Saudi Troops Carry Out Pre-Dawn Raid in Awamiyah

Saudi Arabian troops have opened fire in the town of Awamiyah in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, spreading panic among people.

Press TV
October 17, 2012

Saudi regime forces patrol the streets in the town of Awamiyah, Eastern Province. (File photo)

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West Mute Over Chemical Weapon Use in Bahrain

Bahraini regime uses toxic gasses against civilian opposition.

Voltaire Network
August 26, 2012

The Bahraini security forces have started spraying toxic gasses in areas where members of opposition groups reside and in those areas and districts which witness daily popular protests against the Al-Khalifa regime, reports said.

Several Bahraini news websites reported on Thursday that large groups of al-Khalifa forces attacked a large number of districts in the Bahraini cities and villages to suppress and arrest those who had attended the protest rallies against the ruling system.

They also sprayed toxic gasses at residential districts and people’s houses.

Earlier reports from the Arab country said that as protests continue in Bahrain, the police keep bombarding dissenters with tear gas, which local residents say is now getting both stronger and thicker. It’s not only affecting just protesters, either - tear gas is getting into people’s homes. For many, it’s now becoming part of everyday life.

Bahraini human rights groups have cried out against the widespread use of tear gas, which they say is being spread haphazardly in areas where the authorities believe protesters live, notably lower-income Shiite neighborhoods. Several cases of death by suffocation have been reported, including of people inside their homes.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar - were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, tens of protesters have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured.

Police clampdown on protesters continues daily. Authorities have tried to stop organized protests by opposition parties over the past month by refusing to license them and using tear gas on those who turn up.
The opposition coalition wants full powers for the elected parliament and a cabinet fully answerable to parliament.

Regarding Despotic Gulf Monarchies' Hypocrisy

Kings unpopular at home talk of reform in Syria: Ahmadinejad.

PressTV
August 16, 2012

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he was surprised, during a recent summit in Saudi Arabia, to see the monarchs of certain countries speak of the need for reforms in Syria while their own rules were unpopular at home.

Referring to the recent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca, Ahmadinejad said “I was surprised in this summit [to see] that the kings of some countries were speaking against Syria while the majority of their own people do not want them [to rule].”

The Iranian president made the comment in a Wednesday meeting with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul on the sidelines of the OIC emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia.

During their meeting, Ahmadinejad underlined the inevitability of reforms but added, “I am of course waiting to see when these reforms will reach the other countries in the region.”

Killings and war cannot be employed to achieve reforms, the Iranian president pointed out.

Noting that all nations desire justice, freedom and respect, he emphasized that “no one can win by force,” and a government that comes to power by force cannot remain independent.

The Iranian chief executive further reiterated that the Islamic Republic is prepared to do whatever it can to establish a calm, humane and fair environment in Syria “so that people will no longer be killed and the situation will not get complicated.”

President Gul, for his part, underlined his country’s friendship with Iran and asserted that Turkey was pursuing its principles, including the the establishment of peace.

The two-day emergency meeting of the OIC members was held upon the request of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in Mecca to address major issues facing the Muslim world as well as the latest developments in the region.

MFB/HJL/MA

Bahraini protesters call for downfall of Al Khalifa regime

Bahraini protesters have held demonstration in the capital, Manama, demanding the downfall of the Al Khalifa regime in the country. 

PressTV
August 14, 2012



Image: (PressTV) Bahraini protesters take part in a demonstration in solidarity with leading activist Nabeel Rajab in the village of Sitra, south of Manama, on June 7, 2012.

The anti-regime rally was staged on Monday night following similar protests in several villages and towns across the country over the past days.

Bahraini government forces have used excessive force against the protesters since the beginning of demonstrations in February 2011.


According to the leading opposition party, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, more than 1,400 prisoners are being kept as hostages in the regime’s jails.

The group has accused the Manama regime of responding to the demands of the people with killings, arrests and torture.

Meanwhile, Bahraini security forces arrested four protesters in the northern village of Tubli on Sunday. The Bahraini forces also attacked protesters during an anti-regime rally in the northeastern island of Sitra.

The police frequently use teargas canisters, rubber bullets, and sound grenades to disperse the protesters.

The demonstrators hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the deaths of the protesters since the beginning of the revolution.

Scores of people have been killed and many others have been injured in the Saudi-backed crackdown on the peaceful protests in Bahrain.

Bahrain hosts the US Navy Fifth Fleet and is among the Persian Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates that receive military equipment from the United States.

AO/HJL

Bahraini security forces attack anti-regime protesters in Sitra

Bahraini security forces have attacked the protesters, holding an anti-regime demonstration in the northeastern island of Sitra. 

PressTV
August 13, 2012

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 The demonstrators took to the streets in Sitra on Sunday.

Meanwhile, protesters in Manama torched tires and blocked the roads near the Bahrain International Airport.  

Bahrainis continue peaceful demonstrations against the ruling monarchy, despite the regime’s violent crackdown on the protests. The police frequently use teargas canisters, rubber bullets, and sound grenades to disperse the protesters.

The demonstrators hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the deaths of the protesters during the uprising that began in February 2011.

Bahrain hosts the US Navy Fifth Fleet and is among the Persian Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates that receive military equipment from the United States.

HSN/HN

Bahrainis continue anti-regime protest in Boori village

PressTV
August 12, 2012

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Bahraini protesters have once again taken to the streets in the village of Boori to demand democratic changes and downfall of the Al Khalifa regime.

The anti-regime protesters chanted slogans against the ruling regimes in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and condemned the persecution of protesters.

The protesters also called for an end to Manama’s Saudi-backed crackdown on peaceful protests in the Persian Gulf island state.

Protesters blocked a road by torching tires in the village on Saturday.

On the same day, security forces attacked protesters in several villages, including Sitra, Dar Kulaib, and al-Malikiyah, wounding and arresting a number of demonstrators.

Anti-regime protests continue in Bahrain, despite the heavy-handed crackdown by the Western-backed monarchy.

Scores of people have been killed and many others injured or arrested in the campaign of suppression.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-government protesters have been staging regular demonstrations across the country, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.

The anti-regime demonstrators hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the deaths of the protesters during the popular uprising.

AO/HN

Syrian envoy to Mauritania rejects Qatar’s offer to defect

Syrian Ambassador to Nouakchott Hamad Seed Albni has rejected an offer by Qatar’s Embassy in Mauritania to defect from the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in return for certain incentives. 

PressTV
August 11, 2012 

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Map: Mauritania is in northwestern Africa. Syria's ambassador to the nation was approached by his Qatari counterpart in a bid to buy him off and further undermine the government of Syria. 

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Qatar’s ambassador to Mauritania proposed his Syrian counterpart in Nouakchott a million dollars in cash, a monthly salary of 20,000 dollars for 20 years and permanent residence in Qatari capital of Doha, the Lebanese-based Al-Manar TV reported.

The Syrian ambassador refused the offer for his defection and said it was a “blatant interference” in Syria’s affairs.

Albni warned his Qatari counterpart against the repetition of such a move.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV in July, Syria’s Parliament Speaker Mohammed Jihad al-Laham criticized Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for fueling the unrest in his country by supporting the insurgents fighting against the government.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the unrest.

SF/HJL/MA

Qatar's Doha Despots Blamed for Syrian Abductions

Victims of Qatari-funded & armed terrorism call on Doha for action.
 
IOGSD
August 11, 2012

 

Image: (PressTV) A snapshot from a TV news showing two of the Lebanese hostages abducted in Syria on May 22.

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Press TV has reported in their article, "Families of Lebanese abductees slam Qatar for kidnappings," that "the families of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria have staged a sit-in in front of Qatar’s embassy in Beirut, declaring Doha responsible for the lives of the abductees." It also reported that, ""the 11 Lebanese pilgrims were returning from a pilgrimage in Iran when they were kidnapped by Syrian insurgents near Syria’s northern province of Aleppo on May 22." 

 

Qatar is openly arming and funding the terrorists inside Syria responsible for these kidnappings and many other atrocities. 

 

Reuters reported in their article, "Saudi, Qatar paying salaries to Syria rebels: diplomat," that the Gulf despots were literally paying militants to fight in Syria, and that NATO member Turkey was coordinating the logistics of the payments. Reuters also reported that Qatar openly called for arming terrorists in Syria in their article, "Qatar PM calls for arming Syrian rebels." 

 

The London Guardian would then report in, "Qatar crosses the Syrian Rubicon: £63m to buy weapons for the rebels," that Qatar was laundering money and weapons through Libyan terrorist groups - the same groups Qatar armed in the 2011 NATO war on Libya. 

Finally, weapons and cash being brought into Syria through Turkey, is openly being coordinated by the United States through the CIA, reported the New York Times in their article, "C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition." 

Clearly then Qatar is complicit in the violence and atrocities carried out by militants they are underwriting, and responsible for the innocent lives being jeopardized and lost. 

 

Terrorists operating in Syria are notorious for kidnapping, torturing, and mass murdering civilians and tourists alike, as detailed in Human Rights Watch's own report "Syria: Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses" (summary here). While HRW has reported these atrocities, it along with the Western media, has attempted to downplay, spin, and excuse them, allowing Western governments and their Gulf allies to continue supporting, funding, and arming the militants.  

 

The most recent kidnapping by militants in Syria involves 48 Iranian pilgrims in Damascus. Iran has also approached Qatar as well as Turkey in an attempt negotiate for their release. 

Saudi Protesters Call for Prisoners’ Release

Press TV

August 10, 2012
 

Saudi protesters have staged a demonstration in the city of Taif, calling for the release of political prisoners in the kingdom.

People in Taif in the southwest of the country demonstrated on Thursday to express solidarity with political prisoners.

The protesters also demanded an end to rights violations in the monarchy.

Saudi Arabia has arrested scores of anti-government protesters since the beginning of the uprising in the country. Prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr Baqir al-Nemr is among the detainees.

Sheikh Nemr was injured and arrested by Saudi security forces of the Al Saud regime while driving from a farm to his house in Qatif on July 8.
Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in the Kingdom's east, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah.

The demonstrators called for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the oil-rich region.

AGB/MA/AZ

Despite Huge Oil Revenues Saudi Standard of Living Amongst Lowest in World

"Saudis Life Quality Among Worst in World."

 

Press TV

August 10, 2012 

 

Saudi Arabia is among the countries with the worst living conditions according to the latest global rankings despite being the world’s biggest oil exporter.

An international website which ranks the states from the best to the worst in terms of living conditions has in its ranking placed Saudi Arabia in the 169th position among 190 states.

Only Iraq, Somali, Yemen, and Sudan rank lower than Saudi Arabia in the list.

Saudi media have sharply criticized the government over widespread poverty in the kingdom.

Last month, Saudi newspaper Okaz reported that sixty percent of the people in Saudi Arabia live below the poverty line.

Saudi journalist Khaled al-Harbi wrote in an article that while Saudi Arabia earns 1,500 billion riyals (around 400 billion dollars) a year, the average salary of an ordinary Saudi citizen is around 1,500 riyals (around 400 dollars) a month.

Saudi activists have criticized Riyadh for spending vast sums on buying arms from the West and not helping the millions living in poverty.

In 2010, Riyadh purchased over 60 billion dollars worth of weapons from the United States, which Washington lauded as the largest arms deal in history.

AGB/MA/AZ

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Editor's Note: Saudi Arabia also finishes near dead-last in regards to women's rights (page 11, .pdf) - not based on contrived metrics or difficult to gauge "equality," but on basic rights denied such as being banned from driving, voting, etc.

One-Sided Arab Spring Coverage

Russia Today
August 10, 2012

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Editor's Note: Western media outlets such as CNN, Fox News, and the BBC are mentioned. Also complicit are Saudi Arabia's Al Arabiya and Qatar's Al Jazeera. 

Saudi Protesters Hold Anti-Regime Rallies in Qatif

Press TV

August 10, 2012 

Saudi anti-regime protesters have once against held rallies in the city of Qatif in Eastern Province to protest against police crackdown on demonstrators. 

Chanting anti-Al Saud slogans, the protesters called for the release of prominent Shia cleric Nemr al-Nemr, who was injured and detained in the city in July, while on his way back home.

Al-Nemr’s arrest sparked massive protests, with angry demonstrators demanding his immediate release.According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.”


The Shia cleric has been severely tortured by Saudi security forces in jail.

The Saudi protesters also expressed solidarity with anti-regime protesters in Bahrain, who have been brutally suppressed by the Saudi-backed forces of the Persian Gulf island state.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, as well as an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011 when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province.

Similar demonstrations have also been held in Riyadh and the holy city of Medina over the past few weeks.


AO/HN/HJL

Saudi Arabia Revolution May Ruin NATO's Syria Plans

Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
PressTV - Tarpley.net
August 9, 2012

Introducing the Gulf State Despots: 10 Facts about Saudi Arabia

Astounding hypocrisy, self-censorship, and complicity by the West regarding one of the most regressive regimes on Earth.

Tony Cartalucci  
Land Destroyer Report
August 9, 2012

The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) comprises of 6 nations, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. In principle, Kuwait and Bahrain are considered "constitutional monarchs," in practice, all 6 are despotic autocracies with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman overtly "absolute monarchs." Devoid of even a feigned semblance of representative governance, these regimes brutally repress not only their own subjects, but play active roles in repressing the people of other nations, both on their borders and well beyond them.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are playing an active role in crushing dissent in neighboring Bahrain - an opaque uprising obscured by a lack of Western media coverage - apparently the result of Western press houses conveniently ignoring unrest targeting governments linked to Western interests, while intentionally subverting nations opposed to Western interests.

 
Image: A map of the GCC's members, a collection of interconnected absolute monarchies guilty of serial crimes against humanity both at home and abroad, for decades. We are now expected to believe this criminal collaboration is promoting "democracy" in both Libya and now Syria by sending in legions of armed sectarian militants, when not even a feigned semblance of democracy exists within their own borders. 

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Likewise, the collective efforts of the GCC's regimes have torn North Africa's nation of Libya apart, leaving it under the control of roving bands of NATO/GCC-armed and funded genocidal sectarian militants with the Tripoli government dominated by Western proxies. A similar operation is now underway in Syria, also fully funded, armed, and directed by the GCC and its Western minders.

The term "pro-democracy" has been disingenuously used to describe the militant legions that very "undemocratic" nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar are underwriting. Clearly, even at face value, this is an untenable narrative. Under closer scrutiny, it unravels further, exposing a criminal, murderously violent, terroristic conspiracy of vast international proportions.

Of the GCC, perhaps the two most prominent members are Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with the House of Saud leading, and the Qataris playing a supporting role, mainly in terms of propaganda via state-owned Al Jazeera, by hosting "defectors," and hosting the regional headquarters of Western corporate-financier funded think-tanks like the Brookings Institution's Doha Centre.


Saudi Arabia: 10 Truths Self-Censored by the West's Media Houses 

 1. Saudi Arabia is so utterly autocratic it is literally named after the ruling dynasty, the House of Saud. Thus it is Arabia of the House of Saud, or "Saudi Arabia."

2. To this day, Saudi Arabia carries out barbaric executions against both criminals and political enemies, including victims accused of "sorcery and witchcraft" in the aptly named, "Chop-Chop Square" located in the capital of Riyadh where heads are literally chopped off by hooded swordsmen.

3. Women are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia, and most likely would also be banned from voting in national elections, if such a phenomenon even occurred - which it does not - as Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy and its leaders are determined by heredity, not even the feigned pretense of elections. There are local elections, however, in which woman are not permitted to vote (perhaps in 2015?).

4. Saudi Arabia has been and to this day is the primary underwriter of the notorious international terror organization, Al Qaeda. Created along with Saudi Arabia's long-time ally, the United States, money, weapons, and directives are laundered through the Saudis to maintain both plausible deniability for the Americans, and to maintain a degree of credibility for Al Qaeda's sectarian extremist foot-soldiers across the Muslim World.

5. Saudi Arabia maintains an extensive "re-education" program internationally to pervert the tenants of Islam as a means of keeping Al Qaeda's ranks full and fueling Wall Street and London's engineered "Clash of Civilizations."

6. Saudi Arabian corporate-financier interests (run by the royal family) are tied directly to Wall Street and London via conglomerations like the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council and representation upon the JP Morgan International Council (Khalid Al-Falih of Saudi Aramco, amongst the highest valued companies on Earth).

7. The alleged most notorious terrorist in modern history, Osama Bin Laden, was a creation of US-Saudi machinations, with the Bin Laden family to this day being a premier member of of both Saudi and Western elitist circles. The multi-billion dollar Saudi Binladin Group is an active member of the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council and plays a central role in deciding bilateral policy for the benefit of collective US-Saudi corporate-financier and corresponding geopolitical interests.

8. The autocratic House of Saud maintains Al Arabiya, along with a extensive list of unsavory investors from across the GCC and its sphere of influence, including Lebanon's Hariri faction. It is a propaganda outlet masquerading as an objective journalistic organization, working in tandem with state-owned Al Jazeera in Qatar. Occasionally admitted to be "state media" by the West, "state media" in Saudi Arabia actually means "Saud family-owned propaganda."

9. Saudi Arabia has played an active role in the violent destabilization of governments around the world, including most recently Libya and Syria. The use of sectarian-extremists indoctrinated at Saudi-funded faux-mosques and madrasas, armed and funded by Saudi cash, is the standard method of operation for these destabilizations.

10. Saudi Arabia's brutally repressive internal security apparatus is a creation of US advisers and operators. Its military, both covert and conventional, is also armed through astronomically large weapons sales (including a recent sale considered the largest in US history) by its Wall Street and London allies. The atrocities committed by the despotic Saud regime are directly facilitated by US advisers, operators, and arms. Saudi Arabia also hosts the US military, a sizable force until it was spread out amongst the orbiting despotic regimes of Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

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Of course, not everyone in Saudi Arabia is a barbaric, treasonous, meddling despot. This includes people all across Saudi Arabia's population of 28 million and even throughout its government. Many of these people have attempted to protest or reform the current state of the "kingdom," albeit very unsuccessfully.

This failure can be in part blamed on the vast, draconian police state created for the House of Saud despots by their Western sponsors as well as a Western media complicit in censoring crackdowns on protesters, most recently unfolding in the eastern city of Qatif, and a virtual media "black hole" in regards to covering anything, good or bad, regarding Saudi Arabia. 

The key to breaking this self-imposed Western media blockade is for the alternative media to conduct the research and cover developments themselves. This includes reaching out to activists and reformers within Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the other GCC autocracies and giving the people the platform denied to them by the corporate-funded Western media.

Image: The Fortune 500 has an array of faux-human rights organizations from North Africa to the Middle East, from Eastern Europe to East Asia - perhaps it is time for people to begin organizing themselves into independent institutions that truly defend human rights and freedom, while implementing an agenda of the majority. A possible "International Observatory for Gulf State Despotism" would seek to break the Western media's blockade on information regarding the GCC, serving as a clearinghouse for information on abuses, repression, and meddling both at home and abroad.

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If you are from the GCC region, please contact LD at cartalucci@gmail.com with any information, issues, corrections or concerns. There may be a possible "International Observatory for Gulf State Despotism" created specifically to give voices to the people under the rule of the GCC. Please exercise good judgement and caution - as these are real despots and have put many people to death for questioning their undisputed rule or opposing the progress of their medieval machinations.