September 2011: Common sense would indicate the more the world bully’s and picks on Israel, there is a wake up call! The consequence of these actions results in global catastrophes, leaders dying from disease, Arab Spring, global economic crisis, natural disasters, global chaos, Middle East war, earthquakes, tsunami’s, hurricanes, tornadoes, global warming, famine and the list keeps getting longer.

The supernatural spiritual involvement is a consequence of (Genesis 12:3) “And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. These words are there in black and white, as plain as day, ‘the blessing and the curse’. G-d said it. G-d proclaimed it in the Bible which all 3 major religions of the world concur is divine and true. Need one say more?
(Zechariah 1:8-17˄, 6:1-8˄), Zechariah’s horses act as sentries, not as agents of destruction or judgment. In the first case there are only three colours, and in the second there are teams of horses pulling chariots: Red, then Black, then White, and finally Dappled. They are referred to as “the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.”

If the world is to be at peace then it is time for the Arabs and their leaders to lay down their swords against Israel and let the entire land of Israel exist as the Holy Land as promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. When this occurs the world will see a great light amongst all the nations. The sooner the better for all mankind!

The Arab Spring also known as the Arabic Rebellions or the Arab Revolutions) is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world. The series of protests and demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa has become known as the “Arab Spring”, and sometimes as the “Arab Spring and Winter”, “Arab Awakening” or “Arab Uprisings” even though not all participants in protests identify as Arab, the mass majority are Muslims. The largest, most organised demonstrations have often occurred on a “day of rage”, usually Friday after noon prayers at the Muslim mosques.

However some attribute the 2009 Iranian protests as one of the reasons behind the Arab Spring. The catalysts for the revolts in all Northern African and Persian Gulf countries have been the concentration of wealth in the hands of autocrats in power for decades, insufficient transparency of its redistribution, corruption, and especially the refusal of the youth to accept the status quo. Increasing food prices and global famine rates have also been a significant factor, as they involve threats to food security worldwide and prices that approach levels of the 2007–2008 world food price crisis. Amnesty International singled out Wikileaks release of US diplomatic cables as a catalyst for the revolts.

The catalyst for the current escalation of protests was sparked by the first protests that occurred in Tunisia on December 18, 2010 following Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in protest of police corruption and ill treatment. The protests brought together various groups dissatisfied with the existing system, including many unemployed, political and human rights activists, labor, trade unionists, students, professors, lawyers, and others. These groups have become an unprecedented movement that has built sufficient momentum to engender the current scope of events.

The current wave of protests is not an entirely new phenomenon, resulting in part from the activities of dissident activists as well as members of a variety of social and union organizations who have been active for years in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, and other countries in the area, as well as in the territory of Western Sahara.

With the success of the protests in Tunisia, a wave of unrest struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, and Yemen, then spread to other countries. The protests have triggered similar unrest outside the region. Since December 18, 2010 there have been revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt; a civil war in Libya resulting in the fall of its regime; civil uprisings in Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen; major protests in Israel, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Oman, and minor protests in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Western Sahara.

The protests have shared techniques of civil resistance in sustained campaigns involving strikes, demonstrations, marches and rallies, as well as the use of social media to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of state attempts at repression and internet censorship.

Many demonstrations have met with violent responses from authorities, as well as from pro-government militias and counter-demonstrators. A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world has been Ash-sha`b yurid isqat an-nizam (“The people want to bring down the regime”

Protests in Jordan have caused the resignation of the government resulting in former Prime Minister and Ambassador to Israel Marouf al-Bakhit being appointed prime minister by King Abdullah and tasked with forming a new government.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, announced on 23 April that he would step down within 30 days in exchange for immunity, a deal the Yemeni opposition informally accepted on 26 April; Saleh then reneged on the deal, prolonging the Yemeni uprising. The geopolitical implications of the protests have drawn global attention, including the suggestion that some protesters may be nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

Numerous factors have led to the protests, including issues such as dictatorship or absolute monarchy, human rights violations, government corruption (demonstrated by Wikileaks diplomatic cables), economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, and a number of demographic structural factors, such as a large percentage of educated but dissatisfied youth within the population.

In recent decades rising living standards and literacy rates, as well as the increased availability of higher education, have resulted in an improved human development index in the affected countries. The tension between rising aspirations and a lack of government reform may have been a contributing factor in all of the protests. Many of the internet-savvy youth of these countries have studied in the West, where autocrats and absolute monarchies are considered anachronisms. A university professor of Oman, Al-Najma Zidjaly referred to this upheaval as youthquake.

Tunisia and Egypt, the first to witness major uprisings, differ from other North African and Middle Eastern nations such as Algeria and Libya in that they lack significant oil revenue, and were thus unable to make concessions to calm the masses.

Tunisia experienced a series of conflicts over the past three years, the most notable occurring in the mining area of Gafsa in 2008, where protests continued for many months. These protest included rallies, sit-ins, and strikes, during which there were two fatalities, an unspecified number of wounded, and dozens of arrests.

The Egyptian labor movement had been strong for years, with more than 3,000 labor actions since 2004. One important demonstration was an attempted workers’ strike on 6 April 2008 at the state-run textile factories of al-Mahalla al-Kabra, just outside Cairo. The idea for this type of demonstration spread throughout the country, promoted by computer-literate working class youths and their supporters among middle-class college students. A Facebook page, set up to promote the strike, attracted tens of thousands of followers.

The government mobilized to break the strike through infiltration and riot police, and while the regime was somewhat successful in forestalling a strike, dissidents formed the “6 April Committee” of youths and labor activists, which became one of the major forces calling for the anti-Mubarak demonstration on 25 January in Tahrir Square.

In Algeria, discontent had been building for years over a number of issues. In February 2008, United States Ambassador Robert Ford wrote in a leaked diplomatic cable that Algeria is ‘unhappy’ with long-standing political alienation; that social discontent persisted throughout the country, with food strikes occurring almost every week; that there were demonstrations every day somewhere in the country; and that the Algerian government was corrupt and fragile. Some have claimed that during 2010 there were as many as ’9,700 riots and unrests’ throughout the country. Many protests focused on issues such as education and health care, while others cited rampant corruption.

In Western Sahara, the Gdeim Izik protest camp was erected 12 km south-east of El Aaiún by a group of young Sahrawis on 9 October 2010. Their intention was to demonstrate against labor discrimination, unemployment, looting of resources, and human rights abuses. The camp contained between 12,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, but on 8 November 2010 it was destroyed and its inhabitants evicted by Moroccan security forces. The security forces faced strong opposition from some young Sahrawi civilians, and rioting soon spread to El Aaiún and other towns within the territory, resulting in an unknown number of injuries and deaths. Violence against Sahrawis in the aftermath of the protests was cited as a reason for renewed protests months later, after the start of the Arab Spring.

As of September 2011, revolutions have resulted in the overthrow of three heads of state: Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on 14 January following the Tunisian revolution protests, and in Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak resigned on 11 February 2011, after 18 days of massive protests, ending his 30-year presidency and Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi who was overthrown on 23 August 2011, after the National Transitional Council (NTC) took control of Bab al-Azizia thereby effectively losing control of Libya. His current whereabouts unknown.

During this period of regional unrest, several leaders announced their intentions to step down at the end of their current terms. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced that he would not seek re-election in 2015, as did Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose term ends in 2014, although there have been increasingly violent demonstrations demanding his immediate resignation.

What does democracy mean to an Arab population? Do they have the expertise to create a peaceful society amongst themselves and with the rest of the world?

May 2011: Using infra-red satellite imaging, Egyptologist Sarah Parcak has discovered 17 lost pyramids and more than 1,000 tombs and 3,100 ancient settlements were revealed by looking at infra-red images which show up underground buildings. The pyramids are thought to have been covered by silt from the Nile and Dr Parcak believes there could be thousands more sites of interest further beneath the desert’s surface. Two test excavations have been carried out at Saqqara which revealed two lost pyramids, with the area now being described as one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt.

The work has been pioneered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham by American Egyptologist Dr. Sarah Parcak. The research was funded by the BBC. Using satellites that orbited 700 km about the Earth, Parcak was able to capture the images of the antiquities. A French excavation team confirmed what the images saw. The new discovery will be revealed in the UK on the BBC on Monday. The Discovery Channel will air its own version of the story over the summer.

“We were very intensely doing this research for over a year,” she stated. “I could see the data as it was emerging, but for me the ‘Aha!’ moment was when I could step back and look at everything that we’d found and I couldn’t believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt. To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist.”

The satellites that took the images orbited 700km above the earth and were equipped with cameras so powerful they can pin-point objects less than 1 meter in diameter on the earth’s surface. Infra-red imaging was used to highlight different materials under the surface.

Parcak recently traveled to Egypt to conduct excavations in the areas photographed and hopefully to back up what her technology was able to detect under the surface. According to the report, local authorities were not initially interested in her findings, but when she told them she had seen two potential pyramids, they made test excavations and now believe it is one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt.

The most exciting moment for Parcak was visiting the excavations at Tanis, a city in the north-eastern Nile delta of Egypt. “They’d excavated a 3,000-year-old house that the satellite imagery had shown and the outline of the structure matched the satellite imagery almost perfectly. That was real validation of the technology.”

She expressed her hopes that the new technology will help engage young people in science and will help archaeologists around the world. “It allows us to be more focused and selective in the work we do,” she explained. “Faced with a massive site, you don’t know where to start. It’s an important tool to focus where we’re excavating. It gives us a much bigger perspective on archaeological sites. We have to think bigger and that’s what the satellites allow us to do.”

Note: History could be relative to the times of Joseph, then Prime Minister of Egypt and later Moses the master builder of Pharoah.

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April 21, 2011: An Egyptian court ordered the name of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne removed from all public facilities and institutions, the latest step in dismantling the legacy of the former leader’s 29 years in power.

In announcing the ruling, Judge Mohammed Hassan Omar stated “people have uncovered Mubarak’s journey of corruption.”"It has become clear that the size of the corruption (under Mubarak) that’s being uncovered every day exceeds by far anyone’s imagination,” he stated.

After the ruling, Transport Minister Atef Abdel-Hameed told reporters he would act quickly to remove Mubarak’s name from the ministry’s facilities, including the Cairo subway station.

Early in his rule, Mubarak stated that out of modesty he didn’t want his name put on public buildings, but there are now hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of schools, streets, squares and libraries that bear the name of the former leader or his wife as well as a major subway station in central Cairo.

Soon after he came to power in 1981 following the assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat by Islamic militants, Mubarak publicly stated that he didn’t want to follow the widespread custom in the region of having his name planted on public institutions. He also stated in the early 1980s that he would not seek a second term in office, arguing that ruling Egypt was a heavy burden.

The court case over Mubarak’s name was brought by lawyer Sameer Sabry against interim Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to force authorities to remove the name of Mubarak and his wife from all public buildings.

Now all those will have to go, a new blow to Mubarak, who was ousted on Feb. 11 and last week was put under detention in a hospital for investigation on charges of corruption and the deadly shooting of protesters. Mubarak’s wife Suzanne, who wielded a great deal of behind-the-scenes influence over how the country was run, is due to be questioned over allegations of illegally amassing wealth.

Mubarak, who will be 83 next month, remains in detention under guard at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The attorney general has ordered the government’s top forensic doctor to examine Mubarak to ascertain whether his condition allows him to be removed to the Tora prison hospital.

Attorney General Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud also instructed the doctor to inspect the Tora hospital with a view to providing it with the equipment needed for Mubarak’s treatment. The ex-president underwent surgery last year in Germany to remove his gallbladder. He was admitted to a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh last week for an irregular heartbeat. Unconfirmed media reports said he also was suffering from depression.

By the time he stepped down two months ago, Mubarak had served five terms in office, ran the country much like it was his own fiefdom and many of the country’s high profile projects were named after him.

Similarly, his wife Suzanne kept a low profile during the early years of her husband’s rule, partly because the liberal attitudes and high profile assumed by Sadat’s wife Jihan did not appeal to many in the mainly Muslim and conservative country. But Suzanne Mubarak soon became highly visible through her involvement in projects to do with the affairs of women and children as well as combating human trafficking.

She is widely believed to have been the driving force behind efforts to get her son Gamal to succeed his father, a prospect that most Egyptians as well as the military objected to. Gamal’s possible succession was one of the key motives for the youth groups that organized the Jan. 25-Feb.11 uprising that toppled Mubarak.

Mubarak’s two sons, businessman Alaa and banker-turned politician Gamal, who was once his father’s heir apparent are already jailed in Tora, just south of Cairo, under investigation for corruption. Stalwarts of the regime are also detained there, including the former prime minister, speakers of parliament’s two chambers and a top aide of the former president, as well as several wealthy businessmen linked o the regime. In a related development, senior Justice Ministry official Assem al-Gohary stated the wives of Alaa and Gamal Mubarak would be questioned about how their husbands amassed their wealth.