Tag Archives: Muslim Brotherhood

Ramadan Brings No Relief for Yemen as Saudis Block Charities and Turks Unleash Foreign Mercanaries

Just as it transferred mercenaries from Syria to the conflict zones in Libya and Azerbaijan, Turkey — the financial and spiritual capital of the Muslim Brotherhood — is now doing the same in Yemen’s oil-rich Marib.

By Ahmed Abdulkareem  Published 4-21-2021 by MintPress News

Tribesmen allied with the Houthis patrol a frontline near Al-Jadafer village in Marib, along the governorate’s border with Al-Jawf, on September 6, 2020. Ali Owidha | Sana’a Center

Adel al-Hajajji is a proud man but, with a pregnant wife and three young mouths to feed, he can’t afford to wait around for a miracle. Instead, he has taken to wandering the streets of Sana’a, gathering discarded plastic water bottles to sell to the recycling center near his home in al-Rawdah. The meager earnings net him just enough to provide his family with a modest iftar, the evening meal that marks the end of the day’s fast during the month of Ramadan. The meal usually consists of bread and water but on occasion neighbors will bring by Saltah, Yemen’s national dish made of rice and potatoes, with meat blended in during more prosperous times.

Before the war, Adel was relatively well off, with a stable government job. He fasted during Ramadan without a passing thought about where his next meal would come from. In 2015, when the Saudis invaded and food become harder to find, he began to receive Ramadan meals courtesy of Muslim charities from wealthy patrons in the Gulf. This year, though, Adel says those charities have told him they could no longer donate to Yemen due to the blockade and subsequent crackdown from Saudi authorities, who claim that charity could fall into Houthi hands. Continue reading

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Somalia With Oil – The Story Of Libya Dawn

If we were to ask the average American to tell us what they knew about LIbya, we would more than likely hear something about the Benghazi attack on September 11, 2012, in which US ambassador Chris Stevens was killed by Islamic militants; in fact, if the person was a follower of conservative media, we’d hear about nothing else.

We might hear something about Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan state’s sponsorship of terrorist organizations during his forty years in power. We might hear something about World War II and the North Africa campaigns. We might even hear that Libya has the world’s tenth largest proven oil reserves. What we more than likely wouldn’t hear about though is Libya Spring and the current civil war. Continue reading

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The Kashmir Calamity

Kashmir region. Map by CIA (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

Kashmir region. Map by CIA (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

While we’ve been distracted by the fighting in the Middle East, there’s been a resurgence of a conflict which may have more consequences worldwide than any Middle Eastern conflict would.

To understand what’s happening here, we need to go back to 1947. The British, after facing increasing nationalism and mutinies by their own soldiers, conceded that the British India Empire was a thing of the past. However, they also saw the need for a Muslim homeland, as there was a large Muslim population in the region, and tensions between the Hindus and Muslims were high.

The British proposed what was called the Mountbatten Plan, named after Louis Mountbatten, who was the last viceroy of British India. This plan divided British India into two parts; India and Pakistan. India was to hold the majority of the Hindus, and Pakistan to hold the majority of the Muslims. This was accepted by the Indian political leaders on June 2, 1947, and on August 14, Pakistan became a dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations, followed the next day by India becoming an independent country. Pakistan became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956.

Where does Kashmir come into this? When the partition took place, the 562 princely states of British India were given the option to become part of India, part of Pakistan, or to become independent. Pakistan expected that Kashmir would join Pakistan, as most of its population was Muslim. However, the government of the state was ruled by a Hindu, the Maharaja Hari Singh. In October of 1947, Muslim revolutionaries from western Kashmir and Pakistani tribesmen united in an attempt to overthrow the Kashmir government, which led Singh to ask India to accept Kashmir as part of India. On October 27, 1947, Kashmir became an Indian state.

This led to the rebels and tribesmen furthering their push into Kashmir, and Singh asked the Indian government to intervene. Thus began the first Indo-Pakistan War. The conflict’s been going on ever since then, with some memorable spikes in the violence; three more wars between India and Pakistan in 1965, 1971 and again in 1999 (the country of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, came about due to India’s intervention on the side of the Bangladesh nationalist forces in their struggle for independence in the 1971 war). In 1962, China and India had a short war, with China gaining control of the Aksai Chin region.

Which brings us to the present day. If it were just up to the two countries’ leaders, there probably wouldn’t be any problem and the whole Kashmir question would more than likely be put up for a vote by the citizens of Kashmir. Both Narendra Modi of India and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan are hard line nationalists, but they also represent the conservative business class that recognizes the value of cordial relations between the two countries. It’s questionable how much they’d go against the wishes of their wealthiest supporters. But, there’s a third party in the ballgame; the Pakistani military. The Pakistani military isn’t interested in better relations with India; they see that as an end to the army’s elite status as saviors of the country and leading to possible reductions in its substantial economic power.

Arun Jaitley, the Indian Defense Minister, says the recent violence is caused by Pakistan’s attempts to “precipitate tension where none existed.”

“Pakistan in these attacks has clearly been the aggressor, but it must realize that our deterrence will be credible. If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable.”

Pakistan for their part says they’re too busy fighting internal extremists to be involved with causing trouble along the Kashmir border. However, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the head of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said recently in a speech:  “I will take back Kashmir, all of it, and I will not leave behind a single inch of it because, like the other provinces, it belongs to Pakistan.”

As horrible as the situation is in Kashmir, it’s not as bad as it could be. You see, both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons. With the posturing and chest pounding happening on both sides, a “limited” nuclear exchange can’t be completely ruled out. However, it’s unlikely that any such exchange would be limited when all was said and done. Kashmir could be a bigger tinderbox than the Middle East ever dreamed of being.

 

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Journalism Is Not A Crime

Photo By Brendon Connelly from Newberg, Oregon (Quesadilla and light reading) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo By Brendon Connelly from Newberg, Oregon (Quesadilla and light reading) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

All over the world, people begin their day with a cup of coffee or tea and the morning paper. As we have progressed into the digital age, this might be an online news source or the click of a remote for cable or mainstream television news.

The world over, journalists spend far more in passion for the truth than they receive in salary. Their risks are seldom appreciated by the news consumers. Their job is to get all sides of a story – including interviews and perspectives that may be contrary to what governments or other subjects of their reports may wish. As such, they risk arrest from one and kidnapping, physical attacks or death from others.

Since 2007, 540 journalists have been killed world wide. Many of them you have never heard of. Many of them died with no one reporting their ordeal.

Three Aljazeera journalists, Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed, have been detained and held in Egypt’s prisons for 100 days. Their trial resumes April 10. A fourth Al Jazeera journalist, Abdullah al-Shami, has been held in Egypt for more than six months and has been on hunger strike since January 23. His detention was extended for an additional 45 days on March 13. Another Al Jazeera journalist, Mohamed Badr, was arrested on July 15 and released on February 5, when he was acquitted of a series of charges including being involved in the protests in Cairo’s Ramses Square.

Egyptian authorities are accusing the Aljazeera staff of falsely reporting the news and of collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood, and included a raid on their hotel room in which their equipment and recorded interviews were seized. There is absolutely no evidence of any sympathy toward the Muslim Brotherhood by any of the journalists involved. It is the understanding of international communities that journalists can interview both sides of a story during a conflict without being seen as taking a side in the issue.

Al Anstey, the managing director of Al Jazeera English said: “Mohamed, Baher, and Peter have now been behind bars in Egypt for 100 days for simply doing their job, and for carrying out the highest quality journalism. The charges against them are false and baseless, so there is no justification whatsoever in the detention of innocent journalists for such an outrageous amount of time. We continue to call for their immediate release and for the release of our colleague from Al Jazeera Arabic, Abdullah Al Shamy, who has been behind bars for 236 days.”

“We are very grateful for the immense support of our staff, from right around the world. The response to their detention has been outstanding. The campaign is focused on the release of our four staff, but is fundamentally a stand in the defence of journalism itself, and a call for people everywhere to have a right to be heard and the right to know what is really going on in their world.”

Nothing in life comes without a price. Next time you consume the news, or complain about subscription prices, try to remember that people are putting their lives on the line so you can know what happens around the world from the comfort and safety of your home. Remember that the real price of the news is sometimes paid for in blood and most times the sacrifice goes unnoticed.

Occupy World Writes adds our voice to those calling for the release of all journalists held in Egypt and the world over. Journalism is not a crime. As we witness growing secrecy in governments and courts blocking coverage of news, we are reminded that a free press is not only essential to democracy, it is an emblem of honor in civilized society.

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