Egypt – Page 7 – Infinite Unknown

Dick Cheney Calls Mubarak A Good Friend And US Ally – American Warships Heading to Egypt

February 7, 2011 by Infinite

Good to have righteous …

– Nigeria to Drop Dick Cheney Bribe Charges For $250 Million In Fines (Bribes) From Halliburton

– Nigeria: Halliburton Plans $500 Million Plea Bargain in Cheney Corruption Case!

– Nigeria to Charge Dick Cheney in $180 Million Bribery Case, Issue Interpol Arrest Warrant

… and loyal (only to money, power and control) friends:

– American Warships Heading to Egypt:

The Pentagon is moving U.S. warships and other military assets to make sure it is prepared in case evacuation of U.S. citizens from Egypt becomes necessary, officials said Friday.The Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship carrying 700 to 800 troops from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and the Ponce have arrived in the Red Sea, putting them off Egypt’s shores in case the situation worsens.

Pentagon officials emphasized that military intervention in Egypt was not being contemplated and that the warships were being moved only for contingency purposes in case evacuations became necessary.

In addition to the Marines, the Kearsarge normally carries around four dozen helicopters and harrier jets that would permit evacuations and other humanitarian operations, the officials said. More than 1,000 Marines from the Kearsarge were sent to Afghanistan last month on a temporary deployment, leaving roughly one-third still aboard, officials said.

The Kearsarge is an attack vessel.

As Wikipedia notes: In carrying out her mission, Kearsarge not only transports and lands ashore troops, but also tanks, trucks, artillery, and the complete logistic support needed to supply an assault.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a good friend and U.S. ally, and he urged the Obama administration to move cautiously as turmoil continued to shake that nation’s government.

Cheney’s comments came a day after President Barack Obama pressed Mubarak to consider his legacy and exit office in a way that would give his country the best chance for peace and democracy.

Cheney said the U.S. should take measured steps in public, and suggested that too much pressure could backfire.

“There is a reason why a lot of diplomacy is conducted in secret. There are good reasons for there to be confidentiality in some of those communications. And I think President Mubarak needs to be treated as he deserved over the years, because he has been a good friend,” Cheney said at an event commemorating the centennial of President Ronald Reagan’s birth.

Egypt Gas Pipeline Attacked, Cutting off Supplies to Jordan and Israel

February 7, 2011 by Infinite

Feb. 5 (Wall Street Journal) — An Egyptian gas pipeline in the Sinai peninsula was attacked Saturday, cutting off supplies to Jordan and Israel.

The pipeline was attacked by “subversive elements,” Egyptian state TV reported. There were no further details on those responsible, but the attack was the latest sign of deteriorating security in the key buffer between the Egyptian mainland and Israel.

A gas pipeline blows up in North Sinai in a suspected attack affecting supplies to both Israel and Jordan.

Conditions on the Sinai have been unsettled by the power vacuum created by nearly two weeks of massive demonstrations against the rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

In a sign of the rising tensions, Bedouin in the northern Sinai on Friday used rocket-propelled grenades to attack the headquarters of Egypt’s state security in El Arish, a town close to Egypt’s border crossing into Gaza, according to witnesses. The pipeline attack occurred in the same general area.

Mubarak Family Fortune Could Reach $70 Billion According to Analysis by Middle East Experts

February 6, 2011 by Infinite

Egyptian president has cash in British and Swiss banks plus UK and US property

Gamal and Hosni Mubarak are reported to have built up huge fortunes, including properties in London. Photograph: Cris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images

President Hosni Mubarak’s family fortune could be as much as $70bn (£43.5bn) according to analysis by Middle East experts, with much of his wealth in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.

After 30 years as president and many more as a senior military official, Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in upmarket homes and hotels.

According to a report last year in the Arabic newspaper Al Khabar, Mubarak has properties in Manhattan and exclusive Beverly Hills addresses on Rodeo Drive.

His sons, Gamal and Alaa, are also billionaires. A protest outside Gamal’s ostentatious home at 28 Wilton Place in Belgravia, central London, highlighted the family’s appetite for western trophy assets.

Amaney Jamal, a political science professor at Princeton University, said the estimate of $40bn-70bn was comparable with the vast wealth of leaders in other Gulf countries.

“The business ventures from his military and government service accumulated to his personal wealth,” she told ABC news. “There was a lot of corruption in this regime and stifling of public resources for personal gain.

“This is the pattern of other Middle Eastern dictators so their wealth will not be taken during a transition. These leaders plan on this.”

Author Nomi Prins: The Corporate Mugging of America

February 5, 2011 by Infinite

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Added: 3. February 2011

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Added: 3. February 2011

Looters Included Undercover Egyptian Police, Hospitals Tell Human Rights Watch

February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 by Infinite

The Egyptian government blocks Twitter after thousands of protesters took to the streets of Cairo to demand an end to the 30-year-rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

CAIRO – Human Rights Watch confirmed several cases of undercover police loyal to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime committing acts of violence and looting in an attempt to stoke fear of instability as demonstrations grew stronger Tuesday against the autocratic leader.

Peter Bouckaert, the emergency director at Human Rights Watch, said hospitals confirmed that they received several wounded looters shot by the army carrying police identification cards. They also found several cases of looters and vandals in Cairo and Alexandria with police identification cards. He added that it was “unexplainable” that thousands of prisoners escaped from prisons over the weekend.

Egypt Crisis: 3 Dead, 639 Injured in Cairo As Anti-Gov Demonstrators and Gov Supporters Clash

February 2, 2011 by Infinite

Vehicles burn in front of Cairo’s Egyptian Museum early Thursday as people protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak face off against pro-Mubarak crowds.

– Egypt crisis: 3 dead, 639 injured in Cairo, government officials say (CNN):

Read full coverage of the unrest in Egypt updated continually by CNN reporters worldwide. Send your photos and video to iReport and see CNN in Arabic here. See also this strong roundup of timely, insightful views on the wave of upheaval in the Arab world.

– Violence in Egypt as foes, supporters of Hosni Mubarak clash (Los Angeles Times):

Fighting erupts in Tahrir Square as anti-government demonstrators and supporters of President Hosni Mubarak throw rocks and brandish clubs. The clashes follow a call by the Egyptian military for protesters to go home.

Reporting from Cairo — Thousands of supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak besieged anti-government forces ensconced in Tahrir Square on Wednesday, leading to violent clashes and some injuries.

Pro-Mubarak forces tried to push their way into the square through numerous side streets and were met with, in some cases, cordons of peaceful protesters and, in others, by those throwing large chunks of stone or concrete.

– Turkey tells Mubarak to listen to the people (Reuters):

ANKARA (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should heed his people’s desire for change, Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erodogan said on Tuesday, piling pressure on Mubarak to end his 30-year rule in the face of mass protests.

– Israel shocked by Obama’s “betrayal” of Mubarak (Reuters):

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – If Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is toppled, Israel will lose one of its very few friends in a hostile neighborhood and President Barack Obama will bear a large share of the blame, Israeli pundits said on Monday.

Digital Darkness: US And UK Companies Help Egyptian Regime To Shut Down Telecommunications and Identify Dissident Voices

February 2, 2011 by Infinite

February 01, 2011

Doing the regime’s bidding, British-based Vodafone shut down Egypt’s phone and internet service. The American company called Narus — owned by Boeing — sold Egypt the surveillance technology that helped identify dissident voices. We are joined by Tim Karr of Free Press and CUNY Professor C.W. Anderson. Karr outlines how communications was shut down in Egypt and discusses the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, a proposed Senate bill that could lay the foundation for blocking communications in the United States in the case of a “national threat.” Anderson traces the activist roots of Twitter to U.S. protests at the 2004 Republican and Democratic conventions.

Rush transcript:

AMY GOODMAN: Social media and online networks played a key role in the early organizing of the Egyptian uprising. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak underlined their power last week when he tried to shut down the internet and cut off most cell phone communication. U.S. officials led the push for Egypt to restore online access, but it was an American company called Narus, which is owned by Boeing, that has aided Egypt’s harsh response by selling them the technology that made this repression possible.

To talk more about this, we’re joined by Tim Karr, campaign director with Free Press, and C.W. Anderson, an assistant professor of communications at City University of New York. C.W. Anderson has been looking at the role of Twitter in the rebellions in Egypt and elsewhere, by those who were able to access the service.

So, Tim, let’s begin with the issue of Vodafone and Narus. Explain how, in one fell swoop, the country could be plunged into digital darkness.

TIM KARR: Well, it’s interesting. What we’re seeing is the same technology that has enabled freedom movements around the world is also being used to target and track down political dissidents. In the case of Egypt, we have a company called Narus, as you mentioned—it’s now owned by Boeing—that sells what’s called Deep Packet Inspection. It allows the Egyptian telecommunications companies, many of which are run by the state, to open up online communications, to look at texting via cell phones, and to identify the sort of dissident voices that are out there. And it goes beyond that. It also gives them the technology to geographically locate them and track them down. We had a similar problem happen in 2009 in Iran, when you had Nokia Siemens, which was a Finnish-German joint venture, selling technology to the Iranian Telecom Authority, which was also owned by the Revolutionary Guard there, to be used to track down and imprison cyber-dissidents there. And Egypt has a very sophisticated internet infrastructure, which, again, is a double-edged sword, because it’s made it very easy for the government to shut it off, while at the same time allowed for this sort of outpouring of dissidence. And the Reporters Without Borders has taken a deep look at internet abuses in Egypt and ranks it as one of the largest internet enemies.

AMY GOODMAN: So, explain the difference between Narus and Vodafone. What roles do each play?

TIM KARR: Well, Narus provides a technology that sits on routers throughout the Egyptian network, that filters and spies on communications. It’s a surveillance technology. Narus was started by Israeli security experts. And they specialize in selling this. They sell it to other governments. Vodafone is a mobile phone technology system. The Vodafone Egypt is another joint venture there that also has a large Egypt control, which allows them to pull the switch on cell phone communications.

Odd Timing: Senior Egyptian Military Leaders at the Pentagon – Egypt Protests: America Planned ‘Regime Change’ For The Past 3 Years – Secret US Document Discloses Support For Protesters

January 30, 2011January 30, 2011 by Infinite

– Egyptian military delegation at Pentagon for annual meeting (Politico):

Awkward timing — or a potentially restraining influence on the behavior of Egyptian security forces?

Asked about anti-government protests sweeping Egypt, and recent unrest leading to government change in Tunisia and Lebanon, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told journalists Wednesday that senior Egyptian military leaders are currently in town for annual bilateral meetings with their Pentagon counterparts.

“We actually this week are hosting senior Egyptian military leaders at the Pentagon for our annual bilateral defense talks, referred to at the Military Cooperation Committee, which is chaired jointly by Assistant Secretary of Defense Sandy Vershbow and Lieutenant General Sami Anan, the chief of staff of the Egyptian armed forces,” Morrell told journalists Wednesday.

“So that’s just an example of how engaged we are with the Egyptians, even as these developments have taken place on the streets in Cairo and elsewhere, which I think State and the White House have spoken to in terms of our concerns about how they proceed in terms of non-violence and how they are reacted to by the government and so forth,” Morrell continued.

– Egypt protests: America’s secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising (Telegraph):

The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.

On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.

The secret document in full

He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph.

The crisis in Egypt follows the toppling of Tunisian president Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, who fled the country after widespread protests forced him from office.

– Egypt protests: secret US document discloses support for protesters (Telegraph):

Here is the secret document sent from the US Embassy in Cairo to Washington disclosing the extent of American support for the protesters behind the Egypt uprising.

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 002572 SIPDIS FOR NEA/ELA, R, S/P

AND H NSC FOR PASCUAL AND KUTCHA-HELBLING E.O. 12958: DECL:

12/30/2028 TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, EG SUBJECT: APRIL 6 ACTIVIST ON HIS

U.S. VISIT AND REGIME CHANGE IN EGYPT REF: A. CAIRO 2462 B.

CAIRO 2454 C. CAIRO 2431 Classified By: ECPO A/Mincouns

Catherine Hill-Herndon for reason 1.4 (d ). 1. (C) Summary and

comment: On December 23, April 6 activist xxxxxxxxxxxx expressed

satisfaction with his participation in the December 3-5 \”Alliance of

Youth Movements Summit,\” and with his subsequent meetings with USG

officials, on Capitol Hill, and with think tanks. He described how

State Security (SSIS) detained him at the Cairo airport upon his

return and confiscated his notes for his summit presentation calling

for democratic change in Egypt, and his schedule for his Congressional

meetings. xxxxxxxxxxxx contended that the GOE will never undertake

significant reform, and therefore, Egyptians need to replace the

current regime with a parliamentary democracy. He alleged that

Read moreOdd Timing: Senior Egyptian Military Leaders at the Pentagon – Egypt Protests: America Planned ‘Regime Change’ For The Past 3 Years – Secret US Document Discloses Support For Protesters

Is This The Start of The Global Revolution?

January 28, 2011 by Infinite

– Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution? (Global Research)

Egypt:

– Internet, phones cut off as Egypt braces for protests (Telegraph)

– How Egypt shut down the internet (Telegraph)

– Egypt Shuts Down Internet, Blackberry, Text Messages; Mubarak Rival Returns to Egypt; Protests Rattle Yemen; Only Certainty is Uncertainty (Global Economic Analysis)

– Egypt protests: ElBaradei held as thousands pour on to streets in biggest protests yet (Telegraph)

– Egyptian government on last legs, says ElBaradei (Guardian)

– Unspoken Concern Over Egyptian Uprising: Control Of Suez Canal And Price Of Gas (Mediaite)

Jordan:

– Arab world ‘s unrest puts pressure on Jordan king (Independent)

– Thousands in Jordan protest, demand PM step down (Jerusalem Post)

Yemen:

– Winds of Arab revolt reach Yemen (Independent)

– Massive protests erupt in Yemen to demand ouster of president (Xinhua)

Mossad Agent ‘Brought Down Egypt’s Internet’

February 16, 2011December 29, 2010 by Infinite

An Egyptian national accused of spying for Mossad has allegedly told his interrogators that Israeli sabotage brought down the country’s internet network two years ago.

Mossad is Israel’s foreign intelligence agency

The purported confessions of Tareq Abdul Razzaq Hassan, a businessman, represent the latest evidence of growing public tensions between Israel and Egypt.

Severe disruptions to Egypt’s internet service in December 2008 were blamed at the time on damage to underwater data cables caused by a ship’s anchor.

But Hassan told police that the incident was, in fact, the work of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, according to interrogation records leaked to an independent Egyptian newspaper.

It is not the first time that Israel has been linked to politically motivated cyber attacks, with a number of experts suggesting that Mossad was the most likely culprit behind Stuxnet, a powerful computer worm that caused serious damage to Iran’s nuclear programme.

Israel: Work Begins on Egypt Barrier

November 27, 2010November 27, 2010 by Infinite

Israeli bulldozers began laying the groundwork yesterday for construction of a barrier to seal off part of the Jewish state’s border with Egypt, the Defence Ministry said.

Israel says it wants to stop illegal migrants from Africa entering via Egypt’s Sinai desert, and to block the smuggling of drugs and weapons.

The desolate Sinai is used as a transit route by African migrants, usually guided for a price by local Bedouin.

Egyptian border troops have shot dead at least 28 migrants this year.

EGYPT: Hepatitis C infection – already the highest incidence rate in the world – reaches alarming figures

November 15, 2010November 15, 2010 by Infinite

Egypt’s spiralling threat of hepatitis C virus – already the highest incidence rate in the world — is alarming researchers who fear a potential epidemic of the blood-borne disease could spread across the most populous Arab country.

The findings of a recent study published in the National Academy of Sciences showed that more than 500,000 new HCV infection cases occur in Egypt every year. Much of the problem behind the soaring infectious rates is poor healthcare oversight and erratic medical hygiene.

“Nearly seven out of every 1,000 Egyptians acquire HCV infections every year. This is the highest level of HCV transmission ever recorded at a national level for a disease transmitted by use of non-sterile medical instruments,” says Dr. F. DeWolfe Miller, lead author of the study.

Judge Napolitano on Freedom Watch With Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, Justin Raimondo And Gerald Celente

August 12, 2010 by Infinite

Listen to Gerald Celente America!
Rome is burning:

– John Williams: ‘Times That Try Our Souls’ (U.S. Bankruptcy – Hyperinflation – Great Depression), Preparedness Can Save Your Life

So what have the elitists planned for the US? Total collapse and/or WW III?

– Former CIA And Military Officials To Obama: Israel Prepares To Attack Iran This Month

Part 1 of 3:

Added: 11. August 2010

Part 2 of 3:

Added: 11. August 2010

Part 3 of 3:

Added: 11. August 2010

Preparing for World War III, Targeting Iran (Part I: Global Warfare)

June 21, 2017August 2, 2010 by Infinite

Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. War preparations to attack Iran are in “an advanced state of readiness”. Hi tech weapons systems including nuclear warheads are fully deployed.

This military adventure has been on the Pentagon’s drawing board since the mid-1990s. First Iraq, then Iran according to a declassified 1995 US Central Command document.

Escalation is part of the military agenda. While Iran, is the next target together with Syria and Lebanon, this strategic military deployment also threatens North Korea, China and Russia.

Since 2005, the US and its allies, including America’s NATO partners and Israel, have been involved in the extensive deployment and stockpiling of advanced weapons systems. The air defense systems of the US, NATO member countries and Israel are fully integrated.

This is a coordinated endeavor of the Pentagon, NATO, Israel’s Defense Force (IDF), with the active military involvement of several non-NATO partner countries including the frontline Arab states (members of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative), Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, among others. (NATO consists of 28 NATO member states Another 21 countries are members of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), The Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative include ten Arab countries plus Israel.)

The roles of Egypt, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia (within the extended military alliance) is of particular relevance. Egypt controls the transit of war ships and oil tankers through the Suez Canal. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States occupy the South Western coastlines of the Persian Gulf, the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. In early June, “Egypt reportedly allowed one Israeli and eleven U.S. ships to pass through the Suez Canal in ….an apparent signal to Iran. … On June 12, regional press outlets reported that the Saudis had granted Israel the right to fly over its airspace…” (Muriel Mirak Weissbach, Israel’s Insane War on Iran Must Be Prevented., Global Research, July 31, 2010)

Report: US and Israeli warships cross Suez Canal toward Red Sea

June 20, 2010 by Infinite

– US shipping hundreds of powerful bunker buster bombs for coming attack on Iran

Egypt opposition angered at government for allowing the fleet of more than 12 ships to cross Egyptian manned waterway, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports.

(Haaretz) — More than twelve United States Naval warships and at least one Israeli ship crossed the Suez Canal towards the Red Sea on Friday, British Arabic Language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Saturday.

According to the report, thousands of Egyptian soldiers were deployed along the Suez Canal guarding the ships’ passage, which included a U.S. aircraft carrier.

The Suez Canal is a strategic Egyptian waterway which connects between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

According to eyewitnesses, the U.S. battleships were the largest to have crossed the Canal in many years, Al-Quds reported.

Israel rejects international probe, says it would be biased against the Jewish state; Egypt calls Gaza blockade a failure, border stays open

June 8, 2010 by Infinite

Israel has rejected calls for an international probe, saying it would be biased against the Jewish state.

This crime happened in international waters and therefor there should be an international probe.

An international probe would be biased against the Jewish state?

Sounds like we are all getting the anti-semite label now.

Just who do those Israeli fascists think they are?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks during a Likud faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, June 7, 2010. Netanyahu has rejected a proposal by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon for an international commission to investigate Israel’s killing of nine activists during a raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian supplies and hundreds of activists protesting the closure of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory, but officials said Netanyahu was open to a probe that would look into the actions of the activists as well. (AP)

– Israel military investigating deadly flotilla raid (AP):

JERUSALEM – Israel’s military has appointed an internal team of experts to examine last week’s deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

The military said on Tuesday the team will review various internal investigations already going on. It says results are expected by July 4.

The military probe is in addition to a planned government review of the political decision-making ahead of the raid, which killed nine pro-Palestinian activists on the flotilla and triggered a storm of international criticism of Israel.

Israel has rejected calls for an international probe, saying it would be biased against the Jewish state.

Activists claimed Israeli commandos needlessly opened fire. Israel says its soldiers began shooting only after a mob of activists attacked them.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — After three years of cooperating in the Israeli blockade of Gaza, Egypt said Monday that it will leave its border with the Palestinian territory open indefinitely for humanitarian aid and restricted travel.

With international pressure building to ease the blockade, an Egyptian security official said sealing off Hamas-ruled Gaza has only bred more militancy.

The decision to ease the restrictions erected by Israel to isolate and punish Hamas comes a week after a deadly Israeli raid on a flotilla of activists trying to break the blockade.

The move restores a link to the outside world for at least some of Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians. It also appeared calculated to defuse anger in the Arab and Muslim world over Egypt’s role in maintaining the blockade and to show that Egypt, too, is now pressing Israel to open at least its land crossings with Gaza.

“Egypt is the one that broke the blockade,” Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said. “We are not going to let the occupying power escape from its responsibilities.”

Egypt deports British MP George Galloway from country

January 8, 2010 by Infinite

– Egypt bars George Galloway from country (Reuters):

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian security escorted MP George Galloway to take a flight out of the country on Friday and he was barred from returning after violent protests over an aid convoy he led into Gaza, MENA news agency said.

The Foreign Ministry declared the left-wing politician an “unwelcome individual,” the agency said.

– Three Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza (BBC News):

Three people, including a 14-year-old-boy, have been killed in Israeli air strikes overnight in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics say.

The Israeli military said it was responding to mortar and rocket attacks on Thursday on Israel from Gaza.

Mr Galloway had been in Gaza with an aid convoy

British MP George Galloway has been deported from Egypt, say activists working with him to take an aid convoy into Gaza.

The Bow and Bethnal Green MP had been with international activists trying to take 200 aid trucks into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Egypt had refused some of the vehicles access and there have been protests and clashes on the Egypt-Gaza border.

The state news agency says Mr Galloway has left Egypt and returned home.

There have also been reports the Respect MP has been declared “persona non grata” and will not be allowed to enter Egypt again, following his criticism of Cairo over delays to the aid convoy.

Convoy tension

The BBC’s Cairo correspondent Yolande Knell said Mr Galloway had returned from Gaza, where the convoy arrived two days ago, and had been planning to head back to London.

But when he and his assistant returned to Egypt they learnt that seven other members of the convoy still in Gaza were due to be arrested on their return to Egypt.

Mr Galloway wanted to go back to accompany them out but it is understood the Egyptians would not allow him to return, bundled both men into a van and escorted them to the airport.

There has been much tension around the aid convoy after Egypt made it take a big detour, delaying its arrival. There were clashes with Egyptian police at a port close to the Rafah crossing, our correspondent said.

Barack Obama at AIPAC (Flashback)

July 4, 2009 by Infinite

On June 4, 2008, Barack Obama spoke to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, DC.

George Galloway convoy stoned by irate Egyptians

March 9, 2009 by Infinite

A British aid convoy led by George Galloway, the east London MP, that was carrying relief supplies for Gaza, was pelted with stones and vandalised in the Egyptian town El-Arish late on Sunday, an organiser said.

George Galloway: A security official said that during a power cut, which is a frequent occurrence in the town, children had pelted the convoy with stones Photo: PA

The convoy, which set out from London last month carrying relief supplies valued at £1 million ($1.4 million), was in El-Arish, a border staging post about 28 miles from the Rafah passage to Gaza.

“It’s an absolute disgrace,” said the organiser of the aid shipment, Yvonne Ridley. “The power was cut. During cover of darkness members of our convoy were attacked with stones.

“Vandals also wrote dirty words and anti-Hamas slogans,” she said. “Several people in the convoy were injured in the attack.”

A security official said that during a power cut, which is a frequent occurrence in the town, children had pelted the convoy with stones.

Oil Slump Forces Rich Arab Countries to Run Deficits

January 14, 2009 by Infinite

What Lindsey Williams said is coming to pass:
The elite is bankrupting the Arabs and driving them back into the desert by keeping the price of oil below $50/barrel. (Here)

Related article: Once Booming Dubai Goes Bust

Oil is taken for sampling by staff at the Esso oil refinery in Slagentangen, Norway, on May 15, 2008. Photographer: Heidi Wideroe/Bloomberg News

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) — Tumbling oil prices are forcing many of the richest Persian Gulf states to record budget deficits and limit a critical source of foreign investment for poorer Arab countries.

Central bank governors and finance ministers from the 22- member Arab League gathered in Kuwait City today for a week of meetings on the global financial crisis and Gulf efforts to create a single currency. The conference opened with a minute of silence for the more than 900 Palestinians killed in a 2 1/2-week Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Crude is now selling at below the budget break-even point for seven of the Arab world’s 10 top oil producers and Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter, is forecasting its first deficit in at least seven years. Poorer Arab states are facing a fall in foreign investment with Egypt expecting inflows to almost halve this year, according to EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, the largest Arab investment bank by market value.

“We have to find ways to limit the impact which could hurt the Arab economy and make sure economic growth in Arab countries continues at appropriate levels,” Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa Jassim al-Shimali said, referring to the global crisis. “We are not immune to its negative effects.”

Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply

November 22, 2008 by Infinite

States and companies target developing nations
Small farmers at risk from industrial-scale deals

Rich governments and corporations are triggering alarm for the poor as they buy up the rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in developing countries in an effort to secure their own long-term food supplies.

The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jacques Diouf, has warned that the controversial rise in land deals could create a form of “neo-colonialism”, with poor states producing food for the rich at the expense of their own hungry people.

Rising food prices have already set off a second “scramble for Africa”. This week, the South Korean firm Daewoo Logistics announced plans to buy a 99-year lease on a million hectares in Madagascar. Its aim is to grow 5m tonnes of corn a year by 2023, and produce palm oil from a further lease of 120,000 hectares (296,000 acres), relying on a largely South African workforce. Production would be mainly earmarked for South Korea, which wants to lessen dependence on imports.

“These deals can be purely commercial ventures on one level, but sitting behind it is often a food security imperative backed by a government,” said Carl Atkin, a consultant at Bidwells Agribusiness, a Cambridge firm helping to arrange some of the big international land deals.

Codex Alimentarius: Population Control Under the Guise of Consumer Protection

February 11, 2009September 10, 2008 by Infinite

This article is a must read.

Related video:
Nutricide – Criminalizing Natural Health, Vitamins, and Herbs (Dr. Rima Laibow, M.D.)

__________________________________________________________________________

By: Dr. Gregory Damato, Ph.D.

(NaturalNews) Codeath (sorry, I meant Codex) Alimentarius, latin for Food Code, is a very misunderstood organization that most people (including nearly all U.S. congressmen) have never heard of, never mind understand the true reality of this extremely powerful trade organization. From the official Codex website (www.codexalimentarius.net) the altruistic purpose of this commission is in “protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations”. Codex is a joint venture regulated by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO).

A Declaration of U.S. Independence from Israel

June 30, 2008 by Infinite

This is a talk given at the Nassau Club in Princeton by Chris Hedges, former New York Times Middle East bureau chief:

Israel, without the United States, would probably not exist. The country came perilously close to extinction during the October 1973 war when Egypt, trained and backed by the Soviet Union, crossed the Suez Canal and the Syrians poured in over the Golan Heights. Huge American military transport planes came to the rescue.

They began landing every half-hour to refit the battered Israeli army, which had lost most of its heavy armor. By the time the war as over, the United States had given Israel $2.2 billion in emergency military aid. The intervention, which enraged the Arab world, triggered the OPEC oil embargo that for a time wreaked havoc on Western economies. This was perhaps the most dramatic example of the sustained life-support system the United States has provided to the Jewish state.

Israel was born at midnight May 14, 1948. The U.S. Recognized the new state 11 minutes later. The two countries have been locked in a deadly embrace ever since.Washington, at the beginning of the relationship, was able to be a moderating influence. An incensed President Eisenhower demanded and got Israel’s withdrawal after the Israelis occupied Gaza in 1956.

During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israeli warplanes bombed the USS Liberty. The ship, flying the U.S. Flag and stationed 15 miles off the Israeli coast, was intercepting tactical and strategic communications from both sides. The Israeli strikes killed 34 U.S. Sailors and wounded 171.

The deliberate attack froze, for a while, Washington’s enthusiasm for Israel. But ruptures like this one proved to be only bumps, soon smoothed out by an increasingly sophisticated and well-financed Israel lobby that set out to merge Israel and American foreign policy in the Middle East.

Israel has reaped tremendous rewards from this alliance. It has been given more than $140 billion in U.S. Direct economic and military assistance. It receives about $3 billion in direct assistance annually, roughly one-fifth of the U.S. Foreign aid budget. Although most American foreign aid packages stipulate that related military purchases have to be made in the United States, Israel is allowed to use about 25 percent of the money to subsidize its own growing and profitable defense industry. It is exempt, unlike other nations, from accounting for how it spends the aid money.

US Congress approves Israel aid increase

June 28, 2008 by Infinite

(The economy is falling apart, the former middle class is living in their cars, the U.S. are broke but….

The US Congress has approved a 170 million dollar increase in security assistance to Israel as part of its new 10-year, 30 billion dollar defense aid commitment to the Jewish state.

The money for Israel was part of a larger supplemental spending bill that included 162 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The legislation gained final approval in a 92-6 Senate vote late Thursday.

America’s pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, welcomed the congressional action, saying it would increase US aid to Israel to 2.55 billion dollars in fiscal year 2009, up from 2.38 billion dollars this year.

“The US commitment to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge is the cornerstone of American policy in the region,” AIPAC said in a statement Friday.

…and this is how Israel will spend the money:

– Israel flexes muscles with Iran attack drill

– Israel launches ‘Iran Command’ for war

– A human rights crime in Gaza By Jimmy Carter

– Israeli siege leads to soaring anemia in Gaza newborns

– Israel Causes UN Food Aid Relief For Gaza to Halt

– U.N. chief condemns Israel after Gaza clash

…What should be done? Michael Scheuer, Former Head of the CIA Bin Laden Unit:

– ISRAEL is NOT WORTH A SINGLE AMERICAN LIFE OR DOLLAR

– The Infinite Unknown)

“This year’s package holds heightened significance for US security interests, as the US and Israel face new challenges from Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons as well as the growing influence of radical anti-western forces to Israel’s south in Gaza and to the north in Lebanon.”

The package was unveiled by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on July 30 as part of a new military pact with US allies in the Middle East in a bid to “counter the negative influences” of militant groups Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah as well as arch enemies Iran and Syria.

The aid includes a 20 billion dollar weapons package for Saudi Arabia, a 13 billion dollar package for Egypt, and reportedly arms deals worth at least 20 billion dollars for other Gulf states.

The military aid to Israel reflected an increase in value of more than 25 percent, Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said, describing the package as a considerable improvement and very important element for national security.

Water crisis to be biggest world risk

June 6, 2008 by Infinite

A catastrophic water shortage could prove an even bigger threat to mankind this century than soaring food prices and the relentless exhaustion of energy reserves, according to a panel of global experts at the Goldman Sachs “Top Five Risks” conference.

The melting of Himalayan glaciers threatens the water supply to the world’s rivers

Nicholas (Lord) Stern, author of the Government’s Stern Review on the economics of climate change, warned that underground aquifers could run dry at the same time as melting glaciers play havoc with fresh supplies of usable water.

“The glaciers on the Himalayas are retreating, and they are the sponge that holds the water back in the rainy season. We’re facing the risk of extreme run-off, with water running straight into the Bay of Bengal and taking a lot of topsoil with it,” he said.

“A few hundred square miles of the Himalayas are the source for all the major rivers of Asia – the Ganges, the Yellow River, the Yangtze – where 3bn people live. That’s almost half the world’s population,” he said.

Lord Stern, the World Bank’s former chief economist, said governments had been slow to accept the awful truth that usable water is running out. Fresh rainfall is not enough to refill the underground water tables.

“Water is not a renewable resource. People have been mining it without restraint because it has not been priced properly,” he said.

Water sector outperformance relative to the S&P 500

Farming makes up 70pc of global water demand. Fresh water for irrigation is never returned to underground basins. Most is lost through leaks and evaporation.

A Goldman Sachs report said water was the “petroleum for the next century”, offering huge rewards for investors who know how to play the infrastructure boom. The US alone needs up to $1,000bn (£500bn) in new piping and waste water plants by 2020.