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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.  We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below). 

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy

offsite link Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy

offsite link It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy

offsite link Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left

offsite link Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Who Will Guard Us Against the Guardian?s ?Fact Checks?? Mon Jul 22, 2024 15:34 | David Craig
The Guardian has published a 'fact check' of Donald Trump's claims about inflation and immigration. Just one problem, says David Craig: the 'fact check' gets its facts wrong. Who will guard us against the Guardian?
The post Who Will Guard Us Against the Guardian’s ‘Fact Checks’? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Biden Delayed Stepping Down as He ?Doubts Kamala? as Senior Democrats Fail to Back Her Mon Jul 22, 2024 13:19 | Will Jones
President Biden delayed stepping down in part because he doubted Kamala Harris was up to the challenge of an election battle with Donald Trump, sources have said.
The post Biden Delayed Stepping Down as He “Doubts Kamala” as Senior Democrats Fail to Back Her appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Office of Budget Intractability  Mon Jul 22, 2024 11:00 | Andrew Colllingwood
Labour has brought forward a Bill giving the Office of Budget Responsibility a "fiscal lock" over future economic policy. This is one more step in the erosion of parliamentary democracy, says Andrew Collingwood.
The post The Office of Budget Intractability  appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link No, the CrowdStrike Debacle is Not a Warning of What Could Happen if we Introduce CBDCs Mon Jul 22, 2024 09:00 | Anonymous IT Reporter
The CrowdStrike debacle was not a harbinger of things to come if we introduce CBDCs, argues the Daily Sceptic's IT expert. A U.K. CBDC would be designated as Critical National Infrastructure and hence not be vulnerable.
The post No, the CrowdStrike Debacle is Not a Warning of What Could Happen if we Introduce CBDCs appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Mon Jul 22, 2024 00:39 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

In Yemen, Western Foreign Policy Is Empowering al-Qaeda

category international | anti-war / imperialism | other press author Monday June 22, 2020 22:27author by 1 of indy Report this post to the editors

Meanwhile the Yemen war powered by US and UK weapons grinds on -killing thousands where is the concern?

This report is from AntiWar.com

In April, an exclusive report published on Mintpress News laid bare an "unholy alliance" between al-Qaeda and the displaced government of Abdurabbuh Mansur Hadi that a coalition led by Sunni Gulf monarchies has been unsuccessfully seeking to reinstall with the help of the West since 2015. These revelations come on top of previous investigations that have further exposed how the relentless Western-backed war in Yemen has emboldened al-Qaeda militants responsible for multiple terrorist attacks on Western targets in the last two decades. Even if the war is drawing to a close, a strengthened al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) will be the result.

And now to the meat of it:

Appalling as this may sound, collusion between al-Qaeda and NATO- and Gulf-backed forces is no exception in the Middle East. During my 2018 trip to Eastern Ghouta in Syria, I myself heard testimony of horrific crimes, including random imprisonment and rape of women, at the hands of fighters from Faylaq ar-Rahman. The media at the time attempted to portray this group as the most moderate of the "moderate rebels" in order to try to draw an imaginary line between alleged democratic revolutionaries supported by the West on the one hand and hardcore Islamist terrorists that constitute the raison d’être of the West’s "war on terror" on the other. Now, even high-level spokespersons of the American-led anti-ISIS coalition have repeatedly acknowledged that the Syrian Idlib province, where these and other militants have flocked to in recent years, is "a magnet for terrorist groups" and "the largest al-Qaeda safe haven since 9/11."

In these battleground places, far removed from the prying eyes of journalists, it is difficult to ascertain the true nature of the forces waging Western-backed wars in the Middle East. Yet, in Yemen, like Syria, it is clear that these recent revelations are not an isolated case. Previous investigations by prestigious publications back up the existence of this "unholy alliance" between AQAP and the Gulf coalition.

From war on terror to war of terror

In August 2018, the Associated Press revealed that "again and again," the coalition’s "decisive victories" against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were entirely deceitful, for it often cut secret deals with al-Qaeda militants instead of fighting them. Sometimes, they even paid terrorists to leave cities and towns, while at other times they were allowed to retreat with their weapons, equipment and enormous amounts of looted cash. In the central Shabwa province, for instance, the Emiratis offered one al-Qaeda commander $26.000 and an additional $13.000 for every one of his 200 foot soldiers who retreated. Other al-Qaeda militants were allowed to keep up to $100 million in stolen cash when they agreed to leave Mukalla, Yemen’s fifth largest city in neighboring Hadramawt governorate. Key participants in these agreements told the investigators that the United States was well aware of the arrangements and held off drone strikes as part of the deal.

Despite their sinister character, these deals might nevertheless give the impression that there is a strict boundary between AQAP and the coalition. If you alter a well-known investigative dictum somewhat into "follow the weapons," however, it becomes clear that these boundaries are much more fluid. Leaning largely on the in-depth research of Egyptian journalist Mohamed Abu al-Gheit, investigations conducted by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism and CNN have exposed a flourishing arms channel which has emboldened terror groups. As part of multi-billion-dollar arms sales between the West and the Gulf, weapons manufactured in the US and at least eight European countries have ended up with AQAP as well as ISIS. These weapons are usually sold to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who pass them on to warlords who are often not only loyal to Hadi but harness cozy relationships with known terrorists and their sympathizers as well.

Further attesting to these fluid boundaries, the Associated Press revealed that hundreds of AQAP militiamen were co-opted and recruited into the fight against the Houthis, a fact that has since been corroborated by UAE officials. In Yemen’s historic southwestern city of Taiz, Adnan Rouzek, one of Hadi’s top military commanders, even recruited a senior al-Qaeda figure as his top aide after he escaped from prison in 2008. The underlying idea on which this policy is predicated is that these terrorists help to fight the bigger evil. This, of course, is the Houthis, whom Gulf propaganda and compliant Western media tend to depict as Iranian proxies part of a regional axis of terror. Yet, the most mainstream of publications have by now admitted that Iran’s power over the Houthis is marginal at best, if not largely imaginary, and that the Houthis’ rise to power can be explained mostly by their successful fight against foreign interference. When Rouzek’s militia became notorious for kidnappings and execution-style street killings, it provided a stark reminder of who the actual terrorists are.


Related Link: https://original.antiwar.com/Bas_Spliet/2020/06/14/in-yemen-western-foreign-policy-is-empowering-al-qaeda/
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