Al Jazeera Journalist Resigns over Syria and Bahrain Coverage [video]
Global Research TV
March 19, 2012
Ali Hashem: Al Jazeera has become a “media war machine” and is “committing journalistic suicide”.
In the middle of February, something called the Syrian Electronic Army—hackers in Syria that support the government—hacked into Al Jazeera’s servers and found some emails. Some of them were written by Ali Hashem, who was a Middle East correspondent for the Arab Al Jazeera channel. In those emails he expressed his concern about the way Al Jazeera was covering the conflict in Syria. It later led to his resignation.
Ali Hashem is a television journalist who recently resigned from his post as a war reporter for Al Jazeera. While working for Al Jazeera, he covered the revolution in Libya, Lebanese politics, and tension related to the Syrian uprising on the Syrian Lebanese borders. He also worked for the BBC and led the production team at Manar TV.
US/NATO Proxy War in Syria Follows Precedent Set in Bosnia [video]
Russia Today
March 19, 2012
In the wake of recent violent clashes in the Syrian capital Damascus, the country’s government has accused Western powers of assisting Qatar and Saudi Arabia with supporting and financing terrorism and further militarizing the region. While accusations abound on purported weapons shipments and the training of insurgents, it is clear that Western involvement in Syria appears to follow a precedent set years ago during NATO intervention in the war in Bosnia, when weapons were being covertly shipped into the region despite an official arms embargo.
According to Benjamin Schett, an independent political researcher based in Vienna, “It might be a repetition of this game in Syria.”
This proxy war with Western powers is being waged amid speculation that Syria is being turned into a terrorist hub and as Schett confirms, “There is an interest in turning Syria into big chaos.”
But claims that Syria’s government is bombing its own people and security buildlings don’t add up. As Schett explains, “I think that doesn’t sound very plausible because the ongoing destablization and increase of sectarian violence in Syria is not so much in the interest of Assad but more in the interest of the insurgents in order to provoke harsh reactions from the Syrian government troops, which finally could provoke foreign intervention.”
[hat tip: Global Research TV]
Terror Management: ‘US losing last credibility in Syria’ [video]
Russia Today
March 23, 2012
The EU continues to pursue its strategy of pressure on the Syrian regime to force it out of power. Foreign ministers have agreed to impose a travel ban and asset freeze on the British-born wife of the country’s leader. Asma al-Assad is among 12 officials or family members to be added to a number of figures, including the president, who are already subject to sanctions.
Washington has also threatened to tighten the screws on the Syrian government and isolate it even more if President Assad doesn’t comply with the UN statement appealing for a ceasefire. With violence still raging in the country, the opposition has dismissed international calls on both sides to implement Kofi Annan’s peace plan – as not meeting the needs of the people.
Government consultant Christoph Hoerstel, who’s recently returned from Syria, says he’s deeply concerned that the sanctions may have been a response to recently leaked emails between the Assad family.
Chossudovsky: Al Qaeda and US-NATO Special Forces on the Ground in Syria [video]
Russia Today
March 15, 2012
Thousands have taken to the streets of the Syrian capital Damascus to support the country’s embattled leader Bashar al-Assad. The demonstration comes on the year anniversary of the anti-Assad uprising that has left scores dead and injured.
The pro-Assad rally is taking place under the slogan of protesting a ‘one-year conspiracy’ to overthrow the regime. The opposition said that Assad has forced people to attend the Damascus demonstration in order to overshadow the opposition rallies marking the beginning of the popular uprising in Syria a year ago, AP reports.
Video footage, however, shows people of different ages, including children, dancing and waving Syrian flags. Others had the national flag painted on their faces.
With opposition rallies planned all over Syria and abroad, local activists report the increased presence of the Syrian army in opposition strongholds.
The Popular uprising in Syria against the current regime started in mid-March last year. According to the UN, 7,500 people have been killed in the conflict.
While western states urge President Assad to leave his post, he claims the foreign-directed opposition is filled with terrorists and gangsters seeking to destroy Syria.
Political analyst Christoph Horstel, who was at the rally in Damascus, told RT that those who are still choosing violence over dialogue aren’t really interested in a Syrian democracy.
“It is very clear that anybody who is now picking up arms against this government, which obviously has indulged in honest reform and election, these people are not serious about constructive internal dialogue in Syria, that is quite clear. They are not part of a process, they are just killers”, Horstel said.
‘Opposition losing supporters’
There are many circumstances serving to increase Assad’s popularity while weakening the opposition, says Middle East expert Ali Rizk. He believes there is no choice for Assad’s international opponents but to resort to some kind of political solution to the crisis.
“Because of the procedures, because of the practices which some of the opposition resorted to, they have lost a lot of their supporters,” Rizk said. “When you see Syrian opposition figures speaking about for example cutting off ties, or decreasing their ties with Iran, cutting Syria off what we refer to as ‘a resistance axis,’ I think all that does, it gives more popularity to the Syrian regime.”
“The Syrian people are known to be people who very much support the anti-Israeli approach, a political stance which Assad has used,” he added. “And I think that is the main source of his popularity.”
Assad still has enough support not only in Damascus but in the rest of the country as well, and that will allow him to stay in power, at least for some time, political analyst Ahmed Badawi told RT.
“Assad seems to still have considerable support everywhere, except of course in the places that have come under heavy fire from his military,” he said. “The whole legitimacy question of course is a big dilemma for the regime, but it seems so far that the regime has managed to keep a lot of its legitimacy intact.”
Michel Chossudovsky, director of the Centre for Research on Globalization, believes that members of the Free Syrian Army are being trained by special forces from NATO countries .
“MI6 and CIA operatives are there,” he stated during an interview with RT. “This is from their own sources, incidentally, it’s not hearsay, it is actual fact. British special forces have met up with members of the Free Syrian Army and they are training members of the Free Syrian Army from a base in Turkey. British MI6 operatives have reportedly been training the rebels in urban warfare.”
Originally broadcast on RT, March 15, 2012
http://rt.com/news/syria-pro-assad-rally-damascus-643/
US Wants Iraq to Block Iran Weapons Sales to Syria
by Scott Stearns
GlobalSecurity.org
March 22, 2012
Related posts:
- Weapons supply issue splits Friends of Syria
- Russia opposes ‘Libyan scenario’ in Syria and will block resolution
- Obama orders global US Iran asset block
- US accuses Iran of shipping arms to Syria
- Russia and China block UN resolution on Syria amidst fears it could mean another Libya-style intervention
[hat tip: EndtheLie.com]
Suing the Police – Nicholas Wright on GRTV [video]
Global Research TV
March 5, 2012
With a billion dollar price tag, the 2010 Toronto G20 was one of the most expensive security operations in history. As part of that operation, police services and government officials conspired to lie to the public about supposed powers to violate citizens’ guaranteed rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As a result, thousands of people were subjected to illegal searches, seizures and arrests. Now Nicholas Wright, a Toronto lawyer and the President of Geopoliticalmonitor.com is suing the police for his unlawful arrest.
Find out more about Wright’s experience suing the police in this week’s GRTV Feature Interview:
A Year Later, HRW Admits Syrian Rebels Guilty of Atrocities
Kidnapping, Torture, & Murder of Civilians by Syrian Opposition Confirmed.
by Tony Cartalucci
March 20, 2012 – Human Right Watch (HRW), just as it did in Libya, waited until the very last possible moment to admit what the alternative media had been reporting for over a year – that Syria’s rebels are craven, torturing, kidnapping, murdering terrorists committing widespread and systematic atrocities not only against security forces, but against anyone suspected of supporting the Syrian government as well as randomly targeted civilians.
Image: Human Rights Watch knew all along that Syria’s opposition was armed and conducting a systematic campaign of kidnapping, torture, and mass murder but waited until the last possible moment to acknowledge it. As we can see, HRW is funded by George Soros’ Open Society as well as a myriad of corporate-funded foundations all disingenuously leveraging the cause of human rights to carry out their agenda of achieving global corporate-financial hegemony. (click on image to enlarge)
The HRW report titled, “Syria: Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses,” is broken into three parts, kidnapping, torture, and executions. And while the report attempts to focus mainly on atrocities carried out against security forces and government supporters, the mention of civilian victims is made as well. The report states:
“Abuses include kidnapping, detention, and torture of security force members, government supporters, and people identified as members of pro-government militias, called shabeeha. Human Rights Watch has also received reports of executions by armed opposition groups of security force members and civilians.”
Under the title “Kidnappings,” it is stated:
“Abuses include kidnapping, detention, and torture of security force members, government supporters, and people identified as members of pro-government militias, called shabeeha. Human Rights Watch has also received reports of executions by armed opposition groups of security force members and civilians.”
“Human Rights Watch also expressed concern about FSA [Free Syrian Army] kidnappings of Iranian nationals, some of whom the group has confirmed are civilians.”
Under “Executions,” HRW’s report describes the Syrian opposition’s practice of rounding up suspects and killing them without trial, generally on the grounds of confessions coerced through torture. Other executions are simply carried out as reprisals with no apparent offense beyond suspected affiliations being cited.
The report indicates that Syria’s opposition, like the NATO-backed rebels in Libya, are lawless, unprincipled, sectarian, extremists. They are far from “democracy activists” or “unarmed, helpless civilians,” and very far from being “victims” of a disproportionate use of force. From the very beginning of Syria’s unrest, the alternative media has covered what was systematic violence used by the opposition, from vandalism and arson, to sniper and bomb attacks and now full-blown armed insurrection. It is clear now, as even the Wall Street-London combine must admit, Syria’s opposition has been countered by Syrian security forces out of the necessity to restore order, not silence legitimate political dissent.
News of the HRW report has been muted, with most corporate-media outlets electing to downplay, spin, or obfuscate the true implications of the war crimes being carried out by Syria’s opposition. The implications are that NATO, led by the US, UK, France, and Turkey, as well as their proxy “Arab League,” have been backing torturers, kidnappers, and mass murderers. This should come as no surprise as it is confirmed members of Libya’s Al Qaeda affiliate, the NATO-backed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, are now literally leading the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA).
With the Syrian opposition turning to car bombs and targeting populated city centers claiming scores of civilian lives, it is now clear that the West is also backing a terrorist campaign as well. Syria’s government could not in good conscience withdraw troops from areas the terrorist opposition is operating in, especially now that it is confirmed this opposition is kidnapping, torturing and arbitrarily killing civilians.
To an international community that has defended, even facilitated such thuggery for now over a year, they are the least qualified to propose any further meddling or “solution” to the ongoing unrest. This includes Kofi Annan’s dubious “peace” mission which has been recently exposed as a ploy to rehabilitate Western-back militants for a second round of violence.
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