TRANSFER
4.Yemen Opposition Agrees to Transition
Has another Middle Eastern regime bitten the dust? Yemen's opposition has agreed to a plan that will see President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down in a month in exchange for immunity for himself and his family. The plan was negotiated by Western allies and Gulf States. Not everyone, however, is pleased: Pro-democracy demonstrators who are not part of the talks have called for new protests. Two demonstrators were killed by government forces just hours before the opposition's announcement.
Read it at Al Jazeera
Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Iran Sees Rise of Hard-Liners in Arab Lands
The NY Times
TEHRAN — Hopeful that the protests sweeping Arab lands may create an opening for hard-line Islamic forces, conservatives in Iran are taking deep satisfaction in the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, where secular leaders have faced large-scale uprisings.
While the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confronted its own popular uprising two years ago — and successfully suppressed it — conservatives in Iran said they saw little similarity between those events and the Arab revolts, and instead likened the recent upheavals to Iran’s own 1979 Islamic revolution.
“In my opinion, the Islamic Republic of Iran should see these events without exception in a positive light,” said Mohammad-Javad Larijani, secretary general of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights and one of the most outspoken figures among Iran’s traditional conservatives.
He made it clear that he hoped the “anti-Islamic” government of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted in Tunisia, would be replaced by a “people’s government,” meaning one in which conservative Islamic forces would gain the upper hand, as they did when Iranian people overthrew Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, establishing a quasi theocracy.
On the opposite side are the United States and France, he said, who are “doing everything they can to ride the wave and prevent the people from establishing the regime that they desire.”
“I am more optimistic about Egypt,” Mr. Larijani said in comments published Friday on the Web site Khabar Online, which is closely linked to his brother, Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament.
“There, Muslims are more active in political agitation and, God willing, they will establish the regime that they want,” Mohammad-Javad Larijani said.
Some here have even echoed the pan-Islamic rhetoric of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
“Today, as a result of the gifts of the Islamic revolution in Iran, freedom-loving Islamic people’s such as the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt and nearby Arab countries are standing up to their oppressive governments,” said a leading hard-line cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, who is believed to have influence with President Ahmadinejad.
In comments published Friday on the Web site of the semiofficial news agency ISNA, Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, who favors a political system in which elections merely endorse “divinely chosen” clerical leaders, congratulated the people of Tunisia and Egypt, stating that they had acted “based on the principles” of Iran’s Islamic revolution.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Iran’s “green” opposition movement, which spearheaded large street protests here two years ago after the disputed re-election of Mr. Ahmadinejad, have so far issued no statement on the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen.
While foreign commentators have tried to draw comparisons and assess differences between the overthrow of Mr. Ben Ali’s government in Tunisia, many here have found such comparisons strained and unconvincing.
“No one can compare Arab and Iranian society with each other,” said a former reformist journalist who asked not to be identified to avoid drawing the attention of Iran’s security services.
TEHRAN — Hopeful that the protests sweeping Arab lands may create an opening for hard-line Islamic forces, conservatives in Iran are taking deep satisfaction in the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, where secular leaders have faced large-scale uprisings.
While the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confronted its own popular uprising two years ago — and successfully suppressed it — conservatives in Iran said they saw little similarity between those events and the Arab revolts, and instead likened the recent upheavals to Iran’s own 1979 Islamic revolution.
“In my opinion, the Islamic Republic of Iran should see these events without exception in a positive light,” said Mohammad-Javad Larijani, secretary general of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights and one of the most outspoken figures among Iran’s traditional conservatives.
He made it clear that he hoped the “anti-Islamic” government of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted in Tunisia, would be replaced by a “people’s government,” meaning one in which conservative Islamic forces would gain the upper hand, as they did when Iranian people overthrew Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, establishing a quasi theocracy.
On the opposite side are the United States and France, he said, who are “doing everything they can to ride the wave and prevent the people from establishing the regime that they desire.”
“I am more optimistic about Egypt,” Mr. Larijani said in comments published Friday on the Web site Khabar Online, which is closely linked to his brother, Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament.
“There, Muslims are more active in political agitation and, God willing, they will establish the regime that they want,” Mohammad-Javad Larijani said.
Some here have even echoed the pan-Islamic rhetoric of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
“Today, as a result of the gifts of the Islamic revolution in Iran, freedom-loving Islamic people’s such as the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt and nearby Arab countries are standing up to their oppressive governments,” said a leading hard-line cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, who is believed to have influence with President Ahmadinejad.
In comments published Friday on the Web site of the semiofficial news agency ISNA, Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, who favors a political system in which elections merely endorse “divinely chosen” clerical leaders, congratulated the people of Tunisia and Egypt, stating that they had acted “based on the principles” of Iran’s Islamic revolution.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Iran’s “green” opposition movement, which spearheaded large street protests here two years ago after the disputed re-election of Mr. Ahmadinejad, have so far issued no statement on the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen.
While foreign commentators have tried to draw comparisons and assess differences between the overthrow of Mr. Ben Ali’s government in Tunisia, many here have found such comparisons strained and unconvincing.
“No one can compare Arab and Iranian society with each other,” said a former reformist journalist who asked not to be identified to avoid drawing the attention of Iran’s security services.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
NYT Celeb Imam Calls to Kill Americans
Media Darling Celeb Imam Calls on Muslims to kill Americans at will, it is "either us or them"
Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, the go-to imam that the most influential media (NY Times, Washington Post) went to (the "moderate" imam) for all things Islam right after the September 11th attacks (as did the 911 hijackers, for spiritual guidance), is calling for the Muslims to kill Americans.
New York Taqiyya Times Gets It Wrong: Al-Awlaki's Jihad
Devout Muslim al-Awlaki not only ministered to the 911 Muslim terrorists, but also provided succor and Islamic spiritual guidance to the Fort Hood jihadi, the Christmas balls bomber, and the Times Square deadly car bomber -- and that's what we know of.
While being entertained the Pentagon. They had the pious Imam to dinner.
Al-Awlaki best illustrates the dangerous failure of the government and the media in understanding our mortal enemies and the ideology that inspires them. Instead of looking objectively at jihad, they demonize and slander those of us who do. Counter jihad leaders are "racists," "bigots," or "anti-muslim-islamophobic bigots." That's where this twisted, perverse narrative has gotten us. Big media, the NY Times, the Washington Post and the U.S. Government believe that any Muslim who is not actively setting off a bomb is ipso facto a "moderate." But they have no qualms about vicously attacking me or Spencer as the real "extremists."
Instead of wining and dining Awlaki after 911, he should have been arrested and tried for treason and executed. Easy in hindsight? Yes, but still that lesson has not been learned.
We are witnessing the same delusional (and invariably, fatal) thinking in the media and the government's love affair with Ground Zero mosque Imam Rauf.
U.S.-born cleric calls for death to Americans
The U.S.-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki made what looks to be his most threatening message yet: calling on Muslims to kill Americans at will, because it is "either us or them."
The video posted on extremist websites Monday may be Awlaki's attempt to capitalize on his recent notoriety. Awlaki, who the United States believes is in Yemen, is accused by Yemen of playing a role in the sending of bombs through the mail in packages addressed to Chicago.
[Like on Facebook]
Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, the go-to imam that the most influential media (NY Times, Washington Post) went to (the "moderate" imam) for all things Islam right after the September 11th attacks (as did the 911 hijackers, for spiritual guidance), is calling for the Muslims to kill Americans.
New York Taqiyya Times Gets It Wrong: Al-Awlaki's Jihad
Devout Muslim al-Awlaki not only ministered to the 911 Muslim terrorists, but also provided succor and Islamic spiritual guidance to the Fort Hood jihadi, the Christmas balls bomber, and the Times Square deadly car bomber -- and that's what we know of.
While being entertained the Pentagon. They had the pious Imam to dinner.
Al-Awlaki best illustrates the dangerous failure of the government and the media in understanding our mortal enemies and the ideology that inspires them. Instead of looking objectively at jihad, they demonize and slander those of us who do. Counter jihad leaders are "racists," "bigots," or "anti-muslim-islamophobic bigots." That's where this twisted, perverse narrative has gotten us. Big media, the NY Times, the Washington Post and the U.S. Government believe that any Muslim who is not actively setting off a bomb is ipso facto a "moderate." But they have no qualms about vicously attacking me or Spencer as the real "extremists."
Instead of wining and dining Awlaki after 911, he should have been arrested and tried for treason and executed. Easy in hindsight? Yes, but still that lesson has not been learned.
We are witnessing the same delusional (and invariably, fatal) thinking in the media and the government's love affair with Ground Zero mosque Imam Rauf.
U.S.-born cleric calls for death to Americans
The U.S.-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki made what looks to be his most threatening message yet: calling on Muslims to kill Americans at will, because it is "either us or them."
The video posted on extremist websites Monday may be Awlaki's attempt to capitalize on his recent notoriety. Awlaki, who the United States believes is in Yemen, is accused by Yemen of playing a role in the sending of bombs through the mail in packages addressed to Chicago.
[Like on Facebook]
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
How Yemeni Bomb Plot Uncovered
Let's say that the West was mega lucky to have been tipped off about last week's package bombs.
The source of a tip that alerted security agencies around the world to the package-bomb plot late last week was Jabir al-Fayfi, a Saudi national and former Guantánamo Bay inmate, a Yemeni security official said Monday.
The tip-off has been heralded as a major intelligence coup. But the detainee's shifting loyalties to al Qaeda over the years also underscore the challenges in battling the group.
Mr. al-Fayfi was released from Guantanamo in late 2006 into Saudi custody and entered a Saudi re-education program designed to sway Islamic militants away from violence. He appears to have joined up with al Qaeda in Yemen in 2008.
His defection after the re-education program in Saudi Arabia, as well as that of other key Saudis now leading the ranks of the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda, raised questions about the effectiveness of the Saudi method in dealing with their homegrown jihadis. But now, Mr. al-Fayfi's alleged role in uncovering the package-bomb plot could boost international confidence in the Saudi tactics. Instead of detention facilities like Guantánamo, Saudis employ religious scholars to persuade militants to forsake violence and offer generous social and job benefits to entice the men to settle into routine lives.
It isn't clear if Mr. al-Fayfi was a Saudi mole, working inside al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni branch of the group is known, or whether he genuinely rejoined al Qaeda and then had second thoughts.
Saudi officials didn't return calls seeking comment. The Yemeni official didn't comment. Whatever the case, U.S. and Arab officials said that without the tip-off, it would have been very difficult to have intercepted the package bombs last week. U.S. and European officials were quick to credit Saudi Arabia with providing the intelligence tip-off.
Anyone else suspect that 'our friends the Saudis' are trying to ensure that the West does not insist on shutting down their 'rehabilitation program'?
Hmmm.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Arrested in Yemen: Medical Student and Mom
According to the British (can we still use that term without being called "racist"?) Prime Minister, one of the bombs found in yesterday's Islamic attack on the West was designed to blow up the aircraft. The leftwing media is pulling the "Yemen is poverty stricken" meme out of its nonsensical narrative box. But an arrest made today was of a well-to-do, educated female Muslim and her mom. It's a family affair.
I do not believe this helps the Dems in Tuesday's election. They are jihad enablers (Obama being the worst of them all). His GITMO releases are in leadership in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. That includes some Saudi muslims who were detained at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay – including the group’s deputy leader, Said al-Shihri.
Bomb was designed to explode on cargo plane - UK PM
Prime Minister David Cameron says the device in a package sent from Yemen and found on a US-bound cargo plane was designed to go off on the aircraft.
But Mr Cameron said investigators could not yet be certain about when the device, intercepted at East Midlands Airport, was supposed to explode.
A second device containing explosives was found on a cargo plane in Dubai. The US suspects al-Qaeda involvement.
In Yemen, police have arrested a woman suspected of posting the packages.
She was detained in the capital, Sanaa, after being traced through a telephone number she had left with a cargo company, officials said.
The unnamed young woman, described as a medical student and the daughter of a petroleum engineer, was arrested along with her mother on the outskirts of the city, a security official told AFP news agency.
[..]
US President Barack Obama's national security adviser, John Brennan, has phoned Mr Saleh to offer US help in fighting al-Qaeda, the White House said.
Atlas Shrugs
I do not believe this helps the Dems in Tuesday's election. They are jihad enablers (Obama being the worst of them all). His GITMO releases are in leadership in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. That includes some Saudi muslims who were detained at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay – including the group’s deputy leader, Said al-Shihri.
Bomb was designed to explode on cargo plane - UK PM
Prime Minister David Cameron says the device in a package sent from Yemen and found on a US-bound cargo plane was designed to go off on the aircraft.
But Mr Cameron said investigators could not yet be certain about when the device, intercepted at East Midlands Airport, was supposed to explode.
A second device containing explosives was found on a cargo plane in Dubai. The US suspects al-Qaeda involvement.
In Yemen, police have arrested a woman suspected of posting the packages.
She was detained in the capital, Sanaa, after being traced through a telephone number she had left with a cargo company, officials said.
The unnamed young woman, described as a medical student and the daughter of a petroleum engineer, was arrested along with her mother on the outskirts of the city, a security official told AFP news agency.
[..]
US President Barack Obama's national security adviser, John Brennan, has phoned Mr Saleh to offer US help in fighting al-Qaeda, the White House said.
Atlas Shrugs
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Yemen: Bloggers Last Post Accuses Govt of Terror
Do we dare hope that President Obama will call for international condemnation and a UN investigation into the death of this truthtelling blogger (a role the media discarded long ago)? Don't nosespray -- that's the way it should work. At least it did after 911, under the pro-American Bush administration's Bush Doctrine (you are either with us, or aganst us). It sounds like a foreign language now under a president contemptous of America's greatness.
Under Bush, any government aiding and abetting al qaeda, or any jihadist, was an enemy of the USA; today these same jihadist killers are Obama's allies.
This speaks to the role of bloggers and the risks they take because a quisling media is carrying water for the most radical, intolerant ideology in the world.
Yemeni blogger Nashwan Ghanem in last post before "suicide," accuses Yemeni gov't of complicity in al-Qaeda attack on US Embassy Jane at MPJ (hat tip Armaros
Nashwan Ghanem was found dead of an "apparent suicide" by gun in Ibb today. These are his last posts, on his fourth blog, the one they didn't know he had. The other three sites were shut down by the Yemeni authorities. He had been writing me for some time, saying they were trying to kill him. Nashwan accused leaders of the Yemeni military of complicity in the al Qaeda attack on the US embassy in Sept '08. That post brought a 24 month avalanche of state harassment and retribution.
On 11/20/08, Menassat published an article, "Yemen: Website blocked, blogger harassed." In January the next year, Nashwan published an article at AOL, Yemen: Fattening Generals and Killing Bloggers
His recent posts don't sound suicidal to me:
October 3, 2010, In an attempt to silence my voice permanently
So now my life in danger, every day brings worse than the other ... If I did not write this on my blog, be sure that everything is over .. and that Yemeni authorities had ruled my life without knowing this one (the blog) !!
I carry full responsibility for what will happen to my life, that security and military figures accused of involvement in the attack and the attack on the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on September 17, which has assault and battery against me and threatening me with death if I went back to writing about these characters!!
In his last post, Nashwan is sounding like a guy who knows he's targeted for death and doesn't want to die, not someone about to take his own life.
October 11, 2010!! URGENT: Power Yemen kidnapping blogger Yemeni Nashwan Ghanem under the pretext of charge!!
Having failed to kidnap me on October 11, hospital men to have a car license plate that wanted to force into the car, here is today any...
It's authority is not ashamed of itself at all, This authority is used to produce scandals of the world, as well as it will carry the full responsibility of what will happen to me and the characters the military I accused of involvement in the attack on the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on September 17, 2008, which came from before the abduction and beating and threatening death!!
* Human rights activist and blogger Yemeni / Nashwan Ali Abdo Ghanem.
*The governorate of Ibb - Yemen.
* Communications Engineer.
12/10/2010
Under Bush, any government aiding and abetting al qaeda, or any jihadist, was an enemy of the USA; today these same jihadist killers are Obama's allies.
This speaks to the role of bloggers and the risks they take because a quisling media is carrying water for the most radical, intolerant ideology in the world.
Yemeni blogger Nashwan Ghanem in last post before "suicide," accuses Yemeni gov't of complicity in al-Qaeda attack on US Embassy Jane at MPJ (hat tip Armaros
Nashwan Ghanem was found dead of an "apparent suicide" by gun in Ibb today. These are his last posts, on his fourth blog, the one they didn't know he had. The other three sites were shut down by the Yemeni authorities. He had been writing me for some time, saying they were trying to kill him. Nashwan accused leaders of the Yemeni military of complicity in the al Qaeda attack on the US embassy in Sept '08. That post brought a 24 month avalanche of state harassment and retribution.
On 11/20/08, Menassat published an article, "Yemen: Website blocked, blogger harassed." In January the next year, Nashwan published an article at AOL, Yemen: Fattening Generals and Killing Bloggers
His recent posts don't sound suicidal to me:
October 3, 2010, In an attempt to silence my voice permanently
So now my life in danger, every day brings worse than the other ... If I did not write this on my blog, be sure that everything is over .. and that Yemeni authorities had ruled my life without knowing this one (the blog) !!
I carry full responsibility for what will happen to my life, that security and military figures accused of involvement in the attack and the attack on the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on September 17, which has assault and battery against me and threatening me with death if I went back to writing about these characters!!
In his last post, Nashwan is sounding like a guy who knows he's targeted for death and doesn't want to die, not someone about to take his own life.
October 11, 2010!! URGENT: Power Yemen kidnapping blogger Yemeni Nashwan Ghanem under the pretext of charge!!
Having failed to kidnap me on October 11, hospital men to have a car license plate that wanted to force into the car, here is today any...
It's authority is not ashamed of itself at all, This authority is used to produce scandals of the world, as well as it will carry the full responsibility of what will happen to me and the characters the military I accused of involvement in the attack on the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on September 17, 2008, which came from before the abduction and beating and threatening death!!
* Human rights activist and blogger Yemeni / Nashwan Ali Abdo Ghanem.
*The governorate of Ibb - Yemen.
* Communications Engineer.
12/10/2010
Friday, February 29, 2008
Gaza, My Grandmother and Candles
Maysaa Shuja, Global Voices
Yemeni blogger Maysaa Shuja has written a profoundly thoughtful post about candles, electricity, and the possible introduction of nuclear energy to her native country - a country which cannot supply a steady stream of electricity.
And while the outpour of sympathy for Gaza and its electricity problems continue, Maysaa Shuja talks about how her enterprising grandmother, may Allah rest her soul in peace, taught them the value of candles at their greatest hours of need.
Maysaa explains:
May Allah rest my Grandmother's soul in peace. She has not lived long enough to run
My grandmother implemented a policy of rationing of candles and no one was able to use candles in our house without her permission, as she decided who got candles, after assessing their humanitarian needs. For those of us who studied, she might exceed the ration and give us two candles; those who read a non-scholastic book, got one candle; and whoever talked, was deprived of candles because it wasn't necessary when talking. For those who needed to use the bathroom, they got a small candles as she loathed taking baths in the dark.
As soon as the electricity was off, my grandmother would actively go around the house, inspecting the candles and supervising their use. Those who played with their candles were deprived of them and she would be strict when they asked for candles later on. She would continue on this task until the electricity was back on again, when she would collect all the remaining candles and return them to their safe storage.
In reality, electricity is a western invention, which we probably do not deserve because we had no hand in its development. Our problem with it is that we are consumers only and our problem with the rest of the world is that we are consumers only too - consumers who don't stop complaining. Our problem with Arab governments is that we don't stop demanding our rights, and they, in turn, don't stop from denying us those rights. Our problem with
But the other face of the globe looks different. As a Yemeni, I find it hilarious that
Yet, governments come up with a new novelty everyday, the latest of which is joining the nuclear powers and using nuclear energy in a country where illiteracy usually exceeds 50 per cent. May Allah rest my grandmother's soul in peace. She did not live to the day when she saw the Yemeni government - which couldn't provide electricity to its people - talking about nuclear energy, which she wouldn't understand what it was anyway! She wouldn't even be able to pronounce its name correctly and surely, she wouldn't know the calamity that has befallen her treasure of candles which she stored and which we totally eradicated.
"Instead of cursing darkness, light a candle" so that you don't fall a victim to despair and cursing the darkness which the government is responsible for. To become a more positive citizen, light one of the candles which are readily available, thanks to the government which provided it. In reality, it is the government which has tried so hard to teach us how to use electricity conservatively and my grandmother who has taught us how to economize in using candles, which has resulted in teaching me how to economize on my dreams so that I don't cry a lot alone on the darkness without electricity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
