Syrian Crackdown Intensifies: Over 150 Killed Since Friday as Assad Regime Attempts to Crush Protest Movement
Syria has intensified its massive crackdown on demonstrators, despite the lifting of emergency rule last week that banned demonstrations. Al Jazeera reports thousands of troops backed with tanks have swept into the southern city of Daraa, where a curfew is in place, setting up snipers on rooftops and killing at least 20 people. Government security forces have also stormed the large Damascus suburb of Douma. These latest developments follow protests on Friday that ended with more than 100 people killed in the deadliest day since the uprising began. We go to Syria to speak to Rula Amin of Al Jazeera and Razan Zaitouneh, human rights lawyer and activist.
Gunfire as Syrian troops move into Deraa
Hundreds of soldiers move into flashpoint town, as Syrian intellectuals denounce continuing violence against protesters.
Syrian forces raid homes to quell protests
Two MPs resign amid reported deaths of 15 people as outrage at government's response to pro-democracy protests spreads.
'Nine killed' at Syria funeral processions
Two MPs quit parliament after security forces reportedly open fire on processions for pro-democracy activists.
Syrian Update: 'Three killed' in Jableh
Residents tell Al Jazeera they remain trapped in mosque as security forces patrol streets.
Angry Arab: Imam of Dar`a
I just watched a clip by the Imam of Dar`a on Aljazeera. I can testify that he clearly seems to be a religious nut. I can see why Saudi Arabia and Qaradawi would be in favor of this guy. He spoke like St. Augustine (who used to swallow his food and not chew them because he did not want to indulge in any pleasures on earth: he wanted to save that for the hereafter. Of course, before he dedicated himself to his god, he indulged in earthly pleasures and admitted in his confessions that he would call on god to save him but...not yet (then): he said there are two trends: those who want the rule of God, and those who want earthly matters.
Angry Arab: Syria and Aljazeera
Comrade Hussein sent me this (I cite with his permission): "I am not sure how Syria is going to end up; but I am writing this with the assumption that the regime will fall, although it is still not very likely so far. I think al-Jazeera is covering up the highly sectarian agenda of many protesters while at the same time allowing for the Islamic nature of their slogans to be heard extensively on air to satisfy the broader Arab audience without having to deal with problematic issues at this point. This way, they cannot be accused of sectarianism bluntly, especially when they are heard chanting about national unity while slogans against other sects are swept under the rug (as when they said that it is part of 'their' religion to kill 'us' - Haytham Manna' was at pains to repudiate that slogan by all means but to no avail). Now the really secular opposition forces, who are a minority, will probably commit the classic mistake of underestimating the fundamentalists' power or their political acumen, only to find themselves victims of these people later on in case the regime falls (similar to the early Iranian scenario of 1979-1981, with the main difference between the presence of individual, almost self-financed, charismatic leadership and what we have with the Syrian MB). having said all this, I do think that no matter what, the Syrian people only have the right to decide on their government, even if it is a reactionary one."
And more from the Arab uprisings:
Angry Arab: From Syria with doubt
A leftist comrade who I trust sent me this (I cite with his permission but I will keep him anonymous): "Hi As’ad, I have been going to Syria for several months now due to my work….i am ...; So part of my work is to go to the client’s company.... I have been to Aleppo, Rakka, Hasaka Damascus and also the rural part of Aleppo and Damascus.
Except for Damascus and the Christian neighborhood of Aleppo you would think you are in Kandahar under the rule of Taliban (especially in the rural parts_…As’ad what you see there is scary…burqa3 everywhere…women are barely seen in the streets and the overwhelming majority is covered from head to bottom. Now I have been thinking about what is happening in Syria…and I have been trying to support the protesters…but I cannot…those people will only bring Taliban alike into power…Saudi Arabia will have the upper hand in the region and Syria will be divided between sects in the best case scenario. (Not to mention that the arms route toward Hezbollah will be cut). Yesterday in doma the chants were “Alawiyye bi eltabout…w masi7iey 3a Beirut”!! how can we ever support those guys…. I agree that there is another Syrian opposition but these are a minority….those leading the demonstrations are islamists – Saudi style….
All I am saying is that are you sure you want the Syrian regime to collapse…because the more I look at the “rebels”….the more I doubt the whole future of the region…..for the first time in my life I am doubting my decision to live in the region."
Angry Arab: Communist Action Party in Syria
I have always admired this radical communist opposition group in Syria. It used to be named Communist Action League. It launched armed struggle against the Syrian regime back in 1976 when the orthodox Stalinist Bakdash communist party sided with the regime at all costs. The Communist Action Party was ruthlessly and brutally suppressed: the fact that the party was predominantly `Alawite in composition only incensed the regime more. I met a few of party members who fled to Lebanon over the years. I am getting information from comrades in Syria that the party has been active in the protests, especially in the sit-in in Homs. So no, not all the protesters are Salafite nuts, but Salafite nuts are there too. That can't be denied.
Angry Arab: Iranian assistance to Syria
I have been reading in the Western Zionist press that Iran has been assisting Syria in repression. I totally reject such news. I just don't believe it and I feel strongly about this: the Syrian regime is fully qualified on its own to handle any repression inside the country. Hell, Syrian Ba`thist regime is even qualified to teach Iran and Saudi Arabia lessons in repression.
Bahrain
Bahrain seeks death sentence for protesters on trial (Reuters)
Reuters - Bahrain is seeking death penalty for a group of protesters accused of killing two policemen during anti-government demonstrations in the Gulf island kingdom, state media reported on Monday.
link to us.rd.yahoo.com
Bahraini forces open fire on protesters
Saudi-backed Bahraini troops have opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the village of Karzakan, injuring at least one protester.
link to www.presstv.ir
Amnesty International, "Bahraini Opposition Leader Ebrahim Sharif Feared Tortured"
Ebrahim Sharif was admitted to the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) military hospital in al-Riffa', central Bahrain, reportedly for the second time on or around 10 April and his family does not know if he is still there. According to information received by Amnesty International, a patient at the hospital saw Ebrahim on 10 April and recognized him despite his swollen face, raising concerns that he may have been assaulted and otherwise tortured in detention. His family has officially requested visits to Ebrahim Sharif twice; the first time days after his arrest and the second time in the week of 18 April, but their requests have not received any answer from the authorities. Amnesty International fears that Ebrahim Sharif remains at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
link to mrzine.monthlyreview.org
Shiite mosques demolished in Bahrain crackdown (AP)
AP - Bahrain's main opposition party says authorities have demolished 16 mosques as part of crackdown on Shiite dissent in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom over the past month.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110423/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain
Iraqi Shi'ites want Saudis to withdraw from Bahrain (Reuters)
Reuters - Hundreds of Iraqi Shi'ites rallied in Baghdad on Saturday to demand the immediate withdrawal of Saudi troops from Bahrain, which has sparked reminders of Iraq's own sectarian divide.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110423/wl_nm/us_iraq_protests_bahrain
Iran urges Bahrain to heed people's demands (AFP)
AFP - Iran on Saturday urged Bahrain to heed the demands of its people before it was too late, and insisted nothing could justify Saudi intervention amid Shiite-led protests in the Gulf kingdom.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110423/wl_mideast_afp/bahrainpoliticsunrestiran
Iran says offers 'moral' support to Bahrainis (AFP)
AFP - Iran said Friday it offers "moral support" for the demands of the people of Bahrain and denied having any role in the Shiite-led protests in the tiny Gulf kingdom ruled by a Sunni dynasty.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110422/wl_mideast_afp/gulfpoliticsiranbahrainsaudigcc
The father/mother of all buffoons
"Bahrain's Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa is perhaps the most tech-savvy of the Gulf states' foreign ministers. In addition to his official government day job, Shaikh Khalid also maintains an active personal Twitter account through which he presents the official Bahraini point of view regarding the recent protests in the kingdom to his thousands of followers. Born in 1960 and educated at St Edward's University in Texas, graduating with a BSc in History and Political Science, Shaikh Khalid, while in the US, volunteered in Jimmy Carter's 1980 presidential campaign."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Bahrain FM finds parody of himself on Twitter (AP)
AP - Bahrain's top diplomat and prolific tweeter Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa has warned followers about a spoof version of himself on the Twitter social media site.
link to us.rd.yahoo.com
Bahrain: Below the radar
The Arab uprising that has failed to capture the international media's attention.
link to english.aljazeera.net
Egypt
Mubarak to be moved to military hospital
Egypt's top prosecutor orders the transfer after medical exams showed that the ex-leader is stable enough for the move.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/04/201142421469638622.html
Egypt's Copts vie for bigger role
As Egypt tries to forge a new political future, Coptic Christians aim to move out of the political shadows.
http://english.aljazeera.net//video/middleeast/2011/04/2011424202515638238.html
Egypt makes concession to anti-governor protesters
CAIRO, April 25 (Reuters) - Egypt's military-led government tried to quell more than a week of protests against the new governor of a southern province on Monday by saying he would not take up his duties for three months. Sate media reported the activities of Emad Mikhail, a Christian and former police officer who was appointed as governor of Qena province this month, would be "frozen for three months".
link to www.trust.org
Egyptian revolutionary comrades
...are calling for a demonstration against the Zionist embassy in Cairo. BE THERE: or Be Like Mubarak.
Jamal kindly translated:
"March and Stand-In In Front of the Embassy of the Zionist Entity
"The Supporters of the Palestinian Revolution" invite you to a march and stand-in in front of the embassy of the Zionist entity which gets moving from in front of the main gate of Cairo University on Wednesday 27 April at exactly 2:3pm demanding the following:
-Condemning the Zionist occupation of our Arab land in flesh, blood, roots, and history
-Cancelling normalization in all its forms
-Ceasing the export of natural gas to the Zionists immediately along with the return of all that the Zionists have stolen from us in this shameful normalization.
-Ceasing the building of the steel wall of shame immediately
-Treating Palestinians the same as Egyptians are treated in Egypt, acknowledging their rights to residency, education, work, and health just the same as Egyptians.
Shimon Peres called on the youth of Egypt to normalize, this will be our response to him in front of their embassy."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Mubarak's protege
It is refreshing to read things against Saudi Arabia in the Egyptian press these days. It is delightful. I can't wait until the Egyptian press goes all out against the House of Saud. So there is a brewing scandal which did not bring any attention in the US: Mubarak's corrupt businessman (who was involved in the corrupt deal of gas sales to Israel and who was in the Egyptian mukhabarat and who bought a villa for Mubarak in Sharm Al-Shaykh) was caught (not personally as he fled) trying to smuggle precious items from Cairo airport headed to Saudi Arabia and addressed to son of Prince Muqrin (head of Saudi mukhabrat).
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Iraq
Iraqis rally against extending U.S. troops presence
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) -Thousands of Iraqis rallied in the northern city of Mosul Sunday in one of the biggest protests yet against any extension of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
link to www.reuters.com
Libya
Three Libyan state TV stations go off air after explosions
TRIPOLI, April 24 (Reuters) - Three Libyan state television stations went briefly off air after three loud explosions were heard in central Tripoli soon after midnight. Libyan Television, Jamahiriya and Shababiya all stopped broadcasting but returned to air within half an hour.
link to www.trust.org
Nato strike hits Gaddafi compound
A Nato air strike on the Libyan capital Tripoli badly damages buildings in Col Muammar Gaddafi's compound, officials and witnesses say.
link to www.bbc.co.uk
Kadafi fighters flee Misurata, but their artillery onslaught continues
The victorious Libyan rebels in this key western city have lost hundreds of fighters in block-by-block battles. Meanwhile, explosions continue to shake the buildings. Fighters loyal to Col. Moammar Kadafi fled their last position inside the western Libyan city of Misurata on Sunday morning, leaving the center of the besieged port community in the hands of rebels seeking to oust the longtime leader.
link to feeds.latimes.com
Libyan foreign minister crosses Tunisian border-TAP
CAIRO, April 23 (Reuters) - Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi crossed the border into Tunisia on Saturday, Tunisia's state TAP news agency said. TAP said Obeidi, who entered Tunisia through the main transit point of Ras Jdir on the Tunisian-Libyan border, was heading to Djerba airport. It said he was believed to be on his way to Cyprus, but a senior Cypriot government source said: "We cannot confirm this report, he is not coming to Cyprus." A security source at Djerba airport said Obeidi later took a flight to the capital Tunis. Obeidi was promoted to foreign minister after the defection of his predecessor Moussa Koussa to Britain. He visited Cyprus earlier this month to discuss the conflict, and held talks with government officials in Greece, Turkey and Malta as deputy foreign minister
link to www.trust.org
Fifteen dead in Gaddafi ambushes - rebel spokesman
CAIRO, April 23 (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed by booby-traps and in ambushes set up by Gaddafi brigades on Saturday while withdrawing from the Libyan city of Misrata, a rebel spokesman told Al Jazeera television. "I have received information about 15 people were martyred and 31 wounded as a result of ambushes by the Gaddafi brigades at the site of their withdrawal," the spokesman, Abdel Basset Abu Mezerik, told the station. He said forces to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had also used "dirty methods" of booby-trapping bodies and cars while withdrawing from Misrata.
link to www.trust.org
Libyan children suffering rape, aid agency reports
Children as young as eight have been subjected to sexual assaults, according to accounts given to Save the Children. Libyan children as young as eight have suffered sexual assaults, including rape, amid the worsening conflict across the country, a British aid agency has warned. Although Save the Children said it could not confirm the reports, the charity said the accounts by children were consistent and they were displaying signs of physical and emotional distress. The allegations come from 200 children and 40 adults who have fled from Misrata, Ajdabiya and Ras Lanuf and are now in temporary camps in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
link to www.guardian.co.uk
Reports of pro-Gaddafi sleeper cells in Ajdabiya
Doctors and nurses in a hospital in Ajdabiya tell Al Jazeera they suspect men loyal to Gaddafi are among them, posing a constant threat. Sue Turton reports from Ajdabiya
link to www.youtube.com
Battle for Libya: Update from Benghazi
Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, sheds light on the current situation in Libya, and the role "tribes" are playing in the battle.
link to www.youtube.com
Gaddafi forces pulling out of Misurata
Gaddafi's forces say they have suspended the fighting in Misurata, but they have planted booby trapped bombs, which have caused many casualties. As Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports, the city's hospitals are struggling to cope.
link to www.youtube.com
Report from Misurata
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons is in the Libyan city of Misurata. He says attacks on the city are intensifying.
link to www.youtube.com
Libya rebels claim 'Misurata is free'
The Pentagon has confirmed it has launched its first drone attack, but gave no details on the target. A spokesman for opposition forces, meanwhile, says they have won over control of Libya's third largest city, Misurata. There is no independent confirmation of this. But the city's hospitals have been reporting an influx of injured, among them - government soldiers. Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.
link to www.youtube.com
Update: Fighting continues in Misurata
Anti government forces had claimed they were in control of Misurata. However, Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Misurata, says the city has "not been liberated at this stage" despite certain claims being made by opposition forces. Listen here to our correspondent's latest update.
link to www.youtube.com
Inside Story: Battle for Misurata
Located in western Libya, Misurata has become the most dramatic battleground in the country's uprising which began in February. But there has been confusion - while Colonel Muammer Gadaffi's forces announced a withdrawl from the city on Friday, they have continued to bombard the city. Inside Story discusses with guests: Faraj Najem, a Libyan author and historian; Mohammed Ali Abdallah, the deputy secretary general of the National Front for Salvation of Libya; and Hesham Jaber, a military analyst. This episode of Inside Story aired on Sunday, April 24, 2011.
link to www.youtube.com
Frost Over the World - What next for Libya?
Next month, Italy hosts the next international conference on the situation in Libya. In the last few weeks Italy has become a key player in NATO's response to the conflict there. Sir David talks to Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, about this. Plus, Mohammed El Senussi, the exiled crown prince of Libya, and Alex Stubb, Finland's foreign minister, join the show.
link to www.youtube.com
Taking Qaddafi out (and not for dinner), Stephen M. Walt
When my clock radio went off this AM, the first story I heard was about a NATO air attack on Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi's compound near Tripoli. Although NATO officials have denied that this was an attempt to kill Qaddafi, it is hard to believe that the officials responsible weren't hoping for a lucky shot. U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham told CNN that it was time to "to cut the head of the snake off, go to Tripoli, start bombing Qaddafi's inner circle, their compounds, their military headquarters." Similarly, Senator Joe Lieberman called for "going directly after Qaddafi," saying that "I can't think of anything that would protect the civilian population of Libya more than [his] removal."
link to walt.foreignpolicy.com
Rap Music Inspires Libyan Rebels To Defeat Gadhafi
AJDABIYA, Libya -- Libyan rebel fighter Jaad Jumaa Hashmi cranks up the volume on his pickup truck's stereo when he heads into battle against Moammar Gadhafi's forces. He looks for inspiration from a growing cadre of amateur rappers whose powerful songs have helped define the revolution.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
Morocco
Moroccans stage peaceful pro-democracy protests
RABAT — Several thousand demonstrators marched peacefully in Moroccan cities Sunday to demand more democracy and social justice despite King Mohammed VI's concessions, including the release of political prisoners. Protest rallies began Sunday morning in Casablanca, Tangiers and Marrakesh, correspondents said, while others were scheduled later in the day in Rabat and Fes in response to a call by the pro-reform February 20 Movement.
link to www.rawstory.com
Oman
Protests break out in Omani city
Thousands take to the streets in southern city in Gulf state to press for better wages, jobs and end to corruption.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/04/201142215140646886.html
Saudi Arabia
Women not allowed to vote in Saudi elections
As voters show up to register for Saudi Arabia's upcoming elections - the second ever in the country's history - women still seem to be missing from the picture. Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports from Riydh.
link to www.youtube.com
Yemen
Two shot dead at Yemen protests
At least two anti-government protesters have been killed in separate clashes with security forces in Yemen, medical sources and witnesses say.
link to www.bbc.co.uk
Saleh defiant, day after agreeing to handover plan
SANAA, April 25 (Reuters) - Yemen's veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh has struck a defiant tone in an interview, a day after his government said he had accepted a Gulf Arab plan to hand over power within weeks. Saleh has faced down three months of street protests as well as pressure to go from his main backers Saudi Arabia and the United States, and opposition groups fear his verbal acceptance of the plan may be no more than a tactic.
link to www.trust.org
Yemen protesters reject US-backed transition
SANAA (AFP) – Yemen's protest movement insisted Sunday on President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rapid exit and prosecution after his party accepted a Gulf plan for him to quit in 30 days in a move hailed by Washington. The United States urged a peaceful transition after Saleh's ruling General People's Congress (GPC) party said late Saturday it accepted a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan under which he would quit following months of protests.
link to www.rawstory.com
Yemen president agrees Gulf plan to resign
Aide to Ali Abdullah Saleh says leader has agreed to step down under a 30-day transition plan after weeks of protests.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/04/20114231818133946.html
Analysis/Op-ed
Ghassan Bin Jiddu: resigns from Aljazeera
This is big: the Beirut bureau chief for Aljazeera, Ghassan Bin Jiddu, who hosts the program Hiwar Maftuh (widely watched), has submitted his resignation. It is due to the recent radical shift of Aljazeera's coverage in alliance with the Saudi-Israeli alliance in the Middle East. Ghassan Bin Jiddu is one of the most visible personalities of the network and he was seriously considered to be the director-general of the network before Waddah Khanfar was given the job. Ghassan belongs to the Arab nationalist mold and is a fierce supporter of resistance to Israel. I last saw him last year when he invited me to dinner with Samir Al-Quntar. Bin Jiddu was very influential in Aljazeera and this step will bring further embarrassment to the network. On a related note, I must report this: I have heard from a number of people who work in Aljazeera Arabic and English and I am hearing that the majority are quite irate at the coverage of the network especially in relation to the Bahrain issue. There will be marked changes in Arab media in the next months and years: comrade Hicham yesterday observed that Egyptian media in the new era will once again play the leading role that it had played in the 19th and 20th century, before the Sadat-Mubarak era.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Empire - The evolution of Arab revolutions
The Arab Spring is in full bloom. Peaceful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt sparked a democratic tide that has swept across the region. In Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, it is now a tale of two protests, with the situation deteriorating into widespread violence and outright war. It seems some regimes will stop at nothing to resist change. So with no unified leadership or clear agenda, and with domestic complications in each and every country, is this truly a revolution? And if this is an Awakening -- what path will it follow -- that of Turkey? Of Iran? Or rather a third way, an Arab way. Empire finds out. Joining Marwan Bishara to discuss these issues are: Rabab el-Mahdi, a professor of political science at American University, Cairo; Christopher Dickey, Middle East editor of Newsweek and The Daily Beast; Patrick Seale, author of The Struggle for Arab Independence. Our interviewees are: Ahmed Maher, founder of the 6 April Youth Movement, Egypt; Mohamed Arafat, from Egypt's Social Deomocratic Party; Shaeera Amin, former deputy director of Nile TV; Hugh Miles, author of Al Jazeera - How Arab TV News Challenged the World.
link to www.youtube.com
Some in the US government have floated the idea of assassinating Qadhafi. At this point, I wonder why they haven’t done so earlier. They could have spared the lives of several dozen innocent civilians who were killed by NATO’s bombing campaign.
But, that would only hold true if the US and NATO’s true intent is to liberate the Libyan people, however. Small chance of that being the case.
In addition, I refuse to embrace such a view as it is illegal and sets a terrible precedent for other countries. Surely, no government has the right to go around assassinating people in foreign countries.
As for Assad, he, like his father, belongs in the same place. Nonetheless, a Syrian court or The Hauge would be a good start.
Further complicating matters in Syria, is the fact the ruling regime is Alawi (Shi’a) while the revolting masses are Sunni.
The US can’t find Qadhafi. Assassination only works as a political tool against people who don’t hide in military bunkers. You know, like using a helicopter gunship to take aim at a crowd leaving a mosque, or breaking into a hotel room with fake passports and smothering a man to death after torturing him with electricity.
See, assassination is something the US normally outsources to the experts.
Hi avi,
Q : Some in the US government have floated the idea of assassinating Qadhafi. At this point, I wonder why they haven’t done so earlier. They could have spared the lives of several dozen innocent civilians who were killed by NATO’s bombing campaign.
R: In that case, they [the US government] have an unbiased obligation to bomb a considerable number of other nations and ‘take out’ their leaders as well. Lets start with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria, Myanmar and…, crap, I forgot that other country…, the only ‘democracy’ one…
Innocent civilians? I guess they can be turned into ‘possible suspects’ or ‘suspicious men carrying what apparently looked like anti-[fill-in-the-blanks]. When I read statements that ‘we’ have to intervene in Libya, it makes me puke twice. Syria has no oil, so forget about that one. Bahrain is our buddy so they can kill with impunity [as are the Wahhabi house of Saudis] and on and on and on.
Fortunately the only ‘democracy’ in the ME loves its neighbors and is willing to turn whatever cheeks are available to sooth the inevitable moral, physical and spiritual pain, evolving from this never-ending, bloody saga.
Hi Avi,
Sorry, I should have added this to my previous comment…
Q: But, that would only hold true if the US and NATO’s true intent is to liberate the Libyan people, however. Small chance of that being the case.
R: I am trying to gestimate whether Che Quvarra’s first move would have been to set up a ‘Central Bank.’
I agree with your notion of the ‘good guys’ creating a bloody and unprecedented rubber stamp to inflict more mayhem, death and destruction on behalf of AFRICOM’s inability to find a ‘home’ on that continent. So many resources. So much corruption [this is based on personal experiences -although corruption has many faces and many different names, depending on where ever you are] and so much distress in finding ways and means to pay the bills each month. I live and work in Japan at the moment and although every bottle of water is gone the minute it hits the shelves [and send to the toohoku region - stricken by the earthquake and tsunami], I am baffled to see how many shelves remain empty and how many cheap stuff is being bought at the moment [imho an indication to the true 'costs' of an economy in sharp decline].
End of rant.
What going on in Syria, and the American criticism of it, by both that country’s leaders and MSM, is easy to decipher. Just hold in your head that the internal current assault on the Syrian regime has NOT been beneficial to Iran, and Hezbollah and HAMAS. America’s slanted coverage of Syria is the same as Israel’s. Duh.
With all those arab dictators around Israel the USA have a standing unwritten agreement and knows what can be expected from them.
However, who knows what kind of governments come to power if the revolutions succid, so hell with democracy for all, we rather stick to those despots. They are ours, after all.
i watched democracy now earlier. this is a nightmare so many people are dying. at the same time after reading so many of walid’s posts lately i don’t know what to believe (wrt sectarianism and also democracy now was interviewing the AJ reporter as i recall)
whatever is going on wrt that 500 million we’ve been shoveling to the opposition over the last few years my head is spinning. i keep thinking of ledeens caldron of fire. it is moving to fast and my head is spinning. but 150 dead over the weekend is way way too many. if it is true that is.
Annie, I’m glad to see that someone has been reading some of the stuff I’ve been posting, I thought no one was interested in Syria here other than LB. Second, I want to apologize if I used the $50o million figure about Syria (I don’t think I did)), since this seems to be what you understood from my posts. The actual amount revealed by Wikileaks is $6 million. The 400 or $500 million is what the State Department paid to private groups and individuals in Lebanon to be used to “lessen Hizbullah’s popularity among the country’s youth”, according to State Dept declarations.
Back to the Syria story, I don’t know what is going on there other than a lot of people are dying, the Syrians as usual are covering up a lot of stuff and an unknown quantity of outside subversive forces are at work there; could be 2 people making trouble like it could be 2,000, like it could be nobody. What is starting to smell fishy about the whole thing is that the Syrian government has surprisingly already given in on practically all of the demonstrators’ demands but the unrest is still ongoing. The following article appeared in the Daily Mail of April 18th:
U.S. secretly backed Syrian opposition groups, WikiLeaks revealsBy Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:10 AM on 18th April 2011
$6million for Syrian exiles to help fund TV channel
The U.S. Government has secretly dished out $6million to help Syrian opposition groups WikiLeaks has revealed.
Documents show the State Department has been funnelling cash to London-based satellite TV channel Barada TV, made up of a group of Syrian exiles, since 2006 to cover mass protests in the country and finance activities inside Syria as part of a campaign to overthrow President Bashir Assad.
Violence has been sweeping the nation for the past month as President Assad faces his deepest crisis in 11 years in power amid growing demands for greater freedom from Syrians who are still ruled under ‘emergency’ laws imposed in 1963.
Read more: link to dailymail.co.uk
Hi Walid,
Nowadays I am very reluctant to read the news. At first I thought people really did have the power to change regimes and heralded the courage of those men and women who literally gave their lives to see to it that some sort of justice is done.
But then [or now] I thought/think of France. What a brilliant revolution the begin with, but how did it end? I wish I had a magic want to stop at least the senseless killing, but I feel so helpless or frustrated when I realize time and time again that I am nothing but a mere observer in this distorted chess game that life is throwing at me.
I want nothing but peace, however, the moment I wake up I know so many dreadful things will have happened overnight.
It is good to see a person like you, trying to bring at least some clarity to one of these conflicts. I laud you for this.
Keep up the good work and may your loved ones, friends and all those you’ve never met remain safe, sound, healthy and whenever possible, prosper.
walid, i watched an interview of the director of Barada TV a few days ago. deny deny deny denied all the allegations. i read everything you write, or try to. sometimes i don’t comment because i am not informed enough. usually i don’t comment about syria because my opinion is mostly formed on hunches and i often do not post things i can’t confirm if someone calls me on it. (my opinion is informed by things my friend who traveled there told me and the millions of iraqi refugees they took in and the massive efforts (and wetdreams) of the neocons to destabilize them etc etc etc. iow i trust almost nothing i read and assume i’m being lied to as if i was an idiot and all americans were idiots wrt syria because basically we are)
ok, thanks for clearing that up about the hundreds of millions to lebanon however i would no more think the US only invested 6 million destabilizing syria than fly to the moon. 6 million is some kind of magic code number (it means a believable big number without revealing the truth). it is also the amount the israel action network claims israel is investing in hasbara HAHAHAHHAHA. quadruple it and then add some zeros. whatever.
i read a lot on syria and libya also i just don’t usually speak up. i read up on lebanon too.
anyway keep writing , i read it. thanks btw
What is happening in Syria is more or less what was predicted to happen in Benghazi a month back. It seemed that a consensus developed at this site that Nato should go to war in Libya to defend the “revolution”.
What do you say about a bombing campaign against Syria? The question is quite serious, because of the respect that I hold for many of you.
I still don’t understand why people here would trust a military alliance that is closely associated with Israel to support a democratic movement in the ME.
i wouldn’t describe it as a consensus Tovio. i certainly expressed my reservations.
ToivoS, except for a few, I don’t think there is much interest for Syria here.
To continue my rant about Jazeera having morphed into into a new animal almost overnight, if you watch the above Jazeera video, you’d hear the following statements being made by the announcer:
“Because of strict reporting restrictions in the country, al-Jazeera has no way of independently verifying images.”
You’re being told by the announcer that although Jazeera is showing you these images, it cannot vouch for them since it’s not there on site because of restrictions.
There are 4 or 5 direct quotes about numbers shot, killed and so on attributed to “human rights groups that told Jazera”. Here, Jazeera is not talking about Human Rights Watch” or any other recognized and reliable group but about some unknown “human rights groups”.
At one point we hear an Arabic broadcast of some sort being made in the background while in the foreground we hear a clear simultaneous perfect English translation being given on the recording. This is a little to much professionalism for amateur video filmers to be true.
The above video is full of stuff like that from start to finish and in my opinion, I can see what Ghassan Ben Jiddo was talking about in his resignation letter to Jazeera when he said:
“The Chanel ended a dream of objectivity and professionalism after Aljazeera stopped being a media source and became an operations room for Incitement and mobilization”.
Maybe I’m on a conspiracy trip, as Danaa says about me, but if anyone here that is familiar with a-Jazeera style of reporting would watch the above Jazeera video and tell me that there is nothing strange about it from other Jazeera reporting, I would appreciate it. Jazeera in that video is sounding like an “operations room” as Ben Jiddo called it and I’ve been seeing it done in Libya too.
walid, did you read the Ben Jiddo angry arab post upthread on seham’s list? practically identical to what you said plus this:
I have heard from a number of people who work in Aljazeera Arabic and English and I am hearing that the majority are quite irate at the coverage of the network especially in relation to the Bahrain issue. There will be marked changes in Arab media in the next months and years: comrade Hicham yesterday observed that Egyptian media in the new era will once again play the leading role that it had played in the 19th and 20th century, before the Sadat-Mubarak era.
Just couple hours ago I’ve told my friend that it seems to me that Bashir Assad await same fate as poor Colonel Kaddhafi.
And I’m not mocking Kaddhafi. Indeed he is one of brightest figures of our time, which I could not say about Assad.
Walid I really can’t offer any insights into these Al Jazeera reports. As Annie pointed out it does seem that the Aangry Arab has some contacts.
My concern is that the US has no idea what is going on and should not try to meddle. It just ends badly for all sides. The politics are too complex for us mere westerners and, especially the US; at best we end up being manipulated by the Israelis for their own interests.
From a great distance I see some developments. The collapse of the current Syrian regime cannot be anything but good. Tyrants deserve to fall. Whatever replaces it will be a government that will continue to be in opposition to Israel. It will likely insist on the return of the Golan Heights. This is dangerous since we all know that Israel does not give up conquered land without more war.
The Iran-Syria alliance will likely disappear. That is just inevitable because that alliance is just about as unnatural as could be imagined. Instead there will be a very strong Iran-Iraq alliance which is much more natural given their proximity and similar religions. The Iranians will be forced to strengthen their ties to Turkey and Egypt — this is only natural. This will also create a strong vise around Israel — they will be more isolated than ever.
In sum, Israel gains a little with the turmoil in Syria and isolation of Hezbollah, but in general she will be facing greater isolation from rest of the ME. Maybe Hezbollah will be weakened in the process, but what that means in the bigger picture remains to be seen.
The Syrian regime is comparatively secular domestically, and it is an arch opponent of Israel, a partner of Iran, HAMAS, Hezbullah.
link to shiachat.com
Citizen April 25, 2011 at 9:14 pm
link to shiachat.com
Citizen, yesterday I stumbled by chance upon the Syria Reform Party site mentioned in your above link that ties it to American officials. It’s based in the US and very spooky; makes you feel you’re in KKK territory. link to reformsyria.org It has links to such commendable sites as Fouad Ajami, Tony Badran, Scott Carpenter, Caroline Glick, Michael Ledeen, Bernard Lewis, Barry Rubin, Robert Satoff and links to Arutz Sheva and MEMRI along with about 20 MEMRI-produced videos. So if these are the kind of people that the State Dept is funding, it gives an idea of what kind of democracy these guys are after. The Syria Reform Party president out to bring democracy to Syria was a member of AIPAC in 2003.
The interesting thing about these democracy people is that they are openly asking Israel to intervene in Syria to help bring democracy to it. When I first saw their home page yesterday and call for Israel’s help, I discounted them as a group of crackpots but with your link that mentioned “US Government” I looked deeper and found the direct connection to the US government, AIPAC and so on.
Israeli raw view of inside Syria:
link to israelbehindthenews.com
This ill-assorted group of countries and movements – Iran and Hezbollah run by Shia extremists, Hamas dominated by Sunni fanatics, and Syria a totally secular state – has provided the only real opposition to Israeli policy in the region for the past 30 years. Without Syria, it would fall apart, and both Hezbollah and Hamas would be gravely weakened.
That could easily happen if the Baathists lose control in Syria – and almost every other government in the region is deeply worried by the prospect of a democratic Syria.
Iran fears the loss of its main Arab ally and condemns the Syrian protesters even as it praises the revolutionaries in other Arab countries. The remaining dictatorships in the Arab world are appalled that the rot has spread to Syria: if this bastion of tyranny can go down, what hope is there for the rest of them?
And Israel doesn’t even know what to hope for. It loathes the Baathist regime in Syria and would love to see Hamas and Hezbollah weakened, but it fears that a democratic government in Syria would be an even more implacable enemy of Israel.
The same goes for the United States, so the Syrian protesters are entirely on their own. If the Baathists try to solve their problem by massacre, as they have done in the past, nobody will raise a finger to stop them. But the protesters could still win. Massacres don’t always have the desired effect.
link to cloud.ocregister.com
There is too many tribes and powers in Syria, only oppressing regime could hold such country together.
Shall Baathists fail Syria will be torn apart.
As of any regime being incapable (ROFL) enemy of Israel – entire Arab League have done absolutely nothing for 60 years. You really think (scattered fragments of) third world country could somehow affect middle eastern politics?
Lightbringer let’s us know:
You really think (scattered fragments of) third world country could somehow affect middle eastern politics?
Yep, not sure how it will play out but your Israeli entity is not going to come out of this well. LB are that confident that a bunch of fragmented third world countries are not going to put together an effective plan. You sound like orientalism 101, “why those savages cannot resist us”. Sorry boob but they will resist and likely successfully.
Your hatred makes you underestimate the Arab and other Middle Eastern people you gloat about oppressing with ease. Once the US stops propping up your state, Israel will fail quickly enough. You’re nothing without US support.
And YOUR hatred to Israel makes you underestimate its economical strength. Israel will not fail without US support. Under international pressure it will probably need to withdraw to 67 borders (which is good) but i would hardly call it a failure.
I suggest that you control you ego – People are never “nothing”.
Should be “Economic strength” :-)
“… Syria a totally secular state – has provided the only real opposition to Israeli policy in the region for the past 30 years.”
Citizen, it should be noted that while the arming of Hizbullah was ongoing and after Syria got its Kuneitra back in 74, it did not fire a shot to liberate its Golan. Mostly all of the attacks on Israelis were by Hizbullah and most of Israel’s attacks and destruction concentrated on Lebanon and hardly any damage done to Syria.
Also odd, is Syria’s trade with Israel. Syria has been importing (via the IRC) Golan-grown apples from Israel since 6 years. Syria claims it’s doing it to help the Syrian Druze population of the Golan that Israeli apple growers of the Golan employ. Amounts imported have been increasing annually with this year setting a record high with 10,000 tons. A couple of years back, Haaretz mentioned talks were then underway to expand agro trade between the 2 countries. That’s hard to understand. There’s more to what goes on between Syria and Israel than meets the eye.
Your bloated, wasteful country already can’t survive without taking almost half of its water from outside of the 1967 borders. And that’s just one aspect — Israel gets (or got, more accurately) fuel at exhorbitantly low cutthroat prices from Mubarak. That’s going to change.
Parasitic Israel-first politics have caused the US to declare two quasi-official wars and at least three unofficial wars all across the Muslim world. We’ve destroyed our economy, pawned our future and set fire to our financial system for the sake of idiotic policies of which Israel is one of several dominant lobbies.
You’ve bled us dry, Israel. Congratulations! You’ve done what Russia and China could have never accomplished. You’ve set the US to toppling.
And boy is it ever going to hurt when we fall on you. That’s what you get for staying in our shadow and clinging to our apron strings though.
Chaos, you are being ridiculous.
Israel has not “bled you dry”. The funds transfered from the US to Israel amount to measly and negligible percent of the US total spendings and a large percentage of it returns as purchases from the US military industry.
The Bush regime had other interests in his mind aside from Israel when he declared wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. Oh, and the Jews are not responsible for 9/11.
“boy is it ever going to hurt when we fall on you”?
WTF? I suggest that you stop making empty threats. Let me quote a memorable: “Son, your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash”
Well, I’m quite positive that they wont.
For one simple reason – they really have no reason for that.
Do you think someone in Islam world really care about Palestinians?
Tal, Israel and Egypt combined have been getting about a quarter of every US dollar given as direct foreign aid, with Israel getting two-thirds of that quarter, and Egypt getting one-third of it, so long as it plays nice with Israel. So, essentially, the US spends 25% of all its direct foreign aid on Israel, with Egypt getting some side benefits so long as it kisses Israel. The balance of the US foreign aid dollar goes to the rest of the world. I’d say our congress folks should tell us why this lop-sided distribution is good for the USA. But our congress never mentions such at all.
If anyone, especially Americans, thinks the amount the US gives Israel is paltry, they should go to that web site that allows any American to click on their residential area to see what those funds given unconditionally to Israel could do for them and their neighbors.
Citizen, everything you say is correct but is irrelevant to my argument. My point is: This 25% of direct aid which Israel gets does not “bleed you dry”, nor does the whole 100% which goes out to the world. It doesn’t have any effect on the American macro-economy.
Maybe the American public should reconsider giving away these funds in times like these when the credit score of the US is dropping but I doubt it would have any effect on both economies.
Chaos,
Israel will be completely independent from Egypt in less than two years. As for water, Israel is the leader in desalination. They will be independent of the West Bank aquifers soon also.
America declared their own wars, blaming Israel may work in this realm, but in reality it has nothing to do with it.
“They will be independent of the West Bank aquifers soon also.”
Why does the sound of a straw in an empty glass, and the vision of Palestinian babies dead of dehydration while next door fat Israelis swim about in their “desalinated” swimming pools, pop into my head…
Woody,
there are no Palestinian babies dead of dehydration. Nice straw man.
ARCH opponent ROFL
These guys have had their reactor bombed to bits and pieces and swallowed it silently.
What’s happening in Libya and Syria are not the same thing. Al-Assad has begun a reform process while Qadhafi and his son went on TV each day and threatened Libyans –only to follow through on all their threats. In Syria, the regime actually began to address the demands of the protesters. And yes they are also being brutal and heavy handed but there are so many unknowns, like who are the snipers that are picking off the police? I look at a lot of news and still don’t know what’s going on but I still do support the democratic aspirations of the Syrian. But I am worried because I know that the US, Israel and Arab regimes that are friendly to Israel are salivating the prospect of the fall of Al-Assad. Also, it’s very hard to ignore the sectarian elements in some of these protests. They have been chanting, “Christians to Beirut and Shias to their death” and “Neither Iran or Hezbollah we want a President that fears Allah.” What the hell? Why can’t they demand their freedom without maligning Shia? If you follow Syrian message boards or other social media outlets you also see a significant amount of anti-Shia sectarianism and not much about the Zionist entity that currently occupies a part of Syria. So, I am primarily worried about people gaining power that are more interested in fighting other Muslims that in fighting against the occupation of Palestine. But I guess we hope that if the Salafists get control of Syria that the people won’t tolerate it for long and they will overthrow them and put a more secular government in place.
I think we should all recognize all the reforms Assad has pushed through. Now, if we could only list them.
I guess that’s what happens when you have a US funded opposition in one’s country. Sectarian incitement? Iraqis can tell you about the game of musical chairs that the “world’s only superpower” played between Sunni, Shi’a and Kurd. (But anyway I expect you are already painfully familiar with that, Seham)
The Kurds biggest benefactor of the Iraq war. now if their people could be liberated in Syria, Iran, and Turkey and form their own state, things would be perfect for them.
Yeah, except, you know, when the United States allows Turkey to run air strikes on the Kurdish territories in northern Iraq.
Please Sehan most of what you say is correct but do not defend Al Asad — he deserves to go. What is going on in Syria is very very complicated. It is not our business to choose sides. And what emerges from there is not likely to be anything we could support. It is not that different from Libya. Let them work it out, certainly neither the US nor Nato should be the ones to pick the winner.
“… And what emerges from there is not likely to be anything we could support. ”
Astute observation, ToivoS, I’m not likely to be sympathetic to any of the new groups likely to take over in these countries. I’m guessing that Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Syria woud be taken over by fundamentalists that would make living under the former oppressive dictators seem like a picnic. Maybe it’s a new American policy switching from backing dictators to opening the way for fundies take over to justify their invasions, occupations and the rest of the stuff democratic countries do to not so democratic ones to help them. Look how happy Iraq and Afghanistan have become since the US brought democracy to them. Now we have sit back and await for the same goodness to be be brought to Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and maybe Syria tomorrow. You’re right about leaving these countries alone to work out their problems
ToivoS,
Please don’t misunderstand anything that I said, I do not support Bashar Al-Assad, I’m just saying some of the elements of the people on the streets in Syria are scary.
Maybe it’s a new American policy switching from backing dictators to opening the way for fundies take over to justify their invasions
that’s what i thought when the US backed hakim in iraq.
thanks seham
like who are the snipers that are picking off the police?
maybe the same ilk that picked off police in iraq and instigated the black n decker civil war. i received a very weird ‘stratfor’ report on syria today. no author mentioned just What follows is raw insight from a STRATFOR source in Syria. anon of course.
reminds me of venezuela.
everything is from ‘his source’
to much mumbo jumbo creating narrative stuff. rationale stuff mixed w/names we know like ‘hamas rules’ but spelled wrong. i just do not buy it. this arrived in my inbox. wft’s up w/that. attributed to no one.
He means this
link to en.wikipedia.org
Still, I doubt Assad Jr. has the stomach to do something on that scale.
oh, i had no idea. the stomach? how about some common sense!
the attack has been described as among “the single deadliest acts by any Arab government against its own people in the modern Middle East”.[5] The vast majority of the victims were civilians.[6]
this makes the statfor piece even a more inflammatory fear mongering piece of propaganda than i had previously anticipated.
Wow Annie, you’ve never heard of Hama?
it may shock you to realize there’s a lot i do not know dbg. deep breath, you’ll get used to it.
Me too Annie, sorry for that comment, it was unnecessary.
no worries
Well obviously the link must have taken me off the Mondoweiss site. According to the Zionists, we LOVE Syria’s oppressive, anti-democratic government and would never criticize it on Mondoweiss!
Maybe we should make 500 comments to show the Zionists how much we oppose the dictator of Syria?
maybe we should advocate bombing the crap out of syria because we just want to take out sadam, oh i meant the other guy, and we are really friends with the syrians and what’s a little bombing of damascus compared to all the good a little operation syria freedom we could bring to the ME?
annie, not that I support operation “syrian freedom”, but what do you suggest the West should do, to make Assad respect those God-given rights we all hold so dear.
The Hamas regime in Gaza is not better than the Assad regime. But while you pretend to condemn the latter, you turn a blind eye to the first.
Hi annie,
I know this is not the time and place but your remarks made lol.
I, for one, also don’t understand why those who are criticized, think or believe I, and others, have rolled off the same assembly line and act and think like lemmings.
I always [try] to keep the following in mind:
” Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence, trust and justice.” – Baruch Spinoza
I am sure both you and I [and other like-minded individuals] still would disagree about a host of things, but given the nature of our Universe [energy never ceases to exist and is brought about by friction of two opposite forces], I cannot find anything wrong in having a healthy, straight-forward and honest debate about anything at hand.
However, because MW is essentially about the I/P conflict we might argue that the ‘heavy’ side of this site is focused on just that.
IMO it’s all about Iran.
Direct military attack in current situation would be quite suicidal.
Of course USA is able of taking Iran out alone, even not using WMD – but the price would be too high, so first Iran should be weakened.
Green Revolution obviously would be the best solution. Bomb these, arm those and in no time you have a new Republic.
BTW, you know what Arabs are afraid the most? Iranians uniting forces with Jews.
There absolutely nothing to quarrel about for Jews and Iranians. No land, no oil, nothing. Such union would totally change political map of ME
michael, when you start advocating politicians, armies and diplomats from the middle east have a say in how we do things in the west i will start taking your question more seriously.
jonah, i’m not pretending anything of the sort. 7:27 was a snark.
USA is able of taking Iran out alone, even not using WMD – but the price would be too high, so first Iran should be weakened.
zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Really? You mean like Iranian Jews that already live there? Or are you talking about Jews all over the world, working together in some vast conspiracy like the one Hitler made up about them?
what do you suggest the West should do, to make Assad respect those God-given rights we all hold so dear.
here’s one thing assad is not doing. imposing a decades long brutal apartheid military occupation on millions of people. i’d rather live in syria under assad anyday than that racist zionist apartheid regime controlling the holyland. put that in your pipe and smoke it.
At what time Israel and Iran were good buddies. Don’t you remember what happened?
You’d be surprised how little – hardly any – people would prefer same as you. In real life of course.
A bit of proof: In Syrian jails prisoner could not possibly get university degree, while here every Palestinian who got a life sentence – only 25 years here, not really life – gets out in decade or two years with couple university degrees – like Samir Kuntar – link to en.wikipedia.org
You are so naive. It is touching.
you are cracking me up darkness. are you really selling israel on how much better it is to be a prisoner there? watched this video lately?
Yeah. Conspiracy. I’ve mentioned it earlier.
You either indeed naive and have no clue what are prisons in third world countries and specifically Arab despoties or *distorting* facts int… mistakingly.
I believe Nelson Mandela was able to get education from an apartheid state in a similar fashion. He then went on to eventually become President of the one state solution to that apartheid.
Good metaphor, Lightbringer.
Chaos, out of curiosity, which institution of higher education did Mandela get his degree from while in jail?
i said i’d rather live in syria under assad anyday than that racist zionist apartheid regime controlling the holyland and you launch off on better lives for prisoners in israel. and i’m naive? grow up.
Naive you are.
Know what? Go to Saudi Arabia and throw a stone at police officer.
I remember.
And lots of Iranians remember.
And the funniest part it that now the situation in Iran is much worse than it was during Shah.
“i’d rather live in syria under assad”
No you don’t annie.
Second try –
Annie, maybe you should lern something about the Syrian regime, before expressing unwary thoughts suggested you by anti-Israel preconception. This was the situation in Syria before the crackdown on the streets:
link to amnesty.org
“Annie, maybe you should lern something about the Syrian regime, before expressing unwary thoughts suggested you by anti-Israel preconception. This was the situation in Syria before the crackdown on the streets:
link to amnesty.org ”
Jonah, you’re trying to spook the lady with Amnesty’s smoke and mirrors report, but the lady doesn’t spook easy. That 2010 AI report you linked to wasn’t very different from what would be other reports for most of 3rd world countries. In a nutshell, it said that things improved over the previous year in Syria but more improvements are still needed and apart from its intolerance of dissent that again is present in similar countries with limited freedoms, most of Amnesty’s report was a rehash of its 2008 report on Syria’s mistreatment and execution of 8 of its convicted prisoners. As I said, smoke and mirrors.
There isn’t much to be discovered about the Syrian regime since the word “regime” says it all. What is being discussed here is the abusive manipulation we are being subjected to by the media and we’re asking why.
Nelson Mandela also has an honorary degree from BGU, go figure, huh Chaos?
saudi arabia? what is this , discourse thru free association? are we playing the game of telephone darkness?
And I have a regular degree from BGU :-) Just had to mention that. Sorry.
“i’d rather live in syria under assad”
No you don’t annie.
don’t think you can cherrypick my words and get away w/it. i would rather be a syrian and take my chances w/their regime than be a subject to the apartheid rule of israel’s zionist regime.
consider the fact that one would have a 50/50 chance, a flip of the coin, of being born into non citizen stateless status already lasting generations. if i were male the chances i would land in one of israel’s jails (no charges mind you) would be much higher than in syria.
you guys are scare mongering and i am not falling for it. you’re diverting the conversation all over the place without examining what US intervention looks like. it sure as hell doesn’t look like stability, that’s for sure.
Annie, maybe you should lern something about the Syrian regime,
why, because had i known more about saddam i could have supported the iraq war and wouldn’t be bothered by a million dead iraqis and millions of refugees and orphans and countless lives ruined forever led to the slaughter by neocon warplanners some with the same names as those lusting after regime change in syria today..faster please caldron of fire birthpangs bla bla bla
you are soooo barking up the wrong tree jonah, you don’t even tempt me to support american intervention in syria. not one iota. there’s a big ol world in the ME, i’m sure they will do much better without our ‘expertise’.
I’m too busy making 500 replies to racist anti-Arab hate speech and fifth column propaganda that routinely makes it way onto Mondoweiss care of Zionists.
I’ve been watching Jazeera Arabic for the past 4 hours and it’s more of the same new style of reporting. News with video clips all provided by “amateur” video recorders and all quotes preceded by “our on-site sources informed us that …” since Jazeera doesn’t have any reporters there. A friend just returned to Amman after a short visit to Damascus wrote me that she couldn’t see or feel the turbulence we have been seeing on TV. It’s a shame that Jazeera that had an impeccable record up until now has taken such a turn. Even the al-Arabia and the Shark al-Awsat that are owned by the Saudi regime have not taken as biased an approach to reporting events as al-Jazeera.
A friend just returned to Amman after a short visit to Damascus wrote me that she couldn’t see or feel the turbulence we have been seeing on TV.
surprise surprise
Annie, with hundreds of cell phone cameras in the hands of the freedom seekers some of which are posting on Youtube and supplying Jazeera with footage of tanks rolling by along with comments that the tanks have been been shelling cities for 2 or 3 weeks, I have yet to see (on Jazeera) a single picture taken of a building’s wall destroyed by a tank shell. I wish someone would post a link that shows a bit of physical damage.
I doubt the tanks are shelling anything. There are reports of this, in Syria? that is crazy. There is no need to fire tank shells. snipers and thugs kill civilians just fine.
Trust the Israeli to know that.
Here’s a bit dated account of Syria’s geo-political strategy, given the present situation there, but it summarizes the nature and history of Syria, and I don’t see it pointing towards some new Syrian regime that will be liked any better than the current one fighting to retain its power, by either the USA or Israel:
link to visionsofempire.wordpress.com
How significant is the Assad family’s membership of the mysterious Alawite minority? I know that Western commentators sometimes overestimate the importance of religious divisions in that part of the world but is this division really important?
MHughes, religion isn’t playing a part; it’s simply about politics and power plays. Odd as it may seem, Syria’s Alawi minority an offshoot of Shia Islam is ruling and managing the country’s majority Sunni population under Sunni law. The education system in Syria is also administered according to Suni precepts, not Alawi or any other Shia ones, a very smart move on the part of the Assads that had kept the country stable until now. The Assads, excluding the current president, are known for the infamous Hama massacre of 1982 that killed over 10,000 Syrian Suni and that was at the root of some of the current restrictive laws. Oddly, the leaders of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood insurgents that were smashed at Hama were from the Alawi sect. The man responsible for the Hama military operation was the current President’s uncle, Rifaat Assad, now a London resident, close to the Americans and Saudis and rumored (Danaa is going to love this one) to be behind the current unrest in Syria and poised to take over if the current president is ousted by the ongoing supposedly popular uprising allegedly being orchestrated by the CIA (that’s a lot of dots to be tied or untied by Danaa). As per Wiki, Rifaat was mentioned by the influential American think tank Stratfor as a possible suspect for the 2005 bombing that killed Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri and the string of attacks that has struck Beirut after the subsequent Syrian withdrawal. The goal would be to destabilize the Syrian regime. However, there has been no mention of Rifaat in the United Nations Mehlis reports on the crime.
Rafaat Assad’s son is rumoured to be currently in Lebanon along with another 101 rumours about what he’s actually doing there.
A bit of history on the Hama incident from Wiki:
“The Hama massacre occurred in February 1982, when the Syrian army, under the orders of the president of Syria Hafez al-Assad, conducted a scorched earth policy against the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Sunni Muslim community against the regime of al-Assad.[1] The Hama massacre, personally conducted by president Assad’s younger brother, Rifaat al-Assad, effectively ended the campaign begun in 1976 by Sunni Islamic groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, against Assad’s regime, whose leaders were disproportionately from president Assad’s own Alawite sect. Estimates vary on the number of deaths, with the lowest estimates indicating that at least 10,000 Syrian citizens were killed,[2] the majority civilians, while others put the number at 20,000 (Robert Fisk),[1] or 40,000 (Syrian Human Rights Committee).[3][4] About 1,000 Syrian soldiers were killed during the operation and large parts of the old city were destroyed. Alongside events like the Black September massacre in Jordan, the attack has been described as among “the single deadliest acts by any Arab government against its own people in the modern Middle East”.[5] The vast majority of the victims were civilians.[6]
link to en.wikipedia.org
About the esoteric Alawis:
link to en.wikipedia.org
Hama were from the Alawi sect. The man responsible for this operation was the current President’s uncle, Rifaat Assad, now a London resident, close to the Americans and Saudis
oh well isn’t that reassuring
and rumored (Danaa is going to love this one) to be behind the current unrest in Syria and poised to take over if the current president is ousted by the ongoing supposedly popular uprising allegedly being orchestrated by the CIA
yeah, i ‘love’ it too/not.
(that’s a lot of dots to be tied or untied by Danaa). As per Wiki, Rifaat was mentioned by the influential American think tank Stratfor as a possible suspect for the 2005 bombing that killed Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri and the string of attacks that has struck Beirut after the subsequent Syrian withdrawal. The goal would be to destabilize the Syrian regime.
we love dictators as long as they are our dictators.
Thanks for the information. And I agree that it will take better people than we have here to spook annie.
The whole ME region must be full of spies, provocateurs, false flaggers, people who’d do anything for money, people pursuing feuds. Very confusing.
Perhaps my ‘full of’ suggested that I was overlooking the huge numbers who are trying to live a normal life and follow normal morality.
Not really, MHughes, a good segment of those large numbers you are talking about love this stuff and thrive on it as much as those that are actually doing it, otherwise, these things wouldn’t have any takers or followings. But they’d never pass the opportunity to tell you how much they ernestly long for the normal life and morality. Aren’t leaders actually a reflection of the people that put them there?
Aristotle is sometimes supposed to say, though I can’t put my finger on a place where he clearly says it, that it is impossible to be a good person in a bad city. Perhaps he thinks that the people reflect the leaders. Maybe it’s sometimes hard to tell which way the influence is flowing.
I think the British Government is now calling for sanctions on Syria, though not on Bahrain.