Vol 12, No.03 March 2012

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.OBAMA UNVEILS WAR STRATEGY FOCUSED ON CHINA

BY BILLVAN AUKEN.................................................................P 2

.LEAKED UN REPORT REVEALS TORTURE, LYNCHINGS

AND ABUSE IN POST- GADDAFI LIBYA

BY KIM SENGUPTA....................................................................P 4

.THE ALLURE OF AFGHANISTAN

BY PEPE ESCOBAR....................................................................P 6

.REGIME CHANGE IN MALAYSIA

BY CHANDRA MUZAFFAR.......................................................P 7

.SHOCKING NEWS OF HUMAN SACRIFICE

BY NARABAIL VIRODI VEDIKE.............................................P 9

ARTICLES

EXPOSING THE ISRAELI-MOSSADFALSE FLAG TERROR ATTACKS INNEW DELHI, TBILISI & BANGKOK

By Feroze Mithiborwara

“It would be far more preferable ifthe USA could cite an Iranianprovocation as justification for theairstrikes before launching them.Clearly the more outrageous, themore deadly & the more unprovokedthe Iranian action, the better off theUSA will be. Of course, it would bevery difficult for the US to goad Iraninto such a provocation, without therest of the world recognizing thegame, which would then undermineit. One method that would have somepossibility of success would be toratchet up covert regime changeefforts in the hope that Tehran wouldretaliate overtly, or even-semi-overtly, which would then beportrayed as an act of unprovokedIranian aggression.”

(US Foreign Policy makers, BrookingsInstitution’s 2009 report, pages 84-85)

“Attack on Iran imminent thissummer”

(General Nikolai Makarov, RussianGeneral Staff)

The terror attacks in New Delhi & inTbilisi (Georgia), Baku (Azerbaijan) &Bangkok (Thailand) are another roundof false-flag terror (http://mailstar.net/ostrovsky.html) being waged by theIsraeli Mossad to achieve its strategicobjectives by targeting Iran & theHezbollah, which is a resistancemovement. The timing of the false-flagterror attack is very interesting. Itcomes at the precise moment whenIndia has refused to enforce the US-Israeli-EU sanctions against Iran &when Indo-Iran ties are witnessing anew strategic rethink in Delhi, wherePranab Mukherjee in a visit to the US,refused to abide by the sanctions. Also

both India & Iran have agreed on aRupee Trade & barter system, thusavoiding the use of the USD regime.

Also the Tbilisi, Georgia bombingsthough not of a serious nature, aremaking international headlines, withIran & Hezbollah being mentioned byPM Netanyahu. Georgia & Azerbaijanare both US-Israeli satellite states, with

.THE WASHINGTON- “MODERATE ISLAM” ALLIANCE:CONTAINING REBELLION; DEFENDING EMPIRE (PART I)BY JAMES PETRAS ...............................................................P 10

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continued from page 1a strong presence of CIA-Mossadoperatives & security advisers in boththe nations.

The riddle of Bangkok, where Iranianshave been injured in the blasts, needsto be understood and it is a very simplematter to comprehend. TheMujahedeen Khalq (MKO/MEK), is aterrorist organization comprisingdisgruntled Iranians who are nowworking for the CIA and Mossad. TheMKO-MEK, is openly supported by theUS-Israel as their strategic allies andthey are the ones who are responsiblefor the assassinations of the Iraniannuclear scientists and terror attackswithin Iran.

Time & again the Chabad Lubavitchmembers and houses are involved withacts of terror and drug smugglingoperations. Chabad Houses, under theguise of religious centres are also densof espionage and used by Mossadoperatives the world over. Thus theChabad Lubavitch centres across thecountry need to be probed by thegovernment agencies, as they certainlypose a grave security threat.

There has been increased activity ofIsraeli “tourists”, where a number ofthem have been caught red-handedwith revolvers, live ammunition &satellite phones in the last 5 years. Dueto the direct intervention of the Israeliembassy, they are let off by the policewithin 24 hours, despite the fact thatthey are foreigners and supposedly“tourists”. Recently an Israeli coupleShenor Zalman and Yaffa Shenoi were

ordered to be deported from Kochi(Kerala), after being under surveillanceby the RAW and the police authoritiesand were suspected of being involvedin drug smuggling and espionage asKochi is a sensitive Indian naval base.They are still to be deported pending acourt order. This false-flag attack hasonce again opened the doors for moreMossad agents to come into India,under the pretext of securityconsiderations & joint investigations.

In the Indian context, the Hindutva-RSS are once again under pressure asthe NIA-ATS have arrested another oftheir activists, Kamal Chauhan fromIndore in connection with theSamjhauta train terror attack,previously blamed on Pakistan. Thesearrests also come at a time when thecrucial UP and 4 other state electionsare on and in any case the BJP is underpressure due to many other issues ofcorruption & morality where it standsutterly exposed. Thus this terror attacksurely helps to change the nationalheadlines and priorities.

The terror attack has again beencarried out in a high-security area,barely a few hundred meters away forthe residence of the PM himself andthus this is not possible without thecollusion & support of certain sectionsof the IB-RAW that are aligned to theMossad & CIA. Also has the visit ofSM Krishna (being probed for a multi-crore iron ore scam) to Israel got somerelation with this false-flag attack?Clearly there is a struggle within theIndian government & bureaucracy interms of our alignment with the

Imperial-Zionist powers and the otherthat represents the Non-AlignedMovement & Third World Solidarity.

But the more crucial point is that,Israel-Mossad will use the strategy offalse-flag terror to further demonize,isolate & escalate the war-mongeringagainst Iran & the Hezbollah & finallyagainst the Fatah, Hamas, PLO & therest of the Palestinian nationalresistance as they continue to unite &forge a common front and strategyagainst the Israeli occupation, based oncollective popular mass resistance.

Israel and its Zionist allies arefabricating false-flag terror attacks,finally leading to another massive 9/11style false flag on US & possiblyEuropean soil, after which we willwitness an Israeli attack on Iran, withthe backing of the Western powers,who will immediately step in.

Thus it is necessary to expose theIsraeli-Mossad-CIA role in the 9/11terror attacks, as that started a newwave of Zionist-imperial intervention,wars and an ongoing genocidalholocaust of the Third World nations.

A war is on the horizon . . .we areheading towards WWIII & now Indiais being prepared to fight that war onthe side of the Imperial-Zionist powers.

16 February, 2012

Feroze Mithiborwala is a peace activist inMumbai. He led the Asia to Gaza peaceflotilla.Source: Countercurrents.org

OBAMA UNVEILS WAR STRATEGY FOCUSED ON CHINABy Bill Van Auken

The military strategy unveiled byPresident Barack Obama Thursdaykeeps massive spending on the US warmachine largely intact, while shiftingits focus decisively toward China.

Obama made an unprecedented

appearance at the Pentagon Thursday,marking the first time that a USpresident has personally participated inthe presentation of such a defensestrategic guidance document, whichpresents in broad strokes the prioritiesand direction for the US armed forces.

In presenting the document, entitled“Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership:Priorities for 21st Century Defense,”Obama insisted that the US militarybudget would remain higher than thoseof the next 10 military powers

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combined. Preemptively responding toright-wing claims he was “cutting”military spending, he pointed out, “Thegrowth in the defense budget will slow,but the fact of the matter is this: it willstill grow.”

The guidance calls for a fundamentalre-orientation of American militarypower toward the Asia-Pacific region,while affirming its commitment tomaintaining US military control overthe oil-rich Persian Gulf. “All trendsare shifting to the Pacific,” stressedChairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffGeneral Martin Dempsey. “Ourstrategic challenges will largelyemanate out of the Pacific region.”

In its blunt and provocative portrayalof China as an enemy, the documentreflects the steady build-up toward aconfrontation over dominance of theAsia Pacific region, the scene of theworld’s greatest economic growth.

The guidance document asserts that“US economic and security interestsare inextricably linked to developments”in this region and, while Washingtonwill continue its interventions in theMiddle East and elsewhere across theglobe, “we will of necessity rebalancetoward the Asia-Pacific region.”

The document stresses US efforts toforge a series of military alliancesranging from Japan and South Koreato the Philippines, Indonesia andVietnam, while singling out India forthe role of an “anchor” for US securityinterests in the Indian Ocean region.

“The growth of China’s militarypower,” the document warns, “mustbe accompanied by greater clarity ofits strategic intentions in order to avoidcausing friction in the region.”

In a section entitled “Project Powerdespite Anti-Access/Area DenialChallenges,” the guidance documentlumps together China and Iran as

countries that “will continue to pursueasymmetric means to counter ourpower projection capabilities,” citing“electronic and cyber warfare, ballisticand cruise missiles, advanced airdefenses, mining and other methods.”The Pentagon has grown increasinglyconcerned over China’s developmentof torpedoes capable of attacking USaircraft carriers, which were previouslyseen as impregnable means ofdeploying massive US military poweroff China’s shores.

The document also includes multipleassertions of US determination touphold the “free flow of goods” and“access to the global commons,”which are primarily thinly veiledreferences to Washington’sincreasingly bellicose intervention inregional disputes over the South ChinaSea.

In surrounding himself with theuniformed members of the Joint Chiefsof Staff as well as civilian Pentagonofficials, Obama was undoubtedlyattempting to cast himself as a hands-on commander-in-chief and to insulatehimself from criticism from theRepublican right. Republicanpresidential candidates, leadingRepublican members of Congress andsections of the right-wing media allseized upon the document’s budgetaryimplications, portraying them as agutting of the American military.

The strategic guidance representsnothing of the sort. As Obama himselfboasted, the administration’s proposalto trim around $450 billion in projected

expenditures over the next ten yearswill still leave the Pentagon’s basebudget higher than the last oneimplemented by the George W. Bushadministration.

The cuts being proposed by the Obamaadministration are not to the currentbudget, but rather to the projectedspending over the next decade, whichfactored in an assumed steady increasein funding for Washington’s bloatedarmed forces. The past decade,dominated by the “global war on terror”and the simultaneous wars andoccupations in Afghanistan and Iraq,saw military spending in the US soarby more than 80 percent. The planbeing implemented by Obama willmaintain military spending at thisunprecedentedly high level, even as theWhite House and the US Congressprepare to take a meat axe to coresocial programs and benefits, includingMedicare and Social Security.

Media reports on the presentation ofthe strategic review have includedclaims that the document unveiled onThursday represented Obama puttinghis “personal stamp” on US militarypolicy. This is even more absurd thanthe claims about crippling budget cuts.The outline presented in the strategicguidance has been worked out withinthe US armed forces command and themilitary-industrial complex, withObama serving as little more than apolitical spokesman for these powerfulinterests.

In its broad outlines, the guidancepresents proposals that are remarkablysimilar to those pushed by Bush’s firstdefense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld,who entered the Pentagon pushing fora “revolution” in military policy. LikeRumsfeld’s proposals, the guidancepresented on Thursday advocatesstreamlining the ground forces,particularly the Army, while relyingmore heavily on Special Operationstroops and hi-tech weaponry, including

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continued from page 3unmanned attack drones.

While the document provides nospecific numbers relating to budgetsand manpower, it has been reportedthat with the withdrawal of US forcesfrom Iraq and the drawdown fromAfghanistan, the Army’s ranks will bethinned from the current 570,000 to490,000. Similar reductions in forceare reportedly in store for the MarineCorps, meaning that tens of thousandsof troops returning from the Iraq andAfghanistan wars will be thrown ontoAmerica’s long unemployment lines.

While undoubtedly the senior brass inthe Army and Marines are chafing atthese cuts, their concerns areoutweighed by powerful corporateinterests that are pleased with theguidance’s promise of continuedspending on a new stealth bomber,submarines, star wars technology andother air and sea weapons systems thatare seen as the most efficient meansof aggressively projecting US militarymight. During Thursday’s pressconference, Defense Secretary LeonPanetta directly addressed theseinterests, declaring the Pentagon’scommitment to “preserving the health

and viability of the nation’s defenseindustrial base.”

In his appearance at the Pentagon,Obama repeated his assertion that,based on the withdrawal from Iraq andthe minimal troop reductions inAfghanistan, “the tides of war arereceding.”

On the contrary, the defense strategicguidance demonstrates that USimperialism remains committed to theuse of armed force to assert itshegemony over the oil-rich regions ofthe Middle East and Central Asia, evenas it gears up its war machine for anarmed confrontation with China.

Giving a cynical tip of the hat to the“Arab Spring”, the guidance affirms USreliance on the despotic monarchies ofthe Gulf Cooperation Council inpreparing for a military confrontationwith Iran.

Defense Secretary Panetta provided aglimpse of what is on the horizon,assuring the assembled media that theUS military is prepared to wage “a landwar in Korea” while simultaneouslydefeating Iran in a confrontation overthe Straits of Hormuz.

China issued a strong reaction to thedefense guidance document. “Chinamust make the US realize that its risecannot be stopped,” Global Times, astate-run Chinese newspaper declared.Insisting that Beijing must not “give upits peripheral security,” the paper addedthat “China needs to enhance its long-distance military attack ability anddevelop more ways to threaten USterritory in order to gradually pushoutward the front line of its ‘game’ withAmerica.”

Confronting the relative decline ofAmerican capitalism and the rise ofChina, Washington is turning toward thereckless use of military might to defendits position of global dominance,threatening a conflagration that wouldeclipse the wars of the past decade.

7 January, 2012

Bill Van Auken is a politician and activistfor the Social Equality Party and was aPresidential candidate in the U.S. election of2004. He is a fulltime reporter for WorldSocialist Web SiteSource: WSWS.org

LEAKED UN REPORT REVEALS TORTURE, LYNCHINGS AND ABUSE

IN POST-GADDAFI LIBYABy Kim Sengupta

Thousands of people, includingwomen and children, are being illegallydetained by rebel militias in Libya,according to a report by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Manyof the prisoners are suffering tortureand systematic mistreatment whilebeing held in private jails outside thecontrol of the country’s newgovernment.

The document, seen by TheIndependent, states that while politicalprisoners being held by the Gaddafiregime have been released, their placeshave been taken by up to 7,000 new

“enemies of the state”, “disappeared”in a dysfunctional system, with norecourse to the law.

The report will come as uncomfortablereading for the Western governments,including Britain, which backed thecampaign to oust Gaddafi. A UNresolution was secured in March inorder to protect civilians from abusesby the regime, which was at the timemercilessly suppressing the uprisingagainst the Gaddafi regime.

There was evidence, says the reportby Ban Ki-moon, due to be presented

to the Security Council, that both sidescommitted acts amounting war crimesin the bitter battle for Colonel Gaddafi’shometown, Sirte. The Secretary-General who recently visited Libya,echoes the concern expressed by manyworld leaders over the killing of theformer dictator by rebel fighterspointing out that Gaddafi was capturedalive before being put to death.

The report also stresses that it is amatter of great praise that the countryhas been liberated after 42 years oftotalitarian rule. The victorious

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A R T I C L E Scontinued from page 4opposition - which formed a newinterim government this week - fullyintends to follow a democratic path andintroduce a functioning legal system,he says. The report is due to becirculated among members of the UNSecurity Council, and discussed nextweek.

However, Ban Ki-moon also presentsa grim scenario of the growing powerof the armed militias that control of thestreets of many towns, including thoseof the capital, Tripoli, and the settlingof internecine feuds through gunbattles resulting in deaths and injuries.Meanwhile the lawlessness has resultedin the vast majority of the police forcenot being able to return to work. Inthe few places where they have beenback on duty under experiencedofficers, such as Tripoli, their role hasbeen restricted largely to directingtraffic.

Libya is the only Arab uprising to haveattracted direct Western militarysupport, despite the closer links forgedwith the West in recent years by theGaddafi regime. The resistance inLondon, Washington and elsewhere toNato-led intervention in other Arabcountries has centred largely on a lackof coherent opposition. Politicalbackers of the air strikes in Libya hadcited the National Transitional Council(NTC) as a credible alternative to theGaddafi regime.

The scope of escalating strife, insidethe country as well as the wider region,is highlighted by the caches ofweapons abandoned by the regime andsubsequently looted. These includeshoulder-launched surface-to-airmissiles, known as Manpads, capableof bringing down commercial airliners.

The Report of the Secretary-Generalon United Nations Support Mission inLibya (UNSMIL) states that: “Libyahad accumulated the largest known

stockpile of Manpads, of any non-Manpad-producing country. Althoughthousands were destroyed during theseven-month Nato operations, there areincreasing concerns over the lootingand likely proliferation of these portabledefence systems, as well as munitionsand mines, highlighting the potentialrisk to local and regional stability.”

But the continuing human rightsabuses, says the Secretary-General’sreport, are the most pressing concern.The report says that “while politicalprisoners held by the Gaddafi regimehave been released, an estimated 7,000detainees are currently held in prisonsand makeshift detention centres, mostof which are under the control ofrevolutionary brigades, with no accessto due process in the absence of afunctioning police and judiciary.”

Of particular worry was the fate ofwomen being held for alleged links withthe regime, often due to familyconnections, sometimes with theirchildren locked up alongside them.

“There have also been reports ofwomen held in detention in the absenceof female guards and under malesupervision, and of children detainedalongside adults,” says the report.

A number of black Africans werelynched following the revolutionfollowing claims, often false, that theywere hired guns for the Gaddafiregime. The city of Tawerga, mainlycomprised of residents originally fromsub-Saharan countries, was largely

destroyed by rebel fighters fromneighbouring Misrata. The port city hadwithstood a prolonged and brutal siegein the hands of the regime forces duringwhich, it is claimed, fighters fromTawerga were particularly aggressiveand brutal.

The report says that “sub-SaharanAfricans, in some cases accused orsuspected of being mercenaries,constitute a large number of thedetainees. Some detainees havereportedly been subjected to torture andill treatment. Cases have been reportedof individuals being targeted becauseof the colour of their skin.”

The document continues: “Tawergasare reported to have been targeted inrevenge killings, or taken by armed menfrom their homes, checkpoints andhospitals, and some allegedly laterabused or executed in detention.Members of the community have fledto various cities across Libya.”

The UN findings chart the vicious abusecarried out by the regime until the finaldays of the civil war. In a personal notein the document, Ban Ki-Moon said:

“I was deeply shocked by my visitto an agricultural warehouse in theKhallital-Ferjan neighbourhood ofTripoli where elements of theGaddafi regime had detained civiliansin inhuman conditions, hadsubjected some to torture and hadmassacred as many as they couldand burned their bodies.”

“The international community mustsupport the efforts to establish thefate of missing persons and to bringto justice perpetrators with thegreatest responsibility for suchcrimes.”

24 November, 2011

Kim Sengupta is a journalist with TheIndependent, specialising in defence.Source: Countercurrents.org

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Asian powers jostle for positionamid vast mineral reserves andstrategic oil pipelines, while West keepsbombing.

Afghanistan is not often perceived asa mineral Holy Grail.

But, as it turns out, between $1-3trillion in mineral wealth lies unexploredacross the Hindu Kush. There’senough uranium, lithium, copper andiron ore to potentially turn Afghanistaninto a commodities powerhouse.

The Pentagon knows all about it - howcould it not? And the Russians haveknown about it since at least the 1970s,when they mapped out all the uraniumriches of northern Afghanistan.

Washington may have complexgeopolitical energy reasons to remainin Afghanistan - as explored in aprevious Al Jazeera article thatgenerated enormous reader response.

For its part, Islamabad is still obsessedwith viewing Afghanistan as a pliablesatrap. But the going gets much juicierwhen one looks at key Eurasian playerssuch as Russia, India and China andtheir own, non-Pentagonised reasonsto come to this mineral Walhalla.

Business Suits, Not BombsEarly next month a crucial bidding warbegins in Kabul. It concerns Hajigak,the world’s biggest iron ore deposits,which are located in centralAfghanistan (at least 1.8bn tons,according to a Soviet estimate made inthe 1960s). To the sound of muchpredictable Taliban grumbling, all 15bidding companies are from India -including giants Tata Steel and JSW,the country’s third-largest private steelcompany.

A stable, business-friendly Afghanistanis absolutely essential for India - agateway to oil and gas from Iran,Central Asia and the Caspian. India isbuilding power stations and strategicroads, such as the one linkingAfghanistan with the Iranian port ofChahbahar.

Few may know it, but it’s not onlyAfrica that is the object of a fierce India-China business “war”. Afghanistan isalso a key chessboard. There are fivetypes of minerals on the Afghan horizon- gold, copper, iron ore, and inevitably,oil and gas - and the Indians and theChinese are all over them.

China Metallurgical Corporation alreadygot a big prize in 2008 - the Aynakcopper mine in Logar, southeast ofKabul - for $3.4bn. Why? BecauseWestern companies were asleep at thewheel (or paranoid with “security”);because the Chinese wasted no time;and, according to the Afghan Ministryof Mines, “because of their package”(in characteristic Chinese style, thatincludes building a whopping $6bnrailway connecting northernAfghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistanwith western China).

Kabul will get up to $350m a year inroyalties. At least 5,000 jobs will becreated, with added benefits such ashealth clinics, roads and schools.Security may indeed be a huge problem;there’s a war going on and safe transitroutes are a mirage. But as war-wearyAfghans are poignantly stressing, that’salready a start.

The Business Track in AfghanistanNow Runs Parallel to the Political

Track.Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardarivisited Tehran twice within only threeweeks. He had two face-to-facemeetings with Iranian Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei. The House ofSaud, to put it mildly, freaked out.

After all, this Islamabad-Tehran

lovefest totally smashes the myth thatthe so-called “Shia crescent” is thegreatest threat to Sunnis in the MiddleEast and South Asia.

Washington, predictably, was alsohardly fond of it. The occupations ofAfghanistan and Iraq can be seen asan attempt by the US to encircle Iranfrom both east and west (that’scertainly Tehran’s view), andWashington believed Pakistan wouldplay the same role on Iran’s southeastborder.

In a fascinating exchange that musthave choked many a throat across thePotomac, Khamenei told Zardari thatPakistan’s “real enemy” was the West,“and the US on top of it”, while Zardaritold Khamenei that Iran was a “modelof resistance and path to progress”.What next? Karachi taxis sportingKhomeini magnets?

But the most fascinating part is thatTehran and Islamabad are nowdiscussing not only security mattersbut also business, such as an upcomingfree-trade agreement and a currencyswap scheme that would move bothcountries away from the US dollar.

On the security front, Islamabad hasproposed what would be an IntegratedBorder Management Regime - that is,Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan fightingtogether against drug trafficking. Thatalso happens to be Russia’s number-one priority in Central and South Asia.Over twelve tonnes of pure heroin -that’s over 3 billion single doses -reach Russia every year fromAfghanistan.

On the business front, it was all aboutthe crucial Pipelineistan gambit, theIran-Pakistan (IP), also known as the“peace pipeline”. IP may supply asmuch as 50 per cent of Pakistan’senergy needs.

There are delays, of course. By theend of 2012, Iran will have built itswhole stretch of pipeline up to thePakistani border. Yet Pakistan will only

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THE ALLURE OF AFGHANISTANBy Pepe Escobar

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start working on its own stretch byearly 2012.

But by 2015 IP should be online,forming a strategic umbilical cordbetween Shia Iran and majority-SunniPakistan and rocking the Eurasiangeopolitical equation. IP will crossultra-strategic Balochistan, which is notonly dripping with resources but whichalso, as a transit corridor, provides theshortest access to the warm waters ofthe Arabian Sea.

Iran and Pakistan as Allies?So look for another unintendedconsequence of Washington’sobsession with the war on terror: Iranand Pakistan as increasingly close allies.One can already foresee Tehran sharingon-the-ground intelligence withIslamabad on Washington’s myriadcovert ops inside Pakistani territory.

Another unintended consequence -unthinkable only two or three years ago- is that now Tehran, which istremendously influential in northwestAfghanistan, views the Taliban theMullah Omar way: as an indigenous“national resistance” movement againstUS/NATO occupation and perpetualmilitary bases. Moreover, Tehran is also

in sync with Islamabad in their supportfor the wily Hamid Karzai, who hasincreasingly distanced himself fromWashington.

There are huge problems, of course.Although Zardari told Khamenei thatIslamabad supports Karzai and an“Afghan-led and Afghan-owned” peaceprocess, hardly any progress can bemade without a substantial reversal ofPakistan’s official Afghan policy, whichconsiders Afghanistan as little morethan “strategic depth” in aconfrontation with India, and whichdoes everything to contain India’sinfluence in Afghanistan.

Moreover, regional priorities differ.Moscow worries about its own “waron drugs,” wants NATO out of itsbackyard, and does not want USmilitary bases in Afghanistan. Beijingworries about the Taliban influencingthe Uighurs in Xinjiang. Tehran willkeep cultivating its privilegedrelationship with Tajiks, Hazaras andUzbeks - and not Pashtuns.

What is certain is that any unilateralMade-in-USA road map for Afghanistan,of the “surge, bribe and stay” variety,is doomed to failure without input fromthese key Eurasian players.

Tragedy aside, the US/NATO war inAfghanistan is now seriously flirtingwith surrealism - witness the Taliban’saccusation that the West hacked theirwebsite, their phones, their emails andspread false rumours of MullahOmar’s death. Forget about “medievaltowelheads on hash”; these are iPhone-friendly Taliban who tweet and poston Facebook - and command quite afollowing. Unsurprisingly, gloomy war-machine NATO “declines to comment”.

It will be fascinating to watch whatschemes the House of Saud willconcoct to smash the new business-friendly Tehran-Islamabad axis; afterall, Saudi Arabia political/economicannex.

But not as fascinating as watchingwhich Russian, Chinese and Indiancompanies will make a killing off ofAfghanistan’s mineral wealth while theAtlanticist West bomb themselves toirrelevancy.

29 July, 2011

Pepe Escobar is the roving correspondentfor the Asia Times. His latest book is ObamaDoes Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009). Hemay be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.

Source: Al- Jazeera

By Chandra Muzaffar

In his widely read blog (13February 2012), the former PrimeMinister of Malaysia, Dr. MahathirMohamad, criticises the politics ofregime change pursued by the UnitedStates of America. He is concerned thatMalaysia may also be a target forregime change. And the US candidateto head the new regime which will bein full, complete support of US policies,he says, is none other than the Leaderof the Opposition, Anwar Ibrahim.

Why should the US government seekregime change in Malaysia when thepresent Prime Minister, Najib Razak,has sought to further strengthen tieswith Washington? He has evenemployed a Washington based publicrelations firm, Apco, to boost

Malaysia’s image in the US. Najib’spersonal relations with US President,Barack Obama, are supposed to be“excellent.”

And yet it is quite conceivable that theforces that shape Washington’s attitudetowards Malaysian politics and politicalleaders may prefer Anwar to Najib fora number of reasons.

One, while Najib may have somerapport with formal leaders and theformal state, it is Anwar who hasintimate links with the “deep state” inthe US system. It is the deep staterepresented by powerful interests suchas the Zionist lobbies, the ChristianRight, the big wigs on Wall Street, theoil barons, the arms merchants and the

media Moghuls which is in effectivecontrol. To appreciate the distinctionbetween the two, one has to reflect onObama’s Cairo speech on 4th June 2009which stated explicitly that “The UnitedStates does not accept the legitimacyof continued Israeli settlements” butin reality the formal leader has had toyield to the Zionists and the ChristianRight who are enthusiastic promotersof Zionist expansion at the expense ofthe Palestinians.

Anwar’s entry into the deep state wasthrough his close friendship with PaulWolfowitz, the former US DeputySecretary of Defence and one of thestaunchest champions of Zionistpower. It was mainly because of

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Wolfowitz that Anwar became the firstChairman of the Foundation for theFuture in 2005, an organisationestablished ostensibly to promotedemocracy in West Asia and NorthAfrica (WANA) whose real purpose isto perpetuate US-Israeli hegemony overthe region. Even before this, in 1998,in the midst of the Asian financial crisis,Anwar was espousing an IMF typesolution to the nation’s economic woesthus revealing his political orientation.

This is why during his first two trialsfor abuse of power and sodomybetween 1998 and 2004 and during hisrecent trial for sodomy, the mainstreamWestern media went out of its way todemand that the Malaysian authoritiesacquit Anwar. Wolfowitz and formerUS Vice-President, Al Gore, evenpenned a joint opinion piece in the WallStreet Journal on 4 August 2010 urgingthe US government to persuade theMalaysian government to “ act withwisdom” in Anwar’s trial. A day beforehe was acquitted, on 8 January 2012,The Washington Post in an editorialwarned that “ If the verdict fails thattest (Malaysia’s commitment todemocracy and the rule of law) thereshould be consequences for Mr.Najib’s relations with Washington.”This was an undisguised, unabashedattempt by one of the media pillars ofthe deep state to pressurise a sovereignnation to submit to its will.

Two, if Anwar is the darling of the deepstate in the US, it is partly because ofhis stand on Israel. In an interview withThe Wall Street Journal on 26 January2012, he reiterated his support for “allefforts to protect the security of thestate of Israel.” It should beemphasised here that support for Israelisecurity — contrary to what he issaying now — was not contingent on“Israel respecting the aspirations of thePalestinians.” In the interview Israel’ssecurity stands by itself. It is diplomaticrecognition of Israel that Anwar linksto Palestinian aspirations.

Placing Israel’s security on a pedestalis the sort of gesture that the deep state

and Zionists the world over laud,especially if the advocate is a Muslimleader. For Israel’s security has becomethe justification for all its policies ofoccupation, annexation and aggressionin the last 63 years. Israel’s security isthe albatross around the neck of thedispossessed Palestinians and otherArabs who have lost their land anddignity to the occupying power. It isobvious that by acknowledging theprimacy of Israeli security, Anwar wassending a clear message to the deepstate and to Tel Aviv and Washington— that he is someone that they couldtrust.

In contrast, the Najib government, inspite of its attempts to get closer toWashington, remains critical of Israeliaggression and intransigence. Najib hasdescribed the Israeli government as a“serial killer” and a “gangster.” This hasincensed the deep state. Anwar, on theother hand, told Zionist friends inWashington two years ago that heregretted using terms such as “Zionistaggression” (Jackson Diehl “Flirtingwith zealotry in Malaysia” TheWashington Post 28 June 2010).

Three, Anwar is the choice of the deepstate for another reason which in itsown reckoning is becoming almost asimportant as Israel. This is the rise ofChina and what it means for US globalhegemony. Elements within the deepstate appear to have convinced Obamathat China is a threat to its neighboursand to the US’s dominant role in theAsia-Pacific. Establishing a militarybase in Darwin, resurrecting the US’smilitary alliance with the Philippines,coaxing Japan to play a more overtmilitary role in the region, instigatingVietnam to confront China over the

Spratly islands, and encouraging Indiato counterbalance Chinese power, areall part and parcel of the larger USagenda of encircling and containingChina. In pursuing this agenda the USwants reliable allies — not just friends— in Asia.

In this regard, Malaysia is importantbecause of its position as a littoral statewith sovereign rights over the Straitsof Melaka which is one of China’s mostcritical supply routes that transportsmuch of the oil and other materials vitalfor its economic development. Will thecontainment of China lead to a situationwhere the hegemon determined toperpetuate its dominant power seeksto exercise control over the Straits inorder to curb China’s ascendancy?Would a trusted ally in Kuala Lumpurfacilitate such control?

The current Malaysian leadership doesnot fit the bill. It has sustained anddeepened the bond of friendshipbetween Malaysia and China throughincreased bilateral trade andinvestments. China is Malaysia’sbiggest trading partner globally andMalaysia is China’s biggest tradingpartner within ASEAN. China is mostappreciative of the fact that Malaysiaunder the late Tun Razak was the firstnon-communist country in SoutheastAsia to establish diplomatic relationswith China in 1974. When his son Najibbecame Prime Minister in April 2009,China was the first country outsideASEAN that he visited. In a number ofregional and international forums,Malaysia has maintained that China isnot a threat to its neighbours and doesnot seek global dominance.

These are views that do not accordwith the deep state’s bellicose stancetowards China. It explains why thedeep state may be inclined towardsregime change in Kuala Lumpur.

29 February, 2012

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is President of theInternational Movement for a Just World(JUST) and Professor of Global Studies,Universiti Sains Malaysia.

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The human sacrifice that tookplace at Thirumaladevara Koppa inRanebennuru taluk of Haveri districtof Karnataka State, India on 26November 2011 has already drawn theattention of the people all over the state.A 17 year old dalit boy by the nameBasavaraja Kadimani was sacrificed toset right Vastu Dosha (Inauspiciousfaults and shortcomings in a building)of the house of Basavanagowda of thesame village. Basavaraja was workingwith Basavanagowda, a landlord, as atractor driver. In fact almost all themembers of his family had worked forthe land lord at one time or the other inthe past.

Nijalinga swamy, popularly known asTatu Ajja of Niralagi near Gadag usedto visit Basavanagowda very often.Under his guidance the landlord hadalready performed many rituals onvarious occasions. On 26 November,2012 Basavaraja went to his master’splace at night and did not return. Nextday early in the morning the membersof his family, father, mother and elderbrother were informed by the policeof Haligeri police station that Basavarajahad been injured in a fight withNinganagowda, the son ofBasavanagowda and had beenhospitalized. The police took them notto the hospital, but to the police stationwhere they told them that their boy hadbeen killed and not just injured. Theywere brought to a spot near theirvillage where they saw a gunny sackcontaining the dead body of Basavaraj.The body bore marks of vermilion andturmeric. It also had a hole on theforehead. An eye had been plucked outand a few teeth were missing. Theparents and others suspected that it wasa case of sacrifice and complained tothe police on those grounds. But the

police did not register it as case ofsacrifice but continued to maintain thatit was only a murder. Later on, thevillagers also found traces of bloodsprinkled all around the house. Whenthe police opened the doors of the housenearly 50 days after the incident bloodmarks were also found inside thebuilding. Still the police were not readyto consider the angle of human sacrificein this case. Ninganagowda, the son ofBasavanagowda had surrendered to thepolice saying that he had killedBasavaraja.

Members of Peoples’ DemocraticForum and Swabhimani Dalita Shaktivisited the village on 9 January 2012and met the villagers including theparents and relatives of Basavaraja andalso the police officer(Dy S P ofRanebennuru) investigating the case.We found that in spite of the evidenceand complaint by the parents the policeare not ready to consider the angle ofhuman sacrifice seriously. They havebeen insisting that it was only a murdercommitted by Ninganagowdasuspecting an illicit relationship betweenBasavaraja and his (Ninganagowda’s)wife which on verification does notsound credible. The people of the villageand also various other progressiveelements of the area held a protest rallyand demonstration at Ranebennuru on30 January 2012 to press the demandto consider it as not merely a murder

By Narabail Virodi VedikeSHOCKING NEWS OF HUMAN SACRIFICE

but as a human sacrifice. It is onlythen that the sorcerer, Tatu Ajja’s rolewill be exposed. It is essential notmerely to find out the truth but alsoto prevent any recurrence of suchsuperstitious practices in future. Butsomehow the police of Ranebennuruare not prepared to move in thatdirection. This will only protect thesorcerer and the head of the familyBasavanagowda.

Already an application has been madeto the State Human RightsCommission and an appeal to thehonourable governor of Karnatakahas been submitted through theTahasildar of Ranebennuru.

Demands:1)The police of Ranebennurushould take the complaint of theparents of Basavaraj seriously andtreat it as a case of human sacrifice.2)If the local police fails to do sothe case should be handed over tothe CBI by the state government.3)The sorcerer Tatu Ajja and thehead of the family Basavanagowdawho was responsible for themurder/sacrifice should bearrested.4)Compensation should be paid tothe family according to rulesexisting in such cases.

Shivalingam,(Swabhimani DalitaShakti), Nagari Babaiah, (People’sDemocratic Forum), NagaragereRamesh, (Peoples’ DemocraticForum), Kranti Govind,(Swabhimani Dalita Shakti),Ramadas Rao, (PUCL)

16 February, 2012

Narabail Virodi Vedike is an organisationin IndiaSource: Countercurrents.org

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The dynamic of democratic,nationalist and class strugglesthroughout the Moslem world has setin motion a new constellation ofalliances between the imperial West(US and European Union) and Islamistparties, leaders and regimes, dubbed“moderate” by US officials,propagandists and academics.

This essay analyzes the changingcontemporary context of imperialdomination, especially the demise oflongstanding client regimes. It thenexamines the previous significant tiesbetween western imperial powers andIslamist movements and regimes andthe basis of ‘historical collaboration’.

The third part of the paper will outlinethe political circumstances in which theimperial powers embrace “moderate”Islamists in government and utilize“armed fundamentalists” in oppositionto secular regimes. We will criticallyanalyze how “moderate” Islam isdefined by the Western imperialistpowers. Is this a tactical or strategicalliance? What are the political “trade-offs”? What do imperialism’s neo-liberal clients and their new ‘moderate’Muslim allies have in common and howdo they differ?

In conclusion we will evaluate theviability of this alliance and its capacityto contain and deflect the populardemocratic movements and repress theburgeoning class and nationalstruggles, especially in regard to the‘obstacles’ posed by the Israel-US-Zionist ties and the continued IMF

policies which promise to worsen thecrises in the Muslim countries.

The Transition from Neo-LiberalClient Rulers to Power-Sharing

with Moderate Islamists

The key motivation in Washington’sand the European imperial troika’s(England, France and Germany)embrace of what their press andofficialdom hail as “moderate” Islamistparties has been the collapse orweakening of their long-term clientrulers. Faced with the ouster ofMubarak, in Egypt, Ali in Tunisia andSaleh in Yemen, mass protests inMorocco and Algeria, the US-EUturned to conservative Muslim leaderswho were willing to work within theexisting state institutional framework(including the army and state police),uphold the capitalist order and alignwith the empire against anti-imperialmovements and states. In Egypt, theFreedom and Justice Party (FJP) (thepolitical arm of the MuslimBrotherhood), in Tunisia theRenaissance Party, in Morocco theJustice and Development Party haveall indicated their willingness to serveas reliable partners in blocking the pro-democracy movements that challengethe socio-economic status quo and thelong-standing military-imperiallinkages.

The Islamist collaborators are called“moderate and respectable” becausethey agree to participate in electionswithin the boundaries of the establishedpolitical and economic order; they havedropped any criticism of imperial andcolonial treaties and trade agreementssigned by the previous client regions -including ones which collaborate withIsrael’s colonization of Palestine.

Equally important “moderate” meanssupporting imperial wars againstnationalist and secular Arab republics,such as Syria and Libya, and isolatingand/or repressing class based tradeunions and secular-left parties.

“Moderate” Islamists have become theEmpire’s ‘contraceptive of choice’against any chance the massive Arabpeoples’ revolt might give birth tosubstantive egalitarian social changesand bring those brutal pro- westernofficials, responsible for so manycrimes against humanity, to justice.

The West and their client officials inthe military and police have agreed toa kind of “power-sharing” with them o d e r a t e / r e s p e c t a b l e ( r e a d‘reactionary’) Islamist parties. TheIslamists would be responsible forimposing orthodox economic policiesand re-establishing ‘order ’ (i.e.bolstering the existing one) inpartnership with pro-multinational bankeconomists and pro US-EU generalsand security officials. In exchange theIslamists could take certain ministries,appoint their members, financeelectoral clientele among the poor andpush their ‘moderate’ religious, socialand cultural agenda. Basically, theelected Islamists would replace the oldcorrupt dictatorial regimes in runningthe state and signing off on more freetrade agreements with the EU. Theirrole would keep the leftists, nationalistsand populists out of power and fromgaining mass support. Their job wouldsubstitute spiritual solace and “innerworth” via Islam in place ofredistributing land, income and powerfrom the elite, including the foreignmulti-nationals to the peasants,workers, unemployed and exploitedlow-paid employees.

Why the Empire ArmsFundamentalist Anti-Secular

Muslims

While the US and EU have backedrespectable “moderate Islam” inheading off a popular upheaval of theyoung and unemployed, in othercontexts they have enlisted violent,fundamentalist Islamic terrorists tooverthrow secular independent anti-imperialists regimes – like Libya, Syria

By James Petras

THE WASHINGTON-“MODERATE ISLAM” ALLIANCE:CONTAINING REBELLION; DEFENDING EMPIRE (PART I)

continued next page

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continued from page 10- just as they had done earlier inAfghanistan and Yugoslavia. The US,Qatar and the European troika financedand armed Libyan fundamentalistmilitias and then engaged in amurderous eight months air and seaassault to ensure their client’s ‘victory’over the secular Gaddafi regime. Freshfrom NATO’s success, the US, theEuropean ‘Troika’ and Turkey, with thebacking of the League of Arabcollaborator princes and emirs, havefinanced a violent Muslim Brotherhoodinsurrection in Syria, intent ondestroying the nationalist economy andmodern secular state.

The US and EU have openly unleashedtheir fundamentalists allies in order todestroy independent adversaries in thename of “democracy” and‘humanitarian intervention’, a laughableclaim in light of decade long colonialwars of occupation in Iraq andAfghanistan. All target regimes haveone crime in common: Using theirnational resources to develop modernsecular states – independent of imperialdictates.

NATO implements its campaignsthrough conservative ‘moderate’ orarmed fundamentalist Islamistmovements depending on the specificneeds, circumstances and range ofoptions in any given target nation. Withthe fall of pro-Empire ‘seculardictatorships’ in Egypt and Tunisia,pliable conservative Islamist leaders arethe fall back “lesser evil”. When theopportunity to overthrow anindependent secular or nationalistregime arises, armed and violentfundamentalist mercenaries become thepolitical vehicle of choice.

As with European empires in the past,the modern Western imperial countrieshave relied on retrograde religiousparties and leaders to collaborate andserve their economic and militaryinterests and to provide mercenaries forimperial armies to savage any anti-imperialist social revolutionaries. In thatsense US and European rulers areneither ‘pro nor anti’ Islam, it all

depends on their national and classposition. Islamists who collaborate withEmpire are “moderate” allies and if theyattack an anti-imperialist regime, theybecome ‘freedom fighters’. On the

other hand, they become “terrorists”or “fundamentalists” when theyoppose imperial occupation, pillage orcolonial settlements.

Contemporary History ofIslamist-Imperial Collaboration

The historical record of westernimperial expansion reveals manyinstances of collaboration andcooptation as well as conflict withIslamist regimes, movements andparties. In the early 1960’s the CIAbacked a brutal military coup againstthe secular Indonesian nationalistregime of Sukarno, and encouragedtheir puppet dictator General Suhartoto unleash Muslim militia in a veritable“holy war” exterminating nearly onemillion leftist trade unionists, schoolteachers, students, farmers,communists or suspected sympathizersand their family members. The horrific‘Jakarta Option’ became a model forCIA operations elsewhere. In Yugoslaviathe US and Europe promoted andfinanced fundamentalists Muslims inBosnia, importing mujahedeen whowould later form part of Al Qaida, andthen backed the Kosovo LiberationArmy, a known terrorist organization,in order to completely break-up andethnically ‘cleanse’ a modern secularmulti-national state – going so far asto have Americans and NATO bombBelgrade for the first time since theNazis in the Second World War.

During President Carter ’s

administration, the CIA joined withSaudi Arabia’s ruling royalty, providingbillions of dollars in arms and militarysupplies to Afghan Muslimfundamentalists in their brutal butsuccessful Jihad overthrowing amodern, secular nationalist regimebacked by the USSR. The murderousfate of school teachers and educatedwomen in the aftermath was quicklycovered up.

Needless to say, wherever USimperialism faces leftists or secular,modernizing anti-imperialist regimes,Washington turns to retrograde Islamicleaders willing and able to destroy theprogressive regime in return forimperialist support. Such coalitions arebuilt mainly around fundamentalist andmoderate Islamist opposition to secular,class- based politics allied with theEmpire’s hostility to any anti-imperialistchallenge to its domination..

The same ‘coalition’ of Islamists andthe Empire has been glaringly obviousduring the NATO assault on Libya andontinues against Syria: The Muslimsprovide the shock troops on theground; NATO provides the aerialbombing, funds, arms, sanctions,embargoes and propaganda.

These Islamist-Imperialist coalitionsare usually temporary, based on acommon secular or nationalist enemyand not on any common strategicinterest. After the defeat of a secularanti-imperialist regime, militantMuslims may find themselves attackedbthe colonial neo-liberal regime mostfavored by the imperial west. Thishappened in Afghanistan and elsewhereafter the overseas Islamist fighters(Afghan Arabs) returned to their ownneo-colonized, collaborating homecountries, like Saudi Arabia, Algeria andEgypt and elsewhere.

13 December, 2011

Part II of this article will be published in theApril 2012 JUST Commentary.

James Petras is the author of more than 62books published in 29 languages, and over600 articles in professional journals.

Source: Countercurrents.org

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