GAZA LIVE BLOG: Rafah: 600,000 Children without Shelter | Hamas: Israel Will Leave Gaza | Israel Evacuates Military Site | UNRWA: Open Crossing – Day 215

Posted on May 9, 2024 by uprootedpalestinians

May 8, 2024

Palestinian families are forced to evacuate the eastern and southern areas of Rafah. (Photo: via QNN)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff 

At least 35 Palestinians were killed and 129 wounded as Israeli forces carried out new massacres in the eastern and southern areas of Rafah. 

The United States reportedly suspended sending arms shipments to Israel, due to its failure to address our concerns regarding its plans to invade Rafah.

Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades announced in a statement that they are engaged in fierce clashes with invading Israeli forces east of Rafah. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 34,844 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,404 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Click here for the previous blogs.

LATEST UPDATES

Wednesday, May 8, 01:30 am (GMT +2)

Hamas (Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas):

Israel is not serious about reaching an agreement and is using negotiations as a cover to invade Rafah.

Netanyahu is trying to invent pretexts to evade negotiations and blames Hamas and the mediators.

Hamas’s approval of the mediators’ proposal confused Netanyahu and put him in trouble.

Hamas stands by its position regarding the proposal.

BIDEN:

If Israel enters Rafah, I will not provide it with the weapons historically used to deal with this problem.

We will not provide weapons and artillery shells to Israel.

Israel will not get our support if it enters the populated areas of Rafah.

The bombs that America gave to Israel have now been used to kill civilians.

AL-JAZEERA: Heavy Israeli shelling targeted the Al-Sabra neighborhood south of Gaza City.

‘I Held on to My Husband’ – Cancer Patients in Gaza Die from War and Siege

By Abdallah Aljamal – Gaza “I held on to my husband, and told him he was everything for me, that I didn’t want to lose him.” Cancer patients from Gaza, including children, have been systematically … Continue reading‘I Held on to My Husband’ – Cancer Patients in Gaza Die from War and Siege Palestine Chronicle

Wednesday, May 8, 12:50 am (GMT +2)

HAARETZ: Clashes took place between families of captives in Gaza and Israeli police officers at a Tel Aviv demonstration demanding an exchange deal.

UNICEF: 600,000 Palestinian children are seeking shelter in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, some of whom have been displaced several times, exhausted, traumatized, sick and hungry.

With Full Knowledge – Israel Found to Use US Weapons to Kill Health Workers in Lebanon

By Robert Inlakesh On March 27, Israel carried out a missile strike in the Southern Lebanese town of Hebbariyeh, hitting an ambulance center. An analysis of shrapnel from the scene of an Israeli attack that … Continue readingWith Full Knowledge – Israel Found to Use US Weapons to Kill Health Workers in Lebanon Palestine Chronicle

Tuesday, May 7, 11:00 pm (GMT +2)

FORMER ISRAELI CHIEF OF STAFF: Former Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said that stopping the war on the Gaza Strip is the only way to return Israeli prisoners held by the Resistance.

ISRAELI ARMY: An Israeli soldier was injured as a result of a shell fired by the resistance in the Kerem Shalom area in the southern Gaza Strip.

FREE UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS: The Free University of Brussels decided to stop a technological research project with Israeli partners, and to review all other projects with Israeli participation.

HEZBOLLAH: We targeted “with artillery shells a force of Israeli enemy soldiers in the vicinity of the Ramia site, and we achieved a direct hit.”

Tuesday, May 7, 10:00 pm (GMT +2)

KAN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office is working on a draft law proposal with the ultra-Orthodox parties, bypassing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Defense Council Minister Benny Gantz.

ISRAELI MEDIA: Netanyahu backed down from showing flexibility in exchange negotiations.

UNRWA: The crossings must be opened, and humanitarian aid must flow.

HAMAS: The probability of the occupation remaining in the Gaza Strip is zero.

CHANNEL 14: Israeli occupation army evacuated a temporary military site on the Gaza envelope, fearing that resistance elements would infiltrate it.

‘Manipulative Trap’ – Smotrich Slams Decision to Send Negotiation Team to Cairo

By Palestine Chronicle Staff   “You must not give in to international pressure and you must not stop until victory and the submission of the enemy,” Smotrich said. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said … Continue reading‘Manipulative Trap’ – Smotrich Slams Decision to Send Negotiation Team to Cairo Palestine Chronicle

Tuesday, May 7, 9:00 pm (GMT +2)

ISRAELI ARMY: Gaza is one of the most difficult battlefields in the world.

CHANNEL 13 (quoting Israeli official): Netanyahu does not enable us to advance negotiations on the swap deal.

BRITISH PM: We will not change our position on arms export licenses to Israel.

‘Sort of a Precaution’ – US Lawmakers Prepare Sanctions against ICC over Israel

By Palestine Chronicle Staff   US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has confirmed that the bill is being drafted. US House Republicans are developing a bill to impose sanctions on officials from … Continue reading‘Sort of a Precaution’ – US Lawmakers Prepare Sanctions against ICC over Israel Palestine Chronicle

Tuesday, May 7, 8:00 pm (GMT +2)

CNN: Tel Aviv asked Washington to put pressure on Hamas and not on Israel.

HAMAS: We demand that the occupation’s crimes be documented and submitted to the criminal court.

Rafah Under Attack – Scores of Civilians Killed, Resistance Fights Back

By Palestine Chronicle Staff   Scores of Palestinians were killed and others were injured, in the intense Israeli occupation bombardment on various areas of the Gaza Strip. According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, … Continue readingRafah Under Attack – Scores of Civilians Killed, Resistance Fights Back Palestine Chronicle

Tuesday, May 7, 6:30 pm (GMT +2)

WALLA (quoting Israeli sources): The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hid medical markings on an ambulance that had been accompanying Netanyahu’s convoy since he suffered a heart attack last month, in order to make it look like a regular civilian car.

UNRWA: Protest by Israeli extremists in front of our headquarters in Jerusalem is “intimidation and sabotage”.

NETANYAHU’S SPOKESMAN: The seizure of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip by the Israeli army does not violate the peace treaty between Tel Aviv and Cairo.

UNRWA: The agency’s buildings in Gaza were subjected to 368 Israeli attacks.

ISRAELI ARMY RADIO: Iron Dome was unable to intercept rockets launched by the Resistance from Gaza towards Shlomi.

AUSTIN: We are absolutely committed to Israel’s right to defend itself.

FORMER MOSSAD CHIEF: There is no meaning to fighting in Rafah after all these days since the start of the war.

CHANNEL 13: Eight rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Shlomi in the Eshkol Regional Council in the Gaza Strip.

HEZBOLLAH: We carried out an attack with assault marches on the headquarters of the newly created Western Brigade in Ya’ra, and a direct hit was achieved.

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN: Carrying out an Israeli ground military operation in Rafah destabilizes the entire region. There are no prospects yet for resolving the situation in the Gaza Strip, and the conflict in the region is escalating daily.

‘Sleeping without Fear’ – Gazans React to Hamas’ Acceptance of Ceasefire Proposal

By Abdallah Aljamal – Gaza The Palestine Chronicle spoke with residents of Gaza to know their view about the proposal and Hamas’ decision. The Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas announced on Monday its acceptance of a … Continue reading‘Sleeping without Fear’ – Gazans React to Hamas’ Acceptance of Ceasefire Proposal Palestine Chronicle

Tuesday, May 7, 5:00 pm (GMT +2)

ISRAELI ARMY RADIO: Summer will be hot on the Lebanese border.

WASHINGTON DC POLICE CHIEF: 33 people were arrested during the dispersal of the George Washington group sit-in.

‘Unusual’ – US Postpones Arms Shipment to Israel but Pledges ‘Ironclad Commitment’

By Palestine Chronicle Staff   If intentional, this pause on the JDAMs would mark a significant policy shift since the onset of the current war. The US administration of Joe Biden administration has postponed the … Continue reading‘Unusual’ – US Postpones Arms Shipment to Israel but Pledges ‘Ironclad Commitment’ Palestine Chronicle

US OFFICIAL (to Al-Jazeera): Washington’s position on Rafah has not changed, and a broad operation must not be launched.

UNRWA: We did not receive aid or fuel through the Rafah crossing.

NBC (citing Israeli official). There is deep frustration in the Israeli government with the American decision to halt the arms shipment.

Tuesday, May 7, 4:15 pm (GMT +2)

GAZA STRIP CROSSINGS AUTHORITY: The Gaza Strip Crossings Authority denied Israel’s claims that it had reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing, south of the Strip, for the entry of aid.

AL-JAZEERA: About 200 European Union employees demonstrated in the Belgian capital, Brussels, against the Union’s policies towards the Gaza Strip.

‘A Form of Occupation’ – Palestinian Groups Reject Any Foreign Control of Rafah Crossing

By Palestine Chronicle Staff   Palestinian groups have strongly rejected any foreign party controlling the Rafah border of the Gaza Strip, following reports that an American security company will be in charge of the crossing. … Continue reading‘A Form of Occupation’ – Palestinian Groups Reject Any Foreign Control of Rafah Crossing Palestine Chronicle

AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades announced the bombing of Israeli occupation forces’ concentrations at the “Kerem Shalom Military Site” with a 114 mm short-range “Rajoum” missile system.

Tuesday, May 7, 2:45 pm (GMT +2)

GAZA GOVERNMENT MEDIA OFFICE: A third mass grave was found inside the Shifa Medical Complex and 49 bodies were recovered.

AL-JAZEERA: Six workers were injured by occupation fire at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

AL-QUDS BRIGADES: We bombed with heavy-caliber mortar shells Israeli occupation soldiers and vehicles penetrating the vicinity of the airport, east of the city of Rafah.

ISRAELI ARMY: 3,361 Israeli soldiers have been injured since the start of the war on Gaza.

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: 34,844 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,404 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

US MEDIA: Metropolitan Police began evacuating a pro-Palestinian camp at George Washington University at dawn today.

Tuesday, May 7, 1:30 pm (GMT +2)

AL-JAZEERA: Rockets were launched from southern Lebanon towards the Israeli monk site in the Upper Galilee.

ISRAELI MEDIA: The Israeli army is investigating the downing of its drone in Kfar Saba, between Jaffa and Tulkarm.

HEZBOLLAH: We targeted two buildings used by Israeli army soldiers in the Hanita settlement.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: The death toll from the Israeli bombing on the Al-Qara family’s home in the Khuza’a area, east of Khan Yunis, has risen to three.

Tuesday, May 7, 12:30 pm (GMT +2)

HEZBOLLAH: We targeted a building used by Israeli soldiers in the Metulla settlement, and two other buildings in the Shlomi settlement in the Upper Galilee.

YEDIOTH AHRONOTH: The Israeli army downplayed the US administration’s suspension of an arms shipment following an Israeli military operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip this week, saying that the two allied parties resolve any disputes “behind closed doors.”

Tuesday, May 7, 11:30 am (GMT +2)

PALESTINIAN FACTIONS: We will not accept the imposition of any guardianship over the Rafah crossing or any other party, and we consider this an occupation.

CHANNEL 13: An anti-tank missile hit a house in the town of Metulla.

PALESTINIAN MEDICAL SOURCES: The bodies of 35 Palestinians and 129 wounded arrived at Kuwait Hospital in Rafah within 24 hours.

IRANIAN FM: Conditions are ripe for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Tuesday, May 7, 10:00 am (GMT +2)

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: The attack on Rafah will have catastrophic effects on more than a million people.

KEREM SHALOM: Kerem Shalom crossing reopened for the entry of humanitarian aid after it was closed.

QATARI FM: Qatar strongly condemns the bombing of Rafah and calls for preventing its invasion.

AL-QUDS BRIGADES: We are engaged in fierce clashes east of Rafah.

MAARIV: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich submitted a petition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop delaying legislation on the use of Palestinian Authority funds held by Israel .

ISRAELI MEDIA: Instructions were issued to farmers in the Gaza Strip not to go out to work in the areas adjacent to the border fence.

Tuesday, May 7, 09:00 am (GMT +2)

BEN-GVIR: The demolition of dozens of homes in the Negev is an important step towards restoring governance.

AL-JAZEERA: Occupation forces begin demolishing dozens of Palestinian homes in the Naqab (Negev).

AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: Our fighters are engaged in fierce clashes with the Israeli enemy forces penetrating east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

UNRWA: UNRWA called for the reopening of Gaza crossings without any delay, noting that vital supplies and fuel are entered through them.

ISRAELI MEDIA: Dozens of prisoners’ families are closing the main Ayalon axis in Tel Aviv, demanding a deal to return their children.

Tuesday, May 7, 08:00 am (GMT +2)

AL-JAZEERA: An Israeli air strike targeted the vicinity of the destroyed Gaza Airport, east of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: A woman was killed and a number of injured in an Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the town of Khuza’a, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

AFP (citing US official): We suspended sending an arms shipment to Israel of 1,800 1,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs. Suspending the shipment of weapons to Israel due to its failure to address our concerns regarding its plans to invade Rafah.

Tuesday, May 7, 05:00 am (GMT +2)

NBC (citing US officials): American, Qatari and Egyptian negotiators are trying in Cairo to resolve various disagreements regarding the ceasefire deal.

AXIOS (citing American source): Republican representatives are preparing legislation targeting international criminal officials.

Tuesday, May 7, 03:00 am (GMT +2)

WASHINGTON POST (quoting US official): The move by the administration of US President Joe Biden to postpone two arms shipments to Israel confirms Washington’s fears about the Rafah attack.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: An Israeli raid and artillery shelling in the center and north of the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday, May 7, 02:00 am (GMT +2)

REUTERS (citing informed source): CIA Director William Burns will travel to Israel on Wednesday to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.

BRITISH DEPUTY FOREIGN SECRETARY: Israel’s attack on Rafah would violate international law and would not lead to the elimination of Hamas.

Tuesday, May 7, 01:00 am (GMT +2)

MARTIN GRIFFITHS: Martin Griffiths said that Israeli evacuation orders in Rafah and the ground operation will lead to more death and displacement.

REUTERS (quoting informed sources): The administration of US President Joe Biden will not submit its report to Congress on whether Israel is violating international law in Gaza on time.

BLINKEN: Blinken condemns “extremist attacks” on aid heading from Jordan to Gaza.

Tuesday, May 7, 12:00 am (GMT +2)

YEDIOTH AHRONOTH: CIA Director William Burns will arrive in Israel tomorrow, Wednesday, to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad Chief David Barnea to discuss a possible deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of prisoners.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

Donate NOW  Learn More  Watch Video

Filed under: "Israel", American crimes, Egypt, Israeli Crimes crimes against humanity, Lebanon, Lebanon Islamic Resistance - Hezbollah, Palestine, Palestinian people, Qatar, UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), USA | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Gaza Massacres Proceed on Day 193 of Israeli War

Posted on April 16, 2024 by uprootedpalestinians

 April 16, 2024

A screengrab by Al-Jazeera shows destruction in Gaza city due to the Israeli aggression.

Middle East – News – Palestine – Story of the day – Top

Brutal massacres went ahead in Gaza on the day 193 of the Israeli war on the besieged enclave, with international organizations warning against humanitarian crises.

Continuing Israeli attacks on central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp killed several Palestinians, local media reported.

In northern Gaza Strip, casualties were reported as Israeli warplanes pounded Jabalia, targeting a mosque there.

Israeli army vehicles reportedly surrounded a school where hundreds of people were sheltering amid gunfire and explosions in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

Separately, four people, including a child, were martyred and several wounded in an Israeli attack on a house west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, the Wafa news agency reported.

Earlier on Monday, two mass graves were discovered by Gaza’s Ministry of Health and the Civil Defense Forces in the north of the Gaza Strip on Monday. The first mass grave was discovered at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and the second was found in Beit Lahiya.

Death Toll and “Health Disaster”

Health Ministry in Gaza announced that 46 people were martyred and 110 injured by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.

It put the death toll of citizens martyred since the start of Israeli aggression on October 7 at 33,843. The ministry added that the number of injured Palestinians reached 76,575.

Meanwhile, the ministry warned that generators powering Gaza’s few functional hospitals around the clock for months could now lose power “at any moment.”

Doctors perform surgery at the European Hospital in Khan Younis (Anadolu news agency).

Such a loss would bring about a “major health disaster”, it said, issuing an urgent appeal for new generators and the restoration of power lines in the besieged territory.

For its part, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reported in its latest situation update that the amount of aid entering Gaza is far below the operational capacity of the open border crossings of the besieged enclave.

It added that an average of 181 aid trucks reaching Gaza daily fails to meet the Israeli occupation’s stated goal of facilitating the entry of 500 trucks per day.

One Gaza Child Killed or Injured Every 10 Minutes

On the other hand, a UNICEF official said that Gaza children have become the faces of the continuing war as their stories paint a “harrowing picture” of the human consequences of the conflict.

“Children are wearing a tremendous share of the scars of this war,” UNICEF communications specialist Tess Ingram – who left Gaza on Monday after spending two weeks there – told a UN press briefing in Geneva.

Tess Ingram, UNICEF communications specialist.

More than 12,000 children were injured in Gaza since October 7, 2023, she said, and this is “almost certainly an underestimate”.

“With at least 70 children injured every day, we need the number of medical evacuations to increase so children can access the care they urgently need. And with one child killed or injured every 10 minutes, above anything else we need a ceasefire.”

Source: Palestinian media and (edited by Al-Manar English Website) 

Related News

Filed under: "Israel", Palestine, Palestinian people, UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), UNICEF | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Gaza Massacres Proceed on Day 193 of Israeli War

هل تكون دماء الشهيدة شيرين أبو عاقلة نقطة تحول؟

Posted on May 13, 2022 by uprootedpalestinians
 ناصر قنديل

–

شهادة شيرين أبو عاقلة ليست موضوع نقاش، فهي بصدق التزامها بقضية شعبها ورفع صوته تحوّلت على مدى ربع قرن الى أيقونة، وما عبر عنه الفلسطينيون ومقاومتهم من مواكب التشييع الى البيانات والمواقف وما حفلت به وسائل التواصل خير مصداق وشاهد، وحال الحزن والغضب التي عمّت الكثير من بيوت العرب بكبارهم وصغارهم ورجالهم ونسائهم خير تعبير عن أن صدقها أوصل الرسالة التي كانت تحرص على إيصالها بكل قوة في كل مناسبة، بأنها لم تغادر وباقية لتوصل صوت هذا الشعب الى كل العالم. وقد كان حملها للجنسية الأميركية والعروض التي تلقتها من مؤسسات إعلامية غربية يخوّلانها هجرة القدس وفلسطين مراراً، وما يرويه أهالي الأسرى وعائلات الشهداء عن صداقة ربطتهم بها ومودة زرعتها في قلوبهم تأكيد لذلك النبض الصادق الذي عبرت عنه، واستحقت معه مرتبة الشهادة، سواء كانت تعمل في قناة الجزيرة أو في قناة السي أن أن.

–

شهادة شيرين أبو عاقلة وموجة الغضب والحزن التي أطلقتها، قدّمت فرصة لتفحص الوهم الذي تروج له بعض الأوساط الفلسطينية والعربية، وهو إمكانية أن يؤدي شعور قادة كيان الاحتلال بضعفهم داخل الكيان وضعف كيانهم داخل معادلات المنطقة إلى التعقل وإقامة الحسابات، والتجربة قالت مراراً وهي تقول اليوم إن هذا الكيان كلما ضعفت قيادته فهي تضعف أمام المتطرفين والمستوطنين وتتماهى مع توحشهم، وإن هذا الكيان كلما ضعف أمام معادلات المنطقة، سواء صنعتها دول أو حركات مقاومة، يوسّع دائرة القتل أملا بتضييق دائرة الضوء على جرائمه وردع الشرائح الفلسطينية والعربية المتردّدة عن أي إعادة نظر في تموضعها إلى جانبه، ولا يجب أن يراود الشك أحد في أن ما حصل في جريمة إعدام شيرين ابو عاقلة مراسلة قناة الجزيرة هو رسالة موقعة من قيادة الكيان، موجهة إلى دول التطبيع، وإلى السلطة الفلسطينية ومسؤوليتها عن التنسيق الأمني، والقائمة العربية المشاركة في الحكومة ودورها في الحفاظ على الحكومة، بأن القتل يشكل الجواب على أية محاولة للتأقلم مع المعادلات الجديدة وعدم احترام الخطوط الحمراء للكيان.

–

شهادة شيرين أبو عاقلة، سواء فهمتها حكومة قطر وقناة الجزيرة كرسالة مباشرة إليهما أو لم تفهماها كذلك، فهي كذلك، وقطر التي شاركت دون كل دول الخليج في اجتماع وزراء الدفاع للدول الحليفة لواشنطن من أجل تسليح الجيش الأوكراني، وقناة الجزيرة التي تولّت دون كل قنوات العالم الفضائية مهمة الإعلام الحربي للحكم الأوكراني في شيطنة روسيا وعملياتها العسكرية، وحكومة قطر وقناة الجزيرة قد تشاركتا في ريادة نهج التطبيع النفسي مع كيان الاحتلال من بوابة تصنيفه رأياً آخر، واعتبار الانفتاح عليه والتعامل معه يخففان من غلوّه وعدوانيّته، وصنعتا نظرية أولوية العداء للحكومات العربية المناوئة للكيان على العداء للكيان نفسه أملاً باسترضائه بخوض حروبه بالوكالة، كما تقول كل وقائع مواقف قطر والجزيرة من الحرب على سورية؛ هل تفهمان اليوم الرسالة، ومضمونها أن الاحتلال ليس رأياً آخر، وأن التعامل معه ليس وجهة نظر، وأن التحول الى موقع الحليف المميّز عند الأميركي ليس حصانة بوجهه، وأن العداء لكل من يعادي الكيان لا يحتسب لأصحابه عندما يستدعي جدول أعمال الكيان المزيد من التوحش، بل قد تكون أولى الرسائل الدموية موجهة لهم بدماء شهداء أنقياء من أمثال شيرين ابو عاقلة، رسالة مضمونها أن المنطقة عشية حرب ستكون غزة طرفاً مباشراً فيها فاختاروا موقعكم الإعلامي من الآن وإلا..!

–

أن تكون دماء شيرين ابو عاقلة نقطة تحول، يعني أحد أمرين أو كليهما، الأول أن يتوقف العالم الغربي بمؤسساته الحكومية والقانونية عن معاملة جرائم الاحتلال بمعيار الحماية، أو المواربة، والثاني أن تغسل دماء شيرين أبوعاقلة عار التطبيع عن الإعلام العربيّ، وفي المقدمة منه قناة الجزيرة، وأن يرد الاعتبار لمعيار العداء لكيان الاحتلال في رسم صورة المشهد العربي السياسي والإعلامي، ورغم الحزن والغضب والمرارة ليس ثمّة ما يقول أن شيئا من هذا سيحدث قريباً أو أنه على وشك الحدوث.

–

رحم الله شيرين شهيدة فلسطين وقد احتضنها القلوب ورفعتها الأكتاف، وبكتها العيون، وشيعها المقاومون، قبل أن يتسابق الانتهازيون إلى التقاط الصورة التذكارية!

فيديوات متعلقة

مقالات متعلقة

Filed under: Palestine, Qatar, Ukraine, Uprooted Palestinians | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off on هل تكون دماء الشهيدة شيرين أبو عاقلة نقطة تحول؟

The Gulf states and Ukraine: Why are Washington’s Arab allies tilting in different directions?

Posted on March 3, 2022 by uprootedpalestinians

The divergence in views may indicate geopolitical shifts in the Persian Gulf, but may equally be tactics employed to gain leverage with Washington

March 02 2022

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Israel may have made up its mind to back the US side in Ukraine’s raging crisis, but Tel Aviv’s covert and overt Arab allies in the Persian Gulf remain uncomfortably divided over the issue.

While some have voiced support for Moscow’s position and others have denounced Russia’s military invasion of eastern Ukraine, the ‘Arab majority’ has remained neutral, issuing non-committal statements about dialogue, political solutions, and respect for the principles of international law.

Four specific stances taken by Arab and Gulf states are worth analyzing in order to understand the shifts taking place in West Asia right now:

First is the unusual pro-Russian posture struck by Saudi Arabia in the statement issued after a telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MbS). The statement spelled out the kingdom’s continued commitment to the ‘OPEC+’ agreement on oil production levels it brokered with Russia. This was an implicit thumbs-down to US pressure on Riyadh to increase production and drive down prices, which would ease strains on western economies.

Second is Qatar’s oblique official support for the US side and condemnation of Russia, reflected in Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani’s declaration that his country stands by “Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.” That means opposing Russia’s recognition of the breakaway eastern Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and its military intervention in their support.

Third is the abstention of the UAE, currently a rotating member of the UN Security Council, in its vote on a US-authored draft resolution condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in the strongest terms and demanding the immediate withdrawal of its forces.

Fourth is the utter impartiality of the Arab League. The statement issued after its emergency meeting of permanent representatives – called for by Egypt and chaired by Kuwait – avoided condemning or endorsing the Russian move, and sufficed with flowery language about the need to respect the UN Charter and international law and support efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully.

A US-Gulf leverage game

All Gulf oil and gas producers have an obvious interest in maintaining the sky-high world energy prices that are being driven even higher by the crisis.

But Saudi Arabia’s affirmation of its commitment to the production deal it reached with Russia goes beyond this. It is sure to cause a bust-up with the US administration and President Joe Biden, who incidentally, has refused to meet with MbS since his inauguration.

Biden himself called King Salman to urge a hike in Saudi output to flood the market and bring down prices, in order to support the US and European economies and make up for any reduction in Russian oil supplies during the Ukraine crisis.

This clear challenge to Saudi Arabia’s historical strategic protector and ally can be seen as a warning to the White House: Riyadh may flip over to the Russian side if Biden continues to ignore, not recognize, and refuse to speak with the kingdom’s de facto ruler Muhammad bin Salman. Biden has insisted on dealing only with King Salman, a rule broken at least twice by Macron.

The Ukraine crisis, which could develop into a third world war, is being treated as an ‘if you’re not with us you’re against us’ issue. The US administration is unlikely to tolerate any even-handedness or neutrality on the part of its Gulf allies, especially Saudi Arabia, which has yet to officially comment on the war.

The question being asked in Gulf political corridors is whether MbS can withstand Washington’s wrath at his surprise entente with Russia, and what the consequences might be.

The same question can be addressed to Qatar and its ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He firmly took the US side in his foreign minister’s veiled condemnation of the invasion. This will not endear him to his Russian partners in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), which held a summit-level meeting in Doha last week that President Vladimir Putin did not attend.

Qatar’s volte-face began when Biden invited Sheikh Tamim to Washington on 31 January and the latter agreed to use Qatari gas to help make up for any shortfall in Russian gas supplies to Europe due to the Ukraine crisis. He is the only Gulf leader to have met with Biden in the White House, where he was elevated to the status of ‘major non-NATO ally.’

This designation bumped Qatar above the Saudis and Emiratis, who have typically been more strategically aligned with the US government. Observers understood the tactical move to be about securing Qatari gas in case events in Ukraine turned sour.

The UAE’s neutral position on Ukraine comes amidst its own fresh challenges with Washington.

Once the US’s most valued Gulf ally, in December the Emiratis suspended a multi-billion dollar acquisition of US F-35 fighter jets, and in February announced that it would purchase a dozen Chinese L-15 training and light combat aircraft, with an option to buy 36 more.

The UAE’s neutrality on Ukraine is likely to stem from the country’s recent moves to swap out its muscular foreign policy – that saw disasters in Syria and Yemen – with the soft-power variety, which leads with trade and diplomacy, and is more independent of Washington.

Unprecedented recent visits by top Emirati officials to meet counterparts in Turkey, Iran and Syria attest to this new direction, as the UAE seeks out new partnerships to balance its rivalries with Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Abu Dhabi’s abstention on the Ukraine vote at the UN just adds fuel to Washington’s existing dissatisfaction.

Neutrality may win the day

This clear divergence between Gulf states over Ukraine has been reflected in their media’s coverage of the crisis.

Viewers have detected a tilt to the Russian viewpoint by Saudi Arabia’s flagship al-Arabiya channel. Qatar’s Al Jazeera channel has reflected the US/European view, despite attempts to give its rolling coverage the appearance of professional impartiality. For its part, Abu Dhabi-owned Sky News Arabia stood somewhere in between.

It is unclear whether the UAE’s abstention in the Security Council vote on Ukraine was cleared beforehand with the US administration. If not, it will cause trouble in Abu Dhabi’s relationship with Washington and incur US wrath in some form or other. And there may not be enough time to repair any damage.

The Arabs have no stake in this war. Neutrality, for those who can find a way of opting for it, is the wisest position to take. The African proverb “when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers” applies here, specifically to the Gulf states.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.

Filed under: China, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Qatar, Russia, Ukraine | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Gulf states and Ukraine: Why are Washington’s Arab allies tilting in different directions?

Abortive act of piracy: IRGC Navy foils US attempt to steal Iranian oil in Oman Sea

Posted on November 4, 2021 by fada1

November 03, 2021

Abortive act of piracy: IRGC Navy foils US attempt to steal Iranian oil in Oman Sea
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2021/11/03/669831/IRGC-Navy-thwarts-US-bid-in-Sea-of-Oman-to-steal-take-over-oil-tanker

“The naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have managed to thwart an attempt by the United States to take over a giant oil tanker in the strategic Sea of Oman and moved the vessel to Iranian territorial waters.

The US military confiscated the Iranian tanker loaded with crude oil in the Sea of Oman, which connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, and intended to unload its shipment to another tanker and direct it to an unknown destination.

Reacting promptly, however, members of the IRGC’s Navy carried out a heliborne operation on the stolen ship’s deck, gained control of the vessel, and directed it back toward Iran’s territorial waters.

US forces then proceeded to chase the tanker using several helicopters and warships, but their attempt at taking over the vessel for a second time was thwarted again by Iranian naval forces.

The tanker is currently in Iranian territorial waters and under the protection of IRGC’s Navy.”

—

Also relevant these two tweets from Seyed Marandi

My information: The US stole a tanker on its way to Venezuela with Iranian fuel. The captain/crew betrayed Iran & aided the US. The regime stole & sold the Iranian fuel. Now the tanker with the same captain & crew & under US military protection has been seized by the IRGC Navy

Aljazeera Arabic asked me to immediately talk about the events in the Persian Gulf. I agreed & missed an important meeting. I waited for the interview, but no one contacted me or responded. Now they say they must wait for the US regime’s side of the story before they invite me.

https://twitter.com/s_m_marandi/status/1455850105886629889
https://twitter.com/s_m_marandi/status/1455849731855368193

Filed under: The Islamic Republic of Iran, USA | Tagged: , , , | Comments Off on Abortive act of piracy: IRGC Navy foils US attempt to steal Iranian oil in Oman Sea

The Forever Imminent Collapse of the Iranian “Regime”

Posted on July 31, 2021 by uprootedpalestinians

July 29, 2021

Source: Al Mayadeen

Seyed Mohammad Marandi

As Iran is literally depicted as illegitimate and derogatorily labeled a “regime,” these “experts” can inform their audiences without irony of the rising “menace” of Iran and the growing threat it poses to regional stability.

Visual search query image

Under US occupation Afghanistan has become the beating heart of global opium cultivation and distribution, but for Iran haters, just a whiff of unrest anywhere in the country is often enough for them to get practically stoned. BBC Persian becomes embarrassingly euphoric, while Persian television ‘Iran International’ headquartered in London and with ties to Mohammed bin Salman, and VOA Persian begin to hallucinate completely.

Arabic media narratives usually depend on state policy towards Iran. Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya news channel is consistent in its hatred and is often more deranged than ‘Iran International,’ while Aljazeera Arabic and English narratives largely sway in harmony with the state of play in Doha’s dealings with Riyadh, Ankara, and Washington.

Western corporate and state-owned media usually, but by no means always, put more effort into appearing balanced and professional than their state backed Persian language Iran bashing counterparts. However, in all these outlets there is a recurring and repetitive theme that can appear credible and even well documented to the uninitiated or the true believers.

Any objective review exposes a certain consistency in “analyses” that many years ago used to surprise me. Since the 1980s, audiences have been constantly told that the Islamic Republic of Iran is an evil, unstable, unpopular, incompetent and a corrupt “regime” that is on the brink of collapse. In over four decades of research and reporting, it has been regularly implied that the day is not far off when the “regime” will finally fall into the dustbin of history.

Some would argue that these “experts” confuse analysis with aspirations and facts with expectations. For them, it seems the ultimate collapse of revolutionary Iran is natural and inevitable, since its ideological foundations, constitution and political structures are not based upon “superior” or “contemporary” western intellectual traditions. These views are constantly reinforced by a small army of Iranian comprador intellectuals and many angry “scholars” affiliated with western academia, think-tanks and media, who reassuringly repeat the favorite talking points of their western overlords. Liberals and “leftists” at academic institutions may fight over Cuba, Venezuela, and Iraq, but when it comes to Iran there is often a loving consensus.

The latent Orientalism of these western analysts and their native informants as well as the Eurocentric worldview imposed upon western institutions and academia, are solid barriers that prevent most from recognizing the often irresolvable paradoxes resulting from such “expert” analyses. Hence, as the Islamic Republic is literally depicted as illegitimate, incapable of self-governance, and derogatorily labeled a “regime,” these “experts” can inform their audiences without irony of the rising “menace” of Iran and the growing threat it poses to regional stability and even the “international community.”

They feel no need to explain how an incompetent and universally reviled “regime” can possibly be such an enormous threat to the existing and well entrenched regional and international order. Either the US-led Western Empire is vastly overrated, or the Iranian “regime” is not quite the regime it is portrayed to be.

Their failure to acknowledge, let alone explain, this contradiction lies in the fact that most are simply blind to its existence. The Orientalist demonization of Iran makes almost all negative attributes seem reasonable and plausible, even though they are often mutually exclusive.

The seemingly always-in-crisis Iran doesn’t even have the luxury of being competently evil or deceiving. We are told that Iranians hate the “regime,” Iraqis despise Iran (no allusion to General Suleimani’s massive funeral processions in Iraq), Afghans are resentful, Lebanese feel subjugated, Syrians are outraged, and Yemenis abused. Nevertheless, it is largely left unexplained how an unpopular and heavily sanctioned Iran can wield such enormous influence and maintain such powerful allies, while its western and regional antagonists have infinitely more wealth and resources at their disposal.

These so called experts and analysts don’t seem to recognize that while these powerful anti-Iranian narratives may have a significant impact on perceptions towards Iran, they definitely do not inspire confidence regarding the stability or legitimacy of the US Empire. Hence, we will continue to be told that the Iranian “regime” is possibly facing imminent collapse, but the real story may actually be that the centuries old domination of the “Free and Civilized world” is closer to imminent collapse.

Filed under: Afghanistan, American Empire, Qatar, The Islamic Republic of Iran | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on The Forever Imminent Collapse of the Iranian “Regime”

Speech by Prof. Bouthaina Shaaban Political and Media Advisor Syrian Presidency At the Shiller Institute Online Conference “World at a Crossroad: Two Months in the New US Administration” March 20-21, 2021

Posted on March 22, 2021 by martyrashrakat

Her Excellency Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban: Reconstruction with Syrian characteristics — rebuilding a truly diverse and more secure world based on the lessons of the Syrian experience

Transcript

Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban speech - Schiller Institute June 25th 2016 - YouTube
Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban is a political and media advisor to President AssadYOUTUBE/SCHILLER INSTITUTE

Good morning.

Allow me first to thank the Schiller Institute, and in particular, to thank Helga Zepp-LaRouche, for inviting me to this very important conference and for allowing me to contribute to this very important panel.

But before I begin my paper, I would like to pass on a few notes that lead me to the conclusion which I would love to conclude for this panel, and for this conference at large.

One of the major problems we face in our country, is that today, Western countries approach our countries with the feeling of exceptionalism or a feeling of righteousness, that whatever Western countries see appropriate or good, should apply to our countries without any question. The first action that was taken by Western countries, when the war on Syria started, was to withdraw their ambassadors from Syria. The question is, isn’t it the job of the ambassadors to convey the reality on the ground, and to help in opening channels of communication between countries instead of closing them?

This leads me to the role of corporate media during the war on Syria. Unfortunately, most Western media rely on Al Jazeera, Qatar-funded, and Al Arabiya, Saudi-funded, to report on events in Syria, even though both channels, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, withdrew their correspondents and relied on what are called “eyewitnesses,” which could be anybody, anywhere. This applies also to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is run by one person in Coventry, U.K., Rami Abdel Rahman.

These media outlets choose to focus on what they find which fits their agenda, ignoring the reality on the ground. For example, even the terrorist acts in Tartus and Jableh recently, which claimed the lives of 200 innocent civilians, were not noticed by Western media, and certainly did not therefore evoke any Western sympathy.

What I would like to say is that the false narrative propagated about Syria was as dangerous to the Syrian people and to the safety and security of Syrians, as the acts perpetrated by terrorists, because it isolated the reality in Syria from the public understanding in the West and in the world at large, and it prevented the creation of a level of understanding between Western countries and the Syrian people about what is going on.

Terrorism and ‘Democracy’

But before we can begin to talk about reconstructing Syria, we still face the monumental challenge of eradicating terrorism in Syria, Iraq, and the region. We have to eradicate this terrorism. And when I say “we,” I do not mean the Syrians or the Iraqis alone, but I mean the world at large, because, as we have seen, in Paris, Brussels, Orlando, and lastly, the U.K., terrorists can strike anywhere in the world; it’s a cancer that can spread anywhere in the world. However, is the world, and in particular, are Western powers, doing all they can to face this danger? This is the question that I would like to ask.

Of course if we separate out what is promoted in the media and look at actions and deeds, rather than words, we see that in the case of Syria, Western countries are not doing what needs to be done to eliminate this danger, both from Syria and from the world at large. And I would like to give you one example: On December 17, 2015, the Security Council adopted Resolution 2253, under Chapter 7, which dictates stopping the financing, arming, and facilitating of terrorists into Syria. The Vienna Group, afterwards, interpreted this resolution, that it should include closing the Turkish border and not allowing armaments and finances to cross to the terrorists. On December 18, the Security Council issued Resolution 2254, which calls for a political solution in Syria.

Now, you see that the entirety of humanity focusses on 2254, without dealing with 2253, which is a logical prerequisite for 2254, that is, for finding a political solution in Syria.

The same thing can be said about humanitarian assistance. Instead of focussing on ending the war in Syria and restoring peace and security in Syria, we see that the entire corporate media is speaking about humanitarian assistance, as if this is the issue! Syria, before this war, was able to host 2 million Iraqis and to feed itself, and to export food to 84 countries in the world. It is since the 1970s that the Syrian people have adopted the motto, “We eat from what we produce, and we wear from what we manufacture,” which means that Syria does not need humanitarian help if there is peace and stability, and if the Syrian people are able to develop their crops and attend to their factories.

Today we hear a lot of talk from the Western alliance about “containing” ISIS, “limiting” ISIS; and lastly, you all heard the speech of CIA Director John Brennan, who said that we did not succeed even in limiting the influence of ISIS. Why? Because there is no real desire and wish, really, to get rid of ISIS. There were two elements: The Russian government had called on Western countries to join efforts to defeat ISIS both in Syria and Iraq, and the agreement in Vienna was that the Turkish borders should be closed. Neither of these two elements received a positive response from the United States or the Western powers. The question is, why?—if there is a real will to fight ISIS.

The other question is, that we in Syria feel that what is needed is a real will in the international community to fight terrorism and to build real bridges. When I say “real bridges,” I mean, on an equal basis, on a basis of parity. The problem with promoting “democracy”—in quotation marks—in our part of the world, is that Western countries believe that liberal democracy is the only issue, or the only copy, or the only formula that should be applied to our countries. And this is not true, because we all have different cultures.

We have different identities, we have different habits, we have different ways of life, and I can give an example: China, India, the Persian culture, Arab culture have contributed a great deal to the world, but on a human basis, and on a basis of parity. In fact, here I would like to make an important point, that the Western world believes in opening markets to the entire world, but only to export its own goods! But not to allow other countries to export to the West, on an equal basis. And every day they invent different formulas in order not to allow equal treatment—tariff constraints and other constraints.

Intellectual Silk Road

The same thing applies to politics. The concepts, values, and ideas, coming from the West should be respected and implemented in our countries, but there is no other road that takes our culture, and our values and our ethics to the West. If we need to create a world for all, if we need to create a peaceful world, if we need to create a prosperous world for all, we need to create a conceptual, intellectual concept of one world; we need to create a conceptual concept of a Silk Road. Not only an actual Silk Road, but an intellectual Silk Road. All of you know that Aleppo and Syria were extremely crucial in the ancient Silk Road that connected Asia to Europe. Syria and the Syrian people will be more than happy to be very active also in a New Silk Road and in a political, social, intellectual Silk Road that connects Asia to the West, that connects Eurasia to the West.

The other byproduct of this war on our countries, and the other byproduct of promoting only Western exceptionalism in our country, is the distortion of the image of Islam in Western eyes. Islam, like any other religion, is a religion of love, a religion of humanity. We, as Muslims, were hardly ever, if ever, addressed in our Quran as Muslims. We are addressed as “ye human beings”: We are part of the human community. And therefore, those who kill in the name of Islam, those who destroy in the name of Islam, are not Muslims at all. They have nothing to do with Islam.

We have to address the concept that the terrorists are promoting, and the lack of dialogue that the corporate media are causing, if we want to create a truly prosperous Silk Road, not only physical, but also intellectual, social, and political. And here, I would like to conclude by thanking Russia and China, who right from the beginning of the war on Syria, took four vetoes against Western attempts to try to strike Syria militarily. And Russia, and China, and Iran, continue to support the Syrian people, to try to find a political solution.

In brief, what I would like to say here is that, in order to build these Silk Roads, we have to deal with each other on an equal basis, on an equal human basis, and dealing otherwise, as superior and inferior, as white and black, as important and less important, is producing extremism, is producing racism which is striking not only in Syria, but in Brussels, in Paris, in Orlando, and last of all in the U.K. Thus, it is in the interests of humanity to think as human beings, to think of the world as truly a human village, where people live equally, and have mutual respect for each other, and deal on the basis of parity.

But this requires a huge change in the mindset of the West, that probably requires another conference, to speak not only about the very important idea launched by China, of building a Silk Road, but to speak about the intellectual, social, and political Silk Road, that thinks and deals with all of us, as human, as brothers and sisters, rather than as superior and inferior. Thus, we can build a new world, and one world, and a much better world than the one we live in. We have an obligation to our grandchildren, wherever they are born, to leave them a better world than this one in which we live now.

Thank you very much.

Filed under: ISIS – Daesh, Syria, Terrorism, War on Syria | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off on Speech by Prof. Bouthaina Shaaban Political and Media Advisor Syrian Presidency At the Shiller Institute Online Conference “World at a Crossroad: Two Months in the New US Administration” March 20-21, 2021

It’s 10 years since the war in Syria began, and Western media & pundits are still eager to keep it going

Posted on March 19, 2021 by indigoblue76
*Media headlines at the 10 year anniversary of the war on Syria.
moi

March 15, 2021, RT.com

-by Eva K Bartlett

After many wars built on lies over the decades, people might have developed a good BS radar. Instead, in March 2011, when media and human rights groups pushed propaganda about Syria, the public once again fell for it.

Front page, round-the-clock headlines were pumped out, and transparently hollow Western pundits tut-tutted Syria’s president and claimed the Syrian government was cracking down on “peaceful protesters.”

But this is March 2021, and while Western lies and fake concern have dominated news on Syria, Syrians deserve to have the reality – their suffering under some of the most heinous terrorism the world has known – highlighted instead.

In reality, March 2011 in Syria saw well-armed thugs attacking not only government buildings, but killing soldiers and civilians too.

In the months and years that followed, some of those who had been dubbed as “peaceful protesters” committed massacre after massacre of Syrian civilians and security forces.

Independent observers like Homs-based Dutch priest Father Frans van der Lugt witnessed “armed demonstrators who began to shoot at the police first.”

Flemish priest Father Daniel Maes, based in Damascus’ countryside, said:

“I have seen with my own eyes how agitators from outside Syria organized protests against the government and recruited young people. Murders were committed by foreign terrorists, against the Sunni and Christian communities, in an effort to sow religious and ethnic discord among the Syrian people.”

From my own fourteen visits from April 2014 and over the next seven years, what I’ve heard and experienced in Syria only confirmed my early suspicions that what Al Jazeera and Western media were purporting were lies.

– While people did aspire to political change (and the government made changes), from the start there was violence from well-armed “protesters.”

– Contrary to what the media would have us believe, there wasn’t wide support for what was dubbed a “revolution,” and it wasn’t actually a revolution. Predominantly Sunni Aleppo rejected the non-revolution.

– The core message of the protesters who continued beyond the first few protests was not about democracy but about driving out Christians to Beirut and killing Alawites. A sectarianism promoted by the West and its Gulf allies.

Although mass media attempted to paint events in Syria as a “civil war,” both Israel and Western nations have long been supporting terrorists in Syria, including Al-Qaeda in Syria (reportedly providing them medical treatment), and even Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

And as I detailed, the West has long been working to change the government of Syria, even decades prior during Hafez al-Assad’s time.

How I saw Syria vs. what it looks like through al-Qaeda-tinted glasses

In April 2014, I met an American living in Latakia who recalled reading a LA Times blog post alleging a protest which had turned violent in her city three years prior, but which never happened. According to her, she had been to the places mentioned in the report that day, and there was no unrest.

Years later in Damascus, I met and interviewed a Syrian doctor who had been based in Dara’a province in March 2011. He described how his hospital operated at normal capacity at the time. At the same time he says he saw a repeated report on another mainstream outlet that said the facility was overwhelmed, not enough doctors were available, and moreover, that the hospital was denying treatment to civilians, when in fact the hospital directives were to treat civilians before soldiers.

Since a core message in regime-change reporting on Syria has been that the people want the president gone, it’s worth noting that President Assad is actually quite popular among Syrians. In fact, I was surprised to come across a January 2012 admission of this, one of the worst purveyors of lies and war propaganda on Syria.

Assad’s popularity has only steadily grown. From the early months of 2011 to late 2011, 2012, and beyond, Syrians held mass demonstrations in support of their president.

In Lebanon in 2014, I witnessed a mass show of support during the presidential election. These were people determined to vote, and people I spoke with proudly declared their support for Assad.

From 2014 to my last visit in 2020, Syrians have maintained to me that while there are a host of changes they do want for the country, seeing President Assad step down is not one of them.

The Syrian government issues visas to journalists from the worst propaganda outlets (including the BBC, Channel 4, the New York Times, CBC). Yet, they have reported a vastly different Syria than that which I or my colleagues know.

In their Syria, the suffering of civilians in government-controlled areas doesn’t exist. If mentioned, they are dubbed “regime supporters,” thus somehow deserving of the shelling and other abuse perpetrated by terrorist factions.

The outlets don’t take into account the millions of internally displaced Syrians who have fled terrorism or fighting elsewhere in Syria and taken shelter in government-controlled areas, frequently coming under attacks of terrorists.

When greater Aleppo, with around 1.5 million people, were for years being attacked with gas canister bombs, mortars, grad missiles and sniping by terrorists occupying areas of the city (by November 2016 resulting in the deaths of nearly 11,000 civilians), media downplayed this, or simply didn’t mention it at all.

19 1
19 2
19 3
19 4

*From my February 2015 “University Hospital, Damascus: Meeting Victims of Western-backed Mortar and Rocket Terrorism“

Even when mixed Christian and Muslim areas of Old Damascus were shelled by terrorists occupying eastern Ghouta—and they were shelled for years, until Ghouta’s liberation—this terrorism, and the many maimed and killed, was underreported, if reported at all.

In one instance, after an elementary school was mortared (killing one child and injuring over 60 more) the BBC’s reporter later disingenuously wrote, “the government is also accused of launching [mortar shells] into neighborhoods under its control.”

In summer of 2016, I travelled around Syria, meeting Syrians who had started their lives anew, displaced by terrorists, and meeting Syrians who had survived terrorist attacks only to be living within a few hundred metres proximity and daily at risk of sniping and shelling.

And all the while, the same war propagandizing, script-reading, media glossed over the horrific realities of life under terrorist rule, which included imprisonment, torture, starvation, rape of women, and public executions of civilians by sword or point-blank assassination.

‘Fallen’ cities, ‘chemical attacks’ and other lies

I’ve gone to many key cities and towns post-liberation from terrorist factions. Western media inevitably said these areas had “fallen,” bizarrely trying to claim that life under the government would be worse than life under the extremists who easily and routinely murdered civilians in the street.

Civilians under terrorist rule were starving—not by the Syrian government, but by the terrorists—and were often imprisoned in ghastly often underground prisons.

From the old city of Homs, to the ancient Aramaic-speaking village of Maaloula, to eastern Aleppo, to Madaya and al-Waer, to eastern Ghouta and even areas of Idlib province, civilians I met spoke of the hell they had lived under terrorist rule, and of their relief at being liberated.

When mass media said those areas “fell,” they were lying. Those areas returned to peace and stability.

UN representatives may feign concern and neutrality in matters Syria, but the UN has been complicit in ignoring terrorists’ shelling of Damascus. And in silencing the voices of suffering civilians and Syrian representatives at the UN.

Then there is the issue of the alleged and never proven “chemical attacks” by the Syrian army.

I’ve written about the chemical weapons accusations, noting even a lead member of the UNHRC commission of Inquiry, blamed the “rebels.”

Many journalists, including myself, have gone to Douma, the location of the latest alleged chemical attack, and interviewed medical staff and civilians, concluding that a chemical attack did not take place.

Douma witnesses spoke at The Hague, including a boy featured in Western media’s claims. Instead of considering these Syrian sources, pundits and media sneered “obscene mascarade” 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 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 José 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.

*Screenshot I took in 2020 when seeing CNN recycling their lies of 2018–as though it was happening in 2020

Still lying after all these years

Even now, five years after his image was plastered across global media as the “face of suffering in Syria,” allegedly hurt in a Russian or Syrian airstrike, the UK’s Independent has a photo of Aleppo boy Omran Daqneesh as its Twitter cover photo.

But this was a narrative debunked in mid-2017, when I met a healthy Omran and his father. The father specifically said there was no airstrike.

Still other lies that were debunked years ago are being recycled anew, in the West’s ceaseless attempt to criminalize Bashar al-Assad and legitimize the US coalition’s illegal presence in Syria.

But none of the media or pundits who claim to care about Syrians’ well-being address the actual causes (including terrorists) of their suffering, chief among which, the brutal Western sanctions against Syria, which directly impact on Syrian civilians’ ability to live and procure medicine, much less rebuild.

Also impacting on Syrians’ economy and sufficiency, the US’ theft of Syrian oil and cotton, and burning of wheat. And this, along with other US illegal polices in Syria, will only get worse under the Biden administration.

And if you peruse recent headlines, you’ll see the same old Western insistence that things won’t change until Bashar al-Assad is gone. They’ve blatantly said sanctions will continue until then.

And now they’re going after the first lady, a woman who is well-liked on the ground in Syria for dedicating her work to helping the country’s poorest through development and microfinance projects.

The West would have us believe she has, “incited and encouraged terrorist acts,” a claim, emanating from the UK (which most definitely incited and encouraged terrorism), that would be laughable were it not so revolting.

Russia has called this, “psychological pressure on the eve of the presidential election.”

A look at the legal entity behind the absurd allegations reveals this isn’t the first time they’ve attempted a legal attack against the Syrian government.

To adequately write about the past ten years of war on Syria would take volumes. For the sake of brevity: it need never have happened, nor the deaths and destruction accompanying it.

This was a premeditated and cruel war on the people of Syria, spurned forth by media who truly do not care about the lives of Syrians.

To quote Father Daniel:

“The media can either contribute to the massacre of the Syrian people or help the Syrian people, with their media coverage. Unfortunately, there are too many followers and cowards among journalists.”

RELATED LINKS:

–Deconstructing the NATO Narrative on Syria

–The Terrorism We Support in Syria: A First-hand Account of the Use of Mortars against Civilians

–Absurdities of Syrian war propaganda

–Western media ignoring reality on the ground in Syria

–Liberated Homs Residents Challenge Notion of “Revolution”

–Overcoming Savagery and Treachery, Maaloula’s Heroic Defenders Fight for the Future

–Where is the West’s compassion & condemnation following terror attacks in Middle East?

–Torture, starvation, executions: Eastern Ghouta civilians talk of life under terrorist rule

–Syria War Diary: What Life Is Like Under ‘Moderate’ ‘Rebel’ Rule

–Order Returns To Western Cities as Syrian Civilians Recount Horrors Of ‘Rebel’ Rule

–Liberate Syria’s Idlib, precisely for the civilians that America fakes concern over

–Scoundrels & gangsters at UN: Silencing the Syrian narrative

–The UK & US alliance brings the UNSC into disrepute by banning Syria chemical weapons briefing from ex-OPCW head

–Statement of Concern: The OPCW investigation of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma, Syria

–US sanctions are part of a multi-front war on Syria, and its long-suffering civilians are the main target

–As Syria Struggles Under COVID-19 Lockdown, America’s Scorched Earth Policy Ensures Food Insecurity

–Syria, Venezuela sanctions

–Joe Biden Unlawful Aggression in Syria Signals the Endgame in the Region

–Impressions From An Informal Meeting With Asma al-Assad, Syria’s First Lady

Filed under: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Syria, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, War on Syria | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on It’s 10 years since the war in Syria began, and Western media & pundits are still eager to keep it going

The dark motives behind Saudi Arabia’s push for Gulf unity

Posted on January 10, 2021 by martyrashrakat
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 000_8Y82NG.jpg
David Hearst is the editor in chief of Middle East Eye. He left The Guardian as its chief foreign leader writer. In a career spanning 29 years, he covered the Brighton bomb, the miner’s strike, the loyalist backlash in the wake of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in Northern Ireland, the first conflicts in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in Slovenia and Croatia, the end of the Soviet Union, Chechnya, and the bushfire wars that accompanied it. He charted Boris Yeltsin’s moral and physical decline and the conditions which created the rise of Putin. After Ireland, he was appointed Europe correspondent for Guardian Europe, then joined the Moscow bureau in 1992, before becoming bureau chief in 1994. He left Russia in 1997 to join the foreign desk, became European editor and then associate foreign editor. He joined The Guardian from The Scotsman, where he worked as education correspondent.

David Hearst

6 January 2021 17:22 UTC 

Mohammed bin Salman could use the detente with Qatar to achieve two objectives: to announce his own recognition of Israel, and to persuade his father to abdicate the throne

It took Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman three years and six months to come to the same conclusion that some of us reached days into the blockade of Qatar: that it was doomed to failure.

The project to silence the voice of an independent neighbour was doomed the moment that then-US defence secretary James Mattis and then-secretary of state Rex Tillerson, a former oilman with extensive links to Qatar, learned of plans to invade the peninsula and stopped them.

As the weeks passed, Qatar’s hand was only strengthened. Turkish troops arrived in Doha to form a physical buffer. Iran gave Qatar the use of its airspace. The blockade could never work with an air bridge established around Saudi Arabia.

If anything, this unpleasant shock has strengthened Qatar. The same goes for Turkish and Iranian foreign policy

It took only months for Qatar to assemble a major lobbying operation in Washington, undoing or rolling back the influence of the principal lobbyist for the Saudis, the Emirati ambassador Youssef al-Otaiba, and establishing solid support of its own. US President Donald Trump did not even acknowledge that Qatar hosted the Pentagon’s most important airbase in the region, Al Udeid, when he tweeted his approval of the blockade in 2017. 

In the end, the Saudi prince overestimated Trump’s influence and underestimated the residual power of the US military. Both Tillerson and Mattis are long gone, but the pressure to reverse this mad act of recklessness never receded; it only grew with time.

With the imminent arrival of a hostile US president in Joe Biden, bin Salman sensed the time had come to put an end to his folly. Today, none of the 13 demands originally placed on Qatar by the blockading states have been met. Neither its hosting of members of the Muslim Brotherhood nor its foreign policy have changed. Al Jazeera has not been closed down. Qatar’s alliance with Iran and Turkey has, if anything, strengthened.

Domestically, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is held in higher esteem for his defence of the state than he was before, as Qatari nationalism has mounted. Qatar is more self-sufficient and confident than it was before the blockade. 

‘Qatar has won’

If anything, this unpleasant shock has strengthened Qatar. The same goes for Turkish and Iranian foreign policy.

“You could say Qatar has won,” Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a professor of politics in Dubai who was one of the foremost defenders of the blockade three years ago, told the Financial Times. “The cost of fighting was too high – there is a realisation now that this is the black sheep of the family and we just have to put up with it. These have been the worst three-and-a-half years in the history of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council].”This GCC show of unity can’t hide its weakness

But these conclusions are, for the moment, bin Salman’s alone. It is interesting to note who was absent from the display of brotherly love at the GCC summit on Tuesday. The no-show by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed came alongside the absence of Bahrain’s King Hamad and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Bahrain is in the midst of an increasingly bitter border dispute with Qatar, and Egypt remains sceptical about the whole enterprise. Mada Masr quoted Egyptian government sources as saying that Cairo does not see a sufficiently strong foundation to open a new page in relations with Doha. Qatar, they claimed, was still mounting a “methodological campaign aimed at the Egyptian regime”. 

The sources noted that none of the basic demands made of Qatar – closing down Al Jazeera, shuttering a Turkish military base, severing ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and reducing ties with Iran – had been met. It is too early to say whether this signals a fracturing of the counter-revolutionary forces that have held together since they paid for and installed Sisi as president of Egypt after a military coup in 2013.

Tensions over Yemen and Israel

Certainly, there are grounds for a bust-up between mentor bin Zayed and his protege, bin Salman. One is Yemen: who is really in charge of the Saudi-led intervention that bin Salman launched in March 2015 – the Saudis or the Emiratis? Militias funded by and loyal to the UAE have taken control of the south, leaving the Saudis with an unresolved war with the Houthis in the north.

A second source of tension is Israel. In spearheading normalisation with Israel, the Emiratis clearly pitched themselves as Tel Aviv’s principal Gulf partner. Otaiba’s boast that the UAE and Israel had the two most capable military forces in the region raised eyebrows in Riyadh and Cairo. 

The Israeli prime minster and the foreign ministers of the UAE and Bahrain participate in a signing ceremony for the Abraham Accords in Washington on 15 September (AFP)
The Israeli prime minster and the foreign ministers of the UAE and Bahrain participate in a signing ceremony for the Abraham Accords in Washington on 15 September 2020 (AFP)

Writing the first-ever op-ed by a Gulf diplomat for an Israeli newspaper, Otaiba boasted before normalisation took place last year: “With the region’s two most capable militaries, common concerns about terrorism and aggression, and a deep and long relationship with the United States, the UAE and Israel could form closer and more effective security cooperation. As the two most advanced and diversified economies in the region, expanded business and financial ties could accelerate growth and stability across the Middle East.”

The Emirati claim to be the principal partner of Israel could cause problems for the future king of Saudi Arabia. Another notable absentee from the GCC summit was the country’s current king, Salman.

Kingdom split

Al Jazeera’s coverage of the tumultuous events shaking the Arab world has waxed and waned. Even before the blockade, it did not, for instance, devote the same attention to the murderous bombardment of Yemen by Saudi warplanes as it did to the Egyptian revolution in 2011. 

While producers and reporters are freer to report than most of their contemporaries in the Saudi-, Emirati- and Egyptian-controlled media, the state of Qatar still has its hands on volume control. There are many examples, including the decision to downplay coverage of the trial of Loujain al-Hathloul, the prominent Saudi activist recently sentenced to five years and eight months in prison.

To deliver Saudi Arabia into the hands of Israel would represent a real prize to the alliance being built over and around the heads of Palestinians

Bin Salman could use this detente with Qatar to achieve two objectives: to announce his own recognition of Israel, and to persuade his father to abdicate and pass the crown to him.

There is no doubt that bin Salman thinks it is time to do both. From the very start of his campaign to become king, establishing close clandestine relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been key to bin Salman’s relationship with US presidential adviser Jared Kushner and his father-in-law, Trump. 

The kingdom is split from top to bottom on the issue of normalisation with Israel. Foreign-policy heavyweights in the family still publicly voice opposition, notably the former Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal. The king himself, to whom Prince Turki remains close, is also opposed, and the issue will have a strong impact on the Saudi people.

Future turmoil

One first step towards resolving this is to neutralise or turn down the volume of the Arab media that could run against bin Salman. This mainly comes from Qatar, which might explain why Kushner himself was present at the GCC summit.

For all the pain involved, the prize is great – and Biden, a committed Zionist, would welcome it. To deliver Saudi Arabia into the hands of Israel would represent a real prize to the alliance being built over and around the heads of Palestinians. Saudi Arabia remains, by dint of its size and wealth, a “real” Arab nation.

While the resolution of the crisis with Qatar is to be welcomed, the motives for doing so could lead to yet more turmoil in Arab world.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

This GCC show of unity can’t hide its weakness

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.

Filed under: Bahrain, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), House of Saud, Qatar, The Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey, United Arab Emirates UAE, Yemen | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The dark motives behind Saudi Arabia’s push for Gulf unity

Leaked Docs Expose Massive Syria Propaganda Operation Waged by Western Govt Contractors and Media

Posted on September 28, 2020 by martyrashrakat

Source

Leaked Docs Expose Massive Syria Propaganda Operation Waged by Western Govt Contractors and Media — Strategic Culture

September 26, 2020

Western government-funded intelligence cutouts trained Syrian opposition leaders, planted stories in media outlets from BBC to Al Jazeera, and ran a cadre of journalists. A trove of leaked documents exposes the propaganda network.

Ben NORTON

Leaked documents show how UK government contractors developed an advanced infrastructure of propaganda to stimulate support in the West for Syria’s political and armed opposition.

Virtually every aspect of the Syrian opposition was cultivated and marketed by Western government-backed public relations firms, from their political narratives to their branding, from what they said to where they said it.

The leaked files reveal how Western intelligence cutouts played the media like a fiddle, carefully crafting English- and Arabic-language media coverage of the war on Syria to churn out a constant stream of pro-opposition coverage.

US and European contractors trained and advised Syrian opposition leaders at all levels, from young media activists to the heads of the parallel government-in-exile. These firms also organized interviews for Syrian opposition leaders on mainstream outlets such as BBC and the UK’s Channel 4.

More than half of the stringers used by Al Jazeera in Syria were trained in a joint US-UK government program called Basma, which produced hundreds of Syrian opposition media activists.

Western government PR firms not only influenced the way the media covered Syria, but as the leaked documents reveal, they produced their own propagandistic pseudo-news for broadcast on major TV networks in the Middle East, including BBC Arabic, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, and Orient TV.

These UK-funded firms functioned as full-time PR flacks for the extremist-dominated Syrian armed opposition. One contractor, called InCoStrat, said it was in constant contact with a network of more than 1,600 international journalists and “influencers,” and used them to push pro-opposition talking points.

Another Western government contractor, ARK, crafted a strategy to “re-brand” Syria’s Salafi-jihadist armed opposition by “softening its image.” ARK boasted that it provided opposition propaganda that “aired almost every day on” major Arabic-language TV networks.

Virtually every major Western corporate media outlet was influenced by the UK government-funded disinformation campaign exposed in the trove of leaked documents, from the New York Times to the Washington Post, CNN to The Guardian, the BBC to Buzzfeed.

The files confirm reporting by journalists including The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal on the role of ARK, the US-UK government contractor, in popularizing the White Helmets in Western media. ARK ran the social media accounts of the White Helmets, and helped turn the Western-funded group into a key propaganda weapon of the Syrian opposition.

The leaked documents consist mainly of material produced under the auspices of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. All of the firms named in the files were contracted by the British government, but many also were running “multi-donor projects” that received funding from the governments of the United States and other Western European countries.

In addition to demonstrating the role these Western intelligence cutouts played in shaping media coverage, the documents shine light on the British government program to train and arm rebel groups in Syria.

Other materials show how London and Western governments worked together to build a new police force in opposition-controlled areas.

Many of these Western-backed opposition groups in Syria were extremist Salafi-jihadists. Some of the UK government contractors whose activities are exposed in these leaked documents were in effect supporting Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and its fanatical offshoots.

The documents were obtained by a group calling itself Anonymous, and were published under a series of files entitled, “Op. HMG [Her Majesty’s Government] Trojan Horse: From Integrity Initiative To Covert Ops Around The Globe. Part 1: Taming Syria.” The unidentified leakers said they aim to “expose criminal activity of the UK’s FCO and secret services,” stating, “We declare war on the British neocolonialism!”

The Grayzone was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the documents. However, the contents tracked closely with reporting on Western destabilization and propaganda operations in Syria by this outlet and many others.

UK Foreign Office and military wage media war on Syria

A leaked UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office report from 2014 reveals a joint operation with the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development to support “strategic communications, research, monitoring and evaluation and operational support to Syrian opposition entities.”

The UK FOC stated clearly that this campaign consisted of “creating network linkages between political movements and media outlets,” by the “building of local independent media platforms.”

The British government planned “Mentoring, training and coaching for enhanced delivery of media services, including digital and social media.”

Its goal was “to provide PR and media handling trainers, as well as technical staff, such as cameramen, webmasters and interpreters,” along with the “production of speeches, press releases and other media communications.”

An additional 2017 government document explains clearly how Britain funded the “selection, training, support and communications mentoring of Syrian activists who share the UK’s vision for a future Syria… and who will abide by a set of values that are consistent with UK policy.”

This initiative entailed British government funding “to support Syrian grassroots media activism within both the civilian and armed opposition spheres,” and was targeted at Syrians living in both “extremist and moderate” opposition-held territory.

In other words, the UK Foreign Office and military crafted plans to wage a comprehensive media war on Syria. To establish an infrastructure capable of managing the propaganda blitz, Britain paid a series of government contractors, including ARK, The Global Strategy Network (TGSN), Innovative Communication & Strategies (InCoStrat), and Albany.

The work of these firms overlapped, and some collaborated in their projects to cultivate the Syrian opposition.

Western government contractor ARK plays the media like the fiddle

One of the main British government contractors behind the Syria regime-change scheme was called ARK (Analysis Research Knowledge).

ARK FZC is based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. It brands itself as a humanitarian NGO, claiming it “was created in order to assist the most vulnerable,” by establishing a “social enterprise,  empowering local communities through the provision of agile and sustainable interventions to create greater stability, opportunity and hope for the future.”

In reality ARK is an intelligence cutout that functions as an arm of Western interventionism.

In a leaked document it filed with the British government, ARK said its “focus since 2012 has been delivering highly effective, politically-and conflict-sensitive Syria programming for the governments of the United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, Canada, Japan and the European Union.”

ARK boasted of overseeing $66 million worth of contracts to support pro-opposition efforts in Syria.

On its website, ARK lists all of these governments as clients, as well as the United Nations.

ARK contractor Syria UK US Australia Canada

In its Syria operations, ARK worked together with another UK contractor called The Global Strategy Network (TGSN), which is directed by Richard Barrett, a former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6.

ARK apparently had operatives on the ground inside Syria at the beginning of the regime-change attempt in 2011, reporting to the UK FCO that “ARK staff are in regular contact with activists and civil society actors whom they initially met during the outbreak of protests in spring 2011.”

The UK contractor boasted an “extensive network of civil society and community actors that ARK has helped through a dedicated capacity building centre ARK established in Gaziantep,” a city in southern Turkey that has been a base of intelligence operations against the Syrian government.

ARK played a central role in developing the foundations of the Syrian political opposition’s narrative. In one leaked document, the firm took credit for the “development of a core Syrian opposition narrative,” which was apparently crafted during a series of workshops with opposition leaders sponsored by the US and UK governments.

ARK trained all levels of the Syrian opposition in communications, from “citizen journalism workshops with Syrian media activists, to working with senior members of the National Coalition to develop a core communications narrative.”

The firm even oversaw the PR strategy for the Supreme Military Council (SMC), the leadership of the official armed wing of Syria’s opposition, the Free Syrian Army (FSA). ARK created a complex PR campaign to “provide a ‘re-branding’ of the SMC in order to distinguish itself from extremist armed opposition groups and to establish the image of a functioning, inclusive, disciplined and professional military body.”

ARK admitted that it sought to whitewash Syria’s armed opposition, which had been largely dominated by Salafi-jihadists, by “Softening the FSA Image.”

ARK contractor Syria soften FSA image

ARK took the lead in developing a massive network of opposition media activists in Syria, and openly took credit for inspiring protests inside the country.

In its training centers in Syria and southern Turkey, the Western government contractor reported, “More than 150 activists have been trained and equipped by ARK on topics from the basics of camera handling, lighting, and sound to producing reports, journalistic safety, online security, and ethical reporting.”

The firm flooded Syria with opposition propaganda. In just six months, ARK reported that 668,600 of its print products were distributed inside Syria, including “posters, flyers, informative booklets, activity books and other campaign-related materials.”

In one document spelling out the UK contractors’ communications operations in Syria, ARK and the British intelligence cutout TGSN boasted of overseeing the following media assets inside the country: 97 video stringers, 23 writers, 49 distributors, 23 photographers, 19 in-country trainers, eight training centers, three media offices, and 32 research officers.

ARK emphasized that it had “well-established contacts” with some of the top media outlets in the world, naming Reuters, the New York Times, CNN, the BBC, The Guardian, the Financial Times, The Times, Al Jazeera, Sky News Arabic, Orient TV, and Al Arabiya.

The UK contractor added, “ARK has provided regular branded and unbranded content to key pan-Arab and Syria-focused satellite TV channels such as Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, BBC Arabic, Orient TV, Aleppo Today, Souria al-Ghadd, and Souria al-Sha’ab since 2012.”

“ARK products promoting HMG (Her Majesty’s Government) priorities by fostering attitudinal and behavioural change are broadcast almost every day on pan-Arab channels,” the firm bragged. “In 2014, 20 branded and un-branded Syria reports were produced on average by ARK each month and broadcast on major pan-Arab television channels such as Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera, and Orient TV.”

“ARK has almost daily conversations with channels and weekly meetings to engage and understand editorial preferences,” the Western intelligence cutout said.

The firm also took credit for placing 10 articles per month in pan-Arab newspapers such as Al Hayat and Asharq Al-Awsat.

US-UK program Basma cultivates Syrian media activists

The Syrian opposition media war was organized within the framework of a project called Basma. ARK worked with other Western government contractors through Basma in order to train Syrian opposition activists.

With funding from both the US and UK governments, Basma developed into an enormously influential platform. Its Arabic Facebook page had over 500,000 followers, and on YouTube it built up a large following as well.

Mainstream corporate media outlets misleadingly portrayed Basma as a “Syrian citizen journalism platform,” or a “civil society group working for a ‘liberatory, progressive transition to a new Syria.’” In reality it was a Western government astroturfing operation to cultivate opposition propagandists.

Nine of the 16 stringers used by Al Jazeera in Syria were trained through the US/UK government’s Basma initiative, ARK boasted in a leaked document.

In an earlier report for the UK FCO, filed just three years into its work, ARK claimed to have “trained over 1,400 beneficiaries representing over 210 beneficiary organisations in more than 130 workshops, and disbursed more than 53,000 individual pieces of equipment,” in a vast network that reached “into all of Syria’s 14 governorates,” which included both opposition- and government-held areas.

ARK UK contractor Syria media map

The Western contractor published a map highlighting its network of stringers and media activists and their relationships with the White Helmets as well as newly created police forces across opposition-controlled Syria.

ARK UK contractor Syria opposition media map

In its trainings, ARK developed opposition spokespeople, taught them how to speak with the press, and then helped arrange interviews with mainstream Arabic- and English-language media outlets.

ARK described its strategy “to identify credible, moderate civilian governance spokespeople who will be promoted as go-to interlocutors for regional and international media. They will echo key messages linked to the coordinated local campaigns across all media, with consortium platforms able to cover this messaging as well and encourage other outlets to pick it up.”

In addition to working with the international press and cultivating opposition leaders, ARK helped develop a massive opposition media super-structure.

ARK said it was a “key implementer of a multi-donor effort to develop a network of FM radio stations and community magazines inside Syria since 2012.” The contractor worked with 14 FM stations and 11 magazines inside Syria, including both Arabic- and Kurdish-language radio.

To propagate opposition broadcasts across Syria, ARK designed what it called “Radio in a Box” (RIAB) kits in 2012. The firm took credit for providing equipment to 48 transmission sites.

ARK also circulated up to 30,000 magazines per month. It reported that “ARK-supported magazines were the three most popular in Aleppo City; the most popular magazine in Homs City; and the most popular magazine in Qamishli.”

A Syrian opposition propaganda outlet directly run by ARK, called Moubader, developed a huge following on social media, including more than 200,000 likes on Facebook. ARK printed 15,000 copies per month of a “high-quality hard copy” Moubader magazine and distributed it “across opposition-held areas of Syria.”

The British contractor TGSN, which worked alongside ARK, developed its own outlet called the “Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office (RFS),” a leaked document shows. This confirms a 2016 report in The Grayzone by contributor Rania Khalek, who obtained emails showing how the UK government-backed RFS media office offered to pay one journalist a staggering $17,000 per month to produce propaganda for Syrian rebels.

Another leaked record shows that in just one year, in 2018 – which was apparently the final year of ARK’s Syria program – the firm billed the UK government for a staggering 2.3 million British pounds.

This enormous ARK propaganda operation was directed by Firas Budeiri, who had previously served as the Syria director for the UK-based international NGO Save the Children.

40 percent of ARK’s Syria project team were Syrian citizens, and another 25 percent were Turkish. The firm said its Syria team staff had “extensive experience managing programmes and conducting research funded by many different governmental clients in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Turkey, the Palestinian Territories, Iraq and other conflict-affected states.”

Western contractor ARK cultivates White Helmets “to keep Syria in the news”

The Western contractor ARK was a central force in launching the White Helmets operation.

The leaked documents show ARK ran the Twitter and Facebook pages of Syria Civil Defense, known more commonly as the White Helmets.

ARK took credit for developing “an internationally-focused communications campaign designed to raise global awareness of the (White Helmets) teams and their life saving work.”

ARK also facilitated communications between the White Helmets and The Syria Campaign, a PR firm run out of London and New York that helped popularize the White Helmets in the United States.

It was apparently “following subsequent discussions with ARK and the teams” that The Syria Campaign “selected civil defence to front its campaign to keep Syria in the news,” the firm wrote in a report for the UK Foreign Office.

“With ARK’s guidance, TSC (The Syria Campaign) also attended ARK’s civil defence training sessions to create media content for its #WhiteHelmets campaign which launched in August 2014 and has since gone viral,” the Western contractor added.

In 2014, ARK produced a long-form documentary on the White Helmets, titled “Digging for Life,” which was repeatedly broadcast on Orient TV.

While it was running the White Helmets’ social media accounts, ARK bragged that it was boosting followers and views on the Facebook page for Idlib City Council.

The Syrian city of Idlib was taken over by al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, which then went on to publicly execute women who were accused of adultery.

While effectively aiding these al-Qaeda-aligned extremist groups, ARK and the British intelligence cutout TGSN also signed a document with the FCO hilariously pledging to follow “UK guidance on gender sensitivity” and “ensure gender is considered in all capacity building and campaign development.”

Setting the stage for lawfare on Syria

Another leaked document shows the Western government-backed firm ARK revealing that, back in 2011, it worked with another government contractor called Tsamota to help develop the Syrian Commission for Justice and Accountability (SCJA). In 2014, SCJA changed its name to the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA).

The Grayzone exposed CIJA as a Western government-funded regime-change organization whose investigators collaborated with al-Qaeda and its extremist allies in order to wage lawfare on the Syrian government.

ARK noted that the project initially worked “with seed funding from the UK Conflict Pool to support investigative and forensic training for Syrian war crimes investigators” and has since “grown to become a major component of Syria’s transitional justice architecture.”

Since the US, European Union, and their Middle East allies lost the military phase of their war on Syria, CIJA has taken the lead in trying to prolong the regime-change campaign through lawfare.

InCoStrat creates media network, helps them interview al-Qaeda

In the leaked documents, another UK government contractor called Innovative Communications Strategies (InCoStrat) boasted of building a massive “network of over 1600 journalists and key influencers with an interest in Syria.”

InCoStrat stressed that it was “managing and delivering a multi donor project in support of UK Foreign Policy objectives” in Syria, “specifically providing strategic communication support to the moderate armed opposition.”

Other funders of InCoStrat’s work with the opposition in Syria, the firm disclosed, included the US government, the United Arab Emirates, and anti-Assad Syrian businessmen.

InCoStrat served as a liaison between its government clients and the Syrian National Coalition, the Western-backed parallel government that the opposition tried to create. InCoStrat advised senior leaders of this Syrian shadow regime, and even ran the National Coalition’s own media office from Istanbul, Turkey.

The Western contractor took credit for organizing a 2014 BBC interview with Ahmad Jarba, the then-president of the opposition National Coalition.

The firm added that “journalists have often reached out to us in search of the appropriate people for their programmes.” As an example, InCoStrat said it helped plant its own Syrian opposition activists in BBC Arabic reports. The firm then added, “Once making the initial connections we encouraged the Syrians to maintain the relationships with the journalists in the BBC instead of using ourselves as the conduit.”

Like ARK, InCoStrat worked closely with the press. The firm said it had “extensive experience in engaging Arab and international news media,” adding that it worked directly with “heads of regional news in major satellite TV networks, press bureaus and print media.”

“Key members of InCoStrat have previously worked as Middle East correspondents for some of the world’s largest news agencies including Reuters,” the Western contractor added.

Also like ARK, InCoStrat established a vast media infrastructure. The firm set up Syrian opposition media offices in Dera’a, Syria; Istanbul and Reyhanli, Turkey; and Amman, Jordan.

InCoStrat worked with 130 stringers across Syria, and said it had more than 120 reporters working inside the country, along with “an additional five official spokesmen who appear several times a week on international and regional TV.”

InCoStrat also established eight FM radio stations and six community magazines across Syria.

The firm reported that it penetrated the armed opposition by developing “strong relationships with 54 brigade commanders in Syria’s southern front,” that involved “daily, direct engagement with the commanders and their officers inside Syria,” as well as defected officers Free Syrian Army (FSA) units in government-held Damascus.

In the leaked documents, InCoStrat boasted that its reporters organized interviews with many armed opposition militias, including the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.

Don’t just plants media stories; “initiate an event” to create your own scandals

In its media war on Damascus, InCoStrat pursued a two-pronged campaign that consisted of the following: “a) Guerrilla Campaign. Use the media to create the event. b) Guerrilla Tactics. Initiate an event to create the media effect.”

The intelligence cutout therefore sought to use the media as a weapon to advance tangible political demands of the Syrian opposition.

In one case, InCoStrat took credit for a successful international campaign to force the Syrian government to lift its siege of the extremist-held opposition stronghold of Homs. The Grayzone contributor Rania Khalek reported on the crisis in Homs, which was besieged by Damascus after the far-right Sunni fundamentalists that controlled it began carrying out sectarian massacres against religious minorities and kidnapping Alawite civilians.

“We connected international journalists with Syrians living in besieged Homs,” InCoStrat explained. It organized an interview between Britain’s Channel 4 and a doctor in the city, which helped raise international attention, ultimately leading to an end to the siege.

In another instance, the UK contractor said it “produced postcards, posters and reports” comparing the secular government of Bashar al-Assad to the fundamentalist Salafi-jihadists in ISIS. Then it “provided a credible, Arabic-English speaking Syrian spokesperson to engage the media.”

The campaign was very successful, according to InCoStrat: Al-Jazeera America and The National published the firm’s propaganda posters. The British contractor also organized interviews on the topic with The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The Guardian, The Times, Buzzfeed, Al-Jazeera, Suriya Al-Sham, and Orient.

InCoStrat Syrian opposition media Assad ISIS

After regime change comes Nation Building Inc.

InCoStrat has apparently been involved in numerous Western-backed regime-change operations.

In one leaked document, the firm said it helped to train civil society organizations in marketing, media, and communications in Afghanistan, Honduras, Iraq, Syria, and Libya. It even trained a team of anti-Saddam Hussein journalists inside Basra, Iraq after the joint US-UK invasion.

In addition to contracting for the United Kingdom, InCoStrat disclosed that it has worked for the governments of the United States, Singapore, Latvia, Sweden, Denmark, and Libya.

After NATO destroyed the Libyan state in a regime-change war in 2011, InCoStrat was brought in in 2012 to conduct similar communications work for the Libyan National Transitional Council, the Western-backed opposition that sought to take power.

Coordinating with extremist militias, cooking news to “reinforce the core narrative”

The leaked documents shed further light on a UK government contractor called Albany.

Albany boasted that it “secured the participation of an extensive local network of over 55 stringers, reporters and videographers” to influence media narratives and advance UK foreign policy interests.

The firm helped create an influential Syrian opposition media outfit called Enab Baladi. Founded in 2011 in the anti-Assad hub of Daraya, at the beginning of the war, Enab Baladi was aggressively marketed in the Western press as a grassroots Syrian media operation.

In reality, Enab Baladi was the product of a British contractor that took responsibility for its evolution “from an amateur-run entity into one of the most prominent Syrian media organizations.”

Albany also coordinated communications between opposition media outlets and extremist Islamist opposition groups by hiring an “engagement leader (who) has deep credibility with key groups including (north) Failaq ash-Sham, Jabha Shammiyeh, Jaysh Idleb al Hur, Ahrar ash-Sham, (center) Jaysh al Islam, Failaq al Rahman, and (south) Jaysh Tahrir.” Many of these militias were linked to al-Qaeda and are now recognized by the US Department of State and European governments as official terrorist groups.

Unlike other Western government contractors active in Syria, which often tried to feign a semblance of balance, Albany made it clear that its media reporting was nothing more than propaganda.

The firm admitted that it trained Syrian media activists in a unique “newsroom process” that called to “curate” news by “collecting and organising stories and content that support and reinforce the core narrative.”

In 2014, Albany boasted of running the Syrian National Coalition’s communications team at the Geneva Peace talks.

Albany also warned that revelations of Western government funding for these opposition media organizations that were being portrayed as grassroots initiatives would discredit them.

When internal emails were leaked showing that the massive opposition media platform Basma Syria was funded by the United States and Britain, Albany wrote, “the Basma brand has been compromised following leaks about funding project aims.”

The leaks on social media “have damaged the credibility and trustworthiness of the existing branded platform,” Albany wrote. “Credibility and trust are the key currencies of the activities envisaged and for this reason we consider it essential to refresh the approach if the content to be disseminated is to have effect.” The Basma website was taken down soon after.

These files provide clear insight into how the Syrian opposition was cultivated by Western governments with imperial designs on Damascus, and was kept afloat with staggering sums of cash that flowed from the pockets of British taxpayers – often to the benefit of fanatical militiamen allied with Al Qaeda.

While Dutch prosecutors prepare war crimes charges against the Syrian government for fighting off the onslaught, the leaked files are a reminder of the leading role that Western states and their war-profiteering companies played in the carefully organized destruction of the country.

thegrayzone.comThe views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.

Filed under: Al Qaeda, Britain, Syria, Takfiris, War on Syria, Western Imperialism, Western Propaganda, Western Zionists | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Leaked Docs Expose Massive Syria Propaganda Operation Waged by Western Govt Contractors and Media

Coronavirus Color-Revolution: California Declares Nation Statehood as Trump Moves to Quell ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’

Posted on April 25, 2020 by martyrashrakat
Coronavirus Color-Revolution: California Declares Nation Statehood ...

Joaquin Flores April 24, 2020

Bloomberg published a stunning piece on April 9th promoting the secession of California from the U.S., in an op-ed by Francis Wilkinson titled Gavin Newsom Declares California a ‘Nation-State’, which resurrected John C. Calhoun in a neo-confederate argument favoring nullification.

Bloomberg is part a strategy to prevent Trump from a second term by way of legal means (election), and has now brought to the fore the spectre of secession or nullification. This does not mean we should normally expect some announcement by Governor Newsom that ‘The California Republic is an independent nation-state ’. Yet amazingly, it has been almost verbatim said in this way.

The Bloomberg article details how California Governor Newsom has begun using that term and also related legal constructions in discussing how California will manage the coronavirus response on its own.

Imagine an alternate timeline where Trump denied there was a significant threat posed by the coronavirus and adjusted policy to reflect that. After all, the mortality rate appeared very low compared to the infection rate. Then imagine that governors Cuomo and Newsom behaved similarly to how we’ve seen them perform over the past month or so. In fact, their behavior makes even more sense in our hypothetical, alternate reality. But imagine if their punches could land because there was some semblance of a reality that could support the barrage.

As we have made the point to communicate numerous times, 25% of Americans would like their state to secede from the United States peacefully.

In the Event 201 exercise which appears to have been made public on YouTube, the situation of Arab Springs being a result of political blow-back from coronavirus measures, is discussed briefly using the precise phrase ‘Arab Spring’. Dealing with destabilization and messaging in that context, consumes most of the last several stages of the simulation conducted in October 2019.

Those already familiar with the Arab Spring phenomenon as intentionally created ‘Color Revolutions’, will understand the connection between what appear as ‘bottom-up’ or grass-roots activism being coordinated covertly with dual-power structures within a country which is being targeted for regime-change. Given that the original Arab Spring was not only a Color Revolution, but used the ‘too-big-to-fail’ bailout money in 2008 to corner a market on perishable goods – prices affecting targeted countries were jacked-up, causing bread-riots and public protests. Regime-change was rarely a demand of protests, rather these related to the price of food. Foreign media like CNN and Al-Jazeera appeared to put words in the mouths of protestors and talked of revolution.

The take-away point here is that the ‘original’ Arab Spring was a concocted development, and so references to these in what many see in Event 201 as a descriptor of allegedly ‘concocted’ events now underway, as Mike Pompeo quipped is a ‘live exercise’, are quite apt. Because these are not simply matters of what we might read into the Event 201 proceedings, but how those involved in the event understood themselves and each other.

Having seen the repeated attempts to nullify the outcome of the 2016 election raises serious questions about the scope of the aims of the current presidency. The current president seems to provoke a highly unusual, extra-partisan and extra-political conflict that occurs no more than two or three times in a century, where it seems that sacrosanct geopolitical allegiances and long-reaching security policies risk being overturned. In our alternate time-line, we may see California moving further on the secession road and Joe Biden ‘talking sense and unity’ to California ‘President’ Newsom.

Bloomberg Hails Calhoun’s Nullification Argument

Here are some of the key fragments from the article which are particularly revealing:

<<The implications for the brewing civil war … .>>

<<…California “as a nation-state”>>

<<“Nation-state.” “Export”.>>

<<At some point this civil war by other means >>

<<Federalism has always had rough spots, but conflict is rising and resolutions are not>>

<<From Fort Sumter […], the blueprint for states opposing federal control has a recurring theme.>>

<<John C. Calhoun, who used the theory of states’ rights to defend the institution of slavery, […] Calhoun’s theory of nullification, which posited that states have the power to defy federal law, could be ripe for a comeback on the left coast. With the heirs of the Confederacy now reigning in Washington, turnabout might be very fair play.>>

We could also point to either the daily coronavirus press conferences headed by New York Governor Cuomo which have been broadcast nationally – positioning Cuomo as a sort of ‘anti-Trump’ or ‘alternate president’ – or we could point to the Atlantic’s fair treatment of the Texas secession movement in December of 2019. That piece deserves our attention, because it pins both the Texas and California secession movements as having had some Russian attention. The leader of the Texas movement makes an apology for having gone to Russia and attended a conference relating to Texas secession.

That part is critical in terms of a broader strategy being used now against the American president. This is one where ostensibly foreign tactics used in fourth-generation warfare (4GW) to destabilize power in the U.S., or alternatively, 4GW tactics used by the U.S. to destabilize a foreign power – can be used also by a power-structure from within the U.S. to destabilize a particular and opposing other vector in the same country – in this case, the presidency.

In a piece I authored at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace when such a tactic was tried and failed in Armenia, in what was called the ‘Electric Yerevan’, we explain how 4GW uses thousands of years-old hybrid warfare tactics combined with Baudrillardian hyper-reality simulation, and Freudian psychoanalysis to manipulate mass psychology. These are adapted to Gene Sharp and his student Srdjan Popovic’s developments on some of the ideas of Saul Alinksy on Color Revolution. With a federal government unresponsive to a public which is increasingly panicked over life and death questions, such as for example Covid-19, then a combination of conscious and subconscious themes are visible, leading towards destabilization and, in this case, secession.

But how could such a potentially foreign-backed project like California (or Texas) seceding from the United States operate under the radar screen of the NSA?

In short: insulating a country from foreign destabilization campaigns would reasonably involve taking over leadership of those campaigns. This means that intelligence would involve more than observation and intel gathering, but would also involve leading the organization – assumedly to frustration. But such an endeavor would equally well serve as a cover for actually operating the secession campaign towards success, if the aim was for the operating power-structure to leverage it against an opposing other vector such as the Trump presidency.

This is how the U.S. intel was able to explain-away organizing, recruiting, and administering aspects of the Al Qaeda/ISIS project when journalists or intel officers without a need to know, would encounter evidence that this was indeed occurring.

What we can understand from this Bloomberg piece in the broader context to be discussed in brief, is that this secessionist article is a fragment or artifact of another possible reality that appears to have been planned.

Trump’s Counter-Strategy

Trump showed signs as late as the end of February that he would continue to deny the reality of Covid-19 by calling some aspect of the public hype around it a DNC hoax, as we already h ad. In so doing, his political line was apparently predicted by the Deep State actors whom we may call team nullification. It seemed that Prime Minister Johnson’s ‘herd immunity’ approach and Brazil’s Bolsonaro’s  ‘hands-off’ attitude would soon be mirrored by Russia. Given that Russia now has just 47,000 cases and just three-hundred and sixty related deaths, and this is following a variation of the ‘internationally accepted’, symptoms-only method of determining Covid-19 (without an anti-bodies test), it would have made sense back then that Russia would down-play coronavirus following more realistic projections, if it would have the adverse effect of compounding economic woes and create problems for Putin.

Just as the tanking of the economy would work against Trump, the coronavirus pandemic appeared a ‘lose-lose’ scenario for him provided that the public had a restored confidence in mainstream media reporting, stemming from its handling of the epidemic, which could be weaponized against Trump. In other words, Americans would listen to the media and what the WHO said, as orchestrated by team nullification, and lay serious blame on the ‘science-denying right-wing’ of Trump, Bolsonaro, Johnson, and Putin.

That’s why the pre-coronavirus attacks on Trump as a ‘science-denier’ had much farther reaching designs than simply a manufactured public debate with Greta Thunberg over global warming. Remember that in the film Contagion it is deforestation that causes a bat to take residence at a pig-farm, where the novel coronavirus is born.

What happened as things played out? Bolsonaro stayed with his version, and was ultimately removed from actual power by the military. This serves as a critical reminder by itself of what our ‘alternate timeline’ may have had in store for Trump, if we consider the ramifications of California making bolder moves to secede. Boris Johnson apparently became so ill that he ‘saw the light’ and changed UK policy towards a strict quarantine.

Putin, however, never went for the predicted script and instead used the very low numbers relating to covid-19 to nevertheless issue a quarantine. This was a policy that somehow dovetailed with Trump’s, and was interestingly reinforced in the aftermath of their widely discussed phone call.

History as told through FOIA may someday reveal what team nullification, pairing up with never-Trumper Bill Gates, may have tried to pull off. It really brings us back to Pompeo’s statement.  More to the point what he knew – when he knew it was a live exercise, and under what conditions it was discovered, planned, or allowed to play out – and to what degree. ‘Deep State’ Department Mike is an interesting being who can appear to act as a diplomat and consensus builder on policy between the Deep State and Trump.

Trump bucked the probable response model that team nullification planned around. Instead he was very available to the needs of New York and California, and he approached his media strategy with three precise attacks.

One, he made a commercial showing various state leaders including Cuomo and Newsom thanking the president for his availability and the scope of his response. This is shown in contrast with recent attacks disputing that the president has the authority to ‘open the country’.

Two, he made a press-conference video showing how it was the WHO themselves who initially down-played the threat. This particular part shines in brilliance because leading up to and after Easter weekend, the vast majority of Trump supporters are what the mainstream media will no doubt soon be calling ‘covid-deniers’. This seemed to be leading up to some big announcement right after Easter from Trump that Covid-19 was a hoax, and attack WHO and defund it. But instead he was able to justify defunding WHO and bucking their predictive model, by showing how they underestimated the impact of the novel coronavirus.

Three, he took to twitter and openly called out the Newsom/Cuomo ‘mutiny’.Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

Tell the Democrat Governors that “Mutiny On The Bounty” was one of my all time favorite movies. A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy!162KTwitter Ads info and privacy110K people are talking about this

None of these three moves happened randomly the week after Easter, but rather were aimed at countering moves on team nullification and on the part of Newsom and Cuomo, to declare that the president did not have authority over the states. This all happened immediately during the week of April 13th, and so the timing of the April 9th Bloomberg piece preparing the public for pro-secessionist talking points, was not random. Almost nothing is random.

While we enter May with an in-tact government, future transpiring events will no doubt become ‘interestinger and interestinger’ as we venture further down the rabbit hole.

Filed under: American Empire, Corona virus, Russia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Coronavirus Color-Revolution: California Declares Nation Statehood as Trump Moves to Quell ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’

السعوديّة تفشل مجدّداً في تثبيت زعامتها الخليجيّة!

Posted on February 15, 2020 by martyrashrakat


د. وفيق إبراهيم

الحصار الرباعي الذي أرادت منه السعودية خنق امارة قطر منذ العام 2017، فشل في إنجاز مهامه فالمباحثات بين البلدين وصلت منذ أيام عدة الى حائط مسدود، لذلك واصل الرباعي السعودي المصري الإماراتي والبحريني قطع كامل علاقاته مع قطر مشدداً عليها حصاراً برياً قوياً خانقاً وسياسياً لا يبدو أنه شديد التأثير حتى الآن.

لماذا لم تنجح مباحثات آل سعود مع آل تميم؟ الواضح من المطالب السعودية أنها ترمي الى مصادرة العلاقات الخارجية لقطر بكاملها باستثناء كل ما له علاقة بالأميركيين.

ما جعل مطالب السعوديين تبدأ من وقف قناة الجزيرة وكامل التحريض الإعلامي القطري الذي يستهدف الرياض وتحالفاتها من محطات محلية وأخرى تموّلها قطر في الإقليم العربي والدولي وهي كثيرة.

أما المطلب الثاني فيأمر بإقفال القواعد العسكرية التركية في قطر وسحب كامل العسكريين الأجانب منها باستثناء قاعدة العديد الأميركية وبعض الانتشار الأميركي في مناطق استراتيجية من الدوحة.

لجهة المطلب الثالث فيريد وقف قطر أي علاقة لها بالاخوان المسلمين في العالم بأسره ولكل أنواع الإرهاب، فيما يختم المطلب الرابع لائحة شروط المحور الرباعي بضرورة خفض علاقات دولة قطر بإيران.

كيف يمكن تفسير الأهداف السعودية من هذه الشروط؟

للتنبيه فقط فإن علاقات قطر العسكرية مع تركيا تعود الى عام ونصف فقط ولم تكن موجودة قبل حصارها في 2017، كذلك فإن علاقاتها بإيران تحسنت بعد استهدافها من الحصار الرباعي، وخصوصاً السعودي المحاذي لها من حدود برية حصرية لا تملك غيرها، فكان الانفتاح ذو الطبيعة الاقتصادية على ايران التي شكلت منفذها الوحيد لاستيراد استهلاكها الغذائي والحياتي والطبي ومعظم ما تستورده.

لقد انحصرت علاقاتها بإيران ضمن الإطار الاقتصادي من دون أي تغيير على المستوى السياسي، ويبدو أن الأميركيين تابعوا الانفتاح القطري على إيران ولم ينزعجوا منه، وربما أيدوه لأسباب تتعلق بالوجود العسكري الاميركي في قطر وعدم ممانعتهم من تطور الصراع السعودي القطري سياسياً لأنهم يريدون تعميم حالة الضعف الشديد على كل دول المنطقة.

ما يهمّ هنا من القراءة الدقيقة لمطالب السعودية الكشف انها تشكلت بعد الحصار وليس قبله باستثناء دعم الإرهاب، باعتبار أن الرئيس السابق اوباما وكثيراً من السياسيين الأميركيين والأوروبيين اعترفوا بأن دعم المنظمات التكفيرية في الشرق الاوسط تولّته السعودية وقطر والإمارات وتركيا بتكليف أميركي، فكيف تتهم السعودية قطر بدعم الإرهابيين فيما تؤكد كل التحقيقات أن داعش هي من سلالة القاعدة التي أسستها المخابرات السعودية في سبعينيات القرن الماضي وأرسلتها بمساعدة المخابرات الأميركية الى افغانستان ولاحقاً الى العراق مروراً بسورية وصولاً الى ليبيا ودول أخرى.

اذا كانت هذه المطالب جديدة، فما هي الاسباب الفعلية للخلاف السعودي القطري باعتبار ان مصر والبحرين والأمارات ناوأت قطر لتأييد الرياض فقط.

لا سيما أن آل سعود يعرفون أن الإعلام ملك مموّله فما أن تعود الامور الى طبيعتها بين البلدين حتى تنظم قناة الجزيرة ومثيلاتها شعراً في آل سعود ودواوين في السيسي وخليفة البحرين وآل زايد الإماراتيين.

المشكلة إذاً متموضعة في مكان آخر يعكس محاولة قطرية منذ مرحلة الأمير السابق خليفة لبناء حيثية خارجية لبلاده تتحرّر فيها من وصايات آل سعود، وهذا معناه أن قطر تحاول استعمال علاقاتها بالاخوان والأتراك والتأييد الاميركي لها لنصب زعامة لها في الخليج أولاً وفي العالمين العربي والاسلامي في مراحل لاحقة.

لكن هذا غير ممكن، من دون حليف قويّ، فكانت تركيا الدولة الإقليمية و»الاخوان» التنظيم الاممي وايران المنفذ الاقتصادي.

وبما ان علاقة الدوحة تعود الى اكثر من عقد ونصف العقد من الزمن مع الاخوان المسلمين اي منذ اندلاع الاضطرابات في الشرق الأوسط وبرعاية اميركية كاملة، فكان من الطبيعي أن تحلم بزعامة إقليمية خصوصاً أنها من كبار موزعي الاموال في المنطقة بإيحاء اميركي أو بغض طرف مقصود.

هذا ما فهمه السعوديون من النشاط القطري الإقليمي وتعاونهم مع الاخوان المسلمين وتركيا. والملاحظ هنا ان اشارتهم الى ايران في مباحثاتهم مع قطر ترد من دون إصرار عليها لأنهم يعرفون ان وقف الحصار عليها يذهب تلقائياً نحو عودة قطر الى استعمال المنفذ البري السعودي لتأمين مستهلكاتها.

لذلك يجد المتمعن في حروف الأوامر السعودية انها تريد نسف الصعود التركي في العالم الإسلامي لسببين: الاول انها تعتبر بلدها زعيمة العالم الإسلامي ولا تقبل بأي منافسة تركية مدعومة قطرياً؛ أما السبب الثاني فخوفها من انتشار عقيدة الاخوان المسلمين المناهضة للوهابية السعودية. وهذا ما تخشاه الامارات والبحرين، لكن لمصر إرهاباً قوياً من الاخوان المسلمين الأقوياء في مصر ما يبين مدى الرعب من الاخوان الأمميين الذين يعتبرون أنفسهم اهم قوة في العالم الإسلامي ويسعون لجمعه في اطار يقوده خليفة منهم وهذا يتطلب سقوط مملكة آل سعود والبحرين وإمارة آل زايد وجمهورية «السيسي ملك الرز».

ماذا تستفيد قطر من انتصار الاخوان؟

ما يهمّ آل تميم هو سقوط آل سعود فيصبحون على الفور دولة مهمة خليجياً وإسلامياً وبما أن تركيا بلد إسلامي غير عربي، فإن آل تميم متعمقون في قراءة الصعوبات التي تعترض طريق قيادتهم للعالم الإسلامي ويحتاجون لشرعية عربية، تجد قطر نفسها مؤهلة لأداء دور الصدر الأعظم في دولة السلطان أردوغان الاول.

للإشارة فقط، فإن كامل هذه الصراعات تندلع داخل عباءة الأميركيين وليس خارجها، ما يجعلها عرضة للابتزاز من الأميركيين في كل لحظة، لذلك يسمحون باستمرار الى اجل لا احد يعرف مدته إلا الادارة الاميركية.

قطر والسعودية إلى أين؟ يتصارعان على وهم ليس لهم بل لمعلمهم الأميركي فيبدوان كمن يكتب التاريخ بلا قلم مبدداً جغرافيا غنية بمصادر الوقود من أجل اوهام ليست حاضرة إلا في أذهان ضحاياها.

Filed under: Al Qaeda, Bahrain, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), House of Saud, ISIS – Daesh, Qatar, The Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey, United Arab Emirates UAE, USA | Tagged: , , | Comments Off on السعوديّة تفشل مجدّداً في تثبيت زعامتها الخليجيّة!

The US-NATO-Israel Sponsored Al Qaeda Insurgency in Syria. Who Was Behind the 2011 “Protest Movement”?

Posted on December 16, 2019 by martyrashrakat

It Started in Daraa on March 17, 2011

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, December 14, 2019
Global Research 3 May 2011

Almost nine years since the beginning of the war on Syria in March 2011, so-called progressives have supported the so-called opposition, which is largely made up of Al Qaeda affiliated mercenaries.  A US-NATO led war of aggression is portrayed as a “civil war”.

President Bashar Al Assad is casually described as a dictator who is killing his own people. The millions of deaths resulting from US-NATO led wars are not an object of concern.

The anti-war movement died in the wake of the Iraq war (April 2003). Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and counterterrorism prevail.

The war on Syria started more than nine years ago in Daraa  on the 17th of March 2011.

The following article first published in May 2011 examines the inception of the jihadist terrorist insurgency.

It recounts the events of March 17-18, 2011 in Daraa, a small border town with Jordan. 

Media reports have finally acknowledged that the so-called “protest movement” in Syria was instigated by Washington. This was known and documented from the very inception of the Syrian crisis in March 2011.

It was not a protest movement, it was an armed insurgency integrated by US-Israeli and allied supported “jihadist” death squads? 

From Day One, the Islamist “freedom fighters” were supported, trained and equipped by NATO and Turkey’s High Command. According to Israeli intelligence sources (Debka, August 14, 2011): 

NATO headquarters in Brussels and the Turkish high command are meanwhile drawing up plans for their first military step in Syria, which is to arm the rebels with weapons for combating the tanks and helicopters spearheading the Assad regime’s crackdown on dissent. … NATO strategists are thinking more in terms of pouring large quantities of anti-tank and anti-air rockets, mortars and heavy machine guns into the protest centers for beating back the government armored forces. (DEBKAfile, NATO to give rebels anti-tank weapons, August 14, 2011) 

This initiative, which was also supported by Saudi Arabia the UAE and Qatar, involved a process of organized recruitment of thousands of jihadist “freedom fighters”, reminiscent of  the enlistment of  Mujahideen to wage the CIA’s jihad (holy war) in the heyday of the Soviet-Afghan war: 

Also discussed in Brussels and Ankara, our sources report, is a campaign to enlist thousands of Muslim volunteers in Middle East countries and the Muslim world to fight alongside the Syrian rebels. The Turkish army would house these volunteers, train them and secure their passage into Syria. (Ibid, emphasis added)

These mercenaries were subsequently integrated into US and allied sponsored terrorist organizations including Al Nusrah and ISIS. 

The Daraa “protest movement” on March 17-18 had all the appearances of a staged event involving covert support to Islamic terrorists by Mossad and/or Western intelligence.

Government sources pointed to the role of radical Salafist groups (supported by Israel).

In chorus, the Western media described the events in Daraa as a protest movement against Bashar Al Assad.

In a bitter irony, the deaths of policemen were higher than those of “demonstrators”.

In Daraa, roof top snipers were targeting both police and demonstrators.

Reading between the lines of Israeli and Lebanese news reports (which acknowledge the police deaths) a clearer picture of what happened in Daraa on March 17-18 had emerged. The Israel National News Report (which can not be accused of being biased in favor of Bashar al Assad) confirmed that:

“Seven police officers and at least four demonstrators in Syria have been killed in continuing violent clashes that erupted in the southern town of Daraa last Thursday. … and the Baath Party Headquarters and courthouse were torched, in renewed violence on Sunday. (Gavriel Queenann, Syria: Seven Police Killed, Buildings Torched in Protests, Israel National News, Arutz Sheva, March 21, 2011, emphasis added)

The Lebanese news report also acknowledged the killings of seven policemen in Daraa.

[They were killed] “during clashes between the security forces and protesters… They got killed trying to drive away protesters during demonstration in Dara’a”

The Lebanese Ya Libnan report quoting Al Jazeera also acknowledged that protesters had “burned the headquarters of the Baath Party and the court house in Dara’a” (emphasis added)

These news reports of the events in Daraa confirmed that from the very outset this was not a “peaceful protest” as claimed by the Western media.

Moreover, from an assessment of the initial casualty figures (Israel News), there were more policemen than “demonstrators” who were killed.

This is significant because it suggests that the police force may have initially been outnumbered by a well organized armed gang of professional killers.

What was clear from these initial reports is that many of the demonstrators were not demonstrators but terrorists involved in premeditated acts of killing and arson.

The title of the Israeli news report summarized what happened: Syria: Seven Police Killed, Buildings Torched in Protest

The US-NATO-Israel agenda consisted in supporting an Al Qaeda affiliated insurgency integrated by death squads and professional snipers. President Bashar al Assad is then to be blamed for killing his own people. 

Does it Sound familiar? 

The same “false flag” strategy of killing innocent civilians was used during the Ukraine Maidan protest movement.  On February 20th, 2014, professional snipers were shooting at both demonstrators and policemen with a view to accusing president Viktor Yanukovych of “mass murder.”

It was subsequently revealed that these snipers were controlled by the opponents of president Yanukovych, who are now part of the coalition government. 

The “humanitarian mandate” of the US and its allies is sustained by diabolical “false flag” attacks which consist in killing civilians with a view to breaking the legitimacy of governments which refuse to abide by the diktats of Washington and its allies.

Michel Chossudovsky, March 17, 2019, December 14, 2019

SYRIA: Who is Behind The Protest Movement? Fabricating a Pretext for a US-NATO “Humanitarian Intervention”

by Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, May 3, 2011

There is evidence of gross media manipulation and falsification from the outset of the protest movement in southern Syria on March 17th [2011].

The Western media has presented the events in Syria as part of the broader Arab pro-democracy protest movement, spreading spontaneously from Tunisia, to Egypt, and from Libya to Syria.

Media coverage has focussed on the Syrian police and armed forces, which are accused of indiscriminately shooting and killing unarmed “pro-democracy” demonstrators. While these police shootings did indeed occur, what the media failed to mention is that among the demonstrators there were armed gunmen as well as snipers who were shooting at both the security forces and the protesters.

The death figures presented in the reports are often unsubstantiated. Many of the reports are “according to witnesses”. The images and video footages aired on Al Jazeera and CNN do not always correspond to the events which are being covered by the news reports.

Alawite Map

There is certainly cause for social unrest and mass protest in Syria: unemployment has increased in recent year, social conditions have deteriorated, particularly since the adoption in 2006 of sweeping economic reforms under IMF guidance. The IMF’s “economic medicine” includes austerity measures, a freeze on wages, the deregulation of the financial system, trade reform and privatization.

(See IMF  Syrian Arab Republic — IMF Article IV Consultation Mission’s Concluding Statement, http://www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2006/051406.htm, 2006)

While Syria is [2011] no “model society” with regard to civil rights and freedom of expression, it nonetheless constitutes the only (remaining) independent secular state in the Arab world. Its populist, anti-Imperialist and secular base is inherited from the dominant Baath party, which integrates Muslims, Christians and Druze.

Moreover, in contrast to Egypt and Tunisia, in Syria there is considerable popular support for President Bashar Al Assad. The large rally in Damascus on March 29, “with tens of thousands of supporters” (Reuters) of President Al Assad is barely mentioned. Yet in an unusual twist, the images and video footage of several pro-government events were used by the Western media to convince international public opinion that the President was being confronted by mass anti-government rallies.

Tens of thousands of Syrians gather for a pro-government rally at the central
bank square in Damascus March 29, 2011. (Reuters Photo)

Syrians display a giant national flag with a picture of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad during a
pro-government rally at the central bank square in Damascus March 29, 2011. (Reuters Photo)

The “Epicenter” of the Protest Movement. Daraa: A Small Border Town in southern Syria

What is the nature of the protest movement? From what sectors of Syrian society does it emanate? What triggered the violence?

What is the cause of the deaths?

The existence of an organized insurrection composed of armed gangs involved in acts of killing and arson has been dismissed by the Western media, despite evidence to the contrary.

The demonstrations  did not start in Damascus, the nation’s capital. At the outset, the protests were not integrated by a mass movement of citizens in Syria’s capital.

The demonstrations started in Daraa, a small border town of 75,000 inhabitants, on the Syrian Jordanian border, rather than in Damascus or Aleppo, where the mainstay of organized political opposition and social movements are located. (Daraa is a small border town comparable e.g. to Plattsburgh, NY on the US-Canadian border).

The Associated Press report (quoting unnamed “witnesses” and “activists”) describes the early protests in Daraa as follows:

The violence in Daraa, a city of about 300,000 near the border with Jordan, was fast becoming a major challenge for President Bashar Assad, …. Syrian police launched a relentless assault Wednesday on a neighborhood sheltering anti-government protesters [Daraa], fatally shooting at least 15 in an operation that began before dawn, witnesses said.

At least six were killed in the early morning attack on the al-Omari mosque in the southern agricultural city of Daraa, where protesters have taken to the streets in calls for reforms and political freedoms, witnesses said. An activist in contact with people in Daraa said police shot another three people protesting in its Roman-era city center after dusk. Six more bodies were found later in the day, the activist said.

As the casualties mounted, people from the nearby villages of Inkhil, Jasim, Khirbet Ghazaleh and al-Harrah tried to march on Daraa Wednesday night but security forces opened fire as they approached, the activist said. It was not immediately clear if there were more deaths or injuries. (AP, March 23, 2011, emphasis added)

The AP report inflates the numbers: Daraa is presented as a city of 300,000 when in fact its population is 75,000;  “protesters gathered by the thousands”, “casualties mounted”.

The report is silent on the death of policemen which in the West invariably makes the front page of the tabloids.

The deaths of the policemen are important in assessing what actually happened. When there are police casualties, this means that there is an exchange of gunfire between opposing sides, between policemen and “demonstrators”.

Who are these “demonstrators” including roof top snipers who were targeting the police.

Israeli and Lebanese news reports (which acknowledge the police deaths) provide a clearer picture of what happened in Daraa on March 17-18. The Israel National News Report (which cannot be accused of being biased in favor of Damascus) reviews these same events as follows:

Seven police officers and at least four demonstrators in Syria have been killed in continuing violent clashes that erupted in the southern town of Daraa last Thursday.

…. On Friday police opened fire on armed protesters killing four and injuring as many as 100 others. According to one witness, who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity, “They used live ammunition immediately — no tear gas or anything else.”

…. In an uncharacteristic gesture intended to ease tensions the government offered to release the detained students, but seven police officers were killed, and the Baath Party Headquarters and courthouse were torched, in renewed violence on Sunday. (Gavriel Queenann, Syria: Seven Police Killed, Buildings Torched in Protests, Israel National News, Arutz Sheva, March 21, 2011, emphasis added)

The Lebanese news report, quoting various sources, also acknowledges the killings of seven policemen in Daraa: They were killed  “during clashes between the security forces and protesters… They got killed trying to drive away protesters during demonstration in Dara’a” 

The Lebanese Ya Libnan report quoting Al Jazeera also acknowledged that protesters had “burned the headquarters of the Baath Party and the court house in Dara’a”  (emphasis added)

These news reports of the events in Daraa confirm the following:

1. This was not a “peaceful protest” as claimed by the Western media. Several of the “demonstrators” had fire arms and were using them against the police:  “The police opened fire on armed protesters killing four”.

2. From the initial casualty figures (Israel News), there were more policemen than demonstrators who were killed:  7 policemen killed versus 4 demonstrators. This is significant because it suggests that the police force might have been initially outnumbered by a well organized armed gang. According to Syrian media sources, there were also snipers on rooftops which were shooting at both the police and the protesters.

What is clear from these initial reports is that many of the demonstrators were not demonstrators but terrorists involved in premeditated acts of killing and arson. The title of the Israeli news report summarizes what happened:  Syria: Seven Police Killed, Buildings Torched in Protests.  The title suggests that the “demonstrators” rather than the police had the upper hand.

The Daraa “protest movement” on March 18 had all the appearances of a staged event involving, in all likelihood, covert support to Islamic terrorists by Mossad and/or Western intelligence. Government sources point to the role of radical Salafist groups (supported by Israel)

Other reports have pointed to the role of Saudi Arabia in financing the protest movement.

What has unfolded in Daraa in the weeks following the initial violent clashes on 17-18 March, is the confrontation between the police and the armed forces on the one hand and armed units of terrorists and snipers on the other which had infiltrated the protest movement.

Reports suggest that these terrorists are integrated by Islamists. There is no concrete evidence as to which Islamic organizations are behind the terrorists and the government has not released corroborating information as to who these groups are.

Both the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (whose leadership is in exile in the UK) and the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Liberation), among others have paid lip service to the protest movement. Hizb ut Tahir (led in the 1980s by Syrian born Omar Bakri Muhammad) tends to “dominate the British Islamist scene” according to Foreign Affairs. Hizb ut Tahir is also considered to be of strategic importance to Britain’s Secret Service MI6. in the pursuit of Anglo-American interests in the Middle East and Central Asia. (Is Hizb-ut-Tahrir another project of British MI6? | State of Pakistan).

 

Syria is a secular Arab country, a society of religious tolerance, where Muslims and Christians have for several centuries lived in peace. Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Liberation) is a radical political movement committed to the creation of an Islamic caliphate. In Syria, its avowed objective is to destabilize the secular state.

Since the Soviet-Afghan war, Western intelligence agencies as well as Israel’s Mossad have consistently used various Islamic terrorist organizations as “intelligence assets”. Both Washington and its indefectible British ally have provided covert support to “Islamic terrorists” in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and Libya, etc. as a means to triggering ethnic strife, sectarian violence and political instability.

The staged protest movement in Syria is modelled on Libya. The insurrection in Eastern Libya is integrated by the Libya Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) which is supported by MI6 and the CIA. The ultimate objective of the Syria protest movement, through media lies and fabrications, is to create divisions within Syrian society as well as justify an eventual “humanitarian intervention”.

Armed Insurrection in Syria

An armed insurrection integrated by Islamists and supported covertly by Western intelligence is central to an understanding of what is occurring on the ground.

The existence of an armed insurrection is not mentioned by the Western media. If it were to be acknowledged and analysed, our understanding of unfolding events would be entirely different.

What is mentioned profusely is that the armed forces and the police are involved in the indiscriminate killing of protesters.

The deployment of the armed forces including tanks in Daraa is directed against an organized armed insurrection, which has been active in the border city since March 17-18.

Casualties are being reported which also include the death of policemen and soldiers.

In a bitter irony, the Western media acknowledges the police/soldier deaths while denying the existence of an armed insurrection.

The key question is how does the media explain these deaths of soldiers and police?

Without evidence, the reports suggest authoritatively that the police is shooting at the soldiers and vice versa the soldiers are shooting on the police. In a April 29 Al Jazeera report, Daraa is described as “a city under siege”.

“Tanks and troops control all roads in and out. Inside the city, shops are shuttered and nobody dare walk the once bustling market streets, today transformed into the kill zone of rooftop snipers.

Unable to crush the people who first dared rise up against him – neither with the secret police,  paid thugs or the special forces of his brother’s military division – President Bashar al-Assad has sent thousands of Syrian soldiers and their heavy weaponry into Deraa for an operation the regime wants nobody in the world to see.

Though almost all communication channels with Deraa have been cut, including the Jordanian mobile service that reaches into the city from just across the border, Al Jazeera has gathered firsthand accounts of life inside the city from residents who just left or from eyewitnesses inside who were able to get outside the blackout area.

The picture that emerges is of a dark and deadly security arena, one driven by the actions of the secret police and their rooftop snipers, in which soldiers and protestors alike are being killed or wounded, in which cracks are emerging in the military itself, and in which is created the very chaos which the regime uses to justify its escalating crackdown. (Daraa, a City under Siege, IPS / Al Jazeera, April 29, 2011)

The Al Jazeera report borders on the absurd. Read carefully.

“Tanks and troops control all roads in and out”,  “thousands of Syrian soldiers and their heavy weaponry into Daraa”

This situation has prevailed for several weeks. This means that bona fide protesters who are not already inside Daraa cannot enter Daraa.

People who live in the city are in their homes: “nobody dares walk … the streets”. If nobody dares walk the streets where are the protesters?

Who is in the streets? According to Al Jazeera, the protesters are in the streets together with the soldiers, and both the protesters and the soldiers are being shot at by “plain clothes secret police”, by “paid thugs” and government sponsored snipers.

The impression conveyed in the report is that these casualties are attributed to infighting between the police and the military.

But the report also says that the soldiers (in the “thousands”) control all roads in and out of the city, but they are being shot upon by the plain clothed secret police.

The purpose of this web of media deceit, namely outright fabrications  –where soldiers are being killed by police and  “government snipers”– is to deny the existence of armed terrorist groups. The later are integrated by snipers and “plain clothed terrorists” who are shooting at the police, the Syrian armed forces and local residents.

These are not spontaneous acts of terror; they are carefully planned and coordinated attacks. In recent developments, according to a Xinhua report (April 30, 2011), armed “terrorist groups” “attacked the housing areas for servicemen” in Daraa province, “killing a sergeant and wounding two”.

While the government bears heavy responsibility for its mishandling of the military-police operation, including the deaths of civilians, the reports confirm that the armed terrorist groups had also opened fire on protesters and local residents. The casualties are then blamed on the armed forces and the police and the Bashar Al Assad government is portrayed by “the international community” as having ordered countless atrocities.

The fact of the matter is that foreign journalists are banned from reporting inside Syria, to the extent that much of the information including the number of casualties is obtained from the unverified accounts of “witnesses”.

It is in the interest of the US-NATO alliance to portray the events in Syria as a peaceful protest movement which is being brutally repressed by a “dictatorial regime”.

The Syrian government may be autocratic. It is certainly not a model of democracy but neither is the US administration, which is characterized by rampant corruption, the derogation of civil liberties under the Patriot legislation, the legalisation of torture, not to mention its “bloodless” “humanitarian wars”:

“The U.S. and its NATO allies have, in addition to U.S. Sixth Fleet and NATO Active Endeavor military assets permanently deployed in the Mediterranean, warplanes, warships and submarines engaged in the assault against Libya that can be used against Syria at a moment’s notice.

On April 27 Russia and China evidently prevented the U.S. and its NATO allies from pushing through an equivalent of Resolution 1973 against Syria in the Security Council, with Russian deputy ambassador to the UN Alexander Pankin stating that the current situation in Syria “does not present a threat to international peace and security.” Syria is Russia’s last true partner in the Mediterranean and the Arab world and hosts one of only two Russian overseas naval bases, that at Tartus. (The other being in Ukraine’s Crimea.)” (Rick Rozoff,   Libyan Scenario For Syria: Towards A US-NATO “Humanitarian Intervention” directed against Syria? Global Research, April 30, 2011)

The ultimate purpose is to trigger sectarian violence and political chaos within Syria by covertly supporting Islamic terrorist organizations.

What lies ahead?

The longer term US foreign policy perspective is “regime change” and the destabilization of Syria as an independent nation-state, through a covert process of “democratization” or through military means.

Syria is on the list of “rogue states”, which are targeted for a US military intervention. As confirmed by former NATO commander General Wesley Clark the “[The] Five-year campaign plan [includes]… a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan” (Pentagon official quoted by General Wesley Clark).

The objective is to weaken the structures of the secular State while justifying an eventual  UN sponsored “humanitarian intervention”. The latter, in the first instance, could take the form of a reinforced embargo on the country (including sanctions) as well as the freezing of Syrian bank assets in overseas foreign financial institutions.

While a US-NATO military intervention in the immediate future seems highly unlikely, Syria is nonetheless on the Pentagon’s military roadmap, namely an eventual war on Syria has been contemplated both by Washington and Tel Aviv.

If it were to occur, at some future date, it would lead to escalation. Israel would inevitably be involved. The entire Middle East Central Asian region from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Chinese-Afghan border would flare up.

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Editor of globalresearch.ca. He is the author of The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005). He is also a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages.  He spent a month in Syria in early 2011.

The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2019

 

Related Posts

Filed under: False Flags, Syria, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Ukraine, US Foreign Policy, US-led NATO Alliance, USA, War on Syria | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The US-NATO-Israel Sponsored Al Qaeda Insurgency in Syria. Who Was Behind the 2011 “Protest Movement”?

Media on the Frontlines: Differences between the July Victory and the Joroud Victory إعلاميون على الجبهة.. ماذا بين انتصاري تموز والجرود؟

Posted on July 13, 2019 by michaellee2009

By Ali Ibrahim Matar

Beirut – The media has become the most powerful weapon in the modern era. It has become an integral part of the modern war machine due to its ability to create ideas, market ideologies and promote victories.

The media has become so important that it has crippled the ability of a large segment of the population to think objectively. The rapid flow of news, information and analysis, whether true or false, is being utilized. The threat posed by this weapon has been amplified with the rapid rise of social media.

This media system has a pivotal role in covering wars. In the July 2006 aggression, for example, it was an essential part of showcasing the victory of the resistance against the “Israeli” enemy. It also played a major role during the war in Syria. Social media showed advancements during the media’s coverage. The information war was highly fundamental during the Syrian war. Those watching some media channels such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya would think that Syria has fallen. But the truth on the ground was very different. There is no doubt that the two media experiences of the July 2006 war and the war in Syria starting from 2011 were different. This is what journalists who covered these two conflicts explained to us.

There is no doubt that the media experience differed when it came to the war with the “Israeli” enemy and the war with the Takfiri groups.

“The experience varies between the two arenas according to the region and the environment. In Syria, the movement was slow due to the lack of knowledge of the area. There was always more caution to it. You must be with a certain group, for instance certain combat groups, residents of that area or existing correspondents,” Al-Manar correspondent, Dia’ Abu Taam, points out.

Image may contain: 1 person

He tells al-Ahed News “the situation in the South was different. The coverage was often made individually. There was only the reporter and the cameraman. There were days during the July war when I was alone in the Qaqa’iya al-Jisr area, where I did media coverage on my own.”

“Opening up to a new operational reality gives the reporter greater experience. By dealing with new challenges, it allows him to develop his professional performance significantly,” he adds.

Abu Taam talks about other factors including the development of the resistance’s capabilities.

“This coverage varies because the different capabilities have also evolved,” he insists.

“The extent to which the strength of the resistance in 2006 and 2012 differed was clear. We have seen some kind of fighting from the resistance that cannot be measured in any way to previous years. It was clear that the resistance has developed its performance greatly in terms of equipment, man power, skills, experience and strength,” Abu Taam said.

 

There is no doubt that social media was very important in the entire process. Abu Taam confirms this by underscoring  “the significant difference between the kind of media used in 2006 and in 2012 and onwards.”

“In 2006, the new media was in its early stages. The internet was limited to emails. There was no social media. The price of the internet was very high. It was hard to send the materials, including the videos and audio because of their size. The only method used was through the satellite that was detected by spy drones. This posed many difficulties. There was scarcity in sending visual materials,” Al-Manar’s veteran reporter explains.

“In Syria, the issues differed greatly. The means of communication helped to send the material we wanted easily. It also helped broadcast entire reports from the site without any difficulties. We broadcast the moment of entering the sites live using the phone. This helped a lot in refuting rumors and lies the enemy spread,” Abu Taam said.

Another Al-Manar reporter, Mohammed Kazan, echoes his colleague’s assessment regarding the media coverage and the differences between the July 2006 war and the war in Syria.

Related image

“In the July war, we were bombarded by “Israeli” aircraft and artillery. In Syria, I was in Qusayr, Zabadani and al-Joroud [outskirts]. There was coordination between the operations command in the resistance and with the war media. There was someone who helped us move. But the danger lied in IEDs, sniper rifles and artillery shells,” Kazan tells Al-Ahed.

As for the importance of social networking sites, Kazan points out that for him “using them has been essential since the Mosul war in Iraq. We were in a desert area and in great need of the internet to compensate for the absence of satellites. The situation was the same during the Joroud war against Nusra [Front] and Daesh. The new media made up for the blocking of Al-Manar’s satellite frequency. Meanwhile during the July war, we always used transmitters, which exposed us to spy drones of the “Israeli” enemy.”

Al-Jadeed channel’s senior reporter Nancy Sabeh also spoke to al-Ahed about her experience.

“I was a correspondent inside and at the outskirts of the southern suburbs during the aggression. The means to send messages to the audience were very difficult in the past. There was no new media. There was also no interaction as it is today through social networking sites,” she said.

Image result for Nancy Sabeh

Sabeh stated that the most beautiful thing she witnessed during the July war was the return of local residents to Dahiyeh after the aggression.

“At 7 o’clock in the morning, I entered Dahiyeh as a reporter. There were a lot of people. They started to return to see their homes,” she recalled.

According to Sabeh, “today’s journalism depends more on social media than on traditional journalism. Unlike what we have seen in the past, during the July war work was more accurate. Our work was patriotic. We were not looking for fame as it is today through these sites.”

For her part, LBCI’s Hoda Chedid told al-Ahed that “during the July war, we saw through the coverage that most Western and Arab countries were waiting for “Israel” to triumph and for the resistance to be defeated. This provided material for the other side of the story to each reporter to show how the people of the South challenged the war, how they resisted and how they triumphed over the “Israeli” enemy.”

Chedid explained that “during the war against terrorist groups, the situation completely changed. There was a consensus on the need to confront the terrorist groups and to show it in the media. Social media was a very supportive and important factor in this coverage. The whole country was engaged in confronting Daesh’s terrorism. It was a very important experience that meant a lot to me. I proudly experienced it as a result of the importance of this coverage of the war, the victory and the liberation of al-Joroud.”

As in the battlefield, the fronts are always wide open in the media, between the righteous side on the one hand and falsehoods on the other. It is the responsibility of media professionals to show and champion righteousness and keep up with the victories.

To read the article in Arabic click here

 

Filed under: Journalism | Tagged: , , , , | Comments Off on Media on the Frontlines: Differences between the July Victory and the Joroud Victory إعلاميون على الجبهة.. ماذا بين انتصاري تموز والجرود؟

اليمن وأبعاد البازار في قضية خاشقجي

Posted on November 18, 2018 by martyrashrakat
قتل خاشقجي حادثة جرمية خطيرة ولكنها عادية في سجل الجرائم السياسية البشعة

قتل خاشقجي حادثة جرمية خطيرة ولكنها عادية في سجل الجرائم السياسية البشعة

حياة الحويك عطية

حياة الحويك عطية كاتبة وباحثة، خبيرة في الإعلام السياسي

16 تشرين ثاني 15:25

والسؤال الخطير هو: هل فتح البازار منذ إعلان الجريمة أم أنه بازار تمت تهيئته منذ الاستعدادات لها، عبر نصيحة للرجل الذي ظن نفسه قائد رأي عام بالذهاب إلى تركيا، ونصيحة الأمير الموتور الجاهل بالتخلص من خصمه؟

في الجغرافيا السياسية هناك ما يسمى الماكروــ دولة وهناك ما يسمى الميكروــ دولة. وتتحدد الأولى بما يسمى عناصر السيادة (الجغرافيا، الديموغرافيا، التاريخ والثروة).

هذا هو الواقع الذي نشأ في العالم العربي نتيجة سايكس بيكو والإعلان البريطاني. واقع يؤدي باستمرار إلى حالة خطيرة: الكبير يشعر باستمرار أن من حقه ضم الصغير أو وضعه تحت جناحه، والصغير يخشى باستمرار من هذا الطموح ولذلك هو مستعد للتعامل ضده وحتى للتآمر عليه (الا من اندرج عميقا في الخط القومي).

معادلة لم يتوقف الغرب الاستعماري وحتى المشروع الصهيوني من اللعب عليها وبنجاح. لكن ربما يكون أخطر ما انتبهت له الدوائر ذات المصالح الحيوية في العالم العربي، والتي لا تريد تأمين هذه المصالح بالتبادل والندّية إنما بالهيمنة التي تشكل استمراراً غير مباشر للاستعمار، هو أن هذه الدول الماكرو قد تطمح الى أمرين: الأول قيادة قومية للمنطقة تحوّل الجميع إلى ماكرو كبير ليس في صالح أحد. والثاني أنها، بما تمتلكه من ثروات ومن موقع جغرافي وأحيانا من سياسات قد تحقق نمواً اقتصادياً يجعلها فعلا قوى فاعلة، بصرف النظر عن أنظمة الحكم التي قد تتغير يوماً هنا أو هناك أو عن المدة الزمنية التي يحتاجها ذلك ( فالدول والقوى تخطط لمئات السنين القادمة).

هذا إضافة إلى عنصر مهم أن “اسرائيل” قد وصلت منذ السبعينات إلى أن حلمها بأن تكون الدولة الكبرى في الشرق الأوسط أصبح  مستحيل التحقيق عسكرياً. مستحيلاً. ولذا عليها العمل على التهويد الثقافي والسياسي مما يقتضي تفكيك واضعاف من حولها وخاصة الدول الماكرو.

من هنا بدا الأمر بالأكبر، مصر عبر كامب دايفيد والاقتصاد وشل الجيش، وانتقل الى العراق ومن ثم الى سورية وليبيا ـ مع ما لكل من هذه من خصوصيات ونواقص أمكن اللعب عليها- وبقيت الجزيرة العربية. ففي هذا الحيز الغني ثمة دولتان فقط تمتلكان عناصر السيادة هما اليمن والسعودية. حسناً تم ضرب الأولى بالثانية والآن جاء دور الغبي الذي ظن نفسه فاتحاً.

في هذا الإطار فقط يمكن قراءة رغوة الصابون الأسود التي نفخت حول مقتل خاشقجي. حادثة جرمية خطيرة ولكنها عادية في سجل الجرائم السياسية البشعة. والسؤال الخطير هو: هل فتح البازار منذ إعلان الجريمة أم أنه بازار تمت تهيئته منذ الاستعدادات لها،عبر نصيحة للرجل الذي ظن نفسه قائد رأي عام بالذهاب إلى تركيا، ونصيحة الأمير الموتور الجاهل بالتخلص من خصمه؟

منذ اليوم الأول تم اشغال الناس، كل الناس، بفيلم بوليسي مثير ومدروس برعت فيه وسائل الاعلام والسياسيين – وعلى رأسهم قناة الجزيرة كالعادة التي لا يُفسر إبداعها في هذا الضخ بعدائها للسعودية فحسب، وإنما على المحلل تجاوز ذلك إلى دورها في الخطة الأميركية ـ الإسرائيلية ـ التركية – وتحت هذا الاشغال كان من الواضح أن ثمة أموراً تطبخ بعناية: الصراع الأميركي الجمهوري ــ الديمقراطي قبل الانتخابات، الابتزاز التركي الذي جاءته الحادثة على طبق من ذهب (مما يثير أسئلة حول تغاضي أنقرة عن أمور كثيرة سهلت الازمة ومددتها)، تحجيم الانتصارات السورية وتأخير حسم إدلب، إحراج المحور السعودي ــ المصري ــ الإماراتي ( ما دفعه أكثر، باتجاه اسرائيل بمبادرات التطبيع التي يراهن عليها نتنياهو منذ فترة)، إنعاش الاخوان المسلمين الخ..

غير أن البعد الأهم الذي لاح منذ البداية هو أن حرب اليمن شارفت على الانتهاء. وإذا كان لا بد لكل الحروب من رجالها، فلا بد أيضا لمرحلة ما بعد الحرب العسكرية من رجالها. ارهاصات نهاية الحرب لم تأت سياسية واضحة وإنما أمكن قراءتها بسهولة من خلال تنبه الضمير العالمي فجأة الى المأساة الانسانية التي يعيشها اليمنيون. سواء على مستوى التنظيمات الشعبية والمثقفين والاعلام، أم على المستوى الرسمي الحكومي والأممي. كلهم تذكروا أطفال اليمن (سبحان الله!!!) حتى الدول التي تبيع الأسلحة لمحمد بن سلمان لقتل أهل اليمن وتدميرها، والتي تزوّده بالمعلومات والإحداثيات لتوجيه ضرباته.

ذكرت صحيفة لو فيغارو –مثلا- التي تملكها شركة الصناعة العسكرية الفرنسية ( داسو)، أن الاقمار الفرنسية كانت تزوّد أحمد العسيري برصد أقمارها لتحركات الحوثيين في اليمن وأن الرجل أراد رد الجميل بشراء بلاده لقمر اصطناعي من فرنسا، ما أغضب الاميركيين، فأصبح الرجل المتهم الأول في قضية خاشقجي. لكن الأمر أبعد من ذلك، العسيري كان وجه الحرب اليومي طيلة سنوات، والانتقال إلى السلم يقتضي إزاحته والمجيء بوجه آخر .

وعندما نضجت الامور خرج بومبيو ليعلن مقترح وقف إطلاق النار والذهاب الى المفاوضات، لتعزف أوركسترا الدول الاطلسية كلها  النوتة ذاتها. ولن يغير في الأمر شيئاَ اذا بقي  محمد بن سلمان، رجل العاصفة، أم ذهب لتأتي صورة أخرى يتم تسويق ملامحها حسب المرحلة الجديدة.

المهم أن الشركات العولمية التي باعت السلاح للتدمير تريد إنهاء الحرب، للبدء في الاستثمار في إعادة الاعمار والممول واحد. وأن الاستراتيجيات السياسية التي مهدت الساحة بدمار وانهاك الحرب تنتقل إلى مرحلة  تحقيق ما تريده عبر المفاوضات.

ككل حروب التاريخ، يسبق الاقتصاد والسياسة الحرب العسكرية ومن ثم يليانها. فبعد الحرب الكبرى، كانت الحرب الباردة. وغداً قد تنتهي الحرب السورية واليمنية معاً ويأتي أمير “محب للسلام” في السعودية. لكننا سندخل في مرحلة أكثر حدة وصعوبة عناوينها: التقسيم، الفدرلة، أو الحكم الذاتي، تكريس الهويات الفرعية من طائفية وإثنية على حساب الهوية الوطنية الجامعة. لبرلة الاقتصاد بشكل يعطل اقتصاد الانتاج لصالح اقتصاد الاستهلاك والتبعية، وهيمنة الشركات المتعددة الجنسيات، أو بعض الشركات الرأسمالية الوطنية الغربية، على مرحلة إعادة الاعمار وبالتالي على الثروات الطبيعية، سواء منها ما تعلق بالأمن الاقتصادي أو ما تعلق منها بالموقع الجغرافي الاستراتيجي.

في حين سيستمر ابتزاز السعودية بشكل متواصل إلى أن تصل إلى الانهاك وربما إلى التفكك. خاصة وأن اسرائيل قد تمكنت – تحت هذا الغبار من حقد وجهل وعمالة – من الدخول المعلن إلى الخليج، لتتحقق معادلة شيمون بيريز:

الثروات العربية واليد العاملة العربية مضافة إلى العقل الاسرائيلي (في التخطيط والتكنولوجيا والاستثمار) لبناء شرق أوسط جديد يتحقق فيه التهويد الاقتصادي والثقافي والسياسي الذي يحول العرب إلى عبيد.

وصولاً إلى مقولة بيغن الشهيرة يوم توقيع كامب دايفيد:

“حتى لو حصل السلم بين اسرائيل والعرب، سيظل الصراع بين الحضارتين قائماً إلى أن تقضي إحداهما على الأخرى”.

Filed under: Egypt, House of Saud, IRAQ, Syria, War on Yemen | Tagged: , , , | Comments Off on اليمن وأبعاد البازار في قضية خاشقجي

US Fueling Terrorism in China

Posted on November 8, 2018 by martyrashrakat
October 24, 2018 (Tony Cartalucci – NEO) – The West’s human rights racket has once again mobilized – this time supposedly in support of China’s Uyghur minority centered primarily in the nation’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, China.
Headlines and reports have been published claiming that up to a million mostly Uyghurs have been detained in what the West is claiming are “internment camps.” As others have pointed out, it is impossible to independently verify these claims as no evidence is provided and organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Uyghur-specific organizations like the World Uyghur Congress lack all credibility and have been repeatedly exposed leveraging rights advocacy to advance the agenda of Western special interests.

Articles like the BBC’s, “China Uighurs: One million held in political camps, UN told,” claim (emphasis added):

Human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have submitted reports to the UN committee documenting claims of mass imprisonment, in camps where inmates are forced to swear loyalty to China’s President Xi Jinping. 

The World Uyghur Congress said in its report that detainees are held indefinitely without charge, and forced to shout Communist Party slogans.

Nowhere in the BBC’s article is evidence presented to verify these claims. The BBC also fails to mention that groups like the World Uyghur Congress are funded by the US State Department via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and has an office in Washington D.C. The NED is a US front dedicated specifically to political meddling worldwide and has played a role in US-backed regime change everywhere from South America and Eastern Europe to Africa and all across Asia.
What China Admits 

According to the South China Morning Post in an article titled, “China changes law to recognise ‘re-education camps’ in Xinjiang,” China does indeed maintain educational and vocational training centers. The article claims:

China’s far-western Xinjiang region has revised its legislation to allow local governments to “educate and transform” people influenced by extremism at “vocational training centres” – a term used by the government to describe a network of internment facilities known as “re-education camps”.

The article also claims, echoing the BBC and other Western media fronts:

The change to the law, which took effect on Tuesday, comes amid an international outcry about the secretive camps in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

But observers said writing the facilities into law did not address global criticism of China’s systematic detention and enforced political education of up to 1 million ethnic Uygurs and other Muslims in the area.

Again, the “1 million” number is never verified with evidence, nor does the article, or others like it spreading across the Western media address the fact that China’s Uyghur population is a target of foreign efforts to radicalize and recruit militants to fight proxy wars both across the globe, and within China itself.

Also omitted is any mention of systematic terrorism both inside China and abroad carried out by radicalized Uyghur militants. With this information intentionally and repeatedly omitted, Chinese efforts to confront and contain rampant extremism are easily depicted as “repressive.”


Uyghur Terrorism is Real, So Says the Western Media Itself  

Within China, Uyghur militants have carried out serial terrorist attacks. This includes a wave of attacks in 2014 which left nearly 100 dead and hundreds more injured. The Guardian in a 2014 article titled, “Xinjiang attack leaves at least 15 dead,” would admit:

An attack in China’s western region of Xinjiang left 15 people dead and 14 injured. 

The official Xinhua news agency said the attack took place on Friday on a “food street” in Shache county, where state media said a series of attacks in July left 96 people dead, including 59 assailants.

Abroad, Uyghur-linked terrorists are believed to be responsible for the 2015 Bangkok bombing which targeted mainly Chinese tourists and left 20 dead. The bombing followed Bangkok’s decision to send Uyghur terror suspects back to China to face justice – defying US demands that the suspects be allowed to travel onward to Turkey.

In Turkey, they were to cross the border into Syria where they would train, be armed, and join terrorists including Al Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in the West’s proxy war against Damascus and its allies.

AP in its article, “AP Exclusive: Uighurs fighting in Syria take aim at China,” would admit:

Since 2013, thousands of Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority from western China, have traveled to Syria to train with the Uighur militant group Turkistan Islamic Party and fight alongside al-Qaida, playing key roles in several battles. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s troops are now clashing with Uighur fighters as the six-year conflict nears its endgame. 

But the end of Syria’s war may be the beginning of China’s worst fears.

The article implicates the Turkish government’s involvement in facilitating the movement of Uyghurs through its territory and into Syria. Another AP article claims that up to 5,000 Uyghur terrorists are currently in Syria, mainly in the north near the Turkish border.

The Western media – not Beijing – admits that China’s Xinjiang province has a problem with extremism and terrorism. The Western media – not Beijing – admits that Uyghur militants are being recruited, moved into Syria, funded, and armed to fight the West’s proxy war in Syria. And the Western media – not Beijing – admits that battle-hardened Uyghur terrorists seek to return to China to carry out violence there.

Thus it is clear that Beijing – as a matter of national security – must confront extremism in Xinjiang. It is undeniable that extremism is taking root there, and it is undeniable that China has both the right and a duty to confront, contain, and overcome it. It is also clear that the West and its allies have played a central role in creating Uyghur militancy – and through feigned human rights concerns – is attempting to undermine Beijing’s efforts to confront that militancy.

US Supports Uyghur Separatism, Militancy  

The US National Endowment for Democracy’s own website admits to meddling all across China and does so so extensively that it felt the necessity to break down its targeting of China into several regions including mainland, Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang/East Turkistan.

It is important to understand that “East Turkistan” is what Uyghur militants and separatists refer to Xinjiang as. Beijing does not recognize this name. NED – by recognizing the term “East Turkistan” – is implicitly admitting that it supports separatism in western China, even as the US decries separatists and alleged annexations in places like Donbass, Ukraine and Russian Crimea.

And more than just implicitly admitting so, US NED money is admittedly provided to the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) which exclusively refers to China’s Xinjiang province as “East Turkistan” and refers to China’s administration of Xinjiang as the “Chinese occupation of East Turkistan.” On WUC’s website, articles like, “Op-ed: A Profile of Rebiya Kadeer, Fearless Uyghur Independence Activist,” admits that WUC leader Rebiya Kadeer seeks “Uyghur independence” from China.

It is the WUC and other Washington-based Uyghur fronts who are repeatedly cited by the Western media and faux human rights advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International regarding allegations of “1 million” Uyghurs being placed into “internment camps,” as illustrated in the above mentioned BBC article.

By omitting the very real terrorist problem facing China in Xinjiang as well as elsewhere around the world where state-sponsored Uyghur terrorists are deployed and fighting, and by depicting China’s campaign to confront extremism as “repression,” the West aims at further inflaming violent conflict in Xinjiang and jeopardizing human life – not protecting it.

Where Uyghur terrorists are being trafficked through on their way to foreign battlefields, Beijing-friendly governments like Bangkok are sending suspects back to face justice in China. In nations like Malaysia where US-backed opposition has recently come to power, Uyghur terror suspects are being allowed to proceed onward to Turkey.

Al Jazeera’s recent article, “Malaysia ignores China’s request; frees 11 ethnic Uighurs,” would report:

Malaysia has freed 11 ethnic Uighurs detained last year after they broke out of prison in Thailand and crossed the border, despite a request from Beijing for the men to be returned to China. 

Prosecutors dropped immigration charges against the group on humanitarian grounds and they flew out of Kuala Lumpur to Turkey on Tuesday, according to their lawyer Fahmi Moin.

Al Jazeera would also make sure to mention:

The decision may further strain ties with China, which has been accused of cracking down on the minority Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang. Since returning as prime minister following a stunning election victory in May, Mahathir Mohamad has already cancelled projects worth more than US$20bn that had been awarded to Chinese companies.

This point makes it abundantly clear that Uyghur extremism has become a central component in Washington’s struggle with Beijing over influence in Asia and in a much wider sense, globally. Geopolitical expert F. William Engdahl in his recent article, “China’s Uyghur Problem – The Unmentioned Part” concluded that:

The escalating trade war against China, threats of sanctions over allegations of Uyghur detention camps in Xinjiang, threats of sanctions if China buys Russian defense equipment, all is aimed at disruption of the sole emerging threat to a Washington global order, one that is not based on freedom or justice but rather on fear and tyranny. How China’s authorities are trying to deal with this full assault is another issue. The context of events in Xinjiang however needs to be made clear. The West and especially Washington is engaged in full-scale irregular war against the stability of China. 

It is difficult to argue with this conclusion – as the US has already openly wielded terrorism as a geopolitical tool everywhere from Libya where the nation was divided and destroyed by NATO-led military operations in the air and terrorist-led troops on the ground, to Syria where the US is all but openly aiding and abetting Al Qaeda and its affiliates cornered in the northern governorate of Idlib, and even in Yemen where another AP investigation revealed the US and its allies were cutting deals with Al Qaeda militantsto augment Western and Persian Gulf ground-fighting capacity.

It is important to understand the full context of the West’s accusations against China and to note the media and supposed nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and others involved in propaganda aimed at protecting terrorists and promoting militancy inside of China.

These same media groups and faux-NGOs will turn up elsewhere along not only China’s peripheries across Southeast, South, and Central Asia, but also within and along the borders of nations like Russia and Iran.

Exposing and confronting these appendages of Western geopolitics, and the Western corporate-financier interests themselves directing their collective agenda is key to diminishing the dangerous influence they have and all the violence, conflict, division, and destruction they seek to employ as they have already done in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and Syria.

Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine“New Eastern Outlook”.

 

Filed under: Al Qaeda, China, Global MSM, Mass media, Turkey, USA, War on Syria | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on US Fueling Terrorism in China

اللوبي الإسرائيلي في أميركا… وثائقي لم يُبَث

Posted on November 5, 2018 by martyrashrakat

الأخبار

 الإثنين 5 تشرين الثاني 2018

أعدّت قناة «الجزيرة»، بفضل نجاح أحد صحافييها باختراق اللوبي الإسرائيلي في الولايات المتحدة الأميركية، فيلماً وثائقياً مهمّاً عن عمل اللوبي الإسرائيلي فيها وأنشطته المتعددة، التي يقع بعضها تحت طائلة الملاحقة القانونية. لكن انفجار الأزمة السعودية ـــ القطرية في صيف عام 2017 وانحياز الرئيس دونالد ترامب وزوج ابنته جارد كوشنر، التلقائي والكامل إلى السعودية، دفعا الطرف القطري إلى طلب مساعدة اللوبي الإسرائيلي للقيام بحملة سياسية وإعلامية دفاعاً عن قطر، مقابل تبرّعات لعدد من منظمات هذا اللوبي وتعهّد بعدم بثّ هذا الفيلم الذي أُنجز إعداده في الفترة نفسها.

يكشف الفيلم توجساً اسرائيلياً حقيقياً من تدهور صورة اسرائيل وسمعتها في أوساط قطاعات متزايدة من الرأي العام الأميركي، خاصة بين طلبة الجامعات، بفعل نشاط حركات التضامن مع الشعب الفلسطيني، وفي مقدمتها حركة المقاطعة وسحب الاستثمارات والعقوبات (BDS). معقل التهديد الرئيسي بنظر الحكومة الإسرائيلية هو الجامعات، «مراكز صنع نخب الغد»، التي بات فيها لحركة المقاطعة أنصار كثر. لمواجهة هذا التهديد، أنشأت الحكومة الإسرائيلية وزارة جديدة، وزارة الشؤون الاستراتيجية، التي تتلخص وظيفتها في الإدارة والإشراف المباشر على حرب حقيقية سياسية وإعلامية ضد المتضامنين مع فلسطين. تستند هذه الحرب إلى قناعة القيّمين عليها بعدم جدوى اعتماد استراتيجية دفاعية عن إسرائيل في مواجهة خصومها، بل استراتيجية هجومية تستهدف تشويه سمعة من يجرؤ على نقد إسرائيل وسياساتها، وحتى تهديده في مصادر رزقه إن أمكن.

أدوات الحرب شبكة من المنظمات الصهيونية الموجودة في أميركا ومراكز «أبحاث ودراسات» استُحدِثَت للمشاركة فيها، ومنها مثلاً معهد الدفاع عن الديمقراطية التي تقرّ مديرة الوزارة بأنه يعمل لحسابها، ومجموعات سرية تتجسس على المناضلين المؤيدين لفلسطين وعلى حياتهم المهنية والخاصة، ومن تنشر أسماءهم ومعلومات تفصيلية عنهم على مواقع على الإنترنت والاتصال بالشركات أو المؤسسات التي يعملون لديها للتحذير من مغبة بقائهم في وظائفهم. ويعترف عدد من العاملين في شبكات الحرب الإسرائيلية بأنهم يحصلون على مساعدة مباشرة من الحكومة الإسرائيلية في مجمل العمليات التي ينفذون، بما فيها تأمين حصولهم على أحدث تقنيات التنصت والحرب الإلكترونية والبرامج المعلوماتية. يتضمن الفيلم أيضاً معطيات مهمة عن كيفية شراء هذه الشبكة تأييد أعضاء في الكونغرس ومجلس الشيوخ الأميركيين لإسرائيل، عبر تمويل حملاتهم الانتخابية وأنشطتهم.

حصلت «الأخبار» على الفيلم من جهات صديقة، وهي ستبثّه على موقعها بالاشتراك مع موقع شرق XXI في فرنسا وموقع «إلكترونيك انتفاضة» في الولايات المتحدة.

الجزء الأول
الجزء الثاني
الجزء الثالث
الجزء الرابع

 

Filed under: House of Saud, Qatar, USA | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off on اللوبي الإسرائيلي في أميركا… وثائقي لم يُبَث

سورية والنصر سياق يتدحرج

Posted on August 9, 2018 by martyrashrakat

أغسطس 8, 2018

ناصر قنديل

– عبثاً ينفق بعض الكتاب حبرهم وبعض السياسيين أصواتهم في كل مكان تصله الدولارات السعودية أو العصبيات الحاقدة أو المشاريع الانتحارية. فزمن التحليل والتوقّع حول سورية قد انتهى وزمن الرهان على تغيير الاتجاه الحاكم لما هو مقبل قد انتهى، وعلى الذين يشعرون بالخسارة من هذا الذي بات محسوماً واسمه انتصار سورية أمراً واقعاً أن يستعدّوا للتساكن والتأقلم مع هذه الخسارة وتجرُّع تبعاتها بمرارة صامتة، لأن الصراخ من الألم قد يجعلهم مصدراً للسخرية، والمشاغبة على النصر ستجعلهم ضحايا ربع الساعة الأخير من الحرب.

– القضية في الحروب لم تعد قضية جيوش وموارد بشرية ومالية وطاقة نارية ولا إبادة خصم وإعلان استسلامه، بل صارت مزيجاً من إيحاءات تستعمل فيها القوة والدماء لخلق سياق يصبح غير قابل للكسر ويثبت أهليته هذه في التكرار والثبات. وهذا ما قالته الحرب السورية عن نمط حروب القرن الحادي والعشرين، وقد نجحت قوى الحرب على سورية في خلق هذا السياق الذي يقول إن زمن الهزيمة السورية آتٍ لا ريبَ فيه وأن المسالة مسألة وقت. وبقيت الإيحاءات المهيمنة على المشهد السوري، بما فيها تلك المستوردة من نمطية ما يجري في جوار سورية من تهاوٍ للأنظمة والرؤساء من تونس إلى مصر فليبيا واليمن، لتقول إن زمن سورية آتٍ، وفقاً لهذا المثال أو ذاك أو ذلك، لكن الأكيد أنه آتٍ، وكذلك الإيحاءات الدبلوماسية الدولية والتي كان يكفي فيها حشد أكثر من مئة دولة في صف الحرب، مقابل حلف خجول في أيام الحرب الأولى، لا تكادُ صفوفُه تضمّ عدداً من الدول بعدد أصابع اليد الواحدة، سقف ما يقوله عن سورية هو الاستغراب والدعوة للرحمة والبحث عن تخفيف عقوبة الإعدام إلى ما يُبقيها على قيد الحياة ولو مشوّهة أو ضعيفة، وكذلك على المستوى العربي والإقليمي بحيث كان السؤال الناجم عن كل الإيحاءات الواردة من اصطفاف الجامعة العربية وإخراجها لسورية من بين صفوفها، ومعها موقف تركيا، المفترضة كصديق لسورية، ليكون الانطباع أن كل شيء قد انتهى، وما بقي إلا صدور بيان النعي وإعلان السقوط، ومثلها الإيحاءات بتموضع الإعلام الذي كان أبرز قنواته الفضائية وأشدّها تأثيراً في بداية الحرب، وهي قناة الجزيرة، الصديق المفترَض لسورية أيضاً، ليحسم الانطباع والإيحاء باكتمال سياق الانهيار السوري. وهذا ما يفسِّر التدحرج العسكري في سنوات الحرب الأولى لصالح حلف الحرب على سورية وأدواته المحلية والمستجلبة، بينما الدولة السورية لا تكاد تلتقط أنفاسها وتستوعب الصدمة، حتى تأتيها صدمة أقوى.

– منذ خمس سنوات تماماً وصلت الأساطيل الأميركية لتطلق رصاصة الرحمة على سورية، وليس لخوض حرب. وعندما تكشَّف الأمر عن مخاطر حرب وانسحبت ولدت فرصة سياق معاكس. فكان هذا السياق بهجوم معاكس بدأ في الميدان وخلق التوازن كمرحلة أولى، وفي نهاية عام 2015 مع التموضع الروسي العسكري كان كل شيء قد بات جاهزاً للهجوم الاستراتيجي المعاكس الهادف لخلق الإيحاءات المعاكسة وصولاً لرسم السياق المعاكس. وها هو بعد ثلاثة أعوام على بدئه قد صار سياقاً غير قابل للكسر وانتهى. فالجماعات المسلحة المحسوبة على حلف الحرب بما فيها تنظيما القاعدة وداعش تتكسّر مهابتها وتتلاشى وحداتها العسكرية في كل معركة مواجهة مع الجيش السوري. وها هي تشكيلات ما سُمّي بالمعارضة السياسية بلا صوت ولا طعم ولا لون ولا رائحة، وها هي دول الحرب تنقسم صفوفها وتتبعثر تحالفاتها، وتنخفض سقوفها وصولاً للبحث عن استراتيجيات للخروج تحفظ ماء الوجه، أو تخفّف منسوب الخسائر. وها هم الذين كانوا يتحدّثون عن الأيام المعدودة للرئيس السوري، قد رحلوا قبله، ومَن خَلَفهم بات يسلّم ببقائه. وقد صارت أبرز مسلّمات التحليلات والمواقف الدولية عن مستقبل سورية عنوانها، انتصار الرئيس السوري، والبحث عن زاوية أخرى غير بقائه لتدوير زوايا الهزيمة التي أصابت أصحاب الحرب ومَن راهن معهم على السقوط.

– الميدان كان يعكس تحوّلات السياق، وليس موازين القوى العسكرية المتقابلة في المرتين، السياق المعادي لسورية، والسياق السوري الذي يُهمين على المشهد الآن، ففي كثير من الأحيان كانت توازنات الميدان تنتج عكس المعارك الدائرة، بقياس حجم الموارد البشرية والعسكرية المرصودة في كل معركة، لكن السياق كان أقوى كريح عاتية جعلت لشراعاته قوة دفع لا تُقاوَم ومَن يعانِد هذه القوة الدافعة تتكسّر أشرعته ويسقط. والمكابرة وحال الإنكار اليوم غباء سياسي لا مثيل له، والحقد موجّه سيئ في السياسة، لا يؤذي مَن يستهدفهم بقدر ما يتسبّب بقصاص غيبي غير مفهوم عبر التاريخ، للذين يركبون رؤوسهم، ويُقصيهم عن المسرح لأنه لا يليق به وقد اكتملت عناصر لوحة جديدة من دون أن تتلوث ببقايا قديم مات ويعاند مراسم الدفن، ولأن الجديد الذي يولد يحتاج ترتيب احتفال الولادة بدون أصوات تعكر أهازيج العرس الجديد.

Related Videos

Related Articles

Filed under: Al Qaeda, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, War on Syria | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on سورية والنصر سياق يتدحرج

Ghouta East .. Chemical Weapons between truth and misleading – Confessions

Posted on March 14, 2018 by martyrashrakat

Syrian Army Finds Terrorists’ Facility for Manufacturing Toxic Chemicals in Gouta

March 13, 2018

3

The Syrian army managed on Tuesday to find in Shoufiniya area in Eastern Gouta a facility for manufacturing toxic chemical substances as the troops were combing the area after expelling the terrorists.

The Syrian military also found a facility for manufacturing explosives and rocketry shells.

1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9

Source: Al-Manar Website

Related Videos

Filed under: Fabrications, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), House of Saud, Qatar, Syria, Takfiris, USA, Wahabism At Work, War on Syria | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ghouta East .. Chemical Weapons between truth and misleading – Confessions

MEDIA ACCUSES SYRIAN ARMY OF USING CHEMICAL WEAPONS AFTER MILITANTS’ DEFENSE COLLAPSES IN EASTERN GHOUTA (MAP, VIDEO)

Posted on March 11, 2018 by martyrashrakat

11.03.2018

South Front

Media Accuses Syrian Army Of Using Chemical Weapons After Militants' Defense Collapses In Eastern Ghouta (Map, Video)

On March 11, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Tiger Forces supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces split the East Ghouta pocket into two parts and fully isolated the Duma district after they had captured the strategic district of Mudayrah, according to the Hezbollah media wing in Syria. Following the liberation of Mudayrah, SAA and Tiger Forces units reached the SAA positions around the Armored Vehicles Base.

Currently, the Jaysh al-Islam militant group is besieged in the Duma district, while Faylaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are besieged in the rest of the East Ghouta pocket.

According to Syrian pro-government sources, this major breakthrough will allow the SAA to negotiate with Jaysh al-Islam face to face. This means that a peaceful solution in Douma is more possible now as Faylaq al-Rahman and its allies have sabotaged all the previous peaceful efforts.

Only minutes after the SAA advance, the Qatari al-Jazeera TV claimed that the SAA had attacked civilians in the Irbin district in the western East Ghouta pocket with “chlorine gas”. As usual, the Qatari channel didn’t provide any evidence what so ever to support its claims. Moreover, several Syrian opposition sources didn’t release any reports about the supposed “chemical attack”.

الجزيرة – عاجل

✔@AJABreaking

عاجل | مصادر طبية: النظام السوري يستهدف مدينة عربين في الغوطة الشرقية بغاز الكلور السام

Twitter Ads info and privacy
 Over the last three months, militants in the East Ghouta and the mainstream media have claimed that the SAA have used chemical weapons against civilians dozens of times. However, they have never presented any real evidence. Even the US acknowledged on one occasion that it got no evidence to support these claims.

The recent Al-Jazeera report is likely nothing more than a propaganda stunt aimed at providing a media cover for militants. Some opposition figures believe that only a US military action could save the besieged the militants in East Ghouta.

Breaking map: Syrian Army slices apart militant pocket in east Damascus

By Andrew Illingworth

East Ghouta pocket after Syrian Army seizes Mudayrah town (Credit: Islamic World News).

BEIRUT, LEBANON (5:14 P.M.) – Hours ago, the Syrian Army’s elite Tiger Forces Division seized the militant-controlled district town of Mudayrah in Damascus’ East Ghouta region.

The battle to capture the rebel stronghold lasted several hours and saw elite Syrian troops combat insurgents of Jaysh al-Islam and Al-Qaeda affiliate militia Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (better known by its former name, Jabhat al-Nusra).

By taking Mudayrah, assault units of the Tiger Forces Division linked up with the Syrian troops holding out in the now famous Vehicle Management Base in Arbeen district and officially split the East Ghouta pocket into two.

Now it stands that the militant stronghold city of Douma and jihadist-controlled town of Harasta have been isolated from all other rebel-held areas of East Ghouta further south.

It appears that the Syrian Army’s job of slicing up the East Ghouta pocket is not yet over. To this end, all military developments indicate that the jihadist stronghold of Harasta is yet to be physically separated from Douma city.

Related News

Filed under: Syria, Takfiris, Uncategorized, War on Syria | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on MEDIA ACCUSES SYRIAN ARMY OF USING CHEMICAL WEAPONS AFTER MILITANTS’ DEFENSE COLLAPSES IN EASTERN GHOUTA (MAP, VIDEO)

Next Page »