Friday, February 22, 2013
Tax havens, rising debt-extortion, loans to African military dictators, capital flight, unfair trade prices, militarization of Africa through AFRICOM are the many ways in which the West’s war against African development continues. The recent crisis in Mali and Algeria are being used by the West to further its domination over Africa ALGERIA’S IMPORTANCE TO EU MEMBERS This tendency to ‘resource nationalism’ was also noted in a recent piece by STRATFOR, the global intelligence firm, who wrote that ‘foreign participation in Algeria has suffered in large part due to protectionist policies enforced by the highly nationalistic military government.’ This was particularly worrying, they argued, as Europe is about to become a whole lot more dependent on Algerian gas as North Sea reserves run out: ‘Developing Algeria as a major natural gas exporter is an economic and strategic imperative for EU countries as North Sea production of the commodity enters terminal decline in the next decade. Algeria is already an important energy supplier to the Continent, but Europe will need expanded access to natural gas to offset the decline of its indigenous reserves.’ British and Dutch North Sea gas reserves are estimated to run out by the end of the decade, and Norway’s to go into sharp decline from 2015 onwards. With Europe fearful of overdependence on gas from Russia and Asia, Algeria – with reserves of natural gas estimated at 4.5 trillion cubic metres, alongside shale gas reserves of 17 trillion cubic meters - will become essential, the piece argues. But the biggest obstacle to European control of these resources remains the Algerian government – with its ‘protectionist policies’ and ‘resource nationalism.’ Without saying it outright, the piece concludes by suggesting that a destabilized ‘failed state’ Algeria would be far preferable to Algeria under a stable independent ‘protectionist’ government, noting that ‘the existing involvement of EU energy majors in high-risk countries like Nigeria, Libya, Yemen and Iraq indicates a healthy tolerance for instability and security problems.’ In other words, in an age of private security, Big Oil no longer requires stability or state protection for its investments; disaster zones can be tolerated; strong, independent states cannot.
More...
[ed notes:im just citing few excrpts on both articles,click links for whole articles...anyway ,what author is saying above regarding stratfors piece,and what it suggests,was also revealed at a Davos World Economic Forum's Mining & Metals Scenarios to 2030 summit ,i recorded few years ago...see scenario 3! (3)RESOURCE SCARCITY... http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2010/02/israeli-agent-claims-mi6-and-foreign.html
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INDIA'S HOMEGROWN (SAFFRON)TERRORISM - Shinde's saffron terror comment factually correct:Congress
Shinde may have got it right with saffron terror : CongressNew Delhi : The Congress Thursday said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde s regret over his saffron terror remark was not a u-turn, and was meant only to assuage the hurt feelings of a political party and ensure smooth functioning of parliament. "There is no u-turn... the home minister s statement(made initially in Jaipur, linking the BJP and RSS with terrorism), may be factually correct but he expressed regret so no political party feels hurt," Congress spokesperson P.C. Chacko told reporters.Shinde Wednesday expressed regret for having made the remark, after the BJP threatened that it would not allow parliament to function until the home minister apologised. Shinde met Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj separately after the Speaker s all-party meeting Wednesday, and expressed regret. While the BJP welcomed the home minister s regret and claimed victory for its stand, its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) rejected Shinde s statement."The rejection is not warranted in the light of the statement made by the homeminister... he had only said what was already in public domain," Chacko said. Supporting Shinde, Chacko said he could not have made a factually incorrect statement in this regard, being the home minister.
Shinde may have got it right with saffron terror : CongressNew Delhi : The Congress Thursday said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde s regret over his saffron terror remark was not a u-turn, and was meant only to assuage the hurt feelings of a political party and ensure smooth functioning of parliament. "There is no u-turn... the home minister s statement(made initially in Jaipur, linking the BJP and RSS with terrorism), may be factually correct but he expressed regret so no political party feels hurt," Congress spokesperson P.C. Chacko told reporters.Shinde Wednesday expressed regret for having made the remark, after the BJP threatened that it would not allow parliament to function until the home minister apologised. Shinde met Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj separately after the Speaker s all-party meeting Wednesday, and expressed regret. While the BJP welcomed the home minister s regret and claimed victory for its stand, its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) rejected Shinde s statement."The rejection is not warranted in the light of the statement made by the homeminister... he had only said what was already in public domain," Chacko said. Supporting Shinde, Chacko said he could not have made a factually incorrect statement in this regard, being the home minister.
The 9/11 Truth Movement Goes To Court In The UK By Architects & Engineers For 9/11 Truth
On February 25, in the small town of Horsham in the United Kingdom, there will be a rare and potentially groundbreaking opportunity for the 9/11 truth movement. Three hours of detailed 9/11 evidence is to be presented and considered in a court of law where the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will be challenged over the inaccurate and biased manner in which it has portrayed the events and evidence of 9/11As a continuation of this process with the BBC, documentary film maker Tony Rooke has decided to take a personal stand on this issue. People in the United Kingdom are required to pay an annual TV licence fee which is used to fund BBC’s operations. Tony has refused to pay his TV licence fee on the basis of specific anti-terrorism legislation.Section 15 of the UK Terrorism Act 2000, Article 3, states that it is offence to provide funds if there is a reasonable cause to suspect that those funds may be used for the purposes of terrorism. Tony’s claim is that BBC has withheld scientific evidence which demonstrates that the official version of the events of 9/11 is not possible and that BBC has actively attempted to discredit those people attempting to bring this evidence to the public. According to Rooke, by doing this, BBC is supporting a cover-up of the true events of 9/11 and is therefore potentially supporting those terrorist elements who were involved in certain aspects of 9/11 who have not yet been identified and held to account.Rooke has been charged with a crime for not paying his TV Licence Fee. However, he has lodged a legal challenge to this charge and has now been successful in being granted an appearance in a Magistrate’s court, where he has three hours available to present his evidence to defend himself against the charge. Tony has put together a formidable team to support him in presenting the evidence, including the following two outstanding 9/11 researchers:
On February 25, in the small town of Horsham in the United Kingdom, there will be a rare and potentially groundbreaking opportunity for the 9/11 truth movement. Three hours of detailed 9/11 evidence is to be presented and considered in a court of law where the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will be challenged over the inaccurate and biased manner in which it has portrayed the events and evidence of 9/11As a continuation of this process with the BBC, documentary film maker Tony Rooke has decided to take a personal stand on this issue. People in the United Kingdom are required to pay an annual TV licence fee which is used to fund BBC’s operations. Tony has refused to pay his TV licence fee on the basis of specific anti-terrorism legislation.Section 15 of the UK Terrorism Act 2000, Article 3, states that it is offence to provide funds if there is a reasonable cause to suspect that those funds may be used for the purposes of terrorism. Tony’s claim is that BBC has withheld scientific evidence which demonstrates that the official version of the events of 9/11 is not possible and that BBC has actively attempted to discredit those people attempting to bring this evidence to the public. According to Rooke, by doing this, BBC is supporting a cover-up of the true events of 9/11 and is therefore potentially supporting those terrorist elements who were involved in certain aspects of 9/11 who have not yet been identified and held to account.Rooke has been charged with a crime for not paying his TV Licence Fee. However, he has lodged a legal challenge to this charge and has now been successful in being granted an appearance in a Magistrate’s court, where he has three hours available to present his evidence to defend himself against the charge. Tony has put together a formidable team to support him in presenting the evidence, including the following two outstanding 9/11 researchers:
[ed notes;click link for whole article...
a comment left on my blog by obviously some sick zionazi on my post featuring james petra..
[ed note:no i wont look..thanks but no thanks..meanwhile,turns out that email belongs to gregg pilchman from veterans today!a further look into it shows me that gatestone institute(zionist publication)also features the anti petras facebook page..veterans today scoundrel aligned with zionists?not surprising to me...
i have my own criticisms against petras,but anti semetic libel and defamation is definatly not one of them...
[ed note:no i wont look..thanks but no thanks..meanwhile,turns out that email belongs to gregg pilchman from veterans today!a further look into it shows me that gatestone institute(zionist publication)also features the anti petras facebook page..veterans today scoundrel aligned with zionists?not surprising to me...
i have my own criticisms against petras,but anti semetic libel and defamation is definatly not one of them...
The tall man has Israeli passport. The Lebanese man has Israeli permanent residency.How many people here support President Assad?“Half and half”, they say. I know it is not true. Most of people we spoke to support him.Then it begins: barrage of clichés, they were holding forth for almost an hour. The Lebanese man begins his speech:“It is clear that Islam aims at being the enemy of the world… Look at what is happening in Egypt… I am even afraid to go back to Lebanon, now; afraid even to visit. All those Hezbollah spies there. I love Israel!”Tall, local/‘Idaho Man’ joins this serenading to Israel: “People here know how to live in peace with Jewish community. Sure, some 10% protest against the occupation. But almost all young people believe that Israel is their home. Now the Golan Heights is the quietest, the most peaceful area of Israel.”Eventually, both men depart. Yes, the Golan Heights is extremely quiet part of the world. It is because some 80% of the local people were kicked out from their homes. It is because their hamlets, villages and towns were destroyed. It is because the monstrous fences were erected. Both men also forgot to mention that terrible humming from the tops of all local hills – the radars, radios, listening devices. And they forgot to mention tanks and armored vehicles, moving up and down the narrow roads.Golan Heights – the land of cherries and apples, of ruins of villages and towns, of Israeli commandoes playing war games inside destroyed Syrian buildings.
As two men leave, we go straight to the owner of falafel restaurant.“You make the best falafel on earth”, I tell him, which is undeniable truth. “Now please, tell me what do you think about what is happening in Syria?”“I am very upset about the situation there”, he replies, slowly. “There is so much damage, so much suffering, again. It is not correct what is happening there. I worry about my family across the border. Many people here call those ‘revolutionaries’ in Syria – the terrorists. Was the situation better before the ‘uprising’ began? Most definitely.”It is our second day here, the end of the second day.
A small group gathers inside of the sweets shop. Food in Majdal al-Shams is exquisite. The outspokenness of the local people is simply remarkable.And what we hear from the local people is exactly the opposite from what is served to us by the official Israeli propaganda:[[[[[[[[[“We want to go back to Syria. Rebels are terrorists. Assad is on the West’s way to Iran; the West and Israel want to push him aside and have their path cleared towards Teheran. We all know that Qatar is paying for the ‘rebels’. If Russia and China do not give in to the West, Assad will never fall.”Before we parted the previous day, the guard at the road to Lebanon clarified: “We are all connected with Syria here. We watch Syrian television; we are following the events. Most of the local people here identify themselves with Assad. We like Assad here. But in the West and in Israel, they simply hate intelligent Arab leaders. They like and support those idiots in Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia!”]]]]]]]]It is actually exactly the same point of view that I heard from people of Hatay, on the border between Turkey and Syria, where I investigated Western training camps that are manufacturing so called ‘Syrian Opposition’.People also complain about the Israeli control of the housing stock. There has to be an official permit to build any new house, and such a permit costs a fortune. In this town alone, some 1.000 houses are lacking; Israelis simply do not allow Druze towns to grow – growth is reserved only for the Jewish settlements. People live in crammed conditions. The houses built without official permits get demolished.And then we are told about the structure of ‘democracy’ in this occupied territory: “Syrian citizens – the great majority – have no right to vote. Israel imposes its own handpicked Druze representatives, to form so-called ‘village or town councils’. They all consist of collaborators and they carry Israeli passports and identification cards. It goes without saying that those councils are not here to serve the interests of the local population.”As I drive further, my eyes fall on enormous Nimrod Fortress, built around 1229 by Al-Aziz Uthman, nephew of Saladin and younger son of Al-Adil I. It was named Qala’at al-Subeiba, “Castle of the Large Cliff” in Arabic and it was supposed to preempt an attack on Damascus by participants of the Sixth Crusade. How paradox this is! An enormous, powerful structure that used to protect Muslim world from aggression and terror coming from early Western imperialists, now appears to be helpless and obsolete, sadly hugging the cliff, unable to offer any resistance.I am thinking about Joul Jamal. He told me, in Haifa: “Israel will be forced to return Golan Heights, one day. But it will not do it voluntarily. Colonialists have to be forced to withdraw. Palestine and Golan Heights, they are very important: as they are at the frontline of the war against imperialism.”
[ed notes:click link for whole piece,just citing few excerpts,due to length,then also read..
NEWTOWN MASSACRE... DEFINATE COVER-UP
Sandy Hook Fallout: Proposal to Restrict Death Certificates
GOP Rep refers to reporters who seek info as 'jackals' - 1 Feb 2013 [Note: This is a summary of an article, written by Christopher Keating and William Weir, that appeared in Thursday's Hartford Courant. A Newtown official's distress over reporters' requests for death certificates after the Dec. 14 schoolhouse shootings has led to a bill that would restrict public access to the records for any children younger than age 18. State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, a freshman Republican lawmaker from Newtown, testified to a committee Wednesday that legislators "need to do something." "I was shocked, dismayed and deeply disturbed when, on Dec. 17, I got a call from the town clerk about the prospect of having a reporter standing beside her during one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the United States in Newtown looking for death certificates of children," Bolinsky said. Bolinksky said he felt "the outrage, the pain of observing the jackals descend upon my town clerk's office at a time of great, great community loss."
Sandy Hook Fallout: Proposal to Restrict Death Certificates
GOP Rep refers to reporters who seek info as 'jackals' - 1 Feb 2013 [Note: This is a summary of an article, written by Christopher Keating and William Weir, that appeared in Thursday's Hartford Courant. A Newtown official's distress over reporters' requests for death certificates after the Dec. 14 schoolhouse shootings has led to a bill that would restrict public access to the records for any children younger than age 18. State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, a freshman Republican lawmaker from Newtown, testified to a committee Wednesday that legislators "need to do something." "I was shocked, dismayed and deeply disturbed when, on Dec. 17, I got a call from the town clerk about the prospect of having a reporter standing beside her during one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the United States in Newtown looking for death certificates of children," Bolinsky said. Bolinksky said he felt "the outrage, the pain of observing the jackals descend upon my town clerk's office at a time of great, great community loss."
[ed notes;they don't have them,obviously...
BRITTISH TRAINED(BACKED)YEMENI SECURITY FORCES KILL PROTESTERS
Yemeni security forces(BRITTISH BACKED AND TRAINED) fired at protesters on Thursday, killing at least four and wounding several others. The protesters were calling for Southern independence and were holding a counter-protest to the many supporters that had gathered to celebrate the anniversary of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi‘s election. Meanwhile, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh who was ousted by protesters in 2011,opened a museum dedicated to himself. “Those who want to reminisce about three decades of authoritarianism will soon be able to visit the museum, whose main entrance is fronted by an enormous portrait of the man himself,” reports The Independent. The museum will include Saleh’s glasses, prayer rug and the now-charred pair of pants he was wearing during a 2011 assassination attempt, among other items. Saleh toured the recently-completed museum and praised its “class and elegance.”
Yemeni security forces(BRITTISH BACKED AND TRAINED) fired at protesters on Thursday, killing at least four and wounding several others. The protesters were calling for Southern independence and were holding a counter-protest to the many supporters that had gathered to celebrate the anniversary of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi‘s election. Meanwhile, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh who was ousted by protesters in 2011,opened a museum dedicated to himself. “Those who want to reminisce about three decades of authoritarianism will soon be able to visit the museum, whose main entrance is fronted by an enormous portrait of the man himself,” reports The Independent. The museum will include Saleh’s glasses, prayer rug and the now-charred pair of pants he was wearing during a 2011 assassination attempt, among other items. Saleh toured the recently-completed museum and praised its “class and elegance.”
[ed notes;(YEMENS SECURITY FORCES ARE BRITTISH BACKED AND TRAINED Yemen: UK Government spend thousands on training and ... )
GCC CRIMES CONTINUE...
In Oman, 23 activists, most of whom are imprisoned, continued their hunger strike. A delegation of elected members of Oman’s Shura Council planned to visit the detainees, pending government approval, after family members urged council head Shaikh Khalid Bin Hilal Bin Naseer al-Maawalito intervene.
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Kuwait’s appeals court upheld publisher Zayed al-Zayed‘s one month prison sentence for defaming former MP and minister Abdul Mohsin al-Midaj, but a further appeal was planned. Kuwait’s criminal court delayed the trials of two bloggers charged with either undermining or insulting the emir, released five bloggers accused of similar crimes, and charged a teacher for tweeting “remarks deemed offensive by the authorities.”
In Oman, 23 activists, most of whom are imprisoned, continued their hunger strike. A delegation of elected members of Oman’s Shura Council planned to visit the detainees, pending government approval, after family members urged council head Shaikh Khalid Bin Hilal Bin Naseer al-Maawalito intervene.
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Kuwait’s appeals court upheld publisher Zayed al-Zayed‘s one month prison sentence for defaming former MP and minister Abdul Mohsin al-Midaj, but a further appeal was planned. Kuwait’s criminal court delayed the trials of two bloggers charged with either undermining or insulting the emir, released five bloggers accused of similar crimes, and charged a teacher for tweeting “remarks deemed offensive by the authorities.”
Israel to drill for oil in Syria’s Golan
Reuters/al-Akhbar, Feb 21 2013
Israel has awarded its first license to drill for oil on the occupied Golan Heights to a US energy company, industry sources said on Thursday. Energy sector sources said that after Israel decided last year to allow oil and gas exploration on the Golan, Genie Energy was awarded a license to drill. The New Jersey-based company still needs further work permits for drilling to commence, a process that could take years. Genie did not immediately return calls for comment. The company’s Strategic Advisory Board includes Dick Cheney, Rupert Murdoch, and ‘Lord’ Jacob Rothschild. The strategic advisory board “advises management on strategic, financial, operational and public policy matters.”
Reuters/al-Akhbar, Feb 21 2013
Israel has awarded its first license to drill for oil on the occupied Golan Heights to a US energy company, industry sources said on Thursday. Energy sector sources said that after Israel decided last year to allow oil and gas exploration on the Golan, Genie Energy was awarded a license to drill. The New Jersey-based company still needs further work permits for drilling to commence, a process that could take years. Genie did not immediately return calls for comment. The company’s Strategic Advisory Board includes Dick Cheney, Rupert Murdoch, and ‘Lord’ Jacob Rothschild. The strategic advisory board “advises management on strategic, financial, operational and public policy matters.”
Who just started arming Syria rebels? Michael Weiss, Now, Feb 20 2013
.But an added element of pathos in this re-upping of status quo policy can be found in a remarkable new development. Syria’s rebels are now receiving better and more copious arms from some outside actor. Moreover, the way in which those arms are being distributed, as well as to whom, strongly hints that some Western actors are finally acceding to a military option for a conflict that never had a chance for a diplomatic or political breakthrough.In one of the most strangely neglected stories in the two-year Syria conflict, beginning on Jan 1, four new weapon models began appearing in large quantities in Daraa province, none used at any time by the Syrian military. The M60 recoilless gun, the M79 Osa rocket launcher, the RPG-22 rocket launcher and the Milkor MGL/RBG-6 grenade launcher hadn’t been shown in any opposition videos until the new year. Every device was used in a massive joint rebel operation against Busr al-Harir, a town previously safely in regime hands to the northeast of Daraa city. Several tanks and BMPs (armored personnel carriers) were destroyed in the ensuing battle and, as Syria analyst James Miller of EA Worldview told me, what distinguished this rebel sortie from others was that “the fighters didn’t seem concerned about preserving the ammunition for these weapons.” Rebels tend to hoard the bullets of their Kalashnikovs, so the fact that they’d promiscuously expend the ammo of more powerful and newer-made arms is noteworthy. And there was another major oddity: Unlike most recent attacks against regime installations, the Busr al-Harir fight was waged mainly by secular or moderate units of the Free Syrian Army, with the normally ever-present Jabhat al-Nusra, the US-blacklisted Syrian branch of al-Qaeda in Iraq, conspicuously absent. Busr al-Harir was by no means a one-off. Rebels continued to penetrate the southern province where the anti-regime protest movement took off in earnest in Mar 2011. More tanks and BMPs have gone up in flames in Zeizun, northwest of Daraa city, and others have been captured by the FSA. Rebels are approaching the city from the east and north, though also hitting within its limits from the south. On Valentine’s Day, they laid siege to El Sahoah, east of the city, eliminating an entire military convoy and sacking an air base and making off with at least one BMP. Four days later, they captured a checkpoint on Dam Road, affording them a new southeastern point of ingress into Daraa city. If this provincial capital were to be ring-fenced or taken by the opposition, Miller writes, it’d mark a significant setback for the regime because it would allow the rebels a direct supply line from Jordan straight into Damascus, where rebel operations are also taking place in the outlying suburbs and in the capital itself.From Daraa, these munitions began popping up in other provinces. According to Eliot Higgins, who blogs obsessively about Syrian warfare as “Brown Moses” and who first uncovered the new hardware in Syria, the RPG-22 and M60 have since turned up in Idlib; the RPG-22, M79 and RBG-6 in Hama; the RPG-22 and M79 in Aleppo; and all four have appeared in Damascus. In an email, Higgins said that markings from M79 rocket pods suggest a manufacture date of 1990-1991, although the rocket launcher itself was first manufactured in 1979. Yet clearly this is still an improvement on the more commonly used RPG-7. In one video, rebels demonstrate how the M79 works to a relevant figure: Colonel Abd’ul-Jabbar Mohammed Ogaidi, theFSA representative of the Northern Front of the Supreme Military Council. He also, intriguingly, serves on the Front’s Armament Committee. [[[[[[Ogaidi was a main point man for Future Movement MP Okab Sakr, who previously ran consignments of light weapons into Syria.]]]]]]]] Higgins further happened upon a revealing training video showing the al-Farouq Brigade giving a lesson in how to handle some of this Balkan hardware to the Dawn of Islam Brigade. This exercise was coordinated under the auspices of the Free Damascenes Movement, a newish coalition of rebels seeking to unify all Islamic units in the insurgency under one heading, excepting (again) Jabhat al-Nusra. Miller wrote in a blog post on EA Worldview:That process appears to have started in late November and came to fruition in late December, approximately the same time we started to see the surge in foreign arms. This effort appears to have started in the south, in Daraa Province, with the eventual goal of liberating Damascus.Both Miller and Higgins suspect that Jordan and Turkey are the entry points for the new weapons, given their proliferation in the north and south of Syria. That sophisticated anti-tank and anti-infantry munitions are now being funneled exclusively to non-extremist rebel units, who themselves are committed to isolating al-Qaeda, suggests either a staggering coincidence or some degree of external facilitation. Now here’s another interesting fact. The M60, the M79, the RBG-6 and the RPG-22 are all currently in use by the Croatian Army. Croatia, which, along with a host of European and Middle Eastern powers, recognized the Syrian National Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people, is not yet a member state of the EU. It is set to accede in July of this year. So, technically, it is not beholden to the EU arms embargo. It is, however, a member of the Friends of Syria umbrella group: Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić attended the second conference in Istanbul in 2012, and she’s previously expressed concern about Croatia’s oil and gas fields, which sanctions and deteriorating security have rendered useless. About a year ago, Croatia instructed all of its businesses to withdraw from Syria, an act that left INA, the national oil company, operating at a loss of “hundreds of millions of euros.”
A pro-EU Balkan state not yet subject to EU jurisdiction would also have a nice geopolitical motive to help undermine a proxy of Russia. But even assuming that Zagreb isn’t directly or indirectly supplying these arms to Syria, might a hitherto unknown arms dealer, Croatian or otherwise, state or non-state, now be working directly with a regional intermediary who is supplying them? If so, how is it that this arms dealer has managed to negotiate relatively smooth supply routes through both Jordan and Turkey? One plausible scenario would be that these weapons were all coming from Libya, which was one of the initial arms-runners to the Syrian opposition. The former Yugoslavia, which manufactured the M60 and M79, formerly enjoyed warm ties with Muammar Qaddafi, as did Croatia prior to the Libyan revolt and subsequent NATO intervention. Former Croatian President Stipe Mesić seemed to want those ties to continue regardless. So it is possible that the M60s, M79s, RPG-22s and RBG-6s were all sold to Libya a long time ago and were only just emptied from warehouses by the National Transition Council for urgent use in another country, although this then raises the question of why it took the new Libyan government a year to send the heavy-duty materiel to the Syrians when it previously trafficked in only light arms and ammunition. Nor does this explain why the NTC suddenly decided to empower the moderates over the Jihadis in a highly organized fashion that, superficially, accords with Western preconditions for supporting the armed opposition.Over the course of the last few days, I’ve tried repeatedly, by phone and email, to query both the press officer and military advisor at the Croatian mission in New York to see if they might account for the provenance of four weapon models that, taken together, are exclusive to their country’s arsenal. I received no reply. One Washington-based source close to the Syrian rebels suggested that Croatia “might be involved” but thought the Libya clearing-house theory was more persuasive, particularly as new stockpiles of Libyan weapons have been appearing and disappearing from Mali. That said, the source believes that classroom training seminars bespeak “total formalization,” and because “the people getting these weapons are not Salafis or Nusra, that suggests a Western power” orchestrating or overseeing the entire effort. In its reports on the EU arms embargo renewal, the WaPo cited diplomats in Brussels and London who alleged that Whitehall was indeed intent on arming vetted and responsible rebels. While British Foreign Secretary William Hague denied such claims, saying his government merely wanted to “give assistance and advice that we’d been restricted in giving before,” he nevertheless left the door open a crack for further action. “We would have gone further,” Hague said. From the looks of it, someone already has.
.But an added element of pathos in this re-upping of status quo policy can be found in a remarkable new development. Syria’s rebels are now receiving better and more copious arms from some outside actor. Moreover, the way in which those arms are being distributed, as well as to whom, strongly hints that some Western actors are finally acceding to a military option for a conflict that never had a chance for a diplomatic or political breakthrough.In one of the most strangely neglected stories in the two-year Syria conflict, beginning on Jan 1, four new weapon models began appearing in large quantities in Daraa province, none used at any time by the Syrian military. The M60 recoilless gun, the M79 Osa rocket launcher, the RPG-22 rocket launcher and the Milkor MGL/RBG-6 grenade launcher hadn’t been shown in any opposition videos until the new year. Every device was used in a massive joint rebel operation against Busr al-Harir, a town previously safely in regime hands to the northeast of Daraa city. Several tanks and BMPs (armored personnel carriers) were destroyed in the ensuing battle and, as Syria analyst James Miller of EA Worldview told me, what distinguished this rebel sortie from others was that “the fighters didn’t seem concerned about preserving the ammunition for these weapons.” Rebels tend to hoard the bullets of their Kalashnikovs, so the fact that they’d promiscuously expend the ammo of more powerful and newer-made arms is noteworthy. And there was another major oddity: Unlike most recent attacks against regime installations, the Busr al-Harir fight was waged mainly by secular or moderate units of the Free Syrian Army, with the normally ever-present Jabhat al-Nusra, the US-blacklisted Syrian branch of al-Qaeda in Iraq, conspicuously absent. Busr al-Harir was by no means a one-off. Rebels continued to penetrate the southern province where the anti-regime protest movement took off in earnest in Mar 2011. More tanks and BMPs have gone up in flames in Zeizun, northwest of Daraa city, and others have been captured by the FSA. Rebels are approaching the city from the east and north, though also hitting within its limits from the south. On Valentine’s Day, they laid siege to El Sahoah, east of the city, eliminating an entire military convoy and sacking an air base and making off with at least one BMP. Four days later, they captured a checkpoint on Dam Road, affording them a new southeastern point of ingress into Daraa city. If this provincial capital were to be ring-fenced or taken by the opposition, Miller writes, it’d mark a significant setback for the regime because it would allow the rebels a direct supply line from Jordan straight into Damascus, where rebel operations are also taking place in the outlying suburbs and in the capital itself.From Daraa, these munitions began popping up in other provinces. According to Eliot Higgins, who blogs obsessively about Syrian warfare as “Brown Moses” and who first uncovered the new hardware in Syria, the RPG-22 and M60 have since turned up in Idlib; the RPG-22, M79 and RBG-6 in Hama; the RPG-22 and M79 in Aleppo; and all four have appeared in Damascus. In an email, Higgins said that markings from M79 rocket pods suggest a manufacture date of 1990-1991, although the rocket launcher itself was first manufactured in 1979. Yet clearly this is still an improvement on the more commonly used RPG-7. In one video, rebels demonstrate how the M79 works to a relevant figure: Colonel Abd’ul-Jabbar Mohammed Ogaidi, theFSA representative of the Northern Front of the Supreme Military Council. He also, intriguingly, serves on the Front’s Armament Committee. [[[[[[Ogaidi was a main point man for Future Movement MP Okab Sakr, who previously ran consignments of light weapons into Syria.]]]]]]]] Higgins further happened upon a revealing training video showing the al-Farouq Brigade giving a lesson in how to handle some of this Balkan hardware to the Dawn of Islam Brigade. This exercise was coordinated under the auspices of the Free Damascenes Movement, a newish coalition of rebels seeking to unify all Islamic units in the insurgency under one heading, excepting (again) Jabhat al-Nusra. Miller wrote in a blog post on EA Worldview:That process appears to have started in late November and came to fruition in late December, approximately the same time we started to see the surge in foreign arms. This effort appears to have started in the south, in Daraa Province, with the eventual goal of liberating Damascus.Both Miller and Higgins suspect that Jordan and Turkey are the entry points for the new weapons, given their proliferation in the north and south of Syria. That sophisticated anti-tank and anti-infantry munitions are now being funneled exclusively to non-extremist rebel units, who themselves are committed to isolating al-Qaeda, suggests either a staggering coincidence or some degree of external facilitation. Now here’s another interesting fact. The M60, the M79, the RBG-6 and the RPG-22 are all currently in use by the Croatian Army. Croatia, which, along with a host of European and Middle Eastern powers, recognized the Syrian National Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people, is not yet a member state of the EU. It is set to accede in July of this year. So, technically, it is not beholden to the EU arms embargo. It is, however, a member of the Friends of Syria umbrella group: Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić attended the second conference in Istanbul in 2012, and she’s previously expressed concern about Croatia’s oil and gas fields, which sanctions and deteriorating security have rendered useless. About a year ago, Croatia instructed all of its businesses to withdraw from Syria, an act that left INA, the national oil company, operating at a loss of “hundreds of millions of euros.”
A pro-EU Balkan state not yet subject to EU jurisdiction would also have a nice geopolitical motive to help undermine a proxy of Russia. But even assuming that Zagreb isn’t directly or indirectly supplying these arms to Syria, might a hitherto unknown arms dealer, Croatian or otherwise, state or non-state, now be working directly with a regional intermediary who is supplying them? If so, how is it that this arms dealer has managed to negotiate relatively smooth supply routes through both Jordan and Turkey? One plausible scenario would be that these weapons were all coming from Libya, which was one of the initial arms-runners to the Syrian opposition. The former Yugoslavia, which manufactured the M60 and M79, formerly enjoyed warm ties with Muammar Qaddafi, as did Croatia prior to the Libyan revolt and subsequent NATO intervention. Former Croatian President Stipe Mesić seemed to want those ties to continue regardless. So it is possible that the M60s, M79s, RPG-22s and RBG-6s were all sold to Libya a long time ago and were only just emptied from warehouses by the National Transition Council for urgent use in another country, although this then raises the question of why it took the new Libyan government a year to send the heavy-duty materiel to the Syrians when it previously trafficked in only light arms and ammunition. Nor does this explain why the NTC suddenly decided to empower the moderates over the Jihadis in a highly organized fashion that, superficially, accords with Western preconditions for supporting the armed opposition.Over the course of the last few days, I’ve tried repeatedly, by phone and email, to query both the press officer and military advisor at the Croatian mission in New York to see if they might account for the provenance of four weapon models that, taken together, are exclusive to their country’s arsenal. I received no reply. One Washington-based source close to the Syrian rebels suggested that Croatia “might be involved” but thought the Libya clearing-house theory was more persuasive, particularly as new stockpiles of Libyan weapons have been appearing and disappearing from Mali. That said, the source believes that classroom training seminars bespeak “total formalization,” and because “the people getting these weapons are not Salafis or Nusra, that suggests a Western power” orchestrating or overseeing the entire effort. In its reports on the EU arms embargo renewal, the WaPo cited diplomats in Brussels and London who alleged that Whitehall was indeed intent on arming vetted and responsible rebels. While British Foreign Secretary William Hague denied such claims, saying his government merely wanted to “give assistance and advice that we’d been restricted in giving before,” he nevertheless left the door open a crack for further action. “We would have gone further,” Hague said. From the looks of it, someone already has.
British MP storms out of debate with Israeli student
George Galloway caused a minor uproar at Oxford University when he abruptly left a debate after realizing his opponent was Israeli. The debate discussed an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Galloway argued that Israel should pull out immediately, while Eylon Aslan-Levy claimed that a withdrawal should take place only as part of a negotiated peace agreement in which two states will be recognized. Aslan-Levy, a third-year Philosophy, Politics and Economics major, used the term “we” to describe Israel’s stance. Galloway interrupted:You said ‘we,’ are you Israeli?The student answered affirmatively. Galloway said:I have been misled. I don’t debate with Israelis.He got up hurriedly, got his coat, and stormed out. Upon leaving he reiterated:I don’t recognize Israel and I don’t debate with Israelis.Galloway’s departure shocked those present, several in the crowd calling “racism” after he left. Aslan-Levy was quoted in the Oxford student paper Cherwell as saying:I am appalled that an MP would storm out of a debate with me for no reason other than my heritage. To refuse to talk to someone just because of their nationality is pure racism, and totally unacceptable for a member of parliament.Galloway explained his behavior on his Facebook page:I refused this evening at Oxford University to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the Apartheid state of Israel. The reason is simple: no recognition, no normalisation, just boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the Apartheid state is defeated. I never debate with Israelis nor speak to their media. If they want to speak about Palestine, the address is the PLO.
Hizbullah defends Shi'a villages in Syria - The Muslim News
Security incidents have taken place more than once during recent months among these Shiite villages, which are located in the middle of the smuggling line in the countryside between the Lebanese town of Arsal, Al-Qa’, Lake Homs, Al-Qusayr and Talkalakh. Shia citizens from the adjacent Lebanese region of Hermel quickly became involved in these tensions. They belong to large clans, which have a social system that values the “support of relatives." In the current situation, they are Lebanese Shiite villagers living on Syrian territory, who complain that they are being subjected to attempts of forceful displacement by their Sunni Syrian neighbors. Last summer, military skirmishes took place between the Sunni town of Al-Qusayr, which is located behind the Syrian border and considered a stronghold of the armed opposition in its countryside, which is also the northern part of the countryside of the city of Homs — and between Lebanese residents in the Hermel region. Private sources have revealed to Al-Monitor that during one of these skirmishes, Jabhat al-Nusra militants attacked a Hezbollah training camp in the Hermel region from the Al-Qusayr countryside, killing and wounding 10 Hezbollah members. This was followed by a retaliatory operation by Hezbollah, which resulted in the killing of many members of the Syrian opposition. In general, Hezbollah is cautious about stepping into the sectarian strife raging in Syria. However, the issue of providing protection for the 14 Shiite villages located inside Syrian territory within the Al-Qusayr countryside arose as a challenge for the party before its social base in the Hermel region. It seems that the party has made the decision to protect these villages and prevent the people’s displacement based on the following considerations: First, there are familial links between the residents of the Hermel region and those of the 14 Lebanese Shiite villages located inside Syrian territory. It should be noted that Hermel, in Lebanon's Bekaa region, is considered as a popular reservoir for Hezbollah and its resistance apparatus. Accordingly, the party cannot turn its back to their appeal for help to save their relatives inside Syria from killing and displacement. Moreover, the Hamadah clan, one of the major clans in Hermel, owns vast areas of Lebanese territories that were cut off in the Sykes-Picot Agreement in the interest of Syria, and they still have the documents proving their ownership of these lands.
The second consideration is beyond the social. From a strategic perspective, the events taking place in the Syrian countryside of Al-Qusayr, which is adjacent to the Hermel-Baalbek region, directly concern Hezbollah. [[[[[[[[The region falls under Hezbollah’s security jurisdiction, and serves as a human reservoir and strategic logistical base for the party.]]]]]] After the withdrawal of the regular Syrian army from the Syrian area of the Al-Qusayr countryside for tactical reasons, [[[[[[[[the armed Syrian opposition — namely the fundamentalist Sunni Islamists — became more active.]]]]]] [[[[[[As a result, the Shiite villages, as well as Christian Orthodox villages like Al-Rablah, which suffered a long siege by the opposition, became threatened.]]]]]]]] Hezbollah has held that the attempt by the opposition to eliminate the demographic diversity in this region is a red line it will defend. From a strategic perspective, the party cannot allow attempts to bring structural changes to the demography of the Al-Qusayr countryside as this would not only lead to the displacement of its Lebanese Shiite citizens — the remnants of the Sykes-Picot mistake — but would also damage the security of a region it considers a vital hinterland to its Lebanese strategic area in the Hermel-Baalbek region, with which the party has a natural demographic relationship. In fact, all these considerations encourage the transition of sectarian strife inside Syria between the Sunnis, Alawites and Shiites to Lebanon, especially since the Lebanese border area with Syria is divided into two geographical and demographic areas. The first is the town of Arsal and its surrounding countryside, extending along a 60-65 km border area with Syria, inhabited by Sunnis closely affiliated with the hardline Islamist Syrian opposition in the rural areas of Homs and Damascus. The second is the Hermel region, which is inhabited by a Shiite majority. Prior to the unrest in Syria, these two Lebanese areas enjoyed a peaceful social and economic coexistence with Homs. Following the sectarian conflict, however, mutual hostility and concerns gained ground not only between the Shiites and Sunnis of the Al-Qusayr area and countryside, but also between the Sunni area of Arsal and the Shiite Hermel-Baalbek area in Lebanon due to the support of each for differnet parties in the conflict. Today, the main concern is whether the recent clashes between the Sunni Syrian opposition in the Al-Qusayr countryside and Hezbollah, which is defending the Shiite villages in that region, will pave the way for the spillover of sectarian strife from Syria to Lebanon. What reinforces this possibility is the fact that the Lebanese areas located along the Syrian border are a demographic extension of the Homs countryside, since they contain the same diversity of Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites and even Christians.
Nasser Chararah is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor's Lebanon Pulse, head of the Lebanese Institute for Studies and Publications, a writer for multiple Arab newspapers and magazines, author of several books on the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict and has worked for the Palestinian Research Center.
The second consideration is beyond the social. From a strategic perspective, the events taking place in the Syrian countryside of Al-Qusayr, which is adjacent to the Hermel-Baalbek region, directly concern Hezbollah. [[[[[[[[The region falls under Hezbollah’s security jurisdiction, and serves as a human reservoir and strategic logistical base for the party.]]]]]] After the withdrawal of the regular Syrian army from the Syrian area of the Al-Qusayr countryside for tactical reasons, [[[[[[[[the armed Syrian opposition — namely the fundamentalist Sunni Islamists — became more active.]]]]]] [[[[[[As a result, the Shiite villages, as well as Christian Orthodox villages like Al-Rablah, which suffered a long siege by the opposition, became threatened.]]]]]]]] Hezbollah has held that the attempt by the opposition to eliminate the demographic diversity in this region is a red line it will defend. From a strategic perspective, the party cannot allow attempts to bring structural changes to the demography of the Al-Qusayr countryside as this would not only lead to the displacement of its Lebanese Shiite citizens — the remnants of the Sykes-Picot mistake — but would also damage the security of a region it considers a vital hinterland to its Lebanese strategic area in the Hermel-Baalbek region, with which the party has a natural demographic relationship. In fact, all these considerations encourage the transition of sectarian strife inside Syria between the Sunnis, Alawites and Shiites to Lebanon, especially since the Lebanese border area with Syria is divided into two geographical and demographic areas. The first is the town of Arsal and its surrounding countryside, extending along a 60-65 km border area with Syria, inhabited by Sunnis closely affiliated with the hardline Islamist Syrian opposition in the rural areas of Homs and Damascus. The second is the Hermel region, which is inhabited by a Shiite majority. Prior to the unrest in Syria, these two Lebanese areas enjoyed a peaceful social and economic coexistence with Homs. Following the sectarian conflict, however, mutual hostility and concerns gained ground not only between the Shiites and Sunnis of the Al-Qusayr area and countryside, but also between the Sunni area of Arsal and the Shiite Hermel-Baalbek area in Lebanon due to the support of each for differnet parties in the conflict. Today, the main concern is whether the recent clashes between the Sunni Syrian opposition in the Al-Qusayr countryside and Hezbollah, which is defending the Shiite villages in that region, will pave the way for the spillover of sectarian strife from Syria to Lebanon. What reinforces this possibility is the fact that the Lebanese areas located along the Syrian border are a demographic extension of the Homs countryside, since they contain the same diversity of Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites and even Christians.
Nasser Chararah is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor's Lebanon Pulse, head of the Lebanese Institute for Studies and Publications, a writer for multiple Arab newspapers and magazines, author of several books on the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict and has worked for the Palestinian Research Center.
SYRIA WATCH- Mona Yacoubian, Stimson Center http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/02/21/roundtable_arming_the_syrian_rebels
Arming the Syrian opposition remains a bad idea.[ed notes:she means ''overtly'',rebels are already armed thru us client puppet regimes in gulf and turkey] If anything, Syria's chaotic evolution toward sectarian civil war vindicates the Obama administration's caution on the question. The potential is great for unintended consequences: Arms may fall into the wrong hands, and the United States could get sucked into a long, nasty proxy war that foments spillover across the region. Lessons not only from Afghanistan, but also Libya (from Benghazi to Mali), highlight the deadly pitfalls of funneling arms into conflict. That such an inherently volatile and complicated process can be successfully "managed" requires a significant leap of faithBeyond that, the negative repercussions would be significant should the United States essentially become a partisan in an evolving sectarian civil war. In the region, the United States is already perceived as favoring Sunni (and in some cases Islamist) interests as in Bahrain or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Rather than an "above the fray" superpower seeking a negotiated outcome that ushers in a post-Assad Syria, the United States would be viewed by many as simply a partisan player in a Sunni-Alawite civil war. Its ability to help promote the emergence of a multi-sectarian, democratic Syria would diminish significantly. Indeed, U.S. interests in a post-Assad Syria must rise above sectarian agendas.Moreover, greater U.S. involvement in Syria's civil war would also open the United States up to greater security threats in the region and beyond (remember Lebanon). US arming of Sunni armed groups in Syria could provoke Hezbollah, Iran, or others to launch attacks on U.S. targets. The [[[[[[United States should avoid being implicated more directly]]]]]][[[[[ in the destabilizing Sunni-Shiite conflict that is expanding across the region.]]]]] [ed note:meaning ,u.s. should not be seen and caugth, so openly of stirring sunni shia sectarian wars,by openly declaring its going to arm the rebels(that must be done covertly as it has been since beggining thru proxies)something whole region is well aware of anyway..moving on more on mona here ... Uprooted Palestinian: REGIME CHANGE INC. (FROM PLAN B TO C ...
The “elections” charade has been implemented by the US in the Muslim World for decades to maintain its vassals in power. In any case, it is not the tactical process that the people of the region must pay attention to, but the strategic principles of the US designed “reform” project aimed at stalling the uprisings in the Middle East. When examining the “elections” game orchestrated by Western powers, it is necessary to look at whether or not a particular regime has domestic legitimacy. Even though the Saudi regime announced a “reform” program in 2011 that would allow women to vote in the powerless municipal councils in 2015, it still does not change the fact that the monarchical regime is, from the Islamic point of view illegitimate and is able to stay in power primarily due to foreign imperialist support. The same principle applies to all other Western backed systems that have only marginal internal support. They are in power because of external backing.[ed notes;click link for whole article...
