(3.März 2015) Russland und Ägypten haben am Dienstag einen Ausbau der militärtechnischen Beziehungen vereinbart. Nach Angaben eines Sprechers des russischen Verteidigungsministeriums sind unter anderem eine gemeinsame Marineübung im Mittelmeer und ein Anti-Terror-Manöver auf dem Festland geplant.

Last week, we wrote about the NY Times allowing White House officials to go on the record anonymously claiming that all hell will break loose if Congress didn‘t figure out a way to extend Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. Here were the ridiculously over-the-top statements from the White House, which the NY Times stenographer dutifully copied down without question or counterpoint:

(27.April 2015) Viele Geflüchtete, die in der Europäischen Union Zuflucht suchen, starten von den Küsten in Ägypten, Tunesien oder Libyen. Die Bundespolizei hat seit dem Arabischen Frühling in allen drei Ländern die Grenzpolizei mit Ausrüstung und Ausbildung unterstützt.

In Ägypten soll dies nun intensiviert werden, die Bundespolizei will hierzu unter anderem einen grenzpolizeilichen Verbindungsbeamten entsenden. Bekanntlich reagiert die Europäische Union auf das jüngste und mit Abstand größte Bootsunglück im zentralen Mittelmeer mit einem „Zehn Punkte Plan“, der unter anderem die Zerstörung von Booten noch vor deren Ablegen vorsieht. Schon letztes Jahr hatte die italienische EU-Präsidentschaft hierfür vorgeschlagen, in Nordafrika europäische Polizeizentren einzurichten. Es ist möglich, dass das Bundesinnenministerium die Anwesenheit der Bundespolizei in Ägypten und Tunesien nutzen wird um entsprechende Maßnahmen einzufädeln.

(7.November 2014)

(10.Dezember 2014) Webseiten des Chaos Computer Clubs (CCC) können in Ägypten nicht regulär aufgerufen werden. Dies berichtet der Blogger und Menschenrechtsaktivist Amr Gharbeia heute auf Twitter. Die Ursache ist demnach unklar, es scheint sich laut Gharbeia aber um eine DNS-Blockade zu handeln. Mit VPN-Diensten ist ccc.de erreichbar. Vergangene Woche war bekannt geworden, dass Webseiten des CCC in Großbritannien geblockt werden. Verantwortlich ist offensichtlich ein Filter, der zunächst gegen Pornografie aufgesetzt worden war, später aber auch gegen „Extremismus“ erweitert wurde.

Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel und der umstrittene ägyptische Präsident Abdel Fattah al-Sisi werden heute eine gemeinsame Pressekonferenz in Berlin geben. Deutschland wird voraussichtlich trotz autokratischem Führungsstil und systematischer Niederschlagung der Opposition durch den Ex-General die bilateralen Beziehungen zu Gunsten winkender Milliarden-Deals intensivieren. Der ägyptische Präsident befindet sich auf einem dreitägigen Arbeitsbesuch in Deutschland.

Eigentlich hätte al-Sisi erst nach den Wahlen in Ägypten kommen sollen. Die hat es nicht gegeben, aber nun ist er trotzdem in Berlin – begleitet von Protest. Als Verbündeter im Anti-Terror-Kampf ist er ein wichtiger Partner. Und die Wirtschaft hofft auf Milliardendeals.

(…)

Today June 2nd, the final verdict against the first democratically elected President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi along with dozens of other political prisoners has been adjourned to June 16th.

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the democratic party which won the 2012 Egyptian election is not surprised by this highly politicised decision.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is due to meet the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Bundesrepublik President Joachim Gauck tomorrow in Berlin who would have been forced to face difficult questions over trials’ outcome and the use of the death sentence against an elected President. It is not a coincidence either that the chosen date is June 16th – the day after el-Sisi will return from the African Union Summit in South Africa, thereby avoiding answering the international media.

Here set out in black and white in the Israeli media is a moral conundrum that western politicians, diplomats and international human rights organisations are resolutely failing to address – and one I have been highlighting since 2006.

It was then that Israel implemented for the first time its Dahiya doctrine – turning Lebanon back to the Stone Age. It launched an horrific assault that wrecked Lebanon’s infrastructure, killed 1,300 Lebanese – most of them, as ever in Israel’s wars, civilians – and made refugees of more than a million inhabitants of the country’s south. The exercise has been repeated in Gaza on a regular basis ever since.

The highly influential Council on Foreign Relations recently published a Special Report entitled, “Revising US Grand Strategy toward China”, (Council on Foreign Relations Press: NY 2015), co-authored by two of its Senior Fellows, Robert Blackwill and Ashley Tellis (‘B and T’), which proposes a re-orientation of US policy toward China. The Report a policy for buttressing ‘US primacy in Asia’ and countering what they describe as “the dangers that China’s geo-economic and military power pose to US national interests in Asia and globally”. The Report concludes by listing seven recommendations that Washington should follow to re-assert regional primacy.

The talk now is all about whether Syria and Iraq will end up as divided states. The impetus for such speculation derives firstly from the latest Saudi, Qatari and Turkish joint resolve to mount huge numbers of jihadists on Syria‘s borders. According to two senior political figures I spoke to, up to 10,000+ Wahhabist/Salafists (predominantly An-Nusra/Al Qaeda) have been gathered by the intelligence services of these latter states, mostly non-Arabs from Chechnya, Turkmenistan, etc. Plainly, Washington is aware of this (massively expensive) Saudi maneuver and equally plainly it is turning a blind eye to it.

CHRIS HAYES: Paul has never been particularly well liked in the GOP, but the antipathy has boiled over for two reasons. One is his claim he made on this network that GOP hawks are to blame for the rise of ISIS, and two, his partnering with progressives to try to roll back the PATRIOT Act… Paul seems to be relishing the fight, raising money off battles with his ‚spy state apologists.‘

If you agree that we need to defeat the Washington machine to unleash the American Dream, I’d be honored to have your endorsement. This campaign will be driven by people like you who are willing to stand up and show their support.

(1.Juni) Yesterday morning, prior to the Senate debate that has resulted in the (brief) expiration of a few provisions in the PATRIOT Act, CIA director John Brennan went on one of those Sunday morning talk shows and made a complete fool of himself, pretending that merely debating things like the 4th Amendment was helping the terrorists. It started off with a claim that various bad people are „watching carefully“ what happens, as if anyone honestly believes that terrorists are looking at last night‘s vote and thinking, „Oh boy, now we can plan a new bombing campaign by calling America again!“

Senator Rand Paul, der mit Verfahrenstricks die Unterbrechung der Speicherung der Daten von US-Bürgern bewirkte, tritt nicht nur gegen den Abschnitt 215 des Patriot Act ein, sondern auch gegen die Freedom-Act-Vorratsdatenspeicherung. Damit spricht der libertär beeinflusste republikanische Präsidentschaftsbewerber bürgerrechtsorientierte Amerikaner an, die bislang häufig demokratisch oder gar nicht wählten. Ob er sich damit bei den republikanischen Primaries und Caucuses im nächsten Jahr durchsetzen kann, ist offen.

On the 21st of May, the Colombian Air Force (FAC) bombed the base camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killing 26 guerrillas. Three days later the FAC bombed other FARC bases killing 14 more guerrillas, as part of an official offensive launched by President Juan Manuel Santos, the US’s most loyal client in Latin America. Among the victims were Farc Commanders Jairo Martinez, a participant in the peace negotiations in Havana , and Roman Ruiz.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee also introduced three additional amendments to the Defense Appropriations bill during the full committee mark-up.

One amendment would repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). In 2001, Congresswoman Lee was the lone vote in opposition to this war authorization. According to a 2013 Congressional Research Services (CRS) report, this AUMF has been publicly used more than 30 times to justify troop deployments and other actions including detentions at Guantanamo Bay and warrantless wiretaps.

“The 2001 AUMF is a blank check for endless war. It is an abdication of Congress’s constitutional responsibility to give the American people a voice on matters of war and peace,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Currently, any President can wage war in any place, at any time against nearly any enemy without Congressional oversight or debate. The American people deserve a voice in deciding whether or not our country goes to war.”

“Congress finds that 1) the United States has been engaged in military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for more than 8 months; 2) President Obama submitted an authorization for the use of military force against ISIL in February 2015; and 3) under article 1, section 8 of the Constitution, Congress has the authority to ‘declare war’,” the amendment states. “Therefore, Congress has a constitutional duty to debate and determine whether or not to authorize the use of military force against ISIL.”

Lawmakers seemed as surprised as anyone when the amendment from Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., passed 29-22, with a number of Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues.

Dear Chancellor Merkel,
We, the undersigned international human rights organizations, write to you in advance of your scheduled meeting with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt. The government headed by President al-Sisi presides over the gravest human rights crisis Egypt in decades.

„Die deutschen Behörden wissen über die schreckliche Menschenrechtslage in Ägypten gut Bescheid“, sagte Wenzel Michalski, Deutschland-Chef von Human Rights Watch. Fünf große Menschenrechtsorganisationen haben im Vorfeld einen Appell an Merkel veröffentlicht.

Residents said the war planes launched at least ten strikes north of Sanaa, causing massive explosions.

(2.Juni) Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was to attend a ministerial meeting of the anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition in Paris on Tuesday amid new battlefield gains by jihadists in Syria and Iraq.