Washington’s Salafist Quagmire in Syria
by Christof Lehmann
nsnbc
October 14, 2012
The Obama administration and the Turkish government of Prime Minister Erdogan are faced with a Syrian quagmire that is prompting them to send a signal to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh´s support of fundamentalist Salafi Jihadi groups in Syria is becoming increasingly counter productive. Riyadh is not only creating a public relations dilemma for Washington and Ankara, the influx of fundamentalist Salafists which have been streaming to Syria over recent months is making it increasingly difficult, if not impossible to build a coherent and credible Syrian opposition that could be used as an argument for regime change.
Two defeated campaigns of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in June and July failed to secure the city of Aleppo and depleted the FSA of its best trained and best armed Syrian and foreign fighters. The defeat also made it impossible to emulate the strategy that had been successful in Libya. To secure Aleppo as a seat for a Transitional Syrian Government that could have called on the international community, that is the USA, NATO and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, to implement a No-Fly-Zone and to provide other military support.
The defeat of the campaign for Aleppo has changed both the military and political dynamics of the Syrian crisis. Saudi Arabia increased its support of fundamentalist Salafist groups to compensate for the FSA´s losses. Since the end of July and the beginning of August there has been a significant influx of Saudi sponsored foreign fighters and in particular an influx of fundamentalist Salafist fighters in Syria. A recent report issued by the International Crisis Group recognizes the influx and a cohort of both military, political and security problems it implies.
The problem for Washington and the pro-opposition coalition is that a coherent and political opposition has failed to manifest. The National Transitional Council of Syria has always been an incoherent group that was plagued by internal rivalries. Since the failed campaign for Aleppo it has more or less entirely collapsed. The influx of Salafist groups which are fighting in Syria has also led to, that ever more radical elements are demanding political influence, and Washington has difficulties to overtly negotiate with known terrorist groups about the future of a free and democratic Syria.
The lost battles for Aleppo and the subsequent influx of Salafists has also been noticed by prominent commanders within the Free Syrian Army. On 28 September the prominent FSA commander Captain Khaled Abdel Rahman al-Zamel, accompanied by ten other FSA officers, took part in a conference of Syrian opposition groups who are seeking a Syrian solution to the crisis and who are tolerant of the Baath Party and President al-Assad.
Syrians have closely followed the protracted civil war in Lebanon and the devastation of Iraq first by the USA and allies, and subsequently by religious fanaticism and terrorism. Both the military and the political Syrian opposition are becoming increasingly concerned about the prospect of Syria degenerating into a spiral of religious and ethnic violence.
Washington seems to have interpreted the trend correctly. Knowing that the influx of Salafists and other radicals is making it difficult to argue for the overt support of an almost non existing political opposition and to argue for a continuation of material support for known terrorist organizations it is asking Saudi Arabia to back off a little.
The recent aggravation of border incidents between Syria and Turkey could indicate a change of strategy. Lacking a credible political opposition to support and not being able to overtly support organizations that are otherwise designated terrorist organizations, it is not unlikely that a direct military confrontation between Turkey and Syria is the next best option. It is however, questionable whether Erdogans AKP government can rally the support of Turkey´s population behind a military campaign against Syria. An escalation of the border clashes into an full scale military confrontation would most likely be met with massive popular opposition that could lead to the fall of the AKP government. A subsequent military disengagement would be equivalent to a defeat of Turkey and NATO.
The Turkish parliament´s decision on 4. October to allow cross border military operations, after a mortar shell that was fired from within Syrian territory killed a Turkish family of four was met with massive protests and demonstrations in Ankara and in cities throughout Turkey. The Turkish population is becoming increasingly worried by the influx of Salafist and other extremist fighters who either use Turkey as base of operations or as transit for waging Jihad in Syria. Critique has further increased after it transpired that the mortar that was used in the attack is identical to a model Turkey provided for the FSA. Turkey has also been widely critisized for endangering air-safety by forcing a Syrian A-320 Airbus to land in Ankara.
Regardless whether the support of Salafists by Saudi Arabia continues overtly or covertly, it is presenting both Washington, Turkey and other ”Friends of Syria” with a serious quagmire.
There is no credible political opposition that supports the continuation of a military campaign, and a continuation of a military campaign with the help of imported extremists is likely to undermine both the political and the armed Syrian opposition.With winter approching, it looks as if the Arab Spring in Syria is turning into NATO´s Fall.
Christof Lehmann
14.10.2012
British Troops Join US Forces on the Jordan-Syria Border
CounterPsyOps
October 14, 2012
According to ANSA, the Italian News Agency, “several hundred British soldiers and military advisors are in Jordan to monitor the Syria situation, Western diplomatic sources said on Thursday.”
One hundred US troops are already stationed on the Syria-Jordan border. They were deployed on the orders of the US president and commander in chief without seeking the approval of the US Congress.
Sources do not indicate the composition of these US and British troops, as to whether they are regular troops or in large part special forces.
The New York Times confirms the presence of 150 British troops,: The Times of London reported “on an undisclosed number of British troops. The troops have been in Jordan since participating in joint military maneuvers in the past months. They remained on concerns over Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, Jordanian military sources said, adding that French troops might also be in place. ANSA, the Italian News Agency, October 11, 2012, emphasis added)
[hat tip: Friends of Syria]
Canada Officially Joins Pacific Trade Talks
by Terry Wilson
CanadianAwareness.org
October 10, 2012
Less than a week after a “gala” event, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the free trade agreement between Canada and America. That took place in Toronto Ont. on Wednesday October 3 2012. Canada has now officially joined talks aimed at achieving a Pacific free-trade deal.
The pacific free trade deal now has 11 countries signed on, in the talks. Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.
The advocates of the pacific deal say it could prove a useful way of counteracting the growing clout of China in regional trade and be extremely beneficial to average Canadians. Boosting the Canadian middle class.
This is the same type of rhetoric that was said when when the FTA was signed, and ultimately NAFTA a few years later. How true was the advocates hype with the FTA and NAFTA?
In a report from the Toronto Sun, published on the university of Toronto’s website. The numbers show how free trade has severely hurt Canadians.
“Diversification in Canada’s industrial base has been disappointing, said Campbell, with the average unemployment rate in the last 15 years remaining about the same as the previous 15 years. Big business, though, has done well. A study of 40 non-financial member companies of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives found their combined revenues jumped 105 per cent between 1988 and 2002 while their overall workforce shrank by 15 per cent.
The wealth hasn’t trickled down, said Campbell, despite steady productivity growth in the Canadian economy. “If free trade was supposed to usher in a new era of rising living standards, reversing the sluggishness of the 1980s, the record reveals quite the opposite.”
Annual growth in average personal income per capita was at 1.55 per cent a year in the 1980s but slid to 0.63 per cent a year between 1989 and 2005. Meanwhile, Americans were enjoying a personal income growth rate of almost twice that during the same period. Massive cuts to Canadian social programs haven’t helped, said Campbell, and tax cuts and transfers didn’t offset the difficulties as
they did in the past.
Federal non-military spending cuts in the second half of the 1990s were the largest in Canadian history, bringing spending down to the level of the late 1940s. “Growing wealth and income inequality and a shrinking Canadian social state have been hallmarks of the free trade era,” Campbell said.
The bottom 20 per cent of families saw incomes fall by 7.6 per cent during 1989 to 2004, while incomes of the top 20 per cent rose 16.8 per cent. While the average Canadian wage increased eight per cent between 1990 and 2000, the top one per cent of wage earners made 64 per cent more. “The first free trade decade saw overall income inequality increase for the first time since the 1920s,” said Campbell.
Continue Reading
Since this report, things have not improved. This was published just today: Canada must move on income inequality
“What’s concerning is that inequality is getting worse instead of better, and while Canada has the financial means to turn this around, those steps aren’t being taken”
As we can see the only Canadians benefiting from North American free trade are the rich. Or as the occupy movement dubbed them the “1%”. The rest of us got the shaft after being told it would be amazing! (big surprise)
Will this new trade deal be legit? Will it help common Canadians? I wouldn’t count on it! This trade deal along with many others including CETA (Canadian and European trade agreement), which is also being negotiated at this moment. Is only furthering the globalized consolidation of wealth into the hands of a few billionaires.
And for those who like to pin all of our woes on Stephen Harper or the Conservative party. Stop before you even try to blame them solely for this. Conservatives began the FTA and NAFTA, Liberals continued them and started the negotiations for CETA, and now the conservatives are continuing CETA and starting this new Pacific deal. You see an emerging trend? It does not matter which politician or party is in office. The same agenda continues. Harper, Martin, Chretien, Mulroney all puppets doing the bidding of their corporate masters.
Kasim Hafeez “Wingnut” – Muslim Zionist and Proud
by Laura Stuart
deliberation.info
April 29, 2012
Yesterday Ynet published an article about Kasim Hafeez, a U.K. -born Pakistani Muslim who loves Israel. We don’t have much information on just who Kasim Hafeez was before his current celebrity, but I feel sure he was someone very banal. How then did he propel himself onto the pages of an Israeli newspaper?
The answer is really quite simple: by claiming to be a Muslim Zionist. Just how he reconciles his love of Israel with the reality of occupation and ethnic cleansing, is something he never bothers to explain. His metamorphosis from self-proclaimed budding jihadist to Israel-lover came after reading a book by Alan Dershowitz of all people! Dershowitz as we know, has worked tirelesly in attempting to label Gilad Atzmon’s book “The Wandering Who” as anti Semitic. Read about it here.
Definitely Kasim Hafeez is an extremist – a true extremist in the real meaning of the word. He also seems rather unstable. For example, he claims the following:-
When speaking to predominantly Jewish audiences, Kasim Hafeez often begins by saying the following words: “When I was in university, I would have gladly killed every one of you.”
But do I really believe him? How many students who were born in the U.K. really want to kill Jews? Many of us hate the actions of the Israeli state, but his story of his radicalisation at Uni just seems a bit too convenient at a time when Jewish pro-Israel lobby groups are trying their best to oppress University Islamic Societies. A quick look at the pro- Israel, Islamophobia award-winning Harry’s place blog is educational as they openly discuss their tactics for controlling exactly which Islamic scholars get to speak to Muslims on Britain’s University Campuses.
Intercepted: First VIDEO aboard Syria-bound plane diverted by Turkey
Russia Today
October 13, 2012
The first public video from aboard the Syria-bound plane intercepted by Turkish authorities. Passengers filmed the Turkish F-16s that intercepted the plane, and then Turkish soldiers boarding the aircraft. The plane’s flight engineer later bandages his handcuff-scarred hands.
Turkish F-16 fighter jets forced a Syrian Air passenger plane to land in Ankara over suspicions that it was carrying “non-civilian” cargo. The Damascus-bound plane, en route from Moscow, has departed after a nine-hour inspection.
FULL STORY http://on.rt.com/ul4tsw
RT LIVE http://rt.com/on-air
Subscribe to RT! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=RussiaToday
Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RTnews
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/RT_com
Follow us on Google+ http://plus.google.com/+RT
RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 500 million YouTube views benchmark.
Consciousness Beyond Chemtrails Conference – Cynthia McKinney FULL HD [video]
ChemtrailsConference
September 11, 2012
To Get All 15 Presentations From The Historic “Consciousness Beyond Chemtrails Conference” Visit The Main Website (DVDs or Digital Downloads Available): http://www.consciousnessbeyondchemtrails.com/
August 17th – 19th, 2012 marked the largest stand ever against Chemtrails! Over the course of 3 days in Los Angeles, and live online around the world, 16 leaders in Geoengineering research met to show the Unity and Collective efforts we are now taking against these “Aerosol Crimes!”
It was a historic turning point for the movement – now you can catch anything you missed at: http://www.consciousnessbeyondchemtrails.com/
**If you get a DVD or digital download we encourage you to burn it and hand them out in your local communities. You can share in the DVD format far and wide!**
Ahmadinejad to RT: Europe, US need freedom most of all (Exclusive Interview) [video]
Russia Today
August 14, 2011
In an exclusive interview with RT, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pointed out that the 21st century is about knowledge, while nukes are the means of the past. Iran’s view on the “Arab Spring” and its relations with other countries has also been discussed.
RT on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RT_com
RT on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RTnews
PN 