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Anoosha Boralessa
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A secret clause that accompanies the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
20 February 2019
According to the Germany weekly, Der Spiegel, Germany and France have signed a secret clause at the side of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle . It provides that neither party will oppose the sales of arms produced as a joint venture, except on grounds of national security.
Following the fall of Nazism, Germany has kept up its pacifist ideal and placed a strict ban on exporting arms to States that could use them for evil ends. However, during the Conference on Security that has just taken (...)
Towards a Great Albania
20 February 2019
In violation of UNSC Resolution on the end of the Nato war against Serbia in 1999, Kosovo has now equipped itself with an army.
According to the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, an agreement was concluded with his Albanian partner, Edi Rama, under which the border between the two States will be abolished on 1 March 2019.
Furthermore, during a Joint Council Meeting of Albania and Kosovo, a common fund was established to promote both states joining the EU.
When the Albanian (...)
Washington’s request for its allies to stay back in Syria
20 February 2019
During the Security Conference that has just taken place in Munich, the US Secretary of Defence, Patrick Shanahan, brought together his principal allies (which included Iraq and Turkey) and asked them to take over from the US in Syria as the US gets ready to pull out.
Declaring that Damascus’s taking back control of the territory would not guarantee stability, the US Secretary of Defense requested that 1,500 men remain in North East Syria.
In any event, those present have questioned the (...)
China’s response to British Threats
17 February 2019
The government of the People’s Republic of China has cancelled a meeting that had been scheduled between Vice Prime Minister Hu Chunhua (see photo) and the Finance Minister, Philip Hammond.
In an address made at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the UK Minister of Defence, Gavin Williamson, recently threatened to send an aircraft carrier to the China Sea to make Peking “pay dearly” for “its aggressive conduct” .
The cancellation of the meeting with the Finance Minister deprives (...)
Poland: Israel reveals its military hand in Yemen
15 February 2019
The Ministerial Conference in Poland on Peace and Security in the Middle East addressed but one important issue and this issue was not on the agenda. At the conference, Israël publicly demonstrated that it had relations with Arab States – the representatives of these countries engaging in conversations inter se. This is remarkable because officially, there are no diplomatic relations between these states.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exploited the US House of Representatives’ (...)
Special US Forces arrive in the Caribbean
15 February 2019
According to the Cuban Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, US Special Forces descended in Puerto Rico and in the St Isdro base (Dominican Republic) between 9 – 13 February. US troops also flowed into other Caribbean Islands, but the US did not keep the de jure governors of these islands in the loop.
The Cuban Minister’s tweet (see above) raises the possibility of this being a US attack on Venezuela, shielded under the cover of humanitarian (...)
The International Contact Group Supports Juan Guaido
13 February 2019
At the initiative of Uruguay and Mexico, the International Contact Group met at Montevideo on last Thursday on Feb 7 2019. Its agenda was to help to resolve the Venezuelan Crisis. All its members were states the European Union deemed to make the cut.
Mexico, formerly a member of the Lima Group, sought to define a roadmap that steered clear of the use of force.
Many States, including China and Russia, made it known that they wanted to join the Contact Group, yet they were rejected.
The (...)
France recalls one of its ambassadors from an EU member state
9 February 2019
A move without precedent since the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1958: France has recalled its ambassador from an EU member state, Italy.
The crisis between France and Italy started simmering following the formation of Guiseppe Conte’s government. It came to the boil after Luigi de Maio (Head of the Cinque Stelle movement) and Vice President of the Italian Council met with a group of Yellow Gilets at Montargis (see photo).
France denounces this as Italy interfering in its internal affairs. (...)
High chance that Iran has built precision missiles in Syria
9 February 2019
According to Israeli Channel 12, Iran has constructed a factory to build precision missiles at Safita, a district of Latakia (Syria).
The Israeli Press assumes that these missiles – if the information is correct – are meant for the Lebanese Resistance to use to threaten Tel-Aviv (which has attacked Lebanon several times and continues to violate its air space and territorial waters). This information comes just as the Guardians of the Iranian Revolution announced that they have Hoveizeh (...)
Erdogan will not recognize Assad but will talk to his cabinet
8 February 2019
The Turkish president, Erdoğan caused a commotion on 3 Feb 2019, when he declared during an interview with the TV Channel TRT, that Turkey was still keeping up diplomatic relations with Syrian personalities. He emphasized that it was not in Turkey’s interests to cleanly sever all ties in any relationship, even one with its enemies.
Up till now, President Erdoğan had declared that the reason for Turkish military presence in Syria was primarily to topple the “dictator”.
On 4 February, the (...)
The Final Declaration of the International Contact Group on Venezuela
Montevideo (Uruguay) | 7 February 2019
Conscious of the severity of the current crisis in Venezuela and the impact it’s having on the region
Deeply troubled by the difficult situation that the Venezuelan people are in The International Contact Group (ICG) on Venezuela held its first meeting in Montevideo on 7 February 2019.
The ICG aims to weld a common international approach to support a peaceful, political, democratic resolution to the crisis. A solution that is truly Venezuelan. This will be a solution that rules out the (...)
Whitestream can identify parties to Bitcoin transactions
7 February 2019
The virtual currency, Bitcoin, offers you the assurance that noone will know about your transaction. That is Bitcoin’s key sales pitch.
But the Israeli company Whitestream now claims to have collected the identity of everyone involved in Bitcoin transactions with Hamas (read: with the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood).
Of course this information has already been passed on to the Israeli Security Services, which in turn have handed it over to their partners in the (...)
Erik Prince invests in China
7 February 2019
Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, has not only invested in the United Arab Emirates but also in China, specifically in Xinqiang.
Citic, the Chinese public financial conglomerate has a 25% shareholding in FSB, a company set up by Prince. FSG signed an agreement with the Management Committee of an industrial park in Kashgar Caohu in order to train 8 000 security agents per year. A signing ceremony took place on 11 January 2019 at Beijing (photo).
According to Reuters, the Chinese Partner (...)
France put the pressure on Egypt keep its distance from Syria
7 February 2019
The daily newspaper, Al Hayat, has cited the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shukri as saying that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, probably put pressure on his Egyptian partner, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
It is likely that, due to this pressure, Egypt backed away from letting Syria back into the Arab League.
Italy placed its veto to the EU recognizing Guaidó
6 February 2019
The Italian government announced that it vetoed the EU’s recognition of Juan Guaidó as the “Acting President” when the Council of Foreign Ministers met in Romania on 31 January 2019.
Despite this, the governments of Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, France, Holland and Portugal, lined up to recognize Juan Guaidó as the “President in charge of Venezuela”, borrowing the language adopted last Monday by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
During the legislative elections held in (...)
EU now sees Gibraltar as a UK “colony”
4 February 2019
On 1 February 2019 the EU published a document which classified Gibralta as a “Crown Colony”. This has caused London to break out in a rash of irritation.
It was the EU Council of Ministers of Foreign Relations that approved this formula. Possible consequences? The EU, a supranational entity, may now decide to support Spain’s claims to title over Gibralta.
Fact: the European Union is now “discovering” the reality of the legal status of Gibralta state is perhaps the prelude of what might soon (...)
The systematic destruction of the PDVSA
30 January 2019
The United States has just imposed a series of sanctions on the PDVSA, the state company tasked with exploiting and selling the hydrocarbons belonging to Venezuela. According to the US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, “the Maduro Regime” was making use of the PDVSA to “control, manipulate and rob the people of Venezuela”.
When the US Treasury Secretary talks about “manipulating the people” he is referring to the fact that the Bolivarian Republic was redistributing the profits of PDVSA (...)
Elliott Abrams makes a comeback
26 January 2019
Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State has just appointed Elliot Abrams as Special Envoy for Venezuela.
Elliott Abrams is a hard-core neo-conservative. He wove himself into the tight-knit Jewish coterie surrounding Democratic senator Henry Scoop Jackson. He then unravelled himself and threaded into the Raegan Administration. Abrams married the step-daughter of Norman Podhoretz, editor-in-chief of the Commentary. He is one of the initiators of theo-politics.
He was the one who supervised (...)
Venezuela breaks diplomatic ties with the United States
25 January 2019
When Nicolas Maduro was re-elected the president of Venezuela last May, the United States did not recognize him as such. On the contrary the US has recognized the self-declared, acting president, Juan Guaidó (photo). The US has called on all American states to do the same thing but this time the leader only counts members of the Lima Group among its followers.
Following this, Venezuela has broken off diplomatic ties with the United States.
The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington has now (...)
India protects its economy from e commerce giants
25 January 2019
It appeared that the future of Indian e commerce was focused on competition between two US operators, Amazon and Walmart. In May 2018 Amazon bought the Indian company which had the strongest roots on the market. This target company was Flipkart, and its purchase price was 16 billion dollars. In September, Walmart invested more than 5 billion dollars to buy More, one of India’s main supermarket chains.
With 4 600 shops and more than 2 million employees, Walmart is a distribution giant in (...)
Bahaa Hariri’s secret meeting with Bashar al-Assad
23 January 2019
According to the publication Lebanon Debate, Bahaa Hariri – half brother of Saad Hariri (former Prime Minister of Lebanon) – had a secret meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad .
Bahaa Hariri [to the right in the photo] is the eldest son of the former Prime Minister of Lebanon (Rafic Hariri). Yet it was his brother Saad (who is the illegitimate son of a Saudi Prince) who stepped into the shoes of the former Prime Minister who was assassinated. Throughout the external aggression (...)
Chad and Israel re-establish diplomatic ties
23 January 2019
On 20 January 2019, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, travelled to Nyamena with a view to re-establishing diplomatic relations between Chad and his country.
Chad’s President, Idriss Deby, visited Israel on 25 November. Deby congratulated Netanyahu on this step, although he made it clear that this did not change his support for the Palestinians.
Almost all countries of Africa and the Middle East cut off diplomatic relations with Israel at the end of the war of October 1973 – the (...)
The European Union decrees sanctions against Syrians that seek the reconstruction of their homeland
23 January 2019
On 21 January 2019, the EU Council published a new list of sanctions against Syria. These sanction target businessmen or Syrian businesses that are participating in the Marota City project.
The European Union recognises that, apart from rare exceptions, none of the persons sanctioned under the new list have participated in any way in the Syrian conflict. They are being imposed for their intention to participate in the reconstruction of the country.
According to the UN, the Syrian (...)
The Moujahideens of the People funded Vox (Andalusia)
19 January 2019
According to an investigation carried out by El País, the Moujahideens of the People made a contribution of 800 000 euro to fund the electoral campaign of the Andalusian party, Vox, in the 2004 European Elections .
The Socialist daily newspaper established the subsidiary used to transfer the money but it has not managed to shed light on its signification.
The Moujahideens of the People started out as an Iranian Marxist organization established at the end of the dictatorship of Shah Reza (...)
Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé are acquitted
18 January 2019
On 15 January 2019, the International Criminal Court ruled that Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé, former President and Minister of Youth respectively of the Ivory Coast, should be acquitted.
Proceedings had been commenced against the two for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
During the post-electoral crisis of 2010- 2011, the UN Security Council considered that these two men had hung to power by violence and ordered international sanctions to be imposed on them. They were (...)
France will give to Iraq 1 000 million euro
17 January 2019
Following the Head of US Diplomacy, Mike Pompeo, his French partner Jean-Yves Le Drian also made a visit to Bagdad. His visit coincided with the visit of King Abdallah II of Jordan.
To everyone’s surprise, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that France – while in the throes of a financial crisis – will give to Iraq 1,000 million euro (1 150 millions US dollars). This will go to participating in Iraq’s reconstruction following the war against the Islamic Emirates (Daesh). (...)
Ten countries of the Lima Group recognize the manipulation orchestrated by the US against Venezuela
17 January 2019
Confronted by the evidence revealed by the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, about the maritime incident provoked by the US transnational ExxonMobil , 10 out of the 12 member states of the Lima Group have withdrawn article 9 of the joint communiqué. Under this article, the Group had denounced an alleged Venezuelan provocation, which placed in danger security in the region.
Only two countries – Canada and Paraguay – did not make the necessary correction. For the governments of Canada (...)
The Economic Summit of the Arab League and the case of Moussa Sadr
12 January 2019
The Economic Summit of the Arab League was due to be held in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on 19 and 20 January. However at least two issues raise doubts whether it will go ahead:
First, there is an intense battle between the member states of the Arab League on the convenience of the Syrian Arab Republic becoming a member again;
Second, the Lebanese Party Amal, established during the Lebanese Civil War by Iranian Imam Moussa Sadr, is opposed to a Lebanese delegation attending the (...)
Resumption of tension in Palestine
12 January 2019
On the announcement of a potential definitive separation between Transjordan and Gaza, relations between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas continue to deteriorate despite the attempt at Egyptian mediation.
The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, went to Cairo where he met the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi. Nothing seems to have come out of this meeting. During the final press conference, President Abbas maintained his position that the United States should be taken out of (...)
Affaire ExxonMobil: Nicolas Maduro publishes his evidence
10 January 2019
According to the US transnational ExxonMobil, on 22 December 2018 the Venezuelan navy expelled two ships that were carrying out prospecting works in the territorial waters between Venezuela and Guyana. Venezuela and Guyana are disputing to which of them these waters belong. On the faith of this communiqué, Guyana, followed by the United States and finally the Lima Group have condemned this military action by Venezuela.
According to Para 9 of the Lima Group’s Declaration on 4 Jan 2019, the (...)
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The anti-imperialist camp: splintered in thought
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Russia is all set for a nuclear war
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Grand Jury called to rule on the presence of explosives in the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001
The Macedonians reject Nato and EU membership
Turkey announces its preparations for invading Greece
The Security Council Gets Ready to order Israel to Break Ties with al-Qaeda
