Arab Spring

Libya as a nation has never been the same since the start of its Civil War. A war that was ultimately started by then U.S. President Barack Obama.

Libya’s long-running civil war has taken a new turn in recent weeks after the Turkish-backed Government of National Accord launched an offensive against would-be strongman Khalifa Haftar, pushing him and his Libyan National Army out of Tripoli and a number of near-by strongholds. But anyone who thinks that peace is at hand after nine years of anarchy and collapse should think again. Odds are all but certain that all it will do is introduce new chaos into a country that has already seen more than its fair share.

Some eight years ago, I wrote about the outbreak of popular stirring in the Middle East, then labelled the ‘Arab Awakening’. Multiple popular discontents were welling: demands for radical change proliferated, but above all, there was anger – anger at mountainous inequalities in wealth; blatant injustices and political marginalisation; and at a corrupt and rapacious élite. The moment had seemed potent, but no change resulted. Why?

In the coming months, it is likely that more Arab media titles in the region will fold following the financial crisis and the vociferous media wars which they conduct which are costly and self-defeating. How do you like your fake news? With or without a media banner?
World Press Day passed like a thief in the night in the Arab world. It’s largely seen as something lauded by western countries who use it to chastise what they see as backward countries with authoritarian leaders who only know the one model of journalism in their countries: pay-as-you-go.

Foreign intervention – lauded by imperialism as a necessity for “bringing democracy” – has one aspect of so-called collateral damage which is abhorred and manipulated. The invasion of the Middle East and North Africa region, as decided by the White House early on in the “War on Terror” post September 11, has generated a perpetual phenomenon of refugees and forcibly displaced people seeking a semblance of normalcy in Europe.

An esteemed Arab League ‘grandee’ recently thundered that it was impossible for the Arab world to accept anything – ‘other’- than 21st century modern secularism: Islamism was forbidden. Egypt’s ‘coup’ (“if you wish to call it such”, against the elected Muslim Brotherhood government) was absolutely appropriate, he insisted.

The U.S. has declared “revolutions” on its own terms, and its own image, writes As`ad AbuKhalil. 
As`ad ABUKHALIL
It is rather amusing to see Western media hailing, as of late, the advent of what they refer to as “Arab revolutions.” Western media never hail revolutions. Instead itpropagandizes against revolutions in developing countries, as it did during much of the Cold War.

Hicham Alaoui was a Moroccan prince who left the monarchy as an adult and is now an outspoken advocate for reform in Morocco, working from his academic base in the United States. In a wide-ranging interview, he delves into his break from the monarchy as well as the failures of the Arab Spring and the prospects for new democratic movements emerging in the region. SOPHIE PARK

For years, the special status that Morocco was ordained by the EU, was hailed as a great triumph. But when top officials from EU countries treat the kingdom like a cheap girlfriend to use when it wants, then some might call it abusive and neo-colonial.
Is the EU about to bring about a new Arab Spring in Morocco?

CONTROL ISSUES: Through the accumulation of too much power, Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have lost touch with reality in global society and must be uprooted.
Tony Cartalucci
21st Century Wire
Facebook – backed by some of the largest banks and corporations on Earth – seek to create a global digital currency and reassert Western dominion over the global economy.