The member of the Fatah Central Committee says that the UN resolution to refer “Israel” to the criminal court is highly important.
Ahmed Halas, member of Fatah Central Committee in an interview on Al-Mayadeen.
Member of the Fatah Central Committee, Ahmed Halas, said in an interview with Al-Mayadeen on Saturday that, “the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to refer ‘Israel’ to criminal prosecution is of great importance.”
Halas emphasized that “the Palestinian position is the only thing capable of putting an end to the Israeli aggression,” stressing that “the international community is a catalyst.”
The official added that the “American role in the United Nations is more hostile than the Israeli position towards the Palestinian cause.”
ما مدى أهميّة أن تحصل دولة #فلسطين على تصويت الجمعيّة العامة لـ #الأمم_المتحدة لتفعيل دور محكمة العدل الدوليّة في قضايا الاحتلال؟
He also pointed out that the “United States exerted pressure and blackmail against many countries to prevent them from voting in favor of the resolution.”
“The time has come to stop talking about Palestinian national unity,” and “we must move to practical steps, away from who will achieve more gains, and the signed unity agreements carry the same content,” Halas added.
Earlier today, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution requesting an opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal implications of “Israel’s” illegal occupation of Palestine and its “practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the Palestinian people,” despite the occupation’s strained efforts to incite and lure several countries in order to prevent the ICJ’s advisory opinion.
Last week, the resolution, titled “Israeli practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories,” was approved by the UN General Assembly Fourth Committee with 98 votes in favor, 17 votes against, and 52 abstentions.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), situated in The Hague and commonly known as the World Court, is the highest UN court dealing with international issues. Its decisions are binding, but the ICJ has no authority to enforce them.
The resolution was passed by the General Assembly by a vote of 87 to 26 with 53 abstentions. Russia and China voted in favor of the resolution.
Unsurprisingly, “Israel”, the United States, and 24 of their allies voted against the resolution, most notably the United Kingdom and Germany, while France was one of the 53 nations that abstained.
It is worth noting that the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the “legal consequences of Israeli occupation, settlement, and annexation – including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures.”
تزامن اللقاء مع الجدل الدائر حالياً في مجلس الأمن حول قضية المساعدات الإنسانية (أ ف ب)
أنبأ تطابق التعليقات الرسمية السورية والتركية على اللقاء الثلاثي الذي انعقد في موسكو على مستوى وزراء الدفاع ورؤساء الاستخبارات، فضلاً عن الأصداء الإيجابية التي حملتْها تلك التعليقات، بأن هذا اللقاء غير المسبوق منذ 11 عاماً، ستتبعه بالفعل خطوات عملية على الأرض، من شأنها أن تَدفع قُدُماً بمسار التقارب بين أنقرة ودمشق. خطواتٌ يُفترض لمسها خلال الفترة القليلة المقبلة في نطاق ملفَّين رئيسَين: أوّلهما إدلب وطريق حلب – اللاذقية، وثانيهما اللاجئون السوريون الذي يُنتظَر أن تتسارع خطوات إعادتهم إلى بلادهم. وفي خضمّ ذلك، تجد القوى الكردية نفسها أمام اختبار جديد، في ظلّ خشيتها من أن يأتي التطبيع السوري – التركي على حساب وجودها وسلطتها، وهو ما دفعها إلى إطلاق حملة استنكار للاجتماع الأخير، على رغم أنها واصلت، على مدار اللقاءات التي انعقدت بينها وبين الحكومة السورية خلال الأشهر الماضية، رفْض أيّ حلول وسطية، متمسّكة بتحالفها مع الأميركيين وتعويلها عليهم
لعدّة ساعات أوّل من أمس، اجتمع وزير الدفاع السوري، العماد علي عباس، ونظيره التركي، خلوصي آكار، إلى جانب وزير الدفاع الروسي، سيرغي شويغو، بحضور رؤساء استخبارات البلدان الثلاثة، في لقاء هو الأوّل من نوعه بين مسؤولين رفيعي المستوى من سوريا وتركيا، منذ اندلاع الحرب السورية قبل أكثر من 11 عاماً. الاجتماع الذي جاء بعد بضعة أشهر من المباحثات الأمنية والوساطة الروسية المتواصلة، بالإضافة إلى جهود إيرانية بدت واضحة خلال قمّة دول «مسار أستانا» التي عُقدت في العاصمة الإيرانية طهران في شهر تموز الماضي، ركّز على مجموعة قضايا أبرزها المخاطر الأمنية ومسألة اللاجئين. وهاتان القضيّتان كانت قد شكّلتا محور لقاءات أمنية سابقة بين دمشق وأنقرة، في ظلّ رغبة العاصمتَين المشتركة في إخراج القوّات الأميركية من سوريا وإنهاء مشروع «الإدارة الذاتية» الكردية من جهة، وطيّ ملفّ اللاجئين السوريين من جهة أخرى، بهدف سحبه من أروقة السياسة، بعد أن تمّ استثماره لسنوات عدّة من قِبَل الدول الغربية.
وخلال الشهرَين الماضيَين، أبدت تركيا رغبتها في استعجال خطوات الانفتاح على سوريا، بهدف قطف مكاسب هذا الانفتاح في الداخل، في وقت ربطت فيه دمشق التطبيع مع أنقرة بمجموعة خطوات يتعيّن على الأخيرة اتّخاذها، أبرزها وقف دعم الفصائل المسلّحة، وإخراج قوّاتها من الشمال السوري، بالإضافة إلى إنهاء تحكّمها بالمياه الواردة عبر نهر الفرات، والذي يؤدي إلى أزمات جفاف متلاحقة أضرّت بشكل كبير بالقطاع الزراعي السوري، ومنعت إيصال مياه الشرب إلى آلاف القرى. وفي وقت لم تَصدر فيه عن دمشق أيّ توضيحات حول فحوى اللقاء ونتائجه، باستثناء البيان المقتضب الذي أصدرته وزارة الدفاع السورية، والذي وصف الاجتماع بـ«الإيجابي»، ذكرت مصادر سورية أن تركيا تَقدّمت بضع خطوات على المسار الذي تريده سوريا، الأمر الذي سهّل عقْد هذا اللقاء، متوقّعةً ارتقاء الاجتماعات إلى المستوى السياسي في وقت لاحق، من دون تحديد وقت دقيق لذلك، في ظلّ الملفّات المعقّدة والمتشابكة التي تحيط بالعلاقات السورية – التركية، والتي ترجئ الحديث عن التسوية النهائية إلى ما بعد الانتخابات الرئاسية التركية.
خلال الشهرَين الماضيَين، أبدت تركيا رغبتها في استعجال خطوات الانفتاح على سوريا
اللافت في موعد عقد هذا اللقاء، أنه يأتي بالتزامن مع الجدل الدائر حالياً في مجلس الأمن حول قضية المساعدات الإنسانية، إذ ترغب أنقرة في ضمان استمرار تدفّق المساعدات خلال الشهور المقبلة لمنع حدوث اضطرابات في الشمال السوري، في وقت تصرّ فيه دمشق وموسكو على أن تفي الدول الغربية بتعهّداتها حول تقديم دعم ملموس لمشاريع التعافي المبكر، وخصوصاً منظومتَي المياه والطاقة الكهربائية، بما من شأنه أن يؤمّن أرضية مناسبة لإعادة اللاجئين. كذلك، يأتي الاجتماع بعد تعثّر الخطّة التركية لشنّ هجوم برّي جديد في الشمال السوري، بفعل رفض كلّ من موسكو وواشنطن إيّاه، ليبقى الحلّ الوحيد بالنسبة إلى أنقرة هو الانفتاح على دمشق وفق الخطّة الروسية، خصوصاً أن الولايات المتحدة لا تملك سوى تجديد طرح مشروعها لربْط المناطق الخارجة عن سيطرة الحكومة السورية (الإدارة الذاتية والشمال السوري)، الأمر الذي تَعتبره تركيا وصْفة لتجذير «الإدارة الذاتية» بدلاً من إنهائها. وعلى أيّ حال، ترى مصادر سورية مطّلعة، في حديث إلى «الأخبار»، أن الأصداء الإيجابية الصادرة عن وزارتَي الدفاع السورية والتركية عقب اللقاء، تشي بوجود خطوات على الأرض يُفترض لمسها خلال الفترة القليلة المقبلة، وأُولاها تقديم دفعة حقيقية لحلحلة ملفّ إدلب وفتح طريق اللاذقية – حلب المغلَق من جهة، ومن جهة ثانية، تسريع وتيرة إعادة اللاجئين السوريين، ولا سيما أنه جرى تحديد معابر دائمة لإعادتهم، وافتتاح مراكز مصالحة خاصة بهم في إدلب. ويضع التوافق السوري – التركي، القوى الكردية، أمام اختبار وجودي جديد، في ظلّ إعلان الرئيس التركي، رجب طيب إردوغان، اتّباع آلية جديدة في محاربة تلك القوى، عبر استهداف بنيتها التحتية ومصادر تمويلها، في إشارة إلى قوافل النفط التي يجري تهريبها، ومراكز تكرير النفط البدائية، بالإضافة إلى مقرّاتها العسكرية. وفي الإطار نفسه، أعلن وزير الخارجية التركي، مولود جاويش أوغلو، أن ثمّة مساعيَ حثيثة لإيجاد مخرج سياسي عبر لقاءات سورية – سورية (بين الحكومة والمعارضة)، وفق مسارَين: الأوّل هو «مسار أستانة» بدعم روسي، والثاني هو مسار «اللجنة الدستورية» (المسار الأممي)، المجمَّد حالياً، علماً أن كليهما لا يضمّان أيّ تمثيل لـ«قسد». ويأتي ذلك في وقت تتابع فيه واشنطن، التي تحاول جاهدة إفشال المساعي الروسية للحلّ ومنْع الانفتاح السوري – التركي، التصعيد السياسي والميداني في سوريا، سواء عبر تقديم دفعات من الأسلحة المتطوّرة لـ«قسد»، أو عن طريق إنشاء «جيش رديف من مكوّنات عربية» في منطقتَي التنف في المثلث الحدودي مع العراق والأردن، والرقة على الحدود مع تركيا.
PIJ chief Ziyad Nakhalah tells Al Mayadeen that the upcoming year is a challenging one for the Palestinians.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziyad Al-Nakhalah during a Twitter Space with Al Mayadeen
The upcoming year will be one full of challenges for the Palestinian people, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Secretary-General Ziyadh Al-Nakhalah told Al Mayadeen on Thursday during an interview on Twitter Space.
“2022 saw the establishment of the Jenin Brigade and the Lions’ Den, and it also saw [the Palestinians in] a state of continuous confrontation with the Israeli enemy,” Al-Nakhalah told Al Mayadeen. “A true armed intifada is taking place in the West Bank.”
“The enemy is not halting its settlement process in the West Bank,” the PIJ chief noted, stressing that the Israeli occupation was relentlessly attacking the resistance in the occupied West Bank.
“The resistance has a clear challenge before it this year,” Al-Nakhalah said, stressing that the resistance in the Gaza Strip was “coordinating with the newly established brigades in the West Bank, as there is no option but a united front against the enemy.”
“The battle is open against the enemy throughout the West Bank, and the developments taking place in the Bank were an extension of Operation Unity of Battlefields,” he underlined.
Meanwhile, he touched on the aforementioned operation, saying the main message the operation delivered was that the Israeli occupation could not pick an individual fight with a single resistance faction or Palestinians.
“The Palestinians are one people in the face of one enemy,” Al-Nakhalah underscored. “Coexisting with the enemy is not a possibility, even if certain parties agree with this notion.”
PIJ ready for unity despite political disputes
Al-Nakhalah said his movement, the PIJ, was not currently discussing any political campaigns, stressing that the various factions had to form a united front, or else they would be picked off individually.
“The [PIJ] is ready for a united battlefield unconditionally and for cooperation with the various powers, even if we have political disputes with them,” he added. “The upcoming year will herald an era of unity between the battlefields and the fighters on the front lines.”
He also noted how the Palestinian Authority has started to limit its prosecution of Palestinian freedom fighters.
Aggression on Gaza expected
Touching on the Israeli occupation’s aggression against Palestine as a whole, and the Gaza Strip, in particular, Al-Nakhalah expected that 2023 will see “Tel Aviv” waging a new round of aggression on Gaza.
“Gaza is not isolated from the developments in the West Bank, and it is preparing itself for battle. It is not completely off the table for Gaza to maintain a presence on the battlefield,” he stressed.
The resistance in Gaza, Al-Nakhalah underlined, will participate in any battle in a timely manner if the situation calls for an intervention. “Gaza will have the West Bank’s back through thick and thin.”
Prisoners a PIJ priority
The PIJ Secretary-General underlined that the Palestinian prisoners’ issue was of high priority for the Palestinian people and the resistance factions, chiefly Al-Quds Brigades.”
The Palestinian resistance “will stop at nothing to liberate the prisoners,” Al-Nakhalah said. “The resistance highly prioritizes capturing Israeli soldiers.”
Sayyed Nasrallah true leader of resistance
“Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is the real leader of the resistance, and he is a pivotal part of the Palestinian resistance,” Al-Nakhalah said upon being asked by a participant about the Palestinian resistance’s relations with Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Days before the third anniversary of the martyrdom of the IRGC’s Quds Force commander, martyr Qassem Soleimani, Al-Nakhalah mourned the late leader, saying: “Martyr Soleimani is truly the martyr of Al-Quds, and he truly deserves this title.”
“Hajj Soleimani is always present, and he gave his soul for the liberation of Al-Quds.”
Only Iran, Hezbollah, Syria supporting Palestine
“The Palestinian people might be fighting in the West Bank, but Iran and Hezbollah are key backers of these Palestinian freedom fighters,” Al-Nakhalah highlighted.
“The enemies want to delude the world by asserting that the war in Palestine is against Iran and that the Islamic Republic is using Palestinians as cannon fodder in its war against Israel,” the resistance leader stressed, noting that this was the enemy’s false narrative.
He also stressed that his group was ready to receive the funding or backing of any Arab or Islamic country, calling on the rest of the Arab World to fulfill its duties toward Palestine.
“We are fighting the United States in Israel, for it is its main backer. Meanwhile, we do not see any backers of Palestine aside from Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria.
Twitter shuts down Al Mayadeen Space during Al-Nakhalah interview
It is noteworthy that Al Mayadeen‘s Twitter Space was shut down as the network was conducting an interview with Al-Nakhalah.
Twitter Space was shut down in light of an onslaught of reports from the Israeli occupation, in light of the strong-worded, unwavering, and truthful statements made by Al-Nakhalah.
The Twitter Space was joined by Al Mayadeen CEO Ghassan Ben Jiddou, who praised the PIJ leader, saying he played a pivotal role during the decade when Syria was engulfed in war.
“Al-Nakhalah is an adamantly exceptional leader when it comes to all his actions,” Ben Jiddou concluded.
لم يَمت بعد «الائتلاف» كتشكيل سياسي سوري معارض بشكل نهائي (أ ف ب)
بعدما عاش انفراجة مؤقّتة إثْر استئناف تركيا تدفّقاتها المالية لصالحها خلال الشهرَين الماضيَين، يعود «الائتلاف السوري» المُعارض ليعيش أزمة خانقة، تُهدّد بإنهاء وجوده هذه المرّة، في ظلّ تخفيض أنقرة تلك التدفّقات البالغة 250 ألف دولار شهرياً، بشكل حادّ، توازياً مع انطلاق تحقيقات داخلية أظهرت وجود عمليات فساد كبرى في هذا التشكيل. والظاهر، على ضوء ذلك، أن تركيا توصّلت إلى قناعة بأن الائتلاف لم يَعُد أكثر من «ثقب أسود» يستهلك الموارد بلا طائل، وهو ما سيدفعها إلى تعجيل خطواتها الهادفة إلى إعادة هيكلة الفصائل المُوالية لها، وربطها بـ«الحكومة المؤقّتة»، وإعداد خطّة اقتصادية تؤمّن القسم الأكبر من احتياجات هذه الأخيرة المالية بشكل ذاتي
يعيش «الائتلاف السوري» المُعارض، هذه الأيّام، أزمة مالية خانقة أدّت إلى توقّف معظم نشاطاته، في وقت بدأت فيه عملية مساءلة داخلية بين أعضائه والهيئات التابعة له، للبحث في أسباب الوصول إلى هذه المرحلة، والتي وصفتْها مصادر سورية معارضة، تحدّثت إلى «الأخبار»، بأنها «حرجة وقد تؤدّي إلى وأْده». وكانت تلك الأزمة بدأت قبل نحو ستّة أشهر، إثْر قيام تركيا بقطْع مصادر التمويل عن «الائتلاف» على خلفية فتْحه قنوات تَواصل مع جهات خارجية، من بينها الولايات المتحدة التي حاولت فرض سيطرتها عليه، ضمن خطّتها لإعادة التصعيد السياسي في سوريا. ثمّ عاد هذا الشحّ وانحسر نسبياً، مع استئناف أنقرة تمويل حليفها السوري خلال الشهرَين الماضيَين – بعدما حصلت منه على تعهّدات بعدم الانخراط في أيّ مشروع سياسي من دون العودة إليها -، وتحديداً في أعقاب الجولة التي نظّمتها الخارجية الأميركية لأعضاء «الائتلاف» في نيويورك، بالتزامن مع انعقاد الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة في أيلول الفائت.
وأفْضت المراجعة الداخلية الجارية حالياً، والتي كان طالب بها بعض الأعضاء لمعرفة سبب تدهوُر الوضع المالي لـ«الائتلاف»، في خطواتها الأولى، إلى الكشف عن العديد من ملفّات الفساد المالي، ومن بينها صرف رواتب ومكافآت غير منطقية لعدد من الأعضاء، بالإضافة إلى صرف فواتير إقامة وتنقّلات سياحية لآخرين تحت ستار «الجولات السياسية»، الأمر الذي أدّى إلى فقدان معظم أموال «صندوق الاحتياط» الخاصّ بتأمين التدفّقات المالية في حالات الطوارئ، وفق ما تَكشفه المصادر نفسها. وتَلفت هذه الأخيرة إلى أن الأزمة المالية الخانقة التي يعانيها «الائتلاف»، أدّت إلى وقْف صرْف رواتب الموظفين، بالإضافة إلى تراكُم إيجارات عدد من العقارات التي يتمّ استعمالها كمكاتب ربط، فضلاً عن عدم التمكّن من دفع تكاليف حجوزات لازمة لعدد من الاجتماعات، من بينها اجتماع دوري لـ«الهيئة العامة». وبالإضافة إلى ملفّات الفساد العديدة التي فاقمت الوضع، تتحدّث المصادر عن وجود توجُّه تركي جادّ لإنهاء «الائتلاف» بشكل تدريجي، بعد التوصّل إلى قناعة مفادها بأن هذا التشكيل «مجرّد ثقب أسود» لا طائل منه، في ظلّ وجود هيئات أخرى أكثر فاعلية، وذات تأثير حقيقي على الأرض، مِن مِثل المجالس المحلّية التي انهمكت تركيا في مأسستها، و«هيئة التفاوض» التي باتت تمثّل الواجهة الرسمية للمعارضة السورية في المحافل الدولية، إلى جانب «الحكومة المؤقّتة» التي باتت تعمل بشكل مستقلّ عن «الائتلاف» على الرغم من أنها وُلدت من رحِمه.
توصّلت تركيا إلى قناعة مفادها بأن «الائتلاف» «مجرّد ثقب أسود» لا طائل منه
وعانى «المجلس الوطني السوري» (أوّل تشكيل للمعارضة السورية عقب اندلاع الحرب في سوريا)، ومِن بَعده «الائتلاف» المُعارض، من حالة انقطاع تامّ عن الشارع، في ظلّ استقرار أعضائهما في فنادق خارج البلاد (معظمهم في تركيا)، الأمر الذي خلق فجوة كبيرة في التواصل بينهما وبين المواطنين الذين يُفترض بهما تمثيلهم. وهكذا، استُثمرت هذه التشكيلات إعلامياً فقط خلال السنوات العشر الماضية، في وقت ظلّت فيه الفصائل الموجودة على الأرض هي العنصر الأقوى في المشهد، وصولاً إلى محاولة تركيا اليوم إعادة ضبْطها، عبر دمْجها في جسم واحد، ووضْعها تحت كنف «الحكومة المؤقّتة» كبديل داخلي لترتيب الأوضاع بعد توسيع مساحة عمل المجالس المحلّية، فيما تتولّى «هيئة التفاوض» تمثيل الواجهة السياسية للمعارضة. وفي هذا الإطار، تَلفت المصادر المعارِضة إلى أن أنقرة لمست رفْض دمشق التعامل مع «الائتلاف» أو الاعتراف به ممثِّلاً عنها، وميلها إلى التعامل مع «هيئة التفاوض» التي تمثّل شرائح أوسع، علماً أن اللقاءات بين وفدَي الحكومة و«الهيئة» كانت توقّفت على خلفية تجميد مسار «اللجنة الدستورية».
وفي ما يتعلّق بمسألة محاولات أميركا جذب «الائتلاف» إلى صفّها، يبدو أن تركيا توصّلت إلى قناعة بأن الولايات المتحدة لن تستمرّ في هذه الخطوات، في ظلّ وجود بدائل أكثر قوّة على الأرض، ما زالت تتحكّم بها أنقرة. ولعلّ ذلك هو ما يفسّر التوجّه الأميركي أخيراً نحو توسيع قنوات التواصل مع المجتمع المحلّي، والسعي لخلْق توازن عربي – كردي في مناطق «الإدارة الذاتية» التي يخضع معظمها للسيطرة الأميركية، بالإضافة إلى منطقة التنف التي أعادت واشنطن هيكلة الفصائل الموجودة فيها. وتُضاف إلى ما تَقدّم المحاولة الأميركية الحثيثة لاستيلاد معارضة جديدة تنشط من داخل الولايات المتحدة، بالاعتماد على عدد من الأميركيين من أصول سورية كواجهة سياسية تُحضّرها واشنطن للمرحلة المقبلة. بالنتيجة، لم يَمت بعد «الائتلاف» كتشكيل سياسي سوري معارض بشكل نهائي، على الرغم من حالة «الكوما» التي عاشها منذ نشأته. وعلى رغم محاولات بعض أعضائه إعادة تأمين التدفّقات المالية اللازمة لاستمراره، إلّا أن المصادر ترى أن هذه المحاولات لن تؤدّي إلى أيّ نتائج طيّبة. وحتى لو آلت إلى توفير تدفّقات جديدة، فستكون هذه الأخيرة بمثابة «مخدّر» مؤقّت، لن يقي الائتلاف النهاية الحتمية المتمثّلة في حلّه نهائياً، بعد ثبات فشله طيلة السنوات الماضية، وفق تعبير المصادر.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov
Russian missile troops and artillery struck four Ukrainian command posts in the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Thursday.
“Russian missile and artillery troops struck four Ukrainian army command posts in the area of the city of Kherson, the communities of Kupyansk, Novoosinovo in the Kharkov Region and Gavrilovka in the Dnepropetrovsk Region, and also 83 artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 102 areas,” the spokesman said.
“In the city of Seversk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a Msta-B howitzer was obliterated and D-20 and D-30 howitzers were wiped out in areas near the settlements of Ivanovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region,” the general said.
Russian troops delivered strikes against Ukrainian army units in the Kharkov Region, eliminating over 20 militants in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the Kupyansk direction, artillery strikes inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units in areas near the communities of Timkovka, Kislovka and Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region. Over 20 Ukrainian military personnel, two combat armored vehicles and three motor vehicles were eliminated,” the spokesman said.
Russian artillery and combat aircraft eliminated over 70 servicemen of the Ukrainian army’s 95th air assault brigade in the Krasny Liman area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the Krasny Liman area, artillery fire, assault and army aviation strikes against units of the Ukrainian army’s 95th air assault brigade in the area of the Serebryansky forestry eliminated as many as 70 Ukrainian military personnel, three combat armored vehicles and five pickup trucks,” the spokesman said.
Russian troops gained new advantageous sites in their advance in the Donetsk area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the Donetsk direction, Russian troops continued their offensive operations, taking new advantageous frontiers and positions. The enemy’s losses in that area in the past 24 hours amounted to over 80 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, four infantry fighting vehicles, three combat armored vehicles and six motor vehicles,” the spokesman said.
Russian forces eliminated about 30 Ukrainian troops in the southern Donetsk area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the southern Donetsk area, artillery fire and active operations of Russian troops inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Sladkoye, Vladimirovka, Pavlovka and Velikaya Novosyolka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. As many as 30 Ukrainian troops, two combat armored vehicles and four pickup trucks were destroyed,” the spokesman said.
Russian troops eliminated two Ukrainian subversive groups in the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Zaporozhye Region in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In areas near the settlements of Vremevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Levadnoye in the Zaporozhye Region, two enemy subversive groups were eliminated,” the spokesman said.
Russian forces destroyed two US-made M777 howitzers in the Kharkov Region in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the counter-battery warfare, two M777 artillery systems of US manufacture were destroyed near the settlement of Kruglyakovka in the Kharkov Region,” the spokesman said.
In addition, Russian troops uncovered and destroyed a US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launcher in the area of the settlement of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general said.
Combat aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down Ukrainian Su-25 and Su-24 warplanes and two enemy Mi-8 helicopters in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 and Su-24 planes in the areas of the settlements of Krasny Liman and Kramatorsk. In addition, two Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopters were downed in areas near the settlements of Suvorov and Orlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the spokesman said.
Russian air defense forces intercepted four HIMARS and Uragan rockets in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the past 24 hours, Russian air defense capabilities intercepted four rockets of HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems in areas near the settlements of Popasnaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Peremozhnoye and Tarasovka in the Zaporozhye Region,” the spokesman said.
During the last 24-hour period, Russian air defense systems shot down seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles near the communities of Pshenichnoye, Kremennaya, Chervonaya Dibrova and Koshelevka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Kirillovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and also Lyubimovka in the Kherson Region, the general specified.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 354 Ukrainian warplanes, 194 helicopters, 2,741 unmanned aerial vehicles, 399 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,296 tanks and other combat armored vehicles, 953 multiple rocket launchers, 3,742 field artillery guns and mortars and 7,810 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
A Russian intelligence official tells Al Mayadeen that the Israeli occupation is giving non-lethal aid to Ukraine while donating money through third countries.
Illegal Israeli settlers protesting in favor of the Ukrainian regime
The Israeli occupation is donating money to buy Ukraine weapons from third countries, a Russian intelligence source told Al Mayadeen on Thursday.
“Tel Aviv” is using third countries to conceal its bias toward Ukraine, the source noted, highlighting that “Israel” was giving Ukraine non-lethal aid, but several Israeli armored vehicles have been detected in Ukraine.
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported last month that the occupation spent millions of dollars to appease its western partners by procuring undisclosed strategic materials for Ukraine after “Tel Aviv” faced pressure to send the arms to Kiev via a third country.
Reportedly, the United States is the party that pressured the occupation, which had to go against its proclaimed stance to only send humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Israeli occupation media reported in mid-September that an Israeli arms manufacturer was supplying anti-UAV systems to Ukraine via Poland, with the sales conducted through Warsaw to circumvent “Tel Aviv’s” refusal to sell advanced arms to Ukraine.
The firm reportedly informed the Israeli Ministry of Security that it was selling arms to Poland, though it pretended not to know the latter was then giving the weapons to Kiev to use against Russia.
The Biden administration demanded the occupation to switch from strictly providing humanitarian supplies and expanding its assistance to Ukraine and give military equipment, prompting “Tel Aviv” to fund the purchase of strategic materials for Ukraine, including air defense systems, Haaretz said.
Former Russian President and senior Russian Security Council member Dmitry Medvedev in October warned “Israel” against providing weapons to Ukraine threatening that any move to boost Kiev’s arsenal would severely damage bilateral relations.
The Israeli occupation also agreed to allow NATO to supply Kiev with weapons that have Israeli-produced components, such as optical equipment and fire monitoring systems, media said.
Following Russian threats to “Tel Aviv”, senior advisor to the Ukrainian President, Mikhail Podolyak, slammed the Israeli decision not to supply Ukraine with air defense systems, stating that “Israel chose to be on the wrong side of history,” and that it, “causes great disappointment in Ukrainian society.”
On December 28, 1968, Israeli commando units infiltrated easily into Beirut airport and detonated 13 or half of Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines jets, noting that the Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the assailants.
Some Lebanese parties consider that the nation enjoyed prosperous socioeconomic conditions in addition to a considerable political stability. Lebanon’s golden era and absence of any pretext did not prevent the Zionists from committing their crime.
During that era, Lebanon did not possess a military power that could protect it from the Israeli barbarism which plotted to strike the touristic monument of the Lebanese people.
Nowadays, the scene has changed. Hezbollah military capabilities can protect the Lebanese airport and impose a formula that sustains the balance of deterrence.
In this regard, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah had threatened that the Resistance would strike Ben Gurion airport of the Israeli enemy strike Beirut’s airport.
Recently, the Israeli media circulated rumors to shake the stability of Beirut airport. Those rumors were adopted by some Lebanese and Arab parties which forgot that the Lebanese Resistance protects the airport regardless of all their political plots and interests
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Saudi Arabia sentences a university professor to 30 years in prison for tweets about the kingdom, its propaganda policies, and the security situation.
Muhammad Bin Muhsin Basurrah
Saudi journalist Turki Al-Shalhoub, who previously triggered a public outcry for exposing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s contentious plans against highly revered sites in Saudi Arabia, tweeted on Tuesday that the State Security Court had passed the ruling regarding the professor at the media faculty of Umm al-Qura University in Mecca, Muhammad bin Mohsin Basurrah.
Al-Shalhoub cited several connected Tweets by Basurrah and said he had commented on the disinformation campaign of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV, Saudi Arabia’s 3-year diplomatic dispute with Qatar and other Arab countries, in addition to the security situation in the country.
بسبب هذه التغريدات، حكمت محاكم التفتيش #السعودية على المحاضر في قسم الإعلام في جامعة أم القرى الاستاذ محمد بن محسن باصرة بالسجن 30 سنة!!! pic.twitter.com/J3ubVCkQF0
“Saudi security forces only intervene when the sovereignty of the House of Saud is threatened; otherwise they would not take any serious actions,” the journalist commented.
Last month, the independent non-governmental organization advocating human rights in Saudi Arabia, Prisoners of Conscience, reported that state officials had jailed pro-democracy campaigner Fadi Ibrahim Nasser over tweets that denounced the government and the policies of the Saudi regime.
A Saudi opposition activist, Abdul Hakim bin Abdul Aziz, revealed that the Saudi authorities had arrested his son, Yasser, from his university, as part of the Kingdom’s aggressive crackdown against activists that criticize the performance of the ruling regime on social media.
Bin Abdul Aziz considered that the arrest of his son exposes “the oppression and tyranny of the ruling regime in Saudi Arabia and is a desperate attempt to force me to remain silent about the violations that the country is witnessing.”
It is noteworthy that bin Abdul Aziz is one of the founders of the “Zawina” organization, which is concerned with supporting the families of prisoners of conscience and exposing human rights violations against detainees and their families.
Saudi authorities sentenced 15 prisoners of conscience to death in November
At the beginning of last month, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights revealed that the Saudi authorities had sentenced 15 prisoners of conscience to death, bringing the number of people at risk of death to 53, including at least eight minors.
In the same context, the Saudi Court of Appeal extended in October the sentence of Tunisian national Mahdia Al-Marzouki, from two years and eight months to 15 years, on charges of interacting with a tweet.
Hundreds of bloggers, activists, intellectuals, and others have been arrested in Saudi Arabia ever since bin Salman became crown prince in 2017, an obvious sign of zero tolerance for dissent even against the international condemnation of repressive measures.
Over the past years, the country also redefined its anti-terrorism laws to persecute peaceful activists, repressing freedom of expression.
There should be no doubt that the current Western elite have a strong desire to eradicate the traditional Orthodox Faith from the world. Efforts by globalists to undermine Orthodoxy are well-documented, and on the second day of Russia’s military operation in the Ukraine the head of the UK’s MI-6 Richard Moore tweeted out this sparkling gem: ‘With the tragedy and destruction unfolding so distressingly in Ukraine, we should remember the values and hard won freedoms that distinguish us from Putin, none more than LGBT+ rights. So let’s resume our series of tweets to mark #LGBTHM2022’.
However, because of the West’s aforementioned proxy war against Russia in the Ukraine, a momentous event in world history could be in the process of unfolding: the reconversion of Western Europe to the Orthodox Faith.
Consider what has transpired: Since February, when Russia entered the Ukraine to end the West’s machinations there, several million Ukrainians have left their country, many of them ending up in Western European countries – 1.5 million in Poland, 1 million in Germany, 150k in the UK, etc.
In most of these places the remnants of post-Great Schism Christianity (Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) have been seeing rapid declines. The following is a report from Germany:
‘The churches in Germany are having to contend with mass disertions again this year. In Munich alone, a total of 26 008 people left the Catholic and Protestant churches by December 15, according to a survey by the dpa news agency. That is almost 4 000 more than in 2021.
‘According to the Berlin civil courts, 18 018 believers in the federal capital turned their backs on the churches in the first three quarters of 2022 alone. That is around 4 000 more exits than in the same period last year.
‘In Hanover, too, the number of believers in the two major Christian denominations declined. By mid-December, 7 000 people had left the church. That’s more than all of 2021, when the number was around 6 600.
‘Last year, the Catholic Church had to cope with the departure of around 360 000 believers. That was a new negative record that could be surpassed in 2022. The Protestants lost around 280 000 members in 2021.
‘As early as mid-December, the Bertelsmann Foundation’s “Religion Monitor” showed that one in four church members in Germany was considering leaving.’
England and Wales have likewise seen a sharp fall in the number of Christians.
All of this no doubt has the Christless Baerbocks and Macrons of the West fiddling with glee, but it is precisely on this point that their Ukraine war may hurt them most noticeably, as the millions of Ukrainian refugees bring their Orthodox Faith to the spiritually starving peoples of Western Europe. To minister to the Ukrainian Christians who have fled the war, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has already established 32 parishes in 11 countries of Western Europe. It is conceivable that more could be added.
What is this but the Hand of God intervening in human affairs? The beloved missionary-minded bishop, St John the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, saw in the Russian diaspora who fled the demonic rule of the Soviet communists something similar:
‘However, in chastising, the Lord at the same time also shows the Russian people the way to salvation by making it a preacher of Orthodoxy in the whole world. The Russian Diaspora has made all the ends of the world familiar with Orthodoxy, for the mass of Russia, exiles for the most part, is unconsciously a preacher of Orthodox). Everywhere that Russians live there are built small exile churches, or even magnificent churches and often there are services in buildings which have been adapted for this purpose.’
Sadly, neither the Russians nor any other Orthodox Patriarchate have done very much to sow the good seed of Orthodoxy in the West. Now, perhaps, the Ukrainians have been sent abroad by God as ambassadors of the True Christ to a soulsick and despairing West, to turn her back to her roots in the Orthodox Church, to complete the missionary task that others have neglected.
It is an auspicious time, in the midst of the Christmas season. That remarkable hierarch, that new Golden Tongue and Martyr, St Hilarion Troitsky, contrasts the destructive pride of modern Western European atheism with the life-imparting power of unpretentious faith in the Incarnate Logos:
‘Why is there such a relationship to the incarnation of the Son of God? It seems that the roots of this relationship are deeply seated in the moral self-awareness of modern man. This self-awareness is mainly proud. And what does it mean to believe in the incarnation? It means, first of all, merely to confess that earlier, human nature was very good. It came that way from the hands of the Creator. Human freedom brought sin, the breakdown of man’s nature, and “a civil war began in human nature,” as one holy father writes. By abusing his freedom, man so corrupted his nature that he could only exclaim, “I am an accursed, wretched man!” I cannot save myself. We need a new creation, we need an inpouring of new, grace-filled strength. This is what all mankind should say in order to believe in the incarnation of the Son of God. Such a humble awareness, such a humble confession of our weakness, our guilt before the work of God’s hands—is this in the spirit of modern man? But the modern consciousness is penetrated with the idea of evolution, the idea of progress; that is, with the very ideas that can feed human pride.
‘Christianity requires a humble awareness. My forefather, Adam, was perfect, but I, mankind, introduced only sin and corruption. The Church calls us to humility when it calls Adam our ancestor. But evolution? Descent from the ape? No matter how modestly we rate ourselves, it is impossible not to think with a certain pride: “After all, I am not an ape; after all, progress is manifest in me.” Thus, by calling the ape our ancestor, evolution feeds human pride. If we compare ourselves to the ape we can be proud of our progress, but if we think of sinless Adam, outward progress losses its value. The progress is external, but it is also a sophisticated sin. If mankind is steadily progressing forward, then we can hope in ourselves. We create ourselves. But the Church says the opposite: “We could not become incorrupt and immortal had not the Incorrupt and Immortal One first become the same as we are.” Believing in the incarnation means confessing that without God, all of mankind is nothing.
‘Throughout the ages, the Church carries the ideal of deification. This ideal is very high, but it demands very much from man. It is unthinkable without the incarnation; it demands first of all that man be humble. Mankind is renouncing this high ideal, and has no need of the incarnation of the Son of God. An infinitely depreciated ideal of life allows man to talk of progress, and gives him the opportunity to be proud of his accomplishments. These two series of ideas make up two different worldviews: that of the Church, and that which is not of the Church. The worldview that is not of the Church—descent from the ape, progress, having no need of and denying the incarnation—is pride. Accepting the incarnation is inseparably bound with humility. Pride wars with the incarnation, as with something unneeded.
‘Taking part in the triumphant Church celebration of the Nativity of Christ, we should shout aloud:
‘Be humble, proud man, and believe in the incarnation of the Only Begotten Son of God!’
The longer the West drags out the war in the Ukraine, the more the Ukrainian refugees will have the opportunity to proclaim, knowingly or unknowingly, the incomparably radiant splendor of the truth of the Incarnation, of Orthodoxy, to the Western European countries where they have taken shelter:
‘Prepare, O Bethlehem, for Eden has been opened to all! / Adorn yourself, O Ephratha, for the tree of life blossoms forth from the Virgin in the cave! / Her womb is a spiritual paradise planted with the Divine Fruit: / If we eat of it, we shall live forever and not die like Adam. / Christ comes to restore the image which He made in the beginning!’
And, therefore, very much contrary to their designs, the Antichrist Elite of Western Europe are hastening their own demise, answering the prayer of the Psalmist that the wicked fall into the snares they have laid for the innocent (Ps. 35:6-8):
‘Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them! For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. Let ruin come upon them unawares! And let the net which they hid ensnare them; let them fall therein to ruin!’
‘This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes’ (Ps. 118:23).
Posted on December 28, 2022 by uprootedpalestinians
The damning exposure of collusion between the Pentagon and Twitter raises further suspicions about Washington’s ongoing online operations in West Asia.
The Cradle has previously deconstructed the Pentagon’s online bot and troll operations targeting Iran. These wide-ranging efforts, over many years, sought to destabilize the Iranian government by disseminating and inciting negative sentiment against it, on a variety of social media platforms.
Their exposure led to the White House demanding an internal audit of all Department of Defense (DoD) “psychological operations online.” Ostensibly, this was triggered by high-level concerns that Washington’s “moral high ground” was potentially compromised by the “manipulation of audiences overseas.”
The audit was revealed in a Washington Post article, the details of which pointed to a very different rationale. One passage noted that representatives of Facebook and Twitter directly informed the Pentagon, repeatedly, over several years, that its psychological warfare efforts on their platforms had been had been detected and identified as such.
Weaponizing social media
Frustratingly, the focus wasn’t even that these operations were being conducted in the first place, but that the Pentagon got busted doing so.
For example, Facebook’s Director of Global Threat Disruption, David Agranovich, who spent six years at the Pentagon before serving as the US National Security Council’s Director for Intelligence, reportedly reached out to the DoD in the summer of 2020, warning his former colleagues that “if Facebook could sniff them out, so could US adversaries.”
“His point was, ‘Guys, you got caught. That’s a problem,’” an individual “familiar with the conversation” told the Washington Post.
The obvious takeout from this excerpt – unnoticed by any mainstream journalist at the time – was that Facebook and Twitter staffers actively welcome their platforms being weaponized in information warfare campaigns, as long as it’s the US intelligence community doing it, and they don’t get caught in flagrante.
Moreover, in the event they are compromised, those same social network luminaries readily provide intimate insight on how US spooks can improve their operational security, and better conceal their activities from foreign enemies. Unmentioned is that these “foes” include tens of millions of ordinary people who are the ultimate target of such malign initiatives, of which residents of West Asia are preponderant victims.
‘Whitelisting’
Internal emails and documents from Twitter, published by journalist Lee Fang, have now confirmed that Twitter executives not only approved of the Pentagon’s network of troll and bot accounts, but also provided significant internal protection for them through “whitelisting.”
This practice allowed these ‘superpower accounts’ to operate with impunity, despite breaking numerous platform rules and behaving egregiously. The “whitelist” status also effectively granted these accounts the algorithmic and amplificatory privileges of Twitter verification without a “blue check.”
As The Cradle previously reported, these accounts over many years sought to influence perceptions and behavior across West Asia, in particular Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. In many cases, users had “deepfake” profile photos – mocked up pictures of realistic human faces generated by artificial intelligence.
Target: West Asia
In respect to Twitter-enabled activities against Tehran, multiple different personae were formed to attack the Iranian government from different ideological and political positions. These were not your standard ‘opposition’ accounts – the ops were more sophisticated. Some posed as ultra-conservative Shia Muslims critical of the administration’s “liberal” policies; others as progressive radicals condemning the extent of the Republic’s enforcement of Islamic code.
Many users amplified Washington’s disinformation, disseminated by US government-funded Voice of America’s Farsi-language service, among a myriad of other US funded and directed propaganda platforms. All along, Twitter higher-ups were aware of these accounts, but did not shut them down and even protected them.
The impact of the collaboration between Twitter and the Pentagon on the tweets that users around the world saw and did not see is unknown, but likely significant. Twitter staff were aware of what they were doing.
For example, in July 2017, an official from the Pentagon’s central command for West Asia and North Africa (CENTCOM) emailed the social media network to request the “blue check” verification of one account and the “whitelisting” of 52 accounts that “we use to amplify certain messages.”
The official was concerned that some of these accounts, “a few” of which “had built a real following,” were no longer “indexing on hashtags.” He moreover requested “priority service” for several accounts, including the since-deleted @YemenCurrent, which broadcast announcements about US drone strikes in Yemen. The account emphasized how “accurate” these attacks were; that they only killed dangerous terrorists, never civilians – a hallmark of US drone war propaganda.
Of course, US drone strikes are anything but precise. In fact, declassified Pentagon documents indicate there was “an institutional acceptance of an inevitable collateral toll,” and that innocent people were killed indiscriminately.
In 2014, it was calculated that, in attempting to slay 41 specific, named individuals, Washington had murdered 1,147 people, among them many children – a rate of 28 deaths for every person targeted.
‘Misleading, deceptive, and spammy’
In June 2020, Twitter spokesperson Nick Pickles testified to the US House Intelligence Committee on the company’s determined efforts to end any and all “coordinated platform manipulation efforts” on the part of hostile enemy states, stating these efforts were his employer’s “top priority.”
“Our goal is to remove bad faith actors and to advance public understanding of these critical topics. Twitter defines state-backed information operations as coordinated platform manipulation efforts that can be attributed with a high degree of confidence to state-affiliated actors,” he declared.
“State-backed information operations are typically associated with misleading, deceptive, and spammy behavior. These behaviors differentiate coordinated manipulative behavior from legitimate speech on behalf of individuals and political parties.”
The following month, however, Twitter executives were invited by the Pentagon to attend classified briefings in a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) to discuss the defense of the Pentagon’s “coordinated and manipulative” social media activities.
Then-Twitter lawyer Stacia Cardille noted in an internal email the Pentagon may be seeking to retroactively classify its malign online activities “to obfuscate their activity in this space, and this may represent an overclassification to avoid embarrassment.”
Jim Baker, then-deputy general counsel of Twitter and an FBI veteran, subsequently noted that the DoD had employed “poor tradecraft” in setting up numerous Twitter accounts, and was now covering its tracks in order to prevent anyone finding out multiple users “are linked to each other” or to the US government, one way or another.
“DoD might want to give us a timetable for shutting them down in a more prolonged way that will not compromise any ongoing operations or reveal their connections to DoD,” he speculated.
Free speech absolutism
So it was the compromised accounts that were permitted to stay active, spreading disinformation and distorting the public mind all the while. Some even remain extant to this day.
To say the least, Twitter executives were well-aware that their eager and enthusiastic support of Pentagon psyops would not be received well if publicized. Shortly before the September Washington Post report on the DoD’s audit of these efforts, Twitter lawyers and lobbyists were alerted by a company communications executive about the forthcoming exposé.
After the Post story was published, Twitter staffers congratulated themselves and each other over how effectively the company concealed its role in covering up CENTCOM’s deeds, with one communications official thanking a welter of executives “for doing all that you could to manage this one,” noting with relief the story “didn’t seem to get too much traction.”
Were it not for the series of #TwitterFiles disclosures since Elon Musk controversially took over the company, these dark, shameful secrets would likely have remained buried forever. The full extent of the company’s mephitic collusion with US intelligence agencies, and the comparable, simultaneous collaboration of every major social network, must now be told in full.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
Russia’s foreign minister highlighted that Ukraine is fully aware of Russia’s demands and could simply meet them.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Source: AP.
The US and NATO are attempting to defeat Russia on the battlefield in order to destroy the country, Russia’s Foreign Minister said.
Sergei Lavrov made the remark late Monday, according to the ITAR-TASS news agency, adding that Ukraine is fully aware of Russia’s demands and could simply meet them to end the war.
“Our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the [Kiev] regime, [and] the elimination of threats to Russia’s security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well-known to the enemy,” Lavrov said, adding, “The point is simple: Fulfill them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army.”
According to him, the main party that benefited from this conflict is the US, which has been seeking to make the most out of the war in Ukraine.
“Washington has also been solving a key geopolitical goal of breaking the traditional bonds between Russia and Europe and making their European satellites even more dependent on them,” Lavrov emphasized, further adding that the US is currently planning orders for its defense sector for years to come.
“The Kiev regime is being pumped up with the latest weapons, receiving samples that have yet to enter into service with Western armies, seemingly in order to see how they will perform in combat,” he concluded.
Moscow said it started the war to protect the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk from Kiev’s persecution, as well as to “de-Nazify” its neighbor.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently warned in an article that Moscow would continue the war until Kiev’s “disgusting, almost fascist regime” was removed and the country was completely demilitarized.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Moscow was open to talks and blamed the lack of talks on Kiev and its Western backers.
Lavrov likewise affirmed in his remarks that when it comes to how long the conflict would last, “the ball is in the regime’s court and Washington behind it.”
Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stated that he is not optimistic about the possibility of “effective” peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in the near future.
”I do believe that the military confrontation will go on,” said Guterres at the UN Headquarters in New York. Adding that they will have to wait for serious peace negotiations, Guterres said “We have no illusions that true peace negotiations will be possible in the immediate future.”
The UN, according to its SG, said that it is concentrating its efforts on Russian ammonia exports through a pipeline to a Black Sea port in Ukraine and accelerating exchanging prisoners of war.
Turkish media outlet Anadolu Agency asked Guterres whether he would support an Erdogan-proposed trilateral mechanism between Ankara, Moscow, and Damascus in efforts to resolve the war. In response, Guterres said that the UN was not consulted and it is “premature” to make any comments on the proposal.
The UN’s main concern, for the time being, was Syria, particularly renewing its cross-border humanitarian aid mechanism. ”Now that we have made progress (on) indeed, and Turkey has played a positive role on that in increasing the cross-line support,” he said.
The recent article by Yves Engler, published by The Palestine Chronicle, resonates with me. It reminds me that many in the Canadian establishment not only do not care about Palestinian justice. They will go out of their way to undermine efforts that aim to achieve it.
I was at the pro-Palestinian demonstration Engler talks about. It happened in fact not far where I live in Toronto and in the same riding to be exact.
However, those opposing us at the demonstration—unapologetic Israeli ultranationalists—made me feel that I was in some other world. We were, in addition to being called “murderers”,“terrorists”, and “pieces of garbage”, told by them to “get out of our neighborhood you scum.”
In what democracy is this ok, let alone against those protesting the dispossession and displacement of Palestinians? Why are the Canadian politicians mentioned in Engler’s article not condemning the anti-Palestinian hatred we were subjected to but instead misframing the demonstration so as to suggest it was somehow antisemitic? And perhaps most importantly why do they repeat this kind of behavior and get away with it?
One of the main reasons I believe is that they are continuing to exploit something that Canadian society has not fully grappled with or taken seriously. I will call this an anti-Palestinian presumption of guilt.
It rears its head every time, and there have been many, pro-Palestinian voices are attacked, maligned, degraded or abused. Instead of perpetrators being held accountable their targets or victims are misrepresented, illustrated by social media posts cited by Engler, as the wrongdoers. (How this occurs specifically in the world of Canadian academia is presented well in “Unveiling the Chilly Climate: The Suppression of Speech on Palestine in Canada”, by Sheryl Nestel and Rowan Gaudet of Independent Jewish Voices.)
Those engaged in such misrepresentation also do so confidently. They know they will likely be believed and not pro-Palestinian voices. This works, so to speak, since Canada is still a society where much of the public—reflecting again by the presumption of guilt—views Palestinian solidarity efforts as a “dangerous” or “violent” threat. It’s a warp in the public mind that needs to be corrected.
I’ve talked in previous articles about how this can be done through a responsible school system. In a similar spirit, it can also be done through launching public anti-hate campaigns, as the City of Toronto has commendably—through its Toronto For All initiative—done for several groups. It is yet to do so for pro-Palestinian voices.
Not only would this help the public better understand that the larger Palestinian community, including Palestinians and non-Palestinians alike, are fighting against Israeli apartheid—a crime against humanity. It will also expose and address how power, presently and historically, has tried to undermine this through the presumption of guilt.
I don’t believe that the Canadian public, learning about such underhandedness, will be tolerant of it. Canadians are largely people of conscience. They care about many things that used to be largely hidden or never discussed: racism, violence against women, police brutality, religious intolerance, truth, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, to name a few.
But, no, we are not yet at that point where we as a society are pushing back against those unfairly vilifying Palestinian voices. Indeed it has become normalized and those perpetuating it are not being taken to task or being seriously questioned by mainstream media. In this regard such media is complicit with Regavim—the group our demonstration was protesting against and works to expedite the illegal evictions of Palestinians from their homes. For almost a week they spread the myth, in various Toronto locations, that Palestinians are not deserving of the same respect as their more “civilized” Israeli counterparts. Mainstream media, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)—cherished by many as an outlet that tells the truth (nice and not so nice) about Canadian affairs—has yet to say a word about this. Not even the widely circulated press release and associated letter campaign by Just Peace Advocates, emphasizing both the moral and legal problems of Regavim in Canada, was able to get mainstream media to break their silence.
This has been weighing heavily on me. It confirms that, in addition to Palestinian voices, you can denigrate Palestinians themselves in Canada and not be held accountable.
I purposely avoid using any sort of words like “punished”, which too often emanates from a spirit of revenge. Animated by the spirit people harm others. They do not move towards, much less achieve, accountability. Likewise, I wish no harm against those who verbally attacked me for my solidarity with Palestine. In fact, similar to what well-known musician and pro-Palestinian activist Roger Waters observed in a webinar, I “pity” them.
They’ve been conditioned to believe, perhaps through the Israeli ultranationalist subculture of which they are part, that hating me or Palestine is the right thing to do. It forms part of their identity; without that hate, they somehow feel lost. They might not even know who they are. Vile as that hatred this too is tragic. It pains me to know that anyone is consumed by deep-seated resentment of any kind.
A young man some meters across from me at the demonstration, on the opposite side of the police line dividing us, was among those demanding we get out of the neighborhood. In fact, he entered the area of the demonstration while yelling for us to “f**k off” from his car. He even told one of the officers that approached him shortly afterward—as if he owned the area and was in a position of authority over the officer himself—to rid our presence.
When he was a little calmer and now across from me I told him that I lived in the area. I was hoping that would open some kind of dialogue between us. I also added that my late grandmother or nonna (Italian) cleaned the homes and businesses of the area for many years. In fact, a great deal of the furniture in my home are gifts from those very places.
I’m not a deeply religious person but, in sharing that bit about my nonna, it felt like she was present and giving me the strength to invite this person into dialogue. A friend of mine at the demonstration cautioned against this, saying that it was a waste of time but I still believe it was important to try. Through dialogue, people can, however difficult and slowly, overcome hatred.
Perhaps my friend was right. The young man replied by calling me a “local terrorist” and that my grandmother must be “rolling in her grave.”
All I could ask in turn was, “Do you believe yourself to be a decent person?” He seemed to curse me a little bit more under his breath at this but was not looking my way anymore. He still stood in the same spot but mentally removed himself from the situation by returning to whatever he was doing on his phone.
I wish there was some way of telling him, without being patronizing, that the phone won’t eliminate anti-Palestinian hatred from his heart. And that, like hatred generally does, will distort your sense of reality. That’s why Israeli ultranationalists see Palestinians as beneath them, as somehow lacking in our shared humanity. Moreover, til you allow yourself the opportunity at least to connect with Palestinians as people—not the discriminatory ideas you have of them in your head—you will retain that hate.
The Palestinian struggle for justice, on the other hand, defies hate. That’s ultimately why we were demonstrating. We imagine, desire, and insist on a world where all peoples can live together—where no neighborhood is “off-limits” on account of one’s ethnicity or otherwise.
Likewise challenging both Regavim and the anti-Palestinian presumption of guilt is not only to contest hatred. It’s a refusal to give up on what all of us want despite our unique differences.
To live and care in community.
– Paul Salvatori is a Toronto-based journalist, community worker and artist. Much of his work on Palestine involves public education, such as through his recently created interview series, “Palestine in Perspective” (The Dark Room Podcast), where he speaks with writers, scholars and activists. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
Some participants of closed projects, however, remain hidden even though they represent main figures in Ukraine’s biological program.
Commander of Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov (Tass)
Commander of Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov confirmed during the 9th Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention that the US Pentagon is transferring military-biological research in Ukraine to Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
“According to the available information, the Pentagon is actively transferring studies that are not completed within the framework of Ukrainian projects to the countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Simultaneously, the US Department of Defense is increasing its cooperation with the states of Africa and the Asia-Pacific region – Kenya, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand. States that already have laboratories with a high level of biological isolation are of particular interest to the American military department,” he said.
DoD’s report on bio-threat reduction
Kirillov also confirmed that the Russian Defense Ministry received access to the US Department of Defense report on Biological Threat Reduction Program Activities in Ukraine, in which several Ukrainian biological research institutes and three Pentagon contractors are partaking.
“Earlier we cited the report of Defense Threat Reduction Agency on activities in Ukraine, published by an American non-governmental organization. The Pentagon subjected the document to serious censorship, completely removing about 80% of the information. An expanded version of this report has become available to the Russian Defense Ministry, which reveals the names and posts of specialists and managers of biological projects, a list of laboratories involved, as well as facts confirming the conduct of exercises and training with pathogens of particularly dangerous infections,” he relayed.
The report harbors the personal data of thirty laboratory employees and seven managers from the US DoD.
In early September, Kirillov warned that the US is planning on transferring its programs of biological research from Ukraine to post-Soviet republics, as well as Eastern European and Baltic states. “The Pentagon is poised to shortly relocate the programs unfinished in Ukraine to other post-Soviet states, as well as to Eastern European states, such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic states,” Kirillov said.
A week later, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price went on to dismiss Russia’s assertions about Washington developing biological weapons in Ukraine, claiming that Russia’s accusations were part of Moscow’s “ongoing disinformation campaign” and an attempt to “malign peaceful US cooperation with Ukraine.”
New senior participants in military bio-program
The Russian Defense Ministry also named new high-ranking participants in the military biological program in Ukraine, including ex-heads of structures of the US Department of Health, Kirillov said on Friday.
“Earlier, we presented materials confirming the participation of Hunter Biden and his Rosemont Seneca Foundation, as well as other structures controlled by the US Democratic Party in financing Pentagon’s main contractors operating in Ukraine. It was shown how deeply the son of the current US President [Joe Biden], Hunter Biden, is involved in financing the Metabiota company controlled by the US Ministry of Defense,” Kirillov said.
Some participants of closed projects, however, remain hidden even though they represent main figures in Ukraine’s biological program.
“Among them are former director of Defense Threat Reduction Agency Kenneth Myers, executive vice president of the CIA-controlled In-Q-Tel venture fund Tara O’Toole, former head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thomas Frieden, former director of the National Institutes of Health Francis Collins, former CEO of the Battelle Memorial Institute Jeffrey Wadsworth, chief researcher and president of the Department of International Research, Development and Medicine of Pfizer, and many others,” Kirillov revealed.
He did leave a plot twist: all of the above-mentioned are associated with the US Democratic Party.
It’s noteworthy that back in March, the Defense Ministry Spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov revealed that Kiev was urgently covering up traces of a military biological program carried out in Ukraine and funded by the Pentagon. Konashenkov told reporters that “during the special military operation, [Russia] revealed the facts of an urgent sweep by the Kiev regime of traces of a military biological program being implemented in Ukraine, financed by the US Defense Ministry.”
The Bahraini authorities has allowed Zionist settlers to celebrate “Hanukkah” in the capital, Manama, despite popular rejection and demonstrations, rejecting normalization with the “Israeli” entity.
This comes at a time when the Al-Khalifa regime regularly suppresses the ceremonies commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein [AS] and prevent the reception of Gulf citizens into Bahrain during Ashura.
Bahraini activists posted on their Twitter accounts a video showing Jewish settlers practicing “Hanukkah” rituals in a “synagogue” in Manama.
In light of this reality, which the Al-Khalifa regime authorities forcibly imposed on Bahrainis, a number of regions in the tiny gulf kingdom witnessed demonstrations and marches rejecting normalization with the occupying entity and the settlers’ celebration of “Hanukkah” in Manama.
Dozens of Bahrainis marched in the village of Al-Markh, carrying Palestinian flags and banners rejecting the Zionist presence in the country. The same happened in the town of Al-Maqshaa.
Despite the deployment of police forces, a massive demonstration was held on the island of Sitra raising slogans rejecting the presence of the occupying entity in Bahrain and the settlers’ celebration of “Hanukkah” in Manama.
It is noteworthy that the “Israeli” entity’s so-called president, Isaac Herzog, visited Bahrain earlier this month and met with a number of officials, more than two years after the US-brokered agreements to normalize relations between the two sides.
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A US public relations firm has reportedly received some $10 million for helping Saudi Arabia clean up its image.
Richard Edelman, CEO of the $1 billion firm Edelman, signed deals with the kingdom over the past four years to sanitize its image despite being a leading campaigner against doing business with autocratic regimes, according to the Guardian.
The Guardian report contrasted Edelman’s public image as a global campaigner against autocrats and the services he had provided to Saudi Arabia. Edelman did not reply to questions asked by the British daily about the alleged hypocrisy of his firm.
Writing in June a blogpost about the key geopolitical issue of our time, Edelman said that he was “more convinced than ever” that the global rift between democracy and autocracy is the defining issue and that around the world, “autocracy is making gains against democracy.”
Edelman’s image as a crusader against business with autocrats was further enhanced earlier this year during the gathering of the World Economic Forum. He published a “special report” on the trust barometer focused on geopolitics. The company said that 59 percent of survey respondents agreed that “punish[ing] countries that violate human rights and international law” is a “business responsibility.”
However, Edelman is failing to take his own advice because of his lucrative business ties to Saudi Arabia and with its Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman, according to the Guardian. Most of Edelman’s work for the Riyadh has focused on rehabilitating its reputation in the US.
The work of the PR firm directed at American audiences is projected to net Edelman more than $5.6 million in fees. This included sending regular press releases that celebrate topics such as “mainstreaming women in business” and “doubling down efforts to empower women and youth.” NEOM related projects are expected to earn Edelman more than $3 million.
The Guardian reported that on May 31, 2022, only days before Edelman published his blogpost warning of the growing divide between democracy and autocracy, he signed a $787,500 contract to provide the Saudi ministry of culture with “PR and communications services.”
Several other US firms doing PR work to clean Saudi Arabia’s image were also mentioned in the report including McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Hogan Lovells and Qorvis Communications.
كانت هذه العبارة الأخطر والأهم والأقوى، التي تردّد صداها عالياً في قصر ناصر الدين شاه القاجاري أولاً، ومن ثم في عموم إيران، حتى تحوّلت بمثابة القشة التي قصمت ظهر البعير، وأجبرت الملك ان يسحب قراره القاضي بمنح احتكار تجارة التنباك لشركة بريطانية كان يرأسها أحد المقربّين من اللورد ساليزبوري في مارس/ آذار سنة 1890، وهو ما جعل الناس تنتصر على القصر، وساعد في نجاح الثورة العلمائية والشعبية التي عُرفت في ما بعد بثورة التنباك.
إنها جملة خديجة خانم تجريشي لزوجها الملك القاجاري الذي كان قد استدعاها ليعرف من قام بتكسير كلّ الأراغيل في القصر، ومنع كلّ حاشية الملك من التدخين، وذلك عملاً بفتوى الإمام الشيرازي الذي كان زعيم الطائفة الشيعية والذي اتخذ من النجف وسامراء مقرّين له، وهي الفتوى التي حرّم فيها التنباك، معتبراً التدخين واستخدام كلّ مشتقات التبغ بحكم محاربة الإمام المهدي. والتي كان الإيرانيون قد استجابوا لها بشكل واسع وتوقفوا عن استعمال التبغ وحطموا الأراغيل. وبلغ الأمر إلى حدّ أنّ زوجات الشاه وخدمه توقفوا عن التدخين أيضاً، كما يُجمع المؤرّخون، حتى وصل الأمر الى قصر الرجل الأول في البلاد.
إنه الدين، والعقيدة، والروح المتأصّلة عميقاً في نسيج الشعب الإيراني، بكلّ فئاته وطوائفه وملله ونحله، حتى عند المواطنين المسيحيين، وأبناء الأعراق المختلفة بمن فيهم الأرمن كما يلحظه كلّ قارئ متبحّر لتاريخ إيران القديم والحديث .
«استعمال التنباك والتوتون بأيّ نحو كان بحكم محاربة إمام الزمان عجل الله فرجه».
إنها العبارة التي هزت عرش الشاه وغيّرت قواعد الاشتباك بين الشعب الإيراني والملك، وبين الطبقة السياسية الحاكمة وحكم الأجنبي كذلك. وهكذا سقطت انكلترا في شوارع وبازار، بل وحتى في قصور إيران…
قواعد الاشتباك هذه، هي نفسها التي قضت خلال الأشهر الثلاثة الماضية على كلّ مخططات الأجنبي ضدّ حكم ودولة ولاية الفقيه في إيران. كم هو أحمق وغبيّ هذا الغرب وبيادقه الصغار من إرهابيّي تل أبيب الى أمراء مدن الملح والصحراء…!
لم يتعلموا من الثورة الدينية الأولى قبل نحو١٠٠ عام، بأنّ إيران هذه ومنذ قرون قائمة على أربعة أعمدة:
أولا ـ علماء الدين والتديّن والعقيدة الصلبة والقوية في بطن وجسم المجتمع الإيراني ـ في التاريخ المعاصر، الإسلام تحديداً. ثُانيا ـ البازار ليس فقط التجار التقليديون الذين يشكلون ما يُعرف بالبازار، بل حتى التجار الحديثين، ودورهم الأساسي في كلّ مسارات التغيير والإصلاح، ايّ حتى رموز حركة التجارة المعاصرة في إطار موقع إيران الجيواستراتيجي (كوريدور شمال جنوب، وشرق وغرب). ثالثا ـ الجامعات، بكلّ ما تعنيه العلوم الحديثة والتطور العلمي في مختلف مناحي الحياة. رابعا ـ المرأة كأمّ وزوجة وفتاة وعالمة وشخصية اجتماعية وسياسية وجامعية ولاعبة الدور المحوري في المجتمع الإيراني الذي يغلب عليه التديّن في كلّ العصور، ودورها الأساسي في كلّ عملية إصلاح أو تغيير أو ثورة، وليس سلعة كمالية للبيع والشراء كما هو الحال في مجتمع الغرب الاستهلاكي، يرفعها متى يشاء ويخفضها متى يشاء في بورصة الاتجار بالبشر.
وهو ما فشلت قوى الثورة المضادة الداخلية والأجنبية المشغّلة لها، ليس فقط في كسبها لصالحها كوسيلة للتوظيف في الثورة المضادة الجديدة، بل وحتى في مجرد استمالتها.
إنه فشل ذريع تجلى وتبلور في انّ تلفزيون ابن سلمان (إيران انترناشينوال) وكلّ إذاعات وأقمار الغرب الاصطناعية ووسائل التواصل الاجتماعي بالفارسية وهي بالمئات، لم تتمكّن رغم الدعوات المستمرّة للإضراب في حشد أيّ من هذه العناصر الأساسية، لا في شراء ذمة حتى عالم واحد من رموز الحوزات العلمية، ولا في إغلاق حتى جامعة واحدة، ناهيك عن كسب البازار والتجار الذين طردوهم شرّ طردة… والفشل كان أوضح ما يكون في مشهد ملايين النساء الإيرانيات العفيفات والمحجّبات اللواتي انتفضن ضدّ تحالف الغربي المتوحّش مع الأعرابي الجاهل واليهودي التلمودي، وتصدّوا له في كلّ شوارع ومدن وباحات إيران بصوت واحد كما في انتفاضة التنباك ليقولوا له : إنّ من حلّلنا على أزواجنا هو نفسه من حرّم علينا دعم ارتكاباتكم أيها الأعداء، وإننا لن نكون كما توهّمتم أدوات رخيصة في حربكم على المهدي. وهكذا سقط ابن سلمان في شوارع طهران وسقط معه مشروعه الذي قال إنه يريد مطاردة المهدي في طهران ونقل المعركة الى الداخل الإيراني وسقط معه كذلك كلّ رموز إمبراطورية الكذب والشيطان، فيما نجحت دولة ولاية الفقيه في تفكيك كلّ خلاياهم وتهديم أوكارهم بفضل الجنرال صبر الذي يفتت الصخر ويهزم رعاة البقر.
مجلس الأمن الداخلي الإيراني الذي شكله وزير الداخلية من كل الأجهزة العسكرية والاستخبارية والأمنية كان الصخرة التي تحطمت عليها كلّ شبكات الموساد ومرتزقة الصحراء وعملاء الغرب ليتمّ تصيّدهم من قبل جند المهدي المنتظر ويتهاوون، كهشيم تذروه الرياح. وهكذا يكون التاريخ قد سجل مجدّداً، نهاية مقامرة الشيطان الأكبر الجديدة ضدّ إيران الإسلام والثورة والتاريخ والجغرافيا . وخسر الغرب مجدّداً الرهان على مقولاته الهزيلة التي نظّرت لنهاية الدين والروح والايديولوجيا، كما ظنّ منظرهم الغبي فوكوياما في كتابه نهاية التاريخ…!
في القرن الماضي ظنّ الإنكليز ذلك وباغتتهم زوجة الملك لتكشف جوهر وحقيقة مجتمعات الشرق، بل وقصور شاهاته، حتى وهم تابعون في السياسة له… وفي هذا القرن ذهبت مزاعم الأميركان أدراج الرياح عندما خذلتهم المرأة الإيرانية المسلمة مجدّداً، ولكن هذه المرة بطريقة تهكّم عليهم فيها كلّ العالم، كما لم يتوقعوه: وبهت الذي كفر.
يقول كارل ماركس: «التاريخ يعيد نفسه، في المرة الأولى تراجيديا وفي الثانية مهزلة». بعدنا طيبين قولوا الله…
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