Islamist Groups Declare Opposition to National Coalition and US Strategy [updated]

Posted by Aron Lund on Tuesday, September 24th, 2013

Islamist Groups Declare Opposition to National Coalition and US Strategy
By Aron Lund for Syria Comment
Sept. 24, 2013

[Updates & additional commentary added to the end of the post]

Abdelaziz Salame, the highest political leader of the Tawhid Brigade in Aleppo, has issued a statement online where he claims to speak for 13 different rebel factions. You can see the video or read it in Arabic here. The statement is titled “communiqué number one” – making it slightly ominous right off the bat – and what it purports to do is to gut Western strategy on Syria and put an end to the exiled opposition.

The statements has four points, some of them a little rambling. My summary:

  • All military and civilian forces should unify their ranks in an “Islamic framwork” which is based on “the rule of sharia and making it the sole source of legislation”.
  • The undersigned feel that they can only be represented by those who lived and sacrificed for the revolution.
  • Therefore, they say, they are not represented by the exile groups. They go on to specify that this applies to the National Coalition and the planned exile government of Ahmed Touma, stressing that these groups “do not represent them” and they “do not recognize them”.
  • In closing, the undersigned call on everyone to unite and avoid conflict, and so on, and so on.

The following groups are listed as signatories to the statement.

  1. Jabhat al-Nosra
  2. Islamic Ahrar al-Sham Movement
  3. Tawhid Brigade
  4. Islam Brigade
  5. Suqour al-Sham Brigades
  6. Islamic Dawn Movement
  7. Islamic Light Movement
  8. Noureddin al-Zengi Battalions
  9. Haqq Brigade – Homs [See update below]
  10. Furqan Brigade – Quneitra [See update below]
  11. Fa-staqim Kama Ummirat Gathering – Aleppo
  12. 19th Division
  13. Ansar Brigade

Who are these people?

The alleged signatories make up a major part of the northern rebel force, plus big chunks also of the Homs and Damascus rebel scene, as well as a bit of it elsewhere. Some of them are among the biggest armed groups in the country, and I’m thinking now mostly of numbers one through five. All together, they control at least a few tens of thousand fighters, and if you trust their own estimates (don’t) it must be way above 50,000 fighters.

Most of the major insurgent alliances are included. Liwa al-Tawhid, Liwa al-Islam and Suqour al-Sham are in both the Western- and Gulf-backed Supreme Military Council (SMC a.k.a. FSA) and the SILF, sort-of-moderate Islamists. Ahrar al-Sham and Haqq are in the SIF, very hardline Islamists. Jabhat al-Nosra, of course, is an al-Qaida faction. Noureddin al-Zengi are in the Asala wa-Tanmiya alliance (which is led by quietist salafis, more or less) as well as in the SMC. And so on. More groups may join, but already at this stage, it looks – on paper, at least – like the most powerful insurgent alliance in Syria.

What does this mean?

Is this a big deal? Yes, if the statement proves to accurately represent the groups mentioned and they do not immediately fall apart again, it is a very big deal. It represents the rebellion of a large part of the “mainstream FSA” against its purported political leadership, and openly aligns these factions with more hardline Islamist forces.

That means that all of these groups now formally state that they do not recognize the opposition leadership that has been molded and promoted by the USA, Turkey, France, Great Britain, other EU countries, Qatar, and – especially, as of late – Saudi Arabia.

That they also formally commit themselves to sharia as the “sole source of legislation” is not as a big a deal as it may seem. Most of these factions already were on record as saying that, and for most of the others, it’s more like a slight tweak of language. Bottom line, they were all Islamist anyway. And, of course, they can still mean different things when they talk about sharia.

Why now? According to a Tawhid Brigade spokesperson, it is because of the “conspiracies and compromises that are being forced on the Syrian people by way of the [National] Coalition”. So there.

Mohammed Alloush of the Islam Brigade (led by his relative, Mohammed Zahran Alloush), who is also a leading figure in the SILF alliance, was up late tweeting tonight. He had a laundry list of complaints against the National Coalition, including the fact that its members are all, he says, “appointed”, i.e. by foreign powers. He also opposed its planned negotiations with the regime. This may have been in reference to a (widely misinterpreted) recent statement by the Coalition president Ahmed Jerba. Alloush also referred to the recent deal between the National Coalition and the Kurdish National Council, and was upset that this will (he thinks) splinter Syria and change its name from the Syrian Arab Republic to the Syrian Republic.

Is this a one-off thing?

The fellow from the Tawhid Brigade informed me that more statements are in the making. According to him, this is not just an ad hoc formation set up to make a single point about the National Coalition. He hinted that it’s the beginning of a more structured group, but when I asked, he said it has no name yet. On the other hand, Abdulqader Saleh – Tawhid’s powerful military chief – referred to it on Twitter as al-Tahaluf al-Islami or the Islamic Alliance, but that may have been just descriptive, rather than a formal name.

Mohammed Alloush also wrote on Twitter, somewhat ambiguously, that the member groups have their own offices and political bureaus, and there’s a political program different from the National Coalition.  He, too, hinted that there’s more coming: “wait for the announcement of the new army”.

Who’s missing?

These are of course not all the rebels; far from it. Dozens or hundreds of small and local groups are missing from this alliance, just like they’ve been missing from every other alliance before it. Some really big groups are also not in there, like the Farouq Battalions or the Ahfad al-Rasoul Brigades, both of them quite closely aligned with the SMC and the National Coalition.

Most notably, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham – Syria’s most querulous al-Qaida faction – is absent from the list. Given the recent surge in tension between the Islamic State and other factions, that seems significant. Does it mean the new coalition is in fact aimed at isolating the Islamic State, while also upping its own Islamist credentials? Striking a kind of third way between the Western-backed SMC and its al-Qaida rival? Maybe. The question then remains, what should we make of Jabhat al-Nosra being included, which is also an al-Qaida group.

In either case, the Northern Storm Brigade – which was routed by the Islamic State in its home town of Aazaz just recently – has quickly expressed support for the new coalition. In a statement posted online, they fell over themselves to explain how they’ve always been all about implementing sharia law. This is of course, how shall I put it, not true. The Northern Storm Brigade leaders are, or so the story goes, a bunch of ex-smugglers from Aazaz, with no particularly clear ideological agenda. They’ve allied with the West to the point of hosting John McCain for a photo op – and as we know, he waltzed out of that meeting firmly convinced that the rebels are all proponents of secular democracy.

No: the reason that the Northern Storm Brigade has suddenly gone all Islamist is that they desperately seek protection from Tawhid, after being beaten up by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Perhaps they also figure that this alliance might be the only thing big and mean enough to actually crush the Islamic State. Size, money and momentum are the things to look for in Syrian insurgent politics – ideology comes fourth, if even that. That’s also why this statement seems so important.

On the other hand, the statement is in no way hostile to the ISIS. It might in fact suit them pretty well, since it weakens the hand of the Western-backed camp and adds weight to Islamist demands. When I asked a representative of Tawhid, he said the reason they’re not on the list of signatories is just because they’re not members. If they want to, and share the principles, they could join. The members already present will decide.

Is it just a local thing?

There’s also not that much of a presence from the Syrian south. The Furqan Brigade is an exception – founded in Kanaker, and now stretching from the western Ghouta to Quneitra. Then you have the Islam Brigade in Damascus, the Homsi Haqq Brigade, and so on. Generally speaking, however, this list of names has a heavy northern flavor to it, specifically Aleppine.

On the scanned original statement, there’s even an addition of “Aleppo” next to the name of “Abdullah al-Shami”, who signed for Jabhat al-Nosra. The Tawhid spokesperson, again, says that this doesn’t mean they only signed on for the Aleppo branch. He insists that the alliance is intended for all of Syria. I guess we’ll find out.

Are you sure about this?

No, I’m not sure about this. There’s always good reason to be cautious about Syria’s notoriously unstable opposition politics. Things like these will shift quicker than you can say يسقط بشار. The wind could easily turn again, signatory groups could drop out, foreign funders could put the squeeze on groups that have not grasped the magnitude of what they just said.

That sort of thing already happened once, in Aleppo in November 2012, when Tawhid, Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and many other groups signed a statement denouncing the then-newly formed National Coalition. I wrote about it for Carnegie at the time. The difference between then and now is that the November 2012 statement seems to have been very poorly anchored, and basically sprung on everyone by Jabhat al-Nosra who (I heard) gathered local commanders and had them sign a statement without consulting their top leadership properly. So it fell apart very quickly.

This time – we’ll see.

— Aron Lund

UPDATE, Sep. 25, 2013:

Lots of media have now reported on the joint statement based mainly on this blog post. Unfortunately, some have shed all the “what if” and caution. Only a few seem to have bothered to contact any of the Syrians who are actually involved to hear their take on the story, despite the fact that several of these groups go to great lengths to communicate directly with reporters, through websites and Facebook pages and spokespersons available by phone, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, in Arabic, English and sometimes even French.

Instead, many commenters ran with the idea of a radical group called the “Islamic Coalition” (or “Alliance”) that has been formed to oppose the West. I don’t think this is true, at least not yet.

While this may be more than just a statement, it is not – as far as we know – an organized structure at all. It is a “bloc” or an “alliance” mainly in the sense that several groups now share a position and may continue to collaborate politically. It could evolve into something more substantial in the future, but there’s nothing to indicate that an organization has been formed at this moment. There is no common leadership, no spokesperson, no known structure, no website, no logotype, no political program. There’s just a statement – a very important one, I think, but that in itself doesn’t make it an organization.

In fact, I contacted the Tawhid Brigade spokesperson I talked to earlier, who had spoken of this as a gathering (tajammou) or bloc (takattul) that might have more lasting significance. He says there is so far nothing in the way of a common organization. He explicitly denied that it is anything like the SILF or SIF insurgent alliances. There will be more statements, but at this stage he seems to say it’s really only a position paper by the 11 or 13 (see below) factions involved. He didn’t exclude that their cooperation could evolve further, into a more structured type of alliance, but said this hadn’t happened yet, and if so, it might involve different participants.

When I pointed out that Abdulqader Saleh’s rather offhand comment on Twitter using the phrase “Islamic Alliance” or “Islamic Coalition” (al-tahaluf al-islami) could be interpreted as the name of a new group, and that this version is now gaining currency in the media, he responded “it could become that, but so far there’s nothing”.

So, my point is, there’s really no need to jump to conclusions here. I get the sense that these groups may be planning to call for a new revolutionary leadership at some point, but they haven’t formed one themselves. At the end of the day, only the people involved can explain what they mean, and I hope they make an effort to do so. If there are more statements coming, maybe these will clear up the confusion.

Also, people have e-mailed me to say that two of the groups included on the list of signatories above are not mentioned in either the video statement by Abdulaziz Salame or the scanned copy of the declaration. The groups in question are the Haqq Brigade of Homs and the Furqan Brigades of Quneitra.

That’s true. I copied and translated my list from a text version on the Tawhid Brigade website. That text has since been altered to fall in line with the signed copy and the video statement, removing the names of both groups. According to the Tawhid Brigade spokesman, both Furqan and Haqq were part of the drafting process and are verbally in agreement with the statement, but he says they were not present for the signing ceremony. It’s perhaps best to let these groups clarify their position themselves. In either case, leaving them out would certainly give the group of signatories an even stronger northern and Aleppine flavor.

— Aron Lund

A friend of Syria Comment chimes in with her/his take on the statement and its ramifications:

So how often are they planning on getting together with AlQaeda to discuss common concerns?

They specifically indicated that this is statement 1, a very clear indication of it being the first of many to come.

Regardless of what the structure behind this statement is, all i see is a signature by AlQaeda in Syria above the signatures of the major rebel factions, on a document that list common concerns and goals that go beyond fighting the regime and calls for Islamic rule. How will western governments justify supporting these groups to their people with the existence of such statement?

If you take out Liwaa al tawhid, Liwaa al islam, Suqor al sham and Ahrar al sham, what exactly is left of the revolution? Liwaa al Tawhid paved the way for the fall of Aleppo and is the main force there, Liwaa al islam is the main force in Damascus…These groups are not “part of” the Syrian revolution, they are the Syrian revolution.

I still haven’t seen anything about the regional powers take on this, if the Saudis/Turk don’t approve of it, i wouldn’t be surprised if they’re now pulling their weight to force a reversal by the signees. Which would explain attempts to play down the implications.

The National Coalition responds:

Anas al-Abdeh, a member of the National Coalition’s political office, and himself an Islamist, says in statement on the NC website that the timing of the statement was unfortunate, since the NC is currently sending a delegation to the UN to “win friends”. He also argues that the statement “does not represent the most important battalions of the Free Syrian Army on the ground, since there are many big battalions that have not signed this statement”.

He says everyone must understand that the future Syrian state must be decided by the people through elections “and no one has the right to force his tutelage upon the Syrian people or declare the type of rule or the law that it will be ruled by. Of course, the people who seek this may convince the Syrian people after the liberation from the regime, but not now.”

He complained that this will increase the splintering of the opposition, and said the NC must maintain a dialogue with the factions involved – except Jabhat al-Nosra – to understand what they are worried about and take that into concern. He adds that it was a mistake to let Jabhat al-Nosra sign the statement, since it is an al-Qaeda faction and has “an agenda which is not Syrian, and it is opposed to the national project”. Abdeh concluded by saying the government of Ahmed Touma must now get to work inside Syria.

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Categories: Ahrar al-Sham, Aleppo, announcement, Aron Lund, Extremist Groups, Free Syrian Army, Islamism, Jabhat al-Nusra, Nusra, Opposition, Sunnis, Syria Revolution 2013, Syrian Islamic Front, Syrian Liberation Front, uprising
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Comments (329)


Ghufran said:

A u turn in the NC’s position on dialogue:
وجه نائب وزير الخارجية الروسي ميخائيل بوغدانوف دعوة لأحمد طعمة المكلف بتشكيل حكومة المعارضة السورية، لزيارة موسكو وبدون شروط مسبقة للبحث في ملف جنيف 2 مع المسؤولين الروس.
 من جانبه قال طعمة “نحن ننظر الى هذا الموضوع نظرة ايجابية ونريد ان لا ينفرد طرف في اقرار الحل النهائي في سورية، نحن نريد التوازن واذا كان هذا التوازن يتحقق من خلال مشاركة كل الاطراف ذات الصلة بهذه القضية فهذا امر ايجابي ونحن من حيث المبدأ لن نضع عائقا امام اي توجه، المهم ان هذا التوجه يخدم مصلحة الشعب السوري في الحصول على حريته. اذ كنا سنصل الى هذا فبالتأكيد نحن راغبون في الذهاب الى اي مكان، وحتى ولو الى القمر”.
Ti’meh said he is willing to go the moon to reach a solution, he may go to Russia first.
( ti’meh’s new position and the rebels refusal to accept him are the product of a new political and military reality in Syria )

September 24th, 2013, 9:49 pm

 

Heads-up said:

Just so you may know, our well informed and highly reliable sources who work very hard, around the clock and behind the scenes authorized the release of the following very important heads up, in order to keep you up to date with current events.

Our benefactors once again reviewed the material presented in this latest post of falsification of truths and facts, an ongoing process on this site fueled by its owner and associates. Our well informed benefactors once again came to the same unavoidable conclusion as they did when reviewing the previous three posts. The material and so-called evidence of photos, videos and tweets are in total contradiction to the gist of the post seeking in essence to tarnish the reputation of the glorious revolution of the Syrian people, implying in the process a clear desperate attempt to spread propaganda on behalf of the falling and desperate regime of outlawed perverted criminals of the outcast so-called Assad. Needless to say, the acts of fabrication and propaganda of this site’s contributors fall squarely and evenly under the definitions of aiding and abetting of criminals of the worst kind in human history.

As a result of their assessments, our benefactors decided to keep the site on the blacklist. And they would strongly urge readers to exercise extreme caution, sound judgement and critical analysis when reading anything written by the owner or associates of the this clearly suspicious and much-below standards site.

September 24th, 2013, 10:14 pm

 

Is Syria now about to blow? - Page 576 said:

[…] to "trust his judgement". This will make him toxic in any future Presidential run-off. Major rebel factions drop exiles, go full Islamist – Syria Comment Sign in or Register Now to […]

September 24th, 2013, 11:14 pm

 

Syria Today: Leading Insurgent Groups Reject Opposition Coalition - EA WorldView said:

[…] Aron Lund offers detail, including the names and size of the 13 groups, and assesses: […]

September 25th, 2013, 2:23 am

 

apple_mini said:

Tony Blair warns: Don’t let Assad off the hook on chemical weapons.

The man looks very righteous and determined, a typical look of a westerner who defends human rights and democracy.

Whether Assad is guilty for the CW attack, I am not sure. But when we hear it from Tony, a notorious hypocrite who has committed war crimes resulting tens of thousands of human death, I can’t help rushing to toilet to throw up what I have had since this morning.

September 25th, 2013, 3:33 am

 
 

apple_mini said:

I’m watching the situation in areas held by the rebels getting worse everyday. Not by the assaults from SAA, but the further radicalization and infighting.

I feel sorry for those opposition members who are still naively claiming their fighting for causes like human rights and democracy. Maybe facing reality is so cruel that they have to fool themselves.

As I suggested before, the regime needs strategies to firmly secure coasts, the center and the south. Leave the east and north to the wolf packs. If the radicals manage to spread problems into Turkey, that would be a big plus. In any case, the west will be very concerned and worried. Their direct involvement to fight against those Islamists seems inevitable.

Wait and see is the best strategy. Obama used that and it worked well until he started to make a move.

September 25th, 2013, 4:11 am

 

omen said:

art piece:

palestinians? no, syrians!

face it, assad is worse than israel.

September 25th, 2013, 4:50 am

 

omen said:

hardly-a-massacre wants to lecture the opposition on democracy.

September 25th, 2013, 4:55 am

 

omen said:

ليلى، ليلةٌ أولى – Layla’s First Night

Diaries of a Female Detainee in Assad Dungeon

He leaned in closer to me and my body began shaking amidst his first touch; I buried my screams inside and painstakingly attempted to stay composed. I feared that I surrender to this goblin creature. “What is wrong with you, what the hell…” he said then slapped my face. I swallowed a new sob; I won’t allow this monster to see me defeated. I continued to attempt to hinder my shivers. “Listen to me if you are obedient and speak politely, we will be better than you are, Aroura [allusion to Sheikh Arour, a prominent anti-regime Sheikh], but if you stay stubborn and disobey us, we will bring in the grooms outside and let them enjoy their time here,” he said. These particular moments are what I want to forget; I just want to forget all that has happened afterward. He wanted to demean me, yes, to demean me; my body caves in and for the first time, I feel that my soul detaches from my body. If I were to have no body, I would have to feel none of this pain. I cannot unleash myself from these chains and fight back this monster. All I have to do is to detach from my body and leave it agonize. I must surrender to the torture; I thus whispered to my body:”Lets endure this agony; we have to stay steadfast together.” Slowly, I felt as though I was reciting supplications for Him [my body] to bear all this…

I do not remember what occurred then, maybe I fainted. All I know is that I am now trapped between these walls devouring me as his snoring made me numb.

September 25th, 2013, 5:04 am

 

habib said:

So much for “moderates”, lol. Who will KerryMccain turn to now?

September 25th, 2013, 5:43 am

 

New Islamist Bloc Declares Opposition to Nation... said:

[…] New Islamist Bloc Declares Opposition to National Coalition and US Strategy By Aron Lund for Syria Comment Sept.  […]

September 25th, 2013, 5:44 am

 

SimoHurtta said:

5. omen said:

art piece:

palestinians? no, syrians!

face it, assad is worse than israel.

Well Omen should those thousands Palestinians in Jewish prisons and those families whose houses and villages the Israeli Jewish soldiers just destroyed be relieved, that in Omen’s mind Assad is worse than Netanyahu? I suppose most Palestinians and we readers of Omen’s unending propaganda can see those tragedies in Palestine and Syria as two separate problems/events.

Have you Omen send more tweets to Hassan Rouhani? I noticed you tweeted to Al Gore. But have you sent these stop killing children tweets to Obama and Netanuahu? They have sat on their thrones longer than Rouhani. And have “killed” more children.

Another point Omen. What is the meaning of you here on SC not using capital letters in front of sentences? Is it because a handicap in your ability to write texts or a rather desperate attempt to be seen as “fashionable and modern”. Your messages here are not 160 character long text messages send from a phone. Capital letters in front of the sentences have one function: They make reading easier by allowing to perceive the written text more easy.

I remember how I years ago asked from a American Syrian “princess” who was here on SC a active commentator, who by the way claimed, that there are many Hindu Jews in USA, the same question of not using capital letters. She learned at once to use capital letters. 🙂

Congratulations in advance Omen. Your 50,000 tweets mark is only 1,450 tweets away. Though I wonder who can (and will) read those about 10,000 tweets you recently have sent during one month. Writing those 10,000 tweets is a massive arduous work, but even more “energy” demanding for anybody would be reading all those your tweets.

September 25th, 2013, 6:08 am

 

Syrialover said:

Apple_Mini #3

Little Apple is in terrible distress, panicking at the sight of the devil. The nightmare image that threatens the holy world of the Assads:

“a westerner who defends human rights and democracy.”

September 25th, 2013, 6:52 am

 

Akbar Palace said:

Sim’s Boogeyman is falling Apart by the Assad Regime NewZ

face it, assad is worse than israel.

Sim,

What’s going on?? When Finns are complaining more about Israel than arabs, what is an anti-Zionist to do?? How can we get back “on track”?

Syria has now killed more arabs than all those killed by Israel SINCE HER CREATION in 1948. That includes ALL wars against Israel. And Assad has created TWICE the amount of refugees than the Nakba. How does that affect your sleep? Will you be attending any anti-Assad rallies in Finland? Will you be calling for sanctions or military action against the Syrian government on websites like this? Why not?

Of course, Israel still provides the most freedom and opportunity for their arab citizens than anywhere else in the ME.

Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your stance on Israel or are you really that “stiff-necked”?

September 25th, 2013, 7:15 am

 

DavidP said:

“he claims to speak for 13 different rebel factions.”

The BBC says 11 islamist groups …
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24239779

September 25th, 2013, 7:28 am

 

Hopeful said:

#10 Akbar

“Of course, Israel still provides the most freedom and opportunity for their arab citizens than anywhere else in the ME”

Unfortunately this is the reality that many Arabs still refuse to acknowledge and admit to, and many others do not even know about. I have met many Israeli Arabs, and while they will tell you that living in Israel is no paradise for an Arab, they know they are better off than other Arabs living under Arab dictatorships.

Personally I think Israel has a lot of work to do before it can claim to be a model for treating minority citizens, but at the same time, I think Arabs have to focus on building democratic and freedom institutions in their own perspective countries before they start challenging Israel on its human rights and minority rights records.

Palestinians however, both in the occupied territories and in exile, have a legitimate issue with Israel that needs to be resolved. They have lost homes, identity and citizenship rights. If anyone understands how difficult this position is, it should be the Jews. Jews around the world, and especially in the US, should play a positive role in forcing Israel to make concessions to resolve these issues, once and for all.

Just my 2 cents.

September 25th, 2013, 8:10 am

 

SimoHurtta said:

10. Akbar Palace said:

Sim’s Boogeyman is falling Apart by the Assad Regime NewZ

face it, assad is worse than israel.

Sim,

What’s going on?? When Finns are complaining more about Israel than arabs, what is an anti-Zionist to do?? How can we get back “on track”?

…

anti-Assad rallies in Finland? Will you be calling for sanctions
Of course, Israel still provides the most freedom and opportunity for their arab citizens than anywhere else in the ME.
”
Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your stance on Israel or are you really that “stiff-necked?

Akbar how many Arabs have you personally killed sofar? You have as a Jewish soldier attacked foreign countries and so directly participated in killings. Surely you have humiliated Arabs on occupied areas. Honest answers Akbar – please. Shooting Arabs boys and harassing Arab women on road blocks every other week on West Bank – writing comments on SC and Qifa Nabki every other. The life (and moral) of Akbar Palace …

As you yourself say all the time here, what happens in Syria has nothing to do with Israel. So why on earth compare the regimes of Assad and Netanyahu? If your Israeli soldier kills some Palestinian school girl on the way back home is it OK, because in Syria two schoolgirls are killed?

Akbar those millions of Arabs (towelheads as you call them here openly) under Israeli rule are very unhappy and are not equal with Jews in Israel and “Samaria”. Try to understand that fact. If you as a Jew would be treated as you treat Palestinians (occupied and our domestic slaves) in any western country you would be screaming “racism and anti-Semitism”.

Or priests in Finland do not write commands not rent to Jews (or
Muslims), they do not write books how it is OK to kill Arab (or Jewish) babies. Thousands of Finnish youth do not march on streets with waiving flags screaming hysterically “KILL THE ….”. In Jerusalem Jewish youth does that screaming hysterically Kill Mohammed or Arabs on Jerusalem Days. And escorted and protected by police in doing that. That is the difference Akbar. And your “nuts” on throne have hundreds of nukes, chemical and bacteriological weapons combined with the proved readiness of using them. Sorry Akbar, but I see your “clan” much more dangerous for the world than any Arab dictator.

A civil war is always a tragedy to any nation, but does a civil war elsewhere really justify what Israel is doing? Simple minds create simple propaganda Akbar.

September 25th, 2013, 8:14 am

 

Akbar Palace said:

Sim City

Hopeful,

I do not disagree with ANYTHING you said. Things are improving slowly; but they would improve much faster if there was a peace treaty signed. I don’t see the Palestinians signing off on all their grievances. Israel is not a Utopia for Jews or Palestinians, but everything is relative.

One sad news article was the murder of an Israeli by a Palestinian from the West Bank. Apparently, they were “friends”. Stuff like this hurts the progress that has been made.

Sim,

Please screw your head on straight. You are so deluded in your anti-Zionism you don’t even make sense.

Akbar how many Arabs have you personally killed sofar? You have as a Jewish soldier attacked foreign countries and so directly participated in killings.

I’m an American Jew. I have never volunteered in the IDF. I haven’t killed anyone.

Surely you have humiliated Arabs on occupied areas.

“Humiliating arabs” is a bit different than killing or gassing them. Furthermore, not all “killing” is the same. When a country is attacked, killing is WARRANTED. Gassing innocent civilians is NEVER warranted. Disproportionate attacks is also a war crime that international agencies like HRW take a lot of time and effort to investigate. Israel has ALWAYS been subject to this type of scrutiny and has been guilty at times. But you only focus on Israel. Your bias is so far “out-of-whack” it’s like a car tire that is out of alignment.

Honest answers Akbar – please. Shooting Arabs boys and harassing Arab women on road blocks every other week on West Bank

Show me a link as to who was “harassed” and who was “shot”. If they occur every week, you should have many examples. I want to see the circumstances of each of these crimes.

So when people like you or Ghat Al-Bird show posts of Israelis “shoving” an arab for whatever reason and whining about it, I can only shake my head and say to myself, “you mean SCORES of people get killed every day all over the ME and all Sim and Ghat can find wrong in the ME is a person that an IDF soldier shoved?”. Furthermore, the soldier, belive it or not, may have been attacked.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24190728

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24171574

http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-mall-siege-over-death-toll-unclear-103032193.html

So why on earth compare the regimes of Assad and Netanyahu?

Simple. Because ALL people are equal. Palestinians lives are no more important or valuable than Syrian, Iraqi or Israeli lives.

If your Israeli soldier kills some Palestinian school girl on the way back home is it OK, because in Syria two schoolgirls are killed?

Of course not. Which Palestinian school girl was killed? What were the circumstances? Was she in the middle of a fight or flare up? Was she by herself? Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians using knives. Syrian children, HUNDREDS of them, have been killed by military grade Sarin gas.

Akbar those millions of Arabs (towelheads as you call them here openly) under Israeli rule are very unhappy and are not equal with Jews in Israel and “Samaria”.

I never called “millions of Arabs” “towelheads”. I use the term “towelhead” specifically for muqawamistas who instigate wars while they hide in spider holes. I am specifically thinking of the Iranian “Supreme Leader”, his cronies, Hassan Nus-lira and his cronies and all their supporters like you.

If these “millions of arabs” are so unhappy about “Israeli rule” why don’t they demonstrate like they did in Egypt and Syria? They are free to do so. Read Hopeful’s post. Maybe you’ll believe an arab more than me.

Try to understand that fact.

Your facts are not facts. They are preconceived notions stuck in your mind that do not reflect reality. Show me all those “facts” in news articles showing all the Palestinian girls Israel has killed “every other week”.

If you as a Jew would be treated as you treat Palestinians (occupied and our domestic slaves) in any western country you would be screaming “racism and anti-Semitism”.

Sim,

Again, your ignorance is showing bright as day. Don’t you care about what you say? You should be embarrased. Jews were treated horribly in Europe over the past several hundreds of years and FAR worse than how Israelis treat their Palestinian population today. Jews faired better in arab lands during the Middle Ages, hands down. Still we deserve our freedom as history has shown.

Jews don’t make Palestinian wear Yellow Jewish Stars. Jews give their Palestinian population the ability to work in every profession they want including Member of Knesset, doctor, lawyer, engineer, or bus boy. I wish we Jews didn’t have these restrictions in Europe throughtout the ages, but we did. Anti-semitism is still alive and strong thanks to people like you.

Or priests in Finland do not write commands not rent to Jews (or
Muslims), they do not write books how it is OK to kill Arab (or Jewish) babies. Thousands of Finnish youth do not march on streets with waiving flags screaming hysterically “KILL THE ….”. In Jerusalem Jewish youth does that screaming hysterically Kill Mohammed or Arabs on Jerusalem Days.

I am sure Finland has freedom of speech, and in Israel and Palestine for every unfortunate comment made by a rabbi, there is an unfortunate comment made by an imam. Welcome to the ME. Fortunately, in Finland, you are at peace with your neighbors.

Instead of focusing on statements made by individuals, I focus on statement made by government officials. The governments are responsible for representing their people. In this regard, the GOI has done a MUCH better job of reducing racism and hatred than the arab and Palestinian governments. You’re familiar with MEMRI?

And escorted and protected by police in doing that.

The police can’t arrest someone for making racist comments. If that were the case, half the internet would be in “lock down”.

Sorry Akbar, but I see your “clan” much more dangerous for the world than any Arab dictator.

Enjoy your sleep. Obviously, many arabs don’t even agree with you.

Gutten Tag.

A civil war is always a tragedy to any nation, but does a civil war elsewhere really justify what Israel is doing? Simple minds create simple propaganda Akbar.

September 25th, 2013, 9:04 am

 

Afram said:

“communiqué number one”
the arabs of the middle beast are doomed.
Arabic culture&slam is responsible for their underdevelopment
they are a heavy burden on The Civilized world,a single computer can defeat their brain power!!

in 20 years South Korea recorded 16393 inventions and all Arab States 170 invention,Obvious that developed nations when they worry about its educational reality of fierce competition between each other,their attention riveted on scientific curricula and vocational training programmes.

Arabs in return shout sharia rule is the solution….

If the Arabs disappeared off the face of the earth,they won’t be missed by the civilized world, actually they would smile to them goodbye and good riddance.

September 25th, 2013, 9:26 am

 

The US Strategy In Syria Is Unraveling | Lord of the Net said:

[…] and journalist Aron Lund explains that “it represents the rebellion of a large part of the ‘mainstream FSA’ against its purported political leadership, and […]

September 25th, 2013, 9:30 am

 

Syrialover said:

HOPEFUL thanks for what you said in #12, which is worth a great deal more than 2 cents.

The obsession with Israel has always been a crucial tool for the Assads. It’s embedded in the heads of Syrians and others and plays in a loop, stopping them from focusing on the injustice and ugliness in their own countries.

When the Assads have gone let’s hope the spell will be broken, and everyone will get on with fixing what matters most at home.

Let everyone continue to feel critical of Israel and pressure it to resolve the nasty mess it has created with the Palestinians. But this can be done much more effectively from a healthily governed and respected country, not a sordid dictatorship.

September 25th, 2013, 9:58 am

 

Ghat Al Bird said:

Speaking about the only democracy in the ME.

A sample of what the chosen people think of the Arabs….

http://www.timesofisrael.com/hotline-lets-callers-inform-on-jewish-arab-couples/

September 25th, 2013, 10:08 am

 

Craig Charney said:

Syria is SO complicated and confusing. So let’s talk about Israel and Palestine instead!

September 25th, 2013, 10:23 am

 

Akbar Palace said:

Ghat,

Since you still seem to have a “Democracy” understanding disability, freedom of speech means hearing things we don’t necessarily want to hear. Saying “Jews are Devils” or “Arabs are Devils” or “I think Ahmad is dating Shoshana” is freedom of speech.

Did you really want us to believe arabs don’t have problems with their daughters and sons dating Jews?? You are no different than Sim. Show us all about the bad Israelis and Jews, and cover up whatever arabs do.

Were you planning to post an article about “honor killings” in the Palestinian community? Why or why not?

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/172202

Kudos to Syrialover and Hopeful.

September 25th, 2013, 11:15 am

 

ghufran said:

Manna’ thinks the FSA will quit the fight against alqaida in northern and eastern Syria. He sees jihadists as the biggest threat to Syria today and refuses calls to partition Syria:
قال رئيس هيئة التنسيق المعارضة في المهجر هيثم مناع ان مسلحي “الجيش الحر” سيلجأون بعد شهرين للجيش السوري أو سيهربون لخارج سوريا هرباً من مسلحي القاعدة الذين يتقدمون شمال وشرق سوريا.
ورأى المعارض السوري، ان الخطر القادم في سوريا هو هؤلاء الجهاديين الذين توافدوا إلى سوريا من كل حدب وصوب، برعاية خليجية وتركية، مطالباً بالإسراع لعقد لقاء جنيف 2 لأنه يمثل الخروج الأمثل لسوريا من الأزمة.
وحول ما تتناقله بعض وسائل الإعلام المناهضة لسوريا حول وجود مشروع لتقسيم سوريا، قال مناع ” لا يمكن للشعب السوري أن يقبل بالتقسيم، كيف يتحدثون عن كانتون علوي في الساحل علماً أن العلويين في الساحل باتوا في الوقت الحالي أقلية لانهم استقبلوا ما لا يقل عن 900 ألف من اخوانهم من السنة من بقية المحافظات، كيف لشعب كهذا أن يقبل بالتقسيم
كما رفض المعارض السوري ما يشاع عن نية الأكراد إنشاء كانتون كردي في الشمال الشرقي من سوريا، مؤكداً ان الأكراد هم جزء من النسيج السوري، وهم يسعون للديمقراطية والعدالة لا الانكفاء على أنفسهم.
وطالب مناع جميع القوى المعارضة للعمل على نبذ المتطرفين، الذين باتوا اقوياء في الوقت الحالي، مشدداً على ضرورة الجلوس على طاولة جنيف 2 لإنقاذ ما تبقى من سوريا.
More opposition members calls for foreign jihadists to leave Syria:
أنس الجودة :ما يجري يأتي “في إطار تثبيت الأقدام لبعض الدول الإقليمية قبل عقد جنيف 2 أو حتى بعده وخصوصاً للدول التي وجدت نفسها خارج إطار أي حل. لذلك تحاول رفع سقف التوقعات وتدعم المواجهات بين الجماعات المسلحة”.
“مواجهات مرفوضة وتنعكس سلباً على طموحات السوريين” كما ترى هيئة التنسيق التي ترى “أن القوى المسلحة القادمة من خارج الحدود أضرت بمصلحة السوريين”. ويقول القيادي في الهيئة أحمد عسراوي “كل القوى الخارجية القادمة إلى سورية لم تعمل لمصلحة الشعب السوري، وإنّما عملت لأجندات خارجية وكل تلك العمليات مرفوضة ويجب على كل من جاء من الخارج الرحيل”.

September 25th, 2013, 11:19 am

 

ziad said:

The Neocon / Zionist Coup and Why It Matters to Americans

September 25th, 2013, 12:20 pm

 

ziad said:

Israel, Jewish lobby demand more U.S. taxpayer dollars

Former Israeli Prime Minster and major international war criminal Ariel Sharon once infamously remarked: “We, the Jewish people, control America. And the Americans know it.” And he was exactly right, although the majority of Americans are either too ignorant, apathetic, or distracted to comprehend this obvious fact, let alone care about or recognize it’s significance.

As if Israel wasn’t already receiving enough American taxpayer dollars, the criminal Jewish state and the organized Jewish community operating in the United States are demanding even more money. The Jewish Daily Forward recently reported:

Citing the ongoing instability in the Middle East, Israel is already pushing for an increase in U.S. military aid to address new challenges and to ensure Israeli military superiority in the region.

http://www.john-friend.net/2013/09/israel-jewish-lobby-demand-more-us.html?m=1

September 25th, 2013, 12:46 pm

 

AKbar Palace said:

Ziad,

Not only do we control america, we control when you get up in the morning, the medications you swallow, and the comic books you read.

You’re in trouble ‘bro…

😉

Oh, BTW, how much money (in dollars) do you think the US has spent following jihadists arond the world like Osama Bin Laden. Please keep the figure it in Trillions so we don’t fill the website with zeroes.

September 25th, 2013, 12:51 pm

 

Badr said:

“Syrialover” to WSS: “The witty AIG you quote used to contribute a lot to this forum. Yet another one in the long list of quality long-term contributors who’ve quit Syria Comment.”

“Syrialover”,

Do you think the following is a clever judgment by AIG?

“I think that it is very likely that minorities in Syria will be massacred if the jihadists prevail. Do we want that? Let’s face it, there is not going to be a democracy in Syria whatever the West does. I think that is obvious by now and hoping otherwise is courting disaster. The best course of action is as I outlined above. Get both sides to expend their energy and reluctantly accept a ceasefire and a de facto partition. Then the West can slowly (over many years) help non-Assad areas and hope that moderates prevail there.”

September 25th, 2013, 12:58 pm

 

Syrian rebel groups reject exiled National Coalition — War in Context said:

[…] Aron Lund writes for Syria Comment: Abdelaziz Salame, the highest political leader of the Tawhid Brigade in Aleppo, has issued a statement online where he claims to speak for 13 different rebel factions. You can see the video or read it in Arabic here. The statement is titled “communiqué number one” – making it slightly ominous right off the bat – and what it purports to do is to gut Western strategy on Syria and put an end to the exiled opposition. […]

September 25th, 2013, 1:07 pm

 

Ghat Al Bird said:

#18.

The following quotes maybe will help your definition of democracy:-

There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They are our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, these are people who do not belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy.” Israeli president Moshe Katsav. The Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2001

“The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more”…. Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time – August 28, 2000. Reported in the Jerusalem Post August 30, 2000

” [The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs.” Menahim Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, “Begin and the Beasts”. New Statesman, 25 June 1982.

“The Palestinians” would be crushed like grasshoppers … heads smashed against the boulders and walls.” ” Isreali Prime Minister (at the time) in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988

“When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle.” Raphael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, 14 April 1983.

THE LAST ONE IS A CLASSIC…..Arabs will scurry around like drugged cockroaches…… this last is the essence of your kind of democracy.

September 25th, 2013, 1:19 pm

 

ghufran said:

Read this and remember what was said when the US toppled Qaddafi.
Russia believes rebels used soviet era artillery to shell several areas in Syria and frame the regime, the potential use of chemical agents by rebels is being investigated now as UN team goes back to Syria.
NATO politicians never learn, one might think that Afghanistan and Iraq were enough to teach incompetent politicians about foreign policy but that was not true in Libya:

EXCLUSIVE: The recent theft of massive amounts of highly sensitive U.S. military equipment from Libya is far worse than previously thought, Fox News has learned, with raiders swiping hundreds of weapons that are now in the hands of militia groups aligned with terror organizations and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The equipment, as Fox News previously reported, was used for training in Libya by U.S. Special Forces. The training team, which was funded by the Pentagon, has since been pulled, partly in response to the overnight raids last August.
According to State Department and military sources, dozens of highly armored vehicles called GMV’s, provided by the United States, are now missing. The vehicles feature GPS navigation as well as various sets of weapon mounts and can be outfitted with smoke-grenade launchers. U.S. Special Forces undergo significant training to operate these vehicles. Fox News is told the vehicles provided to the Libyans are now gone.
Along with the GMV’s, hundreds of weapons are now missing, including roughly 100 Glock pistols and more than 100 M4 rifles. More disturbing, according to the sources, is that it seems almost every set of night-vision goggles has also been taken. This is advanced technology that gives very few war fighters an advantage on the battlefield.
“It’s not just equipment … it’s the capability. You are giving these very dangerous groups the capability that only a few nations are capable of,” one source said. “Already assassinations are picking up in Tripoli and there are major worries that the militias are using this stolen equipment to their advantage. All these militias are tied into terrorist organizations and are tied to (salafists).”
The “salafists” are a jihadist movement among Salafi Muslims. This growing movement in Libya directly endangers the U.S.-supported government, and sources worry that this sensitive equipment is now going to be used by these groups in an attempt to overthrow the government and install a more hardline Muslim leadership.
Some diplomats, who asked to remain anonymous, say they are seeing the kinds of conditions that opened the door to the Sept. 11 Benghazi attack now appearing in Tripoli and across the rest of Libya. They worry that American convoys and western convoys will be attacked using these stolen weapons and vehicles.
“The European ambassador was attacked and we are now commonly seeing robbing and attacking of people in broad daylight. … This isn’t perception, this is actually happening,” said one source. The source was referring to an August incident where an escort vehicle for the European Union ambassador was attacked in Tripoli.
To make matters worse, the U.S.-developed training camp on the outskirts of Tripoli has now been taken over by one of these militia groups who are hoarding weapons, sources said. The worry is this camp, abandoned by U.S. trainers within the last month, is being used in preparation for an attack on the new Libyan government.

September 25th, 2013, 1:20 pm

 

ziad said:

Jewish terror state injures At Least 25 Palestinians In Hebron

At Least 25 Palestinians Injured In Hebron

Tuesday evening [September 24, 2013] Palestinian medical sources have reported that at least 25 Palestinians have been injured during renewed clashes that took place in Bab Az-Zawiya and Shallala Street, in the center of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets, gas bombs and concussion grenades leading to more than 25 injuries.

They added that Palestinian security officers in the city tried to prevent dozens of residents from reaching the clashes area, but the residents pushed through.

Furthermore, several soldiers occupied rooftops of high buildings in the city, used them as monitoring towers, and fired rounds of live ammunition at the protesters.

In addition, clashes took place near the main entrance of the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron, while the soldiers also installed several roadblocks in several areas in the city, and around it, closing the entrances of several villages and towns.

http://imemc.org/article/66168

September 25th, 2013, 1:23 pm

 

Alan said:

In this video Luke Rudkowski ask’s General Wesley Clark about a speech he made where he revealed pentagon plans for War with seven countries in five years. Clark’s reaction speaks volumes as he does not say much and walks off when asked about Obama’s handling of Syria, one of the countries mentioned in the pentagon plan.
http://youtu.be/_pGkFMho6Co?t=1s

September 25th, 2013, 1:24 pm

 

Alan said:

In this video Luke Rudkowski ask’s General Wesley Clark about a speech he made where he revealed pentagon plans for War with seven countries in five years. Clark’s reaction speaks volumes as he does not say much and walks off when asked about Obama’s handling of Syria, one of the countries mentioned in the pentagon plan.
http://youtu.be/_pGkFMho6Co?t=1s

September 25th, 2013, 1:25 pm

 

Alan said:

After nearly three years of covert attempts at overthrow, the US has boxed itself in to one of only two possible outcomes in Syria. If Assad stays, it will be seen as a defeat for the US. If Assad goes, the new Syria will be even more virulently anti-American and anti-Israel than ever. This is a reminder that the quality of planning and thinking coming out of the White House is seriously deficient, either from too many anti-depressants, or too many yes-people on Obama’s staff telling him what they think he wants to hear, rather than telling him what he needs to know, to protect their high-paying jobs.

September 25th, 2013, 1:28 pm

 

Akbar Palace said:

Ghat,

This one is just from this past May. “The European races are barbaric”, thus said Supweme Leader….

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3844.htm

(I don’t know if Finns are included here)

September 25th, 2013, 1:36 pm

 

Alan said:

AP!
Do you mean that you are spying on all human beings?
That commenter on your blog may actually be working for the Israeli government
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2009/07/14/that-angry-commenter-on-your-blog-may-actually-be-working-for-the-israeli-government/

September 25th, 2013, 1:52 pm

 

Akbar Palace said:

Do you mean that you are spying on all human beings?

Alan,

Yes. Sorry. If you don’t want me to hear your conversations, I suggest hand signals.

September 25th, 2013, 2:20 pm

 

ghufran said:

Damage control by the NC after it received the holy finger from rebels:
أكد السيد أنس العبدة عضو الهيئة السياسية للائتلاف الوطني السوري أن:” توقيت البيان الذي أصدرته الكتائب الإسلامية أمس لم يكن مناسباً على الإطلاق، ويثير إشارات استفهام حول جدوى هذا البيان خاصة وأنه يتزامن مع زيارة وفد من الائتلاف عالي المستوى إلى الأمم المتحدة بهدف كسب أصدقاء جدد للقضية السورية.” ورأى العبدة أن: “الكتائب التي وقعت على البيان لا تمثل أهم كتائب الجيش الحر على الأرض، حيث إن هناك كتائب كبيرة لم توقع على هذا البيان”.وأردف العبدة أنه: “يجب أن يكون معلوماً للجميع أن طبيعة الدولة المستقبلية في سوريا هي خيار الشعب السوري عبر صناديق الاقتراع والانتخابات وليس لأحد الحق في أن يفرض وصايته على الشعب السوري وأن يعلن نوع نظام الحكم أو القانون الذي سيحكم به. وبالطبع، يمكن لأصحاب الطلب أن يقنعوا الشعب في مرحلة ما بعد التحرر من النظام وليس الآن”. وقال العبدة إن: “طرح مثل هذه المواضيع وفرض لون معين لطبيعة الحكم في هذا الوقت يسبب الانقسام بين الثوار ويولد الإشكاليات الخطيرة على قوة الثورة داخل وخارج سوريا”. ورأى العبدة أنه من الضروري بمكان أن يقوم الائتلاف بالحوار مع هذه الكتائب – باستثناء جبهة النصرة – ومحاولة فهم نقاط قلقها وأخذها بعين الاعتبار”. وألمح العبدة إلى أنه: “كان من الخطأ إضافة جبهة النصرة على البيان لأنه لا يجمعنا في سوريا أي مشروع مرتبط بالقاعدة التي لديها أجندة عمل غير سورية، وهي معادية للمشروع الوطني”. وركز العبدة على أن: “الحكومة المؤقتة مطلب عاجل لخدمة الشعب السوري في المناطق المحررة ويرأسها شخص مناضل من الداخل ويجري استشارات مع الكتائب والقوى الثورية لاختيار أعضاء الحكومة”. وكانت 13 مجموعة من كتائب الثوار الإسلامية في حلب قد دعت مساء أمس الثلاثاء إلى التوحد ضمن “إطار إسلامي واضح ينطلق من سعة الإسلام” وأعلنت هذه الكتائب أنها لا تعترف بأي “تشكيلات” معارضة في الخارج. وقالت هذه المجموعات وأبرزها جبهة النصرة ولواء التوحيد ولواء الإسلام في بيان نشر عبر الانترنت إن “كل ما يتم من التشكيلات في الخارج دون الرجوع إلى الداخل، لا يمثلها ولا تعترف به.”
The game is almost over for the NC, they will either dissolve and join islamist rebels or divorce themselves from armed groups and try to save what can be saved of their credibility and relevance.

September 25th, 2013, 2:45 pm

 

Alan said:

31
AP
Hold on! and that can be a Hernia!

September 25th, 2013, 2:55 pm

 

SimoHurtta said:

29. Akbar Palace said:

Ghat,

This one is just from this past May. “The European races are barbaric”, thus said Supweme Leader….

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3844.htm

(I don’t know if Finns are included here)

Well Akbar A. Hitler and Stalin were not from Middle East. Iran did not drop nukes on Japanese civilians. Nor Arabs. Arabs did not kill millions in Vietnam and spray the country with poisons.

Britts used allegedly chemical weapons against Iraqis in the 20’s. Israel used phosphorus against Gaza’s civilians over 80 years later. That can not be denied, we all did see it in our televisions.

Who had colonies? Who wiped out millions of original inhabitants in the Americas? Who made war in order to be able to sell opium to Chinese? Who has made tens of coups and installed dictators after WW2. Etc the list is endless. Who produce the weapons, who sell them?

Akbar did you know who sold weapons to the rebel Hutus? The planes came form Tel Aviv and Tirana. The same “philanthropists” from you know where naturally sold weapons also to the Tutsi side. Maximising profits Akbar in Israeli style – you know. In the 60’s Israel begun to train Ethiopian army to kill Eritrean rebels. When the rebels won Israel changed side and got as a reward a naval base in Dahlak Archipelago. In the 60’s Israel started arming South Sudanes and now finally is making much money with that. In 1956 Israel attacked Egypt and got as the reward the means to make nuclear weapons. Israel has sold weapons to generals of Burma (Myanmar) all the time and the weapons were used to WHAT? Hmmmm …

By the way Akbar did you know that Idi Amin used a Israeli plane when he visited Gaddafi for the first time? Before that he was the best buddy of Tel Aviv.

Who are barbaric Akbar? The Iranian Supreme Leader has much facts to put on the table in order to make his case. You and Memri have very little – as usual. European races have killed modestly estimating 100 million humans during the past 100 years. Others are complete amateurs compared to that “achievement”.

Akbar remember these children.

September 25th, 2013, 2:55 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#27 Alan

Someone made a mistake and should be fired. They didn’t know that Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia were NOT on the list? Did they get a different list?

September 25th, 2013, 2:55 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#34 Sim

“Who had colonies?”

The Vikings?

September 25th, 2013, 3:02 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#28 Alan

“too many yes-people on Obama’s staff telling him what they think he wants to hear, rather than telling him what he needs to know, to protect their high-paying jobs.”

Obviously you have not been following the news about how the previous Secretaries of State and Defense both advised Obama to arm the FSA and how he ignored their advice.

Another thing, these guys cannot wait to leave government to start making serious money.

September 25th, 2013, 3:11 pm

 

The Progressive Mind » The US Strategy In Syria Is Unraveling - Business Insider said:

[…] and journalist Aron Lund explains that “it represents the rebellion of a large part of the ‘mainstream FSA’ against its purported political leadership, and […]

September 25th, 2013, 3:16 pm

 

Ghat Al Bird said:

#29.

The Supreme leader may have remembered a historic event. You can Google to refresh your memory….

On 18 July 1290 every professing Jew in England was ordered out of the Realm, for ever, by King Edward I. Between sixteen and seventeen thousand Jews had to flee, and none dared return until four hundred years later

The Edict of Expulsion of 1290

A catalogue of recorded history surrounding Jewry under Angevin Kings of England, leading up to the Edict of Expulsion by King Edward I

Geoffrey H. Smith and Arnold S. Leese

September 25th, 2013, 3:32 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

Officials Claim Tunisian Women are Waging a ‘Sexual Jihad’ in Syria, But What’s the Real Story?

Sana Saeed 7 hours ago

By now you have probably already heard of the harem of Tunisian sex-warrior slaves heading to Syria in order to give up their young bodies to the appetites of deprived rebels to fulfill jihad al-Nikkah — “Sexual Jihad” — and are coming back to the country with bellies full of Jihadi babies. Unfortunately for what seems to be that blind spot people have when it comes to stories on Muslims and sex, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of Tunisian female warriors going to fight a holy sex war.

[…]

September 25th, 2013, 3:36 pm

 

SimoHurtta said:


Akbar:
(I don’t know if Finns are included here)

I did forget to answer to this.

Akbar I am afraid we are. Finnish soldiers killed over 400,000 (some sources claim 1 million) Soviet soldiers in WW2. Well they first attacked us and took 20 percent of our lands. But still…

Naturally we could discuss who did give Russia that ideology of theirs (Communism). By the way Akbar Molotov Cocktail was Finnish invention from WW2. Molotov’s and Stalin’s children would have had the right to get Israeli passports. History is interesting – isn’t it.

36. Hopeful said:

#34 Sim
“Who had colonies?”
The Vikings?

Vikings belonged to European “races” so that it was no “news” to me. Vikings came from Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Denmark), Finland is not a part of Scandinavia (Fennoscandia is the area to which we belong). Finns were not Vikings. Finno-Ugric tribes ruled once most of land of European Russia. Not any more. 🙂

Finland was hundreds of years a part of Sweden and 110 years a part of Russia. So we were in a way a colony of European races. Well when Alaska was part of Russia a couple governor-generals of Alaska were Finns. But that did not make it (Alaska) as our colony. 🙂

You should open sometimes a book Hopeful. After reading your comments now for a while I am a bit worried about the level of your general knowledge.

September 25th, 2013, 3:57 pm

 

Syrialover said:

SIMOHURRTA, ZIAD

We see you bursting your blood pressure into explosion point about Zionists and the evil west. It stops you thinking about absolutely anything else, including Syria even though this is Syria Comment.

Question: What are you going to DO about it?

Answer: If you are living in the west, you are more empowered with more opportunities to have influence and play a role in fighting these “problems” than the remaining 95% of the world’s population.

Only energy, ability and inclination stands between you and getting into a role of power and influence in the west.

That’s right, you could channel it into becoming a mover and shaker in a political party or lobby group, large company, government agency or other institution, or a key role in the media or academia.

The list of options and opportunities goes on. If you have talent, ambition and willingness to work hard you have equal chance with everyone else you accuse of conspiring and controlling things.

(10 years ago nobody on the planet would have put a dollar down betting that a young black man with a foreign father could become President of the USA, a state currently the modern world’s most significant player).

So ZIAD, SIMOHURRTA and others on the same looped track, what are you doing expending your efforts on a forum which is more concerned about an actual place under totalitarian control where people who want change are being forced to pay with their lives?

September 25th, 2013, 4:41 pm

 

Syrialover said:

SIMOHURRTA to HOPEFUL in #40:

“After reading your comments now for a while I am a bit worried about the level of your general knowledge.”

Yes, HOPEFUL’S above average general knowledge about recent history, current affairs and the way the world works is a bit worrying if you want to keep things on a conspiracy anti-western track.

September 25th, 2013, 4:51 pm

 

Akbar Palace said:

We see you bursting your blood pressure into explosion point about Zionists and the evil west.

SL,

Thank you. I give up. It is people like you who hold my attention about problems and issues surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict because I know you are fair and open-minded.

I can’t deal with people who demonize Israel for relatively tiny crimes and then look away from regimes who are guilty of much worse.

September 25th, 2013, 5:00 pm

 

ziad said:

AKBAR PALACE #43 said:

”I can’t deal with people who demonize Israel for relatively tiny crimes and then look away from regimes who are guilty of much worse.”

Like a one trick pony AP has one argument that he applies to every subject. I wish all the hasbara staff were as unimaginative as AP.

September 25th, 2013, 5:15 pm

 

ghufran said:

France is softening its stance about Iran’s participation in finding an end to Syria’s war and it seems that the 5 big daddies have agreed to abandon the threat of chapter 7 on Syria.

This is from Rouhani’s interview with CNN:

AMANPOUR: Let me ask you about Syria. You have said that you’ve exchanged letters with President Obama on the issue of Syria. Today, the French president, Hollande, told me that Iran would be welcome in any peace conference regarding Syria, but under certain conditions, that you would accept the parameters of the conference. For instance, in this regard, Geneva 2, a transition that would see President Bashar al-Assad step aside for a political resolution.
Are you willing to accept that?

ROUHANI: We cannot accept any preconditions. We are ready to help in any international gathering if we can be of help. We believe it’s our duty to help the Syrian people. I have told Mr. Hollande that we are prepared to cooperate with any country so that the civil war in Syria comes quickly to an end.
I have exclusively said to Mr. Hollande. And he agreed with me, in fact, that when it comes to the issue of Syria, the sole decision-makers are the people of Syria. No foreign power has the right to decide for the Syrian people or for the future of Syria.
We must all try to put an end to the civil war – there. We must all pave the way to allow people to participate in an election in Syria.
Now, having said that, where Syria is today, until where it can be when an election does take place, there is a clear distance where everyone must step in and shorten that distance.
At the same time, when it comes to Syria, a key issue that has to be taken into account is the presence of terrorists there. This should create concern by all. Clearly, the more al Qaeda terrorists or other terrorist groups that were around the region, the hard – it seems that all of them have actually gathered in Syria right now.

September 25th, 2013, 5:19 pm

 

Sami said:

“These groups are not “part of” the Syrian revolution, they are the Syrian revolution.”

And the biggest lie of the Syrian revolution is being parroted or at least spread by this site.

This statement above is a spit in the grave of every brave Syrian that has resisted Assad and his henchmen without ever holding a weapon and sacrificed the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

The doctors, citizens turned journalists, humanists and regular everyday civilians that continue to resist this abomination deserve better recognition than the above bullish!t narrative.

The Shehadeh, Aziz, and Mattar’s of Syria and their sacrifice IS WHAT THIS REVOLUTION IS ALL ABOUT.

September 25th, 2013, 5:25 pm

 

Syrialover said:

Thank you SAMI #46

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

September 25th, 2013, 5:44 pm

 

ghufran said:

rebels in M’addamiyyeh may be trying to end the fight by offering to lay down their weapons in return of a safe passage.

September 25th, 2013, 5:49 pm

 

Syrialover said:

ZIAD,

You have told us Syria’s your homeland, you have a lot of family there and you have a meaningful attachment to it.

So why don’t you focus on it on Syria Comment?

If not now, if not here – when?

September 25th, 2013, 5:52 pm

 

Syrialover said:

GHUFRAN #45

Would you like to explain to us how Rouhani’s words stack up against this guy, who represents the deepest central mechanism of Iran’s international power and policies:

Article: The Shadow Commander

Qassem Suleimani is the Iranian operative who has been reshaping the Middle East. Now he’s directing Assad’s war in Syria.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/09/30/130930fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all

September 25th, 2013, 6:31 pm

 

Akbar Palace said:

Sim,

Oh, the Finns only killed 400,000 people? I bet you haven’t wasted 1 kilobyte on the issue. It’s nice when you mentally allow nations like Finland the ability to defend themselves.

Israel is the only country on Earth that isn’t afforded that right in the eyes of millions of antisemites and antizionists.

September 25th, 2013, 7:20 pm

 

ghufran said:

We all know that there are millions of Iranians who do not like the mullahs and do not care about the nuclear bomb, it makes sense to support those and open the door for compromise. You know this is the right thing to do when Israel and GCC sheikhs are against it.

September 25th, 2013, 8:17 pm

 

On exiles and expats, and why nobody really likes the Syrian National Coalition | and that's the way it was said:

[…] lot of attention is being paid to a joint statement made yesterday by thirteen Syrian rebel groups, who formally rejected the authority of the Syrian National Coalition, the (mostly self-proclaimed, […]

September 25th, 2013, 10:04 pm

 

William Scott Scherk said:

The Narwani/Mortada article in Al-Akhbar, noted above, has been countered by chemical armaments expert Dan Kaszeta, in a report titled “Questions and Answers about the UN Report and Clarifications of my interpretation of the Report.”

Q: One article claims “not a single environmental sample in Moadamiyah that tested positive for Sarin.” – What is your reaction to this?

I consider this statement to be a misleading half-truth that “cherry picks” from the UN report. It is true in respect to the fact that no actual Sarin was found in the 13 environmental samples taken from Moadamiyah. But the samples show DIMP, IMPA, and MPA, all of which are strong indicators of Sarin, as I discuss above. The environmental samples are clear indicators that Sarin was used because of the clear presence of chemicals that are clearly decomposition products (IMPA, MPA) and impurities (DIMP), all of which persist longer in the environment than Sarin itself. There are several plausible reasons why the UN team did not collect a sample of actual Sarin at the Moadamiyah. Any or all of the following explanatory or contributory factors may have applied to this circumstance:

— The 140mm rocket alleged to have been used in Moadamiyah is patently smaller than the devices used elsewhere. Therefore, there it would carry far less chemical agent than larger devices. There may have been less Sarin to find at each individual site where the 140mm rocket was used.

— The UN report states that they did not find the actual warhead. Their photos are of the rocket section, not the agent-carrying portion of the rocket.

— The lack of a payload-carrying section indicates to me that the explosive bursting charge of the rocket functioned as intended. The US Army used approximately a 3.3:1 ratio by weight of Sarin to conventional explosive in the US’s closest analogue to the 140mm rocket, the M55 115mm rocket. As a Soviet-designed 140mm rocket carried approx. 2.2 kg of Sarin, a comparable ratio would indicate an explosive charge of 650-700 grams of explosive. From my own direct experience with explosives in my military and law enforcement training, such a quantity would shred the rocket’s warhead section into small fragments. As metal fragments are a likely place to collect a Sarin sample, the fragments at Moadamiyah may have been too small to locate or indeed too small to contain an effective sample of the agent.

— A fully effective and efficient explosive dissemination of a 140mm rocket carrying Sarin would create an aerosol of finely divided droplets, with little or no pooling or puddles of Sarin, making it harder to find a trace of actual Sarin. This factor presumes that the munition efficiency (the percentage of Sarin dispensed as an aerosol to create rapid effects) of the 140mm rocket is higher than that of the larger system used elsewhere. Based on my knowledge of chemical weapons design, I believe this to be the case.

— If the location in Moadamiyah under investigation had been exposure to more ventilation, more moisture, or both, the evaporation and degradation of Sarin would have been increased relative to other locations. With the information available to me, I cannot know whether this was the case or not.

Q: The same article claims “It is scientifically improbable that survivors would test that highly for exposure to Sarin without a single trace of environmental evidence testing positive for the chemical agent.” How do you answer this question?

This is an untrue statement unsupported by the facts. The statement appears to betray an ignorance of the relationship of Sarin to its degradation products. As I state above Sarin degrades into IMPA and/or MPFA. IMPA is a direct daughter compound of Sarin.

Q: The article also states that sarin can last “for months, sometimes years in the environment.” Could you clarify the situation where that would be the case?

The persistence (or not) of Sarin in the environment depends on numerous variables. The fate of Sarin in the environment is effected by evaporation, hydrolysis, and thermal decomposition.

September 25th, 2013, 10:49 pm

 

Syrian said:

From the New Yorker
http://m.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/09/30/130930fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all
“Crocker said that Maliki once told him, “You can’t know what arrogance is until you are an Iraqi Arab forced to take refuge with the Iranians”
And this is from an Arab Shia.We all know how much Iranian hate Arabs be it islamset Iran or secularist Iran.But only those who are Iran’s agents on this site try to always make Iran looks good.or they just keep attacking the only Arabs left who are able to stand up to Iran, the GCC.

September 25th, 2013, 11:45 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#40 Sim

“Finns were not Vikings. Finno-Ugric tribes ruled once most of land of European…”

You sound very defensive. Did I say anything about the Finns being Vikings?

“you should open sometimes a book…”

Who needs books when you have the Internet? I am sure I can find tons of accurate information about all kinds of facts, like how an airplane neve really crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.

Btw, what did you think of Obama’s speech at the UN?

September 26th, 2013, 12:17 am

 

Hopeful said:

#41 SL

“10 years ago nobody on the planet would have put a dollar down betting that a young black man with a foreign father could become President of the USA”

Don’t you know anything SL? Obama was given the presidency by the people controlling the US so that he can implement their evil agenda to take over the world. I am sure Sim is among the people who believe this.

Oh wait, no no, he is a Muslim agent planted by the Muslims to take down America from within. Isn’t that what millions of Americans believe?

Two equally stupid conspiracy theories. They would be funny if the people believing in them do not get dangerous at times.

September 26th, 2013, 12:45 am

 
 

don said:

“Islamist Groups Declare Opposition to National Coalition and US Strategy [updated]”

Who cares what Israel’s and NATO’s mercenary death squads terrorist groups want?!!

They invaded Syria because they have an ingrained wish to die, and die they shall. To the last miserable one.

September 26th, 2013, 2:04 am

 

Alan said:

Deadly Arms to Al Qaeda in Syria courtesy of CIA, State Dept and USAID (same entity really)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BVCweQzCMAAG2Vm.jpg

September 26th, 2013, 3:30 am

 

omen said:

54. Akbar Palace said:

Anybody know what happened to the following commentators:

– D-P lover Reverse?

– Majedkhaldoun?

– Dawoud?

65. Hopeful:They have been banned by the moderator.

no no no. khaldoun and dawoud? both are long time posters. and two of the smarter ones. we cannot afford this brain drain. when can they come back? this ban isn’t forever it is? does seniority count for nothing? what can we do to get them back?

September 26th, 2013, 4:20 am

 

omen said:

59. Alan said: Deadly Arms to Al Qaeda in Syria courtesy of CIA, State Dept and USAID (same entity really)

RPGs arent going to topple assad, alan. those could have been raided from the regime.

here are more state of the art, advanced cia weaponry for our nato death squads:

photo

September 26th, 2013, 4:30 am

 

apple_mini said:

I remembered we read some posters like Hopeful and others who openly praised for “progressive” society in Qatar while we have been criticizing its political system and practices.

Today Guardian has an article on front page:

Revealed: Qatar’s World Cup ‘slaves’

It is outrageous and disgraceful. A country so rich that they can sustain funding an armed insurgents in Syria for over two years but exploits those poor migrant workers to the extent to be labelled as “slaves”.

We are not surprised. The same way we are not surprised by Qatar’s defenders on SC.

September 26th, 2013, 4:37 am

 

omen said:

9. mjabali said: The dangerous radical Islam we see today is not the production of Iran, do not fool yourself. .

oh?


REUEL MARC GERECHT, MIDDLE EAST EXPERT: I think that, one, Bashar al-Assad should pay for what he did in Iraq. He aided and abetted and sent jihadis over to kill American civilians and soldiers. I think we should recall the Khobar Towers event in 1996. The Saudi Shiites who were directed by the Iranians, they fled. Where did they go? They went to Syria. There’s a reason for that. Syria has aided and abetted terrorism in that region, particularly terrorism by the Hezbollah and the Iranians for decades. So I think having Assad go down is a very good idea.

September 26th, 2013, 4:56 am

 

Alan said:

Subverting Democracy

“From 1945 to 2003, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements fighting against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US bombed some 25 countries, caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.”

William Blum

September 26th, 2013, 5:25 am

 

mjabali said:

Omen:

Dude: Radical Islam originated from the early days of Islam. Radical Islam originated when the fighting verses came and the Muslims acted upon them. Radical Islam is when some Fatwa makes life a living hell for many minorities for a thousand year: is that Radical enough for you Tweety tweet?

Your knowledge is really little in this matter dude…

I have no idea why you try to engage me in a conversation after you cursed at me. Really strange dude……

September 26th, 2013, 5:34 am

 

mjabali said:

Let us see what did Radical Islam do in the last few days:

– Bombing the Church in Pakistan

– Attacking the Mall in Kenya…

– Destroying more shrines for others in Syria and Libya…( Libya they destroyed And al-Salam al-Asmari Mosque and School, a world renowned Sufi …)

– About twenty car bombs in Iraq…In Iraq, the Shia had been hit with a suicide bomber probably once a week for the last few years…How many Radical Suicide bomber blew themselves for the last ten years? A thousand?

– Beheadings in Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq…etc

– Public executions…

What else…I probably forgot a bunch of these acts…

Now Hajji Omen: Tell me what the Shia has to do with all of this this?

September 26th, 2013, 5:47 am

 

omen said:

bless your heart, mjabali, don’t worry, i’m not pulling a “simo” on you. i happened to stumble upon your comment looking for an article i saw posted earlier on another thread.

most people understand radical islam to mean terrorism. you dishonestly tried to frame the phenomenon as purely sunni related when you know it is not.

oh, by the way, you’re too old to go around calling people “dude”. really now, you’re embarrassing your grandchildren.

September 26th, 2013, 5:56 am

 

NZZ: Neue innersyrische Allianz | alberichswahrheiten said:

[…] dem Analysten Aron Lund stellten die dreizehn Gruppen in der Mitteilung folgende Forderungen : Erstens sollen alle militärischen und zivilen Kräfte sich unter einem islamischen […]

September 26th, 2013, 6:04 am

 

SimoHurtta said:

41. Syrialover said:

SIMOHURRTA, ZIAD

We see you bursting your blood pressure into explosion point about Zionists and the evil west. It stops you thinking about absolutely anything else, including Syria even though this is Syria Comment.

Question: What are you going to DO about it?

Well I have not seen you Syrianlover complaining when Israelis and cal.nonMuslim.nonSyrian write obvious and unnecessary pro Israeli propaganda. Omen and Akbar have written thousands of comments to SC. Seems that your “Syrian” blood is not boiling of this direct and indirect Israel bragging. Obviously your family is not from Golan region.

This all started when Omen in comment number 5 made an astonishing observation (without using capital letters) based on a painting, that Assad is worse than Israel. In my answer to that comment (comment 8) I shortly mentioned that for Palestinians that Omen’s art analysis is hardly comforting and that Syria and Palestine are separate issues.

At once Akbar emerged to write counter comments (comments number 10, 14, 18, 22, 29, 31, 43, 51). So from these so far 58 comments Akbar has written 8 and I four. If Akbar would have not appeared the amount of my comments would have been most probably that one (number 8).

I like this emerged cyber “ass liking” where active SC pro-rebel commentators praise the comments of a devoted hardline Zionist. And reciprocally when Akbar thanks your comments. I noticed that the American “Syrians” avoid asking what Akbar sees will happen to Golan if the rebel side wins.

The search function of SC produces
SimoHurtta 5 + 72
Akbar Palace 294 + 243 + 189 + 142 + 74
Omen 66 + 195 + 302 + 1560
Syrialover 150
Hopeful 447 + 1026 + 571 + 591 + 3
etc

Where is the “problem”? Hardly the amount or quality of my comments. 🙂

September 26th, 2013, 6:18 am

 

omen said:

66. mjabali said: Let us see what did Radical Islam do in the last few days…What else…I probably forgot a bunch of these acts…Now Hajji Omen: Tell me what the Shia has to do with all of this this?

list all you want. you can’t deny regime had been responsible for some of these acts in iraq. iran proxy maliki hasn’t been an angel.

keep distracting with your finger of blame. wont erase assad’s terrorism (aided and abetted by russia and iran) which has killed more people than everything you pointed to combined.

how can you have this much sectarian blindness, mjabali? corrupt iran regime misusing their power doesn’t discredit shiaism just like alqaeda doesn’t discredit sunnism. men are flawed because of human nature. one religion versus another does not absolve or remedy these inherent human flaws.

September 26th, 2013, 6:55 am

 

omen said:

68. SimoHurtta – do you have asperger’s syndrome?

you don’t have to answer.

September 26th, 2013, 7:00 am

 

Hopeful said:

#61 Apple_mini said

“I remembered we read some posters like Hopeful and others who openly praised for “progressive” society in Qatar while we have been criticizing its political system and practices.”

First, let me share with you what I wrote to a friend in response to this article: “I do not want to seem to be defending Qatar. The Qatari government should be doing more to stop these abuses. But these abuses happen because a chain of businesses, run by people from everywhere: Europe, US, Nepal, Philippine, etc., all get too greedy, so the blame is not exclusive to certain people or certain race”

Second, the fact that this news is written up in a British newspaper shows that the society is open. I know for a fact that many people in positions in Qatar encourage the press to find and report on abuses such as these.

Thirdly, Qatar is growing rapidly by opening its doors to people and businesses to come in and participate in growing the economy. The number of expats in the country today is five times the number of the citizens. These expats are the ones running the operations in Qatar, including working on writing the labor laws. I hope soon they will be able to deliver on a new labor law to protect people.

Lastly, What happens to these laborers is terrible, but nothing can be compared to the system of slavery that the Assad regime has put in place since the 60’s whereby Syrian youth, in the name of “mandatory army service” are forced to serve in the homes of their master “officers” driving their kids to school, building their summer homes, buying groceries for the madams, or paying the masters off to be able to go home for the weekend. Would you be open to send the Guardian reporter there to investigate??

September 26th, 2013, 7:06 am

 

Hopeful said:

#61 Apple_mini

Also, here are the official responses to the report by the development company, the world cup organizing committee AND the labor ministry.

http://dohanews.co/post/62313447527/guardian-nepali-workers-in-qatar-being-used-as-slave

Note the following:

1. All are issuing condemnation and expressing concern. No one is being defensive, no one is denying what happened, and no one is crying foul about a conspiracy against Qatar.

2. EVERYONE is inviting NGO’s and human rights organizations to come in, investigate and help out.

3. The “official” government newspaper chose to actually share the report with its readers, not hide it or forge it.

To me, these are all good signs of well-intended leadership. Abuses will continue to happen, but it is the leadership responses to them that will shape what happens next in a society.

Now compare all of this to how Assad and his regime would react to similar situations.

September 26th, 2013, 7:24 am

 
 

SimoHurtta said:

69. omen said:

68. SimoHurtta – do you have asperger’s syndrome?

you don’t have to answer.

Why ask if you do not want the answer. No I do not, but do you know what Asperger syndrome is? What is Omen the “syndrome” behind writing incomprehensible amounts of comments on twitter and blogs’ comment sections? Or is it a profession? Writing tens of thousands of messages and comments about Syria and Iran monthly indicates to some kind of autistic neurological disorder or at the best to a desperate attempt to be noticed.

Omen in month are 30 days (average) and assuming, that you write to twitter for 12 hours daily (every day, no holidays) and in an hour are 60 minutes. So the mathematics here is 30 * 12 * 60 = 21,600 minutes. You have in a relative short time period (about one month) written 10,000 tweets. So using the amount of minutes “available” to you gives 21,600 / 10,000 = 2,16 minutes per tweet.

Do you seriously demand us to believe that you have time (that 2.2 minutes in average) to check the facts that what you retweet is true, not propaganda. Or what you write makes sense and is worth reading. You Omen do not even understand the writing and language to much of to what you link.

—

Mjabali I doubt that Omen is a dude. When Omen was angry to me, when I here complained of her twitter-hyperactivity, she changed her Twitter name to Simo + hearth text symbol for a day or two. I doubt a dude would ever do that. Not even a californian.nonMuslim.nonSyrian dude.

September 26th, 2013, 7:42 am

 

Akbar Palace said:

Some illnesses can not be Seen NewZ

Omen,

I don’t think it’s Aspergers. I think it is something more common than that. I think it’s Israelophobia

You may know someone else who suffers from it. The only way to cure yourself of it is to volunteer at a local JCC, Synagogue or kibbutz. Other than that, there’s not much you can do.

http://defenseoftheisraelipeople.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/israelophobia-and-mental-illness/

September 26th, 2013, 7:56 am

 

omen said:

i don’t care if you are sunni, shia or martian, how can anybody allow this to happen? we have all seen images of starving babies. how can any human being abide by this? what religion would tolerate this? there is no excuse.

Report: Millions Of Syrians Are Starving

At least four, and potentially over ten, million Syrians need emergency food support, according to a new report from the humanitarian group Save The Children.

September 26th, 2013, 8:04 am

 

apple_mini said:

Hopeful, no matter how you spin it, I have only one piece of argument to you:

A progressive society will NOT slave migrant workers unless your understanding of “progressive” is different from ours.

September 26th, 2013, 8:15 am

 

omen said:

hardly-a-massacre apple wants lecture people on what it means to be progressive.

September 26th, 2013, 8:34 am

 

omen said:

besides the weird number crunching, ppl with asperger’s have difficulty discerning humor.

September 26th, 2013, 8:43 am

 

zoo said:

Along Syria-Turkey Border, A New Battle Is On Between Islamists And Kurds

http://www.worldcrunch.com/syria-crisis/along-syria-turkey-border-a-new-battle-is-on-between-islamists-and-kurds/kurds-jihad-al-nusra-al-qaeda/c13s13489/#.UkQxslN5K9Y
…
Behind Ceylanpinar’s customs building, protected by tanks, Kurdish rebels have hung their flag on the roof of an old pasta factory. Their presence worries the Turkish authorities, who fear a scenario where the Kurdish take control of territories on the border. Turkish officials met with PYD’s leader Saleh Muslim in Ankara and announced on Sept. 17 that they would send humanitarian aid to Ayn al-Arab, another Kurdish enclave under siege in Syria, hoping this would bring down tensions.

Still, some locals in Ceylanpinar accuse Turkey of supporting the jihadists from al-Nusra. They are said to be coming and going freely across the border, using the vast territory of the TIGEM — the country’s largest state farm — along the Syrian border where a camp with 15,000 refugees has been set up.

“I could only go there once. That was a year ago,” says Mayor Aslan, denouncing the lack of transparency from the Turkish government.

Kurds refer to a photograph that was taken of a Turkish state official arm-in-arm with Islamist rebels. Ankara denies giving any support whatsoever to jihadist groups, saying it was impossible to control the entire 800-kilometer border with Syria.

September 26th, 2013, 9:10 am

 

zoo said:

Islamist War on Christians

Each time Islamists murder Christians, the media treat it as an isolated episode.
By Lee Habeeb

September 25, 2013 4:00 AM
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/359405/islamist-war-christians-lee-habeeb

I’m waiting. I am a Lebanese Christian, and I am waiting. Waiting for CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, or Time magazine to really tell the story. To finally run this headline: “War on Christians Being Waged by Islamists.”

I’m waiting for someone in the mainstream media to admit the facts.

Matt Lauer and NBC News made headlines when they declared there was a civil war in Iraq in 2006, putting them at odds with the narrative coming from the Bush White House.

Islamists are persecuting and murdering Christians all over the world. Where in the world are Matt Lauer and NBC News? Do they not want to be at odds with the narrative coming from the current occupants of the White House, which downplays the atrocities being perpetrated by Muslims against Christians? Or to be at odds with Muslim groups like CAIR, which might accuse NBC of some kind of bias?

It is not an accident, the persecution and mass murder of Christians by Muslims. It is not episodic. It is by design. It is part of a master plan to destroy any competing narrative about God. To bully, threaten, and intimidate Christians into submission, or mass evacuation.

And it is not an accident that the media aren’t covering this very real war. If tAnd it is not an accident that the media aren’t covering this very real war. If this were Christians murdering Muslims, blowing up mosques, and driving Muslims by the millions from their homes, we’d never stop hearing about that war.

My goodness, the media didn’t mind covering the fake war on women that Democrats accused Republicans of waging, while the very real war on women being waged in Islamic countries marched on unreported.

The media haven’t ignored the stories of Muslim violence against Christians altogether, to be fair. But they do treat the incidents as tragic isolated events perpetrated by a few nuts. They refuse to frame the mass murder and mass persecution as what they are: a war.

September 26th, 2013, 9:20 am

 

zoo said:

The Sunni Islamists hate the Christians, the Jews, the moderate Sunnis, the Alawis, the Shias, the Kurds etc…. They should have no place in the Arab countries.

They are a worst danger than Israel as they want to the occupy not only the land but the mind of the Moslems. They work from inside, encouraged and funded by rich oil citizens and cowardly tolerated by other Sunnis. They’d use any opportunity to sneak in, protests, revolutions etc….
No one except the Sunnis themselves can solve this problem. There is no need to whine and beg for help at the West.
Instead of looking at the Alawis or the Shias as the source of Syria’s problems, it is time for the Sunnis to look at themselves and how they have contributed by their passivity to the growth of the Islamist cancer in their society.
A cancer, that, if not stopped will destroy not only Syria but its neighbors.
Egyptians Sunnis Moslems woke up. When are the Syrians Sunnis Moslem wake up too, forget about the political griefs and send to jail or to the gallows these apostles of hatred and their supporters?
Free Syria from Islamists.

September 26th, 2013, 9:31 am

 

Hopeful said:

#76 Apple_mini

I am not spinning anything. I am just stating facts and everyone can make his/her own conclusion.

If you go back to my posts in the past (in which you either intentionally or unintentionally misinterpreted as me “openly praising Qatar society”), You will find that I never made any claims about any “progressive societies”. Go back and re-read my posts. I made two claims which I still stand by today:

1. GCC governments have done far better for their people than the fascist governments of Saddam, Qaddafi, Assad, etc.

2. All Arab societies are male-dominated, and all are guilty of mistreatment of their imported labor forces. This is not a privilege that can be claimed only by GCC societies.

If you see anything else in my previous posts, I will gladly bite my words. Otherwise, please refrain from twisting my words and accusing me of saying things I did not say. They are simply lies.

BTW – Again, I am impressed by the response of the stakeholders in Qatar to the report: the development company, the world cup committee, and the labor ministry. Just compare that to the response of Assad, his regime, and his government institutions to the Chemical massacre.

September 26th, 2013, 9:39 am

 

Heads-up said:

Just so you know, we rely on very well informed and very reliable sources who work hard, around the clock and behind the scenes in order to bring you important news before they hit the waves. Our patrons authorized us to make the following very very important heads up available for release.

While the latest US polls revealed an overwhelming majority (over 80%) of Americans view the mullocracy of Iran as hostile and enemy of the United States, the Congress warned the US administration against the follies of entertaining hopeless and short-sighted overtures to engage in futile moves towards engaging in byzantine talks with the powerless and double-faced Rouhani of the mullocracy. Obama and co. need to fully understand that the buck does not stop in Rouhani’s office. It stops at the terrorist so-called revolutionary guard of the terrorist stooge Khamenei and his mostly terrorist Shiite mullah followers.

On the other hand, the US took one step in the right direction today by voicing concerns about the heinous terrorist acts committed by the Hezboola terrorists in Syria as well by their terrorist counterparts from Iraq and Iran headed by terrorists such as Suleimani, Hakeem, Sadr, Maliki and other Shiite heads of terrorists.

Our Syria will never heal until Shiite terrorism is uprooted from its source in our region, specifically the mullocracy of Qom and Najaf. This is the most dangerous challenge facing our beloved Syria and the mostly Sunni Middle East. We need to fight this scourge of terror until it is completely obliterated from the face of this earth.

Consequently, our patrons would like to extend their deepest appreciation and thanks to His Very Royal Highness, Prince Bandar Ibn Sultan, and the rest of their Royal Highnesses of the Guided Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the great and commendable efforts in combatting this arch-enemy of the human kind. We also ask that the great Prince be protected and given very long life in order to complete his sacred mission.

September 26th, 2013, 10:36 am

 

Tara said:

Omen,

I agree. Classic adult Asperger Syndrome. No real exchange is possible. It is futile. No empathy and inability to understand the others’ point. There is no communication here. It is only one sided.

—

I think blogs in general attract people with problems who can’t have normal life interactions. Bloging is within their comfort zone but real life relationship isn’t. I wonder if any one looked into this scientifically. The picture one gets from reading blogs comment section is probably skewed. Plus you have the paid and the intellectual mercenaries .

And no I not excluding myself .

September 26th, 2013, 10:41 am

 

mjabali said:

Omen:

I am not old and have no grand children. I am actually surrounded by surfers, and in Syria grew up on the beach in Lattakia.

If you are a female, sorry to call you dude, according to your intellectual prowess and input to this blog: I should address you as Professor Omen.

But here we have a problem Professor Sage Omen: I happen to know who is who in the struggle in my country. I have a clear vision of what I want.

On the other hand: You have nothing but noise.

We have different interests and stakes in this Syrian Crisis. I was born in Syria and holds a Syrian citizenship…you, who are you? You have beef with Iran and the Shia go settle it. Shia did something to you: what is it? let me know? When I speak about the Sunnis it is because what they did to my sect? What did the Shia do to you?

As for Shia vs Sunnis in the Omen Olympics of terrorism: you are wrong Professor Omen. Attacking others for no reason is not a Shia trait or something they write about or practice. Shiism throughout its history was more involved in surviving more than expanding and dominating. Sunnism on the other hand went into two routes: One Sufi less concerned with violence and another more combative with a world domination agenda: What do you have to say to this Professor Sage Omen?

Do you have the historical arsenal to enter into a debate about the essence of Shisim?

September 26th, 2013, 11:04 am

 

mjabali said:

Tara:

You are funny…

I come to this blog to read and learn about what is going on in Syria, and sometimes exchange ideas with people about Syria. The name of this blog is Syria Comment.

Blaming and crying is not my game. I am a realist. You are not. If you can not engage in a dialogue about what you call “your country”: stay out of it.

When talking about syndromes take it easy on us we all show the effects of living under the ills of the middle east. We all need therapy. We come to this blog seeking therapy, maybe, but thanks to many we see drama and more drama, and of course oppression and exclusions.

Should I join the crying circle of your body Sage Omen to get your respect?

September 26th, 2013, 11:12 am

 

Hopeful said:

Zoo, Apple_mini, Mjabali & others

Go ahead… Try to spin this one:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23892594

Caution. Very graphic.

September 26th, 2013, 11:22 am

 

Сирия: Заявление 13-ти said:

[…] 24.09.2013г. Исламистские группы объявили об оппозиции Национальной Коалиции и стратегии США й Абделазиз Салам, высший политический лидер бригады Таухид в Алеппо, выступил с заявлением в Интернете, где он утверждает, что говорит от имени 13-ти различных мятежных группировок. Это заявление,озвученное во вторник вечером, под названием “коммюнике номер один” отвергает стратегию Запада в отношении Сирии,не признаёт любые иностранные оппозиционные группы, в том числе Национальную Коалицию. "Национальная Коалиции и предложенное правительство в лице недавно избранного Ахмада Tomeh не представляет нас, и мы не признаем его", – сказал Абделазиз Салам. В число подписантов вошла т.н. Сирийская свободная армия, бригада "Лива ат-Таухид", группировки "19-я дивизия" и "Ахрар аш-Шам", а также исламистская "Фронт ан-Нусра", связанная с международной террористической сетью "Аль-Каида". Оппозиционные сирийские группировки, ранее заявившие о непризнании Национальной коалиции оппозиции и революционных сил, призвали Сирию сплотиться на основе законов шариата (свода традиционных исламских правил), сообщает в среду сайт телеканала "Аль-Джазира". Ответить с цитированием […]

September 26th, 2013, 11:41 am

 

Alan said:

The true U.S. values
American AlQaeda Eric Harroun says the CIA helped them smuggle weapons across Turkey into Syria
Valley man free after facing terror charges
http://youtu.be/zJ_azJKrNC4?t=1s

September 26th, 2013, 12:12 pm

 
 

Alan said:

The US State Department, just yesterday, issued a global threat warning:
The US state department has issued a worldwide warning of “terrorist actions and violence” against Americans by al-Qaeda and other militant groups. The department cautioned US citizens around the world to “maintain a high level of vigilance”. It warned al-Qaeda and other groups could be planning attacks against US interests.
If US are being prepared for some really massive “false flag” event, to absolutely distract the American people from the massive problems and scandals in the Federal government, and focus instead upon sending American troops to clobber the “enemy du jour”.
Frustrated by not being able to get their wars in Syria and Iran going anywhere quickly enough to suit them, the warmongers in Congress will be very excited about war in Africa, a truly tasty place when it comes to as of yet unexploited natural resources.

September 26th, 2013, 12:43 pm

 

Alan said:

President Barack Obama foolishly backed himself into a corner during the growing Syrian crisis by issuing fatwas about mythological red lines. When his bluff got called, the silver-tongued president was left twisting in the wind.

Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize should be rescinded and given, instead, to Vladimir Putin.

Add a warning to Obama’s amateur foreign policy advisors: “don’t play chess with the KGB!”

In fact, Obama, who rudely snubbed former KGB agent Putin recently, owes Russia’s leader a “Bolshi Spaseba”(big thanks) for pulling his bacon out of the fire in Syria. Putin brilliantly demonstrated to the world the difference between diplomacy and force, the rapier versus the cudgel.
……..
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/09/eric-margolis/us-baby-killers-denounce-assad/

September 26th, 2013, 12:48 pm

 

Alan said:

Their home – Sodom
….
– Russia is the highest value, which should occur around the union of peoples and elites within the terms of Russian civilization.
– Native history is unbroken wholeness within which it is impossible to contrast one period to another.
– Russia recognizes the equality of states and civilizations, which does not allow any use of force outside the framework of international law.
– Russia does not recognize the U.S. attempts to single-handedly set in the world of their own “rules of the game” in the military-political as well as in information and finance.
– Russia considers it dangerous spread of liberal values ​​”new world order” that in traditional societies were seen as the way of perdition, leading the whole world to Sodom and Gomorrah.
– Russia calls on all followers of traditional values ​​and religious base, including the U.S. and Europe, and to oppose the establishment of a “new world order”.
Thus, Putin actually presented himself as the leader of that part of humanity that does not agree either with the values ​​professed “believers in the devil,” nor with their actions yielding degradation, destruction and death. During Putin’s question about what was the result of American aggression against Iraq and Libya, as well as the “Arab Spring” in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, clearly heard the gospel “by their fruits ye shall know them.”
A “disclosure” to them of modern Israel’s nuclear status or actual Western support groups, “Al-Qaeda” underscores the willingness of the Russian leader, if necessary, to “go to the end.”
What, indeed, is the hallmark of every fundamental doctrine, ideology or religion: for the sake of it, people are willing to follow through on any casualties.
…
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fzavtra.ru%2Fcontent%2Fview%2Fih-dom-sodom%2F&sandbox=1

September 26th, 2013, 2:13 pm

 
 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

The United States has sold the life hundreds of thousands of innocent syrian children, women and men to Russia and Iran. Obama will appear as responsible in history too for the syrian holocaust. He will one of many but he was the only that could have stopped the massacre.

September 26th, 2013, 3:32 pm

 

omen said:

92. Alan said: Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize should be rescinded and given, instead, to Vladimir Putin.

hear hear! i would pay to see this happen. every time i see a charred body or any other example of regime violence, i see juxtaposed in my mind obama golfing and striking this clownish pose.

i do not understand why the opposition fails to latch onto this obvious hypocrisy and exploit it for all it’s worth. they should run ads and start petitions demanding norway recind obama’s nobel for ignoring genocide. such agitation would stir up media interest.

shaming as a tactic is underutilized. perhaps this is being plotted further down the line post cw agreement when people can see despite the charade, the regime is continuing killing people. i hope the president isn’t treated with kid gloves because expats continue to hold out hope for obama.

September 26th, 2013, 3:58 pm

 

zoo said:

Pushed by Turkey, the ‘moderate’ FSA are siding with Al Qaeda and ISISL against the Kurds.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/arabs-battle-syrian-kurds-assads-foes-fragment-193648774.html#QCSEBX0

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian rebels and al Qaeda-linked fighters clashed with Kurds in northern Syria on Thursday, activists said, in a battle for territory highlighting the country’s descent towards sectarian and ethnic fiefdoms after two years of war.
….
Faced with what they see as a shared Kurdish threat, moderate Free Syrian Army rebels fought in Atma alongside the Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda affiliate controlled by foreign jihadists, only a week after the two factions fought each other in another border town.

Activists in Atma said Free Syrian Army units had brought heavy guns into the town and started blasting positions to push back Kurdish militiamen who had advanced to within sniper range in the surrounding hills.

They said Kurdish tank shells fired from distance were hitting Atma, while Arab rebel heavy artillery was hitting Jindaris.

At least nine ISIL fighters have been killed since the battle erupted on Wednesday in a region between Atma and the Kurdish town of Jindaris, part of the mostly Kurdish olive growing region of Ifrin.

September 26th, 2013, 5:15 pm

 

zoo said:

ISISL replaces christian crosses with their flag

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/world-powers-edge-closer/828214.html

Meanwhile, fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant set fire to statues and crosses inside two churches in the northern city of Raqa and destroyed a cross on a church clock tower, replacing it with their flag, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The London-based Observatory denounced these attacks “against the freedom of religion, which are an assault on the Syrian revolution.”

September 26th, 2013, 5:21 pm

 

Akbar Palace said:

The United States has sold the life hundreds of thousands of innocent syrian children, women and men to Russia and Iran.

Sandro Loewe,

And the arab states? Doesn’t “family” comes first? What if there was a second Jewish state which was well armed and with a sizable military force? Wouldn’t you expect that the second Jewish state would run to the aide of the Jews in the first Jewish state?

Why place all the blame on the US? Is it just something your “used to”?

September 26th, 2013, 5:28 pm

 

zoo said:

The local and international credibility of the SNC is close to zero, now it’s the turn of the FSA.
By obeying Turkey and siding with Al Qaeda to fight the Kurds, the FSA has signed its death sentence.
They are now assimilated to terrorists.

With the collapse of the SNC and the FSA as alternatives to the Syrian governement, there is no more “revolution” or ” civil war”, no more need of Geneva II.
It is a now simply war of a state against Islamists terrorists and the only power that can deal with it is the heroic Syrian Army.

September 26th, 2013, 5:29 pm

 

Syrian said:

اضحك على الاعلام المصري ،
أحد أحرار سوريا الاذكياء لعب بالاعلام المصري ليكشف كذبه للناس فقام بإرسال قائمة اسماء بجهاد النكاح تتضمن فقط أسماء زوجة بشار الاسد اسماء واخته بشرى وامه انيسة وطبعآ الاعلام المصري نشر الاسماء بدون تحقق ووقع في شر اعماله

September 26th, 2013, 5:34 pm

 

zoo said:

Will the Kurds finally understand that they can find an arrangement with Bashar al Assas while they have no chance to get one with Al Qaeda or Turkey who only want to crush them?

Is the Syrian Army helping the Kurds in their present fights against the FSA and Al Qaeda?
Will the Kurds join the Syrian Army?

September 26th, 2013, 5:36 pm

 

zoo said:

On Syria, Saudi-Sponsored Jarba Given 20 Minutes in ECOSOC by France

By Matthew Russell Lee
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1jarbeco092613.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 26 — Dubious Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba will speak for fifteen and then five minutes in the UN Economic and Social Council chamber later today, according to an event schedule sent by the French Mission to the UN to some UN journalists (but not, we note, Inner City Press.)

The timing is strange, as more than a dozen groups in Syria actually fighting the Assad government have disavowed Jarba and said he has no support.

Jarba has twice this week tried to hold a faux “UN briefing” sponsored by the similarly dubious UN Correspondents Association, whose board is dominated by Gulf and Western media favoring the installation of Jarba in Damascus.

This was challenged by the new Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info. It was postponed from September 24 to 25, then canceled on September 25.

But now, with no media stakeout or questions allowed, Jarba will hold forth at a “Group of Friends of Syrian people” meeting “in the honour of the President of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces Mr. Ahmad Al-Assi Al-Jarba,” for an entire fifteen minutes, then five at the end.

September 26th, 2013, 5:42 pm

 

zoo said:

Chapter 7 or not?

http://en.rian.ru/world/20130927/183759826/US-Russia-Finalize-Syria-Resolution–Lavrov.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 26 (RIA Novosti) – Russia and the United States have agreed on a UN Security Council resolution that will not allow military action to enforce Syria’s compliance with a US-Russian plan to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.

The draft resolution to be submitted to other Security Council members “does not envision any actions based on Chapter 7 of the UN Charter,” which allows for military action to restore peace and security, Lavrov said following a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
…
The U.N. diplomats’ comments came a day after Russia’s deputy foreign minister said negotiators had overcome a major hurdle and agreed that the resolution would include a reference to Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for military and nonmilitary actions to promote peace and security.

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2013/09/26/2743943/un-diplomats-apparent-deal-on.html#storylink=cpy

September 26th, 2013, 5:46 pm

 

Tara said:

Both Russia and the West claiming victory. Just like Batta. What a pathetic group of liars they all are. They all failed humanity
—

On Thursday, US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, tweeted: “Agreement reached w/Russia on UNSC [UN Security Council] Resolution legally obligating #Syria to give up CW [chemical weapons] they used on their people. Going to full UNSC tonight.”

She added that the draft “establishes that Syria’s use of CW (chemical weapons) is threat to international peace & security & creates a new norm against the use of CW”.

British envoy Sir Mark Lyall Grant also described the document as “binding and enforceable”.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

He said it did not involve immediate enforcement under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which allows the use of military force.

A second UN resolution authorising such a move would be needed.

BBC

September 26th, 2013, 6:47 pm

 

zoo said:

The FOS still wants to boost a corpse?

Friends of Syria say determined to boost support to opposition

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The Friends of Syria group declared on Thursday that it is determined to boost aid to all parts of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, which has been struggling with increasing infighting in recent weeks.

“In order to allow a political transition, and to empower a credible alternative to both the Syrian regime and extremist groups, we are determined to increase and deepen our support to the coalition in all its components,” the Friends of Syria said in a statement.

The core of the Friends of Syria is mainly Western and Gulf Arab countries and Turkey.

September 26th, 2013, 7:02 pm

 

Tara said:

The FOS were the same nations who resisted referring Batta to the ICC. With friends like the FOS, who need enemies?

September 26th, 2013, 7:10 pm

 
 

SYRIAN HAMSTER said:

wet-pant athad conventional means of killing syrians.

September 26th, 2013, 7:44 pm

 

Tara said:

“Historic.  Unprecedented.  A breakthrough.  Hard-fought.  Noy thought to be in the vicinity of possible.”

Really ?  I just do not see it.   

….
The British ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, said in a post on Twitter that the five permanent members of the security council – Britain, France, the US, Russia and China – agreed on a “binding and enforceable draft” of a resolution.

He said the text would be introduced to the 10 other members of the security council at a meeting later on Thursday night.

The development was announced after hastily convened talks between the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. If the resolution is adopted, it would be the first legally binding resolution on the Syrian conflict.

US officials said the deal was significant. The administration, in a statement attributed to a state department official, said it was “historic and unprecedented”. The statement said: “This is a breakthrough arrived at through hard-fought diplomacy. Just two weeks ago, no one thought this was in the vicinity of possible.”

However, in order to get the agreement, the US had to concede that the wording of the resolution would not fall under chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allow it to be enforced by military action. Neither did the resolution ascribe blame for the 21 August chemical attack that killed hundreds of people in a Damascus suburb, and which prompted the latest crisis.

The Guardian

September 26th, 2013, 8:31 pm

 

Ghufran said:

The Atlantic published a report on sex abuse and prostitution that are targeting Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Lebanon ( mostly in Ein Elhelweh refugee camp). The perpetrators are not just outsiders but sometimes other refugees. This is a piece:

Maher Tabarany, the director of the Home of Hope, a shelter for street children based in Beirut, said prostitution among Syrian refugees was widespread.
“I have a boy here at the moment who was sold to pedophiles by his father. Men would take turns in the bathroom with him. The little boy used to see his dad take money for this,” he said.
“Then I know an 18-year-old married Syrian girl whose husband sends her to work as a prostitute. People will do anything to survive. We have seen it all here. We are going to back to the old days, where women are being enslaved and sold off. There are just no jobs in Lebanon anymore. Human beings these days are cheap.” 
و كنتم خير أمة اخرجت للناس

September 26th, 2013, 8:38 pm

 

Tara said:

Ghufran,

Prostitution story like Asma, Anisa, and Bushra religious prostitution parroted by the Egyptians and linked by Syrian @100.

Sure!

September 26th, 2013, 8:52 pm

 

zoo said:

A new dilemma for Obama: Negotiate with Bashar al Assad despite repeated calls for his removal and Saudi Arabia’s anger that he is still there to mock them or let Syria turn into a Taliban ruled Afghanistan at the border with Israel

Syrian Rebels Embrace al-Qaeda
September 26, 2013

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/09/26/syrian-rebels-embrace-al-qaeda/

Exclusive: The leading Syrian rebel groups have declared their intent to transform Syria into a Taliban-style state that would collaborate with al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in the heart of the Middle East. This lifting of the veil presents President Obama with an even trickier policy dilemma, reports Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

Official Washington was caught off-guard this week when the radicalization of the Syrian rebels went from being an obscured reality to an undeniable truth. Syria’s most powerful rebel forces renounced the “moderate” exiles, who have been nurtured by the West, and embraced an Islamic extremist organization affiliated with al-Qaeda.

This developmentnow confronts the West with a set of even grimmer choices: help the radical jihadists win the war and turn Syria into a Taliban-style homeland for terrorism in the center of the Middle East; accept an indefinite continuation of the bloody civil war hoping that no one wins as the bodies pile up; or work with the Assad regime and the weakened “moderates” to bring about some kind of political reform that might placate the estranged Sunni majority while isolating the extreme Islamists.

If the last option seems to you to be the least worst, you would find yourself in a distinct minority inside Official Washington, where politicians and pundits still prefer to swagger about, issuing ultimatums demanding the unconditional removal of President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime has committed many atrocities in a civil war where brutality is common on both sides.

But if President Barack Obama were to pick the negotiation option, he would not only face resistance across Official Washington; his choice also would put him at odds with Saudi Arabia and Israel, which have formed a de facto alliance in pursuit of joint regional goals, including the ouster of Assad.
….
So, Official Washington’s effort to whip the American people into a war frenzy against Assad’s regime, particularly over its alleged use of chemical weapons, now has to contend with this new reality among the rebels. They can no longer be sold to the public as pro-democracy “moderates” locked in a good-guy-versus-bad-guy struggle with an evil dictator.

The leading rebel groups have now announced their intentions: They want a Shariah state and are willing to collaborate with al-Qaeda. But the U.S. options are further complicated because these Islamists have at their backs purported U.S. allies, Saudi Arabia and, oddly, Israel.

September 26th, 2013, 8:53 pm

 

zoo said:

The UNSC resolution is a huge victory for Bashar Al Assad.
He is getting rid of these obsolete, cumbersome and expensive WMD that have been the major pretext for a Western military attack.

As a reward, he is allowed to stay in power until the destruction of the WMD estimated at many years.

The military opposition is in a debacle because the only fighters who will receive weapons are the Al Qaeda islamists. KSA, Qatar and Kuwait Islamist sympathizer will continue to fund them. Turkey is also helping them not to topple Bashar al Assad but to fight the Kurds at the border.

The West has shown that they will never seriously help the ‘moderate’ rebels who will be soon obliged to turn to the Syrian army for protection.
The SNC is collapsing, nothing can save it.

A new phase is starting hopefully the last one.

September 26th, 2013, 9:17 pm

 

Ghufran said:

I do not know what is left of idris and the NC after this embarrassing statement from Alwawi of the FSA :

انضم الجيش الحر ” رسمياً ” إلى جانب العشرات من الكتائب و الألوية و الفعاليات الثورة في الداخل السوري، بعدم الاعتراف بالائتلاف السوري المعارض بالإضافة إلى هيئة الأركان بسبب انحرافهم عن مسار الثورة و تهميش القوى الفاعلة على الأرض.
و قال النقيب عمار الواوي في بيان نشر على موقع يوتيوب : ” تعلن كافة الفصائل المنضوية تحت قيادة الجمعية العمومية في الداخل السوري .. عدم الاعتراف بالائتلاف السوري في تمثيل الثورة السورية بالوضع الراهن له عدم الاعتراف بقيادة الأركان العامة المتمثلة بالعميد سليم ادريس و من حوله .. عدم الاعتراف بالقوى المجهولة التي تريد سوق البلاد إلى المجهول “.
و تلى الواوي أسماء العشرات و من الكتائب و الألوية و الفعاليات الثورية التي وقعت على ما جاء في البيان.

September 26th, 2013, 9:17 pm

 

zoo said:

If the SNC wants to stay relevant they have no choice than to go to Geneva, even in a state of weakness

At UN, Syrian opposition group told it has key role to play in making peace, averting chaos

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=46061&Cr=syria&Cr1=#.UkTcxzciwo8

…
26 September 2013 – At United Nations Headquarters today, members of the Syrian National Coalition, a major opposition group, were told that they had critical roles and responsibilities in negotiating peace and fostering democracy, and helping to preserve the unity of their strife-torn country.

“The Coalition has a key and central role to play in making Geneva II a success,” the group was told concerning the peace conference now under discussion, in a message to the Ministerial Meeting of the Friends of the Syrian People which was delivered by Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, UN Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.

“It also has a fundamental duty to ensure that Syria does not break apart, and that its people are served by a state that remains stable and cohesive but that also reflects its citizens’ democratic aspirations,” Mr. Fernandez-Taranco said, adding, “The alternative is chaos.”

September 26th, 2013, 9:21 pm

 

zoo said:

Ghufran

Idriss is burnt, he officially defended Al Nusra.
He is on the way to the garage joining the other defected clowns..

September 26th, 2013, 9:23 pm

 

Ghufran said:

قتلت إمراة عراقية وجرح ثلاثة أشخاص آخرين اليوم إثر سقوط قذيفة هاون على مبنى القنصلية العراقية في حي المالكي وسط دمشق.
وقال مصدر في القنصلية “أن قذيفة هاون سقطت على صالة المراجعين في مبنى القنصلية وادت إلى استشهاد إمرأة عراقية واصابة ثلاثة اخرين بجروح اضافة الى الحاق اضرار بالمبنى، وأوضح مصدر في السفارة أن أياً من الموظفين لم يصب بأذى.
وتقع القنصلية في حرم السفارة العراقبة الواقع في حي المالكي، وتبعد نحو 100 متر عن مبنى السفارة، كما تقع القنصلية مقابل السفارة الأمريكية، وعلى بعد أمتار من السفارة الصينية.
Rebels are now fully engaged in mortar jihad against civilian targets in Damascus

September 26th, 2013, 9:33 pm

 

Tara said:

Yup.  

Assad is victorious.  He goes from one TV station to another vowing to abide by the West’s will of surrendering the deterrence weapons.  A victory that culminates by the mother of all victories being “allowed” to stay in power until the complete and verifiable destruction of the “resistance” weapons.     

I do not see any victory here but of course.. To his cult, any thing that keeps him in the chair is a victory.

September 26th, 2013, 9:39 pm

 

Ghufran said:

Read this scandalous report and draw your own conclusions:

The countries arming combatants in the Syrian conflict are among the least generous with humanitarian aid donations, according to a new study by Oxfam.

The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition
Throughout the conflict both Russia and Qatar have reportedly provided arms for opposing sides of the conflict – Russia to the government, Qatar to Islamist rebel factions. But international aid agency Oxfam found that the two have committed just 3 percent each of their fair share to humanitarian appeals for Syria, measured as a proportion of national income and overall wealth.
Qatar has promised to channel $2.8 million in humanitarian aid through the UN, while Oxfam estimates its fair share at $78.7 million. Russia has promised $17.8 million in humanitarian aid, against a fair share calculation of $620 million.
The US, which also sends lethal aid to Syrian rebels, has committed $818 million in humanitarian assistance for Syrians, 63 percent of its fair share calculation. The US is the single largest provider of humanitarian assistance. France, a vocal US ally in its opposition to the Syrian government, has pledged $108 million, 47 percent of its fair share total.

September 26th, 2013, 10:21 pm

 

Ghufran said:

Even alarabiya can not ignore Isis crimes against Christians :
علمت العربية نت أن دولة العراق والشام (داعش) في مدينة الرقة، قامت بكسر الصلبان على الكنيستين الموجودتين في الرقة عند الساعة الثانية ظهراً بتوقيت سوريا من ظهر اليوم الخميس 26 أيلول 2013، ومن ثم أحرقت محتويات الكنيستين (البشارة والشهداء).
وقامت “داعش” برفع أعلامها فوق الكنيستين، واستطاعت العربية نت أن تحصل على صورة لرجال من دولة العراق والشام وهم يرفعون علمهم فوق الكنيسة.

September 26th, 2013, 11:26 pm

 

apple_mini said:

The west says Syrian toxins are easier to be destroyed than initial estimate. Regardless what the details are, the political and diplomatic message behind those news seems to provide assurance that the regime will be sticking to the CW deal.

The west has stopped calling the oust of Assad. The west has completely “adapted” the reality that Assad is not going anywhere soon. AAMOF, I suspect they will start to work with the regime on CW and dealing those growing radicals. The recent talk between US and Iran adds a little more advantage for the regime.

In the meantime, radical Islamists are taking over the scene and show from FSA and the opposition. Imagine those Syrian expats, after absence from Syria for decades, come back to govern Syria which has such complex and rich diversity of people and tradition. Those Syrian expats can really use some medication.

After over two years of screaming noise and real destruction to the country, those Syrian expats need to start packing.

Syrians in Syria will not forget them.

The regime can safely declare their solid position militarily and diplomatically. But I suggest Assad to make some lukewarm concession to further win more support inside the country. It will provide more discord among the rebels, adding more weight on the already badly fragmented coalition.

September 27th, 2013, 12:31 am

 

Alan said:

As the deranged coterie of extremists, religious fanatics, terrorists, and mercenaries known as the Syrian “rebels” begins to disintegrate both from the constant assault by the Syrian military and their own inability to cooperate even amongst themselves, a new attempt at propaganda regarding the nature of the “rebels” is beginning to take shape within Western media outlets.

Indeed, the death squad fratricide now taking place within Syria is slowly but surely being turned into a false narrative of “moderate” versus “extremist” in the death squad camp which will possibly be used to bring the propaganda full circle and provide a representation of some of the death squads as democracy-loving freedom fighters who only want freedom from an oppressive government – a representation which couldn’t be further from the truth…

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/09/terrorists-wage-war-on-each-other-in.html

September 27th, 2013, 1:30 am

 

Hopeful said:

I think it is very telling that Alan @92 and Omen @95 both want Obama’s Nobel peace price revoked. Alan is in the camp that believes that the US is leading the conspiracy against Syria. Omen is in the camp that believes that the US is not doing enough to support the rebels to get rid of the regime.

But both agree on the fact that someone else should take the blame….not the Syrians themselves.

Go figure!

September 27th, 2013, 1:55 am

 

omen said:

86. mjabali said: I am not old and have no grand children. I am actually surrounded by surfers, and in Syria grew up on the beach in Lattakia. If you are a female, sorry to call you dude, according to your intellectual prowess and input to this blog: I should address you as Professor Omen.

unnecessary because i took no offense, girls call one another dude all the time. nevertheless, thank you for the sorry. i’m shocked you offered one.

But here we have a problem Professor Sage Omen: I happen to know who is who in the struggle in my country. I have a clear vision of what I want.

indeed, you have a self centered blinkered vision that blots out the majority.

On the other hand: You have nothing but noise.
We have different interests and stakes in this Syrian Crisis. I was born in Syria and holds a Syrian citizenship…you, who are you?

i’m a nobody. worse yet, i don’t even have a pedigree. clearly, i am beneath you. why do you even bother talking to me?

You have beef with Iran and the Shia go settle it. Shia did something to you: what is it? let me know? When I speak about the Sunnis it is because what they did to my sect? What did the Shia do to you?

my beef with iran is the corrupt regime killing syrians. you should be more upset than i that khamenei is killing your fellow countrymen.

you misread me. you insist on setting up sunni as the great evil. i’m telling you this sunni vs shia divide you cling to to explain the world is a superficial construct. no matter their religion, men are corrupt, flawed beings. we would still have this hell being waged if the entire world was shia. men would still kill people even if religion never existed. you are blaming a symptom, not the disease.

As for Shia vs Sunnis in the Omen Olympics of terrorism: you are wrong Professor Omen. Attacking others for no reason is not a Shia trait or something they write about or practice. Shiism throughout its history was more involved in surviving more than expanding and dominating.

tell the slain children of houla shabiha killed them out of self defense. tell the butchered children of qusayr hezbollah killed them out self defense. both subsidized by iran.

if shiaism is so superior, why have alawites not collectively stood up, as an expression of their values, to protest assad’s barbarism? why have alawis tolerated 40 plus years of evil brutality? even giving allowance for regime brutality rendering people silent, that doesn’t explain the lack of alawites abroad to protest assad. they know better than anyone the regime’s cruelty.
I’ve seen you decry the regime yourself and i give you credit for that. but then you go blame the sunni victim and assign them collective blame that renders your earlier denouncement of assad hollow.

Sunnism on the other hand went into two routes: One Sufi less concerned with violence and another more combative with a world domination agenda: What do you have to say to this Professor Sage Omen?

i’ll reiterate, assad/iran has killed more people than alqaeda.

Do you have the historical arsenal to enter into a debate about the essence of Shisim?

i’m no expert. i don’t profess to be one. i’m not ashamed to admit i lack formal education. aside from curiosity, i have but two tools in my arsenal. i know the difference between right and wrong and am guided by common sense.

you don’t intimidate me. bring it on.

September 27th, 2013, 4:13 am

 

omen said:

5. Akbar Palace said:

Some illnesses can not be Seen NewZ

I don’t think it’s Aspergers. I think it is something more common than that. I think it’s Israelophobia

You may know someone else who suffers from it. The only way to cure yourself of it is to volunteer at a local JCC, Synagogue or kibbutz. Other than that, there’s not much you can do.

i do? who else? do you mean me?

volunteering for the local synagogue doesn’t excuse what netanyahu is doing.

let’s not make the mistake of conflating nice, smart, liberal american jews with israel government.

September 27th, 2013, 4:39 am

 

omen said:

125. one last point. probably a good guess christians have killed more people than muslims. i guess that makes us satan. :-0

September 27th, 2013, 5:06 am

 

Syrialover said:

While Islamists and others are making lots of claims on paper we’ll see what unfolds on the ground. The current constellation of the Syrian Coalition may not survive, but in the meantime they stand out as the only ones offering a sane road map, and one that puts the Syrian people in the centre:

Speech by Ahmad Aljarba to Ministers and delegations of the countries of the Friends of the Syrian People on September 27.

EXCERPT:

“The Syrian people support peace and moderation, tolerance and coexistence. What we are seeing from groups linked to al Qaeda has nothing to do with the Syrian people, its revolution, or the Free Syrian Army. The extremism, much of it imported from outside Syria, has emerged as a phenomenon supported, planned, and left alone by the regime in an attempt to turn the revolution into a sectarian conflict.

“The persistence of a criminal who has used chemical weapons is a stain on the conscience of the international community and calls into question the credibility of our international laws and institutions. Meanwhile, the same regime that used chemical weapons faces insufficient consequences for the use of conventional weapons to kill civilians on a daily basis, while spreading sectarianism and subjecting our country to foreign intervention. Departure of the regime is a necessary prerequisite to peace-building and national reconciliation.

“Since the outset of the political process with the adoption of the Geneva Communiqué, the regime has intensified the scope and scale of its aggression, while we have urged the world to implement that political transitional framework. First, all parties must recognize that the goal of negotiations is the implementation of the Geneva Communiqué and its international commitment to a transition to democracy. Second, there must be a clear timetable for this transition. Third, foreign militias must be made to leave Syria. Fourth, the regime must take confidence-building measures such as the release of political prisoners, lifting of sieges against cities, and providing the necessary elements to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. Fifth, there must be an Arab commitment to support the Syrian people during transition, in addition to the broader international support.

“The transitional government, in accordance with the Geneva Communiqué, must have full executive powers, including military and security authority, and judicial powers, with a clear timeframe for democratic elections. The Free Syrian Army will be restructured as a national army that protects Syria and its national unity, free of political party control. The security sector must also act only in accordance with national interests and must protect citizens’ rights and freedoms with specified responsibilities subject to rule of law. An independent judicial body must be established which works in accordance with law and in the interests of all citizens.

“We urge the international community to force the regime to allow visits of prisons and detention centers, demand the release of political prisoners, lift the siege on civilian areas, and allow the delivery of international humanitarian aid. Ghouta, with a population of 2 million, has been under siege for 9 months, and is on the verge of crisis. We urge an investigative mission to review and propose solutions to alleviate this impending disaster.”

http://www.etilaf.org/en/press/summary-of-mr-al-jarba-speech-delivered-to-the-expanded-friends-of-syria-at-the-united-nations.html

September 27th, 2013, 7:13 am

 

mjabali said:

Omen:

LOL

From the time and language of your post I could tell that you had few drinks.

Remember you cursed me out the other day.

Common sense is not apparent in your answer. It is all accusations and emotions. Also this sense of righteous vs non righteous is freaky to me. I want facts and history and the only righteous thing I recognize is a modern law and a judge plus jury. That is common sense. What you wrote is not common sense to me: it is emotional outburst and propaganda.

As for your lack of education: well that is obvious. In school they teach you history and method, hopefully a method based on science, and not morals like your “know right from wrong” based judgment scale.

If you have no education into what is “Syria” “Syrian” “Muslim” “Sunni” “Alawi” etc how come you reach value judgments about me?

I think it is extremely ludicrous that you judge me and categorize me here and there and always want me to say what you want.

Your crying circle is not going to include me.

Do you really know what happened in al-Hula with 100 percent certainty? Do you know who died ?

Do you know if the Alawi creed or religion is the one causing the blood shed?

Where are the texts of the Alawis for this?

Where are the texts of the Shia for this?

What is the history of Shism?

What is the hisrtoy or radical Shism?

Not reading books hurts your chances in any meaningful discussion with you Sage Omen…

Besides:

Syria is my country and it is not yours: many of may family members had died and I still call for peace. You, with your right and wrong morals want to bomb more and cause more death.

Don’t you see that we belong to two different worlds.

????

September 27th, 2013, 7:30 am

 

Syrialover said:

OMEN #126,

The debate on who has killed more people, Christians or Muslims, is a small sidebar issue.

If you are talking biggest numbers, you should look at the communists, the Chinese and Russian civil wars, and the stuff between the Chinese and Japanese. And if you take the longer historical view, top prizes go to the Mongols and other Asian groups.

And Muslims have killed infinitely more Muslims and Christians have more killed Christians than they ever killed each other.

So as the world turns, the Christian Muslim thing is pretty minor in the scheme of things.

September 27th, 2013, 7:46 am

 

mjabali said:

Omen, who said that she did not go to school or anything: Wants to label Alawism as a terrorist blood seeking religion: I want to see the texts for this Omen.

September 27th, 2013, 7:48 am

 

Tara said:

And I say Russia won!  Yet please do not confuse that with Batta having won too.  He won nothing but international humiliation hoping from an American to a Russian to a Brazilian to a Chinese TV stations pledging compliance and complete submission giving up his sovereignty and agreeing to his weapons destroyed.    

—–
But veteran UN watcher Colum Lynch explains what the draft really means on Foreign Policy’s The Cable blog.

He said it “threatens no automatic penalties against Syria if it fails to comply with its obligations or even if it launches a fresh chemical attack”.

The deal was cinched following Kerry’s meeting today with Lavrov. US officials lauded the agreement as a landmark pact that strengthened the international effort to halt the use of chemical weapons. Kerry voiced hope that “this resolution can now give life hopefully to the removal and destruction of chemical weapons in Syria.” If Syria complies, the arrangement would mark a major diplomatic achievement for President Obama and for Kerry.

But if Syria cheats, the president will find himself constrained from acting. Under the terms of the resolution, a committee of diplomats and functionaries from the United Nations and the Organization on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will determine whether Syria has violated the terms of the agreement.

The matter would then be taken up by the U.N. Security Council. In principle, Russia has agreed that in the event of a Syrian violation it is prepared to impose measures under Chapter Seven of the U.N. Charter — a provision that is used to authorize sanctions or the use of military force.

But it doesn’t have to. A provision of a confidential draft resolution proposed last week by Russia suggests how difficult it may be to convince Russia to press ahead with any stern measures. First, Russia insisted that evidence of a violation be “indisputable and proved” and that it must be of a particular “gravity” to merit the adoption of a new resolution

Robert Danin, a former US state department advise and now at the Council on Foreign Relations, tweets:

.@davidakaye So Russia can return for another resolution and veto/block it then. I’d say Russia wins.

September 27th, 2013, 7:49 am

 

Syrialover said:

MJABALI I wish you would not so readily take sectarian baits and also throw them out to others.

It’s depressing to witness.

Is that really all you are about? I don’t want to think that.

Surely you agree that stuff is a road to nowhere except hell for everyone.

September 27th, 2013, 7:59 am

 

Syrialover said:

TARA,

Russia has not won. It is a nuisance bully being patronized and pacified. It has little real life economic, military or political importance in the world, but Putin desperately needs to make it look otherwise at home where he sits on a rotting chair.

As every year goes by Russia becomes weaker, more isolated and more irrelevant. Only a drastic change of government and culture will ever win it any real respect in the civilized world.

September 27th, 2013, 8:05 am

 

Syrialover said:

Simple test.

Hands up anyone in the west and most of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America who would like to live in Russia? Silence.

Hands up anyone in Russia – including its richest, best educated and most ambitious citizens – who wants to live in the west. Stand back for the stampede.

September 27th, 2013, 8:16 am

 

Observer said:

News today some political and some not.

First as to the situation in Syria Joshka Fischer from Germany has an op-ed about Syria becoming Bosnia and that will force an intervention later rather than sooner and after more death and destruction.

Then a Syrian at MIT wins the Mac Arthur Genius Award while the regimes in the ME prevent women from driving and education and health care and mass rape them and kill them with cluster bombs and with 240 mm mortar rounds.

There will be without a doubt a resolution that strips the iPad of his CW and he has lost his deterrent against an Israeli nuclear attack.

The troops cannot take any territory back, today there are no news from RT or Mayadeen or Manar or Cham Press on the so called glorious SAA advancing.

The FSA fighters on the ground will not compromise at this stage.

There is nothing for the regime but to start packing.

There is a lawsuit against Rifaat in France as well so he is outed as a replacement for the iPad retard including his brood as well.

Huge victory some claim that the regime got: hogwash, Nour Eddine Attassi also claimed victory after 67.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Sep-27/232797-uncle-of-syrias-assad-rejects-french-corruption-allegation.ashx#axzz2fCN1M5S6

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2013/Sep-27/232712-in-syria-we-may-be-seeing-a-repetition-of-the-balkan-tragedy.ashx#axzz2fCN1M5S6

http://www.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=603161&cid=21&fromval=1&frid=21&seccatid=23&s1=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/world/middleeast/irans-president-calls-on-israel-to-join-nuclear-treaty.html?hp&_r=0&gwh=161E6D735EA5EB5B45B5DA9CC56911BD

http://www.almayadeen.net/ar/news/americas-fSTGAENVU0y7bqJGAFheRQ/لقاء-غير-مسبوق-بين-كيري-وظريف-وإتفاق-على-اجتماع-لبحث-النووي

September 27th, 2013, 8:48 am

 

Syrialover said:

Again, a reality call for anyone with comments, hopes and thoughts about Iran and Syria.

Here’s an excellent insight into Iran’s deeply committed military role inside Syria. They do not intend to change that.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/09/30/130930fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all

September 27th, 2013, 9:39 am

 

zoo said:

The guests of the FSA are enjoying their stay in Syria. They wouldn’t want to leave Atmeh

Video Games and Cigarettes: Syria’s Disneyland for Jihadists

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/foreign-jihadists-in-syria-favor-liberal-transit-towns-over-front-a-910092.html#ref=rss

Foreign Islamists coming into Syria have been gathering in the relatively quiet north. But many of them are finding transit towns — with good food, video games and smoking — preferable to the front. When they do end up fighting, it’s often with each other.

Atmeh looks like the set for a movie about al-Qaida. New arrivals pulling suitcases on wheels search for their emirs, Africans and Asians can be seen on the village streets, and long-haired men dressed in traditional Afghan clothing walk around wielding AK-47s. There are patrons at the local kebab stand whose northern English dialect is peppered with Arabic words and phrases. “Subhan’Allah, bro, I asked for ketchup,” says one man. The many languages heard on the street include Russian, Azerbaijani and Arabic spoken with a guttural Saudi Arabian accent.

The once-sleepy smugglers’ nest on the Turkish border has become a mecca for jihad tourists from around the world. A year ago, SPIEGEL reporters in Atmeh met with one of the first foreign fighters in Syria , a young Iraqi who said that he had come to overthrow the dictatorship. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 jihadists are staying in and around Atmeh, making it the densest accumulation of jihadists in all of Syria . Ironically, while war rages in the rest of the country, the foreign jihadists have made one of Syria ‘s quietest spots into their base. Or perhaps they have chosen Atmeh precisely because it is so quiet. Once they arrive, many are reluctant to leave.

September 27th, 2013, 9:48 am

 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

There is a simple idea no one of Russia, US and the whole world seem to catch.
THE PEOPLE DO NOT WANT ASSAD . BETTER DEAD THAN UNDER ASSAD AGAIN.

September 27th, 2013, 9:52 am

 

zoo said:

This peace talk should have started a year ago and would have saved thousands of lives and terrible tragedies.

France, the UK , USA, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are responsible for the delay and for all the death and destruction that incurred as they have conssitently pushed the SNC to keep insisting on Bashar Al Assad’s resignation before accepting negotiations.

After a year of tragedies, France and the USA are now the ones pushing for negotiations while Bashar Al Assad is in full power.
They made a very bad calculation and mislead the SNC that is weaker than ever. The FOS are simply a bunch of criminals who should be sued for war crimes.

France says hopes date can be set Friday for Syria peace talks

NEW YORK: French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he hopes the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council will be able to set a date on Friday for so-called Geneva 2 peace talks on the Syrian conflict.

The five – France, Britain, Russia, China and the United States – are due to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and international Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi later on Friday on the sidelines of the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders.

“I hope that we will be able to fix a date this evening for Geneva 2,” Fabius said.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Sep-27/232810-france-says-hopes-date-can-be-set-friday-for-syria-peace-talks.ashx#ixzz2g6KFfsuj
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

September 27th, 2013, 10:02 am

 

zoo said:

Observer

You rants are very worrying…

September 27th, 2013, 10:04 am

 

zoo said:

A reference to Chapter VII is included in the draft resolution agreed upon but any military action would need another UNSC resolution to be implemented. Everyone is satisfied

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24292989

Although the draft refers to Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the use of military force, a second resolution authorising such a move would be needed.

This is something that Russia would almost certainly veto, the BBC’s Nick Bryant in New York reports.

The proposed resolution also says that those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria “should be held accountable”.

But there is no mention that they should be tried at the International Criminal Court – a significant weakening from previous drafts, our correspondent adds.

Nevertheless, one senior official at the US state department described the agreement as a “breakthrough”, saying the document “makes absolutely clear that failure of the Assad regime to comply will have consequence

September 27th, 2013, 10:19 am

 

zoo said:

UN investigates three more alleged chemical attacks in Syria since Damascus incident

Updated 27 September 2013, 23:50 AEST

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2013-09-27/un-investigates-three-more-alleged-chemical-attacks-in-syria-since-damascus-incident/1197164

United Nations weapons inspectors in Syria are investigating whether three new chemical attacks have taken place since the confirmed August 21 incident in Damascus.

United Nations weapons inspectors in Syria are investigating whether three new chemical attacks have taken place since the confirmed August 21 incident in Damascus.

A UN statement says that the team is looking into a total of seven alleged incidents of chemical weapons use, including alleged attacks on August 22, 24 and 25.

The team is expected to complete its work on Monday.

They will issue a report by late October that will give more details of the August 21 incident which they have already said involved the use of sarin gas.

The United States and its Western allies said the initial report showed the Syrian regime was behind the attack, which killed hundreds of people.

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government has, however, denied the accusation, blaming rebels instead.

The incidents also include an alleged chemical weapons attack in March in the northern town of Khan al-Assal, where authorities say rebels killed 25 people, including 16 soldiers.

Rebels said government forces were behind it.

The two other cases from earlier this year both date back to April – one in the Aleppo district of Sheikh Maqsoud and another in the town of Saraqeb in the northern province of Idlib.

The three most recent incidents were in Bahhariyeh and Jobar, both east of central Damascus, on August 22 and 24, and Ashrafiat Sahnaya to the south-west of the capital on August 25.

September 27th, 2013, 10:23 am

 

zoo said:

The UNSC resolution doesn’t lay any direct blames on the Syrian governement from the chemical attack. It also introduces officially the political process based on the “Geneva Communique”

“Stressing that the only solution to the current crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic is through an inclusive and Syrian-led political process based on the Geneva Communiqué of 30 June 2012, and emphasising the need to convene the international conference on Syria as soon as possible”,

Text of Draft United Nations Resolution on Syrian Chemical Weapons

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/world/middleeast/United-Nations-Syria-Resolution-Draft.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

September 27th, 2013, 10:29 am

 

zoo said:

I find the clause misleading and left to interpretation. What happens if the rebels use chemical weapon? Did the UNSC already “decides” or “would” decide?

” 21. Decides, in the event of non-compliance with this resolution, including unauthorized transfer of chemical weapons, or any use of chemical weapons by anyone in the Syrian Arab Republic, to impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter; “

September 27th, 2013, 10:38 am

 

zoo said:

Headsup

Thanks for your prompt reaction to my posts.

September 27th, 2013, 10:40 am

 

Tara said:

Reading the draft, I retract. It was Putin who caved in. Chapter 7 is mentioned. And what is worse was that consequences will occur for any use no matter who the perpetrators were. So Batta can’t blame it on rogue element in his regime.

Nevertheless the scaredy cat , Atta ( rather than Batta) will for sure comply. He is going to personally supervise the surrender in my opinion.

September 27th, 2013, 11:04 am

 

Akbar Palace said:

Omen,

So you suffer from Israelophobia? Not to worry, many do. And it usually goes untreated.

These days, President Assad of Syria has done much to find a cure. The illness may soon be a thing of the past.

September 27th, 2013, 11:22 am

 

ziad said:


دَينُ حلب… في ذمّة بيروت

القصص هي جُزئياتٌ اجتماعيّة مهمة، حين تُضاف إلى بعضها تشكل لوحة الواقع، وتعكس الحقيقة بموضوعيّةٍ ولمسةٍ إنسانيّةٍ في آن.
أحد الأصدقاء الحلبيين الوافدين إلى بيروت، كان تاجراً موفور النعمة في حي صلاح الدين بمدينة حلب. لم يطق على الاقتتال صبراً، فقدم إلى بيروت حاملاً ما استنقذه من جنى السنوات الماضية، وحالماً ببعض الأمان.
يحكي عن بعض المواقف التي تعرّض لها في شهور إقامته الأخيرة، وهي ليست حالةً عامّةً ربما، لكنها حاضرة بوضوح، والكثير من هذه القصص باتت موضع نقدٍ عام، وحتى اعتذارٍ من الشرائح الناضجة.
مساء أحد الليالي كان عائداً من زيارة صديق، يسير في أحد شوارع حيّ الأشرفيّة، وهو يتحدّث على الهاتف بلهجته الحلبيّة المحببة. مجموعةً من الشباب الساهرين على شرفة منزلٍ ما سمعوا لهجته. وقف أحدهم ونادى بأعلى صوته مراراً: سوري… سوري… امسكوه!!
أخبرني أنّهُ لم يعرف لماذا بدأ بالركض، ولا أين توقّف، لكنهُ سمع قهقهتهم من بعيد. كانوا يتهكّمون على فزعه. وشعرَ بغربته عن المكان دفعةً واحدة. لكن الأكثر ألماً في الأمر أنّ النداء بوطنيّتك فقط بات دافعاً للهرب! هم أشخاصٌ سيّئون، وسلوكٌ بشع بدأ ينتشر مع الأحداث الأخيرة.
موقفٌ آخر أثقل خاطره، وهو أنّهُ اكتشف بعد شهرين من وصوله إلى بيروت، أنّ أجرة بيته كانت أعلى من أجرة كل المنطقة مرّتين ونصف المرّة!، مع أنّ صاحب الشقّة أقسم له غيرَ مرّةٍ أنّهُ يُكرمه ويُخفّض له تقديراً للظروف القاسية.
لا يمتُّ «الاستغلال» بصلةٍ للقيم الإنسانيّة في الأحوال العاديّة، فكيف هو في حالة أناسٍ هاربين من حربٍ دمويةٍ حفاظاً على ما تبقى من معالم الحياة؟!
ليس الجميع هكذا بكلّ تأكيد، وبعض المبادرات والحركات المجتمعيّة والشبابية بدأت تحارب هذه الظاهرة السلبيّة، لكنّ الموقفَ يبقى قاسياً للغاية على من يعيشهُ أو يتوقعهُ كلّما خرج إلى الشارع.
ولسان وجدان هؤلاء الوافدين «الإخوة»:
«يا رايحين ع حلب…» بعضُ بيروت نسيت!

http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2636&EditionId=2576&ChannelId=62249#.UkWmfqMo4fh

September 27th, 2013, 11:47 am

 

ghufran said:

the Guardian published a good article on KSA
(hope that the writer looks at changing her last name)

Riazat Butt
theguardian.com, Friday 27 September 2013 10.15 EDT

News that the Saudi government has engaged the services of security firm G4S for this year’s hajj is angering campaigners, who accuse the company of profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
G4S has not revealed details about the nature or the scale of its involvement during hajj although a 2011 publication mentions a contract with Jeddah Metro to assist with security during that year’s pilgrimage.
In light of the accusations about its activities in Israel, the company told a website that although it operates there, the structure and management of its work in Saudi Arabia is entirely different. A G4S spokesman also told Middle East Monitor: “Whilst we don’t provide security directly for the pilgrims, we do provide security support for clients in Saudi that will require additional support during the hajj period.”

September 27th, 2013, 11:47 am

 

ziad said:

بيان امين سر الجيش الحر للتأكيد على عدم الاعتراف بالائتلاف الوطني والجهات التي يمثلها

September 27th, 2013, 12:02 pm

 

Tobias Wallin said:

Could islamism in Syria simply be Arabic nationalism? If so they could of course get all the no support that nationalists require. It would be a releif.

September 27th, 2013, 3:13 pm

 
 

Hopeful said:

#139 Omen

“let’s not make the mistake of conflating nice, smart, liberal american jews with israel government.”

Good one…thumbs up

September 27th, 2013, 3:49 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#153 Zoo
“This peace talk should have started a year ago and would have saved thousands of lives and terrible tragedies.”

I will tell you what would have saved thousands of lives and terrible tragedies. In his first speech after the revolution started, Assad should have acknowledged the aspirations of the people and their needs for change and freedom. He should have promised not to run again after his term expires in 2014. He should have promised to form a government whose sole job is to prepare the country for a transition to a democratic state, including writing a new constitution. He should have dismantled the security apparatus. Had he done that, not only would he have avoided the death and tragedies, but he would have gone down in history as the father of modern Syria.

Instead, he chose to talk about conspiracy and germs…

September 27th, 2013, 4:00 pm

 

Rancher said:

Are any of these Islamists groups Shia?

September 27th, 2013, 6:03 pm

 

Syrialover said:

HOPEFUL #167

If you go back you would see ZOO only talks about peace talks when he gets nervous that Assad may lose any choice or role in ending the crisis.

Feigned regret about not having “peace talks” also appears every now again, designed to distract and play debating games.

The timeline of the past 2.5 years shows the Assad regime consistently rejecting opportunities for peace talks.

“Bashar or we burn the country” is the only option they offer, unchanged from day 1.

September 27th, 2013, 6:24 pm

 

ghufran said:

UNSC resolution provides a fig leaf for those who need one, the truth is that US and NATO do not want war and do not trust the rebels. Obama talked to Rouhani on the phone today while your holy warriors in Syria were busy fighting the regime and themselves. The denial some of you have about how pathetic both the regime and the rebels are is irritating but predictable, in a way this is why most Arab and Muslim countries are members of the third world club.

September 27th, 2013, 6:32 pm

 

Akbar Palace said:

139 Omen“let’s not make the mistake of conflating nice, smart, liberal american jews with israel government.”

Omen, Hopeful,

Define “liberal”. If liberal means pro-freedom, pro-democracy, pro-human rights, and pro-freedom of speech, than I am both “liberal” and conservative. Sometimes Americans use the term “liberal” to mean pro-tax and spend and pro-negotiating with thugs like Assad.

September 27th, 2013, 6:51 pm

 

Syrialover said:

Poor and desperate, Syrian refugees beg on Yemen’s streets

EXCERPT:

Fleeing the bloodshed and destruction of civil war in Syria, Yosra Mustafa and 15 members of her extended family crossed into Turkey, but found life there too expensive. They tried their luck with Jordan, but were refused entry. Lebanon came to nothing.

Never would they have expected to end up in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, itself riven by Islamist insurgency, rebellion by a northern Shi’ite group and separatist unrest in the south.

There is nowhere else to go to now. We’re begging on the streets,” said Mustafa, who, dressed in black from head to toe, stationed herself at one of Sanaa’s main thoroughfares hoping cars would slow down to pay her a few Yemeni riyals.

…for some desperate Syrians the cost of living even in [refugee tent cities in other countries] is too high. Yemen, where nearly half of 25 million inhabitants are either hungry or on the edge of hunger, offers a last hope of sanctuary for a growing number.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-syria-crisis-yemen-idUSBRE98P0FC20130926

The article also quotes a UNHCR official on how Syrians are frightened to register as refugees for fear of repercussions back in Syria.

“There is a fear of insecurity. When people are traumatized they may well fear that if the government found out that they went to another country they may be persecuted,” he said.

In other words, they have been reared in a police State with an undercurrent of threat and fear. They are afraid of the Assad regime punishing them for “disloyalty” in fleeing for their lives even though it terrorized and chased them out.

September 27th, 2013, 6:54 pm

 

Syrialover said:

GHUFRAN, I hope you read SAMI’s comment in #56.

September 27th, 2013, 7:07 pm

 

zoo said:

John McCain Hires Elizabeth O’Bagy, Syria Analyst Recently Fired Over False Ph.D Claim

The Huffington Post | By Chris Gentilviso

Less than a month after being fired for falsely claiming to hold a Ph.D, Syria researcher Elizabeth O’Bagy has a new job.

Foreign Policy’s The Cable reported Friday that O’Bagy has been hired by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to work as a legislative assistant. It was McCain who propelled her into the national conversation, reading part of an “important op-ed” she wrote for the Wall Street Journal at a Senate hearing on Syria earlier in September.

“Elizabeth is a talented researcher, and I have been very impressed by her knowledge and analysis in multiple briefings over the last year,” McCain told The Cable in a statement. “I look forward to her joining my office.”

September 27th, 2013, 7:20 pm

 

zoo said:

For the West, the rebels and their ‘benefactors’ can cry and beg as much as they want, the priority is on peace talk

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-un-assembly-syria-opposition-20130927,0,6397164.story
…
For Western leaders, the priority appears to be to try to bring the opposition and Assad’s government to the negotiating table. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, who hosted the Friends of Syria, made no reference to raising military aid in their speeches.

Both focused on efforts to revive talks for a political transition through new peace talks in Switzerland – the so-called Geneva 2 process – lauding the SNC for agreeing to attend, despite the balance of power on the ground shifting toward Assad.

“The SNC has endorsed Geneva 2, which is a critical part of that effort,” Kerry said. “There is no military victory. Syria will implode before any side would claim a moral victory.”

September 27th, 2013, 7:25 pm

 

zoo said:

@172 SL

That’s the promise of “freedom and dignity”?

September 27th, 2013, 7:26 pm

 

zoo said:

167. Hopeful

…and the rebels chose to call Al Qaeda and other criminals to help.

September 27th, 2013, 7:32 pm

 

zoo said:

The chapter VII is mentioned so Hollande does not feel too humiliated in front of his Saudi and Qatari “benefactors”

http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-meeting-resolution-459/

The draft resolution is fully in line with the Geneva framework on the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria, Sergey Lavrov told the press earlier on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 68th session.

“There will be no enforcement in line with Chapter 7,” he emphasized.

The draft resolution backs the agreement reached in Geneva regarding Syria’s commitment to place its chemical weapons stockpile under international control. If there is any violation by any party – as the resolution also calls on the opposition to assist in the disarmament process – the Security Council will convene again and will be ready to take enforcement measures in line with Chapter 7, Lavrov said.

September 27th, 2013, 7:36 pm

 

Syrian said:

Dear Tara. I hope you like this one.
المبدع نديم قطيش
الأسد يناقض الأسد

http://youtu.be/1ECjEUQg1AY

September 27th, 2013, 7:50 pm

 

Heads-up said:

Just so you know, we rely on very well informed and highly reliable sources who work very hard, around the clock and behind the scenes in order to keep you informed with the most important news even before it hits the waves. Our patrons gladly authorized the release of the following very very important heads up.

Hussain Abdu Al-Hussain once again shows the novices in the US the follies of their day dreaming with regards to the toothless, multi-faced and powerless so-called moderate Rounani. Abdu Al-Hussain exposes the fallacy of so-called mulla-moderation as nothing but a mirage in an empty desert. In addition, Abdu Al-Hussain identifies the deficiencies inherent in the Mullocrats frame of mind. One only needs to ponder on the quote of Rouhani cited by Abdul-Hussain in order to be convinced that the mullocrats are nothing but a bunch of idiots. Rouhani said, “Treat Iran as the undisputed leader of the Middle East, and we will not produce a nuclear weapon”. Abdu Al-Hussain clearly proves that the supposed offer is both unattainable and deceptive. As it is well known, leadership is EARNED and not BESTOWED by others, (Rouhani needs urgently to take Leadership 101) not to mention the problem of offering JUST not to produce nukes. Rouhani must understand that NO ONE in the Middle East will treat the Iranian Mullocracy as leader. The Mullocrats have no admirers except among tge low lifes of the mostly Shiite terrorists who comprise almost nil in the VAST SUNNI domain of the Middle East.

Once again enjoy reading Hussain Abdu Al-Hussain.

”
A Nuclear Iran, with Charm

By Hussain Abdu Al-Hussain

So it turns out that the millions of Iranians who elected “the moderate” Hassan Rouhani president count for little when it comes to the red lines of Supreme Leader Ali Khaminei and his radicals. And it turns out that Rouhani never thought that a US president would call his bluff and insist on shaking hands, an overture that the Iranian president turned down. It also turns out that despite the fanfare about his charm, Rouhani had nothing new to offer. He simply reiterated the talking points that Iran has been peddling for a decade now.

Yet despite his irrelevance to Iran’s decision-making, Rouhani was being touted as the key to a diplomatic breakthrough between Iran and the West, and a possible “Grand Bargain” between Tehran and Washington. The bid to present a “new picture” of Iran, as Rouhani put it, was sponsored by several groups inside America.

First, a network of Iranian-American regime lobbyists, beltway pundits, think tankers, and journalists launched a campaign depicting Rouhani as something new. They argued that Rouhani is moderate, that he has a decisive popular mandate, and that the combination of these two would give the West a man in Tehran to crack deals with.

Second, a group of Americans who were either novices in foreign policy or wanted to believe the “good news” about Iran – only for fear that the alternative would be an American military strike – also took to the airwaves and social media networks to welcome Rouhani’s “charm offensive.” They read his op-ed in The Washington Post and saw in it a good pitch to the American people, especially where he said that “the days of blood feuds” were gone.

Some even tried to cover up for Rouhani’s failure to engage Obama, even in passing, at the UN. CNN’s Iranian-American Christiane Amanpour interviewed Rouhani after he had refused the American handshake request. He wasn’t prepared for a meeting, which the Americans never asked for, Rouhani told CNN. Even if a meeting with Obama was proposed, who flies 6,100 miles from Tehran to New York in order to participate in the world’s biggest leaders’ conference, yet somehow comes unprepared for meetings?

Iran’s lobbyists, apologists, and America’s deal-dreamers were the ones who hyped up Rouhani’s UN visit, coined the phrase “charm offensive,” and described him as charismatic. Yet, during his speech, Rouhani was visibly agitated, speaking with a dry mouth and a sweaty forehead, which he repeatedly wiped with a napkin. To the rest in America, Rouhani was neither charming nor charismatic.

In terms of content, Rouhani rehashed the same old Iranian rhetoric: ‘Treat Iran as the undisputed leader of the Middle East, and we will not produce a nuclear weapon.’ Notice that, like all Iranian officials, Rouhani does not even hint that Iran will give up or slow down its capacity to build a nuclear weapon. He only says Iran would not produce one because it is not to its leaders’ liking. And, of course, if all what a man has is his word, history teaches us that to Iranian leaders, talk is cheap.

Rouhani says that for removing the sanctions, Iran is ready for cooperation with the US. It will fight more radical terrorists and read Sunni rivals, whom Tehran has been fighting for a decade now in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Tehran will also allegedly help combat drug trafficking and cybercrime, even though Iran is barely connected to the internet and has been striving to create its own intranet instead.

And like all other Iranian leaders, Rouhani thinks that one of the prerequisites for a deal with the US and the West is the end of “cultural encroachment,” read intervention in domestic Iranian tyranny. Apparently Tehran believes that every nation is entitled to its own system of governance, and if the principles of the Islamic Republic contradict human rights, then the hell with human rights.
But while Iran wants the world to stop “encroaching” on its affairs, Rouhani still thinks that Tehran can have a say in other nations’ affairs, whether in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, or wherever Mr. Khaminei thinks there should be “resistance” to world imperialism.

Only a few in America noticed the alarming thoughts of the “moderate” Rouhani, and those who noticed do not include “warmongering interest groups inside Washington” that the Iranian president talked about in his UN speech. The “warmongers” are focused on stopping Iran from building a nuclear program that can also produce weapons. Most of them could care less about the domestic tyranny of the Tehran regime.

Unlike the ongoing hype, Rouhani is no opportunity for a Grand Bargain, or even a small one. The man cut his teeth fighting alongside Khaminei, and the two hold similar worldviews. Both men think they can make the world, or at least the Middle East, in Iran’s medieval image. One goes on CNN and CBS, the other stays on Persian channels.”

September 27th, 2013, 8:07 pm

 

Syrian said:

Why should not France get something out of the deal from chemical Assad, everyone else got something from riding Assad’s back, Russia is back on the international stage, Iran’s president is treated as a star in NYC thanks to the CW deal on the back of Assad, Obama got more than he ever dreamed off without firing a shot, the ever smart Israel who knows Assad best is holding for more from Assad’s back.
So why not France get something to look good also in front of the Arabs,
The Assad is offering free ride to everyone,
I bet Cameron is banging his head for being the only idiot who did not get anything other than looking bad,rushing to back out when the donkey was so ready to offer free rides

September 27th, 2013, 8:07 pm

 

zoo said:

Poor Jarba, as pathetic and impotent as his predecessors in the opposition, whining and putting the blames on everybody except themselves

Syria rebel chief: extremists ‘stealing revolution’

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/syria-rebel-chief-extremists-stealing-revolution-093752777.html#2t4AkWd

The head of the key Syrian opposition National Coalition, Ahmad Jarba, has denounced extremists he said were trying to “steal our revolution”, and blamed the regime for supporting them.

He made the comments in an address in New York to representatives from the Friends of Syria — international backers of the rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

“The Syrian people support peace and moderation, tolerance and coexistence,” Jarba said.

“The phenomenon of extremism appeared with the support and planning of the regime, which has gambled on the transformation of a revolution for freedom into a civil and sectarian war,” he added.

The Syrian regime “created and armed numerous terrorist organisations and left them a place in the regions from which it has been removed,” he said.

“Other groups have come across the borders to steal our revolution.”

September 27th, 2013, 8:07 pm

 

Ghufran said:

I agree with Sami (56) that Syrians who rose peacefully against injustice and oppression and those who gave a helping hand ( or money) deserve respect and recognition, they represent the real spirit of Syria, the spirit that thugs inside and outside Syria conspired to kill. What is left today is a country in ruins because people with guns and countries with money took charge of the uprising and transformed it into a senseless armed struggle that produced no winners. This tragic outcome required an evil and brutal regime which responded with brutality and stubbornness as if the destruction of Syrian cities is a small price to pay as long as the beloved Assad stays in power.
Ladies and gentlemen, you have to face the fact that Syrians destroyed their country, outside powers were happy to help but now they are about to make ” peace” with Syrian devastated cities in the background. This is what many have warned about from the first few months of this bloody conflict. Most of I read on this blog today is a reflection of guilt, sorrow and frustration, the party is over and the truth of misery, poverty and despair will follow. Congratulations.

September 27th, 2013, 8:30 pm

 

zoo said:

Time to Defund the Syrian Rebels

Now that they’ve officially joined al-Qaeda
by Justin Raimondo, September 27, 2013

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/09/26/time-to-defund-the-syrian-rebels/

Those cuddly “moderate” Syrian rebels are at it again! No sooner had the President, John Kerry, John McCain and Lindsey Graham assured us the majority of those “freedom fighters” are really the equivalent of George Washington and the Continental Army, than the rebels commanders on the ground announced they were joining al-Qaeda. They are through with the “National Council” and are organizing their own “Islamist Alliance”:

“The al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, is the lead signatory of the new group … Others include the Tawheed Brigade, the biggest Free Syrian Army unit in the northern city of Aleppo; Liwa al-Islam, the largest rebel group in the capital, Damascus; and Ahrar al-Sham, the most successful nationwide franchise of mostly Syrian Salafist fighters. Collectively, the new front, which does not yet have a formal name but has been dubbed by its members the ‘Islamist Alliance,’ claims to represent 75 percent of the rebels fighting to topple Assad.”

In this context, the al-Qaeda affiliates aren’t even the worst. As Max Fisher puts it in the Washington Post:

“As a sign of how bad things have gotten, al-Nusra is actually somewhere near the ideological center of the rebel movement; the al-Qaeda group Islamic State (ISIS), whose fighters are streaming into Syria from Iraq are considerably more ideologically extreme.”

…
There we learn this radicalization is the fault of those unreliable Americans, who have “betrayed” the rebels by not bombing and failing to arm them with the really big guns. According to Syrian National Council spokesman Louay al-Mokdad, “they told us they signed this because they lost all hope in the international community. They said: ‘We are really tired, Bashar al-Assad is killing us, all the West is betraying us, and they want to negotiate with the regime over our blood.’”

Yes, those poor babies are tired – after all, beheading infidels really takes it out of you! It’s hard on the arms. Burning churches, destroying entire villages, not to mention car-bombs – what could be more exhausting? I mean, have a heart!

Besides which, the Islamists are among the best fighters, according to Abu Hassan, who speaks for a gang of thugs calling itself the Tawheed Brigade:

“Jabhat al-Nusra is a Syrian military formation that fought the regime and played an active role in liberating many locations. So we don’t care about the stand of those who don’t care about our interests.”

September 27th, 2013, 8:34 pm

 

Tara said:

Syrian,

عن جد نديم مبدع

مهضوم كتير

مو متل البناني السئيل اللي بيرفع الضغط

September 27th, 2013, 8:36 pm

 

omen said:

161. Akbar Palace: Omen, So you suffer from Israelophobia? Not to worry, many do. And it usually goes untreated.

did i not say assad is worse than israel? an israelophobe would not admit that. i never called for the destruction of irael. even israelis are critical of israeli policy. are they bigots too?

i wanted to know what you were inferring. thanks for being unclear. also thanks for the unwarranted casual slander. don’t be surprised when it get boomeranged back to you unexpectedly.

September 27th, 2013, 8:42 pm

 

zoo said:

Ghufran

A revolution that needs external help to succeed cannot be called a ‘revolution’, is not a revolution.

In the case of Syria, the revolt of some Syrians could not get enough local support to become a real revolution and turned into a bloody confrontation mostly because of the choices that both sides were encouraged to make.
Now the only choice they should do is to negotiate a peace to end the nightmare.

September 27th, 2013, 8:42 pm

 

ghufran said:

كشفت مصادر مقربة من جبهة النصرة لوكالة أنباء “آسيا” عن مقتل المسؤول العسكري العام لجبهة النصرة.
وقالت المصادر أن المسؤول العسكري العام لجبهة النصرة ويلقب بـ “أبو سمير” أصيب بإصابات خطيرة جراء عبوة لاصقة تم زرعها في سيارته، وأنه على الأغلب لقي مصرعه جراء هذه الإصابات. ولم تذكر المصادر لأسباب أمنية –بحسب قولها- مكان وزمان وقوع الحادثة، كما لم توجه الاتهام إلى أي جهة باستهداف أبو سمير.
يشار إلى ان “أبو سمير” هو مهندس ما سمته جبهة النصرة بـ “غزوة الأركان” التي استهدفت مبنى هيئة الأركان العامة في العاصمة دمشق، وغيرها من العمليات التي كانت تصفها الجبهة في بياناتها بالنوعية والهامة. وقد وقعت حادثة الأركان في مثل هذه الأيام من العام الماضي وتحديداً في السادس والعشرين من أيلول، ما قد يكون من شأنه الربط بين مسؤولية أبو سمير عن التخطيط لهذه الحادثة وبين استهدافه في الذكرى السنوية الأولى لها.
إلا أن أحد قيادات جبهة النصرة، أكد أن “أبو سمير” لم يمت وإنما أصيب بإصابات، دون أن يحدد نوع هذه الإصابات هل هي خطيرة أم عادية أم متوسطة، لكنه لم ينف استهدافه بعبوة لاصقة، مؤكداً أنها محاولة اغتيال فاشلة بحسب تعبيره.
Thugs killing thugs

September 27th, 2013, 8:49 pm

 

zoo said:

UN chief says international conference on Syria political transition planned for mid-November

September 27, 2013

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — UN chief says international conference on Syria political transition planned for mid-November.

September 27th, 2013, 8:58 pm

 

Observer said:

The first turn of the screw was applied with the UNSC resolution today. There is no wiggle room. Russia after more than 110 000 dead can claim that it has a role in the international arena. Of course it is just claims. There is nothing behind it except the veto power.

Now the resolution was stripped of the demand to bring the perpetrators to justice.

If Russia is so sure that the rebels did the CW attack why strip the resolution of this language.

And no the only responsible party for the death and destruction in Syria is despotism, corruption, sectarianism, and dictatorship: all attributes of this despicable regime and its 17 branches of torture and depravity.

The people have no fear any longer. The regime will be dismantled brick by brick.
Iranian mullahs are ready to cry mama and they cannot use the Syria card for Kerry and the others told them to forget it. Nuclear program and only the nuclear program.

Russia is abandoning the iPad retard; and Iran is about to do the same. Even HA has toned down its garbage.

More than 2000 members of the regime have fled to various countries and bought properties galore.

Qadri Jamil was slapped for telling the truth. The regime is going to be dismantled.

He he he he he he

September 27th, 2013, 11:11 pm

 

ziad said:

Time to Defund the Syrian Rebels

Now that they’ve officially joined al-Qaeda

Those cuddly “moderate” Syrian rebels are at it again! No sooner had the President, John Kerry, John McCain and Lindsey Graham assured us the majority of those “freedom fighters” are really the equivalent of George Washington and the Continental Army, than the rebels commanders on the ground announced they were joining al-Qaeda. They are through with the “National Council” and are organizing their own “Islamist Alliance”:

“The al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, is the lead signatory of the new group … Others include the Tawheed Brigade, the biggest Free Syrian Army unit in the northern city of Aleppo; Liwa al-Islam, the largest rebel group in the capital, Damascus; and Ahrar al-Sham, the most successful nationwide franchise of mostly Syrian Salafist fighters. Collectively, the new front, which does not yet have a formal name but has been dubbed by its members the ‘Islamist Alliance,’ claims to represent 75 percent of the rebels fighting to topple Assad.”

In this context, the al-Qaeda affiliates aren’t even the worst. As Max Fisher puts it in the Washington Post:

“As a sign of how bad things have gotten, al-Nusra is actually somewhere near the ideological center of the rebel movement; the al-Qaeda group Islamic State (ISIS), whose fighters are streaming into Syria from Iraq are considerably more ideologically extreme.”

Yes, you read that right: a group that has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda is composed of “moderates” who represent the “center” of the rebel movement, while those baddies over at ISIS are the Real Problem. Once you go down this rabbit hole, you wind up in a kind of Syrian Wonderland, where things get curiouser and curiouser.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/09/26/time-to-defund-the-syrian-rebels/

September 28th, 2013, 12:08 am

 

ziad said:

No Longer David:
The State of Israel As Goliath

Whenever you speak with an American Jew about Israel, you always end up at the same point. The conversation starts with Israel, but rarely ends there. It almost always ends with “them.” So begins “The American Jewish Cocoon,” a lengthy article by Peter Beinart published Sept. 4 in The New York Review of Books.

“Them,” of course, refers to the Palestinians. “They” are that same monolithic entity, faceless and devoid of a clear identity, that provides the wranglers with the ultimate response to any criticism of Israel: “They” teach their children to hate and kill; “they” don’t accept Israel’s right to exist; and why don’t “they” criticize their own society as Israelis criticize their own?

The experienced Beinart has stopped answering claims and questions related to “them.” Instead, he suggests to his interlocutors that they would do well to refer their complaints to the Palestinians themselves. He knows that usually, this will be the end of the conversation. American Jews don’t know any Palestinians and aren’t interested in dialogue with real individuals from among this imaginary mass.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/aipac-israel-narrative-max-blumenthal-book-goliath.html

September 28th, 2013, 12:14 am

 

Ghufran said:

Observer,
I am surprised that you, forget others, were too quickly to conclude that the regime will be dismantled, it is exactly because Russia refused to dismantle the regime ( from its roots as demanded by some) that Putin rejected any UNSC resolution that aims at achieving with diplomacy what NATO could not do,indirectly , by force. Assad managed to defy his enemies and will most likely , barring a successful attempt on his life, stay until June 2014, his supporters want him to run in 2014 but I hope he does not for the sake of saving what is left of national unity. Do not blame Russia and Iran alone for this outcome, look no further than to the dysfunctional , confused and corrupt rebels factions and their GCC financiers and the ottoman sultan.
I my case, I want the blood shed to stop at any price and for children to return to their homes and schools even if that means a syrian Taef, Syrians need to stop bleeding first before the healing can start, trying to create winners and losers is a formula for an endless war, we should have learned that by now, Syrians need to share power and resources the same way they shared misery and death.

September 28th, 2013, 12:17 am

 

apple_mini said:

The main reason that SNC or NC is breaking up into miserable dusts is due to their backers becoming irrelevant.

Qatar, Saudi and Turkey got brushed away when those big players are on stage.

We heard them whining a lot, especially Erdogan. But who cares?

I personally will hold Erdogan responsible for the destruction of Syria.

In current situation, Syrian are forced to make a choice, either the regime or fragmented Islamists. Whoever still saying freedom and democracy is their goal is out of touch of reality.

The best I can see is that the regime stays and keeps order on part of Syria. The country is de facto partitioned and the regime acknowledges it. I am not sure what kind of compromise the regime will offer to the opposition.

Most likely a true peaceful “revolution” will happen months if not years after the war ends. So revolutionists get ready to reset your mindset.

September 28th, 2013, 12:26 am

 

don said:

Why was my comment (57) on Aron Lund piece deleted?!

Alan comment (58) was deleted also!

September 28th, 2013, 12:33 am

 

Ghufran said:

Sounds familiar ?

The US government used visas as a key way to entice Afghans and Iraqis to co-operate with western troops, especially since those who did so often became Taliban and al-Qaida targets. The US Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis passed in 2008 and set a maximum of 25,000 visas, but a mere 20% have been given out thus far.
A similar visa program for Afghans who aided troops was enacted in 2009 and offered up to 8,500 visas. Keep in mind that the infamous “surge” had not yet taken place then, thus Congress didn’t think many visas were needed. To date, only 12% of the special Afghan visas have been given out.
(the Guardian)

September 28th, 2013, 12:33 am

 

omen said:

42. mjabali said: LOL
From the time and language of your post I could tell that you had few drinks.

interesting. instead of addressing anything i wrote, you go straight to character assassination. is this the behavior of a wizened learned scholar?

Remember you cursed me out the other day.

you keep saying that. are you really so startled? surely i’m not the first to have called out your ridiculousness. i called you a sectarian snob. you call that cursing you out? did i break some unwritten sc rule that says mjabali must never be defied?

Common sense is not apparent in your answer. It is all accusations and emotions. Also this sense of righteous vs non righteous is freaky to me. I want facts and history and the only righteous thing I recognize is a modern law and a judge plus jury. That is common sense. What you wrote is not common sense to me: it is emotional outburst and propaganda.

i shaved off most of the snark from last comment before posting while you couldn’t resist – but i’m the emotional one.

i set up some premises earlier. not only have refused to address them, i get blubbering and annoying whining in return.

you’re the one who keeps crying i cursed you out. if you are soo disturbed by it, i’m willing to apologized for it.

As for your lack of education: well that is obvious. In school they teach you history and method, hopefully a method based on science, and not morals like your “know right from wrong” based judgment scale.

i know it was snark but i wanted to clarify your calling me professor and sage. unlike you, i dislike pretension. unlike you, i don’t posture being a scholar. lack of credentials after my name doesn’t mean i haven’t studied.

If you have no education into what is “Syria” “Syrian” “Muslim” “Sunni” “Alawi” etc how come you reach value judgments about me?

I think it is extremely ludicrous that you judge me and categorize me here and there and always want me to say what you want.

one doesn’t need a phd to recognize the regime committing unprecedented war crimes on a massive scale but it’s like pulling teeth for you to get past your denial to recognize the same.

Your crying circle is not going to include me. Do you really know what happened in al-Hula with 100 percent certainty? Do you know who died ?

crying circle? you know, what marks a sociopath is lack of conscience. while i wont go so far as to call you one, anybody who is unperturbed by what they see in syria is either disturbed or in denial. perhaps both.

Do you know if the Alawi creed or religion is the one causing the blood shed?

Where are the texts of the Alawis for this?

Where are the texts of the Shia for this?

What is the history of Shism?

What is the history or radical Shism?

i said earlier, it’s a mistake to conflate iran as representing shia or alqaeda representing sunni – when mainstream muslims don’t recognize what alqaeda practices. the crimes of assad & hezbollah don’t represent shia. whether iran, hezbollah or alqaeda, don’t mistake political actors exploiting religion and justifying their crimes in the name of islam as true expression of that faith. criminals aren’t trustworthy so why take their word about anything they say they do in the name of religion?

Where are the texts of the Alawis for this?

you can’t possibly suggest assad & shabiha are incapable of barbaric crimes just because such crimes are not sanctioned in your dusty books.

refusing to criticize members of your sect lest it tarnishes your religion is called identity politics. you will continue to be deluded until you make a break and recognize assad doesn’t represent you nor alawites.

but you don’t want to let go of your prejudices, so you continue to assail sunni islam as your whipping boy and represent it as the great evil whilst simultaneously refuse to fully acknowledge regime atrocities. oh well, if this is what you must do to cope with the shame – so be it.

but since you elevated shia so, i asked you why haven’t alawites collectively denounce assad in order to distance themselves from a war criminal and as an expression of standing up for their religious values. surely alawism doesn’t condone what the regime is perpetuating. you failed to answer this question. you refuse to answer.

Not reading books hurts your chances in any meaningful discussion with you Sage Omen…

you hide behind dusty books yet cannot see beyond your nose the reality of what happened in houla. the ugly reality of what the regime is doing everyday. your books are a crutch for your denial.

Besides: Syria is my country and it is not yours: many of may family members had died and I still call for peace. You, with your right and wrong morals want to bomb more and cause more death. Don’t you see that we belong to two different worlds. ????

deaths will continue until assad is forcibly toppled. who do you love more? syria or assad?

September 28th, 2013, 12:49 am

 

omen said:

look mjabali, coincidentally, the professor found what i was asking for. free halab created a collection documenting alawites who had the guts to defect. some i knew about, most others i didn’t.

surely we can both agree to applaud their breathtaking courage.


This photo is taken from the formation video of the Jabhat al-`Alawiyyin al-Ahrar or the Free Alawite Front, established by the defected Alawite Capt. Saleh Habib Saleh and joined by his men and other Alawite defectors from Assad’s army. Little information is available about what happened to him and his movement for the past year. The importance of such defections, however, cannot be overstated. The very key to this revolution has always lied in the hands of the Alawite military elite, not in the sense that without it the country could never be liberated from Assad’s regime, but in terms of speeding up this process to the extent that its policy of genocide and mass destruction could have been prevented.

September 28th, 2013, 3:12 am

 

Observer said:

Ghufran It is impossible for the regime to stay in power. The regime’s strategy from the outset was a re enacting of the 80’s narrative: these are not genuine revolutionary people nor are these reform minded people, nor the demands for justice and an end to corruption legitimate: the regime said these are fanatic terrorists and therefore cast them in a black and white painting to justify full blown repression and the use of force as the exclusive methodology of dealing with the demands.
The regime hijacked the fears and concerns of the so called minorities to prop up its base and did so most cruelly with its own Alawi community which by pure fear or pure hatred or pure opportunism was trapped in tying its fate to that of the regime.
The iPad retard was nothing more than a prop for the multitude of security services and for the mafia run state by the family and its cronies. I am talking about the fact that the security apparatus will be dismantled; the monopolies on economic activities will be ended; the armed forces will be subject to civilian rule; the Baath party will have to run for elections like any other party; the state institutions will be technocratic. Yes there will be a Geneva 2 and it will be for the dismantling of the regime as we know it.
The regime and I heard it personally from several of its members was and remains willing to kill and expel millions of people to return to a state where the 10% can control the rest by hook or by crook.
You want the bloodshed to end, it would not have been necessary. The iPad retard was interested in reforms the same way he was a Mac fan; his security henchmen told him that if he were to remove one card from the security castle of cards that the father built the regime will be finished. So he backed down.

Read the story below and please stop telling us that the rebels are guilty. They are only guilty of defending themselves against this monster

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3500/the-cell-of-survival_bara-sarraj

September 28th, 2013, 8:47 am

 

zoo said:

Observer

You said:
“Russia is abandoning the iPad retard; and Iran is about to do the same. Even HA has toned down its garbage.”

Bashar Al Assad is stronger than ever and is here to stay at least until the 2014 elections. If they can’t be held, he is there for much longer.

The ‘first turn of the screw’ is on the opposition who is now officially forced to go the Geneva, head down.

You need help, urgently.

September 28th, 2013, 8:55 am

 

Tara said:

The same weakness of those opposed to Bashar al Assad is its formidable strength, their fragmentation! Jarba can go to Geneva II and the fighters can continue to fight until and unless Geneva II removes Bashar.

The regime is being dismantled one brick at a time no matter how you look at it.

September 28th, 2013, 9:01 am

 

Observer said:

Here is also what I found on Bara Sarraj who is now at Northwestern University in Evanston IL. This interview on WBEZ is reproduced for the audience here. But much more important and this for TARA as well, is the comment section. Two years ago a comment on this story by someone called ASMA AKHRAS the maiden name of the spouse of the current regime figure head actually wrote about his testimony.

Here is the link and go down to the last comment two years ago
http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-06-27/hell-harvard-chicagoan’s-story-survival-syria’s-infamous-tadmor-prison-8#comments

She thanked him for bringing the story forward and therefore she knows full well that is married to the mob. In that case the only escape from the reality of the abhorrence of this relationship is ………….. yes to go shopping.

The regime is indefensible. Not even its fig leaf of so called resistance is worthy of comment.

Today Al Ikhbariah is mentioning the unwavering support of ……….. Venezuela and Bolivia against the imperialist hegemony.

He he he he he he

September 28th, 2013, 9:09 am

 

Observer said:

Here is her comment

Asma Akhras • 2 years ago −
Thank you so much for this honest dialogue in bringing in more awareness on the story of the Syrina people. Please continue the great work!

September 28th, 2013, 9:11 am

 

Observer said:

The opposition is going to go to Geneva and the rebels are just finishing the liberation of eastern Hama province and they have just finished liberating another den in Deraa and they have just started the southern Aleppo offensive and they are trying to break the grip on Ghouta and they have missiles flying into an air base and they mortared the Russian and Iraqi embassies and yesterday my delusional friend I heard on NPR the world a report on the Alawi refugees in Istanbul sleeping in the parks of the city as they fled their villages and the iPad retard could not even protect them within Thouria Alathad.

Stronger than ever and yet within one day of a strike threat he regurgitates decades of building a deterrent to the nuclear program of Israel.

Nour Eddine Atassi is truly our teacher of “defeat is victory” and ” war is peace” and “security is freedom” and “freedom is submission”.

Good schooling indeed.

He He He He He

September 28th, 2013, 9:18 am

 

Observer said:

Here are the pro regime news of “defeat is victory” and “war is peace” and “freedom is submission”

http://www.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=603810&cid=21&fromval=1&frid=21&seccatid=23&s1=1

http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=ar/Article/view/27708

http://www.almayadeen.net/ar/news/arab_press-nh0D91HZkUGwTKJHAF5l4A/المعلم-مرتاحون-للقرار-الكيميائي

http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?d=13&id=131386

http://arabic.rt.com/news/628918-كيري_يلوّح_بالعقاب_إن_لم_تنفذ_سورية_التزاماتها_و_الائتلاف_مستعد_لجنيف/

iPad retard is “stronger than ever” and the regime insider is ” stranger than ever”/

I read the pro regime sites first and foremost. Geneva 2 is a transitional government in which the likes of Tabbl and J’amuse are going to be history and as Samantha Powers said on NPR the iPad will be in the “dock”.

Sadek Jalal Azm wrote a nice article about a Geneva 2 like Taif that will strip the sect of its privileges and exclusive grip on power.

He He He He He

“defeat is victory and freedom is submission and security is stability and monopoly is free market”

Only in Thouria Garbage Alathad indeed

September 28th, 2013, 9:38 am

 

Heads-up said:

Just so you know, we rely on very well informed and highly reliable sources who work very hard, around the clock and behind the scenes in order to keep you informed with the most important news even before it hits the waves. Our patrons gladly authorized the release of the following very very important heads up.

The heroic Sunni clan of Al-Shayyah in the eastern Lebanon city of Baalbek today succeeded in breaking the back of the terror regime of Hezboola in that city. The Sunni heroes succeeded in eliminating two terrorists who were manning an illegal terrorist checkpoint in that city. Heads-up would like to extend its congratulation to this brave Sunni clan which achieved great success in fighting Shiite terrorism.

September 28th, 2013, 9:53 am

 
 

ghufran said:

you can make a thick book out of the statement from rebels and their backers, on this site and other sites, in support of Islamist and terrorist groups that not only attacked regime troops but also chopped heads, bombed civilian targets, performed assassinations and street executions, etc, so it is certainly too late for some of you to start condemning Islamists and extreme elements among rebel groups.
People who try to portray the rebels as a bunch of innocent freedom fighters who were forced to become terrorists are delusional at best and often dishonest. Terrorist, sectarian and unprovoked attacks on the army started as early as April, 2011.
The reason why there has to be a power sharing agreement or some type of separation is simple: neither party, left unchecked and unopposed, can be trusted to protect Syrians especially in areas that are not loyal to them, collective punishment is now deeply rooted in the psychology and practice of both the regime and the rebels, and the evidence is plentiful, therefore, there will be a blood bath if angry and violent people are given a free hand in areas that opposed them during the war. Syria needs a period of relative calm and peace before the rebuilding of souls can start, then Syrians will have to decide whether they can remain as citizens in one state with one central government or follow another model where locals have weaker ties with Damascus and stronger role in managing their internal affairs.
One unfortunate result of this war is that it pushed many good Syrians into becoming clones of the same people they opposed before because the pressure was simply too much from friends and relatives, and the “other side” proved to be too brutal to be forgiven or negotiated with.
(I am not even going to bother responding to heads up (visitor clone), he is a Nusra boy, let him babble alone)

September 28th, 2013, 10:57 am

 

Heads-up said:

Just so you know, we rely on very well informed and highly reliable sources who work very hard, around the clock and behind the scenes in order to keep you informed with the most important news even before it hits the waves. Our patrons gladly authorized the release of the following very very important heads up.

The lies and deceptions of the Serpent head along with its terrorist Shia agents as well as the remnants of communist despots are becoming so thinly veiled that it is taking little effort to expose. In this very important analysis by James Miller, these lies are so smartly exposed that it leaves no doubts in the minds about the responsibility of the crimes against humanity committed and continues to be committed by the Serpent head, Ass-had and its agents of Shia terrorist.

Read the full analysis of James Miller and nourish your brains with reason and common sense instead of the destructive and toxic lies, falsifications and fabrications that are the hallmark of this site due to its owner’s and associates’ deliberate subservience in aiding and abetting of proven criminals and Shia terrorists.

”

Where the UN Inspectors won’t be going

The chemical weapons attack that Putin and Assad don’t want you to know about


By James Miller

UN weapons inspectors have returned to Syria and have launched an investigation into seven alleged chemical weapons attacks across the country. Some of the sites were selected before the August 21st chemical weapons attack that brought the world to the brink of war, and some of them are new sites around Damascus. However, there is one location that will not be a target for UN inspectors, and this site may hold key evidence about which side, either the regime or a Syrian rebel group, is behind these other attacks. (The Russian and Syrian governments have gone out of their way to make sure that most people have never even heard of it.)

Both the Russian government and the Assad regime say that the Syrian rebels launched a sarin attack against a position occupied by Assad forces on March 19th. According to the Russian government, they have presented definitive proof that a Syrian rebel group, the Basha’ir al-Nasr brigade, used a crudely constructed homemade device, known as a “Basha’ir 3 missile,” to deliver Sarin, killing 26 people, including 16 soldiers. As the Syrian military had a significant presence in the town of Khan al-Assal at the time, they posted many videos and pictures of the victims. As such, the images of the alleged chemical attack were rebroadcast by many international media groups, and Khan al-Assal secured its place in the international conversation about chemical weapons in Syria.

The UN has placed a premium on going to Khan al-Assal for some time. Both the Russian and Syrian governments have pressed them to go there in order to investigate the incident. As these are serious charges being levied against the Syrian rebels by both Russia and Syria, the UN should be, and is planning on, investigating the location.

But there are several glaring omissions in most news reports about the UN mission, and about the Khan al-Assal attack, that would stand as evidence that the Assad/Putin alliance is lying about chemical weapons attacks, and that the United Nations effort to end the Syrian crisis is hopelessly flawed.

Russia says the rebels conducted the Khan al-Assal attack

On March 19th, reports of a chemical weapons attack came flooding across various social networks, and into my various inboxes. The first tweets about Khan al-Assal that day mentioned a long-range rocket hitting the town. Soon after, opposition sources reported that there were dozens of victims suffering from symptoms consistent with a chemical weapons attack in Khan al-Assal. Many hours later, Syrian State TV reported the incident. Some opposition reports said that a rocket missed the opposition-controlled area and landed in territory controlled by the regime.

The Syrian Information Minister reported that a rocket was fired by rebels from a town 50 kilometers away. On two occasions, the Russian government said that it had irrefutable proof that the rebels conducted this attack using a crudely constructed rocket.

There are several glaring problems with this claim. Arms experts I’ve consulted agree that the Syrian rebels do not have the capability of launching a homemade rocket with a range of 50 kilometers. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that a crudely manufactured device is capable of dispersing sarin effectively without burning it. Sarin is also highly corrosive, and extremely hazardous to handle. In short, there are many reasons why militaries that have developed chemical-weapon delivery systems have spent millions of dollars on research and development, and the idea that rebels could make such a weapon on a battlefield seems far-fetched to many arms experts.

Ultimately, however, until Russia releases the details of their report, it is impossible to debunk their claims. One might wonder why, when the United States seemed so close to unilateral action against Syria just a short while ago, the Russian government refused to make the details of its “proof” available for the public to dissect. However, one key missing detail in Russia’s claims might hold a clue.

There were two reported chemical weapons attacks on March 19, 2013

The same day as the Khan al-Assal attack, there were also reports of another incident, hundreds of kilometers away from Khan al-Assal, in a little town, Otaybeh, southeast of Damascus. Opposition sources uploaded videos that reportedly showed both fighters and civilians affected by some sort of chemical attack in Otaybeh. These videos shared many similarities to those published by Syrian state media, in the sense that the victims in the videos shares similar symptoms.

But the Syrian state media, and the Russian and Assad governments, have never made any reference to the Otaybeh attack. Largely as a result, most news stories about Russia’s allegations concerning the Khan al-Assal attack fail to mention the simultaneous incident near Damascus.

But the Otaybeh incident could hold the key to discovering who was responsible for the Khan al-Assal attack, as well as others. Occam’s razor tells us that, if the use of sarin can be confirmed at both Khan al-Assal and Otaybeh, then the most likely explanation is the simplest – that the same side used the weapon at both locations.

It is interesting, then, that Syrian radar picked up a rocket in rural Aleppo, but failed to pick one up outside the capital, Damascus. It is interesting that the Russians would like to grant access to the UN at a site that has been in Assad control for the vast majority of the time since the attack, but does not even recognize the incident that happened in rebel territory. It is interesting that Russia has blamed the rebels for blocking access to UN inspectors, when it is the Syrian government that has repeatedly blocked UN weapons inspectors from visiting any chemical weapons sites.

Conducting a coordinated chemical weapons attack – at two different locations that are divided by many hundreds of kilometers of battlefield – would require expertise and training, to say nothing of military efficiency. Human Rights Watch made similar observations about the August 21st chemical weapons attack in Damascus. The scale and complexity of such missions are further evidence that the Assad government, not a fringe rebel group, conducted these attacks. It’s no mystery, then, that the Russian government does not want UN inspectors in Otaybeh.

The UN Deadlock

And, as long as Russia is willing to block progress on Syria while pretending to be working toward resolving the conflict – just as they have done for the last two years – then the United Nations will continue to bow to Russia’s requests. This means that, while the UN report implicates Assad (when reading between the lines) as the culprit for the August 21st attack, the UN can never point the finger at Assad. This means that UN inspectors may make it to Khan al-Assal, but they’ll see what the Assad regime wants them to see, and they’ll never make it to Otaybeh. This means that the UN will never have answers that are beyond Russia’s skepticism. It also means that if the international community is relying on the United Nations to solve this problem, then Putin will succeed in delaying, possibly indefinitely, international progress on the Syria crisis.”

September 28th, 2013, 11:49 am

 

Alan said:

The eyes of Israel and the United States of America on the Sudan! Is China monitors both?I am confident it!

September 28th, 2013, 11:53 am

 

zoo said:

Obama talks to Rouhani. Saudi and Israeli teeth are grinding…

Turkish President Gül hails Obama-Rouhani phone call
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-president-gul-hails-obama-rouhani-phone-call.aspx?pageID=238&nID=55320&NewsCatID=359

“Obama confirmed during a press statement that he held a phone conversation with Rouhani, adding that both “expressed their mutual political will to rapidly solve the nuclear issue.”

September 28th, 2013, 11:54 am

 

zoo said:

Where France and the UK do not want the UN inspectors to go : Khan Al Assal

This time they will.

September 28th, 2013, 11:56 am

 

zoo said:

After the Egyptians, the Tunisian say no to the Moslem Brotherhood and to political Islam.

Tunisa’s Islamists to step down after talks

Deal calls for three weeks of negotiations to appoint an interim technocratic non-partisan government

http://gulfnews.com/news/region/tunisia/tunisa-s-islamists-to-step-down-after-talks-1.1236595

Tunis: Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party has agreed to step down following negotiations with opposition parties that begin next week.

A spokesman for the main labour union said months of talks with the Islamist-led government had finally reached an agreement on Saturday.

September 28th, 2013, 12:03 pm

 

Alan said:

United States has tried for three years to acquire the Syrian situation and failed! its remaining one thing: to be silent!

September 28th, 2013, 12:03 pm

 

zoo said:

Outlaw of Islamic political parties in Egypt

Islamists reject move against religious parties

Nour party says it’s wrong to blame the whole Islamist current for Brotherhood mistakes

Reuters
Published: 13:53 September 28, 2013
Gulf News

Cairo: Egypt’s second biggest Islamist party, Nour, on Friday rejected proposed changes to the constitution that would outlaw parties founded on religious grounds, and called the move a “sword drawn” against Islamists.

The proposal, made during meetings of the constitutional committee this week but not yet formally approved, came days after a Cairo court separately banned the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s dominant Islamist force.

“It’s wrong to blame the whole Islamist current for the mistakes of the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Nour Party head Younes Makhyoun in a statement. “We reject this article completely because it is discriminatory and exclusionary.

September 28th, 2013, 12:06 pm

 

Alan said:

Dear Mr.Putin!The Syrian solution has become linked to you!I wish you success!

September 28th, 2013, 12:06 pm

 

zoo said:

Peter Harling, a Syria expert with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, agrees that peace talks could leave the Coalition even further marginalized.

“The coalition is weak and will be further weakened by the Geneva process, if it is designed by the United States and Russia as a way of dressing up politically their rather bare agreement on chemical weapons, whose only purpose was to prevent a war neither wanted,” Harling told Agence France Presse.

Syria Opposition Group Shaken by Rebel Rejection

by Naharnet Newsdesk
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/100072-syria-opposition-group-shaken-by-rebel-rejection

Syria’s main opposition group has lost its bargaining power ahead of any potential peace conference, after rebels withdrew their support and a U.N. resolution failed to meet its expectations.

With talks aimed at bringing about an end to the civil war planned for November in Geneva, the opposition feels more abandoned than ever by its friends in the West.

National Coalition chief Ahmad Jarba officially welcomed the U.N. resolution to eradicate Syria’s chemical weapons, but other members of the group expressed bitterness at the outcome.

“The (U.N.) Security Council resolution is a big disappointment for us,” said Coalition member and veteran dissident Samir Nashar.

“It serves the interests of most regional and international powers, including the Syrian regime… but by no stretch of the imagination does it serve the Syrian people or the Syrian revolution.”

The U.N. Security Council on Friday passed resolution 2118, after grueling U.S.-Russian negotiations, ordering Syria’s chemical arsenal destroyed, but the resolution stops short of promising sanctions or the use of force against President Bashar Assad’s regime.

And the resolution says nothing about the regime’s use of other weapons — from fighter jets to scud missiles — that have also exacted a heavy toll on the rebels and civilians.

“The opposition is the big loser,” France-based Middle East expert Agnes Levallois said.

“With this issue of chemical weapons, Bashar Assad has regained his place as the Syrian partner for talks with the international community.”

Even if the Geneva talks go forward as planned, the Coalition’s decisions “will neither be accepted nor recognized by the opposition inside Syria… It’s terrible for the opposition,” Levallois added.
…
Coalition ‘does not represent us’

In addition to its increasing marginalization internationally, the Coalition also faces a major challenge from inside Syria, after some of the rebellion’s most powerful factions said this week the foreign-based group no longer represents them.

The 13 factions include members of the main rebel Free Syrian Army — which has long demanded more arms and aid from the West — as well as more radical Islamists.
…
“The Coalition has drifted far away from the Syrian people, and from their reality and ambitions,” said Islam Allush, spokesman for Liwa al-Islam.

Amateur video shot at an opposition meeting in Jordan and posted online showed an enraged rebel commander accusing foreign-based dissidents of abandoning Syrians.

“Who among you came to help us? Who came to bring us a glass of water?” commander Yasser Abbud, from the southern Syrian town of Daraa, tells them.
…
Levallois said that while the foreign-based groups bear the responsibility of going to proposed talks, there is a “growing divorce between Syrians inside the country and Syrians outside.”

This division “removes all the foreign-based opposition’s capacity to manoeuvre at the (proposed) talks,” she said.

“Whatever decisions the Coalition takes… will neither be accepted nor recognized by the opposition inside.”

Louay Muqdad, the Free Syrian Army’s political and media coordinator, told AFP he understands the rebels’ anger at the Coalition and the international community.
…
“Had the international community fulfilled its duties, we would not have arrived at this point.”

September 28th, 2013, 12:23 pm

 
 
 

Tara said:

The UNSC agreed on the resolution to dismantle the regimes’s chemical weapons. The regime will comply. The honchos congratulated each other. They posed for a picture. All of them claimed victory. Obama went to the golf course and the UNSC will live happily ever after…

And now what? Is the show over?

Bashar satanic luck neutralized Qatar. After long years of HBJ being a foreign minister, he was made to step down. Batra use of chemical weapons neutralized the US and France who now think they accomplished something and fulfilled their duties to humanity. Israel is happy with Batta and us happier now.

Who is left? KSA? Turkey? No weapons mean no revolution. Is Syria going to turn to a Somalia?

September 28th, 2013, 3:18 pm

 

Tara said:

HA annual income is $ 1billion  70 to 90 % comes from Iran.  The rest comes from donation and mafia activities.  Iran pays $700millions a month toward Syria fighting fund.  When browsing the MSM readers comment, I read lots of favorable comments towards Iran.  I wonder how much Iran pay its hired intellectual mercenaries.        

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-syria-hezbollah-special-report-idUSBRE98P0AI20130926 j

By Samia Nakhoul
BEIRUT | Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:00am EDT

(Reuters) – In the photograph the two robed men stand shoulder-to-shoulder, one tall and erect, the other more heavyset. Both smile for the camera. The picture from Tehran is a rare record of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meeting Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite paramilitary group.

Taken in April during a discreet visit by the Hezbollah chief to his financial and ideological masters, the photograph captured a turning point in Syria’s civil war and the broader struggle between Sunnis and Shi’ites, the two main branches of Islam. It was the moment when Iran made public its desire for Hezbollah to join the battle to help save Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said. At the time, Assad and his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, were losing ground to an advancing Sunni insurgency.

Within days of returning home, Nasrallah gave a televised speech making it clear that Hezbollah would fight alongside Assad to prevent Syria falling “into the hands” of Sunni jihadi radicals, the United States and Israel. The very survival of the Shi’ites was at stake, he said.

Soon afterwards, fighters from Hezbollah – which until then had largely stayed out of its neighbour’s civil war – entered Syria. In June they helped Assad’s forces recapture the strategic town of Qusair and other territory, turning the war in Assad’s favour.

Regional security officials told Reuters there are now between 2,000 and 4,000 Hezbollah fighters, experts and reservists in Syria. One Lebanese security official said a central command in Iran led by the Revolutionary Guards directs Hezbollah operations in Syria in close coordination with the Syrian authorities. Another source said Hezbollah had “hit squads” of highly trained fighters in Syria whose task is to assassinate military leaders among the Sunni rebels.

But the critical voices were ignored and eventually silenced. “Even if (Hezbollah) has its wise men, the decision (to fight in Syria) is not theirs,” said a Lebanese security official who, like most people Reuters spoke to for this report, would not be named. “The decision is for those who created and established it. They are obliged to follow Iran’s orders.”

….
Hezbollah came to serve as a subcontractor buttressing the strategic interests of its Iranian paymasters, forming a military front with Syria and Iran against Israel and the United States. Domestically, it spearheaded the rise of Lebanese Shi’ites from an underclass community to, by some lights, the most powerful sect in the country.

Its paramilitary forces are now more powerful than the Lebanese army and even some Arab armies, regional experts say. It has an Iranian-trained strike force numbering around 7,000, with some 20,000 reservists, according to security officials and diplomats.
….
A regional security official with access to current intelligence assessments put Hezbollah’s annual income at between $800 million and $1 billion, with 70-90 percent coming from Iran, the amount partly depending on the price of oil. The group’s remaining funds come through private Shi’ite donors, “protection rackets and business and mafia networks in Lebanon,” said the source.

Apart from its involvement in Syria, Hezbollah pays salaries to 60,000-80,000 people working for charities, schools, clinics and other institutions in addition to its military and security apparatus, other Shi’ite sources said.

Other security sources said Hezbollah is now receiving additional funds dedicated to the Syrian war. “Syria is sucking up Iran’s reserves, with the Islamic Republic paying between $600-700 million a month (just towards the cost of fighting in Syria),” said a top Lebanese security official. Those figures could not be confirmed.

And the price is not just financial: Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria has hurt its support at home. “There isn’t a single village in the south that has not lost a member (in Syria),” said Ali al-Amin, a Shi’ite columnist and a critic of Hezbollah.

September 28th, 2013, 4:14 pm

 

Tara said:

I truly view Iran as a country of evil. It is one thing to hire PR agents across the globe but a whole different thing to hire intellectual mercenaries to whitewash the daily crimes of slaughtering children. I hope the world will be rid once and for all from this evil country

September 28th, 2013, 4:21 pm

 

Tara said:

From the above article:

“Hezbollah had “hit squads” of highly trained fighters in Syria whose task is to assassinate military leaders among the Sunni rebels.”

Then it is quite possible that the assassinations of military commanders of the FSA was carried out by HA hit squads to sow discord among the different factions.

One can not help not to wonder how Syrians never attempted to assassinate Rifaat al Assad or Bushra or any of those killers outside Syria.

September 28th, 2013, 4:45 pm

 

Akbar Palace said:

Omen,

I apologize. I must not have understood your response to my post about “Israelophobia”:

I do? who else? do you mean me?volunteering for the local synagogue doesn’t excuse what netanyahu is doing.let’s not make the mistake of conflating nice, smart, liberal american jews with israel government.

Ziad,

Again, you impugn jews, but not Palestinians for the same thing. Jews probably have little to no contact with Palestinians, but that works both ways. I had the opportunity of meeting a Palestinian American and inviting him to my home. He happens to be a moderate and he understands the jewish community quite well. He builds bridges and he is a special person. Of course I met Dawoud here, and I worked with a Syrian American engineer.

September 28th, 2013, 5:20 pm

 

mjabali said:

Tara:

So you want the world to NUKE Iran and kill Rifat and Bushra: what happened to happy hours?

September 28th, 2013, 5:21 pm

 

Observer said:

The regime insider keeps telling us that the NC and the SNC and this guy or that guy are irrelevant and finished and losers and incapable and etc etc etc etc……

So who is going to Geneva 2? Nusra? ISIS? What is it about Geneva 2 that is so important? A survival of the regime as we know it? A power sharing agreement? A Lebanese Taif that will postpone the next conflagration?

The Drum tells us that there is no question of the leader quitting his post. Very good, keep him there so that he can be taken into custody.

Today there are SANA news of the glorious SAA destroying nests of terrorists between Arbine and Jobar.

The stronger than ever iPad should visit Darray if he dares or better still go to visit the old souk of Aleppo.

And no there is no room for power sharing. The regime cannot share for sharing means its end. Total uprooting is the only solution of the mafia regimes in the entire ME starting with KSA if you so wish and ending in Tehran.

He he he he.

Athma has asked Dr. Sarraj two years ago to continue to bring the voice of Syrians forward. He was telling the world about the mafia family she married into.

Asma Akhras • 2 years ago −
Thank you so much for this honest dialogue in bringing in more awareness on the story of the Syrina people. Please continue the great work!

Just for the memory he spend thirteen years of torture and depravity and his mother did not even dare ask where he was. Then again it is in the folds of the “great satan” that he resumed his education and is now a prominent immunologist at Northwestern via Harvard.

This is the type of regime that some want to “share” power with? On which planed and in which delusion are they living?

Laughvrov says the rebels have CW, why then not include bringing them to justice in the latest UNSC?

The Drum is comfortable with the resolution; of course he is; he can continue to eat like the glutton he is while children starve.

Here it is again

Asma Akhras • 2 years ago −
Thank you so much for this honest dialogue in bringing in more awareness on the story of the Syrina people. Please continue the great work!

September 28th, 2013, 5:30 pm

 

omen said:

200. zoo said: Observer You said:

“Russia is abandoning the iPad retard; and Iran is about to do the same. Even HA has toned down its garbage.”

Bashar Al Assad is stronger than ever and is here to stay at least until the 2014 elections. If they can’t be held, he is there for much longer. The ‘first turn of the screw’ is on the opposition who is now officially forced to go the Geneva, head down.

there is support for what observer is suggesting. while i doubt things could possibly play out this smoothly, scenario is intriguing:


May 26: Assad’s departure date?

A face-saving formula for Syria and Russia

The Geneva process stalled last year because, apart from the problem of determining exactly who comprises “the opposition”, there were differences over what to do about President Assad.

The Syrian rebels insist Assad must go – his overthrow, after all, is what they have been fighting for all this time. The rebels also fear that if Assad and his immediate clique were allowed to remain, even as part of a power-sharing government, they would immediately begin retrenching themselves.

The language of the Geneva communiqué (now also incorporated into the Security Council resolution) fudged this issue with talk of establishing “a transitional governing body” which “could include” members of the present Syrian government, thus leaving open the question of whether Assad might or might not be part of it.

At the time Russia was unwilling to contemplate Assad’s departure and, at the rhetorical level, its position hasn’t changed – as we have recently seen by with its absurd attempts to blame rebels for the August 21 chemical attacks.

Below the surface, though, Russia’s position may be shifting. Russia, along with many others, seems genuinely worried about the growth of jihadist elements among the Syrian rebels and it’s clear that the longer the conflict continues the more difficult this will be to deal with.

The question now is whether Russia has become sufficiently worried about this to be willing to sacrifice Assad.

On September 19 the Guardian reported an interview with Qadri Jamil, Syria’s deputy prime minister, and quoted him as saying that “neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side”. Along with hinting about a ceasefire, he also reportedly said:

“Let nobody have any fear that the regime in its present form will continue. For all practical purposes the regime in its previous form has ended.”

Jamil later complained that part of his remarks had been mis-reported, particularly on the question of a ceasefire. People also dismissed the report on the grounds that Jamil, a non-Baathist ex-Communist, is fairly insignificant and can’t really be considered an authoritative voice of the Assad regime.

But there’s another way of looking at this. Qadri Jamil may not be a central figure in the Assad regime but he is regarded as Russia’s man inside it: he appears to have been appointed to the Syrian government at Moscow’s behest and acts as a go-between for the two countries. As recently as last July he was in Moscow negotiating a loan on Assad’s behalf.

That raises the possibility that Jamil, in his Guardian interview, was not so much speaking on behalf of the Syrian regime but speaking to it. In other words, that this was some kind of trial balloon and his remarks were intended as a message for Assad from Moscow.

As far as Russia is concerned, Syria without Assad may no longer be quite the unthinkable idea that it was. But if a political solution is to be found it will need some mechanism for Russia to dump Assad without too much loss of face.

This may not be as difficult as it seems. For the next eight months or so, there is a window of opportunity.

Consider this: on 26 May next year, under the Syrian constitution, Bashar al-Assad’s current term as president will officially end.

Sometime during March, if the constitution is followed, the Speaker of parliament will invite nominations for the presidency and Assad will have 10 days to decide whether to seek another term.

Of course, there are all sorts of other things that might happen instead. The constitution could be ignored or amended, or Assad could simply decide to extend his presidential term.

On the other hand, Russia probably has enough influence (if it chooses to use it) to pressurise him into not standing again.

The natural expiry of his presidency could thus get Russia off the hook while also providing a way for Assad to leave the stage without formally resigning or appearing to have been forced out.

September 28th, 2013, 5:35 pm

 

Tara said:

Jaboul,

Yes I ll have a Martini of Rifaat got killed. Bushes should be arrested and tried and the country of evil should be dismantled and neutralized like Nazi Germany.

I despise evil. This is simple.

September 28th, 2013, 5:40 pm

 

mjabali said:

Omen:

I know that it is a waste of time going back and forth with you, but I could not beat the temptation of responding to your hallucinations again:

1- You should be banned from this blog because you attacked me on many different occasions using terms that you should take responsibility for.

2- You do not know where I stand in this Syrian crisis as evidenced in your response. Let me give you an example: I wrote on at least twenty different occasions that al-Assad does not represent the Alawis and you mix my defense of the Alawism as a defense of al-Assad. See: you do not know me and for you to bark at me this hard with sociopath slandering and conscious omitting claims is no good for a sage like you.

3- As for University of the Streets credentials or Scholarship please Professor Omen do not put me in any category. You could not provide ONE single answer to any of the questions and problems arose. You need real knowledge to back up your big words. I saw nothing. All I saw are accusations and calls for vengeance . You need a court and a judge my dear sage.

The crying circle is not going to solve matters. I, and many others come here to know what is really going on and not to condemn this or that. We grew up in the culture of condemnation and I refuse to join, so why you hold this against me? leave me the hell alone.

4- As for drinking: I could smell the Trader’s Joe’s wine between the lines you wrote. It is not a “Character assassination” attempt: it is a call for Sage Omen not to drink if Sage Omen wants to discuss the killing of women and children and what is right and what is wrong and how to use force to do this? The anger of red wine is obvious between your lines.

5- If you feel the urge to use force against al-Assad: Why don’t you join the fight? I told you I am for peace and still kick me in the face and say no peace do not work we need to use force and remove al-Assad. Why don’t you join the fight?

September 28th, 2013, 5:51 pm

 

omen said:

99. mjabali said: Should I join the crying circle of your body Sage Omen to get your respect?

oh mjabali, even though i disagree with your sunni bashing (& your denial over houla,) i respect you and cede to your superior insider knowledge. i should have reiterated this in the beginning.

you can at least give me credit for not calling you a drunk. i don’t partake. wine gives me a headache.

September 28th, 2013, 6:12 pm

 

ghufran said:

A short video about Syrian children in Lebanon by the AFP, it ends with a boy writing ” I want to go Syria” :

September 28th, 2013, 6:35 pm

 

omen said:

221. Tara said: From the above article:

“Hezbollah had “hit squads” of highly trained fighters in Syria whose task is to assassinate military leaders among the Sunni rebels.”

Then it is quite possible that the assassinations of military commanders of the FSA was carried out by HA hit squads to sow discord among the different factions.

we all know cia has been “vetting” rebels on turkey’s border in the pretense of weighing giving them arms.

recall this story from july where cia warned hezbollah of an impending bombing in lebanon.

a story that made me see red at the time because this means cia cared enough to warn hezbollah while it failed to warn new york pre 9/11.

contrary to defenders on the board, i do not trust US intentions. not an unreasonable sentiment, i don’t think, after watching opposition be betrayed by broken promises from the west for the last two years and seeing obama pull every trick in the book to make sure the regime remains.

with this in mind, isn’t it conceivable cia shared their intelligence gathered about rebel commanders with hezbollah?

September 28th, 2013, 6:44 pm

 

zoo said:

In Syria , Al Qaeda group imposes dress code for schoolgirls
September 29, 2013

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/9763e8e5-b41d-4706-9b2f-517ab81ea34b.aspx

BEIRUT: An Al Qaeda front group in Syria says girls in a village it controls will not be allowed to attend school unless they wear Islamic clothing, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

In Tweihineh, “the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant… has forbidden girls in primary education and above from attending school unless they wear fully Islamic clothing including an abaya (gown), gloves and a veil,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Citing activists in the ISIL-controlled northern village, the Britain-based Observatory also said boys were told to dress in what the extremist group considers Islamic clothing.

They must wear “traditional Pakistani clothing and a cap,” said the Observatory, which relies on activists, doctors and lawyers across Syria for its information.

September 28th, 2013, 7:34 pm

 

ghufran said:

Barzeh is about to fall, this time is looks real, while rebels are trying to take Saydnaya and release thousands of prisoners there. The issue of assassination of rebel commanders is a hot potato because there are two suspects at least in each case and potentially more when the target is an ISIS or Nusra terrorist. I still believe that Assad will abandon much of the East and the North except for some oil fields unless he scores a decisive victory in the South, if the picture changes dramatically in the south, Assad may change his mind and go after Aleppo and the north, however, barring a collapse of rebel forces in the south and the center, the regime is more likely to watch and do nothing as long as rebels are busy killing each other and not attacking government troops or try to take new territories.
For the first time in 2.5 years, both friends and enemies of the regime agree that Nusra and ISIS should be neutralized and that efforts should focus on creating an understanding between the regime and moderate elements in the opposition about cessation of hostilities and a transitional government, if this happens, a new and less controversial war will be waged against Islamist terrorists who want to create another Afghanistan in Syria.
(readers who do not post: ignore the thumbs up and down feature, it is a toy for some kids on this blog)

September 28th, 2013, 7:51 pm

 

Heads-up said:

Just so you know, we rely on very well informed and highly reliable sources who work very hard, around the clock and behind the scenes in order to keep you informed with the most important news even before it hits the waves. Our patrons gladly authorized the release of the following very very important heads up.

In this interview, Israeli ex-envoy Michael Oren dispels the false notion until recently held by many which assumes that Israel wants Ass-Head to remain in power in Syria.

Oren eloquently lays the blame on the doors of the naive administration of Mr. Obama which has proven to be very childish when it comes to foreign policy. Oren categorically states that Israel views the mullocracy of Iran and its tails in Syria and Hezboola as the biggest threats to the region and the whole world. It is the failure of the Obama administration to frame the ongoing war in Syria in strategic terms which is causing the biggest worries for all.

When Obama goes no one will regret having him as a presiden, albeit failed one, of the US.

”

Michael Oren: Obama passes the ‘kishka test’ By HERB KEINON

In a candid interview with the ‘Post,’ outgoing ambassador to the US looks not only at the last 3 anxious weeks dominated by the Syrian crisis, but also at the US president’s relationship with Israel.

Israel’s outgoing US Ambassador Michael Oren has one piece of advice for successor Ron Dermer: Get an exercise machine.

Stay in shape? That’s the sage wisdom from a man who has served in Washington for four-and-a-half years, during an extremely turbulent period both in the Middle East and in the US-Israel relationship? What has Oren become, a personal trainer? Who does he think he is, Jane Fonda? But still, there is a degree of acumen in his words.

Related:
Michael Oren’s fusion of roles as historian, diplomat
‘Israel wanted Assad gone since start of Syria civil war’
“This is a 24/7 job that is physically and emotionally very demanding,” the ambassador says in an hour-plus cellphone interview Sunday conducted from his car in Washington. The interview was broken up once by a two-hour meeting Oren attended in the middle, and a second time by a far shorter interruption due to the absence of phone reception under a Washington bridge.

“One of the ways I’ve dealt with the stress is staying in the gym,” he says.

Good thing – because the job, by definition, is extremely stressful.

And what better way to deal with all that stress – Jerusalem pulling one way, Washington the other; the media hounding, Israel bashers bashing, American Jews fretting – than to pump some iron. Or, in Oren’s case, hit the river.

“I’m still an oarsman,” he says. “I was an oarsman in the [1977] Maccabiah [where he won two gold medals]. I’ll go out to the river for an hour and row hard.”

But paddling in the Potomac River is nothing compared to the heavy rowing he has had to do in his formal capacity as Israel’s ambassador to Washington since the summer of 2009. Some envoys, such as Itamar Rabinovich and Sallai Meridor, were blessed to serve in Washington when the US president and the Israeli prime minister saw things pretty much eye-to-eye, as was the case with Bill Clinton and Yitzhak Rabin, and George W. Bush and Ehud Olmert.

Such was not Oren’s luck. Rather, his lot was to be a key middleman in an often fraught relationship between the man who sent him to Washington, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and US President Barack Obama. To hear Oren tell it, it wasn’t really all that bad; the US-Israel relationship during this time – despite what you might have heard – was never in crisis. But, then again, Oren is a diplomat, and he rows hard, very hard.

What follows are excerpts of his parting interview with The Jerusalem Post.

What role have you played during the Syrian crisis?

I’ve been very busy, day and often night. First of all, our role has been informational – finding out the administration’s position, the position of the leaders of both houses of Congress in both parties, getting a sense of American public opinion, gauging the directions taken by the American Jewish community… and then conveying Israel’s perspectives back to those same actors.

When you were asked what Israel wants in Syria, what did you say?

It depends at what point. This is an issue than has gone on for several weeks now, and it has gone through some rather dramatic transformations since it started.

Initially, we were keeping a very low profile; I haven’t appeared in the press for a few weeks, with the exception of very carefully crafted and calibrated messages. The initial message about the Syrian issue was that we always wanted [Syrian President] Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.

Even if those bad guys are al-Qaida or [Jabhat] al-Nusra?

We understand that they are pretty bad guys. Not everyone in the opposition is a bad guy. Still, the greatest danger to Israel was by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran to Damascus, to Beirut.

And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc. That is a position we had well before the outbreak of hostilities in Syria.

With the outbreak of hostilities we continued to want Assad to go.

On the question of whether America should arm the rebels, we said you could arm the rebels, but just be very careful in vetting them. This is because we have had bad experience with arms proliferation in the Middle East, particularly after the fall of [Muammar] Gaddafi in Libya – anti-aircraft ordnance proliferated very quickly and showed up in our backyard.

Then there were the chemical weapons. The chemical weapons were red line was that if Iran and Syria try to convey chemical weapons or game-changing weaponry to Hezbollah or other terrorist organizations, Israel would not remain passive.

We were prepared to stand by the red line, and still are.

There are already reports Assad is starting to move chemical weapons out?

I can’t speak to the veracity of the reports, but he is not moving them out to Hezbollah.

With the question of whether America would stand by its red line about these chemical weapons, our position was that we agreed with President Obama that the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime was a horrendous act, which the regime had to be held accountable for by the international community.

We agreed with Obama that the use of chemical weapons promote proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and encouraged regimes that want to build nuclear weapons.

Now, since the US-Russian negotiations on removing the WMDs, we see this as a development that could be an important precedent not just for Syria, but for Iran – especially if all the WMDs are removed. And we continue to believe that in order for diplomacy to be effective, it has to be backed up by a credible threat – which is also our position on Iran.

That is something Prime Minister Netanyahu always says, and I always asked myself what exactly constitutes that credible military threat.

Well, it is either they believe it or they don’t believe it. I think the Russians believed it sufficiently to be open to the possibility of diplomacy.

Do you think that same type of model could work with Iran?

Not exactly the same model, but it is a precedent. The principle of international cooperation to remove WMDs from a radical regime – and that principle being backed up by a credible military threat – that is an important precedent.

You said in the beginning Israel prefers Assad gone, so on the balance, how are we doing here?

We got rid of chemical weapons, but he stays? Chemical weapons are an important part of his arsenal, and I think that removing those weapons will weaken him.

You mentioned Israel’s carefully calibrated message.

But even with that carefully calibrated message, the storyline in the press was that Israel was – through the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee – getting sucked into the Syrian situation against its will. Did it? No, I don’t think it did. Distinguish between what appears in the press and the reality on the ground. The press narrative was that Israel was behind the AIPAC move. AIPAC makes its own decisions, they consult with us but certainly don’t take instructions from us, and our position was to stay out of the internal debate in the US. It was an internal American decision.

Another press narrative out there was that Israel has an interest in the perpetuation of the Syrian conflict, because it was Sunni jihadis weakening Shi’ite jihadis and vice-versa. That wasn’t our perspective at all. We warned that the longer this would go on, the greater would be the foreign jihadi presence in Syria – and that would pose a threat not only to Israel, but to the West in general. So we did not have an interest in prolonging the conflict.

As a historian of the US-Israeli relationship, do you remember another time when the administration actually turned to AIPAC and asked it to go to bat for it on such a cardinal issue?

Not during my tenure. There have certainly been times when the administration has turned to AIPAC on other issues, but nothing that was so high-profile.

How concerned are you about the rising isolationist mood in the US?

It is something I have been aware of for a long time. I have been talking about it for at least a year – particularly the connection between the progressives and the libertarians.

It is not only on our issues, it is on issues relating to American use of drone strikes, the IRS, Egypt aid. It is on a whole spectrum of issues.

We have to be cognizant that America – after two traumatizing wars in the Middle East, after an economic crisis, political polarization, deep budget cuts and frustration – all of that impacts us. We have to be aware of it.

So when the president gets up the other night and says that if Israel is attacked it will respond with overwhelming force, and the US will stand by Israel’s side, that is a very important reassurance to the people of Israel at this time.

I was struck by that comment and wondered about its significance.

We were concerned that advocates of both [US] action and inaction were citing Israel as a reason either for acting or not acting. It was very important that the message go out from Washington and the president that Israel can defend itself, and that Israel would not be a reason for acting or not acting, and that if the Syrians were to commit any aggression against it, Israel would respond overwhelmingly and the US would support it. That was a very important.

We were very satisfied with that line.

Because it took the argument away from those who said America was going to go fight for Israel?

Also because the isolationist camp was saying that if America would act, Israel would be the recipient of a major retaliation. We did not want that message out either. It is an internal American decision; America has to do what it has to do.

Regarding the Palestinian track, [Justice Minister and head of Israeli negotiating team] Tzipi Livni wrote on her Facebook page recently that the restart of the talks with the Palestinians have already led to an improvement of ties in the international arena. Do you feel that in the States?

Yes. Americans are not particularly focused on the peace process, it is not a headline issue here. It was when it first started, but it has gone off the headlines. I gave seven speeches over Yom Kippur, and the fact that I could report that multiple rounds of peace talks have occurred – some without American participation –was greeted warmly by these Jewish audiences.

I was struck when the push for the restart of talks began that while the whole region was imploding, US Secretary of State John Kerry was dedicating so much time and energy to this issue.

Why? It was precisely because the region was in turmoil that it made sense to move on the Palestinian front.

Israel has a limited degree to which it can impact the situation in Egypt, Syria or anywhere else in the Middle East. One area where we could actually make a material change, and a change for the better, would be on the Palestinian front – provided that the Palestinians would be willing to negotiate with us in good faith and seriousness.

Why not try to bring stability on one front, and a very crucial front for us… It puts us in a position that maybe we will have one less front to worry about, it gives us a little more credibility with part of the Middle Eastern street.

Do you have any contact there with ambassadors from the Persian Gulf?

Several.

Do you notice a change in how they are seeing things?

I think that in the last 64 years, there has probably never been a greater confluence of interest between us and several Gulf States.

With these Gulf States we have agreements on Syria, on Egypt, on the Palestinian issue. We certainly have agreements on Iran. This is one of those opportunities presented by the Arab Spring.

The Arab Spring has presented us with many challenges, but it also has some opportunities.

This is one of them.

Allow me to ask you some general questions about your term. You are American-born and a historian. What surprised you the most about the US-Israel relationship?

I spent about 30 years studying the relationship, and I thought I knew it very well. I knew it was a very deep and multifaceted relationship, but it turned out to be deeper and more multifaceted then anything I imagined.

What does that mean?

I’m referring to the commercial relationship, and how Israel has become a commercial interest for the United States. Israel today is America’s 20th-largest customer in the world, and the 12th-largest export destination.

Tens of thousands of Americans are employed in American businesses. At a time when American enterprises are outsourcing jobs to Asia, Israeli corporations are outsourcing jobs to the US. The technological aspects, the R& D, is big – much bigger than I knew.

That has been a real eye-opener for me.

What was the highlight of your tenure there?

Certainly Obama’s visit to Israel was a highlight.

I often use a public diplomacy line that there is one country in the Middle East that is politically stable; that has never known a second of non-democratic governance; that is exceedingly robust militarily, technologically and academically; and which is unequivocally pro-American. That was the line, and I think Obama’s visit was the ultimate demonstration of that line.

It is true. Obama is up there giving a speech before 2,500 Israeli students who are cheering him, and he is surrounded by American flags.

Where else in the Middle East is that going to happen today? I know that it had an impact on the White House staff. They were deeply moved by what they encountered in Israel.

Moved by what?

Moved by the outpouring of love. There is not a lot of love for America right now. And here was this unqualified, unconditional love.

There was some hard messaging as well in some of the things that Obama said at [his speech in] the Jerusalem International Convention Center. But even with the hard messaging, there was love.

One of my favorite lines of the visit was when Obama came out of Yad Vashem and said Israel does not exist because of the Holocaust, Israel exists to ensure that there will never be another Holocaust. And that flies in the face of the Arab narrative that Israel exists because of the Holocaust.

You were in the middle of what was perceived as a dysfunctional relationship between Netanyahu and Obama. Since the election, stories of the dysfunctional relationship have pretty much disappeared. To what is this attributable? First of all, I don’t think the relationship was ever dysfunctional. I want to say something without reservation: I know what a crisis looks like in Israel-US relations, and we never experienced a single crisis here.

Really?

You were quoted during the 2010 brouhaha over the announcement of construction plans in Ramat Shlomo during US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit as saying this was the worst point in US-Israel ties in 35 years.

That was a unique combination of a leak and a distortion. A “leakation,” let’s call it, or a “misleak.” I was misquoted. What I did say – referring to a statement made by the State Department spokesman who said this would impact Israel-US relations – was that was the first time since the reassessment under [president Gerald] Ford, where a spokesman had come out and threatened the future of the relationship. This is historically true.

It wasn’t the worst crisis. Even if it was a crisis, which it wasn’t, it certainly wasn’t the worse. How do you compare that to the siege of Beirut in 1982, or the sale of AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control Systems] in the 1980s? Those were crisis. And the most recent crisis was actually in the Bush years, the sale of weaponry to China – I am still grappling with the ramifications of that crisis.

This does not mean there were not public tensions. I am distinguishing between tensions and a crisis… We had a lot of public tension, most over the tactical aspects of the peace process, and the tactical aspect of the Iranian issue. How do you reach the goal? We both share common goals: the goal of two states for two people, and the goal of stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

But we have had disagreements on how to get there. They are now pretty much gone because we have managed to iron out a good number of issues.

But we are still going to have disagreements.

There are still going to be differences over Iran because the US is a big country with lots of capabilities, which is far away from Iran and not faced with immediate annihilation. We [Israel] are also a small country with smaller capabilities, that is threatened by Iran.

But what happened? How did we reach that point that you don’t see those public tensions anymore?

One thing that happened is that last year at the UN General Assembly, the prime minister, by drawing a red line [on Iran’s nuclear program], gave the president time and space for more diplomacy… That was appreciated by the president. After that speech, there was a very warm conversation on the phone.

The settlements, which were such a huge issue the first two years of Obama’s presidency, have fallen off as an issue.

I think they realized that focusing on the settlement issue was not going to advance the peace process; it was going to do just the opposite.

People often ask whether Obama passes the “kishka test,” whether he likes Israel special, not in the same way he likes Taiwan or South Korea? Does he? I think the kishka test was decided when he visited Israel. I think the reaction there was emotional and genuine.

I asked about the highlight of your tenure. How about the lowest point? I think that when 5 million Israelis were under rocket fire, that was a low point. The flotilla incident in May 2010 was a tough period.

Why was that difficult in Washington?

It wasn’t difficult in Washington; it was just difficult in terms of public diplomacy. You had people writing full-page op-eds against us.

How about when you were heckled badly at the UC-Irvine campus?

A lot of people made a lot of that. It was very dramatic, but I encounter a lot of demonstrations on campuses. I actually I had a more potentially dangerous encounter a few months ago at the University of Texas, where protestors came up near the stage and came perilously close to my security detail, which you don’t want to do.

What goes through your mind when you are standing up there going through that?

I feel a sense of mission, and even pride standing up for Israel… You encounter the same questions on different campuses. Rarely do you encounter a question you haven’t encountered many times before.

It happened to me recently at a think tank, someone asked me, ‘What has been harder for you, to explain Israel to America, or America to Israel?’ I said without reservation that it has been to explain America to Israel.

Why? Apart from some issues like settlements, Israel is pretty easy to get for Americans. People come to a homeland and have to defend that homeland against tens of thousands of terrorist rockets or an Iranian nuclear threat; they get it.

Explaining America to Israel, where American values play a very big role in the formulation of American foreign policy, particularly during the Arab Spring period, was sometimes very difficult to explain.

The events in [Cairo’s] Tahrir Square, for example: Israelis viewed them with a certain degree of trepidation, while in America it was a cause for bipartisan, across-the-board exhilaration.

Explain to Israelis that for Americans it doesn’t matter if you are Republican, Democrat, Progressive, or Tea Party – to see a million people out demonstrating for democracy is something that is going to resonate.

Do Israelis understand what makes America tick?

Some do, but I think it is not easy. America is a unique place. The value part of American foreign policy is something I think is very laudable, but it is uniquely American. And it is part of what makes America special.

When you look down the road, what do you identify as the greatest threat to a continued strong US-Israel relationship?

I think the great challenge we face is the continued trend to look inward, and further, across-the-board budget cuts, which affect us in different ways. This affects us not only in terms of aid, but also in terms of the American ability to project power.

Is there anything we can do beyond identifying the threats, to soften the blow or influence policy?

We make the case, and I do so unreservedly, that American aid to Israel is vital for American security, not just for Israeli security, and that it is money that is well and economically spent.

You are spending $3.1 billion a year, and this is what you are getting: an exceedingly robust military loyal to a democratically elected government, an unabashedly pro-American country at the center of the most strategically crucial crossroads in the world, intelligence sharing, ports, airports and storage of close to $1b. of US military equipment.

Is that pitch getting more difficult now?

No, actually, in some ways it is getting easier.

Americans, first of all, have seen the great turmoil in the Middle East, they understand that Israel as a stable, democratic, pro-American ally is an immense asset… Right now, we are receiving what we need.

How about the demographic changes, is that making things more difficult?

On the one hand, support for Israel in this country is very high; on the other hand, there are demographic shifts that present us with challenges. The growth, for example, of the Hispanic community is both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is that there are large parts of this community that don’t know us, or maybe what they do know is not accurate, we have to reach out. Whenever I travel in an area of the country that has a large Hispanic community I will always meet with the leadership. I do a lot of interviews on Spanish television.

We are always reaching out.

And then you have to reach out to different parts of the American Jewish community. One of the surprises I had was I did not anticipate the amount of time I would spend on some of the very complex and controversial issues [with the American Jewish community]. Not the least of which was the Western Wall issue [with Women of the Wall demanding to be allowed to pray in non-Orthodox fashion there]. I would say that just in the last month I have spent dozens of hours on this issue.

There are fascinating trends going on in the American Jewish community. Everyone is always pointing out the supposed alienation from Israel among young people. I think that is overblown, and statistics have proven that it is overblown. One trend that does exist is the increasing involvement of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox in American Jewish organizational life. Ten to 15 years ago you would go the conventions of one of these American Jewish organizations and you would see relatively few kippot. Now you see a great number, and some of them are black.

Is that changing anything?

It changes if you look at the broad picture about what is happening demographically in the American Jewish community.

Certain physicists say that the universe is expanding and contracting at the same time – and the same thing is true of the American Jewish community. It is contracting through assimilation, but there is a core of the American Jewish community coming out of day schools, Orthodox environments, which is Jewishly educated and deeply connected to Israel and the Jewish people. And that core is expanding.

I am actually optimistic about the future of American Jewry. I don’t know whether American Jewry will be the same size as it is now in some 30 years, but it will be more Jewishly educated and committed and attached to Israel.

Is the Western Wall issue as big an issue now as it was a few months back?

It is still quite an issue. There is the broader issue of the relationship between Israel and the majority of American Jews who are Conservative and Reform… What we had to convey to people in Israel was that the Western Wall was an issue that could have strategic implications; that it was not just about our relationship with American Jews, but with America. Keep in mind that a big apart of our relationship with the US is shared values. These are very hallowed values for America: freedom of worship, expression, women’s rights.

We had one period where the Western Wall issue was making a half a line of news in the back of the Israeli press, but was making front page news in the US. Here was a case where we had to raise awareness on the Israeli side on how serious this issue could be.

Has the J Street “fissure” blown over?

J Street got a lot of press coverage. I never boycotted them… If they consider themselves pro-Israel, I am not going to say they are not pro-Israel. We have had some strong policy issues, they are much less so today.

They are less of a curiosity, or a news item, today. It is an organization still trying to find its footing. When AIPAC came out very supportive of the president’s position on Syria, J Street had no position. That was ironic because they had fashioned themselves as the wing of the Obama administration in the American Jewish community.

There are some good people there. It is very important to keep the pro-Israel tent as wide as possible.”

September 28th, 2013, 7:55 pm

 

SYRIAN HAMSTER said:

It could not get more pathetic than this . But here on SC, we are used to such pathetic broohaha from wet-pants athad loyalists.

September 28th, 2013, 8:21 pm

 

ghufran said:

It seems that Rouhani agreed to withdrawing Hizbullah and any IRGs from Syria and in return Iran will have a seat at Geneva 2,
Annahar (Lebanon) claimed that Hizbullah started making arrangements for that withdrawal which will be made easier by current and upcoming rebel retreat from the border areas.
This is a list of opposition figures who may attend Geneva 2 according to a Saudi newspaper(notice the absence of military commanders):
الأسماء الممثلة للائتلاف هم الدكتور وليد البني والدكتور لؤي صافي ورياض سيف”.
وأفادت المصادر أن المرشحين للحضور عن القسم القانوني من الائتلاف أيضا هم مروان الرفاعي، وهيثم المالح، موضحا أن مصطفى الصباغ، ويحيى كردي وضع اسميهما ممثلين عن رجال الأعمال.
وكشفت المصادر أن الطرف الثالث في المفاوضات يضم شخصيات مستقلة وهي (الدكتور نجيب الغضبان، علي صدر الدين البيانوني، معاذ الخطيب، أحمد طعمة، لؤي حسين، هيثم مناع، وعارف دليلة ورجاء الناصر).
أما فيما يتعلق بالجانب الكردي، أكد المصدر حضور ممثل عن الحزب الديمقراطي برئاسة صالح مسلم، إضافة إلى ممثل عن الأحزاب الكردية، لافتا إلى وجود شخصيات بصفة مراقب ضمن القائمة وهي د.كمال لبواني و د.نذير الحكيم.
This is Jarba’s (meaning KSA) conditions:
رئيس الائتلاف السوري أحمد الجربا، قال في مؤتمرا صحافي أمس في نيويورك بعد أن شارك في اجتماع مع وفود الدول الأعضاء في الجامعة العربية، إن ” الائتلاف أكد التزامه بالمشاركة على أساس تنفيذ اتفاق جنيف الأول الذي يعني أن هدف الحل نقل سوريا إلى نظام ديموقراطي ومغادرة الحرس الثوري الإيراني وحزب الله الأراضي السورية وخلق بيئة مساعدة على بناء الثقة بإطلاق سراح المعتقلين وفك الحصار عن المدن المنكوبة والمحاصرة وضرورة وجود ضمانة عربية حقيقية للشعب السوري بالإضافة إلى الضمانة الدولية لرحيل النظام وآلية التنفيذ”.
He called the UNSC resolution on CW “acceptable”:
ووصف مشروع القرار الذي تم الاتفاق على إصداره حول سوريا المزمع التصويت عليه اليوم في مجلس الأمن بأنه “مقبول لكن لا يرقى إلى المستوى المطلوب الذي طالبنا به”.
then he accused the islamists of stealing the revolution:
وفي سياق متصل، اتهم الجربا متطرفين قدموا من خارج الحدود بـ “سرقة الثورة” السورية، معتبرا أن الجماعات المرتبطة بتنظيم القاعدة “لا علاقة لها” بالشعب السوري ولا بالجيش الحر، متهما النظام بأنه هو الذي صنع بعضها.

September 28th, 2013, 8:21 pm

 

zoo said:

Ghufran

HA has taken the decision to withdraw from Syria weeks ago. It has nothing to do with Rouhani. It has to do with the heavy criticism they got in Lebanon and the internal political stalemate in the Lebanese government. They want to concentrate on re establishing their role in Lebanon.
In any case, the HA is not of much use anymore, the Kurds and the “left over” of the FSA moderates are doing the job of fighting against the Islamists.
Bashar al Assad will just have to wait that the rebels kill each other and the population of the ‘libereated’ areas get tired of the islamists ideology. The population rely on the Islamists for food and services, so as long as the Islamists get enough funds from their GCC ‘benefactors’, it will be hard to remove them.
It will take time, but the islamists, just like the MB in Egypt and Tunisia will be kicked out.

September 28th, 2013, 8:40 pm

 

zoo said:

Headsup

zzz… zzz.. zzzz

You win the award of the longest and most boring post of the year!

September 28th, 2013, 8:43 pm

 

Tara said:

Akbar Palace,

I am enjoying “to life” song in a Bat Mitzvah of a cute 13 yo girl and dancing Debka with her parents to life.

September 28th, 2013, 8:46 pm

 

zoo said:

Lies, bribery, human exploitation, ridicule by Qatar, what’s new?

11 Reasons Why The Qatar World Cup Is Going To Be A Disaster

http://www.businessinsider.com/11-reasons-why-the-qatar-world-cup-will-be-a-disaster-2013-9

Nine years before the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the country is being criticized for everything from logistics to bribery to human rights abuses.

It’s a burgeoning disaster. Here’s why.
1. They’re allegedly using ‘modern-day slavery’ to build the infrastructure.
…
From June to August, at least 44 Nepalese died in Qatar from working construction, the Guardian reports.
…
2. It’s 120 degrees in summer so they’ll probably have to play the tournament in winter.

During the bidding process, Qatar said they would host the event in summer. Now pretty much everyone has abandoned that idea, and FIFA could make it official soon.
…
11. They probably won’t sell beer in the stadiums.

There are select hotels and bars in Doha where you’re allowed to drink. But you can’t have alcohol or be drunk in public. It will be the most sober World Cup ever.

September 28th, 2013, 8:59 pm

 

zoo said:

Syria’s foreign minister: No transition plan without Assad

The Associated Press
on September 28, 2013

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/09/syrias_foreign_minister_no_tra.html

UNITED NATIONS — Syria’s government will not accept any transition peace plan that excludes President Bashar Assad, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday.

September 28th, 2013, 9:22 pm

 

Observer said:

Here is the glutton that eats Syrian children for dinner you can see how his belly is overflowing out of his pants

Drum boy says we are not going to Geneva to give up power.

http://www.skynewsarabia.com/web/article/444199/المعلم-نذهب-جنيف-2-لتسليم-السلطة

September 28th, 2013, 9:23 pm

 

Observer said:

Well well, look at the NYT article and its pictures of hotels filled with refugees and a war weariness that is pervasive.

Well well, they ain’t seen nothing yet as the regime will continue the scorched earth policy

Here is good night reading

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/world/middleeast/syria-updates.html?ref=world&gwh=573A3B09F8D4E8BB6C8DD5C96CA7080F

September 28th, 2013, 9:30 pm

 

zoo said:

Ban tells Jarba to send a ‘united’ delegation to Geneva. Poor Jarba…

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/328635/news/world/ban-holds-first-meeting-with-syrian-opposition-chief

Coalition president Ahmad Jarba told Ban the opposition group was ready to send a delegation to a conference, according to UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

Ban announced on Friday that he wants to organize in mid-November a follow-up to a Geneva peace conference held in June 2012, when the major powers agreed a declaration that there should be a transitional government in Syria.

“The secretary-general welcomed Mr Jarba’s commitment to send a delegation to the Geneva Conference and urged the National Coalition to reach out to other opposition groups and agree on a representative and united delegation,” Nesirky said.

Ban “stressed the importance of embarking on a serious dialogue as soon as possible as well as the need to ensure accountability for war crimes,” the spokesman said.

September 28th, 2013, 9:33 pm

 

Observer said:

J’amuse Jaffari is having ulcers as France organized a standing room meeting for the Syrian opposition. The same opposition that is according to the regime insider here is defunct but is yet going to be forced to go to Geneva 2.

Well the regime is not going to go to Geneva 2 to discuss the fate of the iPad retard. It is up to the “constitution” says the Drum boy glutton. The same constitution that was amended in 15 minutes to allow a retard under age to run for the sole position of the sole single party mafiosi regime

Here is some more good night reading from L’Orient Le-Jour

Ulcéré que la France ait organisé jeudi à l’ONU une réunion de soutien à l’opposition syrienne qui avait fait salle comble, l’ambassadeur syrien Bachar Jaafari a dénoncé “l’amateurisme” de la diplomatie française.
La révolte contre le régime Assad, qui a débuté en mars 2011 et s’est transformée au fil des mois en guerre civile, a fait plus de 100.000 morts.

September 28th, 2013, 9:36 pm

 

zoo said:

Qatar a model for the Arab World?

Pressure builds on Qatar after ‘migrant workers abuse’ exposed

http://rt.com/news/qatar-world-cup-slavery-criticism-482/

…
Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, described Qatar as a “slave state” in an interview with RT.

According to the Confederation’s estimates, 400 Indian and Nepali migrant workers die in Qatar every year and that figure is expected to grow to at least 600 as the country employs larger numbers of migrant workers to construct facilities for the 2022 World Cup. Burrow has drawn a grim picture of what life is for foreign contractors in the Gulf state.

September 28th, 2013, 9:38 pm

 

ziad said:

Video Games and Cigarettes: Syria’s Disneyland for Jihadists

Atmeh looks like the set for a movie about al-Qaida. New arrivals pulling suitcases on wheels search for their emirs, Africans and Asians can be seen on the village streets, and long-haired men dressed in traditional Afghan clothing walk around wielding AK-47s. There are patrons at the local kebab stand whose northern English dialect is peppered with Arabic words and phrases. “Subhan’Allah, bro, I asked for ketchup,” says one man. The many languages heard on the street include Russian, Azerbaijani and Arabic spoken with a guttural Saudi Arabian accent.

The once-sleepy smugglers’ nest on the Turkish border has become a mecca for jihad tourists from around the world. A year ago, SPIEGEL reporters in Atmeh met with one of the first foreign fighters in Syria, a young Iraqi who said that he had come to overthrow the dictatorship. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 jihadists are staying in and around Atmeh, making it the densest accumulation of jihadists in all of Syria. Ironically, while war rages in the rest of the country, the foreign jihadists have made one of Syria’s quietest spots into their base. Or perhaps they have chosen Atmeh precisely because it is so quiet. Once they arrive, many are reluctant to leave.

The Turkish mobile phone network provides strong reception, and the shops carry Afghan pakol wool hats, al-Qaida caps and knee-length black shirts made of the same coarse material used in the Pakistani tribal regions. New restaurants have popped up, and a company called International Contacts books flights and exchanges Saudi riyals, British pounds, euros and US dollars into the local currency. The pharmacy sells miswak, a teeth-cleaning stick from Pakistan with which the Prophet Muhammed supposedly brushed his teeth. The package label promises that the use of miswak increases the effectiveness of subsequent prayers by a factor of 70.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/foreign-jihadists-in-syria-favor-liberal-transit-towns-over-front-a-910092.html

September 28th, 2013, 9:45 pm

 

Ghufran said:

Zoo
I support hizbullah’s withdrawal from Syria and forming a unity government in Lebanon but I do not believe that these two desirable developments can take place without regional understanding with Iran being in the middle of it. This war can end if foreign fighters leave Syria, or get defeated, and if the rebels, the Assads and the Makhloufs allow elections after a cease fire. Even if you think that Assad is innocent and that he was a good leader, it is clear that it is best that he and his family give others a breathing room, 43 years was enough.

Observer,
Of course the regime wants a piece of the cake, most Syrians, including those who oppose Assad, do not want a government dominated by turkey and the GCC, I spoke about that issue a number of times, there has to be checks and balances in any future government.

September 28th, 2013, 10:09 pm

 

Syrian said:

Iranians Welcome President With Protest
By THOMAS ERDBRINK 6:31 PM ET
Protesters hurled eggs and a shoe at President Hassan Rouhani of Iran as he returned from the United Nations, while supporters ….
Read more
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/world/middleeast/clashes-as-iranian-president-returns-to-tehran.html?ref=global-home

September 28th, 2013, 10:18 pm

 

Syrialover said:

HEADS-UP #233

Cutting and pasting 60+ paragraphs is straight spamming!

And very lazy.

Plus the choice of subject is off course and contributes nothing.

Moderator, please take note.

September 28th, 2013, 10:33 pm

 

Ghufran said:

“I am enjoying “to life” song in a Bat Mitzvah of a cute 13 yo girl and dancing Debka with her parents to life”

This is not the type of parties I would enjoy today, I prefer Palestinian weddings and events that celebrate Palestinian children right to live in dignity without the Israeli occupation.
Before Syrians try to make peace with Israelis and Jews they need to make peace with other Syrians.
Needless to say, I am not lecturing here, but as a party pooper I just could not let what I think as a patronizing comment go without a response, I hope you do not mind.

I wish that girl a long and happy life, I hope you remind your Jewish friends that hummus and falafel are not Israeli dishes!!

September 28th, 2013, 10:35 pm

 

Syrialover said:

GHUFRAN #207

You punch gaping holes in your own credibility all the time.

Please tell us EXACTLY who on this forum you are referring to below. Give us names, and examples.

You don’t want people here thinking you are making it up do, you?

GHUFRAN stated:

“you can make a thick book out of the statement from rebels and their backers, on this site and other sites, in support of Islamist and terrorist groups that not only attacked regime troops but also chopped heads, bombed civilian targets, performed assassinations and street executions, etc, so it is certainly too late for some of you to start condemning Islamists and extreme elements among rebel groups.”

(PS Don’t bother giving us VISITOR who was here only briefly many months ago – and looked like a hoax).

September 28th, 2013, 10:56 pm

 

Syrian said:

Russia with all it spy satalites offers You Tube videos, a 60 years old Nun with no expertise what so ever and few fake interviews, at its proof that it was the FSA who did the CW attack on themselves!
Here is an excerpt from his his interview with the Washington post today
“Q:Russia is still saying that it was the rebels who fired the chemical weapons on Aug. 21 — not the Assad regime?

Yes, we believe there is very good evidence to substantiate this.

Q:Are you willing to present this evidence?

Yes, I just presented a compilation of evidence to John Kerry when we met a couple of hours ago. This evidence is not something revolutionary. It’s available on the Internet. They are reports by journalists who visited the sites and talked to the combatants, who said they were given some unusual rockets and ammunition by some foreign country and they didn’t know how to use them. There is also evidence from the nuns living in the monastery nearby who visited the site. You can read the assessments by the chemical weapons experts who say that the images shown do not correspond to a real situation if chemical weapons were used. And we also know about the open letter sent to President Obama by former operatives of the CIA saying the assertion that the [Syrian] government used chemical weapons was fake. So you don’t need to have any spy reports to make your own conclusions, you only need to carefully watch what is available in public.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-interview-with-russian-foreign-minister-sergei-lavrov/2013/09/25/c27ac000-2610-11e3-ad0d-b7c8d2a594b9_story_1.html

September 28th, 2013, 10:59 pm

 

Ghufran said:

SL
If your comment means that you do not support nusra, Isis and Takfiri rebels then you do not need to get upset at what I said. You know very well that many posters here, not just visitor and his clone heads up , have either celebrated attacks and crimes by islamists or stayed silent, the archive is full of evidence supporting what I said.
The bottom line is, for Syria to rise up there should be a political solution that excludes militant Islamists and the Assad- Makhloufs group. The slogan of ” uprooting the regime from its core” meant forming an exclusionary government similar to what Iraq has, the regime is a broad spectrum which included, according to many of your think tank friends, everybody who worked for the government, and as for minorities, only the likes of Sabrah will be allowed in any future government, and that philosophy, my friend, is a perfect formula for years of bloodshed and violence.

September 28th, 2013, 11:28 pm

 

ghufran said:

Mother Mariam that some of you are mocking makes perfect sense, this is probably why she is being attacked:
“إن المسؤول عن المسلحين في فندق “السفير” المطلّ على بلدة معلولا كان معروفاً طيلة الفترة الماضية، وهو من البلدة نفسها، ويمكن القول إنه كان هنالك شبه اتفاق ضمنيّ على تحييد البلدة، ولم يكن هنالك تواجد للجيش ولموظفي الدوائر الحكومية فيها، أي أننا كنا تقريباً في حالة توازن قائم. ما الذي حصل ليغيّر هذا الواقع؟ البعض أشار إلى أنّ ما جرى في الغوطة وصدّقه المسلّحون جعلهم ينتقمون في معلولا!، لكنّ الأخطر من ذلك هو وجود المسلّحين الأجانب المرتزقة الدخلاء الذين يحملون أجندة خارجية. دخلوا المنازل الآمنة وتصرفوا بطريقة غير لائقة وتخطّوا الأعراف وقاموا باستعراض طائفي، وفرضوا الإسلام على البعض الذي قبل مكرهاً، وقتلوا أربعة أشخاص رفضوا ذلك، وهؤلاء أجابوا بأنهم على دين المسيح وهو لا يخالف الدين الإسلامي، ومع ذلك قتلوهم. هذا فضلاً عن انتهاك الكنائس والصلبان وهي رمز العطاء.
وبرأيي فإن هذا ليس تصرّفاً عفوياً، بل هو مخطط لزرع الفتن المذهبية، معلولا عالمية وفيها تراث عالمي وعلى الدول أن تتحرك لأن هؤلاء سيرتدون عليهم، فإذا كان للجيش الحرّ قيادة يمكنها أن تذهب الى محادثات ومفاوضات، فهؤلاء المسلحون لا وجه لهم، كما يقول البطريرك بشارة الراعي، لا يُعرف لمن ينتمون وما هي اتجاهاتهم، وماذا يفعلون في سورية. مسؤولية كلّ ذلك تقع على الدول الغربية التي يجب أن تطالب بكفّ اليد عن سورية، وأن تكفّ هي عن التدخل في شؤون سورية”.
الأم أغنيس ترى أن “خطف المطرانين بولس اليازجي ويوحنا إبراهيم والاعتداء على الأماكن الدينية والأضرحة وقتل رجال الدين، ضوءاً أخضراً للعصابات لتحجيم المجتمع وتفريغه. كما يقال عندنا، عندما يضرب الراعي تتشتتّ الخراف. وأنا أقول إننا صرنا في عصر البرابرة على شاكلة هولاكو وتيمورلنك، وإذا كان لا يوجد قانون دولي يردع القوة العمياء فليحلّوا مجلس الأمن والأمم المتحدة، وإذا كانت دولة واحدة تفعل كلّ هذا فيجب معاقبتها”.
ازدادت وتيرة استهداف المسيحيين في الشرق الأوسط وآسيا وأفريقيا مؤخراً مما استدعى استنكاراً من فعاليات إسلامية ومسيحية عديدة، إلا أن فداحة الاستهداف دفعت الأم أغنيس إلى إطلاق صرخة إلى منظمة المؤتمر الإسلامي والمجتمع الدولي على حد سواء: “أين المجتمع الدولي؟ وماذا يفعل المؤتمر الإسلامي؟ ولماذا لا يقوموا بواجباتهم؟ على المجتمع الإسلامي أنّ يتحرّك ويدافع عن المكونات التي يلّفها تحت جناحه، وبالنهاية نحن كلنا لبعضنا البعض، المسيحي لأخيه المسلم والمسلم لأخيه المسيحي”.
تضيف الأم أغنيس: “لم يتهجّر المسيحيون في العراق أيام حكم صدام حسين، لكن هذا حصل عند دخول الجيش الأميركي! فماذا فعلتم يا أميركان؟ أنتم لم تأتوا لنشر الديمقراطية والحرية والمساواة والاعتدال بلّ أطلقتم قوى تعمل تحت جناحكم وتحت جنح الظلام لتمرير الفوضى الخلّاقة، وقتلتم من الجميع من سنة وشيعة وغيرهما. الصمت على هذه الجرائم يعادل الشراكة فيها. إن ما حصل في 4 آب/ أغسطس في ريف اللاذقية كان إبادة جماعية، ولكن للأسف لم يفتح أحد فمه. فإذا كان هناك مجتمع دولي – كما يدّعون – فعليه ان يطبّق القوانين على الجميع
for my friends who can not read Arabic:
Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, mother superior of St. James Monastery in Qara, Syria:
– the man behind the rebels attack is known and he is from Maloula
– the town until the attack was spared due to an unwritten agreement between regime and rebels
– armed rebels, some foreigners, committed atrocities and behaved like thugs
– the west carries a special responsibility for actions of rebels
– Christians under Saddam were not forced to leave Iraq but that changed after the US invasion
– what happened in Reef Latakia was a mass murder but the international community said nothing about it
– why is the world Islamic conference staying silent at crimes committed against Christians?

September 29th, 2013, 12:20 am

 

omen said:

46. Hopeful said: #28 Alan

too many yes-people on Obama’s staff telling him what they think he wants to hear, rather than telling him what he needs to know, to protect their high-paying jobs.

Obviously you have not been following the news about how the previous Secretaries of State and Defense both advised Obama to arm the FSA and how he ignored their advice.

Another thing, these guys cannot wait to leave government to start making serious money.

you are relying on the same media organs that keep reporting the US is arming the rebels – only to find out from word on the ground that these promises not only have been lies but obama has bent over backwards to deny rebels weapons needed.

the iraq/wmd fiasco should have taught us to be wary of corporate media, read them with a grain of salt and seek independent verification.

hillary clinton and panetta have been hostile to the opposition from the beginning. both fanned fears that rebels might be alqaeda at a time when foreign fighters were no where to be found. when have either of them voiced despair over the innocent being mowed over? the only time panetta got upset about syria was during the damasacus bombing last year when the opposition took out shawkat. what did panetta say in response? “This is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control.” instead of being happy, panetta was visibly upset that the regime was starting to teeter.

both claiming to have “wanted to help” the opposition (while there is zero evidence of this) only after leaving their position – does nothing to help syria – and smells of political opportunism, laying the ground work for future political ambitions. do you hear hillary championing the toppling of assad or advocating installing a nfz? NO. so how eager must she have been to help then?

September 29th, 2013, 12:38 am

 

omen said:

137. Hopeful said: I think it is very telling that Alan @92 and Omen @95 both want Obama’s Nobel peace price revoked […]
But both agree on the fact that someone else should take the blame….not the Syrians themselves. Go figure!

how should i blame syrians, hopeful?

September 29th, 2013, 12:45 am

 

ghufran said:

This dude summarized it all:

George Saad الى اخواني السوريون لا لا حل بسوريا الا بحل سياس شامل على جميع الاراضي السورية والمتمثل بجنيف 1 + 2 وتشكيل حكومة انتقالية من النظام والمعارضة لادارة البلد وبصلاحيات كاملة واعادة هيكلة الامن والجيش والمصالحة الوطنية , وأناشد السيد الرئيس بعدم ترشحه للانتخابات القادمة مع العلم انني كنت من اشد محبيه , براي المتواضع هذا هو الخلاص لسوريا ويارب يفرجها ع سوريا ويحمي الجميع

this dude, on the other hand, wants to go to Geneva on his terms:
أوضح عضو الائتلاف الوطني السوري مصطفى الصباغ “أن عقد مؤتمر جنيف2 لن يكون ممكناً إلا بعد توافر الشروط المطلوبة”، مشيرا إلى أن تغيير موازين القوى العسكرية على الأرض يعتبر أحد أهم الشروط الكفيلة لنجاح جنيف. ومؤكدا على أن رحيل نظام بشار الأسد بحيث لايكون له أي دور أو سلطة في سوريا أمر لا يمكن التفاوض عليه في مؤتمر جنيف2.

(mr omen, unlike some, I have no desire to have a conversation with you)

September 29th, 2013, 1:25 am

 

omen said:

254. ghufran said: Mother Mariam that some of you are mocking makes perfect sense, this is probably why she is being attacked:

what do the reasons listed have anything to do with the nun’s cuckoo claim that it was the rebels who gassed syrians? don’t tell me you buy this woman’s nonsense.

September 29th, 2013, 1:26 am

 

omen said:

257. ghufran –

doesn’t say much for your material when you are unable to defend what you post.

but i understand. i’d be embarrassed to defend a crazy nun too. i can’t believe you buy her bs.

September 29th, 2013, 1:40 am

 

omen said:

254. ghufran said:- Christians under Saddam were not forced to leave Iraq but that changed after the US invasion.

on a related note, an interesting rumor.

according to pro-ISIS sources, christians in Mosul, Iraq paid Jizyah to them for Years. (Now??)

true or false?

September 29th, 2013, 1:45 am

 

Badr said:

And if “السيد الرئيس أصر على ترشيح نفسه للانتخابات القادمة”, then what?

September 29th, 2013, 1:53 am

 

Hopeful said:

#255,256 Omen

Allow me to make three points:

First, there is plenty of blame to go around and no one is immune. The international community stood by, watched the horrors and did nothing. The Arabs and Turkey escalated the war with rhetorics and divided the rebels into groups with various allegiances. Russia and Iran flooded the regime with arms and support, Etc.,

But It was “Syrians” who have enslaved and abused Syrians for 50 years under a rotten corrupt brutal regime. It was Syrians who started shooting at and torturing Syrians who marched on the streets demanding freedom. It was Syrians who decided to carry arms and fight back. It was Syrians who invited foreign fighters to come in and fight in Syria. It was Syrians who destroyed the towns and cities of other Syrians and killed civilians. It was Syrians who invaded villages and committed massacres. It was Syrians who exploded car bombs and fired shells. It was Syrians who used chemical weapons on fellow Syrians. On and on and on.

Do not get me wrong. To me, the blame falls first and foremost on the regime and the man on the top. But as I said there is plenty of blame to go around, and most of the blame goes to the Syrians themselves.

Second, Obama was elected to do four things for his country: 1) End the wars, 2) Improve the economy and get people back to work, 3) Reduce tension with the Arab/Islamic world and 4) Change US strategy away from being the police of the world. Obama answers to his people and his job is to look after their security and interest. He was forced to act in Libya kicking and screaming and the result was that he lost an ambassador and there are endless hearings in Congress about his foolish intervention in Libya. 80%+ of the American people do not want the US to intervene in Syria. The last thing Obama wants to do is get involved in another messy war, in an ethnically divided Middle eastern country, where the Russians and the Iranians are clearly and forcefully on the opposite side. It is unfortunate for the Syrians who need the US’s help to get rid of their rotten regime, but I understand why Obama is hesitant.

In my judgement, in the face of all of these facts, it was a gross miscalculation from the opposition side to believe that the US would help more than it did. Not only that, the Syrian opposition, believing (wrongly) that the US president is the ultimate decision maker, did nothing to help Obama gain public and political support/cover within the US should he choose to help the rebels more. On the contrary, their statements in US media supporting Al-nusra and demeaning the Russians were not helpful, and only contributed to them losing support among the US public. The US public is clearly anti-Assad and his gangsters, but it is also not a fan of the Syrian opposition and rebels. Their conclusion: “stay out of it”!

Thirdly, While I often had said that the “timing” of the Syrian revolution was not good for Syrians, I understand that revolutions cannot be “timed”. They just happen because people are fed up with the status quo. However, I do believe that the “political” opposition (which is mainly outside Syria – not because they are not patriotic but because the regime would have killed them all had they stayed inside) had made three significant mistakes that contributed to the situation we have now:

1. They grossly underestimated Assad’s strengths and the support from his community and his allies.
2. They openly supported Jabhat Al-nusrah
3. They “excluded” opposition figures who do not follow their political agenda (people like Haitham Almanaa)

My 2 cents…

September 29th, 2013, 2:06 am

 

Hopeful said:

#254 Ghufran

You seem to have ignored (intentionally or unintentionally) to translate an important sentence:

“In my opinion, this was not just a random act, it was planned to create sectarian tension”

Now, at the time where the world’s attention was focused on the use of chemical weapons by the regime and the planned US attack on Syria, who would be the one to gain from showing that the rebels are sectarians? The FSA/SNC or the regime?

September 29th, 2013, 2:29 am

 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

By delivering Chemical Weapons Assad gives Israel strategic victory in the region and offers any enemy the option to attack him without great risk. US will be able to topple Assad if needed next summer. Or leave it in power to give Israel 40 more years of stability and reward the syrian people with 40 more years or rude repression.

September 29th, 2013, 3:32 am

 

don said:

When Ban Met Jarba at His House, No Photo Unlike Sellstrom, UNCA & DPI Scam

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 28 — When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided to meet with Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba, why was it not in his UN office but rather in his residence? Why was it not listed in the UN Media Alert? Why was no UN Photo taken?

These questions have been asked of Ban’s top two spokespeople, without answer.

So why sneak around? What is Ban Ki-moon’s response to the “urgent’ September 24th letter sent to him and his Under Secretaries General of GA and Conference Management and the Department of Public Information? Inner City Press obtained and put that Syrian letter online, and also sent it to Ban’s spokespeople seeking comment. There has been no response.

And so we have to note: while Agence France Presse wrote a breathless story about the meeting, bragging that it is sure to make Syria’s government angry, AFP did not disclose that its UN report Tim Witcher is on the Executive Committee of UNCA, a group which used its DPI-given room to hold a faux “UN briefing” for Jarba in July. This should have been disclosed.

Another UNCA Executive Committee member bragged, without disclosure, that “Secgen meeting with Pres of the National Coalition #Syria opposition forces Ahmad al-Jarba.”

http://www.innercitypress.com/ban1jarbunca092813.html

As Ban Met Jarba, His Office Tells ICP Unaware of Syria Letter, But Here It Is

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 28 — On September 27 at the UN Security Council stakeout, on UN Television, Inner City Press asked Syria’s Permanent Representative Bashar Ja’afari about the French sponsored meeting in the UN ECOSOC chamber on September 26 promoting Saudi-sponsored rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba.

Ja’afari replied, on camera, that Syria had protested that meeting in advance in a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, “yesterday, actually before yesterday.” Video here, from Minute 7:52.

It was not possible on September 27 to ask Ban Ki-moon: at the stakeout, he took only two question, both from board members of the UN Correspondents Association which supports and hosted Jarba for a faux UN briefing in July.

(They tried again this week; the new Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info asked Ban’s spokesperson’s office how this was legitimate and was told to “ask UNCA.” Friday the briefing was held outside the UN in a hotel; Jarba left early.)

But after Ban’s Spokesperson at 7:40 pm on September 28 announced that Ban met earlier in the day with Jarba, Inner City Press immediately asked about Syria’s protest.

Ban’s spokespersons office replied:

Subject: Your questions
From: UN Spokesperson – Do Not Reply [at] un.org
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

The Secretary-General met with Mr. al-Jarba at his Residence this evening with a small number of the Secretary-General’s senior advisers.

The Spokesperson is not aware of any letter so far from the Syrian Mission on the topic you mention.

http://www.innercitypress.com/syria2bandpijarba092413.pdf

http://webtv.un.org/watch/bashar-jaafari-syria-on-syria-security-council-media-stakeout-27-september-2013/2701141284001/ from Minute 7:52

http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1jarbabandpi092813.html

September 29th, 2013, 4:36 am

 

don said:

Discredited in Syria, Jarba Holds Court in Manhattan Hotel, Spox Cites Hitler

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 27 — Friday it was reported that “FSA’s chief, Salim Idriss, was forced to cut short meetings with French defense and intelligence officials in Paris to head to Syria to ascertain the degree of dissatisfaction with the SNC and FSA. Jarba also left for Syria on Friday.”

As late as 2 pm on Friday, Jarba was fielding questions in a small room in the Intercontinental Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Tweeted photograph here.

Twice during the week, his dubious press conference had been scheduled for inside the UN, the type of faux UN briefing he held in July in the locked-up clubhouse of the UN Correspondents Association.

The UN was never willing to answer whether that was, in fact, a UN briefing. The Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info asked, why not have the Saudi Mission to the UN book a regular press conference, and call it what it is? Instead, after a postponement then cancellation, Jarba held his presser in the Intercontinental.

With him, translating, was Louay Safi, “Spokesperson for The Syrian Coalition,” who would go on to compare Assad to Hitler (never a good sign in an argument).

Also present was Khalid Saleh, “President of the Media Office,” to whom Inner City Press directed two questions Thursday evening (YouTube video here: http://youtu.be/tmGdFDJ2D7E)

They rejected any participation by Iran in the so-called Geneva Two process; they chided mainstream media for not being hard enough on Hezbollah.

Meanwhile back at the UN, more and more ambassadors marveled at France bringing Jarba in as the so-called only legitimate representative of the Syrian people. One Permanent Representative asked Inner City Press, who elected him? Fabius and Francois Hollande?

http://www.innercitypress.com/jarba2hotel092713.html

September 29th, 2013, 4:41 am

 

Alan said:

Russia has collected enough evidence to implicate Syrian rebels in using chemical weapons near Aleppo on March 19. According to Foreign Minister Lavrov, gas sarin that was unleashed against civilians outside the northern city was crudely-made as the Russian investigation confirm.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_09_29/Lavrov-says-Syria-opposition-has-chemical-arms-proofs-mounting-5099/

September 29th, 2013, 7:13 am

 

Die Wurzeln des Bürgerkrieges in Syrien und mögliche schwierige Wege, ihn zu beenden! In Syrien leben verschiedene Glaubensgemeinschaften seit Jahrhunderten zusammen. Die Diktatur und die Misswirtschaft des Regimes Asad verschärften die religiösen und said:

[…] Rebellen kontrollierten Gebiete im Norden gelangen. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Kämpfe kam es zur Gründung einer neuen innersyrischen Allianz , welcher dreizehn Rebellengruppen angehören. Gegenüber dem Isil und der FSA bildet der […]

September 29th, 2013, 7:26 am

 

Observer said:

Good morning
Here is something to read while you have your coffee this morning
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10331996/Syrians-mock-Wests-response-to-chemical-weapons-attack.html

The Drum is now hiding behind the “constitution”, eh? The same one that was changed in 15 minutes to allow the iPad to be the single candidate? The same one that was redone in the basement to fit this regime mafiosi operations?

So now they think they have the power to put forth conditions? No problem.

Cham Press has very good news: the dollar is below 200 pounds today. Oh what a joy, oh what a victory.

Tehran to Geneva 2 means removal of HA and IRGC from Syria apparently.

Russia has Mother Agnes as its CW expert.

Well well, the Syrian regime is now Russia’s problem and Russia will try to make sure that this problem does not become entangled around its neck.

Russia wanted to show that it would not allow the UNSC to become an exclusive Western playing ground or so it thinks. It is actually desperate to join the West and knows that its role in the world is finished.

J’amuse is in a Pretzel mode this morning. I just cannot wait to see his brood study at Moscow University or Tehran University.

He he he he he the dollar is below 200 pounds indeed. What a victory indeed.

“defeat is victory and submission is freedom and security is stability” and Asma telling us to keep bringing the voices of the Syrian people describing her father in law’s barbarism to look open and modern.

Keep up the good work we will Asma we will tell of the atrocities of the mafia regime. Bargain shopping for Asma today as the dollar is below 200. Yeah

September 29th, 2013, 9:00 am

 

Observer said:

Why doesn’t Laugvrov just shut up and let the CW experts that will go to the sites where he alleges rebels used CW do their job.

Evidence mounting also that the rebels have MIG 23 and 240 mm Mortars and SCUS missiles eh Laughvrov

The only evidence that Laughvrov needs to be reminded of is that the continued brutality of the regime is going to spawn all of his nightmares.

Good news indeed today.

September 29th, 2013, 9:04 am

 

zoo said:

247. Ghufran

Unfortunatly in 3 years, there has been no emergence of an alternative leadership. The bunch of clowns supported by Qatar and Saudi Arabia are not getting the trust of the Syrians. Quite the contrary. Even the rebels that represent a large part of the grassroot opposition don’t give them any legitimacy.

Despite his flaws and reprehensible excesses, Bashar al Assad has the full support of the army, all the institutions, the rich sunnis, the alawis and a large part of the Syrian population disgruntled by the opposition ineptia and its mismanagement that has caused escalation of the confrontation and terrible tragedies.

It is not a question of 43 years, the Jordan king, the GCC emirs, the King of Saudi Arabia, who are the fiercest supporters of toppling Bashar Al Assad, have been there much more than that.
The question is who can propose a better choice?

With the new constitution, the opposition has had the opportunity to show if they are capable politically to draw the Syrians away from the Assad. Until now they have only shown their disuniy, their allegeance to non-democratic countries and their political immaturity.

Can they beat Bashar’s leadership. They know they can’t, and they have not be able to eliminate him to get their free hands. That’s why they want him out by a foreign force.

Until now while Bashar represents the Syrian nationalism, the opposition represent the Qatari, Saudi and Islamist nationalism.

The opposition has a long way to go before they can change that and they have already wasted 3 years and 100,000 lives.

September 29th, 2013, 9:09 am

 

Tara said:

Ghufran

I disagree. Human relation should not recognize people ethnic or religious colour.

September 29th, 2013, 9:23 am

 

Hopeful said:

#270 Zoo

“Unfortunatly in 3 years, there has been no emergence of an alternative leadership”

I think you meant to say “Fortunately”.

And “fortune” has nothing to do with this phenomenon. Rather, it is the methodical systematic attempt to imprison, kill, and exile any would-be viable alternative leadership. Did you forget that Bashar’s own uncle and cousins are living in exile and do not dare to come back home?

Zoo, are you seriously saying that a country with 20+ million people is incapable of producing a leader, and therefore they have to be contend with “Michael Corleone” just because he happened to be the son of the Godfather?

September 29th, 2013, 9:33 am

 

Observer said:

It is an insult to Michael Corleone
The iPad retard is at best Freddo Corleone

Also Hopeful please do not take away the dream of the regime insider and the fantasy world he lives in. The regime lost control of about 70% of the country. Without a billion or so a month from Tehran he cannot feed his troops.

He is lucky that his opponents are quite individualistic but then again this is always the case in revolutions. Castro also needed to deal with infighting before his troops took over. It is the commanders on the ground that count. Today 43 of them declared joining into one umbrella the Islamic Army.

Al Alam and Manar and Mayadeen today have one piece of news only on Syria the Drum Glutton that eats children’s meals and keeps getting fatter by the day.

The pound broke the 200 mark Yeah Asma can shop better and more Yeah

September 29th, 2013, 9:46 am

 

Observer said:

Also three years is a short time in this revolution. This is going to be at least 10 years of fighting. If there is an agreement it will be only a lull before the next storm.

The region is lurching from revolt to revolt. Even the “Sudanese” are revolting.

September 29th, 2013, 9:47 am

 

Akbar Palace said:

am enjoying “to life” song in a Bat Mitzvah of a cute 13 yo girl and dancing Debka with her parents to life.

Hi Tara,

Thanks for the note; it sounds like you had a good time. We should all follow your example and befriend those who we consider to be our “enemies”. If more of us did this we’d all be at peace with each other. Of course, making peace at home comes first.

September 29th, 2013, 10:45 am

 

ghufran said:

hopeful,

I left few statements from Mother Mariam’s interview in Arabic and I only posted part of her interview. Rebels CHOSE to attack Maloula because it was poorly protected, those thugs who invaded that peaceful town lack political savvy and do not have a good leadership, however, I did not expect much from this particular rebel group, they started their assault by a suicide car bomb at the entrance of a world famous Christian village, go figure !!
The NC is in the intensive care, they have little control over rebels, even Idris’ mustache got smaller after top FSA commanders said they do not recognize him as their leader (too much for a disciplined army),and now the NC wants Geneva more than the regime because that will give them a label they badly need.

A good friend who was the victim of one of Rami’s arm twisting business “deals” believes that Assad and his family will try to stay in power in a way or the other even if they have to endorse a political deal that partition Syria, their main concern is not the rebels or the NC, they are worried about Russia and Iran making nice with the US at their expense. Make no mistake about it, Syria has been ruled with an iron fist since 1970 by a corrupt and brutal junta aided by unethical merchants and business class, the regime provided security, which is very important, but took away everything else including dignity, Assad underestimated the level of anger many Syrians have and the degree of poverty millions of Syrians lived under, the GCC and Turkey were simply pimps who took advantage of the situation and found an opportunity to weaken Iran, I still blame Assad and his circle for allowing a small rebellion to become a devastating war.
I see no chance of this war coming to an end with Assad and his family still at the top.

September 29th, 2013, 10:55 am

 

ghufran said:

SOHR said that a school in Raqqa was bombed by SAF killing 12 students:
محافظة الرقة – المرصد السوري لحقوق الانسان: ارتفع إلى 12 عدد الشهداء الذين قضوا إثر القصف من طائرة حربية على الثانوية التجارية في مدينة الرقة الشهداء غالبيتهم طلاب مرحلة ثانوية دون سن الـ18 و عدد الشهداء مرشح للارتفاع
Rebels have used schools in the past as headquarters and military posts, indiscriminate bombing has claimed the lives of many civilians, rebels do not have jets but they, almost daily, bomb areas under regime control with mortars killing mostly civilians.
(observer, there are thawrajiyyeh here who do not like you, Nusra boys are alive and well on this blog)

September 29th, 2013, 11:13 am

 

Tara said:

Ghufran

Please notice your inability to simply condemn the killing the students in the high School who were bombarded by the regime fighter jet and instead adding a qualifier of the rebels using schools will only play into the regime narrative and encourage more killing.

Crimes warrant condemnation without adding qualifiers, otherwise you turn yourself into a mouthpiece that whitewash the regime crimes.

September 29th, 2013, 11:34 am

 

ghufran said:

Assad interview with RAI news-Italy
Assad gave half a dozen interviews in less than 2 weeks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1RTOPkNOkI

He is clearly taking a hard line on most issues.

September 29th, 2013, 11:34 am

 

ghufran said:

ISIS is now threatening Turkey with retaliation and terrorist attacks:
هدد تنظيم دولة الإسلام في العراق والشام بشن سلسلة من “الهجمات الاستشهادية” التي يستهدف عبرها الحكومة التركية، مطالبا إياها بفتح معبري باب الهوى وباب السلامة التي أغلقتها السلطات التركية بعد سيطرة التنظيم على بلدة اعزاز.
التنظيم الإسلامي المتشدد والتابع لتنظيم القاعدة أعلن وفقا لبيان نسب له ونشرته مواقع متخصصة بنشر الأخبار الجهادية أن ” أقدام أسود التنظيم الطاهرة قد اقتربت من أن تطأ أرض الإسلام في بلاد الترك لتنشر الرسالة الحسنة وتطهر أرضها من الكفار والبغاة”.
وأمهل التنظيم الذي يسمى اصطلاحا بـ”داعش” حكومة العدالة والتنمية مهلة أقصاها يوم الاثنين القادم لفتح المعبرين الحدوديين، متوجها بكلامه إلى رجب طيب أردوغان بالقول: عليك وأزلامك تحسس رؤوسكم بعد أن الاستبداد بالبلاد والعباد فاستوجب عليكم حكم الله على البغاة.
أخيرا أشار البيان إلى مسؤولية التنظيم المتشدد عن تفجيرات الريحانية وباب الهوى محذرا من أن العمليات الانتحارية ستصل إلى أنقرة واسطنبول مستهدفة مصالح الحكومة التركية فيها
ISIS is giving Erdugang until tomorrow to open two border crossings that Turkey closed after ISIS invaded Izaaz.

here is the other face of ISIS, the Wahhabi establishment in KSA:
As one of the 21 members of the senior council of scholars, Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan can write fatwas, or religious edicts, advise the government and has a large following among other influential conservatives.
“If a woman drives a car, not out of pure necessity, that could have negative physiological impacts as functional and physiological medical studies show that it automatically affects the ovaries and pushes the pelvis upwards,” he told Sabq. “That is why we find those who regularly drive have children with clinical problems of varying degrees.”

September 29th, 2013, 12:02 pm

 

Syrian said:

Here is the true face of Iran,the extremist Shia establishment of wallayt alfaqih
the only theoretic Islamist system in the world.
A well known Shia leader named Yasser Habib preaching in London after he was kicked out of Kuwait for his Nazi like preaching, saying all Nawasebs( Sunnis) leaders since 7 the century Omar all the way to the current Morocco king are homosexual because they hold the title of the leader of the believers, then claiming that the devils check all new born Sunnis if they are boys he make them homosexual and if they are girls be makes whores by sticking his finger in their private parts, while God make the Shia babies go unnoticed by the devil

Click on the You tube clip at the bottom of the link and hear and read the translated speech of this well known Shia imam talking the truth as he see it and not using Taqiya( hiding one true belief) as some are doing here

http://youkal.net/2012-12-02-14-05-23/24-25/28429-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9

September 29th, 2013, 1:05 pm

 

Afram said:

communiqué number Two…the best rebellion money can buy
The only people those Istanbul Bozos know are the hotel staff in which they are staying in, on top of that Idris is faced with the loss of half his army, leaving him with 30 officers, and 4 enlisted men. half the officers only understand one word, TAKBEER, which means anything from attack/retreart/rape/ steal/behead&eat human liver foie gras such a workload!

September 29th, 2013, 1:11 pm

 

Observer said:

Robin Wright has a piece in the NYT about how five countries could become 14.

Here is the link. The idea is that the regime would keep the coast and through Homs to Damascus and Soueida.

I do not know if it is feasible but it is in the works.

Here it is

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/29/sunday-review/how-5-countries-could-become-14.html?_r=0

Enjoy

September 29th, 2013, 2:00 pm

 

Observer said:

Here is some nice videos

September 29th, 2013, 2:10 pm

 

Tara said:

Brilliant!

Now we know why gays are gays!

According to the Shiaa pundit linked by Syrian, the devil places his index finger inside the rectum of a baby male upon birth and by doing so changes the baby sexual orientation into homosexuality. If the baby was a female, the satan finger makes her a whore. The best thing is that the Shiaa are protected by the will of God from Satan finger tampering with their private part.

Medical breakthroughs revealed by the pundit do not stop here.

The Shiaa pundit explains to the faithful why gays keep wanting to having sex with the same gender. It boils down to rectal worm. The worm force them to seek semen to satisfy its thirst.
——

Zoo, what say you? Do you agree that Shiaa extremism is no different than Wahhabi extremism?

September 29th, 2013, 2:39 pm

 

Ghufran said:

$ down to 170 lira

شهدت سوق الدولار المحلية انخفاضا ً ملحوظا ً في سعر صرف الليرة السورية أمام الدولار , حيث انخفض سعر صرف الدولار خلال يوم الأحد  من حوالي ال 205 ليرات سورية , إلى حوالي 170 ليرة للدولار الواحد .
حيث وصل سعر الصرف في اللاذقية إلى أخفض سعر بحدود 170 ليرة لكل دولار , دمشق 185 ل.س , حلب 183 ل.س  , وفي حماة 183  ل.س .

September 29th, 2013, 3:03 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#285 Tara

This one is beyond any possible imagination. It looks like a Saturday Night Live spoof of a Muslim version of Pat Robertson’s 700 Club show.

September 29th, 2013, 3:08 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#279 Ghufran

He said that European officials told him in private that they believed his story but could not announce that in public. He said the same things in the past about Arab officials. Next month it will be American officials turn – they will tell him they believed him but can not say it in public. Who exactly are all these people afraid of? Isn’t Hamad Bin Jassim gone?

September 29th, 2013, 3:15 pm

 

Tara said:

Hopeful,

Yes. Beyond imagination. The ramifications of this discovery is boundless. It can actually promote peace on earth.

The worm can be used in biological weapons. Imagine one spray the weaponized worm on an army making soldiers abandon their weapons and pursue other activities. Wars would be won without spilling a single drop of blood.

September 29th, 2013, 3:29 pm

 

zoo said:

The Gulf ‘Sunni intafada’ against Shias has backfired:
“President Assad would stay, and Iran would not be dismantled but emerge strengthened.”
The Gulf countries will have to patch up with Iran to get out of the quagmire.

Syria: the strategy has backfired

The Gulf states’ plans to undermine Iran and Syria are in tatters. But a new relationship may now emerge

By: Alastair Crooke
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/29/syria-brink-of-solution
….
But this Gulf containment strategy of igniting a Sunni “intifada” against Shia influence seems to have collapsed, as the Gulf monarchs absorb the significance of Barack Obama’s U-turn on Syria, and the opening to Iran.
What made it so traumatic was that not just Obama but the US system itself had buckled (public and Congress together). It represented rather a strategic lurch. President Assad would stay, and Iran would not be dismantled but emerge strengthened.

We have seen much sabre-rattling from Gulf leaders as a consequence. They threaten to stand steadfast to the cause – in spite of US “weakness” – determined to remake the Middle East in their authoritarian image. But this is evidently fanciful (in spite of their possibly pyrrhic victory in Egypt). What is emerging (just as it did three decades ago in Afghanistan) from their firing-up of Sunni Islam, is extremism rather than moderation – and inter-Sunni strife.

The Gulf strategy in Syria is also in tatters: its aspirations are not succeeding in the field, and – paradoxically – it seems that the imminent prospect of US military intervention in Syria created a schism within the Syrian opposition.
So apprehensive were the jihadist groups that they would be the prime object of US attacks – as a prelude to the west setting up the Free Syria Army as a copy of the Sunni awakening councils in Iraq – that several days of bloody inter-factional fighting among the opposition ensued. Its perverse outcome has been a further radicalisation of Syria’s jihadist groups, so that 13 of the most powerful, led by al-Nusra Front, now flatly reject the western-backed opposition group’s leadership, and have committed instead to Sharia. Who now can be said to represent the opposition?

In the Gulf, anger and resentment at this turn of events is to be expected, but how far realistically can these monarchs step out of the western orbit, to which they are tied in so many ways?

Ultimately this point of inflection offers the chance to undo that earlier tip towards conflict. Iran is already signalling its readiness to help Saudi Arabia make the necessary transition, as the latest appointment of Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani – well known to King Abdullah for his earlier mediation – as national security adviser clearly signals. In undoing the axis of evil and moderation, a political solution in Syria becomes possible. As one ex-diplomat notes: “The Persians and the Sunni sheikhs quarrel all the time, but also can patch up without outsiders’ help.” If this initiative bears fruit, Syria is likely to be a key part of this.

September 29th, 2013, 3:36 pm

 

zoo said:

#279 Ghufran

Bashar Al Assad Interview with Italian main TV, RAI:
A good interview and Bashar al Assad looks much more relaxed and confident than in the Fox interview.
Yet it brings up the question: With whom will the Syrian governement negotiate in Geneva?
Obviously the opposition was fooled by Qatar and KSA who assure them that Geneva II will never happen because Bashar al Assad would be gone. Now that the SNC is crumbling, deligitimazed by the forces on the ground, how can the opposition create in one month a united negotiating team that is representative of the Syrians?

September 29th, 2013, 3:57 pm

 

zoo said:

#277 Ghufran

Al Raqqa should be freed from its Al Qaeda invaders.

In order to protect the civilians from regular air bomb attacks, the terrorists should have setup warning systems and shelters as it is done in any war to protect the civilians.

As they don’t seem to have done so, it is clear that they prefer to expose the civilians to death, so they can play victim and blame the Syrian government.
Therefore they bear the full responsibility of death and destructions in the areas they claim to control.

September 29th, 2013, 4:04 pm

 

Tara said:

Zoo,

It is shame that some one like you can’t express an opinion in regard to Shiaa extremism as linked by Syrian. Really shame.

September 29th, 2013, 4:28 pm

 

zoo said:

Hopeful

“Zoo, are you seriously saying that a country with 20+ million people is incapable of producing a leader,”

It took 15 years (1963-1978) for Khomeini in a country of 70 millions to emerge as a leader that could unite the opposition forces and topple the Shah .

I doubt the Syrian opposition can do the same faster.

The only realistic plan is that the opposition transform itself into political parties and slowly build their credibility within the country and within the new Constitution as it now allows multiple parties.
It may take years…

September 29th, 2013, 4:32 pm

 

zoo said:

Jihadists are spilling over from Syria to Iraq Kurdistan

46 die in rare Arbil attack, other Iraq blasts

http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iraq/46-die-in-rare-arbil-attack-other-iraq-blasts-1.1237170

Assault in peaceful Kurdish region may be linked to war in Syria, official says

Baghdad: At least 40 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite funeral in a southern Iraqi town on Sunday, hours after six people were killed in rare Arbil attack.

Militants killed six people in the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region in an area usually spared the violence plaguing other parts of the country.

Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s spokesman said the deadly attack may be linked to the bloody civil war in neighbouring Syria, where jihadists have battled Kurdish forces.

A statement from the Kurdish asayesh security service said a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance to their headquarters in Arbil, the capital of the northern region.

Asayesh forces then clashed with four more bombers, killing them, before another detonated an explosives-rigged ambulance.

Kurdistan region health minister Raykot Hama Rashid told journalists that six asayesh members were killed and more than 60 people wounded in the attack.

September 29th, 2013, 4:55 pm

 
 

zoo said:

As the Western attempted alliance with the moderate Sunnis failed due to their aggressive, sectarian and extremist position in particular toward Syria, the USA is now turning to Iran for a “moderate” Islam .

“The deal with Iran is no a minor matter, and is going to be a major turning point in Middle Eastern politics.”

The importance of the deal with Iran

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-importance-of-the-deal-with-iran-.aspx?pageID=238&nid=55363&NewsCatID=406

At the very beginning of a long path, we need to understand why everything has suddenly turned upside down – whether or not in a positive way – so that Syria and Iran stopped being defined as “forces of evil” and turned into political actors.

First of all, it was the unsustainability of the present situation in Syria that forced all parties of the conflict to seek a way out. In the beginning, the Western powers failed to recognize the complexity of the Syrian situation, and that Syria was not only an important ally of Iran but also an indispensable partner. They also failed to recognize that it was a sort of “Ukraine of the Middle East” for Russia and that it would not compromise its stance.

Nevertheless, all of these reasons alone could not push the U.S. and Western powers in general to search for a compromise, unless a Western alliance with the “moderate” Islamic forces and governments in the region failed dramatically.

It is not only that the West invested too much hope in moderate Islamic forces as the new forces of democratization in Muslim world, but that these forces could not deliver good governance in any sense, neither in Egypt nor even in Tunisia.

There is no doubt that this played a role, but the major disappointment was the discovery of the fact that moderates might not be as “moderate” as assumed. In fact, the disenchantment started with the violent protests condemning a movie (insulting the Prophet Muhammad), produced by an obscure American producer. The events culminated in the attack on the U.S. Embassy compound in Benghazi and the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, which created a shock and had an instant impact on U.S. politics. It was the presidential election period in the U.S. and it put at risk Obama’s prospects for a second term.

Under those circumstances, Obama needed to revise his relations with “moderates,” as even if it was radicals in Libya who killed the U.S. ambassador, so-called moderate forces were in power in all those countries where protesters turned violent and targeted the U.S. Moreover, it was the Egyptian government that could not take a firm stance against the violent protests, so much so that Obama came to state that he could “not define Egypt as an ally, but also not as an enemy.”

The case of Turkey, as a failed model for democracy in Muslim countries, has also had its impact on the disenchantment with moderate Islamists. It was not only that the Turkey model failed to achieve genuine democracy, but also that Turkey’s policy in Syria turned out to be at odds with its Western allies.

First, rumors and then some evidence started to be circulated that Turkey was somehow supporting (indirectly, if not directly) the radical Islamist opposition. Besides, the moderates of Turkey turned out to be rather anti-Western and often accused the Western world of being “conspirators” in Muslim world.

In sum, the moderate “Sunni allies” started to seem no less risky to engage with than the “Shia enemies” of the West. At that point, Iran came to be a more reasonable partner than ever, after the moderate Hassan Rouhani came to office and started to send warm messages to West.
Besides, Iran has a stable political governance structure to deal with, unlike shaky allies. The situation in Syria is similar, where the opposition turned not only to be much weaker than expected, but also proved to be untrustworthy in all respects, even dangerous. Finally, it has turned out to be worth trying to talk to a predictable enemy/enemies rather than committing too much to unpredictable allies.

The deal with Iran is no a minor matter, and is going to be a major turning point in Middle Eastern politics.

September 29th, 2013, 5:27 pm

 

Alan said:

7 Israelis in Syria OPCW Chemical Weapons Team?

The French Anti-Zionist party “Parti Antisioniste” revealed on its website [yet to be confirmed, GR Ed] that the team designated to dismantle the chemical weapons arsenal in Syria includes 7 “Israeli” members.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/seven-israelis-in-syria-opcw-chemical-weapons-team/5351999?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=seven-israelis-in-syria-opcw-chemical-weapons-team

Dear Mr Putin! how many really Israelis have in Russian military industrial complex ? 😉

September 29th, 2013, 6:18 pm

 

ghufran said:

zoo,
Sabbagh of the MB is still saying that he will only go to Geneva to negotiate a total transfer of authority to the ” opposition”, either this guy is stupid or he is just getting paid to keep the war going.

September 29th, 2013, 6:33 pm

 
 

Syrian said:

From today’s Alquds Al Arabi editorial :
What Arabs today see in Iran,that its aggressive foreign policy have made a bloody fault line that cut the ME, starting from Tehran passing Baghdad,Damascus and ending in Beirut ,reopening old historical and geographical wounds that started a huge confutation fed mainly by poor Shia and Sunni Arabs.
Using Arabs as cards in its negotiation with the west not caring for the massacres, death and destruction among Arabs, who are fighting each other on sectarian and religious ground. Instead of fighting thier corrupt governments.This is the tarp that those corrupt governments have set up its citizens into,to protect themselves and serve Iran’s grand plans of its Persain empire.
ما يراه العرب ان ايران بسياستها الهجومية صنعت خط زلازل دمويّا يشقّ المنطقة من طهران مروراً ببغداد ودمشق وصولاً الى بيروت فاتحة بتدخلاتها جروح التاريخ والجغرافيا على سيناريو صراع هائل وقوده الأساس هو الفقراء والمهمشون العرب من السنّة والشيعة. ,تتصرف ايران في المنطقة العربية باعتبارها مجالاً حيوياً للاستثمار وتكديس أوراق مفاوضاتها مع الغرب، غير عابئة بتكدّس الجثث والمذابح والحرائق والموت في أراضي العرب الذين يوجهون بنادقهم الى بعضهم البعض على أسس مذهبية ودينية بدل توجيهها الى أنظمة الاستبداد، وهو الفخ الطائفي الذي نصبته هذه الأنظمة حماية لها وانخراطا في مشروع ايران الامبراطوري.”
http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=88852

September 29th, 2013, 10:10 pm

 
 
 

Heads-up said:

Just so you know, we rely on very well informed and highly reliable sources who work very hard, around the clock and behind the scenes in order to keep you informed with the most important news even before it hits the waves. Our patrons gladly authorized the release of the following very very important heads up.

Our patrons have learned that so-called moderate, multi-faced, toothless and powerless Rouhani decided to visit the Guided Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the home of The Universal Prince of the Faithful, His Most Royal Highness King Abdullah Ibn Abdu-AlAzeez Al-Saud, may he be protected and given long life.

Ostensibly the the purpose of Rouhani’s visit is to perform the pilgrimage to the Holy House of Mecca coming up around the middle of October But as most of you know, low life Shia terrorists do not perform pilgrimage to the Holy House of Mecca. Instead, they do so to some idolatrous graves of so-called saints may the True Faithful be protected from such low kind of living. It turns out that the real purpose of the visit is to gain audience with His Most Royal Highness the King Universal Prince of the Faithful. Our patrons also learned that Rouhani offered to kiss the Royal Hand of His Royal Highness as a sign of good faith.

Our Most Beloved King is so kind and so good hearted that he at first looked with favour at the request. The King is known to have keen interest in lifting low lives out of misery whenever the occasion presents itself. However, His Royal Highness the King is now being reminded by his loyal advisers that such low lives as Rouhani and his mostly Shia terrorists who count for almost nil in the VAST SUNNI Domain of this World presided upon by His Most Royal Kingship have treacherous ways and always misinterepret acts of kindness in the opposite way they were intended to be. In other words such low lives are not worthy of acts of kindness. The advisors have proposed that the King must instead offer his feet for Rouhani to kiss as it is more appropriate considering the vast difference between the esteemed status of His Royal Highness and the pathetic one of the subject of the unsolicited visit.

September 29th, 2013, 10:41 pm

 

airfel klima servisi said:

Our patrons have learned that so-called moderate, multi-faced, toothless and powerless Rouhani decided to visit the Guided Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the home of The Universal Prince of the Faithful, His Most Royal Highness King Abdullah Ibn Abdu-AlAzeez Al-Saud, may he be protected and given long life.

September 30th, 2013, 8:15 am

 

What the New Syrian Opposition Alliance Means | The Strategist said:

[…] al-Nusra this bloc represents a majority of the militant opposition in Syria.  Their letter stated four main points: first, for all opposition to unite under an Islamic framework and operate under sharia […]

September 30th, 2013, 3:53 pm

 
 

ALAN said:

Israel and the South African Nuclear Bomb Documents

Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of the state’s possession of nuclear weapons. The “top secret” minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa’s defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel’s defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them “in three sizes”. The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that “the very existence of this agreement” was to remain secret.

As Netanyahu foams at the mouth about Iran’s non-existent nuclear threat over at the UN General Assembly, it should be remembered that Israel, which has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and refuses IAEA inspections, was exposed for trying to sell a clandestine nuclear weapons to South Africa; the very activity the NNPT is supposed to prevent.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/ru/content/flashback-israel-and-south-africannuclear-bomb-documents-0

October 1st, 2013, 1:41 pm

 

#Syria’s Top Five Insurgent Leaders | YALLA SOURIYA said:

[…] Hassan Abboud, the general head of the Islamic movement of Ahrar Al-Sham, spearheaded recent formation of the Islamic Alliance, a powerful group of mainly northern-based militias. They have rejected the SNC and US backed exile […]

October 1st, 2013, 4:16 pm

 

ALAN said:

Dear Mr Putin!
what to do with the Saudi terrorism-incubator! so be left unattended? Have not you the mechanism to crush this widespread cancer ?

Saudis Call for Intensification of Terror in Syria
http://larouchepac.com/node/28361
Upset over the Russia-U.S. agreement over elimination of deadly gases from Syria, and Washington pulling back from war against the Assad regime, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal said in his September 30th remarks to the Friends of Syria group that Saudi Arabia wants
“intensification of political, economic and military support to the Syrian opposition … to change the balance of powers on the ground in Syria.”
In essence, the Saudis, Qataris and Turks have already begun the process. Last week, Abdul-Aziz Salamah, the political leader of Liwaa al-Tawhid, a terrorist group operating in northern Syria, announced that 13 of the leading armed opposition organizations inside Syria decided to unite their efforts under an Islamist-jihadist banner as the Islamist Alliance. The Islamist Alliance was established in order to create sharia throughout Syria and to formally reject the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) as their legitimate representative. Significantly, the group includes some of the largest ostensible moderates, e.g., Free Syrian Army (FSA) as well as al-Qaeda affiliated organizations…..

October 1st, 2013, 4:26 pm

 

ALAN said:

Hagel More Concerned About Israel than Iran and Its Allies
http://youtu.be/YkAeP_qtRVc?t=1s

Israel’s Secret Nuclear Biological and Chemical Weapons (NBC)
/./.
According to Jane’s Defense Weekly, Israel – the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has 100 to 300 nuclear warheads and their appropriate vectors ( ballistic and cruise missiles and fighter-bombers ). According to SIPRI estimates, Israel has produced 690-950 kg of plutonium, and continues to produce as much as necessary to make from 10 to 15 bombs of the Nagasaki type each year.

It also produces tritium, a radioactive gas with which neutron warheads are made, which cause minor radioactive contamination but higher lethality. According to various international reports, also quoted by the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, biological and chemical weapons are developed at the Institute for Biological Research, located in Ness- Ziona, near Tel Aviv. Officially, 160 scientists and 170 technicians are part of the staff, who for five decades have performed research in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology, pharmacology, physics and other scientific disciplines. The Institute, along with the Dimona nuclear center , is “one of the most secretive institutions in Israel” under direct jurisdiction of the Prime Minister. The greatest secrecy surrounds research on biological weapons, bacteria and viruses that spread among the enemy and can trigger epidemics. Among them, the bacteria of the bubonic plague (the ” Black Death ” of the Middle Ages ) and the Ebola virus, contagious and lethal, for which no therapy is available…..
http://www.globalresearch.ca/israels-secret-nuclear-biological-and-chemical-weapons-nbc/5352454

October 1st, 2013, 4:39 pm

 
 

The Messy Rebel Situation in Syria, Just Got a Little Messier | Not So Foreign Policy Blog said:

[…] recent schism occurred recently (Sept. 24th), where several religious factions (at least 11) of the Syrian […]

October 1st, 2013, 10:37 pm

 

TRANSCEND MEDIA SERVICE » Syria: “The Army of Islam”; Saudi Arabia’s Greatest Export said:

[…] hardline Salafi/Jihadi brigades such as Ahrar al-Sham, and Al Qaeda ideologues Jahbat al-Nusra – released a joint statement denouncing the western-backed expatriates of the “National Coalition” (NC), along with its […]

October 7th, 2013, 7:05 am

 

Andrew Zaleski | What I’m Reading said:

[…] several FSA-affiliated brigades, pulled the rug from under the political opposition by signing a joint statement announcing that they do not recognize its National Coalition and affirming that they view Islamic […]

October 7th, 2013, 8:23 pm

 

Islamist victory | Order and Tradition said:

[…] several FSA-affiliated brigades, pulled the rug from under the political opposition by signing a joint statement announcing that they do not recognize its National Coalition and affirming that they view Islamic […]

October 18th, 2013, 12:39 pm

 

Strategic Intelligence Assessment for Syria (2) – State of Play Part I – Pro-Assad Groups and Moderate Opposition Forces | Red (team) Analysis said:

[…] President Jarba recognised that the brigades that signed the “Islamic framework” (see Lund, 24 September 2013) were not anymore “with” the SMC and the NC but “under the command of […]

October 21st, 2013, 6:55 am

 

Saudi Arabia, Qatar may be playing dangerous game over Syria rebels – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs said:

[…] the Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s other main affiliate in Syria. Roughly half the groups that joined in this announcement were Islamist brigades that have reportedly received backing from either Saudi Arabia or […]

October 25th, 2013, 11:09 am

 

L’insurrection syrienne et la guerre des cartes | Proche-Orient et crise syrienne said:

[…] et du Levant) étaient au contraire majoritaires4 parmi l’insurrection, ce qui rejoint les conclusions d’Aron Lund, chercheur suédois spécialisé dans ce domaine5 et du représentant de l’ONU à Damas qui […]

October 26th, 2013, 9:05 am

 

L’opposizione siriana si frammenta a vantaggio dei jihadisti di Matteo Garnero* | Noi Dem Salerno said:

[…] NUOVA COALIZIONE ISLAMICA – Molto più significativo in tal senso è stato il comunicato del 24 settembre che ha annunciato la nascita di una nuova coalizione islamica. L’annuncio è avvenuto tramite il […]

November 5th, 2013, 3:18 am

 

The death of Abdelqader Saleh - Syria Comment said:

[…] Islamist Groups Declare Opposition to National Coalition and US Strategy [updated] […]

November 17th, 2013, 10:18 pm

 

The death of Abdelqader Saleh by Aron Lund | YALLA SOURIYA said:

[…] recently signed on to the September 24 statement denouncing the National Coalition exiles, and calling for an internal rebel leadership. In line […]

November 18th, 2013, 12:25 pm

 

Israel angriper Syrien, sida vid sida med Saudiarabien – det internationella samfundet tiger? | Anders Romelsjö på jinge.se said:

[…] 30/11 Time om flygattacken 1/11 Fars News 1/12 Sydöstran 24/5 Counterpunch 15/10 , Aron Lund på Joshua Landis 24/9 Wall Street Journal 26/9 Guardian 2/10 William Blum i Counterpunch 8/10 Cornucopia blogg SvD […]

December 4th, 2013, 4:00 am

 

L'opposizione siriana si frammenta a vantaggio dei jihadisti » said:

[…] NUOVA COALIZIONE ISLAMICA – Molto più significativo in tal senso è stato il comunicato del 24 settembre che ha annunciato la nascita di una nuova coalizione islamica. L’annuncio è avvenuto tramite […]

December 7th, 2013, 9:57 am

 

Aftonbladet och ”den arabiska våren”. | Anders Romelsjö på jinge.se said:

[…] 11/10 DN 12/10 Intervju med Putin mm Globalresearch artikelFria Tidningen 13/9 FIB-KulturfrontAron Lund 24/9 Björnbrum 27/9 ISTEAMS Ghoutarapport 16/9Time 16/9 om FN:s rapport Reuters 16/9 ICIJ:s rapport […]

February 16th, 2014, 3:39 am

 

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