مشروع العقوبات الأميركية الجديدة على حزب الله الذي حظي بإجماع مجلس النواب الأميركي مترقباً موافقة الشيوخ ليصبح قانوناً نافذاً. هذا المشروع يبدو وكأنه عقوبات على لبنان بكل فئاته ومكوّناته.
بأيّ حال فإنّ التسديد على التفاعلات الداخلية لمؤسسات حزب الله من جهة، وعلاقتها بالقطاعين العام والخاص من جهة ثانية، هي إعلان حرب اقتصادية عميقة على كامل لبنان، بما لا يميّز بين سني ومسيحي ودرزي وشيعي… الجميع تحت مرماها. وهذا يجب أن يستدعي تلقائياً صدور موقف رسمي مجابه لها ربما بحدود الإمكانات اللبنانية المتواضعة مع مواقف من القوى السياسية والاقتصادية والدينية المتنوّعة، ترفض تطبيق ما جاء في مضامينها القريبة والبعيدة.
هذه القرارات لمن يُدققُ في بنودها يكتشف على الفور أنها مشروع دفع لبنان نحو إفلاس قاتل، لكنها لا قدرة لها على عرقلة «جهادية حزب الله المفتوحة»، لأنه أصبح شديد الاندماج بالاقتصاد والاجتماع اللبناني وله ما يحميه في الإقليم من سورية الى العراق فإيران على مستوى الدول والشعوب. وهذا ليس مبالغة وإلا لما استهدفته السياسات الأميركية والإسرائيلية والسعودية والإماراتية بمثل هذه الشراسة والحدّة.
بداية ما هي هذه العقوبات وماذا تحتوي؟
اتسعت مراوحها بحيث تشمل مسؤولين حزبيين. وهذا أمر اعتاد الحزب عليه وكياناته السياسية والاقتصادية وشملت داعميه المتعاونين معه وإعلامه والمعلنين فيه والعاملين والمصارف والمؤسسات الرسمية اللبنانية وشركات البناء ومنع إعطاء التأشيرات الأميركية لكلّ من تشتبه أجهزة الأمن الأميركية به، وقسمي العلاقات الخارجية والامن الخارجي وتلفزيون المنار وراديو النور والمجموعة الإعلامية التي ترعى عشرات المحطات الإقليمية وأموال الزكاة والمؤسسات الاقتصادية الرسمية الخاصة التي يعتبرها الأمن الأميركي متعاملة مع حزب الله ومؤيديه بشكل أو بآخر.
وهنا يُدرك الخبراء فوراً أنّ هذه العقوبات تستهدف لبنان الاقتصادي الاجتماعي بخلفية شديدة السياسة باعتبار أنّ أيّ مسؤول حزبي يتعامل بالضرورة مع واحدة من هذه المؤسسات ما يجعله مستبعَداً آلياً من مجلسي الوزراء والنواب، وإلا فالعقوبات الأميركية تسري على كلّ هذه المؤسسات الدستورية.
فكيف يواصل لبنان إدارة نفسه وعلاقاته بالخارج؟
وعندما تصدر الهيئة الأميركية الراعية للعقوبات حظراً مصرفياً على أسماء معينة بالتعامل والتحويل فيتحوّل مصرف لبنان المركزي الى مؤسسة تُنفذ عقوبات مجلسي الشيوخ والنواب الأميركيين وليس اللبنانيين.
ويبدو أنّ حاكم مصرف لبنان رياض سلامة تبرّع قبل البدء بتنفيذ العقوبات بالإعلان أنّ لبنان مضطر لتنفيذ قوانين تصدرها دولة يتعامل العالم بأسره بعملتها «الدولار» وتتحكّم مصارفها بالعلاقات المصرفية والاقتصادية وحركة تبادل السلع.
لعلّ «الحاكم» هنا أراد استباق البدء بتطبيق العقوبات معلناً عجز مصرف لبنان عن مقاومتها فيرفع عن كاهله مسؤولية ما قد يرشُقُه بها أحد، خصوصاً حين يبدأ مصرف لبنان المركزي بالانبطاح أمام هيمنة الدولار الأميركي وأصحابه.
وينبثق سؤال ثانٍ: لماذا العقوبات الأميركية الآن؟ يجب فوراً ربطها بنتائج حروب الإقليم والحرب الأميركية الجديدة على سورية والتلاعب بالعراق وتسعير القتال في اليمن ومحاولات إنتاج ناتو عربي إسرائيلي بإشراف أميركي؟
لجهة الاقليم تتسارع التراجعات الأميركية في سورية حيث تحاول واشنطن من خلال آخر بؤر الإرهاب ومشروع الكرد في شرق وشمال غرب سورية تعطيل الحلّ السياسي الذي يجب أن يعكس النصر السياسي للدولة المنتصرة عسكرياً مع حلفائها. وهذا ما تحاول واشنطن إجهاضه، وتعمل على ضرب وحدة الدولة العراقية لامتصاص نجاحها في القضاء على الإرهاب وتشجيع السعودية وتحالفاتها على دكّ اليمن.
إنّ مجمل هذه التحركات الأميركية تبقى متواضعة على شراستها أمام مشروع الحرب الاقتصادية الكبرى على إيران ومشروع العقوبات على لبنان، وذلك لأنّ الدولتين السورية والعراقية المستهدفتين لديهما من الإمكانات العسكرية والاقتصادية ما يكفيهما للصمود، كما أنّ اليمن يصمد منذ سنين ثلاث أمام الهمجية السعودية وهذه تراوح مكانها وتتجه للتراجع والانكسار.
لذلك يضع الأميركيون كامل ثقلهم ابتداء من تشرين الثاني المقبل لشنّ أكبر حرب اقتصادية لم يسبق لبلد قبل إيران أن تعرّض لمثلها وبقي صامداً.
والهدف واضح وهو إعادة الإمساك بمحور لبنان سورية العراق وإيران واليمن الذي خسرته السياسات الأميركية المعتمدة على الإرهاب وتركيا وقطر والسعودية و»إسرائيل» لإعادة تحسين مواقعها.
فكيف يمكن لواشنطن أن تربح سياسياً ما خسرته عسكرياً؟ هذه هي الإجابة الكاشفة لأسباب الحروب الاقتصادية الأميركية على إيران وقريباً على لبنان، ودواعي عرقلتها للحلول السياسية في سورية والعراق واليمن. فهي تعتبر أنّ تفتيت إيران الذي قد ينتج من خنقها اقتصادياً وتدمير قوة حزب الله في لبنان كفيلان باسترجاعها كلّ ما خسرته في الميادين.
هذا في إطار نيات المخططين فماذا عن قدرات المستهدفين؟
لجهة حزب الله فأصبح يمتلك بنى اقتصادية مستقلة مدنية الطابع تعمل على خطوط تحالفاته السياسية والعسكرية. هذا بالإضافة الى تحقيقه اندماجاً لبنانياً بشكل أصبح يستحيل معه فك عرى الارتباط. بمعنى أنه لا تتجرأ قوة لبنانية سياسية على مجابهته علناً مع المشروع الأميركي الإسرائيلي السعودي. كما أصبح متعذراً دفع مؤسسات الدولة السياسية والاقتصادية للاندماج في حركة الذين يستهدفونه، فكيف يمكن لمصرف لبنان المركزي مهما بلغت قوة حاكمه سلامة وارتباطات هذا الأخير بخط حزب المستقبل السعودي وبالأميركيين مباشرة، فلن يكون بوسعه تطبيق عقوبات أميركية بمعزل عن موافقة ايّ مجلس وزراء لا بدّ أن يُشكل حزب الله ضامناً أساسياً لاستمراره وبالتالي لاستقرار البلد. وهذا ليس بالفرض والإكراه إنما لما يمثله حزب الله على مستوى الاجتماع اللبناني. ويكفيه ما قاله عنه رئيس الجمهورية ميشال عون الذي أكد على دوره في التصدي للاحتلال الإسرائيلي والإرهاب.
هناك نقطة إضافية تؤكد انّ حزب الله يقاتل من أجل الدفاع عن إيران لأنها دعمته في حروبه ضدّ «إسرائيل» والإرهاب في سورية مع الإقرار بوجود تقاطعات ايديولوجية عميقة ولن يدّخر جهداً في سبيل الذوْد عنها في وجه الحرب الاقتصادية الأميركية، لكنه لن يتأذى من محاصرتها وتخطي أجهزة المخابرات الأميركية والخليجية عندما تعتقد أنّ التضييق الاقتصادي على إيران يؤدّي تلقائياً الى إفلاس حزب الله وانحساره اجتماعياً. فهذا تبسيط لا تقبله حتى «إسرائيل». فرئيس وزرائها نتنياهو أعلن ما يشبه الحرب العسكرية على لبنان والعراق، مشدّداً على نيات كيانه باستهداف حزب الله والحشد الشعبي معتبراً انهما منظمات إيرانية.
ومن الممكن اعتبار هذا التصريح الإسرائيلي نقلاً لحرب أميركية اقتصادية على إيران فاشلة سلفاً الى حروب عسكرية واقتصادية على إيران والعراق ولبنان.
لذلك تدعو هذه الاحتمالات الخطرة الدولة اللبنانية والقوى السياسية للطوائف والمذاهب والمراكز الدينية إلى أخذ عملية استهداف حزب الله على أنه تصويب على الكيان السياسي اللبناني لتوزيعه جوائز ترضية في نزاعات الإقليم فيصبح الندم عديم الجدوى، أما المراهنات على نجاحات أميركية سعودية جديدة لتشكيل حكومة لبنانية بهيمنة من محمد بن سلمان فلا ترقى إلا الى مستوى طفولية سياسية تمارس سياسات تستند الى الأحلام وتستبعد أثر موازنات القوى على بناء المؤسسات الدستورية والسياسية.
أليست هذه الأوهام من أوصل لبنان الى تضخم هائل في الديون والإخفاقات والعجز؟
يجب اذاً استيلاد تضامن لبناني كامل يحمي البلاد من أكثر الاستهدافات التي تتعرّض لها منذ الاستقلال وحتى تاريخه.
In January 2005, Israel installed Mahmoud Abbas as puppet Palestinian president to serve its interests.
He stays in charge by following orders, short of going along with Trump’s no-peace/deal of the century-peace plan, at least so far – demanding unilateral Palestinian surrender to US/Israeli demands in return for nothing. It’s that bad.
The Jewish state abolished Palestinian elections after Hamas won majority control over the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to become its legitimate government.
The Abbas-led PA, taking orders from Tel Aviv and Washington, has no legitimacy. He long ago sold his soul and credibility for special privileges he, his family members and cronies enjoy – benefits for enforcing apartheid rule.
Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh earlier slammed the Abbas-headed Palestinian National Council (PLC), saying it betrays Palestinians by flagrantly “violat(ing) the unity (and rights) of our people…”
For justifiably resisting occupation harshness, Hamas and two million Gazans are virtually imprisoned under suffocating blockade conditions, supported by Washington and the West, the world community doing nothing to challenge it.
Abbas supports what’s been going on in Gaza for over 11 years, along with occupation harshness in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. He’s widely despised for betraying the people he’s sworn to serve.
If free, fair, and open democratic elections were held, he’d be overwhelmingly defeated.
From Oslo to now, he’s been a self-serving Judas goat, a hugely corrupt Palestinian Quisling.
His addresses ring hollow each time delivered, again Thursday at the UN General Assembly, pretending to serve long-suffering Palestinians he sold out over a generation ago.
Calling for peace, an independent Palestinian state, and an end to colonial occupation ignored his longstanding failure to back his rhetoric with responsible actions – just the opposite.
Instead of challenging occupation harshness and Gaza’s blockade, he supports what he claims to oppose by serving as Israel’s enforcer, persecuting his own people, silencing their dissent, paying lip service alone to their liberating struggle he’s done nothing to pursue.
Saying he abandoned Oslo and “suspend(ed) Palestinian recognition of Israel until Israel recognizes the State of Palestine on the 4 June 1967 borders” belies his failure to contest the unacceptable status quo.
More stooge than statesman, Abbas says what Palestinians want to hear while back-stabbing them through betrayal – subverting their liberating struggle, not pursuing it.
He knew about Israel’s Cast Lead (2008-09) war of aggression in advance.
Leaked US diplomatic cables quoting a senior Israeli official confirmed it. Israel coordinated war on Gaza with the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority.
He urged Israel to crush Hamas. When Israeli foreign minster, Avigdor Lieberman was quoted, saying
“I witnessed (Abbas) at his best. In Operation Cast Lead, (he) called us personally, applied pressure, and demanded that we topple Hamas and remove it from power.”
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said this revelation “reaffirms the fact that Mahmoud Abbas is no longer fit to represent our people, who conspired against his people during a war.”
He was never fit to serve, why Israel and Washington chose him as a convenient puppet. He likely knew about Pillar of Cloud (2012) and Protective Edge (2014) Israeli aggression in advance.
Throughout Israeli wars and suffocating blockade on Gaza, he did nothing to help its beleaguered people, going along with or turning a blind eye to mass slaughter and destruction.
He supports Palestinian division, not unity. He opposes Trump’s no-peace/peace plan because backing it could lead to his demise, Palestinians unwilling to accept unilateral surrender to US/Israeli demands or leadership backing it.
As long as he’s in charge, or anyone else like him, genuine efforts for Palestinian liberation won’t be made. The worst of occupation apartheid viciousness will continue.
Stephen Lendman was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business in 1967. He remained there until retiring at year end 1999. Writing on major world and national issues began in summer 2005. In early 2007, radio hosting followed. Lendman now hosts the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. Distinguished guests are featured. Listen live or archived. Major world and national issues are discussed. Lendman is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award recipient.
Highlights from Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moallem speech to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, as simultaneously translated and tweeted by https://twitter.com/Golan67
” We have hopes for more stability and security to every span of the entire world,”
”The Syrians battle is to defend their existence and presence,”
”Our battle against terrorism is about to finish thanks to our Army, People, friends and allies, and we are determined to cleanse all of Syria from terrorism and this is our duty.”
”The international coalition for fighting terrorism has been perpetrating crimes against civilians and it is an alliance for supporting terrorism and for war crimes,”
”The return of every Syrian abroad to Syria is the priority and all are welcome back to their country…”
”An ad hoc committee for the return of the refugees in collaboration with Russia,”
”The priority for rebuilding in Syria is for those countries which have been standing by us against terrorism,”
”The Syrians alone have their own right to the decisions about their country,”
”The use of chemical weapons is rejected and condemned by Syria which dispose of its chemical weapons.”
”The regime of Turkey is still supporting terrorists in Syria,”
”Any foreign presence on the Syrian territories is illegal threatening peace and security in the region and complicates the fighting against terrorism and they as occupying forces should immediately withdraw,”
”We are determined to restore the Golan in full to the line of June4 1967 and Israel should implement related UNSC resolutions especially 497 and the international community should move as put an end to the oppressive measures of the Israeli occupation in the occupied Golan,”
”Syria condemns the US decision to leave the nuclear 5 plus 1 agreement with Iran,”
”We carry message of peace for the people of the world and have never been aggressors against anyone.”
Minister Al-Moallem Address 73rd UN General Assembly
Minister Al-Moallem Address 72nd UN General Assembly
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister of the Syrian Arab Republic, Mr. Walid Al-Moallem delivered the following speech at the UNGA 72nd Session in New York:
President of the seventy-second session of the United Nations General Assembly, I would like to congratulate you on your election as President of the current session of the General Assembly and wish you all the success. I would also like to thank your predecessor for his important role at the helm of the General Assembly during the previous session. I congratulate Mr. Antonio Guterres on his appointment as Secretary-General of the United Nations and wish him the best in carrying out his responsibilities in service of the principles and purposes of the UN Charter.
Ladies and gentlemen, as we meet again, our world is facing mounting challenges and dangers on a daily basis, and a persistent standoff between two sets of forces: forces that seek to control and dominate nations and their riches, by turning back the clock, re-establishing a unipolar world order, fueling chaos and war, and violating international and humanitarian laws: and opposite forces that work tirelessly to create a more balanced, secure, and just world, one that respects the sovereignty of the states and the right of peoples to exercise self-determination and build their own future.
As we meet again, many people continue to pay dearly and sacrifice their lives, security, stability and livelihood, as a result of the policies of certain countries. Those countries falsely believe that they could use terrorism as a tool to satisfy their greed and further their ill-conceived agendas, which do not serve the interests of any people, not even their own. No people has suffered at the hands of terrorism more than the Syrian people, who, for six years now, has fought against terrorists pouring from all over the world, supported by parties from the region and beyond.
For more than six years, Syrians have endured the worst and have made great sacrifices to defend their country in the face of a terrorist war of unprecedented brutality, which has spared no one and no-thing, targeting innocent people, services, the infrastructure and cultural heritage. Despite it all, Syria is determined, more than ever, to eradicate terrorism from every part of the country, without exception, thanks to the sacrifices of our army and the steadfastness of our people.
Mr. President, since the beginning of the war, our state policy has followed two main tracks: combating terrorism, and working hard towards a political solution that stems the bloodshed and restores stability.
On the counter-terrorism, the Syrian Arab Army along with its supporting forces and allies are making daily achievements, clearing out territories and uprooting terrorists. However, the threat of this plague persists, claiming the lives of the Syrians on a daily basis, and depleting the country’s resources. We must all understand that terrorism and underlying Takfirist extremist ideology will continue to spread like a tumor throughout the world and haunt all of our people unless every one of us demonstrates a genuine will to cooperate to confront it together. Any such endeavor must respect the sovereignty and of states and the interests of the people, and must let go of the illusion that terrorism can be used as a tool for political gains and narrow interests.
On the political front, the Syrian government has spared no effort since the early months of the crisis to stop the bloodshed. The success of local reconciliations would not have been possible without the leadership’s political support and the numerous amnesty decrees issued by President Bashar al-Assad, which allowed everyone who had taken up arms to lay them down and resume their normal life.
These successful reconciliations have allowed tens of thousands of IDPs and refugees to go back home and helped improve the living conditions of a great number of Syrians who had fallen victim to terrorist crimes. Syria is determined to scale up reconciliation efforts, whenever possible, because it is the best means to alleviate the suffering of Syrians and restore stability and normalcy.
Ladies and gentlemen, since day one, the Syrian government has positively considered all initiatives to put an end to the war. However, these initiatives eventually failed after states that supported and fuelled terrorism decided to persist in their aggressive policies against Syria and its people.
As for the Astana and Geneva tracks, the Syrian government has shown seriousness and commitment and has done its best to provide the necessary conditions for these efforts to succeed and achieve their goals.
We are encouraged by the Astana process and the resulting “de-escalation zones” and hope that it will help us reach and actual cessation of hostilities and separate terrorist groups. Such as ISIL, Al-Nusra and others, from those groups that have agreed to join the Astana process. This will be the real test of how committed and serious these groups and their Turkish sponsors are. So far, Turkey under Erdogan has persisted in its aggressive policies against the Syrian people and continued to labor under the illusion that terrorism will help serve its subversive agendas in Syria and the countries of the region. Turkey’s position stands in stark contrast to the positive and constructive role played by Russia and Iran.
Notwithstanding its commitment to the memorandum on the ‘”de-escalation zones”, Syria reserves the right to respond to any violation by the other party. Syria also stresses that these zones are a temporary arrangement that must not violate the territorial unity of Syria.
The Syrian government reaffirms its commitment to the Geneva process and further progress on that track. This process has yet to bear fruit in the absence of a genuine national opposition that can be a partner in Syria’s future, and as countries with influence over the other party continue to block any meaningful progress.
Mr. President, it is truly unfortunate that these countries that block a solution in Syria are members of this international organization, including members of the Security Council.
The Syrian government has always insisted that any solution in Syria must respect Syria’s non-negotiable principles which are a red line for all Syrians. These include the complete rejection of terrorism, the territorial unity of Syria and its people, and the rejection of any external interference in political decisions regarding Syria’s future. Only Syrians have the right to make such decisions, whether now or in the future.
Ladies and gentlemen, for decades, Israel has continued its unscrupulous thuggish actions with full impunity.
This usurper entity has occupied Arab territories in Palestine and the Golan for more than seventy years and has committed horrific crimes against innocent civilians. Israel did not stop there. It has publicly interfered in the Syrian crisis since its early days. Israel has provided all forms of support to Takfirist terrorist gangs, including funds, weapons, material, and communication equipment. Israel has also bombed Syrian Army positions to serve terrorist agendas. Coordination between the two was at its best when terrorist groups decided to target Syrian air defense assets used to defend Syria against Israeli aggression. The unlimited Israeli support to terrorists in Syria did not come as a surprise. After all, the two share the same interests and goals. However, let me be clear. It is delusional to believe, even for a moment, that the crisis in Syria will take us for our inalienable right to recover the occupied Syrian Golan fully to the lines of June 4, 1967.
For more than six years, states and parties that were behind the war on Syria, have continued to peddle lies and falsely accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons, despite a confirmation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that Syria has fully eliminated its chemical program. This is enough proof that there is an ill-conceived intention to tarnish the real image of the Syrian government in the international public eye, and come up with new excuses to continue the aggression against Syria in favor of terrorists and their supporters. This was the case when the United States blatantly attacked the Shayrat airbase, claiming that it contained chemical weapons used in the alleged Khan Shaykhun attack. And as was the case after every accusation of this kind, we confirmed our readiness to receive and cooperate with UN investigation teams.
Ladies and gentlemen, certain countries have boasted about fighting terrorism in Syria and having the interests of Syrians at heart. They have established “coalitions” and held dozens of conferences under deceiving titles, such as “friends of the Syrian people”. It is quite ironic that those are the same countries that are shedding the blood of the Syrians by supporting terrorists, bombing innocent civilians, and destroying their livelihoods.
The so-called “International Coalition” led by the US, which was created three years ago to allegedly fight terrorists groups such as ISIL, has killed much more innocent Syrians, mostly women and children, than terrorists and has destroyed vital infrastructure that the Syrians have worked for years to build. It has also used phosphorus bombs and other internationally-prohibited weapons before the eyes of the whole world.
We cannot understand the silence of the international community in the face of these crimes. The international community has not condemned or sought to stop these crimes, even though the Syrian government has made a number of appeals to the Security Council to assume its main responsibility of maintaining international peace and security. The Syrian government has urged the Council to implement its own resolutions on counter-terrorism, particular resolution 2253, and prevent the Coalition from committing more crimes against the citizens of my country.
Ladies and gentlemen, while the coalition failed to make any meaningful progress against the terrorist group of ISIL, the Syrian Army, along with its allies and friends has been able to secure real and significant gains and drives out terrorists from large parts of the Syrian Desert. In what was considered a strategic achievement, the Army was recently able to break the siege imposed on the city of Deir Ezzor and its people by ISIL more than three years ago. This achievement will significantly improve the humanitarian situation in the city and contribute to fight against terrorism in general.
We have declared more than once that it is impossible to combat terrorism without coordination with the Syrian government. This is the only way to make real gains in the war on terrorism. Any presence of foreign troops on Syrian grounds, without the consent of the government is considered a form of occupation, a wanton aggression, and a flagrant violation of international laws and Charter of the United Nations.
Mr. President, the war that the most powerful countries and terrorist groups are waging against Syria is not only a military war. It has taken other forms, no less brutal or aggressive, to break the will of the Syrian people and punish them for their firm support of the Army in its efforts to defend Syria’s political independence and territorial unity. For this reason, those countries have imposed a suffocating economic blockade on Syria, in blatant violation of international law, to destroy the livelihoods of the Syrians and increase their suffering.
These unilateral coercive measures have been imposed on vital sectors, most notably healthcare services. Syria used to have an advanced healthcare system. Today, however, Syrians are denied access to many types of medicine, even those used to treat life threatening conditions, such as cancer. Such sanctions are a clear sign of the hypocrisy of certain countries that shed tears over Syrians while practicing a different form of terrorism.
The refugee problem is one of the consequences of terrorism. As Syria will need the efforts of every Syrian over the upcoming period, the Syrian government has made the return of Syrians to their homes a top priority. To this end, the Syrian government has embarked on a mission to liberate and secure the areas occupied by terrorists improve the basic living conditions of all Syrians.
Mr. President, given the United Nations’ failure to uphold its own Charter and the principles of the international law, we must all consider reforming this international organization to be able to effectively play its role and to defend the legitimate rights against the law of the jungle that some are trying to impose.
Our nations yearn for a safer and more secure, stable and prosperous world. Such a world will remain a fantast as long as certain countries believe that they can go around, spreading chaos, creating troubles and imposing their will with full impunity.
Ladies and Gentlemen, my country, along with its steadfast people and its brave army, supported by our loyal allies, is marching steadily towards the goal of rooting out terrorism. The liberation of Aleppo and Palmyra, the lifting of the siege of Deir Ezzor and the eradication of terrorism from many parts of Syria prove that victory is now within reach.
I am confident that, when this unjust war on Syria is over, the Syrian army will go down in history as the Army that heroically defeated, along with its supporting forces and its allies, the terrorists that came to Syria from many countries and received large support from the most powerful countries of the world, including arms, funding, training, access and political cover.
Those terrorists have tried and failed to impose their backward ideology on a powerful nation that has been for decades a cradle of civilization.
The annals of history will recall for generations to come that achievements of the Syrian people and steadfastness in the face of a barbaric terrorist campaign and unjust measures, which have compounded their suffering and deprived them of their basic needs. The Syrian people have stood their ground, against all odds, because they knew that this was a war that sought to eliminate their country, and with it, their own existence. They are an example to follow by any people who might face, now or in the future, similar attempts to break their will and deny them their freedom and sovereignty.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ address to the UN General Assembly was disappointing. It repeated the same phrases used in his last eight speeches. Nothing new at all. The same appeals for international sympathy. Even the wording of his complaints about Israel’s failure to respect agreements was unchanged. And his declaration that the US is not an honest broker but biased towards Israel we have heard a million times before.
So it was neither strange nor surprising that the chamber was almost empty of delegates and delegation heads, and that the warm applause came mostly from the Palestinian delegation.
US President Donald Trump will not heed Abbas’ demands that he rescind his recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. Nor will East Jerusalem be capital of a Palestinian state, because there will be no Palestinian state at all. Not according to the US’ ‘Deal of the Century’, which has rapidly begun entering the implementation stage – with US support, the collusion of some Arabs, and Palestinian security coordination.
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The US and Israel will not fret about Abbas’ threats regarding their non-compliance with the agreements signed with them. Nor will that arouse the sympathy of UN member-sates. So long as he continues talking Mother Theresa-like about peace, renouncing violence, and joining the fight against terrorism in any part of the world – as he affirmed in his speech – nobody will listen to him or take him seriously.
It was regrettable that the Palestinian president used the UN podium to discuss the agreements he signed with the Hamas movement and threaten not to abide by them. That is the only one of his threats he will actually carry out: to cut off what remains of the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s aid to the Gaza Strip. This amounts to around $90 million in electricity subsidies and salaries, the vast majority of which go to members of Fateh, the PA’s party. Is this the place to make such threats? Does the world benefit from hearing them?
The international community will not thank Abbas for promising not to resort to violence or revert to ‘terrorism” i.e. legitimate resistance to occupation. How could such thanks be forthcoming from UN delegates when so many of their countries gained their freedom through resistance, not by imploring and lamenting the loss of their rights at international forums.
Abbas has been saying for the past ten years or so that peaceful popular resistance is the only option. We ask:
Where is this resistance? Why do the PA’s security forces repress all political activists and throw them in jail, or inform on them to the occupation authorities to facilitate their arrest? Enough lies and deception, please. Respect your people’s intelligence, and their martyrs and prisoners.
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We ask President Abbas:
Why did the US administration cut off all aid to schools, hospitals, PA institutions and UNRWA, while increasing its aid to the Palestinian security forces, at a time when he announced a boycott of any meeting or dialogue with the US? What good did this boycott do in this case?
The fault does not lie with UN, the US, or Israel. It lies with President Abbas, his leadership and administration, his Authority, his security coordination, and his speechwriters and cheerleaders.
When Palestinian leaders chose the course of resistance and sacrifice, the US and Israel and the West in its entirety sought to meet and negotiate with them, recognized them, and feared them.
This farce needs to be ended at once, and the actors stripped of their masks. It has gone too far, and the Palestinian people, both in the homeland and the diaspora, must not remain silent about this situation.
كان الهدف المعلن للاجتياح الصهيوني للبنان عام 1982، بحسب التصريحات والبيانات الصادرة عن حكومة بيغن-شارون آنذاك، هو «تدمير البنى التحتية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية»، أي جميع منظمات المقاومة الفلسطينية والمؤسسات السياسية والاجتماعية والإعلامية والثقافية المرتبطة بالمنظمة. لكن مجريات الاجتياح، التي تخللتها عمليات استهداف واسعة النطاق للمخيمات الفلسطينية عبر القصف التدميري وارتكاب المجازر، التي وصلت إلى ذروتها مع مجزرة صبرا وشاتيلا، كشفت أن الغاية الفعلية لهذا الأخير تتجاوز القضاء على منظمة التحرير إلى القضاء على وجود الشعب الفلسطيني في لبنان. المشروع الصهيوني الذي قام على التطهير العرقي في فلسطين حاول تكرار جريمته في لبنان. لكن إرادة الصمود الأسطورية لدى الفلسطينيين في لبنان، الذين تعرضوا لعمليات قتل وتنكيل وحصار طوال عقد ثمانينات القرن الماضي وليس خلال الاجتياح وحده، منعته من بلوغ غايته. اليوم، بعد مرور أكثر من سبعين عاماً على النكبة في فلسطين، وستة وثلاثين عاماً على مجزرة صبرا وشاتيلا، قرّر الكيان الصهيوني، عبر تصويت الكنيست على قانون القومية اليهودية، الإعلان رسمياً عن طبيعته الاستيطانية الإحلالية. بحسب هذا القانون، «إسرائيل» هي الوطن التاريخي «للشعب اليهودي» حصراً، حيث يمارس «حقه في تقرير المصير». وكما في جميع حالات الاستعمار الاستيطاني الإحلالي التي سبقت، كالولايات المتحدة وأستراليا ونيوزلندا، لا مكان للسكان الأصليين إلا في المقابر الجماعية أو معازل القتل البطيء. وقد اعتقد الصهاينة بعد النكبة أنهم نجحوا في التخلص من الفلسطينيين، كما أكد أحد قادتهم، أبا إيبان، عندما جزم أن «الكبار سيموتون والصغار سينسون». كذّب الفلسطينيون أبا إيبان وانطلقت من مخيمات البؤس والتشرد والبطولة والفداء ، خارج فلسطين، الثورة الفلسطينية المعاصرة. ومع مضي أكثر من عقد ونصف على انطلاقتها وتمركز قواتها في لبنان، قرّر الصهاينة تكرار محاولة الإجهاز عليها واستكمال ما بدأوه عام 1948.
اجتياح بحجم نكبة
المقاومة الفلسطينية وحلفاؤها أدركوا بوضوح أهداف الاجتياح، وكذلك أعداء هذه المقاومة، من ميليشيات اليمين الفاشي اللبناني، التي كان وصول مرشحها إلى السلطة أحد هذه الأهداف. وتكفلت التطورات الميدانية والسياسية خلال الاجتياح وبعده بتبيانها لمن كان متعامياً عنها وأولها إلحاق نكبة جديدة بالشعب الفلسطيني واقتلاعه من الجزء الأكبر من لبنان. هذا ما يفسر التدمير المتعمد والمنهجي، الكامل أو شبه الكامل، لمعظم المخيمات الواقعة ضمن نطاق الاجتياح كالرشيدية والبرج الشمالي وعين الحلوة وهو ما يفسر طبعاً مجزرة صبرا وشاتيلا. لم يرحل الفلسطينيون. بقوا بين أنقاض منازلهم وأعادوا إعمارها تدريجاً على رغم تعرضهم للقتل والخطف والاعتقال والتنكيل في المخيمات الواقعة تحت الاحتلال في الجنوب آنذاك وثبتوا في أزقة صبرا وشاتيلا التي تحولت ليومين متتاليين إلى مسلخ بشري مكتظ بجثث أهلهم وأحبتهم. من أراد المزيد من الإطلاع على وقائع تلك المرحلة وعلى تجربة الفلسطينيين المريرة في لبنان في ثمانينات القرن الماضي، من منظور المعنيين أي الفلسطينيين، عليه مراجعة الكتاب الهام لروز ماري صايغ «أعداء كثر» (Too Many enemies) الصادر بالإنكليزية والذي لم يترجم للعربية لأسباب «غير مفهومة».
حَرص الطرف الإسرائيلي، بعد مجزرة صبرا وشاتيلا والاستنكار العالمي الذي سببته، على الترويج لسردية لخصها مناحم بيغن بقوله أمام الكنيست: «غوييم (أغراب من غير اليهود) قتلوا غوييم، لكن العالم يتهم اليهود». لم تكن إسرائيل تتوقع، بحسب السردية المذكورة، أن يقدم حلفاؤها في القوات اللبنانية، وقوات سعد حداد التي جيء بها من الجنوب، على ارتكاب مجزرة ضد المدنيين. وزير دفاعها آنذاك آرييل شارون اعترف بأنه من أعطى الأمر لهذه القوى الرديفة بدخول المخيمات «لتطهيرها من الإرهابيين» لكنه نفى علمه بنيتها ارتكاب مجازر، وعزا سلوكها إلى رغبتها بالانتقام لاغتيال زعيمها بشير الجميل. بعض قادة القوات اللبنانية برّروا أيضاً ما جرى على أنه رد فعل من عناصرها بدافع الانتقام من عملية الاغتيال. أحد قادتها، فؤاد مالك، وفي مقابلة مع إذاعة كورتوازي (Radio Courtoisie) اليمينية المتطرفة الفرنسية في الثمانينات، زعم بأن ما جرى في صبرا وشاتيلا معركة وليس مجزرة وبأنه شارك شخصياً فيها!
لم تصمد هذه السرديات والمزاعم أمام الشهادات والوثائق والتحقيقات التي تثبّت بشكل حاسم أن المجزرة اندرجت ضمن سياق مخطط مشترك بين إسرائيل والقوات اللبنانية لاقتلاع الوجود الفلسطيني من لبنان. آخر الوثائق الشديدة الأهمية هي تلك التي كشف عنها الباحث الأميركي سيت أنزيسكا في مقال في مجلة نيويورك رفيو أوف بوكس، خصصه لنشر بعض الصفحات المختارة من كتابه المرجعي «تغييب فلسطين، التاريخ السياسي من كامب ديفيد إلى أوسلو»، الصادر أخيراً عن دار نشر جامعة برنستون في الولايات المتحدة. يبرز الكتاب حقيقة تواطؤ جميع الإدارات الأميركية المتعاقبة، من إدارتي فورد ونيكسون، إلى إدارة ترامب، مع السياسة الإسرائيلية التي عملت بجميع السبل لمنع الفلسطينيين من حقهم بتقرير المصير وإقامة دولة مستقلّة على أي جزء من أرض فلسطين التاريخية وكيفية توظيف هذه السياسة لما سمي بعملية السلام منذ اتفاقية كامب ديفيد لإخراج أطراف عربية وازنة كمصر من الصراع مع إسرائيل وعزل الفلسطينيين تمهيداً للإجهاز على حركتهم الوطنية وإتمام عملية الاقتلاع والضم والاستيطان. ويفرد الكتاب حيزاً هاماً للاجتياح الإسرائيلي عام 1982، ومجازر صبرا وشاتيلا، باعتباره محطة مفصلية في مسار الإبادة السياسية و«تغييب فلسطين». خلال عمله على إعداد الكتاب، حصل أنزيسكا من وليم كوانت، عضو مجلس الأمن القومي الأسبق في عهد الرئيس الأميركي جيمي كارتر والخبير البارز في شؤون الشرق الأوسط الناقد للسياستين الأميركية والإسرائيلية، على الملحقات السرية لتقرير لجنة كاهان، اللجنة الإسرائيلية المكلفة بالتحقيق في مجزرة صبرا وشاتيلا. تنقسم هذه الوثائق إلى محاضر اجتماعات بين القيادات العسكرية والأمنية الإسرائيلية وقيادتي القوات اللبنانية وحزب الكتائب وإلى محاضر جلسات استماع أمام الكنيست لمسؤولين إسرائيليين ومحاضر مقابلات بينهم وبين لجنة كاهان. اختارت «الأخبار» أن تنشر أبرز محاضر الاجتماعات بين القيادات الإسرائيلية واللبنانية التي تفصح عن تفاهم كامل على غايات الاجتياح وفي مقدمها الخلاص من «الديموغرافيا» الفلسطينية في لبنان. وقد شارك قائد القوات اللبنانية بشير الجميل في أغلب هذه الاجتماعات المصيرية. يتضح في أكثر من محضر أن الطرف الإسرائيلي، للحفاظ على صورته وسمعته أمام العالم، لزّم أمر المخيمات للميليشيات الفاشية اللبنانية المتحمسة لذلك. هذه الأخيرة، على غرار غيرها من فرق الموت الفاشية عبر العالم، تخصصت خلال الحرب الأهلية بعمليات «التطهير الاجتماعي» لأحزمة الفقر عبر القتل الجماعي والتشريد كما فعلت في النبعة والكرنتينا ومخيمي تل الزعتر وجسر الباشا. كانت الطرف الأمثل لإنجاز المهمة.
مجزرة صبرا وشاتيلا ليست كغيرها من مجازر الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية. لم يكن رد فعل على مجزرة أخرى أو عملاً انتقامياً تلا معركة كما حصل خلال الحرب. هي أتت تنفيذاً لقرار إسرائيلي مشترك مع رديف رُفع إلى مرتبة الحليف لاعتبارات سياسية، كحلقة في مخطط واسع هدف إلى إعادة صياغة التوازنات السياسية والديموغرافية في لبنان وفي المنطقة. ومن يشك في صحة هذه الخلاصات عليه بمراجعة محاضر الاجتماعات بين الشركاء في الجريمة المتعمدة التي تبدأ «الأخبار» بنشرها اليوم.
محضر الاجتماع بين بشير الجميّل وكمحي وتامير، مكتوب بخطّ اليد
1 – كان بشير راضياً بعدما تلقّى المعدات التي أرسلناها إليه.
2 – كان مهتماً بمعرفة مصير الفلسطينيين في لبنان بعد إجلاء منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية، أو ما يسمّيه «المشكلة الديموغرافية». قلنا له إنّ مشكلة السكان المدنيّين هي مشكلتكم (هم الذين دعوهم إلى الدخول، لذلك فإنّ التخلص منهم من مسؤوليتهم).
بالمقارنة، إنّ مشكلة منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية مشكلة مركّبة: إما أن ينسحبوا وفق الاتفاق السياسي، أو أن يُخرَجوا بالقوّة.
طرح بشير النقاش المعهود، وقال إن الوقت ينفد، كذلك فإنّه بات يشكّل عائقاً أمامنا، وإن شيئاً لن يتحقّق جرّاء العملية السياسية. وقال إنه إذا جرى غزو المخيمات أو عزلها، فإنّ المدينة ستسقط كثمرةٍ ناضجة، لأنّ الأحياء السنيّة ستستسلم، كذلك فإن المسيحيين سيزيدون الضغوط.
(ملاحظة مكتوبة بخط اليد من دون عنوان بتاريخ 10 تموز/ يوليو 1982: بشير الجميّل يقترح إضافة قوّة سعودية إلى القوات الدولية المقرَّر أن تدخل بيروت).
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21 آب/ أغسطس 1982 (قبل يومين من انتخاب بشير الجميل رئيساً للجمهورية)
عنوان الوثيقة: محضر اجتماع بين وزير الدفاع (أرييل شارون) وبيار وبشير الجميّل في مكتب بشير
المشاركون: رجال بشير، ممثلون عن الموساد، أوري دان، الميجور شامير وزير الدفاع: لقد وضعنا الخلفية، نحن هنا في بيروت بحسب اتفاقنا في كانون الثاني/ يناير هذا العام. كيف تتحضّرون لحكومة قوية ومستقرّة؟
بيار: إن الله أرسلكم إلينا. خلال السنوات السبع أو الثماني الماضية، خذَلَنا الجميع. الأميركيون والأوروبيون كانوا يخافون حرق أيديهم هنا. كان ضرورياً أن تفعلوا ما فعلتم. لقد أتيتم وأنقذتمونا. خلال العامين الماضيين، انتظرنا بيأس. من دون مساعدتكم، لكنّا اختفينا.
أشعر بأنكم لستم راضين عن موقفنا. ربما توقعتم تعبيراً أكبر عن الفرح وحماسة أكبر لدى وصولكم. على الرغم من أننا لم نعبّر عن ذلك ظاهرياً، أريدك أن تعرف أن قلوبنا تطير من الفرح. حتى لو أنّكم تعملون وفقاً لما تقتضيه مصلحتكم، فإنّكم قدّمتم لنا خدمة. كما نتفهّمكم، يجب أن تتفهمونا، من أجل مصلحتنا ومصلحتكم. لبنان هو الجسر الأفضل لدخولكم إلى العالم العربي. هذا في مصلحتكم أيضاً. من المستحيل أن نحيا، حاملين السلاح إلى الأبد. يجب أن تبقى إسرائيل إلى الأبد، ويجب إيجاد حلّ للوجود السلميّ. أنتم جُدد في هذه المنطقة. صراعنا من أجل الاستقلال عمره 400 عام. أعتقد أننا نجحنا في ذلك. لذلك – أتمنّى أن تتفهّم – سعادتنا كبيرة، حتى لو لم نستطع إظهار ذلك بشكل واضح. نحن نفهم الوضع بشكل أفضل في العالم العربي، لذا نعتقد أن التعبير الواضح عن فرحنا سيكون مؤذياً. (يهمس بشير في أذنه حينها)، لقد عدتم بعد مئات السنين. نحن بقينا هنا، لكنّنا نتصارع مع المشاكل ذاتها تقريباً. يمكننا النجاة والبقاء هنا بفضل وجودكم في المنطقة.
بشير الجميّل يقترح إضافة قوّة سعودية إلى القوات الدولية المقرَّر أن تدخل بيروت
أودّ أن أشكركم مجدداً وأؤكّد اعترافنا بكل شيء فعلتموه من أجلنا. من دونكم، كان لبنان سيتفكّك. نحن أصدقاؤكم الحقيقيون، ومصالحنا متشابهة. إذا كان لديكم أيّ ملاحظات بشأن سلوكنا، فمن المهم أن تبلغونا بها، خصوصاً أن صداقتكم ضرورية بالنسبة إلينا.
وزير الدفاع: شكراً لقدومك. كفتىً، أذكرك بصراعك من أجل لبنان حرّ. كان يجب أن آتي لأراك، وأنا ممتنّ لحضورك هنا.
بيار: لقد زرت إسرائيل مرّات عدّة. تأثّرت كثيراً. خلال إحدى زياراتي، زرت مدرسة أثارت إعجابي جداً. كانوا يعلّمون الأولاد هناك عن جمال الحياة.
وزير الدفاع: إن الامتحان الأكبر يكمن في كيفية خلق القوة وكيفية نقلها. عددنا 18 مليوناً، ستة ملايين أبيدوا. وبعد 40 عاماً، بتنا أقرب إلى 15 مليوناً. لقد تعلّمنا كيف نستخدم القوة التي لدينا، ولكننا لسنا نحن بعد. استخدام القوة هو ما أوّد أن أناقشه معك. أودّ أن أشير إلى الظروف الخاصة التي في متناولنا. نفهم مشاكلكم، وسنتوصّل إلى تفاهم أفضل. لديّ مشاعر صداقة دافئة تجاهكم، وأؤمن بإقامة العلاقات بين لبنان الحرّ وإسرائيل.
مع ذلك، عليكم أن تفهوا أنه من أجل أن نواصل مساعدتنا لكم، نحتاج إلى تعاونكم – هذا بحاجة إلى إصرار. المناورات والألعاب لم تؤدّ إلى أي مكان. كان هناك فرص عديدة. قبل شهرين، كان هناك فرصة أمامكم لتحرير عاصمتكم. ذلك لم يحصل. كان أسهل بالنسبة إلينا. لم يحصل ذلك، لكننا فهمنا لماذا. برأيي، كان موقفكم أفضل لو أنكم قد تصرّفتم.
بيار: اسمح لي أن أقاطعك. ماذا كنّا سنفعل؟ كان ذلك سيكون مزعجاً أكثر منه مفيداً. لست عسكرياً، لكنّي أعتقد أن موقفنا خدم الهدف المشترك بنحو أفضل مما لو كنّا تورّطنا.
وزير الدفاع: عليك أن تفهم أنّ إسرائيل دولة ديموقراطيّة. هناك أشخاص يعملون هنا منذ 60 يوماً، ووضعهم الاقتصادي مدمّر.
الضغوط في إسرائيل تتراكم. مضمون الضغوط يأتي على النحو الآتي: «لقد حقّقنا ما حققنا، لنعود إلى بلادنا. الجنود هنا مدنيون. لقد تركوا عائلاتهم وأعمالهم. هذا سبّب ضغطاً على الرأي العام الإسرائيلي. خلال أيام سنتعرّض لضغوط دولية على شكل «أنتم أردتم إخراج الإرهابيين من بيروت. ها قد خرجوا. أخلوا المباني الآن». لن يكون لدينا ردّ على ذلك. علينا أن نجيب لماذا نحتفظ بقطاع في جنوب لبنان مساحته بين 40 – 50 كلم. هذا حزام أمان. مع ذلك، لن يكون لدينا إجابة ترضي الرأي العام المحلّي والدولي. ولكن، قد يساعدنا تعهّد لا لبس فيه بأن (اللبنانيين) سيوقّعون اتفاق سلام مع إسرائيل. خلافاً لذلك، لن يكون لدينا حجّة. ما لم يجرِ التصريح بأوضح العبارات بأنه سيُوقَّع اتفاق سلام من قبل إسرائيل، فلن نتمكّن من البقاء في منطقة بيروت. في سيناء، انتظرنا السلام لسنوات، ولكن بقاءنا هنا من دون أن تُعلن القيادة المُحرِّرة أن اتفاق سلام سيُوقّع مع إسرائيل، سيشكّل لنا وضعاً صعباً.
لقد سألتم سابقاً عن مصير مخيّمات الفلسطينيين بعد انسحاب الإرهابيين. إذا لم تنتظموا من أجل دخول هذا المكان، فستواجهون المشكلة ذاتها. من غير المعقول أن تعودوا إلينا وتقولوا لنا إننا ارتكبنا خطأً، يجب أن ندخل إلى المخيمات ونتولّى أمرهم. حال الانتهاء من إجلاء الإرهابيين، لن نتمكّن من فعل شيء، وسيكون من الخطأ أن تطلبوا منّا ذلك. عليكم أن تتصرّفوا.
حتى نتمكّن من الصمود أمام الضغوط العلنيّة في إسرائيل، عليكم أن تعلنوا على الفور إبرام معاهدة سلام مع إسرائيل، وحتى تتخلّصوا من الإرهابيين، عليكم تطهير المخيمات. بحيث يكون من الممكن إقامة علاقات موثوقة تقوم على الاحترام المُتبادل. بعد أن نتكبّد 2500 ضحيّة، عليكم أن تفعلوا شيئاً، اقرعوا الأجراس! صرّحوا عن الالتزامات. (……) ربما قلت أشياء صعبة، ولكنّها تخرج من قلبي، بين الأصدقاء. هذا ما أشعر به وما أؤمن به. قلت هذه الأشياء مع علمي بالموقفين الداخلي في إسرائيل، والدولي.
بيار: أنا أفهم خطابك تماماً، وأشكرك على هذه الكلمات. نحن على علم بردود الفعل داخل إسرائيل. من المهمّ أن يفهم شعب إسرائيل أننا نقف إلى جانبه. سجّلنا موقفكم. أودّ أن تفهموا موقفنا السياسي والدبلوماسي. نحن في خضمّ عمليّة سياسية وانتخابات رئاسيّة، ونؤمن بأن كل شيء سيتغيّر. بشير هو المرشّح. في حال انتخاب بشير، سيُعلَنُ عصرٌ جديد في المنطقة. على العرب أن يفهموا أننا نريد أن نكون لبنانيين. سياستنا ستتغيّر برمّتها. نحن لبنانيون أولاً، وعرب ثانياً. عندما تنبثق جمهورية جديدة، كل شيء سيتغيّر، كل شيء سيكون ممكناً. حين ندخل المرحلة الجديدة، نريد التوصّل إلى اتفاق شامل معكم. نحن في خضمّ الحملة الانتخابية. من المهم جداً المحافظة على الهدوء. مصالحنا متطابقة.
وزير الدفاع: شكراً لك على خطابك. أنا أفهمك. من المهم جداً أن تقدّروا المشاكل المحليّة والدولية التي نواجهها.
بيار: عليكم أن تفهموا موقفنا أيضاً. مصالحنا متطابقة. أطلب مجدداً إن كان لديكم ملاحظات، من المهم بالنسبة إلينا أن نسمعها بصراحة تامة.
بيار يغادر الاجتماع، ويتبع ذلك حوار مع بشير.
بيار الجميّل لشارون: لبنان هو الجسر الأفضل لدخولكم إلى العالم العربي
وزير الدفاع: ماذا عن الأميركيين؟
بشير: هناك تفهّم كامل الآن، لقد رتَّبت لنا ذلك منذ نحو عام.
وزير الدفاع: والسعوديون؟ هل هم منخرطون؟
بشير: كلا، لقد استخدموا نفوذهم في ما يتعلّق بالمسلمين في بيروت. الأميركيون يستغلّون ذلك أكثر. الأميركيون يفعلون ذلك. حبيب أخبر صائب سلام، في أكثر من مناسبة، أنه يلعب بالنار.
السوريون منعوا دخول أعضاء في البرلمان. لذا، كانت هناك خشية من ألّا يكتمل النصاب. أردت طرح هذه المسألة عليك، وسؤالك عمّا ينبغي فعله في حال حصول ذلك؟ هل أطلب من سركيس الاستقالة؟ ماذا عن المدنيين الذين يخضعون للنفوذ السوري؟ كيف ستتواصل العملية السياسية؟ لكن علينا أن نناقش ذلك بعد يوم الاثنين.
وزير الدفاع: ماذا ستفعلون بشأن مخيمات اللاجئين؟
بشير: نخطّط لحديقة حيوان حقيقية.
وزير الدفاع: هل تعتزمون الدخول إلى بيروت الغربية؟
بشير: هناك مشكلة بشأن «المرابطون». لقد عرضوا للتوّ بيع 40 ألف بندقية كلاشنيكوف. تخيّل ما نجده في المدينة. وبخصوص الزيارة لإسرائيل، إذا فشلنا، يجب أن نناقش ذلك. ربما هذا ليس وقتاً مناسباً. ليس هناك أمر طارئ على جدول الأعمال. إذا جرى انتخابي يوم الاثنين، فسندير شؤون الدولة.
ناحيك: نطلب منكم مجدداً ألّا تفعلوا شيئاً من شأنه أن يعقّد إجلاء (الإرهابيين). جدولكم الزمني يسمح لكم بتأجيل الأنشطة إلى ما بعد إجلائهم.
وزير الدفاع: لا تتّخذ أي إجراء من دون التنسيق معنا.
There are two main keys that allow reading and understanding the words of the Secretary General of Hezbollah Al Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the messages which he wanted to send on the tenth of Muharram, between statement and hint. The first one is his call to the observers, writers, and researchers to note the meaning of the rise of Husseini national transitional movement that depends on reviving the incident of Ashura as a collective platform for it. It became a renewed global cultural situation that is committed to refuse the sectarian and doctrinal strife and the project of the US hegemony. It takes Jerusalem as a collective goal, and it sees hope and devotion of Hussein’s concept in the victories of the resistance. While the other key is to put the role of Hezbollah and its resistance in the heart of the region’s crises as an decisive factor that cannot be intimated or neutralized under the title of confronting the US project, overthrowing the Israeli aggressiveness, and making them the base for understanding its regional and Lebanese perspectives and an explanation of its role in the battlefields.
These two keys involve accepting the idea of considering the project of the resistance as it is in its ascendant stage which is reaching its advanced stages regionally and wants to balance its gains, and as it is in the process of its universality and the stabilization of its concepts and dimensions from culture to politics as what happened in Lebanon for more than thirty years ago when the reviving squares of Ashura turned into bases for launching the resistance. This means that everyone who understood from some details of Al Sayyed’s speech the meaning of the call for calming and built his wrong conclusion as a response to the impacts of pressures, will fall in illusion and suspicion, because the calming in the battlefields does not serve the confrontation in which resistance project is present, because many things will be drawn in arenas for the next stages.
Al Sayyed put a joint framework for the paragraphs of his speech entitled “What has been achieved”. In Syria, through ensuring the end of the war, and the recognition of the victory of the Syrian country under the leadership of its president and army. In Iraq, through establishing a political constitutional structure that prevents the penetration of the resistance’s project enemies. In Yemen, where the steadfastness is, and where the project of the resistance breaks the Saudi arrogance which is based on the US encouragement. And in Palestine, through making use of the revenues of US project dedicated to overthrow the Palestinian cause through developing the project of the resistance and unifying the Palestinian positions under a broad title “the uselessness of negotiation choice and the fall of the settlement project”.
The current crucial mission of the resistance project according to the speech of Al Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah internationally, regionally, and in Lebanon is to destroy the legend of the Israeli Air Defense as the last source of illusion which causes the Israeli aggression, the US arrogance, and the joining of some Arabs. The project of the resistance which won in destroying the occupation capacity and imposing the withdrawal, has won in destroying the legend of the navy, tank corps and infantry corps in the War of July 2006, and has won in distorting the US and Israeli intelligence services and their regional and international allies in the wars of Syria and Iraq against the organizations generated from the Wehabbi thought, but the distortion of the image of the Air Defense remained a compulsory passage for keeping Lebanon safe against the dangers of aggression, and a current mission to end the unbearable and intolerable situation due to the repetitive Israeli attacks on Syria. What can be done by the resistance in confronting them is to distort the image of the Israeli air superiority which seems crucial in the speech of Al Sayyed Hassan about the project of the resistance which is related culturally and ethnically to the global Husseini march where the compass was and will remain Palestine and Jerusalem.
– مفتاحان رئيسيان يتيحان وحدهما قراءة وفهم كلمة الأمين العام لحزب الله السيد حسن نصرالله في ليلة العاشر من محرم، والرسائل التي أراد توجيهها، بين التصريح والتلميح، لتقع في مكانها الصحيح، الأول هو دعوته المراقبين والكتاب والباحثين إلى ملاحظة معنى نهوض حركة أممية حسينية عابرة للقارات واللغات والقوميات، تتخذ من إحياء مراسم عاشوراء منصة جامعة لها، وصارت حالة ثقافية عالمية متجددة المعاني لمشروع مقاومة ملتزم برفض الفتنة الطائفية والمذهبية، ورافض مشروع الهيمنة الأميركية، ويتخذ القدس هدفاً جامعاً، ويرى في انتصارات المقاومة أملاً وتكريساً للنهج الحسيني بلغته المعاصرة، أما المفتاح الثاني فهو وضع دور حزب الله ومقاومته في قلب قوس أزمات المنطقة كفاعل حاسم غير قابل للكسر والتطويع والتحييد، تحت عنوان مواجهة المشروع الأميركي وإسقاط العدوانية الإسرائيلية، واعتبار هذين الركنين في تحديد دور الحزب والمقاومة أصلاً في فهم نظرته للشؤون الإقليمية واللبنانية، وتفسيراً لدوره في ساحات المواجهة على مساحة المنطقة.
– هذان المفتاحان يلزمان مَن يقرأ أبعادهما في خطاب السيد نصرالله، أن يتقبل فكرة اعتبار مشروع المقاومة في طور الصعود الذي يبلغ مراحل متقدمة من إقليميته ويريد ترصيد مكاسبها وصيانتها، وفي طور التأسيس لعالميته وتثبيت مفاهيمها وأبعادها، من الثقافة إلى السياسة أسوة بما حدث في لبنان قبل أكثر من ثلاثين عاماً عندما تحوّلت ساحات عاشوراء إلى قواعد انطلاق للمقاومة. وهذا يعني أن كل مَن يفهم من جزئيات منفصلة في الخطاب دعوات التهدئة ليبني عليها استنتاجاً خاطئاً بأن تلك استجابة لتأثيرات الضغوط سيقع في الاشتباه والوهم. فالتهدئة في ساحات لا تخدم المواجهة فيها مشروع المقاومة ناتجة عن كون المقاومة لا تريد التلهي بالمواجهات الجانبية، لأن لديها الكثير لتفعله في الساحات التي تشكل ميدان ما رسمته لنفسها للمرحلة المقبلة.
– يضع السيد نصرالله إطاراً جامعاً لعدد من فقرات خطابه حول أوضاع المنطقة عنوانها ترصيد أرباح الانتصارات من سورية بتثبيت نهاية الحرب وتكريس نصر الدولة السورية برئيسها وجيشها، إلى العراق وتثبيت بنية سياسية ودستورية تقطع الطريق على أعداء مشروع المقاومة، إلى الصمود في اليمن حتى ينتزع مشروع المقاومة حق الشراكة ويكسر العنجهية السعودية المرتكزة على التشجيع الأميركي، وصولاً إلى فلسطين حيث الاستثمار على عائدات المشروع الأميركي لتصفية القضية الفلسطينية، في تنمية مشروع المقاومة وتوحيد المواقف الفلسطينية تحت عنوانه العريض القائم على لا جدوى خيار التفاوض وسقوط مشروع التسوية.
– المهمة الراهنة المفصلية في مشروع المقاومة تبدو لبنانياً وإقليمياً ودولياً، وفقاً لخطاب السيد نصرالله، هي تدمير أسطورة سلاح الجو الإسرائيلي، بصفته آخر بقايا مصادر الأوهام التي تتسبّب بالعدوانية الإسرائيلية والغطرسة الأميركية والتحاق بعض العرب بهما، ومشروع المقاومة الذي فاز بتدمير قدرة الاحتلال وفرض عليه الانسحاب، فاز بتدمير أسطورة سلاح البحر وسلاح المدرعات وسلاح نخب المشاة في حرب تموز 2006، وفاز بتدمير صورة جهازَيْ المخابرات الأميركية والإسرائيلية وحلفائهما الإقليميين والدوليين في حربي سورية والعراق بوجه التنظيمات المستولدة من رحم الفكر الوهابي، وبقي تدمير صورة سلاح الجو ممراً إلزامياً لجعل لبنان آمناً بوجه مخاطر العدوان، ومهمة راهنة لإنهاء الوضع الذي قال إنه لا يُطاق ولا يُحتمل في الاعتداءات الإسرائيلية المتكررة على سورية، وما يجب أن يفعله محور المقاومة في مواجهتها. وهذه المهمة بضرب صورة التفوّق الجوي الإسرائيلي تبدو مفصلية في خطاب السيد حول مشروع المقاومة المترابط ثقافياً ووجدانياً بالمسيرة
Moshé Machover authored an article proving that the Labour acceptance of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism cannot coexist with free speech on Israel. This scholar and Israeli veteran linked the racist nature of the Israeli state to its colonialist roots
سمعت ان الطيور التي توقفت عن فعل الطيران عبر الزمن ضمرت أجنحتها وترهل جسمها وصارت دجاجا .. أما الطيور التي حافظت على عناق السماء .. فانها حافظت على رشاقة أجسامها وقوة أجنحتها ..
ويبدو ان الطيران الاسرائيلي سيتوقف عن الطيران بعد اليوم ولذلك فانه سيفقد رشاقته وتضمر اجنحته ويتحول في الشرق الى دجاج الشرق الأوسط ؟؟
فالطيران الاسرائيلي لم يعد بحاجة الى التحليق لضرب المصريين وعبور سيناء بعد ان عبر الاسرائيليون على جسور الدفرسوار وكامب ديفيد وصاروا سياحا في بلاد جمال عبد الناصر ..
ولم يعودوا طبعا بحاجة للتحليق لضرب الجيش الاردني في الشرق الذي دمره ملك السيفيليس لهم وحوله الى جيش لحفظ السلام في مناطق ضبط النزاعات التي تشرف عليها الامم المتحدة .. وطبعا فان الضفة الغربية التي يحكمها اوسلو ليس فيها الا بنادق لشرطة وهذه لاتحتاج طيرانا لضربها ..
أما العراق فانه بعد نشر الحرية والديمقراطية صار جيشا من الطوائف وبلا طائرات ولادبابات .. لأن سلاحه الامريكي لم يسمح له حتى بقتال داعش مما اضطر العراقيين للجوء الى الحشد الشعبي..
وحدها جبهة الشمال لايمكن ان يأمن الاسرائيليون جانبها .. هناك السوريون وحزب الله الذين لايتعبون من لعبة الحرب مع الغزاة .. وهناك تدفن الاساطير الاسرائيلية ..فبعد نهاية أسطورة الجيش الذي لايقهر حاول الجيش الذي لايقهر ان يبني شئيا جديدا لايقهر سماه لواء غولاني .. رآه العالم مقطعا يبكي على أبواب بنت جبيل ومارون الراس .. وهناك التقطت الميركافا بالصاروخ الروسي الذي أنهى مسرة حياتها في بداية مشوارها ..
فالميركافا لن تنسى طعم الموت في وادي الحجير الشهير .. حيث انتهت سمعة المدرعات الى الابد .. وصار مصيرها الأسود مضرب المثل فيقال (مثل محرقة الميركافا) على (وزن محرقة الهولوكوست) رغم ان الأولى حقيقية والثانية أسطورة .. ويتمنى الاسرائيليون لو ان الأولى اسطورة والثانية حقيقية !!..
لم يبق لدى سلالات عصابات الهاغاناة بعد سبعين سنة سوى الطيران الحربي الذي كان يتمرجل علينا لأننا كنا مشغولين في ألفي نقطة احتكاك مع ارهابيي العالم .. وكان طيران الهاغاناة يريد ان يقنعنا أنه الطيران الذي لايقهر .. للجيش الذي كان لايقهر .. وكان واضحا من ضرباته الخاطفة أنه يريد بناء سمعة واسطورة للطيران الذي لايقهر دون ان يتورط بحرب كبيرة بعد نهاية اسطورة الجيش الذي لايقهر والدبابة التي لاتقهر (الميركافا)..
اليوم هناك موعد بين طائرات اسرائيل وبين السيد اس 300 الذي يحب ان يقطف الطائرات وهي في حالة اقلاع فوق مطاراتها .. لأن بطارية واحدة عند دمشق ستجعل اذرع الشام الصاروخية تتمدد الى أجواء تل أبيب وحيفا ومابعد حيفا .. وتقطف الطائرات وهي لاتزال تقلع او تحبو ..
لم يعد لدى اسرائيل أسطورة تعيش عليها الا اسطورة التوراة واسطورة الربيع العربي التي انتهى اسلاميوها محاصرين في ادلب السورية .. وبعد ان دخلت الميركافا المتحف العسكري .. ويقال ان المصانع الاسرائيلية التي تصنعها تحاول بيعها كبلدوزرات لأنه في زمن الكورنيت الروسي ستختبئ كل الدبابات وتتنكر بلباس السيارات السياحية والشاحنات التي تنقل الخضار والبطاطا .. والا فانها كدبابات ستتحول الى وجبات على موائد حزب الله وتكون ألذ الأطباق هي وجبة (الميركافا بعظم الكورنيت الروسي في صلصة وادي الحجير) ..
الطائرات الاسرائيلية ستدخل محنة الى أجل غير مسمى لأن مشاويرها الى الشمال ستتوقف .. ولأن استعراضات عضلاتها ستنتهي .. لأن السيد اس 300 لايحب المزاح مع الطائرات ذات الدم الثقيل .. ولايحب ابدا ان يشم رائحة التوماهوك يحوم على بعد 250 كم .. فالسيد اس 300 لايطير الا ليصطاد طائرة أو صاروخا .. ولذلك فانه وفق منطق التطور ستضمر أجنحة الطيران الاسرائيلي لقلة الطيران والاستعمال لأن الطيران في المجال الجوي فوق فلسطين المحتلة ليس كافيا بعد أن كان الطيران الاسرائيلي يطير الى تونس والى العراق ليضرب أهدافه .. ولكن خلت المنطقة العربية من اي هدف يطير اليه طيران اسرائيل .. بعد (تحرير المعارضة العراقية لبغداد بالدبابات الامريكية .. وبعد تحرير فلسطين من الكفاح المسلح في اوسلو .. وبعد ضرب روح القتال غرب قناة السويس منذ ضربة كامب ديفيد .. ومنذ انهيار العالم العربي في ربيعه المشؤوم) ..
والمجال الوحيد لطيران اسرائيل لبتمطط ويفرد اجنحته ربما اليمن لأن الطائرات التي تقصف اليمنيين ليست كلها سعودية بل هناك طائرات اسرائيلية تعمل في مطارات آل سعود وتمرن أججنحتها ..
ولكن يبدو أن مستقبل الطيران الاسرائيلي اسود .. وستتحول طائراته الى دجاج المطارات الاسرائيلية المترهلة ..
طبعا لم نحدثكم بعد عما يمكن أن يفعله اس 400 واس 500 أو اس 600 اذا قرر نتنياهو ان يسخن رأسه ويطير شمالا بطائرة اف 35 .. أو عندها أظن أن التاريخ سيتحدث عن وجبة جديدة وعن طبق من اطباق الحروب في الشرق يسمى (اس 300 في ف35 مع صلصة الأسد)
وسيقول المؤرخون بعدها: ان اسرائيل كانت تملك قوة جوية .. ولكنها صارت من الذكريات .. كما صارت الميركافا .. وكما ستصير اسرائيل ذاتها يوما ما .. ذكريات ..
الى رجال ال اس 300 .. واس 400 على الارض السورية .. أهلا بكم .. الأرض لنا والسماء صارت لكم ..
“The Syria White Helmets Exposed as US UK Agents” is a 4-minute video about them. It’s an entirely accurate representation regarding their personnel and funding-sources. It even shows Al Qaeda in Syria executing a civilian; and, then, White Helmets — this ‘humanitarian organization’ — collecting his corpse just seconds later, as part of their ‘heroic’ work, for the US-and-allied invaders of Syria. The invading nations use Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch to train and lead ‘our’ boots-on-the-ground fighters to overthrow Syria’s secular, non-sectarian, Government, which is headed by the secular Shiite Bashar al-Assad. These US-Saudi-Israeli-allied proxy fundamentalist-Sunni-jihadist boots-on-the-ground do the actual dirty-work of killing people for their sponsoring aristocracies. In this particular instance the executioners are al-Nusra itself, which is Syria’s Al Qaeda branch, and in that video they have eliminated yet another person that the US and UK aristocracies want to be eliminated. The great independent investigative journalist Vanessa Beeley has written numerous articles (such as this) providing detailed documentation of how US and UK billionaires have funded the propaganda selling throughout the world the campaign to overthrow Syria’s Government. Though the invading countries call this a ‘civil war’ in Syria, it’s actually a war that wouldn’t even exist but for the work, since 2009, of CIA and MI6 and those others from Western ‘democracies’, which are making suckers of their own nations’ citizens — Americans, British, and citizens of the other invading countries — via their lying ‘news’-media, none of which will publish the truths that this 4-minute video is showing. So, the aristocrats’ publics are kept ignorant of such reality.
A US State Department document dated 22 October 2010 — prior to the “Arab Spring” — and sent to all US Embassies in the Arab world, funneled funds to the Muslim Brotherhood and other “moderate Islamists” who sought regime-change, instead of “stability” there.
On 17 April 2011 (which was before Jeff Bezos owned) the Washington Post headlined with shocking honesty “US secretly backed Syrian opposition groups, cables released by WikiLeaks show”, and reported on the “Movement for Justice and Development [MJD], a London-based network of Syrian exiles. Classified US diplomatic cables show that the State Department has funneled as much as $6 million to the group since 2006 to operate the satellite channel and finance other activities inside Syria.” The cables had just been published by Wikileaks. Furthermore, “the cables indicate money was set aside at least through September 2010.” Obama had not cut off George W. Bush’s anti-Syrian aggression. There was no doubt that MJD was a regime-change-in-Syria organization: “The group, which is banned in Syria, openly advocates for Assad’s removal. US cables describe its leaders as ‘liberal, moderate Islamists’ who are former members of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
The joint US-NATO secret training camp in the US air force base in Incirlik, Turkey, began operations in April-May 2011 to organize and expand the dissident base in Syria. Since then, in addition to Col. Riad al-Assad [no relation to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad], several other high-ranking Syrian military and intelligence officials have been added to operations’ headquarters in the US base. Weekly weapons smuggling operations have been carried out with full NATO-US participation since last May. The HQ also includes an information warfare division where US-NATO crafted communications are directed to dissidents in Syria via the core group of Syrian military and Intelligence defectors.
One Wikileaked document from the private-CIA firm Stratfor on 7 December 2011 reported the agent’s extensive discussions with the Pentagon and allied foreign militaries, and said that Special Operations Forces “teams (presumably from US, UK, France, Jordan, Turkey) are already on the ground [in Syria] focused on recce missions and training opposition forces. One Air Force intel guy (US) said very carefully that there isn’t much of a Free Syrian Army to train right now anyway.” (In other words, finding non-jihadists to take down Assad was proving to be far more difficult than had been anticipated.) Creating a Syrian civil war was then just a hope, and, “the idea ‘hypothetically’ is to commit guerrilla attacks, assassination campaigns, try to break the back of the Alawite forces, elicit collapse from within.” But that hoped-for sectarian split-up of Syria likewise failed to materialize. Syria’s Government was too widely supported by the population. Consequently, US President Barack Obama made one other attempt to use the Muslim Brotherhood to get the ‘rebellion’ going. But this effort also failed. So, by the time of December 2012, Obama finally turned to al-Nusra. Here’s how that happened:
On 10 December 2012, the Telegraph bannered “Syrian rebels defy US and pledge allegiance to jihadi group” and reported that, “Rebel groups across Syria are defying the United States by pledging their allegiance to a group that Washington will designate today a terrorist organization for its alleged links to al-Qaeda. A total of 29 opposition groups, including fighting ‘brigades’ and civilian committees, have signed a petition calling for mass demonstrations in support of Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist group which the White House believes is an offshoot of al-Qaeda.”
What is more despicable than this treachery, from our own governments, in our own era? Countries are being invaded by ours; these invaded countries haven’t invaded nor even threatened ours, but nonetheless we accept these invasions by ‘our’ governments and pay taxes to make these murderous invasions possible. Such aggressor-governments as ours do not actually represent us, but we tolerate them, decade after decade, as they slaughter people abroad, and blow up the US federal debt to pay for the aristocracy’s voracious and vicious operation of global conquest, which they call ‘humanitarian’, though they know it’s the opposite.
These governments represent only their respective aristocracies, the controlling owners of their international corporations. Like every aristocracy, each aristocracy portrays, as being ‘the nation’s enemy’, not itself (that aristocracy), but whatever foreign governments the given aristocracy aims to conquer. Each invading country’s ‘news’-media play differing segments of their own domestic population — Blacks, Whites, men, women, heterosexuals, homosexuals, etc. — against each other, so that none will blame the actually tiny number of aristocrats, who, behind the scenes, control that vile government and produce the problems (such as the bombings and jihadists that have produced the refugee-crisis in Europe) and the enormous ongoing injustices throughout the world.
The US and UK governments, and their Saudi and Israeli and other allies, don’t care about the welfare of their respective publics — the public who pay the taxes to support the given aristocracy’s invasions and military occupations and also its coups (that one having cost US taxpayers at least $5 billion and destroyed the target-country).
Even after lying (or “deceiving”) their publics into invading and occupying Iraq in 2003 on the basis of lies, and then repeating this in Libya in 2011 on the basis of lies, and then repeating it yet again now in Yemen on the basis of lies, the public seemingly don’t learn, they don’t repudiate all politicians and ‘news’-persons who have assisted this with their lies. After doing this a certain number of times, the publics themselves increasingly share in their respective aristocracy’s and its ‘news’-media’s evil. The public’s role becomes then no longer mere negligence, but increasingly also complicity, in what their aristocracy (and its lying ‘news’-media) is doing to the world. All that the aristocracy have to do is to fool their respective public by means of their ‘news’-media — the media these aristocrats own and control, just as they own and control the government itself. And thus those lies produce the public’s complicity, by making the public the aristocracy’s mental slaves working to support that aristocracy’s foreign ventures, which slaughter and displace millions of people and destroy their countries, by faked ‘civil wars’ etc. Our governments are so ‘humanitarian’, spreading ‘democracy’ — lies.
On September 24th, the UK Government headlined “News Story: White Helmets resettlement”, and reported: “The UK will support White Helmets volunteers and their families, who were evacuated from Syria, under the government’s Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.” These jihadist mercenaries are now ‘vulnerable persons’, no longer merely ‘heroes’. The Government can even claim this, in public. They’re then implying that their public are total fools. Will British citizens actually believe that these Al Qaeda affiliates are suitable to become their fellow-citizens?
How much longer will the populations in the invading countries continue to tolerate their aristocratic masters? Have things not gotten to the point where it is clear what those masters are doing? How much longer will their hypocrisy continue to succeed? Al Qaeda jihadists are now being invited, as ‘heroes’, to become UK citizens. Is that not enough? More than enough? Way too much?
NOTE: On September 25th, UK’s new anti-Tony-Blair (i.e., anti Deep-State) Labour Party voted to ban arms-sales to the US-UK-Saud ally Israel, because of Israel’s barbaric treatment of Palestinians; so, one cannot yet say that all political options short of an actual revolution have quite been exhausted. Though UK’s aristocracy hates this post-Blair Labour Party, that Party does have a chance to win power, but only if the public recognize that their own nation’s aristocracy itself is their nation’s enemy. In Israel, America’s Associated Press reported this Labour Party vote as if that vote were an anti-Semitic act, aimed against Jews, instead of an act of basic decency aimed against Israel’s Government. How much of a fool does one have to be to trust such ‘news’-media? The ‘news’-media might as well be owned directly by the weapons-makers as be owned by those firms’ owners who own also the ‘news’-media that control the voters. It’s the same Deep State that rules in many countries. It thrives on wars, on lies, and on oppression, both at home, and abroad. It needs to be replaced by democracy (not the current fake variety), in all countries it now rules.
Such votes happen every year around the UN General Assembly meeting, with the Saudis trying to limit such votes and insisting that any investigations are only going to “deepen divisions” in Yemen.
The council spent several days debating the matter, with those in favor of more investigations, led by the Netherlands and Canada, winning out handily, while many other nations chose to abstain.
British officials say that they were comfortable letting the investigation continue, but that subsequent reports need to focus on condemning the Shi’ite Houthi movement instead of criticizing the Saudis for their massive civilian death toll from airstrikes.
A Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition receives treatment at a hospital in the northern district of Abs, in Yemen’s Hajjah province
At Nasr Hospital’s emergency room in the Yemeni city of Daleh, a little boy struggles to breathe. He is too tired, or too hungry, to cry.
Born with a degenerative neurological disease, his muscles have atrophied to nothing, his tiny joints visible through his pale skin, his stomach distended.
The child’s body cannot retain even water, so nurses have resorted to putting him in diapers.
And doctors say there is nothing they can do.
The boy is one of an estimated five million Yemeni children who may not see their next birthday in a war the UN children’s fund has described as a “living hell” for minors.
The UN has warned that international aid agencies are losing the fight against famine in Yemen, where 3.5 million people may soon be added to the eight million Yemenis already facing starvation — more than half of them children.
Mahmud Ali Hassan, director of Nasr Hospital, does not mince words. Life for his patients, he says, is “pure misery”.
“We need help. We need real help.”
South of rebel-held Sanaa and north of the government bastion of Aden, Daleh is, in the words of its residents, a forgotten city.
– ‘Desperate need’ –
The war between Yemen’s government, backed by a Saudi-led regional military coalition, and Huthi rebels linked to Iran has left an estimated 10,000 dead since 2015 and triggered what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Another 2,200 have died of cholera, according to the World Health Organization, nearly one-third of them under the age of five.
A hospital staffer stands next to a Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition while lying on a bed at a hospital in the northern district of Abs in the northwestern Hajjah province
In government-held Daleh, medics at Nasr Hospital are desperately looking for ways to treat patients — most of whom have not yet learned to read, tie their shoelaces or even walk — as supplies dwindle and hunger spreads.
A sign outside Nasr Hospital reads “funded by the World Health Organization”. The hospital is a lifeline for three provinces with a combined population of more than 1.5 million.
“We take cases from Daleh as well as Ibb and Lahaj,” said Hassan.
“Most cases we receive are malnourished children. We get three to four cases a day. The ward is always full. It’s full right now.”
In a lime green onesie, another malnourished baby wails as doctors hook him up to a nasal cannula — the tube used to deliver oxygen to patients in respiratory distress.
His diaper is multiple sizes too big.
“We are in desperate need of medical supplies,” Hassan told AFP.
“We need orthopaedic equipment, and everyone says they’re trying — the government coalition and other sides — and yet we haven’t gotten supplies yet.”
– ‘Nowhere to be seen’ –
Dr. Ayman Shayef, head of the emergency room at Nasr, says three to four children die under his watch every week of preventable causes, mainly linked to neo-natal care.
“We have serious issues with the total absence of pre-natal care and the inability to open an obstetrics department,” Shayef said.
“We’ve also seen a rapid rise in malnutrition cases.
A Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition is weighed at a hospital in the northern district of Abs in the northwestern Hajjah province
“Daleh is an orphaned province. We need help. We need support for pre-natal care, malnutrition ”
In addition to the war, the rising cost of living in Yemen — long the most impoverished country in the Arab world — the depreciation of the local currency and blockades have left millions unable to feed themselves and their children.
Katba Ahmed made the trip to Nasr to help a close friend care for her sick child.
“A bag of flour is 18,000 riyals ($72). And with four people at home, how long do you think that’s going to last, with breakfast, lunch and dinner?” Katba said.
And the food baskets sent in by international organisations, Katba says, are nowhere to be seen in her neighbourhood in Hajja province.
“Where do they go? Why don’t we get any baskets?” she says. “Why should we be deprived? Why should we be humiliated?”
Israeli occupation authorities have reportedly seized a number of large containers of children’s clothing while on their way to the besieged Gaza Strip, claiming they were to be used for terrorist acts, Israeli media reported on Saturday.
He claimed that the containers of children’s clothing, were intended for Gaza merchants who planned to pay the revenues for Hamas.
“Of course, this is a big lie,” a Gaza merchant told Days of Palestine. “This is just a false claim in order to the justify the 12-year-old Israeli siege imposed on the coastal enclave.”
At the beginning of the school year, Palestinian families in Gaza were unable to find school uniforms in the Gaza markets, for their children.
The merchant said that the Israeli occupation blocked tens of items of children’s clothes, including school uniforms.
“Even socks did not exist in the markets,” Sarah, a mother of three school boys, said. “I bought shoes for my kids, and they have been wearing them without socks,” she said.
Who is owned here? Indeed a sad state of affairs for the United States of America. Wake-up your friends who are sleeping… and, yes, Trump did indeed “change history” — he will be remembered as one of the most traitours Presidents the US has ever seen.
A Maaloula fire spinner during the annual September Festival of the Holy Cross in Maaloula, Syria. Eva Bartlett | In Gaza
Eva Bartlett attends the Damascus International Trade fair and the annual Maaloula Festival of the Cross to see how Syrians in areas liberated from jihadi rule are defiantly celebrating their new found freedoms.
DAMASCUS and MAALOULA, SYRIA — (Report) In April 2018 I returned to Syria, visiting recently-liberated areas in eastern Ghouta and also travelling to the southern village of Hadar — which at the time was under continual bombardment by terrorists just to the south, with the assistance of Israel and its observation towers over the region.
My focus last April and May was highlighting this media-neglected issue, but also going to the site of the concocted and yet-unproven allegations of a chemical weapons attack. Indeed, as I wrote, no one at the hospital in question, nor the people of Douma I spoke with on the street, believed a chemical attack had occurred. Instead, they were more concerned with detailing the horrors and starvation they had lived under the rule of Jaysh al-Islam and other terrorist factions.
So, the focus of my last visit to Syria, which has been warred upon for the last seven years, was in highlighting the crimes of the terrorist factions against civilians, but also the crimes of the Western and regional nations promoting war propaganda and baseless accusations against Syria and its allies.
In early September, I returned to Syria for more uplifting reasons: to attend two important annual events that in recent years were interrupted due to terrorism: The annual Damascus International Trade Fair and Maaloula’s annual Holy Cross Festival.
A Crowded, Peaceful Damascus International Trade Fair and Revival
This year, both went on in a cheerful climate, and the only blasts were celebratory ones. The resumption and successful holding of these events is a clear indication that Syria is returning to peace, and is closer than ever to ending the war that the NATO-Gulf-Israeli alliance plotted years before 2011.
At the Damascus International Trade Fair Ground, Opening Night. Eva Bartlett | In Gaza
In 2017 the trade fair, in its first year resumed since 2012, was attacked by terrorists who were then occupying eastern Ghouta. Six people were killed. On September 6, the opening night of the 2018 fair, I encountered Fares Shehabi, a Syrian MP who elaborated on the murders:
“Those in eastern Ghouta, the so-called ‘rebels’, al-Qaeda gangs, they targeted the entry of this fair and killed some people — visitors and participants. One lady from old Damascus was killed. She was participating in this fair — she had a clothing garment factory — and she was killed at the door.”
Watch | Aleppo MP Fares Shehabi on the re-opening of the Damascus International Fair
This year, with Damascus’ Yarmouk district (formerly occupied by ISIS and al-Qaeda) liberated, and with the liberation of eastern Ghouta — the source of most of the missiles and mortars that killed over 10,000 civilians in Damascus alone — there was no concern that the deadly attack of 2017 would be repeated.
The official opening ceremony included a year-by-year overview of the six decades of fairs past — minus the years 2012-16 — and various stunning musical and dance performances.
I revisited the fairgrounds just south of Damascus after the opening events and while walking around I saw the diversity that is Syrian culture, including young women dressed how they chose — something unthinkable under the rule of the fanatical extremists who occupied the now-liberated areas. In fact, under their rule, women wouldn’t be out strolling period, much less doing so with male friends.
The atmosphere was in that regard less that of a trade fair and more of a public park with people sprawled on lawns, picnicking and children playing. Elsewhere, music blasted from fair booths and from stages set up to entertain the crowds, including a children’s concert where a young boy impressively crooned a song by legendary Syrian singer George Wassouf.
A crowd watches a children’s singing competition at the Damascus International Trade Fair. Eva Bartlett | In Gaza
A novelty at this year’s fair was the Sahab 73 two-seater plane, designed and built by Syrian engineers — the “first nationally-made aircraft,” as SANA reported.
Fares al-Kartally, the fair’s General Director, told me that of the 48 countries participating, 27 of them were officially participating through their embassies and 21 through companies and agents. The latter included companies from France, Britain, Spain, and some Arab countries, including Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
In fact, 1,722 companies participated in the trade fair, the main participants being Russian, Indian and Iranian. That said, walking around the exhibits, I also saw South Korean, Cuban, and countries neighbouring Syria participating, offering services and goods from textiles, medicines, cosmetics, and food products to products and skills for Syria’s much-needed reconstruction. Of that reconstruction phase, al-Kartally noted it is Syria that will decide who will participate in its reconstruction.
A representative of a Russian company specializing in metal and steel production for warehouses and agricultural use told me:
“It’s just this year that you will be able to foresee the next steps for Syria. Last year, it was very hard to tell when this will be over. This year, we thought it was the right time to participate. We believe this is the right time to come and help the government of Syria, through Russian cooperation, to rebuild Syria, the infrastructure and food security.”
Corporate media has spun this as being a bidding ground for exclusively Russian and Iranian companies. But in reality, while Russia and Iran definitely have a strong presence here, many other nations are present.
In any case, Russia and Iran have not imposed criminal sanctions on Syria, nor have they supported terrorists there. To the contrary, they have been a vital part of the defeat of terrorism in Syria, and a return to peace and stability in liberated areas, providing the peace that allowed the fair to take place.
Flags of countries participating in the Damascus International Trade Fair fly outside of the fairgrounds in Damascus, Syria. Eva Bartlett | In Gaza
In our conversation on the opening night, Fares Shehabi said:
We expect high participation from many countries and local firms. It’s about a political statement, an economic statement, that we won this war and we will win also the reconstruction war, and this is just one proof of it.”
Notably absent were companies from Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
As al-Kartally reflected:
In 2007, I took a course in strategic planning in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The instructor was American. He was talking about countries witnessing rapid economic growth, so I mentioned Syria. He looked at me and laughed, and said, ‘These countries will create problems for you,’ referring to Saudi Arabia and its allies.”
And indeed, they did.
However — after seven years of war, untold tragic loss of life, and immense destruction in areas occupied or targeted by terrorists — the tide is turning for Syria. Rebuilding will be a challenging process, to put it mildly, but more importantly, in my experience, most Syrians first and foremost want an end to terrorism. That wish has been widely granted — thanks to the Syrian army, government, and Syria’s political and military allies.
Yet Idlib remains occupied by al-Qaeda and other fanatics. And eastern Syria remains occupied by the U.S., its allied forces and other fanatics — including ISIS — who seem to flourish wherever an American presence has a hand.
According to al-Kartally, the 2017 trade fair saw over 2.2 million visitors attend over the course of 10 days:
Last year’s Fair was the first held in many years during the crisis and for people it was a chance to get out and breathe after feeling suffocated for so long.”
On September 7, its first day open to the public, this year’s fair saw 112,000 visitors. On the fifth day, nearly 220,000 visitors attended. By September 14, the eighth day of the fair, a reported half million visitors went to the fairgrounds.
Fair-goers walk through the fairgrounds at the Damascus International Trade Fair in Damascus , Syria. Eva Bartlett | In Gaza
One night at around 8 p.m., I walked out of the fairgrounds to hail down a taxi on the airport road. I walked past a parking lot filled with buses providing free transportation to and from the fair. Adding to the masses already at the fair, people streamed in to spend their night out with family or friends.
On September 15, the fair’s final day, Israel again illegally targeted Syria, firing missiles — which were intercepted by Syrian air defenses — towards the Damascus International Airport, not far from the fairgrounds.
The response of the fairgoers was to dance defiantly.
As Fares Shehabi wrote, “This is how Syrians attending Damascus International Fair reacted to the Israeli assault on the adjacent airport..! Defiance..! With people like that we cannot be defeated.”
As Syrian comedian Treka reported, the fair captures the sentiments many visitors were feeling: impressed that, so soon after the liberation of eastern Ghouta and Damascus, there had been so much change for the better in and around Damascus; encouraged that the war on Syria is drawing to an end and peace will prevail; and immense admiration for the Syrian people for remaining steadfast for their country, and with their army — which has, with Syria’s allies, nearly eradicated terrorism in Syria.
Life, Love, Peace: The Maaloula Festival of the Cross
From September 2013 to April 2014, the ancient mountainside village of Maaloula, which lies in the Damascus countryside, was subject to terror attacks, snipers, and occupation by armed groups that Western leadership and some members of the media wanted us to believe were bringing democracy and freedom to Syria. These groups systematically destroyed the town’s heritage, stealing or burning ancient relics and breaking ancient altars and tombs in their plundering for valuables.
In June 2014, two months after it was liberated, I visited Maaloula. The destruction was fresh — historic holy places burned, looted, destroyed.
There was the expected destruction from battles waged by and on the terrorists. There was further—clearly-intentional—destruction meted out systematically by the al-Qaeda death squads—particularly on Christian, cultural, and heritage sites. …
In Maaloula, terrorists likewise took great apparent pleasure in destroying and desecrating Christian relics, to the extent of gouging out the eyes from icons and mosaics and shooting down the large clifftop Jesus and Mary statues which had overlooked the village. They likewise burned, robbed and vandalized churches and homes. …
Outside of the early fourth century A.D. Monastery of Sts. Sergius et Bacchus, NDF volunteers and other locals swept rubble, and prepared for the long process of restoration. Inside the ancient church, light poured through mortar holes in the unadorned white dome smashed by terrorist-fired mortars. According to the General, when the SAA had pushed the invaders back beyond the monastery, the terrorists fired mortars towards the monastery and village. They later occupied the monastery, then looted and vandalized it. …
‘They stole many idols from here, including the oldest one in the church,’ the volunteer said. The smashed altar with its unique ridged rim is said to be from between 330 and 325 A.D. ‘In other churches, the altar is rectangular and flat. And only here the altar is a half-circle and rimmed, like the altars of pagans for their animal sacrifice,’ she explained. …
The arson at the tenth-century Convent of St. Thekla was visible from the street, the top two floors utterly blackened by fires set by the invaders. …
In the convent’s Church of St. John the Baptist they likewise set fires, black soot reaching the painted dome high above. They completely destroyed the altar, as well as the pews—which presumably fueled the fire. Throughout the halls of the convent and inside the church itself, NATO’s mercenaries tore, stabbed, burned, or stole Christian iconography, looting what they could, meticulously destroying what was unmovable. Since none of that was possible for the images painted directly on stone walls, they instead machine-gunned the eyes and faces of Mary and Jesus, as well as a stone cross.”
A Maaloula local defence soldier traces the 2013/14 battles on a map of the town. Eva Bartlett | In Gaza
When I revisited in the summer of 2016, much had changed. The area was cleaned and stores had reopened. In September of 2013, I wrote about the point-blank assassinations of unarmed Maaloula citizens and of the defenders of Maaloula — locals who left their trades to take up arms in defense of their historic town and people. Not long after, invading terrorists, under the guise of anti-government rebels, assassinated an elderly man who had refused to leave his town.
On a street below, near the main square, a man and some children collected water from a spring. It was at that spring on September 17, 2013, that 65-year-old farmer Zaki Tabib was shot in his head by a terrorist sniper. Tabib was one of about fifteen mostly-elderly villagers who had refused to evacuate a week earlier.
Abdo Haddad, also one of Tabib’s nephews, commented on the stoicness of his uncle and men like him: ‘These old men are so pure in their heart that they don’t believe someone in their village would kill them.’”
Left bleeding on the street, Tabib was dead by the time his two courageous nephews braved a torrent of sniper fire to retrieve his body, in order to give him a proper burial.
On that 2016 visit, I also wrote about the destruction that still plagued the town:
Piles of rubble lay at many corners, and gaping holes in some walls remained evidence of the near total damage to the old part of the village. Although official estimates were that 80 percent of the homes were damaged, Abdo Haddad pointed out that “damage” in most cases means missing entire walls, and that in fact every house in the old quarter suffered damage, from mild to entire.
Many homes were boobytrapped by terrorists, to further kill and destroy. ‘They rigged houses so that when someone opened the door, an electrical trigger with a small charge would detonate and explode a gas canister,’ Haddad explained, saying that they could not count the number of rigged houses, maybe tens, maybe more: ‘The whole village was on fire. For the safety of the soldiers, in many cases the army had to blow the booby trap instead of defusing it.”
The church walls and dome roof of St. Thekla convent remained blackened with soot from the fires terrorists lit within. Local stonemasons stood on scaffolding, patiently rebuilding the thick walls in the traditional manner. Up the long staircase above the convent, the tomb in the cliffside grotto remained sooty black but was tidied up, with a few of the icons returned until complete restoration is possible. Other icons will never be returned — destroyed or stolen by the terrorist bandits, which occupied the convent.”
Mikhael Taalab, Anton Taalab, and Serkis Zakhen, assassinated by terrorists on September 7, 2013. Eva Bartlett | In Gaza
Upon my return to Maaloula on September 13, 2018, I stood on Abdo Haddad’s balcony looking out upon one of the town’s historic mountains. It was from these mountaintops that terrorists rolled explosive-stuffed tires onto the simple homes below. It was from these mountaintops that terrorist snipers killed Zaki Tabib.
On September 13, those mountaintops were adorned with the traditional brightly-lit crosses of the Festival of the Cross.
I attended mass in Maaloula’s Catholic church. The rituals of countless years continue, as do the devotion of Maaloula’s residents, with both clergy and congregation singing the mournful lyrics sung for centuries. This is the culture that Western-backed fanatics attempted to destroy.
Watch | Mass during Maaloula’s Festival of the Cross
From devotion to celebration
Immediately following the mass, the congregation quickly exited into the church square. By the time I arrived at the door, the exit was nearly impassable as so many people had amassed in the square. Pushing through, I saw the cause of the crowd: raised on the shoulders of residents, two men sang songs traditional to the Festival of the Cross, swigging frequently from plastic bottles of Arak in their hands. The crowd periodically cheered at their words, and eventually moved — cheering, singing — to the main square.
By the time I made it to the main square, it was likewise completely full of celebrants, many swigging Arak, cheering, singing traditional songs, and praising their army and president. Mini-Syrian flags abounded, as did people on balconies to watch the festive chaos. This went on for over an hour before crowds started moving up the mountains. Later, down in the town square, they were dancing.
Crowds gather to in Maaloula Syria’s town square to celebrating the Festival of the Holy Cross. Eva Bartlett | In Gaza
When I later made this arduous hike up often-challenging mountainside, it was nearing sunset. Strong, young Maaloula men were stationed at more difficult points of the mountain trail, pulling people up when necessary.
One such young man joined me to help me navigate the path, sometimes leading me down steep inclines on shortcuts to the top.
Reaching the top in darkness, the glare of multiple crosses and the blazing bonfire was enough illumination to see masses of people, mostly young but also elderly and families, standing and sitting perilously close to the mountain edge, overlooking the glowing village below.
Periodically, a burst of whirling light burst out, as people in the town square far below spun fire. Throughout the night, crowds sat drumming, singing, and watching the bonfire.
Watch | Devotees attend Maaloula’s Festival of the Holy Cross
I asked Abdo Haddad to summarize the importance of the Festival of the Cross. He said (video):
“Tonight we are celebrating the finding of the cross that happened 1700 years ago. This celebration is represented by putting fire on top of the mountains, from Jerusalem to Constantinople, to tell the people in Constantinople that the cross was found.
Maaloula is the only place in the world that is still celebrating this custom.
The only time that this custom stopped is when the so-called rebels and other “revolution” people in Syria invaded Maaloula, and instead of putting fire on top of the mountain, they put our houses on fire. But since we are sons and daughters of life, we kept on celebrating it since Maaloula was liberated by the Syrian army in 2014.
So we celebrate life now, and we celebrate the cross.
We were born here 3,000 years ago and we’ll keep existing until the end of time.”
In 2016, Syria’s First Lady, Mrs. Asma al-Assad, was interviewed by Russia 24. During that interview, she spoke of the struggles Syria has faced during its ancient existence. Particularly poignant, and fitting to end with, were these words:
“Syria comprises of land that has been continuously inhabited for a very long time. Over thousands of years, this soil has been exposed to dozens of wars and invasions. Some areas were completely destroyed. I know that Syria can and will rebuild itself. … As Syrians, we’ve always prevailed and this period in our history is no different. It is known or often said that Syria means ‘rising sun.’ And Syrians will rise again, that I can assure you.”
UNITED NATIONS – Israel supported terrorist groups in southern Syria through “direct military intervention” and repeated attacks against the Arab republic, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Saturday.
“Israel even supported terrorist groups that operated in southern Syria protecting them through direct military intervention and launching repeated attacks on Syrian territories,” Muallem said, addressing the 73rd UN General Assembly.
During his speech, he also reiterated Damascus’ determination to fully liberate the Israel-occupied Golan Heights up to the line of June 4, 1967, “just as we liberated southern Syria from terrorists.”
Muallem called on the international community to compel Israel to abide by UN Security Council resolutions, including the one on the Golan Heights.
The diplomat also urged the international community to “help the Palestinian people establish their own independent state with Jerusalem as its capital and facilitate the return of Palestinian refugees to their land.”
He also characterized as null and void Israel’s “racist” nation state law and the US decision to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
– أربعة نماذج أمامنا تكفي لقراءة كلفة السياسة على الاقتصاد بطريقة تجعل الفقر والعوز والركود من جهة وارتفاع الأسعار وتفشي الفساد وارتفاع المديونية من جهة أخرى، سمات الاقتصاد العالمي والإقليمي واللبناني. فما يعيشه الاقتصاد الأوروبي جراء العقوبات الأميركية على روسيا وإيران تتحدث عنه بالأرقام الدوريات الأوروبية المتخصصة، حيث يشكل السوق الروسي سوقاً للاستثمار والتصدير لكبريات الشركات الأوروبية، وكانت إيران بعد التفاهم على ملفها النووي فرصة واعدة تسابقت إليها الشركات الأوروبية. وجاءت العقوبات الأميركية على تركيا ضربة أميركية ثالثة على الرأس الأوروبي. ووصل الأمر إلى حدّ قول المستشارة الألمانية إنّ العقوبات الأميركية على روسيا وإيران تكاد تكون عقوبات مباشرة على أوروبا وشركاتها، بينما على المقلب الآخر من العالم إجراءات حرب تجارية أميركية بحق الصين سينتج عنها في حال نجاحها وقف النمو الاقتصادي الصيني والتسبّب بأزمة معيشية لبلد المليار ونصف المليار نسمة، وفي حال فشلها ستتسبّب برفع الأسعار في سوق السلع الاستهلاكية العالمية، التي تشكّل السلع الصينية الرخيصة فيها متنفساً للفقراء على مساحة العالم.
– النموذج الثاني يقدّمه الوضع في الخليج، حيث استنزفت دول الخليج النفطية ثرواتها ومدخّراتها ووارداتها في الإنفاق لإرضاء الجشع الأميركي بمئات مليارات الدولارات طلباً للدعم السياسي، وأنفقت الباقي على حرب عبثية في اليمن. وتشجع حكومات الخليج الإدارة الأميركية على تصعيد العقوبات على إيران، وخلق أزمة عالمية في سوق الطاقة، على عكس ما تقتضيه المصالح الاقتصادية لشعوب المنطقة، وفي مقدّمتها شعوب دول الخليج ذاتها، والنتيجة المنطقية المعلومة لهذا التصعيد إقدام إيران على إغلاق مضيق هرمز أمام الصادرات النفطية الخليجية، وما ستجلبه من متاعب لدول الخليج أولاً، وربما تصعيداً عسكرياً تدفع ثمنه منشآت الحياة الحيوية الحيوية اليومية لسكان الخليج من تهديد لمحطات الكهرباء ومحطّات تحلية المياه.
– النموذج الثالث ما تشهده عمليات الربط السياسي القسري التي يجريها الأميركي ويفرضها على بعض الدول الأوروبية وتسير وراءهما اغلب الدول العربية، بربط عودة النازحين وإعادة إعمار سورية بالحل السياسي الذي يناسب دفتر الشروط الأميركي من جهة، وربط المساهمات في تمويل وكالة غوث اللاجئين الفلسطينيين، بدفتر شروط إسرائيلي، ما يعني متاجرة بالآلام والمعاناة لملايين البشر بمنع شروط الحد الأدنى من مقومات الحياة التي يستحقونها، خدمة للسياسة. وفي المقابل وخصوصاً في عملية إعادة إعمار سورية ضرب فرص الاستثمار الواعدة التي تنظرها الشركات العالمية للمشاركة في عملية إعمار سورية كفرصة اقتصادية هائلة الإمكانات والوعود.
– في لبنان نماذج كثيرة مشابهة، لعل أولها هو التلاعب السياسي بقضية العلاقة بسورية وما تضيعه على لبنان واقتصاده من فرص في التصدير والاستثمار، والمشاركة في ورشة إعادة الإعمار، لكن أهمّها ما قدّمته لنا الجلسة النيابية من تمرير سياسي، بعيداً عن فرص الدراسة الهادئة والعلمية للمصالح الاقتصادية، في مقاربة مشاريع القوانين المتصلة بمقررات مؤتمر سيدر، فالتهدئة السياسية التي يحتاجها البلد، والقلق المالي الذي يجتاحه، شكلا سبباً أو مبرّراً للقفز فوق البعد الاقتصادي الصرف في مقاربة هذا الملف، بمثل ما تضيع فرص مناقشة هادئة وعلمية لملفات الكهرباء والنفايات بعيداً عن الخنادق السياسية وبصورة علمية مجرّدة، ويسيطر على كلّ نقاش حساب العصبيات الدنيا قبل حساب المصالح العليا.
On the topic of the Russia-Israel-Syria affair, which has culminated in the downing of a Russian Il-20 on September 17th just off the coast of Latakia…
I will first start this article by saying that I have read, both intentionally and unintentionally (stumbled upon), lots and lots of opinions about this specific topic. The main bulk of these opinions recycle the usual blaming of Russia and offer suggestions for how things “should” have been done and “should” now be done. The consensus seems to be that it is Israel that is solely to blame, and it should thus be severely punished. However, even though Russia was lambasted by social media “experts” for the fact that the state of Israel still existed on September 18th (the day after the downing of the Il-20), the criticism of Moscow’s policy vis-a-vis Israel’s general airstrikes in Syria has been unwavering.
Examples of the criticism are:
“Russia doesn’t defend Syrian troops against Israeli airstrikes”;
“Putin doesn’t verbally threaten Bibi with retaliation should he strike again”;
“Russia doesn’t give Syria the S1/2/3/4/500”;
and so on and so forth (you get the idea).
So, let’s outline, once again, what Russia’s policy vis-a-vis Israel is in Syria:
Q) Does Israel violate Syrian airspace?
A) No.
Q) Has Israel directly killed Russian troops?
A) No.
Q) Does Israel put Hmeymim in any direct danger?
A) No.
These answers are important. Why?
Israel violates LEBANESE airspace, and we all know that the government in Beirut – or more precisely, Mr Hariri – is very friendly with Riyadh. Where is Lebanon’s deterrent to make Israel think twice about flying over Lebanon? There isn’t one. Also, the core of fourth generation warfare is using simulacra to position a digital hologram over actual ground warfare in order to carve out space to manoeuvre diplomatically. So even though Israel violates its airspace on paper, in reality it can do so with impunity. I.e., Lebanon is not going to down an Israeli jet. Hence Tel Aviv’s impudence in Lebanese skies.
With what? Lebanon is not allowed to have anti-air missiles or any weapon that represents a danger to Israeli violation of its water and Air.https://t.co/fBoRAOn8bn
I seem to recall that in February, 2018 the IDF decided to test the SAA’s air defences and came as close as they would like to violating Syrian airspace. The result? Two F-16’s were downed after dozens of S-200 missiles were fired at them. This incident was the result of Moscow giving the green light to the SAA to hit Tel Aviv on the teeth using the S-200 system. But social media “experts” were adamant that Israel had to be punished long before this. Any Israeli missile being launched towards Syria is a failure, they said.
And it is here that we recall that Russia and Israel had an agreement in place whereby Russia would not impede Israel’s bombing of “Hezbollah compounds” in Western Syria. Why did Russia agree to this? Because these strikes achieved and still achieve NOTHING. With this non-announced agreement in place, Israel was given some limited space to play out its war against Iran, but the most important thing is that this space was a CONTROLLED environment. I.e., Russia always reserved the right to exercise its options to change the parameters of the playground.
Now some will say that Israel should be completely shut out of Syria, and Russia is weak since it can’t implement this. Such a statement comes from the deep depths of idealism. The fact is that Russia cannot stop Israel meddling in Syria in one way or another, and doesn’t have an unlimited amount of resources to try to anyway. Not to mention the fundamental fact that Jews live all over the post-Soviet space and in Russia itself, which complicates the situation. How would those who are pro-Israel and pro-Russia react if Russia openly shot down and killed Israeli pilots? This is just one factor out of many.
Another factor is that the zionist rats that are currently in power in Israel are only a transient phenomenon. Governments and their policies come and go. It’s perfectly possible that a leader will come to power in Israel one day who is in favour of peace with Palestinians/Arabs, in the same way that a Putin can arrive after a Yeltsin. So with this in mind, why on Earth would Russia, for example, bomb Israeli territory and kill/wound Israeli civilians/troops? Why mass punish the Israeli people just because of the actions of a bunch of Zionist crooks in the Knesset? It is idiotic at best and further perpetuates this cycle of aggression that Uncle Sam feeds off.
Also, why jeopardise the possible emergence of a situation whereby a state of Israel can exist side by side with a Palestinian state in peace? Let’s be honest: in our lifetimes, the two-state solution is the only REALISTIC solution. I will be told that such a statement is unfair or disconnected from reality, but my response to that is: please explain to me how both the Israeli and Palestinian people can be integrated into Eurasia without bloodshed. Again, as I said, Russia isn’t interested in violence, it won’t solve anything and Trump said he’s in favor of two state solution. That’s why I use the word “realistic”. Furthermore, a two state solution can be the result of negotiations between all the major powers of the world, but mainly between US and Russia. Palestinians can be given much more territory than they currently have, but giving everything back, as romantic as it is, is simply not feasible. After all, what will happen to the Israeli people in the process of claiming all the stolen land back? Will they be massacred? If not, where will they go, and who will facilitate it? And who will enforce any return process and how long will it take to implement? Will a resolution in the UNSC be passed? And what happens when Israelis refuse to leave? They will be massacred?
Israel has not, to date, directly killed any Russian troops. What happened on 17.09.18 was indirect, and there is a very big difference. And I am sure that Tel Aviv knows that this line must not be crossed whatsoever, since it will seriously threaten their own statehood, not to mention Gaza or the West Bank.
Israel hasn’t yet, to date, caused any damage to Hmeymim or put the lives of the soldiers stationed there (on the ground) at risk. The incident on 17.09.2018 came very close to this, but it, all the same, did not cross this line. The consequence of this would be the same as the one mentioned in point No. 2.
So now the synthesis:
I won’t discuss the details of what happened on 17.09.18. Why? Because I consider it to be irrelevant (like how people discuss the exact temperature that the steel columns melted on 9/11). What is important is how the parties reacted to the incident. And it is here that things become interesting. In December 2017, I wrote the tweet below (part of a thread):
15. won’t shoot down any IDF jets that launch token strikes on Hezbollah compounds. At the end of the day, Russia needed as fewer names as possible on the “targets that the S-400 should – in the eyes of the media – shoot down” list.
Take note of the expression “Russia needed as fewer names as possible on the ‘targets that the S-400 should – in the eyes of the media – shoot down’ list”. It is important. Let me explain what this means when inserted into the modern context. The S-400 in Hmeymim represents the Russian state. It represents Russia’s foreign policy. When the SAA fires SAM missiles into the sky, it represents not only the Syrian state (in the borders recognised by the UN), but also Syrian foreign policy. So, when have we really ever seen Russia fire any of its SAM systems in Syria? Yes, at militant drones. Jabhat al Nusra (or whatever it is called nowadays) is recognised by the UN as a terrorist organisation. And Russia affirms that these drones are sent from Nusrats in Idlib. I.e., the use of the SAM system in this context is completely in line with international law. And note how Russia thrusted this very fact into the face of the media in order to prevent any attempts to delegitimise the Idlib operation. This was a key factor that helped to prevent the West from treating us all to another Tomahawk show of weakness.
When the SAA fired its S-200 missiles at the Israeli jets in February of this year, was this in line with international law? Absolutely, since only Russia, Iran (IRGC), and Hezbollah were invited by Assad into Syria to combat terrorism. Hence why Russia okayed the launches. Now as I mentioned at the very beginning of this article, many social media “experts” reprimand the Kremlin because Israeli jets are not blown into pieces when they fire missiles at Syrian territory. It doesn’t enter their mind that there is a substantiated reason for this. But in order to delve into this topic, there is a need to explain what it is exactly that Russia (plus Eurasian friends) is trying to build here on this planet. For too long the West has used its airforce to firstly demolish and then vassalize sovereign states.
Using Yugoslavia as an example, the West stoked a sectarian civil war and then used the NATO airforce to steer the situation in the needed direction. Milosevic was given 2 bad options to choose from (intervene militarily or don’t). As a result, he was trapped. In Afghanistan and Iraq the US enjoyed the fruits of R2P and a crippled Russia (thanks to the CIA + Yeltsin combination!) to bulldoze statehood and install the needed political circle and economic direction. The aircraft carrier plus aircraft was a winning recipe, for now. But during all this time Russia wasn’t just sat twiddling its thumbs and waiting for some miracle to happen so that “superpower” status would arrive again. Serious work was being done to target the projected curve of development of the West’s war machine.
It was understood that the US can only exert its influence on MENA via aircraft carriers, and, where possible, by building military bases on the territory of vassalized failed states. Africa is actually one very large failed “state” that serves as a MIC “testing” terrain. It should be understood that the conception and implementation of the “Kinzhal”missile, for example, was not done on the basis of some whim or to sell weapons to make money. It was done in accordance with a very strict plan, targeting the vital “organs” of the Anglo beast.
The West (puppets of USA) was able to literally bulldoze Middle Eastern nations without facing any real resistance (the Libyan army didn’t even bring the SAM systems out of the warehouses). It is here that we see that “international law” is actually an equilibrium of the energy between “superpowers”. Yes, there is the UN charter and different treaties, but we all saw what happened in 2001/2002. We saw that definitions and concepts were very flexible, and that the US’ scheme of creating proxies, turning on them, and then removing them was almost flawless.
So how to stop this bulldozer from claiming more victims? We know that when it comes to MENA Israel calls the shots, and Uncle Sam and its EU puppets come to heel, and if they don’t, well… look at JFK. Furthermore, we’ve all heard Wesley Clark’s confession – 7 states in 5 years.
Iraq was no problem for the US to bulldoze in 2002 onwards – no other powerful nation had influence there. Somalia and Sudan is in Africa, which was brought to its knees after the USSR’s influence disappeared forever. Libya was easy to squash. But Iran, Yemen, and Syria seemingly didn’t go according to plan. Yemen has strategic ports and access to waters. It’s no secret that Iran enjoyed and still enjoys influence in Yemen, in the same way the Anglos did via their puppet Hadi. Iran developed a nuclear program, albeit a peaceful one. But it is a deterrent all the same. The Houthis are being supported by the members of “Eurasia”, and this is a) not a secret, and b) completely legitimate, since the West staged a coup first (and is feeding Al Qaeda’s presence in the East of the country) and we are now in the era of proxy warfare, since the emergence of nuclear weapons put an end to the traditional colonisation blitzkrieg. And Syria was always going to be problematic for Washington & Co because Russia already has a naval base there – in Tartus. But make no mistake, the West knew this very well, but now was the time to confront Russia in a “neutral”venue, in a “controlled” environment.
Why do I say “controlled” and “neutral”? The actual warfare is taking place thousands of miles away from US territory, and US citizens on that territory are thus not at risk (US troops are a different case). Thus, any blowback that may be incurred will have a delayed action. However, there was a need to activate a process that would gradually attack Russia’s rear. And et voila – the coup in Kiev in 2014 served as exactly this. Even knowing that Russia can potentially enter Syria, they took comfort knowing that they had the Ukraine card in play. If they didn’t do the coup in Ukraine, then Russia could enter Syria and risk very little in the process of reclaiming that “superpower” status by cementing itself in the middle of the globe, with access to important waters. Nusra and ISIS would’ve been crushed in the same way (maybe even quicker since it would be deprived of time to grow and expand).
So, in order to buy time and slow down Russia’s approach to Syria, the war in Donbass was launched. It was designed by the West in such a way that Putin would surely suffer the same fate as Milosevic, entering his troops into Donbass and starting an irreversible bloodbath. A man named Girkin, on the CIA’s payroll, tried his best to drag Russia into Donbass and to start the extermination of the Russian nation. But Putin, of course, isn’t dumb and didn’t bite on it. Instead, he engineered the Ilovaisk and Debaltsevo cauldrons, which were failsafe ways of ensuring that the West’s Ukrainian front was halted in its tracks. This resulted in the signing of the Minsk Agreements. What are they? They are the same as what the US did to Milosevic – they presented the West with 2 bad options: implement the agreements, Russia wins (collapse of statehood); don’t implement them, Russia wins (collapse of statehood).
The West had to sign the Agreements since their proxies had been encircled in Donbass and project Bandera risked being aborted early. And that, in short form, is how Putin negated the parallel process that aimed to prevent Russia from entering Syria with a lower risk level. So coming back to the key problem of the US’ bulldozing machine, the West took a gamble in Syria simply because they knew that a financial crisis is catching up with them with each passing day. Furthermore, Netanyahu doesn’t care about the consequences for the West; he wants to expand Israel in accordance with the Oded Yinon plan.
But for Russia, isn’t not just about saving Syrian statehood (note that I use this word and not Assad) and safeguarding strategic assets, it is also about shaping the next 100 years. De-dollarisation is already ongoing. But this is only one element of the greater picture. In order to counter this Anglo war machine there is a need to think laterally. By this I mean not attacking it head on, but instead flanking it. After all, the West provokes Russia so much because it WANTS a reaction. It wants to control Russia’s actions and reactions, for them to become predictable and for the room for manoeuvre to be like a sardine tin.
And it is here that we can return back to the topic of Israel’s airstrikes in Syria. Since Tel Aviv’s token airstrikes in Syria achieve absolutely nothing and de-rail nothing in the grand Eurasian scheme, this is why Russia didn’t want to completely shut Israel out. Earlier in this article I explained (see the embedded S-400 tweet) that there was a complex game ongoing whereby the West wanted to push Putin into publicly committing to firing the S-400. In the past I explained that the S-400 constitutes a philosophy and not a weapon. The philosophy is based on the notion of DEFENCE, and not pseudo R2P defence, but actual defence, against violators of international law and generally unstable/erratic actors. This actually follows in the footsteps of the very essence of what the Red Army did nearly 80 years ago, when it had the opportunity to exterminate the German nation – having the full moral right to do so, but it refrained from doing so.
The philosophy is also based on RISK. And by this I mean the now well-known expression “skin in the game”. I.e., the very foundation of international law should be based the fact that there will be consequences for one’s actions. And the UN here must be actually impartial. The problem is that the UN has been monopolised by the US (and its bullying) and its vassalized puppets for so long. The process of changing this is long, but people in general are impatient and want to eat their cake now, before they die. In other words, the S-400 embodies the notion that cooperation and diplomacy is a more effective guarantor of mass prosperity than colonisation and violent coercion. Militarily, the S-400 can act as a no-fly zone, but it is its position in the wider picture that really matters here.
This “Eurasian” project unfolding before our eyes embodies this notion of cooperation that in reality Americans have never known, since their country was founded on the back of bloodshed and spitting on the human soul. I hope I don’t offend Americans by stating this, but it’s the truth. Russia and friends want to incorporate as many nations into this project as possible, and not to make big bucks in profit, but to pull us away from this abyss that the Anglo-Saxons so badly want to throw us into.
So back to the main topic here: Israel. It’s true that Israel’s airstrikes were acting like a pest in Syria. They didn’t change anything in even the short-term, but they are a nuisance all the same, least of all because it generates this whining on the internet about “Putin/ Russia being weak”. The situation was such that if Russia downed an Israeli jet (using the tools at Hmeymim to do it), Russia would flush down the toilet all progress it has made since Putin came to power. It would be the most idiotic move imaginable and would warrant harsh criticism. Russia would become just as ugly as the Anglo Saxons are, also elbow-deep in human blood.
So, Russia instead manufactured a neat little trap for Tel Aviv. Remember what happened in December 2015? Yes, Turkey was used as a lab rat by the CIA in order to test Russia’s reactions at that moment in time, not only in Syria but in Ukraine too. We all know what Russia did – it severed the link between Turkey and its proxies in Syria and started the process of implosion. Takfiri groups were merging, disbanding, or just straight up massacring each other. The “FSA” multi-layered pyramid started to crumble. Turkey had been removed from the game. It was invited (forced via leverage of economic sanctions and the threat of ending Turkish Stream project, thus leaving Erdogan to the fate of the Gulenists) by Russia to mop up its mess in the North of Syria and end Tel Aviv’s little “Rojava“ project. Turkey was forced to start the process of rebranding Nusra into “moderate” FSA troops and to transfer them to the “Euphrates Shield” forces. This is still ongoing today, although it’s not simple and Erdogan has problems inside Turkey to deal with at the same time.
In other words, Turkey’s room to manoeuvre was reduced in size, and not voluntarily, but because Turkey (whether it was forced to by NATO or not) tried to raise the stakes but failed to secure the needed chips beforehand. It backfired on the West, big time. Hello S-400. So now Israel has tried the same thing, essentially because it had no choice. I wrote the following on 10.05.18:
Russia has a wide range of options to bring Israel to heel, but none of them involve aggression. Netanyahu was at the Immortal Regiment march today in Moscow, and this is also a sign of weakness. AIPAC might control the US, but that lobbying sh*t won’t fly in Russia.
Thus, if follows from this that Russia knew that sooner or later Israel would make a mistake. And in order for the mistake to arrive, Russia needed to show patience. Does this mean that Russia waited for 15 troops to die? Certainly not. But to put things into context – 27 million Soviet people died during WW2, and it was the cost for liberation. War is war. People die in war. And troops know the danger they put themselves in when they sign up and are deployed.
Again, I stress, being outside observers who want to stop children being bombed and Anglo Saxon aggression, it is frustrating to see Israel walk all over international law and to sh*t on Syrian soil with impudence, but aggression was never the right response. The two occasions when the SAA did give Israel a little slap (February and May, 2018 – authorised by Moscow) was part of a deliberate plan to keep Israel honest; to show Tel Aviv that it risks losing much more than it gains by remaining in the Syrian “game”. And so Israel gave Russia the perfect pretext to give Syria the S-300. Israeli can’t complain to Russia about this, because of behind the curtain affairs that I will not discuss here. Tel Aviv accepts its punishment, and now pressure has indeed been taken off the S-400. By the way, many social media“experts” were flapping around like headless chickens, demanding Putin to nuke Tel Aviv, then 5 hours later demanding to send every SAM system under the sun. Here is what I said immediately after the IL-20 incident:
Remember what I said about Syria being the “high stakes” arena? Well #Israel just tried to raise the stakes without having the necessary chips. This is why working within the framework of international law trumps chaotisation. Turkey was brought to heel, and now Israel is next.
So I guess the question that is on people’s minds is: “Why didn’t Russia give the S-300 to Syria earlier, say, in 2011?”. The answer: without the Minsk Agreements, Russia’s actions in Syria simply couldn’t be possible. I.e., the S-300 constitutes a threat to Israel. And in geopolitics the ability to use the threat that something poses as a deterrent, rather than actually using the deterrent itself, is a very powerful mechanism. Knowing that the Syrian war would last approximately 10 years, Russia milked every piece of leverage it had to influence the behaviour of the belligerent parties. One should never ever use an Ace just like that, failing to fully utilise its potential. The S-300’s time came on September, 2018.
By the way, I will say that the story with the IL-20 is extremely bizarre. The only plausible explanation, in my opinion, is that what we are told is just a narrative for public consumption. Russian troops died, and Israel stabbed Russia in the back by using the plane as a human shield, but the exact circumstances we will never know. Now Israel is faced with a choice: if it tries to bomb Syria in the same way that it has been doing, then the SAA will respond in a much stronger way than it did before (and Israel will suffer more embarrassment as a result). This takes pressure off Russia to deliver some big hit to please social media entertainment seekers.
The IDF cannot risk using the F35 and flying it into an ambush, and Lockheed most certainly won’t want the PR disaster. But now Israel will be kept honest, and the token airstrikes on “Hezbollah warehouses” will cost Tel Aviv much more than they did before. Remember – the “multipolar order” that is so highly spoken about is, in reality, a transition away from “buying” the ability to wage war and prop up one’s economy, to cooperation and the mutual investment in economies, based on a joint vision of the future.
I guess this article can be summarised as: everything the Kremlin does is done for a reason. In the meantime, enjoy Putin’s masterclass. In order to have peace, someone has to stop shooting. Russia is strong enough to take that burden upon itself and to set the example for everyone else.
End of the war 1945 – Advance of the Red Army in the streets of Berlin, April 1945.
– تقترب خمسينية رحيل جمال عبد الناصر، وقد عرف العرب بعد غيابه خلالها خيبات وانتصارات، وليست صدفة أن تأتي ذكرى الانتفاضة الفلسطينية المباركة في الأقصى بعد ثلاثين عاماً على رحيله في ذات يوم ذكراه. وبين الرحيل واليوم ظاهرة حياة وحيدة في يوميات العرب جسّدتها ولا تزال المقاومة التي حرّرت جنوب لبنان بعد ثلاثين عاماً من رحيل جمال عبد الناصر، وكررت فعل الشرف ذاته بعد ستة أعوام، وها هي تكرّر كل يوم جريمتها التي تعاقب عليها بلا توقف، لكونها أعادت العرب إلى خريطة العالم، ومنعت تضييع وتمييع قضية فلسطين التي وهبها عبد الناصر عمره، وكانت الدرع الواقية للعرب من التهام نيران التطرف والتكفير والإرهاب لهشيمهم الهش من بوابات سورية والعراق ولبنان. ولا تزال الشوكة التي لا يستطيع الفم الإسرائيلي الشره، بسببها، التهام المنطقة ومضغها، رغم نجاحه بلوك الكثير من الحكام والمشيخات والممالك والإمارات.
– أهم ما تقوله لنا ذكرى رحيل عبد الناصر، ليس ما يضيع الكثيرون وقتهم في مناقشته حول نجاحاته وإخفاقاته، أو حول جدارته بتبوأ مكانة الشرف في لائحة القادة التاريخيين، بل هو ما قاله الرئيس الراحل حافظ الأسد في نعيه لجمال عبد الناصر يوم الرحيل، حيث كتب: إننا نودّع اليوم الرجل الذي كنا نأتي إليه بخيباتنا ليمنع تحوّلها إلى هزائم للأمة، والذي كنا نأتي إليه بإنجازاتنا ليجعل منها انتصارات للأمة، فهي مصر التي نفتقدها بالغياب الثقيل الموجع، مع ذكرى غياب جمال عبد الناصر، الذي رفع بحضوره مكانة مصر ومعها مكانة العرب، إلى مصاف الدول والأمم الصانعة للسياسة، إلى لاعب جدير وقدير يخطئ ويصيب، لكنه حاضر دائماً، وقد تحوّلت إلى ملعب مفتوح للاعبين العابثين بعد الغياب.
– في واحدة من اللقاءات التي التقى خلالها الرئيس بشار الأسد جمعاً من المثقفين العرب، وكان لي شرف الحضور، سأله أحد المحبّين قائلاً، سيادة الرئيس يوم انتهت حرب تموز عام 2006 سئل سيد المقاومة لمن تهدي نصرك فقال للأمة كلها، وأنا أسألك لمن ستهدي نصرَك القريب، فأجاب الرئيس بشار الأسد بتواضع القادة الكبار، أنا معني بالإيضاح لمصطلح النصر، فالنصر المتاح أمام سورية هو منع المشروع المعادي للعرب والعروبة من العبور، سورية تصمد، لكن النصر بمعناه العميق لا يكتمل بدون مصر. فمع مصر يتحوّل الإنجاز الذي تحققه سورية أو أي بلد عربي آخر إلى انتصار ـ وبدون مصر يبقى النصر محدوداً بالصمود.
– لنا أن نتخيّل معنى لو كان عبد الناصر موجوداً في ذروة الحرب على سورية، أو أن يكون في مصر مَن يجسّد مبادئه وتاريخه، فمن كان سيجرؤ على تحويل الجامعة العربية إلى وكر للتآمر على سورية، ولنا أن نتخيّل معنى إخراج سورية من الجامعة العربية كمقدّمة لتحويلها منصة للمشاريع الإسرائيلية، ولنا أن نفهم أن الخطوة الأولى للهجمة الإسرائيلية الأميركية كانت تسليم إخراج مصر من المشهد، ولنا ان نتخيل الردع الموضوعي الذي يشكله حضور مصر أمام كل المهازل التي تختصر المشهد السياسي العربي اليوم، ولنا أن نتخيل حال فلسطين المنتفضة والمقاومة في ظلال حضور مصر القوي والفاعل، ولنا أن نتساءل عن المدى الذي كانت ستصله مفاعيل سبّابة سيد المقاومة لو كانت مصر في ربع ما كانت عليه زمن عبد الناصر، فكيف لو كان كل الزمان حاضراً.
– في ذكرى الرحيل ليس لنا إلا أن نثق بأن الصمود له مهمة، كما وصفها الرئيس بشار الأسد، وهي استنهاض مصر، التي لا بد أنها آتية، فهي كما يقول الأستاذ محمد حسنين هيكل تنهض كطوفان النيل بلا مقدّمات، ولا إشارات إنذار، وبانتظار ذلك الطوفان تحضر ذكرى جمال عبد الناصر ملهمة لكل الأحرار بأن زمن مصر آتٍ، وزمن جمال الكرامة لم يمت، مهما تكاثرت مومياءات الذل البشعة في المشهد العربي
The speeches delivered during the general discussion at this session of the UN General Assembly confirm the fact that international relations are going through a very complex and contradictory historical stage.
Today, we are witnesses to a collision of two opposing trends. On the one hand, the polycentric principles of the world order are growing stronger and new economic growth centres are taking shape. We can see nations striving to preserve their sovereignty and to choose the development models that are consistent with their ethnic, cultural and religious identity. On the other hand, we see the desire of a number of Western states to retain their self-proclaimed status as “world leaders” and to slow down the irreversible move toward multipolarity that is objectively taking place. To this end, anything goes, up to and including political blackmail, economic pressure and brute force.
Such illegal actions devalue international law, which lies at the foundation of the postwar world order. We hear loud statements not only calling into question the legal force of international treaties, but asserting the priority of self-serving unilateral approaches over resolutions adopted by the UN.
We are witnessing the rise of militant revisionism with regard to the modern international legal system. The basic principles of the Middle East settlement process, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear programme, commitments under the World Trade Organisation, the multilateral climate agreement, and much more are under attack.
Our Western colleagues seek to replace the rule of law in international affairs with some “rules-based order.” These rules, which are made up as political expediency dictates, are a clear case of double standards. Unjustified accusations of interference in the domestic affairs of particular countries are made while simultaneously engaging in an open campaign to undermine and topple democratically elected governments. They seek to draw certain countries into military alliances built to suit their own needs, against the will of the people of those countries, while threatening other states with punishment for exercising freedom of choice in their partners and allies.
The aggressive attacks on international institutions are accompanied by attempts to “privatise” their secretarial structures and grant them the rights of intergovernmental bodies so that they can be manipulated.
The shrinking space for constructive international cooperation, the escalation of confrontation, the rise in general unpredictability, and the significant increase in the risk of spontaneous conflicts – all have an impact on the activities of this world organisation.
The international community has to pay a high price for the selfish ambitions of a narrow group of countries. Collective mechanisms of responding to common security challenges are faltering. Diplomacy, negotiation and compromise are being replaced with dictates and unilateral exterritorial sanctions enacted without the consent of the UN Security Council. Such measures that already affect dozens of countries are not only illegal but also ineffective, as demonstrated by the more than half-century US embargo of Cuba that is denounced by the entire international community.
But history does not teach the same lesson twice. Attempts to pass verdicts without trial or investigation continue unabated. Some of our Western colleagues who want to assign blame are content to rely on assertions in the vein of the notorious “highly likely.” We have already been through this. We remember well how many times false pretexts were used to justify interventions and wars, like in Yugoslavia in 1999, Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011.
Now the same methods are being used against Syria. On April 14, it was subjected to missile strikes carried out under an absolutely falsified pretext, several hours before international inspectors were supposed to arrive at the site of the staged incident. Let the terrorists and their patrons be warned that any further provocations involving the use of chemical weapons would be unacceptable.
The conflict in Syria has already lasted for seven years. The failed attempt to use extremists to change the regime from the outside nearly led to the country’s collapse and the emergence of a terrorist caliphate in its place.
Russia’s bold action in response to the request of the Syrian Government, backed diplomatically by the Astana process, helped prevent this destructive scenario. The Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi, initiated by Russia, Iran and Turkey last January, created the conditions for a political settlement in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254. The intra-Syrian Constitutional Committee is being established in Geneva on precisely this basis. Rebuilding ruined infrastructure to enable millions of refugees to return home as soon as possible is on the agenda. Assistance in resolving these challenges for the benefit of all Syrians, without any double standards, should become a priority for international efforts and the activities of UN agencies.
For all the challenges posed by Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, it would be unacceptable to ignore the protracted Palestinian problem. Its fair resolution is critical to improving the situation in the entire Middle East. I would like to warn politicians against unilateral approaches and attempts to monopolise the peace process. Today, the consolidation of international efforts in the interests of resuming talks on the basis of UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative is more in demand than ever before. We are doing everything to facilitate this, including in the format of the Middle East Quartet and in cooperation with the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Mutually acceptable agreements should ensure the peaceful and safe co-existence of the two states – Israel and Palestine.
Here in the UN that was built on the lessons of World War II we are all obliged to think about the future and not repeating the mistakes of the past. This year is the 80th anniversary of the Munich conspiracy that crowned the criminal appeasement of the Third Reich and serves as a sad example of the disastrous consequences that can result from national egotism, disregard for international law and seeking solutions at the expense of others.
Regrettably, today in many countries the anti-Nazi vaccine has not only weakened, there is a growing campaign to rewrite history and whitewash war criminals and their accomplices. We consider sacrilegious the struggle against monuments to the liberators of Europe, which is going on in some countries. We are calling on UN members to support a draft resolution of the UN General Assembly denouncing the glorification of Nazis.
The growth of radical nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine, where criminals who fought under SS banners are glorified as heroes, is one of the main factors of the protracted domestic conflict in Ukraine. The only way to end it is consistent and faithful implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures that was unanimously approved by the UN Security Council. We support the activities of the OSCE mission in Ukraine and are ready to provide UN protection for its members. However, instead of fulfilling the Minsk agreements and engaging in dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, Kiev still entertains the illusion of introducing an occupying force in Donbass, with the support from the West, and increasingly threatens its opponents with scenarios based on force. The patrons of the current Ukrainian authorities should compel them to think straight and end the blockade of Donbass and discrimination against national minorities throughout Ukraine.
In Kosovo, the international military presence under UN Security Council mandate is morphing into a US base. Kosovo armed forces are being created, while agreements reached by Belgrade and Pristina with EU mediation are being disregarded. Russia calls on the sides to engage in dialogue in accordance with UNSC Resolution 1244 and will support any solution which is acceptable to Serbia.
In general, we are against turning the Balkans once again into an arena of confrontation or anyone claiming it as a foothold, against forcing the people of the Balkan nations to make a false choice or creating new dividing lines in the region.
An equal and undivided security architecture also needs to be created in other parts of the world, including the Asia Pacific Region. We welcome the positive developments around the Korean Peninsula, which are following the logic of the Russian-Chinese roadmap. It is important to encourage the process with further steps by both sides toward a middle ground and incentivise the practical realisation of important agreements between Pyongyang and Seoul through the Security Council. We will keep working to put in place a multilateral process as soon as possible, so that we can build a durable mechanism of peace and security in Northeast Asia.
Denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula is among the challenges facing the world community in the key area of international security – the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, serious obstacles continue to pile up on that road. Lack of progress in ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and in establishing a WMD-free zone in the Middle East has been compounded by the unilateral US withdrawal from the JCPOA in violation of Resolution 2231, despite the fact that Iran is fully in compliance. We will do everything to preserve the UNSC-approved deal.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is being pushed in an increasingly negative direction as the West attempts to turn its Technical Secretariat into a tool for punishing undesirable governments. This threatens to undermine the independent professional status of that organisation and the universal nature of the CWC, as well as the exclusive prerogative of the UN Security Council.
These and other issues related to non-proliferation were discussed in detail at the September 26 Security Council meeting, convened by the US chair not a moment too soon.
We are convinced that any problems and concerns in international affairs should be addressed through substantive dialogue. If there are questions or criticisms, what is needed is to sit down and talk, produce facts, listen to opposing arguments, and seek to find a balance of interests.
To be continued…
The Essential Saker II: Civilizational Choices and Geopolitics / The Russian challenge to the hegemony of the AngloZionist Empire