Who was the elected president in Egypt!

I believe that the Egyptians had indeed chosen Ahmed Shafiq as president, but that the Military Council (SCAF) were scared from the ability of the Muslim Brotherhood to mobilize the street. I think Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawi, Lt. Gen. Sami Annan and their colleagues thought they could win over the Muslim Brotherhood by declaring Dr. Morsi the winner, after that press conference which took a long time for some mysterious reason, on Monday, June 18. The senior members of SCAF proved Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman right. In his last interview with me, he told me, word for word: There was injustice against SCAF because it was never political. It only led a transitional phase after Mubarak, and its goal was to preserve what was still standing. But SCAF is ill aware of the maneuvers and the guile of the Muslim Brotherhood. SCAF was fooled by the Brotherhood, believing it to be a strong organization that can be compliant. But the Brotherhood’s goal was to create favorable circumstances to obtain legitimacy, and for this to be the sole legitimacy in Egypt. I sat down with Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman at his home in Heliopolis on May 16, 2012, and this turned out to be the last interview he ever gave to the press. He passed away on July 17, 2012, and four months after his death, we find out that he knew SCAF and the Muslim Brotherhood only too well, having predicted the problems that followed and the current ones.

Al Hayat News Paper - Jihad al-Khazen

Aljazeera: Qatar’s war propaganda now in French

Founded at the initiative of the Frydman brothers, Al-Jazeera was revamped in 2005 by the Libyan Mahmoud Jibril and the Palestinian Wadah Kanfar to serve the political agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood [1]. The chain, which had steadily gained credibility through its coverage of the conflicts in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq, veered unexpectedly in January 2011 to become a war propaganda tool. It did not hesitate to misleadingly present footage shot in a studio as having been taken live, for example the fake entrance of Libyan rebels in Tripoli’s Green Square, or the contrived images of Syrian opposition protests at the Clock Square in Homs. The channel has acquired a spiritual adviser in the person of Sheikh al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s star preacher. Even though he drummed up support for the French intervention in Libya and has called for the assassination of Muammar el-Qaddafi and Bashar al-Assad, the sheikh was barred in March 2012 from entering France on the grounds that "his discourse is not compatible with republican ideals." Al-Jazeera in French will be broadcast via satellite all around the world. The Emir Hamad had initially planned to lodge the studio in Paris where he is already involved in program production jointly with the Lagardère Group. However, after Sheikh al-Qaradawi was served with the barring notice, the Emir decided to set up the channel’s headquarters in Dakar, Senegal.

Voltaire Net

LA TIMES: Putin on Patriot Missile System

Although still available in Google Cache, LA Times apparently  deleted Putin remarks on Patriot Missile Systems!

On the Russian stance over the deployment of Patriot missiles in Turkey, and if there are guarantees that Syria will not use “nuclear weapon”, President Putin added “is there any nuclear weapons in Syria.. maybe there was a mistake in the translation.. Syria is not a nuclear country.” “Regarding Patriot missiles, I want to say that they are not of ideal systems, they are not of the best systems for the air defense in the world, but they are from the old generation,” Putin said, adding that Russia has reservations on the situation on the Syrian-Turkish borders and the deployment of Patriot missiles, but it calls for the self-restraint as this leads to escalation in the stance. He considered that the fall of mortars on the Turkish lands constitutes a new moral burden on Turkey and Syria, saying ‘Syria will not attack turkey.. we will contact with the Turks to settle this issue.”

LA Times

Google Search

Saudi women are now tracked via mobile phones

Denied the right to travel without consent from their male guardians and banned from driving, women in Saudi Arabia are now monitored by an electronic system that tracks any cross-border movements. Since last week, Saudi women’s male guardians began receiving text messages on their phones informing them when women under their custody leave the country, even if they are travelling together.

Gulf News

Wikileaks 2006: USA plans for Syria

This cable summarizes our assessment of these vulnerabilities and suggests that there may be actions, statements, and signals that the USG can send that will improve the likelihood of such opportunities arising. These proposals will need to be fleshed out and converted into real actions and we need to be ready to move quickly to take advantage of such opportunities. Many of our suggestions underline using Public Diplomacy and more indirect means to send messages that influence the inner circle.

Wikileaks:06DAMASCUS5399

Ministry of Truth: How ABC edited the interview with Syrian President

Somalia's al-Shabab join al-Qaeda

Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which controls much of Somalia, has released a joint video with al-Qaeda, announcing the two groups have merged. Al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair, said he "pledged obedience" to al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri. The two groups have long worked together and foreigners are known to fight alongside Somali militants.

Somalia's al-Shabab join al-Qaeda