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Against The Blacklisting Of Activists, Writers Who Expose NATO Destabilization Efforts In Syria
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/an-open-letter-against-the-blacklisting-of-activists-and-writers/225561

Une Palestinienne qui a le tort de ne pas avoir les « bonnes » opinions sur la Syrie voit son intervention (sur un sujet qui n’a rien à voir) supprimée à l’Université de Caroline.

Les défenseurs de la « révolution syrienne » sont formidables !

(via angry Arab

Bin-Laden Aide Was Going to Cooperate And Give Intel Until The CIA Tortured Him
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/bin-laden-aide-going-cooperate-give-intel-cia-tortured-read-httpthefreethoughtproject-combin-laden-aide-cooperate-give-intel-cia-torturedqrfhcpxeuep3qase-99/217659

Newly declassified documents are providing more proof that torture, and especially waterboarding, has actually been counterproductive in extracting real information from prisoners.

A heavily redacted document from the CIA’s Office of Medical Services states that the cooperation from senior bin Laden aide Abu Zubaydah “did not correlate that well with his waterboard sessions.”

In fact, the detainee “probably reached the point of cooperation even prior to the August [2002] institution of ‘enhanced’ measures – a development missed because of the narrow focus of questioning.”

Zubaydah was subjected to 83 waterboarding sessions in one month, and it seems that the only things interrogators got out of this was satiating their pleasure in carrying out torture. Other ‘enhanced’ measures such as subjecting detainees to hypothermia, beatings and long hours in stress positions were also being implemented in their sadistic program.

The conclusion of all this, 14 years after it began, is that Zubaydah was cooperating and providing actionable intelligence until he was subjected to torture. This further validates what critics have been trying to get across all this time—torture doesn’t work.

Selon une déclaration du vice-prince héritier saoudien Mohammed ben Salmane (MBS) rapportée dans une dépêche de l’agence jordanienne Petra News, mais ensuite effacée, l’Arabie saoudite aurait contribué à hauteur de 20% à la campagne d’Hillary :
▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/deleted-official-report-says-saudi-key-funder-hillary-clinton-preside

The Petra News Agency published on Sunday what it described as exclusive comments from Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman which included a claim that Riyadh has provided 20 percent of the total funding to the prospective Democratic candidate’s campaign.
The report was later deleted and the news agency has not responded to requests for comment from Middle East Eye.
It is illegal in the United States for foreign countries to try to influence the outcome of elections by funding candidates.
The Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs has re-published the original Arabic Petra report, which quoted Prince Mohammed as having said Saudi Arabia had provided with “full enthusiasm” an undisclosed amount of money to Clinton.
“Saudi Arabia always has sponsored both Republican and Democratic Party of America and in America current election also provide with full enthusiasm 20 percent of the cost of Hillary Clinton’s election even though some events in the country don’t have a positive look to support the king of a woman (sic) for presidency,” the report quoted Prince Mohammed as having said.

Panama Leak : Saudi King Sponsored Netanyahu’s Campaign
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/panama-leak-saudi-king-sponsored-netanyahus-campaign/216235

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Isaac Herzog, member of the Knesset and Chairman of the Israeli Labor party, revealed that Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz financed the election campaign of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “In March 2015, King Salman has deposited eighty million dollars to support Netanyahu’s campaign via a Syrian-Spanish person named Mohamed Eyad Kayali. The money was deposited to a company’s account in British Virgin Islands owned by Teddy Sagi, an Israeli billionaire and businessman, who has allocated the money to fund the campaign Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”, Herzog cited a leaked Panama Paper. Related Panama Papers can be found in the following links:

►http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/en ►https://panamapapers.icij.org/the_power_players
▻http://bit.ly/1UJkMS4 ▻http://www.freezepage.com/1462699031QTMVBVWSWT
▻http://www.talniri.co.il/marketnews/article.asp?mp=4&id=76320

Nigerian Shiites say soldiers have killed hundreds
▻http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2015/Dec-14/327306-nigerian-shiites-say-soldiers-have-killed-hundreds.ashx

Nigeria’s Muslim Shiite movement says Nigerian troops have killed hundreds of its members in a northern town, but other reports put the number of dead at about 20.

The killings happened this weekend in Zaria, a town in which, according to the military, the Muslim group tried to kill Nigeria’s army chief by stoning his convoy.

The dead from the military raids included the wife and two sons of the Shia Islamic Movement leader, Ibraheem Zakzaky.

Witness Ojo Momodu said the Shiites barricaded a main road with burning tires as Gen. Tukur Buratai approached Saturday and then pelted his convoy with stones.

Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman called it “a deliberate attempt to assassinate” the general.

The movement’s spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, said the military retaliated with “indiscriminate killing.”

Minnesota Woman Brutally Assaulted For Speaking Swahili In Applebee’s
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/minnesota-woman-brutally-assaulted-for-speaking-swahili-in-applebees/211120

According to Mohamed, the victim was at a table with friends and children when she was assaulted, and her injuries required 15 stitches.

600 USD le point de suture.

#racisme #vol #Etats-Unis

U.S. Supported Unrest In Bolivia, Prepared For Evo Morales’ Death
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-us-government-plotted-to-kill-bolivian-president-evo-morales/210255

Cables leaked by U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning suggest the U.S. government offered material support to enemies of the Bolivian government and its president, Evo Morales, even as those enemies made violent plans against him.

The cables in question were published in August in “The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire,” a book in which multiple journalists along with Julian Assange analyze the contents of the treasure trove of cables Manning provided to WikiLeaks in 2010.

The book devotes a section to what “The WikiLeaks Files” contributors Alexander Main and Dan Beeton call “the day-to-day mechanics of Washington’s political intervention in Latin America.”

Morales spent years resisting the United States’ Latin American agenda, leading to a gradual escalation of U.S. attempts to destabilize his government. The Bolivian government now accuses the U.S. government of supporting plans to overthrow the Morales government or even assassinate the president.

#wikileaks #cablegate

Migrant Crisis & Syria War Fueled By Competing Gas Pipelines
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/migrant-crisis-syria-war-fueled-by-competing-gas-pipelines/209294

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Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect recent Wikileaks revelations of US State Department leaks that show plans to destabilize Syria and overthrow the Syrian government as early as 2006. The leaks reveal that these plans were given to the US directly from the Israeli government and would be formalized through instigating civil strife and sectarianism through partnership with nations like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and even Egypt to break down the power structue in Syria to essentially to weaken Iran and Hezbolla. The leaks also reveal Israeli plans to use this crisis to expand it’s occupation of the Golan Heights for additional oil exploration and military expansion.

The Alliance Between Israel And Saudi Arabia
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-alliance-between-israel-and-saudi-arabia/209548

In particular, according to information of a Jerusalem Post correspondent citing diplomatic sources of both countries, since the beginning of 2014 there have been as many as five secret meetings between the Saudis and Israelis, in India, Italy and the Czech Republic. Reports appeared in the Arab press that senior members of the Israeli security forces, including the head of Mossad, secretly visited Riyadh and held discussions there with their Saudi equivalents. Apparently there were even negotiations between the then director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, with senior officials of the Israeli secret services in Geneva.

On June 5, 2015 Director-General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Dore Gold met Saudi met with General Anwar Majed Eshki at a conference in Washington, when the latter presented his strategic MER plan. Key highlights of this document are devoted to establishing cooperation between the Arab countries and Israel and the need for joint efforts to isolate the Iranian regime.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia commissioned prince and media magnate Al-Waleed bin Talal to start a dialogue with the Israeli intellectual community with the aim of reestablishing contact with the neighbouring country. Prince Talal called on all inhabitants of the Middle East, which were torn apart by war, to end their hatred of the Jewish people. He also declared that his visit to Jerusalem signifies the beginning of ‘peace and brotherliness’ between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Arab media reported that Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi confirmed that his country is ready to export ‘black gold’ to any place in the world, including Israel. Saudi Minister pointed out that the majority of the Arab world does not see any obstacles to trade relations. In August 2014 the head of the Saudi Foreign Ministry Prince Saud Al Faisal declared at the world assembly of Islamic scholars in Jeddah: “We must reject planting hatred towards Israel and we should normalize relations with the Jewish state.” Dore Gold, mentioned above, told the news agency Bloomberg: “Our standing today on this stage does not mean we have resolved all the differences that our countries shared over the years. But our hope is we will be able to address them fully in the years ahead and Riyadh can become a strategic partner of the Jewish state”.

49 Children Arrested And Detained During Baltimore Protests

▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/49-children-arrested-and-detained-during-baltimore-protests/205530

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At least 49 children were arrested during three days of civil unrest and protest that engulfed Baltimore last week, nearly half of whom were never charged with an offence, the city’s Office of the Public Defender (OPD) has said. The public defender office stated that all 49, arrested between 27-29 April, were detained for up to 48 hours by the Maryland department of juvenile services (DJS), despite 39 of them meeting standards for release.

#US #Baltimore #Freddie_Gray #contestation #police #répression #Afro-Américains #jeunes #enfance #racisme

Reporting on uncomfortable subjects ? Expect #Google to bully you.
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/google-bullies-censors-mintpress-other-independent-media-over-abu-ghraib-photos/203754 Abu_Ghraib

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The US Will Prosecute For Your Politics
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/us-will-prosecute-politics/200541

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A history of repression
In 1978, then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young told the French newspaper Le Matin that the U.S. has “hundreds of people that I would categorize as political prisoners in our prisons.”

While the exact number of political prisoners in the U.S. is unknown, the National Jericho Movement, a movement that aims to gain recognition of the fact that political prisoners and prisoners of war exist within the U.S., lists 60 current political prisoners on its website.

The list includes First Nations political prisoners, including Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), who was convicted in 1977 of killing two FBI agents. Currently serving two consecutive life sentences, Peltier maintains that he is innocent. Amnesty International has stated that “political factors may have influenced the way in which the case was prosecuted.”

The list also includes people involved in the black liberation movement, including Mumia Abu-Jamal and Sundiata Acoli. Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 of the murder of a police officer, but maintains that he was framed. Acoli, a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, was sentenced to life in prison in 1974 for murdering a New Jersey state trooper. The International Jurist, an outlet that “publishes perspectives and opinions on the current state of international law and its future,” declared Acoli a political prisoner in 1979.

Marshall “Eddie” Conway, a former political prisoner, was released in March after spending 44 years in prison after being convicted of murdering a police officer. Conway, a former member of the Black Panther Party, told MintPress that he was framed for the killing of a police officer because he exposed an agent provocateur in the Black Panther Party.

“I was targeted by COINTELPRO because of that exposure. I ended up being swept up in an arrest that involved two other Panthers in the killing of a police officer,” he said, explaining that he was framed and that a police informant was used to validate the arrest.

2004: Hersh: Children sodomized at Abu Ghraib, on tape
▻http://www.salon.com/2004/07/15/hersh_7

Hersh gave a speech last week to the ACLU making the charge that children were sodomized in front of women in the prison, and the Pentagon has tape of it. The speech was first reported in a New York Sun story last week, which was in turn posted on Jim Romenesko’s media blog, and now EdCone.com and other blogs are linking to the video. We transcribed the critical section here (it starts at about 1:31:00 into the ACLU video.) At the start of the transcript here, you can see how Hersh was struggling over what he should say:

“Debating about it, ummm … Some of the worst things that happened you don’t know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib … The women were passing messages out saying ‘Please come and kill me, because of what’s happened’ and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It’s going to come out.”

2014: Classified Evidence: US Soldiers Raped Boys In Front Of Their Mothers
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/classified-evidence-us-soldiers-raped-boys-in-front-of-their-mothers/200160

Ten years ago when the initial Abu Ghraib scandal was in the news, the Guardian published the testimony of an Abu Ghraib detainee who allegedly witnessed one of these brutal attacks.

Former detainee Kasim Hilas said in their testimony that:

“I saw [name blacked out] fucking a kid, his age would be about 15-18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard the screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn’t covered and I saw [blacked out], who was wearing the military uniform putting his dick in the little kid’s ass, I couldn’t see the face of the kid because his face wasn’t in front of the door. And the female soldier was taking pictures.”

Now, over a decade later the evidence of these events are beginning to surface, but the Department of Defense is still doing their best to keep it under the radar. That is why now more than ever, it is important to keep the pressure on and force the release of this evidence, while the torture report is fresh in the minds of the general population.

How The West Created ISIS
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/west-created-isis/196488

Missing from the chorus of outrage, however, has been any acknowledgement of the integral role of covert US and British regional military intelligence strategy in empowering and even directly sponsoring the very same virulent Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria and beyond, that went on to break away from al-Qaeda and form ‘ISIS’, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or now simply, the Islamic State (IS).

Since 2003, Anglo-American power has secretly and openly coordinated direct and indirect support for Islamist terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda across the Middle East and North Africa. This ill-conceived patchwork geostrategy is a legacy of the persistent influence of neoconservative ideology, motivated by longstanding but often contradictory ambitions to dominate regional oil resources, defend an expansionist Israel, and in pursuit of these, re-draw the map of the Middle East.

(Je ne sais pas comment le tourner : en gros je ne sais pas trop quoi penser de ce texte.)

US Looks to Expand Rapid-Reaction Force for Africa
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/us-looks-to-expand-rapid-reaction-force-for-africa/177506

The U.S. has asked Spain if it can expand an already 500-strong Marine rapid-reaction force for Africa by a minimum of 50 percent, along with extending its presence at the current base by another year, according to a report by a Spanish newspaper on Monday.

Recent events in Mali and Libya have partly motivated the move to strengthen the force.

The Marines stationed at the Morón de la Frontera air base — officially called a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force — were positioned there in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. Since then, the base has become a strategic tool for AFRICOM, the U.S. command dedicated to the African continent, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.

Though AFRICOM handles training and humanitarian duties in various parts of the continent, more urgency has been placed on response times to threats and crises affecting American interests along the Mediterranean-North African region.

The request to expand the Marines’ presence in Spain was presented when the country’s prime minister visited the White House just last week. According to El Pais, “President Obama referred to this obliquely when he said that ‘we thanked the prime minister and his government as well as the opposition in Spain for the support they have for our work together, including hosting some of our military operations and facilities. … And we pledged to continue to try to improve and deepen what is already a very strong defense relationship.’”

Spain first gave its permission for the deployment of 500 U.S. Marines and eight aircraft to the Morón base in April 2013. But the request has raised the issue of how “temporary” is defined, especially in regard to a military presence designated to last at least two years and considering America’s history with opening open-ended military sites around the world.

The expansion of the base could increase the number of soldiers up to 900, the maximum allowed by the agreement, which does not establish any control by the Spanish government over the U.S. military troops or their organization.

#bases #Etats-Unis #Afrique

Quand les multinationales utilisent le droit pour faire taire leurs critiques
▻http://www.multinationales.org/article218.html

L’attaque n’est-elle pas la meilleure des défenses ? Face aux voix critiques qui mettent en lumière les atteintes aux droits occasionnées par leurs activités, de plus en plus d’entreprises répondent en leur intentant des procès. Dans son bilan annuel sur la responsabilité juridique des multinationales, le Centre de ressources sur les entreprises et les #droits_humains attire l’attention sur le phénomène des « procès stratégiques » initiés par les grandes entreprises pour faire pression sur les militants ou (...)

#Actualités

/ #Chevron, Bolloré, #Libertés_syndicales, #Responsabilité_sociale_des_entreprises_et_investissement_éthique, #liberté_d'expression_et_de_la_presse, #responsabilité_pénale_des_entreprises, #responsabilité_sociale_des_entreprises, #syndicats, droits humains, #campagne_citoyenne, (...)

#Bolloré #lanceur_d'alerte #droit_international
▻http://www.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/corp-legal-acc-annual-briefing-final-nov-2013.pdf
►http://www.bastamag.net/article2688.html
▻http://survie.org/billets-d-afrique/2013/229-novembre-2013/article/bollore-en-afrique-la-saga-4573
▻http://forets.greenpeace.fr/la-france-peut-elle-sauver-les-forets-tropicales
▻http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/241013/sierra-leone-des-opposants-bollore-dans-letau-judiciaire?onglet=full
▻http://www.asso-sherpa.org/publication-tardive-du-rapport-final-du-pcn-dans-laffaire-socapalm
▻http://www.corporatejustice.org/Press-release-Justice-denied-for.html?lang=en
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/justice-increasingly-distant-for-victims-of-corporate-abuse/174581
▻http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainforestactionnetwork/4643107318/in/set-72157624142838334

Pentagon Approves Record Sale Of Advanced Arms To Countries At War
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/pentagon-approves-record-sale-of-advanced-arms-to-countries-at-war/173618

Today’s high-tech weapons manufacturers are enjoying record sales. The State Department’s Military Assistance Report stated that it approved $44.28 billion in arms shipments to 173 nations in the last fiscal year. One of the more controversial is the Defense Department’s plans to sell Saudi Arabia $6.8 billion and the United Arab Emirates $4 billion in advanced weaponry, including air-launched cruise missiles and precision munitions. The trouble is – has anyone asked where these weapons will ultimately end up?

(...) 

The U.S. sells to Saudi Arabia, but who buys Saudi weapons?

(...)

The influence of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East political landscape is considerable. It has assisted in overthrowing Egyptian Prime Minister Morsi, and is currently providing training to the interim military government. With the world already nervous of the unknown outcome of both the Syrian and Egyptian conflicts, should the U.S really be finalizing a $10.8 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia?

 
Does the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty work?

(...)

The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor cites this about India: “The most significant human rights problems were police and security force abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape; widespread corruption at all levels of government; and separatist, insurgent, and societal violence. Other human rights problems included disappearances, poor prison conditions that were frequently life threatening, arbitrary arrest and detention, and lengthy pretrial detention.”

But the U.S is nevertheless allowing arms sales to India. As the law stands, U.S arms exporters don’t have to follow the State Department’s human rights assessment. Instead, companies can opt to use “Leahy Law,” named for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), which passed in 1997 and prohibits U.S. assistance to specific military and police units deemed responsible for human rights abuses.

Yet this law only covers direct government-to-government direct sales overseen by the Pentagon, and allows non-defense department commercial export sales approved by the State Department. So this year the Defense Department sold $34.8 billion in direct government-to-government sales are covered by the Leahy Law, but $44.28 billion in sales authorized by State are not.

Adotei Akwei, director of Amnesty International’s government relations efforts, said: “(...) There’s a much-exemplified disconnect between the identifying of abuse and the sales.”

#Etats-Unis #commerce_des_armes #sang #mort #malheur

[Info-Palestine] - Syrie : se méfier de la désinformation <script> identifiant_article = 13926 ; </script>
▻http://www.info-palestine.net/spip.php?article13926

« Un texte sur la Syrie, soi-disant signé par moi, circule sur le net. Il n’est pas de moi. Je ne suis responsable que des textes publiés sur le site de l’AIC (alternativenews.org).

Michel Warschawski »

Le seul article français que j’ai trouvé qui doute de la version officielle :
►http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2013/08/31/experts-deplorent-arguments-intervention-syrie_n_3847221.html

Belge :
►http://www.levif.be/info/actualite/international/syrie-les-attaques-chimiques-sont-un-coup-monte/article-4000384171801.htm

Suisse :
►http://www.lecourrier.ch/113608/armes_chimiques_une_enquete_met_en_cause_les_rebelles

Italien :
►http://www.info-palestine.net/spip.php?article13916

Anglais
►http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/31/white-house-syria-orchestrated-spin
▻http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgxzpQrqSkg

Russe :
►http://rt.com/op-edge/istael-syria-attack-crisis-251

Américains :
►http://mondoweiss.net/2013/09/dubious-intelligence-and-iran-blackmail-how-israel-is-driving-the-us-to-
►http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/02/201027/to-some-us-case-for-syrian-gas.html
►http://www.mintpressnews.com/witnesses-of-gas-attack-say-saudis-supplied-rebels-with-chemical-weapons/168135

(pour être honnête, celui ci est contesté par rue89 :
►http://www.rue89.com/2013/09/03/attaques-chimiques-pourquoi-larticle-soupconnant-les-rebelles-syriens-nest-cr )

#recension

#Armes_chimiques : une enquête met en cause les rebelles
►http://www.lecourrier.ch/113608/armes_chimiques_une_enquete_met_en_cause_les_rebelles

Deux journalistes indépendants, connus pour leur travail au Proche-Orient, ont mené leur propre enquête sur les allégations d’utilisation d’armes chimiques à Ghouta. Selon les informations collectées par l’Etasunienne Dale Gavak, collaboratrice de la BBC et d’AP en poste à Amman, et par le jeune reporter jordanien Yahya Ababneh, le drame pourrait être dû à un accident dans l’arsenal des rebelles. Leur article, publié par le 29 août par le site d’information indépendant Mint Press News, accuse l’Arabie saoudite d’avoir fourni ces armes aux rebelles.

Yahya Ababneh, qui seul s’est rendu sur le terrain, dit s’être entretenu avec des dizaines de témoins, habitants ou rebelles, à Damas et à Ghouta, la banlieue de la capitale où, selon Médecin sans frontières, au moins 355 personnes sont mortes le 21 août dernier, probablement victimes d’un agent neurotoxique. Il ressort de ces entretiens que des armes toxiques auraient été entassées dans un tunnel par un Saoudien du nom d’Abu Ayesha, dirigeant d’un bataillon rebelle1.