US academic: Pompeo is a Zionist zealot

New York, IRNA - A American history professor described the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a Zionist Zealot, saying the US attempts to incite conflict and division over Lebanon political and military role is futile.

'Like his outrageous statements regarding recognition of Israel’s illegal occupation and annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights, I believe Secretary of State Pompeo’s arrogant statement about Hezbollah and Iran was designed more to influence the Israeli leadership and population in advance of the upcoming election than it was to change the relationship between Hezbollah and fellow Lebanese. Indeed, even this Christian Zionist zealot must be aware of Hezbollah’s broad national support and the futility of trying to incite conflict and division over its political and military role, which is critical to maintaining Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty. The negative responses he received from President Aoun, Foreign Minister Bassil, and many others should have made this abundantly clear if it wasn’t already,' David Yaghoubian history professor at California State University, San Bernardino told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) in response to a question whether Pompeo's arrogant statement could influence the Lebanese leadership and people and change their relationships with Hezbollah.

Commenting on the reason why the US government is unhappy with the role of Hezbollah, he said 'United States policies regarding Hezbollah are dictated from Tel Aviv and the powerful Israel Lobby in the United States, serving the interests of Israeli occupation, expansionism, and hegemony in the region, and having nothing whatsoever to do with genuine US national security concerns. If US policies in the region were motivated by international law and truly promoted representative government, religious tolerance, national sovereignty, and stability rather than centering on the promotion of Zionist colonialism, the United States government would see Hezbollah as a natural ally in Lebanon, and thus a stabilizing force for the broader Levant.'

Elsewhere in his remarks, Yaghoubian referred to Britain’s decision to label the political wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, saying, 'Since the Balfour Declaration of 1917 Great Britain has arguably done more than even the United States to advance the Zionist colonial project in Palestine. After World War II Britain became a vassal to the United States, which took over the mantle of global empire and to a large extent the nurturing of the newly-established apartheid state of Israel.'

He added 'as such, it is no surprise that Britain is colluding with Israel and the United States to attempt to weaken Lebanese political cohesion and national unity by labeling Hezbollah’s political wing as a terrorist organization. Especially in the wake of their failure to destroy Syria as national entity and turn it into a haven for ISIS and al-Qaeda takfiri terrorists (what the U.S. State Department in 2012 anticipated as a “Salafist principality”) Israel, the United States, and their British lackeys are attempting to weaken Hezbollah, which played a major role along with the SAA, Iran, and Russia in eradicating the terrorist proxies and reversing the process of Syria’s territorial dismemberment.'

In response to another question whether, the British action could influence the EU’s position concerning Hezbollah, he said 'Despite pressure from the United States and Britain I do not think that the EU will change its position and outlaw Hezbollah’s political wing, which would serve no logical or beneficial purpose relative to EU interests in Lebanon or more broadly in the region. It was the EU that originally formulated the distinction between Hezbollah’s political and military wings in 2013 to enable relations to continue. Especially in light of the US pulling out of the JCPOA and other sources of instability and potential conflict in the region, such as the kidnapping of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in another failed attempt to hinder Hezbollah, a large majority of members of European Parliament remain opposed to any change in the EU position.'

He reiterated 'beyond criminalizing resistance to illegal Israeli occupation this decision essentially criminalizes freedom of social and political association, insofar as Hezbollah’s political wing is responsible for countless needed social services and is engaged in wide variety of political activities, which collectively serve the interests of Lebanese development, stability, and security.'

Emerging Facts of Khashoggi’s Murder Might Shake Thrones and Roll Heads

By: S. Nawabzadeh

After 18 days of lies and denial of facts, Saudi Arabia has finally – following consultations with the US – sheepishly admitted its killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but as expected made a clumsy attempt to absolve the Heir Apparent of the macabre murder in its Istanbul consulate by laying the blame (for possible execution as scapegoats) on "rogue” interrogators, as immediately trumpeted by Trump, although Turkey, which rejected Riyadh’s multi-million dollar bribe to hush up the matter, has yet to announce details of undiplomatic crime on its soil.

The latest preposterous lie from the regime in Riyadh and its blind endorsement by the US president as "credible” not just exposes Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) as a fiendish maniac willing to commit any imaginable crime, but rips the mask of hypocrisy off the face of Donald Trump, whose greed for petro dollars makes him ignore basic human rights as is evident by his refusal to stop the sale of deadly weapons for the killing of more and more Yemeni men, women, and children.

World public opinion, including the American media and many politicians think the dastardly dismemberment of the Washington Post Correspondent with a bone saw could not have been a spontaneous act without the precise orders of MBS and perhaps a green signal from the corridors of power in Washington.

The name of MBS’ bosom pal, Jared Kushner, the Jewish son-in-law of Trump, is already in circulation as the person who wanted Khashoggi to be silenced for good, since his writings were laying bare the totalitarian Saudi system that tolerates not even the slightest dissent, and with it the complicity of the presidential clique in the White House in squeezing scores of billions of dollars from Riyadh.

The questions being raised are: Can MBS get away with his latest act of crude terrorism – glimpses of which the world saw in the crimes against humanity of the Saudi-supported takfiri terrorists in Syria and Iraq?

Would Trump and team remain unscathed from the unfolding scandal whose full dimensions are about to unravel for a shocked civilized world?

The answers to these and related questions will hopefully be found once the Turkish government, ignoring pressures from Washington and bribes from Riyadh, safeguards its integrity and independence by disclosing details of the crime on its soil and the names of persons and governments involved, as well as consequences for the perpetrators, so that such acts of state terrorism does not occur at diplomatic missions anywhere in the world.

Jamal’s case is of vital importance for Turkey, since he is the grandson of Dr. Mohammad Khaled Khashoggi (actual pronunciation Khashoqchi or Spoon-maker) the Turkish citizen from Kayseri in central Anatolia who settled in Mecca after disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, and served as personal physician to Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, the desert brigand of Najd for whom Britain created Saudi Arabia in 1932 after he had seized the dominions of the Istanbul-backed dynasties of the Aal-e Rashid of Ha’el and the Hashemites of Hijaz.

Ankara would be doing a great service to the peace and stability of the region and the American-disturbed international order if it reveals the facts, no matter the heads of certain troublemakers were to fall.

MBS, whose strings of crimes include the martyrdom of the scholar Sheikh Nimr Baqer an-Nimr, the reducing to rubble of the centuries old historic quarters of the city of Awamiyya, the detention and mysterious killing of rival kinsmen of the Saudi clan, the hijacking of Lebanese prime minister, Sa’d al-Hariri, cannot be allowed to go scot-free this time after having destroyed Yemen and killed so far 20,000 of its people, in addition to displacing hundreds of thousands of others and threatening millions with famine and starvation.

Human conscience is thirsty for realities, not myths or dubious accounts, in view of the fact that Jamal Khashoggi, after all, was neither an innocent figure nor a dissident in the real sense of the word.

It was an open secret that he had ties to the CIA as well as to American arms manufacturers through his late uncle the multi-billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, one of Saudi Arabia’s most powerful weapons dealers.

This means his death has deep connections to the CIA, Saudi Intelligence, and the Zionist Mossad, since he represented the shadowy world of collaboration that sometimes exists between journalism and the intelligence agencies.

Indeed, as advisor to Turki bin Faisal Aal-e Saud, the head of Saudi intelligence for 24 years who also served as ambassador to Washington and then London, Jamal, who doubled as a journalist, had become a regime critic and sought asylum in the US only after internal power struggles broke out between Saudi princes.

He was an advocate of the Saudi destruction of Syria and Iraq, and an ardent supporter of MBS’ war in Yemen to stop alleged Iranian influence before he fell out and realizing it was impossible for Riyadh to defeat the well-entrenched popular Ansarallah Movement, constantly called for end of war and dialogue – ideas which did not go well with MBS.

In short, justice demands divulging of the plain truth, whether or not MBS survives as Heir Apparent or Trump trumpets threats, theatrics, and tweets at the free world, in a vain bid to cling on to power he certainly does not deserve.

Time for Lebanon to Form Unity Government

By: Kayhan Int’l

It is now more than five months since the parliamentary polls were held in Lebanon with a turnout of fifty percent, yet the country is without the new government, as the outgoing prime minister, Sa’d al-Hariri, whom the Sunni bloc, as per the constitution wants to retain in his post, is still hesitating to form the cabinet because of undue pressures upon him by the US and Saudi Arabia – the two countries who hate to see a stable and thriving Lebanon.

On October 4, Hariri promised a week or ten days for naming the new cabinet, but this deadline has also expired, raising concerns amongst the various political parties and religious groups that something fishy is going on behind the scenes.

The doubts expressed by the parliamentary bloc of Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah, on the promise of the prime minister-designate to for the unity government, have come true.

It seems Hariri is still shaken by the humiliation he went through in Riyadh over a year ago when after being summoned to the Saudi capital he was forced by de facto ruler MBS (Mohamed bin Salman the self-imposed Heir Apparent of the senile King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz) to announce his resignation as Lebanese premier after being reportedly manhandled.

The Saudis and the Americans are scared stiff of the natural role played in Lebanon by that country’s popular movement, the Hezbollah, whose popularity spans religious and political lines, for its heroic defence of the country’s integrity and independence in the face of aggressions by the illegal Zionist entity.

Riyadh, Washington and their few accomplices have lost their sleep, especially after Hezbollah’s heroic role in helping the government of neighouring Syria beat off the terrorist attempt to take over the country. In vain, the US has resorted to a series of lies and accusations by branding Hezbollah as a ‘criminal’ and ‘terrorist’ organization, while the people of Lebanon dismiss all such allegations.

Even Hezbollah is unconcerned about the latest theatrics of the Machiavellian Trump Administration against it, and is confident that Washington cannot do a damn thing to dent its legitimacy and popularity in view of the mass public support it enjoys both at home and in the region. 

On May 6 Lebanon held its first parliamentary polls after nine years with over 500 candidates vying for the 128 seats. As per the results, Hezbollah and its political allies secured over half the seats – 67 to be exact – but for the sake of the country’s unity, peace, and stability, agreed to give concessions, provided its elected representatives receive a fair share of the ministries.

It is worth noting that Hezbollah’s allies include the Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement founded by Aoun – two of the heavyweights in Lebanese politics.

This warrants the forming of a broad-based independent unity government that neither bows to Saudi pressures or kowtows to American dictates.

It is hoped that Hariri will summon the courage to take advantage of the sudden turn of events in the region following the ghastly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia and the resulting rift in Riyadh’s relations with godfather US, to announce the new government of Lebanon.

It is obvious that MBS has miserably failed yet once again, and this should enable Beirut confidently take the expected independent step for formation of the government, as all factors indicate the decline, downfall and demise of the over-inflated MBS.