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Special Features of the Region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirovic
The Middle East was the home of the earliest civilizations in the world’s history. The first urbanizations and literacy started there.
The region of the Middle East usually covers the territories from the eastern littoral of the Mediterranean Sea up to India in the East. In a broader sense, geographically, the region encompasses territories of the East Mediterranean and Central Asia but many Americans followed by other Western academicians, politicians, and journalists regard as a single region the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The majority of the inhabitants of MENA have many things in common like the Arab language and culture, confession of Islam, etc.. Still, on the other, different ethnic minorities exist in each of those regional countries while the Islamic religion is divided into two factions: the Sunni (majority) and the Shia (minority).
All states of the region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) can be selected into four ethnic-geographic sub-regions (groups):
1) The North African states;
2) The Persian Gulf States;
3) The Central Arab states; and
4) Iran and Israel.
The combined number of inhabitants of all of those states is more than 250 million (for the matter of comparison, in the EU 28, i.e. with the UK, there were some 500 million people). The region itself is experiencing culture and civilization back some 6000 years but the majority of the present-day nations are relatively new. In other words, except for Iran and Egypt, all other regional states appeared in their present form only in the last century, largely after WWI, but some of them even after WWII (Israel). The number of states in MENA can be fixed by taking into account at least three criteria: 1) The historical period; 2) Political conditions; and 3) Geopolitical perspective. Today is usually applied that there are 24 states (with Palestine) in the region of MENA (but with Turkey and Sudan 26). However, the state of Palestine is still not generally and formally recognized as independent, as it was expected to appear as such taking into consideration the results of the Israeli-PLO negotiations (Roadmap for Peace).
About Trump
Sylvain Laforest
About his strategy, I could make a quick and accurate analogy with medication: most pills are designed to cure a problem, but come with an array of secondary after-effects. Well, Trump is using medication solely for their after-effects, while the first intent of the pill is what’s keeping him in power and alive. By the end of this article, you’ll see that this metaphor applies for just about every decision, move or declaration he’s made. Once you understand what Trump is about, you’ll be able to appreciate the extraordinary presidency he’s conducting, like no predecessor ever came close to match.
A Rigged System From Top to Bottom
George Orwell Meets Lewis Carroll
Just the other day, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a remarkable statement. “Before this trial even began, the judge ruled in our favor and found that Donald Trump did engage in years of significant financial fraud,” James boasted publicly. This is associated with just one of Donald Trump’s absurd legal cases.
Let what this laughable, biased prosecutor said sink in for a moment. She admitted that the honorable judge had “ruled in our favor” before the case had gone to trial. Even for this collapsing Banana Republic, it’s a shocking precedent to openly brag about such a serious breach of basic legal protocol. James, whom Trump has called “racist,” recently stated, “The Donald Trump show is over.” James has referred to Trump as an “illegitimate president,” and said “his days are numbered.” She lashed out at Trump at many rallies, even declaring, “We’ll bring him down!” Upon being elected in December 2018, James vowed, "We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well." In this case, Trump is accused of exaggerating the value of his assets.
In the Game of Strip Poker, Someone Ends Up Naked
“Time for Us to wake up. The choice could not be more clear. If you want a Fascist Dictatorship, choose Trump. If you want to preserve American Democracy, choose President Biden.” — Hollywood pundit Rob Reiner on X
“Joe Biden” is only the most obviously weak device in the feckless and misbegotten regime installed via the blob’s US color revolution of 2020. This sort of coup d’état, you understand, was well-rehearsed by our combined intel, 4-gen war, and propaganda units over prior decades in fractious foreign places like Kyrgyzstan (2005), Egypt (2011), and Ukraine (2014). So, it was only a matter of time before these geniuses turned their political black magic on the home front, against their own citizens. But wasn’t it ol’ Karl Marx himself who observed that tragic history repeats as farce?
Thus, the farcical pageant, in a land of fake everything, of America’s fake government attempting to rescue itself from the web of lies and subterfuge it so cleverly spun for itself to keep all its sundry rackets going. For instance: the preposterous idea that “Joe Biden” is running for reelection. Does anybody over age seven, even in Beverly Hills, believe this whopper? I doubt it.
Biden Has Damned the United States Over Israel’s Gaza Genocide
It can’t get more graphic than this. Out of 193 nations at the United Nations, 153 of them (nearly 80 per cent) voted for an immediate ceasefire and the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza where more than two million civilians have been subjected to over two months of non-stop indiscriminate bombing by the Israeli military.
Not just callous deliberate murder of civilians, but a blockade on all basic humanitarian needs. Water, food, medicines, and fuel have all been cut off by an Israeli regime that calls Palestinians “human animals”.
This is the second time the U.S. has voted against the vast majority of nations at the UN General Assembly appealing for an end to the violence. The United States has also vetoed three resolutions at the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire.
In the latest vote on December 12, the U.S. joined with Israel and a handful of minor states in opposing the call for peace. Another 23 states shamefully abstained including Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Ukraine.
On the same day, President Joe Biden gave a speech to fundraisers in Washington DC in which he cautioned Israel to be “more careful” in conducting the military onslaught against Gaza. Biden was more concerned that Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of civilians was a public relations problem, not a moral outrage and war crime. Nevertheless, Biden again reiterated “unconditional” support for Israel by supplying all the bombs and weapons it requests.
What is Politics?
Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirovic
There are many official and unofficial, as well as academic and non-academic approaches and formal/informal definitions of politics and its functioning in society. However, as a universal concept, it can be concluded that politics is simply the ability to direct and administer a state (in ancient Greek – polis or a city-state) or some other political organizations (like multilateral, international, supranational, etc.). In essence, the administration of the state or other political subjects is a matter of art.
The state can be defined as a political association that establishes autonomous/sovereign jurisdiction within defined territorial borders. In addition, sovereignty is the practice of superior political authority that is reflected by the state to be the only and superior creator of laws and power to protect them within the borders of the state (real or imaginable). In practice, there are two types of state sovereignty: external and internal.
External (political) sovereignty considers the state's ability to act as an independent actor in international relations. However, practically, it implies two crucial points:
Ukrainian negotiator admits conflict could have ended long time ago
Photo: David Arakhamia (right), head of Zelensky parliamentary faction and main Ukrainian negotiator during the Istanbul talks
A prominent Ukrainian politician has admitted that Kiev is to blame for the prolongation of the conflict. According to the official, hostilities could have ended last year, when bilateral negotiations were close to a mutually beneficial agreement, but, due to great Western pressure, Kiev refused to reach a peaceful solution.
David Arakhamia, head of Zelensky's parliamentary faction and main Ukrainian negotiator during the Istanbul talks, admitted that the fight with Russia was about to end in the spring of 2022, which did not happen due to Western intervention in the process. Arakhamia said in an interview with a local TV channel that Moscow offered Kiev a peace deal in March last year, which focused on ensuring Ukrainian neutrality.
Under the terms of the agreement, there would be no more hostilities, but Ukraine would have to commit not to join NATO and to remain a kind of "Eastern Austria". With these guarantees, Russia would be able to consider its objective of "demilitarization" of Ukraine already achieved, and there would be no longer any reason to continue mobilizing troops. This pact would allow a quick end to the conflict and the achievement of favorable conditions for both sides, restoring peace and friendship between Russians and Ukrainians.
“Russia’s goal was to put pressure on us so that we would take neutrality. This was the main thing for them: They were ready to end the war if we accepted neutrality, like Finland once did. And we would make a commitment that we will not join NATO. This was the main thing,” he said during the interview.
Israel’s final solution for the Palestinians. A brief history of Zionist genocide. It did not start in 2023
Author unknown
From the comment section of an online article, cited below.
In the 10 years before Israel was created, from 1937 to 1947, Israel launched at least 50 major terrorist attacks, blowing up 814 civilian aircrafts, two trains, one ship, and razing 385 Arab villages to the ground. Note that these are only “major” terrorist attacks.
Between 1947 and 1949, Israel attacked major Palestinian cities, destroying some 530 villages and killing some 15,000 Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities, including dozens of massacres.
On April 9, 1948, Zionist forces carried out one of the most notorious massacres of the war in the village of Deir Yassin, on the western outskirts of Jerusalem, where more than 110 men, women, and children were killed by the Zionist militia of the Irgun and Stern Gang.
During this period, 750.000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and became refugees in their own ancestral land. Refugees have the right under international law to return to their displaced homes and to recover their property. So Israel’s current occupation of Israel is illegal.
On December 11, 1947, Israeli terrorists threw bombs into a bus full of Arabs from a truck, killing six Arab civilians on the spot and injuring more than 30 people. This kind of terrorist act was carried out on a daily basis by Israeli terrorists at that time, “insignificant” trivial incidents randomly picked out from historical records. Bombing Arab buses was quite casual. Only bombing planes, trains and ships can be called “Big Terrorist Attack”. Israel is the father of modern terrorism. Later, all terrorists were inspired by examples set by Israelis.
Jesus Buried Under Rubble in Bethlehem
Biden, Netanyahu and all Western enablers are the Herod figures of today who 2,000 years ago massacred infants in an attempt to kill the Son of God.
All the Christian Churches in Bethlehem will not be celebrating Christmas in the usual way this year. There will be religious services and prayers but there will be no festivities and lights. Amen to that!
The prevailing atmosphere is one of mourning and solidarity with the people of Gaza and the West Bank who are suffering genocidal violence from the Western-backed Israeli state.
Bethlehem is the historic birthplace of Jesus whom Christians believe is the Son of God. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Christians believe the “savior of the world” was born in poverty and in a humble stable in Bethlehem, a town in what is now the Occupied Palestinian West Bank territory. Instead of the Roman Empire, we now have the U.S. and its American-armed Israeli garrison.
Every year there are usually magnificent celebrations to commemorate Christmas in Bethlehem, with a splendid lit-up giant Christmas tree aloft in the town square, along with fireworks and droves of pilgrims from all over the world.
This year, however, there will be no visitors from overseas as the West Bank and Gaza, the other Palestinian territory, are submerged in shockingly brutal military violence meted out with impunity by the Israeli state, armed to the teeth by an indulgent Washington. The Israeli onslaught against defenseless civilians is declared by the scowl-faced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and endorsed by Western governments, to be retaliation for a deadly attack by the militant group Hamas on October 7.
We the People vs. the Sheeple
Despite my self-evident cynicism and my reflexive skepticism, I am basically a trusting soul. Even though I know how corrupt and unreliable so many people are, still I instinctually give them the benefit of the doubt. Until proven otherwise, I assume most people aren’t dishonest, and take them at face value.
This kind of delicate balancing act is how I manage to issue blanket condemnations of the “Sheeple,” while still being concerned about the welfare, and the rights of The People, which includes those who are oblivious to the criminal tyranny all around them. It’s not easy being a populist, of promoting power to The People, when so many of them are brainwashed enough to lash out at messengers like me, who are simply trying to defend their civil liberties. Who knows how many of them would support throwing people like me into the FEMA camps, for pointing out how badly they’re being screwed? They’ve been conditioned to act like Pavlovian dogs, waiting for the bell to ring.
