‘Lebanon crisis destabilizes Middle East’ [video]
Press TV
March 23, 2013
A political analyst tells Press TV that it is clear that with Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s resignation the divisions are going to be even greater and it is only going to bring on greater instability in the region.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has resigned after a deadlock in his cabinet over preparations for forthcoming legislative elections in June. Mikati’s resignation came after disagreements on the formation of an electoral watchdog and the extension of the term of office of police chief Major General Ashraf Rifi.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Michael Maloof, former Pentagon official, to further discuss the issue.
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Thousands gather in Damascus for funeral of assassinated Syrian cleric
End the Lie – Independent News
March 23, 2013
The coffins of Sunni Muslim cleric Mohamed Saeed al-Bouti and his grandson Ahmed al-Bouti, who both died in a suicide bomb attack, are carried during their funeral ceremony on March 23, 2013 at the Omayyad mosque in Damascus, Syria. (AFP Photo)
Thousands of Syrians have gathered for the funeral of a pro-Assad cleric who was killed in a blast at a mosque earlier this week. Saturday has been declared a day of mourning in the Arab country.
Mohammed Saeed Ramadan Al-Bouti, his grandson, and 49 others were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb inside a mosque where he was delivering a sermon on Thursday.
The cleric was Imam of the Omayyad Mosque, a Damascus landmark. He is the most senior religious figure to be killed in the Syrian conflict to date.
During the funeral, mourners carried 84-year-old Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti’s coffin on their shoulders while shouting “God is Great.”
The cleric was buried on grounds beside the tomb of the Saladin, regarded as a heroic warrior in Islam. The move angered opposition activists, who turned to social media to express their fury. “Burying Buti next to Saladin is a deliberate insult,” activist Waleed al-Akrat wrote on Twitter.
Syrian President Bashar Assad was being represented at the funeral by one of his cabinet ministers, according to state TV. On Friday, the Syrian leader vowed to “cleanse” his country of “extremists,” whom he accused of being behind the attack.
“I swear to the Syrian people that your blood, and that of your grandson and all the martyrs of the homeland, will not be spilled in vain because we will be faithful to your ideas by destroying their extremism and ignorance until we have cleansed the country,” Assad said in an official statement.
The slain cleric had been a vocal supporter of the Syrian regime since the days of Assad’s father and predecessor. In a speech earlier this month, al-Bouti said it was “a religious duty to protect the values, the land and the nation” of Syria. He previously referred to Assad’s opponents as “scum.”
According to journalist Abdullah Mawazini, it was those statements that prompted the opposition to carry out the attack.
“We believe the opposition is responsible for this. We have Islamist extremist groups – jihadis – who are fighting against the government. Mr. al-Bouti, before he was killed, in his last speech on Friday, said we should fight with the Syrian army and not the opposition groups so this raised a lot of controversy…and discussion in Syrian society and led to this killing,” he told RT.
But the opposition has also condemned the attack, pointing the finger at the Assad regime. The current head of the National Syrian Coalition, Moaz Alkhatib, said on his Facebook page that only the Syrian government could be behind the attack, stressing the importance that places of worship and clerics not be targeted.
“The killing of Doctor al-Bouti is a crime in every sense of the word,” he wrote. “No matter the differences that clerics in Syria may have in their view of the situation, this does not allow for the merciless killing of Muslims or the defilement of mosques.”
People take part in the funeral ceremony of Sunni Muslim cleric Mohamed Saeed al-Bouti, who died in a suicide bomb attack, on March 23, 2013 at the Omayyad mosque in the Syrian capital Damascus. (AFP Photo)
A ‘biased and imbalanced’ UN
Also on Saturday, Assad’s regime said it rejected a UN Human Rights Council decision to continue an investigation of “alleged violations of international human rights law.” An unnamed official told SANA news agency that the group’s work is “biased and imbalanced.”
The comment comes a day after the UN Human Rights Council passed the resolution, which the official said doesn’t take into account “the unethical role played by states that sponsor terrorism in Syria, which fund, train, arm and send terrorists and mercenaries” into the country.
He added that the resolution reflects “a policy of double standards practiced by some countries that claim to defend human rights.”
The resolution was adopted with 41 votes in favor, one against, and five countries abstaining. It strongly condemned violence on both sides, but noted that those “committed by anti-government armed groups did not reach the intensity and scale of the violations committed by the government forces and its affiliated militia.”
Meanwhile, European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton says there is a real sense of urgency to ensure political progress in Syria.
The comment came during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at Dublin Castle. The two-day talks failed to find a common position on the future of the EU’s Syrian arms embargo.
France and Britain believe that lifting the embargo would raise pressure on Assad to negotiate an end to the civil war, which has led to the deaths of an estimated 70,000 people.
Other EU countries disagree, saying that lifting the embargo would lead to weapons falling into the hands of Islamist militants, as well as fuel regional conflict and encourage Assad’s backers to step up arms supplies to the leader.
The EU has until June 1 to decide whether to renew or amend its sanctions on Syria. Changing the arms ban needs the backing of all 27 EU states.
The coffin of Sunni Muslim cleric Mohamed Saeed al-Bouti, who died in a suicide bomb attack, is carried outside the Omayyad mosque after his funeral ceremony on March 23, 2013 in the Syrian capital Damascus. (AFP Photo)
People pray in the Omayyad mosque courtyard during the funeral ceremony of Sunni Muslim cleric Mohamed Saeed al-Bouti, who died in a suicide bomb attack, on March 23, 2013 in the Syrian capital Damascus. (AFP Photo / Louai Beshara)
People pray in the Omayyad mosque courtyard during the funeral ceremony of Sunni Muslim cleric Mohamed Saeed al-Bouti, who died in a suicide bomb attack, on March 23, 2013 in the Syrian capital Damascus. (AFP Photo / Louai Beshara)
LeBron James Wearing Illuminati T-Shirt at Miami Club [video]
Mark Dice
March 23, 2013
Basketball star LeBron James, or “King James” as he is often called, was photographed wearing an Illuminati t-shirt featuring an all-seeing eye on the front, while partying at a Miami club recently.
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Check out The Illuminati: Facts & Fiction in paperback on Amazon.com, or e-book on Kindle, iBooks, Nook, or Google Play. http://www.amazon.com/Illuminati-Fact…
Mark Dice is a media analyst, political activist, and author who, in an entertaining and educational way, gets people to question our celebrity obsessed culture, and the role the mainstream media and elite secret societies play in shaping our lives. Check out Mark’s books in paperback on Amazon.com or e-book on Kindle, iBooks, Nook, or Google Play.
Mark frequently stirs up controversy from his commentaries, protests, and boycotts, and has repeatedly been featured in major media outlets around the world.
Several of Mark’s YouTube videos have gone viral, earning him a mention on ABC’s The View, Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor, CNN, Drudge Report, TMZ.com, and other mainstream media outlets. Mark has also been featured in (or attacked in) the New York Post’s Page Six, Rolling Stone Magazine, USA Today, The New York Daily News, and in major papers in Pakistan and Iran.
Mark Dice appears in several documentary films including Invisible Empire, The 9/11 Chronicles, and has been featured on the History Channel’s Decoded, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, the Sundance Channel’s Love/Lust: Secret Societies and more. He enjoys enlightening zombies, as he calls them, (ignorant people) about the mass media’s effect on our culture, pointing out Big Brother’s prying eyes, and exposing elite secret societies along with scumbag politicians and their corrupt political agendas. You can support Mark’s work by sending a PayPal donation to Donate@MarkDice.com or by using the Donate link on MarkDice.com.
He has called into several top-rated talk shows dozens of times, including the Sean Hannity Show, Glenn Beck, and Michael Savage, and verbally battles with the hosts on various issues since he has never been asked to be a guest on them as of yet. Audio of some of these calls are then posted online.
The term “fighting the New World Order” is used by Mark to describe some of his activities, and refers to his and others’ resistance and opposition (The Resistance) to the overall system of political corruption, illegal wars, elite secret societies, mainstream media, Big Brother and privacy issues; as well as various economic and social issues.
Dice and his supporters sometimes refer to being “awake” or “enlightened” and see their knowledge of these topics as part of their own personal Resistance to the corrupt New World Order. This Resistance involves self-improvement, self-sufficiency, personal responsibility and spiritual growth.
Mark Dice is the author of several books on current events, secret societies and conspiracies, including his newest book, Big Brother: The Orwellian Nightmare Come True which is available on Amazon.com, Kindle and Nook. While much of Mark’s work confirms the existence and continued operation of the Illuminati today, he is also dedicated to debunking conspiracy theories and hoaxes and separating the facts from the fiction; hence the “Facts & Fiction” subtitle for several of his books. He has a bachelor’s degree in communication from California State University.
If you have an iPad or Android tablet, then you can download the Kindle app and then download any of Mark’s books from the Kindle store for only $6.99 or $7.99. Some of them are also available in e-book on Google Play. Or you can get paperback copies from Amazon.com too if you prefer a physical book. They are not available in stores. A lot of work and research went into them and they’ll save you countless hours of web surfing or YouTube watching in your search for pieces of the puzzle. Your support also funds more of Mark’s videos and other operations. Equipment, software, travel, and the props all cost money, so by purchasing his paperback books and e-books, you are helping The Resistance continue and your help is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe to Mark’s YouTube channel, and look him up on Facebook, and Twitter. http://www.YouTube.com/MarkDice http://www.Facebook.com/MarkDice http://www.Twitter.com/MarkDice http://www.MarkDice.com
Cyprus, Troika agree to 20% tax on deposits over 100,000 euros at Bank of Cyprus
Russia Today
March 23, 2013
Bank workers shout slogans during a protest outside Cyprus presidential palace in Nicosia on March 23, 2013. (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)
Cyprus and the Troika have agreed to a 20 per cent tax on deposits over 100,000 euros at the Bank of Cyprus and 4 per cent on deposits held at other banks.
A senior Cypriot official told Reuters that a plan to tap nationalized pension funds would not be a part of a plan to raise billions of euros in return for a bailout from the European Union. Cyprus said earlier on Saturday that it was looking at seizing a quarter of the value of big deposits at its largest bank in order to raise such funds.
“Unfortunately, the events of recent days have led to a situation where there are no longer any optimal solutions available. Today, there are only hard choices left,” European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said in a statement.
Cyprus is scrambling to come up with €5.8 billion by Monday, or face being kicked out of the Eurozone. The cash is a prerequisite for a further €10 billion in bailout funds.
Lawmakers’ rejection of a previous proposal to tax all bank deposits prompted the European Central Bank to threaten to cut off emergency funding to Cypriot banks unless a deal was reached by March 25. Banks have been shut all week, and are due to reopen on March 26.
Cypriots bank workers take part in a protest outside the presidential palace in Nicosia on March 23, 2013. (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)
Earlier on Saturday, at least 1,000 bank workers in Cyprus hit the streets of the country’s capital of Nicosia. The demonstrators marched against the latest bailout measures taken by the country’s central bank.
“You destroy our work and steal our pensions,” demonstrators chanted as they marched to the Cypriot Parliament. One protester held a banner which read, “Hands off pension funds.”
All ages were present at the demonstration, with many parents pushing their children down the street in strollers.
“I’ve been working for 20 years and I’ve paid all the taxes of all my pension contributions and every Euro. Now I run the risk of losing my job and my pension, and I will have no money to support my children,” Cyprus Popular Bank employee Angela Panayotou said, as quoted by Ria Novosti.
Panayotou, who brought her five children along to the rally, says she believes plans to split the Cyprus Popular Bank in two to be a political move.
“We are convinced that the bank is viable, and it there’s no need to close it,” she said.
The Cypriot parliament has adopted a new bailout plan which is comprised of nine laws about the recovery of the country’s financial system. One of the laws gives the Cypriot Central Bank special authorities due to concerns the financial system may collapse.
Bank workers shout slogans during a protest outside Cyprus presidential palace in Nicosia on March 23, 2013. (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)
Hundreds of bank workers fearing for their jobs staged a march towards the presidency and the parliament which is to debate to save the island from bankrauptcy. (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)
OTTAWA EVENT — Geoengineering in Canada: Movie and Public Discussion [video]
Canadian Spartacus
March 23, 2013
[Event happens April 5th, 2013]
You are invited to attend a major public discussion in Ottawa on the subject of chemtrails & geoengineering in Canada. There is seating available for several hundred people at this free event. RSVP ASAP sylvain.henry@gmail.com
On Fire for Liberty: Las Vegas Passes Anti-NDAA Resolution
P.A.N.D.A. People Against The NDAA
March 23, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Chris Corbett
PANDA Nevada
775-240-2588
director@pandanv.org
PANDA Nevada (People Against the National Defense Authorization Act) announces the passage of a Las Vegas City Council Resolution defeating the indefinite detention provisions of the 2012 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act).
Just before noon on Wednesday, the honorable Las Vegas City Council passed a resolution rebuking the indefinite detention provisions of the 2012 NDAA, 5-2. The resolution may be read here at: http://tinyurl.com/cyu5bue. The Resolution will now head to the Clark County Commission; if passed, it would be the first Joint City/County Resolution passed in response to the NDAA.
The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 31, 2011. The 2012 NDAA declares the United States to be a battlefield in the war on terror and Section 1021 & 1022 authorize the indefinite military detention, without charge or trial, of persons on US soil.
This violates at least 23 Articles of and Amendments to both the US and Nevada Constitutions.
PANDA’s Clark County Chapter Head, Daphne Lee, stated,
“I am so incredibly grateful to the honorable Council members for supporting our efforts. I would especially like to thank Councilman Beers for helping me introduce this resolution to the board, and to Mayor Goodman for her amazing vocal support for the rights of all persons in Nevada. This action will support other cities, counties and states all over the country who seek to take a stand to protect constitutional rights.”
Christopher Corbett, PANDA Nevada State Team Leader, said, “This is an important first victory in the fight to restore and protect civil liberties in Nevada. Hopefully this resolution will encourage the rest of Nevada to pass similar resolutions and state legislation.”
There is already action under way to pass similar Resolutions in Northern Nevada. Both the Washoe County Commission and Reno City Council have agrees to look at this issue in the next 30 days.
State Senator, Don Gustavson, has also submitted a bill to be considered during the 2013 Nevada legislative session. The Nevada Liberty Preservation Act (SB378), which has 16 bi-partisan cosponsors, will lead the way in restoring Constitutional rights to all persons in Nevada.
This movement is just getting started. “We the People” will take back this great nation, one city, County, and State at a time.
Join the movement: http://pandaunite.org/join-us/
Connect with PANDA Nevada: http://www.pandanv.org/
Syria and Russia demand independent Investigation into Aleppo Chemical Weapon Attack
nsnbc international
March 21, 2013
Russia´s EU Ambassador Vladimir Chizov “NATO repetition of Libya-like scenario in Syria a flagrant and outrageous strategic mistake”.
Russia´s EU Ambassador; NATO´s Repetition of Libya-like Scenario in Syria would be a flagrant and outrageous strategic Mistake
Christof Lehmann(nsnbc),- After the chemical weapons attack that killed at least 25 and injured more than 100 in the outskirts of the Syrian city Aleppo on Tuesday 19 March, both the Syrian and the Russian government are demanding an independent investigation by the United Nations. Russian officials criticize France and the UK for a repetition of the Iraq war scenario, obstructing an investigation, and stated, that an attempt by NATO, to repeat a Libya-like scenario in Syria would be a flagrant strategic mistake.
After Tuesday´s unprecedented use of an internationally banned weapon by state-sponsored terrorists in the Kan al-Asal district of Aleppo, the Syrian government has requested, that the Secretary General of the United Nations forms an independent and neutral technical mission to investigate the incident. The Syrian government affirmed its commitment to uncover the details of the crime to refute all allegations and lies which had been propagated by the circles that support terrorism and terrorists.
Already on Tuesday, the Syrian Minister of Information emphasized the significance of the fact, that the unprecedented use of a chemical weapon by state-sponsored terrorists had been committed by means of a rocket, that had been fired from an area, in which both terrorists and members of foreign intelligence services are known to operate side by side. (1
The Syrian government has already informed the UN Secretary General of its worries on 8 December 2012 and warned, that some of the countries which are providing weapons to the terrorist groups were providing chemical weapons to them.
Insurgent groups had repeatedly threatened the use of chemical weapons which they manufacture by chemicals and small laboratory equipment. Official Syrian sources had previously released information and evidence for, that small, portable chemical weapons laboratories was provided for for insurgents via Saudi-Arabia.
Videos with insurgents either threatening with the use of the weapons, with insurgents demonstrating the lethal effect of the gas on rabbits and threatening, that the Syrians would die like those rabbits, as well as videos with insurgents showing off deliveries of chemicals, and statements that “everything was permissible” have repeatedly been shown on “opposition” websites, YouTube and other media.
The development of chemical weapons capabilities by Saudi-Arabia and US – backed terrorist organizations with ties to the Al-Qaeda network is not a novelty. Chemical weapons capabilities for Al Qaeda were, according to Malaysian intelligence sources and the state prosecutor of Malaysia, already developed for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
In February 2012, Malaysian police arrested the former Malaysian army colonel Yazzid Sufaat and his female associate in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. The Kuala Limpur State Prosecutor charged Sufaat with recruiting Malaysian youth for fighting in Syria and his female associate with aiding him. Yazizd Sufaat has previously been charged with helping Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan with the development of chemical weapons capabilities. (2
Also Russian government officials expressed concerns, demanded an investigation, and sharply criticized those governments who are supporting terrorist in Syria.
Russia´s Deputy Foreign Minister, Gennady Gatilov announced that Russia hopes, that UN Secretary General ban Kyi-moon will answer Syria´s request for an independent, technical investigation into the incident in Aleppo´s countryside. Using his Twitter account, Gennady Gatilov said “We expect that the UN Secretary General soon will answer Syria´s request, to hold an investigation into the use of a chemical weapon on March 19″. Gatilov added, that it was “necessary to form a neutral and professional team of experts to achieve objective outcomes”.
Also Russia´s Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin called for a thorough, neutral and full investigation. The Russian UN Ambassador and current President of the UN Security Council, reiterated, that Russia is calling for a neutral, thorough and objective investigation into the terrorists use of chemical weapons in Syria. The website of the Russian news channel RT quoted the Russian UN Ambassadors statement after closed consultations at the UN security Council on Wednesday, when Gatilov said, “We ask the Syrian government to investigate the incident and we have experts from several countries, including Russia… I think that the UN Secretary General will form a team, including highly experienced members, and we expect that this investigation will be neutral and objective… This issue will be considered carefully”.
Vitaly Churkin also indicated, that France and Great Britain have resorted to undue tactics in attempts to hinder consultations. Churkin described the French and British attempts as similar to what happened in Iraq, when the USA tried to justify its invasion of the country by fabricating information, and by claiming, that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction.
Also Russia´s Permanent representative to the European Union (EU), Vladimir Chizhov has issued statements about the incident and warned, that the repetition of a Libyan scenario by NATO in Syria would be a “flagrant and outrageous strategic mistake”. The Russian EU Ambassador also criticized France and Great Britain for announcing, that they would lift the embargo imposed by the EU on importing weapons to the “Syrian Opposition”.
The strong statement by Russia´s Ambassador to the EU is one more in a series of increasingly clear signals from Russian top-diplomats which reiterate, that Russia is not willing to accept further abuse of UNSC resolutions by NATO, the abuse of the ICC for politicized trials against leaders of targeted nations, and the use of NATO forces in the Middle East for regime change under the guise of a responsibility to protect. The diplomatic stand off between Russia, the USA and the EU has lasted since September 2011, when Russia drew a clear line in the Syrian sand and began preventing a similar abuse of UN resolutions as the abuse of UNSC resolution 1973(2011) on Libya.
The statement by Vladimir Chizov, that a repetition of a Libya like scenario in Syria would be a flagrant and outrageous strategic mistake, is most likely an implicit reference to statements by NATO top-bras Ivo H. Daalder and James G. Stavridis.
In an article published in the April-March 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs, Daalder and Stavridis described NATO´s intervention in Libya as “teachable moment and model for future interventions”. (3 Daalder and Stavridis`statement has been repeated during NATO´s 25th Summit in Chicago in May 2012, where NATO implicitly adopted the Libyan model, that is, regime change by use of terrorist organizations, interfacing with special forces, to procure a UN resolution that justifies a NATO intervention, leading to regime change, as part of NATO´s military doctrine for a modern NATO that faces the security challenges of a modern world. (4
On Thursday the United Nations has responded to the Syrian, Russian and international pressure by agreeing to an independent investigation. No details about who will be staffing the investigation team, who will develop its methodology and specify its goals or other details have yet been published.
Notes:
3) Ivo H. Daalder, James G. Stavridis (2012). NATO`s Victory in Libya. The Right Way to Run an Intervention. Foreign Affairs. March/April 2012. Pp.2 – 7.
4) NATO`s 25th Summit in Chicago in Preparation of Global Full Spectrum Dominance
PN 