1st meeting of Syrian National Dialogue Committee held [video]
PressTV
December 9, 2012
Members of the National Dialogue Follow-Up Committee held their first meeting in the Syrian capital Damascus to define the committee’s work mechanisms.
They reviewed the outcomes of the dialogue meeting held in Tehran in November and stressed the need to reach a peaceful solution for Syria’s unrest.
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Syria: EU Nobel Winners, Dodgy Deals, Clinton and Osama bin Laden’s Ally
by Felicity Arbuthnot
Global Research
December 7, 2012
Marking abandonment of the last shred of pretense of observing the rule of law, the Nobel Peace Prize winning European Union Foreign Ministers are to meet with the leader of the Syrian insurgency in Brussels on Monday 10th December, according to Lebanon’s Daily Star.
Mouas al-Khatib, now heading the self-styled Syrian National Coalition: “will attend at least part of the meeting a spokesman for Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign affairs chief “, confirmed today.
The Ministers strategy to end the tragedy in Syria is to arm the insurgents, it seems and: “ … to look at ways of loosening an arms embargo in order to help rebel forces, EU diplomats said.”
Al Khatib, the paper points out, has already visited London and Paris, where the “coalition” has been recognized as the: “sole representative of the Syrian people.”
EU Foreign Ministers did not endorse full recognition at a meeting on 19th November though considered the “coalition” to be: “legitimate representatives” of the (un-consulted) Syrian people. The “sole representative” is clearly hoping for the jackpot at this gathering.
Later in the week the EU, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other allies are meeting factions of the insurgency in Marrakesh, Morocco.
In the week the US has designated one of the Syrian groups, the Nusra Front, to its list of “terrorist organizations”, alleging its links to al-Qaeda, the decision would seem to have been made for Clinton also to announce in Morocco, recognition of the al-Khatib collection as fully “the legitimate representative” of the Syrian people: “an endorsement Washington hopes will help the group mature in to a transitional government.”
(“Treason: betrayal of one’s sovereign or country, especially by attempting to overthrow the government. Any treachery or betrayal.” Collins Oxford Dictionary.)
Last week EU Member States decided to review the embargo on Syria “designed to cut off supplies” to the government, quarterly instead of annually: “to facilitate the supplies of non-lethal equipment to the rebels if necessary.” So “loosening the arms embago” and assistance in illegality in every way, bestowed by the collective Nobel Laureates.
It has to be wondered, given US concern regarding the Nusra Front’s links with Al Qaeda, whether anyone has read Mouas al-Khatib’s cv.
The highly educated fifty two year old, Damascus born al-Khatib is President of the Islamic Civilisation Society, and a Member of the Board of Trustees of Sheikh Badr al-Din al-Hassani Institute for Islamic Studies. A graduate of the Department of Applied Geophysics at Damascus University, he also holds a Diploma in Political Science and International Relations.
The US Administration will not have missed his impeccable oil industry credentials.
He worked at Syria’s al-Furat Petroleum Company from 1985-1991. The company was part owned by the Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell (Shell Oil.) He maintained contacts with the company.
On the death of his father in 1992, he inherited his place as preacher at Damacus’s Umayyad Mosque (“The Great Mosque.”) Built in 634, it is custodian of a shrine believed to hold the head of John the Baptist, revered as a Prophet by both Christians and Muslims. However he was banned from preaching in the historic and illustrious place of worship by Bashir al Assad’s father, Hafez.
Al-Khatib then founded the Islamic Civilisation Society and taught Sharia Law and Islamic studies, in Damascus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nigeria, Turkey, the UK, USA. He settled in Qatar – now a Syria opposition facilitator in the region.
Between 2003 and 2004 he returned to Syria as a lobbyist for Shell Oil when Bashir al Assad, having inherited the Presidency from his father in 2000, was opening up the country to oil and gas concessions.
He then returned again in 2012 to make what many considered inflammatory speeches, was arrested, imprisoned, then pardoned. He again left the country.
Many of his writings were initially remarkably conciliatory, but then became more and more militant. Now Syria National Coalition Member Mahmoud al-Hamza: “states that the Coalition agreement signed by al-Khatib stipulates that a peaceful settlement will not be pursued.” (i)
“The formation of the National Coalition ‘rules out any talks with Mr. Assad and stipulates that his regime must be toppled’ is a victory for the war party and spells disaster for Syria and the region.”
He should have a warm welcome in Europe and North Africa next week. However, Washington would appear to have missed something:
Mouas al-Khatib was implacably opposed to the Iraq invasion, regarding Western presence to be sacrilegious. Osama bin Laden held the same view. He is widely stated as having aligned himself to Osama bin Laden at the time.
Note
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7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes North West Indonesia
Russia Today
December 10, 2012
Magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits 125 miles northwest of Tanimbar Islands in Indonesia, according to USGS.
The quake was reported at a depth of 96 miles (155 kilometers).
According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the earthquake was “located too deep inside the earth to generate a tsunami.”
No casualties or damage have been reported.
Details to follow.
Syria Rebels make child behead unarmed prisoner – WARNING GRAPHIC 18+ Not for shock [video]
YouTube — SyrianGirl War
December 10, 2012
The FSA mercenaries and insurgents AL CIAda mostly non Syrian make a kid behead an unarmed prisoner! These animals have reached a brand new low! Thank clinton for funding them!
[hat tip: TheIntelHub]
Senate Unanimously Passes 2013 NDAA w/ Indefinite Detention Powers Intact
P.A.N.D.A. People Against The NDAA
December 9, 2012
The U.S. Senate passed the 2013 NDAA with its Indefinite detention powers intact. We have extensively covered the Feinstein Amendment and NDAA Section 1033(a)’s non-effect on the indefinite detention powers in the 2012 NDAA
The U.S. Senate voted it in 98-0.
98/100 of your Senators affirmed or reaffirmed their treachery. The Federal Government will not defend or protect your rights. It is now up to you.
‘Jihadists may use chemical weapons to ethnically cleanse Syria’ [video]
Russia Today
December 10, 2012
Syrian political activist Yazan Abdallah shared with RT information that jihadist groups inside Syria might use chemical weapons to conduct “ethnic cleansing” against certain sectarian groups. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/6lkeby
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Saudi Arabia commits War Crime by Forced Use of Prisoners in Syria Insurgency
by Christof Lehmann
nsnbc
December 10, 2012
An official and classified Saudi Arabian document reveals that the government of Saudi Arabia releases its most dangerous prisoners who are sentenced to death under the condition that they take part in the attempted subversion in Syria. The practice constitutes a serious war crime. Earlier in 2012 PRESS TV and Al Alam journalist Maya Naser was assassinated shortly after he began investigating the same crime being committed by Turkish authorities.
The official, classified document shows that the authorities of Saudi Arabia have ordered the release of a group of the most dangerous criminals who have been sentenced to death in exchange for going to fight in Syria. Prior to their deployment to Syria the convicts are to be trained in unconventional warfare, terrorism, or in what is euphemistically described as Jihad.
The group of convicts includes 105 Yemeni, 21 Palestinian, 212 Saudi, 96 Sudanese, 254 Syrian, 82 Jordanian, 68 Somali, 32 Afghan, 194 Egyptian, 203 Pakistani, 23 Iraqi and 44 Kuwaiti citizens. It is unlikely that this group is the only such group that is going to be deployed from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia´s release of convicts with death sentences is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions which among other regulate the wartime rights of civilian and military prisoners. Their deployment to Syria is likely to constitute forced use of prisoners and could potentially lead to a prosecution of the Saudi government at the International Criminal Court in The Haag.
According to the US Special Forces Training Circular TC 18-01 the US military will for the foreseeable future be predominantly involved in irregular warfare. (1) Post 25th NATO Summit NATO doctrine, which describes the illegal war on Libya as teachable moment and model for future interventions has underpinned this tendency. (2) It is thus not surprising that Saudi Arabia is not the sole country within the anti-Syria alliance that deploys convicts.
In September 2012 PRESS TV and AL Alam journalist Maya Naser was killed by snipers in Damascus when he reported from the scene of two bomb blasts in Damascus. According to reliable sources the snipers have been positioned two hours before the blasts. It is highly probable that the targetting of Maya Naser and the timing was no coincidence.
During the week prior to his assassination, Maya Naser was investigating Turkey´s forced use of prisoners. Naser began his investigation after it transpired that several of the killed or captured insurgents in Syria were convicts who according to their sentences should be incarcerated in Turkish prisons. (3) Naser had copies of several passports to substantiate the claim.
Some of the killed or captured Turkish convicts had ties to Al Qaeda associated organizations. One of the more prominent among these convict insurgents was the brother of the leader of the 2003 HSBC bombers. The bombing of the HSBC bank in Istanbul in 2003 killed 67 and wounded more than 700 people. The Saudi document indicates that the forced use of prisoners in Saudi Arabia and Turkey is part of a GCC-NATO strategy rather than isolated incidents.
The evidence provided by Maya Naser and the Saudi Arabian document warrant an investigation and prosecution of Turkey, Saudi Arabia as well as against NATO at the International Criminal Court, ICC.
Whether any of the war crimes will be investigated or prosecuted however, is more than just uncertain. For one it is unlikely that any of the western nations will demand an investigation or prosecution. For the other, both Russia and China are most likely considering the already very tense bilateral and multilateral relations between respectively Russia, China and the USA, UK and France. Iran which is currently chairing the Non Aligned Movement is under sustained pressure from the USA, Canada, the EU and its Gulf-Arab neighbors. The Tehran government is likely to think twice before it risks worsening diplomatic relations to the west.
In other words, Turkey´s, Saudi Arabia´s and NATO´s blatant violations of the Geneva Conventions, their forced use of prisoners and state sponsored terrorism is likely not to be noticed by the ICC, which ten years after the Rome Treaty has exclusively prosecuted, imprisoned and sentenced heads of state and government officials who dared to oppose US, EU and NATO hegemony.
If the document ever makes it into western mainstream media, which also is highly doubtful, it may cause a half-baked scandal and it may be used for scapegoating and positioning the one or the other with the implicit purpose of justifying or covering up ones own crimes. It will hardly result in an investigation, prosecution, or a cessation of state sponsored terrorism and forced use of prisoners.
Christof Lehmann
10.12.2012
Saudi-Arabien: Gefangene als Zwangs-Dschihadisten in Syrien
Notes:
1) TC 18-01 Special Forces Unconventional Warfare. Accessed online on nsnbc at: http://nsnbc.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/special-forces-uw-tc-18-01.pdf
2) NATO`s 25th Summit in Chicago in Preparation of Global Full Spectrum Dominance, Interventionism, Possible Preparations for A Regional War Directed against Russia and China, and Developments in Global Security. Christof Lehmann; 20 May 2012. Accessed online on nsnbc at: http://nsnbc.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/natos-25th-summit-in-chicago-in-preparation-of-global-full-spectrum-dominance-interventionism-possible-preparations-for-a-regional-war-directed-against-russia-and-china-and-developments-in-global/
3) Killing of Journalist Maya Naser in Damascus possibly tied to his investigation into Turkey War Crimes. Christof Lehmann; 27 September 2012. Accessed online at nsnbc at: http://nsnbc.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/killing-of-journalist-maya-naser-in-damascus-possibly-tied-to-his-investigation-into-turkey-war-crimes/
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