“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Monday, December 9, 2013

With US ties frayed, Saudi calls for Gulf union

Google – AFP, Acil Tabbara (AFP), 9 December 2013

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speaks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince
 Saud al-Faisal during a joint press conference on November 4, 2013 in Riyadh (AFP/
File, Fayez Nureldine)

Manama — With its decades-old US alliance strained over the Syria war and a nuclear deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia is calling on the Gulf monarchies to unite for their own self-defence.

US Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel has assured Gulf states that the agreement struck between major powers and Iran on November 24 will not affect the presence of some 35,000 US troops in the region.

But in a speech at the Manama Dialogue security forum in Bahrain, Saudi Assistant Foreign Minister Nizar Madani said "Gulf countries should no longer depend on others to ensure their safety."

The oil-rich monarchies "must unite under one political entity in order to face internal and external challenges," said the minister.

Riyadh has called for an enhanced union with fellow Gulf Cooperation Council states Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which together account for 40 percent of the world's oil reserves and a quarter of its natural gas.

Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief
Prince Turki Al Faisal attends the 9th IISS
regional security summit in the Bahraini
capital Manama on December 8, 2013 
(AFP/File, Mohammed al-Shaikh)
"All countries have realised that blind dependence on a foreign power is no longer acceptable. GCC countries must decide their own futures," said Madani.

Saudi Arabia, long wary of Tehran's regional ambitions, has reacted cautiously to the nuclear deal reached in Geneva, saying it could mark the first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran's nuclear programme "if there are good intentions."

The interim deal would curb Iran's controversial nuclear activities in exchange for some sanctions relief, and is aimed at buying time for negotiating a comprehensive accord.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal suggested that the GCC states join the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany.

Western nations have long suspected Iran of covertly pursuing nuclear weapons alongside its uranium enrichment programme -- charges denied by Tehran -- and the United States has not ruled out military action to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Faisal stressed that the Sunni-dominated monarchies would immediately be affected by any regional military conflict or radiation leak, while accusing Shiite Iran of duplicity in its relations with its Arab neighbours.

"Iran addresses us with broad smiles, while at the same time their man in Lebanon accuses Saudi Arabia," Faisal said in reference to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who blamed the kingdom for a twin suicide attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut last month, which killed 25 people.

Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, and the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias are battling alongside his forces against the Sunni-led rebels, who are supported by Riyadh.

US accused of failing Syria rebels

Saudi Arabia has accused the United States of turning a blind eye to the bloodshed in Syria, which has killed an estimated 126,000 people since March 2011.

"The world sits as a spectator in front of the massacres against the Syrian people," said Faisal, the influential Saudi royal who served in the past as ambassador in Britain and the United States.

It is "necessary to provide the reasonable Syrian opposition with means to defend themselves," which the "United States does not do," he said.

"The Saudis blame the United States for imposing a veto on any delivery of heavy weapons or anti-aircraft batteries to the Syrian opposition, allowing the regime to maintain an upper hand using its airforce," a Syrian opposition member said.

Saudi Arabia did not hide its anger after US President Barack Obama stepped back from punitive strikes against Syria over a chemical attack in August on a rebel-held district near Damascus.

But for Faisal, the US-Saudi alliance, which dates back to a meeting aboard the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal in 1945 between the kingdom's founder King Ibn Saud and US president Franklin Roosevelt, "is not over."

Both leaders had at the time agreed that Washington would help secure the kingdom in exchange for oil, but circumstances have changed, with the United States expected to become the world's top oil producer in 2015.

"We had our differences in the past," Faisal told AFP. "And today we have differences on certain issues, but we agree on others."


Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah speaks at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in
Kuwait.  (REUTERS/Stringer)


This image released by the Emirates News Agency, WAM, shows UAE president
 Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, right, meeting with the Iranian foreign minister,
 Mohammad Javad Zarif in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013.
(AP Photo/WAM)
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