Concerning the Gulf: The Emirates crackdown

by Carlos Latuff

by VIJAY PRASHAD, source

Rarely reported in the West has been the concerted repression of democracy activists on the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia, the first among equals in the peninsula, has been ruthless against any suggestion of democratic reform. Most recently, the Saudi authorities arrested the Qatif-based cleric Nimr al-Nimr, shooting him in the leg and killing several people during the operation in the village of al-Awwamiyya. Interior Minister Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz said that al-Nimr is “the spreader of sedition” and “a man of dubious scholarship and dubious mental condition, and the issues he raises and speaks about show a deficiency or imbalance of the mind.” In the Kingdom, to champion democracy is a mental illness. Al-Nimr is not alone. The authorities have arrested Ra’if Badawi, editor of Free Saudi Liberals, and activists such as Mohammed al-Shakouri of Qatif, the hotbed of unrest. The Saudis cleverly use blasphemy laws to hit the democracy activists hard. The activists are “those who have gone astray” (al-fi’at al-dhallah), and it is the truncheon that is tasked with bringing them back to their senses.

For a year, the Bahraini authorities have been unrelenting in their crackdown against democracy campaigners. Most recently Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, a veteran of the al-Khalifa prisons, was arrested for an insulting tweet. On June 22, about thirty activists of the al-Wefaq party, led by their leader Sheikh Ali Salman, marched east of Manama with flowers in hand. The police fired tear gas and sound bombs, injuring most of the demonstrators. Things are so bad in Bahrain that the UN Human Rights Council passed a declaration calling on King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to implement the recommendations of his own appointed Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. Unsurprisingly, the United States, the United Kingdom and seven European Union states (including Sweden) sat silently and did not endorse the declaration.

Matters have taken a turn for the worse in the United Arab Emirates (of the seven emirates in this union the most famous are Dubai and Abu Dhabi). There the authorities have shown no mercy to al-Islah, the Association of Reform and Social Guidance. Since March of this year, the UAE has arrested at least fifty activists, including the human rights lawyers Mohammed al-Roken and Mohammed Mansoori as well as Khaifa al-Nu`aimi, a young blogger and twitter user. The attack on al-Islah began in December 2011, when the full enthusiasm of the Arab Spring reached the gilded cities. The government promptly arrested its main leaders, and stripped seven of them of their UAE citizenship. The UAE Seven, as they fashioned themselves, released a statement calling for reforms “in the legislative authority so as to prepare the climate for a wholesome parliamentary election.” Nothing of the sort has happened, and indeed the crushing blow to the activists has been swifter and more powerful.

On July 24, University of Sharjah law professor and a former judge, Ahmed Yusuf al-Zaabi, was sentenced to twelve months in prison for fraud. The government alleged that he had impersonated someone else (his passport said he was a judge even as he had been dismissed from the bench for his support of the 2003 call for political reforms). The recent arrests are a piece of this general policy of intolerance for political diversity, and for any call to reform. On August 1, Human Rights Watch’s Joe Stork called upon the US and Britain to “speak out clearly, in public as well as in meetings with UAE officials, about this draconian response to the mildest calls for modest democratic reforms.” There is silence from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said, in February 2011, that the US would “support citizens working to make their governments more open, transparent and accountable.” The asterix to that statement said the following: “citizens of the Gulf need not apply.”

Arab Desert Democracy.

John Harris, the architect of Dubai, wrote in a 1971 master plan that the UAE’s political system was a “traditional Arab desert democracy [which] grants the leader ultimate authority” (this is quoted in Ahmed Kanna’s fabulous 2011 book Dubai: The City as Corporation). The term “desert democracy” had become clichéd by the 1970s. In 1967, Time ran a story on Kuwait as the “desert democracy,” a title the magazine reused in 1978 for its story on Saudi Arabia. The idea of “desert democracy” refers to the Gulf monarchies allowance of a majlis, a council, to offer advice to the monarch, at the same time as the oil-rich monarchs pledge to provide transfer payments to the citizens for their good behavior (in 1985 the leader of the illegal Saudi Communist Party said that these payments made the Saudi workers “the favorites of fortune”). If this basic compact is violated by the call for greater democracy, for instance, the monarch is enshrined to crack down. It is almost as if the Gulf Arab monarchs had read their Bernard Lewis, the venerable Princeton professor, whose What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Modernity and Islam in the Middle East (2001) notes that the “Middle Easterners created a democracy without freedom.” All the usual Orientalist props come tumbling in: tribal society, Arab factionalism and so on.

The fog of culture is convenient, but it does blind one to much simpler explanations. The emirs of the Gulf have no interest in sharing power with their people who might ask embarrassing questions about the extravagant living of the royal families off the petro-dollars. No elite willingly submits to democracy, the “most shameless thing in the world,” as Edmund Burke put it. It has been piously hoped since the 1950s that the “next generation” of the Gulf Arabs will be more moderate then their forbearers, that distance from their Bedouin tents will turn them into Liberals. The Saudi King Abdulla is 87, his crown prince Salman is 77 and sick. Their younger descendants have not shown any eagerness to move a reform agenda. The costs would be catastrophic to their family’s control of the wealth. The US government is well aware of this situation. A 1996 State Department cable points out that the “Royals still seem more adept at squandering than accumulating wealth… As long as the royal family views (Saudi Arabia) and its oil wealth as Al Saud Inc., the thousand of princes and princesses will see it as their birthright to receive dividend payments and raid the till.” Reform is a distraction to their plunder.

US Ambassador James Smith wrote to Secretary Clinton in February 2010 that the US-Saudi relationship has “proven durable.” Much the same has been said of the US and European relationship with the rest of the Gulf. Oil is of course key, but it is not the only thing. Political control through the military bases is equally important. Of the many bases, the most significant are the Naval Support Activity Station in Bahrain, the air base at al-Dhafra in the UAE, and the air base at al-Udeid in Qatar. Democracy and other such illusions can be squandered by the West to forge a realistic alliance with the Gulf Arabs who share, as Ambassador Smith put it, “a common view of threats posed by terrorism and extremism [and] the dangers posed by Iran.” One of Iran’s great threats is its attempt to export its style of Islamic democracy, anathema to the Gulf Arab monarchies. The US has lined up behind aristocracy against democracy.

The power of the Gulf sovereigns is increasing, although the sovereigns are less stable. The people have already been through the stages of al-mithaq (the pact) and al-hiwar (the dialogue). Far more is wanted. Night descends. The mukhabarat (political police) and the mutaween (religious police) are on the move. There is gunfire. There are shreaks. There is silence.

UAE arrests dozens of rights activists amid ongoing crackdown

Press TV

Security forces in the United Arab Emirates have arrested dozens of human rights activists as the government crackdown on opposition continues.

The latest series of detentions come days after security forces arrested Tariq Ibrahim al-Qassim, the Director of Strategy and Corporate Excellence at the office of Dubai’s district attorney.

The United Arab Emirates has launched a crackdown on activists campaigning for free speech and political freedom since three months ago and more than two dozen activists have been arrested ever since.

Rights groups have slammed Abu Dhabi for the ongoing crackdown.

On July16, Abu Dhabi stripped activist Ahmed Abdul Khaleq of citizenship and deported him to Thailand over his online campaign for reform in the country.

He was deported with a Comoros Islands passport arranged by UAE authorities.

Abdul Khaleq and four others, including blogger and rights advocate Ahmed Mansour and economics professor Nasser bin Ghaith, were arrested in April 2011 for signing an online petition demanding constitutional reforms and free elections in the UAE. They were convicted of committing crimes against the state.

UAE officials have revoked the citizenship of several other activists who had called for reforms.

Israeli-trained Colombian soldiers to protect UAE

Press TV

The United Arab Emirates has reportedly recruited soldiers form the Colombian army’s special forces units to protect the sheikdom in case of heightened tension in the Persian Gulf or domestic unrest.

According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the oil-rich Arab country offers Colombian soldiers between USD 2,800 and USD 18,000 per year while officers are said to earn USD 550 a month in Colombia.

According to reports, more than 800 Colombian troops and officers have already been brought to the UAE and a total of 3,000 others are planning to be hired.

It is said that the UAE is employing the forces due to concerns in the Arab country regarding a conflict with the neighboring Iran which may begin by an attack on Iran’s nuclear energy facilities or as a result of the growing tension over the UAE’s ownership claims on the three Iranian Persian Gulf islands.

On the other hand, the UAE rulers are worried about the public protests and the impact of the Arab Spring in their own territory. Colombian soldiers can then display their power and capability on the streets.

The choice of these soldiers is not surprising at all. Colombian troops have gained international recognition for fighting against underground groups and drug gangs.

According to some reports, the troops have acquired this capability and skill through training they have received from the Israeli, US and British experts.

This is why Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in 2009 that Colombia is “Israel of Latin America” as he was pointing to extensive military ties among Colombia, the US and Israel.

In recent years, the Colombian media have spread numerous reports about Israel’s interference in training the country’s forces in fighting the militia.

Colombia’s FARC rebel group said in 2007 that Israeli commando officers are training the country’s army in the Colombian jungles.

The Colombian Defense Minister Jose Manuel Santos announced that a group of former Israeli intelligence officers advised the Colombian military’s Chief of Staff.

Switzerland suspends arms shipments to UAE

Press TV

Switzerland has decided to suspend arms shipments to the United Arab Emirates following a report that Swiss-made hand grenades are being used by armed gangs in Syria.

The measure was taken on Wednesday after the Sonntagszeitung newspaper published a photograph taken of one such device in possession of anti-Damascus forces in the town of Marea, north of Aleppo, at the end of June, AFP reported.

Preliminary inquiries into the photo showed the grenade in question was made by the Bern-based arms manufacturer RUAG, and was part of a shipment made by the company to the UAE in 2003.

The Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA) says 225,162 hand grenades were exported to the UAE, who signed an agreement not to re-export the munitions.

“As far as the FDEA is aware, the hand grenade … originates from a RUAG shipment to the United Arab Emirates in 2003. At present there is no evidence that Swiss hand grenades have found their way to Syria; inquiries are ongoing, however,” the government statement said.

The FDEA statement also said arms shipments from Switzerland to Syria stopped in April 1998, and raised doubt whether the photograph was taken in Syria after all.

Antje Baertschi, a spokeswoman for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said as a “provisional” measure, Switzerland immediately moved to “freeze all arms export permits to the UAE.”

“We took this matter seriously because something similar happened last year when a journalist covering Libya found crates of Swiss munitions in Libya,” she said.

Syria has been experiencing unrest ever since March 2011, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The Syrian government says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.

Damascus also says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country and the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.

UAE evades “Israel” boycott in stalled arms deal

Al Akhbar

A UAE attempt to buy Israeli drones is “shameful,” a leading BDS activist told Al-Akhbar.

“The UAE establishment was caught several times normalizing relations with Israel, in sports, in diamonds, in retail, and even in academia, but this is by far the worst instance of this shameful normalization,” said Omar Barghouti, Palestinian human rights activist and co-founder of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

Israel’s ministry of defense has allegedly stalled a drone deal between an Israeli aeronautics company and the UAE, the Palestinian Maan News Agency reported, citing a report by the Paris-based journal Intelligence Online last Thursday.

The UAE was set to buy several drones from Aeronautics, an Israeli company specializing in unmanned aerial vehicles, but the Israeli defense ministry refused to give the deal its stamp of approval.

An Israeli business journal reported on January 12 that Aeronautic’s CEO and founder Avi Leumi recently stepped down from his position and is currently looking for his replacement. The company, which is widely known for its drone production, was founded 14 years ago.

Aeronautics is Israel’s fifth-largest defense company and manufactures at least six types of drones, several of which have been used against Palestinians in Israeli attacks in Gaza. A Human Rights Watch report from 2009 detailed how Israeli drones killed at least 29 civilians throughout the year.

“Buying Israeli weapons that are tested on Palestinians and Lebanese civilians is a form of direct complicity in whitewashing Israeli war crimes,” said Barghouti.

In July 2011, the BDS campaign called for a comprehensive military embargo on Israel, which would include a total ban on the purchasing of Israeli arms.

The UAE has increasingly set out to boost its arsenal and its recent attempt to purchase from Israel highlights the small country’s growing military power. In 2010, the UAE was considered “the largest foreign purchaser of US defense equipment,” according to a US Pentagon report.

“The UAE government is actively sabotaging the growing isolation of Israel around the world and considerably undermining the Arab boycott of Israel to which the UAE ostensibly subscribes,” Barghouti added.

US signs $3.5 arms deal with UAE

Al Manar

The United States signed a deal to sell $3.48 billion worth of missiles and related technology to the United Arab Emirates.

Pentagon spokesman George Little announced the deal Friday night, indicating that “the US and UAE have a strong defense relationship and are both interested in a secure and stable Gulf.”

The United States had signed Thursday a $30 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

The counter-revolution club

by Dave Brown

by Pepe Escobar, source

They are a shish kebab of hereditary monarchies, emirates and outright theocracies. Most sit on oceans of oil (45% of the world’s reserves). They are addicted to the West’s glitter and glamour – from London to Monte Carlo, from the delicacies of Paris to the weaponized delicacies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO. They abhor democracy like they abhor poverty. Some would be glad to topple their own people – as indeed they do. And they view – Iran as worse than the anti-Christ.

Welcome to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), formed in 1981 by top dog Saudi Arabia plus the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. A more appropriate denomination would be Gulf Counter-Revolutionary Council – or club; a Gulf club to end all golf clubs. As far as the GCC is concerned, the great 2011 Arab revolt will triumph over their (wealthy) dead bodies.

How can they be so sure? Republican dynasties as in Tunisia or Egypt may be toppled; Libya may be bombed to the Stone Age; Syria may be threatened. But nothing will happen to the GCC because the enlightened West – not Allah – is their supreme guardian.

New members welcome

It’s instructive to note that those 3,000-plus bombing raids on Libya since NATO took over the war on March 31 were conducted mostly by monarchies (Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar and the UAE), apart from republican France, and before that, via Africom, the United States.

Only a few hours before United States President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron were enjoying a special relationship barbecue this week, NATO was turning 19 Libyan civilians into, well, barbecue, and slightly roasting at least 130 others. The GCC merrily applauded.

The European Union (EU) and the GCC have issued a joint declaration forcing Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to go, not before handing over power to the Libyan Transitional National Council – which happens to be financed and armed exactly by NATO and the GCC.

Now the GCC has declared it would love the idea of Jordan joining the club – and the same applies to Morocco. As for Yemen – which has yearned to be a member since 1999 – forget it; it’s not a monarchy, and “unstable” to boot, with al those unruly people protesting. The best the GCC can do is to allegedly “mediate” into what is in effect regime change – fully supported by the US and the EU.

Apart from tiny Oman, whose Sultan Qabus follows the Ibadi school, all GCC members are hardcore Sunnis. There are plenty of Jordanian “advisers” among the Bahraini/Saudi repression machine.

Jordan and Morocco may get to become GCC members not only because they’re monarchies – but most of all because they hate Iran like the plague (even though they are not exactly located in the Persian Gulf.)

Jordan’s King Playstation, sorry, Abdullah II, invented the murky concept of the “Shi’ite crescent” way back in 2004, a conspiracy according to which Shi’ites from Iran and Iraq to Lebanon and Syria would violently take over the Middle East. Morocco’s King Muhammad VI for his part cut off diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2009.

The GCC’s top moment of counter-revolutionary glory, so far, happened less than two days after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates left Bahrain – when Saudi Arabia, with a minor contribution from the UAE, invaded Bahrain in support of their cousins, the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty, and against the overwhelming majority of the peaceful, protesting Bahraini population. The GCC’s secretary general, Abdullatif al-Zayani, happens to be an al-Khalifa-aligned Bahraini.

There were no US, United Nations or EU sanctions, much less a NATO bombing spree to “celebrate” this invasion. Instead, earlier this week, EU foreign ministers slapped even more sanctions against Belarus, Iran, Libya and Syria. Not by accident all of them have been Washington targets for regime change, since the time of the neo-conservatives.

Let us play in your courtyard

Neo-colonial NATO and monarchic/theocratic GCC is a match made in weapons contractor heaven. The GCC will be incorporated into the global US missile shield system. Soon, there’ll be that juicy $60 billion weapons deal with Saudi Arabia – the largest in American history.

Western idolatry practitioners that they are, GCC members also wanna have fun and be part of the real post-modern action – neo-colonial war. After all, NATO itself can be interpreted as a professional mercenary neo-colonial army, ready to intervene anywhere from Central Asia to Northern Africa.

Take Qatar. Qatar was the first country to recognize that dodgy bunch, the Libyan “rebels”; the first GCC member to supply NATO with French Mirage fighter jets and American C-17 Globemasters; it set up satellite Ahrar TV for the Transitional Council; showered them with MILAN missile launchers; and most of all immediately started to “supervise” oil exports from Cyrenaica.

The reward was inevitable; on April 14, Obama hosted the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, at the White House, and lavishly praised him for his “leadership” in promoting “democracy in the Middle East” – a reference to Qatar’s role in Libya.

As for Salman al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, on May 19 he glowingly posed for a photo-op on the steps of 10 Downing Street in London with Prime Minister Cameron, proving that slaughtering civilian, unarmed protesters and giving a green light for the House of Saud to invade his country was definitely good for business.

But no one beats the UAE in the deadly toy realm. President Nicolas Sarkozy opened France’s first military base in the Middle East in Abu Dhabi. The UAE has sent fighter jets to NATO in Libya. They are a “troop-contributing nation” for NATO in Afghanistan. And they will be the first GCC and Arab nation to send an ambassador to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Along with Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, the UAE is a member of one of NATO’s myriad “partnerships” – the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative military partnership. Translation: NATO encroaching on the Persian Gulf, positioning itself to raise any amount of hell against Iran.

And then there’s Zayed Military City; a secluded training camp in the desert for a secret army of mercenaries, to be deployed not only in the UAE but throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Off with their heads!

Milking the GCC’s burning desire to outsource mercenaries; that’s the latest high-value-added scam of former Navy SEALS and former Blackwater supremo Erik Prince (in 2009 Blackwater was rebranded Xe Services.)

It was in Abu Dhabi that Prince – through a joint venture called Reflex Responses – signed a first contract of $529 million on July 13, 2010, to deliver his services to “progressive” Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The idea was Zayed’s.

The New York Times may have had its kicks depicting, in a May 14 story, Colombians entering the UAE posing as construction workers, with special visas stamped by the UAE’s military intelligence branch, so they could clear customs and immigration with no questions asked; yes, Prince wants battalions of Colombian and Central American mercenaries; he won’t recruit Muslims to kill their own cousins and be faced with malfunctioning units.

At least the paper pointed that Prince “is hoping to build an empire in the desert, far from the trial lawyers, congressional investigators and Justice Department officials” – without asking any hard questions about it.

The mercenary army’s agenda contains everything one needs to know; they will be involved in special ops inside and outside the UAE; “urban combat”; the “securing of nuclear and radioactive materials”; “humanitarian missions” (?); the defense of oil pipelines and sleek glass towers from “terrorist attacks”; and most significant of all, “crowd-control operations”, where the crowd “is not armed with firearms but does pose a risk using improvised weapons [clubs and stones]”.

There it is, spelled out; internal repression all across the Persian Gulf, as against the sprawling labor camps housing tens of thousands of South Asian workers; or in case citizens of the UAE get the Bahrain pro-democracy fever. The excuse for all these ops could not be less original: the Iranian bogeyman, or “aggression”.

Prince had always wanted Blackwater to be a mercenary army deployable anywhere in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He even wanted the US Central Intelligence Agency to use it for global special ops – before the CIA decided to laser on drones as a more cost-effective method. Now Prince has a wealthy Sheikh – a Pentagon fan who’s in favor of bombing Iran – to bankroll his ”vision”.

The first battalion boasts 580 mercenaries. Zayed’s men have promised that if they prove themselves in a “real-world mission”, the Emirate will pay Prince for a whole brigade of several thousand men, to the tune of billions of dollars. Prince could then move to his dream of a desert mercenary training complex modeled after Blackwater’s compound in Moyock, North Carolina.

So expect another “House of Saud does Bahrain” scenario. Like the mercenary army beating to death Pakistanis, Nepalis, Bangladeshis and Filipinos who want better working conditions in the UAE.

Or expect covert special ops in Egypt and Tunisia to ensure their next governments align themselves with the US and the EU. Or expect boots on the ground in Libya to “provide humanitarian aid to civilians” (oops, that was two months ago; even Obama now says it’s all about regime change).

Still, all those Libyan “oil facilities” must be in the safe hands of US and EU multinationals (and not Russian, Indian and Chinese). Still, Gaddafi’s inner circle must be “neutralized”. And still Libya must be kept subdued, according to the age-old imperial tenets of divide and rule.

So when the goin’ gets tough, who you’re gonna call? Definitely Xe Services’ “innovative solutions”, brought to you by Sheikh Zayed. No wonder the GCC club is the talk of the (counter-revolutionary) town.

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. His new book, just out, is Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).

UAE-“Blackwater”: What Next?

by Dave Brown

by I & S Safi

Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater Worldwide, a company accused of serious abuses and killing of civilians in Iraq and eventually expelled from Iraq, was contracted by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to establish an 800-member battalion of foreign troops. Prince is now residing in the UAE after facing legal problems in the United States in relation to his former security business. It is reported that the mission of this new contract private army is to conduct special operations inside and outside of the UAE, defend the oil installations, pipelines and skyscrapers from terrorist attacks and, interestingly, to put down internal revolts. It is also reported that an added benefit of this development is the message it will send to Iran.

The deal struck between the UAE government and Prince is a step forward into the past. The concept is not new. Rome had its own mercenaries and infamous gladiators. Today’s France has its own Foreign Legion. But the deal between Prince and the UAE portends to something most sinister; the slippery slide towards international anarchy and lawlessness.

Ashamed of their own actions, warring nations had enough decency to sign agreements such as the Geneva Convention and to establish organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and its Security Council, needless to mention the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Questions arise as to the efficacy of these organisations in implementing international laws and resolutions when countries such as the United States find ways to be shielded from the ICC by refusing to join. International laws and its validity are further compromised by situations such as the UN Security Council consistently favouring and protecting an Israel that seems to be above international law. When countries such as Israel refuse to adopt UN Resolutions, history will always record this as an indictment against them. Despite the ICC being unable to summon George W. Bush into its chambers, it is at least able to put other war criminals on trial; a modest step in the right direction perhaps.

When it comes to “private companies” such as the infamous Blackwater and Prince’s latest venture, there will be no rules of law to be followed, no legal accountability and no internationally accepted criteria as they will operate outside any known jurisdictions and most probably in stealth. This new venture in the UAE has the hallmarks of government-sponsored military anarchy. The recent history of Blackwater in Iraq clearly demonstrates this lack of accountability and that their rules of engagement are reduced to an open slather of shoot-as-you-please, trigger happy, testosterone laden mercenaries. Mercenaries are survival driven, they are not fighting for a cause and there is no guarantee that they will refrain from opening fire at the slightest inkling of threat, particularly when protected by impunity.

History tells us that once humanity moves in a particular direction it becomes very difficult to divert the course of events. The salient question to ask is whether this contract will turn into a precedent and if so, what of? Will we one day be looking at a world in which private armies for the rich and powerful are in control of what used to be known as law and order? Will it mean that a government ashamed of a particular military action against another nation or even their own people might sign a contract with a private army to do the “dirty work” for them leaving no one accountable? This is not too far-fetched and it is not scare-mongering.

If a government instructs its mercenary army to assassinate a prominent humanitarian because his/her thoughts and words are a thorn in the side of this regime and, if this becomes known, then that government can simply state that it did not give such orders, that this private army has a chain of command problem and were not following orders. Additionally, this surrogate army will not only be unaccountable for its actions, but it will be able to use this scenario for publicity. Potential clients will see in this assassination proof of this “army for hire” getting the job done and not bowing to any external pressure.

The UAE’s rush to establish this contract with Prince coincides strongly with the “Arab Awakening” and with the growing UAE discomfort of Iran’s activities. This move came only a few weeks after Bahrain asked for Saudi intervention to quell its uprising. Both nations are low in population and have limited home-grown military capabilities. Needless to say, they are both oil rich members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Will Qatar ever find itself in a similar predicament? On the surface Qatar appears to have a good relationship with Iran but, through its endorsed media outlet Al Jazeera, reporting on Syria, the ally of Iran, is harsh and at times highly questionable to say the least. This indicates that the Qatari-Iranian relationship is not as robust as stated. Despite Qatar possessing similar dispositions to its neighbours, Qatar on many levels, gives the impression that it is immune from such uprisings and/or regional conflicts.

Western-style governments may not be able to openly disclose their involvement in establishing such armies. But what is to stop them from entering into such contracts covertly? Private operatives can achieve the same objectives as the CIA for instance but, if and when caught out, they will not be embarrassing governments.

Taking warfare along this course is a step back in time to the days of Genghis Khan, a time when military commanders had no rule of law and no international accountability or, alternatively, to the period of Adolf Hitler where international law to him existed merely on paper and was to be flouted.

In this fast changing world the concept of introducing legislation for something previously unwarranted must be urgently recognised. In the world of IT such responses occurred where the world jumped to protect individuals and corporations from issues such as hacking and piracy. Given this new development in the UAE and the far reaching and potentially devastating implications of this, it is imperative that we ensure that accountability is universal and that legislation developed is beyond reproach, leaving no legal loopholes for any individual, corporation or government.

This article was contributed to Silver Lining

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‘Blackwater serves corrupt states’

Press TV

Security firms such as the notorious Blackwater are among the “modern version of mercenaries” serving corrupt regimes and governments around the world, an investigative journalist says.

“Blackwater is the modern version of mercenaries that have been used by corrupt governments and regimes throughout history,” American investigative journalist Alex Jones said during an interview with Press TV’s US Desk, on Tuesday.

According to Jones, Blackwater, which represents the “21st century death squad,” carries out any mission it is paid to do.

“It’s come out in federal court hearings, and in criminal investigations that what the Iraqis had discussed turned out to be true, and that Blackwater personnel had been reportedly shooting and killing people for entertainment in Iraq,” he added.

Blackwater has moved its offices out of the US, to “hot spots in the Middle East,” to avoid possible future extradition of its agents, Jones said, pointing to the dangers posed by the firm.

According to Jones, months before the start of the destabilization program in North Africa, “Blackwater had signed deals with the largest South African mercenary organizations to basically team up with them ahead of the destabilization in North Africa, because they had obviously been given word about the destabilization.”

The private military group plays a crucial role in the escalation of tensions in the Middle East as well, which could lead to the start of a World War III, he added.

Blackwater changed its name to Xe after the contractor’s reputation was tarnished following a series of scandals, most notably the 2007 murder of dozens of Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked shooting spree.

Blackwater to form secret army in UAE

Press TV

The founder of the notorious security company Blackwater is reportedly hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to form a secret mercenary army in the UAE.

The billionaire Erik Prince, who relocated to the UAE in 2010 in the wake of mounting legal problems in the United States, received over USD 500 million to organize an 800-member battalion of foreign troops in the Persian Gulf state, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Posing as construction workers, dozens of Colombian men entered the UAE last November and were stationed in an Emirati base called Zayed Military City.

The Colombians, along with South African and other foreign troops, are recruited and trained by retired American soldiers and veterans of the German and British special operations units and the French Foreign Legion, the daily said.

Documents show the force is intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country, defend oil pipelines and skyscrapers from terrorist attacks, and quell possible uprisings across the state, it added.

The UAE is a close ally of the US and officials in the Obama administration said that Washington was informed about the program.

“The [Persian] Gulf countries and the UAE in particular, don’t have a lot of military experience. It would make sense if they looked outside their borders for help,” said one Obama administration official.

“They might want to show that they are not to be messed with.”

However, legal experts doubt that the project has the US official blessing as the company is already enmeshed with a series of scandals related to operations in Iraq, Afghanistan.

Blackwater, which was later renamed Xe Services, came to spotlight after its forces killed over a dozen civilians and injured many more in Iraq’s capital Baghdad in 2007.

Blackwater mercenaries were hated by the Iraqis as they were able to kill many civilians with impunity.

UAE urged to stop civil crackdown

Press TV

Human Rights Watch has urged the UAE to stop its crackdown on civil society after the government dissolved the elected board of directors of the Teachers’ Association.

“This attack on civil society is further proof that those in power in the UAE see anyone calling for reform as fair game,” Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“UAE authorities should immediately stop their hostile takeover of civil society and free the peaceful democracy activists,” he added.

The Teachers’ Association, which was replaced with state appointees, was the second prominent civil society organization to face a hostile government takeover in less than two weeks.

On April 21, the board of the Jurist Association was dissolved.

The two associations, along with two other non-governmental organizations, jointly signed a public appeal calling for greater democracy in the country.

Since April 8, the United Arab Emirates has also detained at least five prominent democracy activists.

The UAE government has also targeted individuals, including leading human rights activist Ahmed Mansour, as part of its crackdown on peaceful dissents in recent weeks.

Authorities say they are continuing their criminal investigation of five detained activists for “opposing the government” and “insulting” top officials.

On April 25, Attorney General Salim Saeed Kubaish said that the five detainees were in “preventative custody” for “instigation, breaking laws and perpetrating acts that pose a threat to state security, undermining the public order, opposing the government system, and insulting the President, the Vice President and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.”

UAE arrests fourth activist in one month

Press TV

The United Arab Emirates has arrested a fourth human rights activist a month after he signed a petition calling on Abu Dhabi to observe democratic standards.

Abdullah al-Shehhi, who was arrested on Friday, was one of the 133 people, who endorsed the call on Abu Dhabi to hold direct elections and establish a parliament with legislative powers, AFP reported on Saturday.

The government has refused to unveil the whereabouts of the former officer to his family.

The signatories to the petition include academics, journalists, and other human rights campaigners.

The statement, issued on March 8, calls for “free elections by all citizens in the method of universal suffrage.” This should be made possible through “comprehensive reform of the Federal National Council (FNC), or parliament.”

The first general elections were attended by less than one percent of the Emiratis, who were only allowed to appoint half of the FNC.

The parliament also lacks legislative or regulatory powers and is only trusted to offer its opinion in Abu Dhabi’s affairs.

“The group demands reform of legislation governing the work of parliament to include legislative and monitoring authorities and calls for necessary constitutional amendments to ensure this,” the petition says.

The call coincides with popular anti-government protests in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

UAE detains three rights activists

Press TV

Police in the United Arab Emirates have arrested three human rights activists, who are members of political forums.

Nasser bin Ghaith, an Emirati writer who maintains a website, was detained on Sunday, activist Mohammed al-Mansoori said.

Another activist, Fahad Salem al-Shehhi, was also detained in his apartment in Ajman on Saturday, a day after the UAE police arrested Ahmed Mansoor.

Both activists are members of the online political forum Hewar, which has been blocked in the country, Reuters reported on Sunday.

Dubai police chief, Dahi Khalfan Tamim, told journalists Mansoor had been arrested in connection with a criminal case, UAE newspaper National quoted him as saying.

The Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of the detainees, saying the arrests are aimed at intimidating people who may wish to make public their demands for democratic reforms in the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation where most political activities are banned.

“We believe the detention of Ahmed Mansoor is aimed at scaring and intimidating others in the UAE who may wish to make public their demands for democratic reforms,” the group’s Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement on Sunday.

“While other governments in the region are discussing democratic reforms, the UAE government is digging in its heels and sticking to outmoded repressive ploys,” the statement read.

Last month, Mansoor and dozens of other UAE nationals signed a petition demanding constitutional and parliamentary changes…

Emiratis urge for democratic elections

Press TV

Activists and intellectuals in the United Arab Emirates have petitioned their rulers for free and democratic elections, a report says.

The petition calls for a comprehensive reform to the Federal National Council (FNC).

However, there appears to be no indication of any effort towards street protests in the seven-emirate federation.

Some 160 people, many of them former council members, signed the document on Thursday.

“The (petition) group calls for comprehensive reforms to the Federal National Council (FNC), or parliament, including demands for free elections by all citizens in the method of universal suffrage,” Reuters quoted a statement from the petitioners as saying.

The 40-member Federal National Council (FNC) had held its first election in 2006 when about 6,500 people, less than one percent of the 800,000 UAE population, elected half of its members. The rest were appointed.

The FNC acts as an advisory board to the kingdom but it lacks legislative and regulatory powers.

The emirates oil wealth and rapid development have boosted the standard of living and have buffered its government from widespread political dissent…