THENAKEDFACTS

2012-02-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, The National Press Club hosted a discussion featuring Chief Executive Officer of Control Risks Richard Fenning, highlighting how the civil unrest of the Arab Spring has affected the way people do business in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Kimberly Mikecmoderated the event.

For full event notes, continue reading below. Or, click here for the PDF

Fenning began his talk by citing the emerging geopolitical struggle, making comparisons reminiscent of a cold war stand off, and stated that as the geopolitical context evolves, it is important to consider the internal dynamics and “domestic changes” occurring in geopolitical powerhouses, namely Russia, China, and Iran.

He continued saying the extreme sanctions Iran faces have increased tensions to an unprecedented level making the entire region very unstable. This instability would exist not even taking into consideration the political upheaval and transition occurring across the region. Fenning affirmed thatIran understands it does not have the manpower to actually close the Straight of Hormuz, as it has threatened. Furthermore, such a move would “not be tolerated” by the West, and more importantly would not be tolerated by China, Iran’s largest oil importer. “China has very little to gain from Iran,” said Fenning. China reportedly has already met with other Arab regional players to diversify its supply in case of a hike in the oil price. The situation across the board was described as a situation with “rising tensions without a way forward.”

The emerging standoff pits the U.S., Arab states, and the E.U. against Russia, China, and Iran and they have chosen Syria as their battlefield. Opposing opinions of the desired result in Syria have polarized the positions of those involved. Today, a Russian convoy visited Damascus, with a message Fenning believes of an offer to handover power. Rising sectarian tensions have threatened to spill over to neighboring states (Iraq, Lebanon) and have made investors apprehensive.

Fenning transitioned to discussing prospects for business in Libya, Iraq, and Egypt. Fenning had a cautious, but optimistic outlook for Libya’s economic prospects. He called Libya “extraordinarily rich,” noting that Libya has three percent of the world’s oil reserves, a strategic location on the Mediterranean in proximity to Europe, and relatively small population of 5 million people. Fenning said that Libya has the potential to become the “Norway of North Africa”; a country rich in hydrocarbon resources produced using solar energy.

Fenning compared Libya with oil-rich Iraq, a country with enormous potential recently facing a difficult political transition. Iraq is having difficulty dealing with “the inevitable spike in violence,” which appeared following the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Fenning said that Iraq’s geostrategic position unfortunately places it in a “difficult neighborhood,” straddling the fault line of Shia-Sunni tensions. Companies investing in Iraq understand the situation and are “thick-skinned” enough to temper the violence, which Fenning described as “bringing the country to its knees.” Fenning commented on the recent behavior of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, saying that the regime is falling victim to its autocratic past and moving towards strong central governance.

Additionally, Fenning discussed Egypt’s political transition, calling it “vexed.” Fenning could not make sense of Egypt’s “unfortunate” decision to “pick a fight with the U.S.” with its recent crackdown on American and Egyptian NGOs and stated that the move is having disastrous implications on their foreign direct investment. Egypt already faces a disastrous economic situation with the collapse of its tourism industry, rapid inflation, and debt issues.

According to Fenning, the question that remains to be answered is whether the Arab Spring events have opened the respective countries’ economies. The region traditionally has been plagued with centralized family/minority rule that controlled most of the countries’ economies. The age old transaction, said Fenning, has been “we buy our oil, you buy our arms” has “gone on far too long.” The wave of revolutions can “open the possibility” that the MENA countries can “offer more.”

Although stability is “no longer on the menu,” companies that once found it difficult to find space or authority to operate under autocratic constraints may now have the opportunity to find their niche in the transitioning governments. Fenning foresaw corruption as a problem that could potentially plague emerging governments navigating their way through unchartered territories. Fenning added that these governments would benefit from an “unprecedented” level of anti-corruption sentiment manifested by a majority of governments in a post-financial crisis world.

Fenning briefly discussed the troubles of gulf countries Bahrain and Yemen. He believes that Bahrain wants to reform, but has neighboring Saudi Arabia “breathing down its neck” because of strong Shia ties in Bahrain to those in Saudi’s own eastern province. He foreshadowed that Yemen will continue to struggle and continue to be the focus of U.S. military attention as long as it continues to be a hotbed of Al-Qaeda activity. Fenning ended the discussion saying that he believes that “a retreat from democracy” is “untenable” for any of the Arab Spring nations and believes that democracy is necessary to harness the enormous economic potential of the MENA region.

2012-02-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

SELF EXPLANATORY!

In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) warned Egypt’s government that the investigation into foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations could result in a “disastrous” rupture in ties with the U.S., saying “support for Egypt, including continued financial assistance, is in jeopardy.” Senator McCain alsosaid he will be among a group of senators traveling to Egypt for a visit that will include discussions about U.S. military aid. Congress conditioned Egypt’s $1.3 billion in military aid on the country achieving certain democratization benchmarks. At a press conference today, Judge Sameh Abu Zaid said “there is a lot of evidence” against indicted NGO workers, who could face five years in prison for failing to pay taxes, entering Egypt on tourist visas, and training political parties. Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abouel Naga, widely seen as driving the NGO probe, insisted the government had the right to “expel unlicensed foreign organizations.” Egyptian Prime MinisterKamal Al Ganzouri said (Ar) that Egypt will ”apply the law” and ”will not kneel” nor “change [its] stance because of American aid.”

Writing for Foreign Policy, Freedom House Senior Program Officer Sherif Mansour argues that the U.S. government must “take a moral stand” and “stop subsidizing repression in Egypt with U.S. taxpayer money” by halting Egypt’s aid. James Phillips at the Heritage Foundation agrees, saying the U.S. should offer an ultimatum: “free the American hostages or permanently lose U.S. foreign aid and any American help in refinancing Egypt’s burdensome national debt.” Adam Entous and Julian Barnes write in the Wall Street Journal that the NGO workers “faced a level of harassment from Egypt’s new rulers that outstrips what they experienced” under former President Hosni Mubarak. Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, claims the NGOs “have become the latest scapegoats as the authorities desperately spin their story of foreign conspiracies.” Brian Dooley, writing for Human Rights First, states that “strong NGOs are an essential part of any democracy,” and Egypt must recognize that the NGO crisis “undermines its relationship with the U.S. and further destabilizes the transition.”

2012-02-08T06:19:00.001-08:00

Paramilitaries and Army put on risk, again, the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó

Our Community has been attacked, everything is getting worse, and nothing is being done about it

Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó / Lunes 6 de febrero de 2012

+ de Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó

web: Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó

San José de Apartadó se declaró comunidad de paz el 23 de marzo de 1997. Aproximadamente 500 campesinos, pertenecientes a 17 veredas, decidieron organizarse para sacar la guerra de su territorio, para no colaborar con ningún actor armado, para llevar adelante un proceso de neutralidad respecto del conflicto.

• Paramilitares asesinan a Dairo

• Gobierno sigue callando y consintiendo control territorial de paramilitares

• Nos seguimos oponiendo a las prácticas sistemáticas de muerte y de injusticia en nuestro entorno

• Más muertes anunciadas

• Gobierno de muerte y terror sigue avanzando

+ en Encuentro Nacional por la Paz

• El Encuentro Nacional de comunidades Campesinas, Indígenas y Afrodescendientes por la tierra y la paz en Colombia desde Antioquia.

• Cuando tímidamente se vuelve a hablar de paz

• 15 mil personas llegarán al Puerto para el ‘Encuentro Nacional de Paz’

• Seccionales de la ACVC llegando al encuentro

• El presidente Correa reta a Uribe a pruebas de polígrafo

• "Los queríamos vivos: los mató un Gobierno indolente que no valora la vida de sus soldados"

• Spot Oficial del Encuentro Nacional de Comunidades Campesinas, Afrodescendientes e Indigenas

• Catatumbo rumbo hacia la construcción de la paz

Temas relacionados

Derechos humanos

English

Terrorismo de estado

For months, week after week, we have been reporting many human rights violations which are a crime against humanity; today there was a serious attack on our Community, once again against our legal representative. All of this is happening and the State does nothing about it, or rather it does a lot with its complicity and shamelessness, letting everything happen. We hope that some day, at some time in the future, humanity will judge all of these crimes against this population that has taken a nonviolent stance against the war.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012, army troops were moving between the rural districts of Miramar and La Cristalina. Among these troops there were four hooded men, and also among them was an alias "Muele Gallo", a demobilized guerrilla fighter who went along threatening farmers and sending messages to everyone in the area that they will be evicted from the land in order to make way for coal mining operations.
Thursday, February 2, 2012, at around 11am, army soldiers damaged a corn field in Mulatos, totally destroying the crops and leaving several families without sustenance.
Saturday February 4, 2012, at around 12:15pm our community suffered an assassination attempt, this time against the legal representative of the Peace Community, Jesús Emilio Tuberquia. He was walking near the marketplace in Apartadó and he was approached by two paramilitaries carrying handguns and riding a motorcycle. Without a word they shot at him, but fortunately he was able to run and escape unharmed. This occurred only 100 meters from a police checkpoint through which the two subjects passed without being detained.
These incidents further demonstrate the close relationship between the State security forces and State institutions and the paramilitaries. We have made numerous reports about the paramilitary bases that exist intact in Nuevo Antioquia, Los Mandarinos, Piedras Blancas, Batata and El Dos, and nothing has been done.
Once again we call for national and international solidarity given the seriousness of these incidents. Those who sow death think that their guns will silence us or make us give up on our struggle for life, but they are totally wrong; our struggle for truth, justice, and memory is an integral part of our daily lives

2012-02-08T06:18:00.000-08:00

Uribe's ongoing terrorizing of independent journalists must be ended (legally)

Former President Alvaro Uribe continues to denigrate, intimidate and slander journalist Hollman Morris who has previously had his life made miserable by death threats, arbitrary detention and illegal wiretapping by Uribe's spy agency.

"We may not allow that terrorism deteriorates the freedom of press in this country," said Alvaro Uribe on March 18, 2007 after Caracol Radio host Dario Arizmendi fled the country. The senior journalist allegedly had to leave the country because now-defunct intelligence agency DAS had detected that an unidentified illegal armed group was at the point of killing Arizmendi.

I am confused about Uribe's personal interpretation of terrorism, but according to the dictionary, it means "the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes," which to me sounds exactly what Uribe was doing and continues to do.

Uribe's defense of press freedom came only weeks after a report indicating that the state was suspected of 35% of the 102 violations of press freedom in 2006, double the violations allegedly committed by the FARC.

By the end of 2007, the number of violations of press freedom had increased by 16% and the state was suspected in 24% of the cases where a suspect could be found. In both years, in most cases, the suspects were simply untraceable.

Returning to the case of Morris, while internationally he is one of the most respected and awarded of Colombian journalists, within Colombia he has been the victim of death threats, two arbitrary detentions and illegal spying by the DAS, all while Uribe was "defending" the press freedom in his country and accusing those of criticizing him of being "useful idiots" or worse, "terrorist assistants."

On February 1, 2009, Morris attempted to report on the release of a group of FARC hostages. Uribe was infuriated by the reporter's supposed bias, and Morris was promptly arbitrarily detained and arrested, accused by then-Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos and the previously-exiled Arizmendi of collaborating with the FARC.

The accusations forced the United Nations and the Organization of American States to condemn Uribe,who dismissed the criticism on February 11 and instead -- despite an obvious lack of any legal merit -- called on the judiciary to open a criminal case against the journalist.

Morris immediately started receiving several anonymous emails telling him that he "must die for supporting a criminal group" and fled the country. Again, Uribe was asked to retract his statement and refrain from linking journalists to terrorist organizations without any legal evidence, but this time without a response. Colombia's Prosecutor General's Office dropped the investigation against Morris because there was no shred of evidence the journalist had committed any crime.

Morris told me that Santos sent him a personal letter after his resignation as defense minister, praising the journalist's "patriotic" labor.

According to Reporters without Borders, "the 'democratic security' policy inherited from the Uribe years led to serious abuses including systematic spying on journalists by the domestic intelligence agencies."

This "systematic spying" was carried out by the DAS which directly and only reported to the Colombian Presidency until it was dismantled over the wiretaps and increasing reports of its ties to drug traffickers and terrorist organization AUC, the prime suspect of violations of press freedom. Morris was later determined to have been a victim of the illegal DAS spying practices.

His 2010 documentary Impunity, about failures during the peace process with the AUC, received wide critical acclaim abroad but never made it to the mainstream Colombian cinemas and is still virtually unknown among Colombians in their home country. In fact, few Colombians I talk to know who Morris is, and those who do only remember the false accusations made against him that were never publicly retracted.

By the time Uribe left office, despite initial resistance by the U.S. State Department, Morris was invited to become a fellow at Harvard University's Nieman Foundation Program and later became a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Program fellow. This continued until recently when he was appointed director ofBogota's public television station, Canal Capital.

The Uribistas

ALVARO URIBE
Investigated for ordering the illegal wiretapping of his political opponents, politically responsible for the death of an estimated 3,000 Colombians killed by the army and repeatedly linked to slain drug lord Pablo Escobar and hisMedellin cartel.
JOSE OBDULIO GAVIRIA
Pablo Escobar's cousin and Uribe's former presidential adviser who has been accused of ordering the illegal wiretapping [1] [2] of Uribe opponents and allegedly set up a meeting with representatives of extradited paramilitary chief "Don Berna" inside the presidential palace
JAIME RESTREPO
A mysterious attorney who is facing accusations of having had ties to the AUC and is the defense attorney of former DAS director and prime suspect in the wiretap scandal Maria del Pilar Hurtado.
FERNANDO LONDOÑO HOYOS
A former minister, barred from holding public office over a corruption scandal, who got into further trouble recently after leaked conversations with retired army general Rito Alejo del Rio who was convicted for his complicity in paramilitary massacres in Uribe's home Antioquia department.

Uribe's public platforms and NGOs

Uribe's Twitter account
Alvarouribevelez.com
Centro de Pensamiento Primero Colombia
La Hora De Verdad
Federacion Nacional Sindical Nuevo Liderazgo Campesino
Bloque Humanitario Germán Restrepo Maldonado
periodismosinfronteras.com

Because of the jailing of dozens of Uribe-loyal lawmakers linked to paramilitary death squads (as described in Morris' documentary), the jailing of government officials over an embezzlement scandal and the illegal wiretapping and the massive loss of Uribe allies in the 2011 local elections, the former president's political power has shrunk to a few hardline lawmakers in Congress, a few shady allies and no institutional access to security agencies.

Using Uribe's Twitter account, his allies' digital platforms, Jose Obdulio Gaviria's talkshow on Cablenoticias -- a television station repeatedly accused of ties to the Medellin cartel -- and performances in the mainstream media, Uribe and his allies have returned to attacking Morris and now claim he is "the war correspondent of website ANNCOL (information channel of the FARC)," a "member of the FARC's international committee." and, in Uribe's own words, "a specialist in slander."

But the intimidation goes beyond bullying and slander. Last Monday, the transmission of Bogota's Canal Capital was sabotaged and FARC hymns were heard over the regular programming, a clear attempt to try to discredit a public television network now directed by an actually critical journalist.

A second victim of the group's slander is journalist Juan Diego Restrepo, who in a Semana column exposed alleged ties between Uribe's ally Jaime Restrepo and the AUC. The journalist was falsely linked to extremist websites that copy-pasted the column without apparent consent of the author.

So, while Uribe and his allies are enjoying the full extent of Colombia's freedom of expression, and cry they are politically persecuted every time a corrupt ally is arrested or indicted, they are aggressively persecuting, stigmatizing and endangering every person who has the balls to criticize them.

Because of this bullying and Uribe's apparent moral authority over extreme right-wing armed groups, Hollman Morris and Juan Diego Restrepo are again worried about their lives and that of their families.

And to be honest, even I feel uncomfortable publishing this because Uribe's message has always been very clear: "Don't fuck with me or else..."

So in order for Colombian journalism to overcome the terror it has been exposed to, and in cases like Morris continues to be exposed to, it is imperative that important and influential politicians like Uribe are forced, by law, to respect the freedom of press and are forced, by law, to refrain from endangering the well-being and lives of journalists who do nothing but their work.

2012-02-08T06:09:00.000-08:00

Libya and Syria: Lizzie Phelan on her reporting http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79604

cc MREBRASIL‘I have been accused by some of being a mouthpiece for the [former] Libyan government but now the truth is coming out. We know that the essence of the former Libyan government's analysis has been proved correct.’

INTRODUCTION

Lizzie Phelan was video interviewed over Skype by New York Times journalist Robert Mackey about her coverage of events in Libya and Syria and her criticisms of the mainstream western and GCC media in relation to events in those countries.

This was her first interview by a mainstream Western media organisation. Prior to the interview Lizzie was sent three questions outlining the general topics that would be covered. In some ways the interview veered away from those topics and so she decided to publish the questions that were outlined prior to the interview and her full answers to them because she felt it is important that full responses are given to the questions in particular, and while she made most of these points in the interview, there are some points that she omitted.

THE INTERVIEW

ROBERT MACKEY: Since your impressions of what is happening in Syria seem to be strikingly different from those of many foreign reporters who have worked there recently, I wanted to ask you about how you found your sources and what you think accounts for the different picture painted of the conflict by other journalists.

LIZZIE PHELAN: First of all I hope that you will give me the opportunity to answer all of your questions in full, so that the context, which is always lacking, can be provided. I also hope that you will ask all the questions that you proposed when I agreed to do this interview. If not I will myself publish the full questions and my full answers.

This question is flawed, because what you really mean is that my impressions of what is happening in Syria seem to be strikingly different from those reporters from the NATO and GCC countries [council for Arab states of the Gulf], which have a vested interest in destabilising Syria. Of course my impressions are actually shared by the majority people of this world, from those countries outside of NATO and the GCC and particularly those which are victims of these powers. But because they do not own a powerful media their voices are drowned out by the impressions of the minority reflected in the mainstream media of the NATO and GCC countries.

So in relation to my sources, I find my sources through a number of different means, but my main means is I talk to ordinary people everywhere I go and in Syria this is not difficult because people are really keen to speak about the crisis in their country, especially to foreigners who they feel strongly have a false impression about their country and current events. This was overwhelmingly, but of course not exclusively, the point of view that I encountered. And this is reflected in my reporting.

In fact, like in Libya, I was so overwhelmed by the volume of people that wanted to talk about their anger at the fabrications in the media of the NATO and GCC countries that my colleague Mostafa Afzalzadeh and I decided to make a documentary so that we could reflect what ordinary Syrian people are really saying. This documentary will actually expose how, if it was not for such media, the crisis in Syria would have been over before it started and the people of Syria would be living in peace now.

The difference with journalists from mainstream media in NATO and GCC countries is that they come with an agenda, and that agenda is to cover what they call a ‘revolution’ happening inside Syria and to give substance to the false claims that the Syrian government is a threat to the Syrian people. So if, for example, they walk down the street and they have 10 people telling them there is no revolution happening in Syria and actually the people want the army to protect them from the terrorists that are flooding the country, and then they have one person who tells them that there is no democracy in Syria, they will discard the 10 as government spies and run with the one person who said something different. I witnessed this myself.

If they were to do the reverse and reflect the majority view on the street, then this would undermine the coverage of their media organisations over the previous 10 months that have painted a picture of a government hated by its people, and in turn it would undermine their own credibility as journalists working for those organisations.

But in time they will not be able to suppress the truth. However, like in Libya the danger is that the truth only comes out when it is too late, when a country has been successfully destroyed by the NATO and GCC countries, with the vital help of their media. Then the western media can afford to be more honest, although never entirely, because the aims, for example of regime change, of their paymasters have been achieved.

I am, on the other hand, not concerned about toeing a line in order to ‘make it’ as a journalist working for one of the world’s most respected media organisations. I became a journalist in order to reflect the truth at whatever cost that may come. The only thing I am loyal to is my conscience.

[ED NOTES:JUST A FEW EXCERPTS IM POSTING CLICK LINK FOR REST...

2012-02-08T06:04:00.000-08:00

Elliott Abrams' Dark History in Latin America and the Struggle for Justice
Elliott Abrams, a former high level State Department official during the 1980s, testified last week that the Reagan administration knew that Argentina's military junta was systematically stealing babies from murdered and jailed democracy activists and giving them to right-wing families friendly to the regime. But this didn't deter the State Department at the time from granting Argentina certification indicating that the country's human rights record was improving.

2012-02-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

Venezuelan Authorities Arrest Drug Kingpins Implicated in Paramilitary Activities

On Saturday, officials from Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office (ONA) arrested the Colombian drug kingpin Nelson Orlando Buitriago Parada, alias “Caballo,” who is implicated along with his father and brother in “multiple homicides and a network of important narco-paramilitarism,” said the Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice, Tareck El Aissami.

“On Saturday night we arrested, in Anzoátegui state (in western Venezuela), specifically in the town of El Tigre, another Colombian drug trafficker requested by Interpol Bogotá,” El Aissami explained.

His brother, paramilitary kingpin Hector German Buitriago Parada, alias “Martin Llanos,” former commander of the Colombian paramilitary group Rural Self-Defense Forces of Casanare (ACC), was also arrested as part of a joint operation between Colombian and Venezuelan authorities.

Last January 24, during an event to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the ONA, El Aissami announced that Venezuelan police and military authorities have arrested 76 drug traffickers to date, many of whom have been delivered to judicial authorities of the requesting countries, including Colombia, the U.S., France, Italy, and the Netherlands.

“Caballo” becomes the 77^th kingpin arrested by Venezuelan authorities in the last six years. In 2011, Venezuelan arrested 21 individuals linked to trafficking, according to an ONA report.

Colombian President Thanks Venezuela

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos thanked the Venezuelan government for having arrested the two Colombian paramilitary leaders, Nelson Orlando and Héctor Germán Buitriago Parada.

“I want to congratulate the police; it is a very important blow. I also want to thank the Venezuelan authorities for this close collaboration that has had the desired results, because we had been looking for this individual [alias Martin Llanos] for a long time, and it is a very important result for the peace of all Colombians,” Santos said.

2012-02-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

ALBA countries join chorus condemning "Contras" interference in Syria http://www.voltairenet.org/ALBA-countries-join-chorus

In a statement issued during the eleventh summit of the organization, the nine members of the ALBA bloc (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) rejected on Sunday the "systematic policy of interference and destabilization" that seeks to "impose by force on the Syrian people a regime change."

The ALBA resolution condemns the "acts of armed violence that paramilitary groups supported by foreign powers have unleashed against the Syrian people."

The heads of States members of the organization for Latin American integration have further lent support to the "national reform process initiated by the government of President Bashar al-Assad," who seeks a "political solution to the current crisis respectful of the Syrian people’s sovereignty and the territorial integrity of that Arab country."

The Atlanticist and Gulf States, and their communication relays, accuse the Syrian government of brutally quelling peaceful protests. On the other hand, the Syrian government maintains that these same countries have been sponsoring the armed groups responsible for the sabotage operations occurring in the country, which have killed several thousand citizens, both civilian and military. The Arab League monitors have disqualified their own governments’s accusations and to a large extent validated the Syrian’s Governments version of events.

While the cynicism underpinning the destabilization strategy underway may leave many Europeans incredulous, the same does not apply in the case of Latin America. There, the role of the "Contras" is still fresh people’s minds, and the parallel with the Syrian situation is made immediately.

These armed groups (in Spanish: "Counter-Revolutionary") were sponsored and trained first by the Argentinian dictatorship, acting as a sub-contractor, then directly by the Carter and Reagan administrations to overthrow the socialist government of Nicaragua during the 1980’s. They launched raids targeting the economy and the population of Nicaragua from rear bases located in Honduras.

This phony civil war, orchestrated by the United States against a sovereign state and a people, is estimated to have caused 57 000 casualties, including 29,000 dead.

On their part, NATO and GCC foreign ministers continue to spew statements against Syria, in their eyes "more isolated than ever."

2012-02-08T05:53:00.000-08:00

ARAB?OR JEWISH?YOU DECIDE!!

ZIONIST ZOGBY ENDORSES SAME OLD ZIONIST POLICIES VIS A VIS IRAN UNDER GUISE OF NEW APPROACH? Dealing with Iran

by James Zogby

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/93878

Better than threats, which only serve to embolden Iran, I would suggest a combination of direct engagement (which has been tried too little), continued targeted sanctions (which are having a real impact) and a bit of ridicule. What, one might ask the leaders of Iran, will they do with their nuclear program and their provocation? Can it feed their people, rebuild their neglected and decayed infrastructure, give hope to their unemployed young, or secure their role in the community of nations? Rather than play their game, reduce them down to size. Look at the region, as it is. As democracy movements advance in North Africa, and as the Gulf States make significant progress, providing a model for development and growth, Iran remains trapped in an archaic system which feeds off of fear and anger, and goes nowhere.

ED NOTE:ONE HAS TO ALMOST LAUGH READING THIS LOAD OF GARBAGE...FIRST OF ALL IRANS DEVEOPMENT STANDS AT A YEARLY BUDGET OF OVER 300 BILLION,THATS RIGHT ,300 BILLION A YEAR!!! SHOW ME ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN REGION INVESTING IN ITS OWN INFRASTRUCTURE AND ECONOMY ON THAT LEVEL!!!SECONDLY,DEMOCRACY MOVEMENTS IN MENA REGION?THAT ARE PROVIDING DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH?WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING BESIDES OPIUM YOU FRAUD?THE NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIC AGENDA HAS BEN SET FOR MENA REGION AFTER US AND WESTERN SPONSORED SO CALLED ARAB SPRING(COINED BY ZIONISTS FAR BACK YEARS AGO)AND THESE WESTERN CORPORATIONS HAVE BEEN THE DRIVING FORCE EVER SINCE IMPORTING ITS TENTACLES GRABBING ,LOOTING AND TAKING OVER THESE ECONOMIES,FROM EGYPT,TO TUNISIA,TO MORROCO,TO ALGERIA ...IN OTHER WORDS HES REALLY PRESCRIBING THE NEOLIBERAL AGENDA BEHIND THE WHOLE SO CALLED ARAB SPRING,WICH HAS NOW BECOME THE SO CALLED MODEL OF LIBERATION,WICH AIMS TO PRIVATIZE THESE ECONOMIES TO FOREIGN INTERESTS..ALL UNDER THE GUISE OF HELPING THEM RECOVER .SEE THE EVIDENCE FOR YOURSELF...

.. GLOBALISTS/WAR-CRIMINALS/ZIONISTS/CIA PUPPET ''ARAB RULERS'' AND THE NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIC AGENDA ''SOLUTION'' ... At World Economic Forum, Arab Spring looms large http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/10/for-tomorrow-world-economic-forum-world.html

US POLITICIANS PROMOTE ECONOMIC ... - THENAKEDFACTS

US/UK EMPIRE BUILDING,THE NEOLIBERAL ... - THENAKEDFACTS

EXPOSED-LUNATIC WARMONGER ''ISRA ... - THENAKEDFACTS

NEOLIBERALISM ENDGAME -American businesses step up Tunisia support http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/07/neoliberalism-endgame-american.html NEOLIBERALISMWATCH-Tunisia lures foreign investmenthttp://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/06/neoliberalismwatch-tunisia-lures.html NEOLIBERALISMWATCH- Tunisia seeks foreign investmenthttp://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/05/neoliberalismwatch-tunisia-seeks.html Arab Spring brings Corporate Locusts Egypt's next step to "freedom." http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/06/arab-spring-brings-corporate-locusts.html

I CAN POST A HUNDRED PLUS EXPOSES,BACKING MY POINT BUT I WOULD TAKE UP MUCH SPACE..ANYWAY,SOME BACKROUND ON ZOGBY

ZOGBY A ZIONIST FRAUD EXPOSED... URUK.FRAUD ON SYRIA,AN ONGOING DEMONIZATION USING THE MOST UNCREDIBLE SOURCES(THIS TIME A ZIONIST/NEOCON FRONT MASKED AS ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE POLL)... Arab Attitudes Toward Syria: 2011 by Arab American Institute http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/10/uruk.html

2012-02-08T05:30:00.001-08:00

Lebanese security officials seize suspicious cargo from US, Brazil

http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcfcvdycw6dmxa.r7iw.html

Islam Times - Lebanon’s security officials say a suspicious cargo containing huge amounts of US dollars, guns, special passports and credit cards have been seized upon arrival in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, from the US and Brazil.

A photo of a plane being unloaded at Rafiq Hariri International Airport in the Lebanese capital city, Beirut (file photo)

The items, packed in a number of chests and delivered via airmail, were discovered at Beirut’s airport, the Lebanese security officials said.

The chests also contained a list of both well-known and ordinary Lebanese citizens including a figure related to Salafi extremist groups. The security officials have summoned a number of the individuals, whose names were on the list, arresting some of them.

Beirut has redoubled security surveillance across the country following remarks by some Lebanese factions as well as widespread rumors about the presence of al-Qaeda in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese defense minister earlier confirmed that members of the al-Qaeda terrorist group, fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have entered Syria through Lebanon.

Over the past few months, reports have circulated that caches of weapons have been smuggled to armed gangs in Syria through the Lebanese border.

2012-02-08T05:28:00.000-08:00

The Truth about Ibrahim Qashoush http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4roi0LitdA&list=UUDrnROqHtRoes4MXz_hsgTg&index=1&feature=plcp
Ibraheem Kashoush has become known world wide as the composer and signer of the so-called "Syrian Revolution", but was he really what the Syrian opposition claimed?
The Syrian security managed to arrest terrorist "Fadi Zreik", and what is actually may be surprising for many of you is what he said in his confessions."Ibraheem Kashoush" was a normal person who was slaughtered by Syrian rebels, because they thought he was an informant who works for the government.
The man who actually composes the songs for the protesters was among those who photographed Qashoush's dead body, so he found it as an opportunity to conceal his identity and claim that Qashoush is the real composer.
As soon as possible we will post on our blog http://truthsyria.wordpress.com/more information about this issue and about the identity of the real composer and singer.
Related Video:
Hisham Al-Kharsi - Moved in the Syrian revolution lists directly from informer to a martyr and hero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKgC-ks0xv4&list=PL7EE818FEE872F271&in...
The terrorist acts in Duma: The mobs killed their own citizen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMwsQnd8g58

2012-02-08T05:21:00.000-08:00

US SHELTERS,HARBOURS,AND GIVES MEDICAL TREATMENT TO ONE OF ITS WAR CRIMINAL PUPPETS B4 SENDING HIM BACK TO WAGE MORE WAR CRIMES IN YEMEN...
YEMENI PRESIDENT TO RETURN HOME FROM THE US TO TAKE PART IN ELECTION http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=184388
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has asserted that he will return home after completing medical treatment in the US to participate in the presidential election scheduled for Feb 21. Saleh made the statement while receiving some visitors Tuesday. He assured them about his health condition, saying that he is fine and in good health.
Saleh left Yemen last month for the US to continue treatment from wounds he sustained from an attack against the presidential palace in June last year. Meanwhile, in SANA'A, Vice President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi said Tuesday that the Feb 21 presidential election is the perfect solution to the political crisis that was about to be shifted to a civil war.He made the statement at the launching of the campaign for the early presidential election with the participation of a number of members of parliament and Shura councils, leaders of political parties, senior military and security officers and foreign ambassadors to Yemen.Hadi asserted that the goal of the ceremony is to send a message of hope to the Yemeni people that "the wheel of change has begun to spin.""The Gulf initiative, we have agreed upon, has become a legitimate umbrella for all signed parties" he said, stressing that all signatories should keep commitment to implementing all its terms.The Yemeni people's inability to endure much more of the crisis, the political partners' confidence of the necessity to end it, and the regional and international determination to help Yemen in this regard are the reasons that make him sure to overcome the days, difficult it may be, prior to the election, the VP said, stressing that Yemen has exceeded the toughest stage.
"We are determined to overcome our plight through an open dialogue to restore the natural context of the crisis away from terrorism, extremism, corruption and tendencies of regionalism and racism," he said.The coming change will be based on the national conference for dialogue, he will call for being convened after the presidential election. Hadi affirmed that no one either inside or outside Yemen would be excluded from the dialogue and all issues would be on the dialogue table, including issues of southern, Sa'ada and youths' demands. "We need to be strong and patient and with Allah's help we will move Yemen from the current situation to a new development stage and adopt a strategy for implementing reforms to take Yemen to the threshold of the 21st century," he said.Hadi called on the brotherly and friendly countries as well as ambassadors in Yemen to carry out their noble task not only to ensure the election is conducted successfully but also the country's stability and development.

[ED NOTES:IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT YEMENI OPPOSITION AND PROTESTORS DO NOT RECOGNIZE THE US SPONSORED GCC INITIATIVE SHIELDING US PUPPET SALEH FOR HIS WAR CRIMES!!!

2012-02-08T05:15:00.000-08:00

The Israel Lobby’s Conference: How to Make it Even Better http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/the-israel-lobbys-conference-how-to-make-it-even-better/#more-35363

1. Two of my favorite quotes from the video above:

“Where else can you see prime ministers and presidents, leaders of congress? The only place that you can see that is here at the AIPAC Policy Conference.”

Todd Richman, Roslyn Heights, NY (:34)

“You’re gonna feel so good when you see that six months from now you see the three major talking points evolve to three points of legislation for the US government.”

Pace Cooper, Memphis, TN (1:32)

2. A couple of days ago I noted the names of speakers to the upcoming annual treason-fest held in Israel’s other capital by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). It turns out that now Benjamin Netenyahu is now on the list. But he’s so effing boring that only the US Congress could stand up 666 times during one of his speeches and clap. Frankly, outside of the ridiculous Kathy Ireland, none of the speakers is particularly interesting and from what I can see it looks like the 2012 Conference of Traitors (COT) is going to be pretty boring, notwithstanding the above video. Just a bunch of washed up a**holes kissing the Zionist big one.

I can hear you all saying it now “Mantiq, can how the Conference of Traitors ever be allowed to be boring?! Heaven (and hell) forbid! We are so used to seeing so many of our leaders grovel like the swine they are in front of AIPAC. Please do something.”

So, all the tuyuur here at Mantiq al-Tayr sat up all night thinking of ways that the COT could be improved. First of all, we decided that the speakers just had to change. You need people who are interesting, funny looking, and who more readily embody the spirit of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – the real essence of the whole shebang. We have come up with our own list of speakers for this festival of treason and will reveal them one at a time. Today you get the guy we think would be perfect to kick off this kosher conference. He’s ever so much better than their list of has-beens.

After much debate, laughter, and feather plucking, we decided that the opening day speaker should be this guy and we even have recommended topics for him:

[ED NOTES:CLICK LINK FOR REST...

2012-02-08T05:12:00.000-08:00

Iran Inaugurates Middle-East’s Largest Water Channel Lab
http://www.islamicinvitationturkey.com/2012/02/07/iran-inaugurates-middle-easts-largest-water-channel-lab/
Iran on Tuesday officially launched the Middle-East’s largest water channel laboratory, dubbed as Kowsar, in a ceremony attended by Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi.

The project was unveiled on the occasion of the Ten-Day Dawn, celebrating the victor of the Islamic Revolution back in 1979.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the Iranian minister stated that the laboratory has been designed and manufactured by scientists of Malik Ashtar University of Technology and is among the 5th top laboratories in the world.

Vahidi added that the laboratory enjoys a draft gear which is 140 meters long, 7 meters wide, and 3.5 meters deep.

It enjoys the speed of 30 meters per second and possesses wave-maker system, wave simulator, exact tools for measurement, register of wave features and hydrodynamic coefficients, the minister underscored.

Vahidi continued measurements in different class would be carried out in the laboratory including resistance measurement in still and wavy waters, hydrodynamic resistance and measurement of aerodynamic coefficient for surface and subsurface flotillas.

During the last few days, Iran unveiled several achievements in defensive and technological fields

2012-02-08T05:06:00.001-08:00

Syria, Iran, and Imperialism
by Jorge Insunza http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/insunza050212.html

Jorge Insunza: Look, the Communist Party of Syria, which is a great, serious, and responsible Communist Party and which is not part of the Syrian government, says that it is necessary for Syria to make progress in the deepening of the real exercise of democratic rights. That there have been flaws and errors is an objective fact. However, North American intervention would not solve any democratic problem. On the contrary, it would result in the establishment of a power that would be much more repressive than the current government which allows the existence of parties that are not part of it and have a critical perspective as in the case of the Communist Party of Syria.

Jorge Insunza is a leader of the Communist Party of Chile. He is a member of its Central Committee and Political Commission. He is currently in charge of the party's international relations. This interview was released by TeleSur on 3 February 2012. The text above is a brief excerpt from the interview, translated into English.

2012-02-08T04:47:00.000-08:00

VIDEO: The Lies of the UN Security Council are Revealed

VIDEO: Calls to Stop Syria ‘Killing Machine’ at UN as Russia, China Slam Sanctions

2012-02-08T04:44:00.000-08:00

12th Herzliya Conference Addresses Challenge of Iran, Syria, Resistance “Arabs” Participate
12th Herzliya Conference Addresses Challenge of Iran, Syria, Resistance “Arabs” Participate
Al-Halabi considers that "the most significant urgency the Conference deals with this year is the means to handle the Arab evolution and the prospect on the Iranian matter." Then he talks about "an "Israeli"-US-European agenda, with which some Arab regimes familiarize in confrontation with Tehran." Al-Halabi warns that "the Conference aims at preparing the Arab wisdom to accept this familiarization." Besides, al-Halabi clarifies that "the participants' proposals and debates in the Conference are to recommend working for the promotion of a media plan executed by numerous Arab-speaking media." Al-Halabi points out that "this plan aims at addressing the public consciousness to view Iran as "the major enemy" and to promote a sectarian incitement; these are excellently two "Israeli" requests."

Now al-Halabi explains, "The Conference is handling the ways "Israel" can benefit from the Arab evolutions and diminish the consequent harms these evolutions inflect on the Zionist entity." Though al-Halabi says, "The Arab participants' role serves to promote the principle of "non-opposition" of the so-called "Arab Spring" and "peace" with the Zionist-Occupation entity," he notices "the apparent weakness in representing the countries of the uprisings, except Egypt, from which a participant is presented as an international character; that is, none of the Arab-uprisings countries dares normalize with the "Israeli" enemy in such circumstances." Al-Halabi denounces "the representation for Qatar by one of the figures when no direct normalization agreement with the Occupation entity exists; this actually signifies the presence of secret "Israeli"-(Arab) Gulf affairs."

In comparison, al-Halabi sees that Turkey "has taken no part in the Conference so as to guard its prestige and evade the accusation of participation in plotting against Syria." Al-Halabi considers that the participation of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority "is no more than a mere ornament for the Conference, and this makes "Israel" seem as it were adherent to "peace" and as if it were sustaining the negotiations with Palestine."

Now the Palestinian writer talks about the European participation in "the Herzliya Conference", revealing that "the purpose beyond this participation is the "Israeli" cooperation with the European governments to counter the activity of some non-governmental organizations in "the old continent", which are working for depriving the "legal and ethical legitimacy" of the Zionist entity." He adds, "The means to develop the European-"Israeli" relations are being debated in consequence with the recent political conflict between Europe and "Israel"."

Thereon, al-Halabi reveals that "the Turkish State has displayed a documentary film on the so-called "Jewish Holocaust" in parallel with the commemoration of "the International Remembrance Holocaust Day", which the United Nations held in the UN Headquarters in New York last Friday, the 27th of January." The Palestinian writer refers this act to "Ankara's will to lessen the pressure on it, which the Zionist Lobby has been creating through Paris consequently after the French Congress ratified a law that incriminated the denial of the occurrence of "the Armenian Genocide" ("the Armenian Holocaust") in time of the Ottoman Reign", pointing out that "this has been the first time for an Islamic state to display such film, and this hasn't evoked public agitation in Turkey since the public realizes that its government is suffering European pressure concerning the issue of "the Armenian Genocide"." Al-Halabi concludes that this pressure is one of the outcomes of the "Israeli"-European cooperation, for which preparations have been made in common conferences held earlier, including "the Herzliya Conference"."

[ED NOTES:MANY FILTHY ''ZIONIST ARABS'' ATTENDING CLICK LINK FOR LIST....

2012-02-08T04:39:00.000-08:00

Press-free NATO summit? Filming cops on the street illegal in Chicago

Chicago, Illinois plans to host more than 7,500 international dignitaries and 3,000 journalists at the G8 Summit this spring.

But if history is any indication, those numbers will be dwarfed by tens of thousands of demonstrators descending on the Windy City this year to protest the massive gathering of world leaders.

And as police prepare to clash with protesters who picket the annual meeting of the minds, the crime scenes that are expected to be marred by messy arrests might never be made available outside of Chicago. In the state of Illinois, an obscure eavesdropping law prohibits recordings of unknowing individuals. Even if a cop is caught clobbering a protester on the streets of Chicago, recording the incident can land both amateur photographers and seasoned journalists alike behind bars, where they could face sentencing on par with charges of rape and murder.

The law in question is an antiquated eavesdropping rule that can bring about felony charges for producing an audio recording without ones’ consent. Critics have come after the law and challenged its constitutionality — or lack thereof — but as of now the offense is on the books and is likely to stay that way come springtime. For the Chicago cops that will be tasked with controlling a swarm of protesters at the summit, it could be to their benefit. The same, sadly, can’t be said for the freedom of the press.

To say Chicago will become the scene of a mass protest might be an understatement. By comparison, the 1999 World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle, Washington spawned 600 arrests and prompted police to use tear gas, pepper spray and physical force on protesters. A decade later, the 2009 G-20 Summit in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania yielded 190 arrests and still more incidents of police violence. The same summit a year later in Toronto, Canada caused police to put more than 1,000 citizens in handcuffs, making it the largest mass arrest in the country’s history. With riots rendering nearly a million dollars worth of damages as well, it was also one of the biggest uprisings that Canada has seen in recent memory.

With the Occupy Wall Street movement only heightening awareness of corrupt politics in America and across the globe, dissatisfaction with the establishment and its decisions that impact the world are more rampant than ever. Protesters are already planning how they will respond to the summit scheduled for this May, but under current law, video cameras that capture sound are just as illegal as assault weapons.

Under the Eavesdropping Act in Illinois, catching a cop crack down on a protester is a Class 1 felony. If budding videographers think they might be the exception come this spring, think again.

Christopher Drew thought he was exercising his First Amendment when he recorded an altercation with cops in 2009, but for the Chicago, Illinois artist, he couldn’t be further from the truth. He was approached by an officer with the Chicago Police Department three years ago and questioned about the artwork he was selling on the city’s State Street. When law enforcement realized that they were being recorded, Drew was dished felony charges under the eavesdropping law and ended up spending a few days in jail. Drew asked an Illinois judge to dismiss the hefty felony charge, but the court rejected his plea. Later this year his case is expected to go to trial, and if found guilty, Drew could serve 15 years in prison.

“In a democracy you are suppose to oversee your public servants. If they’re doing wrong you’re suppose to bring it to the attention of other citizens and to the court,” Drew explained to RT. “They have no privacy right, they are in public and they are on the public dime and doing public duty. That means that we’re their employer. We have a right to record our employees and bring that evidence to the system that they are doing wrong.”

Michael Allison has become a victim of the police state’s bizarre law, too. He was at his mom’s house in Illinois when cops showed up and questions the automobiles he had parked on the property. When Allison began recording his conversation with the cops, he was cuffed and charged with violating the eavesdropping law. Those charges included five counts of eavesdropping, each with a maximum of 15 years in prison.

For videotaping his own conversation with a cop on his family property, Allison could have served the rest of his life behind bars.

Circuit Court Judge David Frankland would later say that the case against Allison was unconstitutional, but that decision was just a small exception. The eavesdropping law still stands today, even if it has opponents sitting on judicial benches.

“A statute intended to prevent unwarranted intrusions into a citizen’s privacy cannot be used as a shield for public officials who cannot assert a comparable right of privacy in their public duties,” the judge wrote.“Such action impedes the free flow of information concerning public officials and violates the First Amendment right to gather such information,” added Judge Frankland.

Drew, Allison and Judge Frankland are just a small sampling of many opponents of the controversial law, but unless those numbers grow before the G8, the protests that are almost certain to be countered with excessive police force will be illegal to record.

Some state lawmakers are trying to overturn the legislation before this spring, but it is a challenge that stands to be complicated with a goal only a few months into the future. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked the state Supreme Court for a new decision on the constitutionality of the law and others have come to her side. Some have even proposed an exception that will allow citizens to record the police, which is allowed in most jurisdictions in America.

“I don’t believe there is an expectation of privacy for public officials on public property doing public duties,”Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a local sponsor of the re-write, tells the Associated Press.

The US Court of Appeals in Boston, Massachusetts countered a similar wiretapping law last year, with a judge ruling in August that filming the police is a “basic and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment.”

Many outside of Boston agree, and if the law isn’t changed in Illinois before spring, Chicago’s G-8 summit is expected to still be caught on film, law notwithstanding. But as thousands plans to flood the streets of the city to demonstrate against the meeting of leaders from the US, France, Russia, Italy and elsewhere, cops will be tasked with countering not just riled protesters, with journalists of all sorts gripping their cameras. Come springtime, the Chicago PD will have to determine which First Amendment guarantee is more important to crush: the freedom of the press or the freedom to assemble.

Luckily America’s most well-known constitutional law professor and former Chicago resident will be in town that week. What do you think Barack Obama has to say about the law?

2012-02-08T04:35:00.000-08:00

Syria through a glass, darkly
Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, Feb 8 2012
The current Syrian drama is far from the usual, clear-cut “good guys vs bad guys” Hollywood shtick. The suspension of the Arab League observers mission; the double veto by Russia and China at the UNSC; the increasing violence especially in Homs and some Damascus suburbs: It is all leading to widespread fears in the developing world of a Western-backed armed insurrection trying to replicate the chaos in Libya, a “liberated” country now run by heavily weaponized militias. Syria slipping into civil war would open the door to an even more horrific regional conflagration. Here’s an attempt to see through the fog.
1. Why has the Bashar al-Assad regime not fallen?
Because the majority of the Syrian population still supports it (55%, according to a mid-December poll funded by the Qatar Foundation. See“Arabs want Syria’s President Assad to go – opinion poll”, and note how the headline distorts the result. Assad can count on the army (no defections from the top ranks) (what about General al-Sheikh? – RB); the business elite and the middle class in the top cities, Damascus and Aleppo; secular, well-educated Sunnis; and all the minorities from Christians to Kurds and Druze. Even Syrians in favor of regime change, yet not hardcore Islamists, refuse Western sanctions and NATO-style humanitarian bombing.
2. Is Assad “isolated”?
As much as US Sec State Clinton may wish it, and the White House stresses “Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now” and “must step aside,” no. The “international community” proponents of regime change in Syria are the NATO/GCC, or, to be really specific, Washington, London and Paris and the oil-drenched sheikh puppets of the Persian Gulf, most of all the House of Saud and Qatar. Turkey is playing a very ambivalent game; it hosts a NATO command and control center in Hatay province, near the Syrian border, and at the same time offers exile to Assad. Even Israel is at a loss; they prefer the devil they know to an unpredictably hostile post-Assad regime led by the Muslim Brotherhood (disinfo – RB). Assad is supported by Iran; by the government in Baghdad (Iraq has refused to impose sanctions); by Lebanon (the same); and most of all by Russia (which does not want to lose its naval base in Tartus) and trade partner China. This means Syria’s economy will not be strangled (moreover, the country is used to life under sanctions and does not have to worry about a national debt). The BRICS group is adamant; the Syria crisis has to be solved by Syrians only.
3. What is the opposition’s game?
The Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella group led by Paris exile Barhoun Galyan, claims to represent all opposition forces. Inside Syria, its credibility is dodgy. The SNC is affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA), composed of weaponized Sunni defectors, but mostly fragmented into armed gangs, some of them directly infiltrated by Gulf mercenaries. Even the Arab League report had to acknowledge the FSA is killing civilians and security forces, and bombing buildings, trains and pipelines. The armed opposition does not have a central command; it is essentially local; and does not hold heavy weapons. The civilian opposition is divided and has no political program whatsoever, apart from “the people want the downfall of the regime”, taking a leaf from Tahrir Square.
4. How are Syrians themselves divided?
Those who support the regime see a foreign Zio/US conspiracy, with Turkey and parts of Europe as extras, bent on breaking up Syria. And they see the armed “terrorist” gangs, infiltrated by foreigners, as solely responsible for the worst violence. Dissidents and the fragmented civilian opposition were always peaceful and unarmed. Then they started to receive protection from military defectors, who brought their light weapons with them. They all dismiss the government version of events as pure propaganda. For them, the real armed “terrorists” are the Sabbiha, murderous paramilitary gangs paid by the government. Sabbiha (which means “ghosts”) are essentially depicted as Alawis, Christians and Druze, adults but also teenagers, sporting dark glasses, white sneakers, colored armbands, and armed with knives, batons and using fake names among them; the leaders are bodybuilder-types driving dark Mercedes. Even mass rallies are in conflict. The protest rallies (muzaharat) were confronted by the regime with processions (masirat). It’s unclear whether the people who joined them were constrained civil servants or moved by spontaneous decision. Syrian state media depicts the protesters as agents provocateursor mercenaries, and roundly dismisses the anger of those who live under a harsh police state with no political freedom. An extra dividing factor is that the UN death toll of over 5,000 people (so far) does not identify pro-regime and opposition victims, and simply ignores the over 2,000 dead Syrian army soldiers (their funerals are on state TV virtually every day).
5. What do Christians think about all this?
The Christian West, who used to love shopping for bargains in the Damascus souq, should pay attention to how most Syrian Christians see the protests. They fear that Sunnis in power will crackdown on minorities (not only themselves but also Druze and Alawites). They view the majority of Sunnis as “ignorant” and “backward” Islamic fanatics, without the slightest idea about democracy, human rights or a slow, negotiated path towards democracy. This illiterate bunch, according to them, lives in the periphery, have no respect (or understanding) for life in the big city, support the violence caused by armed gangs, and want an Islamic state (by the way, essentially what the House of Saud wants for Syria.) Secular Sunnis for their part criticize Christians, stressing that most Sunnis are businessmen and entrepreneurs and sport liberal ideas, and certainly don’t want an Islamic state. It must be stressed that the opposition is trans-confessional; it does include Christians and even Alawis.
6. What’s the Western strategy on the ground?
Borzou Daragahi from the Financial Times has just confirmed that militias in Misrata, in Libya, announced the deaths of three Libyan de factomercenaries in Syria. These Libyan Transitional National Council assets landed in Syria, alongside weapons stolen from Gaddafi’s warehouses, courtesy of NATO cargo planes. For months now, French and British special forces have been training fighters in Iskenderun, in southern Turkey. The CIA is involved in intel and communications. The FSA uses the ultra-porous Syrian-Turkish border at will. Turkey built several refugee camps, and Ankara hosts the leaders of both the SNC and FSA. There’s also the Jordanian front: the connection to the heavy Islamist (and backward) Dara’a. But the Syrian-Jordanian border is infested with mines and heavily patrolled; that implies a long 200 km detour in the middle of the desert. Most of all FSA fighters go back and forth from Lebanon. The privileged smuggling route is from the northern Bekaa valley in Lebanon toward the opposition strongholds, the Sunni-majority cities of Homs and Hama. There’s another route from the central Bekaa valley going south toward the suburbs of Damascus (that explains how both strongholds are being supplied). But the whole thing is very dangerous, because Syrian ally Hezbollah is very strong in the Bekaa valley.
7. Who’s winning?
Assad has promised once again this Tuesday to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov there will be a new constitution and national elections by summer. Half-hearted or not, this is an attempt at reform. Yet the usual, unnamed “government officials” have already leaked to CNN that the White House has asked the Pentagon to simulate game scenarios for a direct US military intervention in favor of the rebels. So a NATO/GCC intervention bypassing the UN remains a solid possibility; a false flag operation blamed on the Assad regime might be the perfect casus belli.
8. And what about the Syria-Iran connection?
Syria is crucial to Iran’s sphere of influence in Southwest Asia/the eastern flank of the Arab nation. Russia and China want to keep the status quo because it implies a regional balance of power that pins down US hegemony. For China, uninterrupted Iranian supplies of oil and gas are a matter of extreme national security. On top of it, if the US is tied up in the Middle East, so the much-touted Obama administration and Pentagon “pivot” towards Asia, and especially the South China Sea, will take much longer. The bulk of Washington elites see regime change in Syria as a crucial way to hurt Iran. So this goes way beyond Syria. It’s about shattering the Iranian regime, which is not a Western satrapy; energy flows from the Middle East to the West; the West’s grip on the GCC and the intersection between the Arab and Persian worlds; and preserving the role of the petrodollar. Syria-Iran is a now a titanic match between NATO/GCC and Russia/China to try to expel them from the Middle East. The Pentagon’s Full Spectrum Dominance doctrine is never more alive than when the jackals and hyenas of war are screaming and kicking.

2012-02-08T04:31:00.000-08:00

NATO supporter
and Zionist warmonger
Uri Avnery; seen here
as a young ethnic cleanser
in the 'Israeli' occupation army.

The Case Of Uri Avnery II: Hasbara, Supremacism And The Future Of Solidarity
by Jonathan Azaziah

Prelude: In the first part of this series, Uri Avnery was lambasted for his crimes against the Palestinian people and his "Shukran, Israel" hitpiece on Islamic Resistance was deconstructed with a barrage of unequivocal facts, burying the Zionist lies forever. This part, the series finale, will deal with Avnery's vomit-inducing positions on Obama, Libya and Syria, as well as dive deep into the chaos currently being experienced by a weakened and infiltrated International Palestine Solidarity Movement. It will conclude with a call for real revolution and a historic pledge to fully liberate Palestine and all of humanity once and for all...

Avnery Loves Obama and NATO; Praises Libya Genocide and Wants The Same For Syria

[ED NOTE:MUST READ..SEE PART 1 AS WELL.... The Case Of Uri Avnery I: “Shukran, Israel” Analyzed And Refuted

2012-02-08T04:25:00.001-08:00

Syria and those ‘disgusting’ BRICS

A Greek choir of the “disgusted” and the “outraged” predictably greeted BRICS members Russia and China double veto to the United Nations Security Council resolution imposing regime change in Syria. The resolution was backed by that haven of democracy, the GCC League, the organization controlled by the six monarchies/emirates of the Gulf Cooperation Council formerly known as the Arab League.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the double veto a “travesty”. Then Clinton duly incited “friends of democratic Syria” to keep working for regime change, which was the object of the resolution. The copyright for this idea is held by the liberator of Libya, neo-Napoleonic French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said Paris was already working to create a NATOGCC “Friends of the Syrian People Group” in charge of implementing the Arab League’s regime change plan.

Right on cue, Paris puppet Burhan Ghalyun, the head of the Syrian National Council (SNC) – the opposition umbrella group – also summoned these countries “friendly to the Syrian people”. Everybody knows who they are; the US, Britain, France, Israel and GCC members Qatar and Saudi Arabia. With “friends” like these, the “Syrian people” certainly don’t need enemies.

2012-02-08T04:24:00.000-08:00

SYRIA: CIA-MI6 Intel Ops and Sabotage

“In order to facilitate the action of liberative (sic) forces, …a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals. …[to] be accomplished early in the course of the uprising and intervention, …

Once a political decision has been reached to proceed with internal disturbances in Syria, CIA is prepared, and SIS (MI6) will attempt to mount minor sabotage and coup de main (sic) incidents within Syria, working through contacts with individuals. …Incidents should not be concentrated in Damascus …

Further : a “necessary degree of fear .. frontier incidents and (staged) border clashes”, would “provide a pretext for intervention… the CIA and SIS [MI6 should use … capabilitites in both psychological and action fields to augment tension.” (Joint US-UK leaked Intelligence Document, London and Washington, 1957)
“'The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history." (George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair, 1903-1950.)

For anyone in two minds about what is really going on in Syria, and whether President Assad, hailed a decade ago as “A Modern Day Attaturk”, has become the latest megalomaniacal despot, to whose people a US-led posse of nations, must deliver “freedom”, with weapons of mass, home, people, nation and livelihood destruction, here is a salutary tale from modern history.

Have the more recent sabre rattlings against Syria* been based on US-UK government papers, only discovered in 2003 - and since air brushed (or erroneously omitted) from even BBC timelines, on that country?(i)

In late 2003, the year of the Iraq invasion, Matthew Jones, a Reader in International History, at London’s Royal Holloway College, discovered “frighteningly frank” documents:1957 plans between then UK Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, and then President, Dwight Eisenhower, endorsing: “a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion (of Syria) by Syria’s pro-western neighbours.” (ii)

At the heart of the plan was the assassination of the perceived power behind then President Shukri al-Quwatli. Those targeted were: Abd al-Hamid Sarraj, Head of Military Intelligence; Afif al-Bizri, Chief of Syrian General Staff: and Khalid Bakdash, who headed the Syrian Communist Party.

The document was drawn up in Washington in the September of 1957:

“In order to facilitate the action of liberative (sic) forces, reduce the capabilities of the regime to organize and direct its military actions … to bring about the desired results in the shortest possible time, a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals.

“Their removal should be accomplished early in the course of the uprising and intervention, and in the light of circumstances existing at the time.”

In the light of President Assad’s current allegations of foreign forces and interventions, cross border incursions (as Colonel Qadafi’s before him, so sneered at by Western governments and media – and, of course, ultimately proved so resoundingly correct.) there are some fascinating, salutary phrases:

“Once a political decision has been reached to proceed with internal disturbances in Syria, CIA is prepared, and SIS (MI6) will attempt to mount minor sabotage and coup de main (sic) incidents within Syria, working through contacts with individuals.

“Incidents should not be concentrated in Damascus … care should be taken to avoid causing key leaders of the Syrian regime to take additional personal protection measures.”

Further : a “necessary degree of fear .. frontier incidents and (staged) border clashes”, would “provide a pretext for intervention”, by Iraq and Jordan - then still under British mandate.

Syria was to be: “made to appear as sponsor of plots, sabotage and violence directed against neighbouring governments … the CIA and SIS [Her Majesty's Secret International Serivce, MI6] should use … capabilities in both psychological and action fields to augment tension.”

Incursions in to Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, would involve: “sabotage, national conspiracies, and various strong arms activities”, were, advised the document, to be blamed on Damascus.

In late December 2011 an opposition “Syria National Council” was announced, to “liberate the country”, representatives met with Hilary Clinton. There now seems to be a US – endorsed “Syrian Revolutionary Council.”

The Eisenhower-Macmillan plan was for funding of the: “Free Syria Committee” and “arming of political factions with paramilitary or other actionist capabilities”, within Syria.

CIA-MI6, planned fomenting internal uprisings and replacing the Ba’ath-Communist-leaning government, with a Western, user-friendly one. Expecting this to be met by public hostility, they planned to: “probably need to rely first on repressive measures and arbitrary exercise of power.”

The document was signed off in both London and Washington. It was, wrote Macmillan in his diary: “a most formidable report.” A Report which was: “withheld even from British Chiefs of Staff …”

Washington and Whitehall had become concerned at Syria’s increasingly pro-Soviet, rather than pro-Western sympathies – and the Ba’ath (Pan Arab) and Communist party alliance, also largely allied within the Syrian army.

However, even political concerns, were trumped by Syria then controlling a main pipeline from the Western bonanza of Iraq’s oil fields, in those pre-Saddam Hussein days.

Briefly put: in 1957, Syria allied with Moscow (which included an agreement for military and economic aid) also recognized China – and then as now, the then Soviet Union warned the West against intervening in Syria.

Syria, is unchanged as an independent minded country, and the loyalties remain. It broadly remains the cradle of the Pan Arab ideal of Ba’athism, standing alone, since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

In 1957, this independent mindedness caused Loy Henderson, a Senior State Department official, to say that:“the present regime in Syria had to go …”

Ultimately, the plan was not used, since, British mandate or not, neighbouring countries refused to play. However, the project, overtly, bears striking similarity to the reality of events over the last decade, in Syria – and the region.

In a near 1957 re-run, Britain’s Foreign Minister, William Hague has said President Assad “will feel emboldened” by the UN Russia-China vote in Syria’s favour.

Hilary (“We came, we saw, he died”) Clinton, has called for: “friends of a democratic Syria”, to unite and rally against the Assad government:

“We need to work together to send them a clear message: you cannot hold back the future at the point of a gun”, said the women filmed purportedly watching the extrajudicial, illegal assassination of may be, or may be not, Osma Bin Laden and others – but certainly people were murdered – by US illegal invaders – at the point of lots of guns.

Supremely ironically, she was speaking in Munich (5th February) historically: “The birth place of the Nazi party.”

The Russia-China veto at the UN on actions against Syria, has been condemned by the US, varyingly, as: “Disgusting”, ‘shameful”, “deplorable”, “a travesty.”

Eye opening, is the list of US vetoes to be found at (iii). Jaw dropping double standards can only be wondered at (again.).

Perhaps the bottom line is: in 1957, Iraq’s oil was at the top of the agenda, of which Syria held an important key. Today, it is Iran’s – and as Michel Chossudovsky notes so succinctly: “The road to Tehran is through Damascus.”(iv)

2012-02-08T04:23:00.000-08:00

President Obama Risks Becoming a Major-League War Criminal

The president’s position as stated yesterday is a hodgepodge of confusion and self-contradiction.

It is also the expression of a criminal mentality. The president himself said in his interview that he does not believe Iran has either the “intention or the capability” to attack the U.S. Yet he implies the US is contemplating such an attack on Iran. And make no mistake: An attack by the US on Iran would be a war crime of the highest order — the crime of aggressive war and a fundamental violation of the Nuremberg Charter drawn up at the end of World War II. Leaders of countries that launch wars of aggression against countries that do no pose an imminent threat to the aggressor nation are war criminals. President George W. Bush was and remains a war criminal for his unprovoked invasion of Iraq, and President Obama, if he launches a war against Iran, will be just as much of a war criminal.

In fact, even threatening such a war is a war crime, and the president has come pretty close to doing that with his “no options off the table” rhetoric.

What is truly sick about all this saber-rattling is that even sane Israeli leaders admit that they don’t think Iran, if it obtained or created a nuclear weapon, would actually launch an attack on Israel. That claim of Iran’s being a mortal danger to Israel is a red herring. The Israelis, who after all have some 300 nuclear weapons themselves and are the only nuclear power in the middle east, simply don’t want Iran with a nuke because it would limit Israel’s power in dealing with Arab states bordering it, and in dealing with Hezbollah and Hamas. That’s a far cry from an existential threat.

Also sick is the American public — sick of pointless wars that is. Polls make it clear that despite a massive propaganda campaign run by the US government and broadcast by a colluding corporate media, only a small minority of Americans are buying the notion that Iran poses any kind of threat to the US, despite the best efforts of National Intelligence Director James Clapper to push the fear button. That kind of public sentiment is supposed to mean something in a democracy. It’s also supposed to be one of the lessons learned from the Vietnam War: Don’t go to war without the public’s solid support.

War crime aside, even the idea that President Obama would even think of going to war against Iran, a country of 74 million people (more than two times the size of Iraq or Afghanistan), when this country has already blown some $3 trillion on two pointless wars that have both been lost and that have both created disastrous chaos in the countries the US invaded, and when the US economy, hugely in debt, is still mired in recession, is truly appalling.

But surely the most appalling thing of all was hearing the US president say on national TV that he is operating US policy towards Iran in “lockstep” with the pipsqueak nation of Israel–an apartheid country currently being run by a bunch of corrupt, neofascist, genocidal war-mongers and religious fanatics. To tie the fortunes of the US rigidly and unthinkingly to such lunacy and to allow such lunatics to drag the US into yet another disastrous and wholly unnecessary war should be seen as an act of lunacy itself, and certainly should in itself disqualify Obama for the office of president of the United States.

2012-02-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

Zionist settlers carry price tag attack on Christian monastery & Islamic-Christian commission: “Israel” persists seriously in judaizing O. J’lem

After the Islamic Palestinian mosques and cemeteries, Christian sanctities came under Zionist settlers’ attack.A Palestinian monastery in al-Quds, built on the spot where, according to Christians’ belief, the tree from which Jesus’s cross was made once sat, was defaced with graffiti bearing the hallmarks of Zionist settlers.“Death to Christians” was daubed in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by “Israel’s” parliament.“Israeli” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the words “Price Tag” were alsopainted overnight by the vandals, who damaged two cars parked outside the monastery in a rare attack on a Christian shrine in al-Quds.The slogan, used by Jewish extremists in vandalism attacks on Palestinian mosques, churches, and homes in the occupied West Bank, refers to the retribution they say they will exact for any attempt by the “Israeli” government to curb illegal settlement in the territory.“Israeli” officials regularly condemn such attacks, but rarely arrest the perpetrators.

[ed note:click link for rest...

2012-01-15T05:50:00.001-08:00

ed notes:experiencing technical difficulties w/ browsers so ill try yto fix it then after lunch will retry to repost rest..sorry...

2012-01-15T05:38:00.000-08:00

Ex-Israeli Intelligence Officer: “Pearl Harbor” Style Attack Will Be Pretext For War On Iran

Jerusalem Post article implies US will stage provocation to justify military assault

Former Israeli intelligence officer Avi Perry writes that a “surprise” Pearl Harbor-style Iranian attack on an American warship in the Persian Gulf will provide the pretext for the US to launch all-out warfare against Iran.

2012-01-15T05:36:00.000-08:00

VIDEO: UK Police Accused of 2005 Bombings Cover-up

For years, the spectre of terrorism has been used to justify the UK’s aggressive foreign policy and the implementation of what many human rights groups consider draconian internal measures.

But several civil servants, including former police and intelligence officers, have questioned the official narrative. They say many questions remain unanswered over the alleged terrorist threat facing the UK. For example the government says the 7/7 London bombings were carried out by four Muslim men. But there’s never been an independent inquiry.

For ten years Tony Farrell worked as the principal intelligence analyst at South Yorkshire police, close to where three of the alleged London bombers came from. But he was removed from his job when he concluded that the real threat to the British public comes from within the UK’s establishment itself, which he believes is prepared to orchestrate bombings like 7/7 on its own soil for political ends.

His views will be dismissed by many in the UK as outlandish and fantasy. Farrell admits he personally didn’t see hard evidence of a cover-up, as intelligence was filtered before it reached him. But he claims there are others within the civil and security services who share his views, but don’t want to rock the boat.

There is a growing movement of people questioning the accepted narrative on terrorism.

For Tony Farrell this has also become personal. He’s appealing against his dismissal from the police. But for the moment he faces an uphill battle to get his views heard in the mainstream.

2012-01-15T05:30:00.000-08:00

“The Man Who Knew Too Much”: In Memory of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, Great Iranian Scientist http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/12055

So, what is the sense in all of this? What kind of strong message is this supposed to send to the young generation of Iranians? That they should suspend their hopes for a better future? For development and education? That they should give up their inalienable right to want to live in their homeland, side by side their family and friends, and build it together hand in hand for a brighter future? No, make no mistake; such provocative aspirations will not be tolerated.

The trial of Galileo by the Catholic Church almost 400 years ago pales in comparison to the injustice that is unleashed against Iranian scientists in the 21st century. Imagine what would have happened if the Nazis had managed to assassinate Albert Einstein in his thirties as one of the enemies of the German regime. Imagine how the international community or the world’s physicists’ society would have reacted to the assassination of Stephen Hawking on his 70th birthday while he was struggling to survive and help us advance our so-called humanity.

But make no mistake; do not hold your breath; for no European street will be named after Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan; no scholarship in physics will be established in Cambridge, Princeton or MIT to uphold the memory of such young and lost talent; no Nobel Prize of any sort will be given under his name; no one in the fake international community of Netanyahu, Obama and Rajavi will shed a tear. No head of the so-called International Atomic Energy Agency will look down and share the responsibility for the crime that is committed against one of its member nation’s pursue of knowledge; no mouth in the so-called United Nations Security Council will care to find the right words to condemn such barbarism which is unleashed against the security of a nation; no world power will have the guts, let alone the heart to offer its sincere condolences to a nation which it has been busy victimising for decades.

It is ironic that the poem inscribed at the UN Hall of Nations in New York is in fact by a great Persian poet, and it says:

Human beings are members of a whole,

In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,

Other members uneasy will remain.

If you have no sympathy for human pain,

The name of human you cannot retain.

So where are these human beings? How perverse for the United Nations to engrave Saadi’s poem on its doorstep on the one hand and put hopes and aspirations of Saadi’s nation in grave on the other hand. Moreover, as if subjugating a whole nation to rounds and rounds of crippling sanctions was not enough, some in the so-called Security Council have also managed to send a green light of toleration to those responsible for the barbaric acts committed against Iran’s youngest and most talented assets. This should put the whole United Nations in shame.

2012-01-15T05:27:00.000-08:00

Moussawi: US Waging War on Syria

Loyalty to the Resistance bloc member, MP Nawaf Moussawi said that the agreement between the Lebanese is more productive than betting on a foreign force that strengthens one party against the other for its own ulterior motives, noting that the US of plotting the war against Syria. During a political meeting in south Lebanon on Sunday, Moussawi said that "The Lebanese must learn from history, which has shown that any party in Lebanon, relying on an external force, may benefit temporarily and then suffer a disaster. He further added "In this way, our call for dialogue ensures security to the Lebanese, especially since the balance of power in Lebanon is dependent on domestic considerations and not external developments, as some imagine." Moreover, the MP said that "The mission of the government is to prevent Lebanon from sliding into civil conflict, as some Western and regional governments encourage for." He urged the cabinet to fulfill its responsibility of building the state and economy in order to reduce the crisis suffered by the citizens and take the initiative to strengthen the Lebanese administration.Moussawi concluded that Hizbullah believed that a Western-American War was being waged against Syria in order to occupy it, and use its territories as bases to attack other countries in the region, including Iraq. "This campaign aims to weaken the Russian presence and hit the axis of the Resistance." he pointed out.

Moussawi Calls for Confronting US-“Israeli” Intervention in Affairs of Syria, Region

2012-01-15T05:18:00.000-08:00

Iran: a quickly evolving geopolitical imbroglio – part V
http://EndtheLie.com/2012/01/14/iran-a-quickly-evolving-geopolitical-imbroglio-part-v/#ixzz1jh6P3BdA

Events continue to progress at blinding speed and only seem to be getting increasingly dangerous.

While the United States has been building up a considerable military presence in the Persian Gulf region for years, in recent weeks and months this effort seems to have accelerated.

Don’t forget to read parts one, two, three, and four of this series to get familiar with the complex geopolitics at work.

2012-01-15T04:54:00.000-08:00

Mossad Assassinations: Antiwar’s Chomskyan Covering of US-Israel Relationship

On the Antiwar.com Blog, John Glaser seeks to diminish Eli Lake’s report of Israeli responsibility for the assassination of Iranian scientists:

Lake discounts charges that the U.S. had any direct involvement in the kills and points to his earlier reporting which tried to show the U.S. working to dissuade the Israelis from a unilateral attack. I would only say that, given the reality of U.S. support to Israel – it exceeds any other state in the world – it’s fair to characterize Israeli policy, whether in the West Bank, Gaza, or towards Iran, is de facto sanctioned by the U.S. It’s possible these assassinations are solely the work of Mossad with no direct help from the CIA or the Obama administration. But even if that’s the case, Israel would not be able to do such things without faithful economic, military, and diplomatic support from America.

Antiwar favourite Stephen Zunes, a leading provider of Chomskyan protective cover for the Zionist lobby, couldn’t have said it better.

2012-01-15T04:51:00.000-08:00

Truth about Syria: Crazy Men in Grey Suits

The west is on the hunt for another war in the Middle East.

By Jeremy Salt

January 13, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — - In his speech to university students this week, Bashar al Assad spoke of a conspiracy against Syria. Use another word if you like, but of course there is one. The foot soldiers in the campaign to bring down the Syrian government are the armed men calling themselves the Free Syrian Army and the random armed gangs. None of them could maintain their violent campaign without outside support. Short of open armed intervention from the outside, they cannot overthrow the Syrian government. All they can do is keep killing and causing chaos in the hope that it will eventually collapse. Their sponsors are the US, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Syrian National Council, assorted ‘activists’ in exile, some closely linked to the British Foreign Office and the US State Department, and every salafist across the region. Reform is not the issue. Their agendas vary but converge at one point: their determination to destroy the Baathist government. For the US, Britain and France – ‘the west’ – the destruction of a government and a political party that has long got in their way is the issue. For Saudi Arabia, the issue is confronting Iran and containing Shiism across the region. For the Muslim Brotherhood, the issue is revenge for Hafez al Assad’s repression of their revolt in 1982, the destruction of a secular government and the installation of a sharia-based substitute which they expect to dominate. For both the Muslim Brotherhood and the salafists the issue is also the destruction of the Alawis as a socio-political force in Syria.

For the US and Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Hizbullah are three parts of the same problem. Saudi Arabia regards Iran as the ‘head of the snake’ and wanted it attacked in the last years of the Bush administration, but a direct attack, removing the veil from the covert war already being involved, would be enormously dangerous to the countries waging it. This is what hinders them from going ahead, not the catastrophe that such a war would be for the people of Iran and the region. (It is extraordinary that although Iran has lived under the threat of such an attack for years, the western media still has not deal with the consequences of a military attack on live nuclear reactors.) Iran would be seriously weakened by successful open (as opposed to the covert war presently being waged) armed intervention in Syria. Such an attack would have much the same immediate effect as a direct attack on Iran. In 2006 the two countries signed a defence agreement to confront ‘common threats’, and Iran would regard open intervention in Syria as the prelude to an attack on itself. The most likely form of armed intervention would be the declaration of a no-fly zone or a ‘humanitarian corridor’ just over the Turkish-Syrian border. The template for this kind of war was Libya, where up to 50, 000 people were killed after France, Britain, the US and their lesser allies decided to attack in the name of maintaining a no-fly zone. Russia and China have indicated that they would block any moves at the UN Security Council to set up such arrangements. In the light of these difficulties, destabilising Syria with the aim of achieving the same objectives as an open attack is a second best option. Bringing down the Syrian government, rupturing its strategic relationship with Iran and Hizbullah, is an end in itself for the US and its western and gulf allies. Insofar as Iran is concerned, removing Syria from the calculus of war by throwing it into such turmoil that it could not respond would significantly strengthen the US-Israeli position and perhaps make war more likely.

Since the beginning of the year the geopolitical map of the region has been significantly redrawn. Islamist parties have come or are coming into government in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt, and are likely to do well when elections are held in Libya. What parties say when in opposition and what they feel obliged to do in office are usually two different things and the Islamist parties are no different. On the critical question of relations with Israel, Rashid Ghannushi, the leader of Tunisia’s Al Nahda party has held quiet talks with the Israelis in Washington and has indicated that Palestine will not be a priority for the new Tunisian government. Conflicting signals are coming from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. According to the US State Department, the brotherhood has given an assurance that it will uphold the 1979 treaty with Israel. Almost immediately this was denied, with senior brotherhood figures saying that the treaty could not be regarded as sacrosanct and repeating the possibility of a referendum being held so the people could decide. This will be the trickiest of questions for the new government to handle but as the new Egyptian government will need the billions of dollars of aid pledged by the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the IMF (last year an offer of $3 billion was not taken up but will be discussed again this January), pragmatism is likely to win out, in the short term and perhaps for as long as Israel itself does not put the treaty at risk through another savage attack on Gaza or Lebanon.

In this rapidly changing environment Syria is a holdout state, standing firm against the US and Israel on the one hand and the rising Islamist/salafist trend on the other. The peaceful opposition was swamped in violence a long time ago, with the army still battling ‘defectors’ and the armed gangs the media keeps telling us are an invention of the state. The western media has yet to interview the families of the thousands of soldiers and civilians who have been killed by ‘defectors’ and other armed bands to see what they think about what is happening in their country. Relying on the unverified accusations of ‘activists’ or suspect sources outside Syria, the media has played a critical role in the development of a false narrative. Last week the Guardian hit a new low point with the accusation by of a London-based ‘activist’ that the Syrian security forces are packing detainees into container ships and dumping them at sea. It had no evidence for this claim, but then this is how the Guardian has been ‘reporting’ this crisis throughout. When Damascus was bombed, both the Guardian and the BBC led with the claim that these bombings were the work of the government – according to activists. They had no evidence for this accusation either, literally made while Syrians were still washing the blood off the streets and picking up the body parts of the civilians who had been killed. When the Arab League issued an interim statement on the work of its monitors in Syria, it called for an end to the violence by the state and by armed gangs. On its web page, the BBC reported only that it called on the Syrian government to end the violence.

The west is on the hunt for another war in the Middle East. This is the essence of the campaign against Syria. Iran is being provoked every other day. This week another nuclear scientist was assassinated. The clear intention is to goad Iran into retaliating, providing the pretext for the armed attack that many in Israel and the US want. There is no question that Syria needs to reform but anyone who thinks that the US, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are campaigning against Syria for the cause of reform is living in a dream world. Every wild accusation made by activists and dutifully reported by the media is grist to their mill. They don’t want the violence to end. They want it continue until the Syrian government is destroyed, and they have the resources to keep this going virtually endlessly. If they take the plunge and launch an open attack on Syria or Iran they are likely to trigger off a regional war and, in the view of some, a global war. In their grey suits and pastel ties, these people are as crazy as any fascist in a brown uniform.

2012-01-15T04:49:00.000-08:00

“Technical stopover” in Syria of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov
Aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, the jewel of the Russian fleet, reset sail on Tuesday, 10 January 2012, after a three-day stopover at the Syrian port of Tartous, ostensibly to refuel.The ship was flanked by five other boats and several submarines. Normally, this type of ship requires escort vessels, but, in this case, it was the other way around. Two of the boats were transporting large equipment, likely to include batteries of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, the most sophisticated in the world. In addition, a hefty shipment of Russian munitions for the Syrian army was briefly held up in Cyprus before being allowed to return to sea.Experts agree that Moscow could have manifested its support for Syria without setting the bar so high. Russia’s aim was mainly to warn against any attempt by the U.S. of exclusive domination of the region and against any temptation on Turkey’s part to play a prominent role in Central Asia.The fleet was greeted by General Daoud Rajha (center of photo). Many Syrian voices spoke out their gratitude to the Navy and the entire Russian people for such a powerful show of solidarity at a time when the country is in the throes of a destabilization offensive by Western, regional and world powers.The port of Tartous is being renovated to accommodate in future all types of Russian Navy vessels. It hosts the Russian Navy at no charge.

2012-01-15T04:46:00.000-08:00

False Flag

A series of CIA memos describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit members of the terrorist organization Jundallah to fight their covert war against Iran.Buried deep in the archives of America’s intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush’s administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives — what is commonly referred to as a “false flag” operation.The memos, as described by the sources, one of whom has read them and another who is intimately familiar with the case, investigated and debunked reports from 2007 and 2008 accusing the CIA, at the direction of the White House, of covertly supporting Jundallah — a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization. Jundallah, according to the U.S. government and published reports, is responsible for assassinating Iranian government officials and killing Iranian women and children.But while the memos show that the United States had barred even the most incidental contact with Jundallah, according to both intelligence officers, the same was not true for Israel’s Mossad. The memos also detail CIA field reports saying that Israel’s recruiting activities occurred under the nose of U.S. intelligence officers, most notably in London, the capital of one of Israel’s ostensible allies, where Mossad officers posing as CIA operatives met with Jundallah officials.

The officials did not know whether the Israeli program to recruit and use Jundallah is ongoing. Nevertheless, they were stunned by the brazenness of the Mossad’s efforts.

“It’s amazing what the Israelis thought they could get away with,” the intelligence officer said. “Their recruitment activities were nearly in the open. They apparently didn’t give a damn what we thought.”

Interviews with six currently serving or recently retired intelligence officers over the last 18 months have helped to fill in the blanks of the Israeli false-flag operation. In addition to the two currently serving U.S. intelligence officers, the existence of the Israeli false-flag operation was confirmed to me by four retired intelligence officers who have served in the CIA or have monitored Israeli intelligence operations from senior positions inside the U.S. government.

The CIA and the White House were both asked for comment on this story. By the time this story went to press, they had not responded. The Israeli intelligence services — the Mossad — were also contacted, in writing and by telephone, but failed to respond. As a policy, Israel does not confirm or deny its involvement in intelligence operations.

There is no denying that there is a covert, bloody, and ongoing campaign aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear program, though no evidence has emerged connecting recent acts of sabotage and killings inside Iran to Jundallah. Many reports have cited Israel as the architect of this covert campaign, which claimed its latest victim on Jan. 11 when a motorcyclist in Tehran slipped a magnetic explosive device under the car of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a young Iranian nuclear scientist. The explosion killed Roshan, making him the fourth scientist assassinated in the past two years. The United States adamantly denies it is behind these killings.

According to one retired CIA officer, information about the false-flag operation was reported up the U.S. intelligence chain of command. It reached CIA Director of Operations Stephen Kappes, his deputy Michael Sulick, and the head of the Counterintelligence Center. All three of these officials are now retired. The Counterintelligence Center, according to its website, is tasked with investigating “threats posed by foreign intelligence services.”

The report then made its way to the White House, according to the currently serving U.S. intelligence officer. The officer said that Bush “went absolutely ballistic” when briefed on its contents.

“The report sparked White House concerns that Israel’s program was putting Americans at risk,” the intelligence officer told me. “There’s no question that the U.S. has cooperated with Israel in intelligence-gathering operations against the Iranians, but this was different. No matter what anyone thinks, we’re not in the business of assassinating Iranian officials or killing Iranian civilians.”

Israel’s relationship with Jundallah continued to roil the Bush administration until the day it left office, this same intelligence officer noted. Israel’s activities jeopardized the administration’s fragile relationship with Pakistan, which was coming under intense pressure from Iran to crack down on Jundallah. It also undermined U.S. claims that it would never fight terror with terror, and invited attacks in kind on U.S. personnel.

Continue reading…

2012-01-12T06:54:00.000-08:00

Iran entitled to produce N-energy: India

http://www.islamicinvitationturkey.com/2012/01/11/iran-entitled-to-produce-n-energy-india/

Civilian nuclear program, highlighting Tehran’s right to develop nuclear energy.

“Well, we have taken a very consistent position. We respect the right of every nation to pursue its nuclear energy ambitions to its logical level,” said Indian Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna in a press conference in al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Tuesday, quoted by Reuters.

Senior American officials and the israeli regime have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the “option” of a military strike against the Islamic Republic, citing its increasingly self-sufficient nuclear program.

Despite the widely publicized claims by the US, israel and some of their European allies that Iran’s nuclear program may include a military diversion, Iran steadfastly insists on its civilian nature, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

This is while the israeli regime is widely known to possess over 200 nuclear warheads, a fact that it has never denied, citing its so-called policy of nuclear ambiguity. Furthermore, Tel Aviv refuses to allow its nuclear facilities to come under international regulatory inspectors and rejects signing into any international nuclear regulatory agreements.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never pointed to any evidence indicating that Tehran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

Furthermore, US President Barack Obama on December 31, signed into law fresh economic sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank in an apparent bid to punish foreign companies and banks that do business with the Iranian financial institution.

The bill requires foreign financial firms to make a choice between doing business with Iran’s Central Bank and oil sector or with the US financial sector.

Energy experts say the sanctions could lead to a major hike in crude oil prices and disrupt the interests of the US and its allies that depend on oil imports from Iran.

2012-01-12T06:51:00.000-08:00

American-backed Terrorists In Iran

US State Department tells bold lies regarding the latest assassination in Iran as it harbors MEK terrorists in Iraq.

Syria: Endgame approaches as conspiracy continues
Three people have reportedly been killed by security forces across Syria on Wednesday. Bashar Al-Assad has spoken to supporters in Damascus for the second time in the last 24 hours, reiterating his dismissal of calls to step down. He's blaming the ten-month-long unrest in the country on foreign-funded terrorists, promising to crush them with extreme prejudice. The UN says Damascus has stepped up its crackdown on protesters, but Assad claims no order was ever given to fire on civilians. The President's pledged commitment to Democratic reform, promising a referendum on a new constitution by March, and free elections soon after. RT talks to independent news editor James Corbett.

2012-01-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Iran's Letter to UN Lambasts Foreign Terror Campaign against Iranian Scientists

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9010170879

Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Khazaee in a letter to the UN condemned the assassination of a young Iranian scientist in Tehran on Wednesday, and said Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan Behdast was the latest victim of a foreign terror campaign against top Iranian scientists.

Iran's ambassador to UN, in a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the President of the UN General Assembly Joseph Deiss, and UN Security Council member states as well as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries stated that the civilian nuclear scientist who was killed by in bomb attack Wednesday was the latest victim of a foreign terror campaign against top Iranian scientists.

The complete text of the letter is as follows;

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

11 January 2012

Excellency,

On 11th January 2012, another prominent Iranian scientist, Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan fell victim of a blind terrorist attack in Tehran. The victim was a Sharif University of Technology graduate in chemical engineering and served as deputy of Iran's Natanz nuclear facility. In this incident two other innocent people were seriously injured, one of whom died later at the hospital as a result of his wounds.

As you are aware, this is not the first time that the Iranian scientists come under malicious terrorist attacks. Previously, I have informed you (letter contained in document A/65/622-S/2010/634) about the assassination attempts against two Iranian prominent physicists: Majid Shahriari and Fereydoun Abbasi Davani (currently heading Iran's Atomic Energy Organization) on 29 November 2010 as a result of which Majid Shahriari was martyred and Fereydoun Abbasi Davani and his wife were seriously injured. In the same series of terrorist attacks another Iranian scientist Professor Massoud Ali Mohammadi, was martyred in front of his house on 12 January 2010.

Based on the existing evidence collected by the relevant Iranian security authorities, similar to previous incidents, perpetrators used the same terrorist method in assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, i.e. attaching a sticky magnetic bomb to the car carrying the scientists and detonating it. Furthermore, there is firm evidence that certain foreign quarters are behind such assassinations. As has been claimed by these circles, such terrorist acts have been carried out as part of the efforts to disrupt Iran's peaceful nuclear program, under the false assumption that diplomacy alone would not be enough for that purpose. These quarters have spared no efforts in depriving the Islamic Republic of Iran from its inalienable right to peaceful nuclear energy and called for conducting covert operations ranging from assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists to launching a military strike on Iran as well as sabotaging Tehran's nuclear program.

Now, the question remains whether resorting to all unlawful and coercive measures, even terrorist acts, to prevent developing nations from exercising their right to development, including peaceful use of nuclear energy are permissible? While reiterating the peaceful nature of Iranian nuclear activities, I would like to emphasize, once again, that the Islamic Republic Iran would not compromise over its inalienable right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and any kind of political and economic pressures or terrorist attacks targeting the Iranian nuclear scientists, could not prevent our nation in exercising this right. The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its deep concern over, and lodges its strong condemnation of, such cruel, inhumane and criminal acts of terrorism against the Iranian scientists. My country has suffered the most from acts of terrorism in terms of human losses and material damages in the past decades. It is highly expected from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and President of the Security Council of the United Nations as well as all other relevant organs and bodies to condemn, in the strongest term, these inhumane terrorist acts and to take effective steps towards elimination of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Furthermore, I am sending identical letters to the President of the Security Council and the President of the General Assembly. It would be highly appreciated if this letter could be circulated as a document of the Security Council and of the General Assembly under the agenda item 109.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest considerations.
Mohammad Khazaee
Ambassador
Permanent Representative
H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary General
United Nations, New York

2012-01-12T06:45:00.000-08:00

Saudi forces attack Qatif protesters

Saudi security forces have fired live bullets to disperse an anti-government protest rally in the eastern city of Qatif, reports say.

Saudi protesters were demanding the release of political prisoners. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province has been witnessing demonstrations almost on a daily basis over the past months. Protesters demand political reforms, greater liberties, freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners some held without trial for more than 16 years.

They have also condemned economic and religious discrimination in the oil-rich region and their government's involvement in a brutal crackdown on protesters in neighboring Bahrain.

Activists say there are more than 30,000 political prisoners held in jails across Saudi Arabia, who, the Saudi-based Human Rights First Society says, are being subjected to both physical and mental torture.

According to rights activists, most of the detained are being held without trial or legitimate charges and have been arrested on grounds of mere suspicion.

Anti-government protests in the Kingdom have intensified since November, when security forces opened fire on protesters in Qatif, killing five people and leaving many more injured.

2012-01-12T06:34:00.000-08:00

Israeli Source: Assassination of Iranian Nuclear Scientist Joint Mossad-MEK Operation
http://nejatngo.org/en/post.aspx?id=4156
An Iranian news agency reports that a fourth Iranian nuclear scientist has been assassinated. Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was a professor specializing in petroleum engineering at a technical university and director of Natanz’s uranium enrichment facility. Mehr news agency said he was “deputy director of the commercial department of the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.” He was killed by a bomb attached to the side of his car by two men on a motorcycle. My own confidential Israeli source confirms today’s murder was the work of the Mossad and MEK, as have been a number of previous operations I’ve reported here.The killing took place at or near a Teheran university. The method recalls another series of assassinations that occurred of Fereidoun Abbassi Davani (who was seriously wounded) and his colleague Majid Shahriari (who was killed). Today’s killing occurred two years to the day after the assassination of another scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi.Reuters also adds this:An [Iranian ] official [said]…”The bomb was a magnetic one and the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and is the work of the Zionists (Israelis)” Fars quoted Deputy Governor Safarali Baratloo as saying.Witnesses told Reuters they saw two people on the motorbike stick the bomb to the car.Time also offers a comprehensive report.France’s right-wing Le Figaro newspaper offers (this is an English language report on the story) a window into the types of training and recruitment the Mossad engages in to prepare for such sabotage missions. It reports that Israeli agents identify Iranian Kurdish recruits who are living in exile in Iraqi Kurdistan. There they train them in “spycraft and sabotage:”…The Iranian assets are being prepared for conducting operations inside [Iran] as part of Israel’s undercover intelligence war against Iran’s nuclear energy program. The Baghdad source told the French daily that part of Israel’s sabotage program against sensitive Iranian nuclear facilities, which includes targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear experts, is directed out of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, “where [Mossad] agents have stepped up their penetration.” For this, “the Israelis are using Kurdish oppositionists to the regime in Iran, who are living as refugees in the Kurdish regions of Iraq”, the source told Le Figaro.Although the article makes no mention of official or unofficial sanction of the Israeli operations by the Iraqi Kurdish authorities, it implies that the alleged Mossad activities are an open secret in Iraqi Kurdistan. This is not the first time that allegations have surfaced in the international press about Israeli intelligence activities in Kurdistan. In 2006, the BBC flagship investigative television program Newsnight obtained strong evidence of Israeli operatives providing military training to Kurdish militia members. The program aired video footage showing Israeli expects drilling members of Kurdish armed groups in shooting techniques and guerrilla tactics.The Israeli government denied having authorized any such training, while Iraqi Kurdish officials refused to comment on the report. But Israeli security experts told the BBC that it would be virtually impossible for Israeli trainers to operate inside Iraqi Kurdistan “without the knowledge of the Kurdish authorities.”Iraqi Kurdistan may be one of the few places in the Arab world in which an Israeli is welcome, even Israeli spies.There also can be little doubt that the U.S. comes into this mix, as the Iraqi Kurdish authorities maintain extremely good relations with U.S. officials in that country. And it’s hard to believe that we aren’t playing a role in expediting this mischief in any way we can.I’ve said it before and I’ll say it every time something like this happens: assassinations like the one today accomplish nothing. It doesn’t fundamentally harm Iran’s nuclear program. It doesn’t deter Iran or its scientists from pursuing the research and whatever scientific goals they may have. These are shameful acts by a shameful Israeli government exploiting Iranian terrorists for their own ends. I find it disgusting that Israel can get away with such acts with impunity.
I am not a supporter of Iran’s nuclear program. But I am even less a supporter of assassination as state policy, and that includes my own nation, whose president seems especially enamored of targeted killings, even of U.S. citizens.

2012-01-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

Lebanese Army Arrests “Since 1977” Collaborator with “Israel” http://en.moqawama.org/essaydetails.php?eid=16378&cid=274
Once again, Lebanon achieves a triumphant victory over the claimed "Israeli" intelligence, which has also proved a weak spot before Lebanon. This comes as Lebanon's Army Intelligence captured another spy for the Zionist entity. Identified as Elias Younes, a reited employee at the Ogero telecoms company, was arrested in suspicion of collaborating with "Israel", reported al-Manar television on Wednesday. The "dean of collaborators", as labeled by Zionist top intelligence officers was arrested by the Lebanese intelligence. He has been dealing with the Zionist entity for over 35 years, staring from 1977. The tv station reported that Younes "supplied the enemy with details regarding marine security procedures and ships movement, in addition to information related to the Telecoms Ministry, as well as the detailed scheme of communication network in Lebanon."Over the past year, Lebanon's intelligence and army have arrested several suspects of "Israeli" espionage rings, all have worked in the Lebanese Telecoms sector. Younis, now in his third year of retirement from Ogero, had been arrested by the Lebanese Army Intelligence last Wednesday.

2012-01-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

Eye on the Enemy: Cyprus’ Delegation in ’’Israel’’ to Discuss Oil, Gantz Denies Inviting Syrian Refugees http://en.moqawama.org/essaydetails.php?eid=16384&cid=274

A Delegation from Cyprus will land in "Israel" - to Determine gas field BoundaryClacalist Magazine
Calcalist magazine reported that a "High-ranking Cypriot delegation will arrive in "Israel" next week to discuss the determination of the economic water borders between the two countries."This is the first visit of its kind in this field, and its major importance lies in defining whether the oil and gas fields belong to "Israel" or Cyprus.In recent years, large oil deposits were discovered (such as Lavitan building which is close to "Israel" and Block 12 near Cyprus) located at the edge of "Israel's" economic water. To avoid conflict with hostile countries such as Lebanon, around the question of sovereignty over natural resources, the government defined in July the economic water limits and sent them to the United Nations.Economic water is the region located beyond the territorial waters. The country can use natural resources found in the economic waters, and according to international law, the acceptable range is between 300 and 400 miles of coastline. Over the years, "Israel" has abstained itself from an official definition, but in light of belligerent statements on the part of Turkey and Lebanon, "Israel" hastened to possess these natural resources for itself.

------------------------------------------
Deputy minister Kara: flooding northern borders with refugees - a real scenario Channel 7Following the statement of chief of staff at the foreign affairs and "defense" committee, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, MK for the Likud Ayoub Kara said, " We really have to prepare for a scenario where up tens or hundreds of thousands of Syrian Alawites refugees, and other minorities, flood to the northern border of "Israel" near the Golan Heights."I suggest the government, and in particular the Minister of "Defense" to prepare for this high eventuality, this scenario is very logical, it is possible to happen by today and tomorrow, because Syria is facing a terrible bloodbath."
-------------
Gantz clarifies: I did not invite Syrian refugees
Selma Piotrkowski - Channel 7Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz, clarified yesterday evening (Tuesday) that his comments at the Foreign Affairs and "Defense" Committee on the Alawites in Syria were misunderstood and he has not invited refugees from Syria to "Israel".
He said that the "ISRAELI"ARMY is closely following the events in Syria, and Sinai has become a space of a security challenge. The present upheavals and insecurities in our region oblige us to be prepared and vigilant, to maintain high readiness levels and to consider the proper steps to take. "ISRAELI"ARMY spokesman Brigadier General Yoav "Poly" Mordechai said wrote on his facebook profile that journalists who reported on preparations to absorb Alawite refugees from Syria had taken Chief of Staff Benny Gantz "out of context."Mordecai wrote, "During the Foreign Affairs and "Defense" Committee meeting a Knesset member asked the CoS whether we are prepared for an eventuality in which Alawite refugees try to flee to the Golan. The Chief of Staff answered that we are prepared for such an eventuality.""I left the meeting and found "Israel's" media had reported the "ISRAELI"ARMY is preparing to receive refugee Alawites of Syria. Those headlines are misleading and wrong - that the "ISRAELI"ARMY has planned for an eventuality in which Israel absorbs Syrian refugees doesn't mean the plan will be put into effect," Mordecai stressed.During the meeting in question Gantz said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cannot hold on to power indefinitely and that his downfall was expected to cause a radical shift in power in Damascus. "On the short term the events will turn difficult on al-Assad and the Syrian leadership will act against us, but on the other hand we have to keep in mind that the "defense" systems in Syria exist and are maintained"

[ED NOTES:CLICK LINK FOR REST,JUST POSTING FEW EXCERPTS...

2012-01-12T06:14:00.000-08:00

FINALLY, A HANDBOOK ON HOW TO SMASH ISRAELI APARTHEID

“Targeting Israeli Apartheid is the guide many of us in the movement have been waiting for. This forensic, clear and systematic account details the where, who, how and why of the flows of capital and contracts which enable the colonisation of Palestine to continue.”

Taking its cue from the unified Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, Targeting Israeli Apartheid examines the Israeli economy and details the Israeli and international companies complicit in Israeli state repression.

Based on original research in Palestine, the book shows how these companies can be targeted and provides the international BDS movement with the information necessary to bring the Palestinian struggle to the doorsteps of those who profit from Israeli apartheid.

The book begins by examining the Israeli economy industry by industry and suggesting where the movement should focus its campaigning energy in order to be most effective. Part two contains five in-depth geographical case studies. The final section looks at how campaigners can bring the fight home to the UK.

Read Full Article

2012-01-12T06:10:00.000-08:00

The Cost of Full Spectrum Dominance
VIDEO

2012-01-12T05:57:00.000-08:00

Israel to absorb Alawite refugees from Syria – Video
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said Tuesday that Israel is preparing to absorb Alawite refugees once Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime collapses, which he expects to happen in the coming months.

[ED NOTES;WHAT DOES THIS REALLY MEAN?WELL ISRAEL IS MOST LIKELY BRIBING CERTAIN INFLUENTIAL ALLAWITES TO TURN ON AL ASSAD..AND IN TURN WILL GIVE THEM SAFE HAVEN AFTERWARDS?OR IS IT JUST A PR STUNT?EITHER WAY IT COMFIRMS(AS IF WE NEEDED MORE CONFIRMATION ISRAHELL WANTS ASSAD OUT-SIGH!)THAT INDEED ISRAEL IS BEHIND DESTABILIZATION OF SYRIAS LEADERS...

2012-01-12T05:51:00.001-08:00

Neocon Israel Mouthpiece Writes Syrian Opposition Intervention Paper

Al-Assad blames ‘external conspiracies’ for Syrian violence

“The mask has fallen off these faces,” [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] said. “No wise person denies these international conspiracies that (are) being done in order to spread fear inside. But this time, it was done with people from inside.”

Bashar al-Asad is right. There are international conspiracies to take him down.

This is for example obvious when the expatriate Syrian National Council uses a policy papers arguing for military intervention in Syria that was written by a neocon and Israel supporter and paid for by the U.S. State Department. To further the military intervention the paper is defended by doing away with the local protesters in Syria who oppose any intervention.

Michael Weiss is Director of Communications and Public Relations for the Henry Jackson Society, a British neocon organization which patrons include the U.S. neocons Richard Perle, William Kristol and James Woolsey. He also has a blog at the Telegraph website.

Michael Weiss is also executive director of Just Journalism a “pressure group whose stated goals are to focus “on how Israel and Middle East issues are reported in the UK media.” Critics characterize Just Journalism as a “privately-funded mouthpiece for Israel”. Until the end of 2009 Weiss published a blog for the Jewish magazine Tablet.

Recently Weiss wrote a policy paper Safe Area for Syria – An Assessment of Legality, Logistics and Hazards (pdf) which is an amateur attempt (Weiss is, as far as can find out, neither a lawyer nor does he seem to have military experience) to write a playbook for military intervention in Syria:

In the interest of assessing all suggested options for hastening the end of a totalitarian dictatorship and/or averting a mass humanitarian catastrophe, this paper examines the way in which foreign military intervention could work for Syria.

2012-01-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

Business as usual in bloody Bahrain

It’s no surprise the Countess of Wessex accepted jewellery from the Bahraini royal family: Britain has been its backbone for years News that the Countess of Wessex accepted gifts of jewellery from Bahrain’s royal family is not surprising. After almost 200 years of British-supported rule by the House of Khalifa, Bahrainis are no closer to human rights or democracy. Meanwhile, British firms continue to profit from the ongoing crackdown, as the British government seemingly turns a blind eye to continuing abuses.Prince Charles rolled out the red carpet for the Sandhurst-trained king of Bahrain in December, soon followed by Prince Edward’s visit to Bahrain with his wife, the Countess of Wessex.British officials maintain there is nothing the British government can do to pressure the Bahraini government to stop its human rights atrocities. In reality, there isn’t much that they want to do. But the UK arguably has more leverage over Bahrain’s ruling family than any other Arab autocracy, because of its long historical connections.Britain has provided legitimacy for the Al Khalifa regime ever since it labelled them the “rulers of Bahrain” in an 1820 treaty. This arrangement assigned all power relating to foreign affairs to the British, who intervened twice to remove rulers they didn’t want, most recently in 1923.A long line of British “advisers” stiffened the backbone of the Al Khalifa’s security services. Charles Belgrave lasted 30 years until being forced out by anti-Suez protests in 1956. Ian Henderson lasted 32 years, and became known as the “Butcher of Bahrain” for his alleged role in torturing opponents of the regime. John Yates is the latest incarnation of Britain’s advisory role in Bahrain’s security services.

[ED NOTE:CLICK LINK FOR REST...

2012-01-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

Weather Weapons and Earthquake Bombs: World Leaders Condemn Britain and America’s Secret Arsenal

After the Haiti earthquake in 2010, which the US used as yet another excuse to militarise the tortured country’s aid relief, Hugo Chavez bravely quoted a Russian Northern Fleet document suggesting that America’s huge array of electromagnetic and acoustic weapons (which have been stranding poor dolphins and whales for decades) were used to trigger the earthquake.¹ The Western media had a good chuckle at Chavez, keeping silent about the fact that official sources reveal the existence of such weapons, some of which have been around since the 1930s.

World Leaders Speak Out
In 2011, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Western powers to stop causing droughts in his country. “European countries are using special equipment to force clouds to dump [their water],” he said.² The “special equipment” refers to the Airborne Laser, which was designed for weather modification;³as well as NASA’s “beaming satellite-based microwaves at hurricanes as a means of redirecting them” (Wilson Quarterly)⁴ground-based ionisers; chemtrails; and classic old silver iodide (see below).

Ionisers used in the UAE. (Daily Mail)

In 2010, following unprecedented heat-waves in Russia, which pushed food prices sky-high and subsequently triggered the Arab Spring, it was reported in Radio Free Europe online that a leading Russian Scientist, Andrei Areshev, published an article in Russia’s major journalForeign Policy naming America’s X-37B space shuttle, launched in 2010, as the culprit. Media reports at the time said it was as if the heat-wave’s path of destruction was being guided. The X-37B has a payload capability which the US refuses to disclose, meaning that it is probably a laser.⁵ UK Ministry of Defence papers, cited below, suggest that the US has plans to use space platforms for weather control.
[ED NOTES:CLICK LINK FOPR REST ,JUST POSTED A SMALL EXCERPT...

2012-01-12T05:42:00.000-08:00

Peru: Elected by the Left, Ruling with the Right
Ollanta Humala’s first hundred and fifty days in office as President of Peru have produced a “political massacre,” leaving those who built him as a candidate, wrote his speeches, and paid for his electoral campaign in the streets. His refusal to live up to his campaign promises, and dismissal of environmental complaints of citizens living in communities attacked by mining, leave the population who elected him with little option but to take to the streets again.

2012-01-12T05:41:00.000-08:00

New Social Program to Generate 3 Million Jobs Over 6 Years http://venezuela-us.org/2012/01/09/new-social-program-to-generate-3-million-jobs-over-6-years/

The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, launched a new social mission on Sunday called Misión Saber y Trabajo (the Great Knowledge and Work Mission), which aims to generate about 3 million jobs over the course of the next six years.

Under the mission, about $2.3 billion will be invested in training and the creation of productive projects.

The Venezuelan president stressed that the plan does not seek to create “exploitative work, but rather, liberating and productive work.”

He also requested the active involvement of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) and the Bolivarian Militia, which “have to be transformed into an army of work.”

The Gran Misión Saber y Trabajo includes four phases: training, new legal institutions, the platform of the productive model and the registration of beneficiaries.

Registration begins this Saturday, January 14th, in the states of Miranda, Vargas and the Capital District, and on February 11th in Trujillo, Mérida, Táchira, Lara and Falcón.

During his weekly address called “Aló Presidente,” broadcast Sunday from Anzoátegui state, President Chávez also stressed the role of the Orinoco Oil Belt in generating jobs for Venezuelans, saying that the large crude oil deposits in the area and the various projects underway there make it a chief engine for economic development. Venezuela expects to increase oil production from 3 million barrels per day to 3.5 million in 2012.

According to the Venezuelan president, the Orinoco Oil Belt will create over 300,000 jobs in the coming years.

The Bolivarian Missions were created in 2003 to speed up government assistance in priority areas for the neediest sectors of the population.

Find out more about the missions of the Venezuelan government here.

Presidential Press Office / Press Office –Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / Translated by MinCI

2012-01-12T05:19:00.000-08:00

CIA: Cancer Experiments with Presidents of Latin America
In a series of his public speeches Hugo Chaves called an “epidemic” of cancer among Latin American presidents a strange and alarming phenomenon. This hard to cure desease was identified in case of Chavez himself, Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo, Dilma Rouseff and Lula da Silva (Brazil), Crisitina Fernandez (Argentina). Al of them are known as left of the center politicians struggling to expedite Latin America’s integration process and to get rid of the US dominance in the Western Hemisphere. Chavez let drop words about empires that go to any length to achieve their goals. The Washington’s response didn’t keep waiting. Victoria Nuland, US State Department official spokesperson, said the Chavez’ words were “horrific and reprehensible.” That is they were perceived by the Obama administration as imputation of using special biological technologies to cause cancer among Latin American leaders not friendly towards the USA. Of course, Hugo Chavez was not that rude. He understood Washington would demand evidence. So the president explained his position saying he never blamed anyone but rather used freedom of thought facing a strange string of events that were hard to explain. The anxiety is well understood, to overcome the decease he had to go through harassing session of chemotherapy in Cuba. And the anxiety is here to stay. How did the decease appear? What made a malignant tumor hit a healthy man, a retired serviceman, former baseball player, regular gym goer and race runner? Why only the populist politicians got into the trouble that never occurred with the right wing presidents who stay in favor with the Empire? Doctor Salomon Yakubowicz, a popular Venezuelan diet specialist and a frequent US embassy visitor, rushed to close the issue. He said in an authoritative way, no CIA prepared notes used, that it was the presidents themselves who brought the trouble upon them. Say Lula da Silva smoked too much. Christina Fernandez abused procedures of face and neck rejuvenation. The Paraguayan Lugo didn’t use protection in numerous cases of sexual intercourse and lymphoma was a common thing in such cases, thanks God it was not AIDS. Chavez was to blame himself for not living in harmony with biorhythms, working at nights, eating wrong – that’s what his the unhealthy nature of the fullness testifies. The opposition circles and pro US media picked up the tune: Chavez and his populist friends are subject to stresses, fear of the future and suffer persecution mania seeing the “Empire’s conspiracies” all around. Still the Chavez epidemic explanation was taken seriously. Political scholars had no doubt the US special services were conducting a wide scale operation to neutralize the “leading Latin American rebels”. They studied the history of how the Pentagon and the CIA used radioactive substances, biological and chemical weapons on the continent and remembered monstrous facts of using human beings as guinea pigs, the facts the Western mass media keeps silent about. There is a small chance the in-depth history of the US biological weapons program will ever see light. The major part of archives is classified, the most discreditable files are progressively liquidated and the scholars, who intended to make the truth about the criminal experiments public, perished under undisclosed circumstances.
[ED NOTES:CLICK LUINK FOR REST ,POSTED JUST FEW EXCERPTS...

2012-01-12T05:06:00.001-08:00

HONDURAS- Eight people, including family of seven, tortured, murdered in Aguán

Translating articles like this one in El Tiempo from today is a race against time. I keep hoping that if I translate faster, I won't throw up, or maybe, go mad, as my favorite oligarch warned me recently in an apocryphal story about an exiled Salvadoran revolutionary intellectual friend of his who stayed married to his wife after she was institutionalized because he accepted the reality of his exile but she kept helping the guerrillas until it drove her crazy. There can be very little doubt that this is another political assassination of Aguán campesinos, retaliation for their standing up to the murderous African Palm plantation owners of the region.

Four children and four adults murdered in a village of Sabá
Tuesday, January 10 2012

SABA, COLON.- Eight people, among them four children, were murdered by criminals in the village of Regaderos after being kidnapped from their home and taken to a site close to the municipal crematorium of Sabá, where they were shot.

2012-01-12T05:04:00.000-08:00

Colombia's former army commander investigated over paramiltary payment
Colombia's former army commander has been asked to respond to allegations that he received over $800,000 from a late paramilitary leader, according to Colombia's Radio Caracol.Mario Montoya, formerly Colombia's ambassador to the Dominican Republic and a commander in the army, has been given until Thursday January 12 by a Supreme Court prosecutor to answer to allegations that he received over $800,000 from Miguel Arroyave, a former paramilitary leader.The latest allegations against the former ambassador, who has been extensively investigated for paramilitary ties, are centered on testimony provided by Daniel Rendon Herrera, alias "Don Mario", the founder of neo-paramilitary drug trafficking group "Los Urabeños" who is currently serving a 17-year jail term for murder.Don Mario testified in February 2010 that while a senior official in Colombia's Armed Forces, Montoya was paid by Arroyave in order for his troops to proivde military assistance in the Arroyave's war against rival paramilitary leader Hector Buitrago Germain in the central and eastern departments of Meta and Casanare between 2003 and 2004.Montoya has denied the allegations, stating that at the time of the alleged events he was serving as a commander in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta, and had no influence on what was happening in the the Eastern Plains.
[ED NOTEDS:ALSO SEE...Bases, Bullets, and Ballots: U.S. Military Aid and Conflict in Colombia
U.S. military aid increased paramilitary violence ... - Colombia Reports
FBI INVESTIGATING ITS MULTINATIONALS ... - THENAKEDFACTS

2012-01-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

French reporter dies under armed gangs fire in the Syrian city of Homs http://www.voltairenet.org/French-reporter-dies-under-armed Reporter Gilles Jacquier, working for French state TV channel France2 and entered into Syria on his own initiative to cover the events shaking the country, died today in Homs under the fire of the "Free Syrian Army"’s rockets. This attack left 8 people dead and 25 injured, none of them carrying weapons according to our sources.

On the previous day, the reporter had left the press delegation that had been organized at his request, explaining that he was not interested in the meetings with political and religious leaders that were proposed to him. He had then rented a private vehicle to be able to move around at will, thus freeing from all responsibility the people who had helped him obtain a visa.
At the time of the events, the deceased reporter was standing near a pro-government demonstration with his French and Belgian colleagues.
A first rocket-propelled grenade hit the crowd, killing and wounding several people. After assessing the situation from a terrace up above the scene, Mr Jacquier and his cameraman got closer to the bodies in order to film them, then another rocket fell right next to them, killing him and wounding his technician.

This tragic event reminds us that the Syrian people is confronted with armed gangs firing indiscriminately at unarmed passer-bys in some of the Syrian cities. It is indeed a case of non-conventional war and not at all a governmental crack-down on “peaceful demonstrations”, as testified by the Arab League delegation.
Mr Jacquier and his colleagues had an appointment with members of the armed opposition and therefore considered themselves protected by the latter, yet the journalists had not yet entered the area controlled by the gangs and were thus standing in the neighbourhood being randomly shelled. Intoxicated by atlantist propaganda, and having refused to listen to the previous victims’ testimonies, they have misinterpreted the situation and uselessly exposed themselves.

: In the upper left corner, one can see the typical impact point left by "RPG-7"-type, thermobaric rocket-propelled grenades. The latter shows little material damage, contrary to mortar shells that leave a crater. However, the blow causes the victims’ internal organs to be crushed within a 10-meter radius.

Contrary to what the NATO-backed, London-based SHRO claimed after the killing, and as clearly shown by Syrian TV footage of the scene, it was indeed a rocket-propelled grenade that hit the sidewalk where the victims were standing.

: A man living nearby the scene of the attack shows al-Dounia TV camera the winglets of the rocket-propelled grenade that killed French reporter Gilles Jacquier. The Syrian army does not use this old type of rocket against the armed gangs in Homs.

2012-01-12T04:54:00.001-08:00

More demonization of Syria
A French journalist and 7 other people are killed while on a *government-sponsored tour* of Homs, and once again the U.S. corporate media is happy to spin the absurd claims by the Syrian opposition that the government killed the journalist and its own people just to make the opposition look bad. Huffington Post’s story doesn’t even bother to mention that the journalist was on a government-sponsored tour at the time, a rather relevant fact.

2012-01-12T04:52:00.002-08:00

Empire, Power, and People with Andrew Gavin Marshall- Episode 1

The American Empire, In Their Own Words

This episode takes a critical look at the development of the American Empire during and after World War II, using official State Department documents, formerly top secret documents from the Council on Foreign Relations, and other official sources.Comparing the statements and ideas of those who formed the American Empire during this period with the intellectual elites of recent years who claim that America is a “benevolent empire”, we can see that America was shaped into an empire by design, with the overt and directly stated intent to control the world and its resources. In the words of a ‘Top Secret’ U.S. State Department document in 1948, the aim of the United States was to “maintain this position of disparity” between American wealth and the rest of the world. Thus, we may critically examine the American Empire by looking at it in the words of those who shaped it, compared to the myths that prevail today.

2012-01-12T04:52:00.000-08:00

Alleged: Israeli Mossad Training Iranian Exiles in Kurdistan

4th Iranian Nuclear Scientist Bombed

Mossad it Again? Another Iranian Nuclear Scientist Killed

2012-01-12T04:50:00.000-08:00

VENEZUELA-The media seeks to sabotage Government labor in prisons, Minister says http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/media-seeks-sabotage-government-labor-prisons-minister-says

Venezuelan Minister of Prison Services, Iris Varela, denounced Wednesday a plan staged by some media outlets to create alarming situations within jails, seeking to damage and sabotage the work carried out by this office in the 57 prison centers nationwide.Interviewed in local television, Varela admitted that the problem in prisons has not been solved and that it will not be solved suddenly. Nevertheless, she highlighted the procedure implemented by the Ministry to take care of inmates."These people (media) do not have truthful information of what is going on in prisons. There are some people there (friends and relatives) and they say they have information," she said, putting as example the case of a journalist who has a brother imprisoned."Of course there is plan, but they will not succeed. They are making a fool of themselves and they are being rejected by the prison population, who desire to solve their legal status," she added.There is the possibility of eliminating the privilege of overnight passes in jails, she said, since sometimes it is used irresponsibly by relatives."I completely disagree with the overnight passes and I have talked with the imprisoned population to start eliminating that gradually. Of course, there will be a new regime and other favorable conditions so that imprisonment can be decent."During the interview, the Minister commented about the amount of 30 million bolivares passed by President Hugo Chavez last January 08, so that her office may carry out three projects to favor inmates, their relatives and workers of the Ministry.These projects are: restoring the facilities of a building in south east state of Bolivar to create a rehab center for inmates; developing an agro-productive center in central state of Guarico and a house of reunion in western state of Tachira.The latest project would also favor 7 thousand people who work in the prison service (guards, lawyers, directors), who require an area of decent training. Besides, the house of reunion is expected to generate sources of employment for the community nearby.Varela also remarked that she has been holing talks with the Executive's Vice-presidency for the productive economic area, so as to create a project through which the State may manufacture cleaning/hygiene items to stop buying them to private firms.

2012-01-12T04:41:00.000-08:00

Rep. Ron Paul greets anti-Israel Rabbi, Ouch!

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) improved his chances at New Hampshire’s GOP primary race by gaining the second position (23%). Israel-Firster millionaire Mitt Romney gained the first position (39%). However, the big news is – Rep. Ron Paul, angered the Zionist Lobby by greeting anti-Israel Rabbi Yishrol Dovid Weiss, who told him that “Judaism is a religion and it should never be transformed into nationalism“. To which Ron said that the suggestion was “good advice“.It’s just possible that Ron Paul did not know that Rabbi Yishrol Dovid Weiss along with several other Jewish scholars had attended Tehran Holocaust Conference in December 2006. During the conference, Rabbi Dovid emphasized the mass murder of Jewish people by Nazis during WW II – but affirmed that Holocaust should not be used as a pretext to strip the Palestinian people, either as individuals or collectively, of their property and land.On his return home, every Zionist-controlled mainstream media, from A-Z, blamed the Rabbi for making friends with the so-called ‘Holocaust deniers’ like Iranian President Dr. Ahmadinejad and American writer and activist Dr. David Duke. None of the 70 academic, historian and medical researchers who participated the conference disagreed with Rabbi Dovid’s statement about the exploitation of Jewish miseries in Christian Europe from where they had been expelled 108 times.Rabbi Yishrol Dovid Weiss is leader of NY-based small Orthodox Jewish group which believes that Jews can only establish a state when the Messiah arrives, not before. Rabbi Weiss whose grandparents died at Aushwitz, is not a Holocaust denier.Ron Paul has made several ‘politically wrong’ statements during his campaign. He proposed that Washington should stop its $3 billion annual military aid to Israel, for which Ron was called “a crackpot and vicious anti-Semite” by Islamophobe David Horowitz.Later, speaking at the Iowa State Campus in Ames, Iowa – Ron Paul claimed that Bush administration was happy after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.“Think of what happened after 9/11, the minute before there was any assessment, there was glee in the administration because now we can invade Iraq and so the war drum beat. That’s exactly what they’re doing with Iran“, said Ron During Christmas holiday – Ron Paul’s former senior Jewish aide, Eric Dondero , in a statement had claimed that Ron Paul is certainly not a Jew-hater (anti-Semitic) or racist or even anti-gay, but just “anti-Israel in general“.“Ron Paul remains the only major candidate, Democrat or Republican, who has taken a stand against our endless wars (including the war on drugs) and the authoritarian national security state – the most urgent, dire threat to individual liberty today. He has, for example, spoken and voted against the ‘anti-American Patriot Act’ and recent amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that expanded federal domestic surveillance power and immunised telecom companies for enabling the Bush Administration’s illegal spying. It should be but it isn’t a shock to realise that Paul is the only major candidate to oppose presidential power to assassinate summarily American citizens – power exercised by President Obama when he ordered the killing of Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki,” says Wendy Kaminer.

With such anti-Establishment credentials, I suspect that even if Ron Paul does succeed in getting GOP nomination – the Jewish Lobby will make sure he doesn’t win against Israel-Firster Barack Obama.

See Rabbi’s picture with Ron Paul and Dr. Ahmadinejad here.

2012-01-12T04:39:00.000-08:00

Israel shells southern Lebanon in drill http://www.qodsna.com/NewsContent-id_45016.aspx
Israel has fired 75 shells during a military exercise into the occupied Lebanese territory of Sheba'a Farms, which Tel-Aviv claims are located in the occupied Syrian Jolan area ('Golan Heights').No injuries or damage were reported after the shelling on Tuesday.Israel annexed the area on December 14, 1981.Meanwhile, Lebanese officials said on Tuesday that Israeli warplanes dropped an “unidentified object” near the towns of Houla and Tallouse in the south of the country.Also on Tuesday, the Lebanese army issued a statement saying that eight Israeli military aircraft violated the country's airspace over the village of Kfar Kila in the south.Israel violates Lebanon's airspace on an almost daily basis.In 2009, Lebanon filed a complaint with the United Nations, presenting over 7,000 documents pertaining to Israeli violation of Lebanese territory.UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the war Israel launched against Lebanon in 2006, calls on Tel Aviv to respect Beirut's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

2012-01-12T04:36:00.000-08:00

Bahrain King: Iran is a Common Threat to Bahrain, Israel and the US
Iran is a common threat to Bahrain, Israel and the US, the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa was quoted as saying by a Jewish official on Sunday.Rabbi Marc Schneier, vice president of the World Jewish Congress, said the king told him he was alarmed by the Islamic Republic during a 45- minute meeting held in the capital city of Manama late last month.“I made a point how it’s ironic how we share a common enemy and he acknowledged that Iran has been a threat,” said Schneier, who gave the king a hanukkia at the end of their conversation.The nation has a troubled history with its northern neighbor across the Persian Gulf, which once laid claim to its territory.Schneier said Hamad agreed to his request to host a Jewish-Muslim dialogue in the oil-rich country later this year. The rabbi, who is also president of the Foundation for Interfaith Dialogue, said there was no set date or list of participants yet but that the conference would aim to improve ties between the Abrahamic faiths.Schneier said he did not believe Hamad was reaching out to Jews to rebuff charges of religious intolerance against him, saying the ruler had “implemented reforms and reached out to his opponents and tried to help.”He said it was imperative to hold talks between Jews and Muslims now because the perfect conditions to conduct such a conversation would never arise.“Whether we chose to have it [in Bahrain] or not you can’t wait,” he said. “It’s a genuine sincere effort to expand Muslim-Jewish dialogue.”During his stay Schneier met with the small but influential Jewish community in Bahrain including Jewish- Bahraini member of parliament Nancy Khadouri and Houda Nonoo, the country’s ambassador to the US.
[ED NOTE:ALSO SEE...BAHRAINS '''JEWISH'' US AMBASSADOR RESPONDS TO US ARMS SALE RESOLUTION http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/11/bahrains-jewish-us-ambassador-to-us.html