if you think Conrad's novel was about anti-colonialism then you're wrong!!

Book Review : ‘Heart of Darkness’ (1902) by Joseph Conrad
(from ‘Essays with Two Introductions’ – 1st prize Koestler Awards 2005)

Heralded as one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century, Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ is a short story comprising three chapters.  It was written some time after the writer’s own experiences of working in the Belgian Congo and published in 1902.  Popular opinion, past and present, has deciphered this novella as Conrad’s critical opinion of ‘colonialism’ in Africa.  In his biography of Conrad, Jeffrey Meyers describes the work as “the first significant book in English Literature to deny the idea of ‘progress’.  It shows the antagonistic interests of civilisation and colonialism.“   But such a shallow interpretation displays innocence at its most mundane level and inadvertently raises the possibility that our collective lack of insight has actually been cultivated.

There is indeed a wealth of evidence to show that the first explorers and traders who unveiled the heart of Africa were looked upon as missionaries; bringing the ‘truth’ of a Christian God to the ignorant and naked savage.  But Henry Stanley was no David Livingstone and what these ‘intrepid folk’ were really getting up to after Livingstone’s death soon began to be realised back in civilised Europe.  Lust for ivory and the overall ignorance of the white man for any culture other than his own were insidiously creating what amounted to a Second Age of Slavery.  Left unchecked, the exploration and the exploitation of Africa was in danger of exceeding even the atrocities which had been visited upon the natives of South America by Spanish conquistadors some 300 years earlier.  In 1903 Roger Casement, in his capacity as British Consular official, travelled the explored area of Africa extensively.  His reports were so damning that an embarrassed King Leopold of Belgium felt forced to sell his considerable interests and acreage of the place that he thought of as ‘a private back garden’, to the Belgian government, in order that the lands around the Congo might be better policed.

Some years earlier, during his time ‘in country’, Casement had shared a hut with Conrad, at the mouth of the river Congo.  His spirit of adventure and attitude to exploring his surroundings made such an impression on the writer that aspects of Casement figure in an important character in Conrad’s story.  (However, that adventurous ‘free spirit’ was to lead Roger Casement to an ignominious end.  At the time of the Easter Uprising, 1916, he was caught landing onto the Irish coast from a German submarine; subsequently tried for treason and hanged.)

For all that, defining Heart of Darkness as a protest against colonisation has only superficial validity.  It is true that despairing images of the natives and the cynical portrayal of their white ‘masters’ leaves the reader in no doubt as to Conrad’s opinion of colonists.  But is that the only purpose behind this novel?  A closer examination of the story reveals that Africa is only once teasingly mentioned by Marlow, in the prelude to his monologue; and that reference is not to the continent itself but simply to a map from his boyhood.  Afterwards no place names are ever given and the other elements that form the structure of Marlow’s tale have little or nothing to do with any recognised aspect of ‘colonialism’.  We must ask ourselves why the author would include these elements within the necessary constraints of the short-story format, unless he had some other purpose.  In this review we shall examine some of those ‘unexplained elements’, considering whether the casual reader has really understood the message of the novel or the fundamental meaning of the Darkness that the author is referring to?

To make his attempt Conrad employs a character who is his alter-ego and whom he uses in several of his novels, including ‘Lord Jim’ (1900) and ‘Chance’ (1913); one Charlie Marlow who, like Joseph Conrad, is an experienced merchant seaman.  In ‘Heart of Darkness’ Marlow recounts the story of meeting a Mr Kurtz to four companions who are sitting on a private yacht, moored on the Thames where they are awaiting the turn of the tide in the looming dusk.  To pass the time one of their number produces a set of dominoes but there is an atmospheric mood that prevents the game from starting and which separates the group, leaving each man to dwell upon his own thoughts.  In the gloomy silence that ensues Marlow begins to speak and after some preliminary meandering he settles in to tell his story to the others, and to us.

If there is a heart to this Darkness then we can assume there is an edge to it as well, and thus a path and possibly a pilgrimage that leads from one towards the other.  Marlow begins the tale of his journey by relating that his search for employment had become ‘driven by an abnormal urgency’ and that the choices he made seemed ‘not his own’.  He arrives in “a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre“.  (This image is possibly a reference to the New Testament; Matthew 23. vv 27: ‘like a white-washed sepulchre; beautiful on the outside but inside full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean”.)  From thence he finds himself in “a narrow and deserted street in deep shadow… a dead silence… imposing carriage ways… immense double doors standing ponderously ajar.“  Perhaps that lonely street has a familiarity to us all.  It reminds us of some place in the beginnings of a bad dream, where everything seems unexplainable and slightly threatening.  The first two characters he meets in one of the houses on that street are two old women, silent and dressed in black, who sit feverishly knitting black wool.  The comparisons we can make upon these two are not congenial.  There were others of their kind who sat, similarly occupied, witnessing the excesses of the French Revolution at the guillotine, or the Norns who, in Viking mythology, were spinners weaving the threads of a destiny that would lead to ‘Ragna rok’, the ‘Destruction of the Gods’.  And Marlow confirms the strange, nightmarish quality of his story, by expressing his own sense of unease within that scenario; he feels as though he’s being let into the secrets of an ‘ominous conspiracy’, with all the implications of a darker destiny should he choose to proceed.

But before we ourselves venture further on this journey into the Heart of Darkness we might gain some insights as to the meaning of that title by discovering something of the nature of the path that leads us there.  For within the first few pages of this short story, the reader has already been introduced to at least three aspects of the term ‘darkness’.  One of them is a natural fading of the light, another is witnessed within a collective mood, yet another is a ‘sinister’ atmosphere created by the story-teller Marlow.  These aspects seem relatively harmless when, under other circumstances, they exist in isolation.  However, in this instance we must assume their deliberate interdependence.  Thus defined, the ‘casual reader’ might avail themselves of the conclusion that these aspects were woven together simply as a technique to draw us into Marlow’s account.

Again, that explanation touches on the surface only.  A deeper analysis must ask why such a method would work on us at all.   What part of our psyche is the author appealing to, in order to draw us in?  Be assured, by reading further into the story we will encounter a multitude of proofs that the darkness referred to here is an amalgamation of everything that man is prey to and superstitious of, both from inside his own persona and outside, in the unknown and threatening world. “There’s danger on the edge of town” writes Jim Morrison in his poem ‘The End’:  The casual reader prefers neither to venture to the edge of his communal existence, nor explore too deeply into the recesses of his own character.  Shallow interpretations of Conrad’s literary purpose do much to maintain their sense of safety.

But such is the nature of communities; the majority can leave these dark questions to the ‘driven’ few, the shaman, the caste of priests, the artist and the poet in their garrets.  It is for these ‘chosen’ to interpret the nature of our existence, to make exploration of the natural and unnatural forces which compel us.  And in their turn, the driven few must play their part by doing what they can to translate their deep discoveries into forms which might appeal and satisfy the lesser needs of ordinary men.  (But at what cost?)

In that adage “art for art’s sake” there is the suggestion that it can only be the ‘driven’ who will fully share or comprehend those attempts at ‘translation’.   T.S.Eliot’s poem ‘The Hollow Men’ is dedicated to the ‘Heart of Darkness’ with a simple reference in its prelude: ‘to Mr Kurtz’.  It is the ‘driven’ who are hollow men, stuffed, leaning together, clutching at ideas and interpretations like “straws, Alas!”  In their search for the Intangible Truth “shape has no form, gesture no motion”.  Any meanings they might discover are lost in the exact moment of setting them down.  Nikos Kazantzakis wrote that after years of seeking enlightenment, scaling the Mountain of God, searching for ‘a meaning’; tortured man at last arrives at that place above the precipice where he expects to find a Face.  In his bitterness at finding nothing that he can recognise he attempts to scratch a human face onto the impassive granite of Eternal Truth.   And after so much struggle the consequence of that frustration is often dark despair.  Many give up, even though the sense of being driven never leaves them.  Others go mad or else they simply quit the attempt to translate altogether; decamp from the community and lose themselves to the journey, alone and misunderstood.  They explore far beyond the boundaries of ‘casual’ society, becoming ‘lost’ in the mountains and in every recess of their own being.  ”Remember us, if at all,“, writes Eliot, “not as lost, violent souls_ But as the hollow men, the stuffed men“.

If there is a truth that is universal to ‘the Search’ or if there is one thing that all those who are ‘driven’ are certain of, then it is this:  Within the journey the path to Enlightenment is bipolar, leading towards the Light and towards the Dark.  The directions are sometimes unclear, can even become entangled, and often it is difficult for the ‘driven’ to ascertain in which direction they are actually travelling.  Conrad alludes to this duality several times at the beginning of Marlow’s tale.  Through no fault of his own Marlow finds himself praised by his aunt and others and raised up upon a pedestal, the existence of which he was completely unaware of.  In his attempt to simply find employment as a humble river-boat captain he has become exalted as a ‘missionary’, “Something like an emissary of light, something like a lower sort of apostle.“  The ‘anti-colonialist’ lobby might argue that this particular passage supports nothing more than their simple proposition.  But taken in context, with the lonely street and the crones in black, knitting feverishly, we can say that this first confusion of Light and Dark signposted a far deeper meaning.  Certainly it tied Marlow to Kurtz for the first time in Conrad’s story.  After that it was simply a case of drawing them together.

And thus has the journey begun, like most paths of discovery; with a destination and outcome that are much more than we ever intend.  Comparable to Dante descending into Hell in ‘The Divine Comedy’, with each stage of his own odyssey Marlow is confronted by successively darker portents of the Heart to which he goes towards.  He discovers upon arrival at some obscure trading station, that the boat he is captain of is severely damaged, needing months to make repair.  Sinister surroundings and the chronic malaise of the environment permeate every part of his story.  Rumours and innuendo about ‘a Mr Kurtz’, something about his ‘mission’; these make little impression on Marlow himself though he cannot help but notice the obsession in others.  ”He talked precipitately, and I did not try to stop him…  The smell of mud, of primeval mud, by Jove ! was in my nostrils, the high stillness of primeval forest was before my eyes…  The moon had spread over everything… over the rank grass, over the mud, upon the wall of matted vegetation standing higher than the wall of a temple…  All this was great, expectant, mute while the man jabbered on…  I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace.  What were we who had strayed in here?  Could we handle that dumb thing or would it handle us?  What was in there?!“

Kurtz lastly becomes an objective for Marlow simply as some kind of salvation from mild insanity.  Marlow concentrates his fevered energies on the repair of his damaged vessel with a view to continuing his almost involuntary journey.  Meanwhile readers begin to focus their attention upon the enigma that Conrad is creating for them; seemingly Mr Kurtz.  Finally, after a great deal of hardship and tribulations that have exposed Marlow to personal anguish and revelation, he coaxes his boat up river with a compliment of ‘Kurtz obsessives’ as unwanted passengers, to the edge; to the very brink of the Heart.  Perhaps suitably, dusk then descends to darkness.

“When the sun arose there was a white fog, very warm and clammy,
and more blinding than the night.“

Here, in the dawn, on the brink, we are confronted with our ‘duality’ at critical mass; the aspects of Light and Dark merging into a breathless moment of impenetrability.  Those of us who know little of meteorological conditions in the tropics might ask ourselves whether this sudden appearance of a fog is based on reality.  Either surreal or actual, it represents a barrier that must be passed through if we are to proceed.  From his position on the bridge of the river-boat Marlow has no idea what might await him on the other side of that fog.  But while the character Marlow can express his ignorance as he tells his tale, his creator, Joseph Conrad, definitely cannot make a similar claim:

In ‘An Outpost to Progress’, published five years prior to ‘Heart of Darkness’, Conrad voices the same bitterly satirical opinion of colonialism.  Although much shorter, this tale also contains a river-boat and a fog.  In this earlier version two inexperienced trading agents are more or less abandoned at a deserted trading post where the last tenant has died of fever and is buried and guarded over by a huge wooden cross.  After months of independence from civilisation the situation between the two colleagues deteriorates to a point where they are reduced to fighting over a few spoonfuls of sugar.  In the struggle that ensues a gun goes off and afterwards, in the gathering darkness, one of them contemplates his existence, sitting beside the corpse of the other:  ”He seemed to have broken loose from himself altogether.  His old thoughts, convictions, likes and dislikes, things he respected and things he abhorred, appeared in their true light at last!  Appeared contemptible and childish, false and ridiculous.  He revelled in his new wisdom while he sat by the man he had killed.  He had been all his life, till that moment, a believer in a lot of nonsense like the rest of mankind – who are fools; but now he thought!  He knew!  He was at peace; he was familiar with the highest wisdom!“

In this ‘elevated’ state the killer nevertheless falls asleep, or thinks he does.  Within this trance he isn’t sure whether the fog appears in a dream or is real.  Morning finally arrives with a heavy fog that is actual, though there is still an element of the surreal in Conrad’s description:  ”the mist penetrating, enveloping and silent; the mist that clings and kills; the mist white and deadly, immaculate and poisonous.“  Through this fog comes the whistle of the overly delayed river-boat, returning but all too late.  Now Conrad’s readers suddenly find themselves on the far side of Marlow’s fog; with one man dead for no sane reason and another so delusional that he hangs himself from the huge cross that guards a grave in the shrouds of the mist, the whistle of the river-boat ringing in his strangled ears.

Thus we have an idea of what Conrad envisages for Marlow when he encounters his own fog in ‘Heart of Darkness’; a sullen and poisonous barrier compounding Light and Dark, haunted by hapless victims who dared to venture too far.  In this place we are in danger of wandering lost forever from the medieval virtues of the ‘Cloud of Unknowing’, and the niceties or otherwise of ‘colonialism’ have long since ceased to have any relevance or even any meaning.  At this point it is safe to say that Joseph Conrad did not repeat his theme in two short stories simply to amplify his objections to the exploitation of Africa, but because he was driven to make a deeper exploration and attempt a further translation of the Darkness.  The superficial comprehension of this novel can finally be dispensed with and this review can turn its full attention to Conrad’s true intentions, and possibly to Kurtz, who awaits us all on the far side of the fog.

Clear the skies on a starry night and, looking upwards, what is it that we see?  Which elements of the ‘eternal firmament’ are we drawn towards?  Science assures us that the multitude of heavenly bodies are actually so numerous that could the naked eye see them all then night would be as bright as day.  But such is not within the perception of human vision and, likewise, human nature forgets to comprehend that each distant and romantic point of starry light is, in fact, a massive thermo-nuclear reaction capable of the most unimaginable destruction.
We only ever see what we focus upon; everything else is in darkness.

From the outset of this story Conrad has focussed us towards Kurtz; the reader’s impression of him emerges as Marlow journeys towards their eventual meeting.  The character who is Kurtz begins as nebulously as a misguided ideal from a foreign continent and only takes on a shadowy form when it is created by the focus of others who, for selfish reasons, have dealt with Kurtz and still must deal with his absent presence amongst them.  For himself Marlow learns to despise his colleagues because, to him, they seem incapable of perceiving anything beyond their own, meaningless agendas.  His thoughts and his reactions towards them become increasingly aloof and through their mutual recognition of Marlow’s self-imposed aloneness, he is gradually placed beyond the others in some way.  It is because of this ‘separation’ that Marlow becomes acquainted with Kurtz’ quasi-companion; an anonymous Russian who could be Roger Casement.  He too has been jealously rejected by the others, even though they only have rumour of his existence!  But this man has several times incurred great personal danger in attending Kurtz and in tending Kurtz when he was sick and perhaps his charming lack of self-interest is the only reason he’s survived.  Certainly it is this ‘innocence’ that places him on a par with Marlow; closest to Kurtz but somehow still untouched.

Their introductions made, Marlow then focuses on Kurtz’ trading station with his binoculars.  He sees human heads stuck on wooden posts and makes the point that they are facing inwards. Like all of us, it seems, they are looking towards Kurtz.  All the while Marlow’s ears are filled with tales of the Russian’s experiences with Kurtz.  He listens also to himself, while relating his own horrified reactions to his listeners (moored in darkness, on a boat on the Thames).  In Marlow’s distraction the reality he has so far recognised all around him is drowned by Kurtz’ voice expounding Kurtz’ ideas; the incessant and ceaseless report of Kurtz’ moods and actions, as he struggled for hegemony over the immensity of naked, necessary, teeming Life; trying to impose a moral conscience on that which has no human consciousness.  In failing to carve the Face of God we discover that Kurtz has dabbled with the Hand of God instead.  The outcome includes horrendous slaughter on a stupefying scale.  The only defence that Marlow can mount for Kurtz, to his unwitting, unwanted passengers: ‘He was a remarkable man’.

As for us, who can only vaguely focus on the Face or on the Heart; we are still with Kurtz.  We never know the details of Kurtz’ ideals or his plans; the most important thing about them is that they come from him.  What is clear from the ‘totem poles’ viewed in Marlow’s binocular vision and from the ramblings of the Russian, is that purpose, method, direction, even logic; have all been utterly lost in this wilderness.  But now exhausted, Kurtz is stretcher-borne from his station to the boat, clearly against the wishes of the dangerous, savage human souls that he has half-subordinated to his sacrilegious cause.  But the closer Marlow gets to Kurtz he is the only thing that any of us can see.  Marlow finally complains that even Kurtz, at the last, dwells in a torpor of introspection:  ”Kurtz discoursed.  A voice !  a voice ! It rang deep to the very last.  It survived his strength to hide in the magnificent folds of eloquence…  Oh, he struggled !  he struggled !  The wastes of his weary brain were haunted by shadowy images now…  My ‘intended’, my station, my career, my ideas – these were the subjects for the occasional utterances of elevated sentiments.  The shade of the original Kurtz frequented the bedside of the hollow sham, whose fate it was to be buried presently in the mould of primeval earth.“   With a feeble hand Kurtz entrusts his ‘important’ papers and effects to Marlow, then, whispering in some dark vision of his own, he dies.  Yet all around Marlow’s listeners on the yacht, and all around Conrad’s readers, the Darkness survives in his last words.

The river-boat returns through the impassive and unfaltering scenery and what have we left to focus or muse upon now?  That, being human, and by focusing on that element of Marlow’s story, we were duped into ignoring the obvious; the overhanging ‘primeval’ surroundings.  Were we recognising instead the tenuousness of our supremacy over them?  Or understanding that, as a species, we originally acquired our authority over Life on Earth through luck; an accident of merely biological proportions.  Or realising, whether or not we lastly succeed in vacating this planet; no-one will be here to witness the very last sunset.

It is not the memory of Kurtz that pursues Marlow back to civilisation; it is the Darkness in mortal man’s Enlightenment.  It haunts Marlow when he returns to the sepulchral city “resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other.“  It is the Darkness which mocks the dispersal of Kurtz’ important papers, to ignoble and irrelevant ends, the Darkness which crowds the apartments of Kurtz’ ‘intended’, still dressed in black though a year has passed; still in mourning.  Marlow can hear the Darkness pressing in on him as she demands to know Kurtz’ last words.  His story trails off into an apology to his listeners, and to us: “But I couldn’t.  I could not tell her.  It would have been too dark – too dark altogether…“

So much for ‘anti-colonialism’.
And as to the success or failure of Conrad’s attempt; do we think we are qualified???
Or should we, perhaps in a spirit of ‘self-preservation’, leave the judgement to the author himself, in his own commentary upon his own novel:  ”There it was no longer a matter of sincere colouring.  It was like another art altogether.  That sombre theme had to be given a sinister resonance, a tonality of its own; a continued vibration that, I hoped, would hang in the air and dwell in the ear long after the last note had been struck.“

transcribed from 'Apocalypse Now' _ based on The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

However_  it is clearly apparent that this matter has a much longer history_ according to a statement issued by prisoners in the Negev tented prison in January 2012 _ the threat of ‘ghosting’ has been hanging over their heads for some considerable time _

NEGEV DESERT PRISON ESCALATION
by Mission Free Palestinian Political Prisoners on Monday, 2 January 2012 at 12:28

Press release issued by the prisoners of the Negev Desert

“O masses of our Palestinian people_ O people of the world_ we live in a state of uprising_ continuing to struggle for our fundamental rights and against the continuing abuses on our right to a dignified life within the walls of prisons _
We are your sons and daughters_ the Palestinian prisoners in the Negev desert prison_ living in a state of fear and anticipation of the impact of looming threats by some guards_ especially after the arrival of the new prison governor named Ilan to the prison after being carefully in the torture of our brothers_ the prisoners in other prisons _

O breath_ and liberals and human rights activists and media people_ O our steadfast students in our universities and our schools_ all the sons and daughters of our people_ we ask you to take note of the prison administration here which has now embarked on the implementation of a series of continuing crimes and threats against our rights and other issues important to us _ 
Firstly with the confiscation of our clothes_ without regard to the environments of extreme cold in the Negev desert south of occupied Palestine _ 
Secondly the brutal inspection and humiliation of our families_ especially our mothers and our wives _
Thirdly the sudden transfer of whole sections of the prisoners under the pretext of the existence of spaces in other prisons_ creating possible closure of each section of the tents_ so that our own communal organization and individual is taken from us_ simultaneously preventing us from our right to communicate with our mothers and our fathers and our wives and our children
and in a further step in this cycle of abuse_ we now have a clear impression that they can implement their crimes silently_ with the installation of jammers_ promoted by the prison administration which is led by the new governor _

Against this onslaught we wish to emphasize the following_
1_  we promise to God and promise you that we will not come out of our cells by walking on our feet and we will resist it with our bodies and our hearts bare_ even if it means we become martyrs _

2_ we will not recognize the prison authority and will not give up our communication with our people and our families at all costs

3_ call all our people for the gift of a mass demonstration worthy of the heritage of our people and their interest in the historical whole of Palestine

4_ call on all leaders and factions of our people to do everything possible to prevent the massacre israel is expected to commit against us

5_ call our Egyptian brothers_ to actively pressurize the Israelis to implement all the details of the recent prisoner exchange agreement_ with regard to the protection of the lives of prisoners and the improvement of their living conditions _

Rise up and help us to prevent a real massacre by the Prison Service Administration in the future _  support us and we in our turn promise to die standing_ defending our dignity and honour of the families and our children”

Prisoners circumstances becoming much worse _
More than one thousand Palestinian prisoners in the Negev Prison have been on edge following threats by the prison administration to move all prisoners to other prisons in Occupied Palestine _  The prison administration brought in a thousand troops of the special forces to suppress any protest by the prisoners who have refused to cooperate with this mass movement _  The prison administration also aims to empty the jail of mobile phones through which the prisoners maintain contact with their relatives _

Prisoners appealed to international institutions and human rights groups to intervene and protect them and asked both the Hamas and Fatah movements to support our cause by organizing supportive public rallies _

Relatives of the prisoners stated that the prison management obliged them_ upon completion of their last visit_ to sign papers which acknowledge the prevention of further visits until May _   Relatives reported that conditions in the administration stronghold are tense since the decision of the prisons management to convey political prisoners to other prisons and detention camps _
Video of ex-political prisoners describing various methods and effects of Administrative Detention

Mission Free Palestinian Political Prisoners Blog

______________________________
originally posted at ‘ Left Of Left ‘

Recently during a parliamentary address Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his government wants to “raise a religious youth”. Erdogan is a graduate of a clerical school and the leader of the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“Do you expect the conservative democrat AK Party to raise an atheist generation? That might be your business, your mission, but not ours. We will raise a conservative and democratic generation embracing the nation’s values and principles.”

After an open call to academic people, they started to sign a petition against Erdogan’s Speech.

Young Academicians’ Protest Letter to Prime Minister Erdogan is as follows:

(Text is available also in English, Turkish, French, German, Spanish and Greek below)

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

We, as the youth and academics of this country, of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Alawite, Shafi’i, religious and nonreligious, atheist and agnostic backgrounds, all joined with a firm belief in secularism, find your recent remarks about raising a religious and conservative youth most alarming and dangerous.

The assassination of Turan Dursun because of his beliefs and ideas, attempts to lynch Aziz Nesin, massacres of Maraş and Sivas, and most recently the assassinations of Father Santoro and the workers of Zirve Publishing house, are still fresh in our memories. It is against this background of events that a speech which only serves to divide people on the basis of religious affiliation, and targets atheism, to which hundreds of thousands of Turkish nationals adhere, as the root of all evil, is all the more unacceptable. We would therefore like to remind you that it is your primary duty, as the Prime Minister, to be impartial to all segments of the society, and that this is the fundamental rule of democracy. We further condemn your speech which served only to hurt and humiliate the children that live on the streets in Turkey (stigmatised with the media-catchphrase of ‘thinner-addicted children’), who already live under harsh conditions and who are subject to abuse. The plight of these children is not due to a lack of spirituality, as you have implied, but is caused by the deep-rooted social and economic problems of our country, to which you have served as Prime Minister for a decade.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister, Your foremost duty and responsibility is to make sure that all citizens have equal access to a system of education that is essential in bringing up future generations capable of critical thinking, who prioritise love for humanity and nature; and to make sure that conditions required for a dignified and honourable life are accessible to all. Finally, we, as signatories to this petition, would like to express our concern for over hundred journalists, thousands of politicians, Busra Ersanli and more than five hundred students, who are imprisoned as of this writing. We sign this petition to break through this sphere of fear, and we are ready to face the consequences.

With all our respect if you agree with us and want to be heard please sign the petition

Genç Akademisyenlerden Başbakan’a Yanıt

Jihad Khader Adnan spoke yesterday outside Ziev hospital after visiting his son who was on the 61st day of a hunger strike to protest for ALL Palestinian prisoners who are jailed under ‘administrative detention orders’ which ‘legalize’ the Zionist State’s ‘detention without evidence or trial’
Here is the English translation of Jihad Khader Adnan’s words _

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Mr Adnan:
He (my son) does not enjoy going on a hunger strike because of the joy of going on a hunger strike _  He is striving for the freedom of his people and the people of his country _  He lives with his head held up high_ standing tall with no way for the occupation to get to him _

I thank you one more time and I thank the israeli people who are compassionate about the cause of my son Adnan_ because the occupation does not share the news of what is going on inside its territories in Tel Aviv_ Yaffa_ Qariat Eshmona_ Jerusalem_ it obscures the news from the israeli people _

The occupation does not want life for my son_  it wants to see him dead as quickly as possible_ but the will of God is guarding and protecting him on the 61st day and I just visited him today and the will of God is protecting him and keeping him alive
His health is stable_ thanks be to Allah and his spirits are as high as the skies and all the Israeli officials are struggling_ and it is now clear to all people what the ocuupation is doing against our peaceful people (of Palestine) and you israelis

bystander:
“we are not israelis Sheikh”

Mr Adnan:
I am talking to the israelis in Qariat Eshmona and the israelis through you I address the israelis through you_ that my son was arrested while he was at his house_ while he was with his wife and children and was taken prisoner_ and he was unarmed_ and Shalit was waging war against the people of Gaza and destroying their houses_ and shooting them_ and Shalit was released_ where is the mother of Shalit and where is his father?  Why aren’t they feeling compassion for me and my humantirian cause?? Where are they?
They are on the wrong side and we are on the right side _ Our being on the right side is stronger than their being on the wrong side _ They took our homes _ They raped our land and destroyed it and destroyed our mosques and they are still destroying _
Where are you people of pride and dignity???
Is there anyone amongst you or amongst the Arabic leaders who carries the dignity of Al-Mu’tasim ?
When a Muslim woman in Ammoria called “Oh Al-Mu’tasim” (calling out for help), he armed armies and sent them from “the house of Maqdess” all the way to “Ammourya” and he got her released and the king of the Romans paid the penalty
I am not asking for much _ I am reaching out and asking for the Arabic and Islamic world
to take a stand_ a stand that is a proud one and not a broken stand in front of the enemy_ the enemy that is arrogant_ abusive and ruthless

The doctor in the hospital is telling my son “if you are a man Khader_ refuse to drink water”
Does he not know that our lives are in the hands of God? Is this medicine? And is this the way they study medicine and is this the reality of the doctors who are working at that hospital?
Is that doctor speaking in the name of the Torah sacraments which are sacred?
Does he not know that life and death is given by GOD?  God gives it to the ones he chooses _  A man does not die from hunger or thirst_ God protects the people he chooses to _

I just left from visiting my son and I am determined that he continues his hunger strike till victory and till the goal of the Palestinian people of freedom and independence is achieved _ Freedom for him and all the detainees and priosners in Israeli jails_ My son does not care about hunger or thirst but he cares about his freedom and the freedom of his people

I call on President Ahmadenajad the Iranian president who has not said one word so far about my son _ and i call on Rajestani and Hassan NassrAllah and we all know who Hassan NassrAllah is_ he says he is the supporter of resistance _ Isn’t my son the one who is resisting with an empty stomach???

Where are you Hassan Nasrillah? I have heard nothing from you _
Where are you Youssef Qardawi? I did not hear anything from you _
Where are you Sheikh to the Al Azhar mosque? I have heard nothing from you _
And as if this matter does not concern you all_ does not concern you in any way_ not in a close way or a distant way
Where are you Mahmoud Abbas???
Where are you Abu Mazen?
You who are keeping and exercising complete diplomatic relations with the zionist entity with whom you negotiate_ and you are waiting until my son dies_ then you will wave your flags and say “I consider Khaled a martyr”….

I want my son to come out alive and well_ through the pride of proud people or the humiliation of the humiliated ones _ I want him to return to his family and his people and all those who love him all over the homeland

Khader’s message has reached from the furthest East to West_ South to North _ and from the East to the West I am contacted by people in the USA_ people that are close to the White House_ the White House that is actually the Black House _ May God make them even darker_ as they are not supporters of justice or supporters of peace _ they want the surrender of our people_ the Palestinians_ this Muslim people who are struggling in “Bait el Makdess” Jerusalem
<quote from the Prophet (PBUH) >
I thank you for being here
I thank you for your support
I thank you for your cooperation
this is the message of Khader _ the speaker on behalf of Arabic and Muslim people
Peace be upon you…

Jihad Khader Adnan speaking outside Ziev hospital _ 15th February 2012 _
link to speech

sincere thanks to Nadia Al Alami for this translation
see previous post  for more information concerning Khader Adnan
________________________________
originally published at ‘Left Of Left‘

The depth and level of criminality amongst zionists involved in successive israeli governments_ has_ during the relatively brief history of that nation_ managed to pervade almost every arm or department of the israeli bureaucracy _  From the high office of President all the way down to petty officials and bureaucrats in local government posts_ the list includes at least eight separate ministerial departments and crimes ranging from rape to drug smuggling as well as nearly every serious financial offence written into the israeli statutory code _  When seen as a collective whole_ this record could not be described as anything other than ‘shameful’ _  It is truly astonishing that a regime which has so far been in existence only 65 years_ could have become so tainted by corruption and criminality so quickly and thoroughly_

Therefore_ and owing to the extent of the investigation required to cover this subject_ this article must be seen as ‘a work in progress’ _  It’s final goal is to collect the data on all the acts of serious criminality perpetrated by israeli officials and to identify the perpetrators and record their misdeeds in one location_ for the ulitmate purpose of determining just how much of the zionist government machine has actually become polluted by criminals _
In Part One the focus is on the main departments of the israeli national government _

The qualification of ‘ongoing investigation’ must also be added to the diagram below_ because as the article develops so the image will change as well_ to reflect an up to date assessment of how many areas of the zionist regime are involved _


OFFICE OF iSRAEL PRESIDENT _
Rape _ Sexual Assault _ Bribery

EZER WEIZMAN
Weizman resigned as president in 2000, three years before his second term was due to end, after the attorney-general found he had accepted more than $300,000 in cash gifts from businessmen from 1985 to 1993
Bribery Investigation Spotlights Corruption of Israeli President

MOSHE KATSAV
In November 2011, israeli Supreme Court unanimously upheld Moshe Katsav’s conviction for raping a former employee when he was a cabinet minister in the 1990s, and for sexually harassing two other women while he was President _ Katsav will be placed in a wing at Maasiyahu that is reserved for observant Jews, and will share a cell with ex-government minister Shlomo Benizri
Katsav begins jail term for rape

OFFICE OF iSRAEL PRIME MINISTER _
War Crimes _ Terrorism _ Political Assassination _
Corruption _ Receiving Bribes _ Money Laundering

YITZAK SHAMIR
MENACHEM BEGIN
in actual fact the crimes of israeli leaders stretch back to even before they could ‘legally’ call themselves israeli_ before there was even a regime that they could govern _  The murder of British troops and others_ including a UN representative_ by the terrorist gang Lehi and the massacre carried out by Irgun on the Palestinian village Deir Yassin were overseen by two zionist leaders who were both ‘wanted men’ defined as ‘terrorists’ _  Nevertheless they went on to become israeli Prime Ministers_ thereby defiling whatever honour or prestige that might be expected from such a position _

ARIEL SHARON
Shamir and Begin are joined in their infamy by the ‘Butcher of Sabra and Shatila’_ Ariel Sharon_ who instead of being wanted on charges of terrorism was indicted as a War Criminal _
Kahan Commission finds Sharon ‘personally responsible’ for Sabra Shatila massacre

EHUD OLMERT
Ehud Olmert, who resigned as Prime Minister in 2008 amid corruption charges, was indicted in January 2012 on new charges of seeking bribes in connection with three controversial real estate projects
Ehud Olmert Indicted on More Bribery Charges

OFFICE OF iSRAEL DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
& DEFENCE MINISTER
War Crimes _ Sexual Assault
EHUD BARAK
Ehud Barak was one of the triumverate of israeli leaders who became the spokesmen and figureheads of the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza January 2009_ known in israel as Operation Cast Lead
Israeli minister Ehud Barak faces war crimes arrest threat

YITZHAK MORDECHAI
Former Defence Minister and retired general sentenced to an 18-month suspended jail term in 2001 after being convicted of two counts of sexual assault during his career in IDF _  During his time in the army Mordechai was also charged and afterwards acquitted of murder and conspiracy charges in the Bus 300 incident
Police recommend indicting Yitzhak Mordechai for sexual assault

OFFICE OF iSRAEL FOREIGN MINISTER
Aggravated Fraud _ Money Laundering _ Harassment of Witnesses
AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN
Lieberman_ a self confessed racist_ has been under investigation on various charges for years but only in April 2011 was he finally caught _  israeli Attorney General’s office said Lieberman would be indicted on charges of fraud_ breach of trust_ aggravated fraud_ money laundering and harassing a witness _  Allegations against Lieberman centre on the transfer of millions of shekels to what police described as shell companies and accounts belonging to people close to him
Lieberman set to face corruption charges

OFFICE OF iSRAEL FINANCE MINISTER
Theft _ Embezzlement

AVRAHAM HIRCHSON
Hirchson was jailed for five years and five months in June 2009 for financial offences that included stealing more than $500,000 from a trade union he led before becoming a cabinet member in 2006
Finance Minister Sentenced for Theft from Union

OFFICE OF iSRAEL JUSTICE MINISTER
Sexual Assault
HAIM RAMON
Once touted as a possible future Prime Minister, Ramon was convicted of sexual misconduct in 2007 for forcibly kissing a woman soldier who served in the office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
3-judge panel delivers unanimous guilty verdict

OFFICES OF iSRAEL HEALTH MINISTER
& LABOR & SOCIAL WELFARE MINISTER
Receiving Bribes
SHLOMO BENIZRI
A former cabinet minister and member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Benizri was sentenced in June 2009 to four years in prison for taking bribes
Benizri asks for pardon

OFFICE OF iSRAEL ENERGY MINISTER
Drug Smuggling
GONEN SEGEV
A former energy and infrastructure minister from 1992 to 1995, Segev, a physician, was jailed for five years in 2005 for trying to smuggle 30,000 ecstasy tablets into Israel from the Netherlands
Segev confesses to drug smuggling charges

KNESSET MEMBERS
War Crimes _ Perjury _ Corruption _ Money Laundering
TSIPI LIVNI _ Kadima Party
Livni_ head of the opposition Kadima party_  played a key role in decisions made before and during the three week long massacre in Gaza in January 2009 _  Palestinian officials and an Israeli human rights organisation say about 1400 people_ mostly civilians_ were brutally murdered _
UK court issues Gaza arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni

TZACHI HANEGBI _ Kadima Party
Hanegbi was convicted of perjury in July 2010 _ A court determined his offence involved “moral turpitude”_ effectively stripping him of his seat in parliament under Israeli law
Hanegbi suspended from Knesset

OMRI SHARON _ Kadima Party
Omri Sharon_ Son of the Butcher of Sabra and Shatila_ Ariel Sharon_ who himself only just escaped corruption and money-laundering charges that his son will be tried for
Sharon’s son charged in corruption case

ARYEH DERI _ Shas Party
RAFAEL PINASHI _ Shas Party
YAIR LEVY _ Shas Party
OFER HUGI _ Shas Party
YAIR PERETZ _ Shas Party
Since 1999 several Shas Party Members of the Knesset have been charged with corruption _ Deri was ordered by Israel’s Supreme Court to resign from the cabinet in 1993 over corruption charges. He was sentenced in 1999 to three years in prison
Shas Controversy

________________________________
originally posted at ‘Left of Left‘

Addameer _ the Palestinian prisoner support and Human Rights association states that Adnan, a spokesperson for the Islamic Jihad party, is currently held under zionist ‘administrative detention’ _ which means arbitrary detention without charge or trial_ based on secret evidence and renewable indefinitely for repeated periods of up to six months

you can show your support for Khader Adnan at Samidoun _ the Palestinian Prisoner Support Network and by writing a letter to the zionist authorities _  please take a moment to visit the website _ thank you

you can also download the .pdf report on ‘Violations of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli prisons – 2010‘

UPDATE 070212 _ The ministry of prisoners in Gaza has said that 700 prisoners in the Israeli Raymond jail would start a gradual hunger strike on Tuesday demanding improvement of their incarceration conditions.
read more at Occupied Palestine

UPDATE 090212_ The family of 54-day Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan have appealed for an Israeli court to release him before he dies, with his wife describing his condition as “horrifying.”
read more at Al Akhbar (English version)

UPDATE 100212_ zionist authorities are admitting publicly that Khader Adnan_ on day 55 of a hunger strike_ is now in ‘grave danger’
read more at Mondoweiss

demo at Ofer Prison Junction _ picture at demotix

UPDATE 110212_ Palestinian Authority’s prisoners affairs minister Issa Qaraqe said Friday that Egypt was intervening with Israel to free Khader Adnan, who has been on hunger strike for 56 days
read more at Ma’an News

Khader Adnan’s Letter from Zeiv Hospital

16 Injured & 4 arrested During Solidarity Demonstration

UPDATE 120212_ Khader Adnan, Palestinian political prisoner being held under administrative detention, is now entering his 57th day of hunger strike and facing a severe health crisis.  Despite the fact that Khader Adnan risks death with every minute that passes, the Israeli military court system is delaying decisions in his case and further prolonging his unjust imprisonment
read more at Samidoun
Please sign this petition to the International Red Cross on behalf of Khader Adnan_ on hunger strike for 57 days
petition to IRC

UPDATE 160212_ Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday to appeal his detention without charge as thousands took to the streets in solidarity with him
read more at Al Akhbar (English version)

Khader Adnan’s father speaks at demonstration outside Ziev hospital _ video
English translation of Jihad Khader Adnan’s speech available here

UPDATE 170212_ Khader Adnan on 62nd day of hunger strike is “nearing death”
read more at The Guardian

UPDATE 180212_ Khader Adnan is beginning day 63 of his hunger strike_ in Nablus today his father is contributing 250 kilos of bread as a gift to his people in the honor of his son determination and steadfastness_ the bread will be in bags with stickers on them with his son’s picture that carries the following message_
Khader Adnan is starving to death so we can live !!

_________________________________________
originally posted at ‘Left of Left‘

USS Enterpise _ sailing into False Flag history!

IF YOU WANT TO START A WAR WITH IRAN
USE AN iSRAELI SUBMARINE TO SINK A US AIRCRAFT CARRIER!
The USS Enterprise is about to be decommissioned anyway so why not have her sunk then blame Iran?
One added bonus for the United States is that the 8 nuclear engines that power this floating war-machine won’t have to be disposed of (at HUGE expense) if they are lying at the bottom of the Indian Ocean somewhere!
and if you think this is just a fanciful conspiracy theory then remember the USS Liberty which was attacked by the zionist regime four days into the 1967 Arab Israeli War with the loss of 34 US sailors lives and which the lying zionists claimed afterward was an accident!
“If it was an accident, it was the best planned accident I’ve ever heard of” – USS Liberty survivor
Remember too the recent attack on the Mavi Marmara by zionist israel

for more details on this upcoming False Flag incident check out the video on Youtube

SHARE THIS POST _ OR SHARE THE YOUTUBE LINK _
GET THIS MESSAGE OUT TO EVERYONE!
Many Thanks to ‘The Heretic’ and Mike Rivero for the heads up!!
_____________________________________________
originally posted at ‘Left of Left‘

An Analysis of U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan, 2004-2012 

PREAMBLE
On 30th January 2012 the social network Google+ and its ‘affiliate’ Youtube carried out “the first-ever completely virtual interview from the White House” with US President Barack Obama _
In what many viewers have since described as “not much more than a publicity stunt” the man who promised in his 2008 election victory speech to ‘always be honest with you… listen to you when we disagree‘ answered questions from the public and a panel of six US citizens who were there specifically ‘to ask further questions based upon the President’s answers’ _
Sadly the only elements of the 50 minute interview worthy of note neither reflect well upon the White House or indeed on Google’s obvious manipulation of the questions and the panelists_ whose responses were clearly cut short if they didn’t immediately appear to be supportive of US policy_ either foreign or domestic _
The details of such matters must however be the provender of another article elsewhere_ the focus of this post is upon one question which was asked by a ‘man in the street’ called Evan_ and_ more specifically_ upon the answer that Obama gave him (indirectly) _

Evan’s question
“Mr President since you took office you ordered more drone attacks in your first year than your <unclear> (possibly ‘predeceesor’) did in his entire term These drone attacks caused a lot of civilian casualties _  I am curious to know how you think they help the nation and whether you think they are worth it“

Your Interview with the President – 2012
(reference to Evan’s question from 26.30min and onwards)

GENERAL ANALYSIS OF OBAMA’S RESPONSE
Whilst the President’s response could not be accurately defined as ‘deceptive’_ there was a definite air of ‘shadiness’ about it _  Obama looked away from the camera several times and even contradicted himself as he fumbled defensively through an answer that jumped from one incomplete point to the next _   It was_ without doubt_ his most evasive answer during the entire interview _
For the sake of brevity his ‘ramblings’ are not written here verbatim_ though all of the following quotes were a part of them _

“drones have not caused a huge number of civilian casualties_ for the most part they have been precison strikes against Al Qaeada and their affiliates“

“we are very careful in terms of how it (the use of drones) has been applied“

“a targeted_ focussed effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists who are trying to go in and harm Americans _ hit American facilities and American bases and so on“

“it’s important for everyone to understand that this thing is kept on a very tight leash“

“it’s not a bunch of folks in a room somewhere just making decisions _ it is part and parcel of our overall authority when it comes to battling Al Qaeda _ it is not something that is being used beyond that“

"a bunch of folks in a room somewhere" _ making the decision NOT to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice

These quotes from Obama’s response are themselves worthy of several separate articles _
At the very least there should be a concerted inquiry into WHO EXACTLY is “very careful” in terms of just how this “tightly leashed” “targetted focussed effort” is applied_ because if it’s NOT ‘a bunch of folks sitting in a room somewhere’ making the decisions to use attack drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan_ then just who is it ?!?

As to the President’s assertion that civilian casualties from drone strikes are not ‘huge’ _ that largely depends upon anyone’s defintion of that particular qualification _  Certainly they are not ‘huge’ if they are compared to the civilian body count from the Iraq war_ assessed by various agencies to be anywhere between 103,000 to more than a million
Casualties of the Iraq War

But whether ‘huge’ or not_ there is no denying that ‘death by drone-attack’ is a measurable portion of civilian deaths (aka ‘collateral damage’) in Afghanistan_ which_ after all_ number in thousands ‘only’ (sic)
Civilian casualties in the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

Meanwhile_ whilst the CIA asserts that drone attacks inside Pakistan have killed 600 militants and no civilian casualties at all_ a claim described as ‘patently absurd’ by pretty much everyone else who has any real knowledge of these matters_ Daniel L. Byman from the Brookings Institute suggests that drone strikes probably kill “10 or so civilians” for every militant killed _
Even if this ratio was only half the amount that Byman postulates_  there is a convincing argument that the term ‘huge’ IS a valid description of them_ and_ equally convincingly_ that Obama is  ‘wrong’ when he says otherwise _
Drone attacks in Pakistan

Statistics aside_ the fact that more than 160 children have been killed by drones in Pakistan is not just ‘data’ that can be measured or disputed in terms of quantative evaluations _
By any standard the US President might choose_ these tragic deaths ARE HUGE!  Claims to the contrary or assertions about ‘precision strikes’ are both ignorant of the destruction and misery inflicted upon the innocent and obscene in the level of their callousness_ and wherever his  ‘expertise’ on such matters comes from_ it is certainly NOT based on personal experience!

a record of 'military expertise' that speaks for itself

AL QAEDA AND ITS ‘AFFILIATES’
The term ‘terrorist’ has many variations_ the use of these usually says MUCH more about the political position of the ‘describer’ than it does about the ‘militants’ they are describing _
Take for example the BBC_ once globally renowned for their impartiality_ who these days betray their pro-Zionist leanings and indeed their own geo-political ignorance_ by using the word ‘Islamist’ to define a group comprised of all kinds of people that Western ‘authority’ disapproves of_ regardless of whether those so described support the use of political violence or not _   the intention is clear_ to create in the gullible minds of the media-driven social ‘mainstream’ a deepset belief that everything ‘Islamist’ is violent and anti-Western_ to be avoided if not shunned by BBC viewers _

In his own answer_ during his public interview_ Obama states that ‘terrorists’ “are trying to go in and harm Americans _ hit American facilities and American bases and so on” _  Thus stated_ and based upon the President’s definition_ ‘terrorists’ should be more accurately defined as ‘enemy combatants’ _  Indeed statistics show us that ‘suicide bombers’ in Afghanistan are indeed responding to US aggression in the form of drone attacks _

and this argument is further substantiated by the FBI definition of ‘terrorism’ _
“Terrorism is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85)”
FBI defines terrorism

Here the operative word is ‘unlawful’ _ for who would describe the hostile actions of an enemy as ‘lawful’?  Indeed the question must arise_ just how ‘lawful’ could it ever be_ to rain down lethal explosive devices onto the territory of another sovereign nation?
Whether or not there was some kind of ‘entente cordiale’ between the United States and Pakistan over the ‘War on Terror’_ nevertheless there have been a large number of violent incidents in Pakistan wherein Pakistani authorities have afterward either vehemently protested or claimed that they had no warning of_ and if the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011 weren’t ‘pre-meditated’ then logically the ‘accidental’ massacre that occurred in the Mohmand province was not carried out with any kind of ‘mutual consent’ with Pakistani authorities _
23 Jan 2012  _ Pakistani military accuses US of intentionally killing troops in Mohmand

THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE ???
Whilst ‘agreement’ concerning the use of drone attacks in the ‘War on Terror’ might have been made between their respective governments_ it is continually and consistently obvious that THE PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN DO NOT AGREE that these ‘acts of violence’ carried out by the US are lawful _
According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in  July 2011_ only 17% of Pakistanis have a positive view of the US and only 11% see it as a useful partner in the ‘War on Terror’ _ and whilst those figures may reflect the ‘uneducated’ view of the ‘man in the street’_ 67% of Pakistani journalists who might have more ‘inside knowledge’ of such matters_ still describe US drone attacks as ‘acts of terrorism’

June 2011 _ 19 Pakistani villagers massacred in a drone attack

CONCLUSIONS
In his election victory speech in 2008 Barack Obama had a message supposedly for those beyond the shores of the United States_ wherein he promised to show that
“the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope _ For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow“
Within those ‘fine words’ it is clearly apparent that whilst Obama appeared to be addressing ALL those around the globe who were awaiting the news of his victory that night_ he was actually speaking to his American audience_ not to the rest of the world_ in much the same way as during the ‘first-ever completely virtual interview from the White House’ on 30th January_ wherein he argued that civilian casualties from drone-attacks are “not huge”

Regretfully Barack Obama’s own actions in the last three years have made a complete mockery of such empty assertions_ when he spoke those words in 2008 and when he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize ‘for his potential to do good’ and yet again_ now in 2012 _
Indeed the ONLY aspect of United States foreign policy that has actually changed in the last 30 years is its ‘theatre of operations’ _ from Latin America to the Middle East _
In all other respects_ and despite Obama’s hollow assurances_ the US still continues to push its ‘might’ around the world_ whether by using its undemocratic veto at the United Nations or by using ‘force of arms’ against the untold hundreds of thousands of ‘foreign’ victims that have been displaced or injured or slain_ because they just happened to be ‘in harm’s way’ _

__________________________________________
post originally published at ‘Left of Left‘

Part I

What will surprise those who may already be surprised about the Dönmeh connection to Turkey, is the Dönmeh connection to the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia.

An Iraqi Mukhabarat (General Military Intelligence Directorate) Top Secret report, “The Emergence of Wahhabism and its Historical Roots,” dated September 2002 and released on March 13, 2008, by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in translated English form, points to the Dönmeh roots of the founder of the Saudi Wahhabi sect of Islam, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab. Much of the information is gleaned from the memoirs of a “Mr. Humfer,” (as spelled in the DIA report, “Mr. Hempher” as spelled the historical record) a British spy who used the name “Mohammad,” claimed to be an Azeri who spoke Turkish, Persian, and Arabic and who made contact with Wahhab in the mid-18th century with a view of creating a sect of Islam that would eventually bring about an Arab revolt against the Ottomans and pave the way for the introduction of a Jewish state in Palestine. Humfer’s memoirs are recounted by the Ottoman writer and admiral Ayyub Sabri Pasha in his 1888 work, “The Beginning and Spreading of Wahhabism.”

In his book, The Dönmeh Jews, D. Mustafa Turan writes that Wahhab’s grandfather, Tjen Sulayman, was actually Tjen Shulman, a member of the Jewish community of Basra, Iraq. The Iraqi intelligence report also states that in his book, The Dönmeh Jews and the Origin of the Saudi Wahhabis, Rifat Salim Kabar reveals that Shulman eventually settled in the Hejaz, in the village of al-Ayniyah what is now Saudi Arabia, where his grandson founded the Wahhabi sect of Islam. The Iraqi intelligence report states that Shulman had been banished from Damascus, Cairo, and Mecca for his “quackery.” In the village, Shulman sired Abdul Wahhab. Abdel Wahhab’s son, Muhammad, founded modern Wahhabism.

The Iraqi report also makes some astounding claims about the Saud family. It cites Abdul Wahhab Ibrahim al-Shammari’s book, The Wahhabi Movement: The Truth and Roots, which states that King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, the first Kingdom of Saudi Arabia monarch, was descended from Mordechai bin Ibrahim bin Moishe, a Jewish merchant also from Basra. In Nejd, Moishe joined the Aniza tribe and changed his name to Markhan bin Ibrahim bin Musa. Eventually, Mordechai married off his son, Jack Dan, who became Al-Qarn, to a woman from the Anzah tribe of the Nejd. From this union, the future Saud family was born.

The Iraqi intelligence document reveals that the researcher Mohammad Sakher was the subject of a Saudi contract murder hit for his examination into the Sauds’ Jewish roots. In Said Nasir’s book, The History of the Saud Family, it is maintained that in 1943, the Saudi ambassador to Egypt, Abdullah bin Ibrahim al Muffadal, paid Muhammad al Tamami to forge a family tree showing that the Sauds and Wahhabs were one family that descended directly from the Prophet Mohammed.

At the outset of World War I, a Jewish British officer from India, David Shakespeare, met with Ibn Saud in Riyadh and later led a Saudi army that defeated a tribe opposed to Ibn Saud. In 1915, Ibn Saud met with the British envoy to the Gulf region, Bracey Cocas. Cocas made the following offer to Ibn Saud: “I think this is a guarantee for your endurance as it is in the interest of Britain that the Jews have a homeland and existence, and Britain’s interests are, by all means, in your interest.” Ibn Saud, the descendant of Dönmeh from Basra, responded: “Yes, if my acknowledgement means so much to you, I acknowledge thousand times granting a homeland to the Jews in Palestine or other than Palestine.” Two years later, British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour, in a letter to Baron Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Zionists, stated: “His Majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people . . .” The deal had the tacit backing of two of the major players in the region, both descendant from Dönmeh Jews who supported the Zionist cause, Kemal Ataturk and Ibn Saud. The present situation in the Middle East should be seen in this light but the history of the region has been purged by certain religious and political interests for obvious reasons.

After World War I, the British facilitated the coming to power of the Saud regime in the former Hejaz and Nejd provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The Sauds established Wahhabism as the state religion of the new Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, like the Kemalist Dönmeh in Turkey, began to move against other Islamic beliefs and sects, including the Sunnis and Shi’as. The Wahhabi Sauds accomplished what the Kemalist Dönmeh were able to achieve in Turkey: a fractured Middle East that was ripe for Western imperialistic designs and laid the groundwork for the creation of the Zionist state of Israel.

Deep states and Dönmeh

During two visits to Turkey in 2010, I had the opportunity of discussing the Ergenekon “deep state” with leading Turkish officials. It was more than evident that discussions about the Ergenekon network and its “foreign” connections are a highly-sensitive subject. However, it was also whispered by one high-ranking Turkish foreign policy official that there were other “deep states” in surrounding nations and Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria were mentioned by name. Considering the links between Ergenekon and the Dönmeh in Turkey and the close intelligence and military links between the Dönmeh-descendent Sauds and Wahhabis in Arabia, the reports of close links between ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and the Binyamin Netanyahu government in Israel may be seen in an entirely new light… And it would explain Erdogan’s support for Egypt’s revolution: in Turkey, it was a democratic revolution that curbed the influence of the Dönmeh. The influence of Wahhabi Salafists in Libya’s new government also explains why Erdogan was keen on establishing relations with the Benghazi-based rebels to help supplant the influence of the Wahhabis, the natural allies of his enemies, the Dönmeh (Ergenekon) of Turkey.

Erdogan’s desire to set the historical record straight by restoring history purged by the Kemalists and Dönmeh has earned him vitriolic statements from Israel’s government that he is a neo-Ottomanist who is intent on forming an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab countries. Clearly, the Dönmeh and their Zionist brethren in Israel and elsewhere are worried about Dönmeh and Zionist historical revisionism, including their role in the Armenian and Assyrian genocide, and their genocide denial being exposed.

In Egypt, which was once an Ottoman realm, it was a popular revolution that tossed out what may have amounted to the Dönmeh with regard to the Mubarak regime. The Egyptian “Arab Spring” also explains why the Israelis were quick to kill six Egyptian border police so soon after nine Turkish passengers were killed aboard the Mavi Marmara, some in execution style, by Israeli troops. Dönmeh doctrine is rife with references to the Old Testament Amalekites, a nomadic tribe ordered attacked by the Hebrews from Egypt by the Jewish God to make room for Moses’s followers in the southern region of Palestine. In the Book of Judges, God unsuccessfully commands Saul: “Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, and infant, ox, and sheep, camel and donkey.” The Dönmeh, whose doctrine is also present in Hasidic and other orthodox sects of Judaism, appear to have no problem substituting the Armenians, Assyrians, Turks, Kurds, Egyptians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Iranians, and Palestinians for the Amalekites in carrying out their military assaults and pogroms.

With reformist governments in Turkey and Egypt much more willing to look into the background of those who have split the Islamic world, Ataturk in Turkey and Mubarak in Egypt, the Sauds are likely very much aware that it is only a matter of time before their links, both modern and historical, to Israel will be fully exposed. It makes sense that the Sauds have been successful in engineering a dubious plot involving Iranian government agents trying to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington in an unnamed Washington, DC restaurant. The Iraqi intelligence report could have been referring to the Zionists and Dönmeh when it stated, “it strives to . . . [the] killing of Muslims, destructing, and promoting the turmoil.” In fact, the Iraqi intelligence report was referring to the Wahhabis.

With new freedom in Turkey and Egypt to examine their pasts, there is more reason for Israel and its supporters, as well as the Sauds, to suppress the true histories of the Ottoman Empire, secular Turkey, the origins of Israel, and the House of Saud. With various players now angling for war with Iran, the true history of the Dönmeh and their influence on past and current events in the Middle East becomes more important.

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