Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
December 12, 2008

From Cooperation To World Threat - Iran And Eritrea Rumors

Two weeks ago an Eritrean opposition site published a rumor about cooperation between Iran and Eritrea to revamp an old refinery in Assab, Eritrea.

That rumor developed into a story on U.S. blogs, news sites and Israeli TV about imminent deployment of Iranian ballistic missiles, troops, submarines, helicopters and UAVs to the city of Assab to control the Red Sea.

Iranian ships and submarines have deployed an undisclosed number of Iranian troops and weapons at the Eritrean port town of Assab at the Horn of Africa in the Arabian Sea just below the Strait of Hormuz.
As such, the port town is in a unique postion  its location allows it to control and monitor one of the world's most strategic shipping routes.

Now right-wing sites like Blackfive are concerned:

This is exceptionally bad news as a quick look at the map will show.

One might see this as bad news if it would be true. But the report is totally false.

Below I document how this story developed, grew and proliferated throughout the Internets within a quite short time-frame.

Some background:

Eritrea is a dirt poor country with some 5.5 million inhabitants at the Red Sea. It is a dictatorship and has border conflicts with Ethiopia and Djibouti. It has a somewhat strategic position at the Bab-el-Mandeb street which connects the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.


The harbor city of Assab has some 100,000 inhabitants. In the early 1960s the Soviets built a small refinery there with a capacity (pdf) of 18,000 barrels per day. The refinery was shut down in 1997 for lack of spare parts and money.


Eritrea, a former Italian colony, had good relations with the U.S.until the Bush administration through Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer took sides with Ethiopia in a UN moderated border resolution and even supported Ethiopia in buying arms from North Korea. Israel uses a former Soviet navy base on the Eritrean Dahlak Archipelago to refuel its sub-marines that patrol in the Arabian sea.

In May the Eritrean president visited Tehran and in the following months several Memoranda of Understanding were signed between the two countries on cultural and economic cooperation. Iran is now also mediating between Djibouti and Eritrea.

Now back to the scare story.

The very first source and the one and only all following reports have been build upon is the Eritrean opposition site selfi-democracy.com of the Eritrean Democratic Party. On November 25 it published this (pdf):

Top Secret Deal?

IRAN TO CONTROL THE ERITREAN PORT OF ASSAB: (source : from inside Eritrea) According to news received from Eritrea, Iran is to revamp the Russian built Assab refinery. Iran will refine its crude in Assab to cover the shortages it faces at home and of course Eritrea benfits from not having to import expensive refined products.

But, the motive behind this deal is believed to be more political and strategic than economic. Iran, due to its conflict with the West and in particular with the US, is under embargo which may be further extended and tightened if it continues with its nuclear programs. Thus, Iran may be trying to find some renegade states to help her break the embargo and who could be a better partner for this than Eritrea’s President Isayas.

Isayas’ personal blind hate of the US administration and everything it stands for is boundless and he will spare no effort to upset the Americans. Strategically Iran and Isayas, with the cooperation of some rebel Somali Islamist groups, are also colliding to control the Bab El Mandeb Straights in case of any escalation of conflict with the United States and Israel. According to our source some high ranking members of the Eritrean regime are saying that the President is playing with fire and that the consequences for Eritrea could be grave.

There is a  lot of innuendo in there but not one word about Iranian soldiers, ships or submarines. Iran refines some 2.1 million barrels of oil per day in its own country and is expanding that capacity to 3+ million bl/day. To revamp a small and old 18,000 bl/d refinery in Eritrea would do nothing to help Iran "to cover the shortages it faces at home". There is also no other public record of any cooperation between Iran and Eritrea with regards to the defunct refinery. Iran is usually very eager to publish such cooperation. All that's left is rumor and speculation.

Another Eritrean site, asena-online, picked up the selfi-democracy story on November 26. Its item is in a language I can not read (Tigrinya) but it is less than 80 words long and at the end links back to the selfi-democracy item. I therefore doubt that it adds any additional information.

On November 29 the Sudan Tribune takes the original report and adds some rather fantastic points:

November 29, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — An Eritrean opposition website, selfi-democracy.com, said that Iran’s submarines have deployed an undisclosed number of armed Iranian troops and weapons in the Eritrean port town of Assab.

The unconfirmed report claims that Iran recently sent soldiers and also a number of long-range missiles after Iran signed an accord with Eritrea to revamp the Russian-built Assab Oil refinery.
...
The Eritrean opposition website now reports that Iran will refine its crude oil in Assab to cover shortages it faces at home, which will benefit Eritrea by not having to import expensive refined products.

But the report argued, “The motivation behind this deal is believed to be more political and more strategic than economic.”

The last cited sentence and some others in the full piece are word by word from the selfi-democracy report quoted above. It is the only source given in that article. But the original selfi-democracy report does not include a word about anything military like submarines.The Sudan Tribune writer simply invented those "Iranian submarines" but attributed them to selfi-democracy.

The last sentence of the Sudan Tribune piece adds something unrelated:

Meanwhile, four NATO unmanned surveillance planes were reported to have flown for about half an hour earlier this week in Eritrea’s Red Sea region.

The Sudan Tribune piece was composed by one Tesfa-alem Tekle. Tesfa-alem

is an Ethiopian journalist based in Mekelle, northern Ethiopia. He holds a degree in English from Addis Ababa University and an advanced diploma in Journalism. He has worked as public relation officer for various international organizations in Ethiopia. He has been writing for both local and international media since 2001. He is the currently the Reuters correspondent for northern Ethiopiais

An Ethiopian, arch enemies of Eritreans, picked an Eritrean opposition report about a refinery repair in Abbad, added lots of Iranian weapon nonsense and published that in the Sudan Tribune.

The same day another Eritrean opposition site, Eritrea Daily, mixes the above three versions and some fantasy into its own report:

29 November 2008-- An Eritrean website in Tigrigna, asena-online.com, reported on Wednesday that Iran has stationed its troops in Eritrea.

Citing sources from inside Eritrea, same website said that using submarine ships heavily armed units of the Iranian army have landed in the Eritrean sea port of Assab. The Iranian troops are slated to be stationed in the city of Assab reportedly under the pretext of protecting the Russian-built Eritrean Assab Oil Refinary. Earlier, on Tuesday, yet another Eritrean website, selfi-democracy.com, had, quoting also sources from inside Eritrea, reported that Eritrea tyrant Afewerki had granted Iran complete and exclusive control over the Eritrean Oil Refinary with the mandate to revamp, manage, and exercise complete authority over production and maintenance of the facility.
...
Asena-online further reported that the Iranian troops were loaded with a good number of ballistic and long-range missiles.

Moreover, this same website also submitted that according to reports coming from inside Eritrea, Iran flew surveillance missions over the skies of the Eritrea part of the Redsea using 2 UAV(NATO) accompanied by 4 helicopters for 30 minutes around 4 pm on Tuesday.

This is the first piece that mentions missiles.The last sentence seems to be a garbled and extended version of the last sentence in the Sudan Tribune piece while adding Iranian UAVs from thin air. It is also very doubtful that Iranian submarines would be able to operate at that distance from their home and be able to carry land troops.

The McClatchy Tribune Information Service distributed the Sudan Tribune report via Comtex.

The Israeli 'selective translation' propaganda service MEMRI picked up on December 1:

Eritrean Opposition: Eritrea Granting Iran Control Of Strategic Red Sea Port

Eritrean opposition websites reported that Eritrea has granted Iran total control of the Red Sea port of Assab, which overlooks the Bab Al-Mandeb straits.
...
According to the report, Iranian submarines deployed troops, weapons, and long range missiles in the port of Assab, under the pretext of defending the local oil refinery.

MEMRI names selfi-democracy, the Sudan Tribune and Eritrea Daily as its sources.

On December 3 the Corner at the National Review has 'Top News' that points to some Persian site's report:

Eritrean opposition claims Eritrea has provided the Assab base on the Red Sea to Iranian submarines

On December 8 a right-wing zionist (James Woolsey, Abraham H. Foxman, ..) site, The Cutting Edge News, carries a longer piece mixing various parts of the above:

Iranian ships and submarines have deployed an undisclosed number of Iranian troops and weapons at the Eritrean port town of Assab, according to opposition groups, foreign diplomats, and NGOs in the area.
...
Using protection of the Eritrean refinery as a pretext, Iran has set up its military operation there, and has been patrolling with unmanned surveillance drones.
...
President Isayas has granted Iran complete and exclusive control over the Eritrean Oil Refinary with the mandate to revamp, manage, and exercise complete authority over production and maintenance of the facility. Iran will refine its crude oil in Assab to cover shortages it faces at home, which will benefit Eritrea by not having to import expensive refined products.

The Eritrean Democratic Party, an opposition party, pointed to trepidation within the Eritrean regime, indicating that some high-ranking members are saying that the president is playing with fire with Iran and that the consequences for Eritrea could be grave.

The piece is written by one Joseph Grieboski who is the Cutting Edge Foreign Editor, President of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, which he founded himself and which was "twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize" (by whom?), and Secretary General, Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom. In 2007 that conference got a $250,000 earmark through the State Department. One recent conference was in Grieboski's hometown Scranton:

Scranton will enter into a sister-city relationship between Scranton and Mekele, Ethiopia, a city of 169,000. Doherty said he first met officials from Ethiopia during the institute’s diplomatic dinner at the Scranton Cultural Center in July.

Grieboski also lobbied Congress against the 2007 "Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act". He is obviously pro-Ethiopia and anti-Eritrea.

During the last few days a lot of blogs and news sites reproduced and discussed the Cutting Edge report.

An Israeli TV station's report on December 9 also seems to be based on the Cutting Edge piece:

According to local reports Iranian troops and a large number of long range ballistic missiles have also been deployed at a military base at the port and Iranian unmanned drones daily patrol the area.

Closing the circle a day later, the Eritrea Daily, one of the original rumor spreaders and the one which added the Iranian UAVs, repeats the Israeli TV report.

Starting from a rumor over some Iranian-Eritrean cooperation on an old refinery, several interested sites add military aspects, submarines, missiles and UAVs, to build a world-threatening scenario. MEMRI, NRO, an Ethiopian lobbyist and Israeli TV spread the rumors. Bloggers take it from there.

This is a bit like the game of telephone or Chinese Whisper played out on the Internets. But here everyone adds a bit of disinformation until a cooperation rumor builds into threat to the world within just 12 days.

Next: The UN Security Council plans to sanction Eritrea for stationing Iranian strategic missiles.

Posted by b on December 12, 2008 at 11:04 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Brilliant. You deserve a medal for this one.

An otherwise not completely braindead site that has run with this is informationdissemination.

The funny thing is that not so long ago the buzz was that Israel would use Eritrea as a staging post for its bombing runs on Iran.

Posted by: dan | Dec 12 2008 12:18 utc | 1

Brilliant. You deserve a medal for this one.

Thanks :-) always good to read such when one spent a day on the research.

And yes, Galrahn's Information Dissemination ran the story too, though skeptical. Some commentators there refuted it. It was not Galrahn who posted it but a guest blogger. The host is usually carefully about rumors. While it is right of center, you are right, it is not braindead. The site is good for anything around naval strategy.

Posted by: b | Dec 12 2008 13:22 utc | 2

Eat your heart out Sherlock, thanks for the great decipher, very well done indeed.

Posted by: Ann | Dec 12 2008 13:31 utc | 3

Brilliant sleuthing, B. Thanks so much!

About the "nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize" thing (Grieboski), it is always a quite meaningless claim-- one usually made by insecure ignoramuses-- as there is, really, no formal nominating process. The Norwegian Nobel Committee does its own research, generates and then deliberates upon its own list of top candidates. Anyone can "nominate" others (or possibly himself), but it doesn't add up to anything.

The Committee also strongly frowns on any hint of self-promotion for the prize.

So look, I'll "nominate" you; you "nominate" me, and presto! This blog would then contain a discussion between not one but two distinguished persons "nominated" for the Nobel Peace Prize... Nah, in light of my "insecure ignoramuses" analysis above, it seems like a stupid and inappropriate move.

Posted by: Helena | Dec 12 2008 14:50 utc | 4

Next step:
The radical left wing site Moon of Alabama today reported that "Eritrea ... station(ed) Iranian strategic missiles."
and the circle grows ever tighter...

Posted by: Peter VE | Dec 12 2008 15:02 utc | 5

Thanks, b.

It all kind of goes to what Condi Rice said a few months ago in another arena if it were even remotely true:

"First of all, Kazakhstan is an independent country. It can have friendships with whomever it wishes," she said. "That's perfectly acceptable in the 21st century, so we don't see and don't accept any notion of a special sphere of influence for Russia in this region."

Same goes between Eritrea and Iran -- if it were true to begin with. Remember, America has all kinds of weaponry and troops in many countries supposedly to help them with security and doesn't see any problem with American missiles in Poland and other eastern European countries either as just an example.

Posted by: Ensley | Dec 12 2008 15:04 utc | 6

nice trace out, b. from the corner of my eye was catching pieces of the propaganda as it snowballed. reminded me at the time of the stories built up in one specific frequency range of blogland over the not-so-mysterious-after-all iranian tanker, mv iran deyanat, hijacked off the somali coast

Posted by: b real | Dec 12 2008 16:14 utc | 7

we've discussed it here over the span a few years, but eritrea has a fascinating & complex history. wrt the u.s., it hosted for many years a key listening post & even served as a proxy for training rebel forces in southern sudan. the core problem now, to shorten a more complex contextualization, and eritrea is a great textbook example to prove this point, is that it is not onboard w/ foreign designs on the HOA (mostly led by the u.s.) and, thus, has to be demonized.

shabait, the web presence of eritrea's ministry of information, is usually worth a read. it will help you to understand why some want to stop them / shut them up

for instance, a new press release from eritrea's ministry of foreign affairs warns that

In the waning days of the Bush Administration, and as the world awaits a breath of fresh air in US global engagement, some State Department officials are making a last-ditch attempt to tie the hands of the incoming administration in the strategic Horn of Africa region. These officials are once again seeking to have the United States declare Eritrea a “state sponsor of terrorism,” an objective they failed to achieve only a few months earlier, when many in and outside the administration were unconvinced by the accusations and thought the whole idea counter-productive and detrimental to the cause of peace and stability in the Horn of Africa as well as US interests.

...

Eritrea’s position on Somalia has been clear from the outset: i) end foreign intervention as it will only aggravate the situation; and, ii) allow Somalis to find homegrown solutions to their problem. We opposed the US-Ethiopian military adventure in December 2006, stating that Somalia will be a “quagmire” for the occupation force. We consistently called for constructive engagement with all relevant Somali actors. While others tried to divide them, branding some “moderates” and others “extremists”, we questioned the wisdom of such an approach and encouraged Somalis to establish an inclusive and broad alliance to reconstitute their country. Our perspective has been proven right on all accounts.

In light of these facts, it is clear that the motives of the US officials who are, at this late hour, trying to slap the terrorism label and impose sanctions on Eritrea, go beyond the blame game. They intend to obstruct any move to bring US-Eritrea relations back on track.

or, consider the following commentary

The Making of 'Failed States': The Evil Mission of the Western Powers in the Horn of Africa

As the Horn of Africa yet again finds itself submerged in an abyss of mess due to the deliberately destabilising role being played by Western forces and their regional servant regime in Ethiopia, accusing fingers are instead being pointed at law-abiding Eritrea in an attempt to transform the stable nation into another Somalia. This brief article intends to show that the Western powers are indeed on an evil mission of creating 'failed states' in the Horn of Africa in their bid to control the strategic and resource-rich region.

'Failed state' as defined here signifies lawlessness, certain calamity and/or popular feeling of hopelessness in a given nation largely due to an absence of capable and popular leadership that serves the interests of the majority of the population. And Somalia perfectly fits this definition thanks to the illegal and immoral US-Ethiopia invasion and occupation of Somalia, and the unpopular puppet regime they installed in Mogadishu to serve the interests of the occupiers. Somalia, like Afghanistan and Iraq, is thus a case of a deliberately rendered 'failed state' through direct military intervention and occupation.

Posted by: b real | Dec 12 2008 16:48 utc | 8

USA,FRANCE,IRAN and other foreign non-African forces GET OUT OF THE AREA !

YOU ARE THERE ONLY TO CREATE TROUBLE !
UNLIKE THE AMERICAN GIs BASED IN WESTERN EUROPE SINCE THE LATE 1940ies YOU OUTSIDERS FIRST AND FOREMOST USA ARE THERE TO DO HARM DESTROY AND PERPETUATE CONFLICTS !!!

USA'S OFFICIAL ENTRANCE IN THE REGION IN 1991 VIA THE ENEMY AND WESTERN PUPPET REGIME OF MELES OF ETHIOPIA WAS THE BEGINNING OF MISERY AND CONFLICTS AND DISASTERS IN THAT REGION !

UNFORTUNATELY THE USA IS ALSO GETTING WHAT IT DESERVES,PUNISHMENTS !
AMERICANS SHOULD NEVER THINK FOR A SECOND THEY WILL GET AWAY WITH ALL THE CRIMES, SABOTAGES,COVERT CIA ACTIONS AND TROUBLES OF THEIR GOVERNMENTS !

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER SOONER OR LATER THE AMERICANS WILL PAY,AND 9/11
WAS AN EXAMPLE AND THE FOOLISH AMERICANS WONDERED "WHY DO THEY HATE US ?".

ha ha haaaaaaaaaa, you keep on consuming the mainstream media and keep on wondering HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Posted by: Menelik | Dec 12 2008 18:43 utc | 9

@Menelik - maybe you can stop screaming and read the post before commenting? Thanks.

And that request does certainly not mean that anyone here disagrees with you.

Posted by: b | Dec 12 2008 18:52 utc | 10

I have read the shameless comments of "b real",obviously an agent of Eritrea's díctator Isayas Afeworki.

Do you guys know that actually the oridinary Eritreans do not support that dictator and that they are so desperate that they even flee to Ethiopia, a country itself ruled by another dictator and US puppet Meles ?

Both two dictators are from the same ethnic background,Tigre and they fought together until 1991 Ethiopian "communist" dictator Mengistu and were victories in may 1991 thanks to USA support.

Both dictators Meles and Isayas quarreled in 1997 when Eritrea introduced its own currency Nakfa(a funny name intended to offend Ethiopians just like if the Russians call their currency Stalingrad to offend Germans).
Until 1997 Eritrea used Ethiopia's Birr and demanded a 1-1 exchange rate against the Birr.For Ethiopia that was an unacceptable demand by Eritrea because there was nothing Eritrea had to offer Ethiopia except port services and Eritrea could buy everything from Ethiopia.

Imagine in the years from 1991-1997 Eritrea was one of the leading exporters of coffee although not a single coffee tree grew in Eritrea. The trick was Eritrean merchants bought cheap coffee from Ethiopia and exported it for hard currency like USD.The Eritreans were also involved in criminal activities that harmed Ethiopia like printing money and exporting goods,not just coffee, bought in Ethiopia with birr overseas.So Eritrea was a parasite and Eritreans were doing fine in the years 1991-1997.

So when Eritrea introduced Nakfa in 1997 Ethiopia also introduced at the same time and as a reaction a new birr,and Eritrea was angry because it had accumulated billions of birrs in its banks and planned to use them to buy goods from Ethiopia.

So people that was the real reason for the quarrel between the two dictators from the same ethnic group Tigre and who fought together Mengistu.

And then followed the Eritrean invasion against Ethiopia in 1998. That is the story the parasite losing its HOST ethiopia,and suddenly it had no sources of income. Eritrea has little to sell to the world market, it survives thanks to remittances from one or two million of its immigrants in the west and elsewhere,including Ethiopia.

It is very sad that Eritrea even allow countries like Italy and Iran to dump toxic materials on its coast as eritrean opposition
groups report.

Well, finally it was a mistake by the USA to have helped Eritrea,one of the 14 provinces of Ethiopia, to separate.USA and the west would have less trouble today if they had opted for a united Ethiopia, but the USA always wanted to WEAKEN Ethiopia.

By the way also Djibouti belonged to Ethiopia and was supposed to be returned back to Ethiopia in 1977 by France after a 99 years lease,just like Hong Kong.

So we see clearly this pattern of western powers to WEAKEN AND DIVIDE ETHIOPIA !!!

Posted by: Menelik | Dec 12 2008 19:48 utc | 11

we see clearly this pattern of western powers to WEAKEN AND DIVIDE ETHIOPIA !!!

There is some truth in that. There is something wrong with that too. The 'western powers' game is to weaken everyone that resists its demands. That is not selective to Eritrea or Ethiopia or any other tribe, region or country. It is worldwide.

My advice to Eritreans, Ethiopeans and others in Africa is therefor: unite in resisting these demands. The quarrel between yourself is small in reality and artificial increased by those 'western' and 'westernized' who make profit off that quarrel.

Menelik - you still seem to be stuck in the local quarrel which is just what the 'west' wants you to be stuck in. As long as you are in there and fight the Ethiopia vs. Eritrea war the 'west' will profit from you.

Posted by: b | Dec 12 2008 20:26 utc | 12

You are so stupid, Eritreans did not invite any forign forces and will never do so.

Posted by: Tamrat Hailu | Dec 12 2008 23:49 utc | 13

The hapless Eritrean "opposition" can not tell the tree from the forest. They would start any rumor (this is not the first, and won't be the last) that they think would create trouble to the "dictator" demonstrating their weak way of going about deposing him. They are indeed a sad bunch!

Posted by: Emnet Hadera | Dec 13 2008 0:05 utc | 14

Excellent analysis. You deserve an award. In this era of media frenzy where rumor and lies are reported as news, we need people like who can dig deep and expose the lies. Thank you so much.

Posted by: B real | Dec 13 2008 0:47 utc | 15

The writer sounds he is from Eritrea (supporter of PFDJ).

Posted by: Yodit | Dec 13 2008 1:23 utc | 16

Very good breakdown of a rumor.

This thread also serves as an example of the animosities among supporters of different rulers. Afewerki and Meles need their mutual conflict to keep national sentiments on top and divert attention from political suppression and economic want. When one of them falls the other will be in trouble.

As far as I remember both where auditioning for the role of US puppet in the region, and Meles got the part.

Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Dec 13 2008 1:42 utc | 17

Yodit,
I will not surprise if the writer is Sophia her self. She posted the link on dehai as the website is less known.

Posted by: Taffla | Dec 13 2008 2:20 utc | 18

The lady of letters, our heroine has done again. It seems,no mountain is high enough and no distance is far enough for our Sophie to reach. The turncoats, traitors,disgruntled x-diplomats
and their fabricated propaganda articles are no match to her intellect.

Posted by: Koko | Dec 13 2008 2:53 utc | 19

Menelik you have to be ashamed walking around with that stupid name "Menelik". Yelemedech tota hulegezeye shemeteta. You cannot repeat stupid Menelik military strategy Eritrea has reverse it upside down. If it was not for Eritreans you ignorant and still stupid Ethiopians could not have city or life. Look what have you accomplished you idoits with the so called pathological lies of the "3000" years of "independance" you become the most ignorant and the poorest people in the planet and cannot even feed your own family, but proud to beg and use it against your own people. In the first place, your identity is fabricated by Westernerns as they found a good stupid candidate to toy around. You have an identity crisis and it is crashing all over your face. Even with all the help from Soviet during Mengistu, now from US and Europe you cannot even win one freaking war except bulling in the Internet where no one is watching you. I know you cannot repeat a word of what you just said in front of an Eritrean except ecohing to yourself. Ethiopians are the most stupid creatures of the planet who for no reward go into war with anyone. The US and Europe still toying around with your country and you are sitting here talking to yourself. With all your numbers living and working aborad you cannot even help or feed your own people. Do not even dare talking about Eritrea it is too complicated for your donkey head. Something never change you will always be a donkey no matter where and how long you live. You Ethiopians are desparate to establish relations with Eritrea but it is going to happen in our terms. Now you got burn and do not know how to fix it that is your problem. With all this problems that your country is facing how come the US is not fixing your economy? Because the only thing they want is to use your stupid people and country as staging host to spread the virus to the rest of the contnet. Your country women sleep around with lots of AIDS infected men for cheap money and even reject work permit in many foreign countries for failing the AIDS test. Your lies about being Jewish decendant to immigrate to Israel ended up being slaves in Israel. Now Dijibout is toying around with you because you are desparate for sea access. How come the US never developed your country economically? It will defeat its plan of occuping your country. Do not eve dare to speak that you have a country, it is under US and Europe colony still and even more now than ever. We got rid of Menigistu but thanks to your donkey head you invited slavery by the window, and now that you do not have neither the guts nor the means to kick them out you are more than ever new era slaves with fony flag and name "Ethiopia". You will never own your country anymore it is gone and lost, until you raise your arms as men to kick out your masters. See who is in democracy now? See who is being dicated now? The Ameharas with the aid of US and European set up Weyane to get into border war with Eritrea, but guess what garbage-in and garbage-out as you are you got what you deserve the merdic Weyane and US-Europe combo dictatersip. I do not expect you to understand the heroisim and noble standard of our president Isayas and our people, it is beyond the scoop of your donkey brain. Go ahead do what you are best in doing begging and bending to your masters as you are slaves.

Saraha,
=============================
I have read the shameless comments of "b real",obviously an agent of Eritrea's díctator Isayas Afeworki.

Do you guys know that actually the oridinary Eritreans do not support that dictator and that they are so desperate that they even flee to Ethiopia, a country itself ruled by another dictator and US puppet Meles ?

Both two dictators are from the same ethnic background,Tigre and they fought together until 1991 Ethiopian "communist" dictator Mengistu and were victories in may 1991 thanks to USA support.

Both dictators Meles and Isayas quarreled in 1997 when Eritrea introduced its own currency Nakfa(a funny name intended to offend Ethiopians just like if the Russians call their currency Stalingrad to offend Germans).
Until 1997 Eritrea used Ethiopia's Birr and demanded a 1-1 exchange rate against the Birr.For Ethiopia that was an unacceptable demand by Eritrea because there was nothing Eritrea had to offer Ethiopia except port services and Eritrea could buy everything from Ethiopia.

Imagine in the years from 1991-1997 Eritrea was one of the leading exporters of coffee although not a single coffee tree grew in Eritrea. The trick was Eritrean merchants bought cheap coffee from Ethiopia and exported it for hard currency like USD.The Eritreans were also involved in criminal activities that harmed Ethiopia like printing money and exporting goods,not just coffee, bought in Ethiopia with birr overseas.So Eritrea was a parasite and Eritreans were doing fine in the years 1991-1997.

So when Eritrea introduced Nakfa in 1997 Ethiopia also introduced at the same time and as a reaction a new birr,and Eritrea was angry because it had accumulated billions of birrs in its banks and planned to use them to buy goods from Ethiopia.

So people that was the real reason for the quarrel between the two dictators from the same ethnic group Tigre and who fought together Mengistu.

And then followed the Eritrean invasion against Ethiopia in 1998. That is the story the parasite losing its HOST ethiopia,and suddenly it had no sources of income. Eritrea has little to sell to the world market, it survives thanks to remittances from one or two million of its immigrants in the west and elsewhere,including Ethiopia.

It is very sad that Eritrea even allow countries like Italy and Iran to dump toxic materials on its coast as eritrean opposition
groups report.

Well, finally it was a mistake by the USA to have helped Eritrea,one of the 14 provinces of Ethiopia, to separate.USA and the west would have less trouble today if they had opted for a united Ethiopia, but the USA always wanted to WEAKEN Ethiopia.

By the way also Djibouti belonged to Ethiopia and was supposed to be returned back to Ethiopia in 1977 by France after a 99 years lease,just like Hong Kong.

So we see clearly this pattern of western powers to WEAKEN AND DIVIDE ETHIOPIA !!!

Posted by: Menelik | Dec 12, 2008 2:48:05 PM | 11

Posted by: Saraha | Dec 13 2008 3:00 utc | 20

Just wondering when, if ever, did the U.S.-Israeli use of the Dahlak Archipelago cease? Presumably payments are made for such use, and, given the location, it's hard to imagine the NSA or Unit 8200 giving up such a convenient location without making offers to sweeten the pot. Here the silence isn't surprising, but it does make a murky situation even less transparent.
Needless to say, I join all those who have commended b for single-handedly deconstructing an on-going disinformation operation. Indeed, judging from contributions from new arrivals, it seems that b's work is attracting increasing attention from "interested parties".

Posted by: Hannah K. O'Luthon | Dec 13 2008 8:00 utc | 21

Hi to everyone new to this site.

You may also be interested in this series that b real contributed here a while ago:

Understanding AFRICOM: A Contextual Reading of Empire's New Combatant Command

Posted by: b | Dec 13 2008 8:06 utc | 22

Sarah,
you subhuman slave,i guess a man.
you are living in delusion, because your desperate barren country is indeed the poorest of the poor,the reason why some 60% of hungry and desperate eritreans have to flee risking their lives,unfortunately a lot of them are eaten by sharks,
and are to find also in Ethiopia, i know many of them and are desperate to stay there.
what an empty pride you have you sick eritreans,you are so desperate and resourceless that you must to reduce yourselves to dumping
grounds for toxic industrial waste from abroad,and you have become sponsors of terrorism as you can read below.
Sorry, you guys are lost,we in Ethiopia will never allow you to join us again except our Kunama and Afar brothers, you will either desert that barren country and go to work as slaves in foreign lands as 60% or eritreans are doing already or your gone starve there because nothing grows in eritrea and ethiopians no longer will feed you.
what a desperate people.

anyway i wish you all the best and i will discuss this writing of yours with the eritreans i know to taste them, and a nice read below to prove that eritrea is a SPONSOR OF TERRORISM !!!

75% of eritreans are malnourished says an international study,
and some 80% of eritreans survive because of handouts from the west and Ethiopia !
so who is poorer than eritrea eritrean dreamers ???


http://www.ethiomed ia.com/aurora/ 9222.html

Eritrean opposition divulges sensitive government secrets Ethiomedia | December 10, 2008

Editor’s Note - Asena-online. com is an Eritrean opposition website that publishes stories in English and Tigrinya languages. The website grabbed the attention of Ethiopians very recently when reports surfaced on the Web that Iranian troops and ships have deployed in the Red Sea Port of Assab. What are the repercussions of an Iran deploying missiles at a port that is only a stone's throw away from Ethiopian cities, including the capital Addis Ababa? To give readers more insights into the theater of war where the actors include Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Israel, Somali pirates and Islamist insurgents, among others, Abraha Belai presents here a short summary of a five-part series of alleged Eritrean government secrets written by Wuhlul Fedai Negus in Tigrinya. Readers should exercise caution as the authenticity of the report has not been verified by independent sources.
----- // ------ // ------ // ------ // ----- // ------
It has been quite a while since Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki moved his office from Asmara to the Red Sea Port of Massawa. Reason? To supervise a lucrative business in blackmarket arms sales to Somali insurgents and other customers like the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. On July 14, 2007 at the early hours of 2:45 AM, for instance, President Isaias was at Massawa Airport, supervising the landing of a Russian-made cargo plane which unloaded 125 surface-to-air and shoulder-to- air missiles. Eritrean government official Mohamed Qassim Hamd was in charge of the weapons acquisition.
Transporting the weapons to Somalia was Evgueny Zakharov, owner of Aerolift, an airline with a fleet of ageing Antonov and llyushin transport aircraft (based in Johannesburg but registered with the British Virgin Islands). Zakharov's partner from the Eritrean side was Brigadier General Ta'ame (aka Mekelle). Brig.-General Ta'ame was one of the guys who was arrested in Zimbabwe in 1995 following a failed assassination attempt on the life of former Ethiopian dictator Col. Mengitu Hailemariam) . General Ta'ame carries different passports, including Ethiopian, Saudi, Kuwaiti documents on top of his Eritrean diplomatic passport. He is Horn of Africa chief of the purchase, sales and transportation of weapons to the insurgents in Somalia as well as Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. Zakharov has been ferrying weapons from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Iran and Libya to Eritrea. So far, the pilot has wrapped up 76 flights. On July 12, 2008, for instance, Gen. Ta'ame paid Zakharov a blackmarket value of $1.5 million dollars for the arms consignment aboard flight no. 76496. Altogether, Asmara has paid Zakharov a total of US $114 million. A transaction was also conducted on July 13, 2007 at Red Sea Trading Company in Asmara, through the company's manager, Gayim Tekie Kidane (who is now in prison) between Aerolift and Eriko Enterprise of Asmara. A certain Tadesse Kitamu represented Eritrea, and a certain Shitolay Andereniski represented Moscow (Anderenski was, during the Soviet-Derg era, a KGB official in charge of Soviet arms sales to Ethiopia). During unloading of weapons, Eritrea's Minister of finance, Hagos G. Hiwot (aka Kisha), always tips the pilot £2,500 (two thousand and five hundred pound). For all 76 transactions, Kisha has so far graced Zakharov with a bonus of £190,000. Despite such expenses, the Eritrean government has made huge profits out of the blackmarket transactions. During the Zakharov weapons smuggling flight, Islamist extremists believed to have ties with al Qaeda visit Eritrea frequently. The Islamist extremists include individuals having American, French and British citizenships. Weapons from Moscow, Ukraine, Kazakhistan, China, and Iran are first unloaded in Libya, and from there, smuggled into Eritrea in the company of Arabic-speaking men who cover their faces and no one knows which Arab nation they blong to. When they arrive at Massawa Port, they are greeted by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, and Eritrean navy commander Brig.-Gen. Fitsum Gebrehiwot. Then the men head for Somalia, and off to Sri Lanka - home to Tamil Tigers. Eritrea is believed to have been involved not only in arms sales but also training Somali insurgents. In this case, the Eritrean opposition website says Eritrea's involvement in Somalia was verified even by American terrorist member of al Qaeda who was captured in Kenya in 2007 and was later brought to Texas for trial. The convicted American said he was working with Eritrean bomb specialists in Mogadishu who were training Islamist insurgents how to set time-bombs and other explosive devices. Isaias himself would confirm inadvertently Eritrea's involvement in Somalia. In an interview with EriTV (no date was given), Isaias at the time accused Kenya of capturing and handing them over to Ethiopia three Eritrean citizens under the baseless assumption that they were assisting Somali Islamists. The three Eritrean journalists captured during the Ethiopia-led war against the Islamists were Tesfalidet Kidane, Tesfazgi and Saleh Idris, along with two other military specialists.
Italy & Iran vie for industrial waste dumping sites
Italy has before 2005 been looking for a site to dump its toxic industrial waste. In 1988, Rome had reached agreement with the military regime in Addis Ababa about a dumping site along the coast of the Red Sea. At that time, the Eritrean rebel group EPLF of Isaias Afwerki had condemned the agreement. But years later on March 14, 2005 President Isaias met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and their talks were about a site for dumping Italy's industrial waste. The agreement was signed under the cover of promoting bilateral agreements. Accordingly, 136 tons of toxic industrial waste was dumped in Massawa, near the site called Edaga, and another near Tiwalet, a secluded military zone. The person who knew and denounced the crime of dumping toxic waste in Eritrea was Andemichael Kahsai, who was Eritrea's ambassador to Italy, and who was always accompanying Isaias to Italy. The criticism cost the ambassador his life, as his body was later discovered near the Ministry of Labor (Taba). The Eritrean government has received US $21 million from the toxic waste disposal deal. The act has continued to this day. Unlike the numerous news reports on state-owned Eritrean media that President Isaias Afwerki had signed trade and business agreements with Italian investors, no single Italian business ever took off in Eritrea, signifying that the deal was only about where to dump Italy's industrial waste. But Rome was not alone. Iran has all along been watching the Eritrea-Italy "toxic deal" from a distance. Through the broker Mohamed Qassim Hamd, Teheran has since 2007 been able to dump 680 tons of toxic waste on the coast of the Red Sea. On June 11, 2007, for instance, Teheran dumped its industrial waste under the supervision of Col. Mehari Desta, a key official of the Eritrean Navy who reports to Brig.-General Fitsum Gebrehiwot. The Eritrean government is believed to have received several hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran.
Weapons to Somalia and Tamil Tigers
On July 26, 2007 a cargo plane owned by Zakharov was carrying over 140 tons of weapons and ammunition. The Mogadishu-bound cargo plane was seen off by Brig.-Gen. Ta'ame. Growing wary of the situation in Somalia and the region, it is to be recalled the UN Security Council passed a decision on October 6, 2008 to combat the growing problem of piracy. While member states supported the resolution, it was only Eritrea, through her permanent ambassador to the UN, Araya Desta, that opposed vehemently. Business in piracy? Perhaps. In the late hours of the November 14, five Eritrean speed boats carrying 46 members of the Eritrean Navy roared off toward the Gulf of Eden. They were seen off by Brig.-Gen. Fitsum Gebrehiwot, commander of the Eritrean Navy. The five boats were under the command of three officers: Captain Mehari Desta, Capt. Yassin Ferej and Capt. Hassan Fikak. On Monday, October 17, 2008, the media reported pirates had hijacked a Saudi-owned supertanker, Sirious Star, while carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil. In the meantime, On Novemmber 15, 2005, Brig-Gen. Ta'ame along with Somali Islamist Naval force chief, Commander Ayzen Hussein Kemal, originally Kurdish but who nonetheless was a member of the Iranian Navy, flew to Nairobi from Asmara. It is in the wake of such activities that the United States warned its citizens to refrain from travelling to Eritrea and Somalia. EU also warned its citizens to do likewise. Perhaps as a punitive measure, the Eritrean government began to subject diplomatic personnel in Eritrea to searches. The act violates Article 36 of the Geneva Convention, related to diplomatic rules of the UN. On November 20, 2008 the foreign ministry of Eritrea issued a statement opposing the measure that was to be taken by the US, UN and EU to combat piracy. The Eritrean government also warned some countries were trying to turn the region into the dumping site of their toxic industrial waste. But the cry from Asmara was a pre-emptive strike before anyone points an accusatory finger at the Eritrean government. -----
Detailed information is available in Tigrinya language from the original website: www.alena-online. com

Posted by: Menelik | Dec 13 2008 21:41 utc | 23

These officials are once again seeking to have the United States declare Eritrea a “state sponsor of terrorism,”

THAT IS WHAT DESPERATE ERITREA IS, THE ONLY CHANCE FOR THAT BARREN
LAND TO EARN MONEY IS AS WRITTEN IN THE ARTICLE FROM ETHIOMEDIA ALLOWING ONE'S LAND TO BE A DUMPING GROUND FOR TOXIC MATERIALS OR SELLING WEAPONS FOR TERRORISTS, ALL PROVEN !

Eritrea’s position on Somalia has been clear from the outset:

WEAK UP DREAMERS YOURS IS A TINY COUNTRY, IT MATTERS LITTLE WHAT YOU THINK.

i) end foreign intervention as it will only aggravate the situation; and, ii) allow Somalis to find homegrown solutions to their problem.


We opposed the US-Ethiopian military adventure in December 2006, stating that Somalia will be a “quagmire” for the occupation force.

I SEE THAT IS WHY YOU ARE TRAINING AND ARMING TERRORISTS SO THAT WHAT YOU ALLEGEDLY SAY COMES TO REALITY, HA HA !

ALL THE STUFF BELOW IS PROPAGANDA AND DONT THINK ANYONE WILL BUY YOU THAT !


We consistently called for constructive engagement with all relevant Somali actors. While others tried to divide them, branding some “moderates” and others “extremists”, we questioned the wisdom of such an approach and encouraged Somalis to establish an inclusive and broad alliance to reconstitute their country. Our perspective has been proven right on all accounts.

In light of these facts, it is clear that the motives of the US officials who are, at this late hour, trying to slap the terrorism label and impose sanctions on Eritrea, go beyond the blame game. They intend to obstruct any move to bring US-Eritrea relations back on track.

or, consider the following commentary

The Making of 'Failed States': The Evil Mission of the Western Powers in the Horn of Africa


As the Horn of Africa yet again finds itself submerged in an abyss of mess due to the deliberately destabilising role being played by Western forces and their regional servant regime in Ethiopia, accusing fingers are instead being pointed at law-abiding Eritrea in an attempt to transform the stable nation into another Somalia. This brief article intends to show that the Western powers are indeed on an evil mission of creating 'failed states' in the Horn of Africa in their bid to control the strategic and resource-rich region.

'Failed state' as defined here signifies lawlessness, certain calamity and/or popular feeling of hopelessness in a given nation largely due to an absence of capable and popular leadership that serves the interests of the majority of the population. And Somalia perfectly fits this definition thanks to the illegal and immoral US-Ethiopia invasion and occupation of Somalia, and the unpopular puppet regime they installed in Mogadishu to serve the interests of the occupiers. Somalia, like Afghanistan and Iraq, is thus a case of a deliberately rendered 'failed state' through direct military intervention and occupation.


Posted by: Menelik | Dec 13 2008 22:01 utc | 24

Dear Menelik (and other woyanes),

Don't worry, we understand your frustration. No matter the type and amount of dirt woyane throws at Eritrea, it just won't stick. Do you guys realize how ridiculous your propaganda attacks have become of recent? It would shame any normal person, but then again woyane knows no shame as we've learned over the years.

Instead, Eritrea is being vindicated every day after years of attacks from all directions, while woyane's days seem to be numbered. Now how's that possible huh? Just when you thought you had it all not too long ago. Yeah, we understand your frustrations.

Posted by: Badme | Dec 14 2008 18:41 utc | 25

Ethiopia and Joseph Griebosky - A match made in hell

Sophia Tesfamariam

December 12, 2008

There are some stories that are reported that make your head turn and the latest unsubstantiated report by Joseph Grieboski, another Zenawi-phyle takes the cake. The 8 December 2008 report, "Iran deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles to Eritrea", is transparent in its motives. its sources are also not to hard to find. Those of us who have received the Press Statement released by ENOUGH know that Jendayi E. Frazer and the US State Department are hell bent on placing Eritrea on the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism and this latest flurry of news items by Greiboski and the minority regime in Ethiopia, is part and parcel of that deceptive and dangerous, not to mention irresponsible misinformation campaign.

Greibosky´s record shows that he may have a lot in common with the regime in Ethiopia-a propensity for lies, deceptions and distortions. Before I get to Griebosky´s distortion of the truth, allow me to present the Press Statement released by ENOUGH on 9 December 2008 which will shed some light on the Greibosky-Jendayi Frazer-Meles Zenawi latest campaign. According to ENOUGH:

"…As the Bush administration prepares to leave office, it is taking three ill-considered actions that threaten to exacerbate the already catastrophic situation in Somalia and tie the hands of the incoming Obama Administration. The Bush administration is: 1) urging Ethiopia to keep its armed forces in Somalia until after the administration leaves office; 2) pushing for authorization of a U.N. peacekeeping mission to protect the fractious and impotent Transitional Federal Government after Ethiopia´s departure; and 3) moving to place Ethiopia´s arch-rival Eritrea on the U.S. State Department´s State Sponsors of Terrorism list. There is little indication that the Bush Administration has thought through the implications of these major steps that would not only prolong the violence on the ground, but would hijack the incoming Obama Administration´s policy prerogatives while leaving it with an even more intractable crisis in the troubled Horn of Africa…"

We will have to wait and find out if Condoleezza Rice´s trip to Ethiopia to learn more.

Let me get back to Griebosky.

His report is also a perfect example of how these individuals and groups disseminate information through the internet (he didn´t get coverage by mainstream media), without ever verifying them, only because they came from "inside sources". There is a lot that needs to be known about Joseph Grieboski, the lucrative Institute for Religion and Public Policy which he founded. His record is quite clear to Eritrean Americans who have followed his anti-Eritrea campaigns at the US State Department, to place Eritrea on the "List of Countries of particular Concern" for religious freedom. I will not detail his record and those of his associates just yet. Suffice it to mention that his latest "project" is Eritrean refugees, and sooner or later, I knew he would take the bait and he did. In a future article, I will detail Griebosky´s record and allow the readers to judge for themselves.

Greibosky has been working to put Eritrea on various US State Department lists for quite sometime now, something his Ethiopian handlers want desperately. So he attempts to deliver with this wild story, even for a fanatic like him, this is far reaching. Here is what he wrote in Cutting Edge on 8 December 2008:

"….Local sources have reported that Iran recently sent soldiers and a large number of long-range and ballistic missiles. The military basing came after Iran signed an accord with Eritrea to revamp the Russian-built refinery used by the Eritrean Oil Company, also known as Assab Oil Company. As the world´s second largest import of gasoline, Iran is sensitive to a Western plan to obstruct its access to refined product as a part of broad sanctions provoked by Teheran´s nuclear activities. Iran needs nearby oil refining ability. Using protection of the Eritrean refinery as a pretext, Iran has set up its military operation there, and has been patrolling with unmanned surveillance drones…"

There is a saying in Tigrinya that says something like "dhri adgi ziKede, tirat adgi lemede"-meaning, those who chase behind donkeys, fart like donkeys… and Grieboski fits that description perfectly. The mercenary information launderers fed him erroneous information received through their own "networks", and that stuff about the donkeys applies to them too…

First of all, if he had any decency he would go ahead and let his readers know that the sources are the same individuals and groups, mercenaries hired by the minority regime in Ethiopia to fabricate and launder information about Eritrea and that the "diplomats" are none other than the Ethiopian Embassy, who were his guests at a 23 November 2008 event he hosted in his hometown, Scranton Pennsylvania. He also neglected to mention his close ties to the regime in Ethiopia and that he functions as a lobbyist on their behalf…when he is not globe trotting to find "religious hot spots".

His story is designed to divert attention away from the real story in the Horn of Africa which is the illegal US-backed Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia and the quagmire created by the ill-advised policy for Somalia executed by Jendayi E. Frazer and her Horn confidante Meles Zenawi, the genocidal leader of the minority regime in Ethiopia. Greiboski has undermined his Institute and the many think tanks and groups in US Government who have relied, and paid handsomely, for his research and reports. The corrupt minority regime in Ethiopia is now engaged in their own version of "pay to play" politics in Washington.

It should be recalled that on 13 March 2007, Mr. Grieboski hosted a round table meeting with the Ethiopian figurehead President Girma Woldegiorgis and has worked hard to strengthen his relationship with the regime since. When Meles Zenawi´s Aggazi forces slaughtered innocent Ethiopians on the streets of Addis Ababa and killed over 200 people for protesting the regime´s stealing of their votes, slaughtered innocent men, women and children in the Gambela, Ogaden, and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, US lawmakers decided to take action. They introduced HR-2003, known as the Ethiopian Democracy and Human Rights Bill, besides Jendayi E. Frazer´s State Department and the regime´s group of no less than 12 lobbyists, led by Dick Army; it was Grieboski´s Institute that wrote to the United States Congress to kill the Bill. Here is what he wrote:

"…Ethiopia has made outstanding progress in democratic development, human rights, religious freedom, political and civil rights. Despite this improvement, the House of Representatives wishes to impose its own timeline and its own standards on Ethiopia's advance… H.R.2003 is a threat to American political and security interests in the Horn of Africa and in Africa as a whole and only serves to alienate yet another ally with a sticks-but-no-carrots approach to foreign policy…It is imperative that the United States Senate reexamines the merits of H.R. 2003 as currently drafted and amend the bill to provide the appropriate democratic tools and capacity-building agenda, before it causes undue harm to American interests…"

Congressman Smith would know more about Meles Zenawi´s history. Here is what he had to say then:

"…given the recent history of systematic human rights abuse by the Meles regime and the credible reports of rape and slaughter in Ogaden, it is hard for any reasonable person to trust the government or anything it might say without independent verification, fresh accountability, genuine transparency, and systemic reform…I believe that neither we nor the international community has pushed the Meles government hard enough on human rights issues because we have been satisfied it cooperates with us to some extent in the war on terror…Everything that has happened since 2005 has only made the need for our legislation more compelling…The war on terror is very important, but no regime that terrorizes its own citizens can be a reliable ally in the war on terror. Terrorism isn´t just a military issue. It is also a human rights issue. Terrorists come from countries where their governments fail to respect their human rights…"

Mr. Grieboski should stop regurgitating the regime´s spills and pay attention to what other credible sources have reported about the regime´s murderous reign. Allow me to remind him of human rights record of the regime he is shielding in order to advance his own personal agendas. These are well documented by those who are serious about human rights and are not using it to enrich themselves and those in their "networks" who shamelessly claim to be concerned about "religious persecution".

Meles Zenawi's security and military apparatus massacred 44 University students in cold blood in Addis Ababa in 2001.

On May 2002, Meles Zenawi's forces massacred over 100 people in Awassa, his forces committed illegal acts against innocent citizens who were demonstrating against a change in the administrative status of Awassa. Security agents used machine guns mounted on armored vehicles to fire into a group of unarmed peasants, workers, women and children. Twelve of those killed were children.

In what was described then as "Africa's Kosovo", the shameless bigoted leader of the Tigrayan minority regime in Ethiopia, in 1998 and 1999 deported over 80,000 innocent Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin and confiscated over a billion dollars worth of their hard earned belongings right under the watchful eye of the African Union, UN and EU Ambassadors. Meles said, "The Ethiopian government has the unrestricted right to expel any foreigner from the country for any reason whatsoever. Any foreigner, whether Eritrean, Japanese, etc., lives in Ethiopia because of the goodwill of the government. If the Ethiopian government says 'Go, because we don't like the colour of your eyes,' they have to leave."

Dubbed "Operation Sunny Mountain" by Meles Zenawi and his minority regime, plans to procure Annuak territory, a zone coveted by corporate interests for its oil and gold, were laid out at a top-level cabinet meeting in Addis Ababa led by Meles Zenawi on September 2003. At that meeting, "the militant ethnic cleansing of the Anuaks" was openly discussed and a coordinated military operation to systematically eliminate Anuaks began on 13 December 2003. The minority regime in Ethiopia willfully burned villages, massacred hundreds of Anuaks and Nuers and caused over 15,000 inhabitants of Gambela to flee to neighboring Sudan and Kenya.

Meles Zenawi´s minority regime rigged the May 2005 Elections and stole the people´s votes igniting the nationwide protests. Having declared a "State of Emergency" on 16 May 2005, and after taking full command of the police, security and army apparatus, the genocidal regime detained all the opposition leaders, journalists, civil society leaders and opposition supporters on trumped up charges of treason and inciting violence, and detained over 40,000 Ethiopians all over the country while its military and security forces massacred over 100 people.

Misusing arms and equipment originally intended to boost Ethiopia's "antiterrorism efforts" along the country's border with Somalia, the US Ambassador to Ethiopia has acknowledged Meles Zenawi´s regime´s usage of "Humvees", US military vehicles, to harass, intimidate and terrorize Ethiopians.

On 24 December 2006, using various pretexts invaded and occupied sovereign Somali territories. Amnesty International reported that Ethiopian troops are killing civilians by slitting their throats and gang-raping women. Somali civilians were, according to witnesses, "slaughtered like goats." The illegal invasion and occupation of Somalia has resulted in the displacement of over one million internally displaced persons and nearly 3.5 million "on the verge of starvation". It has been called the greatest humanitarian disaster in the history of Somalia.

So why is this human rights advocate palling around with Meles Zenawi´s mercenaries and looking the other way as Meles Zneawi and his clan commit horrendous international crimes and violate every human right of Ethiopians, Somalis and more? It´s "pay to play" season and Griebosky and his team have scored. This is what the mayor of Scranton said on 23 November 2008 during the event sponsored by Grieboski and the guest list included the Ethiopian ambassador to the United States:

"…This morning, Scranton will enter into a sister-city relationship between Scranton and Mekele, Ethiopia, a city of 169,000. Doherty said he first met officials from Ethiopia during the institute´s diplomatic dinner at the Scranton Cultural Center in July…"

But that is not all. This story also helps his information gathering on Iran. It seems Griebosky and another individual were paid well-$175000 worth- by the Smith Richardson Foundation to edit and produce:

"….The Iran Report, a weekly survey of political, economic, social, and geopolitical events concerning Iran…"

I suppose gathering bogus and fabricated stories is all part of the game…it worked in Iraq…now thousands are paying for that horrendous miscalculation…but who cares…after all its Moslems that are being slaughtered, not Christians.

Finally, on the Iran-Eritrea fabrication and distortion, instead of relying on his dubious "network" for his reports on Iran, he could have made a simple call to the Eritrean Embassy in Washington, DC. Eritrea has not provided any bases to Iran in Assab or anywhere else in Eritrea. In addition, if he had done a bit of homework, he would have known about the deceptive tactics used by the regime in Ethiopia for the last 17 years in which it constantly put out reports about "Eritrea providing bases for Israel", all of which turned out to be pure propaganda and fabrications…something the regime and his handlers seem to have perfected. Today, it is Iran, next it will be…

By the way, why isn´t Griebosky questioning Ethiopia´s close ties to Iran? What about the many business agreements signed between the two countries? Is he afraid he will fall out of favor with his "network" of friends in high places? There used to be a time when he did call a spade a spade…Allow me to remind him of what he said about Ethiopia and Sudan in an article posted on Survivors International on 7 august 2001. In that Griebosky wrote about "oil revenues help fuel the Islamic government's war on the Christians and animists in Sudan's south" and this about Ethiopia:

"…Ethiopia was the first country in the region to reach an oil agreement with Sudan. A contract was signed June 15 for an annual supply to Addis Ababa of 120,000 tons of gasoline and 36,000 tons of kerosene.To speed up fuel delivery, in compliance with the contract, Ethiopia will build its own depot in Sudanese territory. Ethiopia has already begun using Port Sudan for its export-import traffic. This has enabled Ethiopia to sidestep Eritrea, which after the 1998-2000 border war, closed its ports to Ethiopia. This drawing closer between Ethiopia and Sudan comes after years of tension…Oil profits are used by Khartoum to increase its military potential. Recently, thanks to Chinese aid, three new arms and ammunitions factories were built near Khartoum…"

So what happened or should I be asking, who got to Griebosky?

Eritrea is a sovereign state and as such has certain rights that neither Griebosky nor his friends at the Ethiopian Embassy can dictate. Instead of sitting on his laurels and making "business deals" with criminal regimes and their mercenaries, he ought to spend a few minutes reflecting on the lives of thousands that are being destroyed by the failed, incoherent and Islamphobic foreign policies of the Administration that brought him the most lucrative agendas!

Allow me to end with an excerpt from ENOUGH´s latest statement:

"….placing Eritrea on the U.S. State Department´s State Sponsors of Terrorism list, the Bush administration would push Eritrea into a corner precisely at a time when they are willing to demonstrate some flexibility. There may or may not be sufficient evidence to make the case against Eritrea, but such a strategically significant determination should not be made by a lame duck administration. This determination has the potential to spoil U.S. peacemaking efforts in Sudan and Somalia, and could deepen the crisis in the Horn of Africa by fueling already intense antipathies between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Designating Eritrea as a State Sponsor of Terrorism would have no purpose other than to shrink the Obama administration´s diplomatic room for maneuver in the region while possibly making the very real counter terrorism imperatives in Somalia more difficult to achieve…"

Hopefully the Barack Obama Administration will not fall prey to these kinds of evil and underhanded political games and intrigues and self serving information peddlers that have plagued the Bush Administration and undermined US credibility, integrity and reputation around the world and especially in the Horn of Africa region, not to mention the carnage and destruction it leaves behind.

The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/84594

Posted by: The New Gold & Oil Rich African Nation Of Eritrea | Dec 15 2008 8:31 utc | 26

The Canadian Jewish News today published the Grieboski propaganda piece as "Exclusive to cjnews.com" (see international index page) on its website.

Posted by: b | Dec 16 2008 15:13 utc | 27

shabait has the tesfamariam article in #26 here w/ better markup/formatting, making it much easier to read

Posted by: b real | Dec 16 2008 16:32 utc | 28

Quite a good article,managed to systematically dismantle a rumour. Wish there were more like him.

Posted by: Jacob | Dec 17 2008 21:47 utc | 29

The true fact is that Africa is undersiege , The Western World is trying to get back to 1881 to devide for their Benifit the Wealth and Raw-material they need .
But Africa is not the Africa that came from the post Colonial Period, there are new Leaders who have learned from Nelson Mandela "to say No". The objections of the SuperPowers to any Political or Economic Treaty that African nations sign is seen as a danger to their losing of Influence. See what happened to the Sudan when they signed the Oil Deal with China, see how they target the President of Eritrea as Sponsor of Terrorism for his great Friendship with the Arab Nations. So what is the Fuzz if Eritrea wants to join Forces with Iran or help the Somalian Muslim brotherhood. Why are the somali Muslim Brothers targeted as terrotists if they are fighting in their own territories for a Cause that they believe in. There are many Whys?
that have to be Answered. After the WW2 the United States were granted by Saudi Arabia the permission to govern the Red Sea Route , later Haile sellasie signed with the Americans a 99 years Contract to create one of the Largest U.S.A. Bases in Eritrea, but today no African State except for Ethiopia need the United States Presence at Home. Sure if you go to East of the Corn Djibuti you can enjoy the many European Armies Stationed there ,I ask when will the African Organisation ask them to Live, Colonialism seems not to have ended in that Part of Africa. This are the big issues together with AIDS and Drought not if Iran will settle in Assab what if instead it was a Texan or European Nation, do you think we would have all this Gossips.
Mahari seghid
african refugees News

Posted by: mahari | Dec 19 2008 10:56 utc | 30

26,28, excellent round up article

Posted by: annie | Dec 19 2008 17:25 utc | 31

b, i failed to mention...i was away for a few days last week and unable to post due to time constraints but i was reading all the links and comments in this invaluable post and comment section. thank you so much (everyone). normally, i would say simply stunning but i am all to accustomed to these depths of depravities to be shocked anymore.

simply invaluable

Posted by: annie | Dec 19 2008 17:29 utc | 32

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