Karadzic: US provided arms for Muslims via Tehran

This week the Serbian butcher in Bosnia-Herzegovina Radovan Karadzic said that the civil war in Bosnia was organized by great powers such as the U.S., Great Britain, Germany and France. He accused the United States for providing Bosnian Muslims with arms by cooperating with Iran in the smuggling of weapons from Tehran to Sarajevo. According to him, the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was encouraged and supported by secret services of major powers, while the international conspiracy against Serbia led to the US alliance with Iran. “I am looking for evidence on shipments of large quantities of arms to Bosnian Muslims from Iran, which were made with the support of the United States through the American Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith”, said Karadzic. Clearly the war in Bosnia, like the war in Afghanistan earlier in the mid eighties was designed to weaken Russia and Muslims were used as fodder by America and the agent rulers of Iran and Pakistan to accomplish such a feat. Likewise, today the same story is being repeated in Iraq and Afghanistan, where America is using the agent rulers of Iran and Pakistan to establish a permanent military bases in these countries to counter Russia and China.

Saif Gaddafi: Oil behind Megrahi’s release

The son of Colonel Gaddafi on Friday claimed Libya’s original prisoner transfer deal with the UK had targeted the Lockerbie bomber and was directly linked to talks on trade and oil. Speaking at his home near Tripoli Saif Gaddafi said the “deal in the desert” more than two years ago – which saw an agreement signed between Tony Blair and Libya allowing prisoner transfers – specifically targeted Megrahi. He told the Herald: “For the last seven to eight years we have been trying very hard to transfer Mr Megrahi to Libya to serve his sentence here and we have tried many times in the past to sign the PTA (prisoner transfer agreement) without mentioning Mr Megrahi, but it was obvious we were targeting Mr Megrahi and the PTA was on the table all the time.”It was part of the bargaining deal with the UK. When Blair came here we signed the agreement. We didn’t mention Mr Megrahi.”We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and politics and deals were all with the PTA.” Lockerbie was “history” and that the next step was “fruitful and productive business” with Edinburgh and London, he said. “Libya is a promising rich market and so let’s talk about the future,” he said.

Egyptian authorities make a mockery of Ramadhan

Egypt’s top religious institution has exempted the national football team from fasting during the holy month of Ramadhan ahead of an international tournament, officials said, but the players have refused. The fatwa or religious edict, which comes ahead of the World Youth Championship in Egypt due to kick off on September 24 just days after the end of Ramadhan. Dar al-Ifta, the country’s institution which clarifies religious principles and issues edicts, “has allowed the players to break their fast,” so that fasting does not interfere with training for the Under-20 tournament, Egyptian Football Association spokesman Alaa Abdel Aziz told AFP. “But it is the players who have refused. They insist on fasting,” he said. Dar al-Ifta confirmed it had issued the edict explaining that “a player who is tied to a club by contract is obliged to perform his duties and if this work is his source of income and he has to participate in matches during Ramadhan and fasting affects his performance then he is allowed to break the fast,” Dar al-Ifta spokesman Ibrahim Nigm told AFP.

US moves to thwart Karzai’s re-election as president

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US envoy Richard Holbrooke engaged in a heated exchange over recent elections, a source said, underscoring potentially cooler US ties if Karzai wins another term. Holbrooke, a veteran US diplomat who is the special envoy to the region, pressed the Afghan leader on last week’s elections amid allegations of widespread vote-rigging, an official with knowledge of the meeting told AFP. “It was a difficult meeting and there were some sharp exchanges in it,” the official said in Washington on condition of anonymity. “The thrust of the meeting was to respect the electoral process, let it take its course and be patient and to respect the results, whatever they are,” the US official said. Karzai enjoyed a warm relationship with former US president George W. Bush, with whom he often consulted by videoconference. Bush’s ambassador to Kabul, Zalmay Khalizad, was a frequent dinner guest of Karzai. Karzai’s relationship is widely seen as cooler with President Barack Obama’s administration. Members of the Obama team have been alarmed at what they see as a lack of action against corruption and were taken aback by Karzai’s alliances with warlord Dostum who is accused of human rights abuses during Afghanistan’s nearly three decades of war. Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who led the Obama team’s review of policy to the region, said “The point here is if Karzai is returned to office now because of Dostum as his supporter, then hopes for anti-corruption and good governance and the rest are going to be rather bleak in the new second round of a Karzai administration.”

Is Zardari’s presidential tenure under threat?

A campaign of character assassination and rumour spreading with the aim of having Asif Ali Zardari forced out as Pakistan’s president is believed to be operating among the country’s opposition, who long to remove the “Bhutto factor” from the political equation. Indeed, so powerful has the rumour become over the past month that Yousaf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, was on Sunday forced to respond. “I am well aware of the designs of the opponents of my party. They are giving an impression that our party would emerge stronger and the government would complete its term if I agree to the minus-one formula. But they are working to send the whole set-up packing,” he was quoted by local newspapers as telling an informal meeting of close associates in Lahore. Calls for Zardari to go are occurring at a time when Musharraf has become extremely active in planning his return to Pakistani politics. Recently, Musharraf has proposed   to unify all the factions of the Pakistani Muslim league (PML). The whole saga demonstrates how deeply America is involved in Pakistani politics and how she is able to dispose of one agent for another. Only time will tell whether these rumours turn out to be true.