EGYPT - Days of Violence
Updates embedded !
Leadership of the ruling party of Egypt resigns
استقالة قيادة الحزب الحاكم بمصر
According to the political bureau of the ruling National-
Democratic Party (المكتب السياسي للحزب الوطني الديمقراطي الحاكم),
its leadership has stepped down (February 5, 2011).
صفوت الشريف وعن يمينه جمال مبارك
Picture showing Safut Sharif and, at his right, Djamal Mubarak,
both leaders of the ruling National-Democratic Party in Egypt.
Mubarak - Private Assets Abroad
ذكرت صحيفة غارديان البريطانية أن ثروة الرئيس المصري حسني مبارك
وعائلته تتراوح بين 40 و70 مليار دولار، وفقًا لتحليل خبراء في الشرق الأوسط
The British Journal Guardian remembers that private assets of
the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his family comprise
about 40-70 million Dollar and are allegedly deposited in the
Middle East (February 5, 2011).
On Feb. 1, 2011, the end of Mubarak's 30-year-presidency
is finally in sight. This seems to prove the truth delivered
by Al-Jazeera's recent opinion poll (below).
Online opinion poll of Al-Jazeera
published on their Arabic website
for the period from January 28
till January 31, 2011 :
Do you consider that (all these)
protestations of the Egyptian
people are having an effect on
the realization of their demands ?
voting YES : 177.267 (85,9%)
voting NO : 29.117 (14,1%)
total number of participants in this enquiry: 206.384
"In almost every successful social movement of the
last century, from Gandhi's campaign against British
rule to the Solidarity movement in Poland to the
antiapartheid movement in South Africa, democracy
was the result of a local awakening."
[Barack Obama, "The Audacity of Hope"]
By the way, such numbers remind me of the early days
of Al-Jazeera opinion polls, at the beginning of the war
against Iraq and when thousands and thousands of Arabic
speaking voters on Al-Jazeera already gave an idea of
what would happen in the years to follow. The increasing
number of participants finally began to annoy U.S. friendly
elements who then tried to manipulate the outcome of one
important poll. Without success, as Al-Jazeera quickly
blocked the attack and made it the news subject of the
day. Since then, I haven't heard of further incidents
of the kind, maybe because times and opinions have
changed even in the U.S.A.. [Ulysses]
Suite of videos covering the development of the current situation:
Some years ago, I recorded the above video on the Egyptian National TV.
Together with an add I produced myself, it is now showing how different
the art of Arabic writing is being practised by military forces under the
guidance of Hosni Mubarak and by the ordinary people of Egypt.
The following two videos have been recorded on Al-Jazeera during the last
days (January 29/30, 2011):
A terrible increase of violence took place after Mubarak's speech.
Street fighting between protesters on one side and followers of
Mubarak as well as police agents on the other side (Feb. 2, 2011):
In order to fully understand how recent turmoil came into being, you
should watch the following video. It is about the rigged parliamentary
election in December 2010 where opposition candidates lost almost all
of their seats even though enjoying broad public support.
AFGHANISTAN - Drugs and Trade
Recommendation of a brandnew website
on another blog of mine:
Afghanistan - Production and Traffic of Opium
CUBA 1961 - How CIA Tried to Kill Fidel
While Western media are just about to remember the notorious
attempt on behalf of the former Soviet Union to install some of
their nuclear missiles on Cuba, CUBAVISION, the satellite channel
of Cuba, has just broadcast a documentary showing how the U.S.
tried to kill Fidel Castro and such destabilize his government in
early 1961.
Of course, U.S. President Kennedy's harsh response in October
1962 to the installation of nukes in the neighbourhood of his
country was a mere necessity and could not be praised enough
for the sake of worldwide peace.
Nevertheless, it should not be ignored that U.S. efforts to
kill Cuba's revolutionary leader and overthrow his young
government from the very beginning left no real choice for
the Cubans than to make friends with the Soviet Union. The
economic blockade that followed and held for many decades
until now made things even more difficult for Fidel Castro
and drove him into a far-reaching dependency on Moscow.
I can't guarantee that every single fact included in the following
documentary has its truth, but the proven facts are sufficient
enough to blame the U.S. for their policy of intolerance which
earned them many enemies during the last decades, not only
from within such countries behind the Iron Curtain that once
separated Cold War enemies, but from independent countries
as well. Even today, U.S. treatment of the Cuban people and
their government is enraging Cuba's Latin American friends.
Maybe it's time now for the United States to come to terms
with their old enemy Cuba which they are still treating like a
Caribbean ship of pirates whose legendary captain refuses
As to the documentary itself, it recalls the killing attempt
of the Cuban leader with the help of some insiders, a former
military commander who served under Fidel and a member
of cabinet of his first government after the Cuban revolution.
The plannings on behalf of the CIA became known to Cuban
authorities, 16 participants were arrested with 5 CIA agents
among them, and lots of weapons, ammunition, explosives
and communication material were confiscated.
Historic pictures are showing how enemies of the revolution
used bombs to destroy a building in Havana. The bombing
of Cuban airports that left many civilian losses and, finally,
the CIA invasion that failed are documented as well. All
these incidents took place in 1961 and within a short time.
Apparently there should have been another incident when
Fidel was to be infected with anthrax, a biological weapon.
Other attempts to kill Castro on behalf of the CIA are not
included. There's for instance the mysterious case of that
German girl Marita Lorenz who came to Cuba, fell in love
with Fidel and became pregnant, was abducted and dragged
to the U.S.A. where she was brainwashed and sent back in
order to kill the Cuban leader. I think that was the case with
the poisoned cigars, the only point I'm unable to remember
any longer. Marita Lorenz obviously failed as well. Even
though being brainwashed, she seemed to be unable to
kill her ex-lover. She then returned to the U.S.A. where
she worked for the CIA in different secondary positions.
According to her, she belonged to a kind of "hitting squad",
following the traces of people who were on a CIA black list.
One day when she was in Dallas, together with her group,
a certain Lee Harvey Oswald was with them. Nobody objected
when he disappeared for some hours: It was the day he shot
President Kennedy from a nearby building. Later, Mrs. Lorenz
was interrogated by a commission of the U.S. Congress that
had to explore the Kennedy murder, and she told them all
she new about L.H. Oswald. Nevertheless, her statement was
regarded as of less importance, maybe because of her earlier
brainwashing background. As L.H. Oswald was shot himself
immediately after his arrest, nobody remained to relate the
Kennedy murder with the CIA any longer. Instead, another
theory came into being, relating Fidel Castro with the Dallas
incident.
Postscript: Many years later, a pitiful elderly lady arrived in
Havana, together with her son who had to care for her and
a West-German television team. Marita Lorenz was unable
to see her ex-lover but was warmly received by Fidel Castro's
private secretary who spoke to her behind closed doors. ...
VENEZUELA - Chavez on Economy
As Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez has become the inofficial
speaker of a Latin American Alliance (*) that comprises some of the
continent's most important countries ruled by socialist governments
and in the frame of Venezuela holding the greatest reserves of crude
oil worldwide, it should be interesting to hear what Chavez says
about the latest development of his country's economy. Here are
some quotations from his speech held before the National Assembly
of Venezuela [TELESUR, Caracas, Jan. 18, 2011; Translation Spanish-
English by Ulysses]
"It is necessary to achieve control over [national] expenses
in order to fight speculation."
This is hinting at, both, the market prices of food stuff and,
as well, all expenses on behalf of the government.
"Venezuela must turn into a power of agriculture [ and such
enlarge its power as a country that is providing crude oil ]."
As to the planned development of agriculture, livestock
breeding and the fishing industry have been particularly
named.
Referring to the decay of economy during the last two years
2009 and 2010, Chavez said:
"We finally regained the path of economic growth."
"I did not forget the four years of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008
when Venezuela was the number one place of economic growth
in Latin America if not one of the first places worldwide. What
came then, was the impact of dropping prices for crude oil,
the dropping of oil production, the climatic effect. - And facing
such situation, now, some are saying that the reason of economic
decay is nationalization or rather socialism. - No, this is not
the reason !"
When hinting at the climatic effect, he was referring to latest
enormous floodings and earlier consequences of the notorious
climate effect called El Niño.
Finally, Chavez pointed out that minimum wages of workers in
his country have risen for about 20% this year.
The following video contains additional information on
Venezuela's recent economic development in the frame
of an interview TELESUR held with Orangel Rivas, an
expert of Venezuela's National Institute of Statistics. It's
about consumption and employment during the last two
(*) At present, that alliance of Latin American states is
including Argentine, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador,
Nicaragua and Venezuela, all countries being ruled by left-
wing governments.
TUNISIA - Dictator Fleeing the Country
الهرب من الرئيس التونسي بن علي
Pictures above:
"Ben Ali, you killed (y)our people !" - "Ben Ali, get out !"
Tonight, Tunisia's president Ben Ali fled the country after days of uprising in the capital of Tunis. As he was expected to seek asylum in France, the international press was surprised when Ben Ali's plane headed for the Arabian peninsula where he finally landed in Djedda in the middle of the night.
It is considered that French authorities were unable to arrange something for Ben Ali because of his urgent flight that made any preparations impossible. Nevertheless, France should still be seen as the dictator's first choice because of manifold relations between Tunisia and its former colonial power. Furthermore, personal relations between French president Sarkozy and Ben Ali have always been regarded as fine.
After the president's retreat, the Tunisian prime minister immediately declared his intention to serve as an interim president. He promised to stick to the constitution and prepare for general elections in the very next future. Some hours later, another politician, the president of parliament, was definitely installed as the interim president of Tunisia.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting is taking place between Tunisian riot police and civilian protesters while at least parts of the military are tending to take sides in favor of the people. For example, military vehicles have been observed that accompanied protesters who were engaged in clashes with the police.
Pictures below:
- The true purpose of police in a totalitarian state.
- Military sympathizing with the people.
EGYPT - Bombing of Christian Church
الهجوم على الكنيسة المسيحية في المصر بالمدينة الاسكندرية
سُوۡرَة 82.5
۞ لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ ٱلنَّاسِ عَدَٲوَةً۬ لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱلۡيَهُودَ وَٱلَّذِينَ أَشۡرَكُواْ‌ۖ وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقۡرَبَهُم
مَّوَدَّةً۬ لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓاْ إِنَّا نَصَـٰرَىٰ‌ۚ ذَٲلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنۡهُمۡ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهۡبَانً۬ا وَأَنَّهُمۡ لَا يَسۡتَڪۡبِرُونَ
Certainly you will find the most violent of people in enmity for those who believe (to be) the Jews and those who are polytheists, and you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly.