Somalia's Famine: Saudi Arabia, Western Intelligence and Oil

I just read Somalia:The Real Causes of Famine by Michel Chossudovsky and I had to share it because it is too hard to see that all that is at the mainstream media are not the entire truth and that people means nothing to governments and the elite that rule the world.

I was puzzled because we know that Somalia has been facing famine for decades and I was not understanding why now it got worse.

The drought explanation was not enough for me.



Somalia: the Real Causes of Famine

by Michel Chossudovsky

"For the last twenty years, Somalia has been entangled in a "civil war" amidst the destruction of both its rural and urban economies.

The country is now facing widespread famine. According to reports, tens of thousands of people have died from malnutrition in the last few months. The lives of several million people are threatened.

The mainstream media casually attributes the famine to a severe drought without examining the broader causes.

An atmosphere of "lawlessness, gang warfare and anarchy" is also upheld as one of the major causes behind the famine.

But who is behind the lawlessness and armed gangs?

Somalia is categorized as a "failed state", a country without a government.

But how did it become a "failed state"? There is ample evidence of foreign intervention as well as covert support of armed militia groups. Triggering "failed states" is an integral part of US foreign policy. It is part of a military-intelligence agenda.

According to the UN, a situation of famine prevails in southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle, areas in part controlled by Al Shahab, a jihadist militia group affiliated to Al Qaeda.

Both the UN and the Obama administration had accused Al Shahab of imposing "a ban on foreign aid agencies in its territories in 2009". What the reports do not mention, however, is that Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (HSM) ("Movement of Striving Youth") is funded by Saudi Arabia and supported covertly by Western intelligence agencies. (emphasis mine)

The backing of Islamic militia by Western intelligence agencies is part of a broader historical pattern of covert support to Al Qaeda affiliated and jihadist organizations in a number of countries, including, more recently, Libya and Syria.

The broader question is: What outside forces triggered the destruction of the Somali State in the early 1990s?

Somalia remained self-sufficient in food until the late 1970s despite recurrent droughts. As of the early 1980s, its national economy was destabilized and food agriculture was destroyed.

The process of economic dislocation preceded the onset of the civil war in 1991. Economic and social chaos resulting from IMF "economic medicine"* had set the stage for the launching of a US sponsored "civil war".

An entire country with a rich history of commerce and economic development, was transformed into a territory. (emphasis mine)

In a bitter irony, this open territory encompasses significant oil wealth. Four US oil giants had already positioned themselves prior to the onset of the Somali civil war in 1991:

Far beneath the surface of the tragic drama of Somalia, four major U.S. oil companies are quietly sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concessions to explore and exploit tens of millions of acres of the Somali countryside. (emphasis mine)

According to documents obtained by The Times, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips in the final years before Somalia's pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January, 1991. ...

Officially, the Administration and the State Department insist that the U.S. military mission in Somalia is strictly humanitarian. Oil industry spokesmen dismissed as "absurd" and "nonsense" allegations by aid experts, veteran East Africa analysts and several prominent Somalis that President Bush [Senior], a former Texas oilman, was moved to act in Somalia, at least in part, by the U.S. corporate oil stake. (emphasis mine)

But corporate and scientific documents disclosed that the American companies are well positioned to pursue Somalia's most promising potential oil reserves the moment the nation is pacified. And the State Department and U.S. military officials acknowledge that one of those oil companies has done more than simply sit back and hope for peace. (emphasis Mine)

Conoco Inc., the only major multinational corporation to maintain a functioning office in Mogadishu throughout the past two years of nationwide anarchy, has been directly involved in the U.S. government's role in the U.N.-sponsored humanitarian military effort.( The Oil Factor in Somalia : Four American petroleum giants had agreements with the African nation before its civil war began. They could reap big rewards if peace is restored. - Los Angeles Times 1993)

Somalia had been a colony of Italy and Britain. In 1969, a post-colonial government was formed under president Mohamed Siad Barre; major social programs in health and education were implemented, rural and urban infrastructure was developed in the course of the 1970s, significant social progress including a mass literacy program was achieved.

The early 1980s marks a major turning point.



The IMF-World Bank structural adjustment program (SAP) was imposed on sub-Saharan Africa. The recurrent famines of the 1980s and 1990s are in large part the consequence of IMF-World Bank "economic medicine".



In Somalia, ten years of IMF economic medicine laid the foundations for the country's transition towards economic dislocation and social chaos.



By the late 1980s, following recurrent "austerity measures" imposed by the Washington consensus, wages in the public sector had collapsed to three dollars a month.

Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which hosts the critically acclaimed website www.globalresearch.ca . He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica. His writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.





It am tired and exhausted of reading mainstream media. The same article is written by many authors in different newspapers or read at the TV channels and it is always very superficial.





* The 1992's article "Famine in Somalia: I'is not a natural disaster, It's murder" also helps understanding the whole problem in Somalia and in some countries in Africa. About the IMF:

"African countries were forced to call in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to seek a way out of their problems. However the 'solutions' of the I.M.F. have been to impose draconian and brutal cutbacks in health and education, and the abolition of food subsidies. This is a capitalist solution to a problem caused by capitalism in the first place. Famine, desperate poverty and the complete absence of health and education services are the result for millions of Africans."





Update: August, 8

I just came across with a great explanation by Dr Edo McGowan, Medical Geo-hydrology at a comment he left here.

Excerpts:

"This in turn affected what was believed in and reinforced within the halls of Washington, it often had nothing to do with reality in the field, but it fitted the needs to keep Americans focused on non-issues. What we are now seeing in Somalia is, in part, the result of failed interventions and environmental degradation. That degradation, however, stems from processes entirely beyond the control of the impacted Somali people. Thus, these people are environmental refugees in their own lands. How could this all have happened?

The average person in the U.S. is probably an innocent-ignorant when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. Some, if not much of what is going on in Somalia can be traced back to our foreign policy and the interactions brought on during the Cold War, but much predates that period and goes back to U.S. foreign policy during the early parts of the 20th Century as colonial powers who lost in WW1 were required to give up those lands and boundaries were redrawn and then impacts of WW2 and development for resources following WW2."

I will publish this comment but for the moment read it where it was posted. or this article Dr Edo McGowan wrote in 2007:

Some Historical Perspective on Somalia and the Horn

Excerpt:

"Since Somalia is geologically similar, there is also the chance it may have oil. Would a potential Islamic government, the one that had, six months ago defeated the U.S. backed alliance of Somali warlords and the one now being driven out by combined Ethiopian/Somali troops be likely to sell its production for dollars or euros, and then to whom---perhaps China?

The entire thing (our foreign policy) is driven by the fiction that the world monetary system is based on a strong dollar---the dollar is not strong. It has not been on any kind of real foundation for a very long time. That myth of strength, must, however be perpetuated, at what ever cost and whom ever is collaterally damaged so I can continue enjoy driving my SUV.

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Balloons and the mind of the beholder

Balloons at the sky is an image that is known all over the world as a celebration of a happy occasion and at the moment someone looks at the sky and find them out it will be a brief moment of joy.

In June, 18 2010 balloons released into the sky by a kindergarten sparked a security alert when the country's military mistook the formation for parachuting North Koreans.

The left picture by Photolibrary was published at The Telegraph telling the story. (read it here)

Sometimes we mistake some images, for the good or for the evil, according to our mood and thoughts. I hope today you see a lot of good images. What a better day for balloons than Sundays?

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Two Calder's sculptures missing since 1984 in Rio de Janeiro

As today Calder would have celebrated his 113th birthday I cannot help remembering that Rio de Janeiro's city hall took these two works by Calder from the park where they were for restoration but in November, 1985 they disappeared.

Nobody knows what happened and they are missing till today 26 years later.

It was a scandal and many people have manifested in newspapers wrote letters and petitions to the mayor and even the police has a record of the occurrence but they are still missing.

The right one, Stable, 1941, was a donation by Calder during the acquisition of the mobile "Rio", 1951, by Rio de Janeiro government.

Another work by the Brazilian sculptor Sérgio Camargo was broken last Mars and it is still there as if nothing had happened.

They were really amazing and I have a very good recollection being at the park and stopping to interact with one of the sculptures that were there.

This is a shame.

Happy birthday Alexander Calder but be careful to whom you donate your work.

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Murdoch's NoW WhistleBlower Sean Hoare murdered?

If you are searching for explanation or a detailed article about Sean Hoare's death you will not find it anywhere.
However due to the strange circumstances surrounding this case some people think that he might have been murdered. Some people have no doubts.
Of course that every discussion about Sean being murdered will be seen as conspiracy theory but this thought is in the hearts and minds of many and when people have the feeling they are being lied there is nothing left to do but being highly suspicious.
The strange allegation: "unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious" came in a very bad time.
Murdered or not the most striking about it all is that the possibility of a British journalist being murdered is in people's mind. 
It should be out of the question such a conspiracy theory if English people trusted their politicians but English people think that it is possible that Sean Hoares was murdered because he knew too much about many people. We know the dangerous connections between journalists and politicians in some countries. 
What answers did British people had till now? Apologies? And... they did not know about the phone-hacking? They didn't know about phone-hacking? They didn't know?
Crimes were committed and calling it a scandal is a wrong label.
These is what is in the minds of some people who are commenting at Youtube:



Ain't it delicious? The murderers own the media, so they'll be in charge of telling the braindead public what the "official" cause of this man's death was. And it will all be forgotten as soon as they switch to the next story.
USRefugee 1 hour ago


NOT SUSPICIOUS??? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?!?!?! the man at the centre of the biggest media/government scandal for the past 30 years mysteriously dies the day before Murdoch takes the witness stand. This shit goes all the way to the top, and by that i dont mean News Corp, by that i mean the police and the government. The big boys at the top are covering their arses. If the real truth came out, this country's government would collapse.
ruideng111 1 hour ago 4 


This is too much of a coincidence. I don't care if he did have a drug problem, to even rule out the possibility that he could have been killed would be completely delusional.
InvisibleDiary 4 hours ago


@Edwardjsa isnt it always a farce when parliament holds hearings? If it was serious, they would investigate seriously and convict these assholes, but parliament is on the take as is the police and the whole bunch of criminals running the world. These hearings have only helped these devils... wish the man with the foam had connected so we wouldnt have to look at the ugly rupert face
kammolition 5 hours ago


Poor bastard ; murdered because he was to reveal too much BIGGER stuff ; they do it like on the movie Michael Clayton ; bump you off with an injection between the toes to make it look like natural causes - they have the medical knowhow ; they can cover it up to look like suicide if they have enough power and money. Many are ABOVE the law
TheKenfig 5 hours ago
more here.
I took from Youtube because it is an immediate reaction after watching the video and people are expressing their feelings. It is outrageous that in UK people suspects that those who are representing them are capable of killing a journalist. This hypotheses should not be raised at all.
We are talking about United Kingdom.

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News of the world: Murdochs in Parliament and death of hacking whistleblower Sean Hoare

I'm watching Mr. Murdoch father, "This is the most humble day of my life.", and son answering the MPs and came to write some remarks but came across with the Sean Hoares death last Monday.
Anita Singh did a good article at The Telegraph:

Phone hacking: Profile of Sean Hoare, the News of the World journalist and whistleblower

by Anita Singh

"Mr Hoare was the whistleblower who first linked Andy Coulson to the phone-hacking scandal.

The ex-News of the World showbusiness reporter readily admitted that he had been involved in phone hacking.

In an interview with the New York Times, published in September last year, he claimed that Coulson had "actively encouraged" him to intercept mobile phone messages at the News of the World, where his celebrity targets included David and Victoria Beckham.

Later that month, he spoke to BBC Radio 4's PM programme and went into further detail, alleging that Coulson had lied to Parliament when he denied knowledge of phone hacking.

"There's an expression: 'the culture of dark arts'. You were given a remit - just get the story, that's the most important thing," Hoare said.

"I've stood by Andy and been requested to tap phones, to hack into them and so on. He was well aware that the practice exists. To deny it is a lie. It's simply a lie.

"It was always done in the language of, 'Why don't you practise some of your dark arts on this', which was a metaphor for saying, 'Go and hack into a phone'.

"Such was the culture of intimidation and bullying that you would do it because you had to produce results. And, you know, to stand up in front of a Commons committee and say, 'I was unaware of this under my watch' was wrong."

Hoare claimed that hacking was "endemic" in the newspaper industry and said he was speaking out because he felt it unfair that royal correspondent Clive Goodman had been painted as a rogue reporter acting alone. However, Hoare also harboured a bitterness towards Coulson, a man he once regarded as a friend.

Coulson was in charge of The Sun's Bizarre column when Hoare, a former trainee on the Watford Observer, joined as a showbusiness reporter. Hoare moved to the Sunday People - where his boss was Neil Wallis - before moving to the News of the World in 2001, where Coulson had become deputy editor.

But in 2005, Coulson sacked him. Hoare's immersion in the showbiz life had led him to become dependent on drink and drugs. "I was paid to go out and take drugs with rock stars - take drugs with them, take pills with them, take cocaine with them. It was so competitive. You are going to go beyond the call of duty. You are going to do things that no sane man would do," he told The Guardian.

Fleet Street contemporaries remember him as an increasingly shambolic figure who loved the tabloid game even as the pressures took their toll. One recalled him turning up to cover the wedding of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills in Ireland in 2002 with a wallet filled with cocaine.

"If you could imagine the stereotypical image of News of the World hack, it would be him," said one former colleague. "He was overweight and a heavy boozer. He was always propping up the bar, often before lunch. He was old school. But he loved the game and never recovered from losing his job."

Another colleague remembered him fondly as a journalist who was kind and generous to those around him. "He was a genuinely nice bloke who would help you no matter who you were, and always looked out for the junior reporters on the paper," said a former Sun reporter.

"But the drink and the drugs took their toll and he was deteriorating before our eyes. It was really sad to see."

His health deteriorated - he told Nick Davies, the Guardian journalist, that his liver was in such a bad way that a doctor marvelled at the fact he was still alive. Davies said after his death was announced that Hoare had shown courage in going public.

Hoare spent time in rehab in an attempt to conquer his addictions. He did not take payment for his interviews about the phone hacking scandal and expressed hopes that tabloid journalism would be cleaned up as a result of his whistleblowing.

Earlier this month, The New York Times carried fresh allegations from Hoare about 'pinging', a way of pinpointing an individual's location via their mobile phone signal. He claimed that Greg Miskiw, a former News of the World executive, had been engaged in the practice.

Police said that Hoare's death at his home in Watford was "unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious". That did not stop conspiracy theorists flooding the web with claims that he had become the latest victim of the 'dark arts'."

Now we have everything a huge scandal requires and I believe that it will end the same way: doubts, conspiracy theories, suspicions and some resignations.
I will keep watching the Murdochs at Parliament and count how many more "NO"s Mr. Murdoch father will say and can't hardly wait to watch Rebekah Brooks.
These are the news of the world!

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Rebekah Brooks was arrested: then what?

I'm following the Murdoch scandal but did not publish anything here but now Rebekak Brooks was arrested. According to the British Metropolitan police:

"At approximately 12.00 hrs a 43-year-old woman was arrested by appointment at a London police station by officers from Operation Weeting together with officers from Operation Elveden. She is currently in custody.
She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1 (1) [of the] Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906."

I still feel that nothing that is being reported has any relation to the truth.

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Delacroix's "Liberty leading the people": Without liberty there is no freedom

I took these pictures of Delacroix's painting "Liberty leading the people", at this post, at Second Life because it shows a intense light coming from the inside and also to make details more visible.
My avatar is at the first and sixth picture as a way to give the dimension of the reproduction. The personification of liberty as a woman of huge proportions with a serene expression but power enough to lead the people is striking. Without liberty there is no freedom.

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Tiananmen Square: honoring the memory of those who died

Left images are at Tiananmen Square and right Chinese students.

These children, and all children of the world, need happiness and peace.

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Ratko Mladic arrest: Great news, not justice!

Bosnia: Mladic Arrest Ends Reign of Impunity

This is the title of Human Right's Watch for the article about Ratko Mladic arrest and I don't think it's correct. Still the article is good since it it does not close the case as others do and points out that supporters, including civilians, of Mladic are not that happy.

If justice is being done sure it is a start however I think that only listening to those who suffered can make the entire picture be depicted:

"Its great news but many of Bosnian, innocent, children had to be raised without fathers, brothers, tortured mothers. Many of them didn't get a chance for their kids to have an Uncle, a grandfather.. And thru all that pain Mladić was a hero to many.. Its unfortunate how politics Work, in a funny way.. My heart goes out to all of the victims and their families from my country, Bosnia. I hope for many this could be a closure but its hard to think so because he had all of the freedom while Bosnian people suffered.. Now he Will be placed in a wonderful Jail With all nice necessities, what kind of justice is that?!?!"

"The slaughter of thousands could have been avoided but the EU seeing what was happening politically in Yugoslavia before the war ever started did nothing, it took US muscle to allow a recourse but an eye for an eye makes the world blind, killing Mladic now would serve no purpose, it cannot undo what has been done."

These are comments at Facebook at the Human Rights Watch group. Sicking for justice is endless, it is a process that never stops. We have to face it and be alert. I think that the concept of justice has to be debated because it's being used as a synonym to events that are not related to what justice really is.

Picture: BBC

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Dad, why they kill people to solve quibblings?

I went to Ken Foster blog and found this post from the time he was in London.

He was sketching sat at this bench but didn't noticed what it was - sometimes artists are so concentrated in forms, colors and lines that there is no room to pay attention to anything else. He found the sketch today and discovered

"It is a memorial dedicated to the 202 people killed in Kuta, Bali in 2002, 28 of whom were Britons. There are 202 peace doves carved into this 5' round marble globe representing every person that died in that bombing."

At this post he starts making all of those questions sometimes we do to ourselves about killing people to solve conflicts. It's like going back to adolescence again and experiencing that strange feeling of total incomprehension and perplexity in face of some events. Just remembering that soldiers are sent to other countries to kill; terrorists action are the sole way to fight; bombing an entire city... I feel so ashamed of humankind and just like a five years old girl nothing makes sense for me. I feel like asking an adult: "what is it all about?" It last some minutes or hours depending on the day. Now I'm not in this state of mind but thinking with my reason: "Why on earth we still kill civilians to solve quibblings?" We still kill people because of land, to set boarders. This is shameful to say the least.

The technological advance we've been experiencing makes us believe that we are evolving but taking a good look at the world, all the wars, conflicts, lost of civil liberties, lost of human rights already conquered and all that is causing pain to human beings assure that we lost track of the way of a world where justice prevails.

Another evidence to the fact that things are changing another way is the lack of incentive for the study and research in humanities.

Can you imagine ancient Greek without philosophy?

Photography: Some rights reserved by Feggy Art. Flickr

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US Congress' 26 standing ovation to Netanyahu: The Jewish activist Rae Abileah

It was amazing! The American Congress behaved like a claque during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speech. They were so perfect that it seems they had rehearsed or maybe that crowd of congresspersons were full of stunts.

I believe that there was a green light to ovation and a red light for standing ovation.

Netanyahu was so secure, so full of himself repeating all those lines we have already heard so many times, one of the reasons that standing ovation is a little out of place because enthusiasm is usually brought when something new or unexpected happens, and other new pearls.

When the activist American Jewish Rae Abileah disrupted and shouted: “Stop Israel war crimes.” Netanyahu received an standing ovation and said that it can only happens in a democracies.

Rae was hospitalized and arrested. Quite democratic!

Read more about Rae Abileah here. About the US Congress cheer-leaders rehearsed by the lobbyists?

Everyday at the news you see lots of them.

Update: May, 26

"As for Americans, we should be deeply ashamed of our Congress. It has been sold to the highest bidder."

This is what M.J. Rosemberg wrote at this article at Al Jazeera. He did a very good analysis of the way the American congress received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Real Democracy Now - European Revolution in progress

"Of the people, by the people for the people!"

I remembered it here and now those who by law are entitled to choose their rules will do it peacefully.

People of Europe raising for true democracy.

"They don't represent us - we're asking for change,"
"We want to demonstrate that society is not asleep, and we will fight for what we deserve. We want a society that prioritizes people over economic interests."

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Protests in Madrid - What a great news!

I was watching the news and BBC reported that people are at Puerta del Sol 'Sun's gate' square. It's funny the way they report: quickly as if it wasn't important and hurry back to talk about Africa where the problems really are.
I want to make a big deal and I'll try to find informations:
Thousands of protesters who are camped out in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square and in dozens more Spanish cities have pledged to defy an order to pack up their tent cities and leave.
"We're fed up with politicians governing according to the markets, and not the needs of the citizens," explains Antonio Rodriguez. "They don't represent us - we're asking for change," he says.
"We want to demonstrate that society is not asleep, and we will fight for what we deserve. We want a society that prioritizes people over economic interests."

If you want you can follow this twitter @acampadasol, or this @acampadalondres in english.

via BBC and Reuters for the moment

Update:

Real Democracy London is a blog that is reporting the Spanish revolution with texts in Spanish and English.

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Homage to the Egyptian women who did the revolution

It seems so long ago but it was last January, 25 that these young people started gathering at the Tahir square doing the unthinkable. In January, 18 Asmaa Mahfouz did a video saying that four Egyptians had set themselves on fire to protest of the humiliation, hanger, poverty and degradation they lived for 30 years and they thought that their self-immolation could trigger a revolution like in Tunisia. One of them died that day. Some people's reaction was condemn claiming that he had sinned, killing himself for nothing.
Asmaa said that she would go to Tahir Square and hold up a banner and maybe people should show some honor. After a defeat in the first attempt she asked people to unite at Tahir Square to fight not for political rights but for human rights, for dignity in January, 25.
They went and they won. It was not easy, people died and others were injured but the revolution was peaceful if it wasn't for the crackdowns. 
That's the violent side of all revolutions and let's not forget Tiananmen square. This post made this blog censored in China.Two Chinese virtual friends stopped having access to the blog. I could hardly believe. 
At El Jazeera there is an article about women of the revolution and I copied part of two of them.

Mona Seif, 24, researcher

I have never felt as at peace and as safe as I did during those days in Tahrir

The daughter of a political activist who was imprisoned at the time of her birth and the sister of a blogger who was jailed by the Mubarak regime, Mona Seif says nothing could have prepared her for the scale and intensity of the protests.
"I didn't think it was going to be a revolution. I thought if we could [mobilise] a couple of thousand people then that would be great.

I was angry about the corruption in the country, [about the death of] Khaled Said and the torture of those suspected but never convicted [of being behind] the Alexandria Coptic church [bombing].

I realised this was going to be bigger than we had anticipated when 20,000 people marched towards Tahrir Square on January 25. That is when we saw a shift; it was not about the minimum wage or emergency law anymore. It became much bigger than this, it turned into a protest against the regime, demanding that Mubarak step down and that parliament be dissolved. (keep reading)

Salma El Tarzi, 33, filmmaker

What kept us going was the conviction that we did not have any option - it was either freedom or go to jail

"Having never been politically active, Salma El Tarzi was sceptical about the protesters’ chances of getting their demands met until the day when she stood on her balcony and saw the crowds. She decided to join the protesters and has not looked back since.
"I was protesting on my own on the 26th and 27th, but bumped into my younger brother in the crowd by chance on the 28th. We just carried on from then onward.

What kept us going was the conviction that we did not have any option - it was either stay and fight for freedom or go to jail.

My dad has been very supportive. He was getting to the point where he was telling me and my brother: "Don't run away from gun fire, run towards it."

While in Tahrir we were all receiving threatening calls telling us that if we didn’t vacate the square we would be hunted and killed. But we didn't care at that point. We were at the point of no return. (keep reading)"

I believe that Gigi Ibrahim, who became a spokesperson of the revolution in the western media, is known by most of the people who followed the revolution or is paying attention on the uprising still going on.
These young women and men made our hearts and minds dream again and believe that, yes, we can have our voices heard. But we have to start talking!
I don't understand why what is happening in Wisconsin is not being reported by any media in America. Here some news of the third month of Wisconsin Capitol protests. What is happening America? American women, guide them!

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The bust of the Egyptian Nefertiti is still in Germany

I believe that many people know the bust of Nefertiti or heard about her and her husband Akhenaton.
They founded a new era in Egyptian history by adopting the monotheism, adoring the God Ra, Sun, instead of the polytheistic traditional culture.
The bust of Nefertiti was found in Egypt in 1912 by a German archeologist and was sent to Germany at that time.
It is at Berlin at their Egyptian museum.
The right image is not the original. It is a plaster copy of the original found at Amarna, Egypt, in 1912.
To make things a little more spicy there are those who claim that the bust that is at Berlin in not the original, it is fake.
Fake or not fake, it is a very strange doubt that was cast and some people keep feeding it what is odd since in Berlin there are experts that can easily make the tests to concede the original status to the bust.
I truly believe that a lot of what is being said surrounding the bust of Nefertiti is only an excuse not to return it to Egypt where it belongs.
It would be a great gesture from the German government to give Nefertiti back to a country that is showing how their people want democracy and are willing to fight till the end.
State minister for antiquities Mr. Zahi Hawass is fighting relentlessly to have Nefertiti back but the answer is always: "Nefertiti will remain in Berlin." Why? I don't have the official reason.
If the bust was sent to Germany illegally in 1912 or not is not the most important issue anymore. Nefertiti was found in Egypt is part of Egyptian culture and this is above any other argument, evidence or fact. 
Queen Nefertiti is real and with her husband Pharaoh Akhenaton founded the Amarna period that transformed the art, religion, architecture and many aspects of Egyptian culture and her bust, fake or real, is the icon that expresses all these changes. Nefertiti is Egyptian all too Egyptian.
It is sad that for economical reasons, Nefertiti is the most important attraction for people to go to the museum, the German government keeps in their possession a masterpiece that has nothing to do with their culture. 
During the Nazism numerous European works of art was confiscated. Artists like Picasso, Matisse, Dufy, Van Gogh, Munch, Chagall, Cezanne, - I'll post about it - received the label degenerated, there was even an exhibition in Munich, and disappeared.
But only a few was destroyed because Hitler knew what he had in his hands and from time to time a part of the art that was confiscated by the Nazis from 1939 to 1945 is discovered. The Nazis not only conquered the lands but also the art of the countries they were invading.
Well, a lot has to be done to repair errors from the past. It only takes common sense and justice beyond the book minds to solve these mistakes. 

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Taliban is on Twitter and their official site is online

Just got the news and joined @alemarahweb Taliban's feed and I'm also taking a look at The Taliban Official site that according to The Guardian is:

"regularly evicted from servers or shut down by authorities, is constantly on the move.

Presumably operating on the grounds that it is best to know one's enemies – 140 characters at a time – the first feed the Taliban signed up to follow was that of @Afghantim, who describes himself as a US air force logistics officer currently deployed working as a combat adviser to the Afghan army.

The Taliban are also following @afghanHeroesUK, a charity supporting British troops in Afghanistan"

It seems that some changes happened after all because using computers, watching TV and... kitting was forbidden during Taliban times.

I'll keep looking at the site because it might not be online tomorrow.

No. They don't explain their plans and give the date and time for the next terrorist act.It is a site like all the others with articles, interviews, analysis, links, .pdf files... amazing and even a disappointment since there are no plans, no pictures, nothing related to terrorists activities, like a good manual explaining many actions like how to explode yourself in the middle of as much enemies civilians as possible.

Why it is prevented to be online is a mystery because some of the ideas are even naive like the way the end of American empire is inevitable and just around the corner.

But keeping it away from sight creates more fear because imagination can create a very dark picture what is very good for the manipulation of minds that the western governments and their media are doing for a long time by lying, withholding information, filtering search engineerings, using lots of stratagems that make impossible freedom of speech one of the most important rights of any democratic system.

It's ironic that US government makes such an effort to promote democracy around the world while there are lots to be done for it's citizens.

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Osama is dead: "Justice was done" Obama said to the world

Celebration at Times Square. Photo Reuters

"Justice was done." So that is the way justice is done according to American Laws: kill the symbol no matter what the consequences are. Osama death is an invitation to more terrorism and American government is quite aware of that for the security level was raised to Bravo force protection.
More terrorism equals more killings from the west, things keep the same which is very convenient to the war machine, commerce of arms and the thirst for blood of both sides
If this is justice what is the meaning of revenge?.  
I wonder if the election atmosphere in America has any influence in yesterday Qaddafi's son being killed and later Osama.
Terrorism is another word that is multifaceted and must be reviewed.
Osama's corpse is in U.S. government custody.
"Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are:  one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." (emphasis mine)
From President Obama statement
How ironic that one letter changes the name Obama to Osama. How is the Iraq war going? We have no news.


to be updated...
Update:
1- Osama's body has been buried at the sea. I hope they kept the teeth because I want a DNA test.
2- I will not update till tomorrow because the news are not telling the whole story and I have to check. I've no idea about what has happened to Osama bin Laden.
From the mainstream media: 
- At Bloomberg TV Lara Strakian reported from Dubai that people was relieved and said: "Some people congratulate me just for being American." 
- BBC did an interview with a mother whose son died in 7/11 and FOX showed the photography of those who died. 
I just wonder why some deaths are more important than others. The list of deaths due to terrorism, war, state terrorism or any kind of human rights violation is long and what about Armenia?
 Mr Obama refused to recognize that it was a genocide last month. How many deaths? Nobody told Mr Obama.


Some consequences of Osama's death announcement:
-  the US Dollar went up, the Euro went down.
- ",I Feel Sorrow For Obama And Bush ,,,Poor Now Started Propaganda of Killing Hero Osama Bin Ladin ...If They Kill Him,,Makes No Difference ,,His Each Drop Of Blood Will Give Birth To Many Others ...They Think We Kill Osama So Everything Is Over ..No Way .,Afghanistan Mountains Will Break Ur Legs Invaders ,,,,''Afghanistan Is The Graveyard Of Empires''Alexandar Said "
(comment at Facebook)


I'm watching the news and the whole thing became a circus. "The world became safer." "We have to be prepared for vengeances." and numerous contradictions.
US government said the DNA tests concludeed that it is Osama. At the same time some say that the doubters are creating conspiracy theories with that smile meaning "these lunatics!". What they forget is that many people are tired of being lied and not believing in what is being said at the News leads to speculations and numerous interpretations or even some people trying to take advantage and creating other lies.
What strikes me is that the assassination of Osama by the American government has the same implications of the war on the axis of evil urged by former-president Bush in Jan 29, 2002:

"Many have discovered again that even in tragedy, especially in tragedy, God is near."

 "In a single instant, we realized that this will be a decisive decade in the history of liberty -- that we have been called to a unique role in human events. Rarely has the world faced a choice more clear or consequential." former US president George W. Bush (emphasis mine)

One decade went by and here we are starting another decade with Obama repeating the same appeal, doing the same mistake and those who will pay the highest price are, as always, innocent civilians.
I believe that the consequences people want are not the same of what governments have in mind.


Update:
I will close today with this excerpt from this article by Mohsin Hamid at The Guardian. The price Pakistanis are paying:
Osama bin Laden's death: Pakistan will pay the blood price

"Because Pakistan is suffering badly. Crowds are justifiably celebrating Bin Laden's death in downtown Manhattan, where a decade ago al-Qaida terrorists infamously massacred nearly 3,000 people.Less well known is the statistic that since the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan, terrorists have killed nearly five times that number of people in Pakistan. The annual number of Pakistani fatalities from terrorism has surged from fewer than than 200 in 2003 to almost 1,000 in 2006, to more than 3,000 in 2009. In all, since 2001 more than 30,000 have died here in terror and counterterror violence; slain by bombs, bullets, cannons and drones. America's 9/11 has given way to Pakistan's 24-7-365. The battlefield has been displaced. And in Pakistan it is much more bloody. (emphasis mine)

If Osama Bin Laden's death means that the war in south and central Asia can now begin to end, that America can begin to withdraw its forces from the region, and that Pakistan and Afghanistan can somehow rediscover peace, then one day there may be celebrations here as well. (emphasis mine)

In the meantime American, Pakistani, Afghan, and terrorist commanders will go on conducting their operations, the slaughter will continue, and human beings – all equal, all equal – will keep dying, their deaths mostly invisible to the outside world but at a rate evoking a line of aircraft stretching off into the distance, bearing down upon tower after tower after tower. Bin Laden is dead. But many Pakistanis sense the impending arrival of yet another murderous plane, headed their way." (emphasis mine)

The world became more dangerous Mr. Obama. No, you are wrong when you claim the world is safer and a better place. Some Americans are celebrating today but tomorrow the day will dawn and fear, how governments like this word, and insecurity will be spread at the first news after a video of Osama being killed because I don't believe this cathartic event will not have an emblematic image.
You did a huge mistake to humankind and it's hard to understand how can a head of state could order such an act knowing that the consequences are too hard to endure by Americans, followers of Osama are already claiming vengeance and there is no security measure that can prevent it.
We, citizens of this world, are under 24/7/365 and now the process is over:
I was already looking at you with discontent but now I'm sure you could not stare me back if you could see what my eyes have to tell you.


Update: May,7
I predicted all wrong. Osama's death is being a celebration of how Obama is a great man, did a great good for humankind in short, a propaganda about US's president. 
He appears smiling, waving at the public, giving speeches a real circus.
Osama bin Laden? Who? "Obama killed that evil man. What a hero."
But not all Americans are buying it.

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