Part 2: Sanction Water boarding Eritrea Will Fail Because It Has Failed In Iran, Cuba, Iraq, & Libya

SANCTION WATER BOARDING ERITREA WILL FAIL BECAUSE IT HAS FAILED IN IRAN, CUBA, IRAQ, & LIBYA

By Tesfahannes Beyene

araele13@yahoo.com

August 31/07/2017

First what is Water boarding? Water boarding is a form of water torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning, the torture causes damages to the lungs and brain through oxygen deprivation. Victims are also injured when struggling against the restraints and suffer psychological damage during the process. The (CIA) Central Intelligence Agency have used these techniques in Afghanistan, the Abu Graib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where it is used to interrogate what the American defense ministers call enemy combatants or terrorists. Water boarding can be used as a metaphor for the continued imposition of sanctions by countries that do not do the bidding of the major powers. There are two separate outcomes desired by the major powers who impose sanctions, either the long term suffocation of the economy or war and regime change.

Two examples of sanctions that preceded to war and regime change are--- Libya and Iraq, these nations were not strong enough to defend themselves. Examples of the long term suffocation of an economy is that of Iran, Eritrea and Cuba. When countries are under sanctions for many years, I refer to this as sanction water-boarding. These sanctions have a secondary effect outside of the arms embargoes and trade restrictions, these sanctions lead to bad publicity, this is a form of psychological warfare, the established media portrays them as destabilizing nations in order to make them change or abandon their independent policy so that they can join the league of banana republics in line with the wishes interests of the rich and powerful. In other words those who push for sanctions or sanction water-boarding aim to weaken and isolate these countries diplomatically and financially, in the hope it will lead to civil unrest against their central government.

Iran is an example of a country that is able to live and survive to protect its interest despite the sanctions,. Any sanctions against her have so far not resulted in a direct war because Iran is a regional power, it has a huge and determined population who would die for their country and Iran will meet force with force and if any countries attack her, the resulting war may engulf the entire gulf region in a ball of fire that may have huge consequences for the area and especially for international shipping as the worlds oil ships pass through the strait of Hormuz. That is why no one will dare attack Iran because she can defend herself if any hostility comes to her from either America or Israel.

BUT WHEN IT COMES TO SANCTION WATERBOARDIND ERITREA WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

There are several sanctions or kind of sanction water-boarding imposed against the Government of Eritrea directly by the UN Resolution 1907 in 2009, which included an arms embargo and was justified by the false allegations of Eritrea supporting Al Shebab in Somalia. Further resolutions were passed in December 2011 (resolution 2023) and November 2016 (resolution 2317), these reinforced the previous sanctions and will be reviewed perhaps by the end of November 2017. Ethiopia has also indirectly imposed sanctions against the people of Eritrea; and have used tactics to destabilize the Eritrean nation using different maneuvers for instance::

The constant threat or campaign of regime change advocated by the minority government of Ethiopia in their press conferences.

The unprovoked attack against the Eritrean nation by the minority government of Ethiopia through Tsorona front in June 2016 and the simultaneous release of the UN Commission of inquiry on Eritrea which looked very much coordinated as the two seems to be working hand in glove.

The demonization of Eritrea as the North Korea of Africa when people do not even know where North Korea is and when Eritrea does not even have Inter Continental Ballistic Missile that threatens its neighbors- there is no any similarities between the two countries.

The false accusation that Eritrean planes have landed in Baidowa, Somalia to deliver arms to Al Shebab when it was complete hoax and this was one of the main reason why Eritrea has been sanctioned- this was fake news.

The deliberate politicization of Eritrean minors by European countries automatically granting them refugee status when they are not war refugees, these minors should be in school in Eritrea with their parents, not alone as refugees in Europe. What is strange is that European policy makers have a moral obligation but not a political obligations for them, but it looks that politicians and the media seem to have hijacked or politicized the Eritrea issue.

The determined efforts by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea to refer the Eritrean Government to the (ICC) Inter Criminal Court of justice without any evidence. Or when there weren’t any crimes on an industrial scale happening or any mass graves discovered behind the walls of Asmara.

The conspiracy of silence of the guarantors of the Algiers agreement who failed to tell Ethiopia to abide by international law. While they have been trying all along to silence Eritrea when they are the once who are allowing Governments like Ethiopia to flout international law.

The false and deliberate classification of Ethiopians as Eritreans and granting them full refugee status when they do not even speak a word of the Eritrean language (Tigrinya) while the Ethiopian language (Amharic) has not been spoken in Eritrea in the last 26 years since Eritrean independence. And Eritrea is also portrayed as one of the top refugee producing countries, when in fact almost half them are Ethiopians masquerading as Eritreans.

The insensitive attempt by the Minority government of Ethiopia to represent Eritrea as destabilizing nation to its neighbors and the deliberate opening of 4 refugee camps by Ethiopia to deplete Eritrean youth in order to coach them to become political pawns for the Ethiopian government to bash the Eritrean nation at the African Union.

The relentless character assassination of Eritrea, day in and day out, portraying, her as a provocative country in the Horn of Africa when it is not true, it is simply a scandal without any evidence or a scandal without the smoking gun.

The deliberate hoarding of the Eritrean currency (the Nakfa) using collaborators to empty the treasury to bankrupt the Eritrean nation to cause economic collapse or to suffocate her in order to bring up upheaval in the country.

The deliberate finger printing of Eritrean visitors (from Europe) when they enter the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa to humiliate and harass Eritreans. Profiling them as criminals because the minority government of Ethiopia does not like the co lour of their eyes are some of the tools of sanction water boarding the Ethiopian government is using with the blessing of its allies in order to weaken Eritrea or alter its policy to their direction.

It is for these reasons that I refer to the repeated sanctions imposed on Eritrea as water boarding, this is done to the Eritrean nation by the UN, Ethiopia and its allies which is still ongoing. They were simply made up by the enemies of Eritrea, in order to keep the Eritrean nation submerged in economic difficulties. This sinister policy will not work because, when it comes to their country, Eritreans will do everything in their power, including making “voluntary cash contribution” to counter the traps that have been placed in front of her. The only message that you can draw from these sanctions are that it applies to countries like Eritrea who are not pampered or cushioned by the superpowers. Frankly it is crime against humanity. In other words imposing sanction against the Eritrean nation when she has not committed any crime, is morally scandalous and politically corrupt. Unfortunately, that is the world that we live in and Ethiopia is doing it intentionally to harm the people of Eritrea. The only time sanction water boarding was successful was when it was imposed to apartheid regime of South Africa but it will not work in Eritrea.

If we analyze the Sanctions imposed on Eritrea, they are very light as compared to other sanctions. Its impact is minimal, it is psychological warfare that may cause uncertainty but it will never lead to unrest or regime change. It is already failing because Eritrea has been vindicated by the Monitoring group who informed the Security Council in 2016 that they did not find any evidence that Eritrea supported Alshebab. Therefore I hope sanctions against Eritrea will be lifted in November 2017 or by the end of 2018.

BUT SOME SANCTIONS MAY AT TIMES PRECED AN ATTACK AS IN IRAQ, LIBYA & IRAN

If we look at other countries where sanction was imposed like Iraq for instance, sanctions began in August 1990 after Saddam Hussein foolishly invaded Kuwait and they stayed largely in force until 2003 when Saddam Hussein was forced out of power. This happened because the country has huge reserves of oil (which is now more or less owned by private American companies) and because these countries were seen at the time a threat to Israel as well. Even now American influence is still hovering above the skies of Iraq and they are making head way to make sure Iraq comes under the American influence. Iraq has a Shia majority and a Sunni minority eventually there may be friction between Iran and the United states of America for influence in Iraq. But Iran will have the upper hand as Iraq has more things in common with Iran than America. Sanctions and the direct military attack on Iraq had devastating effect on the people of Iraq who are still fighting a sectarian war thanks to the American invasion in 2003. There is no doubt it was the people of Iraq who suffered most from the American sanctions and the aftermath of the devastating war. In which more than half a million children were killed due to sanctions and war launched on the false claim that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction that can strike the UK in 45 minutes, which was what we were told by the former UK prime minister Tony Blair. He sexed up the issue of weapons of mass destruction in order to bring regime change in Iraq with his friend George Bush--- which is crime against humanity. The two guys will not be brought to justice because they are protected by the rich and powerful and most important of all, they are protected by powerful institutions and individuals called the “Deep States” like the arms industry, the media, the judiciary and the Neo-Cons in America. They have the power and influence to persuade elected Governments to go to war to satisfy their ego at the expense of the public. The Iraq war was a good example of this because the arms industry made billions for itself and its shareholders and war creates business.

In other words, the coalition of the willing as George Bush called them, ganged up and bombed Iraq into the stone age. Dismembering her right and left, yet Iraq will not be able to take America to International Criminal Court or receive war reparation for the devastation that has befallen on her, because Americas can do whatever she wants to do as she is exempted from being sued. Only poor countries are subjected to be bullied, sanctioned, pay compensation. But Rich countries like Britain or US A will not be brought to the International Criminal Court and that is a fact of life. So the ultimate objectives of sanctions against Iraq was regime change, to control its oil and to destroy a strong Arab army that was a threat to Israel.

WHY WERE SANCTIONS IMPOSED ON LIBYA ? BECAUSE SHE HAS OIL

As in the case of Libya, it is a unique situation that in 1992, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Libya, freezing its assets abroad, banning transporting oil equipments and reduction of diplomatic personnel. An embargo on oil was not included in the sanctions because some European countries were heavily dependent on Libyan oil. Sanctions against Libya were imposed because the US & Britain wanted Libya to hand in 2 suspects wanted for the 1988 bombing of US Pan American flight 103 which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people in which it was alleged that Libyan officials were involved in the bombing. Then, Libya’s relations with the west began to change in 1994 when Libya offered to disclose details of its relationship with the (IRA) or Irish Republican Army who were conducting bombing in England and Northern Ireland. In 1999, the western powers offered to lift sanctions, restore links with Libya in return for accepting responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paying compensation, Libya agreed to this in 2003. In reality, the Lockerbie plane was blown by Syria not Libya, as stated by HYPERNORMALISATION (a documentary by Adam Curtis which can be seen on the bbc's iplayer). Syria, unlike today, was a strong nation supported by Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and if the Western powers attacked Syria at the time there would have been an inferno that would have engulfed the whole of the Middle East.

Instead they asked Gaddafi to be a scape goat in exchange for re-admittance to the so called “World Community”. Western leaders were very satisfied with the dodgy deal in which Gaddafi was blamed (despite the fact that Libya was innocent) for the Lockerbie bombing and Western politicians found a solution to a problem that would have prevented Libya from rejoining the international community. The motivation was to bring Libyan oil to Europe, but this would have been politically unacceptable as Libya was thought to be responsible for the bombing of a plane and the killing of 270 Brits and Americans, to appease the families of the victims and the media, the acceptance of responsibility and the paying of compensation was required before Libya could be reinstated into the world community. Libya agreed to pay $2.7 billion dollars in compensation, London and Washington immediately began to push Security Council to lift sanctions against Tripoli. Libya also agreed to end efforts to produce nuclear weapons and western oil companies began to move in to extract the black gold, a business they know best. Gaddafi suddenly was acknowledged as some kind of hero or a man of peace who gave up his nuclear ambitions.

As a reward for his good behavior he was given the nod to become non permanent seat at the Security Council in 2008 for two years and we can clearly remember that he came with his green book to the podium of the UN and lectured the Security Council members the vision of his Green Book. Note also because of its wealth, Libyans had the highest per capital (GDP) Growth Domestic Product in Africa and he has done a lot for Africa as well. Then, in February 2011, following a popular revolt in neighboring countries of Tunisia and Egypt came what is called the “Arab Spring”. The Arab spring in Libya began with a peaceful demonstration against Gaddafi. In response the regime engaged heavy military force against the protesters causing civilian causalities. Then the Arab League, the African Union and Organization of Islamic Union condemned the regime for using military force and in February 2011 the Security Council adopted resolution 1970 which was voted by 15-0 to refer the situation to the ICC.

The UN also imposed an arms embargo, travel ban and an asset freeze. Then the situation in Libya got worse and in March 2011 the Security Council proposed resolution 1973 which allowed the use of force against Libya, the resolution stated that states could “TAKE ALL NECESSARY MEASURES TO PROTECT CIVILIANS”. The resolution passed with 10 in favor and 5 abstentions (by Brazil, China, Germany India and the Russian Federation). The vote was very much problematic among the abstentioners because they preferred peaceful solution to the crisis. However Western powers took advantage of the resolution. At the time, the International Crisis Group, the African Union and the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) were unhappy with the resolution and wanted peaceful resolution to the crisis. But rumors had it that Western powers had a vested interest in Qaddafi’s death because, if handed to the ICC in the Hague, he may reveal the extent of his close ties with Western officials. As a result London, Paris and Washington, rejected the idea of peaceful resolution and simply licensed themselves to undertake regime change.

The resolution was used to target Gaddafi and his family. Some experts also said Gaddafi had many secret deals with western powers, such as co-operating in renditions. Having taken all the consideration of the civil unrest in Libya, western powers, then used the resolution and its vague wording of “take all necessary measures” to launch airstrikes against Libya with the aim of the regime change. Following that, Gaddafi was killed by Libyan Mobs. Western powers were also keen to see the back of Gaddafi, their vested interest of oil was always in the minds of Western powers. Another reason for his removal is to cover up the millions of dollars donated by Gaddafi to the then presidential candidate in France and ultimately successful Nicholas Sarcozy at the time. Initially these leaders benefited from him a lot, but when the opportunity arrived to remove Gaddafi, they used it ferociously. Libya was a target because it is awash with oil and it was thought regime change could bring someone loyal to Western powers. What they got instead was a civil war in which Jihadist and Muslim fundamentalist erupted like Volcano-in the vacuum that was created by the bombing of Libya and Libya now is another failed state where chaos is reigning and the country has become a conduit of illegal immigrants to Europe, most of whom aren’t Libyans, they are African, but with the lack of order in Libya, smugglers have free reign in the country.

SANCTION AGAINST IRAN THAT FAILED: What about the sanctions imposed on Iran? The message that you can draw from Iraq or Libya is that the big powers simple want to apply the same prescription of sanctions against Iran and bring the nation to its knees. So, following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the US lead international efforts to imposed economic sanctions on Iran and expanded them in 1995 to include firms dealing with Iranian government. In 2006 the UN Security Council passed resolution 1696 which imposed further sanctions when Iran refused to suspend its Uranium enrichment program, which some alleged was intended for developing nuclear weapons. Iran insisted its nuclear program was for civilian purpose including generating electricity. Sanctions initially targeted investment in oil and gas, the export of petrol, business dealings with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, banking and insurance transaction, these resulted in damaging the economy and the people.

However, Iran is a completely different country, with hugely determined people, it is a regional power. That being said, the attempt to use sanctions against Iran have not done what they were designed to do. The sanctions have been in place for the last 38 years following the Iranian revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini against the American supported Shah of Iran who was deposed in 1979. It was the people of Iran who suffered under the sanctions because they were not able to import medicines or spare parts for their commercial and military planes. It is not only that, Iran was fought in other ways, the computers of their nuclear research center were hit with a computer virus which temporarily brought its nuclear industry to a stand still. The virus was called STUXNET. It can disable the nerves of the industrial system, it causes complete disruption to the industrial programmer and can delay progress by years until an anti virus system is found to counter it. Their scientists were targeted by drive to shoot policy in which many of them worked at their nuclear program and some have been killed.

Immediately afterward, Iranian scientists discovered the enemy virus that was sent to them disguised as a spare part from either a third party or first party when first bought by Iran. The Iranians suspect the type of Stuxnet virus sent to attack their industrial complex were jointly developed by America and Israeli cyber weapon experts to disrupt Iranian Assembly lines. These malicious computer worms can be hidden in computer parts such as memory sticks (USB flash drive). But Iran is a wealthy nation and is a regional power, it's army is intact; despite the American sanctions all these years, they came out victorious and over came all the obstacles that sanction brought against their country. They stood on their grounds and got their dividends when the Obama administration blinked first and the other western powers followed suit and came to terms with Iran by partially lifting the sanctions on Iran in April 2015 when they meet in Lousanne, Switzerland. The permanent 5 Security Council members agreed to lift most of the sanctions in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions were lifted in January 2016. However the new American administration is so unpredictable that it may try to reverse the lifting of sanctions by Obama, but they will not succeed in crushing Iran. Iran is a power to be reckoned with in the area, it has for the first time in its history, fired cruise missiles against ISIS from its ships, it has huge population (over 70 million) that can stand any war, she has been tested for years by sanction wars but they have had very little affect on the country and any sanctions against Iran has ended up in failure.

SANCTIONS AGAINST CUBA: The same has happened in Cuba, when the American supported Batista regime was overthrown by Fidel Castro in July19 69, he then nationalized the American owned Cuban oil refineries without compensating the Americans. The American government vented its anger by imposing almost five decades of sanctions, but this did not have any real impact, the embargo against Cuba and the boycott of its sugar exports did not stop Cuba being member of the (WTO) World Trade Organization. The sanctions imposed on Cuba, were designed to bring regime change--- this has miserably failed. On the contrary it was the Obama Administration in its dying days that decided to lift the sanctions against Cuba but this removal requires an Act of Congress.

As can be seen from the above, sanctions or sanction water boarding does not achieve any goals, it only harms the average person. Moreover, sanctions against Iraq, Iran and Cuba were widely considered to have failed. In Iraq it allowed the regime to have more control over who conducts trade and opened up ample opportunities for corruption. In Cuba five decades of sanctions did not bring any change, to the disappointment of those who pressed for sanctions, they were not able to overthrow IL COMMANDANTE (CASTRO) as he died of natural causes and his voice can still be heard from his grave. Cuba is doing well and had been supported all these years by Latin American countries and by the United Nations General Assembly.

As for the sanctions brought against Eritrea, they were invented by Ethiopia and designed to isolate and cripple Eritrea economically and diplomatically but it failed. The monitoring group set up by the UN has said that there is no evidence that Eritrea has aided Al Shebab. Still the Horn of Africa is ravaged with war, sanctions and famine; many of its leaders plot, throttle and stab fellow African leaders in their backs instead of helping one another or live in harmony. The instability brought by leaders of the Horn of Africa, especially Ethiopia’s unreasonable policy against Eritrea, is taking Africa one step forward and two steps backwards. African countries should get together or set up an effective political economic block like that of the European Union. Thus if there is to be peace in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopian leaders must come to their senses and accept the (EEBC) Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission's ruling and bring the border dispute between the two countries to an end.

Secondly Ethiopia is now a non permanent member of the UN Security Council for two years until the end of 2018 and if she wants to be seen as a nation with a vision to bring peace in the Horn of Africa, she should take the initiative and back up their claim that they want to bring peace to Africa, with actions. Any thing short is just political rhetorical.

Thirdly, in April 2016, an Ethiopian newspaper called The Reporter claimed that the Ethiopian Premier Hailemariam Desalegne, said the policy of containment to sanction, isolate, cripple Eritrea economically and politically, has not been-effective. The paper continues to say that the regime in Ethiopia is now crafting a brand new policy on creating sustainable peace in the area. If this is the case then--- Ethiopia must take the initiative and cease its belligerent and intriguing attitude to Eritrea adopt a peaceful attitude and request the lifting of the unjust sanction against Eritrea. If their peaceful attitude is real, it will be welcomed by the people of the Horn and the rest of Africa, if it is not real, it would not be surprising as we are bombarded with invented fabricated fake news as you will see from the link below called “HYPER NORMALIZATION” by Adam Curtis. It is two and half hours long but it is worth it. The documentary will explicitly tell you how news is sometimes fabricated to frame governments, how they manufacture or invent stories and disseminate it via the media to attack, sovereign nations. This has now become part of our modern life and was part Donald Trump's 2016 American presidential election.

Adam Curtis' Hypernormalisation on BBC iplayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b183c
The documentary is split into six parts, The Colonel, A Cautionary Tale and A World Without Power


ANOTHER ARTICLE TO FOLLOW BY THE WRITER SOON.

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