US Crashes Internet In Middle East After Saudi Threat, Russia Responds With Air Forces

Reports circulating in the Kremlin today are painting a grim picture of just how desperate US War Leaders have become as their economy continues its freefall towards total bankruptcy by their crashing of Global Internet access for the Middle East’s banking centers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Iran, UAR, Turkey and Kuwait.

These reports state that the Americans became ‘enraged’ this past week when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rejected US demands for an immediate increase in oil production.

Further angering the Americans this past week was Turkey’s rejection of US demands for them to sever banking ties with Iran's Bank Mellat, and which allows Iranian continued access to Global banking resources.

But, these reports state, the greatest fears of the United States were raised this past week when Saudi Arabia ‘warned’ the United States to ‘back off’ of its threats against Iran or face the Saudi’s decoupling the US Dollar from its enormous World oil trade transactions.

Though the American President [pictured top left with Saudi King] personally went to the Saudi Kingdom to lobby the US’s Middle East allies in agreeing for attacks against Iran for the Iranians decoupling of the US Dollar from its oil trade, Bush was quickly rebuffed.

It should be noted that those Nations who have dared to decoupled the US Dollar from their oil trade, Iraq, Iran, Russia and Venezuela, have come under withering attacks from the Americans, and their Western Allies; none worse than the Iraqis who are reported to have suffered over 1 million deaths since being invaded by the US in 2003.

But, as these reports state, the ‘worst nightmare’ of the Americans appeared to be coming true this past week when their Saudi Arabian allies were reported to have begun the decoupling of the US Dollar from their oil trade with the intention of replacing the rapidly declining American currency with the European Euro.
American War Leaders, though, have had previous warnings of the Saudis growing fears of being the holders of trillions of declining US Dollars with Saudi Arabia, for the first time, refusing to drop their interest rates in ‘lock-step’ with the US Federal Reserve, and leading to fears of a ‘stampede’ by other Middle Eastern Nations out of US Dollar backed assets.

Under such a threat, and with the Saudi King growing closer to Iran’s President Ahmadinejad [both pictured top left 2nd photo], Russian Military Analysts state in these reports that the United States invoked one of their so called ‘nuclear options’ by severing the four major undersea cables connecting the Middle East’s major banking centers to their Western, and Global, counterparts.

The significance to the severing of these cables is the Middle East Banking Centers being denied access to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), based in Brussels and which carries up to 12.7 million messages a day containing instructions on many of the International transfers of money between banks, lies in Saudi Arabia, or any other Middle East Nation, being unable to change their previously, before loss of communication, encoded currency instructions from being changed.

Moscow’s actions against the West, in the severing by the United States of these cables, was swift as President Putin ordered Russian Air Force Fighters and Bombers to take immediate action to protect the Russian Nations vital undersea cables in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.

To some of the Russian Air Force assets used we can read as reported by the Reuters News Service article titled "Russia sends bombers, fighters to Atlantic, Arctic", and which says: "Air force pilots will carry out practice in the areas involving reconnaissance, missile-bombing attacks on a navy attack force of a hypothetical enemy, air-to-air combat and refuelling and patrolling," an air force spokesman said. The bomber group included two Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers, codenamed "Blackjack" by NATO, two turbo-prop Tu-95 "Bear" strategic bombers, and eight Tu-22 "Blinder" bombers. MiG-31 and Su-27 fighters were also sent to the region."

To the final outcome of these events it is not in our knowing, other than one Russian Banking Official, wishing to remain anonymous, stating that, “Should the Saudi’s effectively decouple their oil from the US Dollar, the United States, for all practical purposes will cease to be a World power as it economy will collapse completely as the US Dollar has no value in and of itself due to the staggering debt of the Americans. Without oil they are nothing.]

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Vs. Egypt's Emergency Law

This is what it comes down to. Egypt is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and as such has specific legal obligations to respect and uphold the right to peaceful assembly protected by Article 21 of the treaty. A state may only limit this right if it is “necessary in a democratic society,” and even then in only certain, specific situations. Egyptian police and security forces’ detention of peaceful protestors violates the right to be free from arbitrary arrest or detention. Article 9 of the covenant requires a state party to provide any victim of unlawful arrest or detention with an enforceable right to compensation.

Egypt should pay for Nile waters - haha!

Can you believe this?

Some African with a psychosis says:
Just as oil is the natural wealth of the Arab world, which the nations hosting Lake Victoria pay for dearly, the waters of Lake Victoria are the natural wealth of the people of East Africa and should diligently be utilised for the benefit of its people.

The Arabs in the north irrigate their dry land to produce food for their people using our Lake Victoria waters at no cost at all, yet no single drop of their oil can reach us freely.

Since the Nile water agreement was reached, the nations hosting Lake Victoria have been kind to the Egyptians to our detriment, and now it is high time we sold our water to them. What is required at this juncture is for Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi to collectively support Uganda where the Nile River starts off, by looking for ways and means of installing a water meter so that we start billing Egypt for the water she uses monthly.

Talk about "De Nial"

Here is the article in it's entirety http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=23&newsid=114092

Israel sues Egypt for Kassams

Check this is out..
Ten families from Sderot, whose loved ones were either killed or seriously wounded by Kassam rockets, are set to file a major suit against the Egyptian government on Monday afternoon, Israel Radio reported.
The families blamed the Egyptian government for deliberately assisting terror organizations in smuggling weapons and explosives into the Gaza Strip.
Moreover, the residents alleged that Egypt assisted terrorists who infiltrated into its territory from Gaza to reach Iran, Syria and Lebanon and return to the Strip with the knowledge they acquired there.
The residents have also alleged that Egypt has assisted terror organizations to smuggle millions of dollars into the Strip which is strengthening their stronghold in Gaza.
Chairman of Shurat Ha-Din organization, Nitzana Darshan-Laitner, is demanding that the Egyptians pay million of dollars in compensation to the families.
Alleged fabricated evidence of Egypt's complicity with terrorists was presented to congress by Israel which is cause for the latest tensions between the otherwise close allies.
Egypt sending more troops to the border will conflict with the Camp David peace accord, plus it is highly unlikely that egypt will support Hamas; an Islamist movement with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood- the Egyptian governments arch enemy. Something is up here, but what exactly, I don't know?

Egypt weighs legality of divorce by text message

I shit you not, this is for real, an Egyptian court has been asked to rule on whether a husband can send a text message to divorce his wife. AFP says the case stems from the actions of Abul Nasr, a Cairo engineer who declared the end of his marriage in three text messages that were sent to his wife, Iqbal Abul Nasr.
"I divorce you because you didn't answer your husband," he wrote in the last message, according to the state-run Al-Akhbar newspaper.
Under Islamic law, men can end a marriage by making a unilateral declaration of divorce that is repeated at least three times. Some countries have banned the use of cellphone messages to repeat the declaration, but Egypt has yet to rule on the legality of this practice. Cool stuff huh?

Egypt to copyright Pyramids

Cairo - In a potential blow to themed resorts from Vegas to Tokyo, Egypt is to pass a law requiring payment of royalties whenever its ancient monuments, from the pyramids to the sphinx, are reproduced.Zahi Hawass, the charismatic and controversial head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told AFP on Tuesday that the move was necessary to pay for the upkeep of the country's thousands of pharaonic sites."The new law will completely prohibit the duplication of historic Egyptian monuments which the Supreme Council of Antiquities considers 100-percent copies," he said."If the law is passed then it will be applied in all countries of the world so that we can protect our interests," Hawass said.

He said that a ministerial committee had already agreed on the law which should be passed in the next parliamentary session, while insisting the move would not hurt Egyptian artisans."It is Egypt's right to be the only copyright owner for these monuments in order to benefit financially so we can restore, preserve and protect Egyptian monuments."However, the law "does not forbid local or international artists from profiting from drawings and other reproductions of pharaonic and Egyptian monuments from all eras - as long as they don't make exact copies.""Artists have the right to be inspired by everything that surrounds them, including monuments," he said.Asked about the potential impact on the monumental Luxor Hotel in the US gambling capital of Las Vegas, Hawass insisted that particular resort was "not an exact copy of pharaonic monuments despite the fact it's in the shape of a pyramid."On its website, the luxury hotel describes itself as "the only pyramid shaped building in the world," but Hawass said its interior was entirely different from an ancient Egyptian setting.Hawass's declarations came after the opposition daily Al-Wafd published an article on Sunday called for the Las Vegas hotel to pay a slice of its lodging and gambling profits to the city of Luxor."Thirty-five million tourists visit Las Vegas to see the reproduction of Luxor city while only six million visit the real Egyptian city of Luxor," the paper lamented.Samir Farag, head of Luxor town council in southern Egypt, home to the legendary Valley of the Kings, said that it would be difficult to prohibit use of pyramid shapes."We can't forbid people from using the name of Luxor and copying monuments from (Luxor) city, which is the world's richest city for monuments," he said, adding that "tourists going to Las Vegas doesn't affect our city's business."

The Facebook lawsuit thats still pending!

Before he launched Facebook at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg worked for two brothers on a project called HarvardConnect.com that also wanted to connect students and alumni.
Zuckerberg later left that project, and showed up with Facebook. The brothers claim Zuckerberg stole their code, and sued him three years ago. The brothers later changed their company’s name to ConnectU.

They’ve been fighting ever since, and all the while Zuckerberg and Facebook have maintained the suit isn’t going anywhere.

Accusing Zuckerberg, Facebook’s 23-year-old C.E.O, of stealing the source code, design, and business plan for Facebook in 2003 when he briefly worked in the Harvard dorms as a programmer for their own fledgling social-networking site, now known as ConnectU.
The plaintiffs have demanded that Facebook be shut down and that full control of the site - and its profits - be turned over to them.

What’s surprising is that this case hasn’t gone away. The stakes have only increased, now that Facebook is widely considered worth more than $1 billion, and as much as $8 billion depending on who you listen to.

Three years later, we’re still no closer to knowing whether he stole code or not. What code did write for them, and was he paid for? How much were these agreements in writing, how much of it was simply oral agreements?

The most likely worst case for Facebook: Zuckerberg and his investors will agree to settle this for many millions of dollars.

GAMAL MUBARAK - WHY NOT?

Why wouldn't we as a people of a proud nation allow GAMAL MUBARAK to be the next president of Egypt just because he is the son of the current president Hosni Mubarak? I mean seriously folks, why not?

In Syria Hafez al Assad handed down power to his son by changing the constitution and reducing the minimum age of a would be president.

In Jordan King Hussein handed down power to his son Abdullah. So why shouldn't Egypt for Pete's sake or for the sake of sidi morsi Abbas ya'll?

Even the infamous Bush is the son of an the ex president Bush Sr. and they are the United Fucking States of America for Christs sake.

Read my prior post on how Egyptians have learned the lessen all too well from neighbouring countries who tried to play the democracy card and got licked all too well. A hell of a lot of people will gladly not only allow him to assume the position of President, but will actually support him. It is a long cultivation in the process.

Having won his bought with leukemia and having recently be wedded Khadija, he is now a very eligible candidate.

What do you think? What's wrong, what are your alternatives?

Democracy just doesnt work around here

Bottom line democracy just doesn't work in the middle east. Not even in Israel, so many folks over there are against the killing of babies by the minute and frankly feel that there government looks silly lobbying world wide and adamently denying it, but too bad for them, they are made out to be soulless pigs and apes. Are their voices heard? Heard, shmurd, please. We are in the land that invented Anarchy, Monarchy, dictatorships secularism and everything else extrordinaire, please people.

Democracy won't work in the gulf and it and sure as hell won't in North Africa. Look at what happened with democracy in Gaza, you don't want democracy in Saudi Arabia or even in Egypt, trust me, thats why people may mock Mubarak, but deep down inside, they accept him over the other alternative. Democracy,..,of death.

Grossly In-congruent

Although Islam to me is a Great religion - as the harder things in life usually tend to reap their respective rewards accordingly - it has more or less become a thing of mere theory with more and more of the masses each day. A style or a fashion statement, an anti authoritarian fad, a terrible misconceived melodrama turned funny.

Traits of piousness in any religion are displayed through actions. Having said that, most of these earnest practitioners of their respective Divine faiths tend to display a thing or two that make them identifiable within a crowd. Such as a white collar as far as men of the Cloth are concerned. A beard for Jews and Muslims. The veil for Muslim woman etc. I won't get into all of them right now but as far as Islam goes, we all know that such physical traits don't do any justice without accompanying actions.

Do these sound familiar; a vocational worker that isn't so crafty but sports the Islamic style beard in a hope to accrue browny points for not being all that knowledgeable in what he is supposed to be, in other words pleading with your more compassionate side or maybe even tryna send the message - I am a terrorist at large - don't mess with me or I might go Bin Laden on your Ass, at best he is a hustler especially when he bluntly wants to charge you an arm and a leg for something he didn't even do properly.

How about having a close relative who aspires to be the GURU of local sheikh-hood, sporting the long beard, short trousers, claiming to have memorised more Quran than you yet has a serious issue with Allah. Meaning he isnt happy with what he has been dealt in life and feels it incumbent upon him to take what his lacking judgement deceives him into thinking is his rightful entitlement. Meaning your lunch for example, trust me, that's to say the least. This is nothing short of the shia ideology to me. A self centered sheikh, whaaaat.., no way, that feels that he has been given the short end of the stick and goes all out tryna get his, including spreading pre-Islamic style lies, using deceit etc? No wonder more and more people are misunderstanding Islam every passing day. The sad thing is, that this fake ass sheikh -- that just so happens to be closely related to me -- admits that he isnt a sheikh, he just camouflages himself as one as it makes him feel at ease. Aaaaagh! Does anyone hear the phrase FASHION STATEMENT?

How about Steven Spielberg's support for Israel and the slaughtering of Palestinian babies, yet has the balls to say that he withdrew as the media consultant for the bejing games because of China's -- get this -- lack of involvement in putting an end to the suffering of Darfur residents. Somebody yell "HOG WASH ALREADY PLEASE," I mean what a hypocrit, please. Although he makes pretty good films.


How about catching a glimpse of a fine young female, due to her sporting her lower half in acrylic spandex or tight ass AX Armani's, only to pry your gaze away from her tightly wrapped butt up to her torso and bust, to find that she is [get this] veiled. In my opinion this is making a mockery of Islamic garb as this confusing at best to most people.

i mean lose the hijab already please. It's also kind of like being at a nude beach, because everyone is nude, nobody really cares because you are supposed to be nude, but when someone with a bikini or a Speedo walks on to the beach, people start checking them out, human intuition makes your mind wander to whats underneath that bikini or whatever. Reason being, it is human nature to want to discover the unknown. Curiosity killed the cat remember.

Now let me move onto family, both my parents have performed their obligatory Hajj, are both Dr.'s, both pray 5 times a day. You would think that they are the epitome of Muslim tolerance and understanding right? Not! I mean I love my parents both to death but their actions and their fighting seriously got me contemplating changing my religion over to Catholicism or something. As did a lot of other things in my family and circle of friends families, such as all the profound charity work that some folks do yet are so damn self centered, egotistical and stubborn, and some times all out rude and obnoxious. However in the end I decided that it is not Islam's fault that about 60% of the people I know that claim to be Muslims are better of if they practiced Voo-Doo. Plus I didn't want to become an apostate and realized that I was insane for even thinking of changing my religion as I love Islam so very much. It is like the promise of a better life just like the American Dream except is concerned with both heaven and Earth and is not really a dream but a logically inevitable leap of faith.

I mean a religion that protects you from all the ills of humanity, that protects the weak, gives people their rights accordingly and is also so grossly misunderstood sounds like a very special thing. The last thing you want when admiring such a private and personal awe inspiring thing such as Islam is a bunch of lunatics running around acting like imbeciles, claiming complete submission to this religion, it can make you feel like a creep for even having anything to do with it. Do you know what I mean?

Recovery -- Blogging -- Anonymity

The anonymity involved in blogging has allowed this vastly growing pass time to literally develop into a way of life. Empowering different peoples throughout the world from all walks of life, enabling uninterrupted communication, freedom of expression, while all but eradicating the distance gaps and pulling different worlds closer together through the advent of technology.

People can now autonomously express their views, as well as anonymously with the entire world and gain critical feedback, no matter how sensitive the subject matter.

IAnonymity is the main principle behind the most successful recovery program known yet, anonymity is the ruling principal behind the [12 step] anonymous recovery program. Recovering addicts are actually a rare breed, few individuals actually ever recover from this deadly disease. It is frowned upon by our society and considered the lowest of social ills, due to its incommensurable nature and high mortality rate.

Naturally during a recovery process, one would like to keep their private business a secret from every Tom, Dick & Harry, so it is crucial to practice a modicum of anonymity, especially on the internet, where a blog can get literally get thousands of hits within a matter of hours.

Anonymity is an integral variable in the equation. Imagine you had an addictive streak in you and were attending a 12 step anonymous meeting. Could you be sure that some of the less than close colleagues at work, if they were to find out wouldn't gossip, I doubt it. Those trying to recover from gambling disorders or other addictions aren't looking for anyones support. I mean how would that look, in a place where Iyou may have out done yourself, proved your expertise, competence & worthiness time and time again, being a favorite amongst your clients and being branded the most trustworthy? If it were suddenly to become common knowledge that you are attendind 12 step meetings, even with heavy connections in the industry, there would undoubtedly be irreparable damage done to you, as word will get out and there would be anything but a positive reaction career wise.

Quoting one of my buddies who happens to be in recovery:
"My past-using-buddies have all passed away and those that haven't are approaching a slow but sure death, so you see the party for me is so over. The program has taught me things that money just can't buy and has protected me from certain insanity, pain, grief and hardship if not imminent death."

Why anonymity, because it Focuses on the oneness of the group as a whole, not as individuals. Later it focuses on each and every individual, one at a time. Success would be impossible if everyone who enters the program were to just think of themselves. One can not quit and live a psychologically sound & healthy life based on sheer will power alone. A sophisticated battle proven method with a help apparatus can though, if we are willing to partake in the journey. And thank God people have..

There is Sex Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Over Eaters Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, Cannabis Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and many more, the most popular being the latter two. Whatever your addiction might be, the 12 step program is the most succesful of all the recovery tools. And get this, there are meetings 24 hours a day all over the world including online.

"When we first quit using, we are not familiar with dealing with any emotions or handling situations with out being intoxicated and suddenly being able to feel things can actually be pretty scary. In time we become equipped and learnt how to deal with situations that used to baffle us."

Another quote from an N.A. member in Egypt:
"So in the beginning I didn't like going to meetings with so many addicts in one room for various reasons. Some owed me money a long time ago that never paid me back and others, I just got a bad feeling about, as if I may have owed them money but had totally forgot about it. Not to mention that I felt that all these addicts wore their hearts on their sleeves, some thought that it is OK to relapse believing if they do, then it is God 's will and the program will always be there when they decide to come back and try again, although a lot never made it back at all. Others more or less quit only for a while in order to lower their tolerance to dope so that when they use again they don't have to use as much to get high. Others gathered to meet up and score, then there was the insane dating scene, 8 or 9 guys taking turns hitting on the same girl, pretty much all at once. And ofcourse the losing suitors calling her a slut, till there was no point in attempting to retain any serenity from these meetings at all as it became futile. Also a great number of folks ended up relapsing and overdosing. However in the end it was well worth sticking around till I found a group that fit like a glove because I was able to recover. It's like finally finding a nice restaraunt where you like the food and ambience and everybody knows your name and you just feel at home being there."

"Yes it was quite the mess until I finally settled in with the right crowd, until I did I was lucky enough to be able to harness the power of anonymity on the net by hanging out in the 12 step chat rooms."

Now that I started blogging I wanted to pay a tribute to the anonymity that makes all of this possible in recovery & blogging.

"After a lot of clean time, I went back to some of the large local meetings and they didn't seem as menacing as before but none the less brought back memories of how timid I was in the beginning. So if anyone has some sort of grave obsession or addiction, I recommend checking out the 12 steps. Believe me if I can do it then anyone can do it, once a person realizes that if there is no pain there is no gain & is willing to go the distance, they will find themselves in a way better place than the one they were in, even before the addiction or obssesion which availed the oppurtunity to address such issues that otherwise wouldn't have been addressed."

My hats off to all the recovering 12 steppers out there in cyber space as well in the rooms they call home groups.

Anonymously..

Egyptian Reverse Culture Shock

I remember years back once when it was like 5:00 a.m. in the morning after a long night of partying and drinking whilst listening to the newest tunes under a talented mixoligists at the Atlas Hotel, our group headed out to check out the new nearby Mcdonalds for an early breaky.

Even though they still lack the basic breakfast menu here in Egypt like Egg Mcmuffins and Pancakes and what not that you can find in the West, Egypt has still come a long way indeed since the early 80's.

Back then there was only one channel on tv, things were just a little backwards to say the least.

I explicitly remeber coming to live in Egypt for the first time -- for some strange reason -- way back 1982 from Washington D.C.

Being accustomed to good ol American Junk food and what not, it was so depressing moving to Egypt, I remeber full well. You couldn't even buy a pizza here except at a place called La Cassetta, and it was really expensive. My folks kept on telling me that it was the equivelant of two weeks pay of a government employee with 5 kids. Just so that I would appreciate them taking me thereto eat every blue moon or so.

You also couldn't grow your hair past your ears back then if you were a guy, even though Michael jacksons' thriller topped the charts back then. The population was 30 million and people thought that was an astronomical figure lol, compared to todays 70+ million. That means the population has more than doubled in the past two decades, wow.

There was lots of traffic back then too but not as bad as today, now way and I remeber that Ahmad Adawiya song "zahma ya Donia zahma," he was the equivelant of todays Shaaban Abdel Rahim I guess you could say.

Mcdonalds didn't come to Egypt till the mid 90's, I guess it hasd something to do whith when saddam invaded kuwait and all the Gulf Arabs were like 'What - there is no God damn Mcdonalds here!' Though I must admit there was KFC & Wimpy back then long before I even arrived in Egypt.

So in essance you see Egypt has come a long way but in all reality I think it has a long way to go yet.

Having reverse culture shock is quite common every time I leave egypt for a couple of years and return. So I have learned to accept the fact that Egypt will never really be anything like the West and I should stop comparing.

For what it's worth, good job egypt yet you still have a long way to go.