Secret Israel-South Sudan Ties

As his country begins the countdown to independence, legendary South Sudanese commander Gen. Joseph Lagu talks about days gone by, and of his people's secret ties with Israel.

By Danna HarmanJUBA, South Sudan - In each country he used a different code name: He went by Charles as he traveled by road to Uganda and onto Congo; switched to Nathan as he flew to Rome; and then became Leonard when he picked up his fake passport and traveled to the Comoros Islands. It was only three weeks after setting out from dusty Juba, South Sudan - when he finally landed at his destination - that he heard his real name spoken out loud. "Welcome, Gen. Joseph Lagu," the Israeli officers receiving him at Ben-Gurion International Airport said. "We have been waiting for you."

The year was 1969, and the predominantly Christian and black southern Sudan was mired in a long and brutal civil war against the Muslim-Arab north, a war that would claim half a million casualties before a fragile truce was declared three years later. When the legendary South Sudanese commander returned home from his clandestine Israel mission that year, he carried with him Prime Minister Golda Meir's promise of weapons and training - critical help, he says today, that subsequently turned the south's struggle for freedom around. "It help set us on the path to where we are today," he says, "and that will never be forgotten."

Anwar, APCO dan Keganasan

Hari ini CNN mengaitkan Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim dengan pertubuhan Ikhwanul Muslimun yang kemudian dikaitkan dengan keganasan.  Nampaknya pihak tertentu beriya-iya hendak menjatuhkan imej Anwar, di dalam dan di luar negara.

PRK Tenang

Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt: Western Hypocrisy Exposed

In the last couple of weeks, the world witness new governments being formed - in Lebanon and (impending) in Tunisia.  Now the Tunisian phenomenon seems to be spreading to nearby Egypt.  Is Tunisia the first card in the dominoes to fall?  This is indeed a unique moment - a defining one - for the Middle East which has for so long being governed by autocrats and backed by the West.

1.  Reactions from the West to the toppling of the Tunisian dictator, Ben Ali, have been ambivalent.  While They said they 'welcome democracy' they also warned against descent to turmoil.  

2.  In fact, it had been the West which was the source of all evils in the Middle East.  Ben Ali, and Habib Bourgiba before him, could not have survived for long without support from the West.

3.  Now it is the turn of Mubarak, another puppet  of the West, to face the music.  His survival is crucial to Western policies in the Middle East, and indeed to the fate of Israel.
4.  The reaction from the US to events in Egypt is that the Egyptian government should implement reforms in order to satisfy the protesters.
5.  What the protesters are demanding is that Mubarak step down.  A reformed Mubarak, if indeed possible, seems to fall short of this demand.
6.  Thirty years of Mubarak's iron-fist rule is too much for the Egyptians who deserve better government, but the US thinks differently:  Mubarak is still needed ... to fend off the Islamists.
7.  The latter objective has been the main reason the West supports authoritarian and corrupt regimes of the Middle East  - besides the interest of Israel and possibly oil.
8.  When Lebanon's new prime minister, a Sunni as required by the constitution, receives the blessings of Hezbollah, the US issued a veiled threat that justice must be upheld (in the murder of Rafik Hariri which the West would like ti implicate Hezbollah) and that Lebabon should be free from 'foreign interventions' (read Syrian and Iranian.)
9.  The bloody role of Israel in Lebanon as in the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacres and the 2008 destructive war are never mentioned.
10.  That Hezbollah is a reaction of the Lebanese people to Israeli aggression - and the only effective toll against it - is conveniently ignored by the West.

Siapakah yang memusuhi Raja?

Tenang