Northern Africa (UN subregion)

  geographic, including above

Clockwise from the left:

  Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan

continued from right to left:

  Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitical, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.^[1] Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Libya together are alhhhhhh the Maghreb or Maghrib, while Egypt and Sudan are referred to as Nile Valley, Egypt is a transcontinental country by virtue of the Sinai Peninsula, which is in Asia. North Africa also includes a number of Spanish possessions, Ceuta and Melilla (tiny Spanish exclaves or islets off the coast of Morocco). The Canary Islands and the Portuguese Madeira Islands, in the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of the African mainland, are sometimes included in considerations of the region.^{[citation needed]}

The distinction between Northern Africa and the rest of Africa is historically and ecologically significant because of the effective barrier created by the Sahara. Throughout history this barrier has culturally separated the North from the rest of Africa and, as the seafaring civilizations of the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and others facilitated communication and migration across the Mediterranean, the cultures of North Africa became much more closely tied to Southwestern Asia and Europe than Sub-Saharan Africa. The Islamic influence in the area is significant, and North Africa, along with the Middle East, is a major part of the Arab World.

Some researchers have postulated that North Africa, and not East or South Africa, was the original home of the modern humans who first trekked out of the continent.^[2][3][4]

Geography[link]

North Africa, consisting of the Sahara and north, in the northern red climatic zone and northwards

The Atlas Mountains, which extend across much of Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, are part of the fold mountain system which also runs through much of Southern Europe. They recede to the south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before meeting the Sahara desert which covers more than 75% of the region. The sediments of the Sahara overlie an ancient plateau of crystalline rock, some of which is more than four billion years old.

Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile valley and delta, and the Mediterranean coast are the main sources of good farming land. A wide variety of valuable crops including cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such as cedar and cork, are grown. Typical mediterranean crops such as olives, figs, dates and citrus fruits also thrive in these areas. The Nile valley is particularly fertile, and most of population in Egypt and Sudan lives close to the river. Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to improve crop yields on the desert margins.

Territories and regions[link]

Countries and territories	Area (km²)	Population	Density (per km²)	Capital	GDP (Total)	GDP per capita	Currency	Government	Official languages
Algeria	2,381,741	[5]34,994,937	14.5	Algiers	$254.7 billion (2010 est.)[5]	$7,400 (2010 est.)	Algerian dinar	Presidential republic	Arabic (official), Berber (national)
Egypt	1,001,450	80,471,869	80.4	Cairo	$500.9 billion (2010)	$6,200 (2010)	Egyptian pound	Semi-presidential republic	Arabic
Libya	1,759,540	6,461,454	3.7	Tripoli	$89.03 billion (2010)[6]	$13,800 (2010)	Libyan dinar	Provisional authority	Arabic (official), Berber (national)
Morocco	710,850	[7]32,226,056	70.8	Rabat	$153.8 billion (2010)[8]	$4,900 (2010)	Moroccan dirham	Constitutional monarchy	Arabic and Berber (both official)
Sudan	1,886,068	30,894,000	16.4	Khartoum	$98.79 billion (2010) prior to break up[9]	$2,200 (2010)—prior to break-up	Sudanese pound	Federal republic (Authoritarian)	Arabic
Tunisia	163,610	10,589,025	64.7	Tunis	$100.3 billion (2010)[10]	$9,500 (2010)	Tunisian dinar	Republic	Arabic
Western Sahara[11]  Morocco	266,000	[12]320,000	1.2	El Aaiún (Laâyoune) (controlled by Morocco)	$900 million (2007)[13]	$2,500 (2007)	Moroccan dirham	Constitutional monarchy	Arabic and Berber (both official), Hassaniya (recognized)
Total, North Africa	7,904,959	195,637,341	24.7		$1.2 trillion	$5,700
Source: The World Factbook, United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 11 February 2011.[14]

People[link]

Market of Biskra in Algeria, 1899

The inhabitants of North Africa are generally divided in a manner roughly corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa: the Maghreb, the Nile Valley, and the Sahara. Northwest Africa on the whole is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers since before the beginning of recorded history, while the eastern part of North Africa has been home to the Egyptians and Nubians. Ancient Egyptians record extensive contact in their Western desert with people that appear to have been Berber or proto-Berber.

The official language or one of the official languages in all of the countries in North Africa is Arabic. The largest ethnic groups in North Africa are the Arabs and Berbers. North Africa is predominantly Muslim, with Christian and Jewish minorities.

Culture[link]

The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara speak various dialects of Berber and Arabic, and almost exclusively follow Islam. The Arabic and Berber groups of languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afro-Asiatic family. The Sahara dialects are notably more conservative than those of coastal cities (see Tuareg languages). Over the years, Berber peoples have been influenced by other cultures with which they came in contact: Nubians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, and lately Europeans. The cultures of the Maghreb and the Sahara therefore combine indigenous Berber, Arab and elements from neighboring parts of Africa and beyond. In the Sahara, the distinction between sedentary oasis inhabitants and nomadic Bedouin and Tuareg is particularly marked.

The kasbah of Aït Benhaddou in Morocco

The diverse peoples of the Sahara are usually categorized along ethno-linguistic lines. In the Maghreb, where Arab and Berber identities are often integrated, these lines can be blurred. Some Berber-speaking North Africans may identify as "Arab" depending on the social and political circumstances, although substantial numbers of Berbers (or Imazighen) have retained a distinct cultural identity which in the 20th century has been expressed as a clear ethnic identification with Berber history and language. Arabic-speaking Northwest Africans, regardless of ethnic background, often identify with Arab history and culture and may share a common vision with other Arabs. This, however, may or may not exclude pride in and identification with Berber and/or other parts of their heritage. Berber political and cultural activists for their part, often referred to as Berberists, may view all Northwest Africans as principally Berber, whether they are primarily Berber- or Arabic-speaking (see also Arabized Berber).

The Nile Valley through northern Sudan traces its origins to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Kush. The Egyptians over the centuries have shifted their language from Egyptian to modern Egyptian Arabic, while retaining a sense of national identity that has historically set them apart from other people in the region. Most Egyptians are Sunni Muslim and a significant minority adheres to Coptic Christianity. In Nubia, straddling Egypt and Sudan, a significant population retains the ancient Nubian language but has adopted Islam. The Republic of the Sudan is home to a largely Arab Muslim population, although there remains significant non-Arab (through Muslim) populations in the north (Nubians), west (Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa) and south (Nuba) of Sudan and largely non-Muslim populations in South Sudan.

North Africa formerly had a large Jewish population, almost all of whom emigrated to France or Israel when the North African nations gained independence. A smaller number went to Canada. Prior to the modern establishment of Israel, there were about 600,000-700,000 Jews in Northern Africa, including both Sfardīm (refugees from France, Spain and Portugal from the Renaissance era) as well as indigenous Mizrāḥîm. Today, less than fifteen thousand remain in the region, almost all in Morocco and Tunisia, and are mostly part of a French-speaking urban elite. (See Jewish exodus from Arab lands.)

History[link]

Antiquity and ancient Rome[link]

The first Roman emperor native to North Africa was Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna in present-day Libya.

The most notable nations of antiquity in western North Africa are Carthage and Numidia. The Phoenicians colonized much of North Africa including Carthage and parts of present day Morocco (including Chellah, Mogador and Volubilis^[15]). The Carthaginians were of Phoenician origin, with the Roman myth of their origin being that Queen Dido, a Phoenician princess was granted land by a local ruler based on how much land she could cover with a piece of cowhide. She ingeniously devised a method to extend the cowhide to a high proportion, thus gaining a large territory. She was also rejected by the Trojan prince Aeneas according to Virgil, thus creating a historical enmity between Carthage and Rome, as Aeneas would eventually lay the foundations for Rome. The Carthaginians were a commercial power and had a strong navy, but relied on mercenaries for land soldiers. The Carthaginians developed an empire in the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily, the latter being the cause of First Punic War with the Romans.

Over a hundred years and more, all Carthaginian territory was eventually conquered by the Romans, resulting in the Carthaginian North African territories becoming the Roman province of Africa in 146 B.C.^[16] This led to tension and eventually conflict between Numidia and Rome. The Numidian wars are notable for launching the careers of both Gaius Marius, and Sulla, and stretching the constitutional burden of the Roman republic, as Marius required a professional army, something previously contrary to Roman values to overcome the talented military leader Jugurtha.^[17]

North Africa remained a part of the Roman Empire, which produced many notable citizens such as Augustine of Hippo, until incompetent leadership from Roman commanders in the early fifth century allowed the Germanic barbarian tribe, the Vandals, to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, whereupon they overcame the fickle Roman defense. The loss of North Africa is considered a pinnacle point in the fall of the Western Roman Empire as Africa had previously been an important grain province that maintained Roman prosperity despite the barbarian incursions, and the wealth required to create new armies. The issue of regaining North Africa became paramount to the Western Empire, but was frustrated by Vandal victories. The focus of Roman energy had to be on the emerging threat of the Huns. In 468 AD the Romans made one last serious attempt to invade North Africa but were repelled. This perhaps marks the point of terminal decline for the Western Roman Empire. The last Roman emperor was deposed in 476 by the Heruli general Odoacer. Trade routes between Europe and North Africa remained intact until the coming of Islam. Some Berbers were Christians (but evolved their own Donatist doctrine),^[18] some were Jewish, and some adhered to their traditional polytheist religion. African pope Victor I served during the reign of Roman emperor Septimius Severus, of Roman/Berber ancestry.^[19] The Byzantine reconquest of North Africa from the Vandals began in 533 AD, as Justinian I sent his general Belisarius to reclaim the former Roman province of Africa.

Arab conquest to modern times[link]

The Great Mosque of Kairouan, founded by the Arab general Uqba Ibn Nafi in 670 AD, is the oldest and most important mosque in North Africa;^[20] city of Kairouan, Tunisia.

The Arab Islamic conquest reached North Africa in 640 AD. By 670, most of North Africa had fallen to Muslim rule. Indigenous Berbers subsequently started to form their own polities in response in places such as Fez, Morocco, and Sijilimasa. In the eleventh century, a reformist movement made up of members that called themselves Almoravids, expanded south into Sub-Saharan Africa.

The North Africa's populous and flourishing civilization collapsed after exhausting its resources in internal fighting and suffering devastation from the invasion of the Bedouin tribes of Banu Sulaym and Banu Hilal. Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.^[21]

After the Middle Ages the area was loosely under the control of the Ottoman Empire, except Morocco. After the 19th century, the imperial and colonial presence of France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy left the entirety of the region under one form of European occupation.

In World War II from 1940 to 1943 the area was the setting for the North African Campaign. During the 1950s and 1960s all of the North African states gained independence. There remains a dispute over Western Sahara between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.

In 2010 - 2011 massive protests swept the region leading to the overthrow of the governments in Tunisia and Egypt, as well as civil war in Libya. Large protests also occurred in Algeria and Morocco to a lesser extent. Many hundreds died in the uprisings.^[22]

Transport and industry[link]

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Thousands of people in North Africa depend on date palm trees for a living. Tunisia in 1960

The economies of Algeria and Libya were transformed by the discovery of oil and natural gas reserves in the deserts. Morocco's major exports are phosphates and agricultural produce, and as in Egypt and Tunisia, the tourist industry is essential to the economy. Egypt has the most varied industrial base, importing technology to develop electronics and engineering industries, and maintaining the reputation of its high-quality cotton textiles.

Oil rigs are scattered throughout the deserts of Libya and Algeria. Libyan oil is especially prized because of its low sulphur content, which means it produces much less pollution than other fuel oils.

Recorded Temperature[link]

In 2010, Chad, Niger and Sudan all recorded their hottest all-time temperatures on record. In Chad, the temperature reached 47.6°C (117.7°F) on June 22 in Faya-Largeau, breaking a record set in 1961 at the same location. Niger tied its highest temperature record set in 1998, on also June 22, at 47.1°C (116.78°F) in Bilma. That record was broken the next day, on June 23 when Bilma hit 48.2°C (118.8°F). The hottest temperature recorded in Sudan was reached on June 25, at 49.6°C (121.3°F) in Dongola, breaking a record set in 1987.^[23]

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	Africa portal

• 2004 locust outbreak
• European Digital Archive on Soil Maps of the World
• Northern Africa Railroad Development
• List of modern conflicts in North Africa

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Northern Africa or North Africa

• Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples
• North Africa's Weather Forecasts and Weather Conditions
• North Africa news and analysis
• Africa Interactive Map from the United States Army Africa

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Ali Baba by Maxfield Parrish (1909)

Ali Baba (Arabic: علي بابا‎ ʿAli Bāba) is a fictional character from medieval Arabic literature. He is described in the adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

This story has been used as a popular pantomime plot such as in the pantomime/musical Chu Chin Chow (1916). Like many other folk tales frequently adapted for children, the original tale is darker and more violent than the more familiar bowdlerised versions. Popular perception of Ali Baba, and the way he is treated in popular media, sometimes implies that he was the leader of the "Forty Thieves": in the story he is actually an "honest man"^[1] whom fortune enables to take advantage of the thieves' robberies.

Textual history[link]

Some critics believe that this story was added to One Thousand and One Nights by one of its European translators, Antoine Galland, an 18th-century French orientalist who may have heard it in oral form from a Middle Eastern story-teller from Aleppo, in modern day Syria. In any case, the first known text of the story is Galland's French version. Richard F. Burton, however, claimed it to be part of the original One Thousand and One Nights.

The American Orientalist Duncan Black MacDonald discovered an Arabic-language manuscript of the legend at the Bodleian Library;^[2] however, this was later found to be a counterfeit.

Story[link]

Ali Baba and his elder brother Cassim are the sons of a merchant. After the death of their father, the greedy Cassim marries a wealthy woman and becomes well-to-do, building on their father's business—but Ali Baba marries a poor woman and settles into the trade of a woodcutter.

One day Ali Baba is at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, and he happens to overhear a group of forty thieves visiting their treasure store. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by magic. It opens on the words "iftah ya simsim" (commonly written as "Open Sesame" in English), and seals itself on the words "Close, Simsim" ("Close Sesame"). When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself, and takes some of the treasure home.

Ali Baba borrows his sister-in-law's scales to weigh this new wealth of gold coins. Unbeknownst to Ali, she puts a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali is using them for, as she is curious to know what kind of grain her impoverished brother-in-law needs to measure. To her shock, she finds a gold coin sticking to the scales and tells her husband, Ali Baba's rich and greedy brother, Cassim. Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba is forced to reveal the secret of the cave. Cassim goes to the cave and enters with the magic words, but in his greed and excitement over the treasures forgets the magic words to get back out again. The thieves find him there, and kill him. When his brother does not come back, Ali Baba goes to the cave to look for him, and finds the body, quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the entrance of the cave to discourage any similar attempts in the future.

Ali Baba brings the body home, where he entrusts Morgiana, a clever slave-girl in Cassim's household, with the task of making others believe that Cassim has died a natural death. First, Morgiana purchases medicines from an apothecary, telling him that Cassim is gravely ill. Then, she finds an old tailor known as Baba Mustafa whom she pays, blindfolds, and leads to Cassim's house. There, overnight, the tailor stitches the pieces of Cassim's body back together, so that no one will be suspicious. Ali and his family are able to give Cassim a proper burial without anyone asking awkward questions.

The thieves, finding the body gone, realize that yet another person must know their secret, and set out to track him down. One of the thieves goes down to the town and comes across Baba Mustafa, who mentions that he has just sewn a dead man's body back together. Realizing that the dead man must have been the thieves' victim, the thief asks Baba Mustafa to lead the way to the house where the deed was performed. The tailor is blindfolded again, and in this state he is able to retrace his steps and find the house. The thief marks the door with a symbol. The plan is for the other thieves to come back that night and kill everyone in the house. However, the thief has been seen by Morgiana and she, loyal to her master, foils his plan by marking all the houses in the neighborhood with a similar marking. When the 40 thieves return that night, they cannot identify the correct house and the head thief kills the lesser thief. The next day, another thief revisits Baba Mustafa and tries again, only this time, a chunk is chipped out of the stone step at Ali Baba's front door. Again Morgiana foils the plan by making similar chips in all the other doorsteps. The second thief is killed for his stupidity as well. At last, the head thief goes and looks for himself. This time, he memorizes every detail he can of the exterior of Ali Baba's house.

The chief of the thieves pretends to be an oil merchant in need of Ali Baba's hospitality, bringing with him mules loaded with thirty-eight oil jars, one filled with oil, the other thirty-seven hiding the other remaining thieves. Once Ali Baba is asleep, the thieves plan to kill him. Again, Morgiana discovers and foils the plan, killing the thirty-seven thieves in their oil jars by pouring boiling oil on them. When their leader comes to rouse his men, he discovers that they are dead, and escapes.

To exact revenge, after some time the thief establishes himself as a merchant, befriends Ali Baba's son (who is now in charge of the late Cassim's business), and is invited to dinner at Ali Baba's house. The thief is recognized by Morgiana, who performs a dance with a dagger for the diners and plunges it into the heart of the thief when he is off his guard. Ali Baba is at first angry with Morgiana, but when he finds out the thief tried to kill him, he gives Morgiana her freedom and marries her to his son. Ali Baba is then left as the only one knowing the secret of the treasure in the cave and how to access it. Thus, the story ends happily for everyone except the forty thieves and Cassim.

Classification[link]

The story has been classified in the Aarne–Thompson classification system as AT 676.^[3]

Adaptations[link]

• The story was made into an Egyptian movie in 1942 as "Ali Baba We El Arbeen Haramy" (Alibaba and the Forty Thieves), with Ali AlKassar playing the lead as Ali Baba, and the comedian actor Ismail Yasin as his assistant.
• An 1878 British pantomime version was The Forty Thieves.
• A French film Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs starring Fernandel and Samia Gamal (1954).
• A French telefilm starring Gérard Jugnot and Catherine Zeta-Jones (2007).
• In 1970s Alibaba story was adapted in a Bengali film called 'Morgiana Abdulla'.
• A Soviet-Indian joint film of 1979 Ali Baba aur 40 Chor, starring Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Rolan Bykov and Zeenat Aman, was largely based on this adventure tale.
• A Malaysian comedy film, Ali Baba Bujang Lapok (1960) which quite faithfully adhered to the tale's plot details, but introduced a number of anachronisms for humour, for example the usage of a truck by Kassim Baba to steal the robbers' loot.
• There are two Tamil films under the title Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum ("Alibaba and Forty Thieves"). The first film starring N. S. Krishnan as Ali Baba released in 1941, the second film starring M. G. Ramachandran, released in 1956.
• The story was adapted in the 1971 anime Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (アリババと４０匹の盗賊, Aribaba to Yonjuppiki no Tozoku^?), storyboarded by Hayao Miyazaki.
• The concept of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was used for the last installment of Disney's Aladdin series, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, released in 1996, introducing Cassim the King of Thieves as Aladdin's father.
• In the television mini-series Arabian Nights, the story is told faithfully with two major changes. The first is that when Morgiana discovers the thieves in the oil jars, she alerts Ali Baba and together with a friend, they release the jars on a street with a steep incline and allow them roll down to break open. Furthermore, the city guard is alerted and arrest the disoriented thieves as they emerge from their containers. Later when Morgiana defeats the thief leader, Ali Baba, who is young and has no children, marries the heroine himself.
• A film adaption Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was made in 1944. The film was remade in 1965 as The Sword of Ali Baba. Frank Puglia portrayed the character named Kassim in both versions.
• At the United States Air Force Academy, Cadet Squadron 40 was originally nicknamed "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" before eventually changing its name to the "P-40 Warhawks"
• A mythopoeic novel by Tom Holt, 'Open Sesame', is based on characters from the story of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"

In other media[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

• A Merrie Melodies Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck cartoon, Ali Baba Bunny, has a similar premise to the concept of the treasure-filled magical cave.

• A Popeye cartoon, Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves, features Popeye meeting and defeating the titular group.

• In the Disney film Aladdin there are several references to the story. Also, in Aladdin and the King of Thieves the forty thieves play an integral part in the story. However the story is very different than the original Ali Baba story, particularly Cassim's new role as the King of Thieves.

• In the Simpsons episode Moe Goes From Rags To Riches, Lisa is Scheherazade and Nelson Muntz is King Shahryar, and Lisa tells him the story.

• The 1971 Japanese film, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (アリババと40匹の盗賊, Aribaba to Yonjūbiki no Tozuku^?), for which Hayao Miyazaki was key animator and organizer.

• A 1981 computer video game by Quality Software^[4]

• Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, a 1982 arcade video game by Taito

• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, a computer game for the Apple II published in 1982

• A version of Ali Baba appears in Sonic and the Secret Rings, where he is portrayed by the character Tails.

Iraq War[link]

• The name "Ali Baba" was often used as derogatory slang by American and Iraqi soldiers and their allies in the War in Iraq to describe individuals suspected of a variety of offenses related to theft and looting.^[5] British soldiers routinely used the term to refer to Iraqi civilians.^[6] In the subsequent occupation it is used as a general term for the insurgents, similar to Charlie for the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.^[7]

• Due to interaction of the two peoples, the term "Ali Baba" was adopted by the Iraqis to describe foreign troops suspected of looting,^[8] and the English-speaking mainstream press mistakenly reported the slang to be native to the locals.^[9]

Gallery[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ali Baba

• "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (e-text, in English)
• Waller Hastings, "Ali Baba and the forty Thieves": essay
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Arabian Nights and The Sword of Ali Baba at the Internet Movie Database

This article contains too many or too-lengthy quotations for an encyclopedic entry. Please help improve the article by editing it to take facts from excessively quoted material and rewrite them as sourced original prose. Consider transferring direct quotations to Wikiquote. (February 2011)

Frank Gaffney

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. (born April 5, 1953 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is the founder and president of the American Center for Security Policy, columnist at the Washington Times, blogger at Big Peace and radio host on Secure Freedom Radio.

Education and career[link]

A 1975 graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University.^{[citation needed]}, Gaffney holds a graduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.^[1]

Gaffney began his public service career in the 1970s, working as an aide in the office of Democratic Senator Henry M. Jackson, under Richard Perle. From August 1983 until November 1987, Gaffney held the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy in the Reagan Administration, again serving under Perle. In April 1987, Gaffney was nominated to the position of US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. He served as the acting Assistant Secretary for seven months,^[2] though his confirmation was ultimately blocked by the United States Senate.

In 1988, Gaffney established the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a neo-conservative national security and defense policy organization. The CSP is subsidized by donors supportive of neo-conservative causes, including the Sarah Mellon Scaife Foundation, the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation and the William H. Donner Foundation.^[3]

Gaffney appeared on FahrenHYPE 9/11, the conservative documentary that was intended as a rebuttal to Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. He is also a regular guest on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" show.

Gaffney was an executive producer for the documentary Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center. The documentary was created to air as part of the America at a Crossroads series on PBS, but it has not been shown. Pbs claimed that the film failed "to meet their standards, " but Gaffney called the decision "censorship."^[4]

Gaffney is the lead author of War Footing (Naval Institute Press, 2005), a collection of essays that "offer ten specific steps that Americans, as individuals and as communities, can take to ensure their way of life and safety and the future well-being of their children and grandchildren."^[5]

He is a founding member of the Set America Free Coalition to reduce dependence on foreign oil and is part of the current iteration of the Committee on the Present Danger.^[6]

Angolan presidential election, 1992[link]

In November 1992, Gaffney's Center for Security Policy organization released a report detailing voter fraud in Angola's presidential election. Election officials stopped registering voters 40 days before the election. Polling stations had identical voting results. The MPLA retained a monopoly on television election-coverage. CSP also found widespread vote buying by the MPLA, the discarding of as many as 25% of casted ballots, and electricity blackouts during voter counting. United Nations special envoy Margaret Anstee said she "had never witnessed a more unfair election, even in Latin America."^[7]

Project for a New American Century[link]

Along with a number of figures who later assumed leading positions in the George W. Bush administration, Gaffney was one of 25 signatories^[8] of the June 3, 1997 "Statement of Principles" from the Project for the New American Century,^[9] an educational and political advocacy organization whose stated goal was "to promote American global leadership."^[10]

Gaffney–Norquist dispute[link]

In 2002, Gaffney publicly accused Grover Norquist, an anti-tax activist and prominent Republican strategist, for alleged ties to radical Islamist groups attempting to influence the Bush Administration. Gaffney said a press release by the American Muslim Council credited Ali Tulbah, a Bush-White House aide, for getting them access to the administration. Norquist banned Gaffney from the weekly "Wednesday Meeting" of the Leave Us Alone Coalition that Norquist hosted. Norquist later wrote an open letter, accusing Gaffney of "racial prejudice, religious bigotry [and] ethnic hatred," calling Gaffney a "sick, little bigot.... His whole life screams of bigotry, and what he said is just part of a pattern.... Frank Gaffney and Osama bin Laden share the same view on the relationship between the United States and Islam. I agree with the president in rejecting Osama bin Laden's and Frank Gaffney's worldview." In 2011, Gaffney accused Norquist of "helping the Muslim Brotherhood spread its influence in the nation's capital."^[11] David Keene, President of the American Conservative Union, later commented on the Gaffney-Norquist dispute, saying, "I, for one, don't see it. If you read the transcript [of the panel], you can see if Frank was right or wrong, but there was nothing racist or bigoted about it." Norquist's comments so angered Keene that he stopped talking to Norquist.^[12]

In a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove dismissed Gaffney's assertions regarding Bush, stating "there's no there there."^[13] In an article appearing in the January 2007 edition of Vanity Fair about neoconservatives who pushed for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Gaffney said of Bush, "He doesn't in fact seem to be a man of principle who's steadfastly pursuing what he thinks is the right course. He talks about it, but the policy doesn't track with the rhetoric, and that's what creates the incoherence that causes us problems around the world and at home."^[14]

U.S. troop deaths in Iraq[link]

On MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Gaffney, commenting on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said, "My position is [that] it is regrettable that any Americans died. It is regrettable that they had to die, but I believe they did have to die. The threat we did know about was the chemical capability that Saddam Hussein had used against his own people. The potential for biological agents were real there was evidence that there was an ongoing nuclear program... The danger was inaction could have resulted in the death[s] of a great many more Americans than 4,000 and that's the reason I'm still delighted that we did what we did."^[15]

Al Jazeera[link]

In 2003, Gaffney called on the United States military to "take out" the Al Jazeera news network for inciting violence against the Western world by showcasing Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein's "calls-to-arms."^[16]

Criticism of Barack Obama[link]

In October 2008, Gaffney questioned whether then Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is a "natural born citizen of the United States" and his legal eligibility to be the President of the United States.^[17]

In a February 2009 Washington Times column, Gaffney accused President Obama of "embracing the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood," a political organization banned in several countries in the Middle East.^[18]

In April 2009, Gaffney appeared on television and accused President Obama of using coded language to indicate that America would submit to Sharia law.^[19]

In a June 9, 2009, Washington Times article Gaffney wrote: "With Mr. Obama's unbelievably ballyhooed address in Cairo Thursday to what he calls 'the Muslim world' ... there is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself."^[20]

Gaffney continued this theme in on February 24, 2010, in his column on Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment blog, when Gaffney attacked the administration's plans to modernize and update the missile defense program as "US submission to Islam" from "an Alinsky acolyte", citing as evidence the redesigned logo of the Missile Defense Agency.^[21]

"Team Obama’s anti-anti-missile initiatives are not simply acts of unilateral disarmament of the sort to be expected from an Alinsky acolyte. They seem to fit an increasingly obvious and worrying pattern of official U.S. submission to Islam and the theo-political-legal program the latter’s authorities call Shariah.

"What could be code-breaking evidence of the latter explanation is to be found in the newly-disclosed redesign of the Missile Defense Agency logo.... As Logan helpfully shows, the new MDA shield appears ominously to reflect a morphing of the Islamic crescent and star with the Obama campaign logo."

However, Al Kamen reports that the new Missile Defense Agency logo is over three years old and was actually developed during the George Bush administration.^[22]

Saddam Hussein and terrorism[link]

On March 12, 2009, Gaffney appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of being involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing, "There is also circumstantial evidence, not proven by any means, but nonetheless some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence of Saddam Hussein's Iraq being involved with the people who perpetrated both the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and even the Oklahoma City bombing."^[23] No such evidence has ever been shown to exist.

Recent activities[link]

In 2010, Gaffney, along with co-authors such as former deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin and former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, Jr., released a book entitled "Shariah: The Threat to America," published by the Center for Security Policy.^[24] The book "describes what its authors call a 'stealth jihad' that must be thwarted before it's too late" and argues that "most mosques in the United States already have been radicalized, that most Muslim social organizations are fronts for violent jihadists, and that Muslims who practice Sharia law seek to impose it in this country."^[24] According to the Washington Post, "Government terrorism experts call the views expressed in the center's book inaccurate and counterproductive."^[24] In other articles, Gaffney claims that stealth jihad to advance Sharia constitute sedition.^[25]

In early 2011, Gaffney charged that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) had "come under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is working to bring America under Saudi-style Shariah law."^[11] Gaffney told the conservative website WorldNetDaily that "Islamism has infiltrated the American Conservative Union, the host of CPAC, in the person of Washington attorney and political activist Suhail Khan and a group called Muslims for America.

In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Gaffney testified to support a lawsuit against a planned mosque. The lawsuit alleged that the county zoning board did not give proper notice of a hearing, but during the eight days of the hearing, the judge allowed mosque opponents to introduce unverified claims or inflammatory statements such as that Islam is not a religion and asking a county commissioner if he supported keeping a whip over his bed to beat his wife with. Although Gaffney was currently not a member of any police or intelligence agency and admitted under oath he is not an expert in sharia law or Islam, he testified Islam is a threat to the United States and by extension the mosque was a threat.^{[26][27][28][29]}

In 2012, Gaffney was added to the South Poverty Law Center's "30 New Activists Heading Up the Radical Right", and is considered by the SPLC to be a "top Islamophobe"^[30]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Center for Security Policy: Frank Gaffney
• C-SPAN Q&A interview with Gaffney, June 3, 2007

Marc Faber, born February 28, 1946,^[1] is a Swiss investor.

Background[link]

Faber was born in Zürich and schooled in Geneva, Switzerland,^[1] where he raced for the Swiss National Ski Team. He studied Economics at the University of Zurich and, at the age of 24, obtained a Ph.D. degree in Economics magna cum laude.^[2] Faber is best known for the Gloom Boom & Doom Report newsletter and its related web site featuring "Dance of Death" paintings created by Kaspar Meglinger.^[3]

During the 1970s Faber worked for White Weld & Company Limited in New York City, Zürich, and Hong Kong. He moved to Hong Kong in 1973. He was a managing director at Drexel Burnham Lambert Ltd Hong Kong^[4] from the beginning of 1978 until the firm's collapse in 1990. In 1990, he set up his own business, Marc Faber Limited. Faber now resides in Chiangmai, Thailand, though he keeps a small office in Hong Kong.^[5]

Faber has a reputation for being a contrarian investor and has been called "Doctor Doom" for a number of years. He was the subject of a book written by Nury Vittachi in 1998 entitled Doctor Doom - Riding the Millennial Storm - Marc Faber's Path to Profit in the Financial Crisis.^[6][7] Faber has become a frequent speaker in various forums and makes numerous appearances on television around the world including various CNBC and Bloomberg outlets, as well as on internet venues like Jim Puplava's internet radio show.^[8] Dr. Faber's also engaged the Barron's Roundtable^[9] and the Manhattan Mises Circle, lecturing on "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, When is the Next AIG to Fall?"^[10] Faber is said to be 8'0" tall^[11]

Marc Faber Ltd.[link]

Faber's company, Marc Faber Limited, acts as an investment advisor concentrating on value investments with tremendous upside often based on contrarian investment philosophies. Faber also invests and acts as a fund manager to private wealthy clients. Faber is a regular speaker on the investment circuit, often quoted in the financial press for his non-conformist viewpoint and alternative investment philosophies. His current tag-line is: 'buy a $100 US bond and frame it to teach your children about inflation by watching the US bond value diminish to almost nothing over the next 20 years'^{[citation needed]}

Faber is famous for advising his clients to get out of the stock market one week before the October 1987 crash.^[12][13] However Faber said that this prediction was "accidental".

He lost money shorting US stocks in 1999 although his call was later vindicated. He admits that market timing is very difficult. Nevertheless, his market advice since 2000 is quite accurate. Faber predicted the rise of oil, precious metals, other commodities, emerging markets, and especially China in his book Tomorrow's Gold: Asia's Age of Discovery. He also correctly predicted the slide of the U.S. dollar since 2002^[14] and the 5/06 and 2/07 mini-corrections.^{[citation needed]} He stated that there are few value investments available, except for farmland and real estate in some emerging markets like Russia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.^[9] He believed in early 2007 that a major market correction was "imminent." (Fox News, 2-2007); however, by 5/2007 he was saying that U.S. equities were moderately overvalued — less so than those of emerging markets.

In a June 2008 interview with Bloomberg, he goes over his bearish views on a wide spectrum of investments: stocks, real estate and commodities. He is extremely critical of the Fed's inflationary actions. However, his views for the short-run were almost entirely deflationary except for holding precious metals; Faber still views hyperinflation as a certainty within the next 10 years. He also correctly expressed temporary bullishness for the U.S. dollar in the middle of 2008 before it dramatically recovered and positive expectations for holding the Japanese yen.^[15] In December 2008, Faber said, "I think a recovery will not come in the next couple of years, maybe in five, ten years' time" ^[16] On March 9, 2009, Faber correctly predicted a U.S. stock market bottom but incorrectly stated that the rally would last only six months.^[17]

Writings[link]

Faber writes the monthly investment newsletter The Gloom Boom & Doom Report which is subject to charge. He has also authored several books.

Dr. Faber has been a regular contributor to several leading publications around the world in the past, among them Forbes^[18][19] and International Wealth which is a sister publication of the Financial Times.^[20] He has contributed regularly to several websites such as Financial Intelligence, Asian Bond Portal, Die Welt, Finanzen, Boerse, AME Info, Swiss Radio, Apple Hong Kong and Taiwan, Quamnet, Winners, Wealth and Oriental Daily. He has also written occasionally for the International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and Borsa e Finanza.^[20]

Faber has been long term bearish about the American economy for a number of years and continues to be so. He concluded his June 2008 newsletter with the following mock quote:

"The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I've been doing my part."^[21]

Funds[link]

Marc Faber serves as director or advisor of a number of investment funds that focus on emerging and frontier markets, including Leopard Capital’s Leopard Cambodia Fund and Leopard Sri Lanka Fund.^[22]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Marc Faber interview on Bloomberg September 2007 before rate cut decision
• Faber's website
• Comprehensive Interview w/ Marc Faber (Bloomberg TV)
• Bloomberg interview
• Financial Sense News Hour Jim Puplava Ask the Experts
• Video of a wide ranging discussion of the US Dollar, credit crunch and emerging markets on CNBC Oct. 22, 2007
• interview with RTL Z 16-03-2010
• Video of a June 2008 Bloomberg News interview critical of Fed chairman and entitled: Marc Faber Says Oil, Stocks, Real Estate Are Overvalued
• Dr. Doom: Short Treasuries, Buy Hard Assets — 29 December 2008 interview
• The Marc Faber Blog

Marc Faber Newsletters of Note[link]

• Investment Hocus Pocus
• A Modern History of Investment Booms
• Marc Faber blog