Tag: middle east

These Are The Top Middle East Exports By Country

The Middle East is widely recognized for its significant role in the global energy market. However, countries in the region also foster other substantial industries, including metals, chemicals, and agriculture.

Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte and Sabrina Lam created the graphic below, using 2021 exports data from The Observatory of Economic Complexity, to help explain the economy of the Middle East.

In 2021, the Middle East’s exports reached a total value of $1.27 trillion. While the region lags behind Asia, Europe, and North America in global exports, it outpaces Africa and South America.

Despite many countries undertaking efforts to diversify their economies and reduce their oil dependence, most of the exports still come from fossil fuels.

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US To Cut Special Forces In Pivot From Mideast To ‘China Threat’ Readiness

The US military’s recruiting struggles have been no secret, having been reported widely for years, at a moment Washington hawks look for “new enemies” following two decades of the so-called global war on terror (GWOT) and the deeply unpopular ‘forever wars’ Iraq and Afghanistan. 

On Thursday The Wall Street Journal has learned that the Pentagon is set to significantly cut its fighting force among special operations units. But the controversial plan is already receiving significant pushback among top brass overseeing special warfare and training of foreign allied forces.

While special operators’ heyday was the type of counterterror operations that defined the GWOT era of elite forces, the thinking on Capitol Hill is that the future will involve potential conflicts with large powers like Russia or China. 

The Journals’ sources spell out that the cut is motivated by a shift in strategic priorities away from the Middle East and especially toward the “China threat”. 

“The Army is cutting about 3,000 troops, or about 10% from its special-operations ranks, which could include so-called trigger-pullers from the Green Beret commando units who have conducted some of the nation’s most dangerous and sensitive missions around the world, from the jungles of Vietnam to the back alleys of Baghdad,” writes the WSJ.

US military officials listed out the types of Army jobs on the chopping block as follows: psychological warfare, civil affairs, intelligence operators, communications troops, logistics and other elite support roles, with all of these related to special forces.

The report tallies that in total Special Operations Command would be reduced by about 3,700 troops since last year. But this has resulted in pushback from senior officers who argue that the training of partner forces – such as in Ukraine or Taiwan – could be negatively impacted by the cuts.

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US Will Boost Military Presence in the Middle East

Washington announced a plan to deploy additional fighter jets to the Middle East to prevent Iran from seizing ships in the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon is additionally evaluating proposals to send more military equipment into the region to address Russian aircraft operating in Syrian skies. 

According to the AP, a defense official told reporters that the US would deploy F-16s to the Middle East to stop Iran from hijacking ships. The official, who spoke to the reporters on the condition of anonymity, said the aircraft would provide cover to vessels traveling in the region. 

The US seized a ship carrying Iranian oil to China in April, kicking off a new tanker war. Iran retaliated, in the Persian Gulf,  by seizing two ships. In response, the US said it increased the number of patrols its personnel were conducting in the region but stopped short of sending additional military equipment to the Middle East. 

The lack of new military deployments angered Washington’s allies in the region, including the UAE. Abu Dhabi halted its involvement with a Washington-led coalition aimed at preventing Iranian ship seizures in May. 

Last week, Washington claimed it prevented Iranian forces from seizing two ships with the presence of a guided missile destroyer. The F-16s sent to the Middle East will support A-10s in conducting patrols over the sea. 

The official additionally told reporters that the Department of Defense is looking to confront the Russian air force in Syria. Over the past several months, the White House and the Kremlin have accused each other of conducting provocative sorties in the skies above Syria. The official claimed that Moscow, Tehran and Damascus were working to drive US forces from Syria. 

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Israel Killed Civilians, Targeted Hospitals in Jenin With US Weapons and Support

From July 3-4, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) — using weapons funded by the United States — mounted the most violent military assault in the occupied West Bank in two decades.

In what Israel dubbed “Operation Home and Garden,” more than 1,000 ground troops invaded the Jenin refugee camp. Assisted by helicopter gunships and armed drones, the IOF killed 12 Palestinians — including six civilians (five of them children) — and wounded more than 120 others (including 14 children), according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The IOF partially destroyed 109 houses, extensively damaged the infrastructure, leveled the streets and created a power outage. About 4,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes.

While the IOF has used armed drones against Gazans, they are now using them against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as well.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government, as usual, issued no criticism of the brutal IOF assault on Jenin. Instead, the White House declared that the United States “supports Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups.”

Under international law, the occupying power (Israel) is not entitled to self-defense against the people it occupies (the Palestinians). A UN-appointed Commission of Inquiry determined last year that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and called on the General Assembly to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice.

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HOW AN “AVERAGE” YOGA COACH MANAGED TO BECOME A HEAD OF THE CIA DIVISION RESPONSIBLE FOR ARMS TRANSFERS TO MILITANTS IN AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

“America is the land of opportunity” – this phrase fully describes our nation. America gives an opportunity for every person not only to achieve anything they put their mind to, but also reach a mighty power and get filthy rich. Despite the fact that it is not customary to speak about it, but in most cases people assume such power through deception and hypocrisy. They serve as heads of serious departments, using their post to manipulate the American taxpayers’ money.

Today we’d like to tell you a dizzying story about a yoga teacher, Chanda Creasy, whose enlightenment path took her to a top-secret CIA unit responsible for weapons supplies to militants in Africa and Middle East, receiving millions of dollars in kickbacks.

But first let’s start our story with Chanda’s yoga personal website where she tells fascinating fairy-tale about her meeting with yoga while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia. You probably didn’t know that Ethiopia is the best place to experience yoga, as well as meditations under scorching African sun without a hat will make you reach Satchidananda in a fastest way.

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Omnibus Spending Bill: $410M for Border Security — in the Middle East

The $1.7 trillion year-end omnibus spending bill uses hundreds of millions of dollars of American taxpayer money to fund border security initiatives overseas as the United States, at its own border, is projected to set illegal immigration records next year.

The spending bill includes $410 million “for enhanced border security” in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman. At least $150 million of the funding is to be used to help Jordan secure its borders.

The hundreds of millions of dollars for border security thousands of miles away from the U.S. comes after Republicans and Democrats negotiated a similar plan in March that saw about $370 million go to border security initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa.

In June of last year, Congress authorized nearly a billion dollars in border security initiatives for Middle Eastern and North African countries.

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Hypocrites! Disney adopts “don’t say gay” policy in order to appease Middle East censors

Disney, which famously went to battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over that state’s Child Protection Act, hilariously named the “Don’t Say Gay” bill may have a little bit of explaining to do over its blatant virtue-signaling hypocrisy.

The decision to throw down with the radical alphabet mafia cost the entertainment titan a ton of money in canceled Disney+ subscriptions and canceled Disney World vacations by parents who think their children don’t need to be groomed by what used to be a wholesome entertainment company.

Now, they may have some ‘splainin’ to do with the alphabet community.

According to RedState, the House of Mouse has decided to remove all LGBTQXYZ content from Disney+, the company’s streaming service. Oh, not for the West but for Middle Eastern countries as a means to pacify censors there.

Bounding Into Comics writes that after several Disney films were banned in the Middle East for alphabet community-friendly content, such as Thor: Love and Thunder and The Eternals, Disney has caved to censors in Middle Eastern countries and will remove LGBTQ content from Disney+ there.

According to a release, a Disney spokesperson said:

“Content offerings differ across our many Disney+ markets, based upon a number of factors. Content available should align with local regulatory requirements,” while also stressing the platform has parental controls which allows parents to decide what their family members are able to view.

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Biden Falsely Claims US Troops Aren’t Engaged In Combat In The Middle East

President Biden penned an op-ed about his upcoming trip to the Middle East that was published in The Washington Post on Saturday, where he falsely claimed that US troops are not engaged in combat missions in the region.

The president wrote: “Next week, I will be the first president to visit the Middle East since 9/11 without US troops engaged in a combat mission there.” Biden’s claim came not long after he updated Congress on the deployment of US combat troops. In a letter to Congress dated June 8, the president said US troops were stationed in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

In Yemen, Biden said that a “small number of United States military personnel are deployed to Yemen to conduct operations against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS.” He also mentioned that US forces were providing support to the Saudi-led coalition in a “non-combat role” by providing “military advice and limited information.”

In Iraq and Syria, Biden said US troops are “working by, with, and through local partners to conduct operations against” ISIS and al-Qaeda. At the end of 2021, the US formally ended its combat mission in Iraq, but all 2,500 troops that were stationed there stayed, and US operations on the ground didn’t really change.

In Syria, the US maintains an occupation force of about 1,000 troops and keeps a good portion of the eastern part of the country out of the hands of Damascus with the help of local Kurdish groups. While it’s easy to downplay the US role in Iraq, US troops in Syria are more often engaged in combat.

On June 16, US troops carried out a raid in northwestern Syria and captured a top ISIS leader, according to the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, known as Operation Inherent Resolve. US raids in northwest Syria are risky as they are far from US military bases in the eastern part of the country.

The US also continues to launch drone strikes in Syria against al-Qaeda affiliates in northwest Syria. According to US Central Command, a US drone strike killed a leader of al-Qaeda offshoot Hurras al-Din in Syria’s Idlib province.

Earlier in the year, the US was involved in a major ground battle between the Kurdish-led SDF and ISIS in northeastern Syria. Back in January, ISIS launched a major attack to gain control of a prison, and US ground troops helped Kurdish forces take it back.

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