Tag Archives: middle-east

Spencer and Heidi — We’re Going to Abu Dhabi!!!

Filed under: Heidi Montag , Spencer Pratt As if there weren’t enough problems in the Middle East … TMZ has learned Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are about to get on a plane bound for Abu Dhabi. Spencer tells TMZ, their bad ass friend — MMA fighter “King” Kevin Casey — will be throwing down… Read more

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Spencer and Heidi — We’re Going to Abu Dhabi!!!

NFL Cheerleaders: READY? OK!

Filed under: Photo Galleries , Super Bowl , 2011 Bud Light Hotel Just because there are no cheerleaders at Super Bowl XLV — doesn’t mean you should be deprived of their cheery goodness! You’re welcome. Read more

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NFL Cheerleaders: READY? OK!

Spencer and Heidi — We’re Going to SAUDI ARABIA!!

Filed under: Heidi Montag , Spencer Pratt As if there weren’t enough problems in the Middle East … TMZ has learned Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are about to get on a plane bound for Saudi Arabia! Spencer tells TMZ, their bad ass friend — MMA fighter “King” Kevin Casey — will be throwing… Read more

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Spencer and Heidi — We’re Going to SAUDI ARABIA!!

Mubarak Quits As Head Of Egypt’s Ruling Party

Egypt’s hated President Hosni Mubarak has quit as head of the country’s ruling party. Other leaders, including Mubarak’s son Gamal and secretary-general Safwat el-Sharif, have also resigned in a gesture to anti-government protesters occupying Tahrir Square in Cairo. Thousands of demonstrators have occupied the square for 12 days, vowing to stay until Mubarak steps down as president. Earlier, the military surrounded the square, but soldiers continued to let people join the growing rally. This morning, a gas terminal was blown up in the country’s northern Sinai Peninsula, starting a massive fire that could be seen dozens of miles away.It is believed the attack was part of on-going protests against President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the Middle East faces a “perfect storm” of unrest, with the looming risk of even greater instability. In a speech to a Munich security conference, she said: “The region is being battered by a perfect storm of powerful trends. “This is what has driven demonstrators into the streets of Tunis, Cairo, and cities throughout the region. The status quo is simply not sustainable.” No injuries were reported in the explosion, and the blaze was quickly brought under control after the gas flow was shut off. The governor of the region, Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, said he suspected “sabotage”, but provided no details. Anti-government protesters have been demanding Mubarak’s removal from power for the past two weeks. The Sinai Peninsula, home to Bedouin tribesmen, has been the scene of clashes between residents and security forces. Source

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Mubarak Quits As Head Of Egypt’s Ruling Party

Social Media Didn’t Oust Tunisia’s President — The Tunisian People Did [Revolution]

Events in Tunisia are changing by the minute, but one thing is clear: This is the first popular uprising to bring down a leader in the Arab world in recent history. Who — or what — is responsible for it? More

Ask Pablo: Is Indoor Skiing Really That Bad?

The Author at Ski Dubai Dear Pablo: How bad is indoor skiing is for the environment? I have heard of places in the Middle East where you can ski indoors, even during the summer. I have been holding on to this question for a while but I recently had the opportunity to visit Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates on a recent business trip to the Middle East. In a land of countless “world’s largest” titles it is surprising that Ski Dubai is not the

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Ask Pablo: Is Indoor Skiing Really That Bad?

Elizabeth Edwards Eulogy and Funeral (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

The funeral of Elizabeth Edwards was held on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C. Her daughter eulogized her as did several good friends. PHOTOS, VIDEO) added by: gmc1

11 reasons why the threat from Al Qaeda is not real

“All governments lie.” You can add to that great quote “and all newspapers lie, too.” -American journalist I. F. Stone. Knowing the truth matters in a democracy because without the truth citizens can’t make informed decisions about government policies that impact their lives. It is not possible to consciously answer fundamental societal questions like “should we go to war?” without a firm grasp of all the facts at hand. When independent journalists fail to provide the simple and straightforward facts to the public, they become complicit in government murder and fraud, and deserve even more ridicule than dishonest government officials and government-owned journalists. 11 Reasons Why The Threat From Al-Qaeda is Not Real Al-Qaeda is either one of these things, or it is a combination of them: a) a completely fake threat; the organization does not exist, b) an organization that exists in small numbers but was created by the CIA to serve a corrupt U.S. foreign policy, and remains a U.S. intelligence asset in the manufactured global war on terrorism, or c) a small organization that exists independently of the U.S. government but its strength and influence in the Middle East is exaggerated by radical policymakers and officials in Washington. Out of all three statements the first and second deserve the most serious attention because they are supported by the evidence listed below. #1. Radical American cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, who was ordered to be assassinated by President Obama, met with top military officials at the Pentagon months after the 9/11 attacks. #2. CIA Director Leon Panetta revealed in June 2010 on ABC’s This Week that there are less than 100 Al-Qaeda members in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. #3. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), one of the world’s leading security think tanks, published a report this year which said that the threat of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban is exaggerated by Western policymakers. #4. Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview to the Los Angeles Times’s Patt Morrison in October 2010 that Al-Qaeda doesn’t exist. #5. The U.S. government created, and funded Islamic fundamentalism in the 1980s to be used to draw the Soviet Union into Afghanistan, and bleed it to death in a costly and unwinnable war. #6. Robin Cook, who served as a British MP for 22 years and as Foreign Secretary from 1997 to 2001, wrote an article for the Guardian in July 2005, a month before his death, called “The struggle against terrorism cannot be won by military means.” #7. A BBC article from July 2004 called “Al-Qaeda’s origins and links” reveals that Osama Bin Laden was a CIA agent in the 1980s. #8. J. Michael Springmann, a 20 year foreign service official, and a former Consulate officer in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has publicly stated for many years that the CIA brought over Muslim radicals to the United States for secret terrorist training. #9. Germany’s Der Spiegel’s published an article by Siegesmund von Ilsemann called “Arming the Middle East: The Checkered History of American Weapons Deals” in June 2007. The article backed up the reporting done by the BBC, and elsewhere that the United States government “supplied Afghan freedom fighters in the 1980s with money and arms for their struggle against occupying Soviet troops. One of the best customers for the CIA back then was Saudi millionaire Osama Bin Laden.” This account is only half-true. The CIA funded and trained a network of Muslim fighters not to liberate Afghanistan from corrupt Soviet influence, but to create havoc and instigate a Soviet invasion so that it would drain itself of blood and treasure. Once the objective of bringing down the Soviet Union was achieved, the stage was set for the United States and the West to invade Afghanistan and take advantage of the country’s vast resources, from oil to heroin. #10. Selig Harrison, a current member of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, a former senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and an expert on South Asia, said in March 2001 at a conference called “Terrorism and Regional Security: Managing the Challenges in Asia,” that the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI helped create the backward and tyrannical Taliban. #11. The September 11, 2001 attacks, which serve as the basis for America’s wars in the Middle East, were committed by the United States government with assistance from the government of Israel. This is an indisputable fact added by: maasanova

Egyptian Shark Attack: Jews Not Jaws?

Some conspiracy theories are so laughable that it is obvious to the intelligent reader why they should be immediately dismissed. Unfortunately, when it comes to those involving Israel, such conspiracy theories seem to take on a life of their own, driven by anti-Semitism and hatred. Conspiracy theories about Israel and the Jews are common fare in the Middle East and disseminated widely in the Arab media. From accusations that the Jews were responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks to classic anti-Semitic blood libels, the Western mainstream media have failed to report on this as an issue of Arab incitement. The latest outlandish charge to be hurled at Israel is Mossad involvement in a spate of shark attacks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh. Israeli officials have said that the claims are too ludicrous to respond to. The Independent at least described it as a “more bizarre theory”, while Sky News' Dominic Waghorn certainly got it, saying that “Egyptian officials have plumbed new depths of pottiness with their latest Zionist conspiracy theory.” Even the BBC made sure to note that “Conspiracy theories are always popular in the Middle East, with unlikely suggestions often made that troubles in Arab countries could be caused by Mossad agents.” The Scotsman, however, threw all journalistic credibility and professionalism out of the window with a sensationalist headline and story without even suggesting that the accusation is yet another product of a febrile imagination and a society raised on anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the story states: '' Some said sharks had been drawn to shallow waters after cattle being shipped in for last month's Islamic feast of Eid al-Adha had died and were thrown overboard. Others suggested it could have been part of a secret plot by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. “What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark (in the sea] to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question, but it needs time to confirm,” South Sinai governor Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha said.'' But it gets worse from a journalistic perspective. For The Scotsman had butchered an original piece from Reuters, deliberately changing the headline and cherry-picking the contents to turn it into a story about the Mossad rather than the shark attack itself. The Reuters piece, which is not centred around the Mossad charge, and headlined “Egypt puzzled after string of Red Sea shark attacks,” mentions more realistic theories to do with the shark's behaviour and includes the paragraph: Egyptians often blame neighbouring Israel for a variety of problems such as drug and weapon smuggling, or say it supports media that seek to portray Egypt in a bad light. While it is possible to criticise Reuters for not making it more abundantly clear as to the ridiculous nature of the Mossad charge, The Scotsman's editors have revealed something far more sinister behind the direction of their version of this story. Based on previous experience, The Scotsman is likely to claim that space issues prevented republishing the full Reuters piece. The reality is, however, that the shark attacks are a major international news story that has been widely covered in the mainstream media. What The Scotsman has done is inexcusable – turning a story about a spate of shark attacks into a sensationalised story of a ludicrous Israeli plot and then giving the conspiracy theory unwarranted credibility. added by: crystalman

Wikileaks Reveals Hushed Concern Over Tar Sands Oil in US State Dept.

Photo: Jungbim , Wikimedia, CC Not all of the cables aired in the latest Wikileaks focus on the tense, high-stakes diplomacy with China, Afghanistan, or the Middle East, though that stuff certainly grabs the headlines. Yet there are quiet revelations about other important diplomatic subjects as well — like Canada, for instance. And no, the news is not that our northern neighbor is boring ; it’s about concern over tar sands…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Wikileaks Reveals Hushed Concern Over Tar Sands Oil in US State Dept.