An increasing number of women and children fleeing war and ISIS captivity are exhibiting lethargy and apathy with resemblance to depressive stupor or catatonia, in connection to traumatic events and reaction patterns involving “apathic introversion” or Resignation Syndrome (RS), along with other symptoms interpreted to be psychosomatic have been reported.
Numerous phenomena resembling RS have been reported by physicians and anthropologists across contexts, cultures and time periods suggesting a common psychosomatic mechanism. Acute as well as prolonged death ensuing real or magical threat of death is known from cultures on most continents. “Epidemics” of dying in war and captivity where no hope remains has been described. (Kihlbom, 2013).
Nostalgia has been examined in relation to deterioration, apathy and dying. (Johannisson, 2001). The concentration camp term “muselmann” denoted those void of all hope exhibiting resignation behavior (Kertész, 1998) claimed to sustain for weeks without nutrition in a state of “archaic autohypnosis”. (Kihlbom, 2013).
Resignation, apathy and eventually death in response to severe unavoidable threat is a consistent finding throughout history and across cultures.
RS designates a long-standing disorder predominately affecting psychologically traumatized children and adolescents in the midst of a strenuous and lengthy migration process. Typically a depressive onset is followed by gradual withdrawal progressing via stupor into a state that prompts tube feeding and is characterized by failure to respond even to painful stimuli. The patient is seemingly unconscious. Recovery ensues within months to years and is claimed to be dependent on the restoration of hope to the family.
Descriptions of disorders resembling RS can be found in the literature and the condition is unlikely novel. Nevertheless, the magnitude and geographical distribution stand out. Several hundred cases have been reported exclusively in Sweden in the past decade prompting the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare to recognize RS as a separate diagnostic entity.
From January 1st 2003 to April 31st 2005, 424 cases were reported(Hessle and Ahmadi, 2006) and out of the 6547 asylum applications submitted for children (0–17 years) in Sweden in 2004 (Von Folsach and Montgomery, 2006), 2.8% were thus diagnosed. No cases reported from other countries, the phenomenon appears unique to Sweden. [Source]
The Swedish word uppgivenhetssyndrom sounds like what it is: a syndrome in which kids have given up on life.
In Sweden: Several hundred children and adolescents have literally checked out of the world for months or years. They go to bed and don’t get up.
They’re unable to move, eat, drink, speak or respond. All of the victims of the disorder, sometimes called resignation syndrome, have been youngsters seeking asylum after a traumatic migration, mostly from former Soviet and Yugoslav states. And all of them live in Sweden.
Rachel Aviv, a staff writer at The New Yorker, described these children in the April 3, 2017, article “The Trauma of Facing Deportation.“[Read the full article on pdf – p. 68]
Excerpts from an NPR interview with Aviv:
The children go into these coma like states when their families are notified that they will be deported. The only known cure is for their families to receive residency permits allowing them to stay in Sweden. It’s not a sudden, magical reawakening when family members read the approved residency permit in the non-responsive child’s presence. Somehow, the information gets through. While there are no long-term follow-up studies, Aviv says, over a period of days, weeks, sometimes a few months, the child begins to eat, move, react and come back to the world.
[Aviv] I first read about it in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. Because I was reading about it in an academic article, I didn’t think to doubt it. But when I met the two girls I wrote about, it felt very strange. There was a sense of unreality. There was a disconnect between how young and healthy, even beautiful, they looked. They looked like they were sleeping. It was a sickening feeling to know that they were in that position for years. People make comparisons to bears hibernating. But humans don’t hibernate. It felt surreal.
[NPR] The two sisters you wrote about were Roma, from Kosovo. The older sister lost her ability to walk within 24 hours of the family’s application for residency being turned down. Her younger sister is also “bedridden and unresponsive.“
[Aviv] They were lying in bed. Their doctors were manipulating their bodies, and the girls did not show any signs that they were aware that there were people around them. When I met them, one of the girls had been in that state for two years, the other one only for a few months. When the doctor shined a flashlight on the girls’ eyes, the one who had been sick the longest, she just sort of stared directly at the doctor as if she didn’t even notice that someone was opening her eyelid.
I met a boy that I didn’t write about. He lived in a hotel. He and his mother had received a residency permit already. He had been apathetic for about two years [while the family waited and worried that they would be deported]. Even though his family had received the residency permit about three months before, the only progress he had made was to open his eyes. He was sitting up, but he could not hold his head up on his own. We’d be talking — his family, his doctors — and suddenly I’d remember that he was in the room.
It was almost as if there was a mannequin in the room that I kept forgetting about. He didn’t seem to be there mentally. That was concerning. He should have been recovering by then. His doctors were hopeful that he’d get better, but there have been almost no follow-up studies about what happens to these children.
[NPR] You did write extensively about Georgi from the Russian province of North Ossetia, who went to bed and stayed there when his family’s permit was denied in 2015. In late May, 2016, Georgi’s family received another letter from the Migration Board. Their neighbor Ellina Zapolskaia translated it:
‘The Migration Board finds no reason to question what is stated about Georgi’s health,’ she read out loud. ‘He is therefore considered to be in need of a safe and stable environment and living conditions in order to recuperate.’
What was his recovery like?
[Aviv] I would never have known that he was sick. He looked and acted completely normal. But even with complete recovery, some of these children have missed two years of their lives, and that’s a big deal.
[NPR] Is it possible that the children who went into these coma like states knew of the syndrome? And if so, might they have been unintentionally showing symptoms as a way of saving their families from deportation?
[Aviv] I think everyone acknowledges that there’s a degree of psychological contagion.Georgi had a family friend with the condition; the two sisters had a cousin; and the boy in the hotel saw at least three other children in the hotel with the syndrome. It’s a little like the way anorexia emerged in the U.S. at a moment in time when people were preoccupied with body image and the media were emphasizing thinness.
The illness borrows from the culture, and suddenly you have all these people who are starving themselves and doctors began diagnosing anorexia. It’s hard to pinpoint what the mechanism would be for children to develop resignation syndrome. It seems to have become a culturally permissible way of expressing one’s despair.
In Mosul: Women and children freed from sexual slavery to ISIS are also falling into coma like state of deep sleep.
Iraqi civilians flee the Islamic State controlled Old City of west Mosul on June 23, 2017. (Photo: Getty).
Since the operation to take back Mosul, Iraq began last year, approximately 180 women, girls and children from the Yezidi ethnic minority who were captured in 2014 by the Islamic State, or Isis, have been liberated, according to Iraq’s Bureau for the Rescue of Abductees.
Women rescued in the first two years after Isis overran their ancestral homeland came home with infections, broken limbs and suicidal thoughts.
But now, after three years of captivity, women are far more damaged, displaying extraordinary signs of psychological injury.
The girls are “very tired,” “unconscious” and “in severe shock and psychological upset,” said Dr. Nagham Nawzat Hasan, a Yazidi gynecologist who has treated over 1,000 of the rape victims.
“We thought the first cases were difficult,” Hasan said. “But those after the liberation of Mosul, they are very difficult.”
The shock expresses itself in women and girls who sleep for days on end, seemingly unable to wake up, said Hussein Qaidi, the director of the abductee rescue bureau.
“Ninety per cent of the women coming out are like this,” he said, for at least part of the time after their return.
Souhayla, a 16-year-old girl who escaped the Islamic State jihadist fighters after three years of captivity, at her uncle’s home in Shariya Camp, Iraq. (Credit: Alex Potter for The New York Times).
Souhayla is just 16-years-old. She was captured at the tender age of 13. She now lay on her side, on a mattress on the floor, unable to hold up her head. Her uncle props her up to drink water, but she can barely swallow. Her voice is so weak, he places his ear directly over her mouth to hear her.
Her uncle described her condition as “shock.” He invited reporters to Souhayla’s bedside so they could document what the terror group’s system of sexual abuse had done to his niece.
“This is what they have done to our people,” said Khalid Taalo, her uncle.
The girl walked out of the most destroyed section of Mosul this month, freed after three years of captivity and serial rapewhen her Isis captor was killed in an airstrike.
Both Souhayla and her family asked that she be identified as well as photographed, in an effort to shed light on their community’s suffering. Her uncle posted her image on Facebook immediately after her release describing what Isis had done to her.
For over a year, Taalo said, he had known his niece’s location, as well as the name of the fighter holding her. He enlisted the help of a smuggler who at great risk photographed Souhayla through the window of the house where she was being held and sent the images to her family.
But it was too perilous to try a rescue.
Souhayla escaped on July 9th [2017], two days after an airstrike collapsed a wall in the building where she was being held, Killing another Yazidi girl who had been held alongside her, including the captor who had been abusing them, her uncle said.
At that point, she was strong enough to clamber through the rubble and make her way to the first Iraqi checkpoint.
When her family drove to pick her up, she ran to embrace them.
“I ran to her and she ran to me and we started crying and then we started laughing as well,” said Taalo, the brother of Souhayla’s father, who remains missing after the Isis took over their hometown. “We stayed like that holding each other, and we kept crying and laughing, until we fell to the ground.”
But within hours, she stopped speaking, he said.
By the time they reached the camp where her mother and extended family had found refuge after the Islamic State overran their village, Souhayla slipped into what appeared to be unconsciousness.
The doctors who examined her have prescribed antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. She also shows signs of malnutrition.
Neither explain her extreme symptoms, said her family and one of the doctors who examined her.
“I’m happy to be home,” she whispered with difficulty into her uncle’s ear, in response to a reporter’s question, “but I’m sick.”
Souhayla eating dinner in her uncle’s tent, a white bandage covering an IV site and a scar from her effort to slit her wrist during her captivity. (Credit: Alex Potter for The New York Times).
Isis had been ruling Mosul for two months in 2014 when the group’s leaders set their sights on Sinjar, a 60-mile-long, yellow massif to the north. Its foothills and mountain villages have long been the bedrock of life for the Yazidi, a tiny minority who account for less than two percent of Iraq’s population of 38 million.
The centuries-old religion of the Yazidi revolves around worship of a single God, who in turn created seven sacred angels. These beliefs led the Isis to label the Yazidi as polytheists, a perilous category in the terrorist group’s nomenclature.
Relying on a little-known and mostly defunct corpus of Islamic law, the Isis argued that the minority’s religious standing rendered them eligible for enslavement.
On August 3, 2014, convoys of fighters sped up the escarpment, fanning out across the adjoining valleys. Among the first towns they passed on their way up the mountain was Til Qasab, with its low-slung concrete buildings surrounded by plains of blond grass.
That’s where Souhayla, then 13-years-old, lived.
A total of 6,470 Yazidis on the mountain were abducted, according to Iraqi officials, including Souhayla.Three years later, 3,410 remain in captivity or unaccounted for,Qaidi of the abductee rescue bureau said.
For the first two years of her captivity, Souhayla was forced through the Islamic State’s system of sexual slavery, raped by a total of seven men, she said.
When the push for Mosul began, she was moved progressively deeper into the area hardest hit by the conflict, as security forces squeezed the terrorist group into a sliver of land near the Tigris River. The area was pummeled by artillery, airstrikes and car bombs, and strafed by helicopter-gunship fire.
As Isis began losing its grip on the city, Souhayla’s captor cut her hair short, like a boy’s. She understood he was planning to try to slip past Iraqi security forces, disguised as a refugee, and take her with him, her uncle said.
Taalo now spends his days nursing his niece back to health. To sit up, she grasped one of the metal ribs holding up her family’s tent and pulled herself into a sitting position, as her uncle pushed from behind. But soon her strength was sapped, and she flopped back down.
He used a wash cloth to dab her forehead, as she lay in his lap. Her mouth fell open and her eyes rolled back.
After her escape, almost two weeks passed before she was able to stand for more than a few minutes, her legs unsteady.
Yazidi Girls: Iraqi officials say recent female escapees are also showing an unusual degree of indoctrination (I would refer to as brainwashing).
Commonly found in the Sinjar mountains, the Yazidi account for less than two percent of Iraq’s population of 38 million. (Photo: Getty).
Two Yazidi sisters, ages 20 and 26, arrived at the Hamam Ali refugee camp, where they drew the attention of camp officials because they wore face-covering niqabs and refused to take them off, despite the fact that Yazidi women do not cover their faces.
They described the Isis fighters who raped them as their “husbands” and as “martyrs,” said Muntajab Ibraheem, a camp official and director of the Iraqi Salvation Humanitarian Organization.
In their arms were the three toddlers they had given birth to in captivity, the children of their rapists. But they refused to nurse them, said the smuggler sent by their family to fetch them. He and camp officials filled out paperwork so that the children could be given to the state, he said.
A video recorded on the smuggler’s phone shows what happened when the sisters saw their family for the first time after their return. Their relatives rushed to embrace the gaunt women. They cried.
Their mother, distraught, stepped behind the tent, trying to steady herself.
A day after the video was taken, reporters went to see the women, and they could no longer stand. They lay on mattresses inside the plastic walls of their tent.
Family members said that except for a few brief moments, the women have not awakened since then, over a week ago.[Source]
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On the 13th of this month, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova spoke out on the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, while pointing out that Western apathy and U.S. involvement in Yemen is an hypocrisy of both their values and accusations of war crimes in Aleppo – when they are killing civilians and bombing hospitals in Northern Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
I have to agree with her. The following is her press release.
Once again, we must return to the humanitarian situation in Yemen. The situation there has become even more catastrophic following the latest escalation in combat. These alarming conclusions have been backed up at the briefing by United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O’ Brien at the UN Security Council on March 10. He painted a shocking picture of the state of affairs, characterising Yemen as the “largest humanitarian crisis in the world.”
Combat between the sides of the conflict in Yemen, with direct involvement by the Saudi-led coalition,
have already killed at least 7,500 people since March 2015, according to the most conservative estimates,
with more than 40,000 wounded.
Around 19 million people are in need of humanitarian aid.
More than 7 million people, mostly children, are malnourished.
Two million Yemenis have been internally displaced, 62,000 of them in just the last six weeks.
Many of these people are unable to find shelter and are living in the open.
This does not include the tens of thousands of refugees.
More than 48,000 people from the coastal town of Mocha have fled in just the last two months since coalition forces began their offensive.
Coalition aircraft caused another bloody episode when, on March 10, they were reported to have bombed a market in the town of Khokha, killing dozens and wounding dozens more.
Plans to launch an offensive against Yemen’s biggest port, Hodeida, are especially worrying. Combat in this region will not only cause mass flight of the population, but will essentially cut the capital, Sana’a, off from food and humanitarian aid supply routes. There is no need to say what disastrous consequences this would have.
Airstrikes continue causing tremendous damage to Yemen’s civilian infrastructure. Schools, hospitals and transport facilities have been destroyed. Arbitrary air blockades and obstacles to shipping make it extremely difficult to get food and fuel supplies into the country. Medicines are in acutely short supply, which means that many Yemenis are dying of what are curable diseases today. The north of the country is in a catastrophic situation, with no cash supply. Public sector workers have not been paid in more than six months.
Terrorists from ISIS and Al-Qaeda are capitalising on this chaos, bolstering their strongholds in Yemen, mostly in the south of the country, and even further complicating the humanitarian situation.
But Western media and NGOs pay little attention to this situation, and indeed pass it over in silence. The West shows no interest in it within its various international forums, in strong contrast to its hyper-active position on Syria.
The Russian Embassy in Sana’a is making active efforts to facilitate the work of the UN humanitarian team in Yemen, headed by Jamie McGoldrick. It was with our effort that a secretariat was set up to ensure coordination between the UN personnel and the de-facto authorities in the capital, above all in the interests of ensuring the population’s unhindered access to humanitarian aid.
We call for an immediate cessation of all use of force, no matter the justifications for combat. It is our firm belief that the Yemeni conflict cannot be resolved by military means. The parties must return to the negotiating table, with the aid of UN Special Envoy Ismail Ahmed, with the aim of reaching a lasting ceasefire and finding a political solution to the conflict. [01]
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Much to the angst of some, and triumph of others – reality TV personality, business man, and son of Fred Trump, a successful New York City real estate developer – Donald J. trump has won his way into the presidential suite of every hotel worldwide. Good for you Donald!
I will explanation why – I won the U.S. election bet with my dear Canadian friend.
I said, “Trump can win.”
He said, “No way.”(p.s. I am owed an awesome foot massage!)
You see, I trust in Western democracy, and that is how I knew Donald Trump could win the election.
The U.S. president is selected by the majority vote – not by the most informed, and not by the smartest voters – but by the majority.
I equally trust in the majority of American voters being led by mainstream media, their unique idolization of people famous for … basically just having their face on flat screens and theater marquees, lastly their well deserved distrust of politicians – heck – I might have voted for Donald just to have a last laugh on the politicians who must now work for President Trump for the next four years. Ha! Jokes on you!
I share my observations and opinion as a Canadian woman whom married an American at age 18, and proceeded to live, raise children, work and travel throughout the United States for most of my adult life.
My reaction when it was announced that Donald Trump won!
Watch the hilarious reactions from Americans, hollywood celebrities and late night talk show hosts.
P.S. Dear Donald Trump, Curse you for making me remove your folder out of the cartoon files, and into the world news folders. The topper being that you are now tagged as “POTUS” and not just “Racists or Sexist”.
The Zeravani are a Specialized Branch of the Kurdish Peshmerga Army.
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT: Female Zeravani soldiers conduct several training exercises near Bnaslawa and Erbin, Iraq in August 2016. Includes archived and current interviews with Kurdistan’s Women Warriors.
Even on the rugged, back roads of Canada – THAT is NOT a JEEP! Back in 2014, the Harper government shook hands on a $15-billion deal to sell, what Trudeau later referred to as “lightly armed jeeps,” to Saudi Arabia. However, Ken Epps of Project Ploughshares, an anti-war group that tracks arms sales, said the LAV weaponry shows how lethal this Canadian deal really is.
Videos, dated from 2012 and 2015, show Saudi authorities using LAVs (not Canadian-made) against Shia citizensin the “Wahhabi-State of Arabia“.
A still image from a video supplied by Saudi human-rights activists shows armoured vehicles being used against Shia Muslim dissidents. The footage casts doubt on Ottawa’s assurances that the delivery of Canadian-made LAVs would not endanger Saudi civilians. (Credit: European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights).
“Such vehicles, far from simple troop carriers, are capable of major destruction, and given the ongoing deplorable human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, there is great risk that they will be used against civilians opposed to the Saudi government. This is why the new Canadian government should be reconsidering the Saudi contract,” Mr. Epps said.
During the 2015 election campaign, Mr. Trudeau played down the strategic nature of the sale, saying General Dynamics was merely exporting jeeps. Mr. Trudeau went on to characterize the sale as a private contract involving a manufacturing company – omitting Ottawa’s crucial role.
The gun subcontract is at the heart of growing controversy in Belgium, where critics are questioning the wisdom of selling weapons to Saudi Arabia – and citing the CMI-General Dynamics deal.
Many NGO groups are concerned the Saudis will use them to not only crush “dissent” at home, but use them against civilians in Yemen. In which case – would put Canada in violation of its own arms-trading rules – and in light of recent events in Yemen, possibly international law governing export of weapons to countries committing war crimes.
15 Billion Dollars…
Regardless of worldwide outrage of the reprehensible Saudi war crimes against women and children in Yemen, and innumerable human rights crimes against their own citizens – the Trudeau government has approved the export permits for the lethal vehicles anyway.
And from where I am sitting, it looks as though the Liberals had every intention of giving this Saudi weapons deal the government’s stamp of approval even before they won the election, evident by the vote MP Dion gave before he was given the job of actually signing the export papers – which he did – shortly after the Liberals moved into the Parliament building.
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs – Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP.
Although the number of vehicles included is blacked-out, according to The Globe and Mail a French municipal official has said the transaction CMI, a subcontractor, is involved with concerns about 700 vehicles.
What do the Saudis get from this deal?
Unveiling of Canada’s Upgraded Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV).
Some information has leaked out in Belgium, where one broadcast journalist called CMI’s work for the Canadian maker of armoured vehicles the “contract of the century” for the firm, which is based in Seraing, Belgium. Local media say it would be worth €3.2-billion ($4.9-billion) and last more than 15 years.
In 2015,CMI announced it had bought a military base in northeastern France to be transformed into a campus to train the Saudis on the LAV weaponry.
The Globe and Mail report continued by saying: CMI, which manufactures turrets and cannons, announced in 2014 that it had signed a large contract with a “Canadian vehicle manufacturer” to supply two gun systems, including a medium-caliber weapon and the Cockerill CT-CV 105 HP, which it advertises as a “high-pressure gun with an advanced autoloader to deliver high lethality at very light weight,” one with the capacity to fire 105-mm shells and a heavy-armour-penetrating missile. CMI did not name the Canadian company.
In France, where CMI’s campus is located, a local municipal official said CMI is doing work for General Dynamics and its armoured vehicle contract with Saudi Arabia. In an interview, Jean-Philippe Vautrin, president of the Communauté de Communes du pays de Commercy, said CMI will start training the Saudis on the turrets and cannons in 2017, using simulators on the campus site but also a nearby artillery range.
He said the Saudis will learn how to operate the wheeled portion of the LAVs onCanadian soil. [01]
Do the Saudis have the vehicles yet?
General Dynamics is still gathering the materials needed to make the vehicles, but export permits were issued in April, 2016, for an unspecified number of them, according to a secret Global Affairs Canada memo released by the Justice Department.
What could the Saudis possibly need 700 armed tanks for?
Attacks on Saudi civilians – even reasonable doubt that the Saudis would use the LAVs for purposes not stated in their military statement, and if those other purposes include crimes against their own citizens – should have raised red flags under Canada’s weapons export rules – which forbid weapons shipments “unless it can be demonstrated there is no reasonable risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population” by the buyer.
And what about the attacks on Yemeni civilians andthe use of internationally banned cluster bombs?
Saudi war crimes – go far beyond casting a serious, reasonable doubt – when reliable reports give evidence of 10,000 Yemeni civilians killed in Saudi airstrikes in just over one year, and over half the dead were children; and another 10,000 children have suffered an excruciating death by starvation, due to the Saudi military-enforced block on food, medicine and humanitarian aid, and those numbers rise exponentially every day.
SERIOUSLY?
How many DEAD CHILDREN will it take to declare Saudi Royals’ egotistical and violent bombing of Yemeni civilians exactly what it is – a GENOCIDE.
American Weapon Sales.
The U.S. is responsible for nearly 33% of worldwide exports – by far the top arms exporter on the planet – but which countries does the U.S. sell the most weapons to?
Saudi Arabia was the top recipient of American-made arms from 2011-2015, followed closely by the United Arab Emirates, according to research compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which has been analyzing international arms transfers since 1968.
Experts believe the Middle East will remain a top destination for weapons for some time – it currently accounts for about 40% of U.S. arms exports. The American exports include everything from small arms to fighter jet aircraft and tanks, to Patriot Missile batteries.
While most of the top importers use their own money to buy arms from the U.S., the U.S. also provides some countries with grants and loans — separate from the arms sales — to buy defense equipment from American manufacturers, as part of a program called Foreign Military Financing.
The State Department’s 2017 budget request includes approximately $5.7billion for Foreign Military Financing. In the proposed budget, the top five recipients of American foreign military financing:
Israel: $3.1 billion
Egypt: $1.3 billion
Jordan: $350 million
Pakistan: $265 million
Iraq: $150 million
While Israel is supposed to spend this money on U.S. arms, some of that country’s most expensive purchases, like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, have yet to be delivered and are therefore not reflected in SIPRI’s statistics.
While the Middle East tops the list, funding for African armies in 2017 will more than double from last year, likely a consequence of increased terrorist activity in places like Mali, Somalia, and Nigeria.
If the federal Liberals are loathe to cancel Canada’s controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia, it may have something do with a trend published by Jane’s Defence Weekly.
According to the magazine, Canada has become the world’s second-largest exporter of arms to the Middle East, behind the United States.
The last time Jane’s surveyed arms exports, Canada was in sixth place on Middle East exports, but the country leapfrogged Britain, France, Germany and Russia into second place, with US $2.7 billion in sales in 2015, Jane’s reports.
That comes amid a growing frenzy of military spending by Middle Eastern countries that has made the region the top arms importer and Saudi Arabia the world’s single largest buyer of foreign weapons.
“The combined value of Saudi Arabia and the [United Arab Emirates’] defence imports is more than all of Western Europe’s defence imports combined.
“The U.S., Canada, France and the U.K. are the main exporters of defence equipment to the Middle East and beneficiaries of this spending boom.
“The global defence trade market has never seen an increase as large as the one we saw between 2014 and 2015.”
said Jane’s senior analyst, Ben Moores.
Worldwide, the defense trade reached a record high of US $65 billion in 2015, Jane’s reports. Canada remained the sixth-largest arms exporter, the same rank as in 2015 and up from 10th place in 2013 and 2014.
“The global defence trade market has never seen an increase as large as the one we saw between 2014 and 2015,” Moores said.
The Jane’s report comes amid ongoing controversy about the federal Liberal government’s decision to proceed with a $15-billion defense contract with Saudi Arabia signed by the previous Conservative government in February 2014.
The $15-billion contract for a fleet of armoured vehicles is expected to create 3,000 jobs at General Dynamics Land Systems in southern Ontario. The deal will add at least $1 billion to Canada’s arms exports numbers over the next decade. [02]
Though polls show that only one-fifth of Canadians back the arms deal — and roughly half oppose it — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in April that honouring the Saudi arms deal is a matter of principle.
“The principle at play here is that Canada’s word needs to mean something in the international community,” Trudeau said at the time.
I bet you are as disheartened as I am to learn that Canada has become the second largest supplier of military goods to the Middle East – mostly from the sordid $15 billion deal to supply Saudi Arabia with light armoured combat vehicles (or LAVs).
In fact, researchers at IHS Jane’s Defence told The Globe and Mail that “Canada has never ranked so highly among all arms-exporting countries.”
How did this happen?
How did Canada get mixed up in the dark underbelly of the global arms industry, sending billions of dollars’ worth of light armoured vehicles to the despots in Saudi Arabia?
Armoured vehicles, made right here in Canada and shipped under an earlier contract, were used to suppress peaceful pro-democracy protesters in neighbouring Bahrain, and now are taking part in bloody attacks in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition had been blacklisted by the UN for the unconscionable number of children killed by its airstrikes.
This new arms deal, to sell even more LAVs to Saudi Arabia over the next decade, contradicts everything we stand for. Our middle-power nation is known around the world for inventing peacekeeping, for banning landmines, for rejecting George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq and his Star Wars missile defence system.
These are values that you and I share, and together, we have steadfastly upheld and promoted them. That’s why I am counting on your support, once again. Like you, I am not prepared to let the arms dealers win.
It was almost a year ago that millions of Canadians voted for historic change – finally ridding Canada of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.
The Defence Lobby – that powerful network of corporations (mostly U.S.-headquartered), politicians, academics and media pundits – all fueled by billions of dollars in military spending – has been working overtime to push the Trudeau government to make more dubious arms deals, and even to abandon their promise to kill the Harper plan to buy the obscenely overpriced and under-performing F-35 stealth fighter.
Under new transparency rules, the Liberal government released the 2014 and 2015 Reports on Canada’s Military Exports and, unbelievably, they reveal that Middle Eastern tyrants like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are not the only questionable recipients of Canadian-made weapons. In fact, Algeria, Thailand (after the military coup), Peru and Colombia are also recipients, despite their dreadful human rights records.
Canadian companies have also been accused of UN sanctions-busting, through banned weapons sales to Libya and South Sudan.
What is happening to the Canada I grew up in?
We have just come through a veritable “decade of darkness” characterized by reckless military spending, disastrous foreign wars, and Cold War sabre-rattling.
We can clearly see the terrible results. The Defence Lobby, and the arch Conservative think tanks they fund, have become so deeply entrenched in the Canadian body politic and they have such a stranglehold on government that the Liberals seem powerless (or unwilling) to escape their clutches.
The ball is in your court Prime Minister Trudeau. Are you going to turn a blind eye to Saudi’s inhumane treatment and killing of women and children, while dragging Canada into their disregard for the right to life in Yemen – a grievous crime surmounting to genocide? If Canada proceeds to arm their invasion of Yemen with sniper guns and lethal tanks, your term as Prime Minister will leave permanent blood stains on our country’s reputation as peacekeepers and defenders of mankind’s humanity.
Regimes like Saudi Arabia and Israelhave swept justice under the carpet, setting a standard of “new rules” of war, and what constitutes a human rights violation, or warrants U.N. sanctions – all played out for the world to watch by way of social media and television. Perhaps that is the most disturbing injustice – every nation is watching – yet, no one is willing to take a stand, and stop the killing, and put out an international arrest warrant for the Saudi royals, and certain Israeli rulers, for their violent war crimes against children, and unimaginable cruelty against innocent civilians of all ages.
Meanwhile… Saudi royals continue to throw money, or threaten to stop throwing money at the United Nations. And Israel, well the Jews survived Nazi Germany genocide, so that immediately grants them impunity – consequently Madam Justice has been bought, blackmailed, and bullied.
Please send all inquiries or request to publish this article to Alistair.Reign@Gmail.com, thank you.
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Starvation, disease and death of loved ones are an everyday reality for the impoverished country of Yemen; due to the Saudi-led bombings, blockade on supplies and aid, and US-imposed sanctions, unilaterally has plunged an entire nation into darkness.
The blockade on food and medicine has resulted in innumerable deaths by diseases that are treatable, but are left untreated because medicine is included in that blockade, and Yemen ran out of medicine many months ago – adding to the needless suffering and deaths of both the young and old – by way of treatable diseases such as liver, heart, lung, diabetes and cancers.
Because of the bombing of hospitals, clinics and care facilities, people are dying in greatly increased numbers from lack of medical treatment; victims suffering injuries from the attacks on civilians are unable to find doctors to treat their wounds, resulting in additional loss of innocent lives that could have been saved if the Geneva Convention “rules of war” were being respected by Saudi Arabia – and most importantly enforced by the United Nations.
The destruction of essential services it is not just happening to medical buildings. The Saudi-coalition airstrike targets have included a vast majority of Yemen’s electrical stations, food distribution facilities, farms, livestock, schools and busy markets, even homes for the disabled and elderly.
The game of peace talks in Kuwait came to an end this month – with no peace in sight for the helpless families. The Saudi’s are surely feeling even more emboldened by the UN’s lack of action, and acceptance of their slaughtering thousands of Yemeni women and children, because according to witnesses airstrikes appear to have increased in the past few days.
Sanaa international airport were hit minutes ago by KSA Jets with 4 sorties. Huge explosions are being heard loudly till this minute.#Yemen
There are a handful of humanitarian groups managing to deliver life-saving food, medicine, warm clothing, and even school supplies and gifts for children, and always a warm smile and compassionate companionship – while giving hope to parents and joy to children who are suffering in ways most of us cannot even imagine what it would be like, if we had to watch our children suffer and die in the ways of Yemeni parents.
For those who are aware of our fundraising campaign Colour of War, you will be familiar with the Mona Relief Charity’s dedicated volunteers, who are out there risking their lives to deliver life-saving aid to the Yemeni families and orphans living between a sudden death by bombing, and a slow, agonizing death by starvation.
Mona Relief was founded by Yemeni journalist and activist, Fatik Al-Rodaini.
The following is a video showing the efforts of Mona Relief volunteers helping to deliver humanitarian aid inside Yemen.
“The world should be outraged at the atrocities carried out in Yemen in the name of democracy; the world should be outraged at the images of butchered children; the world should be outraged at the images of helpless mothers and the frail elderly; the world should be outraged at the blockade and senseless killing period!
Instead, the world is fed a “spin” version of the facts, under the banner of political righteousness. A humanitarian blockade is carried out under the banner of political restoration and civilians are being murdered under the banner of democracy![01]
Always remember that people power is always greater than people in power! The past cannot be changed but the future still remains within our power to make – we can all make it count!
In order to educate people, schools and other facilities will have to be rebuilt. Now that Yemen is on the map, albeit for all the wrong reasons, help will be available when all the smoke is cleared. There are always temporary solutions and alternatives available, but they cannot go hand in hand with war and bad politics – in order to do that synergy is essential.
The power to change things is always within a person – use it!” said Riaz Karim.
I will wrap this article up with an additional video showing the works of Mona Relief inside war-torn Yemen.
As one of the wealthiest countries in the world, the U.S. also lays claim to the world’s most powerful military.
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The American led “Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve” has laid claim to the following strikes in Iraq, having taken place since their previous report in March (2016):
Near Al Baghdadi, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle and suppressed two ISIL tactical units.
Near Habbaniyah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units, and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL bunker.
Near Hit, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL tactical vehicles, an ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), two ISIL rocket rails, and an ISIL vehicle.
Near Kisik, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL supply cache, and three ISIL rocket rails and suppressed an ISIL sniper position.
Near Mosul, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and an ISIL headquarters and destroyed two ISIL assembly areas and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.
Near Qayyarah, one strike destroyed two ISIL supply caches and an ISIL headquarters.
Near Sinjar, one strike destroyed an ISIL supply cache and suppressed an ISIL rocket position. [01]
What exactly constitutes a strike?
According to Defense Media Activity (DMA), a strike is: Multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of buildings and vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making that facility (or facilities) harder or impossible to use.
Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Iraq include:
Australia,
Belgium,
Canada,
Denmark,
France,
Jordan,
Netherlands,
United Kingdom,
United States of America.
Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Syria include:
Australia,
Bahrain,
Canada,
France,
Jordan,
Netherlands,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Turkey,
United Arab Emirates,
United Kingdom,
United States of America.
Countries which have conducted independent strikes in Syria include:
Russia
However, American military invasions might be nothing compared to the repercussions that can devastate a country from U.S. economic sanctions.
On June 6-7 2016, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew participated in the Economic Dialogue of the eighth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, China.(Photo: US Dept. Treasury).
What is the US Department of The Treasury?
According to their statements: The Treasury Department performs a critical and far-reaching role in enhancing national security by implementing economic sanctions against foreign threats to the U.S., identifying and targeting the financial support networks of national security threats, and improving the safeguards of our financial systems. [02]
The Treasury Department has a long history of dealing with sanctions. Dating back prior to the War of 1812, Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin administered sanctions imposed against Great Britain for the harassment of American sailors. During the Civil War, Congress approved a law which prohibited transactions with the Confederacy, called for the forfeiture of goods involved in such transactions, and provided a licensing regime under rules and regulations administered by Treasury.
OFAC is the successor to the Office of Foreign Funds Control (the “FFC”), which was established at the advent of World War II following the German invasion of Norway in 1940. The FFC program was administered by the Secretary of the Treasury throughout the war. The FFC’s initial purpose was to prevent Nazi use of the occupied countries’ holdings of foreign exchange and securities and to prevent forced repatriation of funds belonging to nationals of those countries. These controls were later extended to protect assets of other invaded countries. After the United States formally entered World War II, the FFC played a leading role in economic warfare against the Axis powers by blocking enemy assets and prohibiting foreign trade and financial transactions.
OFAC itself was formally created in December 1950, following the entry of China into the Korean War, when President Truman declared a national emergency and blocked all Chinese and North Korean assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
What is OFAC and what does it do?
The Office of Foreign Assets Control administers and enforces economic sanctions programs primarily against countries and groups of individuals, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers. The sanctions can be either comprehensive or selective, using the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals.
What is a U.S. sanction?
Prohibited transactions are trade or financial transactions and other dealings in which U.S. persons may not engage unless authorized by OFAC or expressly exempted by statute. Because each program is based on different foreign policy and national security goals, prohibitions may vary between programs. [03]
According to The U.S. Department of The Treasury the following countries are currently on the sanctions list: [04]
Active U.S.A. Sanctions Programs:
Last Renewal:
Balkans-Related Sanctions
07/09/2015
Belarus Sanctions
04/29/2016
Burma Sanctions
05/17/2016
Burundi Sanctions
06/02/2016
Central African Republic Sanctions
03/08/2016
Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)-Related Sanctions
07/30/2015
Counter Narcotics Trafficking Sanctions
07/01/2016
Counter Terrorism Sanctions
06/30/2016
Cuba Sanctions
07/08/2016
Cyber-related Sanctions
12/31/2015
Democratic Republic of the Congo-Related Sanctions
06/23/2016
Iran Sanctions
06/08/2016
Iraq-Related Sanctions
04/04/2016
Lebanon-Related Sanctions
07/30/2010
Libya Sanctions
05/13/2016
Magnitsky Sanctions
02/01/2016
Non-Proliferation Sanctions
03/24/2016
North Korea Sanctions
07/06/2016
Rough Diamond Trade Controls
05/21/2008
Somalia Sanctions
07/05/2012
Sudan Sanctions
03/09/2016
South Sudan-related Sanctions
04/04/2016
Syria Sanctions
04/15/2016
Transnational Criminal Organizations
02/16/2016
Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions
12/22/2015
Venezuela-Related Sanctions
07/10/2015
Yemen-Related Sanctions
04/14/2015
Zimbabwe Sanctions
03/22/2016
In other words – civilians – the innocent population – are suffering for the crimes of their corrupt government; men, women, youth, children and infants who are already suppressed by a cruel and unjust regime, are made to suffer worsened poverty and poor health.
I am just saying.
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To give credit where it is due, the United Nations started out with the best of intentions; with a mission set forth to prevent another holocaust and other crimes against humanity.
The time was the end of WWII, and the enormous task of convincing countries once at war to “Unite as One Nation” was accomplished by several leaders of humanity, and the UN Charter was born – a signed agreement of what constitutes humane treatment, equal rights, rules of war and international law.
However, times have changed and on the 10th of this month UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon’s statements to the Security Council committee have lost their original potency:
“Protecting civilians is an overarching responsibility involving all the critical functions of the United Nations: human rights, humanitarian, political and peacekeeping.“
Today the past accomplishments of the United Nations has lost their shine, as has the UN lost its effectiveness. In fact, the UN committees have proven powerless in matters of serious crimes against humanity openly committed worldwide.
United Nations is no longer a cure for a sick world. Evidence is in the inhumanity we see around us; committed by the very same seated members of the United Nations we count on to protect us.
The serious crimes committed by peacekeepers have gone unpunished.
The war crimes by Saudi Arabia and Israel are accepted with impunity.
The rise of Daesh, and the validation of their terrorist Islamic states.
The barbaric and public punishments inflicted on children and women.
In this chapter I will cover humanitarian crisis number one: Non-accountability of UN Peacekeeper crimes.
1.United Nations Peacekeepers
UN Peacekeepers are just as likely to inflict cruelty on the suppressed people they are charged with protecting, as the warring armies and extremists. Peacekeeping officers have been accused of engaging in serious criminal offenses such as sexual abuse, sex-trafficking, soliciting prostitutes, sexually abusing minors and forcing children into prostitution.
UN peacekeepers north of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Reforms introduced over the past decade have failed to stamp out sex crimes by UN peacekeepers. (Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/ AFP/ Getty).
“In November (2015), United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced he intends to start naming and shaming countries whose troops and police serving in UN peacekeeping missions face credible accusations of sexual abuse and exploitation.
“This statement came a day after he took the unprecedented move of firing the head of the peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic over the handling of dozens of misconduct allegations. The latest, brought on Tuesday by Amnesty International against the mission’s police officers, included the indiscriminate killing of a teen and his father, and rape of the daughter, a twelve-year-old (12) girl.
“”Considering the gaps in the system for reporting, investigating and prosecuting sexual abuse allegations,” (US Ambassador Samantha) Power said, the number of actual allegations against peacekeepers “could be far worse”.” [01]
There is a reason for this increasing phenomenon.
In fact, the magnitude of sexual violence and exploitation committed by peacekeeping forces on local populations, together with the U.N. response to them, has become central topics for discussion and analysis for many.
It was previous UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in November 2004, first pledged to eliminate the scourge of sexual abuse from the United Nations peacekeepers.
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) statistics from their 2005 report: from the one-hundred-fifty-five (152) peacekeeping personnel dismissed for misconduct, one-hundred-seventeen (117) were members of military contingents. Besides deciding on administrative penalties against the one-hundred-seventeen (117) military officers, the United Nations has no legal authority to bring up criminal charges or enforce prosecution.
All the United Nations can do is send the officer back to his troop-contributing country, “but it cannot ensure the prosecution of that person once they have returned home” (Murphy, 2006, p.532). Typically, the environment in which the U.N. personnel operate is one where there are weak and ineffective judicial and law enforcement structures, a collapsed economy and corrupt institutions.
All of these factors create chaos and disorder that consequently facilitate misconduct.
However, “while these conditions certainly foster situations in which sexual abuse occurs or in which the likelihood of sexual abuse may increase, a contributing factor is that peacekeepers commit these violations because they believe they can get away with it,” wrote Muna Ndulo in her 2009 paper, “UN Responses to Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Women and Girls by Peacekeepers“page 144.
The criminal liability of peacekeeping personnel, therefore, lies at the very core of successfully addressing the problem.
[a]s such, it enjoys the status, privileges and immunities of the Organization provided for in Article 105 of the UN Charter, and the UN Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN of 13 February 1946. UN staff members are appointed by the Secretary-General and they have the status of officials under the Convention, section 18 of which provides that officials are immune in respect of acts committed by them in their official capacity (pdf page 533).
In a similar note, Deen-Racsmany contends that “the SOFA provision on the exclusive criminal jurisdiction of the sending state over military members of national contingents (MMsNCs) constitutes a major obstacle in the way of ensuring the accountability of this category of persons for crimes and serious misconduct committed in peacekeeping operations” (2011,page 350).
in addressing the sexual abuse problem is increased recognition of the importance of women’s role in peace processes, along with the importance of incorporating female perspectives in the general U.N. peace and security framework. An effort to do just that resulted in the 2000 U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. (pdf Resolution 1325).
However, when it comes to practice, analysts are ambivalent as to how successfully the resolution has been translated into the implementation of U.N. peacekeeping mandates. The report on the ten-year impact study on the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 states that while there has been significant progress in supporting women’s participation in political processes, “conflict related sexual violence as a deliberate strategy in areas of conflict still occurs with impunity” says United Nations in their 2010 report (pdf page 10).
In his meeting with UN Security Council last November,S.G. Ban Ki-moon said: “The UN lacks the power for criminal investigation and prosecution, which lets member states take whatever punitive action they choose against the troops they contribute. “In the most frustrating cases,” nothing is done at all.
““A failure to pursue criminal accountability for sexual crimes is tantamount to impunity,” he said, saying countries must quickly investigate and hold its troops accountable.
“Ban also announced several UN measures now being implemented. They include strict timelines for completing investigations, setting up immediate response teams inside peacekeeping missions to handle allegations, and suspending payments to countries whose troops face credible allegations of misconduct.
“Since its creation in April 2014, the peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic says it has received fifty-seven (57) casesof misconduct, includingeleven (11) allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse.” [02]
Yet, United Nations peacekeepers in the Central African Republic raped or sexually exploited at least eight women and girls between October and December 2015. Among the survivors are two 14-year-old girls, an 18-year-old and a 29-year-old woman who said peacekeepers gang-raped them:
The 18-year-old woman said that when she visited the Republic of Congo troop base near the airport in late 2015 seeking food or money, armed peacekeepers forced her into the bush and gang-raped her. “I didn’t want to have sex with them, but when I went to visit their base they took me into the bush,” she said. “There were three of them on me. They were armed. They said if I resisted they would kill me. They took me one by one.”
A 14-year-old girl said that in November, two peacekeepers attacked her as she walked by the MINUSCA baseat the airport. “The men were dressed in their military uniforms and had their guns,” she said. “I walked by and suddenly one of them grabbed me by my arms and the other one ripped off my clothes. They pulled me into the tall grass and one held my arms while the other one pinned down my legs and raped me. The soldier holding my arms tried to hold my mouth, but I was still able to scream. Because of that they had to run away before the second soldier could rape me.”
Another 14-year-old girl said she was walking by the MINUSCA base at an old cotton factory in late December (2015) when a peacekeeper from the Democratic Republic of Congo attacked her. “I was on a path in the bush and had walked by the MINUSCA guards when a soldier jumped out at me. He was in a uniform like the other soldiers from the [Democratic Republic of the] Congo. He had his gun with him. He slapped me in the face and made me continue to walk on the path… We walked for a while, then he ripped off my clothes and used them to tie my hands behind my back. He threw me on the ground, placed his gun to the side and got on top of me to rape me. When he was done he just left. I had to put my clothes on and I went home.”
A 29-year-old woman said that a soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo raped her inside her home in October 2015. “I heard a knock on the door and I said I was busy. But a man said, “No, open the door…. I have come to see you.” I ignored it and thought a few minutes later that he had left. But as I finished washing he just came in. It was a MINUSCA soldier in a blue hat. I said, “What are you doing here?” and I told him to leave. But he forced himself on me and as he was stronger I had no choice.“
UN Peacekeepers stationed in refugee camps are extorting sex from children and women in exchange for food or or money, as ongoing conflict has left the population desperate.
A 16-year-old girl said that a peacekeeper from the Republic of Congo who was based at the airport gave her food and money in exchange for sex from October to December (2015). She said that soldiers instigated sexual relationships with her when she and a friend went to the base to sell alcohol: “I met him when he was on guard duty at the airport. We had sex there. After that he would come to my hut.”
The girl said that when the conflict started in Bambari she had no choice but to move near the airport for her safety and that of a family member with a disability. Once there, she said she had no means to provide for herself and her relative and felt she had no option but to exchange sex for food and money.
An 18-year-old woman said that in November (2015) she exchanged sex for food and money with soldiers presumed to be from the Republic of Congo, who were based at the airport. Her friends, who were already trading sex for basic supplies, and a family member encouraged her to approach the contingent because her family had “problems of food and money.” She said that her friends told her, “Instead of staying in your situation you should go with the Congolese so they will give you money to feed your family.”
It has been over a decade since the UN Secretary General holding office had promised to bring the crimes of Peacekeepers to justice – and NOTHING has improved, on the contrary, along with the increase in armed conflict, comes with it an increase in Peacekeeper sexual crimes and abuse. The troop-contributing country of the accused is STILL solely responsible for carrying out judicial proceedings against soldiers who commit sexual exploitation and rape.
It is2016 and the United Nations is still powerless to enforce that justice is served.
“In a country where armed groups routinely prey on civilians, peacekeepers should be protectors, not predators,” said Hillary Margolis, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Sending peacekeepers back home is not enough. The UN needs to insist that troops’ home countries bring rapist and other abusers to justice, and that survivors get the support they need.”
Human Rights Watch documented the eight (8) cases of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers, known as MINUSCA, during research in Bambari between January 16 and 30, 2016. [03]
In this chapter of my report I have focused on the region of Africa for purpose of examples of these crimes, however, almost every vulnerable nation is at risk from the abuses of UN Peacekeepers, so many in fact, it would require several chapters to cover the global epidemic of Peacekeeper’s abuse of their power and position over the people’s poverty, or vulnerability of living in refugee camps.
This type of abuse of a Peacekeeper’s position is especially heinous for this very fact – the people they abuse are already suffering terrible physical and mental health trauma before being attacked; and the insidious instigation of children reduced to prostitution to keep their families alive – these crimes against humanity should be treated with zero-tolerance.
I say – double shame on the United Nations’ Secretary General, and triple shame on its seated leaders of inhumanity.
Several media outlets have compared Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to one another – some call their political tactics, “The new model of charismatic, bold, and politically incorrect leader treats democracy like a toy,” said Keith Hui in his article “Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump Are Symptoms of Creeping Caesarism”.[01]
Vladimir Putin uses a tranquilizer gun to sedate an Amur Tiger during his visit to a nature reserve. (Photo: RT).
For discussion purposes, suppose we concede to agree that Presidents, from almost every nation worldwide, have been creeping toward Caesarism from the outset.
In which case, I agree with those that say the recent phenomenon of the unexpected political success of politicians such as Putin and Trump is more of a “galloping” Caesarism, because there simply is no comparison between the scale, grandeur and power of the presidency now, and its counterpart of President Washington in 1789.
Barney Frank writes in the nation: “But where the law has been set out in a prescribed constitutional manner as to how to do something, and the President says, I am not going to do it that way, I will do it my way, then you are into plebiscitary democracy. Then you are into the democracy that says no checks and balances. No, Congress, I will do what I think necessary.” [02]
The President has been allowed to be the decider.
Political scientists use the term “Plebiscitary democracy” to describe those systems wherein a leader is elected, but once elected has almost all, if not total power as the country’s decider. It is democracy, but it is closer to plebiscitary democracy than it is to the traditional democracy of America.
President Vladimir Putin , seen greeting the Bush family dog. (Photo: The International).
In America it was the Bush administration who graduated “authoritarian democracy“ into the category of openly “acceptable tyranny” at a time of grave attack and threat against their homeland.
“In any case, regardless of who first did what to whom, the question remains open whether or not the American presidency is a smoke screen for “democratic royalism”, wrote Greg Wiener in a 2013 open essay. [03]
Case in point
Otto von Bismarck, revered as the “Iron Chancellor”, embraced the plebiscitary philosophy into his Caesar-like leadership; and based his nation’s governance on the symbiotic dynamics between a ‘charismatic leader’ and an ‘irrational mass’ with ‘disdain for parliament’ , as summarized by German theorist, Max Weber. (Popup history of Otto).
The significantly more successful than projected political success of Putin, Trump, Erdogan and Duterte have brought back Weber’s hundred-year-old idea to the 21st century – with a current perspective.
President Vladimir Putin, former KGB officer said, “There is no such thing as a former KGB man”.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, a former KGB officer (whom by the way said, “There is no such thing as a former KGB man“), is currently serving his third, non-consecutive term, and has held office for over 13 years. Terrorizing society through draconian laws is one of the main manifestations of his government.
Citizens can now be sentenced to up to five years for “inciting extremist activity” through the Internet, and “incitement of hatred” has now been raised to eight years imprisonment, as one small example, yet he remains a hero for many.
Donald Trump theatrics during a rally speech.
Donald John Trump, the brash New York realtor turned presidential candidate, has deflected attention from his lack of experience in politics and over a dozen business failures, with a campaign riding on people’s fears and hatred, while taking advantage of America’s fascination with famous people.
Trump has declared that “most” Mexicans are “rapists and criminals“, and promises to ban all Muslims from entering the United States if elected. He has also promised to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. (Photo: The National).
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is able to command continuous support from the majority of the Turkish people owing to his firmness on secularism, hard fists for the Kurdish secession movement and his vision of “Ottomanism”.
In the November 2015 general election, his AKP regained a parliamentary majority of three-hundred and seventeen (317) out of a total five-hundred and fifty (550) seats.
Leading presidential Candidate Rodrigo Duterte has pledged to end crime by killing tens of thousands of criminals.
Rodrigo “Rody” Roa Duterte, of the Philippines did not apologize for his rude remark on a rape case, has notoriously become known as ‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘Donald Trump of the Philippines’ . [04]
During his campaign for presidency he declared, “I will be strict. I will be a dictator, no doubt it. But only against forces of evil — criminality, drugs and corruption in government”. [05]
The Infamous Kiss
“The Fraternal Kiss” is an example of how a single image can go beyond pure representation and elevate the documentary photography to another level. Depicting the emblematic act for the communists, Bossu’s photograph epitomizes the whole communist world. It symbolizes a mighty site of the Cold War: the Eastern Bloc, thus in a way the Cold War itself 1979. (Credit: Rare Historical Photos).
‘Plebiscitary leadership’ does not work out without an ‘irrational mass’ and for unknown reasons, the masses worldwide are not just obsessed with the present – but also the past charismatic leaders, be they respectful or disgraceful.
The Inspiration
Painted on the side of a building in Bristol, southwest England – home of the celebrated graffiti artist Banksy.
The image reprises a 1979 photograph of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German President Erich Honecker kissing, which was later turned into a mural on the Berlin Wall. (The Kiss seen above).
It was commissioned by pro-EU campaign group “We are Europe” as what they call a warning of things to come if Britons vote to leave the 28-member bloc on June 23 (2016), as advocated by both Johnson and Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate in November’s U.S. presidential election.
Johnson is the “Out” campaign’s best-known leader and Trump has said Britain would be “better off without” the EU, which he has blamed for Europe’s migration crisis. (Credit: Toronto Sun).
In summary, it is still too early to say that the masses would enable the Caesar-type leaders to the extent that they could deform democracy and weaken the legislative powers of nations worldwide.
In his many words of wisdom, Plato wrote, “that when democracy evolves into tyranny, it is the irrational mass, not the charismatic leaders, to blame“.
Please send inquiries and permission to re-blog this article to Alistair.Reign@Gmail.com, thank you.
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Part two of this report focuses on the growing crisis of missing, trafficked and abused children around the world. While every country has a deep concern for vulnerable children, and many end up heinously abused, trafficked or killed; nonetheless there are countries where crimes committed on children is exacerbated by extreme poverty, war and harmful traditions, such as female genital mutilation and child marriages.
A Syrian refugee from Aleppo holds his one month old daughter moments after arriving on a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 3, 2015.(Photo: Dimitris Michalakis/ Reuters).
Children Of War
As the number of families trying to cross the Eastern Mediterranean increases – so is the number of child deaths growing. Humanitarian agencies are calling for better protection for those escaping conflict and despair, said IOM, UNHCR, and UNICEF in a joint report.
An average of two children have drowned every day since September 2015.
“With children now accounting for thirty-six percent of people fleeing conflict regions, the chance of children drowning in the Aegean Sea crossing from Turkey to Greece has grown proportionately.
“During the first six weeks of 2016,410 people drowned out of the 80,000 refugees crossing the eastern Mediterranean. This amounts to35-fold increase year-on-year from 2015.
“Since last September (2015), when the tragic death of toddler Aylan Kurdi captured the world’s attention, more than 340 children, many of them babies and toddlers, have drowned in the eastern Mediterranean. The total number of children who have died may be even greater, the agencies say, their bodies lost at sea.
“This year alone, IOM reports that there have been1,357 deaths of men, women and children who have entered Europe by sea(from January 1, 2016 to May 8, 2016).” [01]
Children have become acceptable collateral damage in war on terrorism.
The mass number of refugees fleeing violence has created a precedence setting crisis of its own, worsened by the resulting over-crowding of camps. Case in point is the Polykastro Petrol Station camp, which was built and staffed to accommodate five-thousand (5,000) people; however to date, the facility is housing, and attempting to feed nineteen-thousand (19,000)refugees, according to MSF Sea on Twitter. [02]
Remember 6 week old Hamad? He's now 8 weeks old & still stuck in a filthy hot camp in #Greece with no way forward. pic.twitter.com/htMhMvJnan
Contrary to their purpose, refugee camps have increasingly become a place of misery, lost childhood and despair; fenced inside camps where they are denied a child’s right to safety and adult supervision; and even the youngest are aware that danger is lurking around every corner; and for these forgotten children and youth, their worry and anxiety is largely aggravated by overcrowding both in and along the refugee routes of escape.
Hundreds of children, fleeing some of the worst crises of our times are locked behind bars. This is Europe in 2016. (Photo: MSF on Twitter).
The younger children and babies are especially susceptible to disease, fever, pains, malnutrition and distress, all of which have caused a fatal health threat in camps; extending to the hundreds of thousands of families sleeping in wet ditches, then walking endless days along cold, muddy railroad tracks. These sufferings are thrust upon children too young to bear the burden of fatigue, exposure to the elements, and prolonged thirst and hunger.
A Syrian Kurd child holds a glass of water after he crossed the border between Syria and Turkey near the town of Suruc, Sanliurfa, September 20, 2014. Several thousand Syrian Kurds began crossing into Turkey in 2014, fleeing Islamic State fighters who besieged their villages, prompting warnings of massacres from Kurdish leaders. Turkey saying a “worst-case scenario” could drive as many as 100,000 more refugees into the country.(Credit: AFP/ Bulent Kilic/ Getty).A mother is reduced to washing her infant in dirty puddle water, Idomeni, Greece 2016.
Persistent heavy rain in Idomeni has also turned the makeshift camp into a quagmire and all the tents have been flooded.
Scores of children are falling ill at the disease-stricken Idomeni migrant camp on the Greece/Macedonia border.
Infections are rife with many of the vulnerable youngsters suffering from fever and diarrhea due to poor conditions. [03]
Doctors Without Borders medical team treats kids made sick by their poor living conditions in the Idomeni camp in Greece. May 2016. (MSF Sea on Twitter).
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) says 40 percent of the Idomeni camp’s population are children, with many falling ill due to the poor conditions and sanitation.
Children walk in a muddy field at this makeshift camp in Idomeni, currently suffering from an outbreak of infection.(Photo: Ghana Daily).
Humanitarian workers, medical professionals, caregivers, teachers and parents are facing an entire generations’ upsurge in mental health illnesses, complex behavior and learning obstacles.
Additionally there are a countless number of children now burdened with a lifetime as a person with a disability; a direct result of injuries and loss of limbs incurred by the trauma of violent war; these children have survived near death, and witnessed their family killed, who are now orphaned, displaced and unwanted by society; ultimately dependent on a busted political system that is villainizing kids, treating them like the enemy – rather than the children they are.
MSF doctors and medical staff have a message for the United Nations’ world leaders – Children are not a target.
The perils for refugee and migrant children in these camps increases for kids closer to age ten-years, teenagers included. Due to the lack of adult protection, both boys and girls are left defenseless to the sex-trade smugglers, rebel armies and terrorist cells.
Children are being used as soldiers, and weapons in suicide bombings.
Child Soldier in Yemen 2015. (Photo: VICE).
Militant groups in the Middle East and Africa are notorious for stealing children from both villages and refugee camps. This is carried out by groups of armed fighters who will pull up in trucks; terrorizing and killing women and children in an unimaginable act of brutality – which can only be described as nonhuman behaviour; more akin to feral animals in my assessment.
The stolen children are confined, and with the use of torture, starvation and brainwashing, sadly even an affectionate child and peaceful youth can be turned into a mindless killing machine.
Adding to their trauma, the task of shooting or beheading people who do not follow regime orders will often fall to the children under the strict supervision of their murderous kidnappers. I cannot even begin to imagine the turmoil a child’s mind must experience, when their own survival is subject to killing another human being (whom may be a friend or family).
The son of a jihadist killed in a U.S. airstrike, age 15 is trained to kill. Terrorists released video of an English-speaking child beheading a man who allegedly failed to enforce Sharia law. The boy pushes his victim to the ground and without hesitation sliced off the man’s head with a dagger. February 5, 2016.(Photo: Breitbart).
In reference to the photo above Breitbart reports, “ISIS has built numerous training camps specifically for children. Videos have shown children, known as Cubs of the Caliphate, participating in military exercises, which included proper gun mechanics. Other videos showed militants teaching children how to behead people by using toy dolls.” [04]
Girls in war-zones kidnapped and sold to Daesh fighters and wealthy Arabs.
Numerous accounts of very young girls forced into sex-slavery can be found on YouTube; girls who have testified how the rich, powerful Arab men(most counties call them pedophiles and pimps) go into the camps under the pretense as “humanitarians” and will approach families; offering marriage to their daughters – girls as young as ten-years-old – by convincing her guardians that she will be married and escape the camps.
Nadia Murad Basee Taha, 21, a Yazidi activist. She escaped captivity by ISIS in 2014, London. February 8, 2016.
When in truth the girl is forced into sexually slavery, assaulted daily, and unless she escapes, is never heard from again.
In my opinion, the only feasible way to protect the millions of internally displaced and refugee children at risk, is to put an end to the war on terrorism responsible for killing civilians in Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan and Yemen. At least then the masses of people escaping from airstrikes in those regions would have no reason to flee.
There is not a single country spared the hardship of children who go missing, nor is any parent safe from the potential loss of a child, whether they ran away or were kidnapped, the majority of these children, from babies to youth are grossly abused, trafficked or killed.
The unacceptable number of children who are reported missing in war-zones around the world has continued to escalate at an alarming rate.
Repercussions from armed conflicts raging in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and South America have created an unprecedented loss of refugee children, numbered at10,000 worldwide, with approximately 5,000 of those coming from the Middle East regions, according to a recent report by International Organisation of Migrants (IOM).
Internally displaced children in Syria, 2016. (Photo: VICE).
While there is government, non-government (NGO), and independent humanitarians working in war-zones who are attempting to find these lost children; others such as Your Ability Organization in Sana’a Yemen, who have converted their facility into dorms to house and care for Yemeni children they find orphaned in the streets. However, the task of monitoring and accounting for each unaccompanied child is overwhelming and shows little progress, even for the largest organisations, and volunteers with the best of intentions.
One of the NGO organizations that has stepped up at this time of crisis for children is Humanity First Canada, and they are providing safety and educations to orphansin the war-zones. Their organization has facilities in over a dozen locations worldwide, and their many lifesaving humanitarian missions includes ensuring refugee children will have a future that includes education. Humanity First is building schools, providing teachers and creating safe havens for these children – the hardest hit casualties of war.
Children and their teacher inside a school for refugees in Syria, built by Humanity First. (Photo: HF).
“The Syrian civil war of the last two years has led to over 100,000 fatalities, 4.25 million internally displaced people and over two-million people displaced abroad, mostly in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
“Many of the worst affected civilians are women with young children who are suffering shock, minor trauma, and lack food, safe water, hygiene and medical attention. There are large temporary camps now such as Za’atari in Jordan where conditions are not ideal.” writes Humanity First on their website.
Humanity First is comprised mainly of volunteers working on the ground for a long term assistance program covering relief supplies, and medical assistance in the region. You can help them help the Syrian refugees by donating on their website at Humanity First.
INDIA
Two brothers live on the streets of India. Cement steps and a piece of cardboard is their home. (Photo: Google).
A child goes missing every eight minutes in India. Maharashtra is one of the largest destinations for trafficked children in India. It was back in November of 2013 when the NHRC issued notice to authorities in Maharashtra, India for not acting on cases of children who go missing in Navi Mumbai.
In fact, few cases of missing children in the country were even filed with the police until the Supreme Court, in response to a petition by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s to save the children (Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation), and made it mandatory in 2013 to register all cases of missing children in India.
It has been reported that six-hundred (600) children go missing in Navi Mumbai every year, and apparently the Navi Mumbai Police Department never takes the issue seriously, as it generally does not register complaints of missing children. [05]
Almost sixty-thousand (60,000) children in 2011 were reported missing from a total of twenty-eight (28) states and union territories according to the NCRB. Of these more than twenty-two-thousand (22,000) are yet to be located.
Homeless children suffer inhumane neglect in India. (Photo: Google).
West Bengal had the highest number of missing children with more thantwelve-thousand (12,000) missing in 2011. Madhya Pradesh was next with (7,797) cases while Delhi had (5,111) cases. These are the cases reported. The following states didn’t report any, which experts say is not credible: Maharashtra, Odisha, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab. [06]
He said almost sixty-thousand (60,000) children in 2011 were reported missing from a total of twenty-eight (28) states and union territories according to the NCRB. Of these over twenty-two-thousand (22,000) are yet to be located.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) told media that hundreds of children who go missing are found begging near bus stands, railway stations, temples, markets and other public places, and the police had not registered a single case under the provisions of the Beggary Prevention Act in the last 10 years.
In India it is common to see children sleep on the streets. (Photo: Google).
Maharashtra has come a long way since 2013, as Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the national “Operation Smile” (Muskaan), with a mission to find and reunite children with their families has succeeded in tracing more than 12,000 childrensince its launch inJanuary 2015,
While some (children) are kidnapped or trafficked and forced to work, many are abandoned by families who cannot afford to care for them.
“Maharashtra has shown good results in bringing back the children and connecting to their families,” Fadnavis told the state assembly.
The state’s efforts have also brought the conviction rate for perpetrators up to fifty-two-percent (52%) from nine-percent (9%)before the campaign launched, he said.
Police must assume missing children are victims of kidnapping and trafficking, and conduct an investigation when a child is recovered to ascertain the involvement of organised gangs in trafficking and child labour, the court had said.
A young boy working in a brick making factory in Maharashtra India. (Photo: India Daily).
First information reports showed that less than a quarter of the children found had been filed as missing with the police, said the state’s Inspector General of Police Brijesh Singh.
“Most children are not even registered as missing,” Singh told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “That makes it very hard to trace them and return them to their families.“
Nationwide, almost 29,000 children were rescued in two-month-long operations last year (2015), according to the home ministry. National data for this year’s January campaign are not yet available.
In Maharashtra, 4,244 children were rescued in January, of whom only 665 had been recorded as missing, Singh said.
Last July, 4,296 children were traced in the state, of whom about 1,400 were girls, he said. A similar number were rescued in January 2015.
Some children were found begging on the streets, and others had been forced to work. Some had been trafficked from the eastern states of Bihar and Orissa, Singh said.
As part of the campaign, police stations in the state appointed child welfare officers, and the state’s 12 anti-human trafficking units worked closely with child welfare centres. Police also tapped NGOs for help with rehabilitation.
“Sustaining the momentum may be difficult, as this was a concentrated effort,” she said. “But they have shown that it can be done, that we can get good results with these measures.” [07]
The countless deplorable crimes against children worldwide are too numerous to include in this report, so I have focused on the increasing crisis of child slavery, genital mutilation and marriages; even at that I cannot cover each country with an exceptionally high number of child human rights’ related crises.
Beggar’s Mafia
AFRICA
Young boy from Quranic school begs for change at a gas station, Medina Gounass, Dakar, Senegal 09/24/2013.(Photo: Rebecca Blackwell/ AP).
In a forty-three-page report, Exploitation in the Name of Education: Uneven Progress in Ending Forced Child Begging in Senegal, Human Rights Watch examines Senegal’s mixed record in addressing the problem of forced begging.
The report is based on interviews in October 2013 and January 2014 with Senegalese civil society activists, government officials, Quranic teachers, religious authorities, and current and former students in Quranic boarding schools.
It follows the April 2010 Human Rights Watch report, Off the Backs of the Children: Forced Child Begging and Other Abuses against Talibés in Senegal, which documented in detail how many men had twisted the country’s long tradition of religious education into a system of exploitation built on forcing young boys to beg.
Many boys Human Rights Watch interviewed said they were physically abused when they were unable to bring back the daily begging quota their teacher imposed. The abuse at times rises to the level of torture, including brutal beatings with whips, electrical cord, or ropes; being chained and forced into stress positions for long periods; and being burned with caustic substances.
In the town of Saint Louis, Human Rights Watch visited two Quranic schools, inhabited by boys as young as seven-years-old, that sit within ten meters of a garbage dump littered with animal carcasses, car parts, and burned refuse.
In the Dakar suburb of Guédiawaye, at least 150 young boys, some no older than six-years-old, sleep in an abandoned concrete structure with no door or windows, no electricity or water – except for pools of rainwater – hundreds of mosquitoes, and no toilet except for the dirt floor on which they stand to bathe. As is often the case in Dakar, the boys must each bring the teacher, who lives elsewhere, 500 CFA francs(US $1.00) a day from begging.
INDIA
A child maimed by the beggar mafia reveals the horrors of trafficked children face in India.
According to UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, and the U.S. State Department, these children aren’t allowed to keep their earnings or go to school, and are often starved so that they will look gaunt and cry, thereby eliciting more sympathy—and donations—from tourists.
And since disabled child beggars get more money than healthy ones, criminal groups often increase their profits by cutting out a child’s eyes, scarring his face with acid, or amputating a limb.
Beggars on the streets of Dhaka told the Guardian that gang leaders took much of their earnings. According to Mohammad Nasim, 35, who begs in Bijoy Nagar, each gang of beggars consists of around 500 members, with syndicates of beggars working under sardars (leaders).
The following comments are from journalistsSaad Hammadi and Jason Burke’s article in the The Guardian:
“…Abducted children, [were] kept for months in confined spaces or even in barrels and deprived them of food. Permanently disabled by their confinement and virtual starvation, the children were then sent on to the streets of the city either accompanied with a woman posing as their mother or alone…”
”The children are kidnapped, put under the bed and left without food for several months, so that they became weak and disabled” [08]
Some estimates put the number of people living from begging in the country as high as 700,000. The total population of Bangladesh is around 135 million.
According to one U.S. State Department report it’s not just happening in Africa and India. A man in Shenzhen, China can earn as much as $40,000 per year by forcing enslaved children to beg. Horrific examples of trafficking in children (and the elderly) for the purposes of organized begging have been found in Bolivia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Senegal, Pakistan, and even Austria, and other European countries, including the United States.
This harmful practice not only deprives children of a childhood, it is detrimental to their physical and psychological health.
It seems that no country is immune to human trafficking. And when trafficked children get too old to beg effectively, they often graduate into forced prostitution, the black-market organ trade, or other gruesome fates.[09]
Child Labour
The use of children as a workforce is another brutal abuse of an adult’s power over a child; inflicting a life of misery onto vulnerable children, whose only crime was being born.
INDIA
in the year 2011 there were11.72 million child labours identified in India. The following statistics are from a report by “Tactful Management Research Journal: A CASE STUDY OF JALGAON DISTRICT:
India: It is common for very young children to be forced to labour in brickyards.
The age demography of child labour in India:
Forty-six percent of child labour are of age thirteen years,
twenty-two percent are of age twelve years,
twenty-seven percent are of an age below tenyears.
I ask, “How could society expect them to work at a job?”
The report also states that India has the largest number of child laborersunder the age of fourteen-years (14) in the world. Even though Indian law prohibits children below the age of 14 from working,12.66 million children work as child laborers, according to the data.
India’s bidi child-laborers suffer for the daily habit of others.(Photo: Gulf News).
Of those, twenty-one-percent (21%) of these children are employed in cigarette and bidi factories,seventeen-percent (17%) in construction and fifteen-percent (15%) as domestic workers. Others work as rag pickers, agricultural workers and in industries like fireworks and carpet weaving.
“Nearly eighty-five-percent (85%) of child laborers in India are hard-to-reach, invisible and excluded, as they work largely in the unorganized sector,” the government report states. Also, many missing children are never brought to the notice of the police, especially those in the commercial sex trade, say experts.
Workers as young as five-years-old are labouring seven days a week, up to twelve hours daily without without proper meals. Some very young children are made to work for only 2 annas for a day of hard labour.
Not surprisingly, ninety-four percent of the children in this study group were not aware of any worker rights, or regulation and human resources for a workplace.[pdf]
Genital Mutilation
Practiced in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, amongst others. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is one of the grossest, cruelest act of violence committed on girls. It horrified me to learn how many countries and religious groups still perform this painful procedure; which inflicts upon the female child a lifetime of genital pain and disfigurement.
The little girl, held down by the women helpers, screams in extreme pain; but no one pays any attention to her suffering. The helper finishes the job by entirely pulling out the clitoris, cutting it to the bone with a knife. Helpers wipe off the spurting blood with a rag. Helper removes the remaining flesh, digging with her finger to remove any remnant of the clitoris. (Credit MEIO).
“FGM is carried out with knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass or razor blades. The mutilation is usually done without anesthetics. Instruments are usually not sterile. Mortality is high.
“The practice has dreadful costs: many girls die afterwards, the survivors suffer their whole life from the psychological and medical consequences of the operation. All are traumatized and suffer from adverse health effects during marriage and pregnancy.” [10]
World Health Organization reports: “FGM procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.
Over 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut in thirty (30) countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where FGM is concentrated.
FGM is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and fifteen-years-old.
Procedure of female genital mutilation.
“Since 1997, great efforts have been made to counteract FGM, through research, work within communities, and changes in public policy. Progress at international, national and sub-national levels includes: revised legal frameworks and growing political support to end FGM; this includes a law against FGM in 26 countries in Africa and the Middle East, as well as in 33 other countrieswith migrant populations from FGM practicing countries.” [11]
Female Genital Mutilation may be the exception to a rise in use on female children, although, the groups fighting against tradition, still have a long way to go before this practice is stopped completely. Until then thousands of girls worldwide are still subjected to this barbaric practice.
Child Marriages
Very young girls are being handed over to much older men, and the repercussion is a life of misery and gross crimes committed against their physical and mental health. In most countries, a child marriage constitutes an indecent crime, the man is labeled a pedophile, and is never accepted back into society. So using the phrase “child-marriage” is a crime in itself.
These children are raped and confined by pedophiles. And Saudi Arabia has the highest number of “religiously sanctioned” pedophiles running their country.
SAUDI ARABIA
Family and friends gather for the engagement of Said Mohammed, 55, and Roshan Kasem, 8, at her home in a rural village of Ghor province.
Research has found Saudi Arabia to have some of the highest levels of gender discrimination in the world, with the gender inequality index ranking it 135 out of 146 countries. The result is a misogynistic mess, where men are often immune from societal expectations while women are left baring extra burdens. [12]
It should be sociallyunacceptablefor a young child to be viewed as a potential mate. While many in Saudi society have placed countless unfair and near-impossible expectations on women, men are left largely unaccountable for their actions.
Children should never be robbed of their childhood or exploited due to financial strains on their families, and no price justifies selling a child into a marriage of any kind. With an estimated 5,000 child brides nationwide, it is, sadly, not uncommon for Saudi parents to wed their children to elderly suitors. [13]
My continued research into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has led me into some very murky waters. It is well-known that the US presidents, British Ministers and Saudi Kings have a special “ménage à trois“ enabling and protecting their self-serving, highly profitable oil and arms deals.
Islamic State DAESH Fighters.(Photo: Global Research).
However, the extent to which the USA is willing to cover-up the Saudis’ gross crimes against women and children has gone too far.
Just how far is too far?
When Wahhabi’s reach is extending beyond their own borders – under the banner of the DAESH.
It is no coincidence that the sudden rise and occupation by Islamic Extremists are located in countries that would expand the al-Saud royal family’s kingdom. The countries currently under attack and occupation include Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Yemen.
Although the Saudi king claims to have waged war in Yemen to fight “ISIS“; when clearly theSaudi-led coalition is there solely to assist the DAESH fighters in the genocide and leveling of the Yemenis and their culture. Jordan and Israel have blood on their hands as well. The USA-NATO-Israel administrations are state sponsors of terrorism, providing training, weapons and money to various terrorist formations.
Why do you think Saudi Arabia has been the largest purchaser of weapons of war for many years – for a country that was not at war?
Of course they are arming their Wahhabi/DAESH militia’s campaign to occupy, and enforce the surrounding Muslim countries to obey their religious police, who in-turn will force the Muslim people to follow the Wahhabi extremist faction of Islam.
A US solider being deployed to Syria holds up a sign.(Photo: Global Research).
America’s “anti-terrorist campaign’ is supporting a so-called “moderate” al-Qaeda group known as “al-Nusrah“, under the pretense of going after another “more extreme” group of al-Qaeda, and their self-proclaimed Islamic State.
It is no secret that al- Nusrah is an al Qaeda affiliate, who are responsible for committing countless atrocities in Syria. So, it makes no sense that al-Nusrah are now considered to be the “Moderate Opposition” by the Obama administration.
Up until2014 the al-Qaeda militia’s occupation in Iraq was known as “AQI“, however when the USA pulled out of Iraq, the region was quickly claimed as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria “ISIS“. The declassification of White House internal documents, and the political developments in the Middle East, have contributed towards confirming what media has known and provided evidence many times over:
Washington was behind the formation of ISIS; just as much as it is now supporting the “moderate al-Qaeda terrorists“, who the Obama administration is heralding as part of America’s campaign against the ISIS-ISIL extremists. Ironically, the US government officials expect the world to believe that they are committed to waging a war against their “frienemy”, the Saudi kingdom’s very own al-Qaeda/ DAESH/ Wahhabi terrorists.
Confused?
Basically, if we are to believe the preposterous statements the US government feeds to the media, then “al-Qaeda has waged war on itself.”
Even more outrageous is the fact that both “warring”al-Qaeda groups are supported covertly by US intelligence and Saudi Arabia; the UK has also played its part in this bloody mess of weapon sales and war crimes.
Below is a copy of just one, of many USA Department of Defense internal documents that have been declassified. This particular correspondence proves that the US administration knew they were leaving the Iraqi people defenseless to the armed occupation by Islamic extremists.
The terrorist groups ISIS and al-Nusrah are protected by the Western military alliance. Both al-Qaeda entities are being used to destroy Syria and Iraq. Their airstrikes allegedly aimed against the DAESH fighters does not target ISIS, it targets Syrian and Iraqi civilians, their schools, hospitals, factories, residential areas, government buildings, roads and bridges.
Could it be that the endgame is a regime change in Syria, and the fragmentation of Iraq, allowing for the Saudis to slip in the backdoor? Consider the following three points.
Going after “Islamic terrorists” by launching a “preemptive” war to “Protect America’s Homeland,” is being used to justify their own military agenda in the Middle East.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant(ISIL) is a creation of US intelligence. Washington’s “Counter-terrorism Agenda” in Iraq and Syria consists of supporting the terrorists.
The incursion of the Islamic State(IS) brigades into Iraq starting in June 2014 was part of a carefully planned military-intelligence operation supported covertly by the US, NATO and Israel.
The counter-terrorism campaign is a fiction.
Portrayed by the media as a humanitarian undertaking, this large-scale military operation directed against Syria and Iraq has resulted in countless civilian deaths.
The convoy of DAESH fighters enters Iraq June 2014. (Photo: Global Research).
The Islamic State is funded by Saudi Arabia and protected by the US and its allies. According to Professor Michel Chossudovsky in his book ‘America’s War on Terrorism’, “if they had wanted to eliminate the Islamic State brigades, they could have “carpet” bombed their convoys of Toyota pickup trucks when they crossed the desert from Syria into Iraq in June 2014.
“The Syro-Arabian Desert is open territory. With state of the art jet fighter aircraft (F15, F22 Raptor, CF-18) it would have been -from a military standpoint- a rapid and expedient surgical operation. It could not have been undertaken without the unbending support of the Western media which has upheld Obama’s initiative as a counter-terrorism operation.“
THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF AL QAEDA By Professor Michel Chossudovsky.
The US has supported Al Qaeda and its affiliated organizations for almost half a century since the heyday of the Soviet Afghan war.
“Advertisements, paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the Jihad.”
Since the Reagan Administration, Washington has supported the Islamic terror network.
“Ronald Reagan called the terrorists “freedom fighters”. The US supplied weapons to the Islamic brigades. It was all for “a good cause”: fighting the Soviet Union and regime change, leading to the demise of a secular government in Afghanistan.”
Ronald Reagan meets Afghan Mujahideen Commanders at the White House in 1985.(Photo: Reagan Archives).
Jihadist textbooks were published by the University of Nebraska. “The United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan school children with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings”
Osama bin Laden, America’s bogyman and founder of Al Qaedawas recruited by the CIA in 1979 at the very outset of the US sponsored jihadist war against Afghanistan . He was 22 years old and was trained in a CIA sponsored guerrilla training camp.
“Al Qaeda was not behind the 9/11 Attacks.September 11, 2001 provided a justification for waging a war against Afghanistan on the grounds that Afghanistan was a state sponsor of terrorism, supportive of Al Qaeda.
“The 9/11 attacks were instrumental in the formulation of the “Global War on Terrorism”.”
THE ISLAMIC STATE (ISIL)
The Islamic State was originally an Al Qaedaaffiliated entity created by US intelligence with the support of Britain’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Presidency(GIP),Ri’āsat Al-Istikhbārāt Al-’Āmah ( رئاسة الاستخبارات العامة).
The United States and some European allies are using defense contractors to train Syrian rebels on how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, a senior U.S. official and several senior diplomats told CNN Sunday. ( CNN Report, December 9, 2012)
The ISIL brigades were involved in the US-NATO supported insurgency in Syria directed against the government of Bashar al Assad.
NATO and the Turkish High Command were responsible for the recruitment of ISIL and Al Nusrah mercenaries from the outset of the Syrian insurgency in March 2011. According to Israeli intelligence sources, this initiative consisted in:
“a campaign to enlist thousands of Muslim volunteers in Middle East countries and the Muslim world to fight alongside the Syrian rebels. The Turkish army would house these volunteers, train them and secure their passage into Syria. (DEBKAfile, NATO to give rebels anti-tank weapons, August 14, 2011.)”
There are Western Special Forces and Western intelligence operatives within the ranks of the ISIL. British Special Forces and MI6 have been involved in training jihadist rebels in Syria.
Western military specialists on contract to the Pentagon have trained the terrorists in the use of chemical weapons.
(Photo: Global Research).
The ISIL’spractice of beheadings is part of the US sponsored terrorist training programs implemented in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Recruited by America’s ally (Saudi Arabia), a large number ofISIL mercenaries are convicted criminals released from Saudi prisons on condition they join the ISIL.
“Saudi death row inmates were recruited to join the terror brigades.”
Israel has supported the ISIL and Al Nusrah brigades out of the Golan Heights.
“Jihadist fighters have met Israeli IDF officers as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu. The IDF top brass tacitly acknowledges that “global jihad elements inside Syria” [ISIL and Al Nusrah] are supported by Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next to a wounded mercenary in an Israeli military field hospital at the occupied Golan Heights border, Syria February 18, 2014. (Photo: Global Research).
SYRIA AND IRAQ
The ISIL are the foot soldiers of the Western military alliance. Their unspoken mandate is to wreck havoc and destruction in Syria and Iraq, acting on behalf of their US sponsors.
U.S. Senator John McCain has met up with jihadist terrorist leaders in Syria.
The Islamic State (IS) militia, which is currently the alleged target of a US-NATO bombing campaign under a “counter-terrorism” mandate, continues to be supported covertly by the US. Washington and its allies continue to provide military aid to the Islamic State.
John McCain has met up with jihadist terrorist leaders in Syria. (Photo: Global Research).
U.S. and allied bombings are not targeting the ISIL, they are bombing the economic infrastructure of Iraq and Syria including factories and oil refineries.
The IS caliphate project is part of a longstanding U.S. foreign policy agenda to carve up Iraq and Syria into separate territories: A Sunni Islamist Caliphate, an Arab Shia Republic, a Republic of Kurdistan.
THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM (GWOT)
The Global War on Terrorism is presented as a “Clash of Civilizations”, a war between competing values and religions, when in reality it is an outright war of conquest, guided by strategic and economic objectives.
U.S. sponsored Al Qaeda terror brigades (covertly supported by Western intelligence) have been deployed in Mali, Niger, Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Somalia and Yemen.
“These various affiliated Al Qaeda entities in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are CIA sponsored “intelligence assets”. They are used by Washington to wreck havoc, create internal conflicts and destabilize sovereign countries.“
The US is also supporting Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist organizations in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region of China. The underlying objective is to trigger political instability in Western China.
“Chinese jihadists are reported to have received “terrorist training” from the Islamic State “in order to conduct attacks in China”. The declared objective of these Chinese-based jihadist entities (which serves the interests of the US) is to establish a Islamic caliphate extending into Western China. (Michel Chossudovsky, America’s War on Terrorism, Global Research, Montreal, 2005, Chapter 2).
HOMEGROWN TERRORISTS
The Terrorists R Us: While the US is the unspoken architect of the Islamic State, Obama’s holy mandate is to protect America against ISIL attacks.
The homegrown terrorist threat is a fabrication. It is promoted by Western governments and the media with a view to repealing civil liberties and installing a police state. The terror attacks by alleged jihadists and terror warnings are invariably staged events. They are used to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
“In turn, the arrests, trials and sentences of “Islamic terrorists” sustain the legitimacy of America’s Homeland Security State and law enforcement apparatus, which has become increasingly militarized.
“The ultimate objective is to instill in the minds of millions of Americans that the enemy is real and the U.S. Administration will protect the lives of its citizens.”
The “counter-terrorism” campaign against the Islamic State has contributed to the demonization of Muslims, who in the eyes of Western public opinion are increasingly associated with the jihadists.
Anybody who dares to question the validity of the “Global War on Terrorism” is branded a terrorist and subjected to the anti-terrorist laws.
“The ultimate objective of the “Global War on Terrorism” is to subdue the citizens, totally depoliticize social life in America, prevent people from thinking and conceptualizing, from analyzing facts and challenging the legitimacy of the inquisitorial social order which rules America.
“The Obama Administration has imposed a diabolical consensus with the support of its allies, not to mention the complicit role of the United Nations Security Council. The Western media has embraced the consensus; it has described the Islamic State as an independent entity, an outside enemy which threatens the Western World.”
I updated four sections of this article to replace video evidence that YouTube forced myself, and others to remove. I salvaged a few of my videos and uploaded them to my server, for the rest I found replacements to the videos other news outlets also had removed by YouTube staff.I have no idea what leverage Saudi “Royals” have over YouTube – but evidence of Saudi Royal’s crimes against its own people inside Saudi Arabia – are being automatically removed.
After several weeks of researching life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with the intention of documenting a comparison to life inside the Islamic State of Iraq, Syria and the Levant (ISIS-ISIL). As my research led me deeper into peace treaties, official files, and before and after photos, it became apparent by the mounting evidence that KSA and ISIS-IL are undeniably one in the same under the flag of Wahhabism.
This document sets forth evidence to prove my claim that the DAESHare acknowledged members of the radical Wahhabi movement, and their Islamic State is clearly a funded brotherhood state to the House of Saud’sIslamic Empire.
Islamic State flag. Translation: “There is no God but Allah – Mohammed messenger of Allah.“
To clarify, the uprising of DAESHfighters and their self-proclaimed Islamic State are not a recently radicalized group. The Western politicians and their collective oil and arms deals in the mid east did not create ISIS – this group of murderous thugs has existed for a very long time. What they are is followers of the radical Wahhabi Sunnis movement. What they are doing is enforcing the laws outlined by the oldest Islamic extremists – the Saudis.
Saudi Arabia flag. Translation: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet.”
The inhumane treatment of Muslims living under the imposed rule of the DAESH is like holding a mirror to life inside “Wahhabi Arabia“, where every horrific report of prisoner abuse and torture; acts of oppression and violence against women and children; targeted destruction of historic and holy structures; enforced religious obedience; and public executions by beheading or stoning is already the daily norm inside the Islamic Empire of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
For more than six decades, the title of King of Saudi Arabia has passed along a line of brothers born to Abdul Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn al-Saud, up to the current Head of The House of Saud, King Salman […] ibn al-Saud.
During my research it also became obvious the majority of popular accounts written on the subject of Saudi Arabia’s origins have relied on the Saudis‘ version of events – that have been largely distorted either to hide or justify their crimes and tyranny – all of which have elevated the “House of Saud” as Arabian royalty and rulers.
HISTORICAL FACTS MATTER
A pivotal point in the world’s timeline of civilization was when a Bedouin warrior Sheikh teamed up with a radical Islam preacher, and the resulting incarnation of their zealous Wahhabi warriors.
Muhammad ibn Saud. Reigned from 1735 to 1765.
The emergence of the “Saudi-Wahhabi” militia formed in the central part of the Arabian Peninsula in 1744 AD, the year Muhammad ibn Saud, tribal ruler of the town of Ad-Dir’iyyah, joined forces with the fundamentalist Sunni preacher Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, founder of the Wahhabi movement – a radicalized form of Islam.
Their alliance was formalized by the wedding of Muhammad al-Wahhab’s daughter, Imam al-Wahhab,toAbdul Aziz ibn al-Saud, the sonand successor of Muhammad ibn Saud. (Muhammadis the son of “Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin” forefather of the dynasty. The word ibn meaning “son of “, and al meaning “family of ” or “House of “).
To this day, the descendants of Al-Saud and the descendants of Al-Wahhab have remained closely linked.
Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab (1703 – 1792). Founder of the Wahhabi movement to “Purify Islam from heresies.“
This consequential pact made in the 18th century has provided the theological fist of oppression in today’s Saudi Arabia as a radical Saudi-Wahhabi kingdom ruled over by a corrupt and cruel king.
This may sound like the pretext to an Arabian Nights fable, but this is a researched factual account of Saudi Arabia’s origins, based on physical evidence, and there is no storybook ending.
The Saudi-Wahhabi’s first joint occupation of the Arabian Peninsula encompassed the land known as Hijaz (Hejaz, Hedjaz), a region centered on the two holiest Muslim cities of Mecca(Makka, Makkah) and Madina(Medina, al-Madinah), comprised of the west-coastal part of modern-day Saudi Arabia.
After many military campaignsMuhammad ibn Sauddied in 1765, leaving the leadership to his son, Abdul Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn al-Saud.
Abdul Aziz ibn al-Saud. Reigned from 1765 to 1803.
Although Arabia’s society had been converted into Islam by the Prophet Mohammad some 1400 years ago – it wasn’t until the early 1800’s when Abdul Aziz ibn al-Saudheaded out on his campaign to expand Saudi territory that he began to set forth his own laws for Muslims to follow by reinterpreting the Quran and Sunni scriptures – he called his radicalized version of Islam’s Muslim religion “Wahhabism” also known as “Salafism“.
It was during the years 1801and 1802when the Wahabbi warriors, under Abdul Aziz al-Saud’s command, attacked and captured the Shia holy cities of Karbala and Najaf. His militia of Wahhabi Bedouin warriors, a ferocious brigand named “Uthman al-Mudayiqi“ massacred a significant number of the Muslim population; leaving a wake of ruined lives, demolished ancient structures and desecrated holy sites, including the sacred tomb of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.
In the year 1803, Abdul Aziz al-Saud emerged victorious in Ta’if where his murderous militia spilled the blood of thousands of innocent inhabitants, including the torture and rape of Muslim women and children.
THE MASSACRE AND LOOTING OF THE MUSLIMS OF TA’IF
The first Saudi occupation:1744 – 1818.
When the ‘ulama’ of Ahl as-Sunnat silenced the Wahhabis in (1796), the ‘ulama’ of Meccaprepared and signed a declaration which showed that Wahhabism was a path different from Islam, revealing it as a trap insidiously set up by the enemies of Islam to demolish it from the inside.
Abdul Aziz al-Saud and his zealous followers bitterly resented the Ahl as-Sunnat and attacked Mecca. The Amir of Mecca, Sharif Ghalib Effendi resisted Al-Saud’s radicalized militia and much blood was shed. The massacre and torture of men, women and children was committed by the order of Al-Saud’s ferocious brigand of “Uthman al-Mudayiqi“. Valuables were stolen, historical monuments demolished, and holy places desecrated, even the ancient shrine of the Prophet Muhammad’sdaughter was destroyed.
Abdul Aziz al-Saud’s militia of Wahhabi warriors, a ferocious brigand named Uthman al-Mudayiqi. The flag letters date photo to Saudi state under Abdul Aziz ibn Saud.
Abdul Aziz ibn al-Saud had ordered his militia to steal all the treasure from the shrines, he then used a portion of the wealth to pay his murderous army of religious zealots for their loyalty.
The radicalized Wahhabimilitia, atAbdul Aziz al-Saud‘s command, entered Madina, where they razed to the ground every mosque they came across, including desecration of the holy burial grounds of Al-Baqi, where the domes and markers of great Islamic personalities and holy persons were flattened into an anonymous field, leaving no sign of a single grave or tomb.
Jannatul-Baqi before the Saudi occupation and destruction of the holy ground.Today there is no sign of the Jannatul-Baqi holy cemetery.
His infamous use of iconoclasm and religious tyranny was all part of King Abdul Aziz al-Saud’s quest to “re-envision” the holy cities with an infrastructure that would support his Wahhabi interpretation of Islamicbelief, which also conveniently helped secure the Al-Saud family’s position as kings and royal rulers of the realm.
Mustafa IV (1779 – 1808) Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
After Abdul Aziz al-Saud besieged the Hijaz region, thousands of Muslims fled Mecca and Madina desperate to save their lives and escape from the mounting pressure and persecution at the hands of the violent Wahhabi.
Muslims from all over the world denounced this Saudi savagery, and exhorted the Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mustafa IV to save their sacred shrines from destruction.
The Ottoman Empire:1818 – 1914.
It was early 1811 when the Turks launched a campaign to regain control of the Hijaz region, and they initiated the Ottoman-Saudi War (1811 – 1818).
The Ottoman’s ordered their viceroy in Egypt, Mohammed “Ali” Pasha to reconquer the region. In the year 1818, it was Ali Pasha’s sons who led the campaign that succeeded in expelling the Saudis, and overthrew the power of The House of Saud.
King Abdul Aziz al-Saud and his Wahhabiwarriors were forced to retreat back into the interior of the Arabian Peninsula.
The Second Saudi State:1824 – 1891.
Throughout the rest of the 19th century, Al-Saud and Al-Rashid fought for control of the interior region. Then by 1891, the Saudis were conclusively defeated by the Rashidis – who drove Al-Saud into exile in Kuwait.
Turkish forces reassert control of the region.
Ottoman Sultan Abdü’l-Mecīd. Reigned from 1839 to 1861.
The Ottoman Sultan Abdu’l Macid and his successors, Caliphs Abdul Hamid and Mohammed, carried out the reconstruction of sacred places, and restoring the Islamic heritage at all important sites.
Through the period of 1848to 1860, further renovations were made at the expense of nearly seven hundred thousand pounds, most of which came from the donations collected at the Prophet Mohammad’s tomb; many of the structures demonstrated the finest examples of Ottoman design and craftsmanship.
Saudis once again prove they reign supreme in corruption and cruelty.
It was 1902when the second Abdulaziz ibn al-Saud led his militia of Wahhabi-Bedouin tribesmen into a surprise attack on the Rashidigarrison in Riyadh.
Abdulaziz ibn al-Saud’s “Wahabbi brotherhood” were a desert tribe of Bedouin warriors called the “Ikhwan.” Photo circa 1920.Al- Saud’s army was a powerful weapon, too powerful for him to control, so when the brotherhood disagreed with his interpretation of the Quran and laws be began enforcing, in-order to preserve his position as King, he had them all slaughtered.Mohammad ibn Saudto Abdulaziz ibn Saud
Taking advantage of the fact that most of the Al-Rashid forces were deployed in a counterattack against Kuwait, Abdulaziz ibn Saud, traveled at night, away from the main caravan routes, and attacked while the city was asleep and seized Riyadh. The successful siege gave Ibn a foothold in Najd.
Abdulaziz “Ibn” Saud,circa 1920. King of Saudi Arabia from 1932 to 1953.
Given the name, Abdulaziz ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal ibn Turki ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Saud, as an adult he became known as King “Ibn” Saud.Ibnsecured his position in Arabia with the backing of his paid militia of murderous Bedouin warriors, also called the “Ikhwan” (Brotherhood).
Following in the Saudi tradition, Ibn’s war campaign employed a radical Wahhabi mandate, utilizing mass genocide of his own Muslim people, deliberate iconoclasm and religious oppression to gain control of the region now known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In the summer of 1914, war broke out in Europe.
Kingdoms under British Mandate:1905 – 1923.
A complex course of events in the early1900’sbrought about the end of the Ottoman Empire – and the rise of new nations with borders running across the Middle East, dividing Muslims from each other.
The Saudi-Wahhabis did not have a state at this time in history; the Al-Saud’s were not treated as royalty by other nations; nor did their following of desert warriors and radical preachers hold any international sway; and Arabia was mapped as a combination of colonies and states that was home to many cultures and faiths.
Mehmet VI(1861-1926). Last sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Reigned from 1918 to 1922. (Photo: Biografías y Vidas).
Ottoman Sultan Mehmet VI abdicated in 1922, and with his resignation the British Empire handed the position of Caliphateof the Hijaz over to the radical desert warrior already known for the inhumane treatment of his own people, Abdulaziz Ibn al-Saud.
While there are many factors leading to the end of the Turkish Ottomans, the role that the British played in their demise was far greater than any other involved.
Eager to put an end to the conflict that had existed since 1914, a ‘Treaty of Peace‘was signed in Sevres, August 10, 1920, between Turkey and the “Covenant Of The League Of Nations“, at which time the Ottoman Empire conceded to relinquish their territories to the British Empire. It is important to note that the “House of Saud” was not given a seat, nor was Ibn Al-Saud a member of this peace treaty. [pdf]
The British Empire Colonial Rule: 1914 – 1923.
The British immediately began to dissolve the Ottoman Empire and expand their own Middle Eastern empire. They had already colonized India in 1857, and Egypt since 1888, andthe Ottoman Empire lay right in the middle of these two important colonies; the British powers were determined to exterminate it as part of the first world war.
In order to accomplish their colonization the British signed three separate peace treaties, each made conflicting promises that the British were expected to stand by. The Ottoman territories were sectioned off into states which included Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Transjordan, and subsequently Israel. I will spare you the details of these peace treaties and get to the point.
The ‘Treaty of Sèvres’, signed in 1920,was one of a series of treaties, and the first to hand over a large section of the lower Hijaz to the ‘State of Saudi Arabia’. A final agreement was signed July 24, 1923, in which Turkish nationalists accepted the ‘1923 Treaty of Lausanne’. The remaining Hijaz lands were given to Ibn Saud, and mapped as Saudi Arabiaterritory. It was at this time Ibn declared the ‘State of Saudi Arabia’ was now the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [01]
The only reason Al-Saud was given territory was by pure luck. His family of religious zealots and Bedouin warriors just so happened to hold the majority of land between the British Middle East Colonies at this time in history. Had the first world war peace treaties taken place when Al-Rashid held the majority of land, and Al-Saud was in exile in Kuwait – the Rashidswould have been given the territory. So, unlucky for the entire world, Ibn al-Saud had already occupied a vast section of the interior by 1920, thus the British used the Saudis to secure their own position in Arabia, and stabilize the region by enforced obedience, on threat of death for disobedience.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: 1935 – 2016.
The British colonization of Arabia resulted in not only a physical separation between a large population of the Islam world, but they also aided the military attacks that set Muslim against Muslim – creating enemies where none had existed previously.
It was the British powers who are responsible for outlining the territory in the Arabian Peninsula that expanded and secured Al-Saud’s realm in 1923 – as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands today – which is why Ibn and his Wahhabi religious warriors were able to easily occupy the two holy cities of Medina and Mecca, and declare himself King of the realm.
In the year 1924, when Abdulaziz “Ibn” Al-Saud and his militia entered Mecca they carried out another merciless plunder and massacre. The Saudi-led war in Arabia was a needlessslaughter of innocent people – all for Al-Saud’s personal gain, wealth and political power.
People walking in streets were slaughtered.
Houses were smashed or burned to the ground.
Women and children were beheaded in their homes.
Husayn ibn Ali (1851-1931), Sharif of Mecca, Emir and later King of the Hijaz, untill his defeat in 1924.
Awn bin Hashim,Shairf of Mecca writes of the massacre, “Before me, a valley appeared to have been paved with corpses, dried blood staining everywhere all around. There was hardly a tree which didn’t have one or two dead bodies near its roots.”
By 1925, the holy city of Madina surrendered to the Wahhabi onslaught, and all Islamic heritage in Madina was subsequently destroyed.
There were no crowds rejoicing and crowning Abdulaziz “Ibn” Al-Saud a king when he sat himself down on a throne the British handed to him. He was known in Arab countries as the murderous desert clansman determined to slaughter as many people, and pillage as many villages it would take to secure himself as a king, and that he did.
Abdulaziz “Ibn” Al-Saud, Circa 1945.
A promise by the British was given to the inhabitants of the Hijazthat they would have an Islamic, multi-national government, with a structure that would be inclusive to all Muslim factions. However, this “promise of democracy” was broken by Ibnonce he was handed absolute power. He immediately made Saudi Arabia into a regime ruled by himself solely, as a king. His religious beliefs and oppressive laws were (and still are) enforced by his radicalized family members and loyal Wahhabiwarriors.
In the year 1926, protest gatherings were held by shocked Muslims all over the world at the demolishing of their Prophet’s holy sites and structures. At that time resolutions were passed, and a statement outlining the crimes perpetrated by Wahhabis. Below are a few of the transcript’s claims:
The destruction and desecration of the holy places
The destruction of the places of worship
Forcing Muslims to follow Wahhabi beliefs and forsake their own
The massacre of Sayyids
The demolition of the grave of the Imams at al-Baqi
Similar protests were lodged by Muslims in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Indonesia, and Turkey. All of them condemn the Saudi-Wahhabis for their barbaric acts.
The initial dismantling of the sites began in 1806 when the Wahhabi army of the First Saudi State occupied Medina and systematically leveled many of the structures. Nearly 300 Islamic structureshave been dynamited, bulldozed, and paved down in the past 80 years under the Al-Saud regime. Archaeologists now estimate that less than 20 structures dating from the Prophet’s time are left in the Hijaz.
Jannatul Mualla after Saudis destroyed the ancient structures.
It was on April 21, 1925 when more mausoleums and domes in Medina were once again demolished and leveled by order of King Ibn al-Saud. The Wahhabi continued to wield the weapon of iconoclasm despite widespread protests by the international Islamic community.
Some Shiites continue to mourn the day the House of Saud demolished shrines in Al-Baqi, which has been named “yaum e gham” (Day of Sorrow). Shiites continue to protest the Saudi government’s demolition of these shrines.
Jannatul Mualla before 1925, during the Ottoman reign.
Mosques across the city were also targeted and an attempt was made to tear down the Prophet Muhammad’s tomb. Thankfully, widespread vocal criticism of this last action by Muslim communities as far away as India, eventually led to abandoning any attempt on this site.
An English adventurer who spent the year of 1878 in Madina, described it as a small beautiful city resembling Istanbul, which boasted fifty-five mosques and holy shrines. He writes about its white walls, golden slender minarets and green fields.
Mausoleum of Khadija before its destruction by Saudi militia.
During their reign, the Ottoman Empire had added to the splendor of Madina and Mecca by building Islamic structures of great beauty and architectural value.
Sadly, Ibn Al-Saud has even desecrated the rebuilt sacred tombs and demonstrated disrespect to the Muslim martyrs and companions of the Prophets buried there. Over 98 percent of the Kingdom’s historical and religious sites have been destroyed since 1985, estimates the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation in London.
“It’s as if they wanted to wipe out history,” says Ali Al-Ahmed, of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C.
Though the Saudirulers have a long history of destroying historical sites, activists say the pace and range of destruction has recently increased.
Last year (June 2014), the house of Hamza, the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle, was flattened to make way for a Meccan hotel, according to Irfan Al Alawi, executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation.
In 1923, Abdulaziz ibn al-Saud proclaimed that his family was the “Custodian of the two holy Mosques“, and made his “Mutawwas” (Wahhabi morality police) the anointed “Gate keepers“.
Is it not suspicious that the Saudi-Wahhabi find it “offensive” to preserve their own Prophet’s tombs, shrines and places of Islamic and historic importance?
King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Ibn with some of his sons.
The House of Saud, the very same family holding the sacred position of “protectors” of the holy mosques, are the ones responsible for the destruction of the original holy Islamic structures and cemeteries in both cities. Since their founding father Muhammad, in the 18th century ordered his Wahhabi-Bedouin militia to destroy holy monuments, they have leveled about 90 percent of Islam’s ancient holy structures – yet the remains of their Saudi kings are guarded in grand moratoriums at a yearly expense of millionsof dollars.
It seems obvious to me, the intention of all Kings of the House of Saud has been to eradicate the original Islamic legacy and heritage, by systematically removing all its structures, landmarks and burial grounds, so that in the days to come Muslims will have no affiliation with their religion’s true history, nor will historians have concrete evidence of Saudi Arabia’s accurate origins.
After he gained control of Mecca, King Ibn Saud set a “pre-condition” that those who wished to perform the pilgrimage into Mecca would have to accept Wahhabism, or else be branded as non-Muslims, and become ineligible for entry into the city. Those who disagreed with the Wahhabis were branded as “infidels” and subsequently killed, and their property was confiscated (this practice continues to date).
King Ibn al-Saud. circa 1948.
At a New York conference held in 1989 on “cultural preservation” in Saudi Arabia, Saudi diplomats, ambassadors and businessmen met with, and hired archaeologists and preservationists to trumpet their success in cementing the institutional memory of the House of Saud.
“You in the United States have preserved places uniquely associated with the founding of your nation,” said Saad Nazer, Saudi Arabia’s New York consul-general “we too have now preserved the sites at Riyadh and Dar‘iyyah where Saudis can learn how King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz formed our modern kingdom.“
All the while he expressed no regret or shame at the fact Saudishave been flattening Islam’s ancient structures to replace with their own “modern monuments“, or that the holy mosques they claim to guard are actually recently built icons honouring their Al-Saud family’s heritage – notthe holy monuments from ancient Islam, and that the only original structure is the Prophet Muhammad’s Tomb.
Still, mainstream media eats up the Al-Saud’s bold-faced lies, when it only requires a bit of research to uncover the truths behind the facade of lies– as a friend to the West and an enemy of terrorism. While flaunting the fact that they can break treaties, commit international war crimes, terrorize and kill women and children – and then literally throw it in our faces via media, while United Nations’ Spokesperson turns the other cheek.
Click to enlarge for full comment text. Inside Saudi Arabia: Butchery, Slavery, and Revolt.
Despite overwhelming evidence of their international crimes, the United Nations and American leaders still bow to Al-Saud family members, and unbelievable but true, recently rewarded Saudi Arabia with a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. Does this mean that North Korea’s Jong-un regime should be considered for a seat as well?
Have no doubt Senator Kerry, the Saudisdespise Americans, and every other non-Wahhabi nation just as much as the DAESH.
US Senator John Kerry is looking very Saudi-friendly with former King, Abdul.
The big question remains. How long will it take before the United Nations’ leaders draw a line in the proverbial sand (Yes, I went there), and tell the Al-Saud-Wahhabi-DAESH that their terrorizing of both Muslim and non-Muslims stops here and now?
The world is a community of civilized nations now– and if the Saudis and Wahhabi cannot act civilized – there is no place for them, or their religion in the modern day. What I am saying, is get serious silly terrorists, humanity will never convert to the ways of a murderous group of uneducated, uncouth, medieval clansmen who have no concept of how to act around other people. Islamic extremists and Wahhabists are the Neanderthals of evolution – doomed to extinction by the age of civilization. The Al-Saud’s Wahhabi and DAESH, and theBoko-Haram militia are all living in an Arabian Night’s fantasy novel – and it will ultimately reach the last chapter.
FUN FACTS 🍁 Canada is an older country than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. My apartment building is older than most of the current Saudi heritage monuments.
The House of Saud has laid out an alternate geography and history, and today, the Saudi family’s religious, moral and financial corruption affects not only 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, but is also directly and indirectly affecting the planet’s entire population.
The House of Saud is estimated to be composed of 15,000 family members by their own account, with the majority of power and wealth held by the elite, tight-knit Saudi-Wahhabi bloodline of only 2,000 people.
Many family members intermarry to reestablish their lineage and continue to wield influence in the government. It is worth noting that all fifteen-thousand family members are financially supported in their luxury lifestyles entirelyon Saudi Arabia’s bankroll.
KSA’s current King, Salman ibn al-Saudis apparently known by the majority of non-Sunni Muslims as “the enemy of the whole Islamic world“, a Yemeni spice shop merchant told media earlier this year. He explained how recently his shop, inventory and livelihood were destroyed after aSaudi-led airstrike hit a market in Sana’a and demolished everything in sight. The man now has no means to feed his family, which includes his elderly parents, who also depended on his small shop’s income.
Today, the Saudi-led attacks on Yemen employing genocide and iconoclasm as campaign tactics, the trademarks of Saudi warfare, and the destruction of Yemen heritage and religious sites, including the shameless genocide of Yemenimen, women and children, is nothing new for the Al-Saudfamily.
KSA: Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talaal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud aboard one of his personal jets. (Video screenshot).
Just like there is also nothing original about megalomaniac,narcissist men placing themselves on a throne, surrounding themselves with gold-plated furnishings, flanked by slaves who cater to their every whim, flaunt and use their wealth to buy political alliances and pay for the world nations’ silence, while the majority of citizens in their “realm” are oppressed, poor, malnourished, unemployed, and living in a state of fear under barbaric laws enforced with inhumane and cruel consequences.
Super rich Saudis arrive in New York in fleet of gold cars. March 30, 2016.
However, it is no longer medieval times, and the world at large has learned how to get along, and humanity has built a network of civilization, complete with a common standard of living, shared international travel, common banking system, and human right’s laws all nations are expected to follow if they wish to be part of this modern world.
The Wahhabi “medieval-morality police” of Saudi Arabia, and their “Ikhwan” fighters currently occupying parts of Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria, Afghan and Yemen, will ultimately be dismantled – because history has proven that tyranny is always toppled by the uprising of its oppressed citizens.
Additionally, if Saudi Arabia beheads the three youths currently imprisoned for participating in non-violent protests against the Saudi regime when they were only 17-years-old – the entire world will demand the United Nations hold their Saudi King accountable for committing countless international crimes.
Update One: A Saudi “Prince” was busted for trying to smuggle a sh*t-load of drugs into Saudi Arabia hidden inside his private jet. He was caught before taking flight.
Below are several common points of belief and laws that both the DAESH in ISIS-ISIL, and the Wahhabi in KSA preach and enforce.
Click to enlarge graph.
Islamic State of Iraq, Syria and the Levant / DAESH
Islamic State Terror Group
Follows the Sharia Law per the Wahhabi/Salafi Doctrine
Tortures and beheads for practicing Christians and Muslims other than Sunnis
Women forced to wear black burka
Wife and daughters have no authority or say in their future
Women have public movement restricted – a woman can be killed if not accompanied by her husband
Publicly beheads men, women and children
Tortures people in the most inhumane and painful way, most die in captivity from their wounds
Bombs hospitals with patients and doctors inside
Beheads humanitarian workers and journalists
Uses outlawed cluster bombs on civilians
Waged war on the poorest countries of Iraq, Syria and Yemen
Blocks humanitarian and press access to villages they have besieged
Allowed to buy, sell and enslave women and female children; allowed multiple wives
Usually will kill males in the family and take women and girls for sexual pleasure and slave trade
Use a “Morality” police force who have power to arrest or kill anyone not obeying the Sharia Law
Click to enlarge graph.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia / Wahhabi
Islamic Kingdom
Follows the Sharia Law per the Wahhabi/Salafi Doctrine
Follows the Violent Wahhabi/Salafi Doctrine as interpreted by Abdul Wahab (Wahhabi)
Interpret Jihad contrary to the Quran as a war with non- followers
Tortures and beheads for practicing Christians and Muslims other than Sunnis
Women forced to wear black burka
Wife and daughters have no authority or say in their future
Women have no rights unless approved by guardians
Publicly beheads men, women and children
Tortures people in the most inhumane and painful way, most die in captivity from their wounds
Kills non-violent activists and journalists
Bombs hospitals and doctors
Uses outlawed cluster bombs on civilians
Waged war on the soil of Yemen, one of the poorest countries, which had no notable form of military to resist invasion.
Blocks humanitarian and press access to villages they have besieged
Allowed to force women into marriages, have multiple wives, including child brides
Use the Mutawwas (Saudi Religious Police) who have the power to arrest or kill anyone not obeying the Sharia Law
Chart of the top locations claimed by Twitter users supporting ISIS in 2015.
According to a study by the Brookings Institute dealing with a 20,000 sample size, Saudi Arabia is the top location claimed by Twitter users supporting ISIS in 2015. Syria follows and Iraq rounds off the top three. (Statista).
Remember that most of the 9/11 terrorist killers were Saudi; so was the al-Qaeda hierarchy.
Just like DAESH who train their own children to perform suicide missions, you can see for yourself the Saudis do the same, revealed in this recording of a Saudi Arabian father auctioning his son for a suicide mission.
Here is a short list of article’s calling out the Saudi for funding terrorist.
ISIS, Al-Nusra, Taliban, Al-Qaeda and all other terror outfits in the world are reported by world media to be funded and supported by Saudi Salafists who are responsible for killing of hundreds of thousands of people in Muslim countries. [a]
European Parliament identifies Wahhabi/Salafis roots of global terrorism. [b]
New York Times reported Saudis must stop exporting terrorism in the world. [c]
Salafists and Muslim Brotherhood, both are terror groups. [d]
Saudis fund Deobandi terror groups, Taliban and others in Pakistan/Afghanistan and other countries. [e]
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION AND TORTURE IN SAUDI ARABIA
The Mutaween.(Photo: ADST).
Mutawwas (Saudi Religious Police) are […] Government paid informers, well connected with General Intelligence Directorate (Saudi Secret Service), assigned to keep an eye on individual members of public and help Saudi Royals to remain in power. They are trained to keep an eagle’s eye on public activities and close their eyes completely from the members of Royal family.
The Mutaween make sure that all businesses close for prayer, that men attend the mosque, and that women are modestly dressed in a burka.
Saudi Arabia: History of Revolt Empire – torture victims.(Video screenshot).
Punishment for reading the Bible in Saudi Arabia is to have your right hand shredded.
The four fingers and thumb are cut to the bone forty or fifty times.
Muscles and nerves are severed so as to render the hand useless in the future.
Carried out in filthy conditions so that serious infection is almost certain.
Saudi Arabia’s jobs problem is not enough executioners.
Apart from their Sharia law, based on the doctrine’s Saudi Arabia has been short of head-choppers for their2,500+ executions per year PERexecutioner, and they have been advertising to fill these dirty positions for quite sometime. [02]
An executioner is a job done by ‘lower status’ individual and is a position that is paid per execution by the government under confidentiality agreements. The government also provides the sword. The Saudi government has been considering firing squads to fill the shortage of executioners.
Executioners have said they are “proud to do God’s work”.
But is it a god, or a man who sentence these people to death, without a fair trial, or tortured into confessions?
KSA SLAVERY AND TREATMENT OF FOREIGN MEN AND WOMEN
Saudi Arabs Are Still Selling Castrated Black Slaves TODAY. August 6, 2015. (Video Screenshot).
According to Sahara TV Saudi Arabs are still selling castrated black slaves, even though slavery was abolished in Saudi Arabia in 1960. and castration is an act of violence and violation of a human’s right to have children. The image on the right shows a screenshot of a Facebook page advertising the sale of a castrated black man.
Slaves are often forced to work up to 18 hours daily with no rest, forced to sleep outside or locked in a room, fed table scraps, and denied payment or money, making it impossible to flee their miserable captivity. Many African and Ethiopian people are subjected to violence and rape, Press TV reported.
Black people are subjected to violence and rape. August 16, 2015.(Screenshot video).
A person sold as a slave can be abused or killed by their Saudi master with no legal repercussion.
The beheading of Ruyati binti Sapubi caused an outcry in Indonesia, where MP’s called for a ban on workers being sent to the Middle East. The 54-year-old maid confessed to killing her boss with a kitchen knife after suffering extreme abuse, and having no documents to leave the country, or any means to escape. (Video depicts a beheading 18+)
Saudi rich and royals are preying on hapless Syrian refugee women and small girls in Jordanian Refugee camps made for Syrian refugees who have fled their country. The men enter these camps in the guise of donors, and kidnap young girlsby taking advantage of darkness of night. It is reported that when a woman resisted, they burnt her camp. The Saudi rich and royal have transformed these camps into mass rape centers of helpless and unprotected Syrian women and children.
Update Two: The following related report replaces the above paragraph, because YouTube deleted the previous video. In the future, I will host footage of Saudi crimes on my server.
There are several reports, including interviews with victims, that wealthy Saudis are taking advantage of women and their children who are left destitute and defenseless after their husbands were killed, or recruited to fight in the war. The Saudi Sheikhs are preying on impoverished, homeless families, and purchasing the girl children – with an intention of sexually abusing the girls, then discarding the damaged children when they tire of the girl, and they then simply purchase another child from a desperate mother – who will choose to sacrifice one child for the survival of the other children.
What we in the Western world know as “Sophie’s Choice“.
Is there any crime more heinous?
The answer is yes, of course there are plenty more such unfathomable crimes against women and children committed daily in Saudi Arabia, and globally by the Al-Saud Regime, under their Wahhabi-state laws, or Fatwas. What I translate to meaning Fake Laws.
Saudi Arabia has been referred to it as the biggest women’s prison in the world. On March 10, 2014, in her first television interview, the former wife of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia claims her four daughters have suffered years trapped in the royal compound in Jeddah. [03]
It is reported by BBC in 2014 that King Abdullah locked his four daughters into isolation, away from human population at a sea front in Jeddah for more than thirteen years and did not allow them to see their mother or any other human being. Their mother lives in exile in London, UK. The girls were also denied proper food, and medical treatment for their psychological disorders, and were left to die in isolation.
Women are treated like commodities and disposable containers in Salafi society. Different kinds of legal opportunities have been provided for Salafimen to exploit women in the name of Islam throughout the world. Saudi/Salafi scholars have issued many fatwas to allow several kinds of deceptive and fake marriages to use women as sex slaves for as long as they wish.
These appalling statistics show that about 90 percent of Saudi Women are being forced into Government sponsored prostitution in the name of “Misyar” fake marriages.
URFA: In this relationship, arrangements are made as a customary marriage but there are no official contracts signed and this relationship also does not give women any rights whatsoever. She is kept as along as the man wishes to use her for sex.
MESYAF: (Summer holiday marriage) It is a tourism marriage practiced by Saudis and other Salafis who go on vacation to countries, like Yemen, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries. In these countries they take advantage of poor Muslim families by fake marriages with very young girls between the ages of 9 to 16 yearsin collusion with local middlemen and agents who are paid for these notorious services.
Daily Mail, UK, reported on February 3, 2013, that famous Saudi Salafi scholar Fayhan al-Ghamdi, a celebrity scholar and preacher of Salafism on Salafi TV channels, raped and tortured his five-year-old daughter to death.
Saudi pedophile: Fayhan al-Ghamdi.
A Saudi preacher who tortured his five-year-old daughter to death has been released after agreeing to pay ‘blood money‘, activists reported.
The child, Lama al-Ghamdi, age five, died after having suffered multiple injuries which included a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, and extensive bruising and burns.
Lama al-Ghamdi. Age five.
Doctors testified thatshe had been raped repeatedly, and her rectum was ripped open.
The equally shocking news is that al-Ghamdi was set free by Salafi Judiciary and Government of Saudi Arabia even though he confessed that he beat her. He was asked to pay a mere fifty-thousand Saudi Riyals (approximate U.S. currency: $13,331.73), as compensation to his wife for his own daughter’s murder.
The execution of a vocal critic of Saudi Arabia’s ruling royal family has caused international outrage, and a serious escalation of diplomatic tensions in the region, with unrest predicted in Shia-majority areas. British politicians and the leaders of Iraq and Iran were among those who condemned the killing ofNimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric opposed to the Riyadh regime was among 47 people executed on Saturday by the Saudi Arabian Sunni authorities.
Inside KSA: Butchery, Slavery and History of Revolt. Photo reveals what a crucifixion looks like in Saudi Arabia.
Amnesty International released a statement following Nimr al-Namir death, saying that Nimr has been “executed to settle political scores”. Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director, Philip Luther, told “AFP” that Nimr’s trial was both politicized and “grossly unfair, because the international standards for fair trial were grossly flouted”.
Saudi Arabia: Death penalty. The crucifixion sentence in Saudi Arabia entails beheading, then a public display of the body, usually by crucifixion.
Luther added, “What is going on is an attempt to silence criticism of Saudi Arabia, particularly among the Shiite activist community.”
No information was released about the execution method used, but the country’s normal policy is to behead condemned prisoners with a sword, then their crucified body is displayed in a public location. Nimr, 56, is said to have promoted peaceful protest among his followers. He had been held since 2012, prompting a high-profile campaign for his release backed by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and Amnesty International. Yemen called the execution a flagrant violation of human rights, and there was further criticism from Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. Lebanon’s Supreme Islamic Shia Council condemned Riyadh’s action as a grave mistake.
To date, the Saudis have not released the body of Nimr, as is required under their laws, raising speculation to the degree he was tortured before his death, and how his body was desecrated after death.
Update Three: The following video was deleted by YouTube – even though I had followed YouTube rules and age restricted the videos. I still had the footage and moved it to my server.
Five men were hung from a scaffolding in a busy section of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, after being convicted of crimes. Their bodies are left hanging for several days, which is the tradition of Al-Saud’s execution methods.
Another video I had embedded was deleted by YouTube, it showed a woman’s beheading for being accused of infidelity by her husband. She was not given a chance to even speak-up in her defense, and the “Wahhabi-Morality police” grabbed her by the hair, and cut off her head right there on the road.
Update Four: The following video replaces evidence of Saudi crime’s against women. A citizen managed to film the woman’s horrific beheading (mentioned above) on his cell phone, and place it online. Naturally he was found and arrested. This video reports on that event, and several similar deaths at the hands of Saudi Royal’s in their attempt to block the world from having an inside look at their truly evil “Fatwas,” and obvious brotherhood with the Islamic State Jihadists terrorizing Muslims – in the exact same fashion as the Al-Saud family has been doing since they joined family ties with the original Wahhabi founder.
Simon Tomlinson reports in the Daily Mail on October 7, 2015: Not only has the Saudi Regime denied citizens a fair trial – or any trial at all for that matter – the al-Saud family also executes teenagers – whose only “crime” was speaking against the dehumanizing laws forced on them by the royal family.
Dawoud Al-Marhoon was seventeen when he was arrested by Saudi security forces during a protest in the country’s Eastern Province. He was reportedly tortured and made to sign a ‘confession’ that was later said to have been relied on to convict him. He has been held in solitary confinement,and has been barred from speaking to his lawyer, say human rights campaigners, Reprieve.
Last week, the Specialized Criminal Court upheld Dawoud’s conviction and sentenced him to death by beheading.
His case follows that of Ali al-Nimr who faces a sentence of ‘crucifixion‘ – involving beheading and the public display of his body – for his role in protests in 2012 when he was only 17-years-old.
The arrest of Ali al-Nimr,the son of Namr al-Namir whom the Saudi’s beheaded a few weeks earlier, has sparked another international outcry.
Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve:
“Ali al-Nimr’s case has rightly prompted revulsion among the international community. It is therefore horrifying that the Saudi government is pushing ahead with plans to exact a similarly brutal sentence on another juvenile, Dawoud al-Marhoon.“
Saudi Arabia has decreed to execute those who spread rumours about the government on social media.
“It’s also deeply disappointing to see the U.S. and the UK – who are among the Saudis’ closest allies – failing to intervene strongly to stop these executions from going ahead.
“It is grossly hypocritical for David Cameron to say he opposes these sentences, while his government is bidding to support the very prisons service who will be responsible for carrying them out. The British government must urgently change its priorities – ministers must cancel the bid and call unequivocally on Saudi Arabia to halt the executions.
“It is the first time the Gulf nation has created a rule to punish ordinary people for what they say on Twitter and Facebook,” Reprieve told Daily Mail. There are already laws and departments to censor media in the country, which is known to crush dissidence with capital punishment.
President Bush is shown how to hold an execution sword.(Video screenshot).
“Only the worst ‘rumour-mongers‘ will be executed, while lesser offenders will be punished with lashes, imprisonment, travel bans, house arrest and a social media ban,“ a Saudi Ministry of Justice source is quoted to have said. [04]
On what planet do the Saudi royals think that is a reasonable law?
This article has outlined only a small fraction of the crimes against humanitySaudi-Wahhabi inflict on their own Arabian citizens on a daily basis, including a few examples of the cruelty and terror their rich export to other nations’ most vulnerable inhabitants – women and children.
My goal with this report is to create more awareness and outrage that people around the world will stand up to the Saudi regime sooner – rather than later. Share this article on your social media, and join the movement to stop terrorism at its diseased roots.
![For more than six decades the title of King of Saudi Arabia has passed along a line of brothers born to King Abdul Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn Saud, up to the current Head of The House of Saud, King Salman […] ibn Saud. During my research it became obvious that the majority of popular accounts written on the subject of Saudi Arabia’s origins have relied on the Saudis‘ version of events – that have been largely distorted either to hide or justify their crimes and tyranny – all of which have elevated the House of Saud as royalty and rulers.](https://alistairreignblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/saudi-family-of-princes.png)
![Mutawwas (Saudi Religious Police) are [...] Government paid informers, well connected with General Intelligence Directorate (Saudi Secret Service), assigned to keep an eye on individual members of public and help Saudi Royals to remain in power. They are trained to keep an eagle's eye on public activities and close their eyes completely from the members of Royal family.](https://alistairreignblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/mutaween.jpg)
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