ألقى قائد حماس في غزة خطاباً يوم السبت الماضي، جاء اقرب إلى حديث مطول مع مجموعة مختارة من الأكاديميين، ومثل فرصة مهمة لمعرفة الشخص الذي قاد الحرب الأخيرة، وأصبح الاسم الأبرز فلسطينياً، معرفة مباشرة لشخصه وأسلوبه وفكره وسياسات حركة حماس خصوصاً، والمقاومة عموماً. فالحديث هو وثيقة سياسية بامتياز، يمكن اعتمادها لزمن آتٍ.
قدّم السنوار تحليلاً متماسكاً لظروف ما قبل الحرب وشرح كيف تدحرجت الأحداث لتصل إلى المواجهة، إذ اعتبر أنّ تراجع السلطة عن التفاهمات الوطنية التي جرت بين حركتي حماس وفتح ثم مع باقي الفصائل، وقدمت بها حركة حماس التنازل تلو التنازل، في سبيل الوصول إلى هذه التفاهمات والشروع ببناء نظام فلسطيني جديد وإنهاء الانقسام، فتراجعت عن إصرارها على تزامن الانتخابات التشريعية مع الرئاسية وانتخابات المجلس الوطني، لتقبل بكامل وجهه نظر السلطة بأن تجري انتخابات المجلس التشريعي أولاً وقبلت بتغيير قانون الانتخابات ليصبح قانون النسبية الكاملة والقوائم، إلا أنّ السلطة في رام الله، ما لبثت أن تراجعت، والسلطة لم تغادر موقعها الذي لا يرى أية بدائل للتفاوض، ولا يرى أنّ العملية الديمقراطية هي أساس الحكم ومصدر شرعيته، وإنما الحكم يقوم ويستمر بالإيفاء بالالتزامات التي قررها اتفاق أوسلو وما تلاه من ملاحق أمنية، يرى السنوار أنّ الوصول إلى هذه الحالة من الخلاف الفلسطيني – الفلسطيني، قد صنع شعوراً زائفاً لدى الاحتلال، بأنه يستطيع والحالة كذلك تمرير مخططاته بالقدس، فكانت أحداث باب العمود وتلتها أحداث حي الشيخ جراح والمسجد الأقصى، تحرك الشعب الفلسطيني بكلّ أطيافه وتشظياته على قلب رجل واحد، وهنا اضطرت المقاومة للتدخل، واضعة القدس تحت جناحها وحمايتها، بعد أن خذل المدينة الجميع بمن فيهم عمان ورام الله.
اتسم حديث السنوار بالشعبويّة والتعبويّة والدعم النفسي، وأدى ولا ريب إلى إكمال دور الصواريخ في إنعاش الحالة المعنوية لعموم أهل فلسطين، بعد مرحلة من الإحباط وانعدام اليقين وانحدار الثقة بالنفس، وأكد في السياق على المكانة التي منحتها الحرب والمقاومة لمن يقاتل ويقاوم، وعلى امتلاك قراري الحرب والسلم، ثم تحدّث في تفاصيل المعركة ومقدار القوة التي استعملتها المقاومة ومقدار القوة التي لا زالت تملكها، فيما الضعف والوهن لم يتسلل إلى النفس المقاومة والى المواطن الغزيّ، في حين انكشفت أكذوبة المشروع المعادي الذي لا تستطيع التكنولوجيا والقوة المجردة التمويه على مقدار ضعفه وهشاشته، فهو ليس إلا بيت عنكبوت. الحصار سوف يُرفَع – أو أنّ ظروف الحصار ستكون أقلّ صرامة – وأنّ ازدهاراً سيلمسه أهل غزة بالقريب، فيما إعادة إعمار ما دمّرته الحرب سيكون سريعاً، بإشراف المقاومة التي لا تحتاج لمدّ اليد لأموال الإعمار، فلديها كثير وسيأتيها كثير من أصدقائها وشركائها في محور المقاومة والممانعة الذي أكد الانتماء له، وإعادة الإعمار لن يكون لرام الله دور فيها، وهو الأمر الذي يؤيده بقوة عموم أهل غزة، بمن فيهم اتحاد المقاولين، ومعهم من اكتوى بنار الخلاف بين غزة ورام الله التي دفّعتهم ثمن خلاف ليسوا مسؤولين عنه.
عبر الطريقة الشعبوية، تحدث السنوار في عمق السياسة، أكد على استقلالية القرار – الحرب والسلم – وعلى ولاية المقاومة على القدس وعلى شرعية تمثيلها للشعب الفلسطيني في كافة أماكن انتشاره، الأمر الذي كان جلياً في الالتفاف حول المقاومة، – وكأنه يقول – بما يمثل تصويتاً وانتخاباً وتفويضاً للمقاومة، وأبلغ مستمعيه من أكاديميين ومشاهدين بما ستعرضه حماس في لقاءات القاهرة يومي السبت والأحد المقبلين، مؤكداً أنّ تفاهمات ما قبل الحرب التي تراجعت رام الله عنها، لم تعد قائمة، فما بعد الانتصار ليس كما قبله، وقدّم نصيحة شبه مباشرة لرام الله، بأن تكفّ عن طرح مبادرات وأفكار من مثل حكومة وفاق، أو قيادة مشتركة، فهذا ليس إلا كلاماً فارغاً ومضيعه للوقت، ولم يعد وارداً في أجندة المقاومة التي أصبحت صاحبة اليد الطولى، وأشار إلى أنّ منظمة التحرير بتركيبتها الحالية عاجزة وغير جامعة وهي تحتاج إلى إعادة بناء تبدأ بانتخابات مجلس وطني أولاً ومن ثم تستكمل هيئاتها بموجب الانتخابات، وأن لذلك أهمية وأولوية تفوق انتخابات المجلس التشريعي، وكانت رسالته الأخيرة للمجتمع الدولي – والتي يُقال إنه أرسلها سابقاً عبر مصر وقطر – عن قبول حركة حماس باتفاق وطني، كما ورد في وثيقة الأسرى، ثم في التفاهمات الوطنية، يقضي بقبول دولة فلسطينية على حدود الرابع من حزيران وعاصمتها القدس، وهو شرط المقاومة البديل لشروط الرباعية الدولية.
إطلالة السنوار ولا شك موفقة، ضرورية وبالغة الأهمية لمعرفة الرجل وما يقول أولاً، والأهمّ لمعرفة برنامجه وسياسته ثانياً، ولكن، ولكي يستمرّ هذا التوفيق وتبقى للرجل صورته التي شاهدها الناس السبت الماضي، لا بد من تسجيل بعض الملاحظات :
أثبت السنوار منذ اليوم الأول للمعركة أنه صادق الوعد والفعل، وذلك منذ الساعة السادسة من مساء العاشر من أيار الماضي حين انطلقت الصواريخ في موعدها الدقيق من غزة للقدس، ونتمنى على الرجل أن يبقى دائماً كذلك، مصداقاً قولاً وفعلاً – وهو تمنّ مصدره الاحترام لا سوء الظنّ – فالأيام المقبلة سوف تكون أطول وأكثر أهمية من الأيام التي انقضت، والمعارك الآتية ولا بدّ، سوف تكون عديدة وأكثر ضراوة في نارها، وأشدّ أثراً في مفاعيلها ونتائجها السياسية، الأمر الذي يتطلّب دقة في القول وعدم الانسياق في مسارب الحماسة.
أطلقت المقاومة على المعركة اسم «سيف القدس»، وهي بلا ريب نقطة مركزية في الوجدان القومي والديني والسياسي، وكان حافز الحرب الدفاع عنها، وإعلان المسؤولية عنها والرعاية عليها، وحمايتها تتطلّب أدوات وجهوداً سياسية واجتماعية واقتصادية وحقوقية صادقة ومخلصة، تسير في موازاة العمل العسكري وتمثل رديفاً كفاحياً يتكامل معه. من هنا، فإنّ المقدسي أولاً والفلسطيني ثانياً ينتظر من المقاومة تطوير برامجها وتفعيل هذه الأدوات، وإيلاء المسائل المذكورة الأهمية التي تستحقها.
إنّ كثيراً من جمهور المقاومة ومناصريها، يتمنون على السنوار، أن يذكر دائماً أنّ الفضل في المعركة المجيدة، للمقاومة بكل عناصرها، وأنّ المقاومة هي من أنزله مكانته الرفيعة في السياسة وفي القلوب، الأمر الذي يدعوه أن يتحدث ويتعاطى مع موقعه بصفته الأكبر وبأنه قائد للمقاومة، ورمز من رموزها، لا قائداً لفصيل، فالعمل وإن تحقق بجزء مهم منه على يد حركة حماس، إلا أنّ جميع تشكيلات المقاومة كانت شريكة في هذا الإنجاز المجيد، ومعهم توحّد الشعب الفلسطيني من أعالي الجليل إلى أقاصي النقب ومن ساحل المتوسط إلى أعماق الأغوار ومن ورائهم الأمة بأسرها والعالم بأجمعه في لحظة تاريخية فارقة، تمثل فرصة فريدة لقائد وطن لا قائد فصيل.
A Western diplomatic source revealed that European leaders have refused to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman [MBS] because of his black record of human rights violation.
The source stressed that in recent weeks, the Saudi embassies in UK, France, and other European countries had been seeking to arrange an official meeting between MBS and leaders of the mentioned European countries.
But European leaders have strongly refused to accept MBS neither now nor in the near future.
The unanimous response of these European countries was that bin Salman could have informal meetings without an official welcome.
European officials do not want to meet with Bin Salman in any official way for fear of domestic and international criticism, the source added.
The news comes as, in March, Media watchdog ‘Reporters Without Borders’ [RSF] filed a criminal case in a German court against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and four other high-ranking officials for “crimes against humanity” in connection with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of Saudi policies under the crown prince, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The gruesome killing led by a Saudi hit squad drew global condemnation and adversely affected MBS’s global standing.
The CIA report, that announced that the Saudi Crown Prince had ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, was the first official report in this regard. The CIA report has led to the international isolation of the Saudi Crown Prince, at least for a relatively long time.
MBS has been in international isolation since 2017 after a coup against former Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef.
No surprise to anyone, but there is no reliable history of the Jewish people. It isn’t just them, when it comes down to history, everyone lies. I have been on “government sponsored” tours of sites all over the world.
I have had French tell me a Roman ruin from 100AD was built by a French king 300 years ago. In Hungary, Roman ruins are dated a thousand years or more after they were built, to support a heritage that never happened.
Entire religions, entire historical epochs are erased, cleansed from history. History is a liar.
Roman Ruins are Commonly ‘Borrowed’
The lies of history are peddled by universities funded by more liars, liars and thieves buying more lies from more liars and thieves. In the last 20 years, television documentaries have debunked 75% of what we have accepted as history and done so with scholarship “above the norm.”
What is the “norm?” A historical fact is any lie that has more than two people agree to it. What historians call “fact,” any cop would call a “shaky alibi.”
There is no bigger historical liar than the history of Judea, the Roman province that now includes a state Jews choose to call Israel.
With a UN vote coming up that President Obama has already promised to veto, a vote giving what may actually be the majority from that region national rights they have been denied, we are talking about the Palestinians, there are suggestions for “talks.”
There can be no talks because there is no basis for talks. Talks are based on ideas and understandings and the history of the region, be it from 1948 onward on since Exodus and the Egyptian escape, is all total bull, invented mythology made up to support wild claims or simply entertain.
Follow the Israeli Attack Arrows
Jews are told Palestinians are terrorists because of a version of the 1948 war that Israel teaches their people and is taught in America because of Israeli influence. It is false.
The Suez Canal war of 1956 isn’t taught either.
Many incidents such as the Lavon Affair and the USS Liberty are simply erased because they don’t fit.
That Israel staged the 1967 war as a sneak attack on Egypt, done with considerable help from the US, Britain and France, is another historical secret as is the 1973 war when Israel was kept afloat by the entire military strength of the United States.
Why do you think the Arabs cut off America’s oil?
It was because America sent its military to defend Israel when the Arabs tried to get the land back that was stolen during the sneak attack of 1967?
If much of this is strange to you, you have an Orwellian education, meaning “no education at all.”
We could start with 1948. Palestinians owned Palestine along with some Jews and Christians. Europeans of Jewish faith, armed to the teeth by the US, France and Britain, invaded and pushed the Palestinians off their land. Fighting back is called “terrorism.”
The Zionist European Invasion Was Successful – American Intel Reported They Would Easily Defeat the Arabs
This is simple historical truth. Problem is, until Israelis and Americans are willing to accept the real truth, they can never talk to anyone. Who wants to talk to a deluded bigot?
It gets worse, not just for Jews. Muslims and Christians are ‘full of it’ as well.
Lost Tribes – MarkChagall
First of all, there is no historical proof that any “Israeli” kingdom ever existed anywhere. There is no proof, despite decades of “faith based” archeology, phony science, phony history and phony propaganda that Moses or Noah or Abraham ever existed.
In fact, the “holy texts” were long proven forgeries, invented to justify land theft, wild stories of angels and gods giving things away, wildly contradictory, childish in scope and unsupported by science, by evidence and even reason. “They made it all up.”
What is represented as the “tribes of Israel” was a minor group of largely polytheistic tribes at war with each other and anyone, one of dozens of such groups, who disappeared from the sands of time.
Wild stories that talk of magical beings giving them land and power, not entirely different from the writings of Homer, don’t change that. Homer wrote much better.
Things we know. When the crusaders came to Jerusalem in the 1096, there were no Jews there. There were lots of Christians, however. You see, until 650AD, Judea had been entirely Christian, meaning everyone who lived there was Christian.
This was part of the Byzantine/Roman empire which had, controlled the region for many centuries. Back in the early 300’s, Constantine legalized Christianity and, in the process, made it illegal for Jews to hold Christian slaves.
Lost Tribes – Salvador Dali
Why was this an issue? Try finding out. History erased all of that, the same history that parted the Red Sea.
Between 135AD and 350AD, Jews and Christians in the Middle East hated each other.
The Christians, most at least, had actually been Jews who converted. It is part of that “Christ’ thing we call “Christianity” today. You remember, the “messiah” thing?
History tells us that Jews fought the Romans during the first century, ending 73AD or so. Then they all got on boats and went elsewhere in the Roman empire with a few staying behind.
However, there are no records of any of this. No records of them leaving. No records of them arriving.
No records of them living anywhere else. No records of their traditions in the Roman empire, though, for instance, there were always Jewish settlements in each Roman city.
The old Jewish section of Rome is right off Via Arenula today.
What is a wild claim, however, is that Jews were expelled, moved to the Roman empire and ended up all living in Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Czechoslovakia and, mostly Russia.
You see, you couldn’t move there then. The Visigoths and even nastier people ran those places.
Visigoths – They Did Not do Neighbors Well
They weren’t part of the Roman empire, never were.
There is no record of Jews leaving Judea, no record of them arriving in the Roman Empire at the time claimed, no record of them living there and no record of them all heading out to Russia and Poland, where 90% of Europe’s Jews had lived for centuries.
There is no historical record of any of this.
There is, however, a historical record of a people from Russia called the Khazars who converted to Judaism and created a great empire nearly as large as the United States.
The “Jewish areas” of Russia and Europe were the eastern portion of Khazaria.
One could assume that all Jews in Russia or Poland, just as Helen Thomas said, were from there and had never been from Judea. We can prove Jews lived there as Khazars. We cannot prove Jews moved there from Judea.
Does this mean that Jews from that region who, after World War II, chose to move to Palestine were bad people? No, of course not. What it does mean is that they never came from there. Is that important?
Only if the wild and insane claim that a convenient mythology allows one people to steal from another. However, this is the nature of phony history, phony religion and mythology. Jews from Russia and Poland look pretty much like everyone else from there.
Byzantine Mural – When Jews were Christians – Before They Were Muslims
Other points. The most likely thing is that Palestinians were once Byzantine Christians and before that Jews. Why? There is no proof they came from anywhere else.
There is proof they have been where they are pretty much forever. There is also proof that people who lived there were, at one time, Jews, then Christians and eventually Muslims. Why change religions?
Governments created incentives for people to change religions, some involved taxes, others involved serious persecution.
This religious persecution in Judea went on for centuries, Jews persecuting Christians and, later, Christians persecuting Jews.
This was long before Islam existed. This is real history.
Before Muslims became “terrorists,” Jews claimed Christians were “terrorists.”
Then Christians said Jews were all “thieves” and “mongrels” and had killed Christ. Can we prove Christ existed? Actually no, we can’t.
However, the Gospels, such as they are, most burned, some horribly mistranslated, are something of a record, much more of a record than the wild discussions of Moses and “mana” and being lost in Sinai for 40 years.
Would any of it stand up in court? Not for a friggin’ minute!
So, where does this leave us?
Palestinians are probably, by genetic definition, if such exists, the only real Jews.
Most Jews are probably from ethnic groups pushed into Europe, no different than every other migration. The idea of claimed “immunity” to two thousand years of historical resettlement, religious realignments and the total lack of either archaeological or rational written records as a basis of decades of warfare is insane.
We could just as easily be talking about the Phoenicians or Philistines or Hittites or Babylonians, the Greeks, the Ottomans or even Egyptians as having historical claim to Palestine.
Lord Balfour (left of pitcher) – Reception at the Tel-Aviv Municipality in 1925
Something we can come closer to proving is that a corrupt British politician named Balfour, back in 1917, loaded with gambling debts, wrote a short document to a wealthy and even more corrupt banker offering some kind of deal on land that he didn’t control.
This was during World War I. Turkey controlled Palestine entirely, had for centuries. There were Jews in the Turkish empire. Turkey invited them there in the 15th century to help run things. These Jews were, however, Europeans mostly, persecuted in Europe, where they had come to from, not Judea certainly, and welcomed to the Middle East by Muslims.
This is real history.
Britain had no right to cut a “deal” more likely tied to the kind of political payoffs and blackmail used to push President Obama into his humiliating speech to the UN. The “Balfour thing” which is brought up continually had then and has now NO LEGAL STANDING WHATSOEVER.
Balfour could have been running the mortgage department at today’s Bank of America.
It is time that those that call themselves Israeli’s admit they are resettled Europeans like most of us here in America, taking advantage of a poorly armed and primitive population just as Britain, Spain and later the United States did in North America, like Europe did around the world during the colonial era, like one population did to another since time immemorial. A few classes in Hebrew, discarding Yiddish traditions, doesn’t change history, it only erases heritage.
Supposedly “mechanisms” and “organizations” are in place, since 1945, to prevent such things. A civil war in Libya was carefully orchestrated based on such mechanisms and organizations, an intervention under identical circumstances that exist in Israel or Syria.
Zionism in Action – Being a Light Unto the World ?
But the United States is defending Israel and Russia is defending Syria.
Thus, the great world powers, such as they are, have maneuvered the world through a century of atrocity.
This time the United States is attempting to justify prehistoric barbarism of the Israeli occupation of Palestine using language carefully crafted by “advisors” with the ethical and moral authority of the worst criminal elements of our time.
Use of force to dispossess a people is ethnic cleansing. Separating people by walls in apartheid. An armed enclosure filled with men, women and children is a concentration camp.
This is Palestine today, what is called the “State of Israel.” This is why an American veto is important because the rest of the world sees the truth.
We are asked to endure a century of warfare and economic chaos because of the desire by some to validate bizarre mythologies that are little more than a veneer for something darker.
Israel isn’t about Jews. Israel is just another issue, strong strangling the weak, the clever controlling the many through deception.
Because of Israeli control of media, a few square miles of sand, some stolen and built with senior citizen vacation condos, some farmed by Asian slaves, much still barren and inhospitable, land no American would park an abandoned tractor on, is costing America and Europe a century of economic survival, costing generations of lives, all based on, not just mythology but a continuing stream of carefully crafted lies.
Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He is a disabled veteran and has worked on veterans and POW issues for decades. Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
Although the West has waged 10 years of war on Syria, and there is much destruction, the entire country isn’t in ruins and the pulse of life continues, albeit strangled by brutal Western sanctions.
After Eastern Ghouta’s liberation in 2018, the Western media predictably went silent on the return of internally displaced Syrians and the rebuilding that had occurred. Today, in towns in the region outside the capital Damascus, behind dusty, battered metal shop shutters, I saw glossy new windows and even more rebuilding than I had when I was here in 2018.
In Douma, I saw lovely, smiling children, excited to practise their English with me. Given that they were born during the war and lived under the horrifically savage rule of the rebel groups Jaysh al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman, and their co-terrorists, their exuberance was remarkable. The traumas they endured they have either deeply buried within or miraculously healed from.
Since both the media and leaders in the West made such a big deal over the Douma chemical hoax, it was particularly rewarding to see life in the streets again.
Lively times in Irbeen and Douma, Eastern Ghouta, today, where Syrians exercised their right to vote in Presidential elections.
Western media mocks the elections.
Syrians voting, sing, dancing, is a massive F.U. to the West’s ambitions of regime change in Syria. pic.twitter.com/nNwIhDzWJ1— Eva Karene Bartlett (@EvaKBartlett) May 26, 2021
Syrians in Eastern Ghouta were put through a hell that most of us, living safely far from war, cannot begin to fathom. I had seen their tortured faces shortly after their liberation in 2018. That made seeing them smiling, dancing, and celebrating the presidential elections today incredibly moving. The difference between then and now was like night and day.
Some were surprised when I posted videos on social media of a Syrian singer and orchestra performing at the Damascus Opera House two nights ago. Many assume the country has been completely destroyed, others are just unaware that it has a rich culture that hasn’t died, in spite of a decade-long war waged by the West.
Until the liberation, however, Syrians in Damascus risked being maimed or killed every time they went to work, to school, to the market, or even while they remained at home, when terrorist mortars and missiles rained down from Eastern Ghouta.
Back in 2014, leaving behind the hospitality of the small hotel I was staying in near the gate of Bab Sharqi, the Old City’s East Gate, I drifted over to a cluster of tables across from the beautiful Zaitoun Greek Orthodox cathedral and beside a closed restaurant. But instead of working on my laptop, as I’d intended, I ended up getting into a conversation with the owner of that restaurant, now called the Abu Zolouf bar.
As Abu Shadi and I spoke, terrorist-fired mortars fell in nearby districts. I wrote at the time: “As it happened, I got two of four mortars on audio. The first occurred around 7:05 pm, which Abu Shadi estimated to be 200 metres away. His friend corrected him saying it was only 50 metres away (also about 20 metres from my hotel). Roughly 10 minutes later, the second mortar. There were two other mortars within half an hour. SANA news reported the injury of 17 civilians.”
Our conversation became about the incessant shelling, where the latest mortar had fallen, and his near-death experience with one.
“Two times mortars landed outside my restaurant. One would have killed me, but I went inside just before,” he said, pointing to a spot on the ground next to the door. He lamented the loss of business as much as the threat posed by the mortars.
The other night, I visited the restaurant with a friend. Seeing Abu Shadi, we sat down with him and chatted about those days. Now, his restaurant is open and well frequented, guests sitting under light-strung olive trees enjoying the early summer evenings.
very early in the evening; in a few hours, the place will be packed
Also in 2014, one afternoon, wishing to escape the blazing sun, I leaned against the wall encircling the Old City, looking towards Jobar, then occupied by terrorist factions, roughly a kilometer away. As I wrote at the time, while I chatted with a friend, “bullets whizzed past me, half a meter to my right, to my left. Everyone in the vicinity jumped up and ran, most looking panicked. We ran for about 50 meters, to a point which was apparently out of the terrorists’ range. One woman, hyperventilating and unable to stand, took a good 10 minutes to calm down, repeatedly making the sign of the cross as she wheezed. Later, I chatted with a man selling spinach patties, mentioning that I was surprised the bullets had reached the point where I’d been sitting. ‘They reach as far as here,’ he said, from his hole-in-the-wall bakery another 200 metres from where I’d been sitting.”
My encounters with mortars and their victims were many over the years, including seeing numerous children maimed and with critical injuries from the terrorists’ shelling, many ancient Damascene houses partially destroyed by it.
n 2018, I interviewed the supremely talented violinist and composer, Raad Khalaf, who is also a founder of the all-women Mari Orchestra. Afterwards, we chatted and he mentioned that the shelling had reached the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts where he taught, near the Opera House.
He told me that the year prior, terrorists had attacked the area with some 37 bombs in one day.
“The students had to stay inside for eight hours – you couldn’t go outside because we didn’t know when or where the next bomb would fall. One student went outside and was killed. Here we lived five difficult years.”
On Monday this week, I went to the Opera House to hear Syrian singer Carmen Tockmaji and the orchestra accompanying her perform. The auditorium was only half-full but lively, everyone evidently enjoying the singer’s talents.
I was surprised to learn later that a front-row ticket cost just 2,000 Syrian pounds (80 US cents), a second-class ticket 1,500 (60 US cents), and a third class ticket 1,000 (40 US cents). Nonetheless, despite the low price, Syria’s poorest can’t afford this, largely because of the brutal sanctions on the country that decisively affected the currency, causing hyperinflation – an intended consequence of the cruel and immoral sanctions leveled against the Syrian people.
I wrote last year (and before) about how these sanctions directly affect civilians: “On June 17, the US implemented the Caesar Act, America’s latest round of draconian sanctions against the Syrian people, to ‘protect’ them, it claims. This, after years of bombing civilians and providing support to anti-government militants, leading to the proliferation of terrorists who kidnap, imprison, torture, maim, and murder the same civilians. Sanctions have impacted Syria’s ability to import medicines or the raw materials needed to manufacture them, medical equipment, and the machines and materials needed to manufacture prosthetic limbs, among other things.”
But sanctions have yet another brutal effect: they wreak havoc on the economy. A May 3, 2021 opinion piece by Abbey Makoe on the website of the South African Broadcasting Corporation noted: “Electricity rationing in Syria has reached its highest levels due to the government’s inability to secure the fuel needed to generate electricity. This is mainly due to the damaging international economic sanctions led by the Western powers, including the IIT [Investigation and Identification Team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] protagonists France, UK and the US. The value of the Syrian pound has crumbled to almost nothing. The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 … is credited with bringing about starvation, darkness, plague, misery, robbery, kidnappings, increased mortality rate and the certain destruction of a nation that was once a beacon of hope across the Middle East.”
The misery is real, and Syrians are indeed suffering, many unable even to feed their families properly.
Speaking of Opera House performances may seem trite in light of the economic suffering, but the fact that productions such as this do still occur in Syria is another indication that the West’s change-of-government project has failed, despite its 10 years of waging war in Syria.
Seeing this concert just before the presidential elections was moving and poignant. As Carlos Tebecherani Haddad, a Syrian-Brazilian friend I met in 2014 when mortars were raining down around us, wrote: “Celebrating life, victory over foreign aggression, rebuilding, the strength of Syrian roots, presidential elections and the bright future of the Syrian nation.”
That indeed is what I’ve seen in Syria, including today in Douma, where Syrians amassed to vote. Yet there is much to be done, particularly when it comes to rebuilding the infrastructure – especially as oh-so-benevolent America and its allies, in sanctioning the Syrian people, are directly preventing this.
So, if you’re still pointing a finger at the president and the army, turn that finger back at your governments, ye in the West. They are the cause of the destruction and death in Syria, and they hinder an otherwise achievable return to peace and normality.
Hassan Diab (left) in a hospital in Douma after being hosed down with water, though allegedly a victim of chemical weapons, Hasan would later testify there was no chemical weapon attack
Fantastic endorsement by the esteemed John Pilger. I’m humbled.
“This outstanding report from Syria by Eva Bartlett penetrates the ‘iron dome’ of Western propaganda, also known as news.
It is about a chemical attack that never happened in a country attacked, subverted and blockaded in your name.“
The article in question was published at Off Guardian, May 25, 2021
May 20 marked the start of the 2021 Syrian presidential elections. Syrians around the world outside of Syria will cast their votes—if their embassies haven’t been closed, or voting prohibited, in the countries they reside in that is.
Western leaders hypocritically claimed concern for Syrians and wanted to ensure they live democratically – by funding and arming terrorists from around the world to slaughter them and destroy their homes, governmental buildings, and historic and cultural places–but continue to do everything in their power to make it difficult-to-impossible for Syrians to exercise their rights to vote for their president.
In closing Syrian embassies around the world, the regime-change alliance made very clear that they do not want the Syrian people to exercise their democratic right to vote in presidential elections past and future. They know that Syrians would come out in masses to vote for their president.
Otherwise, Syrians will, on May 26, vote in Syria. This is a historic moment: after 10 years of would-be regime change in Syria, ten bloody years of unnecessary war on Syria, Syrians voting, whether for Assad or not, are voting in defiance of the West’s attempts to install a puppet government.
In their attempts to overthrow President Assad, the West and allies have concocted accusation after accusation about alleged atrocities committed by Syria. Among the many fabrications, the more recent and perhaps notable was that of the April 2018, Douma “chemical attack” allegations.
The Douma “Chemical Attack”
Three years ago on April 7, France, the UK and the US (FUKUS) and their allies, along with the entirety of Western corporate media, alleged that the Syrian army had used chemical weapons on civilians in Douma, just northeast of Damascus.
The allegation was that a chemical agent airdropped onto the town had killed dozens of civilians.
As I wrote at the time, the West’s claims to have evidence to back these allegations was a transparent lie: what they had were dubious, unverified, video clips and photos shared on social media, provided by the Western-funded White Helmets and other partial and non-credible sources with affiliations to, and admiration for, Jaysh al-Islam and co-terrorist groups in eastern Ghouta.
One week later, the night before Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors were due to visit Douma (at the request of the Syrian government), FUKUS launched 103 missiles at Syria. Bombing within Damascus itself and putting the lives of Syrian civilians at risk.
They carried out this attack without waiting for any evidence at all, much less a full investigation by the OPCW. Far from a concern for the truth, or wanting to “protect” Syrian lives, FUKUS’ response was clearly about applying both political and military pressure to the government they had been trying to change for almost a decade.
Indeed, the immediate attribution of guilt to the Syrian government, alongside the promptness of the retaliation, suggests at least foreknowledge of the “attack”, if not outright responsibility for it.
Independent Media on the Ground in Syria
In contrast to the propaganda put forth from outside of Syria – by dubious propaganda outlets like Bellingcat, as well as most of Western media – a number of journalists actually went to the area in question and spoke with medical personnel and residents.
These include Russian and Syrian media, followed by foreign journalists including One America News Network, Vanessa Beeley, Robert Fisk, Germany’s ZDF, and myself.
We learned: there was no indication that any of the people brought in to the medical point had been exposed to a chemical agent; they were, instead, treated for normal shelling injuries, as well as for breathing difficulties due to the combination of smoke, dust, and their having taken refuge for extended periods in basements; they were all sent home after treatment, no one died in the makeshift hospital.
We also heard of the horrific suffering of civilians in eastern Ghouta, under the savage rule of Jaysh al-Islam, Faylaq al-Rahman, and the other terrorist factions occupying the region. In fact, most residents I spoke with were more desperate to emphasize how awful life had been under their rule than talk about what they clearly viewed as lies, the chemical allegations.
In one particularly notable early report, RT interviewed the 11-year-old boy, Hassan Diab, starring in the clip that went around the world: a clip showing Diab being hosed down in a chaotic hospital room, allegedly being treated for exposure to a chemical agent.
The boy told RT:
We were outside, and they told all of us to go into the hospital. I was immediately taken upstairs, and they started pouring water on me. The doctors started filming us here [in the hospital], they were pouring water and taking videos.
The Hague Press Conference
Diab and sixteen others — including a resuscitator, a paramedic who was working in emergency care, an emergency paramedic with the Syrian Red Crescent, a doctor with the emergency department — then spoke at The Hague.
Their testimonies dismantled the claims about a chemical attack in Douma.
But, as I recently wrote, instead of considering these Syrian sources, pundits and media sneered at the “obscene masquerade” regarding the testimonies.
Yes, the same media which uncritically endorsed the Twitter account of a seven-year-old English-illiterate Aleppo girl as gospel in the lead up to the liberation of Aleppo refused to consider the testimonies of seventeen civilians from Douma.
The same media refused the revelations of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) whistleblowers who spoke out, damning the final OPCW report for its glaring omissions – omissions that completely changed the narrative around Douma.
In October 2020, the UN Security Council itself refused to allow Jose Bustani, former general director of the OPCW, to speak. I urge people to read Bustani’s words on the cover up of OPCW expert findings around the Douma allegations.
It should be noted that it was largely due to the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media that OPCW whistle-blowers spoke out, and thus that the report has been questioned. You can read some of their diligent research here.
As for Jose Bustani, for the sake of brevity, I will include just some of his words below, again encouraging readers to read his words fully.
[S]erious questions are now being raised over whether the independence, impartiality, and professionalism of some of the Organisation’s work is being severely compromised, possibly under pressure from some Member States.
Of particular concern are the circumstances surrounding the OPCW’s investigation of the alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria, on 7 April 2018. These concerns are emanating from the very heart of the Organisation, from the very scientists and engineers involved in the Douma investigation. […] If the OPCW is confident in the robustness of its scientific work on Douma and in the integrity of the investigation, then it has little to fear in hearing out its inspectors.
If, however, the claims of evidence suppression, selective use of data, and exclusion of key investigators, among other allegations, are not unfounded, then it is even more imperative that the issue be dealt with openly and urgently.
For more nuance and details on the OPCW scandal, the suppressing of critical evidence in order to suit the regime changers’ narrative of a chemical attack having occurred in Douma, read Kit Klarenberg’s April 2021 article, in which notes:
The report released to the public was trimmed to just 34 pages, with all ballistic, forensic and witness evidence gathered by the Douma FFM, which completely dispelled the notion of a chemical attack, and pointed directly or indirectly to a staged incident, removed […] the West and allies continue to push the official, and incorrect, OPCW story, now going as far as ensuring Syria no longer has a seat at the OPCW table.
Clearly, no matter how much evidence against, and testimonies that counter, the West’s claims about a chemical attack in Douma, FUKUS is hell-bent on cramming this narrative down our throats. All in the name, of course, of concern for Syrian civilians. The same civilians the West is strangling under increasingly brutal sanctions against the Syrian people.
Testimonies From On the Ground in Douma
While much is being made of the official OPCW report and the ensuing OPCW leaks which contradicted the chemical claims, it is important to also consider the many testimonies of Syrian civilians and medical personnel, not only on the issue of a chemical attack or not, but also on the details of their lives under the savage rule of terrorist groups.
Vanessa Beeley went to Douma in April 2018, going to the makeshift hospital where the dousing scene was filmed. “All said it was not a chemical attack. Civilians in area confirmed this also. Shops hve re-opened, rebuilding has started, nobody presented any symptoms of CW attack,” she tweeted at the time.
Her subsequent article included testimonies of medical personnel and civilians, including Dr Hassan Ouyoun, who noted that he had not issued any death certificates for the April 7 “chemical attack victims,” and raised a number of important points:
I didn’t give any death certificate as a result of a chemical poisoning incident. This is a point against the White Helmets. How was the death “evaluation” carried out? Who did the examination? Who identified the cause of death? How was the burial carried out without a certificate from a doctor?
Valid concerns. And yet, Western media and talking heads instead ran with the dubious footage and narratives supplied by the White Helmets and terrorist-affiliated allies.
I myself went by taxi to Douma in late April, 2018, also going to the by then infamous hospital room in question. I returned to the district in early May to visit neighbouring towns.
As I wrote after my visit, the man I spoke with, Marwan Jaber, said that while hospital staff were treating normal bombing injuries and breathing cases, “strangers” entered screaming about a chemical attack and started hosing people with water.
Patients’ symptoms were “not in line with the symptoms of a chemical attack. There wasn’t pupil constriction or Broncho-constrictions leading to death,” Jaber recalled. “The symptoms we received were all symptoms of choking, patients affected by the smoke and regular war injuries. They came here, we treated them, and dispatched them home,” Jaber said, noting that none, not one, had died.
Nor were any of the hospital staff affected, as one might expect they would be had a chemical agent been used. The staff, as seen in the video produced by the White Helmets, wore no protective clothing, as would have been necessary when dealing with a toxic chemical.
In Marwan Jaber’s opinion, the unfamiliar men who barged into the hospital screaming weren’t trained in medicine. He went so far as to doubt whether they’d finished high school.
Life Under Terrorist Occupation
Before walking around Douma and speaking with residents, I walked down some of the wide and very long, well-reinforced tunnels which Jaysh al-Islam terrorists used to move below ground, including in vehicles, to avoid detection from the Syrian army and allies.
Part of the labyrinth of tunnels Jaysh al Islam terrorists formerly occupying Douma used to evade detection and thus prolong the misery of civilians. Longer video here: https://t.co/gRFP9Xqktkpic.twitter.com/fNyvZ5Zg3Y
— Eva Karene Bartlett (@EvaKBartlett) May 24, 2018
From my article:
As I walked around Douma, I asked residents about life there and especially about whether they believed there was a chemical attack in their town. Some replied they had no idea about an attack. But most replied decisively no, there hadn’t been any.
At a stand selling vegetables and fruits, Tawfeeq Zahran replied that he believed Jaysh al-Islam had spoken of a chemical attack to frighten them, to make them fear the Syrian army and government. Men around him nodded their agreement. They spoke more about their starvation under Jaysh al-Islam and about the public executions by sword that the terror group had routinely carried out.
A group of young men selling baked goods waved me over, handing me one. They also replied that they knew nothing of an attack. They were more concerned about the fact that, under Jaysh al-Islam, they couldn’t get the flour needed for their baked goods, much less food to live. This was a constant among every civilian I met: Their hunger and terror under Jaysh al-Islam’s rule.
Since most people I met in Douma and neighbouring villages wanted to speak about life under terrorist rule, I wrote a follow-up article focusing on that.
The chemical story was to them largely unimportant. But the terror they endured still haunted them, and likely will the rest of their lives.
Mahmoud Al Khaled, who spoke to Vanessa Beeley about the White Helmets’ involvement in organ theft, wasn’t the only Syrian civilian to speak about this. In December 2018, I wrote about a more than one-hour-long panel on the White Helmets at the United Nations on December 20.
That panel, along with the countless testimonies Vanessa Beeley and Maxim Grigoriev respectively collected, are essential listening and reading for those who want to understand the true nature of the White Helmets.
How any sensible person, much less any credible journalist or body, could rely on the White Helmets’ narratives regarding chemical attacks in Syria is truly baffling.
How the West Forgot Kidnapped Civilians and Ignored Executions
“Concern for Syrian civilians” has been the disingenuous rallying cry for all those pushing the Western war on Syria, from politicians to the press. But this “concern” only applies when it suits.
The Western media don’t actually care what civilians witnesses have to say about the so-called “chemical attacks”, the Western media don’t investigate what life is like for Syrian civilians living under terrorist occupation, or having their organs trafficked by Western-backed White Helmets.
And the Western media didn’t write about civilians kidnapped — used as slave labour, tortured, killed, and some freed when eastern Ghouta was liberated — because their scripts didn’t tell them to, or because they didn’t know: they weren’t in Syria, nor following Syrian media carefully.
Vanessa Beeley was, however, in Syria, and at the time tweeted:
Jaish Al Islam lied to secure their evacuation from #Douma. Only two buses have exited with kidnap victims. It is reported that remaining 3-5000 were executed prior to JAI surrender, many years before. All hope destroyed for waiting families. https://t.co/hY1H41xj6L— vanessa beeley (@VanessaBeeley) April 10, 2018
As it turned out, although thousands were expected to be released, Jaysh al-Islam terrorists had apparently executed the vast majority.
With expectation to free up to 5 thousands captives, it turned out that only 200 of them remained alive throughout years of captivity.
Sources said that Jaysh al-Islam manipulated the Syrian government and Russian mediators by providing fake lists of the captives with the objective to secure a surrender deal whereby it militants can safely leave their bastion to the country’s north.
Thousands of the kidnapped were executed by their captors or died of illness, hunger or fatigue while forced to dig tunnels.
Hundreds of distressed families desperately waited for their kidnapped relatives at al-Fayhaa Stadium in Damascus as the last 2 buses carrying around 100 captives arrived at the overcrowded facility.
The day of their release, abductees spoke to Syrian media: they were kidnapped by Jaysh al-Islam and al-Nusra in December 2013 from the industrial area of Adra, north of Damascus. They were kept in cages and humiliated, tortured, forced to dig tunnels, including children. Children and adults were starved, children deprived of education and even of sunlight.
Thousands of kidnapped civilians, brutalized, tormented, starved, and the majority executed or died in inhumane, unlivable, circumstances, and not a peep from Western media. The same media that claimed to have sources all over eastern Ghouta.
A search from the period of March to August 2018 revealed only Syrian, Chinese, Russian, and Iranian news sites reporting on the issue. Deafening silence from Western media. Vanessa Beeley was one of the only Western journalists who cared enough to report on it, although at the time, waiting at the site where the kidnapped civilians would be brought, in order to speak with them and share their horrific experiences.
At the time of the abductees’ release, the Guardian’s Istanbul-based Shaheen devoted a scant few sentences to mentioning the matter, referring to them as “kidnapped individuals and prisoners of war” with no mention that they were civilians, including women and children, no mention of their numbers, and none of the outrage that would have filled days of Guardian articles were they “kidnapped individuals and prisoners of war” taken by the Syrian army.
Reuters also made scant mention of the abductees, also merely referring to them as prisoners, with no indication that they were Syrian civilians, including children.
Terrorists’ Chemical Capabilities
Some, while aware that the OPCW lied about Douma, still believe the corrupted body investigated honestly about previous chemical claims.
But there is much to indicate that is not the case, and much to indicate that, in fact, it has been terrorist factions that have many a time used chemicals against civilians and against the Syrian army.
Journalist Sharmine Narwani, in March 2018, exposed the likelihood that a chemical lab which she visited in Eastern Ghouta was used to manufacture chemicals which terrorists used in staged attacks.
This week, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) liberated some Eastern Ghouta farmlands between Shifouniyeh and Douma and discovered a well-equipped chemical laboratory run by Saudi-backed Islamist terrorists. Not a single Western reporter showed up to investigate the facility. […] It is now indisputable that Western-backed and Gulf-financed Islamist militants have the capabilities to produce the chemicals of war inside the battlefield – and not in the makeshift way that media suggests. This lab demonstrates that militants can amass foreign-made equipment, create production lines and procure difficult-to-obtain components.
When Vanessa Beeley went to Douma, she visited a chemical lab in an area controlled by Jaysh al-Islam, seeing a gas cylinder which looked similar to the famous Douma “chemical attack” cylinder.
#Douma – 2nd chemical weapon manufacturing site I visited yesterday. This site was in a Jaish Al Islam fortified, secure area where nobody could enter without passing their checkpoints. Similar cylinder to one claimed to have been used in alleged CW attack on 7/4. @21WIRE#Ghoutapic.twitter.com/6566x6St8l— vanessa beeley (@VanessaBeeley) April 24, 2018
Interestingly, a CNN journalist who was with the delegation Beeley was with chose to ignore the scene.
Just prior to #Douma alleged attacks, I visited terrorist bomb factories with @CNN Frederick Pleitgen #Ghouta. We saw evidence of armed groups using chemical weapons, when Pleitgen reported Douma, he said nothing, blocked me on Twitter when challenged.— vanessa beeley (@VanessaBeeley) April 21, 2021
Presumably, it didn’t fit in with his scripted narrative on Douma.
When she interviewed civilians in Hamouri, eastern Ghouta, a month before the chemical allegations, Beeley learned that terrorist factions and their White Helmet accomplices had intended to stage an attack then, but it was derailed by Syrian civilians who came out demonstrating with Syrian flags.
On the 6th of March, in Hamouriya, we decided to protest against Failaq Al Rahman and we raised the Syrian flag. We marched against the terrorist occupation. They (Failaq Al Rahman) and the White Helmets were preparing a chemical attack which they intended to blame on the Syrian Arab Army as they closed in on the militants. They were furious with us for our march and for raising the Syrian flag, because it ruined their plans.
Very hard to present a “chemical attack” with scenes of cheering, flag-waving, Syrian civilians…
Fast forward to Saraqib, Idlib, February 2020, not long after it was liberated, where Beeley saw a former al-Nusra training centre containing another chemical lab.
#Idlib#Saraqeb – former Nusra Front military training center, suspected used by #WhiteHelmets also. Contains chemical lab where I saw boxes of ball bearings, nitric acid & other chem ingredients – alongside number of small rockets that could be packed wth materials. Report soon. pic.twitter.com/9WD7SLtCKM— vanessa beeley (@VanessaBeeley) February 24, 2020
Meanwhile, there are numerous instances of terrorist factions using chemicals against Syrian civilians.
Narwani’s Ghouta article also noted:
In Syria, the trouble began in December 2012 when the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front (a former IS ally), took over the country’s only chlorine manufacturing plant, a joint business venture with the Saudis located east of Aleppo. Damascus issued an immediate warning to the UN: “Terrorist groups may resort to using chemical weapons against the Syrian people… after having gained control of a toxic chlorine factory.”
Three months later, in what is viewed as the first real CW incident of the Syrian conflict, 26 people – the majority of them (16) Syrian soldiers – were killed in the village of Khan Assal in Aleppo in a reported chlorine attack. The next day, the Syrian government requested that the UN investigate the attack.
A few days later, there was another alleged chemical incident in Adra, northeast of Damascus, followed by a reported attack in Saraqeb, and then in Ghouta in August – the CW incident that almost triggered US military strikes. A Jordanian reporter on the ground in Ghouta interviewed witnesses who said the Saudis had provided militants with chemical weapons and that some had been detonated by accident.
Saudi-backed Jaysh al-Islam, publicly admitted in 2016 to using toxic agents in mortar attacks against Kurds in the Aleppo neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsood. “During the clashes one of the Jaysh al-Islam brigades used [weapons] forbidden in this kind of confrontations,” the group said in a statement about the chemical attack, in which it claimed the perpetrator would be held accountable.
In November 2016, I spoke with the former director of al-Kindi hospital who told me of 65 casualties of what he and other doctors believed to be some sort of chemical attack, committed by terrorist factions.
In December 2018, Vanessa Beeley spoke with residents of the Khalidiyyah district of Aleppo where a week prior terrorists had committed a chemical attack, as well as in two other districts of the city.
Nusra Front (rebranded as HTS) embedded in the Layramoun industrial area were responsible for the shelling of these districts with a total of 5 or 6 modified munitions containing toxic substances believed to be related to Amonium Nitrate (usually used as a chemical fertilizer).
Within hours of the attack, more than 150 civilians, including many children were treated for the effects of the toxic gas in the Aleppo hospitals – according to Dr Zaher Batal, head of the Aleppo Medical Association. Symptoms were streaming eyes, respiratory difficulty and tightness of the chest.
In March 2019, Vanessa Beeley wrote of a suspected chemical attack northwest of Al Suqaylabiyah, writing:
I was in Al Suqaylabiyah when this attack took place and I was able to visit the local hospital that received the 34 victims which included three children, one severely affected with respiratory problems. Victims complained of breathing difficulties, skin blisters, eye sensitivity, nausea and shock syndrome after the attack. One victim, Nawfal Tawbar, described the 1m high dense white smoke that enveloped the area after the mortars had exploded.
Clearly, there are numerous incidents of terrorist groups both having the capability to commit chemical attacks and their having actually done so.
Previous “Chemical Attack” Allegations
Douma was not first “chemical attack” the West accused the Syrian government of carrying out. Over the years there have been many others, all of which were marked by the same inconsistencies of narrative and evidence of foreknowledge that mark the “official story” on Douma.
It is worth recalling that their report in the previous year, on the allegations of a chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, contained “irregularities,” to put it mildly. The most glaring irregularity (mentioned in the annex section of their report) was the admission of 57 “victims” to hospitalbefore any alleged attack even could have occurred. Another unexplained irregularity was sarin showing up in urine but not in blood tests from the same sample.
And at Ghouta, from the same article:
In 2013, the West and its media had accused the Syria government of a chemical attack in eastern Ghouta…These accusations were shot down by reports from investigative journalists, particularly Seymour Hersh, who concluded that terrorists possessed sarin and the workshops to manufacture rockets. Indeed, I saw one of these mortar and rocket workshops when in Saqba, eastern Ghouta. Massive amounts of missiles of varying sizes lay, as-yet unused, inside the workshop.
According to Mint Press News, Saudi Arabia also gave chemical weapons to terrorists in Ghouta for the 2013 attack. The Mint Press article cited anti-government fighters who said they’d been given chemical weapons which they didn’t know how to use, naming Saudi Prince Bandar as the source. So, in early May, I went to Kafr Batna where, in August 2013, hundreds of people had allegedly been treated at the Tuberculosis Hospital.
Mohammed al-Aghawani, administrator of the Tuberculosis Hospital which treated hundreds of alleged “chemical victims”, told me:
There was no chemical attack. I wasn’t at the hospital that night, but my staff told me what happened. Around 2am, there was suddenly noise, shouting, cars arriving at the hospital, bringing civilians. Some people, armed men, said there was a chemical attack. Some of them had foreign accents. They took people’s clothes off and started pouring water on them. They kept bringing people in till around 7am. Around 1,000 people, mostly children, alive, from nearby villages like Ein Terma, Hezze, Zamalka. Many people later said their children never came back.
Vanessa Beeley interviewed Ahmed Toumeh, a 42 year old from Hamouriya, about an alleged “chemical attack” in Zamalka in 2013:
Since the “chemical attack” in Zamalka in 2013 that supposedly killed 1300, people were fooled into not seeing it was an act between Nusra Front and their civil defence. When the chemicals were used, they had hospitals ready always two days before – they had information in advance of the supposed attacks. How could they know unless they were involved?
At that time (2013) there had been an earlier chemical attack by terrorist groups against the Syrian Army in Khan Al Asal. The Syrian government had invited UN investigators to Damascus. The same night the UN inspectors arrived, they (Nusra Front and White Helmets) prepared for the ‘chemical attack’ in Zamalka.
Everything was prepared. The video was filmed and produced, the water sprayers had been prepared two days in advance.
Many people were fooled by this act and from then on the White Helmets added to the image. They would film themselves rescuing children who were not hurt and they would take a wounded person and film him to change public opinion, to criminalise the Syrian government, portray the Army as destructive.
Shooting The Messengers
Those offering on-the-ground, substantive accounts countering the mainstream claims on Douma have been smeared and disregarded as Syrian or Russian propagandists. Ironically, most of those doing the smears have never set foot in Syria, much less Douma.
When Pearson Sharp, Vanessa Beeley, and myself shared our findings from Douma, we were predictably lambasted by Western corporate media like the BBC. And when others questioned the murky narrative, they too were smeared. As Vanessa Beeley wrote:
Academics, Professors Piers Robinson and Tim Hayward, came under concerted attack as did other members of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media when they analysed the events and questioned the veracity of it being a chemical attack. In the UK, the Times published no less than four articles labeling myself and the “rogue” academics as “Assad’s useful idiots,” timed to perfection on the day that the UK, US and France launched their unlawful bombing campaign against Syria. A bombing campaign that was fully enabled by the ignominious rush to judgement by corporate media in the West.
The Atlantic Council is a Washington DC-based think tank, which promulgates lies and propaganda to further imperialist wars and weapons sales, among other things.
They produced a whitewash article to discredit independent reporting on Syria, in which they dedicated a considerable segment to attacking both Vanessa Beeley and myself:
Many of the attacks on the White Helmets were both voiced and amplified by a group of pro-Assad bloggers, of whom the most prominent were British citizen Vanessa Beeley and Canadian citizen Eva Bartlett. These, in turn, were supported online by a group of Twitter users who have repeatedly targeted critics of the Assad regime. Neither Bartlett nor Beeley can be viewed as a credible or impartial commentator.”
A perhaps unintended result of their linking to articles we’ve written around Douma, and the White Helmets, is that open-minded readers might become informed instead of blindly believed the Atlantic Council’s nonsense.
There were more smears, but as usual they copy-pasted from prior ones, and don’t actually delve into the content of what we presented, which is testimonies of civilians — named civilians, even – in contrast to the “unnamed sources” or “media activists” Western corporate media so fondly make up.
An aspect of such character assassinations is implying that the reporting we do is effortless and we are essentially toured around by the Syrian government.
What the average reader may not realize is that even for ourselves, people known in Syria by now, there are the same bureaucratic procedures that all journalists must follow.
Further, unlike corporate journalists who have obscene funding and teams of people to help with research, translations, subtitling and even the logistics of planning a trip to Syria (visas, flights, travel from Lebanon, accommodation), we do everything on our own, with help from Syrian friends (accurate translations) and at our own expense.
Former producer Patrick Corbett elaborated on this to me a few years ago, saying:
If you’re working for a network like NBC, CBC, what people don’t realize is that behind the scenes you’ve got so much backup in every way. First of all, before you go out, you’ve got a team of researchers preparing things for you. You’ve got people who have contacts everywhere.
When you go to a place like Syria you have a fixer; a fixer is a local person who has contacts, can take you places..things like that. You go with things like a satellite phone, so you’re always in touch with your home base. If you have any problems, they’ll get people to you….
They’ve got somebody who will work with you doing your voice-over. When somebody stands in front of the camera, that’s not what’s coming out of their head, its what’s coming out of the corporate entity that is that news producing organization. They get paid six figure incomes to do what they do.
BBC Producer Admits (then Retracts) the Truth
While the BBC is guilty of some of the worst war propaganda against Syria in this 10 year war against the Syrian people, it is worth mentioning that one of the BBC’s producers vocally expressed his skepticism over the “evidence” provided after the alleged events of April 7, 2018.
Riam Dalati is on the BBC production team based in Beirut and describes himself, on his Twitter page, as an “esteemed colleague” of Quentin Sommerville, the BBC’s Middle East correspondent.
Dalati broke ranks with his UK Government-aligned media, on Twitter, to announce that“after almost 6 months of investigation, I can prove, without a doubt, that the Douma hospital scene was staged.”
…Almost immediately after the alleged incident in Douma, he tweeted out his frustration that “activists and rebels” had used “corpses of dead children to stage emotive scenes for Western consumption.”
The emotive wording of Dalati’s tweet, he was “sick and tired” of such manipulation of events, suggested that this was not the first time children had been used as props in a macabre war theatre designed to elicit public sympathy for escalated military intervention in Syria disguised as a necessary “humanitarian” crackdown on “Assad’s gassing of his own people.”
Dalati had been referring to the arranging of two children’s corpses into a “last hug” still life composition, a photo that went viral, rocketed into the social media sphere by activists who had collaborated with the brutal Jaish al-Islam regime while it tortured and abused the Syrian civilians under its control.
Yesterday, I posted the following:
No baby. Baby. Ask yourselves why a baby has been added to the scene. What else has been manipulated? Everything? #Doumahttps://t.co/VCVrKI3KA2
Whatever the reason for Dalati’s exasperation, the tweet was deleted before a watered down version appeared. Dalati claimed that a “breach of editorial policy” and lack of context was behind this alteration. Apparently BBC employees are not allowed to be “sick and tired” of the exploitation of children to promote a war that will inevitably kill more children. Simultaneously, Dalati’s account was protected, making tweets visible only to approved followers.
Critical Issues Beyond Douma and the OPCW
While the issue of the OPCW coverup and distortion of facts on the ground is important, there are many other issues sidelined by media, including well-intended media.
There’s the fact that countless hospitals have been attacked — severely damaged or destroyed — by terrorists, to the silence of Western media and politicians. This in turn means Syrians in areas where hospitals have been damaged or destroyed are denied medical care.
The suffering of civilians under terrorist rule is one. Thankfully, as most of Syria has been liberated from terrorist rule, there are now fewer civilians subject to their barbarism.
What has not been eradicated and has only gotten worse and worse are the criminal, brutal, sanctions against the Syrian people.
Electricity rationing in Syria has reached its highest levels due to the government’s inability to secure the fuel needed to generate electricity. This is mainly due to the damaging international economic sanctions led by the Western powers including the IIT protagonists France, UK and the US.
[…]The value of the Syrian pound has crumbled to almost nothing. Today it is about 3,660 pounds to one US dollar. An average wage is less than 2 US dollars a day.
The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019…is credited with bringing about starvation, darkness, plague, misery, robbery, kidnappings, increased mortality rate and the certain destruction of a nation that was once a beacon of hope across the Middle East.
International aid no longer reaches Syria compared to pre-Caesar Act. Many agencies are scared of falling foul of the harsh Act, which in short makes life a living hell for millions of ordinary Syrians.
In his overview of the Douma chemical lies, Kevork Almassian, of Syriana Analysis, also spoke of the harsh realities Syrians endure now, thanks to the war and the brutal western sanctions against Syrians:
Just imagine that for a second, that you have to wait for two to three to four hours to buy one package of bread that can suffice you maybe for two days for you and your family. Just imagine that you have to wait 20 to 48 hours on a gas station to fill a little bit fuel for your car. It’s unimaginable, you cannot imagine that because you’re not living that, but it is happening now in 21st century.
It is high time to put the Douma hoax to rest. It’s also beyond time to acknowledge the huge sacrifices of the Syrian army (and allies) in fighting terrorism and restoring peace to Syria.
Meanwhile, while cynical Western war propagandists mock the Syrian presidential elections, Syrians in Syria and around the world hold massive demonstrations in support of their president, as they did in 2014.
Brief conversation I had last night with geopolitical analyst Laith Marouf about yesterday’s Syrian presidential elections. I visited eastern Ghouta towns yesterday and saw jubilation among Syrians on the streets, including in Douma, singing and dancing.
No matter what the lame corporate media is saying about the elections, Syrians wanted them and are still celebrating today. Hell, in 2014, a week after the elections, I saw a party raging in Homs, what the pro-“revolution” crowd used to call the “capitol of the revolution”.
Laith:
“Syrians in the US went to the embassy at the UN and voted. That was a direct challenged to American hegemony, since the Americans closed the Syrian embassy in DC. But there is still a Syrian embassy at the UN, and that they can’t touch, the Americans. So many people showed up at the UN headquarters, waiving flags, and so on. The other two countries that host the majority of Syrian refugees or immigrant populations, Germany and Turkey, again the blocked the Syrian votes from happening.
At the same time, countries that were responsible for the war in Syria, like the UAE, opened the embassy, allowed Syrians to vote.
Last week in Lebanon, tens of thousands of Syrian residents of Lebanon went to Syrian embassy in Beirut. The fact on the ground is that Syrian people are out in the millions voting in these elections.”
في الحروب القديمة، كان لكل جيش من المتحاربين راية، يحملها مقاتل شجاع، يتم انتقاءه بعناية، مهمته الوحيدة هي الإبقاء عليها مرفوعة مرفرفة على الدوام. وكان يكلف بالصمود حتى اللحظة الأخيرة مهما كانت الصعاب او اشتد الكر والفر او حمى وطيس المعركة.
وفى مواجهة احتمالات الهزيمة، كان يوصى بان يكون هو آخر المتراجعين أو المنسحبين، وان يحاول إن جُرح أو ضُرب في مقتل، إن يرفع رايته عاليةً ولو لبضعة دقائق إضافية، الى ان يتسلمها منه مقاتل جديد.
لماذا؟
لأنه فى ذروة القتال حين يكون كل إمرئ مشدودا بكل جوارحه الى ظرفه الخاص من كر وفر، وهجوم ودفاع، وحين تكون حياته على المحك، كانت أطرف الأعين تسترق لمحات خاطفة الى راياتها. فان وجدتها متقدمة ومقتحمة لصفوف العدو، دل ذلك على ان النصر قريب، فزادهم ذلك همة وحماسة وقدرة على التحمل ومواصلة القتال.
وان تراجعت الرايات، أدركوا ان أحوال المعركة لا تسير لصالحهم، فتهتز ثقتهم قليلا او كثيرا، فيتدبرون أمرهم، ويبحث قادتهم عن خطط وتكتيكات جديدة.
كانت حركة الراية ومكانتها وموضعها أثناء المعارك تقوم بنفس الدور الذي تقوم به اليوم البيانات العسكرية وأجهزة الإعلام وإدارات الشئون المعنوية.
وكان ظهور راية الجيش المهاجم فى قلعة العدو، بمثابة إعلان ان الحصار قد نجح وان الحصن على وشك السقوط.
وان سقطت الراية، واختفت ولم يعد هناك من يرفعها، كان هذا مؤشرا على هزيمة أصحابها واندحارهم.
***
ان القدس بهذا المعنى البسيط، هى رايتنا كعرب ومسلمين، وسقوطها يختلف عن سقوط غيرها من المدن العربية، كحيفا ويافا وغزة ورام الله وبغداد. فسقوطها يعنى سقوط حامل الراية، الذى مات او استشهد او انكسر او جبن عن ان يحمل رايته ورمز أمته.
فالحروب الصليبية التى دارت معاركها من 1096 حتى 1291، شاهدت سقوط عديد من المدن والإمارات العربية والإسلامية في يد الغزاة، ولكن كان لسقوط القدس عام 1099 دويا أليما، وكأنها عاصمة الأمة.
وكذلك شاهدت نفس هذه الفترة انتصارات ومعارك تحرير عربية إسلامية كثيرة فى عهود عماد الدين زنكى، ونور الدين محمود، والناصر داوود الايوبى، والظاهر بيبرس، والمنصور قلاوون.
ولكن كان لتحرير القدس على يد جيش صلاح الدين عام 1187 وقعا مختلفا ودلالة تاريخية فارقة.
وعندما مات صلاح الدين، كان لا يزال هناك عدد من الامارات الصليبية فى اراضينا، ولكن معركة حطين كانت هى الضربة القاصمة التى توالى بعدها انهيار المشروع الصليبى بأكمله.
***
لماذا للقدس هذه المنزلة؟
اولا ــ لما لها من قدسية خاصة منذ أسرى الله سبحانه و تعالى بالرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام الى المسجد الأقصى. وهو الرسول الذى مثلت رسالته، نقطة تحول فارقة فى تاريخ هذه المنطقة، فبها أسلمنا وتعربنا، وخرجت الى الحياة امة وليدة جديدة، كانت لقرون طويلة، واحدة من القوى الكبرى فى العالم.
وثانيا ـ لان القدس هى البوابة التي كان المعتدون على مر التاريخ سواء من الصليبيين الفرنجة او من الصهاينة، يحاولون الولوج منها إلى أوطاننا، بذرائع دينية كاذبة؛
فهى ارض المسيح التى يجب تحريرها من العرب الكفرة، وفقا لخطبة البابا أربان الثاني فى فرنسا عام 1095 م.
وهى الأرض المقدسة لليهود، التى ذكرت فى التوراة اكثر من 660 مرة، وفيها هيكلهم المزعوم، والتي احتلها الغزاة العرب المسلمون على امتداد 14 قرنا، حسب فتاوى الحاخامات والقادة الصهاينة المعاصرين.
فجميع الغزاة، استخدموا القدس لاختلاق مشروعية دينية مقدسة لغزواتهم، علهم ينجحون بذلك فى انتزاع مشروعية قومية، مشروعية لاغتصاب أوطاننا والبقاء فيها.
وكان رد أسلافنا على مر التاريخ، هو القتال لطرد الغزاة وتحرير الأرض المغتصبة، انطلاقا من الحقيقة التاريخية الموضوعية، وهى ان هذه أرضنا نحن، التى تعربت وتعربنا معها منذ الفتح الإسلامي، وعشنا فيها قرونا طويلة، و لم نغادرها أبدا منذ ذلك الحين، فاختصصنا بها دونا عن غيرنا من الشعوب والأمم.
أما المقدسات الدينية فإنها لا تعطى وحدها، أهل هذا الدين أو ذاك، أى حق في امتلاك الأرض التى تحتضن مقدساتهم. فالأمم ليست مقدسات فقط، وإنما هي ايضا شعب وارض وتاريخ طويل ولغة واحدة وحضارة متميزة ولا نقول ممتازة.
***
وهكذا كانت القدس على الدوام رمزا للجميع: رمزا لهويتنا العربية والإسلامية، وهى هوية صادقة وحقيقة موضوعية ثابتة تاريخيا.
وكانت أيضا رمزا كاذبا ومختلقا ومزعوما للصهاينة ومن قبلهم الصليبيين.
***
وبالتالي فان حماية القدس من السقوط، هي فى الأولوية دائما، لان حمايتها تمثل حائط صد ضد تحصين الاغتصاب الصهيوني بمشروعية دينية زائفة.
ولان الدفاع عنها هو دفاع عن اختصاصنا التاريخي بكل فلسطين، بل وكل الأرض العربية.
ولأنها قضية لا يملك أحدا فى السلطة الفلسطينية من جماعة أوسلو، ان يدعى اختصاصه وانفراده بها، فهى قضية كل العرب مسلمينو ومسيحيين وكل المسلمين من غير العرب، وليست قضية فلسطينية فقط، وهو ما يستدعى من ناحية أخرى إخراجها من أجندة المفاوضات العبثية بين السلطة والصهاينة.
ولأنها قادرة برمزيتها المقدسة، على تعبئة جماهيرنا في كل مكان للاشتباك مع العدو الصهيوني، فهي البوابة الأنسب لهذه المهمة.
وأخيرا وليس آخرا، لأنها قضية ملحة وعاجلة، حيث يقوم العدو الآن بتصعيد وتكثيف العدوان عليها، لهضمها وابتلاعها فى اقرب وقت.
***
التهويد قديم :
ومسلسل اغتصاب القدس وتهويدها قديم، بدأ منذ بدايات الانتداب البريطاني على فلسطين عام 1922، عندما تركزت الهجرات اليهودية الوافدة، غرب المدينة القديمة، لتكون نواة ما يسمونه الآن بالقدس الغربية. ثم توالى المسلسل باغتصاب القدس الغربية عام 1948 ضمن ما تم اغتصابه من فلسطين. وقام الصهاينة بطرد ما يقرب من 60 ألف عربي منها. ثم جاء احتلال ما تبقى من فلسطين عام 1967، وما تلاه عام 1980من ضم القدس الشرقية إلى الغربية تحت اسم القدس الموحدة عاصمة لدولة الكيان. لتتابع الاعتداءات ببناء أحزمة من المستوطنات لحصار المدينة القديمة من الشرق لعزلها عن محيطها العربي، والحيلولة دون امتدادها وتوسعها فى هذا الاتجاه ايضا، لوأد أى مشروع لاسترداد القدس الشرقية فى اى مفاوضات مستقبلية. وذلك من خلال زرع اكبر عدد من المستوطنات والمستوطنين الصهاينة فى القدس الشرقية ليبلغ عددهم فيها اليوم ما يزيد عن 300 ألف مستوطن، ويبلغ عددهم فى الضفة الغربية ما يقرب من 700 الف.
ولنتذكر معا أن جملة عدد اليهود فى كل فلسطين عام 1917 لم يتعدَ 60 الف، وهو ما جعلهم يكتفون بطلب حق اقامة وطن قومى لهم هناك، ولكن عام 1947 عندما بلغ عددهم 650 الف، كان لديهم الجرأة ان يطالبوا بدولة وليس بمجرد وطن، وهو ما اخذوه بالفعل من الامم المتحدة فيما سمى بقرار التقسيم.
ولكن الآن بلغ عددهم كما أسلفنا 700 الف يهودي فى الضفة الغربية وحدها. فلنا ان نتصور حجم المشكلة وعمق التهويد الذي تم هناك. والذي يستكملونه على قدم وساق بالتربص بالمسجد الأقصى وإزالة منازل أهالينا المقدسيين وغيرها من الإجراءات اليومية التى كادت ان تنجح فى التهويد الكامل لمدينتنا المقدسة.
***
والراية على وشك السقوط:
وطوال هذه العقود، لم تتوقف مقاومتنا للمشروع الصهيوني عامة، ولتهويد القدس على وجه الخصوص، فمنذ ثورة البراق فى أغسطس 1929 وإعدام قادتها الثلاثة، الشهداء عطا الوزير ومحمد جمجوم وفؤاد حجازي فى سجن عكا في 17 يونيو 1930، مرورا بانتفاضات 1987 و 2000، وما تلاها من صمود ومقاومة بطولية ضد حروب الاحتلال على غزة، بالاضافة الى الاشتباكات الدائمة التى يمارسها شعبنا الأعزل هناك يوميا، في مواجهة ماكينات القتل والابادة والتهجير والأسر الصهيونية.
إن أبطالنا المقدسيين، يلتزمون بوصايا الأجداد، فهم لا يزالون يحملوا الراية، ويحفظونها من السقوط بما تبقى لهم من طاقة. ولكن جروحهم أُثخنت، وهم في انتظار مقاتلين جدد، يشدون من أزرهم، ويتسلمون منهم الراية التي كادت ان تسقط، فهل من مجيب؟
Then, kindly consider the donate button on the right side of my blog, or consider supporting me on Subscribestar.
I am nominally on Patreon, but after its censorship of colleagues, I decided to leave that platform and no longer publish there.
A big thank you to the many people over the years who have supported me! I literally couldn’t have done this without you.
Also, watch this short conversation with someone who actually worked in Canadian corporate media and knows what he is talking about.
As for those determined to find something nefarious about my writings, I write what I want to write, the end. Although, hey, suggestions are always welcome, but that doesn’t mean I will write about whatever is suggested.
Now, for those suspicious types, I would suggest investing some of your energy into looking into how CBC, BBC and other Western state media are funded and ask yourselves whether perhaps that is an indicator of why they lie all the time. Nonstop. Just lie, lie, lie, whitewash terrorism, spew propaganda, lie some more…
It’s 2021, those still consuming corporate and Western state media as “news” are a lost cause.
This article is by my brother Alex Bartlett and was first published at Off Guardian.
What have we lost? ____ What are we losing?
What will we lose?
This is the question is it not? Even though tens of thousands of experts, thousands of skeptics and all of the rest of us have been consumed over the last year debating, questioning, arguing and worst of all, just listening to endless stream of covid coverage it really comes down to this.
After sifting through all of the science-sourced “facts”, claims, death statistics, cases updates (so many, many cases) and the dire, ever grim projections from our modern-day high priests with their computer models it really just comes down to this question.
What will we lose?
For many reasons I am reluctant to write about this subject. I know nothing of epidemiology or virology or public health. I really have no business writing about loss due to covid 19, my profession is in high demand for the moment, my wife is gainfully employed and recently promoted and our living situation is quite good.
I will not dare pretend that I can speak about real hardship or suffering due to covid compared to what small business owners would be going through or what the working poor have had to endure but at the same time, only a complete fool would suggest that they have not lost anything in the past year.
With this in mind, at the same time, I cannot fully ever hope to comprehend all that I, no, all that we have lost and all of the ways this has happened. The sheer magnitude of these changes, almost all entirely some kind of loss for the vast majority of us is truly staggering. Perhaps for the 1st time in a very long time, perhaps ever, the other majority, the world’s poorest citizens will finally see the rest of us experience real empathy, a genuine understanding of some of the challenges and daily injustices they have been forced to accept as a normal way of living.
The worst aspect of my personal situation so far is that my elderly mother has been basically imprisoned in a care facility for over a year, unable to see any family save for myself and my brother who have been permitted to be designated “essential caregivers” so that she may have a few visitors.
So far with this measure, our Ontario Government has not been heartless enough just yet to completely isolate the elderly but all other friends and family are forbidden to visit. The last time she was allowed outside, almost 8 months ago, she was in the presence of a “minder” who kept us 6 feet apart, masked and who afforded us no privacy. I will lose my mom soon, she may die alone, forcibly confined with simple pleasures like walks in a park, the chaotic, non-judgemental love of grandchildren with their extra exuberance on holidays and birthdays all but eliminated.
My children are also no longer allowed in school even though kids are not and never were at risk and at the moment, over 75% of our schools in Ontario did not even have a single “case” when last in session. They are not only losing education but also social skills, study skills, valuable daily interactions and life lessons as well as exercise and fresh air and tragically, a large portion of that small, finite amount of time where they could just simply be kids.
I feel despair most days when I see my daughter, perched at the dining room table in front of a laptop ready to sign into virtual school, on her own and alone. Our wonderful, neighbourhood school sits shuttered while my daughter emulates the routine of an office worker at the age of 8. At the end of the day we can sometimes catch ourselves almost berating her like low level managerial assholes for not paying attention and fooling around during the day with the computer. For Christ sakes, what have we become as parents?
My 5 years old son cannot even last a 20 minute lesson online by himself. I initially felt frustrated that he could not persist in the same fashion the other young innocents can in these disembodied zoom classes but now I could be more accepting of this except that we both have to work during this “school time” and we need him to be occupied. Maybe this lack of digital “focus” speaks to how little screen time he had prior to this abomination of online “learning” or maybe it is simply because he is just 5 years old and he has no business being treated like this.
Am I surprised at how easily I just became a jaded, middle aged man who mostly complains to like minded friends and who wears himself and others out with the same impotent questions about “why and “how” could this happen? I did try emailing almost anyone in authority to question the safety and efficacy of the school mask mandate but this effort soon failed after so many “cut and paste”, formulaic responses from the bureaucratic minders along with their links on “community spread” and “how to safely wear a mask.”
It would have been nice to actually have been able to talk to school staff about my concerns in person but parents have not been permitted inside the school for over a year now. Will we ever be allowed back inside our schools or will there be new measures, new “threats” to keep us outside or have we simply just lost this ability to view and interact with this critically formative environment we immerse our children into?
I have not had a haircut since November 2020. “Unsafe” they say while putting all hairdressers on welfare for the better part of a year and also while making “working from home” just that much more undignified. Dogs have actually been permitted more frequent access to professional grooming than adults have here in Ontario in the last year.
Perhaps this is why booze, marijuana and fast food have always been available during this pandemic. I guess they know that as long as we remain in a well-fed stupor with Netflix porting us from reality, there will be no real angst or frustration on the streets.
For a brief moment last week, when announcing our latest stay at home order due to our hypersensitive, 47 cycle PCR test cases (approximately 1 case for every 4,500 residents here in Ontario mind you), our bumbling high school educated Premier tried to impose a quasi-martial law edict. The police would have been able to stop you and question your intent if you ventured outside of you home. I found it laughable that you could legally comply by saying you were “off to buy booze, weed or fast food” and these would all be valid, essential destinations for such an excursion. Meeting a friend for a walk in the park though, this is not safe, nor recommended or even permitted!
Luckily, they pulled back from this stance, the lawyers probably said it was unlawful, the police probably said that they did not want to enforce this heavy handed stance and perhaps the weary, bleary eyed, stumbling public would have probably, finally, maybe have said “enough”.
At this point, I think only the naïve believe that our old lives are coming back. Perhaps that is why they are so willing, so adamant to get the jab. It is not really to save the lives of others or prevent the scourge of an infectious disease but because it mainly seems like most people just want to travel again or to have the chance to no longer have to hear or worry about covid constantly.
Once again, I realize I have no business writing about loss. My friends are still all employed, I really do not know anyone who runs a small shop or a restaurant. I have no idea what it would be like to watch your business disintegrate, the debts pile up and the financial vultures start circling around you. I do understand why these small business owners and employees would be so motivated for everyone to get vaccinated so that they can finally open up and claw their way out of this deep covid hole they have been plunged into with the other end of their government issued loan lifelines handed to the big banks as a financial noose around their necks that will continually tighten in the months and years to come.
For the moment the rest of us are all still shielded by this work from home employment model that has not had any significant layoffs due to a massive, unchecked national Government wage subsidy program that even pays a 70% wage subsidy to large, significantly profitable corporations that are still paying dividends to shareholders. This white-collar job market stability is still further enhanced here in Canada by the re-bounding stock market that keeps rising to ever record heights thanks to the government debt printing machines.
So, how much will they really take from us in the months and years to come?
Let’s forget about PCR testing cycles, what constitutes a “case” vs. a clinical case, vaccine trials, if masks work or if lockdowns really achieve anything. These are all unnecessarily divisive discussions that, in the absence of any real or honest mainstream journalism, will never be permitted to be resolved in the public forum.
What we should really care about is that our children have been forbidden to interact with each other, to pursue hobbies, musical lessons, school clubs or just simple play-time with their peers. They are sent to school, when deemed “safe” based on the computer models, bound and gagged as invalids for up to 8 hours a day. Lunchtimes and playtimes are truncated, discouraged and replaced with silent lunches in front of a screen and ”socially distanced” outdoor play during shortened recess periods.
What will school look like in the years to come? What kind of digital ID’s will our children be forced to carry with them at all times and which big Tech conglomerate will collect, curate, market and disseminate all of their medical, scholarly and personal data?
What will replace all of the small restaurants, pubs and shops that have gone under? Will all of these beautiful brick and mortar establishments be bought up on the cheap by a large private equity firm that will offer the least equitable employment terms to desperate applicants?
At the moment I am not supposed to leave my neighbourhood limits. When will I be able to travel internationally and what risks must I accept with new vaccines and boosters to qualify to come and go and what private information must I sacrifice upon request to comply?
I feel that most of the online world I encounter is awash in mis-information, how soon will it be before the small and beleaguered sources of genuine information that I can find online are completely demonetized, de-linked, banned or de-platformed from the internet? The access to content and commenting that we have lost in the last year alone would have been incomprehensible to almost all of us just a few years ago, now the most “liberal democrats” are braying for big tech and the regulators to do more, to take more stringent actions. Soon we may experience a very harsh and unforgiving internet, one that reports us for straying outside of the ever-narrowing community guidelines.
What about my freedom, my right to refuse a hastily developed medical technology, one that has not been thoroughly tested but is still supposed to, guaranteed to (almost) provoke the appropriate immune response to a virus that poses almost no harm to me whatsoever?
What about unintended consequences? What happens to me if I suddenly develop any number of rare or debilitating health conditions in the future? My chances of catching covid-19 or experiencing ill effects from it are quite low so why can’t I be allowed to take this risk without being judged for doing so?
What happened to our acquired knowledge as a society as to how to behave when sick? This has served us well for thousands of years. When our amazing immune systems were fighting a significant illness, it was almost always obvious that the sick individual should be cared for but isolated and kept from others.
Why have we lost this trust in ourselves and in our own judgement? We are still permitted to raise our children (for now) but we are unable to properly assess our own health and infectivity as it may pertain to others at work or at school? Exercising our own good judgement is a critical aspect of a well functioning, civil society. Removing this right, this freedom of choice will only lead to a punitive, dystopian type of society, one that eagerly turns on each other rather than to help one another.
The optimists, those that believe in the system, the same system that has half the planet living in poverty mind you but don’t worry about that, just a minor flaw, they believe this fabulous system of democracy and commerce will deliver us the health outcome we all deserve. It will protect us and our weakest and all we need to do is take a shot, or two or three, every year and don’t mind the costs or how or to whom the money was distributed, it was necessary, it will be worth it.
Once this happens, once we reach the now newly re-defined as solely vaccine derived “herd immunity” then life is back! School, travel, friends and family. You can have it all but you may need a mask for just a bit longer, maybe two masks actually.
The rest of us, a small vocal minority or perhaps, hopefully a larger, mostly silent and dumbfounded mass of citizens will finally start taking stock of what we have lost and what we are truly at risk of losing.
It is hard to do. I still want the others to be right. I want the vaccine to be safe and effective. I want the sacrifice to be worth it. I want to travel and do all the things I imagined I would do with friends and family and at work. I want my kids to have these same options that I had. I want to believe that my government and our health officials are working with our best interests in mind while unaffected by conflicts of interest.
But the data says otherwise. This data that has always been there. That data that shows us that Covid is neither dangerous or all that contagious to anyone under the age of 70. The historical data that tells us that Influenza A and B and all the other sub-types could not possibly just disappear worldwide in the last twelve months. The data, all the data, these recent 12 months of newly acquired covid raw numbers from all over the world that does not lie…
So, the media does.
So do almost all Governments as well.
They have the full cooperation of all of the big tech companies for maximum efficacy. Information has never been more widely available but then immediately censored or “fact” checked. Prominent voices of reason, objectivity and truth are shadow banned or de-platformed. Even the miniscule, insignificant frustrated comments I make against my better judgement on our national news website are quickly and automatically deactivated within minutes of posting. I should know better than to waste the pixels, however temporary they might be.
What can be done? Not much on our own but then quite a lot if we all do something. Close to a half a million marched in London on April 24th. It was wonderful to see. How many more will march in May? I hope at least twice as many will next time and that they will persist, and persist and persist. I hope that as the weather warms, more and more people will see that it is possible to be outside and inside, to be together and to celebrate our lives, our professions and our passions together without shame or fear.
The unlikeliest headline I’ve seen lately is Al-Monitor’s report that Hamas might be persuaded to set up a Christian media centre. Its purpose would be to defend the Islamic resistance movement from claims that it mistreats Christians, especially those living under Hamas rule in Gaza.
Then I saw who was doing the persuading: Father Manuel Musallam. Or to give him his correct title, Monsignor Manuel. And it all made perfect sense.
Apparently, several Christians have withdrawn from Hamas’s candidate list for the legislative elections in May after being pressured and intimidated by various media outlets. Fr Manuel says his nephew in Ramallah had intended to run on the Hamas list but his family asked him to reconsider. He blamed a smear campaign against Hamas that caused his family to worry that their business interests would be affected and the Israelis would persecute them.
Hamas’s media set-up fails to respond adequately to unjust smears, says Fr Manuel. Media outlets in Europe portray Hamas inaccurately, particularly its relationship with Christian residents. But contrary to what some Western outlets claim, Christians are not persecuted under Hamas.
Basem Naim, from Hamas’ international relations office, told Al-Monitor that Fr Manuel’s idea for a media centre will be considered and a Christian media adviser possibly appointed. He also explained that Hamas offered a number of Christian figures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip the chance to run on the movement’s list “but they withdrew for several reasons, such as family pressure or health issues, or even fear of Israeli restrictions on their travel and work”.
Failing to get the Holy Land message to the West
Every Palestinian I met during my visits urged me to “tell their story”, and this I’ve tried to do for 15 years. Hamas and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority don’t bother. They not only neglect to tell the world, they fail to brief people like me so that we can tell it.
And when, some years ago, I criticized the Palestinian embassy in London for their lackadaisical attitude, defunct website and dysfunctional media department, and called for the ambassador to pack his bags and go home, I was branded “an enemy of Palestine”. The embassy today is well staffed with political, media, cultural, civil society and economic departments. But what they do to combat the torrent of Israeli misinformation is still a mystery. The Fatah/PA position as collaborators with the Israeli occupation probably means that their paymasters demand silence. Hamas are under no such constraint. After their surprise 2006 election victory they could – and should – have immediately re-invented themselves and seized the media initiative. But they’ve left it too late and now have a mountain to climb. It took them far too long to re-write their much-criticised Charter and consequently failed to win friends or influence enough people here in the West.
Around 2013, according the Guardian newspaper, Hamas “began a public transformation… with a new head of media.” But did anyone notice?
It is largely thanks to dedicated activists, civil society campaign groups and online privateers that people in the West have become better informed about the evil occupation that defiles the Holy Land…. and no thanks whatsoever to the leadership in Palestine. With truth and so much more on their side Palestine’s politicians nevertheless carelessly allow the Israeli regime, with its brazen propaganda and monstrous lies, to run rings round them. Even Western Christendom is in a pathetic state of paralysis.
“Our love for God… is currently in intensive care”
That remarkable priest, Manuel Musallam, used to run the Catholic community in Gaza. I was privileged to meet him in 2007 when he hosted a visit by a small group I was with. The Gaza Strip had been under tight blockade for 18 months following the bizarre hostility to Hamas’s fair and square election victory the previous year. The situation was strained.
In the church’s school assembly hall I was surprised to see so many Muslim students. On one wall hung a huge portrait of the Pope and on the adjacent wall an equally large portrait of Yasser Arafat.
Fr Manuel whisked us off to a meeting at the House of Fatah and then we drove to see Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh and some of his colleagues, who received us with utmost courtesy and friendship and gave straight answers to straight questions. Haniyeh and Fr Manuel declared their unity to the TV cameras, emphasizing that they were Palestinians first and Muslim or Christian second in the struggle against the common enemy. The two men know each other well and Haniyeh has since become Chief of Hamas’s Political Bureau.
The following year – and who can forget? – the Israelis launched their horrendous three-week blitzkrieg called Operation Cast Lead at Christmas-time and New Year 2008/09. At the height of the killing spree, Fr Manuel sent this message from the smoking ruins to anyone who would listen:
“Our people in Gaza … cry, but no one wipes their tears. There is no water, no electricity, no food, only terror and blockade… Our children are living in a state of trauma and fear. They are sick from it and for other reasons such as malnutrition, poverty and the cold… The hospitals did not have basic first aid before the war and now thousands of wounded and sick are pouring in and they are performing operations in the corridors. The situation is frightening and sad.”
He added: “May Christ’s compassion revive our love for God even though it is currently in ‘intensive care’.”
A few days later he wrote:
“Hundreds of people have been killed and many more injured in the Israeli invasion. Our people have endured the bombing of their homes, their crops have been destroyed, they have lost everything and many are now homeless. We have endured phosphorus bombs which have caused horrific burns, mainly to civilians. Like the early Christians our people are living through a time of great persecution, a persecution which we must record for future generations as a statement of their faith, hope and love.
“Act and intervene, or nothing will change.”
When Fr Manuel retired in 2009 in failing health I remarked in an article: “I doubt if God has finished with him just yet. There’s a mountain of work to be done and good men are hard to find.”
And so it was. In the run-up to Christmas 2010 he was one of a trio of churchmen from the Holy Land touring Ireland to raise awareness of the plight of the dwindling Christian community under the illegal Israeli military occupation. Together with Archbishop Theodosius Hanna (Greek Orthodox Church) and Constantine Dabbagh (Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches) he showed they were more than a match for Western politicians who fancied they knew all about the Middle East. “We need only one thing, to be protected by the world against the crimes of Israel”, was their central message. And they made this stark plea: “Act and intervene, or nothing will change.”
Fr Manuel told Irish government ministers and their foreign affairs committee:
“I was in Gaza during the war [Operation Cast Lead] and suffered with my people for 22 days. I saw with my own eyes a phosphoric bomb in the school yard. I saw people injured by these phosphoric bombs, although these bombs are forbidden. These crimes against us were ignored by all the people of the world…
“What happened in Gaza was not a war. A war is a clash between soldiers, aircraft and weapons. We were victims, just victims. They destroyed Gaza. I was there and saw with my own eyes what happened. We in Gaza were treated like animals… We are not terrorists. We have not occupied Israel.
“We do not want to die to liberate Palestine. We want to live to build Palestine…. We are asking the world to give the Palestinian people their rights. The question is whether peace is possible. Despite all the difficulties, the crimes and the war, we as Palestinians say peace is possible if justice is possible.
“All we ask of Israel is to respect us and not treat us like animals. We also ask parliamentarians and governments across the world not to give us food aid. We do not need cookies from Israel. We do not even need to trade with Israel. All we need is to be protected. We are suffering a war that we have endured for more than 60 years.”
“Be assured that Hamas will protect Christians in Gaza”
Christianity in the region had been destroyed not by Muslims but by Israel, said Fr Manuel. “Israel destroyed the church of Palestine and the church of Jerusalem beginning in 1948. It, not Muslims, has sent Christians in the region into a diaspora.”
He told his listeners how he had seen the Israeli army target the Christian school in Gaza.
“Five Hamas ministers visited the school after it was attacked and promised they would repair the damage… Hamas paid more than 122,000 US dollars to repair all the damage caused. Afterwards I met the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. When he embraced me he said this, and we believed it. He said: “Go to your family, but be assured that Hamas will employ weapons against Muslims to protect Christians in Gaza.” This is the reality. Christians in Palestine are not suffering persecution, because we are not considered to be a religious community but rather the people of Palestine. We have the same rights and the same obligations.”
He ended by describing how things really are:
“We have spoken to Israel for more than 18 years and the result has been zero. We have signed agreements here and there at various times and then when there is a change in the government of Israel we have to start again from the beginning. We ask for our life and to be given back our Jerusalem, to be given our state and for enough water to drink.
“We want to be given more opportunity to reach Jerusalem. I have not seen Jerusalem since 1990…. We want to see an end to this occupation, and please do not ask us to protect those who are occupying our territory.”
“Peace is possible if justice is possible. Make peace possible.”
Fr Manuel should have been a political leader. To improve the human condition, it seems to me, churchmen must also be politically minded and not afraid to “mix it” with the out-and-out scoundrels who infest our political institutions and cloak themselves in a national flag.
Inevitably, the message for politicians in the world outside the Holy Land is the one expressed by this feisty priest: PEACE IS POSSIBLE IF JUSTICE IS POSSIBLE.
The world should be saying to their political leaders loudly and clearly: “It is surely not beyond the wit of civilised man to stop mouthing platitudes and act to deliver justice. Make peace possible. Or find other employment, for you offend all decent people.”
Stuart Littlewood 30 April 2021
Featured photo: Ismail Haniyeh with Fr Manuel Musallam, Gaza 2007
After working on jet fighters in the RAF Stuart became an industrial marketing specialist with manufacturing companies and consultancy firms. He also “indulged himself” as a newspaper columnist. In politics he served as a Cambridgeshire county councillor and member of the Police Authority. Now retired he campaigns on various issues and contributes to several online news & opinion sites. With a lifelong passion for photography he has produced two photo-documentary books, one of which can be read online at http://www.radiofreepalestine.org.uk.
51 candidates submitted their applications for the presidential election to the Syrian Parliament through the Constitutional Court by the end of the 10 days period given, among the candidates are 7 women.
The Syrian Constitutional Court audited the applications and sent the parliament the applications that met the conditions stipulated by Syria’s current constitution of 2012, there might have been many more applications that failed the process.
Taking into consideration the affiliations of the MPs in regard to their political parties and the 63 independent candidates, there would be only 7 candidates maximum to move to the second phase, the Syrian Parliament has 252 members.
Also, taking into consideration that the Baath ruling party has 166 members in the parliament, theoretically, they will endorse President Bashar Assad, the leader of the party, this would leave 23 members of the other 19 political parties and the 63 independent to endorse the rest, meaning only 2 other candidates can get enough endorsements for the second phase, and in light of the large number of candidates, the author here thinks there will be a second filtering process among the 50 candidates other than incumbent President Assad. If, however, some Baath Party members might endorse candidates other than President Assad, this would increase the number of candidates moving to the presidential race.
The presidential election date is set for the 26th of next month, May 2021. The Syrian leadership insists on carrying out these constitutional milestones at their set times despite the heinous, ludicrous, terrorist, hysterical, and hypocrite interventions by NATO member states, who do not like other countries intervene in their elections however flawed their political systems are, who also happen to support and protect autocratic regimes who do not have a constitution to start with, let alone never had any sort of elections like in Saudi Arabia for instance, or their so-called ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ Israel, whose ‘prime minister’ is in power for most of the past 2 decades if not more and who keeps repeating the elections until he secures a majority!
NATO member states said they will not recognize the results of this election, which is not needed anyway, because they couldn’t have their Navalny, or whatever that Venezuelan guy whose name slipped from my memory now wanted to kill President Maduro and take his place ‘democratically’, win a fake election they control.
To help us continue please visit the Donate page to donate or learn how you can help us with no cost on you. Follow us on Telegram: http://t.me/syupdates link will open the Telegram app.
The President of the Republic and the Prime Minister exercise executive authority on behalf of the people within the limits provided for in the constitution.
Article 84
The candidate for the office of President of the Republic should:
1. Have completed forty years of age;
2. Be of Syrian nationality by birth, of parents who are of Syrian nationality by birth;
3. Enjoy civil and political rights and not convicted of a dishonorable felony, even if he was reinstated;
4. Not be married to a non-Syrian wife;
5. Be a resident of the Syrian Arab Republic for no less than 10 years continuously upon being nominated.
Article 85
The nomination of a candidate for the office of President of the Republic shall be as follows:
1. The Speaker of the People’s Assembly calls for the election of the President of the Republic before the end of the term of office of the existing president by no less than 60 days and no more than 90 days;
2. The candidacy application shall be made to the Supreme Constitutional Court, and is entered in a special register, within 10 days of announcing the call for electing the president;
3. The candidacy application shall not be accepted unless the applicant has acquired the support of at least 35 members of the People’s Assembly; and no member of the assembly might support more than one candidate;
4. Applications shall be examined by the Supreme Constitutional Court; and should be ruled on within 5 days of the deadline for application;
5. If the conditions required for candidacy were met by only one candidate during the period set for applying, the Speaker of the people’s assembly should call for fresh nominations according to the same conditions.
Article 86
1. The President of the Republic shall be elected directly by the people;
2. The candidate who wins the election for the President of the Republic is the one who gets the absolute majority of those who take part in the elections. If no candidate receives that majority, a rerun is carried out between the two candidates who receive the largest number of votes;
3. The results shall be announced by the Speaker of the People’s Assembly.
Article 87
1. If the People’s Assembly was dissolved during the period set for electing a new President of the Republic, the existing President of the Republic continues to exercise his duties until after the new Assembly is elected and convened; and the new President of the Republic shall be elected within the 90 days which follow the date of convening this Assembly;
2. If the term of the President of the Republic finished and no new president was elected, the Existing President of the Republic continues to assume his duties until the new president is elected.
Article 88
The President of the Republic is elected for 7 years as of the end of the term of the existing President. The President can be elected for only one more successive term.
Article 89
1. The Supreme Constitutional Court has the jurisdiction to examine the challenges to the election of the President of the Republic;
2. The challenges shall be made by the candidate within 3 days of announcing the results; and the court rules on them finally within 7 days of the end of the deadline for making the challenges.
Article 90
The President of the Republic shall be sworn in before the People’s Assembly before assuming his duties by repeating the constitutional oath mentioned in Article 7 of the Constitution.
Article 91
1. The President of the Republic might name one or more deputies and delegate to them some of his authorities;
2. The Vice-president is sworn in before the President of the Republic by repeating the constitutional oath mentioned in Article 7 of the Constitution.
Article 92
If an impediment prevented the President of the Republic from continuing to carry out his duties, the Vice-president shall deputize for him.
Article 93
1. If the office of the President of the Republic becomes vacant or if he is permanently incapacitated, the first Vice-president assumes the President’s duties for a period of no more than 90 days of the President of the Republic’s office becoming vacant. During this period new presidential elections shall be conducted;
2. If the office of the President of the Republic becomes vacant, and he does not have a Vice-president, his duties shall be assumed temporarily by the Prime Minister for a period of no more than 90 days of the date of the President of the Republic’s office becoming vacant. During this period new presidential elections shall be conducted.
Article 94
If the President of the Republic resigned from office, he should address the resignation letter to the People’s Assembly.
Article 95
The protocol, privileges and allocations required for the office of President of the Republic shall be set out in a law.
Article 96
The President of the Republic shall insure respect for the Constitution, the regular running of public authorities, protection of national unity and survival of the state.
Article 97
The President of the Republic shall name the Prime Minister, his deputies, ministers and their deputies, accept their resignation and dismiss them from office.
Article 98
In a meeting chaired by him, the President of the Republic lays down the general policy of the state and oversees its implementation.
Article 99
The President of the Republic might call the Council of Ministers to a meeting chaired by him; and might ask for reports from the Prime Minister and the ministers.
Article 100
The President of the Republic shall pass the laws approved by the People’s Assembly. He might also reject them through a justified decision within one month of these laws being received by the Presidency. If they are approved a second time by the People’s Assembly with a two thirds majority, they shall be passed by the President of the Republic.
Article 101
The President of the Republic shall pass decrees, decisions and orders in accordance with the laws.
Article 102
The President of the Republic declares war, calls for general mobilization and concludes peace agreements after obtaining the approval of the People’s Assembly.
Article 103
The President of the Republic declares the state of emergency and repeals it in a decree taken at the Council of Ministers chaired by him with a two thirds majority, provided that the decree is presented to the People’s Assembly in its first session. The law sets out the relevant provisions.
Article 104
The President of the Republic accredits heads of diplomatic missions in foreign countries and accepts the credentials of heads of foreign diplomatic missions in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Article 105
The President of the Republic is the Commander in Chief of the army and armed forces; and he issues all the decisions necessary to exercise this authority. He might delegate some of these authorities.
Article 106
The President of the Republic appoints civilian and military employees and ends their services in accordance with the law.
Article 107
The President of the Republic concludes international treaties and agreements and revokes them in accordance with provisions of the Constitution and rules of international law.
Article 108
The President of the Republic grants special amnesty and might reinstate individuals.
Article 109
The President of the Republic has the right to award medals and honors.
Article 110
The President of the Republic might address letters to the People’s Assembly and make statements before it.
Article 111
1. The President of the Republic might decide to dissolve the People’s Assembly in a justified decision he makes;
2. Elections for a new People’s Assembly shall be conducted within 60 days of the date of dissolution;
3. The People’s Assembly might not be dissolved more than once for the same reason.
Article 112
The President of the Republic might prepare draft laws and refer them to the People’s Assembly to consider them for approval.
Article113
1. The President of the Republic assumes the authority of legislation when the People’s Assembly is not in session, or during sessions if absolute necessity requires this, or in the period during which the Assembly is dissolved.
Article 114
If a grave danger and a situation threatening national unity, the safety and integrity of the territories of the homeland occurs, or prevents state institutions from shouldering their constitutional responsibilities, the President of the Republic might take the quick measures necessitated by these circumstances to face that danger.
Article 115
The President of the Republic might set up special bodies, councils and committees whose tasks and mandates are set out in the decisions taken to create them.
Article 116
The President of the Republic might call for a referendum on important issues which affect the higher interests of the country. The result of the referendum shall be binding and come into force as of the date of its announcement; and it shall be published by the President of the Republic.
Article 117
The President of the Republic is not responsible for the acts he does in carrying out his duties except in the case of high treason; and the accusation should be made through a People’s Assembly decision taken by the Assembly in a public vote and with a two thirds majority in a secret session based on a proposal made by at least one third of the members. He shall be tried before the Supreme Constitutional Court.
Exactly at 1:20 am (Tehran time) on Thursday, April 22, 2021 a missile hit near Dimona nuclear reactor, the “secret” nuclear site in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Jerusalem Post headlined the event as “Syrian missile lands near Dimona nuclear reactor, interception fails.”[1] The article went on to story the event as follows:
“It was unclear at first from where the missile was launched. Several signs indicated it having been launched from Iraq, while according to other reports, it came from the city of Daraa in southern Syria following an Israeli airstrike.”
“IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman told reporters that ‘the explosion was due to the firing of an SA-5 surface-to-air missile toward Israel from Syria that exploded in the southern Negev. The firing of the missile came during Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria,’ Zilberman said, and that ‘it was an errant missile and not directed toward the Dimona nuclear reactor.’”
It was not an errant missile. It did not come from where the General said it came. It was not during Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria. The interception did not fail because there was interception. The missile was directed toward exactly where it needed to hit near Dimona nuclear reactor and it hit exactly at 1:20 am the time Sardar Soleimani, the martyred commander of Qods Force was assassinated. The hit had a message.
The missile strike (not “landing” as if it were some civilian passenger airline) on the land in the vicinity of Dimona took place 22 hours after another serious explosion that happened inside Tomer factory which develops and manufactures military equipment including missiles for Israeli Defense. About Tomer, Haaretz reported:
“The explosion occurred during a ‘routine test’ by the Tomer factory for advanced weapons, which develops rocket engines, the Ofek satellite launchers and houses various types of missiles. In response to the blast, Tomer said ‘this was a controlled test with no exceptional circumstances.’ Tomer’s factory is located in central Israel, and in proximity to residential areas. The company manufactures missiles for use by the IDF and other Israeli defense systems. They are the manufacturers behind Israel’s Arrow 4 missile interception system.”[2]
Again, no. The explosion did not occur during a routine test and it was not a controlled test. The explosion was in fact controlled but not by any force friendly to Tomer, the Zionist entity, or IDF. That explosion, too, had a message. On Tuesday, April 20, in a public speech delivered during funeral procession held for Sardar Hejazi, the vice commander of Qods Force, Sardar Qa’ani, the current Commander of Qods Force (replacing Sardar Soleimani after his martyrdom) clearly and unambiguously declared:
“Today, in the resistance fronts from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and the Children of Resistance [informal term that refers to all resistance fighters] every single day, delivers one major operation against the enemies including [US] America and Israel and they will continue this path until the global command has been achieved.”[3]
This statement was not a threat nor a warning nor a promise by Sardar Qa’ani. It was a declaration. The news vice commander of Qods Force, who was appointed after the martyrdom of Sardar Hejazi, announced on Thursday, April 22:
“The usurper Zionist regime must know that the resistance group in every segment of the planet earth are positioned right next to you and are getting you closer to your dusk.”[4]
In an interview conducted by Tasnim News Agency on Friday, April 23, with Hadi Qabisi, the director of Al-Ittihad Center for Development and Research, regarding recent explosions in Israel, he explained:
“The rules of engagement in the framework of the Resistance in terms of their demand and direction has changed. This now affects the change in balance in the region if the Resistance decides to go to war.”
“Mere shooting of missile from Syria to the occupied territories and reaching of that missile to Naqab region, regardless of what kind of missile whether it was air-to-air or surface-to-air or surface-to-surface, makes evident the inability of Israel defense system dubbed Iron Dome. This shows the erosion of Zionist Regime’s deterrence power while the capabilities of the Resistance Axis are increasing day by day. The consequence has a negative impact on all aspects of Zionist Regime. In addition, this military development cannot be separated from other events in the region such as Iran’s capability and power to strengthen its position in Vienna talks or an increasing tension between two global poles ([US] America and Russia) in other critical scenes such as Ukraine.”[5]
On Sunday, April 25, 2021, Major General Muhammad Baqeri, the Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, said:
“The Zionists think they could permanently target Syrian soil, create mischief in other places and in the sea without backlash. For certain, several operations in recent days and operations that are forthcoming will have a sobering effect on them and the future of the Resistance is quite bright. We will not announce anything about who exactly is doing which operation but responses from the Resistance camp to Zionists are quite significant. We will not specify the operation but Zionist regime will not be in peace.”[6]
On April 22, 2021, a letter signed by two members of the congressmen, Ted Deutch and Michael T. McCaul, and co-signed by nearly 300 other members, urged the full funding of security assistance to Israel in the Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bills. An excerpt from the letter reads:
“Israel continues to face direct threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies. In February, an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman was hit by a mysterious explosion that Israel has attributed as an attack by Iran. In 2019, Hizballah launched three anti-tank missiles at an Israeli Defense Forces vehicle in Israel. Hizballah is estimated to have an arsenal of over 130,000 rockets and missiles, and is believed to be developing new precision-guided munitions to be deployed in Lebanon. American security assistance to Israel helps counter these threats, and our rock-solid security partnership serves as a deterrent against even more significant attacks on our shared interests.”
“Congress is committed to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge and its ability to defend itself, by itself, against persistent threats. Our aid to Israel is a vital and cost-effective expenditure which advances important U.S. national security interests in a highly challenging region.”[7]
Regarding maintaining Israel’s “qualitative military edge”, firstly, maintenance is for that which already exists. The famed prophylactic dome is engineered to emulate eyed Swiss cheese and can protect Israel exactly as much as it has done for Saudi Arabia and US bases in Iraq and Persian Gulf oil well states with flag. Secondly, the cost of maintaining illusions in West Asia has decidedly increased exponentially for the United States of America and its most cherished regimes.
[3] Khabar Online. “Unambiguous Message of Sardar Qa’ani to Israel and [US of] America during funeral procession of Sardar Hejazi.” Farvardin 31, 1400 [April 20, 2021] @11:14 am. News Code: 506836. Accessed online at: khabaronline.ir/news/1506836
[4] Tasnim News Agency. “Sardar Fallahzadeh, Vice Commander of Quds Force: Resistance Groups are positioned right next to Zionist Regimes Bases.” Ordibehesht 2, 1400 [April 22, 2021] @ 11:02 am. Accessed online at https://tn.ai/2489397
[5] Tasnim News Agency. “Interview with Syrian Analyst: Zionist Regime’s Deterrent Capabilities are wearing out day by day.” Ordibehesht 3, 1400 [April 23, 2021] @ 21:03. Accessed online at: https://tn.ai/2490197
[6] Tasnim News Agency. “Major General Baqeri: Future Operations will bring the Zionists to their senses.” Ordibehesht 5, 1400 [April 23, 2021] @ 10:45. Accessed online at: https://tn.ai/2491070
[7] “Letter Chair DeLauro and Ranking Member Granger” addressed to Congress of the United States, Washington DC. Accessed online at: https://teddeutch.house.gov site.
Biden, like presidents before him, is caught in the trap between an extremist-dominated Israel and the all-powerful domestic Israel Lobby.
Donald Trump, who was elected President of the United States in 2016, may have won due to voters attracted by his pledge to end many of the “stupid” wars that the American military was involved in worldwide. In the event, however, he ended no wars in spite of several attempts to withdraw from Afghanistan and Syria, and almost started new conflicts with cruise missile attacks and the assassination of an Iranian general. Trump was consistently outmaneuvered by his “experts” on the National Security Council and at the Pentagon, who insisted that it was too early to disengage from the Middle East and Central Asia, that America’s own national security would be threatened.
Trump did not have either the experience or the grit necessary to override his generals and national security team, so he deferred to their judgement. And as has been well documented he was under constant pressure to do Israel’s bidding in the region, which mandated a continued substantial US military presence to protect the Jewish state and to provide cover for the regular attacks staged by the Israelis against several of their neighbors. Motivated by the substantial political donations coming from multi-billionaires like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Trump conceded more to Israel than any previous president, recognizing Jerusalem as the country’s capital as well as Israeli annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights while also giving the green light to settlement expansion and eventual incorporation of all of the occupied West Bank into Greater Israel.
President Joe Biden has already indicated that he will if anything out-do Trump when it comes to favoring America’s persistent “ally” and “best friend” in the Middle East. Biden, who has declared himself to be a “Zionist,” is responding to the same lobbying and media power that Israel’s friends are able to assert over any US national government. In addition, his own Democratic Party in Congress is also the home of most of the federal government’s genuine Zionists, namely the numerous mostly Jewish legislators who have long dedicated themselves to advancing Israeli interests. Finally, Biden has chosen to surround himself with large numbers of Jewish appointed officials as his foreign policy and national security team, many of whom have close and enduring personal ties to Israel, to include service in the Israeli Army.
The new Secretary of Defense, former Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin has recently returned from a trip to Israel, where he confirmed one’s worst fears about the direction the Biden Administration is moving in. It was a first visit to Israel by a Biden Administration cabinet member. Austin met with his counterpart Benny Gantz and also with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, both of whom warned him that Israel considered renewal of any nuclear arms limitation agreement with Iran to be a threat, only delaying development of a weapon. As Bibi expressed it, “Iran has never given up its quest for nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. I will never allow Iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel.”
Austin responded by the usual two-step avoiding Israel’s expressed concerns, which might be considered a threat of an Israeli veto on Biden’s attempt to revert to the original 2015 JCPOA multilateral pact. He said that the Biden administration would continue to guarantee Israel’s “qualitative military edge” as an element in America’s “strong commitment to Israel and the Israeli people,” adding that “our bilateral relationship with Israel in particular is central to regional stability and security in the Middle East. During our meeting I reaffirmed to Minister Gantz our commitment to Israel is enduring and it is ironclad.”
Wrong answer general. The foreign policy of any country should be based on actual interests, not on political donations and effective lobbying, still less on what one reads in the Zionist mainstream media in the US. Netanyahu has stated that the Iran agreement is “fatally flawed” and has said recently that “History has taught us that deals like this, with extremist regimes like this, are worth nothing.” Israel, which uniquely has a secret nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is one of the world’s leading violators of attempts to limit nuclear proliferation. It is also destabilizing to the entire Middle East region, an apartheid state – not a democracy – and its government is widely regarded as right-wing extremist. That Netanyahu should feel somehow empowered to talk down to the Iranians, and to the US, remains a mystery.
Beyond what goes on between Washington and Jerusalem, the real center of power, the Israel Lobby, consists of a large number of separate organizations that act collectively to advance Israeli interests. There is considerable corruption in the process, with cooperative congressmen being rewarded while those who resist are targeted for replacement. Much of the legwork on subverting Capitol Hill and the White House is done by foundations, which often pretend to be educational to obtain tax exempt status. “Experts” from the various pro-Israel groups are then seeded into the decision-making process of the federal government, serving as gatekeepers to prevent consideration of any legislation that might be objected to by Netanyahu.
One of the most active lobbying groups is the so-called Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) which is in fact closely tied to and takes direction from the Israeli Embassy in Washington. FDD is particularly focused on going to war with Iran and whenever there are discussions on Iran policy on Capitol Hill one can be sure that an FDD expert will be present and active.
And if you really want to know why America’s foreign policy has been so self-destructive, it has recently been learned that FDD was actually able to insert one of its employees into the National Security Council under Donald Trump. According to a report on Bloomberg, Richard Goldberg, an outspoken anti-Iran hawk and former associate of John Bolton, is leaving the council and would be returning “to [the Foundation for Defense of Democracies], which continued to pay his salary during his time on the National Security Council.”
The NSC exists to provide the president with the best possible intelligence and analysis available for dealing with problem areas, something that Goldberg, due to his conflict of interest, would have been unlikely to provide, particularly as he was still on the FDD payroll and was also being given generous travel expenses while working for the government. Whether he was also being paid by the NSC, which is referred to as “double dipping,” is not known. In any event, there is something very wrong about the appointment of a paid partisan who seeks war with a particular country to a vital national security position where objectivity is an imperative. Ned Price, former special assistant to President Obama on national security, commented “…we now know a White House point person on Iran policy was receiving a salary from and remained employed by an organization that has put forward some of the most extreme and dangerous pro-regime change policies.”
So Biden, like presidents before him, is caught in the trap between an extremist-dominated Israel itself and its demonic prime minister on one side and the all-powerful domestic Israel Lobby on the other. Unfortunately, one cannot expect the United States to get out from under the Israeli thumb no matter whom is elected president.
Frankly, Biden’s address to the US nation (the first one in his life) was probably the lamest most clueless political speech I ever heard. And I am not referring to Biden calling Putin “Clutin” or confusing “deescalation” with “vaccination”, I am talking about the actual contents of his speech. I would sum it up as so: we will continue to constantly hurt and humiliate you, we will treat you like a misbehaving 10 year old in need of a good spanking, but we do want peace and good relations. Clearly, Biden has zero understanding of things Russian. But for “Biden” (collective “Biden”, no the confused veggie) does have a plan. What could it be?
I already explained what the US plan for the Ukraine is: to encourage the Ukronazis to attack Russia while not involving the USA in a shooting war with Russia.
How would the US do that? One example:
First announce with great fanfare that the US is sending 2 (according to some version 5!) USN ship into the Black Sea to “deter” Russia, show “support” to the Ukies and give them the feeling that when they attack they would be under US “cover”. This is not unlike what the USA did with Saakashvili in 08.08.08 or what the USA did during the “Prague Spring”. Frankly, this is an old trick the West has used innumerable times in its history. And once the Ukies feel elated from being under Uncle Shmuel’s protection, quietly withdraw your plan to send any ships into what is de facto a Russian lake.
The US is walking a fine line here – they need to egg on the Ukies to attack, but the Ukies are terrified, so they have to give them as sense of “the world is with you!!”, “we will protect you”, “we will fight with you” and then when things appear to be coming to a head, ditch the Ukies and run to safety. Of course, the united West will support the Ukronazis politically and economically (just to keep the Ukie economy barely alive), but most definitely not militarily as that would create a risk of a devastating war which the US+NATO would either lose or decide to go nuclear, which would be simply suicidal.
There is a chorus profoundly misguided opinions in both Russia and the West which now declares that Biden “blinked”, Russia won and peace will now break out. That is a very naive point of view which mostly comes from not understanding the nature of modern warfare and psychological operations.
Again, what some can see as a zig-zagging “Biden” policy towards Russia mistakenly think that since “Biden” did not promise fire and brimstone for Russia that means that “Biden” folded. That is an extremely dangerous misconception and I am confident that the Russian decision-makers see through this ruse (even while they say nothing about it, at least, those in office and, at least, so far).
Putin has still not announced what counter-measures (I prefer that notion to the idea of counter-sanctions, which are symmetrical) Russia will take next (against the US, UK and Poland primarily). I have no idea what the Kremlin might decide, but I do observe very high levels of outrage and determination in the Russian media (both in the traditional media and the Runet). The Russian society is clearly fed up and, again, Putin if facing a mounting levels of criticisms for being too soft and indecisive. I hope and expect that Russia’s response this time around will be much less meek (and, therefore, ambiguous) than in the past. We will soon find out.
UPDATE: just as I was posting this, I saw the Sputnik article about the Russian counter-measures. Frankly, I am utterly unimpressed and I believe that most Russians will feel the same way. Of course, we don’t know what is going on behind the scenes and the Russians are under no obligation to divulge what else they might be doing. However, I believe that measures such as closing the Kerch strait is a much better approach. Let’s wait a few days before passing a final judgement on the quality of the Russian counter measures.
A 13-year-old Palestinian child lost his right eye today after he was shot at by Israeli occupation forces in the neighborhood of Bab al-Zawiya, in the southern West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron), according to medical sources.
Izz el-Din Nedal al-Batsh lost his eye after Israeli occupation soldiers fired a rubber-coated round directly at him. The child’s father said his son was standing inside a commercial store in the neighborhood when the bullet hit his eye.
Clashes were taking place between the Israeli occupation forces and Palestinian teenagers near the area where the child was shot by the soldiers.
In November 2019, Palestinian videographer Muath Amarneh was blinded in one eye after being shot by an Israeli sniper while covering protests in Al-Khalil (Hebron).
The ruling NATO junta at the UN held its monthly chemical weapons lying meeting against Syria, on 6 April. The rabid hyenas once again vomited up and then ate each others’ emesis, though even they are becoming bored with their nonsense. The US ambassador did not bother to post a self-aggrandizing tweet, UK issued a blurb without statement, and the High Representative on Disarmament apparently also had better things to do than to issue a tweet on her statement to the UNSC. Colonialist France — which has never forgiven the Levantine republic for ejecting its occupiers, seventy-five years ago on 17 April — did issue an arrogant and menacing statement based on the NATO klansmen’s chemical weapons lies against the SAR.
UK’s tweet once again showed Great Britain’s support of al Qaeda in Syria. The Ltamenah chemical weapons lies came from terrorists of whom the OPCW FFM investigators were too terrified to actually investigate, so the team basically took the savages at their word, having “assessed the credibility of the allegations based on information collected from open sources and information received from several non-governmental organizations (NGOs).” In Khan Sheikhoun, the primary source of the lies came from the Brit illegal in Idlib, the fake doctor whose medical license in his home country was permanently revoked, and the place where the terrorists were too terrifying for the fake FFM to do any physical inspecting, as admitted in the OPCW report of 19 May 2017.
Regarding Douma, the Brits continue to lie that chemical weapons were used, and continue to lie that Syria — which immediately invited the OPCW investigators to come and investigate, but they first were inexplicably detained in Belgium — and Russia had blocked entry, after the team belatedly arrived. Though the criminal OPCW reports on the teams non-inspections of Ltamenah and Khan Sheikhoun were published in a timely fashion, it took almost a year for the once noble, and subsequently corrupted by NATO klansmen to jerry-rig a report that could barely concoct a meaningless conclusion that “the objects from which the samples were taken at both locations had been in contact with one or more substances containing reactive chlorine.” [2.6]. Syria News has provided massive evidence provided by the savages’ own videos and photographs, that al Qaeda’s Jaish al Islam faction, with the assistance of its humanitarian benefactors kidnapped dozens of civilians, especially woman and their children, slaughtered most of them, engaged in acts of necrophilia with their corpses, and terrorized children taken from their moms, stripped some half-naked and turned power hoses on them in a fake hospital setting on a chilly night.
The FFM team could not enter Douma until almost a week after arrival due to the high security risk to the team, which included the presence of unexploded ordinance, explosives and sleeper cells still suspected of being active in Douma. On 18 April, during a reconnaissance visit to two sites of interest, the security detail was confronted by a hostile crowd and came under small arms fire and a hand-grenade explosion. The incident reportedly resulted in two fatalities and one injury. — 2.2 Summary, 106 pp OPCW report on Douma, 1 March 2019
The once-noble OPCW showed its turn to corruption when it ejected Jose Bustani per the dictate of neocon Dick Cheney, via his errand boy neocon, John Bolton, who threatened the lives of Bustani’s children. Since October 2020, this organization has shown its revulsion to integrity by ending open, civilized, discourse to its Twitter account.
OPCW only permits comments by its designated elites; the serfs who pay for the now phony watchdog group are excluded from civilized discourse.
The devastating photo posted by La France looks like it could be Libya after NATO obliterated it, or al Raqqa after the fascist coalition of war criminals led by the US bombed it, though it also could be CGI, as it is not found in a reverse image check of 46.7 billion images on the web.
In her second consecutive monthly address on the never-ending Syria files dedicated to the never-ending implementation of UNSCR 2118 (2013), Zakamitsu sallied for against the difficulties regarding COVID being in the way, reported on previously unreported September 2020 samples having been analyzed with cryptically unexpected results to which the UNSC chemical weapons gathering is not yet privy. Due course has also not yet arrived as, per the UN press release, she made no mention of the collected November 2020 samplings.
At the 4 March chemical weapons propaganda party.
In meticulously diplomatic language, First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy told the Council of the upcoming, unprecedented plot by the NATO klan to illicitly remove Syria from the CWC at the upcoming Conference. Such an attempt to “incapacitate” Syria at the OPCW is a breach of the OPCW noble Charter and is based on the “illegitimate” IIT which “defied the principles of investigation, including the so-called ‘chain of custody.’” What Representative Polyanskiy diplomatically did not say is that the removal of the SAR from its membership to the CWC would facilitate new false flag chemical attacks by various al Qaeda terrorist factions, many of which have been thwarted over the recent period (here,here, here, here, here.)
#Polyanskiy: If #Syria’s opponents (who at the same time oppose real eradication of CW at its entire territory) achieve their goal, we will be living through very hard times, promising no good to the #OPCW and the international cooperation in this & many other areas. @mfa_russiahttps://t.co/oONwDW64Un
Though POTUS’ and ambassadors may change, the chemical weapons lies at the SC are constant. Tweet from 5 October 2020.
His Excellency Bassam Sabbagh reaffirmed that Syria has never used chemical weapons, that it willingly ascended to the CWC, that it gave full accounting of its stockpile, and continues to work closely with the OPCW and the High Representative. He decried the ongoing politicization by ‘some members’ [NATO klan bullies who have hijacked the UN], the omission of any mention of the Courage Foundation of 11 March, which forcefully condemned the unscientific OPCW reports on the Douma ”chemical weapons” attack, as culled from the mass murderers and NGOs with charitable status, conveniently aligned with State Department and other NATO countries anti-Syria propaganda (
The seemingly long silence at the beginning of the Syrian ambassador’s statement is actually short, and likely part of the ongoing subtle sabotage of the Syrian Mission to the UN, which includes such things as getting stuck with the worst simultaneous translators on the planet, and introducers choking on the pronunciations of Syria, Arab, Syrian Arab Republic.
While in search of a criminal lie tweeted about Douma and the OPCW investigative team (not found), the author stumbled into a lengthy lying statement by the UK to the OPCW, issued two days after UK, France, and the US bombed Syria on behalf of al Qaeda kidnappers, mass-murderers, and necrophiliacs of Douma. The Couture Beauty Diamond Lipstick wearing pig lied about a chemical weapons attack, lied that breaching the Geneva Agreements was “humanitarian intervention.” The Couture-wearing pig flagrantly flaunted the use of open source — i.e., mass murderers and necrophiliacs of various al Qaeda factions – as ‘evidence’ of his war criminal lies.
Quite disturbing was his blanket statement that “The World Health Organization has reported that 500 patients, seen by its partners in Syria, had symptoms consistent with chemical weapons exposure.” While the WHO was ”deeply alarmed by reports of the suspected use of toxic chemicals in Douma city,” its actual statement does not say that, but does open up a can of maggots involving its unnamed Health Clusterpartners, given that the reports all came from kidnappers and killers:
According to reports from Health Cluster partners, during the shelling of Douma on Saturday, an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals. In particular, there were signs of severe irritation of mucous membranes, respiratory failure and disruption to central nervous systems of those exposed.
The WHO also made the outrageous claims that “[m]ore than 70 people sheltering in basements have reportedly died, with 43 of those deaths related to symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals. Two health facilities were also reportedly affected by these attacks.”
The subsequent outrage demanded by WHO Deputy Director-General Peter Salama, “at these horrifying reports and images from Douma” should be directed to the criminally insane savages who slaughtered dozens, dumped them like garbage, next to empty dog food bowls and rusting bicycles, dumped them in a way that even persons forced to stand jammed like human sardines could not have possibly fallen when murdered, corpses shown as rearranged for more emotional impact, murdered children whose bodies have been stripped half naked, photographed with useless ambu bags nearby, EKG electrodes wrongly positioned, something unidentifiable placed between the legs of a murdered, half-naked child,non-existent hospitals where kidnapped children separated from their moms, were emotionally terrorized and physically abused.
Only idiots or degenerates who touch themselves watching murder porn videos could possibly see hospitals where none exist, or human beings slaughtered to give the NATO war criminals the excuse to murder more Syrians, would lie that these obscene photographs are evidence of civilians who died from a chemical weapons attack. Infamia.
Let us also finally put to rest the horror of perverts smearing shaving cream and other concoctions onto the faces of corpses — many in varying states of decomposition — so that the rabid hyenas can claim the “foaming at the mouth” reputedly caused by chemical toxins. “Foaming — or frothing — at the mouth” is a simplified way to describe pleural effusion, and the body’s attempt to excrete excessive fluid in the lungs, caused by a variety of diseases and disorders, including an acute episode of congestive heart failure (CHF). The excretion may look like small bubbles on the lips, which do not have the drama of shaving cream applied by perverts.
Look on these terrible works by the criminally psychotic, and despair, but do not dare to suggest these heinous atrocities perpetrated against Syrian human beings are anything other than mass slaughter for the unfettered rabid dogs of war.
Max Blumenthal documents the deceptions behind the US government’s accusation that China is committing “genocide” against Uyghur Muslims in its Xinjiang region, picking apart NED-funded studies that rely on botched statistics and exposing extremist Adrian Zenz and his error-filled research
أكّد الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد وجود معركة تقاد من الخارج ضد الليرة السوريّة، داعياً إلى معاقبة التجار المتربّحين من انهيار العملة المحلّية.
وأشار الرئيس الأسد في اجتماع حكومي إلى أن «مجموعة الإجراءات والتشريعات والقوانين التي صدرت في الآونة الأخيرة للتخفيف عن المواطن تؤكد فكرة أنه لا يوجد شيء مستحيل».
وأضاف «إذا لم نكن قادرين على حل كل المشاكل، فإننا نستطيع أن نحل جزءاً من المشاكل.. وعندما لا نستطيع اليوم أن نحل مشكلة معينة نستطيع أن نحل مشاكل أخرى تخفف عن المواطن».
كما أوضح الرئيس الأسد أن أحد الأمثلة على هذه الإجراءات هو معركة سعر الصرف التي تمكنّا فيها من تحقيق إنجازات لم تتحقق سابقاً».
كذلك لفت إلى أنه «من الخطأ في مثل هذه الحالة.. أو هذا النوع من المعارك أن يعتقد الناس أن هذا الموضوع هو موضوع إجرائيّ.. إذ إن الموضوع أوسع.. حيث هناك مضاربون ومستفيدون.. وهناك معركة تُقاد من الخارج».
وتابع قائلاً «أصبحت أدوات الأعداء في هذه المعركة واضحة بالنسبة لنا.. ومن خلال وضوحها ومعرفة الآليات التي استخدمت قمنا نحن باستخدام آليات معاكسة.. وقد أثبتت هذه المعارك التي خضناها أن سعر الصرف في سورية الجزء الأكبر منه هو حرب نفسية».
وشدّد على ضرورة «مواجهة هذا النوع من المعارك أن نقوم بتوعية الناس بأن ما يحصل الآن بالنسبة لسعر الصرف لا يقل أهمية عن المعركة العسكرية لاستقرار البلد.. مثله مثل الحرب.. مثل الأمن الغذائي.. مثل الكثير من العوامل الأخرى.. يجب أن يتم التعامل معها كمعركة.. فإذا لم يقف المواطن مع مؤسسات الدولة في هذه الحرب فسوف تخسر المؤسسات مهما قمنا من إجراءات».
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad confirmed the existence of a battle being led from abroad against the Syrian pound, calling for punishing the traders who profit from the collapse of the local currency.
In a government meeting, President al-Assad indicated that "the set of procedures, legislations and laws that were issued recently to alleviate the citizenry confirms the idea that nothing is impossible."
He added, "If we are not able to solve all the problems, then we can solve part of the problems ... and when we cannot solve a specific problem today, we can solve other problems that relieve the citizen."
President Al-Assad also made clear that one of the examples of these measures is the exchange rate battle, in which we were able to achieve previously unachievable achievements.
He also pointed out that "it is wrong in such a case ... or this type of battle, for people to believe that this issue is a procedural issue ... as the issue is broader ... as there are speculators and beneficiaries ... and there is a battle that is being fought from outside."
He added, "The enemies' tools in this battle became clear to us ... and through their clarity and knowledge of the mechanisms that were used, we used opposite mechanisms ... and these battles that we fought have proven that the exchange rate in Syria, the largest part of it, is a psychological war."
And he stressed the need to "face this kind of battle, to make people aware that what is happening now with regard to the exchange rate is no less important than the military battle for the stability of the country ... just like war ... like food security ... like many other factors .. must be done." Dealing with it as a battle .. If the citizen does not stand with state institutions in this war, the institutions will be lost, no matter what measures we have taken.
