abu Dhabi – to say that "the British passports are real. They are hologram pictures with the biometric stamp. They are not forged or fake. The names were really there. If you can fake a hologram or biometric stamp, what does this mean?"

via www.independent.co.uk

I had been intending to share my suspicions about this murder for some days now, but I am glad Robert Fisk has beaten me to it.

Please read the full article. It seems quite probable that at least Britain's intelligence services colluded in the murder of the Hamas official, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai last months.

As Robert Fisk says in his article, the passports used by the killers were not clones – they were genuine. I think they were probably supplied by Britain's MI6, the fruits of ongoing intelligence cooperation between the UK and its bastard offspring, the racist apartheid state of "Israel".

I wonder how long the British people will tolerate this humiliation for? Do they have no national pride?

What role did Israel play in the run-up to the Iraq war?

The most unforgivable, outrageous and bizarre moment of the day occurred when Blair, for some inexplicable reason, volunteered the following revelation about his all-important meeting with George W Bush in Crawford, Texas, back in April 2002:

As I recall that discussion, it was less to do with specifics about what we were going to do on Iraq or, indeed, the Middle East, because the Israel issue was a big, big issue at the time. I think, in fact, I remember, actually, there may have been conversations that we had even with Israelis, the two of us, whilst we were there. So that was a major part of all this.

Blair and Bush had "conversations" with "Israelis" while they were alone in Crawford, having a behind-closed-doors, private meeting about Iraq? Which Israelis? Were they present, or on the phone? Did the Israelis express a view about Saddam Hussein, WMDs or "regime change"? How many other Iraq-related meetings or discussions were the Israelis involved in?

The answer to all these questions is: DUNNO! The committee members didn't ask him. There were no follow-ups. They simply . . . moved on.

via www.newstatesman.com

Is it just me or did the British media omit to report Anthony Blair's mention of the Israeli presence at his Crawford talks with George Bush, at which they plotted the Iraq aggression?

I am not a conspiracy theorist but I would have thought that this would have merited at least a mention. To me and doubtless numerous others, without the israeli factor the Iraq aggression would not have happened. And now Blair has just confirmed it.

Egypt's dishonourable Mubarak deports British MP George Galloway

"George Galloway, the British MP leading the Viva Palestina international aid convoy to the Gaza Strip, has been declared 'person non grata' by the Egyptian government and deported from the country.

"The politician was picked up by Egyptian officials at the Rafah border crossing on Friday [8 January] and driven to Cairo, the capital, where he was placed on a flight back to London.

"On arriving at Heathrow airport, in the UK capital, Galloway said: 'It's always been a badge of honour to be deported by a tin-pot dictator and that's what happened this morning.

"Having crossed the border from Gaza into Egypt ... my friend and I were bundled into a car, 25 officers, accepting no dissuasion, drove us straight to the airport, basically forced us onto the plane.'"

via english.aljazeera.net

Deportation from Egypt: the last recourse of the dishonourable Pharaoh and his cowardly, mindless underlings, men without honour, dignity or self-respect, amoral thugs with neither principle nor morality.

George Galloway has more honour, courage and dignity than the entire Egyptian state. I would go further: he is more of a man than 10 million Egyptian men: wretched, docile, self-serving, materialistic creatures who would give what's left of their souls to the devil for half a cent.

A say this as an Arab nationalist – an Arab who is proud that humanity still has men of principle like George Galloway. An Arab who is deeply ashamed of Egypt and Egyptians. 

My fellow Egyptians: for how long will you use poverty as an excuse for your lack of honour, dignity and self-respect? You go out rioting in the streets like mindless reptiles over a football match with your Algerian brothers but you would not lift a finger in defence of your beleaguered brothers and sisters in the Gaza Strip.

You have sold yourselves in return for the US Zionist lobby's annual subsidy. Would you sell your wives, mothers and sisters for the sake of the next meal, courtesy of the Israel-lobby-controlled US Congress?

How Egyptians lost their honour, dignity and self-respect

" ...at least 300 French participants of the Gaza Freedom March spent the night camped out in front of their embassy in Cairo, bringing a major road in the Egyptian capital to a halt as riot police  wielding plexiglass shields surrounded them.

"Hossam Zaki, an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman, accused the French protesters of lying and trying to embarrass Egypt.

"'They claimed they had aid to carry to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is a lie,' the MENA news agency quoted Zaki as saying.

"'They want media exposure and to pressure and embarrass Egypt,' he said."

via english.aljazeera.net

Hats off to the French protesters if they are indeed trying to embarrass Egypt. That country, and its people, embody the shame of all Arabs and it needs shaming.

The biggest shame of all is that it takes the French – the brave and principled men and women camped out on the streets of Cairo – to shame Egypt and the Egyptians.   

Lest there be any mistake or misunderstanding, I say this as an Egyptian through and through. Perhaps my years abroad in the British wilderness have allowed me to adopt a detached view but I don't think so. 

Let's face it, Egyptians are hardly the most popular people in the Middle East and North Africa. To say this is not to be racist – we Egyptians are not a separate race from those who resent us in the Arab world.

Our problem as Egyptians is the dichotomy of an unfounded cultural superiority complex that generates a perception of arrogance on the one hand, and a servile, vassal-like mentality betraying a deep lack of pride and leading to shameful behaviour on the other.

From this perspective, one can begin to understand why Egyptians put up with the shameful behaviour of their latter-day pharaohs – in this case, Husni Mubarak, his disgraceful toadying up to Israel and the USA, and his shameful exploitation of the Egypt-Algeria football violence in November to gain "legitimacy" for his criminal regime. 

It also explains why there is no sense of shame among Egyptians – ordinary people and the so-called "intelligentsia" – at the sight of  the Viva Palestina international humanitarian convoy for Gaza being turned away by the Pharaoh's backside-lickers and prevented from travelling the short distance from Aqaba in Jordan to Nuweiba in Egypt. Meanwhile, the aged Pharaoh is meeting Israel's Binyamin Netanyahu in Cairo to decide on a joint strategy towards the Palestinian people.

My fellow Egyptians – ordinary people, members of the armed forces, the police and the plethora of so-called "security forces" – you have no self-respect. You have sold – no, given away for free – your souls, your dignity and your honour.

Shame on you, now and for eternity.

Intoxicated by power, Blair tricked us into war

The degree of deceit involved in our decision to go to war on Iraq becomes steadily clearer. This was a foreign policy disgrace of epic proportions... It is now very difficult to avoid the conclusion that Tony Blair engaged in an alarming subterfuge with his partner George Bush and went on to mislead and cajole the British people into a deadly war they had made perfectly clear they didn’t want, and on a basis that it’s increasingly hard to believe even he found truly credible...

Hindsight is a great temptress. But we needn’t trouble her on the way to a confident conclusion that Mr Blair’s fundamental flaw was his sycophancy towards power. Perhaps this seems odd in a man who drank so much of that mind-altering brew at home. But Washington turned his head and he couldn’t resist the stage or the glamour that it gave him. In this sense he was weak and, as we can see, he remains so. Since those sorry days we have frequently heard him repeating the self-regarding mantra that “hand on heart, I only did what I thought was right”. But this is a narcissist’s defence and self-belief is no answer to misjudgment: it is certainly no answer to death. “Yo, Blair”, perhaps, was his truest measure.

via www.timesonline.co.uk

These are not my words. Nor are they the words of veteran warriors of truth and justice such as John Pilger or Robert Fisk. They are the words of – hold your breath – none other than Ken Macdonald QC,  Britain's director of public prosecutions from 2003 to 2008.

Alas, there are men of courage and integrity among the native Britons. I implore you to read the full article from which the quotes above are taken. 

Is this an aberration or a sign that perfidious Albion is at last embarking on the long journey towards becoming straight and honest? I am not optimistic but to read words such as Mr Macdonald's – the "Establishment's" very own – is heartening, if only for a few seconds.

Removing Saddam was right, even without WMD - Blair

It would have been right to remove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein even without evidence he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Tony Blair has said.

The former prime minister said it was the "notion" of Saddam as a threat to the region which tilted him in favour of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

via news.bbc.co.uk

Who the hell is Blair – or Britain for that matter – to think they have a right to remove any regime, no matter how bad that regime might be?

I don't like the UK government or the thoroughly rotten British "Establishment" but does that give me the right to blast Whitehall out of existence or stalk and blow Blair's brain out (assuming he has a brain)? Surely, getting rid of Saddam Hussein is a matter for the Iraqi people.

The clue to Blair's real thinking is his saying that it was the "notion" of Saddam as a threat to the region which tilted him in favour of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. For "threat to the region" read "potential threat to Israel". That's what Blair – and every senior British politician – all care about.

Britain is the enemy of all Arabs. Make no mistake about it.

 

Gates hints bin Laden arrest is lost cause

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says Washington does not know where the al-Qaeda leader is hiding, implying that the Afghan mission has been an abortive attempt.

"Well, we don't know for a fact where Osama bin Laden is. If we did, we'd go get him," Gates said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday.

via www.presstv.ir

The alleged search for bin Laden has become akin to the search by some sad folk in the USA for Elvis. Created by the Americans and their British underlings, bin Laden has filled in the vacuum left by the Cold War. Without him and his Al-Qaeda, NATO, the CIA and their like would have had a job justifying their existence in their present form.

I suspect that bin Laden will never be found – assuming he is still alive, which is by no means certain. And the search for him will continue until the US and its satellites find another bogeyman.

The Obama puppet – the world's least powerful man

For OpEdNews: Paul Craig Roberts - Writer

It didn't take the Israel Lobby very long to bring President Obama to heel regarding his prohibition against further illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Obama discovered that a mere American president is powerless when confronted by the Israel Lobby and that the United States simply is not allowed a Middle East policy separate from Israel's.

Obama also found out that he cannot change anything else either, if he ever intended to do so. The military/security lobby has war and a domestic police state on its agenda, and a mere American president can't do anything about it.

President Obama can order the Guantanamo torture chamber closed and kidnapping and rendition and torture to be halted, but no one carries out the order.

Essentially, Obama is irrelevant.

via www.opednews.com

This is what I thought all along. But there's also the big question of whether Barack Obama ever intended to do anything other than what the Israel lobby wanted anyway. After all, while still campaigning did he not repeatedly pledge his allegiance to the racist state of Israel and did he not maintain strict silence while Israel massacred Gaza's civilians last winter?

Obama's – and every US president's – contempt for Arabs and dismissal of their rights will remain just as it is right now until they follow Iran's example, ignore the US and its toadies in the UK and Europe and try to acquire a nuclear weapons capability – and I sincerely hope that the Iranians want nuclear weapons.

UK's Jewish Chronicle tries to bully webmasters over Aaronovich article

The Jewish Chronicle, the mouthpiece of Britain's Jews and a supporter of the State of Israel, seems to have become unhinged by an article published by Gilad Atzmon in which he viewed how Israel propagandist David Aaronovitch is whipping up British public opinion against Iran in a manner that is reminiscent of his role in advocating war on Iraq.

via whatreallyhappened.com

Isn't it just amazing! The UK mouthpiece of "the only democracy in the Middle East" is finding free speech just a little bit too much to bear, especially when free speech gets too close to the truth.

Well, not to worry, sons and daughters of Zion. With so many British MPs in your pockets maybe soon you'll be able to legislate so that it becomes a criminal offence to criticize Israel or its propagandists.