Gunmen kidnap 11 police academy students in northern Syria – 2012-03-07

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/07/c_131453206.htm

DAMASCUS, March 7 (Xinhua) — About 11 students of the Police Academy were kidnapped Wednesday by armed groups in the central Hama province as another armed groups killed an officer in northern Idlib province, state-run SANA news agency reported.

On their way to Hurein village in Hama, the 11 students were kidnapped at gun point when armed groups cut off their bus, said SANA.

In northern Idlib province, government forces clashed with armed groups at Khan Sheikhun area, killing two terrorists, said SANA, adding that an army captain was killed in the clashes.

[…]

Three blind mice – 07 March, 2012

http://rt.com/usa/news/three-sen-mccain-lieberman-007/

Senators John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham are just about as close as anyone in the US Senate. They travel together, make joint media appearances and seem to sing the same song in their appeals to the American people.

That song often revolves around the need for more war.

Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn), Lindsey Graham (R – SC) and John McCain (R-AZ) stick together through thick and thin. They are frequently seen side by side, both physically and politically, and the most common speech they seem to give has to do with the need for more war.

Brian Becker, National Coordinator for the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition, said, “These three haven’t met a war that they don’t like.”

Together, they led the charge to amp up the effort in Afghanistan.

“We need more troops there, American troops,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn) at a Senate hearing on Afghanistan in 2009.

“IED attacks by the enemy have gone up by a thousand percent,” said Sen. Graham at the same hearing.

“In the words of Admiral Mullen,” Sen. McCain said, “time is not on our side.”

They have been called everything from the three amigos, the three blind mice and the “axis of error” by the website http://www.downsizedc.org.

“They tend to work together as a block,” said Jim Babka, president of DownsizeDc.org. “They’re kind of an axis involved in foreign policy kind of hearkening back to that old axis of evil that we heard about.”

On CNN, Sen. Lieberman made the case for involvement to the American people.

“Will the world stand by and watch a leader like Qadhafi slaughter his own people?” he asked.

Perhaps the most constant target for the three senators is Iran.

“If we use military action against Iran, we should not only go after their nuclear facilities. We should destroy their ability to make conventional war,” said Sen Graham. “They should have no planes that can fly and no ships that can float.”

Even in 2010, Sen. McCain’s sense of urgency with Iran was immense.

“We keep pointing a gun and we haven’t pulled a single trigger and its time we did,” he said.

But two years later, that lack of immediate military action hasn’t resulted in Armageddon, or anything like it. Still the calls for action expand – now across the globe

“The Iranian nuclear program is a threat to the entire world,” said Sen Lieberman this week in his speech at AIPAC.

And on Monday on the Senate floor, Senator McCain made the case for airstrikes in Syria.

“Foreign military intervention is now the necessary factor to reinforce this option,” he said. “Assad needs to know that he will not win.”

[…]

The Terrorist PKK is working closely with the terrorist Bashar and his Terrorist Shabiha!!!!!!!!!! NOT Surprising!
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-273504-syrian-defectors-captured-by-pkk-northern-syrias-shabiha.html
Syrian defectors captured by PKK, ‘Northern Syria’s Shabiha’
6 March 2012 / İSMAİL AVCI, DIYARBAKIR
In a bid to strengthen ties with Damascus and increase its presence in Syria’s restive northern provinces, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is reportedly cracking down on anti-regime activists and military deserters.

Today’s Zaman sources inside Kurdish Syria on Sunday reported that 15 soldiers of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the loosely coordinated network of military defectors who are fighting the Assad regime, were captured by PKK forces near the Syria-Iraqi border over the weekend. The sources, who spoke to Today’s Zaman from the northern city of Qamishli on the condition of anonymity, suggested that the PKK may have handed over the soldiers to the Syrian military, but could not confirm what had happened after their capture. Officials of the FSA declined to comment when contacted by Today’s Zaman.

The incident, if true, would mark a new stage of the Kurdish separatist group’s involvement in a conflict that has pitted a nation-wide protest movement, composed mostly of the country’s majority Sunnis, against the minority Alawite-ruled government of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria’s Kurds, estimated at 10 percent of the country’s population, have aligned themselves in recent months with the country’s opposition movement, and experts say that Damascus may be looking to the PKK, which has not had a significant presence in Syria for 13 years, as a key tool in its crackdown on dissent in the country’s Kurdish northern regions.

“The PKK’s influence in Syria is growing rapidly as the security situation deteriorates, and lately the group has given signs that it may act on behalf of the government in a way similar to the Shabiha,” said Dr. Othman Ali, head of the Turkish-Kurdish Studies Center in Arbil, Iraq, as he likened the group to the shadowy gangs who have aided the government in its crackdown elsewhere in Syria. Speaking to Today’s Zaman on Monday, Dr. Othman said that the group is “moving into towns, observing Kurdish activists and fighting the Free Syrian Army.”
[…]

Syria welcomes China’s six-point statement for political resolution on the Syrian issue: Chinese envoy – 2012-03-07

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-03/07/c_131453182.htm

DAMASCUS, March 7 (Xinhua) — China’s envoy to Syria Li Huaxin said Wednesday that Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem welcomed China’s six-point statement for the political resolution on the Syrian issue.

Following a meeting with al-Moallem, Li told reporters that he had conveyed a message to Moallem from his Chinese counterpart, adding that the basic objective of his visit was to explain China’ s vision on Syria and how to reach a political settlement in the unrest-stricken country.

Meanwhile, Li stressed that “China’s stand is to preserve Syria ‘s independence, unity and sovereignty,” adding “I was so pleased that Minister Moallem has officially expressed the Syrian side’s welcome of this statement, and a statement from the Syrian side would be soon issued in this regard.”

“The talks were very useful, and we are very keen about the interests of the Syrian people and all Arab peoples and are keen about the peace and stability in the region,” he said. “We hope that we can contribute in achieving this goal with our modest efforts and China will go on with those efforts in this regard.”

Li said he will meet with some opposition figures in order to push the two sides for the table of political dialogue and to undertake a constructive stand to emerge from the current crisis.

[…]

http://www.aljazeera.net/ebusiness/pages/cca80d41-db83-44ad-acb7-7a399b0eeaf5
هبوط قياسي آخر لليرة السورية

قال تجار عملة وبنكيون الثلاثاء إن الليرة السورية هبطت إلى مستوى قياسي جديد بحيث صار الدولار الواحد يشترى بـ80 ليرة في السوق السوداء المزدهرة، وأوضحت المصادر السابقة أن العقوبات التي فرضها الاتحاد الأوروبي الأسبوع الماضي بتجميد أرصدة البنك المركزي السوري زادت من الضغوط على الليرة.

ومن العوامل التي تسببت بالهبوط المستمر للعملة المحلية إحجام البنوك المحلية، نتيجة اضطراب الوضع، عن بيع العملة الأجنبية التي تناقصت كميات المتداول منها بشدة، كما يسارع السوريون منذ أشهر للاحتفاظ بمدخراتهم الدولارية بعيدا عن السوق.

وبخلاف الأشهر الثمانية الأولى من الأزمة السورية، توقف البنك المركزي السوري عن التدخل في السوق النقدية لوقف نزيف العملة، ويعزى سلوك البنك إلى رغبته في وقف تآكل احتياطي البلاد من العملات الأجنبية الذي كان يقدر بـ17 مليار دولار قبل اندلاع الاحتجاجات المناهضة للنظام السوري.
[…]

As expected and as I wrote before, the campaign now is targeting the religion minorities of Syria, forget about the 85% religion majority who still obviously doesn’t support this mess, they ‘don’t count’, in the sectarian warfare of this ‘uprising’ what counts is a full scale Civil War.
The continues campaign of bullying and harassing the Syrian Druz in the last couple days along the ‘innocent’ and ‘lovely’ ‘flag’ spreading thing (check out ‘I love it’ comment #175 in the previous post)
After Al7amedieh, M7rdeh and Deir Mar Mousa attack http://www.deirmarmusa.org/node/346, the protesting ‘show’ by guys from the suburbs in front of a Churches in Damascus continues, the most important ‘scene’ is zooming on the ‘CROSS’, and repeat the same protest daily and bringing some guns to make is more ‘interesting’…
All these incidents can’t be but an organized campaign to force the sectarian strife between all Syrian communities as the last choice to force Syrian into a full scale civil war since almost all the ‘tricks’ were used already.

The Panic Room
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l87-Miymvo&t=45s
world fed bankers are resigning on droves.
monetary reformulations are next.
nwo order is falling apart.
these warmongers too shall pass
the beginning is near
i don’t alway have fear, but when i do, i think positive
stay positive my friends

Diplomats: Syrian envoy selects two deputies – March 07, 2012

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/03/07/diplomats-syrian-envoy-selects-two-deputies/

UNITED NATIONS — Diplomats say Kofi Annan, the new U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, has chosen two deputies — veteran Palestinian diplomat Nasser Al-Kidwa and former U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno.

[…]

So censorship is going full scale now, from academia (Pierre Piccinin) to the mainstream media, the new attitude is ‘let us shut any person who writes about Syria in a slightly different way and whoever uses his brain and logic to look at how the crisis is going’, yet we hear some people telling us that ‘it’s O.K.’ and not worth the ‘fuss’…
Well, It’s NOT O.K. and it’s WORTH to make it a big deal because it is.
The media and the Academia are now censoring and bullying people who are looking for the truth and that is unaccepted and should be exposed.

Syria Censorship at AOL-Huffington Post?
By Sharmine Narwani

Let me be clear that this blogpost is not about sour grapes.
But the media cacophony on Syria has just become too shrill – reporters, too reluctant to raise obvious questions – to just sit back and let this one slide.

Especially when it is taking place under my nose at the place I have blogged for two and a half years. There’s no other way to look at this: by refusing to publish all but one of my seven Syria articles, AOL-Huffington Post is censoring a viewpoint that challenges the dominant narratives on Syria in the mainstream media.

As all my articles were published without controversy in the period prior to AOL’s purchase of the Huffington Post in early 2011, I can only surmise that AOL has established a new “editorial policy.” In lieu of feedback from my editors as to why these articles remain unpublished, it isn’t hard to conclude that the new company has altered course, and is more comfortable only nipping at the edges of the more irreverent blogosphere.
{…}
Noticeable Censorship on Syria
Then, on December 5, I submitted the first of my Syria articles to the Huffington Post. The article, entitled Dubious Dealings: Syria and the Arab League, contained exclusive information – the list of Syrian amendments to the Arab League’s protocol to green-light an investigative mission into Syria. They did not publish it and did not respond to any emails.

The HuffPost published my subsequent article Stratfor Challenges Narratives on Syria which quotes extensively from US intelligence analyst Stratfor’s report that the Syrian opposition has been fabricating claims and events.

Since then, I have posted five further articles on Syria backstage at the Huffington Post. None have been published, and after many attempts to email editors there, I have still not received any explanation as to why. I list them here:

Syrian Snapshot: A View From The Capital is based on my own visit to Syria in January 2012 to interview opposition figures and gain some insights into the crisis in the country. Huffpost had one of their own bloggers inside the country and chose not to publish this first-hand account.

Foolishly Ignoring the Arab League Report on Syria unearthed the Arab League mission report that challenges the one-sided reporting on Syria by the mainstream media.

Veteran US Diplomat Questions Syria Storyline gives voice to the concerns of a former senior US diplomat who served at the embassy in Syria, and delivers some critical blows to current policy.

High-Tech Trickery in Homs places recent CNN satellite photos of Homs under a microscope, and shows how the photos tell an entirely different story than the network purports.

Questioning the Syrian “Casualty List” investigates the daily death toll in Syria and the inaccurate assumptions behind these casualty lists.

Every one of my Syria articles that the Huffington Post refused to publish provides exclusive information of some kind. Its World News section, instead, is filled with wire articles written outside Syria – usually from Amman or Beirut – often citing unverifiable information and claims from “activists” inside the country.
{…}
It matters then, if AOL-Huffington Post stops publishing a point of view. That is taking sides in what may come to pass in the Middle East. That is snuffing out information, analysis and opinion from a part of the world where viewpoints differ markedly from those in Washington. That, in plain English, is determining what the American people can and cannot know. And, that, is decidedly not what we expect from our media.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/sandbox/syria-censorship-aol-huffington-post

Any Pro-Aroor posters here want to volunteer to lead كتيبة الان جوبيه and كتيبة برنارد ليفي .Big Bird pays good.Has to be 18 or older .Big bird is nondiscrimentary employer.job requirements :
-Has to be bold(for Alan position)
-willing to kill his brothers .
-willing to accept the fact that god is killing his brother he only is holding the gon and pressing on it.
-Has a loud voice as he screams Allah Akbar
-willing to stop cars check IDs,kill non -s..n ,burn cars,hijack people,rape… All in name of freedom.

Air France suspends all flights to Damascus – March 7, 2012

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/France+suspends+flights+Damascus/6264274/story.html

PARIS – Air France said on Wednesday it was suspending all its flights to Damascus due to the worsening security situation in Syria, a spokeswoman said.

“We have taken the decision to suspend flights to Damascus until further notice,” a spokeswoman for Air France-KLM said. “It’s because of the situation in Syria.”

[…]

My most sincere congratulations to the Great President of the Arab Republic of Syria, Bashar As Assad. Today USD has reached 100 sp. When all opinions have been repressed and all journalist banned or killed to avoid their information we can say that Exchange Rates are the best indicator about the struggle between Assad Regime and Reality (economic facts).

After all sanctions indicted on Syria it is clear that the more Assad reafirms in power the cheaper will the Syrian Pound be. And on the contrary the nearer is the end of Assad the higher the Syrian Pound will be. Markets indicators show reality and expectations on future too.

So when SP is 100 against 1 USD it means Assad is staying in power and Syria and specially the people in Syria is facing bankruptcy. Congratulations Assad of Syria (or what it used to be call Syria).

Red Cross says most have fled besieged Syrian area
By ALBERT AJI | Associated Press – 25 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/red-cross-says-most-fled-besieged-syrian-area-162515223.html

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Red Cross spokesman says most inhabitants have fled the shattered Syrian neighborhood of Baba Amr in the central city of Homs.

ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan told the Associated Press in Geneva that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent toured the district for about 45 minutes Wednesday. It was the first outside view of the situation there since a military siege ended last week. The U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos was also allowed into Baba Amr.

From Tunisia a gift to all women on women day!!

قال البحري الجلاصي رئيس حزب الإنفتاح والوفاء

التونسي في تصريح نشرته امس الأربعاء صحيفة “الصريح” التونسية، إنه يطالب المجلس الوطني التأسيسي بأن ينص الدستور التونسي الجديد على حق كل تونسي في إتخاذ جارية إلى جانب زوجته، والتمتع بما ملكت يمينه
———
http://www.arabtimes.com/portal/news_display.cfm?Action=&Preview=No&nid=10721

Next week 1 USD will probably equal 200 syrian pounds.

How will real state react to this devaluation of the national currency? How will oil derivatives will do? What about loans from central bank?

Anyone knows the current Euro rate versus the SP, official and black market?

#15. SANDRO LOEWE

Do you predict that Bashar will step down to save the Syrian pound?

Bronco,
As you expected, the Chinese have their plan on the table and it seems that the Syrians may agree with it:

سورية ترحب بالرؤية الصينية ذات النقاط الست

رحب وزير الخارجية السوري وليد المعلم بالخطة الصينية الهادفة الى ايجاد حل للازمة في سورية، وذلك خلال استقباله الموفد الصيني الى دمشق لي هواشين الذي سلّم المعلم رسالة خطية من وزير خارجية بلاده يانغ جيتشي تتعلق بعلاقات الصداقة القائمة بين البلدين وبرؤية الصين ذات النقاط الست بشأن إيجاد حل سياسي للأزمة في سورية.
وعبر الوزير المعلم عن تقدير بلاده لموقف الصين الثابت في المحافل الدولية وترحيب سورية بالرؤية الصينية ذات النقاط الست واستعدادها للتعاون الإيجابي معها باعتبارها “الطريق نحو إيجاد حل يقوم على وقف العنف من أي مصدر كان وتسهيل جهود الأمم المتحدة في المجال الإنساني والتعاون مع مبعوث الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة ودعوة كل الأطراف للحوار الوطني الشامل وتسريع عملية الإصلاح التي انطلقت في سورية”.
بدوره أكد المبعوث الصيني “رفض بلاده لأي تدخل خارجي في الشؤون السورية”، مشيرا الى ان “الشعب السوري هو وحده القادر على إيجاد حل للأزمة”. وعبّر عن رفض الصين “محاولات استغلال بعض الأوساط للوضع الإنساني من أجل التدخل بالشؤون السورية تحت أي ذريعة كانت”، مشددا على “تمسك الصين باحترام سيادة واستقلال سورية وسلامة أراضيها وبأهداف ومقاصد ميثاق الأمم المتحدة”.

http://alkhabarpress.com/%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%AD%D8%A8-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A4%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B7/

17. IRRITATED

Of course Assad will not step down and this is why the Syrian Pound will finally end like the lebanese lira. It can reach 1 USD – 500, 1000, 5000 sp nobody knows.

I think when it comes to economic issues many will be sorry about having supported this regime.

The reason it is easy: they supported the regime for economic reasons, now they will reject it for the same reason.

I guess there was a miscalculation from the regime´s side.

Many, many, many people I know who were dealing bussiness with Syria have lost faith in the regime, in the country and in the future of Syria. Assad is the first responsible for this mess.

One week ago we were at the edge of the cliff.

I am sorry but right now I feel we are falling down by the precipice.

Syria Baath Assadist Sectarian Repressive Regime is over.

#21 Sando Loewe

“I am sorry but right now I feel we are falling down by the precipice.”

Wasn’t it what you have been hammering us with: the economy will force Assad out?
The trouble is everybody is falling and Bashar al Assad is not.

Syrian Christians worry about life after Bashar Assad

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-christians-20120307,0,4802686.story

They fear civil war and revenge attacks if President Bashar Assad falls, an anxiety fed by the sectarian violence seen in Egypt and Iraq.
(…)

“…The Central Bank has not committed its reserves to defend the pound” because the coffer is empty. Why is it empty? Because (among other reasons) “the Central Bank offered high interest rates compared to the more liquid currencies which were offering rates near zero”. Or because the reserves are now secured in a bank account somewhere in the world, out of the reach of the Syrian people.

The mismanagement of the Syrian economy and the treasury is outrageous. Do you really want them to continue to run Syria?
.

Some views on Syria (and on Turkey), from the recent Wikileaks
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/887782_-alpha-insight-turkey-syria-az-us-vz-russia-taiwan-erdogan-s.html
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/888840_re-alpha-insight-iran-us-syria-iran-reaching-out-to-us-on.html
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/60476_re-alpha-insight-syria-bashar-s-mother-s-concerns-.html
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/71381_re-mesa-fwd-alpha-insight-turkey-akp-s-foreign-policy-.html

Zoo,
I’m not sure if you understand French, if you do, please check this documentary done in Syria by Pierre Piccinin about the Syrian Christians’ spiritual leaders opinion, it’s worth watching to the end.
Mina, Bronco and Shami I know that your French is excellent, enjoy!

Sequence 02_1.mp4
http://youtu.be/x2Pro9Fp_ag

Many of those who doesn’t know how the Syrian Christians think or to pretend that hatred is what drives the religion minorities of Syria will be surprised of the amount of respect, love, solidarity and acceptance of Islam those Syrian Christian leaders have toward their Syrian Muslims brothers and Sisters, at one point, the priest Zahlawi, said that he doesn’t trust the western Christians but he trust the Syrian Muslims to be THE ONLY protectors of the Syrian Minorities and whatever will happen in Syria will affect everybody.

If I had the time I would’ve translated the documentary just to refute all the nonsense sectarian propaganda some observers are bombarding us with every day claiming that splitting Syria is the solution and that the Syrian religious and ethnic groups hate each others..It’s B.S. and only in the heads of the warmonger who are planning non-stop for the civil war and destruction to happen.

Jad
This guy is not politically correct. It is a major sin in Europe to say that it is hard to trust Western Christians, not only if you are an Eastern Orthodox Christian yourself, but simply if you are in the Middle East. Is there a support petition? I guess the best way would be to write privately to his former university.

Here are a few more (some have two numbers for the same document)

Some views on Syria, Turkey, Iran, and the PKK (which sounds like a company: some shares are owned by Syria but others are owned by the Turkish gov).

http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/102355_re-alpha-insight-iran-us-syria-iran-reaching-out-to-us-on.html
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/60428_-alpha-insight-turkey-syria-az-us-vz-russia-taiwan-erdogan-s.html
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/185945_re-alpha-s3-g3-israel-iran-barak-hails-munitions-blast-in.html
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/191102_re-alpha-insight-turkey-syria-turkey-mobilizing-forces-for.html
http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/204627_re-insight-military-intervention-in-syria-post-withdrawal.html

Aljazera Lies
Khaled Abo Saleh lies
Syrian revolution of lies
Go right ahead support lies:

Hariri dubs Assad a “murderer”

Published Wednesday, March 7, 2012
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/hariri-dubs-assad-murderer

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri blasted the Syrian President Bashar Assad as a “murderer” on Wednesday, as he launched his party’s new program for government.

Speaking via video link at the launch of the Future Movement’s new manifesto, Hariri – who resides in Saudi Arabia – hailed the Syrian uprising and said the country was moving towards democracy.
…
However, he has faced personal ruin with claims last month that he was forced to accept a US$1.9 billion loan from the Saudi king to avoid bankruptcy.

Hariri, who himself has succeeded his father as head of his party, is Saudi Arabia’s principal ally in Lebanon, and a key component of Riyadh’s efforts to regain influence in the country.

Thanks, Jad

Bronco

you can always check the official rate of the Piund here:

http://www.banquecentrale.gov.sy/main-eg.htm

Euro: 7 8 . 5 3 as of today

Be his friend
http://www.youtube.com/user/Peres?feature=watch#p/u/0/FjQdB0C6ypo
.

Does anyone know the inside politics of the Syrian Americsn Medical Association (SAMS)? Their press release lately is much anti-regime? What has transpired? Lots of minority doctors are part of SAMS and am sure almost all of them support Bushbush? Have they suspended their membership in SAMS?

Irritated
Do you expect the popularity of your Boss Bashar will go up as the Lira value drop?How high his popularity would go, 300%?Up to the space,eh.

Sandro
in one month syrian pound will be much lower than today,I feel sorry for SC supporters who sent money to Syria,they were calling for that before.I agree ,in the future the dollar will be 1500 SL,if the crisis last three more years.The fact that Hafiz picture on the 1000 bill, it probabaly don’t worth a dirt, he is ugly and hated,he is criminal and father of criminals,they should stop it from circulation.
The Shabbiha are paid 1000 lira a day, now it worth less than 10 dollar.

RE: MY comment # 3

Syria’s 4 kinds of TERRORIST Shabiha (thuggish murderous “ghosts”):

1-Western Shabiha = Hasan Nasrallah’s Hizballah.

2-Eastern Shabiha = IRAN’S (AND IRAN’S), Nuri-Maliki’s, Moqtadah al-Sadr’s, and Ammar al-Hakim’s.

3-Northern Shabiha working with Bashar M.D. (Murderous Dictator) = Kurdish PKK

4-Central and EVERYWHERE Shabiha = M.D.’s Shabiha!

Although I resent U.S. support for the Zionist occupation of Palestine, I admire my country’s inclination to aid anti-M.D. Syrians. Proud to be an American! Sorry for those who are posting from the territory of the Western Shabih, Hasan!

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/07/199241.html

U.S. considers ‘non-lethal’ aid to Syrian opposition, says Panetta

Wednesday, 07 March 2012

By AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES

United States defense secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday the U.S. will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, with an initial commitment of $10 million, to help in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Panetta said the financial assistance would be a form of “non-lethal aid” to Syria’s opposition forces, which would include the likes of radio equipment, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Although the defense chief laid out several U.S. options on Syria, he stopped short of military intervention, adding it would only be an option “if necessary.”

“We are reviewing all possible additional steps that can be taken with our international partners to support efforts to protect the Syrian people, end the violence, and ensure regional stability, including potential military options if necessary,” Panetta told the committee.

“Although we will not rule out any future course of action, currently the administration is focusing on diplomatic and political approaches rather than a military intervention,” he added.

Panetta also said the U.S. would work with the regional members of the Friends of Syria group and others to “help strengthen the [Syrian] opposition.”

Asked by Senator Richard Blumenthal if the United States was ready to deliver communications equipment to Syrian rebels, Panetta said: “I’d prefer to discuss that in a closed session but I can tell you that we’re considering an array of non-lethal assistance.”
[…]

DER SPIEGEL just published this article on the economy,(translated)

Oil gone, tourists gone,money gone

By Ulrike Putz in Beirut

The decline of the Syrian economy could force the regime of Bashar al-Assad in the knee. Above all, the European oil embargo and the collapse of tourism make the country to suffer – perhaps the collapse comes later this year.

The rates of the money changers give more details than any propaganda: One year after the start of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian pound is worth just under two-thirds. On the black market now costs $ 71 pounds, a year ago it was 46 pounds.

No wonder that the exchange rate falls. The oil production facilities in the Syrian desert almost all are standing still: since the European Union imported Syrian oil with an embargo, Syria has lost 90 percent of its oil exports. Even Syria’s hotels are empty, only a few lonely tourists wandering through bazaars and even Roman ruins.
“Since April, the tourism has stopped, which is about 15 percent of the gross domestic product. Since November, the oil exports halted and that’s another 30 percent of the gross domestic product,” said the Syrian businessman Faisal al-Kudsi mid-February to the BBC. Kudsi should know: The son of a former Syrian president was one of those who took power after Bashar al-Assad of his father Hafez in 2000 orchestrated the transformation of Syria from a planned to a market economy.

Now, Kudsi predicts the collapse of the system, which he himself has created: Because of international sanctions against Syria remained the country only a few trading partners. Only in Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon exports still flow. “The foreign exchange reserves of the central bank fell from $ 22 billion to 10 billion dollars and they continue to disappear very quickly,” he told the BBC.

Syrian banks have lost from the start of the crisis a third of their deposits. Customers exchange their money into dollars, they take off to bring home to hoard it, or bring it to safety in neighboring countries. “The banks are under massive pressure,” said a banker of a prominent Lebanese bank to Reuters, ” If Syria should sink into civil war, it could lead to mergers or bankruptcies.” In Syria, there are 14 banks in private hands, mostly offshoots of large Arab banks.

That the sanctions actually take effect and cause enormous damage to the Syrian economy is so obvious that even the Assad regime is no more denying it. Since April 2010, the U.S. and the EU have imposed a first round of sanctions against the Syrian oil industry, the industry had more than two billion dollars in revenue escaped, said the Syrian Oil Minister Sufian Allaw, in February. The production had to be reduced by 150,000 barrels a day.

David Butter, Middle East specialist of the British Economist Corporate Network, thinks that the collapse of the Syrian economy could pull the collapse of the regime itself. Where the opposition militarily could not attack the regime, the economy ” is the major weak point of the regime”, said Butter.

Assads-system is simply running out of money. In particular, the loss of oil revenues hits the regime hardly. With the income from oil exports they have paid for Syria’s disproportionately large public sector. “Now the government will no longer be able to defray the salaries of employees in government service.” For the second half of this year, says Butter therefore he predicts also political problems: “Then the breaking point is reached.”

Still, the regime can count on the support of the middle class. They fear a majority, that the rebellion itself and develop into a civil war could plunge the country into chaos. Relatively wealthy Syrians are therefore still willing to accept the limitations of their freedom under Assad. If the bloody suppression of the uprising, however, curtail their wealth could be the previously-abiding citizens turn away from the Assad regime, observers say.
Last week, the European Union tightened a further round of sanctions to pressure the government of President Bashar al-Assad. While seven Syrian minister are now denied entry into the EU. Meanwhile, more than one hundred Syrian representatives are on the list of sanctioned persons.

The EU ministers also agreed to freeze accounts of Syrian ministers abroad, including the Foreign Minister Walid al-Mualem. The twelfth round of sanctions since the conflict began a year ago, also targets the Syrian Central Bank, on cargo flights to Europe and the trade in gold and other precious metals and diamonds from Syria. A ban on phosphates was rejected as well as a ban on passenger flights between Europe and Syria according to diplomats.

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/0,1518,819632,00.html

From the sound of the video of the Abbasiyin demo (above in the news round up) in Damascus, you can evaluate the crowd to less than 100. The shapes at the end (it is night time) suggest some that you have to count some teenagers into this number. Nothing new.

Hama: Post Massacre

by Bara Sarraj

We went back to Hama after our first post-massacre visit. Three weeks later, the magnitude of destruction had become more apparent.

The Kilani district had been flattened, and a brick wall was being built around it. Assad banned survivors from the historic site from returning to their homes. Rumors spread that a hotel would be erected over the site. (It was completed years later.) My father’s and grandmother’s graves in their once sacred cemeteries were to disappear with thousands of others, as public, stepped parks were planned to take their place. The Azm Palace, which was built in the eighteenth century and was the official museum of the city, was severely damaged. Its iconic red dome was half destroyed, and its treasures were looted. Because of extensive damage, the museum was temporarily moved to Abulfida Mosque, one of three surviving mosques in various states of damage. The Grand Mosque—considered the most ancient site in the city, if not the entire country—had been reduced to a heap of rocks after an Assad general had decided its fate so.

[…]

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4570/hama_post-massacre

About today’s news round up
1.The UAE has stopped issuing visas to Syrians.
The link
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/us-china-syria-idUSTRE8260GV20120307
does not match the story.

2.”The exchange rate of the Syrian Pound has reportedly plunged to the 103 range against the dollar”
Obviously , it is not the official rate but some “unofficial” rate .

3.”One businessman I spoke to this morning reports that he sold three-hundred thousand dollars of car parts several months ago in Syrian pounds. He is to be paid at the end of this month. Due to the decline of the pound over this time period from 57 to 100 pounds per dollar, he will lose close to $150,000 dollars.”

When one doesn’t play by the official rules in order to win more than usual , he also takes the risk to lose more than usual . ( and he cannot complain to the Syrian government ).
I will not elaborate as any businessman in Syria understands what I mean.

May I remind that the exchange rate of the Euro against the US dollar varied between 0.8 and 1.6 .
Not sure when US citizen complained to have lost their life savings.
I also remember a Syrian American banker on SC advocating the devaluation of the Syrian Pound to help the Syrian exporters .

Top US danger rating for Syrian chemical-biological missiles – ahead even of Iran – March 7, 2012

http://www.debka.com/article/21801/

The US president accordingly prevailed upon his Israeli guest to hurry up and patch up relations with Turkey, which he was willing to assist, because it would take a combined US-Turkish-Israeli military effort to ward off an attack by Syria’s poisoned missiles. Indeed, if the Syrian conflict is not solved, America might be forced to turn its missile shield against Bashar Assad’s missiles before they are needed against an Iranian attack.

The hazard could be accelerated by three elements, say American sources:

1. Assad might decide to respond with extreme violence to foreign military intervention in Syria, even an operation confined only to drawing the civilian population into security zones safe from the attacks of his security services.

On Tuesday, March 6, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan reverted to his call for security zones, and last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman offered humanitarian aid to Syria’s beleaguered civilian population. Both such actions, say the American sources, might well be taken by Assad as provocations deserving of reprisal by missiles – first those carrying chemical warheads, then biological ones.

Minister of Home Front Defense Matan Vilnai said Tuesday when he dedicated 14 public shelters at the two largest Druze communities in the Carmel district, Daliat al-Carmel and Usufiya, that “the Haifa district of the Home Front command is expected to be very important in the next war and we anticipate that hundreds of missiles will be fired at the home front.”

These shelters can accommodate 3,000 people.

2. Assad might respond to an Iranian request to take part in a preemptive strike launched by Tehran or Iranian retaliation for attacks on its nuclear facilities by the US or Israel.

3. Assad might transfer the unconventional missions to Iran’s Lebanese surrogate, the Hizballah – in which case, the US, Turkey and Israel would have no option but to smash them.
US military sources say that although Israel possesses a strong air force and special forces able to sabotage Assad’s chemical and biological missiles, the United States and Turkey would have to pitch in with military resources to destroy them completely.

[…]

http://watan.com/news/politics/2012-03-06/4951

ماذا تخفي اسماء الاسد وراء ابتسامتها؟

كان الغرب ينظر اليها على انها الاميرة العصرية، الا ان اسماء الاسد تلاقي الان انتقادات عديدة بسبب التزامها الصمت ازاء سفك الدم نتيجة تعنت قوات زوجها، واللافت ان السيدة الاولى، ولاول مرة منذ اندلاع الانتفاضة الدموية في البلاد، تخرج عن صمتها وتعلن دعمها لزوجها في احدى الرسائل.

وفي هذا السياق تقول مجلة باريس ماتش الفرنسية:” كلا اسماء الاسد لم تختفي.فبعد 11 شهرا من بدء الانتفاضة في سوريا والتي اودت بحياة ما لا يقل عن 5400 قتيل، عبرت زوجة الرئيس السوري للمرة الاولى عن رأيها وذلك من خلال بيان صدر عن مكتبها فقالت ان “الرئيس هو رئيس سوريا وليس لفريق من السوريين والسيدة الاولى تدعمه”، واضافت الرسالة ان “الاجندة المثقلة تماما للسيدة الاولى مخصصة دائما وبشكل اساسي للجمعيات الخيرية التي تعمل معها منذ زمن طويل وللتنمية الزراعية وكذلك لدعم الرئيس”، واوضحت “هذه الايام، تهتم (اسماء الاسد) ايضا بتشجيع الحوار وهي دائما على السمع وتواسي عائلات ضحايا العنف”، بهذه العبارة يختتم نص الرسالة الذي يبدو وفق المجلة الفرنسية خارجا عن المألوف وبعيدا كل البعد عن الواقع الملموس، نظرا للانتقادات العديدة التي تطال زوجها بعد استمرار مسلسل الدماء ورفضه التعاون مع دول الخليج لانهاء الازمة.

وتأتي هذه التعليقات في الوقت الذي قررت فيه دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي سحب سفرائها من سوريا احتجاجا على العنف الذي لا يزال يسيطر بقبضته على البلاد وتحديدا في حمص، وفي ايار/ مايو الماضي كثرت الاقاويل والشائعات حول مكان تواجد اسماء الاسد، فقد رجح البعض احتمال ان تكون قد هربت من سوريا، هذا وقد اعلنت وسائل الاعلام البريطانية انها موجودة في لندن مع عائلتها، غير ان السيدة الاولى ظهرت في 12 كانون الثاني/ يناير مع طفليها، لدعم زوجها اثناء مظاهرة مؤيدة له، وما اشعل الاقاويل اكثر انها لم امتنعت عن ادلاء اي تصريح.
[…]

What has left of Syria for Assad to keep holding on the throne to the last breath? A profoundly traumatized country, burned land, deeply divided across sectarian and religious lines, seeded with hatred and distrust, a devastated economy, refugees, fighting factions some for a cause and some for none.

Alfatiha upon Syria’s soul.

And yet, some still argue that 100 liars a dollar is good for you… While others still boast that Assad is strong.

The operation is successful and the death was just a nonsignificant complication.

I don’t think that M.D.’s (murderous dictator) father-in-law, the son of Homs, would be happy to see his murderous son-in-law kill Sunnis and other innocents in Homs. He should have known that marrying his daughter to the son of a murderous family would NOT lead to good consequences!

Free Syria, Free Palestine!

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/305864

HORRIFIED’ BY SON-IN-LAW BASHAR AL ASSAD

Asma with her husband President Assad

Sunday March 4,2012
By Adam Helliker and Hilary Douglas

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(7)

THE LONDON-based father-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al Assad last night begged him to make democratic changes to his strife-torn country “before it’s too late”.

Harley Street cardiologist Dr Fawaz Akhras, says he is “horrified” by his son-in-law’s savage suppression of the uprising in Syria which has cost the lives of at least 7,000 ordinary civilians.

As Syrian troops renewed their ferocious bombardment of the city of Homs he revealed for the first time that he has been quietly pushing for reform since before the revolution began last March.

Dr Akhras, admits he is also fearful for the safety of his British-born daughter Asma, 36, who married Assad 12 years ago.

There are rumours that she is being kept under virtual house arrest in Damascus by the president’s henchmen who fear she might attempt to leave the country – a move that would severely damage the regime.

Dr Fawaz refuses to discuss the worsening situation in public, but he has told friends in the British Syrian Society he is now in an “impossible position”, caught between family loyalty and worldwide condemnation of the increasing brutality of his son-in-law’s regime.
[…]

Alert – Site Manager

You have put a wrong link to the story “The UAE has stopped issuing visas to Syrians” above.

More and more countries are refusing visas to Syrians because their country is classified as unstable.

This means devastating problems for ordinary Syrians. Another cruel outcome of their government’s criminal stupidity.

Perhaps we could have a roll call here of places Syrians are no longer being admitted.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/517f437e-66e7-11e1-9e53-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1oTDAC7Rv

Dubai police chief hits at cleric on Syria

By Simeon Kerr in Dubai

Dubai’s police chief threatened to arrest an influential Qatar-based cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi who criticised the United Arab Emirates for revoking the visas of Syrians demonstrating against the regime in Damascus.

The sheikh has ties with Muslim Brotherhood in the region that have emerged as major beneficiaries of the political upheaval.

Should we, folks commenting here, try to give FREE advice to M.D. in case his lovely wife, Asma, flees his war crimes to stay with his family in London? I understand that M.D. (Bashar, Murderous Dictator) loves Western-educated women. He prefers Western women, and that’s why he married Asmah.

I suggest that, instead of him going nuts AFTER ASMAH FLEES, M.D. should contact Hasan Nasrallah to see if the latter could find him an arranged marriage with one of the brainwashed American idealist females who are spreading pro-Bashar propaganda from Hasan’s and al-Manar’s basement 🙂

Please provide M.D. with free marital advice 🙂

dawoud
Bashar needs Hasan Nasrallah,to say Basmaleh,on him,I mean yekapsoh
Dajjal yekappes harami mujrem

47. majedkhaldoun

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

بشار وحسن الاثنين دجالين وقتله

TO AREAL

You are wrong to concern yourself with the “official” exchange rate. All that matters is the rate that is determined in the market by the forces of supply and demand.

If someone is only willing to accept upwards of 100 SYP for one dollar then that is the exchange rate. Government decrees are useless in the face of market forces; if the central bank today announced that it was willing to sell USD for 70 SYP (below the “unofficial” rate of 100) then people would queue up to take the central bank’s dollars and hand over their syrian pounds. The central bank would run out of foreign reserves very quickly doing this.

For the past year the central bank has been intervening in the market in order to maintain the exchange rate. They have been selling dollars and buying syrian pounds. In the beginning everything was fine because the regime had amassed huge amounts of foreign reserves for just such a rainy day. However, these reserves were quickly depleted (I don’t know exact figures, but the change in the x-rate suggests this) and now the C.B has no doubt decided that it is better to just let the exchange rate float freely and so keep the remainder of its hard currency (dollars, euros etc) a little while longer.

I am a very peacefull person and I have never incited to violence in my daily life, but I think the President of Syria and his brother Maher should be wisely advised by high rank officials to commit suicide with two bullets in their back, just like Ghazi Kanaan ¨did¨.

49. DIGGING FOR GOLD IN BOSRA

I think the only solution for Assad is keeping on digging for gold in Bosra. Maybe they will find some enormous treasure from the Ottoman Empire there to let the C.B. resist 3 or 4 days more.

By the way, did you find any Hadrian gold coin in Bosra in your ¨digging¨activities? They are very appreciated. Once I met a guy who used to sell them to european diplomats in Damascus. Later I found a silver seller in Hamidiye market that told most are false. I never knew the truth about the story.

# 46. DAWOUD HOLY HOMS said: “brainwashed American idealist females who are spreading pro-Bashar propaganda from Hasan’s and al-Manar’s basement”

They are certainly not “idealist”. They would be doing it for a buzz. They would be nasty, ill-informed and out of touch with normal human behavioural standards, ideals and values.

And are we so sure Mrs Assad and her spin advisers aren’t already busy at the keyboard?

[Incidentally, I think that story about Asma’s father Dr Fawaz Akhras came up before on SC and was then said to be not true. Apparently he was a friend of Assad senior which is how his daughter met Bashar. So I guess he isn’t likely to be repentent]

What is unique about Syrian uprising is this : the confluence of the structural and the cyclical , the structural is the dominant narrow sectarian minority monopoly of power on a Sunni Majority , what added fire is the Assad over reliance on hegemonic Iran that has been going against the grain of the region .The cyclical is really the timing and cumulative bad performance of the governing elites in the region from Pakistan to Morroco , what added fire here is the ecological and over population that has been creeping on the region where government policies didnot help or where not speedy and decisive enough .
The next several weeks are crucial , either the regime will manage to kill enough to silence the rest taking clues from the Westren slow motion ( adding to Arab apprehensiveness of possible Israeli consent to the Assad at the helms of perennially weak Syria) , or the regime will start to crack as we pass the second turism season and the economy reaches the point of break Down heralding the break of Assad/Makhlouf hold on the government apparatus .

The truth of the matter is that Asma and Bush-bush met through her mother’s family. Asma and Bushbush knew each other since childhood when she used to visit her aunt in Damascus. The aunt was married to someone who was very closed with Papa Hafiz and was one of his men. Fawaz al Akrass knew no one.

Mina
I hope you are not having an Lizzie moment here, make sure not to miss the moment when Assad and his gang will flee. Lizzie thought the bombs were fireworks and Tripolis was still fine and no rebels could ever come close, the rest is history… and Lizzie is back to Damascus…

Amir

that vid was hilarious, i wish Merkel would have some sort of humor to put such a vid on her youtubechannnel.

Here is the official exchange rate from SANA
http://www.sana.sy/eng/exchange/index.htm

It is interesting it is on the english and not arabic web site.

I guess it is not important for the average Syrian to know the official exchange rate for he/she is doing it on the black market and that is if you can find dollars on the black market.

Chavez is sending two ships full with gasoline for the refinery is not apparently working to make gasoline only diesel for the tanks and APCs.

Ashton says that whole sections of BA are destroyed. The word will get out and despite the destruction of BA there is no let up in the demonstrations.

Tara, Fredo does not think that there is anything wrong with Syria. He like Ghadafi before him could not imagine Syria to be without him. He has been fed from the cradle the story of Somaria ALassad as the personal fiefdom and the direct product of the actions and thoughts of the great Vito the Father Hafez Corleone. He cannot imagine that the world let alone Syria can exist without him and his clique and clan.

It is impossible for such a delusional person to think that the destruction of Syria is his responsibility and it does not matter for his staying in power is what counts.

We have been fed this garbage before when in 67 we were told that Syria won the war for the Baath party stayed in power as the aim of the IDF was not to destroy the Syrian armed forces and take the Golan but to destroy the Baath party. It is such delusional self serving narcissism that we are witnessing here.

The guy is dumb and stupid and delusional. He is Fredo, his brother is nothing more than a brutal machine who enjoys sadistic acts of killing and taking pictures of his victims as he did in the Sednaya prison some years past.

Each of the security services heads has also created his own little “territory” as it were and they do not answer to anyone and are running amok with continued graft and destruction.

The reason the central bank cannot intervene is because the hard currency and the gold have been shipped to the Qurdaha area.

Now we have some that are calling for dialogue on this blog
They remind me of the thugs Shamir and Begin who used to always call for dialogue without conditions and for the Arabs to sit and talk and this when they held all the cards in their hands: superior military, protection by US veto, our land that we are supposed to negotiate with the thief over with, and an insistence on the part of the thieving zionist that we recognize the “legitimacy” of their theft and abandon our basic rights to our land and freedom and dignity.

THis is the same position some on this blog are asking the Syrians to do with this murderous thuggish regime with their thugs running around defending the indefensible.

How can I negotiate with Fredo’s brother when he is holding a gun to my head and his boot on my children;s neck and his thugs holding my wife in the basement and his banker cousin’s hand in my pocket?

The only thing to negotiate is to hand the gun, cuff the brother, put the thugs in prison, and confiscate the holdings of the cousin then we can sit and talk as equals about anything.

Ankhar Kochneva, writer and sole foreign journalist permanently living in Syria, tells RT what is really up in the country, who funds the opposition, how international media fake images of unrest and why it is so important to watch weather forecasts

http://australiansforsyria.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/interview-with-ankhar-kochneva-writer-and-sole-foreign-journalist-permanently-living-in-syria/

When the media and politicians need to resort to lies then we know their cause is bogus

‘What we are seeing in Syria is a deliberate and calculated campaign to bring down the Assad government so as to replace it with a regime “more compatible” with US interests in the region.

The blueprint for this project is essentially a report produced by the neo-conservative Brookings Institute for regime change in Iran in 2009. The report – “Which Path to Persia?” [3] – continues to be the generic strategic approach for US-led regime change in the region.’

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NA05Ak03.html

SYRIA: “Human Rights” Warriors for Empire
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have chosen the side of Empire in the Washington-backed belligerency

“Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have chosen sides in the Washington-backed belligerency – the side of Empire.” Syria has no choice but to secure every square foot of its territory. “Faced with the certainty of superpower-backed attack under the guise of ‘protecting’ civilians in “liberated” territory, Syria cannot afford to cede even one neighborhood of a single city – not one block! – or of any rural or border enclave, to armed rebels and foreign jihadis.”
etc
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29422

…

the GCC created an Arab League group to monitor what’s going on in Syria. The Syrian National Council – based in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries Turkey and France – enthusiastically supported it. It’s telling that Syria’s neighbor Lebanon did not.
When the over 160 monitors, after one month of enquiries, issued their report … surprise! The report did not follow the official GCC line – which is that the “evil” Bashar al-Assad government is indiscriminately, and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order.
The Arab League’s Ministerial Committee had approved the report, with four votes in favor (Algeria, Egypt, Sudan and GCC member Oman) and only one against; guess who, Qatar – which is now presiding the Arab League because the emirate bought their (rotating) turn from the Palestinian Authority.
So the report was either ignored (by Western corporate media) or mercilessly destroyed – by Arab media, virtually all of it financed by either the House of Saud or Qatar. It was not even discussed – because it was prevented by the GCC from being translated from Arabic into English and published in the Arab League’s website.
Until it was leaked. Here it is, in full
etc
http://www.4thmedia.org/2012/02/10/the-roving-eye-exposed-the-arab-agenda-in-syria/

usually I don’t post that often although I read SC daily and I have a couple of questions here:
Why are the anti fixating too much on Asma
Why the new release of the intelligent files is not gaining any traction on SC, it states clearly that there is armed foreign fighters working to start civil war in Syria ( SOF )

‘PARIS – Air France said on Wednesday it was suspending all its flights to Damascus due to the worsening security situation in Syria, a spokeswoman said.’

does the France regime have anything to do with this?

Former French Colonel: Arrest of 13 French Officers in Syria Semi Official
http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/former-french-colonel-arrest-of-13.html

so thats why the situation is worsening…what if Syria was to send syrian officers to aid dissidents in France?

36. Juergen said:

DER SPIEGEL just published this article on the economy,(translated)

Oil gone, tourists gone,money gone

By Ulrike Putz in Beirut
=====================

thats one of the objectives of these color revolutions..to crete chaos, to bring down a target govt and install one friendly to the coup backers..AKA france UK US and Israel

43. DAWOUD HOLY HOMS said:

I don’t think that M.D.’s (murderous dictator) father-in-law, the son of Homs, would be happy to see his murderous son-in-law kill Sunnis and other innocents in Homs. He should have known that marrying his daughter to the son of a murderous family would NOT lead to good consequences!
=================
darwood the unholy has great faith…in the UK media! LOL..as if the MSM will tell the truth about the war on syria waged by salafist muslim brotherhood hihadis and frenc israel US UK backers!

consider:
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/angry-corner/%E2%80%9Cbashar-assad-rapes-children%E2%80%9D-bbc-propaganda

its called a colour revolution..its the ,latest means to bring about regime change in countries with stubborn govts, without the use of foreign troops
It DOES depend on anetwork of flunky regimes, esp in europe and GCC to aid theUSrael plans.
and the role of the ‘free’ press to demonise is crucial
http://australiansforsyria.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/interview-with-ankhar-kochneva-writer-and-sole-foreign-journalist-permanently-living-in-syria/

http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/angry-corner/%E2%80%9Cbashar-assad-rapes-children%E2%80%9D-bbc-propaganda

Ehsani

Question. Why did the central bank not used it’s reserve to protect the lira? Could it be that it doesn’t have the reserve that we all believed it did?
—-

I find it strange that at this stage of the game, the Assad clan is not intervening to protect the lira. Aren’t they afraid of the repercussions of the falling lira in term of the panic it may create among the supporters and the fence sitters. People have a tendency to support the more powerful. Assad is giving the impression that he is not going to be there for long time.

More Alawis are defecting.

Syria’s Alawite activists stuck in the middle
Despite fears of sectarianism if the regime falls, some in the Alawite minority are speaking out against Assad.
Nir Rosen Last Modified: 08 Mar 2012 00:05

Journalist Nir Rosen recently spent two months in Syria. As well as meeting members of various communities across the country – supporters of the country’s rulers and of the opposition alike – he spent time with armed resistance groups in Homs, Idlib, Deraa, and Damascus suburbs. He also travelled extensively around the country last year, documenting his experiences for Al Jazeera – including articles about the Alawite community.

The Syrian opposition has been stepping up efforts to get religious minorities involved in the year-old uprising. The exiled opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) recently issued a statement announcing that it “extends [a] hand to the Alawite community”, the sect which President Bashar al-Assad belongs to.

[…]

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/03/201237101424192726.html

The regime is not spending its reserves on shoring up the currency because those resources are being conserved for Bashar and his family when they flee to Iran. May his departure be soon in coming…

Observer
If Bashar think that by steeling the Gold reserve and the hard currency and put it in Qurdaha,they can get away with that,he is stupid,There will not be an Alawi country,Syria will stay united, he can not survive the revolution, not a single member of his family will survive,and they will find out how is it to steel money and they can not use it.

dropping the value of Lira is going to accelerate,it will make poor people poorer, and middle class will become poor, a situation will not be tolerated,it will effect all Syria,and will cause increase in discontent and expedite more defection,hungry people are not quiet people., and chaos will reach a stage Syria will become Hammam Maqto3a Maito.

Debate over Syria intervention takes shape
Posted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, March 7, 2012 – 1:06 PM Share
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/debate_over_syria_intervention_takes_shape

Top administration officials, leading lawmakers, and GOP presidential candidates have all weighed in on Sen. John McCain’s proposal to launch U.S.-led airstrikes to halt the violence in Syria, but there is still no consensus on the costs and benefits of entangling the U.S. military in another armed conflict.

“Just as was the case with Libya, there is a broad consensus among regional leaders and organizations on the preferred outcome in Syria: Assad and his cronies must go. There is not, however, a consensus about how this goal could be achieved,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said at Wednesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.

Levin didn’t say whether he was for or against a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria, but he warned of the risks and talked about the possible impact on the region.

McCain was more clear, repeating his call for foreign air power to be used against the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, and calling for the immediate arming of the Syrian opposition — hopefully with international cooperation from Arab partners and European allies.

“It is understandable that the administration is reluctant to move beyond diplomacy and sanctions. Unfortunately, this policy is increasingly disconnected from the dire conditions on the ground in Syria, which has become a full state of armed conflict,” McCain said.

He urged Panetta to remember his time as White House chief of staff during the NATO intervention in Bosnia and quoted President Bill Clinton as saying at the time, “There are times and places where our leadership can mean the difference between peace and war and where we can defend our fundamental values as a people and serve our most basic strategic interests. There are still times when America and America alone can and should make the difference for peace.”

McCain also quoted CENTCOM chief Gen. James Mattis, who testified Tuesday that “Assad is clearly achieving what he wants to achieve” that his military campaign is “gaining physical momentum on the battlefield.” Mattis also noted that Assad’s downfall would be “the biggest strategic setback for Iran in 25 years.”
(…)

Denying that Syria is a hodgepodge ,and not a simple war between the regime and the opposition,is a sure way to aggravate the mess created by the regime and made worse by thugs and outside “friends”. A country of 23 million should have enough people who can put national interest ahead of narrow personal or tribal gains,failure to do that is a form of treason,if Syria becomes a failed state ruled by war lord and thieves it won’t matter much whose fault was it.

Syria’s Baba Amr is deserted, Red Cross says
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY | Associated Press – 1 hr 57 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-baba-amr-deserted-red-cross-says-180339799.html

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.N. humanitarian chief toured the shattered Syrian district of Baba Amr on Wednesday but found most residents had fled following a bloody military siege, while activists accused the government of trying to cover up evidence of atrocities there.
…
After seizing Baba Amr from the rebels, regime forces now appear to be turning their attention to other rebellious areas. A wave of new arrests was reported in Homs by the Local Coordinating Committees, an activist group, as well as assaults on the northern province of Idlib near Turkey.

The shift suggests the Syrian military is unable to launch large operations simultaneously, even though the security services remain largely strong and loyal.

According to witnesses, Syrian troops shelled the northern villages in Idlib on Wednesday. There also were reports of snipers in Homs province.
(…)

Tara,

As I wrote in the past, it is impossible to know the exact level of foreign currency at the Central Bank (CB). There are two explanations for why the CB has not intervened of late:

1- The level of reserves is not as high as we had been told, as you suggested

2- Whatever reserves do exist, it was better to conserve them and use them for more urgent matters like paying civil servants, public sector employees, the army, subsidies and key imports if they still can.

I do agree that the sudden collapse of the value of SYP is politically problematic. Presumably, the leadership would have done everything to avoid it. Clearly, it feels powerless to reverse the trend. The oil exports have nearly come to a halt due to the sanction. This has starved the treasury of foreign currency. The tourism industry has also dried out and with it the other source of foreign currency. The implications of this last move will be far reaching. I believe that a number of businesses will soon go nearly bankrupt and renege on commitments due to the excessive losses. Syrians were not diversified. Many had too many of their assets in SYP. Over the course of the crisis, a large percentage of people refused to believe that the currency can weaken much. I do recall many here on SC deciding to “help” by buying SYP around 55-57. One hopes it was merely a nationalistic verbal show of support. The Central Bank did not help. On several occasions, it promised to punish speculators and reverse the fall. It never did. It was obvious that they were reduced to using verbal persuasion.

AREAL,

You were clearly referring to me when you said that I had long advocated a devaluation of the currency before the crisis. This is accurate. My logic was two-fold:

a- A measured and slow weakening of the SYP would discourage importers from buying from abroad and would make it cheaper for exporters to sell their products more competitively.

b- More importantly, the huge yearly liabilities of the government (salaries and subsidies) will make it cheaper for the treasury if they allowed for a weaker SYP over time in a stable and transparent manner.

What we have seen lately is not a linear macro policy-driven devaluation. It is a black swan-type collapse in the value of the currency. Exporters cannot even benefit as transportation routes are essentially closed due to the deteriorating security situation. Moreover, electricity shortages have made it extremely hard to produce goods to export.

What we have now is potentially a dangerous economic meltdown. It is worth watching the banking sector for signs of spreading stress in the system.

breaking news on syria, defection of deputy minister

Iraq: UN chief to attend Arab summit in Baghdad
Associated Press – 8 hrs ago

http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-un-chief-attend-arab-summit-baghdad-152913508.htmlhttp://news.yahoo.com/iraq-un-chief-attend-arab-summit-baghdad-152913508.html

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s top diplomat says United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon will attend the annual Arab League summit meeting scheduled for later this month in Baghdad.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that Ban accepted an invitation “just a few days ago.”
…
The Arab League summit meeting is set for March 27-29.

65. brian

Usually, I like to ignore conspiracy theorists, who blame the Syrians’ spontaneous uprising and innate desire for dignity/freedom on “Salafists.” One person commenting on this board even claimed that the courageous teenager was murdered/tortured by “the Saudi terorists 🙂 or cry! We have an Arabic saying: شر البليه ما يضحك “worst calamities are those that make you laugh [instead of cry].” Believe me, I laugh when I read you and the RT/xinhuanet/PressTV comment writer talk about “salafists” and “Saudis!”

In any case, I just would like to point out something that I know for FACT. I used to work for UNRWA and I travelled to Lebanon many many times. al-Akhbar is a pro-Syria newspaper. Please don’t have much faith in any media outlet in Lebanon, with a very few exceptions. Many courageous Lebanese journalists who dared to speak out against Hasan Nasrallah or Bashar were murdered and/or seriously wounded. I don’t agree with some of the journalists whom Bashar/Hasan assassinated, but CLEARLY THEY DID NOT DESERVE TO BE MURDERED. NOBODY DESERVES DEATH FOR EXPRESSING THEIR OPINION. Before you quote al-Akhbar, please consider this list of those who were murdered or survived assassination in Lebanon because they disagreed with the evil Hasan/Bashar:

1) May Chidiac http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Chidiac

2) Gebran Tueni: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gebran_Tueni

3)Samir Kasir (whom I personally admired): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Kassir

Ehsani, so you work in the fixed income department of an investment bank by any chance? Trading interest rate swaps or as a strategist? Not many people refer to the ‘black swan’ or ‘ten sigma’ events, it’s usually those that have read Taleb’s book.

DIGGING FOR GOLD IN BOSRA,

Nassim Taleb is a personal friend.

75. Ehsani

Compared to Greece, Syria has no debts and has no deadlines for paiments except to its own citizens. It is self reliant food wise.
If Syria gets a financial boost from Russia, China, India or Iran like Greece got from the EU, do you think the country could pass through that storm until it finds other ways to get foreign currency.

How does Syria compare to Tunisia that suffers from lack of foreign currencies and high unemployment even without sanctions and a war.
What about Egypt’s?
It is important to have a relative picture of Syria’s economical situation compared to other countries who are under a crisis,.

Brian,

9 posts in rapid succession? Maybe you didn’t realize it, but it’s a blur to follow and some of it does not make sense.

Though I checked out a couple of the links, including “Australians for Syria”. Interesting, I somehow don’t think so. I am left wondering what stake these Australian-based Syrian regime approvers and western media bashers would have, and what they are trying to protect.

I think of them far away in a sweet world without mukharabet and economic hardship, enjoying their safe citizenship and freedoms, having enjoyment from making their web site.

Not only the millions of desperately poor Syrians who are now being terrorised, but even the Assad family themselves would be happy to have such lives instead of living in Syria.

76. DIGGING FOR GOLD IN BOSRA

“breaking news on syria, defection of deputy minister”

Name please, News link please.

The crisis in Syria will not be limited to Syria, there is Iraq,with a pro Iran PM ,Maliki he is going to defend Iran interest, he can play very destructive role as far as Syria, US made mistake leaving him in Iraq,he is very dangerous man, Iraqi people must arm to the teeth and must prevent him from taking over,
And Lebanon HA will feel threaten if the Syrian regime collapse, so the Mach 14 including christians and Hariri party must arm themselves, Lebanon is more important,and fight probably start soon in Lebanon instigated by HA, neutralizing HA is important,The FSA troops who fled to Lebanon can play good role to neutralize HA army, Lebanon ,now, is hostage to HA ,and liberating Lebanon from HA is necessary for Syrian to get rid of Assad, unless HA change his assistance to the syrian regime ,which I doubt.Syrian and lebanese people are one people, and they should help each other.

AREAL

what will be interesting is what happens when the thugs begin to ask for payment in dollars and euros; when they refuse SYP. I imagine that what will happen first is that the regime will simply double the amount but insist on paying them in SYP. Inflation will quickly pick up and after a while even those guys will lose faith in the SYP and start asking for dollars.

This is ultimately a numbers game: ever decreasing foreign currency reserves, coupled with the fact that the majority of the country is sunni makes the regime’s downfall inevitable.

Ehsani

Haha, well this is a fellow practioner saying hello to him!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17295748

Ehsani
Would you please explain what black swan neck collapse is?

#53 Tara

Thanks for explaining the Asma-Bashar family friendship link. You say her father “Fawaz al Akrass knew no one”. Well, that would have changed! He would have had to pass a lot of loyalty tests and become very sweet and close with his daughter’s in-laws. We can assume that in his and his wife’s world that marriage was a triumph…until now.

There are government employees in Homs who have not been paid in 2 months while the fat cats are engaged in money laundering and assets reallocation to avoid sanctions.
Another new low is spreading rumors that the Thief in Chief,Rami,has deposited. 3 $ billion in SCB,I also heard,for the first time,an attack on Ghalioun’s family from a guest on sham fm,who hinted that Ghalioun’s experience with his ex-wife has something to do with his race to become a president of any body or entity he can put his hands on.
The next step may be printing more SPs in Russia to pay public sector employees !!

United against Iran
by Murtaza Haider on March 7th, 2012 |

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/07/united-against-iran.html
The sectarian gulf between the Sunni Arabs and Shia Iranians runs deep. Recent reports suggest that Arabs, while being motivated by their abhorrence of the Shias, appear willing to support Israel in her not-so-covert plans to attack Iran.

Peter Cohan, writing in Forbes.com, reports that “Saudi Arabia’s rage against the Shias exceeds its dislike of its Jewish neighbors” so much so that Saudis are willing to provide Israel logistics support to attack Iran later in June. Other Arab states including Jordan and Egypt may also stand behind Israel’s foray into Iran.
(…)

Digging for Gold in Bosra @88

In few hours, a revised CV will be posted on SC smearing the defected deputy minister.  Shortly thereafter, Syriatruth will publish one or two article detailing his relationship to the Mossad or some other foreign entity conspiring against Syria.   By tomorrow morning, will see an arrest warrant charging him with oil and mineral theft.  And in few days, if he to get captured,  will see him on TV confessing all his crime.  If he doesn’t get captured, it is a sure thing that his family will denounce him.

حفظناها!    

Bronco,

Many claim that Syria has no debt so her problems are manageable. It is worth remembering that Syria has very poor infrastructure. Building such to regional standards would require enormous financial resources. Just building enough electric capacity will require substantial borrowing and spending. The other problem in Syria is the incredible current and future liabilities from subsidies. Energy subsidies alone cost nearly $ 7 billion a year. I would argue this is worse than debt. The latter can be rescheduled or written off. It will be political suicide to stop the subsidies. The treasury must keep feeding the beast. Other countries are unlikely to help cover what is likely to stay as a massive budget deficit for decades to come.

Majedkhaldoun,

Please look up “The Black Swan” by Nassim Taleb.

Russia accuses Libya of training Syrian rebels
2012-03-08
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/08/c_131453285.htm

UNITED NATIONS, March 7 (Xinhua) — Russia on Wednesday accused Libya of training Syrian rebels who are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, saying that “this is completely unacceptable.”

The accusation came as Vitaly Churkin, the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations, was speaking at an open meeting of the UN Security Council on Libya.

“We have received information that in Libya, with the support of the authorities, there is a special training center for the Syrian revolutionaries and people are sent to Syria to attack the legal government,” Churkin said.

“This is, according to international law, completely unacceptable,” the Russian ambassador told the 15-nation council. “Furthermore, this kind of activity is undermining the efforts to maintain stability in the Middle East region.”

Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib was present at the council meeting, which started here on Wednesday afternoon.

“Taken into consideration the fact that al-Qaeda is active in the territory of Syria, a question arises: Is there a chance that an expert of revolution could become an expert of terrorism?” Churkin said.

The new Libyan authorities should concentrate on the domestic problems of the North African country, rather than training Syrian rebels who are battling the Syrian government forces, Churkin said.
(…)

[ Brian, please do not personalize discussion. Syria Comment Rules and Regulations can be found here]

Juergen must be a plant, because his take on Lizzie is in line with the US and NAT regimes..

Juergen thinks the salafist muslim brotherhood are secular democracy lovers.and not sharia wielding fanatics.

Dollar rush in Syria a looming threat
2012-03-08

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/08/c_131453280.htm

DAMASCUS, March 7 (Xinhua) — The growing trend of using the U. S. dollar instead of the Syrian pound in commercial transactions and even in everyday life is portentous, and has increased the hardship of ordinary Syrians.
….
However, months into the turmoil, Syrians were rushing to money exchanges in an effort to protect their own wealth from domestic instability, bearing in mind what had happened in neighboring Lebanon following the eruption of a civil war in 1975.

As the crisis drags on, prospects that the Syrian pound would soon recover fade away at least in the short run, as the U.S. dollar exchange rate is now increasing almost on a daily basis. During the past couple of days, it has even increased every hour and is now trading at 95 Syrian pounds per dollar in the black market, up by nearly 50 Syrian pounds of that at the beginning of the crisis, putting thus upward pressure on consumer prices.

The sharp decline in the value of Syrian pound, the public rush to possess dollars, the increasing inflation and soaring prices of basis items, have sent ominous signals and stoked fears that the crisis is getting worse.

Samira Lutfi, a housewife, told Xinhua that whenever she wanted to buy anything now, she found that its price had doubled or perhaps tripled. “When I ask the seller about the reason, he says without hesitation: it’s because of the steep increase in dollar,” she grudged.

“My salary is in the Syrian pound and we didn’t have any salary rise lately and they (the government) didn’t pay us in dollars either,” Lutfi said, adding “so how could we afford the soaring prices in all items.”

The average of the public sector’s monthly salary is 12,600 pounds, or 252 U.S. dollars, prior to the crisis. The same salary is worth only 140 dollars in present days.

Retail dealers also complained that some wholesome merchants have started demanding dollars instead of pounds in exchange for the goods. Some Syrian factories have reportedly refrained from selling goods in the Syrian pound and insisted to sell them in dollar and at high prices.

Adib Mayaleh, governor of the Syrian Central Bank, has persistently said that the decline in the pound’s value is not insurmountable and has repeatedly promised to interfere to set things right.

But nothing happened by far, since the subsequent and unrelenting Arab and Western sanctions on Syria have not only made Syrians’ living conditions poorer, but also the possibility of digging out a way to solve the country’s political and economic problem less likely in the near future.

“I was fired from my job five months ago,” said Samir Amer, 45, who was working for a private institution. He said that the owner told him he is no more capable to paying his salary as the crisis in the country has backfire on all aspects of life.

Syrian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ridwan al-Habib recently said that the average of unemployment in Syria has increased from 8.2 percent in 2011 to 14.8 percent now.

#93 Tara

“And in few days, if he to get captured, will see him on TV confessing all his crime. ”

Or he will join Adnan Bakkour in Wonderland

Syrialover

When Fawaz al Akhrass married Sahar al Otri, he was a young physician and she was the sister in law of a prominent man ( a head of one of those Mukhabarat branches) in papa Hafiz’ regime. Needless to say, one benefits much from from being a brother in law of a head of Mukhabarat….

Bashar went to same school, was friends with, often visited, and spent days with Asma’s first cousins. Asma spent most of her summers in Damascus, of course visiting with family members…Her mother, Sahar, worked as a diplomat in the Syrian embassy in London. Bashar was often invited to have dinners with the family when he lived in England. The two, who knew each other during childhood, now met again in London. Asma was pretty elegant, young, and pretty. Not a stunning beauty in my opinion but fairly attractive especially during her twenties.

And.. You know the rest.

It is a story of a rather pretty decent family that fell from the grace.

Zibaleh celebrating the expected American attack on Syria, and some people want to defend this creepy traitor

Radwan Ziadeh
واشنطن بدات تتحرك بالاتجاه الصحيح القيادة العسكرية المركزية الامريكية انتهت من وضع الخطط العسكرية الضرورية كي تكون مستعدة فيما لو اتخذ قرار سياسي بالتدخل العسكري في سورية ، ثلاثة من ابرز اعضاء مجلس الشيوخ الامريكي ماكين وليبرمان ولندسي يطالبون بضربات جوية ضد اهداف محددة من اجل حماية المدنيين ووزير الدفاع الامريكي بانيتا اليوم لا يستبعد الخيار العسكري لحل الأزمة في سورية اما الرئيس أوباما فيرفض التدخل العسكري بشكل منفرد لكنه مع بناء تحالف دولي يقود هذا الخيار ، حمى الله سوريتنا فنظام الا

[Link added: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1223199528 ]

that not to see them implies wilful blindness…mr unholy homs:
‘Usually, I like to ignore conspiracy theorists, who blame the Syrians’ spontaneous uprising and innate desire for dignity/freedom on “Salafists’

you must have a problem looking into a mirror if you claim to ignore conspiracy theorists while promoting conspiracy theorise..such as that the Syrian govt is killing syrian civilians…

cast you mind back to 9-11…to claim the US govt orchestrated 9-11 was to be aclled a conspiracy theorist..

as for innate desire to ‘freedom’..the F word is regularly deployed by the US regime when it wants to remove a govt thjat doesnt serve its interests…However the Muslim brotherhood(ever hear of them?) wants to remove the freedom grante by asecular govt and replace it by a sharia law based islamate..
The Syrian National Council is essentially a Muslim Brotherhood outfit affiliated with both the House of Saud and Qatar – with an uneasy Israel quietly supporting it in the background. Legitimacy is not exactly its cup of green tea. As for the Free Syrian Army, it does have its defectors, and well-meaning opponents of the Assad regime, but most of all is infested with these foreign mercenaries weaponized by the GCC, especially Salafist gangs.’
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30444.htm
‘

Ehsani

Thanks for taking the time. Appreciate your answer.

——

With a grim economic outlook like this, who needs foreign intervention?

McCain is insisting on having a radical regime takes the helm in Syria, at one point he states that the Syria rebel are not known who they are and who they are associated with and at the same interview he states that Bashar has to go, even if the USA required to put boots on the ground!!!

I wonder if that will ever happened. I think that could have a mix reaction, many on the ground are not going to be happy to see Americans boots or any other foreign boots in Syria.

Air raids on Syria will lead to same result like in Libya, Iraq where thousands of innocent people are killed for no reason.
it is clear that all what McCain cares about is destroying the Syrian army to weaken the country and split it in pieces just like most of the other countries, Libya, Sudan, Iraq etc.

It is also clear that the GCC is an admire of Israel and GCC has no problem working with Israel to destroy Syria that’s a very disgusting thought but it is a clear situation and on action on the ground, I won’t be surprise to see Israeli weapon showing up in Syria.

Syria passed beyond the return point and it appears destruction of the country is the only verified fact at the current time.
Assad should step down now, he is losing every support he has on the ground the military solution is not the Answer here, he should hand the helm to someone is accepted by the Russian.

Iraq: Twenty One Years of Crimes Against Humanity

These diaries are dedicated to the people of Iraq and to all others who have suffered the crippling effect of sanctions.
In forty two day over eighty million pounds of explosives were dropped.
The ceasefire was signed 28th February – after which the US 24th Light Infantry Brigade celebrated the cessation of hostilities, by massacring retreating Iraqi soldiers and fleeing families, in their “turkey shoot” on the Basra Road, beginning 2nd March.

When it’s war there is no mercy, etiquette and protocol no longer hold their virtue.

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29637

syria lover: that not to see them implies wilful blindness…seeks to support a sharia law salafist islamate…check
Most syrians do NOT support you or the Muslim brotherhood..why replace an inclusive secular state with a repressive saudi style salafist islamate?

its a blur if youve been brainwashed by the GCC, the muslim brotherhood, western media, NATO US regime…madam clinton etc etc..none of whom care for the syrian people

Washington is asking Lebanon to help fsa terrorist fighters:

واشنطن تستدرج لبنان الى الحملة الدولية ضد النظام السوري
كونيللي تطلب الملاذ الآمن لـ”الجيش الحر” أم لـ”القاعدة”؟
{…}
وتطرح الدعوة الأميركية المسمومة بتوقيتها ومضمونها أسئلة عدة:
ـ إلامَ ترمي السفيرة الأميركية في طلب حماية افراد «الجيش السوري الحر» وكيف تجيز السفيرة الأميركية لنفسها أن تدعو دولة يفترض أنها ذات سيادة أن تستقبل مسلحين قاتلوا نظاماً تجمعه علاقة خاصة ووثيقة مع لبنان؟
– هل إن القصد من الطلب الأميركي إقامة ما يشبه «بنغازي أمنية» تشكل ملاذاً آمنا للقوى المناوئة لنظام الرئيس بشار الأسد إلى أن يحين موعد استخدامها من جديد ضد النظام؟
– إن «الجيش الحر»، ليس كياناً قائماً بذاته. بل مجرد عنوان فضفاض واختزال لكل من يحمل السلاح ضد النظام في سوريا، والأميركيون أنفسهم تحدثوا عن اختراقات لتنظيم «القاعدة» لصفوف المعارضة السورية، فماذا لو كان أفراد من «القاعدة» جزءًا من الذين يختزلون تحت عنوان «الجيش الحر»، فهل في مقدور أي كان ان ينفي ذلك او يثبت العكس؟ وماذا لو تبين أن بعض افراد هذا الجيش ينتمون الى «القاعدة» أو أخواتها؟
– لنفترض احتضان لبنان لهؤلاء المسلحين، ألا يعتبر هؤلاء بمثابة عبوات ناسفة وقنابل موقوتة داخل الجسم اللبناني، وهل للبنان القدرة على تحمل انفجارها، وقبل ذلك هل يستطيع لبنان ان يتحمل ان تلقى عليه كرة نار بهذا الحجم وإلى أين يمكن أن تأخذ لبنان؟
– ماذا عن احتمال أن يكون بين هؤلاء المسلحين الهاربين، من سبق للبنان ان عاش بسببهم تجربة مريرة في مخيم نهر البارد وقدم فيها الجيش اللبناني تضحيات كبرى بما يزيد عن 170 شهيداً وأكثر من 1500 جريح ومعوق، وماذا لو كانوا فعلاً كذلك؟
– هل يستطيع لبنان ان يتحرك فعلياً على وقع «اجندة» اميركية تحدد له متى يكون هؤلاء المسلحون هم من «القاعدة» ومتى يكونون «ثواراً» من «الجيش الحر»؟
– ألا يمكن أن تعتبر دعوة السفيرة الاميركية الى حماية «الجيش السوري الحر» وإقامة ملاذ آمن لأفراده الفارين، وصفة لسقوط الاستقرار السياسي والأمني الذي لطالما تغنى به الأميركيون وسفيرتهم في بيروت، وألا يستبطن ذلك نية لنسف سياسة «النأي بالنفس» المعتمدة من قبل الحكومة اللبنانية، وهل يمكن أن يقرر الأميركيون المغامرة بالاستقرار اللبناني الهش أصلاً، في سبيل زيادة الضغط على النظام السوري؟ وماذا لو انكسرت كل الضوابط؟ ومن يستطيع أن يقدر الارتدادات الممكنة لخطوة أميركية كهذه؟
– اذا كانت نيات واشنطن تصب في هذا الاتجاه فعلاً، هل للبنان مصلحة في أن يزج بنفسه في ازمة خطيرة لا حصر لارتداداتها وسلبياتها على أمنه واستقراره؟ ولنفترض ان جهات لبنانية قررت التجاوب مع الضغط الأميركي، كيف ستترجم «تجاوبها»؟
– هل هناك موقف موحد للدولة اللبنانية وتحديداً على مستوى الرئاسات الثلاث، من الدعوة التي اطلقتها كونيللي، ومن دخول المسلحين (بلا سلاح على حد تعبير كونيللي) وتحت عنوان منشقين او افراد من «الجيش الحر»؟ وماذا عن موقف الحكومة، وخاصة في التعامل مع قضية النازحين من سوريا، وكيف سيتم التفريق بين الانساني وغير الانساني؟
– هل تعكس دعوة السفيرة الاميركية إقراراً غير مباشر بالوقائع السورية الجديدة ما بعد معركة بابا عمرو في حمص، وهي الوقائع التي ستترك بصماتها على كل التعاطي الدولي والإقليمي وأيضا اللبناني مع الأزمة السورية المفتوحة منذ سنة؟
{…}
http://assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionId=2095&ChannelId=49920&ArticleId=812&Author=%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%84%20%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AB%D9%85

the fact that american monsters like John(Bomb bomb bomb Iran) Mccain is backing syria love and the muslim brotherhood to terrorise syria and arm muslim fanatics tells us we should be supporting the syrian govt!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9123754/Secret-footage-showing-torture-of-Syrians-in-Homs-hospital.html

Secret footage showing ‘torture’ of Syrians in Homs hospital
Graphic video footage appearing to corroborate allegations of the widespread use of torture in Syrian hospitals against opponents of the Assad regime has been smuggled out of the city of Homs.

The secretly recorded images, to be broadcast by Britain’s Channel 4 television station on Monday night, show wards of wounded men being held blindfolded and shackled to their beds in what is said to be the military hospital in Homs.

Some bear wounds suggesting they have been severely beaten. In a chilling indication that their ordeal has been endured in the hospital itself, a rubber whip and an electric cable lie on a table in one of the wards.

Electric cables are known to be one of the most commonly used instruments of torture in Syria, where they are used repeatedly to beat a suspect’s feet into a bloody pulp, a practiceknown as “falaka”.

The victim is then often forced to walk across a floor sprinkled with salt, described by some of those who have experienced it as far more painful than the beating itself
[…]

Killing+slaughtering+raping+Lying=Syrian Devilution

Zoo@97

Adnan Bakur remains a mystery. I am afraid that wonderland in his case is with the 70 virgins. Who knows, the regime capable of kidnapping the first defected colonel from Hatay ( forgot his name), may have been able to assassinate Mr. Bakur wherever he was.

انشقاق معاون وزير النفط
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B4%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%82%20%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%86%20%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B7&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDQQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DMRV_ku8dqlQ&ctbm=vid&ei=QShYT9LsHNKEsgLTydW9DQ&usg=AFQjCNEdkiuIOjP9X-yaSUMXkHBufy6pvw

More Aljazera and Terrorist lies
Katebet Alfarook sign for their crime.

To # 100., conspiracy theorist, brian:

Dear Mr. Brian:

Please read my above comment # 107. I will NOT be able to reply to any of your future comments because you have been added to my “anti-conspiracy theorist” FILTER. Last year, I had a university debate with a Tea Party activist, with whom I disagreed on 95% of the issues. However, he and many tea=partiers are much less devoid from reality and much less dependent on conspiratorial imagination than Bashar’s apologists/defenders!! Please sing the following before you go to sleep (its the song of pro-Syrian dictator conspiracy theorists):

بو حافز!! نحنا شبيحه بشار

US looks towards possible strike in Syria
http://youtu.be/9BIyxzd7F7o

US Syria mission still possible – but at what price?
Top US military leaders are saying American forces will be ready if a decision is made on military action against Syria. Nevertheless, they will think twice before “putting their sons and daughters in uniform.”
The Syrian crisis and the risks for US involvement were discussed on Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington, where US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Among the military options, Dempsey envisaged the enforcement of a no-fly zone and humanitarian relief. Panetta added that other non-lethal assistance was also being considered.
But Dempsey warned that a long-term air campaign would pose a challenge because Syrian air defense systems are a lot more advanced than those Libya had, and are mostly located in populated areas.
“They have approximately five times more sophisticated air defense systems than existed in Libya, covering one-fifth of the terrain,” he said. “All of their air defenses are arrayed on their western border, which is their population center.”
{…}
Already there?
With all that, previous reports suggested that US forces had already landed on the Jordan-Syria border. A former translator with the FBI, Sibel Edmonds, wrote in December that American soldiers were among the NATO troops there training militants to overthrow the regime of President Assad. She also said that they were training Turkish troops as well, possibly to launch a strike from the north of Syria.
A hacked email from leading private US intelligence agency Stratfor also suggests that undercover NATO troops are already in Syria.
Moreover, a recent security operation in Homs revealed that Mossad, the CIA and Blackwater were involved in the military violence in this part of Syria. Over 700 Arab and Western gunmen were detained in Baba Amr district, while Israeli, American and European-made weapons were confiscated.
On top of that, Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper recently reported that 13 French officers had been captured by the Syrian Army. According to their source, this happened in the Syrian city of Homs, and the officers are now being held in a field hospital. The source claimed that the French and Syrian governments are locked in negotiations over the fate of the men, though no official confirmation has followed from either side.
Western powers have categorically denied military involvement in Syria’s internal conflict, for which they have no international mandate.
http://rt.com/news/usa-syria-military-panetta-099/

FYI

Flash: Syrian TV and raw propaganda footage from Aljazeera and CNN
It seems that Syrian regime had agents among the rebels; or it seems that the Syrian regime obtained a trove of video footage from Baba Amru. They have been airing them non-stop. They are quite damning. They show the correspondent or witness (for CNN or from Aljazeera) before he is on the air: and the demeanor is drastically different from the demeanor on the air and they even show contrived sounds of explosions timed for broadcast time. I have to say that Aljazeera and the affiliated Ikhwan media win the award for the largest volume of lies in this crisis. Their lies have been rather helpful to the Syrian regime which now fills its airtime with exposing the lies and exaggerations of the Ikhwan-led Syrian opposition.

PS This is really scandalous. It shows the footage prior to Aljazeera reports: they show fake bandages applied on a child and then a person is ordered to carry a camera in his hand to make it look like a mobile footage. It shows a child being fed what to say on Aljazeera.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/flash-syrian-tv-and-raw-propaganda.html

THIS IS THE BASIS OF THE ATTACKS ON THE SYRIAN GOVT BY THE CLUELESS CRITICS

Syrian opposition
Syrian opposition figure, Michel Kilo notes that Saudi and Qatari media ignored the formation of a new Syrian opposition grouping because it is opposed to foreign intervention in Syria.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/syrian-opposition.html

أكد انه يغطي حاجة سوريا لأكثر من 20 شهراً .. وزير المالية : 18 مليار دولار احتياط سوريا من العملات الأجنبية

ان سيريا
قال وزير المالية “محمد الجليلاتي ” إن احتياطي سوريا من العملات الأجنبية باستثناء الذهب يصل إلى نحو 18 مليار دولار، وهو يغطي حاجة سوريا من الاستيراد لأكثر من 20 شهراً.

وبحسب صحيفة “الحياة” اللندنية ، أكد “الجليلاتي” أن المديونية السورية من أقل المديونيات بين دول العالم.

وقال “الجليلاتي” : “ “نطمح إلى عودة الأموال المهاجرة والمقدرة بنحو 80 مليار دولار، بدلاً من الوقوع في وطأة أعباء الديون وشروط المدينين”.

وأوضح أن الحكومة فضلت عدم طرح سندات خزينة هذه السنة، كي لا تحمل الموازنة عجزاً إضافياً، لأنها ستدفع عليها فوائد بنحو 9%. علماً أن العجز المقدر في الموازنة العامة هذه السنة، يصل إلى نحو 167 مليار ليرة (الدولار يساوي 48.5 ليرة تقريباً).

ولفت إلى أن الدولة تدعم المشتقات النفطية والكهرباء بحدود 250 مليار ليرة سنوياً، معرباً عن أسفه لما أسماه بـ “انتشار الفساد في كل مفاصل الدولة”.

وكان عميد معهد التخطيط في دمشق عادل قضماني قدّر، حجم الأضرار نتيجة الأحداث التي شهدتها سوريا بنحو 13 مليار ليرة، من بينها 3 مليارات ليرة للمنشآت التي يملكها الأفراد، و10 مليارات ليرة أضرار لحقت بالمؤسسات الحكومية.

{…}

‘Please sing the following before you go to sleep (its the song of pro-Syrian dictator conspiracy theorists): ‘

this explains the libel on Assad: his attackers have been sleep taught by the media: ASSAD IS DICTATOR…ASSAD IS A DICTATOR,

When what they mean to say:

ASSAD IS AN INDEPENDENT LEADER

The real dictators are theones elecedt by the the silly EY and US citizens, which once in power forget that the people rule in ‘democracies’ and make wars with no civilian input.

‘110. jad said:

US looks towards possible strike in Syria
========================

now why would the US launch a blitz krieg on a sovereign state? does it plan to only target syrian miliary or will it ‘accidentaly’ incinerate thousansd of civilians?

well it knows the Syrian govt as the support of the syrian people and is strong militarily..SO it seeks a way to put an end to that..what better way than to claim you are going to bomb for peace!

Some ‘special’ ‘people’ need to hear it:

Moving beyond the keffiyeh – Palestine and the ‘Arab Spring’
{…}
Syria has done a great deal – perhaps more than any other state – to oppose Israel and support the Palestinians. It has long been the chief financial and practical supporter of the various Palestinian resistance organisations, as well as of Hezbollah. It has intervened militarily to prevent Israel’s expansion into Lebanon. It has provided a home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, who are treated far better than they are elsewhere in the Arab world. In spite of massive pressure to do so, it has refused to go down the route of Egypt and sign a bilateral peace treaty with Israel. Palestine is very much at the forefront of the Syrian national consciousness, as exemplified by the Syrians who went to the border with Israel last year on Nakba day and were martyred there at the hands of the Israeli ‘Defence’ Forces.

Yes, Syria has also made serious mistakes and has from time to time fallen victim to the US-British-Israeli divide-and-rule tactics that have been used so effectively in the Middle East for over a century. These mistakes are to be learned from (and it seems that Bashar has taken on board many such lessons), but they have not rendered the Syrian government illegitimate, they have not made it unpopular, and they do not constitute the Syrian state’s main character.

To anyone with an ounce of understanding and sense, it is clear that the fall of the Syrian government would be disastrous for the Palestinians. The power vacuum could only be filled with a coalition of rich pro-west foreign-based politicians (ie the Syrian National Council) and the conservative Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which will do whatever dodgy deal required to destroy Syria’s secular culture. Such a government, backed by vicious Sunni supremacist militias, would not hesitate to tear apart Syria’s state-dominated economy and would very likely sign a peace treaty with Israel (which would basically mark the final death of Arab resistance to zionism and usher in a new era of Israeli expansionism). There would be a bitter sectarian conflict which would see Alawis and Christians facing horrific violence from an ascendant Sunni majority. The new economic rulers of the country – multinational corporations – would be significantly less inclined to support Palestinian refugees and resistance.

So, if you claim to support Palestine, perhaps you should reconsider your support for the Syrian ‘revolution’. Wearing a keffiyeh doesn’t mean a thing. If we want to do something for Palestine, then we should be actively opposing the zionist-imperialist conspiracy against Syria, in all its forms; and we should understand and expose how the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ has been totally hijacked by the west and is being used to wipe out all resistance to imperialist hegemony in the Middle East.

http://theagentofchange.tumblr.com/post/18519680988/moving-beyond-the-keffiyeh-palestine-and-the-arab

http://www.alquds.com/news/article/view/id/339061

تحليل إخباري: بوتين بين التخلي عن الأسد وحماية المصالح الروسية

ندن – ، رويترز – يستعد كوفي أنان لزيارة دمشق في محاولة لاحتواء الأزمة السورية لكنه كوسيط مخضرم يحق له أن يتصور أن وقته سيكون مثمراً أكثر بكثير لو قضاه في موسكو الحليف الاستراتيجي لسوريا.

ويقول محللون إن روسيا هي القوة الخارجية الوحيدة التي يمكنها أن تحدد ما إذا كانت مهمة العاشر من آذار (مارس) التي سيقوم بها أنان المبعوث الخاص للأمم المتحدة وجامعة الدول العربية ستحول دون تحول الاستجابة الدولية المتشرذمة إلى تهافت عنيف على تعزيز النفوذ في المنطقة.

ويرى الكثيرون إن الصراع الداخلي في سوريا يتحول إلى صراع بالوكالة بين تكتلات دولية متنافسة بين السنة والشيعة في الشرق الأوسط وعالمياً على خطوط الحرب الباردة بين زعماء الديمقراطيات والدول السلطوية.

والسؤال المطروح على الكثيرين وربما منهم أنان الأمين العام السابق للأمم المتحدة هو ما إذا كان الرئيس المنتخب فلاديمير بوتين سيكون مستعداً لقطع الدعم السياسي عن الاسد في مقابل صفقة تعزز بشكل ما نفوذ موسكو المستقر منذ فترة طويلة في أقرب حليف عربي لها.

وقالت المجموعة الدولية لمعالجة الأزمات التي انتقدت الاستجابة الدولية ووصفتها بأنها تحولت من عدم الفعالية إلى التحريض إن أفضل ما يمكن أن يأمل أنان في تحقيقه هو الحصول على تأييد روسي لانتقال منظم للسلطة عن طريق التفاوض يحافظ على سلامة مؤسسات الدولة السورية.

وافادت مذكرة اصدرتها المجموعة يوم الخامس من آذار (مارس) بأن “أنان يواجه خلافات قائمة منذ فترة طويلة جداً”، مشيرة إلى أن التباين بين أعداء الأسد الخارجيين الكثيرين جعل الحكومة تعيش في “حالة إنكار” لعمق الأزمة. لكنها لمحت إلى أنه يمكن اقناع روسيا بتغيير موقفها لتقنع دمشق بأن ميزان القوة يميل في غير صالحها وان خطوات مرحلة الانتقال يجب أن يبدأ الآن.

[…]

Sample of some Wikileaks revelations

The US embassy in Madrid has had serious points of friction with the Spanish government and civil society: a) trying to get the criminal case dropped against three US soldiers accused of killing a Spanish television cameraman in Baghdad during a 2003 unprovoked US tank shelling of the hotel where he and other journalists were staying; b )torture cases brought by a Spanish NGO against six senior Bush administration officials, including former attorney general Alberto Gonzales

Since at least 2006 the United States has been funding political opposition groups in Syria, including a satellite TV channel that beams anti-government programming into the country.

Saudi donors were the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Cables from the US embassy in Caracas in 2006 asked the US Secretary of State to warn President Hugo Chávez against a Venezuelan military intervention to defend the Cuban revolution in the eventuality of an American invasion after Castro’s death.
(they ignited the Arab revolution prior the Cuban’s )

US officials collaborated with Lebanon’s defense minister to spy on, and allow Israel to potentially attack, Hezbollah in the weeks that preceded a violent May 2008 military confrontation in Beirut.
(Could it be same trio; US officials, Lebanon’s defense minister and Israel who orchestrated the killing of Hariri and framed Hezbollah?)

Saudi Arabia in 2007 threatened to pull out of a Texas oil refinery investment unless the US government intervened to stop Saudi Aramco from being sued in US courts for alleged oil price fixing. The deputy Saudi oil minister said that he wanted the US to grant Saudi Arabia sovereign immunity from lawsuits

More interesting stuff…
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29634

syria lover:
\’Not only the millions of desperately poor Syrians who are now being terrorised, but even the Assad family themselves would be happy to have such lives instead of living in Syria.\’

strange when millions of Syrians support the syrian govt and not the muslim brotherhood whos suppors aer US israel franhce regimes.

Assad like Gadafi has no intention of leaving his country.

Assad is to be supported because so far the truth lies with him…those hate him include such humanitarians as Clinton, McCain Israel NATO musli brotherhood and Qaradawi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMrUM7M2hFY
who is happy to see 1/3 of syrians killed to put in place a sharia islamate

Brian,
Do they need any reason to attack Syria and occupy it? No!
Give me one example when the Americans took the right decision that lead to stability in our region? None!
So it doesn’t matter for them if Syria went to hell, they would love to see us suffer, they don’t give a damn about Syrians, what they care about is how to keep israel safe and to keep us backward and weak and to use everything our land may give for their people to live happily ever after.
What is disgusting is seeing Syrians that support such evil plan.

Jad #111
This is old news 11 months old, could you give us new news.
And you said Assad is a resistant leader.what did he do?, did he get back palastine? enough jokes please.

Tara, be patient.

yes jad…you are right…

‘Do they need any reason to attack Syria and occupy it? No!’

no but they do need to provide a plausible cover for attacking a sovereign state with war planes…altho R2P is wearing a bit thin

so who here is happy to see US NATO war planes bomb Damascus?

‘Since at least 2006 the United States has been funding political opposition groups in Syria, including a satellite TV channel that beams anti-government programming into the country.’

if foreigners like the iranians funded political groups in the US those groups can be jailed under US law…yet the US regimes (be they democrat or republican) feel its ok for them to fund foreign political groups, almost by divine right

‘Assad should step down now, he is losing every support he has on the ground the military solution is not the Answer here, he should hand the helm to someone is accepted by the Russian.’

what Hans is trying to say is that Terrorism wins….
And NO Assad should NOT stand down and hand the counry over the US /GCC evil alliance or the terrorising salafist muslim brotherhood…

ever hear of sovereignty?

Syria: What Prevents U.S. Military Involvement
Summary
The United States is not eager to launch an air campaign against the Syrian regime that would be similar to the NATO campaign in Libya even though numerous U.S. lawmakers have called for such a campaign. Not only did Libya not have the formidable air defense systems that Russia has provided to Syria, but Syria’s rebels have not been able to control large areas of territory. These factors would complicate any air campaign against the al Assad regime, but Washington’s reluctance to get involved militarily is based on the fear that it could slip into a much messier conflict than it did in Libya.
{…}
Washington does not want to confirm the expectation that it intends to do in Syria what it did in Libya. An air campaign is not on the horizon, and the United States is also hesitant to publicize any of its attempts to arm the opposition, though remarks from the officials cited by Foreign Policy seem to indicate that Washington is giving other countries (likely Saudi Arabia and Qatar) approval to do so. Public discussions of arming the opposition forces are, however, more for public relations to show that something is being done to assist an opposition under siege. If the United States were actively engaged in such activities, it would manage the operation covertly.
{…}
A Feb. 28 CNN report said the Pentagon had drawn up detailed plans for military action against the Syrian regime. The U.S. military indeed has updated its order of battle for Syria in preparation for any contingency operations, and this work allegedly produced the best order of battle the United States has had on Syria since 2001. However, contingency plans exist for numerous countries with which war is unlikely. The situation in Syria — whether through the loss of territory, massive defections from the regime or the loss of Russian support — will have to change before Washington implements any of the plans it has prepared.
http://stratfor.com/analysis/syria-what-prevents-us-military-involvement

About the abbasin demonstration, you said: “The demo was hels in front of the “Lady of Damascus” church. A new policy is to hold demonstrations near churches to impress on Syria’s Christians that they will be losers if they continue to support the regime.”

That is some reporting Prof. Landis, what is the source of this ‘new policy’?

Anyone who wants to see the future of syria under a salafist regime? These are the guys the western media and politicians and HR organisations are supporting! But then there goal is to remove an independent govt..and who cares about the fate of syrian people…

‘The International Book Fair in Riyadh, which kicks off Tuesday, appears to be surrounded by a wall of censorship from both the state and the Salafis, who waged a campaign to ban it.
The absence of Syrian publishing houses was conspicuous this year after the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information banned them from the book fair in a typically political move. ‘
etc
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/censorship-rife-riyadh-book-fair

‘About the abbasin demonstration, you said: “The demo was hels in front of the “Lady of Damascus” church. A new policy is to hold demonstrations near churches to impress on Syria’s Christians that they will be losers if they continue to support the regime.”

That is some reporting Prof. Landis, what is the source of this ‘new policy’?’
====================================
id call that a threat..the christians will suffer the sort of fate of the black libyans under another salafist regime.

But what we see here is a chink in these fake democrats armor….they admit they hate freedom and esp freedom of thought…so we can see that any regime ruled by these guys will be repressive, narrow and fundamenta;l

Thank you for your contributions Brian. You’re an intelligent and honest man

Rice: Syria the ‘Next Afghanistan?’

http://rt.com/programs/alyona-show/rice-syria-afghanistan/

Rice the next Madam Albright

#98. Tara

It is not a fairy tale gone wrong as you seem to say. It is poor judgement, poor values. If Asma Assad had come from many other educated and westernized Syrian families I know, they would have been ashamed and angry to be linked to the Assad family.

This subject of Mrs Assad is important because it requires objective thinking and unblurring of values. Her role is NOT OK, she has served as a willing and active part of the regime, paraded as an asset.

It requires acceptance of many nasty realities by her and her family to have married in the 21st century into a violent, corrupt dictatorship and lived the Gucci-clad life she has.

And dizzy romantic love? As a woman Tara you here earlier talked of physical revulsion at Bashar Assad and asked how anyone could bear to have married him.

And I have said before, if she looked like Mrs Ben Ali or Mrs Gaddafi, she would be being branded an evil witch by many who are happy to “excuse” her.

JAD, someone added a caption to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9WkrEo1O6k&feature=youtu.be

56,500 viewers so far

On #131. Oh dear, moderator, I though commentators were not supposed to get personal. Especially when it is clearly intended to be sarcastic.

Ann

isnt that what you have wished for?

Sandro

i have a question, which qoutes are the offical money exchangers using for their work now? As i recall those newly opened private exchangers always used the central banques quotation.

President Obama slams Syria intervention
http://youtu.be/q6oumHhD_1k

“US President Barack Obama has dismissed calls from a senior Republican senator to start bombing Syria, saying that President Assad will leave anyway. He also called for a sober approach to dealing with Tehran’s nuclear program.”

ANN,
Did you see this:
http://i.imgur.com/K3mgn.jpg
You need to zoom in to read the scripts. Brilliant!

Syria: “foreign interference” scenarios assessed – Mar 8, 2012

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_03_08/67831155/

139. jad said:

ANN,
Did you see this:
http://i.imgur.com/K3mgn.jpg
You need to zoom in to read the scripts. Brilliant!

Amazing! Wish we could get that number of viewers

دمشق تدعم مبادرة بكين؛ وواشنطن تستبعد أي تدخل عسكري
http://www.alalam.ir/news/1018684
عرض المبعوث الصيني الى دمشق لي هوا شين مبادرة تدعو الى بدء حوار شامل واتخاذ خطوات عملية لحل الأزمة.
يأتي ذلك في وقت استبعد وزير الدفاع الاميركي ليون بانيتا أي تدخل عسكري في سوريا دون اجماع دولي وعربي، مؤكدا أن الخيار الأنسب هو الحل الدبلوماسي.
الى ذلك وصل موفد الامم المتحدة والجامعة العربية كوفي انان الى القاهرة استعدادا لزيارته المرتقبة الى دمشق السبت المقبل.
وقال انان إنه سيسلم رسالة الى الحكومة السورية حول ضرورة وقف اعمال العنف، ووصول المنظمات الانسانية الى السكان.
من جانبه، صرح الأمين العام المساعد للجامعة العربية احمد بن حلي أن انان سيلتقي في القاهرة الأمين العام للجامعة نبيل العربي وعددا من وزراء الخارجية العرب قبل أن يتوجه الى دمشق.
وفيما قامت مسؤولة الشؤون الانسانية لدى الأمم المتحدة بزيارة الى حي بابا عمرو في حمص، قالت فاليري أموس إن السلطات السورية أبلغتها أن بامكانها زيارة اي منطقة.
في هذه الاثناء، اتهمت روسيا ليبيا بإدارة معسكر لتدريب مسلحين سوريين ودعمهم بالسلاح لتنفيذ عمليات للإطاحة بالرئيس بشار الأسد.
وقال مندوب روسيا لدى الأمم المتحدة فيتالي تشوركين في اجتماع لمجلس الأمن حول ليبيا، إن بلاده حصلت على معلومات تؤكد مساندة السلطات الليبية للمسلحين السوريين، واقامة معسكرات تدريب لهم، ومن ثم يتم ارسالهم الى سوريا لتنفيذ عمليات ضد الحكومة السورية.
وفي القاهرة، حذر وزير الخارجية المصري محمد عمرو من اندلاع حرب اهلية في سوريا اذا ما تم تسليح جماعات المعارضة.
وكان ما يسمى بالمجلس الوطني السوري المعارض قد أعلن الاسبوع الماضي أنه يريد تنظيم عملية تسليم الأسلحة بواسطة مكتب عسكري انشئ اخيرا.
وأعربت دول عربية مثل قطر والسعودية عن تأييدها لتسليح المعارضة السورية في خطوة لا تخدم سوى تصعيد العنف في البلاد.

FOr those who think the syrian govt is out to kil syrian civlians:

[Tuesday Feb 28, 2012] Syrian army delays its operation in Homs to avoid civilian casualties

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem says the Syrian army has delayed its military operation against armed groups in some parts of the besieged city of Homs in order to avoid civilian casualties.

“I know one thing — that the military operation was delayed because there are civilians in this part of Homs which the army does not want to harm,” Muallem told Turkish journalists.

Four Western journalists are also trapped in the Baba Amro district of Homs, two of them wounded.

Muallem said the Syrian government was doing its best to rescue the journalists.
etc.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/229016.html

John McCain: Founding Father of the Terrorist Emirate of Benghazi
http://www.activistpost.com/

NOTE to my above post:US in Iraq and afghanistan has done little to limit civilian casualties..esp as the victims are american citizens

“13 policemen have been killed in three days of fierce fighting with militants on the border of the Russian southern republics of Dagestan and Chechnya. This comes as a Turkish terrorist has reportedly become the new head of the Dagestani fighters.”

http://rt.com/news/dagestan-chechnya-operation-terrorism-557/

more reason why Russia will not allow Turkey and Saudi backed salafists and muslim brotherhood to triumph in Syria.

very interesting analysis and background to syrian conflict..l
‘Zarqawi, like other Salafists, rejected the artificial frontiers and national divisions inherited from colonialism. Instead, he insisted on calling the aggregate of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan, and parts of Turkey and Iraq by its old name: “Bilad a-Sham”. Zarqawi and his followers were virulently anti-Shi’ite – much more so than early al-Qaeda – and asserted that a-Sham was a core Sunni patrimony that had been overtaken by the Shi’ites.

According to this narrative, the Sunni heartland, Syria, had been usurped for the last 40 years by the Shi’ite al-Assads (Alawites are an orientation within Shi’ism)……..
This segment to the opposition is not interested in “reform” or democracy: They state clearly and publicly that if it costs two million lives to overthrow the “Shi’ite” Alawites the sacrifice will have been worth the loss. Drafting of legislation permitting new political parties or expanding press freedom are matters of complete indifference for them. The Zarqawi movement rejects Western politics outright.
http://atimes.com/atimes/middle_east/mg15ak02.html

Tara

I think you are right, the regime wont let the top defector go without an smear campaign, Abdo Hussameddin said in the interview:”They will burn down my house, they will persecute my family and they will spread lies about me.”

The Lira in free fall, deputy minister defects, demonstration in Abbasiin, it looks like this week is a nightmare for the regime.

Estranged friends? A view on Israel from Western Europe
Is there a commonality of interest between Germany and Israel, or is Israel gradually turning into a liability for its Western friends?
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/estranged-friends-a-view-on-israel-from-western-europe-1.414125

“Israel, Germany develop nuclear warning system”. The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2009-01-25. “Working in secret, Israel and Germany have jointly developed a nuclear missile detection system, according to the Defense News Web site.”

The new Sykes-Picot: or how every oil-rich region is transformed into a “semi-autonomous” region, with angry independendists ready to ruin their countries fort he next 50 years. North Iraq, Eastern Libya, who is next?

An illuminating programme about South Sudan
http://www.franceculture.fr/emission-les-enjeux-internationaux-soudan-du-sud-l%E2%80%99impasse-des-discussions-sur-le-petrole-avec-khart
(press on the red arrow on the left)
(Juba is the new Us-Israel-Netherlands eldorado, no problem if the countryside is still in total poverty… For the role of Qatar and al-Jazeera in the independence of South Sudan, just look for Juba (in Arabic) on Youtube and on al Jazeera channel on Youtube.
Once it was Eritrea, now considered a rogue state, then it was South Sudan… Now it is Libya…

isnt it interesting how the traitors to syria are being treated as if they are honest and upright citizens…yet ready to sell syria to weither islamic fanatics or the US.

Brian #130
You ask about the “new policy” of targetting churches. According to many commentators here who have contacts with Christian families in Syria, there has been such intimidations recently in Aleppo and Homs. Yesterday’s news about Yabrud goes in the same sense.

Warm up party for the Cyrenaic autonomous region
http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2012/03/05/le-cimetiere-militaire-britannique-de-benghazi-profane_1651759_3210.html
(only 4 readers’ comments, you get an idea how many minutes the information was available on the front page)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17244211

Article on Syria fragmented opposition in today’s Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/united-against-a-common-enemy-syrias-breakaway-factions-7544517.html

BRIAN,

I think you are an american who does not know what you are talking about. Maybe you are young and militant but lack of experience and knowledge.

Before there were armed milicias there were demonstrators bulleted by a dictatorship. A dictatorship that has been permitted mainly by US and Israel. Before demostrations there was a dictatorship that has let 70 % of the population live under poverty and denied all basic rights and freedoms and violated sistematically most basic human rights and dignity. Before this dictatorship crushed (with permission of USRR and US) all insurgents in Hama, Aleppo, Damascus, Lebanon, etc and confiscated all goods from bourgoise class…..

So True

http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionId=2094&ChannelId=49904&ArticleId=616&Author=%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3+%D8%B4%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%AF

Syrialover@134

Yes Syrialover, I stand firm on what I said.  How can one bear staying with him in one room?  The mere idea of …nauseates me.  I would’ve killed myself..  I was not trying to paint the marriage as a fairy tale that went wrong and I do not know there was a dizzy romantic love on their part.  There might have been.  I just do not know.  But what I know is that Papa Hafiz specifically chose her as a bride to “our stud”.  She embodied what Papa Hafiz was looking for.  A Sunni women was the requirement number one.  A family he trusted.  The gravy was her British (western) status.  An opportunity may be to de-isolate Syria.  He was damn right.  Hafiz was a shrewd man… so….voilà, the descision was made and Buthina Shabaan was   الخاطبة .

There was a silent roar in Otri -Akhrass family in regard to what if…like the father, like the son.  Some swore that if it was their daughter, they would not have allowed the marriage to happen.   There was also a dream.  A young couple with a potential to reincarnate Syria.  Sadly, the young couple did not reincarnate Syria.  They killed the only asset Syrians had.  They killed the Syrian soul in us and their own souls should be cursed forever for this ugly crime.  The crime of turning, as you correctly said, Syrians against each other.  

It is my opinion that Asma shares moral responsibility of the crimes that have been committed.
—

On a side note, dizzy love?  Ah,  An awesome expression….It really is intoxicating..        

Tara

“The gravy was her British (western) status.” Love it.

Just read an nice comment on the deputy minister who resigned. He said that he was leaving the sinking ship. One commentator on a german blog wrote that: “The russians are the only rats i know of who are swimming towards an sinking ship.”

Kofi Anan is the last attempt to solve this crisis diplomatically, It will fail since the regime will not quit the brutal criminal suppression of the Syrian people, Anan said he wants to solve it in a way to satisfy the aspirations of the syrian people, this can only happen if the regime leaves, Assad as a dictator will not leave,so Anan mission is doomed to fail.

The Syrians must arm themselves,and force the regime to leave,with or without outside help

Along with drop in the value of lira,inflation will get worse, food prices will soar and will become difficult to get ,the average syrian family who has limited income,farmers who led this revolution will suffer most ,because their prices are under goverment control, subsidies will be very difficult to provide, trust in goverment ability to manage will become zero, it is no win situation to the regime,soldiers fighting for the regime will complain more, their salaries are low,and their families will suffer

http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/b0d9c005-ac2e-4888-acec-74ef398a320c?GoogleStatID=21

تآكل علاقات حماس بسوريا وإيران

أشارت صحيفة واشنطن بوست الأميركية إلى ما وصفته بتعرض علاقات حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) مع كل من سوريا وإيران إلى التآكل، وذلك في ظل ما يشهده البلدان من أزمات على المستويين الداخلي والخارجي.

وأشارت الصحيفة إلى إعلان حماس وقوفها إلى جانب ما سمته الانتفاضة الشعبية في سوريا وإلى أن من شأن ذلك الموقف أن يتسبب لحماس في انتقادات قاسية من جانب إيران التي تعتبر الحليف الوفي لسوريا والراعي للحركة في نفس الوقت، وأضافت أن حماس ربما تكون قد فضلت تأييد المعارضة السورية على الملاذ الآمن لها في دمشق.

وأوضحت أن رئيس الحكومة المقالة أو من وصفته بزعيم حماس في غزة إسماعيل هنية حيا في كلمة ألقاها أمام المصلين بالجامع الأزهر في القاهرة أواخر فبراير/ شباط الماضي شعوب الربيع العربي وأنه حيا معها الشعب السوري في سعيه لنيل الحرية والديمقراطية والإصلاح.

وأضافت أن قياديا آخر بارزا في حماس بقطاع غزة وهو صلاح البردويل خاطب آلاف المصلين الفلسطينيين قائلا إنه ليس هناك أي اعتبارات سياسية من شأنها أن تجعل الحركة تغمض عينيها عما يجري في الأرض السورية.

وقالت واشنطن بوست إن الحركات والجماعات الإسلامية السنية في الشرق الأوسط -ومن ضمنها حماس- بدأت تنهض وتأخذ بزمام أمورها بنفسها وإنها بدأت تنأى بنفسها عن الهيمنة الإيرانية، وأضافت أن البردويل نفى أن حماس تلعب دور وكيل عن إيران في حال هاجمت إسرائيل المنشآت النووية الإيرانية.

”
صلاح البردويل: حماس لا يمكنها إغماض العين عن سفك الدماء والمجاز التي تشهدها سوريا، وليست معنية بالأزمة بين إسرائيل وإيران

”

حرب بالوكالة
وبينما أوضح البردويل أن طهران ستدافع عن نفسها أمام أي هجمات محتملة من جانب تل أبيب، وأن حماس

[…]’s

Deputy oil minister of Basahr M.D. (Murderous Dictator) defects. Good for him!

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/08/199283.html

انشقاق مساعد وزير النفط السوري وانضمامه للثورة
أرفع مسؤول مدني يتخلى عن نظام بشار الأسد منذ اندلاع الانتفاضة

لعربية.نت

أعلن مساعد وزير النفط والثروة المعدنية السوري عبده حسام الدين ليل الأربعاء في شريط فيديو نشره ناشط على موقع “يوتيوب” الإلكتروني، انشقاقه عن النظام واستقالته من منصبه وانضمامه إلى “ثورة الشعب” السوري.

وقال المسؤول السوري في الشريط: “أنا المهندس عبده حسام الدين، معاون وزير النفط والثروة المعدنية في سوريا وعضو المؤتمر القطري الحادي عشر لحزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي، أعلن انشقاقي عن النظام واستقالتي من منصبي كمعاون وزير النفط والثروة المعدنية، وأعلن انضمامي الى ثورة هذا الشعب الأبيّ الذي لم ولن يقبل الضير مع كل هذه الوحشية التي يمارسها النظام ومن يواليه لقمع مطالب الشعب في نيل حريته وكرامته”.

كما أكد عدم مشاركته في المؤتمر القطري الحادي عشر الذي سيعقد بعد أيام، وانسحابه من حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي كلياً.

وقال حسام الدين: “قراري جاء رغم إدراكي أن النظام سيحرق بيتي ويلاحق أسرتي. لا أريد أن أكون شريكاً في جرائم النظام، وأقول للنظام إنه كبّد الشعب عاماً من الأسى”، وأضاف أن الأسد متعنّت والاقتصاد أوشك على الانهيار.

وتابع “أقول لهذا النظام الذي ادعى أنه يملك الأرض: لا تملك موطئ الدبابة التي تحركها وحشيتك لقتل الأبرياء، وأحلت البلاد إلى شفير الهاوية بتعنّتك وتكبرك وانفصالك عن الواقع”.

ومن جهته، رحّب رئيس المجلس الوطني السوري برهان غليون، اليوم الخميس، باستقالة معاون وزير النفط عبدو حسام الدين، متوقعاً حصول المزيد من “الانشقاقات السياية والادارية” في سوريا.

وقال غليون في اتصال هاتفي مع وكالة فرانس برس “أحيي نائب الوزير الذي انشق عن النظام”، مضيفاً “أتوقع أن تكون هناك بالتأكيد شخصيات أخرى سياسية وإدارية ستنشق عن النظام الذي يدخل الآن في مرحلة تفكك حقيقية بسبب الاستخدام غير الانساني والوحشي للعنف ضد المواطنين”.
[…]

109 Tara

“may have been able to assassinate Mr. Bakur wherever he was”

The silence of the regime would then be understandable, the silence of his family and supporters is not.

155. SANDRO LOEWE

For some reason I think that Brian and ANN are actually the same person. I STRONGLY APOLOGIZE IF I AM WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!

اسف اذا كنت مخطأ

استقالة المهندس عبدو حسام الدين معاون وزير النفط

#158 Juergen

… and the Americans are the only leeches waiting to suck the blood of the survivors.

I think Bashar has two personalities.
Asma must be worried,the decisions in Syria are not Bashar and Asma decisions,they are made by the family of Bashar,Anisa,Bushra and maher,Asma is outsider

#148 Juergen

The visit of the Chinese, the visit of Valery Amos to a deserted Bab Amr, the visit of Kofi Annan all asking for a dialog between the fragmented opposition and the united government

it looks like this week is a nightmare for the opposition.

Annan urges Syria opposition to cooperate
By Samer al-Atrush | AFP – 1 hr 20 mins ago

http://news.yahoo.com/syria-envoy-annan-cairo-ahead-damascus-visit-092709674.html

Former UN chief Annan, speaking to reporters in Cairo, urged “the Syrian opposition to come together to work with us to find a solution that will respect the aspirations of the Syrian people.”

Annan has been holding talks in the Egyptian capital ahead of a trip to Damascus on Friday.

“We will do whatever we can to urge and press the cessation of hostilities and an end to the killing and violence,” he said, ahead of talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr.

“But of course the ultimate solution lies in the political settlement,” Annan said.

For his part, Amr warned of consequences for the entire Middle East, should the crisis spiral, his spokesman said.

Amr said that an “explosion” of the situation “would not only have internal consequences but will spread to the whole region,” Amr Roshdy told reporters.

On Wednesday, Amr warned that arming rebel fighters in Syria, most of them army defectors, would “lead to an escalation in the military conflict and spark a civil war.”

Some Arab countries, such as Qatar and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, have spoken in favour of arming the rebels.

The opposition Syrian National Council has said it wants to organise arms deliveries to the rebels and announced the formation of a “military bureau” to coordinate and serve as a conduit for weapons supplies from abroad.

Annan and his deputy, former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Qudwa, are due to travel to Syria on Friday. Their trip was initially scheduled for Saturday.
(…)

165. MAJEDKHALDOUN

I think that Asma should be worried because she is kept in Syria against her wishes. Isn’t this that M.D. (Murderous Dictator) drags her into his public appearances? I asked folks here to offer a FREE marital advice to M.D. in case Asma manages to escape his terrorized Syria. I just was worried that M.D. would go nuts, become emotionally-disturbed, and (consequently) kills more innocent Syrians. Because Damascus’ butcher loves Western-educated women, I suggested that Hasan Nasrallah should find an arranged marriage for M.D. with one of the brainwashed/idealist Americans who are spreading pro-dictator propaganda from al-Manar’s and Hizballah’s basement 🙂

Irritated

lets see what he will ask the regime once he is there on saturday, thats also the end of the week then.

ATTN: folks on this blog, Please see comment # 131.

Isn’t it funny when the same person commends and praises herself 🙂 🙂

Again, sorry if I am wrong!!

So what happened with the calls :kaled abo Salah for president ?.He is now elected as :دجال الثوره

Juergen
He’ll be here on friday according to Zoo’s post #167.

#171 SNK

If he is not elected president, Khaled Abu Saleh has a sure job after the revolution: A TV actor

The Arab Spring, a bad time for Palestinians

Mideast Din Drowns Out Palestinians
By ETHAN BRONNER
Published: March 7, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/world/middleeast/arab-spring-and-iran-tensions-leave-palestinians-sidelined.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
RAMALLAH, West Bank — In the 14 months since revolution has spread across the Middle East and tension has soared over Iran’s nuclear program, the Palestinian leadership has found itself orphaned. Politically divided, its peace talks with Israel collapsed and its foreign support waning, the Palestinian Authority is sidelined, confused and worried that its people may return to violence.
..
For decades, as autocrats ruled their neighbors, the Palestinians were at the center of Middle Eastern politics, their struggle with Israeli occupation embodying the Arab longing for post-colonial freedom and dignity.
..
Popular affection has shifted to the Islamists of Hamas. They too have difficulties, however, abandoning their political headquarters in Syria, facing reduced help from Iran and contending with their increased divisions.

The result is a serial splintering of the Palestinian movement, a loss of state sponsors and paralysis for those trying to build a state next to Israel. Just six months ago, there was a moment of optimism when the Palestinian Authority presented its case for recognition to the United Nations, and later when Hamas closed a deal to free hundreds of its prisoners in exchange for the release of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.
(…)

U.S. tracks Syrian elite’s money transfers, but picture remains murky
By Greg Miller, Published: March 7
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-tracks-syrian-elites-money-transfers-but-picture-remains-murky/2012/03/06/gIQAXBstxR_story.html?hpid=z1

Searching for any sign of splintering in Syria’s ruling class, the United States has tracked what it suspects is the transfer of millions of dollars in foreign accounts by elites with ties to President Bashar al-Assad.

But the flow of money is murky. U.S. intelligence officials said they cannot estimate the total amount and are still trying to assess what the transfers mean: Is Assad’s inner circle starting to fray, or are wealthy Syrians simply hedging their bets?

The struggle to make sense of the money transfers underscores the degree to which many aspects of the uprising in Syria remain opaque to outside observers — including U.S. spy agencies — a year after internal efforts to oust Assad began.

Intelligence on Assad’s regime and its intentions has been fragmentary or out of focus, senior U.S. officials said. The composition and capabilities of Syrian opposition forces remain unclear. And U.S. analysts have been unable to reach firm conclusions on key questions, including whether al-Qaeda was responsible for a series of bombings in Syria in recent months.
…
Asked which partners are providing the most help, a former high-ranking CIA official said, “anybody who’s Sunni” and, therefore, likely to oppose the Shiite Assad regime. The former official pointed to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan in particular
(…)

Top Pentagon Officials Stress Risks in Syria

By ELISABETH BUMILLER and RICK GLADSTONE
Published: March 7, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/world/middleeast/un-official-scheduled-to-arrive-in-syria.html?ref=global-home
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s top two officials said Wednesday that President Obama had asked for preliminary military options to respond to the increasingly violent Syria conflict, but they emphasized the risks and said that the administration still believed that diplomatic and economic pressure was the best way to protect Syrians from the Assad government’s repression.
(..)

Time for a Military Approach in Syria –
Michael Young, Daily Star

…
The Obama administration is keen to see a negotiated outcome in Syria. That is why it must embrace a military approach that defines a political endgame. Bashar Assad and Vladimir Putin have to feel that their reliance on intimidation is going nowhere. Only then might Putin show Assad the door, so he himself remains in the house.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2012/Mar-08/165923-make-vladimir-putin-reassess-in-syria.ashx#ixzz1oX7RDHDy

Valery Amos assessment of Bab Amr’s destruction

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/08/c_131455370.htm

DAMASCUS, March 8 (Xinhua) –The visiting UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, said Thursday that the devastation in Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs is “significant,” saying that she was “struck” by what she saw there.

Amos, who is on a three-day visit to Syria, went to Homs Wednesday for “an assessment visit” with the Syrian Red Crescent and representatives of the international Red Cross.

“I have been struck by the difference between what I have seen here in Damascus and what I saw yesterday in Baba Amr,” Amos told reporters Thursday following her meetings with Syrian ministers of education and health.

“The devastation there is significant… That part of Homs is completely destroyed and I am concerned to learn what happened to the people in that part of the city,” she said.
(…)

From my long term personal knowledge ,

Bashar and Basma Assad are very morally decent persons like most people in Syria.

The President is not the kind of captain abandoning ship when the sea is rough even if a minority of his passengers wrongly claim it would stop the wind blowing.

167. zoosaid:
Annan urges Syria opposition to cooperate

Judging from the last year, the opposition will surely reject any prospect of a peaceful electoral transition out of dictatorship.
The lives of many many Syrians would be saved if the opposition would work for a ceasefire and elections with close international monitoring which would also help build a solid base for a post-Assad stable Syria.

Zoo

Not correct! The family may have been threatened of rape, assassination, or torture if they to utter a word. This regime is capable of doing the unthinkable. Remember Hamza al khateeb’s father?

[ Link added]

Putin’s Russia stares down West on Syria

By Stuart Williams | AFP – 3 hrs ago

Russia is still not flinching in the face of Western and Arab pressure to change its stance on the Syria conflict and its defiance may yet increase as Vladimir Putin heads back to the Kremlin.
…
“Russia’s position on Syria after the elections is perhaps only going to get tougher,” said Yevgeny Satanovsky, head of the Institute for Middle East research.

Outgoing president Dmitry Medvedev, who tried to “reset” the prickly relationship between Russia and the United States, as recently as October bluntly called on Assad to carry out reforms or quit.

But Russia’s position has since hardened substantially, with the more moderate Medvedev now all but silent on foreign policy issues as he prepares to cede the Kremlin to Putin at a May 7 inauguration.

“I do not think that Russia’s position on Syria will change after the elections,” said Boris Dolgov of the Middle East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Russia’s position is clear against the inadmissibility of foreign intervention.”

(…)

It is the Western powers and their Israeli and Arab henchmen who are fueling a humanitarian crisis and creating the conditions for all-out war.

Yet all the while, the Western governments and mainstream media studiously promote a deceptive fiction that the Syrian state is acting unilaterally, barbarically and criminally against its own people.

The media also peddle the absurd claim that Arab states are “considering” supplying weapons to the supposed Syrian rebels when the latter are already armed to teeth by Arab Sunni monarchs.

the Syrian government has a sovereign right to suppress violent sedition given burgeoning evidence that the subversion is being fomented and furnished by foreign governments and their special forces

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29660

180. Tara

So I guess the new defector will probably also disappear because of the same reason.

An ‘assistant’ to the oil minister: Is he really a senior official ?

Man said to be Syrian official defects online
By ZEINA KARAM | Associated Press – 5 hrs ago

http://news.yahoo.com/man-said-syrian-official-defects-online-071258220.html

BEIRUT (AP) — A man purporting to be Syria’s deputy oil minister has announced his defection in an online video that emerged Thursday, saying he is joining the opposition against President Bashar Assad’s regime to protest its brutal crackdown that has killed thousands so far.
..
In the video posted on YouTube, a man wearing a suit and tie identified himself as Abdo Husameddine and said he is an “assistant” to the oil minister. Ministers in Syria may have several assistants known as deputies.
…
In the video, Husameddine said he was defecting “knowing full well that this regime will burn my home, persecute my family and make up a lot of lies.”

182. EQUUS said:

It is the Western powers and their Israeli and Arab henchmen who are fueling a humanitarian crisis and creating the conditions for all-out war.
Kufi Anan should lower the sight to see that becomes under a table! What advantage of that what he has declared when financial donors of the United Nations dispos of the international institutes as want!

Al Jazeera reporter resigns over “biased” Syria coverage

Published Thursday, March 8, 2012

Al Jazeera Arabic’s Beirut correspondent, Ali Hashem, resigned on Tuesday after leaked emails revealed his frustrations over the news channel’s coverage of Syria, according to a source within the television network.

Hashem’s resignation comes weeks after pro-Assad hackers leaked emails that revealed the dismay among Al Jazeera’s staff over its “biased and unprofessional” coverage of the Syrian uprising.

read on…
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/al-jazeera-reporter-resigns-over-biased-syria-coverage

Zoo

May be. May be not. Will see what happens.
—
One should be careful of what she/he wishes for. I am getting disappointed with the nearly fixed number of dots even that I asked for it. I like (our) style to be more playful… Please.

I have a burning question for you. Have I ever made you smile? I am dying to see you smiling.

External investigation (especially) the resistance countries should correspond to requirements of resistance! And to exclude such dangerous growth of events! And also in the resistance countries should be specialized services on fight against terrorism еspecially after operations of Mossad in Damascus and Teheran on attempt of significant people!

#186 Alan

http://news.yahoo.com/putins-russia-stares-down-west-syria-105317749.html

Cofi Anan is the last attempt to solve this crisis diplomatically, It will fail since the regime will not quit the brutal criminal suppression of the Syrian people, Anan said he wants to solve it in a way to satisfy the aspirations of the syrian people, this can only happen if the regime leaves, Assad as a dictator will not leave,so Anan mission is doomed to fail.

The Syrians must arm themselves,and force the regime to leave,with or without outside help

Along with drop in the value of lira,inflation will get worse, food prices will soar and will become difficult to get ,the average syrian family who has limited income,farmers who led this revolution will suffer most ,because their prices are under goverment control, subsidies will be very difficult to provide, trust in goverment ability to manage will become zero, it is no win situation to the regime,soldiers fighting for the regime will complain more, their salaries are low,and their families will suffer

#188 Tara

Sorry.. I am too concerned by the situation to play or smile.

Asia’s growing military power, a concern for the Western countries

Asia 2012 military spending to top Europe’s – report
By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent

LONDON | Wed Mar 7, 2012 9:57pm IST
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/defence-global-idINDEE8260EM20120307

(Reuters) – Asian military spending will top that of Europe in 2012 for the first time in centuries, a global defence survey said on Wednesday, pointing to high regional economic growth and an increasingly ambitious China.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said U.S. military spending was also falling with withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan – although Washington’s $739 billion budget still dwarfs that of other nations.

With the Pentagon explicitly refocusing its strategic attention on Asia, the annual Military Balance report said it was clear that a major historical shift was underway.

With China’s military spending – an estimated $89 billion in 2011 – roughly doubling every five years, other growing Asian states were also funnelling money into their military programmes, the report said. That brought conflict risks.

“There’s no doubt we are seeing a major shift,” John Chipman, IISS director-general John Chipman told Reuters on the sidelines of the report’s launch.
(…)

187. jna

Good! He could join Ghassan bin Joudo, Hasan Nasrallah’s buddy, who resigned to establish an new station. I would be a clone of al-Manar and al-Dunia.

Aljazeera, the truly network of the free, does NOT Lebanese apologists for Bashar al-Assad’s bloody murders and war crimes.

There are millions and millions of Arabs/Muslims who are willing to work for Aljazeera. It was mistake in the first place for Aljazeera to hire Hasan Nasrallah’s supporters.

Kofi Annan calls on Syrian opposition to seek solution

­The UN and the Arab League special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan addressed the Syrian opposition on Thursday from Cairo, urging them to co-operate with the Syrian authorities to resolve the year-old conflict that has already left thousands Syrians dead. Annan is now in Egypt’s capital in talks with officials ahead of traveling to Damascus on Friday.
http://rt.com/news/line/2012-03-08/#id27653

The Opposition hardline rejects UN envoy Kofi Anan’s stances in the mediation that has the international backing.

Envoy Annan warns against more force in Syria
By Edmund Blair and Oliver Holmes | Reuters – 2 hrs 54 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-deputy-oil-minister-defects-assad-035120720.html

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, said on Thursday he would urge President Bashar al-Assad and his foes to stop fighting and seek a political solution, drawing angry rebukes from dissidents.

“The killing has to stop and we need to find a way of putting in the appropriate reforms and moving forward,” Annan, who is due in Damascus on Saturday, said in Cairo.

One Syrian opposition activist voiced alarm at Annan’s call for dialogue, saying it sounded “like a wink at Bashar” that would only encourage Assad to “crush the revolution”.
..
Syrian activists say any prospects of a negotiated deal with Assad disappeared long ago in government repression that the United Nations estimates has cost well over 7,500 lives.

“We reject any dialogue while tanks shell our towns, snipers shoot our women and children and many areas are cut off from the world by the regime without electricity, communications or water,” said Hadi Abdullah, contacted in the city of Homs.
…
China, one of Assad’s few friends abroad, said its envoy had given his Syrian hosts a message similar to Annan’s, urging all parties to stop violence and allow aid into strife-hit areas.

Beijing is trying to counter Western and Arab charges that it, along with Russia, has colluded in Assad’s repression of dissent by twice vetoing U.N. resolutions criticizing him.
..
Mikhail Lebedev, Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, said: “Rebel groups attack, kill, torture and intimidate the civilian population. The flow of all kind of terrorists from some neighboring countries is always increasing. Most of the militants are directly or closely affiliated with al Qaeda.”

#193
Then, a third Palestinian intifada is certainly what I would like to see, just curious to watch where al Jazeera will stand.

Dear Zoo

Then be it. Don’t smile.

Some research suggests smiling isn’t good for you. Being mean is…

I personally will continue to smile at the world and at you too. Sorry Zoo, Can’t help it.

US Syria mission still possible – but at what price?
http://rt.com/news/usa-syria-military-panetta-099/

Russia blasts NATO over Libya – and Libya over Syria
http://rt.com/news/russia-nato-libya-syria-107/
(…..
Libyan training camps for Syrian rebels
At the same meeting, Russia’s UN envoy expressed Moscow’s concern about the uncontrolled proliferation of Libyan arms in the region. However, it was not just the weapons that were being exported, he said.
“We have received information that in Libya, with support from the authorities, there is a special training center for the Syrian revolutionaries and that people are sent to Syria to attack the legal government,” Vitaly Churkin said. “This is completely unacceptable according to all legal bases.”
The Russian ambassador pointed out that such activities undermine stability in the Middle East.
“We think that Al-Qaeda is in Syria and therefore there the question arises: Is transporting the revolution not turning into the transporting of terrorism?” he asked.
His claim provoked a sharp response from the Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib, who was at the meeting. He said that a matter “which concerns the blood of Libyans should not be a matter of political propaganda by any country against other countries.”
In an apparent reference to Syria, al-Kib said he hoped that “the reason for raising this matter will not be to impede or prevent the international community from intervening in the situation of other states, where their peoples are being massacred and killed at the hands of their rulers.”
While the Libyan official did not directly address the issue raised by Churkin, according to the Washington Post, earlier on Wednesday at the International Peace Institute he did say that his country was financially supporting the Syrian opposition.

New !
War Crimes Exposed By U.S. Army Ranger John Needham

Proof Syria is about regime change orchestrated by Western governments
http://openresource.ca/2012/03/08/proof-syria-is-regime-change-orchestrated-by-western-governments/

Re-conquering Andalusia

[ L’Espagne bientôt sous domination musulmane.]

Mansour Rejects Call for Protecting Syrian Rebels, Defense Council to Meet Thursday
Naharnet Newsdesk 22 hours ago
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/32587-mansour-rejects-call-for-protecting-syrian-rebels-defense-council-to-meet-thursday

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on Wednesday voiced rejection of a call by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly for the Lebanese authorities to provide protection for the members of the rebel Free Syrian Army who flee to Lebanon, as President Michel Suleiman called the Higher Defense Council to convene on Thursday to discuss the latest developments related to the Lebanese-Syrian border.

“Lebanon cannot heed such a request; it rather acts according to its interest, security situation and capabilities, and we cannot provide support to armed elements stationed in the Lebanese territory,” Mansour said in an interview on Al-Manar television.

During a meeting with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Tuesday, Connelly “recognized Lebanon’s efforts to provide assistance to Syrians fleeing the violence in their country and she encouraged the Lebanese government to continue its cooperation with the international community and provide for the humanitarian needs and safety of all Syrians who have fled to Lebanon, including dissenters and deserters,” the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

She noted the Lebanese government’s “right and responsibility to secure its borders, and called for the protection of all disarmed Syrians, including members of the Free Syrian Army.”

“We do not want another Camp Ashraf in Lebanon,” Mansour said, referring to an Iranian refugee camp in Iraq’s Diyala province which is also the headquarters of the exiled People’s Mujahedin of Iran.

Former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein welcomed the exiles to Iraq during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war and they have lived at the camp ever since.

“We do not want to create a security problem in Lebanon that exceeds our capabilities and violates our policy,” Mansour added.

“Offering a safe haven to armed elements is an unacceptable thing,” the foreign minister stressed.
(..)

Abdo Hussameildin is a deputy Minister and not an assistant as some uninformed commentators wrote.

Maybe you should read the actual articles you people link!.

Mina,
As I wrote before, what’s going now on ground is a planned campaign targeting the religious minorities in Syria for intimidation and to make the base ready for a full scale sectarian war, this is the last dirty trick in the book since they tried almost everything already.
I’ve been writing about what’s happening in the South between Daraa and Sweeda after the killing of a man from Sweeda by the fsa, and when things went out of hand there, the same terrorists pulled back and deny any connection to the crime, but the seeds of hatred already planted there, I read that it’s still extremely tense in that region.
The story is out in the media, not the local one and not the Lebanese for specific reasons, I expect Jumblat to stop talking about the Druz in Syria from now own:

هذه هي القصة الحقيقية لذبح نشأت العاقل التي كادت توقع فتنة مناطقية ومذهبية بين “حوران” و”السويداء” : قتل بعد الخطف وقطع بالسواطير!؟

دمشق ، السويداء ـ الحقيقة ( خاص): شهد عدد من القرى الواقعة عل طريق السويداء ـ درعا توترا وأعمال شغب كبيرة يوم الإثنين الماضي كادت أن تؤدي إلى فتنة مناطقية ومذهبية بعد العثور على جثة المساعد نشأت كمال العاقل مقتولا ، وهو من أبناء محافظة السويداء. فقد خرج مئات الشبان من تلك القرى لاعتراض السيارات التي تحمل “نمرا” تحمل اسم محافظة درعا ، وتكسير زجاجها، فضلا عن الاعتداء على ركابها واحتجاز حوالي عشرة أشخاص منهم لبضع ساعات قبل أن يتدخل ” شيوخ العقل” والوجهاء ويأمروا الشباب بإطلاق سراحهم وتأمين عودتهم سالمين إلى أهاليهم.

ورغم أن المغدور ، وهو من قرية “أم الرمان”، لم يكن أول عسكري أو عنصر أمن من أبناء السويداء يستشهد على أيدي جيش المخربين وقطاع الطرق الذي يسمي نفسه “الجيش السوري الحر”، إذ سقط حتى الآن أكثر من خمسين شهيدا من أبناء المحافظة ، فإنها المرة الأولى التي يخرج فيها أبناء المحافظة في عمل احتجاجي من هذا النوع ضد بعض جيرانهم! فلماذا؟
{…}
ـ كان المغدور في طريق عودته من إجازته إلى مقر عمله في درعا حين جرى اعتراض سيارة الأجرة التي كان يركبها ، وتم إنزاله منها واختطافه ، بينما جرى ترك السائق يذهب في حال سبيله.

ـ تبين أن مسلحي ما يسمى بـ” كتيبة العمري” الإجرامية ، التي يقودها المدعو قيس القطاعنة والتي تعمل تحت اسم “الجيش السوري الحر” ، هي التي قامت بعملية الاختطاف بعد أن اتهمته بـ”الاعتداء على حرائر درعا” ، وفق الخبر الذي نشر على صفحة “الكتيبة” ، قبل أن يجري حذف الخبر الذي قرأه الكثيرون.

ـ بعد تصفية المغدور ، جرى تقطيعه إربا إربا . وأكد ثلاثة من عائلة المغدور لـ”الحقيقة”أن رأسه وساقيه ويديه كانت مقطعة ومنفصلة بشكل شبه كامل بالسواطير، فضلا عن الطعنات الأخرى التي توزعت على أنحاء مختلفة من الجثمان.
{…}

Annan is warning againt military intervention:
كوفي عنان يحذر من اللجوء الى الخيار العسكري ضد سوريا

201. ANN
Don’t care!

Muslim Demographics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU

SLAVIC UNION near future ? 2012 – 2015 + futher occupation PART 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXV5ZKVM1Rw

Mapping of Chinees Population

[6/3/2012] Cooper and Danny caught lying: Homs fabricated video pathetic excuses

#SOD 200

“In the video posted on YouTube, a man wearing a suit and tie identified himself as Abdo Husameddine and said he is an “assistant” to the oil minister. Ministers in Syria may have several assistants known as deputies.”

http://news.yahoo.com/man-said-syrian-official-defects-online-071258220.html

This news is something else, ksa is NOT supporting terrorism in Syria AND apparently the US is a regime tool by talking about Alqaeda  presence in Syria.
I guess Alfaisal and the jihadists cornice are not Saudis anymore and the US is no partner of ksa democracy plan!

رأت أن التصريحات الروسية “غير مسؤولة”..
السعودية ترفض اتهامات موسكو لها بـ “دعم الإرهاب في سورية”..

رفضت المملكة العربية السعودية اتهامات قالت إن موسكو وجهتها لها بدعم “الإرهاب في سورية” معتبرةً أن التصريحات الروسية “غير مسؤولة”.

ونقلت وكالة الأنباء السعودية “واس” عن “مصدر مسؤول بوزارة الخارجية” لم تسمه قوله إن وزارته “اطلعت على البيان الصادر باسم المتحدث الرسمي لوزارة خارجية روسيا الاتحادية” الذي يتضمن “اتهامات خطيرة للمملكة بدعمها للإرهاب في سورية.”

وأضاف المصدر: “تعبر وزارة الخارجية عن رفضها واستهجانها الشديد لهذه التصريحات غير المسؤولة، والمجانبة لحقيقة حرص المملكة على التعامل مع الأزمة السورية وفق قواعد الشرعية الدولية وعَبر مجلس الأمن الدولي المعني بحفظ الأمن والسلم الدوليين.”
{…}
http://www.asdaaalwatan.net/news/7489/رأت-أن-التصريحات-الروسية-غير-مسؤولة..

MajedKH.. and all the others calling for
‘The Syrians must arm themselves,and force the regime to leave,with or without outside help’

How about you come here and arm yourself, instead of sitting in your warm home and enjoying the view. What courage and honor you have…

As the the economy stagnates because of this revolution, people in syria suffer. I thought you all wanted to help syrians. Then you blame the govt. when the liras value goes down. What logic.
Don’t you know that most of common folk want this to end peacefully in order to go back to there lives. But, it looks like the interests according to a lot calling for force from outside Syria think their personnal gain and interest in this is more important than the ones living in and that are the ones that are actually being the most affected by this. A lot will not listen to the other side of the story, despite verifications from acutal organiztions, authorities, independent journalists, etc. of what really is being done and who the terrorists are.
How about most of you calling for this revultion give away more than half of thier savings away to the common person in Syria and pay double for everything else, just to get a bit more sense of how it feels. I doubt any of you would do that.
Many may call me a Shabiha or Baathi for these views, even though I am not. If the calling for stability through proper means without destroying everything, the want of coherence, soveriegnty, standing by brothers of whatever religion makes me that, then call me a shabiha, a baathi, a presidential gaurd, or mukhabarat. Take your pick. There are many like me.

Zoo,

The first paragraph from the article YOU linked

” A man purporting to be Syria’s deputy oil minister has announced his defection in an online video that emerged Thursday, saying he is joining the opposition against President Bashar Assad’s regime to protest its brutal crackdown that has killed thousands so far.”

206. Alan

Excellent confrontation on CNN 360: Danny look completely confused and nervous and Anderson Cooper extremely annoyed to have been manipulated.
I guess Cooper will be more circumspect next time.
Well done.

الكلام المسؤول ؟

#208 SOD

By writing two different things in the same article, do you mean to say that Zeina Karam from AFP is confused.. I guess she often is.

169. DAWOUD HOLY HOMS said:

ATTN: folks on this blog, Please see comment # 131.

Isn’t it funny when the same person commends and praises herself 🙂 🙂
.
.
I’m not Brian. Who’s funny and siutpd now?!
.

Ann

Your comment hurts the humanity in me. It is abhorrent and not acceptable. The comment is satanic comment in my book. Dozen people a dime is why we are revolution- ing against Bashar and his thugs.

I think I am not breaking rules when I am referring to a satanic comment as such. Is calling a crime by its name a crime? Wishing that people who are capable of equating the lives of dozen to a dime to not be Syrian is not breaking anytime either.

I see the moderator pulled it out. I hope the moderator reconsider…I will leave it up to his/ her judgement, but I am standing firm to how your comment provokes Satan image in my head. Enjoy your life!

Syria: The Western Deception Over Regime Change Unravels. NATO Prepares for All Out War
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29660

Libya: Cyrenaica (Eastern region of Libya) has declared semi-autonomy from Tripoli.

The only two choices for Syria, either a political solution or a long and costly conflict:

سوريا: مرور التسوية على الأرض المحــروقة

بعد الحملة العسكرية على حمص، أتى أوان المساعي الديبلوماسية. كلاهما عند الرئيس بشّار الأسد يقتضي وصوله إلى هدف واحد، هو إخراج تسوية سياسية تحت سقف الرئيس والنظام. مكّن النجاح الأمني من تنشيط تلك المساعي وتدفّق الزوّار، كي يعود الأسد مفتاح الحلّ في بلاده

نقولا ناصيف
أسبوع قبل انقضاء سنة على الاضطرابات التي تعصف بنظام الرئيس بشّار الأسد، تبدو سوريا في مهبّ أحد خيارين: تسوية دولية لإعادة الاستقرار إليها في ظلّ نظام جديد بعدما قوّضت الاضطرابات نظام حزب البعث نهائياً، أو دخول البلاد في استنزاف طويل لا يقتصر على أشهر.
{…}
يتعامل النظام مع الوقائع الجديدة وفق معطيات أبرزها:
1 ـــ أكثر من أي وقت مضى، بات الرئيس السوري اليوم أكثر اقتناعاً بتسوية سياسية مع معارضيه، بعدما كان رفضها سابقاً، وقلّل ـــ في الأشهر الأولى من الأحداث ـــ أهمية الاحتجاجات ضد نظامه واختصرها بمسلحين يقوّضون الاستقرار وينفذون خطط الغرب، ولم تكن البلاد قد دخلت آنذاك في دوّامة العنف المدمّر المتبادل.
{…}
2 ـــ قرن الرئيس السوري موافقته على التسوية باستعادة سلطته على المناطق والقرى التي نجحت المعارضة المسلحة، وأخصّها الإخوان المسلمون والتيّارات السلفية، في انتزاعها منه.
{…}
3 ـــ منح تماسك الجيش وأجهزته الأمنية الرئيس السوري الفرصة الذهبية لحماية نظامه من الانهيار. فلم تفضِ حالات الانشقاق إلى تداعي المؤسسة العسكرية، ولا آل تصاعد النبرة المذهبية إلى تشققها على أثر حوادث واعتداءات دموية متبادلة بين العلويين والسنّة في أكثر من منطقة، ولا اقتصار الفرار من الجيش على ضبّاط وعسكريين سنّة أوحى بقرب انهيار الجيش. مع ذلك أظهرت حدّة الصدامات والعنف الذي رافق العمليات العسكرية، وخصوصاً أكثرها ضراوة في مدن سنّية كحماة وحمص ودرعا وإدلب وريف دمشق ودير الزور، تماسك الجيش.
عُزي الأمر إلى سببين على الأقل:
أوّلهما، أن الأسد لم يستخدم في المواجهات إلا قسماً من الجيش، وحرص على إبقاء القسم الأكبر منه في الثكن لتفادي نشره في الشوارع وتأثره بالصدامات وأعمال العنف والانتقام، وإيقاظ النعرات المذهبية، وخصوصاً في صفوف الغالبية السنّية فيه.
{…}
ثانيهما، متانة الأجهزة الأمنية وولاؤها للرئيس، وعلى رأسها ضبّاط سنّة كبار لم يعصَ أي منهم على النظام، ولا خطر له الانقلاب، ولا فرّ والتحق بالانشقاق، بل نفذوا المهمات المنوطة بهم، بما في ذلك ما سيق إليهم من اتهامات بالعنف والقسوة.
ولعلّ جردة صغيرة بالأجهزة الأمنية السورية وقادتها السنّة، تكشف صلابة الولاء الذي استمد منه الأسد قوة الدفاع عن نظامه وحماية الجيش من الانهيار، وأبرزهم رئيس الأركان العامة فهد جاسم الفريج، ورئيس المخابرات العامة علي المملوك، ورئيس الأمن السياسي ديب زيتوني، ورئيس الفرع العسكري لريف دمشق رستم غزالة، ورئيس فرع فلسطين محمد مخلوف، ورئيس مكتب الأمن القومي هشام الإختيار، ووزير الداخلية محمد الشعار، ورئيس خلية الأزمة في القيادة القطرية لحزب البعث حسن توركماني (حامل الملف التركي)، إلى الأركان السياسيين السنّة كنائب الرئيس فاروق الشرع ووزير الخارجية وليد المعلم.

http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/45016

Zoo,

“By writing two different things in the same article, do you mean to say that Zeina Karam from AFP is confused.. I guess she often is.”

I would not know, I don’t read her articles much nor do I link them. Nor did I say anything of that sort or even hinted at it.

But I would guess her confusion stems from the actual meaning of the word Mou3awen, which can be translated in English to either deputy or assistant.

Syrian Oil Official Defection Propaganda?

Brit Dee, Contributing Writer
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/03/syrian-oil-official-defection.html

According to multiple mainstream media sources, Syria’s deputy oil minister has defected after denouncing the Assad government in a video uploaded to YouTube on Thursday. The man in the video, seated on a sofa and wearing a suit, shirt, and tie and speaking directly into the camera, identifies himself as Abdo Husameddine and condemns the Assad regime, whilst declaring his joining of “the dignified people’s revolution”.

It is unclear where or when the video was filmed, though it is reported that the video was uploaded to YouTube by a Syrian activist named Rami, who told AFP in Beirut that the opposition helped arrange Husameddine’s resignation. Rami reportedly asked that the location where the video was shot not be disclosed for safety reasons.

The man is purportedly a deputy oil minister who has worked for the Syrian government for 33 years, giving the strong impression that he is a senior government figure — though as stated in an Associated Press report, the man says he is an “assistant” to the oil minister and in Syria, ministers may have several assistants known as deputies.

On Twitter, an individual reported to be from London foreign policy think-tank Chatham House named Rime Allaf has confirmed that:
A deputy minister is not a senior #Syria regime figure; not so significant to be real defection, just a resignation with little effect.
The release of the video comes at a convenient time for the Syrian rebels and their backers in the West. Assad retains the strong support of his government, people, and military — which has not seen widespread defections, making the situation different to that in Libya during last year’s NATO-backed rebel ousting of Gaddafi. As stated in The Guardian, the Syrian government’s:
…core support, particularly members of Syria’s religious minorities led by Assad’s Alawi sect, has stayed loyal or neutral. The military has not splintered, with conscripts rather than officers or whole units defecting, and the merchant and middle classes of Aleppo and Damascus have remained quiet.

[…]

Due to the fact that we do not know when or where the video was filmed, the suggestion that the man could well be a low-level assistant rather than a senior Syrian political figure, and because the resignation was organized by the opposition and is being widely touted in the Western mainstream media, the video should be treated with skepticism as possible propaganda designed to make it appear that Assad’s government is crumbling, until it can be independently verified.

Journalist in India has been charged with criminal conspiracy in Bombing Against Israeli…

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/world/asia/indian-journalist-arrested-in-bombing-against-israeli.html?src=recg

But the foreign journalists in Bab Amr were handed on silver plater back to their masters as champions. Gilles Jacquier didn’t get all that glory. Not one Western journalist questions it? That alone should get people suspicious.

If the educated opposition abroad doesn’t see the double standards and the woven scheme to destroy Syria but rather continue to preach the love of Syria miles away then one would conclude they are definitely promoting the Fake Syria not the free Syria. It’s much easier to breed charlatans and fanatics than breeding moderators and mediators. You want change, I respect that; but saluting the criminal acts of fake Syrian army and rebels put your humanitarian lectures and sarcasm in your comments in doubts. We can see through the opaque lessons in moral and humanitarianism. I see the similarity with olive oil bottles most of them labeled: virgin or extra virgin (it depends on how you like it fake or fanatic), first cold press (the reality, there is no second press, oil is made in continuous centrifugal presses), certified authentic (All Syrians are certified lovers of Syria). Did anyone take a drop of oil and test it if it’s virgin or extra virgin? Or pressed cold or warm? The only way to verify is by monitoring the operation process. How many of Syria lovers went for surveillance on the operation process on the ground? The only group who made it was from AL representatives who generated a report based on facts. Everyone opted to discard it because the stances were already formed and no report or black and white proof is going to change a plan already in execution.

Not a single woman in the Libyan loya jirka
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/06/libya-benghazi-state-of-barqa

Crooke in the Atimes
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NC09Ak03.html
(does he alludes to Clooney’s Syriana?)

#217 SOD

Zeina Karam is a staunch supporter of the opposition and she is jordanian, so I guess he knows arabic. Therefore I am surprised she would translate the “mo3awen once as “deputy” and once as “assistant” without any reason, unless she is cutting/paste from other foreign articles, which many journalists do.

The real question is how many deputies are there for the ministry of oil? Is M. Hossamedine the only one so this defection has a real significance?

From FB:
خبر عاجل. انسحاب “تكتيكي” للدولار الامريكي امام الليرة السورية ( من 103——-> 80

Zoo,

‘The real question is how many deputies are there for the ministry of oil? Is M. Hossamedine the only one so this defection has a real significance?”

That is a good question, I wish our government was more translucent and listed the names of all the officials in government.

I can’t comment on her Arabic skills, for I don’t know her nor have I heard her speak Arabic. I know Syrians that don’t actually speak the language fluently enough to be able to translate correctly, perhaps Zeina the Jordanian falls in that category.

220. Mina

Thanks for pointing it out on this excellent article by Alistair Crooke on how information today is ‘hollywoodian’ and plays with emotions rather then logic.
I am copying here some of the key paragraphs
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NC09Ak03.html
…
This information warfare will not be couched in the rationale of geopolitics, the author suggests, but will be “spawned” – like any Hollywood drama – out of raw emotions. “Hatred, jealousy, and greed – emotions, rather than strategy – will set the terms of [information warfare] struggles”.

Not only the US army, but it seems mainstream Western media insist that the struggle in Syria must be scripted in emotional image and moralistic statements that always – as the War College article rightly asserts – trump rational analysis.

The UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry condemns the Syrian government of crimes against humanity, but only on the basis of what the opposition says, and without having investigated evidence of opposition “crimes”: and then proceeds to “charge” the Syrian government with this process based simply on “reasonable suspicion”: Do they really believe what they have written, or is it just a part of “writing the script”? [2]

Having quite forgotten what US Marines did to Falluja in 2004 (6,000 dead and 60% of the city destroyed) when armed insurgents there also sought to establish a Salafist “Emirate” – the Western media focus on Homs gives vent to the indignant cry that “something must be done” to save the people of Homs from “massacre”.
….
Is more conflict the answer to the awful death of an infant?
….
Are we now to understand that the armed opposition, … were not motivated by a desire to advocate, and impel the argument for externally-imposed humanitarian corridors to be opened to Homs? In other words, were not witness to the construction of une piece de theatre in favor of a type of external intervention? Will a Kosovo-type solution will make things better in Syria?
..
But does anyone really believe American and European objectives in Syria were ever purely humanitarian? Is it not the case – given that the turnout of events in the Middle East are taking such an ominous and dangerous turn – that it has now becoming somewhat awkward openly to admit that their info-war was never primarily about reforming Syria, but about “regime change”, and that it was that even from before the first protest erupted in Dera’a?
(…)

New thread started:

https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=13912#comments

SANDRO LOEWE said:

BRIAN,

I think you are an american who does not know what you are talking about. Maybe you are young and militant but lack of experience and knowledge.

Before there were armed milicias there were demonstrators bulleted by a dictatorship. A dictatorship that has been permitted mainly by US and Israel.
===============================

sandra i do know what im talking about, as do the varied commentators and analysts whos work ive been posting..When you say israel has been permiting Syrias govt..you show you dont know what youre talking about…Israel bombed Hariri in order to get Syria out of Lebanon…they do NOT like Assad or syria as it presently is and now covertly support tasteless islamic terrorists who are happy to work with Israel and Great Satan to remove a secular govt even if the have to kill 1/3 of syrians:

‘Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar, was joined by Saudi cleric Saleh Al-Luhaidan who urged, “Kill a third of Syrians so the other two-thirds may live’…
http://atimes.com/atimes/middle_east/mg15ak02.html

which is on the same low moral level as the zionists who collaborated with the nazis to let a few jews into palestine, while the many went on cattle carts to the death camps

161. DAWOUD HOLY HOMS said:

155. SANDRO LOEWE

For some reason I think that Brian and ANN are actually the same person. I STRONGLY APOLOGIZE IF I AM WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!
=================================

youd better polish your knees Unholy,….as you will have to do a lot of apologising

‘Asia’s growing military power, a concern for the Western countries’

isnt it interesting how those who advocate competition themselves hate it…

from nir rosen who spent time in syria:

The Salafi ideology just hasn’t been as important in Syria.

http://www.lineofdeparture.com/2012/03/09/nir-and-far-away/

Victory of the Syrians to gain liberty and justice is absolutely certain because God, the most Powerful Ally, is on their side. The sacrifices they are making are a price for their salvation. The Syrian determination, resilience and patience is making the regime weaker by the day leading to its collapse soon.