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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
April 2013 issue 136
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Drones Are Not Only Spreading to
Other Countries, They're Becoming
Smaller and Smarter
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"One plan was to use an unmanned aerial
vehicle to carry 20kg of TNT to bomb the
area, but the plan was rejected because we
were ordered to catch him alive." This is what
Liu Yuejin, director of China's public security ministry's anti-drug bureau, described of
the manhunt for Naw Kham, the ringleader
of a large drug trafficking outfit based in the
Golden Triangle, who was suspected of killing 13 Chinese sailors. Ultimately, they got
him via a cross-border nighttime ambush,
the Chinese version of the Abbottabad raid.
This case, however, is useful to think about
when talking about the global market for
unmanned aerial systems (aka "drones")
and where it is headed, a topic that got new
energy with a New York Times report on the
confusion as to whether it was American or
Pakistani drones that carried out a controversial airstrike. Too often in policy and
media circles, we discuss a supposed American monopoly on drones that is potentially
ending. Or, as Time magazine entitled a
story, "Drone Monopoly: Hope You Enjoyed
It While It Lasted." The article goes on to
say,"It is going to happen; the only question
is when." The answer is: several years ago.
Today, the United States is ahead in the
field of military robotics, and, given that we
spend the most money and make the most
operational use of unmanned systems, we
certainly should be. All told, there are over
8,000 unmanned aircraft in the U.S. military
inventory and another 12,000 plus unmanned
ground vehicles. A growing number are large
and armed, including the MQ-1 Predator and
MQ-9 Reapers that get so much attention in
the press. Depending on which source you
want to cite, there are currently between 75
and 87 countries that have used unmanned
aircraft in their militaries. Of these, at least
26 have larger systems, including Predator
equivalents that are already armed or of a
model that has been armed in the past, such
as the Heron, made by IAI and used by the
Israeli Defense Forces, as well as several
countries via export. Only the United States,
the United Kingdom, and Israel are known to
have used armed drones operationally, but as
the case of Naw Kham illustrates, the limit
on why others have not is frequently political, not technological. They are either not at
war or have chosen not to go that route yet.
However, these political limits are changing.
Witness China's open discussion of its plans
in the People's Daily, or Germany's recent
decision to acquire armed drones for deployments abroad, which follows Italy's, France's,
etc. In short, when we often talk about a
supposed future of drone proliferation, we
usually ignore the reality of the present. We
already have a market that is global in both
its customers, from Australia to Turkey, and
in its manufacturers, from American firms like
General Atomics
and Lockheed to
ASN Technology,
one of the major
makers in China,
and ADE of India.
What really matters is not just the
proliferation to an
Continued on page 5
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The Illogic of Iraq
Explaining one of History's most Egregious
Strategic non Sequiturs.
Exactly 10 years ago the American invasion of Iraq commenced, launching one of
military history's most egregious strategic
non sequiturs. Not since Napoleon Bonaparte's ill-fated expedition to Egypt and Syria
(1798-1801) -- from which he ultimately
fled, losing an army and a fleet -- has the
world seen a great power so humbled in the
pursuit of illusory goals. Napoleon's dream
was to use his incomparable army to spread
French revolutionary and democratic ideals
across a key portion of the Muslim world.
But, as historian Lynn Montross once noted,
"The masses were too fatalistic to be stirred
by promises of a liberty they neither understood nor trusted."
The grand American
goal in the Middle East, pursued some two
centuries after Napoleon but with nearly the
same idea in mind that had motivated him,
foundered for similar reasons. The military
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occupation of Iraq, predictably, sparked a
general uprising. But whereas Lord Nelson's great victory at Aboukir Bay forced
an end to the French campaign, no such
dramatic intervention drove American
forces out. So they stayed, at a cost of over
a trillion dollars, tens of thousands of soldiers' lives lost or shattered, and with the
mounting Iraqi death toll rising well above
100,000. A debacle.
In some ways, the misadventure in Iraq
can be seen as worse than Napoleon's
blunder, in terms of the flawed logic that
underpinned it. In addition to the idealistic
American "democracy project," this was
a war started to defang Saddam Hussein's
budding nuclear arsenal. But U.N. inspectors had made clear beforehand that there
simply were no such weapons in Iraq;
invading forces overran the whole country
Continued on page 4
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ECONOMY
Syria Closes Border to
Lebanese Citrus, Bananas
BEIRUT: Syria has barred the export
of Lebanese citrus and banana
through its territories in retaliation
for the burning of several Syrian fuel
tankers over the past weeks, farmers
and owners of packaging plants in
south Lebanon said.
“The decision by the Syrian side
to forbid Lebanese trucks to pass
through Syria ... amounts to an
immense crisis affecting the owners
of banana and citrus packaging
plants and farmers across Lebanon,”
said a statement read during a demonstration in Qassmieh, 10 km north
of Tyre.
Gunmen and angry citizens who
sympathize with Syrian opposition
groups have torched several fuel
tankers this month, accusing some
Lebanese oil companies of shipping
large quantities of fuel oil for use by
the Syrian army.
The farmers’ statement said
produce had been piling in
trucks and plants for more
than 10 days as both growers and exporters suffer
losses.
“We call for a series of demonstrations to save what
is left of our agricultural
season,” the statement said.
Reda Fadel, a farmer and
owner of one of the plants,
said the Syrian government’s decision was weighing heavy on the business of Lebanese farmers and their families.
“Political impact has got so severe
that it threatens the income of
thousands of Lebanese and Syrian
families that work in this sector,”
he said, calling on politicians to
intervene with the Syrian side.
Over the past few weeks Lebanon’s vital export route to the
GCC states was halted after
clashes on the Damascus-Amman
highway intensified.
Syrian rebels have told Lebanese truck drivers that the road
to Jordan would remain closed
indefinitely.
Caretaker Agriculture Minister
Hussein Hajj Hassan said Friday
his ministry reached an agreement with Egypt to allow for an
alternative export route.
India Blacklists Israel
Military Industries for 10 years
India has barred Israel Military
Industries, as well as five other foreign defense contractors, from bidding for defense contracts in the
country for 10 years.
The ban followed an investigation
by India's Central Bureau of Investigation. The agency, which completed its probe in 2009, concluded
that there was sufficient evidence
to implicate the blacklisted firms in
bribing Sudipta Ghosh, the former
director of Ordnance Factories, and
other officers to win six contracts.
The companies were given hearings
but the ministry found their explanations lacking.
The CBI recommended that action
be taken against the companies. The
decision is expected to affect not
only IMI's activities in India but also
those of other Israeli defense firms.
Although the outcome of the investigation had long been known,
the Israeli defense establishment
greeted the decision with surprise.
Defense officials said they thought
the hearing process for IMI was still
continuing. Earlier yesterday IMI
said it hadn't received official notice
of the blacklist decision; the notice
did however arrive later in the day.
"The Defense Ministry was surprised to hear of the decision by
the Indian Ministry of Defense,
because the hearing process for IMI
against the intent of imposing sanctions on it had not been completed,
and especially since IMI had very
good claims against the move," the
Defense Ministry said in a statement
yesterday, adding that it will consult
with IMI on a response.
IMI said in a statement that it did and
does obey the law and will continue
to work with the Indian authorities to
resolve the issue. In any case, it said,
it plans to appeal on the grounds that
the conclusion is based on "erroneous facts" and ignores information
submitted by the company.
It is thought that IMI had only
begun developing its operations in
the Indian market and had signed
an agreement to build a factory - the
agreement that triggered the investigation. Since the probe began
IMI has all but frozen its activities
in India; no other deals have been
reported.
India is considered a key export
market for Israeli defense companies. All the players, including Israel
Aerospace Industries, Rafael
Advanced Defense Systems and
Elbit Systems, bid for Indian tenders. Some Israeli defense manufacturers are building factories in
India, mainly to meet the requirements of reciprocal procurement
agreements.
Industry sources outside IMI have
expressed concern that IMI's presence on the blacklist could affect
other Israeli firms, though there
have been no signs of any recoil
yet.
They also suggested that the
Indian decision could hamstring
Israeli government efforts to
privatize IMI. Since India had
been considered one of its biggest
customers, the loss could diminish IMI's value.
The other companies placed on
the blacklist were Singapore Technologies Kinetics, Rheinmetall
Air Defence Zurich, Corporation
Defence Russia, T.S. Kisan & Co.
and R.K. Machine Tools. The last
two are Indian companies.
Bribery allegations abound
In the past, Israel Aerospace
Industries had been accused of
landing jobs by bribing Indian
officials. The company denied the
allegations and was not part of the
Central Bureau of Investigation's
probe.
Nor has there been any mention of
adding IAI to the blacklist. After
publication of the suspicions, IAI
won billions of dollars worth of
deals in India.
Earlier it turned out that Soltam,
a member of the Elbit Systems
group of companies, had been
blacklisted by the Philippines
back in July 2011, for one year.
Soltam is well known in Israeli
households for its stainless steel
cookware, but in military circles
it's better known for making
advanced artillery systems, mortars, ammunition and auxiliary
equipment. Elbit Systems bought
the controlling interest in Soltam
in 2010, after Soltam was accused
of bribing officials in Kazakhstan.
The company denied the allegations.
The allegation against it isn't corruption, it's failing to deliver two
orders before an October 2010
deadline. Elbit Systems did not
comment on the move by Manila.
Saudi Arabia: Oil Revenues to Exceed $ 267 Billion
While this year expansion is not likely to match that
of last year, it is more likely to register one of the
highest growth rates among the G20 countries. Four
factors have maintained a buoyant growth this year,
namely (i) the hydrocarbon sector, (ii) expansionary
fiscal policy with a significant positive impact on the
non-oil private sector, (iii) solid domestic consumption and (iv) supportive bank lending to the private
sector, according to a report by Jadwa Investment.
In light of the recent domestic and international data
releases and oil market conditions, Jadwa increased
its projection for
real hydrocarbon
GDP growth. In
addition, higher
production and
higher oil prices
($109 per barrel)
would generate
record-high oil
revenues of SR
1.08 trillion, or
44.3 percent of
GDP, leading to
a fiscal surplus of
SR 347.7 billion
in 2012, some 5 percent higher than earlier forecast.
At the same time, the current account balance would
benefit from $ 322.6 billion of oil exports, leading to
a surplus of $ 167.5 billion or 25.8 percent of GDP,
Global Arab Network reports according to local
media. The report said an upward revision to our oil
production forecast is the main reason for the increase
in real GDP growth projection from 5.3 percent to
5.8 percent in 2012. While Saudi Arabia's crude oil
production would average 9.6 million barrel per day
(mbpd) in 2012, the actual production level has been
raised to a near record high this year with two months
(April and June) recording an average production
level above 10 million barrels per day (mbpd). The
year-to-August production level has reached 9.9
mbpd or 8.5 percent higher than the same period of
last year. In addition, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi indicated last month that
while the oil market is well supplied, the Kingdom
stands ready to increase its production level to meet
additional demand and to moderate prices. According to Jadwa, Saudi crude production to remain elevated throughout the rest of the year particularly as
the market conditions are not likely to go through a
significant change. Thus it revised annualized aver-
age production level to 9.9 mbpd or 6.3 percent yearon-year. This increase in production is likely to translate
into a higher real oil GDP growth, which is expected to
expand by 6.1 percent year-on-year in 2012 compared
to 5.1 percent previously. In addition to the increase in
the oil production, the Kingdom is likely to benefit from
firm oil prices. Jadwa revised its forecasts for Brent to $
114.4 per barrel and $104 per barrel for WTI or 3 percent
and 9 percent higher than last year's level, respectively.
This will translate to $109 per barrel for the Saudi oil
export price in 2012 compared to previous forecast of
$100 per barrel. Higher
oil prices and production will boost the Kingdom's budgetary position further. Despite
elevated spending, Saudi
Arabia will continue to
record fiscal surplus,
the report said. As oil
revenues are the source
of around 90 percent of
budget revenues, higher
oil prices will generate an all-time-high oil
revenue of SR1.08 trillion or 4 percent higher than last year's actual revenues.
Combined with higher nonoil revenues on the back of
expanding nonoil sector, this will lead to total revenue
of SR1.19 trillion for the year or 6 percent higher than
last year's level. Such revenues are already sufficient for
the government to finance all its planned spending this
year comfortably, the Jadwa report said. It said the fiscal
balance to reach SR 347.7 billion this year (14.3 percent
of GDP) compared to SR291 billion (13.5 percent of
GDP) in 2011. As a result, the government to continue
to reduce its public debt from 6.3 percent of GDP in
2011 to 5.6 percent this year. The external position will
also benefit from higher oil prices and production. It
puts the current account surplus at $ 47.6 billion, 28.7
percent higher than level of the first quarter of 2011.
In addition, services payments have increased by 23
percent year-on- year on the back of stronger domestic demand. Imports over the first eight months of the
year are 8 percent higher than in January to August of
last year. Based on production and estimated price data
that oil exports averaged $ 24.6 billion per month so far
this year or an increase of 9.7 percent compared to the
average of last year, while nonoil exports are up by 4
percent year-on-year in the first eight months, despite a
significant decline in August.
Renewable Energy, Innovative Solutions and
Green Growth in the Mediterranean Region
At a World Bank supported regional workshop in
Lebanon, Ahmed and other young entrepreneurs and
business leaders discussed the challenges and opportunities of doing business in the region. Given the
enormous potential of solar irradiance in the region
and the threat of high oil prices, Karm Solar Egypt
is targeting water users in rural arid areas. They ask
questions such as: What if there was a way to reach
out to farmers and convince them to switch to highcapacity off-grid solar-generated groundwater pumping systems in Egypt?
In many countries farmers continue to rely on diesel
generators. Ahmed’s alternative is a computer based
Solar Management Interface (SMI) that he and his
partners developed to facilitate the adoption of new
solar powered water pumps. Participants at the workshop were intrigued by the business pitch. That same
day, his team accepted the inaugural HCT-Wharton
Innovation prize in Abu Dhabi.
Renewable energy is one of the key sectors where
dual benefits or "co-benefits" can be generated if
appropriate actions are taken by governments in the
region. This is one of the key findings of the MED
2012 Report “Toward Green Growth in the Mediterranean Region” that Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) has just launched. As part of a global
green growth strategy, this sector and a few others,
such as energy efficiency and waste management,
can help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions
and create new employment opportunities. The report is
the result of more than two years of in-depth evidencebased research work and no less than eight regional and
national consultations led by the CMI and its partners.
The report also recognizes the difficult path ahead for
transitioning to a green economy. It will involve tradeoffs and hard choices for countries in the region. However, action is needed to avoid the risk of irreversible
outcomes. The report shows that there are several tools
that can be adopted by countries to move towards a green
growth agenda such as environmental fiscal reforms,
payments for ecosystems services, or eco-labels and certification.
As showcased at the workshop in Lebanon, it can also
happen by smart policy-making and encouraging entrepreneurs like Ahmed. In spite of the challenges ahead,
Green Growth in the Mediterranean region is about
common sense and imagination.
P.4
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2013
April
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The Illogic of Iraq
and found none. Not anywhere in the country.
The other threat-based rationale for the war was
the notion that there was a connection between
Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Again, this was
a terrible logical fallacy; Saddam was one of the
"apostates" targeted for overthrow by al Qaeda.
Sadly, the prolonged American presence in Iraq
actually brought the terrorist network's jihadis
there, as it was much easier for them to fight
their "far enemy" in this more easily reachable
theater of operations. Today, the American military is gone, while al Qaeda, after suffering sharp
reverses, is back and making mischief once more.
Even the leading explanation for the tactical
defeat suffered by al Qaeda in Iraq is subject
to some fuzzy reasoning. The faith many have
put in "the surge" having turned the tide needs
to be questioned. The relatively small number of
additional American trigger-pullers sent -- some
20,000 -- mattered far less than the change in
operational concept. It was the outreach to indigenous Iraqis, who made up the majority of the
insurgents, and their willingness to turn against
the foreign fighters al Qaeda had sent, that made
the true difference. What the U.S. military calls
"influence operations" haven't yet received their
proper due in this campaign.
And by efforts to achieve influence, I am not
referring to the hundreds of millions spent on
propaganda -- often in the form of planted, paidfor stories. No, influence grew instead from the
presence of small groups of Americans living
in and operating from local outposts in many
places around Iraq. Propaganda proved counterproductive, but American soldiers and Marines,
removed from massive operating bases and stationed where they could respond to trouble in
minutes, impressed average Iraqis tremendously
and generated vast amounts of good intelligence,
forging the bonds that influenced some 80,000
insurgents to switch sides.
It is a pity that, at his confirmation hearing, Chuck
Hagel wasn't ready to answer John McCain's
question about the surge. If there is one really
positive lesson to draw from Iraq, it is that war is
not simply a numbers game. Increasingly, military action is becoming just a backdrop to the
larger "battle of the story" about the context and
conduct of war. A deeper understanding of the
interplay of force and influence is much needed,
especially in this time of growing fiscal austerity.
But even a very useful
insight of this sort is
small beer, given the
consequences of the
determined
pursuit
of an illogical strategy to its logical end.
In the case of Iraq,
the whole premise of
spreading democracy
by violently overthrowing an authoritarian regime should
have been questioned
from the outset. In a
country with a majority Shiite population,
it is only logical to assume that the Shi'a
would play a dominant role in a democratic
Iraq. And these are the same Shi'a whom the
United States incited to rebel against Saddam
Hussein back in the spring of 1991 -- then
abandoned them to their bloody fate. Hundreds of thousands were killed back then. It
should be expected that these Shi'a will lean
more toward their co-religionists in Tehran
than toward Washington -- which has pretty
much abandoned them once again.
Yet for all the clarity of this logical fallacy
in the American democracy project, it has
not stopped President Obama from helping
to overthrow Muammar al-Qaddafi in Libya,
or from calling for the ouster of Bashar alAssad in Syria -- even though the fall of the
former and the uprising against the latter
have given al Qaeda new "active fronts" (to
use the jihadis' own term) in which to operate. The very fact that our policy of regime
change is aimed at the same rulers our principal enemy wishes to overthrow should give
logical pause. So far, it hasn't. But at least
there are some limits to the American pursuit
of folly; there is no call in Washington for
overthrow of the regime in Riyadh. For this
we should at least be thankful.
But let us not be complacent, for the power
of illogic is great and resilient. Napoleon
was able to exploit this power with his own
"influence campaign" as, on his return from
Egypt, in abject defeat, he was nonetheless
embraced as a great national hero and savior.
Perhaps the only way to inoculate ourselves
against the virulent resurgence of illogic may
be to take a long, hard look at the intervention in Iraq and what has flowed from it.
So far, the tendency among senior military
and civilian leaders has been to avert their
gaze, what with the endgame in Afghanistan and the looming "pivot to the Pacific"
forming important distractions. Still, our
defense establishment is large, and our universities are full of curious scholars of strategic affairs. There are plenty enough qualified people both to pursue current initiatives
and to take a deep, unflinching look at the
debacle that began to unfold a decade ago,
the ripples of which continue to plague our
foreign policy.
North Korean Pastoral
The Hermit Kingdom as you've never seen it.
The Baekdu Daegan
mountain range twists
its way more than 1,000
miles down the length
of the Korean Peninsula,
from the sacred peak of
Baekdusan on the North
Korea-China border to
Jirisan in central South
Korea. Today, it is
choked off by landmines
and barbed wire at the
demilitarized zone, but
once, it was considered
the "spine of the nation" -- a source of spiritual
energy and strength for the Korean people.
At least 75 percent of the Korean Peninsula is
covered by mountains, and long before the country was divided -- first by Cold War politics and
then by a war -- Koreans shared a reverence for
the power of these peaks. Mountains are prominent in Korean art and literature. Koreans practicing animism once paid homage to mountain
spirits to ensure them safe passage on their journeys. Today, the lyrics of both countries' national
anthems still sing the praises of Baekdusan, or
Great White Mountain, the sacred peak said to
be the place of ancestral origin for the Korean
people.
Over the past two years, New Zealand native
Roger Shepherd was granted rare permission to
spend more than two months in the mountains of North Korea as part of his efforts to
document the Baekdu Daegan as one ridge,
north and south. Shepherd has made three
trips to the country, during which he covered
more than 6,000 miles and visited more than
two dozen mountain peaks.
"These days we see Korea as divided," Shepherd says. The Baekdu Daegan system, helps
remind us that geographically, Korea is still
one entity with a shared history and a shared
culture as mountain people. "I hope my work
can reinvigorate that mindset." These are the
revealing photographs from his time in the
country known to most of the world as "one
of the most closed and secretive nations on
earth."
Myanmar Riots Stoke Fears of
Widening Sectarian Violence
(Reuters) - Myanmar declared martial
law in four central townships the end of
March after unrest between Buddhists
and Muslims stoked fears that last year's
sectarian bloodshed was spreading into
the country's heartland in a test of Asia's
newest democracy.
Whole neighborhoods were still smoldering and agitated Buddhist crowds roamed
the streets after three days of turbulence,
said Reuters reporters in the city 540 km
(336 miles) north of the commercial capital Yangon.
State television said President Thein Sein
had declared a state of emergency and
imposed martial law in the four districts,
placing the military, rather than local
police, in charge of security. Authorities
imposed an overnight curfew on Wednesday.
Two camps now held more than 2,000
people displaced by the fighting, he added.
The unleashing of ethnic hatred, suppressed during 49 years of military rule
that ended in March 2011, is challenging
the reformist government of one of Asia's
most ethnically diverse countries.
Jailed dissidents have been released, a
free election held and censorship lifted in
Myanmar's historic democratic transition.
But the government has faced mounting
criticism over its failure to stop the blood-
attacks on Muslim communities by organized
gangs of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.
The United Nations warned the sectarian
unrest could endanger a fragile reform program launched after Myanmar's quasi-civilian government replaced a decades-old military dictatorship in 2011.
"Religious leaders and other community
leaders must also publicly call on their followers to abjure violence, respect the law and
promote peace," Vijay Nambiar, U.N. special
adviser of the secretary-general, said in a
statement.
Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist
country, but about 5 percent of its 60 million people are Muslims. There are large and
long-established communities in Yangon
and Mandalay, Myanmar's two largest cities,
where tensions are simmering.
"Everyone is in shock here. We never
expected this to happen," said a Muslim
teacher in Mandalay, requesting anonymity.
Rumors that agitators were heading for the
city had set its Muslim community on edge,
he said. Buddhist monks known for their
anti-Islamic views last year staged protests in
Mandalay.
In Meikhtila, at least one mosque, an Islamic
religious school, several shops and a government office were set alight, said a fire
service official, who declined to be identified. Reuters saw both Buddhist and Muslim
shed between Buddhists and Muslims.
Hundreds of Muslims have fled their
homes to shelter at a sports stadium, local
officials said.
The unrest is a reprise of last year's violence in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, which officially killed 110 people
and left 120,000 homeless, most of them
stateless Rohingya Muslims.
Reuters saw some residents arming themselves with knives and as occurred in
Rakhine in 2012, when battles between the
two communities turned into orchestrated
homes burned.
Sectarian unrest is common in central Myanmar, although reports were stifled under the
military dictatorship.
Three people died in Sinbyukyun in 2006
when Buddhists attacked homes and shops
belonging to Muslims and ethnic Indians,
according to a U.S. diplomatic cable.
"The incident reveals underlying tense interethnic relations in the heartland," said the
cable, which also referenced similar communal riots in Kyaukse, a town near Meikhtila,
in 2003.
Jailed Leader of the Kurds Offers a
Truce With Turkey
Since its start late last
year, the peace effort
has transfixed a Turkish
public traumatized by
a long and bloody conflict that has claimed
nearly 40,000 lives and
fractured society along
ethnic lines. While there have been previous periods of cease-fire between Turkey
and Mr. Ocalan’s group, the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., never before
has there been so much support at the
highest levels of both the Turkish and
Kurdish leadership.
For the Turkish government, seeking
peace within its borders is a step toward
realizing its ambition to be a regional
power broker. For the Kurds, the call for
peace carries with it the hope of more
rights under a new constitution and the
freedom to express a separate identity
within a country that for decades denied
their existence, forbade them to speak
their language and abused their activists.
Still, if a lasting peace is achieved, there
would be ramifications across the broader
Middle East, where millions of Kurds also
live in Syria, Iraq and Iran and have long
held ambitions for independence. For
nearly a century they have also nurtured a
sense of betrayal: after the Allied victory
in World War I, the victors first promised
Kurdish independence, and
then reneged.
Regional tensions are also
a factor for Turkey. In the
tumult of Syria’s civil war,
an offshoot of the Kurdish rebel group called the
Democratic Union Party
has taken up arms in pursuit of Kurdish
autonomy there. In making peace with the
P.K.K., analysts have said, Turkey is seeking
to head off the creation of a new base within
Syria from which militants linked to the
group could launch attacks on Turkey.
While the effort to find peace carries political risks for Mr. Erdogan, it also carries huge
possibilities. He faces some opposition from
nationalist groups opposed to pursuing talks
with the P.K.K., which is regarded as a terrorist group by the United States and the
European Union. But the political gamble
Mr. Erdogan has made is that successful talks
could earn him the support of Kurdish lawmakers in Parliament for his effort to alter the
constitution to create an empowered presidency that he would then seek in an election
next year, analysts have said.
Mr. Ocalan’s direct involvement in the peace
process, albeit while he is serving a life term
in prison on a treason conviction, was itself
a statement of how far the two sides have
come. He had been barred from involvement
in previous diplomatic efforts.
P.5
An-Nour
April 2013
(770) 608-3343
[email protected]
www.An-Nournews.com
Continued from Page 1
Drones Becoming Smaller and Smarter
ever greater number of countries, but the proliferating makeup and uses of the technology
itself. The first generation of unmanned systems was much like the manned systems they
were replacing -- some models actually had
cockpits that were just painted over. Now, we
are seeing an expanding array of sizes, shapes,
and forms, some inspired by nature. Within
this trend, the size issue is important to discussions of armed drones. It is not just that drones
are becoming smaller, but they are also carrying smaller and smaller munitions. So, if you
want, for example, to carry out a targeted killing, do you need to send a MQ-9 Reaper carrying a JDAM or a set of Hellfire missiles? Or
would a guided missile the size of a rolled up
magazine, or a tiny bomb the size of a beer can
that is equipped with GPS (both already tested
out at China Lake) fit the bill instead, especially if it comes with less collateral damage?
And if that smaller weapon is all that you need,
do you need a drone the size of an F-16 to carry
it? While the discussion of the proliferation of
armed drones has focused on those countries
that field large systems, we will soon have to
address those that have smaller systems. And at
a certain point, we have to ask how we define
a drone and how we should regulate them. We
are already in the world of the Switchblade, a
surveillance drone that is carried in a tube the
size of a shoebox and can fly 50 miles per hour,
but if needed can also turn lethal and deliver a
hand grenade-sized explosion. It is a drone, but
also a miniature cruise missile. Does it count?
Another trend that will matter is the growing
intelligence and autonomy of armed drones.
Consider Northrop Grumman's X-47 UCAS,
a jet-powered, stealthy plane testing out in
Maryland right now; or the Taranis, being
tested in Australia by BAE; or the Blue Shark,
rumored to be in development by the Chinese
firm AVIC. In some ways, these unmanned
combat planes represent traditional advances
in weapons tech: They are designed to fly
faster and further than our current generation
of strike drones, and to better evade enemy
defenses. But these planes are also very different than their predecessors: They are smarter
and more autonomous. They are designed to
take off and land on their own, fly mission sets
on their own, refuel in the air on their own, and
penetrate enemy air defenses on their own. The
Taranis even has modules designed to allow it
to select its own targets. This greater intelligence has an important following effect: The
user base and functions are expanding, which
further lowers the barriers to entry and changes
the quality and type of the proliferation further.
The early versions of unmanned systems were
like the early computers, you had to go through
deep training just to make them do basic tasks.
Now, just as experts once needed to learn
Basic to use computers and now toddlers can
use iPads, so too are advances in drone technology making them more accessible. This
will be important not just to states, but also
non-state groups that are harder to regulate
and deter. Indeed, Hezbollah may not have
an air force academy, but it didn't need one to
figure out how to operate unmanned aerial systems against Israel. Similarly, for the Call of
Duty video game (full disclosure: I consulted
on it), Activision built a version of an armed
quadcopter controlled by tablet computer that
is better than most any tactical drone the
U.S. military currently has. This market
expansion will further shift in a few years,
when the ease of use meets lowered civilian
political barriers. While drones are mostly
restricted from civilian and commercial
roles now, there is an ongoing process to
integrate unmanned aerial systems into the
civilian parts of the national and global airspace system. Presently, the Congress has
recently set a deadline of 2015 for American airspace to open up to wider civilian
and commercial use of drones, and the same
trends are in play in a multitude of other
nations from Britain to Brazil. The scale of
this market is estimated to be in the tens of
billions in its first years, but it is frankly too
early to know where it will end up. The part
that matters for proliferation concerns is
that as unmanned systems begin to be used
in roles that range from policing to journalism to agriculture and air freight delivery,
the market will reshape itself, much as what
happened with computers. An area that was
once viewed as military will become more
and more civilianized. And here is where
another parallel with computers will hold;
applying old arms export-control regimes
will become more and more difficult. Those
worried about drone proliferation must face
facts. We are no longer in a world where
only the United States has the technology,
and we are not moving toward a future in
which the technology is used only in the
same way we use it now. This means, in
turn, that the frequent counter arguments to
proliferation concerns have to catch up. Yes,
only the United States has a global basing
and strike architecture (for now), but that
is also irrelevant to most of the issues the
proliferation presents. No, Turkey cannot
strike Mexico with its unmanned aircraft,
but it really doesn't want to. It can, however,
reach into Northern Iraq and then cite U.S.
precedent in Pakistan that would make for a
sticky diplomatic situation. No, Hezbollah
can't fly its drones outside the Middle East.
It has, however, demonstrated enhanced
reach in the region with its own unmanned
version of a mini-air force that has spooked
Israel. Yes, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula would find it difficult to gain and operate a Predator, but a terrorist has already
planned to fly a drone into the Pentagon (he
got the drone, but fortunately got caught by
the FBI before he got the explosives), while
hobbyists have already shown the ability to
cross oceans with their drones. No, China
can't yet extend its power across regions,
into say Somalia, like the United States can.
But it is creating the infrastructure -- from
the drones, to the global satellite navigation
system it has built in Beidu, to its "string of
pearls" strategy in the Middle East -- that
will eventually allow it to do so. Addressing the challenges posed by drone proliferation is not impossible. But it will be if we
continue to only conceptualize the technology and the market as they were five years
ago. If we want to face their risks and begin
to create global standards, we better start
recognizing their status today, or even more
importantly, the directions we are headed in
the very near future
Arab Capital of Culture 2013:
Baghdad Seeks to Regain Lost Luster
BAGHDAD - Baghdad was inaugurated as
the 2013 Arab Capital of Culture, the latest
in a series of steps which officials hope will
put Iraq back on the map after decades of
conflict.
The events surrounding the Arab Capital of
Culture will include music and dance performances, photography exhibitions, as well as
folk arts and crafts shows.
"Baghdad, which was a source of knowledge
for the entire world, is rising again today
thanks to the efforts of Iraqis and their Arab
brothers," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
said in a speech.
It is the latest in a series of efforts by Iraq
to raise its global profile after three decades
of war and sanctions which led to its international isolation, economically as well as
culturally.
The city hosted the Arab League summit
in 2012, and later that year was the site of
talks between global powers and Iran on the
Islamic Republic's controversial nuclear programme.
It is also scheduled to host football's Gulf
Cup in 2015.
It had been scheduled to host the Gulf Cup
this year but it was delayed, and ambitious
plans for the Shiite shrine city of Najaf to
take over as the 2012 Islamic Capital of Cul-
ture were shelved as several projects failed to
get off the ground or were postponed indefinitely amid accusations of corruption.
Der Spiegel: Mossad’s ‘Prisoner X’
Spilled Secrets to Hezbollah
BERLIN - A man identified by media as an AustralianIsraeli Mossad agent and found hanged in a Tel Aviv
jail had passed secrets to Hezbollah before his death.
Der Spiegel said Ben Zygier, a man known as "Prisoner
X" who died in 2010 in an allegedly suicide-proof cell,
had handed tips to the Lebanese militant group that led
to the arrest of at least two people spying for Israel.
It said Zygier -- who was raised in Melbourne but
moved to Israel about a decade before his death -- was
ordered back to Israel in 2007 because his bosses were
unhappy with his work.
In the process he came in contact with Hezbollah supporters, Spiegel said, and while trying to
convince them to work for Mossad, disastrously spilled highly sensitive information.
This included the names of Lebanese nationals Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh, who
were arrested in May 2009 on charges of spying for Israel and later sentenced to several years
of hard labour
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The views expressed in all the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the official policy or position of AN-NOUR Newspaper
P.6
An-Nour
April 2013
www.An-Nournews.com
(770) 608-3343
[email protected]
Social
Algerian Women March in Capital to
Defend ‘haik’
Around 30 women dressed in white
take to Algiers streets to defend Algeria’s tradition dress against hijab,
niqab.
Covered from head to toe in white, their
faces partly masked by embroidered triangular cloths, Algerian women marched through
the capital to defend their traditional Islamic
dress.
"We want to sweep away these clothes which
come from Saudi Arabia, black, sad and stifling under the sun, to return to our traditional
'haik' which is the pride of Algerian women,"
said one, posing in front of the landmark central post office in Algiers.
"Long live Algerian Algeria, this is a part of
our culture," said a veiled passer-by, her head
covered in a burgundy scarf, adding: "The
black thing, that is totally alien."
"It is unfortunate that we've had the hijab
imposed on us since the 1990s, it is not a part
of our tradition," said the young woman in
her 20s.
"Sure, the haik has Turkish origins, but it was
with us for centuries," she added, referring to
the more than 300 years prior to French colonial
rule when much of Algeria was a part of the Ottoman empire.
Young Algerian women went mostly uncovered
before the 1990s, but started wearing the veil
under pressure from Islamists during the "black
decade," when an Islamist insurgency and its
repression brought the country to its knees.
Since then, the veil has become fashionable in
some circles, coming in all different colours, and
folded in many different ways to cover the neck
and hair.
Grassroots Movement: The Uprising
of Women in the Arab World
In Egypt, women hold 2 per cent of parliamentary seats in comparison to 12 per
cent in the previous elections, and not
one woman took part in the committee
that wrote constitutional amendments.
In Yemen, a report by the international
NGO Oxfam states that women are
worse off after the revolution in a country where a humanitarian crisis keeps
growing. In Tunisia, a woman who was
allegedly raped by policemen was in turn
accused of public indecency when she
filed a complaint.
Yet women have refused to let the fight
for gender-equality be side-lined. In
October 2011, a group of four Arab
women from Lebanon, Palestine and
Egypt started a Facebook page entitled
Uprising of Women in the Arab World.
“I’m with the uprising of women in the
Arab world because I want to be in control
of my destiny” and “I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because
they deserve more and they are capable of
more.” "No to rape. No to violence," said
other statements.
Messages also came from men. A Saudi
teenager chose to point out the absurdity of
a law that can make a young male family
member the custodians of adult Saudi
women: "According to law, I am the guardian for my widowed mother!" Another
young man asserts: “I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I
feel ashamed of having more rights than my
sister.” In their support for the cause, men
are not just showing their solidarity, they are
showing that this is their battle too.
While women in Lebanon are not necessarily fighting the same laws as Saudi
women, they are finding strength in
unity and using it to gain attention
online.
The group says in their mission statement that “[it is] time for women and
men to unite against the oppression of
women in the Arab world.”
A truly grassroots movement that
started as a small wave is now making
headlines around the world. To mark the
movement’s one-year anniversary, the
page administrators urged people from
around the world to post pictures of
themselves holding messages to express
their support for Arab women’s rights.
People began to take notice, and today
the page has over 43,000 followers. The
photos (many of which are now going
viral on social networks) came from all
over the world, from women and men of
all religions and backgrounds.
The photos show the many faces of
the women’s rights movement, and
how they are addressing specific problems. One woman wrote: “I’m with the
uprising of women in the Arab world,
because I want to walk alone in a street
and not think of all the bad things that
could happen to me.” Another said:
In their actions, women’s rights activists are
truly carrying the flag of the Arab uprisings,
which demanded authentic democracy. While
women’s rights are sometimes seen as secondary to democratic change, gender equality is
actually one essential aspect of true democracy.
Under dictatorships, gender inequality is too
often seen as an unimportant detail in comparison to the big picture. In many revolutionary
movements, marginalised individuals such as
women and minorities are first offered hope
for change, then end up facing the same discrimination after dictators have been toppled.
They are told to wait, to be patient, and that
their time will come.
This is wrong. Women’s rights are at the heart
of human rights, therefore any pro-democratic
claim simply cannot side-line half the population. Change for the better must be change
for everyone, or it will ultimately be change
for no one. From that perspective, the Arab
Spring is on-going. While some would say
it has failed, initiatives like the Uprising of
Women in the Arab World are reclaiming a
place for ordinary people in political participation. By speaking out as marginalised
members of society who refuse to remain
second-class citizens, it’s clear that these
women’s rights activists will not let go of last
year’s momentum for change
Back to Censorship: Egypt National
Security Bans Film on Jewish
Community
Film documents lives of members of Egyptian Jewish community in first half of 20th
century, exploring themes of identity and tolerance.
CAIRO - Egyptian security services have
banned a film about the Jews of Egypt on the
eve of its scheduled release, the director said.
"The film was banned by National Security,"
Amir Ramses said by telephone from New
York.
The film, which documents the lives of members of the Egyptian Jewish community in the
first half of the 20th century, exploring themes of
identity and tolerance, was meant to be screened
in three cinemas.
"The head of the censorship board said National
Security wanted to see a copy and they refused"
to have the film screened, Ramses said.
The documentary had already received approval
from the censorship board, and Ramses said he
planned to take legal action to have the decision
reversed.
The trailer had already created a big buzz in
Egypt, with so little locally produced material
about the Jews of Egypt.
Much of the community left the country after
the Suez Crisis in 1956 which saw then president Gamal Abdel Nasser expel Jews who were
deemed disloyal to the nation.
Today Egypt's Jewish population consists of just
a few dozen. The community keeps a low profile
for fear of being persecuted.
Lebanese Jew: 'We Want an MP'
If one were to ask Lebanese about
their opinions on the Orthodox Gathering draft electoral law, the answers
would probably either be “odiously
sectarian” or “rectifying representation and alleviating fears.” Yet there
is a third opinion we have yet to hear
about.
“Voters exclusively elect candidates
of their own sect. Christian voters of
minority sects shall vote for minority
candidates whereas Muslim voters
of minority sects that are not represented by any parliamentary seat
shall have the right to vote for the Muslim
candidates of their choice regardless of their
sects. Jewish voters shall have the right to
vote for the Muslim or Christian candidates
of their choice.”
The above passage, paragraph C of Article
2 of the Orthodox Gathering offered, knowingly or unknowingly, a way out of elections
for those who wish: Be a Jew and vote for
the Muslim or Christian candidate of your
choice. Some opponents of the Orthodox
Gathering draft on social networking sites are
actually pondering the idea of converting to
Judaism in order to take part “freely” in the
2013 elections should the draft be adopted in
the plenary session of parliament and come
into effect. But what do ethnic Jews want?
“Our community should be represented in
parliament. We are the only Jewish community in the Arab world that enjoys constitutional protection, but we are not politically
represented,” says Michel Zilkha, a Lebanese
Jew who decided to speak publicly because
“it is important not to remain anonymous if
we want to obtain our rights.”
No electoral law ever adopted in Lebanon has
earmarked seats for the Jewish community.
Beirut Synagogue
The 128 seats of the current parliament, including those of minority sects, are divided equally
between Christians and Muslims.
The Jewish community’s attempts to gain parliamentary representation date back to 1937, a year
that witnessed parliamentary reforms bringing
the number of parliamentary seats from 26 to 60.
Zilkha revealed that Lebanon is home to about
1,000 Jews, when asked about his ties as a Jew
with the State of Israel, Zilkha said: “we are Lebanese Jews, much like Lebanese Christians and
Lebanese Muslims. We are stuck here because
Lebanon is our nation and our identity. Lebanon is there whenever we speak, live, eat, and
breathe. Yet some dare say we are not ‘Lebanese’, so what are we then? The [Lebanese] Jews
who emigrated to Europe and America went to
cities with a Lebanese diaspora. This is no coincidence, for we are one people. The majority of
them refused to go to Israel even though they were
offered security and money. We are Lebanese,
Lebanese Jews who never emigrated to Israel as
did the Jews of Iraq and Syria because they were
protected as a community. Israel, for me, is like
Mecca for Muslims and the Vatican for Christians:
It is nothing more than a religious link.”
Egypt Brotherhood Supporters
Attack Raghda over ‘hostile’ Poems
Famed Syrian actress Raghda gets
attacked for explicitly supporting Assad,
reciting poetry criticizing Islamists in
region.
Raghda files case accusing Muslim
Brotherhood
She made her daring announcement
while attending a cultural event at Cairo’s
Opera House, local media reported.
According to local website, al-Masry alYoum, the Cairo-based actress recited one
poem entitled “Slave Market,” depicting
how Syrian women are being married off
to Islamist Egyptian men to “protect their
honor,” compelling a bearded Islamist to
interrupt her.
About six men, including the Islamist,
attacked her and when other attendees
tried to rescue her, they started throwing
fire extinguishers.
The actress, who usually speaks Arabic in
an Egyptian accent, reportedly sustained
one bruise on the back of her head.
She told local media that she has filed a case
accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating subversive activities in Syria.
The actress, who is a well-known Assad
regime supporter, has long criticized
Islamists
The views expressed in all the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the official policy or position of AN-NOUR Newspaper
P.7
An-Nour
April 2013
(770) 608-3343
[email protected]
www.An-Nournews.com
Health / Sports
Science & Technology
Filmmaker Says Plastic Surgery an
Epidemic’ in Lebanon
HIPAA Automated IT Compliance in
Organizations
Forget the “Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills.” When it comes
to plastic surgery, Beirut, Lebanon may be ground zero when it
comes to nips, tucks and everything in between.
Cynthia Ghazali recently spent
a summer in Beirut making the
short documentary “Copy. Cut.
Paste” about what she says is
Lebanese women’s unhealthy
attraction to plastic surgery.
“I was inspired to make this
movie by my personal experience as well as my observations of Lebanese
women every time I went back to visit my
family,”
Ghazali said that people – including her
friends and family – consistently commented on the size of her thighs and the
state of her eyebrows when she visited her
home country, prompting her to notice that
the “polished” women in Beirut all looked
the same, from their tattooed brows and thin
bodies with large chests, to their wrinklefree skin and small noses.
“Many women in Lebanon are competing to
find a husband, even though they are highlyeducated,” Ghazali said. “The end goal for
many women is to find a good husband and
build a family.”
As “Copy. Cut. Paste” explores, Lebanon –
a country torn by over two decades of war
– has found a way to escape the political,
social, and economic instability through a
growing epidemic; cosmetic enhancements
and plastic surgery. A whopping 1.5 million
procedures are done annually for Arabs and
even European women, in a country with a
population of 4.2 million people.
Cosmetic surgery has become so popular
that banks offer loans of up to $5,000 for the
procedures.
Dr. Nadir Mamoun. Capella University
“This idea first originated at First National
Bank in Lebanon. On one hand, it must be
very lucrative for the bank. On the other
hand, it is wrong because people are borrowing money for things that aren’t a necessity,”
Ghazali continued. “They could be putting the
money to better use.”
“The craze about beauty is filtering down to
younger generations and more recently men,”
Ghazali said. “This epidemic can take away
Lebanon’s cultural identity and reduce diversity.”
Girls as young as nine are seen in the documentary expressing their desire to lose significant amounts of weight and following their
mothers into low-carb diets. Ghazali says the
motivations for Lebanese women of all ages
are many.
“Both Beverly Hills surgery addicts and
women in Lebanon want to reach physical
‘perfection.’ There is no doubt that both idealize celebrities,” Ghazali added. “Vanity plays
more of a role in Beverly Hills than it really
does in Lebanon. I think that the issue of plastic surgery in Lebanon involves more factors.
It’s a combination of globalization, political
and economical factors in a post-war country,
and Lebanese cultural beliefs in a woman’s
role: ultimately finding a husband and becoming a mother.”
Egypt Fans are Set to See the
Pharaoh's in World Cup Action
About 10,000 fans are set to watch Bob Bradley's Egypt play Zimbabwe in a 2014 World
Cup qualifier.
Egypt's Ministry of Interior have allowed a
limited number of fans in to support the Pharaohs for the first time on home soil since the
Port Said stadium disaster in February 2012
that left over 70 people dead.
There have also been violent clashes following the death sentences handed down to those
fans found guilty of causing the fatalities at
the game between Al Masry and Al Ahly.
Islamic Scarf Controversy in France:
Woman Wins Legal Challenge over
Veil Ban
Interior Minister tells parliament that court's ruling is regrettable on grounds that it ‘calls
into question principle of secular
education’.
What Are Access Controls?
Under the “Security Rule” of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA), covered entities must implement a
regime of information system access controls
as part of their technical safeguards. The access
controls are defined as “The technical policies
and procedures for electronic information
systems access that maintain electronic protected
health information to allow access only to those
persons or software programs that have been
granted access rights.” The HIPAA Final Rule
on Security Standards was issued on February
20, 2003. It took effect on April 21, 2003 with
a compliance date of April 21, 2005 for most
covered entities and April 21, 2006 for small
plans. The Security Rule lays out three types
of security safeguards required for compliance:
administrative, physical, and technical. For each
of these types, the rule identifies various security
standards, and for each standard it names both
required and addressable implementation
specifications.
What Are Technical Safeguards?
Technical Safeguards mandate the
controlling of access to computer
systems, enabling covered entities
to
protect
communications
containing
protected
health
information (PHI) transmitted
electronically over open networks
from being intercepted by anyone
other than the intended recipient.
One of its standards is Access
Control: Information systems
housing PHI must be protected from intrusion.
When information flows over open networks,
some form of encryption must be utilized. If
closed systems/networks are utilized, existing
access controls are considered sufficient and
encryption is optional. The access control
standard has four implementation specifications,
the first two are required and the last two are
addressable: (1) unique user identification, (2)
emergency access procedure, (3) automatic
logoff, and (4) encryption and decryption. The
first requires assignment of a unique name and/or
number for identifying and tracking user identity.
The Rule permits any appropriate access control
mechanism in conjunction with unique user
identification. The second requires establishing
and implementing necessary procedures for
obtaining necessary PHI during an emergency,
which may be very different from those used
under normal operational circumstances. The
third covers procedures that terminate an
electronic session after a predetermined time of
inactivity. The last embraces implementation of
mechanisms to encrypt and decrypt electronic
protected health information.
Is Compliance Costly?
Is law empowering or patronizing women?
PARIS - A French Muslim woman
who was sacked for wearing the
Islamic headscarf at work was unfairly
dismissed on the basis of her religion,
France's top court ruled.
In a landmark decision, the Court of Cassation overturned an earlier ruling by an
appeal court in Versailles which had upheld
the right of her employer, a private creche
in the Paris suburbs, to dismiss the woman
after she refused to remove her headscarf.
Any overt religious symbols - headscarves,
Jewish skullcaps or Sikh turbans for example - are banned from French state schools,
which operate on strictly secular lines.
But the Court of Cassation ruled that this
principle could not be applied to the woman's case because she was employed by a
private creche, or day nursery, meaning her
civil right to express her religious faith prevailed.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls told parlia-
This article discusses the technical safeguards
and the various types of technologies that organizations implement to comply with HIPAA
Access Controls. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted
by the U.S. Congress in 1996. Title I of HIPAA
protects health insurance coverage for workers
and their families when they change or lose their
jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) Provisions, requires
the establishment of national standards for
electronic health care transactions and national
identifiers for providers, health insurance plans,
and employers. The (AS) also addresses the
security and privacy of health data. The standards are meant to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of the nation’s health care system
by encouraging the widespread use of electronic
data interchange in the U.S. health care system.
ment that the court's ruling was regrettable
on the grounds that it "calls into question the
principle of secular education."
The woman, who had just returned to work
after a five-year break to bring up her children,
was sacked in December 2008 after refusing
to remove her scarf when told to by the management of the "Baby Wolf" creche in Chanteloup-les-Vignes to the west of Paris.
The creche had defended the dismissal on the
basis of its own internal rules which required
employees to be neutral in matters of philosophy, politics and faith.
France has since banned the wearing of niqabs
- veils which cover the full face - in public but
that controversial legislation would have had
no bearing on this case
The US Department of Health website explains
how the HIPAA Security Rule specifies a series
of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for covered entities to use to assure the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability of
electronic protected health information. Constantine Gikas stated that in an effort to protect
data and information, private organizations and
federal, state, and local agencies spend billions
of dollars and go to great lengths to protect their
digital assets while at the same time are trying
to comply with legislations that mandates the
implementation of security measures, and to
produce the substantiated appearance of the organizations’ due diligence in this domain.
How Do Organizations Comply?
There are many approaches to achieve compliance.
Some organizations, for example, adhere to
the five technical provisions that H. Joseph
Wen and J. Michael Tarn think are essential to
E-healthcare information systems implementation
and management; (1) Cryptography, (2) Digital
signatures, (3) Encryption algorithms, (4) Personal
identification and user verification methods such as
passwords, coded cards, tokens, and biometrics, and
(5) Network communications linkage safeguards
(with emphasis on anti-virus software).
Other organizations implement the example of Kelly
D., recognizing that IT security architecture should
be built once the security framework and policies
have been set. The architecture should translate the
control objectives into organizational and IT activities, and then into a technical security design. To
explain: If an organizational objective is to protect
personal information from unauthorized access,
the IT management will need to initiate employee
training and user awareness. On the technical side,
there will be need to implementing network zoning,
configuring management and content controls using
a variety of products including firewalls, filtering
gateways, and mitigating vulnerabilities.
Other companies are more concerned with programming issues of access control activities highlighted
by Kenneth Bamberger, and to solve those issues
first. Bamberger explains that (a) Software systems
can be developed to automate operational decisions
based on data according to rules adopted to manage
risk rules that reflect both business policies and
formal regulations, (b) Software code is rule based
in nature, and automated decision making software
tends to be formed primarily of declarative logical statements that can be combined into decision
tree like branches, and (c) Despite that simple rules
might be formed such as “Do not let X user access
both Y and Z type of personally identifiable information, code’s rule based nature does not imply any
kind of simplicity inherent to software systems.
Other organizations may find the software presented
by Salvatore Salamone more effective. The program
has a feature called On Demand that uses a Java
applet to open up access
to client/ server applications such as Lotus Notes,
Citrix Meta Frame, and
TN3270 emulators. Until
2003, SSL-based VPN
systems offered access to
data in only Web-based
applications. On Demand
helps organizations meet
HIPAA compliance when
it comes to electronic
transmission, offering security features such as
user authentication, access control, and encryption
that ensure the confidentiality of patients’ medical
records.
Other companies approve the security architecture
proposed by J. Hu, H. Chen, and T. Hou. This new
E-health security architecture is contract oriented
instead of session oriented. It explains how the
public key infrastructure (PKI) scheme is deployed
for the mutual authentication and the distribution
of sensitive data, and how medical images are
stored and securely transmitted. Similarly, some
organizations consider Biometrics, Tokens, and
Certificates technologies. Such companies base
their selections on Tom Bowers’ article “Twofactor authentication and tokens” that illustrates
how each one of these technologies works, what
are the pros and cons of implementing them, what
to do to overcome problems, and the importance
of the vendor-supplied software having a strong
authentication solution that works seamlessly with
the network client software.
Now, What about Service Providers?
Tripwire is a firm that provides IT compliance solutions that automate the assessment of IT controls
and provide a streamlined way to correct any noncompliant settings this assessment reveals, which
makes maintaining compliance a part of the organization’s daily operations, not a separately managed project. Tripwire website argues that being
HIPAA compliant means that virtual and physical
configurations, from networks and servers to virtual
machines and security infrastructure, must be maintained and assessed against HIPAA policies, and
proven in the event of an audit. Tripwire website
proposes a system that an organization can create
to meet the requirements of HIPAA. That system
reduces the time spent finding errors caused by poor
network and data security practices, and enhances
the data security of electronic personal health information (ePHI).
UAE: Dubai Building Regional Information Technology (IT) Center
Plans to carve out a niche for Dubai as a leading regional center for IT innovation feature
strongly in the long-term vision for its development and form an integral part of the UAE’s
shift towards a knowledge-led economy. However, local developers fear that investors are
still overlooking technology-led initiatives in favour of more traditional ventures.
SAP said it aimed to certify 2000 new consultants by 2015, increasing threefold the company’s existing consulting capabilities in the region, while also accelerating and expanding
its software to meet fast-growing demand across the Arab world. The training institute forms
part of a $450m investment programme devised by the German firm as it moves to strengthen
its foothold in the Middle East and North African markets.
P.8
An-Nour
April 2013
Jokes
The Deaf Italian Bookkeeper
A Mafia Godfather finds out that his
bookkeeper, Guido, has cheated
him
out of $10,000,000.00.
His bookkeeper is deaf. That was the
reason he got the job in the first place.
It was assumed that Guido would hear
nothing and would therefore never have
to testify in court.
When the Godfather goes to confront
Guido about the missing $10 million,
he takes along his lawyer, who knows
sign language. The Godfather tells the
lawyer, "Ask him where the money is."
The lawyer, using sign language, asks
Guido, Where's the money?
Guido signs back, "I don't know what
you are talking about." The lawyer tells
the Godfather, "He says he doesn't know
what you are talking about."
The Godfather pulls out a pistol, puts it
to Guido's head and says,
"Ask him
again or I'll kill him!"
The lawyer signs to Guido, "He'll kill
you if you don't tell him."
Guido trembles and signs back, "OK!
You win! The money is in a brown
briefcase, buried behind the shed at my
cousin Bruno's house.."
The Godfather asks the lawyer, "What
did he say?"
The lawyer replies, "He says you don't
have the balls to pull the trigger."
Don't you just love lawyers?
***************
Two beggars are sitting side by side on a
street in Rome. One has a cross in front
of him; the other one the Star of David.
Many people go by and look at both beggars, but only put money into the hat of
the beggar sitting behind the cross.
A priest comes by, stops and watches
throngs of people giving money to the
beggar behind the cross, but none give
to the beggar behind the Star of David.
Finally, the priest goes over to the beggar
behind the Star of David and says, "My
poor fellow, don't you understand? This
is a Catholic country, this city is the seat
of Catholicism. People aren't going to
give you money if you sit there with a
Star of David in front of you, especially
when you're sitting beside a beggar who
has a cross. In fact, they would probably
give to him just out of spite."
The beggar behind the Star of David listened to the priest, turned to the other
beggar with the cross and said:
" oishe, look who's trying to teach the
M
Goldstein brothers about marketing.
**************
Two friends meet and one of them
says:"I've taught my dog how to speak
English!"
"That's impossible", says the other
man."Dogs don't speak!"
"It's true! I'll show you." He turns to his
dog, "How's the situation in England?"
The dog answers: "Rough, rough."
***************
A man was reading the paper when an ad
caught his eye: $500 Porsche! New! The
man thought that it was very unusual to
sell a Porsche for $500, and he thought it
might be a joke, but thought it was worth
a shot. So he went to the lady's house and
sure enough, she had an almost brand
new Porsche. "Wow!" the man said. "Can
I take it for a test drive?" Unlike what he
expected, the man found that the car ran
perfectly and took it back to the lady's
house.
"Why are you selling me this great
Porsche for only $500?"
"My husband just ran off with his secretary, and he told me I could have the
house and the furniture as long as I sold
his Porsche and sent him the money."
A guy walks into a bar with his dog on
a leash the barman says, "Geez that's a
weird dog: he's stumpy-legged, pink,
and doesn't have a tail, but I bet my
rottweiler would beat the heck out of
it"
50 bucks is laid down. Out in the yard
the rottweiler gets mauled to pieces.
Another drinker says his pit bull will
win but the bet is 100 bucks.
Another trip to the yard and when it's
all over there are bits of pit-bull terrier
all over the place. The drinker pays
up and says, "Say what breed is that
anyway?"
The owner says, "Until I cut his tail
off and painted it pink it was the same
breed as every other alligator."
***************
Sitting on the side of the highway
waiting to catch speeding drivers, a
State Police Officer sees a car puttering along at 22 MPH. He thinks to
himself, "This driver is just as dangerous as a speeder!" So he turns on
his lights and pulls the driver over.
Approaching the car, he notices that
there are five old ladies -- two in the
front seat and three in the back - eyes
wide and white as ghosts.
What seems to be the problem?"
"Ma'am," the officer replies, "You
weren't speeding, but you should
know that driving slower than the
speed limit can also be a danger to
other drivers."
"Slower than the speed limit?" she
asked. No sir, I was doing the speed
limit exactly... Twenty-Two miles
an hour!" the old woman says a bit
proudly. The State Police officer,
trying to contain a chuckle explains
to her that "22" was the route number,
not the speed limit. A bit embarrassed,
the woman grinned and thanked the
officer for pointing out her error.
"But before I let you go, Ma'am,
I have to ask... Is everyone in this
car ok? These women seem awfully
shaken and they haven't muttered a
single peep this whole time." the officer asks.
"Oh, they'll be alright in a minute officer. We just got off Route 119."
*************
A man took his Goldfish to the Vet.
The vet asked "what seems to be
wrong with your fish. The man say's,
"I think he has Epillepsy". The Vet.
looks the fish over and tells the man,
"there is nothing wrong with your
fish,he looks just fine to me. The man
replies," I haven't taken him out of the
water yet.
**************
Little Tony was so happy to see his
grandmother that he ran up and gave
her a big hug. “I’m so happy to see
you, Grandma. Now daddy will have
to do that trick he’s been talking
about!”
His grandmother was curious, “what
trick is that, sweetie?”
The little boy grinned at her, “I heard
Daddy tell Mommy that he would
climb the wall if you came to visit us
again!”
***************
**************
A lady went to a doctor’s office where
she was seen by a Doctor. A few minutes into the examination, screeching
could be heard from the room, and
then the lady burst out of the room
as if running for her life. After much
effort a nurse finally managed to calm
her down enough to tell her story. The
nurse barged into the office of the
Doctor and screamed, “shame on you,
Mrs. Smith is 82 years old, and you
told her she’s pregnant.” The Doctor
continued writing calmly and barely
looking up said, “does she still have
the hiccups?”
A woman went to the mall to buy Valentine’s Day cards for her son and father.
The 50 feet of displays for hundreds of
cards astounded her. She muttered out
loud, "I wonder if they have anything for
ex-husbands."
The clerk behind the counter said, "Oh,
yes ma'am, they do, but they’re in Sporting Goods."
"Really?" exclaimed the woman.
"Yes ma'am. They’re called darts." ???
Robert bought his girlfriend a piano
for her birthday. A few weeks later,
Robert’s friend inquired how she was
doing with it.
“Oh,” said Robert, “I persuaded her to
switch to a clarinet.”
“How come?” asked the friend.
“Well,” Robert answered, “because
with a clarinet, she can’t sing.”
***************
(770) 608-3343
[email protected]
www.An-Nournews.com
KIDZ CORNER
ALAN PARSONS Interview with Pavlina
2013 Orlando, FL
PAVLINA OSTA
I’m with Alan Parsons before his performance at The Plaza Live theatre in
Orlando. He has a music “camp” for
audio engineers to learn directly from him either in
Nashville or at the GRAMMY studios in LA. He’s
worked with amazing performers like Jake Shimabukuro and Steven Wilson, producing each of
these artists latest albums and oh,yes, there’s more!
He’s doing a world tour! It’s the Alan Parson Live
Project.
Q: You just finished up your Master Training Class
Sessions in Las Vegas and in Nashville, so what
was that like?
PARSONS: It was great! We managed to record
three tracks in the Nashville one, in a single afternoon and that was not taking into account it was
a bunch of students and with pro people watching
and being taught so that was quite an achievement!
These master classes have essentially been in support of the DVD series, “The Art and Science of
Sound Recording”-which has been out for a couple
years now. That’s why we do them - just to keep
that project to life.
Q: I read that your debut album was about Edgar
Allen Poe. How did you come to write about that?
PARSONS: My ex-partner, who sadly is no longer
with us, was a bit of a historian, as far as Poe was
concerned and taking it right up to modern times
he put on his “accountants hat” on, established that
nothing in the cinema that was based on Edgar
Allen Poe ever lost money! So he thought that
was a good scope for a musical project! Pavlina:
Cool! I actually just finished learning about him
in my class- we read the Cast of Armerillo- is that
right? PARSONS: Close! It’s actually “The Cask
of Amontillado” I meant to say that really! (haha)
Q: You started out really young playing guitar and
then audio engineer at Abby Road Studios. What
was it like being a teenager doing things that would
be historical music?
PARSONS: It was, of course, a great privalige to
have gotten into the doors of Abby Road before I
even hit 20! It was fantastic. Every time I walked
up those steps I felt, “I can’t believe I’m in the
place where all these hits are being made! Including the Beatles and of course all of the classical
conductors and artists.” I was getting an incredible diverse taste for music!
Q: Kids have all kinds of obstacles growing up what obstacle did you have as a kid and how did
you overcome or deal with it?
PARSONS: I had to deal with the seperation of
my parents. Which is always difficult. And I was
incredibly unacademic - I was, from the age of
11, far more interested in listening to my record
collection. At the age of 13, I picked up my guitar
and was far more interested in that than doing
anything else. I had a pretty happy childhood
though.
Q: Working on so many different projects - from
recording artist, engineer and touring. And your
training sessions. Is there one you like the best?
PARSONS: They’re all different. You know,
there’s a certain similarity between being a record
producer and a leader of a band - you’re in charge
and you have to make sure everybody is playing the part they are assigned to do. You’re still
the boss in both of those roles..You don’t get the
“rush” that you get on the live stage versus the
studios. In the studio you can just keep doing it
over and over again until it’s right but there’s no
applause…on a live stage- you get one chance!
Q: You’re also doing a lot of acting - what do you
plan on doing with that?
PARSONS: I wish I was doing a lot of acting.
I’ve just started, rather late in life I come from a
family of celebrity actors including Oliver Reed,
yeah he was a cousin of mine, and my uncle was
also an actor and then my great grandfather was
a very famous actor he established big theaters
in London called His Majesty’s Theater. I don’t
know… I just felt it would be fun to act. Even if I
got a small part in a big movie I’d be very happy
with that.
WISDOM
Prophet Quotes
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your
thoughts.”
“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the
winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one
another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be
a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill
each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one
another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each
one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are
alone though they quiver with the same music. Give
your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only
the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand
together, yet not too near together: For the pillars
of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the
cypress grow not in each other's shadow.”
“When love beckons to you follow him, Though his
ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold
you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his
pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you
believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your
dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For
even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even
as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your
tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he
descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging
to the earth......
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace
and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you
cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall
laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not
all of your tears. Love gives naught but itself and takes
naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love
is sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct
the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your
course. Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself."
By Grace de Koekkoek
Just wasting
time
I pick up the memories
And drag them behind me.
The sound of my voyage
Echoes in the dark.
Like lost little children,
We dance
To the tunes
Of our imagination.
Happily,
Negligent of our destiny.
What will happen next?
Oh, we’re just wasting time
Amidst our memories,
Our fantasies,
Our escape,
Until
We grow
Older.
P.9
An-Nour
April 2013
www.An-Nournews.com
(770) 608-3343
[email protected]
COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
W OME N A S P O L IT IC AL LEADERS
A Regional Project for the Near East and North Africa
These visitors are invited to the United
States under the auspices of the Department
of State's International Visitor Leadership
Program. Their program is arranged by
World Learning.
PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVES
The Department of State has outlined the
following specific objectives for the project.
* Examine the U.S. political landscape, the
electoral process, political activism, and
campaigns, emphasizing the impact on and
participation of women;
* Illustrate equal access to education, work,
housing and their significance to women;
* Enhance understanding of the U.S. foreign policy decision-making process and
the key players involved;
* Demonstrate the role of schools, universities, media, businesses, the courts, and
advocacy groups in shaping social values,
attitudes and behavior toward women;
* Explore the values of responsible leadership, underscoring transparency and ethics.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Egypt Ms. Naiera Magdy Zaky Ellethy
AHMED
Program Officer, Alnakib Center for Training and Democracy Support (NCTDS)
Ms. Naglaa Fawzy Ragui Saleh ROZIK
Deputy Head, Egypt Democratic Academy
Ms. Moushira Mohamed Hassan SALEH
Executive Committee Member and Alexandria Coordinator, Free Egyptians Party
(FEP), Alexandria, Egypt
Iraq Ms. Rafah Yaseen Khaleel KHALEEL
Member, Provincial Council, Anbar
Ms. Niyaz Abdulla Kader SALIHI
Erbil Coordinator, Radio Nawa
Jordan Ms. Thuraiya Khalaf ALKHZAM
Director of Al Khalidya Center, Jordan
Hashemite Fund for Development
Morocco Ms. Oulia EL AZHARI
Vice President, Commune of Bkhati, Province of Safi, Doukkala-Abda Region
Dr. Jamila EL
MOSSALLI
Member of Parliament
Ms.
Aatimad
ZAHIDI
Member of Parliament; and Municipal Counselor, City
of Temara
Qatar Ms. Fatima
Ahmad K A ALKUWARI
Deputy Director of Research
and Development,
Central Municipal
Council
Sudan Ms. Bothaina
Mohamed Ahmed
Mohamed SAMO
Government Advisor, Women and
Children
Affairs,
South Darfur
Tunisia Ms. Souhir
MTAALLAH
Project Coordinator, League of Women Voters
An- Nour Newspaper seized the opportunity
to meet with the Moroccan and the Iraqi
delicates at Pita’s Republic, owned by two
Moroccan businessmen Mr. Hisham Hazzy
and Hasan Nabbo, in Atlanta, Georgia, on
March 10, 2013.
Dr. Jamila EL MOSSALLI is currently a
Member and the Secretary of the Speaker of
the Moroccan House of Representatives. She
is affiliated with the Islamist Party of Justice
and Development, which is leading the current
government following its victory during the last
legislative elections. She has been a member
of parliament since 2002. Ms. El Mossalli has
been a long term advocate for women’s rights.
She is a member of the Forum “Azzahra” that
works to enhance awareness among women
and advocates for their participation in Morocco’s economic, social and political spheres.
She has also authored many publications about
the family and women's involvement in politics and social development.
Ms. Fatima Ahmad K A AL-KUWARI is
the Acting Director of Research and Development with the Central Municipal Council
of Qatar (CMC), where she is responsible
for the research and development departments. She is also a member of the permanent election committee, and was a candidate during the CMC election in 2010.
Ms. Rafah Yaseen Khaleel KHALEEL
Ms. Oulia EL AZHARI is the vice-presiShe is a Member, Provincial Council, Anbar
dent of the rural commune of Bkhati, and the
- Iraq.
president of the Oum El Banin Association
Ms. Khaleel is a political leader and advofor Local Development. She is a member and
cate
in Anbar. She is the chair of the Proregional coordinator of the National Network
vincial Council's Women's Issues Comof Local Women Political Leaders for the
mittee, and uses her position to encourDoukkala-Abda Region. At the same time, Ms.
age more women to participate in Anbar's
El Azhari is a civil servant of the Ministry of
National Education; after a teaching career, she Ms. Aatimad ZAHIDI is a recently elected politics. She is also actively involved in all
is now the supervisor Member of Parliament. She is one of the of the Provincial Council's business, and
of a junior school in youngest Parliamentarians and was one of was a prominent voice in the recent debate
the rural province of only seven women elected in the last round. over whether Anbar should become a semiSafi. She is especially Her party, the PJD, is a moderate Islamic party autonomous region.
interested in repre- that won the most seats in
senting the needs of Parliament and currently
Reach Thousands..
Lecture 5PM & Supper 6PM, Saturday, April 6, 2013
women and youth in leads the government. She Throughout the Southeast Region
Peachtree Presbyterian Church - Room # 2202
rural communes who joined the PJD youth secCheck our web site:
3434 Roswell Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305
are
marginalized tion at an early age and has
www.An-Nournews.com
Cost: $10 to cover the supper
from politics. Ms. El remained very active. She
(We promise you the best Palestinian supper in town)
To Advertise:
Azhari has worked is known for her direct oute-mail us
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti
[email protected]
reach
work
with
citizens
as
to
obtain
scholarPalestinian Physician, Founder & President of the Palestinian Medical Society, Elected
member of the Palestine Parliament,
ships for young girls a local councilor.
or call us
invites you to participate in a fundraising event where he will speak about
770-608-3343
in her commune, to
The Situation in Palestine, Future Perspectives, and the Work of the Palestinian Medical
address corruption
Relief Society.
The purpose of this event is to raise funds to support the work of the Palestinian Medical
in Morocco, and to
Relief Society in occupied Palestine.
change citizens’ per,Please reply by April 3, 2013 to Rev. Fahed Abuakel
ceptions of their govBy Phone: 404-441-2702
By Email: [email protected]
ernment.
Saudi Arabia's farcical justice system
:If you are not able to come, please send your Tax deductible gift to
The Execution of the Saudi Seven
Friends of UPMRC, Inc
P.O. Box 450554
Atlanta, GA 31145-0554
Tax ID # T58190862
Please come & invite your friends
For more information, please call Fahed Abuakel on: 404-441-2702
Number of Saudi Students in US Rise
50 % in Academic Year
The number of Saudi students studying in American universities and colleges
increased by 50 percent last year as the
Gulf state pushed ahead with its international scholarship programme aimed at
better equipping future generations for the
workplace, Global Arab Network reports
according to local media.
Graduates and undergraduates from the
Gulf state totaled 34,139 for the 2011/12
academic year, according to a report by the
Institute of International Education (IIE),
which tracks student mobility data.
“Large increases in undergraduate students
from Saudi Arabia, funded by the Saudi
government, also help explain why international undergraduates studying in the
United States now outnumber international
graduate students for the first time in 12
years,” noted the report.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul
Aziz launched the country’s international
scholarship programme when he took
the throne in 2005 as part of an effort to
boost the Gulf state’s reliance on foreign
employees and transform the country into
a modern state.
King Abdullah launched the programme
after persuading American officials to
reopen the student visa service after 9/11.
The Saudi government invests around SAR9bn
(US$2.4bn) in the programme each year and
provides full funding for 125,000 undergraduate and graduates abroad. The initiative is currently open for students in medicine, medical
science and health sciences with more options
for graduate studies.
The number of foreign students studying in the
United States increased six percent to a record
high of 764,495 during the 2011/12 academic
year boosted by significant growth in students
from China and Saudi Arabia, said IIE.
Universities and colleges in New York were the
most popular destination for foreign students
while California hosted more than 100,000
foreign students for the first time this year.
Amongst the ten top most popular destinations, Pennsylvania, Florida and Indiana saw
the largest increase in foreign student intake.
condemned seven young men to death,
and the world remained silent.
All in their early twenties were still alive and
praying to God for some last-minute grace to
save them from facing a firing squad outside
the palatial offices of the governor of Saudi
Arabia's Aseer province, Faisal Ben Khalid,
who ordered their execution.
The men, who were convicted of armed robbery, were executed on March 13, in a move
denounced by Amnesty International as an "act
of sheer brutality."
Hundreds of people are executed in Saudi
Arabia every year -- because some executions
are carried out in secret, no one knows the real
numbers. In 2007, the newspaper Arab News
reported that 400 people remained on death
row in the province of Makka alone. There are
12 other regions in the kingdom, so the total
number of people awaiting execution could
easily reach several thousand.
The Saudi government runs one of the most
backward and xenophobic judicial systems
on the planet. There is no formal legal code.
Judges must all espouse the governmentapproved Salafi version of Islam. Blacks, who
make up around 10 percent of the population,
are banned from judgeships -- as are women
and Muslims who observe a different version
of the faith -- because the monarchy's religious tradition still views blacks as slaves,
other Muslims as heretics, and women as half
human. There is only one word to describe
such a system: apartheid.
In addition, the judicial branch is part of the
government -- a blatant conflict with the supposed neutrality of judges. The Saudi justice
minister also serves as president of the Saudi
Supreme Court. That would be like having
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as chief
justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The condemned men hail from the southern
tribes of Saudi Arabia, which have been a
target of the monarchy's systematic discrimination. Since the foundation of Saudi Arabia
in 1932, there has not been a single minister
from the south, which composes 27 percent
of the population and is inhabited largely by
Sunni Muslims who follow the governmentsanctioned Salafi doctrine. Before his death,
one of the executed men, Saeed al-Shahrani,
even refused to provide his photo for this
article because he followed the government
fatwas banning photos of live objects. That's
more than can be said of the members of the
ruling family: The royals in the House of
Saud are notorious for plastering pictures of
themselves in every place possible.
The body of one of the men, Sarhan alMashayekh, was supposed to be put on
public display for three days, according to
the execution warrant. But because everything in Saudi Arabia is political, that did
not happen. The government likely feared
that such an act would attract international
embarrassment, and possibly a violent reaction by the large southern tribes. The executed men came from five large tribes, and
thousands of people gathered to protest when
the men were killed -- photos provided by an
eyewitness showed hundreds of well-armed
soldiers and dozens of armored vehicles protecting the scene of the execution.
P.10
An-Nour
April 2013
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P.11
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April 2013
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