March 2012: Pakistan have charged the late al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden’s three widows with illegal entry. The indictment of Bin Laden’s wives is accompanied with allegations that the al-Qaeda leader may have been betrayed by his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

A phone call between al-Zawahiri and Bin Laden’s older Saudi wife, Khairia, allegedly led the US Navy SEALs to carry out the targeted killing of the world’s most wanted terrorist at his safe-house in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011.

Al-Zawahiri and other senior al-Qaeda commanders were reportedly concerned that Bin Laden’s deteriorating health had turned him into a liability. Khairia apparently arrived in Abbottabad in March 2011, shortly after the phone call and just two months before her husband Osama Bin Laden’s death. The last time she had seen her husband was prior to the September 11th attacks of 2011.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik who announced the charges did not indicate when their trial would begin. “The case has been registered only against the adults. They can have a lawyer and they have full liberty to go to court and defend themselves,” Malik stated. Malik further stated Nin Laden’s children were being kept in a five-bedroom house “with proper facilities.” The children were “free to return to their native countries” if their mothers agreed.

The wives two from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen and 10 of their children were taken into custody shortly after he was killed. A commission probing how Bin Laden lived undetected for years in Pakistan investigated his widows and daughters and took statements from them last year. The revelation that bin Laden was in Pakistan ajacent to Pakistan’s military academy was an embarrassment for Islamabad.

April 2012 Update: The widows and daughters were sentenced to 45 days in prison and have been deported to Saudi Arabia.

Every democracy is different, just like every culture is different. Arabs, even Arab leaders, know they need democracy. They have tried everything else, and nothing else works. But democracy is strong medicine for the current Arab leadership, and many would rather just talk about it, and go no further. And that is the problem in the Arab world. Islamic terrorism is the result.

When the king of Saudi Arabia stated to the assembled Arab leadership that they are the problem, that was a sign of progress. Arab leaders are victims of their own success. Their rule is based on corruption and police state tactics. Compare Eastern Europe before 1989 and the Arab world now. Both fed up with their leaders and governments, however the Arabs are not willing to make a painless switch as the East Europeans did in the 1990s. Eastern Europeans had two choices; communism or democracy. The Arabs have three; despotism, democracy or Islamic dictatorship.

The king of Saudi Arabia told the assembled rulers that the biggest problem in the Arab world was poor leadership. This was a bold statement, but not unusual for the senior people in the Saudi government. These princes have also been supporting the Arab Reform Movement, which is based on the idea that most of the Arab world’s problems are internal, not the result of outside interference. But knowing and admitting to the problem does not solve it.

Most educated Arabs will admit that their leaders have been less than stellar, and largely responsible for the corruption and bad decisions that have put the Arab world so far behind the West, and in every region except Africa, when it comes to economic growth.

After Saddam Husseins Baath Party dictatorship was overthrown, Iraqis eagerly embraced democracy, only to find that the people they elected, were not a big improvement over Saddam. Some of Iraqs new leaders backed terrorists. This was especially true of Iran backed Shia factions, which unleashed death squads that killed thousands of Sunni Arabs. Some of the Sunni Arab leaders supported terrorists who targeted Shias. Further there was the corruption, with billions of dollars of government money missing.

This incompetence is also, as the Saudi king points out, the cause of the Islamic terrorism that is growing in the Islamic world. These terrorists began attacking kafirs (non-Moslems) in the 1990s when they realized they were getting shut down in Arab countries. In Egypt, Syria and Algeria, Islamic radical attempts to toss out corrupt governments all failed since Arab dictatorship style leadership mastered the art of running a police state.

Attacking non-Moslems, outside of the Moslem world, brought into play the Western media. The Western media had 24 hour, world-wide (via satellite) outlets reporting what the Islamic terrorists did. Another benefit was the appearance of Arab language satellite news services in the 1990s. Prior to this terror attacks inside Arab countries were largely ignored by the rest of the world. Terrorist movements thrived on publicity, and the more news channels there were out there, the more attention terrorist attacks would get.

Fed up with the corrupt and incompetent leadership back home, millions of Arabs immigrated to western democracies. These Arabs were making more money than they were back home or cashed in on the welfare system of the country. However, this Arab Diaspora provided a refuge for Islamic militants and terrorist regime cells.

Thanks to all those suicide bombs and breathless news reports, the secret of corruption in the Arab world was out for the entire world to see. There was an al Qaeda call to overthrow the corrupt leaders of the Arab countries. Al Qaeda came up with the “war on Islam” angle to justify September 11, 2001, and earlier attacks. But the root cause was bad leadership at home.

One of the least known members of the Arab League, Mauritania, held elections and now have the freely elected democratic government. The divisions in Mauritania, with a population of less than four million, are between the Arab (about a third) and “former slaves” (black Africans from the south). Mauritania exists on the border between Arabs and Bantu (the ethnic group that predominates in Africa south of the Sahara). Blacks were the slaves, and slavery was formerly abolished only in 1981. But slavery still exists in Mauritania, along with democracy?

In Iraq the Islamic radicals react to democracy in which they call it un-Islamic and kill those who disagree with them. The Arabs have to deal with this, but the violence in Iraq has revealed another Arab problem.

Even if you remove religion from the equation, not all Arabs are keen on democracy. In Iraq, the Sunni Arab minority believe it is their right (or responsibility) to run the country. This is a common pattern in Arab countries. One minority believes they are rulers by right, and that democracy is an abomination and un-Islamic. This is the pattern in nearly every Arab country.

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?