“…While not life threatening to the mental patient, it is life threatening to all others since its symptoms also include violence and vulgarity”.
That’s a brilliant prognosis. Looking forward for your next (groundbreaking I’m sure) research about the mental symptoms of the tashbbi7 mental disease.
Have a nice vacation. I like this blog because you show all sides. Currently this modality leads to bizarre results. The contrast between the most recent Economist article and the analysis you posted before it is like they are reporting from different planets.
I’ll write what I think of it in a short while, just posting it in case you read this.
#2
Erdogan can go f**k himself, Iran has already told him what will happen if a war starts with us. You Israelis should no, Syria is no push over, if it’s full out war, we won’t hold back for political reasons. All the redlines will be lifted.
The rivers of Turkey will run red along with your country as well. I wouldn’t be cheering for him if I were you.
The economist said 20 billion Dollar was taken out of Syria, is this true?if it is true this is very serious.
and is it true that people are arming themselves?
It is true that the demonstrations are getting larger,and they are continuous every friday,Aleppo is begining to join the revolt,and yes there are reports that some christians are begining to switch,the demonstrations ,in the future , will be organized,and I doubt there will be real Dialogue with the regime,we may get fake dialogue,real means real opposition figures,fake means opposition figures that are pretending to be opposition,like Abbas Nouri.
If the people default on paying their installment loans,this could cause bank to head for bankrupcy and if business slowed down this will increase unemployment,the bankrupcy and unemployment are misery indecies,bashar has to deal with, also he has to deal with STL indictment,and soon as we all know,Gaddafi and Saleh will leave,.Russia is supporting the people,not Bashar.
As for Nouri Al Maliki statement of support for the syrian regime, it is meaningless, he has Allawi in his mind,he wants to avoid syrian support for Allawi.
Yeah, I think even when the entire world is on fire and the last man is in the world in allepo, he won’t join the “revolt”. This is the land of heroes, you will never conquer it.
As for money leaving Syria, it’s complete crap, utter shit. They’re trying to state lies in order to try and get people to panic, it’s called creative reflexivity, but we’re not born yesterday. We’re the masters of manipulation, economist is a joke. Every move it advises, you do the opposite and you’ll make money. How many times have they called a bottom on gold/silver for it to peak. When they do the opposite it collapses. It’s more likely that 10 billion or so has entered Syria as people repatriate their assets to avoid bullshit “sanctions”.
As for your “installment on loans” crap, loans are a very minor aspect of the Syrian economy at the moment. The majority of us have not fell for the banking trap. You can’t destroy the economy, this option was never available to you because Syrians are too patriotic for it to work.
I also noticed that the article from the Economist was not signed by its author. ( http://www.economist.com/node/18895586/print )
I guess that it was an editorial advertising paid by ???? or it has been written by a person who cannot or does not want sign.
The following paragraph from the article may gives us a clue :
” If the demonstrators were to topple the government, they could draw on capable technocrats to form an interim administration. Among them is Abdullah Dardari, a former deputy prime minister and senior United Nations official, who is liked from Washington to Riyadh. ”
I am not sure that the road from Washington to Riyadh pass any longer through Syria’s souks and hotels.
1) The value given in that page refers to the Maklouf family NOT Assad family.
and
2) NO value of the Maklouf family net’s worth has EVER been mentioned in the document to which the Wikipedia “writer” refers to :
Bashar’s Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview
SHMUEL BAR
Institute for Policy and Strategy
Interdisciplinary Center (IDC)
Herzliya, Israel
Comparative Strategy 25: 379. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
A.P.
we do not know the exact asset of the Assad family, what we know for sure that in Swiserland,the banks said 1.3 billion euro are deposited there, there are money in England,one estimate is over 11 billion dollar that belong to Bashar,after the regime change we will know how much Assad family has.
However these reports of 20 billion as mentioned in economist,is this new money left since March?who smuggled it out?is it the elite syrian?,or the sons of Alawi officials,or both?this is not my number it is the number mentioned by the economist.
Sc
denying the truth is equivalent to lying
there was demonstrations in Alleppo in the streets ,yesterday and and today, there was sit in, in the lawyer society BLDG.obviously you have the mush brain,defending the regime blindly is just like consider him(Bashar) as messiah,son of Hafez (God)
Fear and Anger is worse and more dangerous than bad facts, You have fear that the regime could fall, you are angry that the regime is facing the battle of its life,with fear and anger you are behaving irrational,could you wake up to the fact that there is change in Syria and no one ,no one can stop this change,tell us what you loose, are you Allawi who will loose pwer and money?,are you benifiting from the regime?or are you Baath member,who sees the end of Baath power?
what you say is disgusting and obnoxious,threats and vulgar words,is not the way to discuss rationally,why dont you tell us how do you expect this crisis to end, in a very practical way,Why Disduss was nice in saying Dialogue, I personally do not think dialogue is practical,History of revolutions tell us that dialogue is very unlikely,usually the ruler gives updialogue is usually offered by the ruler,but the people deline,there is nothing more powerful that angry masses of people.
Before you can correct a zionist’s lies, he’s already told 10 more lies. You can see the post above me stack lie upon lie. The best strategy is just to swear at them, point out that they’re chain-liars and just have a laugh as no one takes them seriously. In my experience this form of deconstruction is the most effective one.
Captain Majed,
See the videos I linked, idiot. “Are you Allawi” -> I bet you are not even Syrian! And no, my family is Sunni, not that it matters traitor/liar. I can discuss things perfectly rationally with everyone who is genuine on here, but for traitors and spies, the only words I have for your are curses.
I hope people see your bigotry and lies for what they are.
I recall arguing with you in the past, so I know you are no “zionist”.
Of course, some people, when they can’t argue their case with facts, resort to name-calling. “Zionist” is the worse epithet I can think of for an Arab!;)
Nevertheless, I believe you as well many others in Syria are looking for basic human rights such as freedom of speech and the right to vote. You are all VERY brave, because you could be killed at any time just for asking for these basic rights that the Syrian government refuses to provide.
It seems that the trend in the reduction in violence has continued, which is a good sign. Also, this is why the “revolutionists” are now increasing their lies and becoming more hysterical. They’re not getting the amount of blood they would like to see.
>Also, this is why the “revolutionists” are now increasing their lies and becoming more hysterical
Their lies are becoming more shallow though. Good to see the zionist occuipiers and the traitor/spies bonding above. I wish they’d book a hotel room and leave us alone.
The document I pasted shows the USnakeA’s desperation (and obviously they’re denying it’s their document but we all know it is). I will discuss it as soon as I find a way to annotate the damn thing (scribd has some kind of silly substitution encryption scheme which I’m trying to break now). Interesting that only the Guardian (of lies) currently has it openly available.
Another disinformation:
“we do not know the exact asset of the Assad family, what we know for sure that in Swiserland,the banks said 1.3 billion euro are deposited there, there are money in England,one estimate is over 11 billion dollar that belong to Bashar ”
Good question. Mubarak’s cash ended up in Israel. Maybe you could clue us into the 2.3 trillion ripped off from DoD before 911 when Dov Zakheim and his army of Sayanim controlled the purse strings. Or the army of sayanim swindling the world blind via the IMF, WB? Funny how they are ALL jews. Not a Muslim among them (or xtian for that matter). Diversity LOLOLOL.
Last week there was 100,000 demonstrating in HAMA, there was no shooting, this week close to 1/2 million, considering this is mostly young men,and it excluded elderly ,women and children, one can reasonably say all of Hama were demonstrating today.
ANOTHER DISINFORMATION
\”\”
we do not know the exact asset of the Assad family, what we know for sure that in Swiserland,the banks said 1.3 billion euro are deposited there, there are money in England,one estimate is over 11 billion dollar that belong to Basha
\”\”
To give an idea of the aberration :
The value given are MORE than the COMBINED wealths of the Hariri and Mikata families which are not held in bank accounts but in illiquid assets like shares of SAUDI OGER and MTN.
Majed bin laden
Shooting comes with direct orders from your terrorist friends in MB,why should they do it now in Hama ? How they are going to blame the army or alshbiha ?nobody will believe them.Any way Hama is not a threat and the government is not worried because it is central location makes it no threat(can’t be turned into bengazi).These bunch of stupid terrorist nothing makes them happy:if they are let demonstrate peacefully,they call it (liberation).so if there is killing it is the government mistake,and if there is no killing it is MB credit.the fact is MB were born befor killing was.MB tree dries up in no time without blood and lies.MB breaths the O2 of conspiracies and alignments with forigners since Hassn Albna.
MB is like CO if it is in any place it kills you by preventing you from having any O2.
Hillary Clinton says she’s disheartened by “security crack down” in Syria.
Guys, its time to put the ball in their court. There’s around 20 videos of brutal police handing from America for the last 3 month alone, along with 2 other videos from last year, which would show what a brutal crack down really looks like. We should create a montage.
Hillary is merely a tool in the hands of the Zionists. She is simply following orders and acting according to her job description. No one takes her seriously and she’s made US diplomacy a complete farce. The fact is that right now the script for every Friday is “regime crackdown” regardless of the actual events on the ground. I mean if you asked Hillary where the crackdowns happened today, you think she’d be able to tell you? She’s got no clue and is merely following the script written for her.
The only people being arrested in Syria now are those causing trouble. I mean just let me gather a few of my friends and have us go to the local city hall or post office and start burning and vandalizing the places. I wonder what the police would do here. And would it be considered a “crackdown” on “peaceful” protests? Or how about I go to all the local stores and start breaking their windows and destroying their property. If anyone dares stand in my way I should call them US government “shabbi7a” and “thugs”. What a total joke.
We’ve *almost* cured you of your zionism. Use the correct term in all of your post (the first instance of “israeli” should be “zionist entity resident”).
Also you failed to address his claim which weight up pretty well. It’s funny, you guys are willing to be bigotted about Sunni, Alawis, Shia, Druze and make up fancy figures for net worth, but when the ball is in your court, you start whinging like little girls.
#23
Yeah, I wonder what the crackdown will be like. The police will shoot everyone including onlookers.
I’ve learned not to respond to Zionist racists. They like to sidetrack people and get them to discuss incidental issues that are immaterial to the main topic, so that you waste your time being stuck in a silly conversation.
I guess you’re not keeping up with the new chants at all, yes the protesters are chanting Abu Hafez followed by (curse you soul), so the chant goes like this
???? ???? … ??? ???? … ???? ???? … ??? ????
*replace the dots with triple claps for the full effect 😉
That’s a funny joke NK, but it’s time for serious matters.
I hope people understands that if the army was really called in to “crack down” the death toll on the terrorist’s side will be in the thousands, daily. The Syrians soldiers and police are putting themselves at risk (practically sitting ducks) in order to keep Syria both safe and calm.
You’re right NOUR, I shouldn’t let zionists distract me. Also, it’s funny when Clinton reads a script intended for the future (when she revealed that Bashaar must cut ties with Iran+Hezbollah+Hamas for the protests to end, later repeated by the liar Obama).
In New York, where one of every eight voters is Jewish, it certainly won’t hurt that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton can note the Jewish branch on her family tree.
Mrs. Clinton angered potential Jewish voters last year by voicing support for a Palestinian state, but has recently told Jewish leaders she considers Jerusalem “the eternal and indivisible capital” of Israel.
NK
I told you that you are MB,I was right.
Can you say:
???? ???? ?? ?????
You don’t have to clap.
This is the test for MB:
1-refuse to condem Alaror.
2-has no plan for the future.
3-goes face down to any body for any thing.
4-have orgasm when hearing???? ???? ??????
5-Lies and lies and lies then he believes his lies.
6-socks …..of any one who talks bad about his country or his army.
7-smells.
8-The pres can be a :woman,man,bisexual,gay,Christian ,mentally retarded…. As long as MB is in control.
Sami Moubayed on the Iraqis’ fears on the crisis http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MG01Ak01.html
It’s weird he says that the 1 million Iraqis in Syria all arrive after 2003. There were already dozens of thousands who had fled between 1991 and 2003.
In New York, where one of every eight voters is Jewish, it certainly won’t hurt that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton can note the Jewish branch on her family tree.
Mrs. Clinton angered potential Jewish voters last year by voicing support for a Palestinian state, but has recently told Jewish leaders she considers Jerusalem “the eternal and indivisible capital” of Israel.
She has also said she favors moving the U.S. Embassy for Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The United States has never recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Kind regards. I too appreciate your views. I agree that people should not be denied their rights to express themselves the way they see fit as long as, at leat in my personal opinion, their rights do not impose on the safety of others.
I am very aware of the threatening, vulgar, and obscene language used by the pseudo nationalists and the pseudo secularists on SC. I do not believe I heard any (except for two )of the pro regime commentators condemning the calling for the death of the peaceful protestors under the disguise of calling anyone with an opposing view ” a terrorist” or a “traitor”. I do not know much either about Wisal TV or Aroor but my understanding is that Wisal TV station promotes hatred and violence against the Alawis in general and therefore I see the commentators who do not condemn the call for the death of the demonstrators and Wisal TV to be the two face of the same coin.
My view of the Syrian revolution is summed by a verse from Surat Al maida that was carried by the protestors and says:
While I ” declared” myself as a secular Sunni, I am I believe very much in touch with the views of the conservative Sunni and for some of them to be characterized as Wisal follower might just be unfair. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Just as a note, I’m agnostic theist (though I still read the both the Qur’an and the Injeel+Torah and I haven’t disagreed with anything I’ve understood), so don’t let the family connection confuse you.
I’m not calling for anyone’s death, except for those who must be killed to save lives. Murderers must be executed by law. Traitors can be dealt with later, depending on the severity of the treachery.
Don’t confuse my words for others. Unlike you, I understand people’s anger, I try to caution them not to spread it, but at this point there is nothing I can say. It’s all thanks to your peaceful “protestors”.
By the way, real peaceful protests are underway in Damascus, government sanctioned ones. There’s political conversations in the cafe. The rock throwers are ruining the show.
If you are a patriot and you want change and reform, your position should be aligned to mine. There is no excuse now. These protests must end. Furthermore, this “roadmap” makes a mockery of our sovereignty and I will deal with it tomorrow, in great depth. If the opposition really stand behind it, then sadly they are foreign controlled traitors.
—
On topic, here’s what the gospel of Mark has to say about ungrateful traitors:
6:10 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them.
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
The trash throwing rocks at army and police keeping them safe, if there is indeed an afterlife, are going straight to hell. Forever. So for the believers, they should know that taking vengeance upon them now is not need, just walk away and ignore them. They will face eternal hell.
Family members could not speak freely from Syria and therefore it was from outside of the country that the news came through.
Now someone responded to my post I do not recall if it is the Commando or the No Kandahar asking what reforms I would like to see:
Meaningful deep and real reforms spell the end of this regime as we know it. A real constitution that dismantles the absolute presidency is a bare minimum. A real representative parliament with exclusive legislative powers and control of the purse and the use of the armed forces is a must.
Separation of powers; independent judiciary; free information
Freedom of thought and expression
Freedom of assembly
Freedom to form political parties
Freedom of the press
Justice above all
Accountability of the armed forces and the security services to a civilian leadership
End of corruption
End of nepotism
End of sectarianism
End of graft
Open borders to people and goods and ideas
Open access to foreign correspondents
Open access to humanitarian organizations
Open access to the internet
These are a very few of the minimum reforms that need to happen IMMEDIATELY and IN REALITY not just on self serving SANA and Syrian TV and with monologue of speeches with oneself as Bashar did three times so far.
Now a question
Should it be a Republic or a Democracy?
Should be one or two chamber legislative?
Should be with a Supreme Court or a Constitutional Court?
Should the purse be in the hand of the legislative or the executive?
Who raises taxes and who collects them?
Are minerals and deposits under ground public or private? Is water private or public? Are utilities private or public?
What about the communications and the post; who should control those?
What about the regulation of transportation, banking, finances, stock market, corporate responsibilities, environment or other issues.
It is clear that the Baath party and the Assad clan are a failed state. Education, health, trade, transportation, and environmental issues to name a few are a DISASTER.
Even security is a failure as there is every evidence that the regime has no control over the events.
Latest news is that the electricity is cut off the central areas of cities that have night time demonstrations. So even basic services are used to punish people.
We proved over the last 60 years that we are not able to fix things ourselves so instead of trying to reinvent the wheel we should buy the wheel and move forward, It looks like many of us are in the West and in the West i like the American system as the US resemble Syria with multi ethnic and multi religous groups , so let us make it easy and adopt the American system of government, all it two houses, Supreme court , republic desperation of religion from the state the purse i believe is controlled by both, at least they have to agree on the budget, the problem that i see in Syria is lack of trust and that can improve by moving forward fast with timetable, the opposition should keep the demonstartion safe for all.
Reminder:
I found the investment certificate G to be easy if you live in North America and if you have your parents or relatives live back in the homeland SYRIA.
I already asked my parents to buy me one, it’s not about the government it’s about the Syrians’ future, don’t let your people down and become poor, the government goes and comes but our people are our only hope for the future, they are the ones to suffer the most if the west will take the words of some hatred filled traitors, have the courage to get involve and be smart about your choices, don’t let Syrians down and hurt their livings, we saw what the west did to the Iraqis, don’t let them kill 500,000 Syrian kids, nothing worth that, support Syria and Syrians, they are the treasure.
#43 nope, I live in Aleppo. I saw it on Youtube so obviously I can’t vouch for it’s authenticity. But it should be pretty easy to find out by asking someone who lives in Homs tomorrow, he would have heard of the funeral or seen the na3weh (obituary) for sure.
#45 actually Jad, the min7ibak crowd has been on the rampage in Aleppo for more than 10 days now. Driving recklessly in cars, quite often drunk, blocking highways like the ring road (mohalak) and sounding off their horns into the early hours of morning. If anyone was shooting off their guns it was most probably them.
oh i thought you are Homsi ,i hope its only another fake ,its very disturbing to see our people dying just like that ,this young lady a mother of 3 as you said put in the car and taking the time to film her whilst still alive and have some chance to save her !! i will ask my family tomorrow , i really wish its a fake .
#48 So do I, I honestly honestly hope all the videos we’re seeing of dead Syrians are fake …. but there’s a sense of dread deep inside me that they’re probably not ….
On a more uplifting note, protesters in Saqba wear colored shirts and march to form the Syrian flag:
LOUAI – hahahahaaha dont worry bout ABOALI. he is most probably ABOUDI trying to use another name on SC. They keep changing their locations just like the activists
well said , i will copy what you wrote and forward it as text message to my friends and family in the UK ,i hope i have your permission!
i think investment certificate G is te best solution to those who want to contribute without the hassle of opening a bank account and its pretty secure plus it has 0% interest rate which is a great contribution to the economy .
“Last week there was 100,000 demonstrating in HAMA, there was no shooting, this week close to 1/2 million, considering this is mostly young men,and it excluded elderly ,women and children, one can reasonably say all of Hama were demonstrating today.”
One problem with your calculations. Hama has a population of 700,000. So if ur assuming that 500,000 joined this week without the women,elderly and children, and without any christians and allawites from Hama, than Hama must have a population of almost 2million. And that would mean the pro Assad marches all around Syria totalled 50 million people. Sounds a bit strange doesnt it 🙂
Today’s another milestone in 2011 Syrian mobs
??? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ??????
Most likely this will be used to feed MB fighters in the area,Aboud can have it for snacks in his trips between Aleppo and Homs.Fida Alseed eats halal hamburger with bud light with his Moslem Swedish girlfriend.Alshafka likes cabal halabi followed by ????? ?????
it took a while to find it out but the truth is available for those who still care:
the army and security forces were largely unavailable for much of the demonstrations,this allowed more to go out in the streets,especially in Hama,and guess what? less violence reported.
the claim that “at least 24 people got killed” is a lie. I am actually more nervous about seeing a security vacuum in some areas than seeing the unlikely repitition of vilence by security forces,it seems that we finally might see less intervention by the those forces,however,in return we demand that no destruction or violence is attempted by the opposition (please do not tell me that it is only the regime that used violence).
refusing to engage in a dialogue after the basic demands are met (political prisoners,article-8,etc)is unacceptable and will alienate opposition forces,Bashar,reportedly is ready to “spell” the magic words,and I am waiting. Sending dollars and Euros to Syria to increase the banks reserve is OK if you can not send syrian Liras,this is our country and if it fails we all fail,leave Bashar out of this,rich and connected people are not the ones who will suffer if the economy collapses. I will be ready for some real time reporting from Syria soon as more friends and family decided to go and visit,and only the naked truth will be reported,I could not care less who is in power in Syria,I am loyal to Syria,not to Bashar or the opposition.
Friday, July 01, 2011
Watching Aljazeera on Syria
Comrade Amer sent me this (I cite with his permission): “It is too much, I watched today. They use youtube videos as time-fillers because they have no material and find no decent guests to peddle their line, while the potential Syrian speakers would scare people or embarrass themselves. They take a 100 person demonstration, and they show it for 10 mnts, we are all – 300 million Arabs – supposed to sit and watch 100 pixelated people demonstrating in Edleb and listen to their every chant. Then they show another one in Dar`a. And so on. When done, they repeat them all over again. It is not only propaganda, it is boring…And there is this guy… Abu Ja`far. He pissed the hell out of me. First he calls from Homs, he is like “All of Homs, ALL OF IT, is out today, the women, the kids, the cats, immense crowds”. The anchor realizes it is a bit incredulous, so the question he comes up with after a moment of hesitation: “and how is the police treating you?”. Abu Ja`far says no clashes have happened so far. 10 minutes later, Abu Ja`far calls again, “they’re attacking us, they’re massacring us!”. What happened? He says that 4 buses full of Shabbi7a were unloaded and attacked them with sticks and knives. Ya3ni a massive demonstration was supposedly suppressed by 80 goons? On Facebook it is funnier, Barq is reporting 400,000 people demos in Hama (Hama and all its countryside is much less than that)”.
PS Last week, Aljazeera reported that more than 100,000 turned out in Ma`arrat Nu`man. That is like a quarter, if true.
PPS I was thinking. Hamah’s population is like 700,000 people. So the figure of 400,000 seems high although the footage of the protest I saw showed a very big demonstration.
Friday, July 01, 2011
Watching Aljazeera on Syria
Comrade Amer sent me this (I cite with his permission): \”It is too much, I watched today. They use youtube videos as time-fillers because they have no material and find no decent guests to peddle their line, while the potential Syrian speakers would scare people or embarrass themselves. They take a 100 person demonstration, and they show it for 10 mnts, we are all – 300 million Arabs – supposed to sit and watch 100 pixelated people demonstrating in Edleb and listen to their every chant. Then they show another one in Dar`a. And so on. When done, they repeat them all over again. It is not only propaganda, it is boring…And there is this guy… Abu Ja`far. He pissed the hell out of me. First he calls from Homs, he is like \”All of Homs, ALL OF IT, is out today, the women, the kids, the cats, immense crowds\”. The anchor realizes it is a bit incredulous, so the question he comes up with after a moment of hesitation: \”and how is the police treating you?\”. Abu Ja`far says no clashes have happened so far. 10 minutes later, Abu Ja`far calls again, \”they\’re attacking us, they\’re massacring us!\”. What happened? He says that 4 buses full of Shabbi7a were unloaded and attacked them with sticks and knives. Ya3ni a massive demonstration was supposedly suppressed by 80 goons? On Facebook it is funnier, Barq is reporting 400,000 people demos in Hama (Hama and all its countryside is much less than that)\”.
PS Last week, Aljazeera reported that more than 100,000 turned out in Ma`arrat Nu`man. That is like a quarter, if true.
PPS I was thinking. Hamah\’s population is like 700,000 people. So the figure of 400,000 seems high although the footage of the protest I saw showed a very big demonstration.
The person who killed this old woman should indeed be hung.
You should not assume it is security forces who killed her. Why would they? Do you not agree that it would be counter-productive? Whose interest does her death serve?
Jad shared this following video with us a couple of days ago, but it seems to have been ignored or overlooked. http://youtu.be/bqRDkWPNNtk
Isn’t this prima facie evidence? If this is not enough to successfully sue al-Jazeera, I don’t know what is.
RE: “…this will be used to feed MB fighters in the area, Aboud can have it for snacks in his trips between Aleppo and Homs. Fida Alseed eats halal hamburger with bud light with his Moslem Swedish girlfriend. Alshafka likes cabal halabi..”
You didn’t answer my question before, maybe you didn’t see it?
You said that when you hand over the SYP you get from government-run black market exchange, the SYP gets used by the government to pay its bills/thugs. While you seem to think you’re hurting the government, doesn’t this mean you are actually supporting the government by conducting these black market exchanges? Doesn’t this also mean that the more inflated the black market exchange rate is, the better for the government because it gets more SYP to pay their bills/thugs?
On page 5/8 of an English version, activists demand “the release of all detainees involved in the protest event. . . unless it is proven they were complicit in the murder of any Syrian citizen, whether civilian or military.”
So IN THE EYES OF THE ACTIVISTS, those who throw stones, smash windows with sticks, set fire on others properties’, injured others with knives, shoot others but not killed anyone are NOT CRIMINALS, and therefore, must be released.
In all the other countries, demonstrators must get prior license from the police, must walk a certain street during a limited period of time calmly. Policemen have full authority to disband demonstrations at any times he wishes at his judgment in the street. But they demand complete freedom. This is wrong, and against international standard.
They demand accountability to the poicemen, but they don’t demand accountability to the protestors except for the killing of Syrian nationals. (In their rhetoric, they can kill foreigners during demonstrations.)
I believe that 99.9999% of Syrians will oppose to their idea. This paragraph shows very well WHO THEY REALLY ARE. They are demanding very unusual things under the banner of democratic reforms.
Actually, if you’re part of the x-opposition, you’re hoping for an encore, because you’re currently hopeless. That’s why the wave of terror is taking place around Syria again.
The Hama governor is probably implicated in those extra-judicial killings which 2 officers were sacked for.
Government won’t “encore”, there’s no need, it’s no where near as bad as the terrorism in 1982, in terms of intensity (though the acts are just as brutal).
#60 well, she’s not that old, she’s just 29. We won’t know who killed her without a proper investigation, which is a mere fantasy in the Syria of today, as we’re still waiting for the results of the “investigations” into the events of Daraa, the Hamzeh Khatib killing, and the mass graves. I’m not willing to give security forces the benefit of the doubt thought, we’ve all seen what they’re capable of, and protesters shooting at each other just doesn’t make much sense.
CNN and Sky News allowed into Syria to report …but did they get punked? watch here:
The video was grainy I assumed it was an old woman. Didn’t mean any disrespect.
Proper investigation is required for this, but unfortunately, with a lot of masked gunmen roaming the streets, many murders will not be uncovered.
>protesters shooting at each other just doesn’t make much sense.
It means perfect sense if you understand how these things work. I’ve seen the same thing in:
– Yugoslavia: Bosnia, Serbia. Foreign Russian snipers killed people from a sect to blame it on another sect. They weren’t acting on Russia’s behalf but another interested party (you can guess who).
– Kyrgyzstan
– Tunisia: Foreign sniper was caught, the embassy made up a story about who killed him.
– Egypt: Several mystery murders left unexplained. No doubt in my mind the police were killing people needlessly, but certain killings made no sense.
We already have a case in Syria, where a “peaceful” demonstrator handed himself in, confessing to accidentally killing another demonstrator through the misfiring of a pistol. The idiot cocked the pistol while pointing it in front of him instead of into the air.
Now, if protestors can kill others by accident, why would they do it on purpose?
Well, the death toll works in their favour, not the government’s. The government is doing all it can to minimise protestor deaths, to the degree where the terrorists are counting security personnel deaths as part of theirs. This mantra of reducing all the deaths of our citizens and security/army people to a single number really pisses me off. They all have names, they all have stories, they all have families. The Syrian media is respectful enough to mention most they can by name, but the so-called Human right NGOs (owned by the usual suspects) doesn’t need to, they just multiply official figures by a varying multiplier each week to “boost” the publicity of events.
I’m not saying its impossible for security to kill an innocent old woman, but at this point in time (and any really, if they want to maintain legitimacy) it is counter-productive. The interest in such a murder lays firmly in the hands of the “colored revolutionaries”. You don’t have to agree with me, but you do acknowledge that this is a possibility right?
Media outlets can make mistakes but they are also able to fabicate stories and distort the truth. Aljazeera,for example,has lost millions of fans in the Mideast due to biased coverage at times and the lack of coverage at other times. When tv channels and newspapers lower their standards and become political tools they lose credibility. This is true for any media outlet whether po or anti establishment. I find it laughable that tv stations and newspapers from the gulf, which is ruled by middle-ages style regimes and dominated by uncle Sam, are providing analysis and critic about freedom movements in the middle east …
#65 Hi Usama, I’ll try to answer your question. First of all, I’m not a dealer, I just do the odd job usually for friends and family. Secondly, it’s a business, the people who do it are not really politically motivated, they’re just out to make some money. As for helping the government get more SYP into it’s coffers, that comes at a cost of losing foreign reserves (The government is selling it’s dollars to private individuals in order to 1- prop up the exchange rate, 2- get much needed SYP to pay it’s employees). When this crisis began, the Syrian Central bank had an estimated 17 billion dollars in reserves, enough to last for 6 months of imports. You see, when the government, or any private company in Syria imports goods, they have to pay in U.S.D, you can’t pay in SYP, the Chinese don’t want to sell us cheap plastic crap for Liras, they’re useless to them. The only exception maybe Iran, who might be willing to sell us certain goods, mainly petroleum products, for Liras in order to prop us up and support us. Although I don’t know how long, and to what extent they can do that, as their own economy is stagnant and they have a brewing political crisis of their own.
Now, they Syrian lira, much like all currencies in the world is called a Fiat currency, meaning printed by government decree. Ever since the gold standard was scraped, governments have been free to print their own sovereign currencies to suit their domestic needs. For example, If a country had too much debt(denominated in it’s own currency of course) it could print more money to help pay it off. That may lead to it’s currency devaluing, but it would greatly help it service that debt. Hence we see the crisis some Euro zone countries are in, Like Ireland and Greece. They use the Euro, but they can’t print it! Consequently they’re stuck having to pay off loans in a currency they can’t control, with rising interest rates if they want to issue new bonds to help pay off the old ones. The only way out is budget cuts, austerity measures, pay freezes and privatization. Paradoxically, this may further weaken the economy resulting in fewer tax returns for the state’s coffers. The danger is that these states will ultimately default on their loans( go bankrupt) and be plunged into social and economic turmoil (like what happened in Argentina last decade for example).
Now getting back to your question on Syria, if you’re spending dollars to buy back SYP, and not getting those dollars replenished, (for example, Tourism, which has completely stopped, accounts for 8 billion dollars in foreign reserves per year), then your currency is going to collapse. You see the value of fiat currencies for first world countries are based on their perceived economic, scientific, technological and military strengths. For developing countries (like Syria) it’s based on how much foreign reserves(the fiat currency of the powerful 1st world countries) it has, as well as stability.
If the foreign reserves in Syria are depleted, then the SYP won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on. We will be forced to use hard currencies even for local transactions. This happened in Kuwait and Lebanon not too long ago.
#71 yes of course, what you said is very possible. The first casualty of war is truth.
>You see, when the government, or any private company in Syria imports goods, they have to pay in U.S.D, you can’t pay in SYP, the Chinese don’t want to sell us cheap plastic crap for Liras, they’re useless to them.
I have a family member who used to be in the ministry of interior who would say that it is little bit more complicated than this. I can’t really say anything other than that, since they’ve sworn an oath of secrecy, but for a long time Syria operated without significant forex reserves thanks to the closed nature of the currency. When the currency legislation was changed though, dynamics have changed and its open to outside attack despite its official non-convertibility.
Currency collapse will serve all of our enemies well and will hurt Syria’s poor the hardest. The elite hold precious metals and equity. The so-called “revolution” should be condemned for even voicing an attempt run.
I honestly think people who are supposedly running away with USD are not only unpatriotic but also harming themselves. This currency is set for imminent collapse, every indicator points to that fact.
The SYP has strengthened against the U.S.D today, the exchange rate stands at about 51.25. The timing is very telling, it’s the 1st of the month (Salary time). It does seem like the government, for now, is able to manipulate the exchange rate to it’s advantage. When it needs to sell U.S.D and buy SYP, it makes sure it does so at a very favorable price (hence the sudden highs of 53.5 all last week). When it no longer needs SYP, the exchange rate goes down dramatically. Expect this pattern to be repeated at the end of this month.
#75 if you’re referring to the 80’s era Kasem government, then I think all Syrians old enough will remember that there was a shortage of most basic necessities and consumer goods, baby milk, tissues, cooking oil etc due to the currency collapse (exchange rate went from 6 to 50 when Rifat raided the central bank and made off with all the hard currency, in a deal with Hafez after his attempted coup). Syria after that survived on loans from the U.S.S.R, hence the unprecedented boom in trade when the U.S.S.R collapsed in the early 90’s, and Syria’s massive debt was underwritten in exchange for exports of Syrian made goods. Shoes, clothes, plastics, leather anything Syrian made was shipped in enormous quantities. People couldn’t make things fast enough to sell to a Soviet market starved for any types of goods. People in Aleppo made fortunes, and to this day it’s remembered as an extraordinary time of boom in Aleppo’s modern history. A relic of that time can be found on some shops and offices in Bab el Faraj, where some signs written in Russian remain till this day. Inevitably, the merchants got greedy and started cheating, shipping badly made or defective goods(shoes that would fall apart the first time you worse them) in order to make even more profits. Things got so bad that the former Soviet states boycotted all Syrian goods, some countries even issuing official warnings against buying Syrian goods. The boom was over, and the overzealous merchants found themselves hit with hefty taxes by the Syrian state (something which for some reason they hadn’t anticipated) and many of them went bankrupt. The most famous case was a well known Aleppo Business man called Fouad Ballash, who at the height of his wealth and influence hired people to carry his cash for him in large sacks from the banks, and boasted(correctly) that he could reprieve a condemned man from the noose of the gallows. He went broke overnight, went to jail, got divorced, and then died a poor man in Lebanon.
Thanks for taking the time once again to explain, but there are weaknesses to your claims:
1) You’re saying you just do the odd job for friends and family, while before you said you accept the meager 0.1% commission to be competitive to achieve more volume. That does not sound like just doing the odd job. However, this is a personal issue and is not important to me.
2) If the USD is coming from government coffers, why would they need to be smuggled in truckloads from Lebanon (like you also claimed in an earlier post)?
3) Do you really think Syria is in any danger of getting too low on hard currency reserves? Assuming this government is so selfish and willing to do anything to stay in power, like what pro-revolution people like to say, can’t it just borrow hard currency, even if at inflated interest rates?
#76
I heard about these things differently. First of all, the exchange rate crashed from 6 to 50 because Rif`at ran a large-scale currency counterfeiting operation. This happened in the few years before he was expelled. His profits were already in Europe and Hafez did not need to cut a deal with him because Rif`at’s Murshdi militia, although highly loyal, refused to fight Hafez. Second, during the 80’s, when weird things went missing, like tissues and butter, it wasn’t for any economic reasons. It was because of corrupt officials that made the prices sky rocket and then made profit on the new ridiculous prices. They even did it with cigarettes for a little while. This practice was largely stopped not too long afterwards.
They did work in ministry around that time actually, if not earlier (late 70s).
It’s funny because Allepo’s boom came at the expense of Damascus. Ever since the USSR collapsed, Damascus has been on hold.
I’m aware of Riffat’s theft. What can we say? We both know the potential that was stolen from us… I just want to see it returned and not stolen again. Enough is enough.
We’re just sandwiched between thieves who want to hold on to their booty and other thieves+murderers who want to take it from them. Syrians in between want this all to end, so that Syria can escape the stagnation we have fell in since the USSR’s collapse. We don’t even necessarily need democracy (which is just as easy manipulated by an existing or foreign oligarchy), just REAL accountability and transparency.
>It was because of corrupt officials that made the prices sky rocket and then made profit on the new ridiculous prices. This practice was largely stopped not too long afterwards.
Absolutely true. This was a basic strategy of corrupt officials in most socialist countries at the time.
If you had a largre amount of extra SYPs in cash right now, what would you do with it, exchange it for dollars, make an investment in some project, open a bank account with the lure of a high interest rate, buy a real estate, hide it under the mattress…?
Impaling is a really cool thing to watch if you’re into blood and gore. The Turks used to hire Gypsies to do it back when they ran the Ottoman Empire. There would be extra money for the Gypsies if the poor fuck stayed alive for three days…
I can discuss the history and reasons behind the actions (except the last one, which is largely irrelevant I should say), but there’s no point, it has no bearing on the street of Syria.
Face it, grumpy old man, you’re irrelevant.”
So why are you and your despicable regime hyping the so-called “mumaana” nonsense when your regime engaged in many massacres of Palestinian and when your idol Bashar’s grandfather praised the Zionists in Lebanon and blamed the Palestinians for resisting the Zionists?!
Can I condemn Asad’s grandfather for this in the land of “mumaana”? And, yes I was right, at least metaphorically, when I said you must have been one of the Syrian soldiers who killed Palestinians just like your Zionist cousins.
1- It’s customary to take a commission when you facilitate a transaction between a buyer and a seller in Aleppo. Besides I was quoting the percentage more as a general marker to put things in perspective.
2- Dollars get smuggled in from Lebanon from groups, individuals and businesses supporting the regime. However they don’t do it for free, they get paid back in SYP.
3- yes there is a real Danger of the government running out of hard cash. It can’t borrow, even at inflated interest rates, simply because no institution in their right minds would take the risk of lending it, hence it relies on num 2, Allies in the region.
#80 pretty much what Commando said. Gold is a safe bet, so is Dollars and Euros.
in related news: HRW report on the violence in Homs:
#89 Not too hard, you can buy silver here, though not sure if it’s in bars or just smelted locally (khisher). Gold is in higher demand though, as it’s much easier to buy and sell. People buying small amounts of it buy the local broken down Khisher type.
While it’s true what you said about the long term risks of USD and Euro, we don’t have much of a choice inside Syria if buying large amounts. Yen or British pounds for example are just not found in large enough quantities.
Buying land or property also locks you into something illiquid and difficult to sell in times of turmoil.
You take a big risk with land yeah, but those who bought during the Iraq war made a huge profit. The reason why I said farmable land was mostly to make sure you could feed yourself though. 😉
I recommend it in any country, not just Syria. The world is going to go through a very very major food crisis in the near future that will take most people by surprise. It’s going to be absolutely brutal.
@ NK: Professional chess players resign the game as soon as they see they’re going to be beaten; the don’t play it out to the last move in hopes of a miracle. Same goes for professional army generals when they see it’s a lost cause; they don’t fight to the bitter end. Think about turning professional, NK.
Abughassan says “Bashar reportedly is ready to “spell” the magic words [Article 8 yasqat], and I am waiting…. I could not care less who is in power in Syria,I am loyal to Syria,not to Bashar or the opposition.” Abughassan is a professional.
When tension is high and angry words fly, humor is a welcomed relief. The following story is from an New York Times article:
Minot, North Dakota is in the high plains region of the U.S., not far from the Canadian border. Its population of 41,000 makes Minot the largest community for over 100 miles in all directions. Because of rapidly melting of snow in the Rocky Mountains, Minot faced the forecast the river that ran through the city will overflow its banks and flood all of the low lands in the city. In response city officials directed the zookeepers to move the animals, birds and reptiles from the city’s zoo to a warehouse located on high ground outside the city. The zookeepers found two cages fit well side by side in the truck. So the animals were moved two by two. The zoo also had a little lamb no more than 3 months old, which they let roam free. They named the lamb Noah. The move was accomplished with little difficulty and the animals adjusted to their new location with few disruptions except the camels learned to turn the lights on and off with their tongues.
Night time was the only problem. The wolves howled all night scarring the workers as well as the other animals, and the camels kept turning the lights on and off the entire night.
After the Assad mafia is gone, there will be hardly a memento left of their era. No statues, no monuments, no billboards. It will be like they never existed.
Bashar would do well to read about Stalin after his death. His mausoleum was shut down, his statues were broken up, Stalingrad was renamed.
Oh, and by the way, the last man on earth who openly admired Stalin died a few years back: Saddam Hussein
I once met a policeman from Latakia who, when asked which two famous people from history he would like to invite to dinner, replied Stalin (a great leader) and Julio Iglesias (a great artist). What a party that would be!
Read into this what you will, but Hussein was not the last.
>@ NK: Professional chess players resign the game as soon as they see they’re going to be beaten; the don’t play it out to the last move in hopes of a miracle. Same goes for professional army generals when they see it’s a lost cause; they don’t fight to the bitter end.
What we’re dealing with here, is people who don’t give a damn about their lives, reputation or the lives of their countrymen. If they think they can achieve a Pyrrhic victory they will fight to the bitter end.
No doubt they’re already making preparations for Syria Revolution 2012 and 2013, to be attended by all 70,000 members of the MB in Hama everyday.
I hope part of the reforms introduces a mechanism to turn off gas, electricity and water to people who don’t pay bills. After all, this is the freedom these assholes are asking for right? They want to westernise right? Why should we pay for their electricity and water while they use all their time to protest on behalf of the zionist west?
Zzzzzzzzz…Aleppo joined the revolution, Hama and Dayr Al Zour are out of the regime’s control, and the best the Baathists can come up with is “protest on behalf of the zionist west”.
Someone wake me up when junior gets a clue. At this rate, I’ll be having a long, long nap.
Isn’t it wonderful how the Baathists never fail to do our work for us, damning themselves with their own perverse comments.
Nice article from the WSJ. I do not like their editorial policy and their positions in general, but one thing is for sure they do have their stories right although they practice omission of news they do not like.
So take it with a grain of salt, the point I am making is that these are indications of a failed state that I argued are intrinsically present in the Syrian regime
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
We are your soldiers Bashar, we are just dust on your boot! For your eyes’ sake we will knock down the Syrian homeland, you are the democracy!
Wherever you walk and step we will kneel and kiss the ground. We will step over every single infiltrator like the animals in the wild.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
We are your lions, don’t mind anything. We will fill the square with blood. It’s never about the quantity, we are the quality.
Screw freedom! Screw this rubbish! It’s a conspiracy coming from Mars. We don’t have Hindus, we don’t have Sikhs, we don’t have Zardashtis.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
You with high forehead, I will sacrifice my soul and my money for you. And for your eyes’ sake, you precious thing, I will slaughter my own family with a knife.
They said ‘God, freedom only!’ We will chop them like lettuce. They are only like a couple of million infiltrators, they were never the majority.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
Without you we’re screwed. May you get over my shoulder and hang. Your media is using all the superstition and they discovered the terrorist salafi group.
Terrorism has no cure, for you we will occupy Deraa. We will never get tired, we will never give up, until we have a genocide.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
Your name is always up there, your voice is heard up in the skies. Even if your own people starve to death we will elect you for eternity.
We don’t have one opinion, or two opinions. We have your light that blinds the eyes. You are our magnificent, you beautiful thing. You are the king of humanity!
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
>Nowadays, Turkey, Syria and Iran seem to be undertaking measures that only adversaries would in the face of imminent threats from each another. While busy picking on each other, they are unable to recognize the looming threat, which has the potential to dwarf the so-called “Arab Spring.”
Looming threat only to Turkey, which routinely abuses and kills Kurds.
>Tehran has reportedly alleged that Turkey has been instigating the civilian protests, and has also reportedly armed supporters of the Baath regime.
Stopped reading here, no one has time for this bullshit propoganda. I wish these idiots would collectively jump off a cliff and spare us all.
I see it as Turkish backpedaling. The idiots thought they could take us on but they changed their mind when the prospect of a two-front attack (and eventual world war) was on the table. The US must be pressuring them heavily.
BTW, the internal opposition is on television arguing and disagreeing. They’re not unified at all and this isn’t really a good sign.
I’m just about ready to give up. If people on here are a reflection of what expat Syria society is like (polarised, not willing to even MOVE AN F**KING INCH in their position), I’m moving to another planet. There’s no hope for humanity.
…One of the reasons for the calm situation in Lebanon today is the warmer relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria. Saudi Arabia is grateful for Syria’s cover on how Riyadh handled the unrest in Bahrain. And Saudi Arabia has been tolerant and supportive of what is going on in Syria. Riyadh is not eager for revolution in Syria as it does not want to see the Arab awakening spread around the region.
While Saudi Arabia was unhappy when the Hariri government fell earlier this year, Riyadh clearly started leaning on its allies in Lebanon not to escalate the situation against Syria when the Arab Spring began to take off with speed. And this more or less still seems to be the case.
This is a significant reason for why the indictments are not being exploited right now. But there is a legitimate fear that under different political circumstances the tribunal’s findings can be used as a huge weapon if someone wants. This could ultimately bring down the government if forces were aligned to do something in the future.
Saudi Arabia is the main player of the ongoing crisis in Syria and Khariri’s operatives are calling for hezbollah arrests.
Unfortunately for all of Lebanon’s enemies, Nasrallah has presented evidence that is so damning of the STL that I’m going to be surprised if we hear their name again next year… did anyone watch the hour long presentation?
Syria to turn a blind eye on oppressing the Shiite in Bahrain for KSA to turn a blind eye on oppressing mostly Sunni (and other disenfranchised minorities) in Syria. Yet, we are here arguing religion intolerance.
Someone on SC told us that the president alone has more than $3 billions, how come they couldn’t get more than $31.8 millions out of 23 Syrian person including the president, some people love to exaggerate:
Syria’s crisis is not about oppression but about the economical failure of the Syrian Governemnt. If the country’s economy was booming (China) no one would have complained about the one party authoritarian system, or the lack of political freedom.
So please spare me the Sunnis or any one being “oppressed”!
Freedom of expression does not produce bread! Lack of bread requires freedom of expression to protest (Spain). Yet no one can expect results from any different political system (In the West, they keep switching “democratically” from left to right and the economical problems are still here).
Tara,
Are you kidding me! Your apt in Damascus alone worth more than $1m.
They are corrupted but not to the extend some people are saying, that was the point.
Having $3M is different than having $3B unless you are Austin Powers.
I don’t agree with you that there’s any oppression of minorities in Syria (total lie) but I agree that we should take the right stance on Bahrain, which is to condemn the “kingdom”.
To compare Syria to Bahrain is sick, the latter is pre-historic.
The 31 million if that is true are not his money they are the Baath party money and he as secretary general is the one who can sign for it, so it is in his name-during Hafiz Assad there was 61 million in Swiss banks for the same reason.
Norman,
the $31.8 M is not for the President, read the article, it`s the max the Swiss could collect from him and other 22 person, which is about $1.4m each, compare that to the $410m of Moubarak alone.
The point is about the exaggerations and the lies, not about the money, do you think if the Swiss banks could`ve get more than that wouldn’t they use it against him in a huge media coverage like what they did to Moubarak, they simply don`t have anything to proof against him, this is why they collect all the money of 23 person together and put his name in the middle.
Yes , i see that now, It is interesting that everybody claims how much corruption in Syria but still Syria has no foreign debt while Lebanon has more than 40 billion dollar debt, you wonder where Hariri got his 16 billion on a teacher salary,
The Syrian Ambassador to Romania has gone on more than 20 trips over the last three months to Lithuania and Beolorussia and other former Soviet Republics with the aim of stashing away billions of dollars.
A high ranking officer of the security services is selling his lands and villas in Syria.
Now these are the rumors that members of my family told me after they left the country for a few days that are circulating in the country.
Once again, these are just rumors so far.
The issue for those defending the regime like JAD and WD is that not a single piastre should go to the President and his cronies without accountability. As an important high ranking official the responsibility is even greater than on a simple official.
Now, my great aunt was the wife of one of Syria’s prime ministers in the 50’s and she had the gal of using the prime minister’s car to go for an errand and her husband realizing that she had used the official car, went after her to the Souk Hamidyeh and asked her to walk home and ordered the driver to go back to the prime minister’s office forbidding him from ever using official car for personal use. He did this in public in front of the shop keepers of the Souk.
Now that is one form of integrity.
As for the 31 million, that must have been the loose change they forgot to transfer in time.
I am sure that you agree that your Aunt’s husband is the only Syrian with integrity, at least i hope so,
We all, Jad WD included want transparency and zero corruption and we want to move to a multiparty system where all Syrians can have a chance to provide their services, We just do not want violence as violence will produce more violence ,
About the high ranking security officer, He is just to stay liquid and if he got his money by stealing, he should be prosecuted, not lynched without trial.
The Guilty should be punished individually, not their families or their party or their tribe.
I learned that many hotel owners in Damascus are still paying full salaries to their employees despite the absence of tourists.
I find that extraordinary. I also got the confirmation that the government employees are also getting their full salary with no deduction as was mentioned by someone here.
I think solidarity and ethics are still present in Damascus and that is comforting.
“If Western intelligence agencies played this kind of game over the Lockerbie bombing, what’s to stop them from doing the same over the murder of Hariri? And why would they want to do that? Because Hebollah and its Christian and Druze allies now dominate the Lebanese government, and are seen as a threat to Israeli and American interests. The Middle East runs almost entirely on conspiracy theories, most of them ridiculously implausible. But some of them are real.”
Comments (141)
norman said:
Dear Joshua,
Have a good and safe time ,
July 1st, 2011, 9:13 am
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
Dr. Hamster,
“…While not life threatening to the mental patient, it is life threatening to all others since its symptoms also include violence and vulgarity”.
That’s a brilliant prognosis. Looking forward for your next (groundbreaking I’m sure) research about the mental symptoms of the tashbbi7 mental disease.
==========
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http://news.syriatruth.info/index.php/2011/1/2320-damascus-ask-ankara-delivered-against-the-syrians-handed-him-over-to-it-members-of-the-pkk.html
Erdogan is signaling he’s running out of patience.
Syrian commando,
It’s time to speed up your commando training.
.
July 1st, 2011, 9:46 am
Judy said:
Have a nice vacation. I like this blog because you show all sides. Currently this modality leads to bizarre results. The contrast between the most recent Economist article and the analysis you posted before it is like they are reporting from different planets.
July 1st, 2011, 9:49 am
Syrian Commando said:
Take it easy.
This may be of interest: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/jun/30/syria-roadmap-assad-us-english
I’ll write what I think of it in a short while, just posting it in case you read this.
#2
Erdogan can go f**k himself, Iran has already told him what will happen if a war starts with us. You Israelis should no, Syria is no push over, if it’s full out war, we won’t hold back for political reasons. All the redlines will be lifted.
The rivers of Turkey will run red along with your country as well. I wouldn’t be cheering for him if I were you.
July 1st, 2011, 9:56 am
majedkhaldoon said:
Joshua
Have a nice fourth of July.
The economist said 20 billion Dollar was taken out of Syria, is this true?if it is true this is very serious.
and is it true that people are arming themselves?
It is true that the demonstrations are getting larger,and they are continuous every friday,Aleppo is begining to join the revolt,and yes there are reports that some christians are begining to switch,the demonstrations ,in the future , will be organized,and I doubt there will be real Dialogue with the regime,we may get fake dialogue,real means real opposition figures,fake means opposition figures that are pretending to be opposition,like Abbas Nouri.
If the people default on paying their installment loans,this could cause bank to head for bankrupcy and if business slowed down this will increase unemployment,the bankrupcy and unemployment are misery indecies,bashar has to deal with, also he has to deal with STL indictment,and soon as we all know,Gaddafi and Saleh will leave,.Russia is supporting the people,not Bashar.
As for Nouri Al Maliki statement of support for the syrian regime, it is meaningless, he has Allawi in his mind,he wants to avoid syrian support for Allawi.
July 1st, 2011, 10:35 am
Syrian Commando said:
Captain Majed, is your brain made of mush, you sectarian piece of crap?
Allepo joining the “revolt”? LOL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HJrkGu2Q90
Yeah, I think even when the entire world is on fire and the last man is in the world in allepo, he won’t join the “revolt”. This is the land of heroes, you will never conquer it.
As for money leaving Syria, it’s complete crap, utter shit. They’re trying to state lies in order to try and get people to panic, it’s called creative reflexivity, but we’re not born yesterday. We’re the masters of manipulation, economist is a joke. Every move it advises, you do the opposite and you’ll make money. How many times have they called a bottom on gold/silver for it to peak. When they do the opposite it collapses. It’s more likely that 10 billion or so has entered Syria as people repatriate their assets to avoid bullshit “sanctions”.
As for your “installment on loans” crap, loans are a very minor aspect of the Syrian economy at the moment. The majority of us have not fell for the banking trap. You can’t destroy the economy, this option was never available to you because Syrians are too patriotic for it to work.
July 1st, 2011, 11:03 am
HS said:
I also noticed that the article from the Economist was not signed by its author. ( http://www.economist.com/node/18895586/print )
I guess that it was an editorial advertising paid by ???? or it has been written by a person who cannot or does not want sign.
The following paragraph from the article may gives us a clue :
” If the demonstrators were to topple the government, they could draw on capable technocrats to form an interim administration. Among them is Abdullah Dardari, a former deputy prime minister and senior United Nations official, who is liked from Washington to Riyadh. ”
I am not sure that the road from Washington to Riyadh pass any longer through Syria’s souks and hotels.
July 1st, 2011, 11:51 am
Akbar Palace said:
Where Did all the Money Go? NewZ
majedkhaldoon,
Considering the Assad family’s net worth is about $3 Billion (2006), you wouldn’t be too far off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assad_family
July 1st, 2011, 11:56 am
HS said:
The comment #7
“Considering the Assad family’s net worth is about $3 Billion (2006), you wouldn’t be too far off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assad_family ”
is typical of the disinformation.
1) The value given in that page refers to the Maklouf family NOT Assad family.
and
2) NO value of the Maklouf family net’s worth has EVER been mentioned in the document to which the Wikipedia “writer” refers to :
Bashar’s Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview
SHMUEL BAR
Institute for Policy and Strategy
Interdisciplinary Center (IDC)
Herzliya, Israel
Comparative Strategy 25: 379. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
July 1st, 2011, 12:56 pm
majedkhaldoon said:
A.P.
we do not know the exact asset of the Assad family, what we know for sure that in Swiserland,the banks said 1.3 billion euro are deposited there, there are money in England,one estimate is over 11 billion dollar that belong to Bashar,after the regime change we will know how much Assad family has.
However these reports of 20 billion as mentioned in economist,is this new money left since March?who smuggled it out?is it the elite syrian?,or the sons of Alawi officials,or both?this is not my number it is the number mentioned by the economist.
Sc
denying the truth is equivalent to lying
there was demonstrations in Alleppo in the streets ,yesterday and and today, there was sit in, in the lawyer society BLDG.obviously you have the mush brain,defending the regime blindly is just like consider him(Bashar) as messiah,son of Hafez (God)
Fear and Anger is worse and more dangerous than bad facts, You have fear that the regime could fall, you are angry that the regime is facing the battle of its life,with fear and anger you are behaving irrational,could you wake up to the fact that there is change in Syria and no one ,no one can stop this change,tell us what you loose, are you Allawi who will loose pwer and money?,are you benifiting from the regime?or are you Baath member,who sees the end of Baath power?
what you say is disgusting and obnoxious,threats and vulgar words,is not the way to discuss rationally,why dont you tell us how do you expect this crisis to end, in a very practical way,Why Disduss was nice in saying Dialogue, I personally do not think dialogue is practical,History of revolutions tell us that dialogue is very unlikely,usually the ruler gives updialogue is usually offered by the ruler,but the people deline,there is nothing more powerful that angry masses of people.
July 1st, 2011, 12:58 pm
Syrian Commando said:
#8
Before you can correct a zionist’s lies, he’s already told 10 more lies. You can see the post above me stack lie upon lie. The best strategy is just to swear at them, point out that they’re chain-liars and just have a laugh as no one takes them seriously. In my experience this form of deconstruction is the most effective one.
Captain Majed,
See the videos I linked, idiot. “Are you Allawi” -> I bet you are not even Syrian! And no, my family is Sunni, not that it matters traitor/liar. I can discuss things perfectly rationally with everyone who is genuine on here, but for traitors and spies, the only words I have for your are curses.
I hope people see your bigotry and lies for what they are.
July 1st, 2011, 12:58 pm
Akbar Palace said:
majedkhaldoon,
I recall arguing with you in the past, so I know you are no “zionist”.
Of course, some people, when they can’t argue their case with facts, resort to name-calling. “Zionist” is the worse epithet I can think of for an Arab!;)
Nevertheless, I believe you as well many others in Syria are looking for basic human rights such as freedom of speech and the right to vote. You are all VERY brave, because you could be killed at any time just for asking for these basic rights that the Syrian government refuses to provide.
Good luck.
July 1st, 2011, 1:10 pm
Nour said:
Jad,
It seems that the trend in the reduction in violence has continued, which is a good sign. Also, this is why the “revolutionists” are now increasing their lies and becoming more hysterical. They’re not getting the amount of blood they would like to see.
July 1st, 2011, 1:18 pm
Syrian Commando said:
>Also, this is why the “revolutionists” are now increasing their lies and becoming more hysterical
Their lies are becoming more shallow though. Good to see the zionist occuipiers and the traitor/spies bonding above. I wish they’d book a hotel room and leave us alone.
The document I pasted shows the USnakeA’s desperation (and obviously they’re denying it’s their document but we all know it is). I will discuss it as soon as I find a way to annotate the damn thing (scribd has some kind of silly substitution encryption scheme which I’m trying to break now). Interesting that only the Guardian (of lies) currently has it openly available.
July 1st, 2011, 1:25 pm
Badr said:
Professor Landis,
Have a nice vacation, but I couldn’t resist to ask whether you contemplated to spend it in Syria?
July 1st, 2011, 1:28 pm
HS said:
Another disinformation:
“we do not know the exact asset of the Assad family, what we know for sure that in Swiserland,the banks said 1.3 billion euro are deposited there, there are money in England,one estimate is over 11 billion dollar that belong to Bashar ”
To give
July 1st, 2011, 1:38 pm
873 said:
7. Akbar Palace said:
Where Did all the Money Go?
Good question. Mubarak’s cash ended up in Israel. Maybe you could clue us into the 2.3 trillion ripped off from DoD before 911 when Dov Zakheim and his army of Sayanim controlled the purse strings. Or the army of sayanim swindling the world blind via the IMF, WB? Funny how they are ALL jews. Not a Muslim among them (or xtian for that matter). Diversity LOLOLOL.
July 1st, 2011, 1:39 pm
Syrian Commando said:
I bypassed the obfuscation in the document (idiots leave it all in plain text, just check ram of plugin) annotating it now.
By the way, here’s what Halab looked like today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBDXsu653E
Chew on that anti-Syrians, chew on it long and hard. Meanwhile, here’s the “peaceful protests”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwXISYFvR1c
Today the “peaceful” protestors got upset and started beating up store people before getting beat up themselves by the locals.
July 1st, 2011, 1:46 pm
majedkhaldoon said:
Last week there was 100,000 demonstrating in HAMA, there was no shooting, this week close to 1/2 million, considering this is mostly young men,and it excluded elderly ,women and children, one can reasonably say all of Hama were demonstrating today.
July 1st, 2011, 1:48 pm
HS said:
ANOTHER DISINFORMATION
\”\”
we do not know the exact asset of the Assad family, what we know for sure that in Swiserland,the banks said 1.3 billion euro are deposited there, there are money in England,one estimate is over 11 billion dollar that belong to Basha
\”\”
To give an idea of the aberration :
The value given are MORE than the COMBINED wealths of the Hariri and Mikata families which are not held in bank accounts but in illiquid assets like shares of SAUDI OGER and MTN.
http://www.forbes.com/wealth/billionaires#p_1_s_arank_-1__214
July 1st, 2011, 1:52 pm
Syrian Commando said:
There’s nothing to shoot at in Hama, the whole place is a MB breeding ground. They wouldn’t want in-fighting.
Take a look at these shameless traitors:
This is “freedom”:
Call in the army already!!! These people need to be arrested and charged with treason.
July 1st, 2011, 1:55 pm
Syria no kandahar said:
Majed bin laden
Shooting comes with direct orders from your terrorist friends in MB,why should they do it now in Hama ? How they are going to blame the army or alshbiha ?nobody will believe them.Any way Hama is not a threat and the government is not worried because it is central location makes it no threat(can’t be turned into bengazi).These bunch of stupid terrorist nothing makes them happy:if they are let demonstrate peacefully,they call it (liberation).so if there is killing it is the government mistake,and if there is no killing it is MB credit.the fact is MB were born befor killing was.MB tree dries up in no time without blood and lies.MB breaths the O2 of conspiracies and alignments with forigners since Hassn Albna.
MB is like CO if it is in any place it kills you by preventing you from having any O2.
July 1st, 2011, 2:07 pm
Syrian Commando said:
Hillary Clinton says she’s disheartened by “security crack down” in Syria.
Guys, its time to put the ball in their court. There’s around 20 videos of brutal police handing from America for the last 3 month alone, along with 2 other videos from last year, which would show what a brutal crack down really looks like. We should create a montage.
Also,
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/01/c_13961409.htm
July 1st, 2011, 2:15 pm
Nour said:
SC:
Hillary is merely a tool in the hands of the Zionists. She is simply following orders and acting according to her job description. No one takes her seriously and she’s made US diplomacy a complete farce. The fact is that right now the script for every Friday is “regime crackdown” regardless of the actual events on the ground. I mean if you asked Hillary where the crackdowns happened today, you think she’d be able to tell you? She’s got no clue and is merely following the script written for her.
The only people being arrested in Syria now are those causing trouble. I mean just let me gather a few of my friends and have us go to the local city hall or post office and start burning and vandalizing the places. I wonder what the police would do here. And would it be considered a “crackdown” on “peaceful” protests? Or how about I go to all the local stores and start breaking their windows and destroying their property. If anyone dares stand in my way I should call them US government “shabbi7a” and “thugs”. What a total joke.
July 1st, 2011, 2:36 pm
Akbar Palace said:
It all about the Joos, not our heroic despots, thugs, and criminals
Funny how they are ALL jews.
873,
Funny how jihadist conspiracies are all anti-semitic.
Mubarak put his billions into Israeli banks? So that makes Jews responsible for his actions? What’s Assad’s excuse?
And what about that other Arab despot, none other than Yasser Arafat? He kept a $Billion of so in
Israel’sthe Zionist Entity’s Bank Leumi.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/07/60minutes/main582487.shtml
She’s got no clue and is merely following the script written for her.
Nour,
What “script”? Have you seen it?
July 1st, 2011, 2:47 pm
Syrian Commando said:
#24
We’ve *almost* cured you of your zionism. Use the correct term in all of your post (the first instance of “israeli” should be “zionist entity resident”).
Also you failed to address his claim which weight up pretty well. It’s funny, you guys are willing to be bigotted about Sunni, Alawis, Shia, Druze and make up fancy figures for net worth, but when the ball is in your court, you start whinging like little girls.
#23
Yeah, I wonder what the crackdown will be like. The police will shoot everyone including onlookers.
July 1st, 2011, 2:52 pm
Nour said:
SC:
I’ve learned not to respond to Zionist racists. They like to sidetrack people and get them to discuss incidental issues that are immaterial to the main topic, so that you waste your time being stuck in a silly conversation.
July 1st, 2011, 3:02 pm
Syrian Commando said:
The propoganda from the sewers is getting really really funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G43S80iNGcY&feature=player_profilepage
They’re so desperate.
July 1st, 2011, 3:04 pm
Akbar Palace said:
The Twilight Zone has been Found
I’ve learned not to respond to Zionist racists. They like to sidetrack people and get them to discuss incidental issues…
Nour,
You mean the “script” you made up in your head isn’t an “incidental issue” and 873’s comment “Funny how they are ALL jews” isn’t racist?
http://www.hark.com/clips/htjxgqbpkj-twilight-zone-12-seconds
July 1st, 2011, 3:29 pm
Nour said:
???? ????? “??????” ??? “??? ????? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ???? ??????? ?????? ????? ???????? ?? ???????? ????????? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ??? “?????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????”? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ??”??? ???????”? ????? ???? ???? 60 ??? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ???? 12,7 ??? ?? ??????? ????? “?? ?? ??” ?? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ??????”.
????? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? “????????? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ???????? ?? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ????”.
???? ???????? ???? ??? ??????? ????????? ??? ?? ??? ????? ??????? ???????? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? 12,7 ??? ???? ?? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ??????? ??????? ????? ???? ?? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????????? ??????”.
????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ?? “???? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ??????”.
July 1st, 2011, 3:29 pm
NK said:
Syrian Commando
I guess you’re not keeping up with the new chants at all, yes the protesters are chanting Abu Hafez followed by (curse you soul), so the chant goes like this
???? ???? … ??? ???? … ???? ???? … ??? ????
*replace the dots with triple claps for the full effect 😉
July 1st, 2011, 3:42 pm
Syrian Commando said:
That’s a funny joke NK, but it’s time for serious matters.
I hope people understands that if the army was really called in to “crack down” the death toll on the terrorist’s side will be in the thousands, daily. The Syrians soldiers and police are putting themselves at risk (practically sitting ducks) in order to keep Syria both safe and calm.
You’re right NOUR, I shouldn’t let zionists distract me. Also, it’s funny when Clinton reads a script intended for the future (when she revealed that Bashaar must cut ties with Iran+Hezbollah+Hamas for the protests to end, later repeated by the liar Obama).
July 1st, 2011, 3:48 pm
democracynow said:
Joshua,
Have a nice one.
July 1st, 2011, 4:02 pm
durex said:
Hillary Has Jewish Roots
In New York, where one of every eight voters is Jewish, it certainly won’t hurt that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton can note the Jewish branch on her family tree.
Mrs. Clinton angered potential Jewish voters last year by voicing support for a Palestinian state, but has recently told Jewish leaders she considers Jerusalem “the eternal and indivisible capital” of Israel.
She has also said she favors moving the U.S. Embassy for Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The United States has never recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/08/06/politics/main57322.shtml
July 1st, 2011, 4:05 pm
Syria no kandahar said:
NK
I told you that you are MB,I was right.
Can you say:
???? ???? ?? ?????
You don’t have to clap.
This is the test for MB:
1-refuse to condem Alaror.
2-has no plan for the future.
3-goes face down to any body for any thing.
4-have orgasm when hearing???? ???? ??????
5-Lies and lies and lies then he believes his lies.
6-socks …..of any one who talks bad about his country or his army.
7-smells.
8-The pres can be a :woman,man,bisexual,gay,Christian ,mentally retarded…. As long as MB is in control.
July 1st, 2011, 4:08 pm
Mina said:
Sami Moubayed on the Iraqis’ fears on the crisis
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MG01Ak01.html
It’s weird he says that the 1 million Iraqis in Syria all arrive after 2003. There were already dozens of thousands who had fled between 1991 and 2003.
July 1st, 2011, 4:28 pm
Nour said:
?????? ???????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ?????:
?????? ????? ???????? ??? ???? ??????
«???????????? ???????» ????? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ???? ???????? ????? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ???????.
???? ?????? ????? ????? ??????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ?? ???? ?????.
??? ??????? ??»???????????? ???????» ???????? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???????? ????????? ?????????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ???????????? ?? ???????? ??? ????? «???????» ???? ??????. ??? ???? ?? ???? ????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? ???????? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????????. ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ???? «?????? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???????» ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ?? ??? ????? ???? ?? ??????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ????????? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ???????? ????? ??????? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ???????? ??????.
?????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ?? ?? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ??????? ???????? ??????? ????? ????? ????? ??????. ??? ???? ??? ?????? ???: «??? ????? ???? ???? ?? 23 ????? ?? ???????? ???????? ???????? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ???? ????? ?????????? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ??? ??? ???? ??? ???? ?? ???».
????: «???? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ????????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ?? ??????».
??? ???????? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ???: «???? ??????? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ???? (?) ???????? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ???: «???? ?????? ??? ????????. ??? ?? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ???? ???????».
???? ??????: «?????? ??? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ?????? ????? «??????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????????».
http://www.al-binaa.com/newversion/article.php?articleId=35727
July 1st, 2011, 4:35 pm
condom said:
Hillary Has Jewish Roots
In New York, where one of every eight voters is Jewish, it certainly won’t hurt that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton can note the Jewish branch on her family tree.
Mrs. Clinton angered potential Jewish voters last year by voicing support for a Palestinian state, but has recently told Jewish leaders she considers Jerusalem “the eternal and indivisible capital” of Israel.
She has also said she favors moving the U.S. Embassy for Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The United States has never recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/08/06/politics/main57322.shtml
July 1st, 2011, 4:37 pm
Tara said:
Dear Revlon,
Kind regards. I too appreciate your views. I agree that people should not be denied their rights to express themselves the way they see fit as long as, at leat in my personal opinion, their rights do not impose on the safety of others.
I am very aware of the threatening, vulgar, and obscene language used by the pseudo nationalists and the pseudo secularists on SC. I do not believe I heard any (except for two )of the pro regime commentators condemning the calling for the death of the peaceful protestors under the disguise of calling anyone with an opposing view ” a terrorist” or a “traitor”. I do not know much either about Wisal TV or Aroor but my understanding is that Wisal TV station promotes hatred and violence against the Alawis in general and therefore I see the commentators who do not condemn the call for the death of the demonstrators and Wisal TV to be the two face of the same coin.
My view of the Syrian revolution is summed by a verse from Surat Al maida that was carried by the protestors and says:
????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ????????????? ??? ?????? ????????? ?????? ???????? ???????????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????? ?????????????
While I ” declared” myself as a secular Sunni, I am I believe very much in touch with the views of the conservative Sunni and for some of them to be characterized as Wisal follower might just be unfair. Please correct me if I am wrong.
July 1st, 2011, 4:53 pm
Syrian Commando said:
Just as a note, I’m agnostic theist (though I still read the both the Qur’an and the Injeel+Torah and I haven’t disagreed with anything I’ve understood), so don’t let the family connection confuse you.
I’m not calling for anyone’s death, except for those who must be killed to save lives. Murderers must be executed by law. Traitors can be dealt with later, depending on the severity of the treachery.
Don’t confuse my words for others. Unlike you, I understand people’s anger, I try to caution them not to spread it, but at this point there is nothing I can say. It’s all thanks to your peaceful “protestors”.
By the way, real peaceful protests are underway in Damascus, government sanctioned ones. There’s political conversations in the cafe. The rock throwers are ruining the show.
If you are a patriot and you want change and reform, your position should be aligned to mine. There is no excuse now. These protests must end. Furthermore, this “roadmap” makes a mockery of our sovereignty and I will deal with it tomorrow, in great depth. If the opposition really stand behind it, then sadly they are foreign controlled traitors.
—
On topic, here’s what the gospel of Mark has to say about ungrateful traitors:
6:10 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them.
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
The trash throwing rocks at army and police keeping them safe, if there is indeed an afterlife, are going straight to hell. Forever. So for the believers, they should know that taking vengeance upon them now is not need, just walk away and ignore them. They will face eternal hell.
July 1st, 2011, 5:00 pm
Observer said:
Family members could not speak freely from Syria and therefore it was from outside of the country that the news came through.
Now someone responded to my post I do not recall if it is the Commando or the No Kandahar asking what reforms I would like to see:
Meaningful deep and real reforms spell the end of this regime as we know it. A real constitution that dismantles the absolute presidency is a bare minimum. A real representative parliament with exclusive legislative powers and control of the purse and the use of the armed forces is a must.
Separation of powers; independent judiciary; free information
Freedom of thought and expression
Freedom of assembly
Freedom to form political parties
Freedom of the press
Justice above all
Accountability of the armed forces and the security services to a civilian leadership
End of corruption
End of nepotism
End of sectarianism
End of graft
Open borders to people and goods and ideas
Open access to foreign correspondents
Open access to humanitarian organizations
Open access to the internet
These are a very few of the minimum reforms that need to happen IMMEDIATELY and IN REALITY not just on self serving SANA and Syrian TV and with monologue of speeches with oneself as Bashar did three times so far.
Now a question
Should it be a Republic or a Democracy?
Should be one or two chamber legislative?
Should be with a Supreme Court or a Constitutional Court?
Should the purse be in the hand of the legislative or the executive?
Who raises taxes and who collects them?
Are minerals and deposits under ground public or private? Is water private or public? Are utilities private or public?
What about the communications and the post; who should control those?
What about the regulation of transportation, banking, finances, stock market, corporate responsibilities, environment or other issues.
It is clear that the Baath party and the Assad clan are a failed state. Education, health, trade, transportation, and environmental issues to name a few are a DISASTER.
Even security is a failure as there is every evidence that the regime has no control over the events.
Latest news is that the electricity is cut off the central areas of cities that have night time demonstrations. So even basic services are used to punish people.
This is a despicable regime and is beyond reform.
Multiplication of Germs and Rats ongoing.
Humbug again
July 1st, 2011, 5:27 pm
daleandersen said:
Have a great 4th, Professor Landis. You sure earned it.
As for those of us who have to stay behind, let’s ROCK THE CASBAH!!! >>> http://playwrighter.blogspot.com/2011/07/rock-casbah-yeahhhhhhhhhhhh.html
July 1st, 2011, 5:50 pm
Norman said:
Observor,
We proved over the last 60 years that we are not able to fix things ourselves so instead of trying to reinvent the wheel we should buy the wheel and move forward, It looks like many of us are in the West and in the West i like the American system as the US resemble Syria with multi ethnic and multi religous groups , so let us make it easy and adopt the American system of government, all it two houses, Supreme court , republic desperation of religion from the state the purse i believe is controlled by both, at least they have to agree on the budget, the problem that i see in Syria is lack of trust and that can improve by moving forward fast with timetable, the opposition should keep the demonstartion safe for all.
——————————————————————————–
?????? ???? ????? ???? ???? ????? ?? ??????
??? ????? ???? GMT 15:30:00 2011 ?????? 1 ?????
????? ????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ??? “???????” ????? ?? ???????? ??? ???? ????? ??? “?????? ???? ??? ??????????? ???????”.
???? ????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ??????
——————————————————————————–
????: ???? ????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ???????? ??????? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ????? ????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????.
????? ????? ????????? ?? ??????? ?? ??????? ?? ????? ???????? ????????? ?????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????. ???? ?????? ????? ???????.
??????? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ?? ????? ??????? ????? ??? “????????? ?????”. ????? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ??? ?????? “???????” ??????? ??????? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ?????? ???? ???????.
?????? ??????? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ??”?????? ???? ?????” ??????? ??????? ???????? ????? ????? ????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???????.
????? ???????? ?? 1400 ??? ?????? ??? ????? ????/???? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ???? 500 ?? ????? ??? ?????.
???? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?? 30 ???? ?? ?????? ?????? ????????? ?????? ?? 100 ???. ????? ?????? 7 ????? ????? ???????? ?? ????????.
???? ????? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????.
????? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ?? ???????? ?????????? ???????? ?? ???? ????? ??????. ?????? ??????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ???? ?????????? ?? ????.
??? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ??????? ????????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ???????? ????? ????? ??????.
???? ??????? ?? ?????? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ???????? ??? ??????? ?? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ???????????? ???????. ????? ????? ????????? ?? ????? ?? ?????????? “?????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ????? ???????? ? ???? ??? ????? ????????. ??? ??? ??????”.
?????? ????? ???????? ????????? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ???????? ?????????? ????? ??????? ?????. ????? ?? ?????? ????? “?? ???? ???? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ??????? ?? ???????” ??? ???? ??? ??????.
??? ??? ?? ????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ???????.
???? ???? ???? ????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????????? ?? ?????? ????????? ???????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ????????? ?? ???????? ???????.
???? ???? ???? ????? ???????? ????????? ?? ???????? ??????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ???????? ??????? “????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ??? ????? ????????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ??????”.
?????? ????? ???????? ???? ??? ??????? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ?????. ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ??????? ??????? ??????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????.
?????? ????? ????? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ???????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ???????.
???? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ????????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?? ???? ???????? “????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ??????”. ????? ?? ??? ?????????? ?? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ????? ??????.
????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ?????. ????? ????? ????????? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? “???? ?????? ?????? ?????. ??????? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ?????? ???????”. ?????? ??????? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ????? “????? ????? ???? ?? ??????? ??????? ???????”.
http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2011/7/666038.html
????? ???????
July 1st, 2011, 5:59 pm
aboali said:
ok now this is just very very disturbing:
mother of 3, Noura AbelMoti AlFaisal aged 29 killed by security forces in Joret el Shayah Homs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m901QlbPl0M
seriously whoever did this must be publicly hanged.
July 1st, 2011, 6:40 pm
jad said:
Reminder:
I found the investment certificate G to be easy if you live in North America and if you have your parents or relatives live back in the homeland SYRIA.
I already asked my parents to buy me one, it’s not about the government it’s about the Syrians’ future, don’t let your people down and become poor, the government goes and comes but our people are our only hope for the future, they are the ones to suffer the most if the west will take the words of some hatred filled traitors, have the courage to get involve and be smart about your choices, don’t let Syrians down and hurt their livings, we saw what the west did to the Iraqis, don’t let them kill 500,000 Syrian kids, nothing worth that, support Syria and Syrians, they are the treasure.
??? ?????? ??????? 1-7-2011 ??? ??? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ???????? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ?????
?????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ???????.
From Louai in previous post:
buying G investment certificate ????? ??????? ??? ? is another way to support the Lira without opening a Syrian bank account
all what you need is some one in Syria to buy on your behalf .
more ways to come and more info on this link
???????
??????
30/06/2011
???????? – ???
?????? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ?
????? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????? ??? ???????? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ????? ??????? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ??? (?).
???? ????? ???????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ????????? ??? ???????? ??? ???? ??? ????????? “???? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ??????”? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ??????.
???? ????? ???????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ???????.
???? ????????? ??????? ???? ????????:
?????? ????? ???????? ????
???? ??? ????????? “??????? ????? ??????”
???? ????? ??????????
???? ?????.. ?????? ????.. ????? ????
????? ????? ????? ???????
???? ?????
???? ????? ????
?????? ???? ???? ?? ????
???? ?????? ????
????? ?????? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ??????:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165351123530929
????? ????????:
July 1st, 2011, 6:48 pm
Louai said:
Aboali ,
indeed its disturbing !!
you said you live in Homs , did you hear about it from people as well or you just saw it on youtube?
July 1st, 2011, 6:48 pm
aboali said:
#43 nope, I live in Aleppo. I saw it on Youtube so obviously I can’t vouch for it’s authenticity. But it should be pretty easy to find out by asking someone who lives in Homs tomorrow, he would have heard of the funeral or seen the na3weh (obituary) for sure.
July 1st, 2011, 6:51 pm
jad said:
Since Aleppo volcano didn’t work, someone decided to use guns:
???? ????? ??? A.N.N
?? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ????? ???????? .. ????? ????????? ???? .. “????”
S.N.N | ???? ???
???? ????? (???? ???? ?????? ???????? )? ??? ????? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ??????? ??? ???? ?????? ????? (???? ????????? )? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ???????
July 1st, 2011, 6:54 pm
aboali said:
#45 actually Jad, the min7ibak crowd has been on the rampage in Aleppo for more than 10 days now. Driving recklessly in cars, quite often drunk, blocking highways like the ring road (mohalak) and sounding off their horns into the early hours of morning. If anyone was shooting off their guns it was most probably them.
July 1st, 2011, 7:05 pm
jad said:
#46, You know better than me, this news if from FB and I don’t live in Aleppo, you might be right.
July 1st, 2011, 7:16 pm
Louai said:
Aboali 44
oh i thought you are Homsi ,i hope its only another fake ,its very disturbing to see our people dying just like that ,this young lady a mother of 3 as you said put in the car and taking the time to film her whilst still alive and have some chance to save her !! i will ask my family tomorrow , i really wish its a fake .
July 1st, 2011, 7:18 pm
aboali said:
#48 So do I, I honestly honestly hope all the videos we’re seeing of dead Syrians are fake …. but there’s a sense of dread deep inside me that they’re probably not ….
On a more uplifting note, protesters in Saqba wear colored shirts and march to form the Syrian flag:
July 1st, 2011, 7:26 pm
MOHAMED KANJ said:
LOUAI – hahahahaaha dont worry bout ABOALI. he is most probably ABOUDI trying to use another name on SC. They keep changing their locations just like the activists
July 1st, 2011, 7:28 pm
Louai said:
Jad 42
well said , i will copy what you wrote and forward it as text message to my friends and family in the UK ,i hope i have your permission!
i think investment certificate G is te best solution to those who want to contribute without the hassle of opening a bank account and its pretty secure plus it has 0% interest rate which is a great contribution to the economy .
July 1st, 2011, 7:29 pm
MOHAMED KANJ said:
majedkhaldoon You said:
“Last week there was 100,000 demonstrating in HAMA, there was no shooting, this week close to 1/2 million, considering this is mostly young men,and it excluded elderly ,women and children, one can reasonably say all of Hama were demonstrating today.”
One problem with your calculations. Hama has a population of 700,000. So if ur assuming that 500,000 joined this week without the women,elderly and children, and without any christians and allawites from Hama, than Hama must have a population of almost 2million. And that would mean the pro Assad marches all around Syria totalled 50 million people. Sounds a bit strange doesnt it 🙂
July 1st, 2011, 7:40 pm
Syria no kandahar said:
Today’s another milestone in 2011 Syrian mobs
??? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ??????
Most likely this will be used to feed MB fighters in the area,Aboud can have it for snacks in his trips between Aleppo and Homs.Fida Alseed eats halal hamburger with bud light with his Moslem Swedish girlfriend.Alshafka likes cabal halabi followed by ????? ?????
July 1st, 2011, 7:44 pm
jad said:
Louai,
Thank you!
??? ???? , ???? ?? ???? ???? ????? ????? ????? ???? ???????
http://youtu.be/FhdH3FIKCso
SNK,
Did you like the new ‘look’ of albaghl fidaa, his ‘look’ consultant is ponytail.
July 1st, 2011, 7:44 pm
Louai said:
??? ?????? ?????? ???????……
?????? ??????? ???????? ??????…
?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ??????? ???????…??????? ?? ????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??…………??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ????????? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ??????? ??????? ???..??? ?????? ???????? ????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ?? ????…???????? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ???????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??????…??? ???? ?????? ?? ????????? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?? ???? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??????….??? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ??????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?????…?? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ?????…?? ???????????????? ?? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ?????…?????? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ????? ???? …????? ??? ???? ???????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ?????…..??? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ? ?????? m?????? ?????……..
?????? ?????
???? ??? ?????????
July 1st, 2011, 7:59 pm
Louai said:
«????? ?????» ?????? ???? 6 ????
????? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? 11 ????? ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ?? ?????. ??? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ????? ????? ?? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ???????. ????? «????? ????? ???????» ???? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ??? ????????. ??????? ???????? ?????? ??? ??? ???. ???? ????? ???????? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ??? ???????
???? ?????
full article here http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/15834
July 1st, 2011, 8:07 pm
abughassan said:
it took a while to find it out but the truth is available for those who still care:
the army and security forces were largely unavailable for much of the demonstrations,this allowed more to go out in the streets,especially in Hama,and guess what? less violence reported.
the claim that “at least 24 people got killed” is a lie. I am actually more nervous about seeing a security vacuum in some areas than seeing the unlikely repitition of vilence by security forces,it seems that we finally might see less intervention by the those forces,however,in return we demand that no destruction or violence is attempted by the opposition (please do not tell me that it is only the regime that used violence).
refusing to engage in a dialogue after the basic demands are met (political prisoners,article-8,etc)is unacceptable and will alienate opposition forces,Bashar,reportedly is ready to “spell” the magic words,and I am waiting. Sending dollars and Euros to Syria to increase the banks reserve is OK if you can not send syrian Liras,this is our country and if it fails we all fail,leave Bashar out of this,rich and connected people are not the ones who will suffer if the economy collapses. I will be ready for some real time reporting from Syria soon as more friends and family decided to go and visit,and only the naked truth will be reported,I could not care less who is in power in Syria,I am loyal to Syria,not to Bashar or the opposition.
July 1st, 2011, 9:40 pm
MOHAMED KANJ said:
“Angry Arab News Services Blog”
Friday, July 01, 2011
Watching Aljazeera on Syria
Comrade Amer sent me this (I cite with his permission): “It is too much, I watched today. They use youtube videos as time-fillers because they have no material and find no decent guests to peddle their line, while the potential Syrian speakers would scare people or embarrass themselves. They take a 100 person demonstration, and they show it for 10 mnts, we are all – 300 million Arabs – supposed to sit and watch 100 pixelated people demonstrating in Edleb and listen to their every chant. Then they show another one in Dar`a. And so on. When done, they repeat them all over again. It is not only propaganda, it is boring…And there is this guy… Abu Ja`far. He pissed the hell out of me. First he calls from Homs, he is like “All of Homs, ALL OF IT, is out today, the women, the kids, the cats, immense crowds”. The anchor realizes it is a bit incredulous, so the question he comes up with after a moment of hesitation: “and how is the police treating you?”. Abu Ja`far says no clashes have happened so far. 10 minutes later, Abu Ja`far calls again, “they’re attacking us, they’re massacring us!”. What happened? He says that 4 buses full of Shabbi7a were unloaded and attacked them with sticks and knives. Ya3ni a massive demonstration was supposedly suppressed by 80 goons? On Facebook it is funnier, Barq is reporting 400,000 people demos in Hama (Hama and all its countryside is much less than that)”.
PS Last week, Aljazeera reported that more than 100,000 turned out in Ma`arrat Nu`man. That is like a quarter, if true.
PPS I was thinking. Hamah’s population is like 700,000 people. So the figure of 400,000 seems high although the footage of the protest I saw showed a very big demonstration.
July 1st, 2011, 10:33 pm
MOHAMED KANJ said:
“Angry Arab News Services Blog\”
Friday, July 01, 2011
Watching Aljazeera on Syria
Comrade Amer sent me this (I cite with his permission): \”It is too much, I watched today. They use youtube videos as time-fillers because they have no material and find no decent guests to peddle their line, while the potential Syrian speakers would scare people or embarrass themselves. They take a 100 person demonstration, and they show it for 10 mnts, we are all – 300 million Arabs – supposed to sit and watch 100 pixelated people demonstrating in Edleb and listen to their every chant. Then they show another one in Dar`a. And so on. When done, they repeat them all over again. It is not only propaganda, it is boring…And there is this guy… Abu Ja`far. He pissed the hell out of me. First he calls from Homs, he is like \”All of Homs, ALL OF IT, is out today, the women, the kids, the cats, immense crowds\”. The anchor realizes it is a bit incredulous, so the question he comes up with after a moment of hesitation: \”and how is the police treating you?\”. Abu Ja`far says no clashes have happened so far. 10 minutes later, Abu Ja`far calls again, \”they\’re attacking us, they\’re massacring us!\”. What happened? He says that 4 buses full of Shabbi7a were unloaded and attacked them with sticks and knives. Ya3ni a massive demonstration was supposedly suppressed by 80 goons? On Facebook it is funnier, Barq is reporting 400,000 people demos in Hama (Hama and all its countryside is much less than that)\”.
PS Last week, Aljazeera reported that more than 100,000 turned out in Ma`arrat Nu`man. That is like a quarter, if true.
PPS I was thinking. Hamah\’s population is like 700,000 people. So the figure of 400,000 seems high although the footage of the protest I saw showed a very big demonstration.
July 1st, 2011, 10:35 pm
Syrian Commando said:
ABOALI,
The person who killed this old woman should indeed be hung.
You should not assume it is security forces who killed her. Why would they? Do you not agree that it would be counter-productive? Whose interest does her death serve?
Condolences to her family.
July 2nd, 2011, 12:45 am
annie said:
Dear Josh, Enjoy your well deserved brief holiday. Hope to meet you again in Damascus.
July 2nd, 2011, 1:29 am
annie said:
Enjoy your holiday.
July 2nd, 2011, 1:40 am
Usama said:
Jad shared this following video with us a couple of days ago, but it seems to have been ignored or overlooked.
http://youtu.be/bqRDkWPNNtk
Isn’t this prima facie evidence? If this is not enough to successfully sue al-Jazeera, I don’t know what is.
July 2nd, 2011, 4:22 am
daleandersen said:
Memo to: SYRIA NO KANDAHAR
RE: “…this will be used to feed MB fighters in the area, Aboud can have it for snacks in his trips between Aleppo and Homs. Fida Alseed eats halal hamburger with bud light with his Moslem Swedish girlfriend. Alshafka likes cabal halabi..”
What is this? The Food Network?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Dale_Andersen/syria-forces-kill-protesters_n_888482_95252297.html
July 2nd, 2011, 4:24 am
Usama said:
AboAli,
You didn’t answer my question before, maybe you didn’t see it?
You said that when you hand over the SYP you get from government-run black market exchange, the SYP gets used by the government to pay its bills/thugs. While you seem to think you’re hurting the government, doesn’t this mean you are actually supporting the government by conducting these black market exchanges? Doesn’t this also mean that the more inflated the black market exchange rate is, the better for the government because it gets more SYP to pay their bills/thugs?
What do you think?
July 2nd, 2011, 4:30 am
Mustafa said:
An opposition group published “A Road Map for Syria” in the Guardian newspaper.
English: http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/59060886
Arabic: http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/59120267
On page 5/8 of an English version, activists demand “the release of all detainees involved in the protest event. . . unless it is proven they were complicit in the murder of any Syrian citizen, whether civilian or military.”
So IN THE EYES OF THE ACTIVISTS, those who throw stones, smash windows with sticks, set fire on others properties’, injured others with knives, shoot others but not killed anyone are NOT CRIMINALS, and therefore, must be released.
In all the other countries, demonstrators must get prior license from the police, must walk a certain street during a limited period of time calmly. Policemen have full authority to disband demonstrations at any times he wishes at his judgment in the street. But they demand complete freedom. This is wrong, and against international standard.
They demand accountability to the poicemen, but they don’t demand accountability to the protestors except for the killing of Syrian nationals. (In their rhetoric, they can kill foreigners during demonstrations.)
I believe that 99.9999% of Syrians will oppose to their idea. This paragraph shows very well WHO THEY REALLY ARE. They are demanding very unusual things under the banner of democratic reforms.
July 2nd, 2011, 6:59 am
democracynow said:
Regime sacks Hama’s governor.
Is it because they’re looking for an encore?
Hope not, cause then, you can kiss all hopes goodbye.
July 2nd, 2011, 7:01 am
Syrian Commando said:
Actually, if you’re part of the x-opposition, you’re hoping for an encore, because you’re currently hopeless. That’s why the wave of terror is taking place around Syria again.
The Hama governor is probably implicated in those extra-judicial killings which 2 officers were sacked for.
July 2nd, 2011, 7:10 am
democracynow said:
Syrian Commando,
Then call their bluff and don’t do an encore.
Cheers.
July 2nd, 2011, 7:16 am
Syrian Commando said:
Government won’t “encore”, there’s no need, it’s no where near as bad as the terrorism in 1982, in terms of intensity (though the acts are just as brutal).
July 2nd, 2011, 7:42 am
aboali said:
#60 well, she’s not that old, she’s just 29. We won’t know who killed her without a proper investigation, which is a mere fantasy in the Syria of today, as we’re still waiting for the results of the “investigations” into the events of Daraa, the Hamzeh Khatib killing, and the mass graves. I’m not willing to give security forces the benefit of the doubt thought, we’ve all seen what they’re capable of, and protesters shooting at each other just doesn’t make much sense.
CNN and Sky News allowed into Syria to report …but did they get punked? watch here:
July 2nd, 2011, 10:37 am
Syrian Commando said:
The video was grainy I assumed it was an old woman. Didn’t mean any disrespect.
Proper investigation is required for this, but unfortunately, with a lot of masked gunmen roaming the streets, many murders will not be uncovered.
>protesters shooting at each other just doesn’t make much sense.
It means perfect sense if you understand how these things work. I’ve seen the same thing in:
– Yugoslavia: Bosnia, Serbia. Foreign Russian snipers killed people from a sect to blame it on another sect. They weren’t acting on Russia’s behalf but another interested party (you can guess who).
– Kyrgyzstan
– Tunisia: Foreign sniper was caught, the embassy made up a story about who killed him.
– Egypt: Several mystery murders left unexplained. No doubt in my mind the police were killing people needlessly, but certain killings made no sense.
We already have a case in Syria, where a “peaceful” demonstrator handed himself in, confessing to accidentally killing another demonstrator through the misfiring of a pistol. The idiot cocked the pistol while pointing it in front of him instead of into the air.
Now, if protestors can kill others by accident, why would they do it on purpose?
Well, the death toll works in their favour, not the government’s. The government is doing all it can to minimise protestor deaths, to the degree where the terrorists are counting security personnel deaths as part of theirs. This mantra of reducing all the deaths of our citizens and security/army people to a single number really pisses me off. They all have names, they all have stories, they all have families. The Syrian media is respectful enough to mention most they can by name, but the so-called Human right NGOs (owned by the usual suspects) doesn’t need to, they just multiply official figures by a varying multiplier each week to “boost” the publicity of events.
I’m not saying its impossible for security to kill an innocent old woman, but at this point in time (and any really, if they want to maintain legitimacy) it is counter-productive. The interest in such a murder lays firmly in the hands of the “colored revolutionaries”. You don’t have to agree with me, but you do acknowledge that this is a possibility right?
July 2nd, 2011, 11:01 am
Abughassan said:
Media outlets can make mistakes but they are also able to fabicate stories and distort the truth. Aljazeera,for example,has lost millions of fans in the Mideast due to biased coverage at times and the lack of coverage at other times. When tv channels and newspapers lower their standards and become political tools they lose credibility. This is true for any media outlet whether po or anti establishment. I find it laughable that tv stations and newspapers from the gulf, which is ruled by middle-ages style regimes and dominated by uncle Sam, are providing analysis and critic about freedom movements in the middle east …
July 2nd, 2011, 11:13 am
aboali said:
#65 Hi Usama, I’ll try to answer your question. First of all, I’m not a dealer, I just do the odd job usually for friends and family. Secondly, it’s a business, the people who do it are not really politically motivated, they’re just out to make some money. As for helping the government get more SYP into it’s coffers, that comes at a cost of losing foreign reserves (The government is selling it’s dollars to private individuals in order to 1- prop up the exchange rate, 2- get much needed SYP to pay it’s employees). When this crisis began, the Syrian Central bank had an estimated 17 billion dollars in reserves, enough to last for 6 months of imports. You see, when the government, or any private company in Syria imports goods, they have to pay in U.S.D, you can’t pay in SYP, the Chinese don’t want to sell us cheap plastic crap for Liras, they’re useless to them. The only exception maybe Iran, who might be willing to sell us certain goods, mainly petroleum products, for Liras in order to prop us up and support us. Although I don’t know how long, and to what extent they can do that, as their own economy is stagnant and they have a brewing political crisis of their own.
Now, they Syrian lira, much like all currencies in the world is called a Fiat currency, meaning printed by government decree. Ever since the gold standard was scraped, governments have been free to print their own sovereign currencies to suit their domestic needs. For example, If a country had too much debt(denominated in it’s own currency of course) it could print more money to help pay it off. That may lead to it’s currency devaluing, but it would greatly help it service that debt. Hence we see the crisis some Euro zone countries are in, Like Ireland and Greece. They use the Euro, but they can’t print it! Consequently they’re stuck having to pay off loans in a currency they can’t control, with rising interest rates if they want to issue new bonds to help pay off the old ones. The only way out is budget cuts, austerity measures, pay freezes and privatization. Paradoxically, this may further weaken the economy resulting in fewer tax returns for the state’s coffers. The danger is that these states will ultimately default on their loans( go bankrupt) and be plunged into social and economic turmoil (like what happened in Argentina last decade for example).
Now getting back to your question on Syria, if you’re spending dollars to buy back SYP, and not getting those dollars replenished, (for example, Tourism, which has completely stopped, accounts for 8 billion dollars in foreign reserves per year), then your currency is going to collapse. You see the value of fiat currencies for first world countries are based on their perceived economic, scientific, technological and military strengths. For developing countries (like Syria) it’s based on how much foreign reserves(the fiat currency of the powerful 1st world countries) it has, as well as stability.
If the foreign reserves in Syria are depleted, then the SYP won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on. We will be forced to use hard currencies even for local transactions. This happened in Kuwait and Lebanon not too long ago.
#71 yes of course, what you said is very possible. The first casualty of war is truth.
July 2nd, 2011, 11:17 am
Syrian Commando said:
Funnily enough, precisely due to the lying, sensationalism and exaggeration AJ English is more popular than ever, lol.
July 2nd, 2011, 11:22 am
Syrian Commando said:
#73
>You see, when the government, or any private company in Syria imports goods, they have to pay in U.S.D, you can’t pay in SYP, the Chinese don’t want to sell us cheap plastic crap for Liras, they’re useless to them.
I have a family member who used to be in the ministry of interior who would say that it is little bit more complicated than this. I can’t really say anything other than that, since they’ve sworn an oath of secrecy, but for a long time Syria operated without significant forex reserves thanks to the closed nature of the currency. When the currency legislation was changed though, dynamics have changed and its open to outside attack despite its official non-convertibility.
Currency collapse will serve all of our enemies well and will hurt Syria’s poor the hardest. The elite hold precious metals and equity. The so-called “revolution” should be condemned for even voicing an attempt run.
I honestly think people who are supposedly running away with USD are not only unpatriotic but also harming themselves. This currency is set for imminent collapse, every indicator points to that fact.
July 2nd, 2011, 11:48 am
aboali said:
The SYP has strengthened against the U.S.D today, the exchange rate stands at about 51.25. The timing is very telling, it’s the 1st of the month (Salary time). It does seem like the government, for now, is able to manipulate the exchange rate to it’s advantage. When it needs to sell U.S.D and buy SYP, it makes sure it does so at a very favorable price (hence the sudden highs of 53.5 all last week). When it no longer needs SYP, the exchange rate goes down dramatically. Expect this pattern to be repeated at the end of this month.
#75 if you’re referring to the 80’s era Kasem government, then I think all Syrians old enough will remember that there was a shortage of most basic necessities and consumer goods, baby milk, tissues, cooking oil etc due to the currency collapse (exchange rate went from 6 to 50 when Rifat raided the central bank and made off with all the hard currency, in a deal with Hafez after his attempted coup). Syria after that survived on loans from the U.S.S.R, hence the unprecedented boom in trade when the U.S.S.R collapsed in the early 90’s, and Syria’s massive debt was underwritten in exchange for exports of Syrian made goods. Shoes, clothes, plastics, leather anything Syrian made was shipped in enormous quantities. People couldn’t make things fast enough to sell to a Soviet market starved for any types of goods. People in Aleppo made fortunes, and to this day it’s remembered as an extraordinary time of boom in Aleppo’s modern history. A relic of that time can be found on some shops and offices in Bab el Faraj, where some signs written in Russian remain till this day. Inevitably, the merchants got greedy and started cheating, shipping badly made or defective goods(shoes that would fall apart the first time you worse them) in order to make even more profits. Things got so bad that the former Soviet states boycotted all Syrian goods, some countries even issuing official warnings against buying Syrian goods. The boom was over, and the overzealous merchants found themselves hit with hefty taxes by the Syrian state (something which for some reason they hadn’t anticipated) and many of them went bankrupt. The most famous case was a well known Aleppo Business man called Fouad Ballash, who at the height of his wealth and influence hired people to carry his cash for him in large sacks from the banks, and boasted(correctly) that he could reprieve a condemned man from the noose of the gallows. He went broke overnight, went to jail, got divorced, and then died a poor man in Lebanon.
July 2nd, 2011, 12:18 pm
Usama said:
AboAli,
#73
Thanks for taking the time once again to explain, but there are weaknesses to your claims:
1) You’re saying you just do the odd job for friends and family, while before you said you accept the meager 0.1% commission to be competitive to achieve more volume. That does not sound like just doing the odd job. However, this is a personal issue and is not important to me.
2) If the USD is coming from government coffers, why would they need to be smuggled in truckloads from Lebanon (like you also claimed in an earlier post)?
3) Do you really think Syria is in any danger of getting too low on hard currency reserves? Assuming this government is so selfish and willing to do anything to stay in power, like what pro-revolution people like to say, can’t it just borrow hard currency, even if at inflated interest rates?
#76
I heard about these things differently. First of all, the exchange rate crashed from 6 to 50 because Rif`at ran a large-scale currency counterfeiting operation. This happened in the few years before he was expelled. His profits were already in Europe and Hafez did not need to cut a deal with him because Rif`at’s Murshdi militia, although highly loyal, refused to fight Hafez. Second, during the 80’s, when weird things went missing, like tissues and butter, it wasn’t for any economic reasons. It was because of corrupt officials that made the prices sky rocket and then made profit on the new ridiculous prices. They even did it with cigarettes for a little while. This practice was largely stopped not too long afterwards.
July 2nd, 2011, 12:36 pm
Syrian Commando said:
They did work in ministry around that time actually, if not earlier (late 70s).
It’s funny because Allepo’s boom came at the expense of Damascus. Ever since the USSR collapsed, Damascus has been on hold.
I’m aware of Riffat’s theft. What can we say? We both know the potential that was stolen from us… I just want to see it returned and not stolen again. Enough is enough.
We’re just sandwiched between thieves who want to hold on to their booty and other thieves+murderers who want to take it from them. Syrians in between want this all to end, so that Syria can escape the stagnation we have fell in since the USSR’s collapse. We don’t even necessarily need democracy (which is just as easy manipulated by an existing or foreign oligarchy), just REAL accountability and transparency.
>It was because of corrupt officials that made the prices sky rocket and then made profit on the new ridiculous prices. This practice was largely stopped not too long afterwards.
Absolutely true. This was a basic strategy of corrupt officials in most socialist countries at the time.
July 2nd, 2011, 12:42 pm
Mango said:
?????? ??? ??? ????? !
??? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? : ? ??? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ?????? ???????? ???? ! ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ????? ? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ??????? !?????
55. LOUAI
??? ?????? ?????? ???????
?????? ??????? ???????? ??????…
?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ??????? ???????…??????? ?? ????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??…………??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ????????? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ??????? ??????? ???..??? ?????? ???????? ????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ?? ????…???????? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ???????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??????…??? ???? ?????? ?? ????????? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?? ???? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??????….??? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ??????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?????…?? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ?????…?? ???????????????? ?? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ?????…?????? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ????? ???? …????? ??? ???? ???????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ?????…..??? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ? ?????? m?????? ?????……..
?????? ?????
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July 2nd, 2011, 12:42 pm
Badr said:
ABOALI,
If you had a largre amount of extra SYPs in cash right now, what would you do with it, exchange it for dollars, make an investment in some project, open a bank account with the lure of a high interest rate, buy a real estate, hide it under the mattress…?
July 2nd, 2011, 1:31 pm
Syrian Commando said:
If you have too much paper, buy precious metals or good farmland, regardless of whose face is on the paper.
July 2nd, 2011, 1:38 pm
vlad-the-syrian said:
ABOALI
your are definitely sinister
??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???? ??????, ???? ????? ????
July 2nd, 2011, 2:14 pm
NK said:
Enjoy
If you’re a “Men7ebak” please skip that video, I don’t want you having a heart attack …
July 2nd, 2011, 2:28 pm
Syrian Commando said:
>??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???? ??????, ???? ????? ????
Hahahaha
July 2nd, 2011, 2:39 pm
vlad-the-syrian said:
NK
another zombies movie produced by Turkey
i long to see the end when all of them get impaled 🙂
July 2nd, 2011, 3:25 pm
daleandersen said:
Impaling is a really cool thing to watch if you’re into blood and gore. The Turks used to hire Gypsies to do it back when they ran the Ottoman Empire. There would be extra money for the Gypsies if the poor fuck stayed alive for three days…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Dale_Andersen/syria-forces-kill-protesters_n_888482_95252297.html
July 2nd, 2011, 4:35 pm
Abu Umar said:
“I’ll repeat it once more:
Stop living in the past, both of you. Move on.
I can discuss the history and reasons behind the actions (except the last one, which is largely irrelevant I should say), but there’s no point, it has no bearing on the street of Syria.
Face it, grumpy old man, you’re irrelevant.”
So why are you and your despicable regime hyping the so-called “mumaana” nonsense when your regime engaged in many massacres of Palestinian and when your idol Bashar’s grandfather praised the Zionists in Lebanon and blamed the Palestinians for resisting the Zionists?!
Can I condemn Asad’s grandfather for this in the land of “mumaana”? And, yes I was right, at least metaphorically, when I said you must have been one of the Syrian soldiers who killed Palestinians just like your Zionist cousins.
July 2nd, 2011, 4:45 pm
aboali said:
#77
1- It’s customary to take a commission when you facilitate a transaction between a buyer and a seller in Aleppo. Besides I was quoting the percentage more as a general marker to put things in perspective.
2- Dollars get smuggled in from Lebanon from groups, individuals and businesses supporting the regime. However they don’t do it for free, they get paid back in SYP.
3- yes there is a real Danger of the government running out of hard cash. It can’t borrow, even at inflated interest rates, simply because no institution in their right minds would take the risk of lending it, hence it relies on num 2, Allies in the region.
#80 pretty much what Commando said. Gold is a safe bet, so is Dollars and Euros.
in related news: HRW report on the violence in Homs:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/07/02/syria-rising-toll-homs
July 2nd, 2011, 4:47 pm
Syrian Commando said:
ABOALI,
How hard is it to buy silver bullion in Allepo? Is there much liquidity?
BTW I wouldn’t bet on the USD for long.
EUR has so much systematic risk right now that the premium on its risk-based value is hilarious.
I wish China would let me hold more RMB, the limit is horrible. Even with the inflation, the medium-term strategy reduces the systematic risk.
July 2nd, 2011, 4:59 pm
Shami said:
LOL NK ,viva Homs.
Baath,Asad,Makhloof,Hassoun,Bouti are a dying era.
We will destroy the statues of the big jahesh.
We are the past,the present and future.
Shall we forgive ?
July 2nd, 2011, 5:03 pm
Norman said:
Shami,
Don’t you think that you are undermining yourself by calling names,
((( big jahesh )))
July 2nd, 2011, 5:10 pm
Shami said:
Norman,
You would understand better when you will see what will happen to his grave.
July 2nd, 2011, 5:14 pm
Syrian Commando said:
Shami shami shami.
Don’t you think you’ll be a lot happier in Saudi Arabia?
July 2nd, 2011, 5:19 pm
aboali said:
#89 Not too hard, you can buy silver here, though not sure if it’s in bars or just smelted locally (khisher). Gold is in higher demand though, as it’s much easier to buy and sell. People buying small amounts of it buy the local broken down Khisher type.
While it’s true what you said about the long term risks of USD and Euro, we don’t have much of a choice inside Syria if buying large amounts. Yen or British pounds for example are just not found in large enough quantities.
Buying land or property also locks you into something illiquid and difficult to sell in times of turmoil.
July 2nd, 2011, 5:26 pm
Syrian Commando said:
#94
You take a big risk with land yeah, but those who bought during the Iraq war made a huge profit. The reason why I said farmable land was mostly to make sure you could feed yourself though. 😉
I recommend it in any country, not just Syria. The world is going to go through a very very major food crisis in the near future that will take most people by surprise. It’s going to be absolutely brutal.
July 2nd, 2011, 6:02 pm
Mawal95 said:
@ SC and NK and Samara: You might like the “Abu Hafez” chant in this from time 0:10 to 1:18. http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?d=100010&id=75933 (annoyingly slow downloads at rtv.gov.sy)
@ NK: Professional chess players resign the game as soon as they see they’re going to be beaten; the don’t play it out to the last move in hopes of a miracle. Same goes for professional army generals when they see it’s a lost cause; they don’t fight to the bitter end. Think about turning professional, NK.
Abughassan says “Bashar reportedly is ready to “spell” the magic words [Article 8 yasqat], and I am waiting…. I could not care less who is in power in Syria,I am loyal to Syria,not to Bashar or the opposition.” Abughassan is a professional.
July 2nd, 2011, 9:25 pm
Friend in America said:
When tension is high and angry words fly, humor is a welcomed relief. The following story is from an New York Times article:
Minot, North Dakota is in the high plains region of the U.S., not far from the Canadian border. Its population of 41,000 makes Minot the largest community for over 100 miles in all directions. Because of rapidly melting of snow in the Rocky Mountains, Minot faced the forecast the river that ran through the city will overflow its banks and flood all of the low lands in the city. In response city officials directed the zookeepers to move the animals, birds and reptiles from the city’s zoo to a warehouse located on high ground outside the city. The zookeepers found two cages fit well side by side in the truck. So the animals were moved two by two. The zoo also had a little lamb no more than 3 months old, which they let roam free. They named the lamb Noah. The move was accomplished with little difficulty and the animals adjusted to their new location with few disruptions except the camels learned to turn the lights on and off with their tongues.
Night time was the only problem. The wolves howled all night scarring the workers as well as the other animals, and the camels kept turning the lights on and off the entire night.
July 2nd, 2011, 10:09 pm
daleandersen said:
Memo to: SHAMI:
Exactly.
After the Assad mafia is gone, there will be hardly a memento left of their era. No statues, no monuments, no billboards. It will be like they never existed.
Bashar would do well to read about Stalin after his death. His mausoleum was shut down, his statues were broken up, Stalingrad was renamed.
Oh, and by the way, the last man on earth who openly admired Stalin died a few years back: Saddam Hussein
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Dale_Andersen/syria-forces-kill-protesters_n_888482_95252297.html
July 2nd, 2011, 11:32 pm
vlad-the-syrian said:
Nasrallah on the STL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxquaOh6C1Q
no comment
July 2nd, 2011, 11:52 pm
haz said:
Daleanderson,
I once met a policeman from Latakia who, when asked which two famous people from history he would like to invite to dinner, replied Stalin (a great leader) and Julio Iglesias (a great artist). What a party that would be!
Read into this what you will, but Hussein was not the last.
July 3rd, 2011, 12:25 am
Simon said:
Well deserved vacation, after reading our craps,enjoy it.
July 3rd, 2011, 2:00 am
Syrian Commando said:
#96
>@ NK: Professional chess players resign the game as soon as they see they’re going to be beaten; the don’t play it out to the last move in hopes of a miracle. Same goes for professional army generals when they see it’s a lost cause; they don’t fight to the bitter end.
What we’re dealing with here, is people who don’t give a damn about their lives, reputation or the lives of their countrymen. If they think they can achieve a Pyrrhic victory they will fight to the bitter end.
No doubt they’re already making preparations for Syria Revolution 2012 and 2013, to be attended by all 70,000 members of the MB in Hama everyday.
I hope part of the reforms introduces a mechanism to turn off gas, electricity and water to people who don’t pay bills. After all, this is the freedom these assholes are asking for right? They want to westernise right? Why should we pay for their electricity and water while they use all their time to protest on behalf of the zionist west?
July 3rd, 2011, 2:08 am
MOHMED KANJ said:
SYRIAN COMMANDO @ 102
WELL SAID 🙂
July 3rd, 2011, 5:48 am
Aboud said:
Zzzzzzzzz…Aleppo joined the revolution, Hama and Dayr Al Zour are out of the regime’s control, and the best the Baathists can come up with is “protest on behalf of the zionist west”.
Someone wake me up when junior gets a clue. At this rate, I’ll be having a long, long nap.
Isn’t it wonderful how the Baathists never fail to do our work for us, damning themselves with their own perverse comments.
July 3rd, 2011, 8:16 am
Mina said:
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-249201-ankaras-syrian-venture-and-the-insidious-kurdish-springby-mehmet-kalyoncu*.html
What is behind a smokescreen?
July 3rd, 2011, 8:47 am
Observer said:
Nice article from the WSJ. I do not like their editorial policy and their positions in general, but one thing is for sure they do have their stories right although they practice omission of news they do not like.
So take it with a grain of salt, the point I am making is that these are indications of a failed state that I argued are intrinsically present in the Syrian regime
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303763404576417793440842336.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLENews
July 3rd, 2011, 8:47 am
G in A said:
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
We are your soldiers Bashar, we are just dust on your boot! For your eyes’ sake we will knock down the Syrian homeland, you are the democracy!
Wherever you walk and step we will kneel and kiss the ground. We will step over every single infiltrator like the animals in the wild.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
We are your lions, don’t mind anything. We will fill the square with blood. It’s never about the quantity, we are the quality.
Screw freedom! Screw this rubbish! It’s a conspiracy coming from Mars. We don’t have Hindus, we don’t have Sikhs, we don’t have Zardashtis.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
You with high forehead, I will sacrifice my soul and my money for you. And for your eyes’ sake, you precious thing, I will slaughter my own family with a knife.
They said ‘God, freedom only!’ We will chop them like lettuce. They are only like a couple of million infiltrators, they were never the majority.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
Without you we’re screwed. May you get over my shoulder and hang. Your media is using all the superstition and they discovered the terrorist salafi group.
Terrorism has no cure, for you we will occupy Deraa. We will never get tired, we will never give up, until we have a genocide.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
Your name is always up there, your voice is heard up in the skies. Even if your own people starve to death we will elect you for eternity.
We don’t have one opinion, or two opinions. We have your light that blinds the eyes. You are our magnificent, you beautiful thing. You are the king of humanity!
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.
http://sydemo.blogspot.com/
July 3rd, 2011, 9:04 am
Syrian Commando said:
>Zzzzzzzzz…Aleppo joined the revolution
LAUGHING MY ASS OFF BUDDY, REALLY!!!
MINA,
>Nowadays, Turkey, Syria and Iran seem to be undertaking measures that only adversaries would in the face of imminent threats from each another. While busy picking on each other, they are unable to recognize the looming threat, which has the potential to dwarf the so-called “Arab Spring.”
Looming threat only to Turkey, which routinely abuses and kills Kurds.
>Tehran has reportedly alleged that Turkey has been instigating the civilian protests, and has also reportedly armed supporters of the Baath regime.
Stopped reading here, no one has time for this bullshit propoganda. I wish these idiots would collectively jump off a cliff and spare us all.
July 3rd, 2011, 9:07 am
Mina said:
SC
Indeed I saw the person was not exactly endoarsing Kurdish rights. But still in terms of timing and agenda, it is important to notice the article.
July 3rd, 2011, 9:21 am
Syrian Commando said:
I see it as Turkish backpedaling. The idiots thought they could take us on but they changed their mind when the prospect of a two-front attack (and eventual world war) was on the table. The US must be pressuring them heavily.
BTW, the internal opposition is on television arguing and disagreeing. They’re not unified at all and this isn’t really a good sign.
I’m just about ready to give up. If people on here are a reflection of what expat Syria society is like (polarised, not willing to even MOVE AN F**KING INCH in their position), I’m moving to another planet. There’s no hope for humanity.
July 3rd, 2011, 9:24 am
Mango said:
Stalin’s illegal Grandson at the western military maniac
July 3rd, 2011, 9:47 am
why-discuss said:
Lebanon After the Indictments—The Arab World’s Next Crisis?
Paul Salem Q&A, July 2, 2011
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/2011/07/02/lebanon-after-indictments-arab-world-s-next-crisis/1uxr
…One of the reasons for the calm situation in Lebanon today is the warmer relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria. Saudi Arabia is grateful for Syria’s cover on how Riyadh handled the unrest in Bahrain. And Saudi Arabia has been tolerant and supportive of what is going on in Syria. Riyadh is not eager for revolution in Syria as it does not want to see the Arab awakening spread around the region.
While Saudi Arabia was unhappy when the Hariri government fell earlier this year, Riyadh clearly started leaning on its allies in Lebanon not to escalate the situation against Syria when the Arab Spring began to take off with speed. And this more or less still seems to be the case.
This is a significant reason for why the indictments are not being exploited right now. But there is a legitimate fear that under different political circumstances the tribunal’s findings can be used as a huge weapon if someone wants. This could ultimately bring down the government if forces were aligned to do something in the future.
July 3rd, 2011, 10:12 am
Syrian Commando said:
*face palm*
Saudi Arabia is the main player of the ongoing crisis in Syria and Khariri’s operatives are calling for hezbollah arrests.
Unfortunately for all of Lebanon’s enemies, Nasrallah has presented evidence that is so damning of the STL that I’m going to be surprised if we hear their name again next year… did anyone watch the hour long presentation?
July 3rd, 2011, 10:26 am
Tara said:
Why, # 110
Religion intolerance?
Syria to turn a blind eye on oppressing the Shiite in Bahrain for KSA to turn a blind eye on oppressing mostly Sunni (and other disenfranchised minorities) in Syria. Yet, we are here arguing religion intolerance.
What religion intolerance?
This is just for us, the people, to fight it off.
July 3rd, 2011, 10:34 am
Syrian Commando said:
TARA,
For once I agree with you.
July 3rd, 2011, 10:57 am
why-discuss said:
Tara
“oppressing Sunnis and minorities in Syria”? are you serious?
If I believe you, Syria is a goulag, I wonder how anyone would want to live there!
July 3rd, 2011, 11:31 am
why-discuss said:
Bahrain begins national dialogue after upheaval
http://beta.news.yahoo.com/bahrain-begins-national-dialogue-upheaval-204414691.html
July 3rd, 2011, 11:34 am
why-discuss said:
Syrian regime loyalists urge political reforms
http://beta.news.yahoo.com/syrian-regime-loyalists-urge-political-reforms-112645342.html
Any more information about this meeting? the info in this article is very sketchy.
July 3rd, 2011, 11:38 am
Tara said:
Why,
What “concept ” exactly in #112 you have a problem with?
your response is too vague.
July 3rd, 2011, 11:44 am
jad said:
?????????????????? ???
???? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ?????? ????????? ??? ?
????-???? ??????? ?????? ( ??? ??? ????? ) – ???? ?????? – ??? ?????
??????? ?????? ??????? ??????
Dear WD,
They are not loyalist as the AP wrote, they still have their own ideas different than the regime
Syrian opposition, independent figures hold “national initiative” meeting
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/03/c_13963408.htm
Check out my links in the previous thread
????? “???????? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????” ???? ??? ???? .. ?????? “?????” ??? ?????? ??? ??? ?????????
http://syria-news.com/readnews.php?sy_seq=134533
https://joshualandis.com/blog/?p=10567#comment-259535
????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?? ??? ?????
http://youtu.be/hMbizF_RTu8
http://youtu.be/4_kkTuW6vzI
http://youtu.be/40E_mgzBnZY
http://youtu.be/TX_yZj7LzIs
The fight:
http://youtu.be/YVxCVJJjEVg
July 3rd, 2011, 11:50 am
Tara said:
Commando,
That is great. A journey of 1000 miles start with a single step.
July 3rd, 2011, 11:53 am
jad said:
????: ???? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ??????
03-07-2011
??? ???? ????????? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ???? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ?? ???????? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ?????.
???? ???? ????????? ??? ?? ????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ??????.. ????????? ????? ???????? ??? ??????.
??????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ???? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ???????? ??????? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ?????? ??? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ??????? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ???? ????? ??? ????? ?????.
???? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????.
?????? ??? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???????? ??? 360 ????? ????? ???? ??? 70 ??????? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ?????.
http://www.aliqtisadi.com/news/13579/%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%84_%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3_%D8%A5%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9_%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B6%D8%A9_%D9%8A%D8%B6%D9%85_%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%86_%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%86.aspx
July 3rd, 2011, 11:55 am
jad said:
Someone on SC told us that the president alone has more than $3 billions, how come they couldn’t get more than $31.8 millions out of 23 Syrian person including the president, some people love to exaggerate:
?????? ???? 31,8 ????? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????
???? ????? ?????? ?????? 31,8 ????? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????.????? ????? ?????? ???????? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ???????? ??? ????? 3 ?????/???? ?? ??? ????????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ???????? ????????? ??????? ???????? ??? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ? 22 ?????? ???.
????? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ?? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ???????? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? 1,22 ????? ????? ?????? (1,44 ????? ?????)? ???? ????? “?????”. ????? ??? 650 ????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????? ???? ??????? ?410 ?????? – ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ?60 ?????? – ????? ???? ????? ??????? ????? ?????? ?60 ?????? – ?????? ??????? ?????? ??? ???????? ?? ???.
????? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ????/???? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ????? ???? 23 ?????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???????.
??????: ??????
July 3rd, 2011, 12:04 pm
Tara said:
Jad,
Where did the 23 million Dollars came from? Saving their monthly salary?
How much is the president annual income in Syria? 23 mil divided by 11 years?
Just curious?
July 3rd, 2011, 12:10 pm
TarA said:
Meant the 31mil. Was a mistake.
July 3rd, 2011, 12:12 pm
why-discuss said:
Tara
Syria’s crisis is not about oppression but about the economical failure of the Syrian Governemnt. If the country’s economy was booming (China) no one would have complained about the one party authoritarian system, or the lack of political freedom.
So please spare me the Sunnis or any one being “oppressed”!
Freedom of expression does not produce bread! Lack of bread requires freedom of expression to protest (Spain). Yet no one can expect results from any different political system (In the West, they keep switching “democratically” from left to right and the economical problems are still here).
July 3rd, 2011, 12:13 pm
jad said:
???? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ?????????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????????? ???? ?? ????? ???? ?????? ??????? ???????? ??? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ???????.
?????? ??????? ?????? ????? ??????: ?? ?????? ?? ???????? ???? ???? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ????????? ??? ??? ??????????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ???? 500 ????? ?????? ????? ??????? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ??????? ??????.
?????? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ?? ???? ????? ????????.? ???? ?? ????? ??????? ?? ????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ????.
Tara,
Are you kidding me! Your apt in Damascus alone worth more than $1m.
They are corrupted but not to the extend some people are saying, that was the point.
Having $3M is different than having $3B unless you are Austin Powers.
July 3rd, 2011, 12:19 pm
Syrian Commando said:
Tara,
I don’t agree with you that there’s any oppression of minorities in Syria (total lie) but I agree that we should take the right stance on Bahrain, which is to condemn the “kingdom”.
To compare Syria to Bahrain is sick, the latter is pre-historic.
July 3rd, 2011, 12:28 pm
Norman said:
Tara,
The 31 million if that is true are not his money they are the Baath party money and he as secretary general is the one who can sign for it, so it is in his name-during Hafiz Assad there was 61 million in Swiss banks for the same reason.
July 3rd, 2011, 12:45 pm
jad said:
Norman,
the $31.8 M is not for the President, read the article, it`s the max the Swiss could collect from him and other 22 person, which is about $1.4m each, compare that to the $410m of Moubarak alone.
The point is about the exaggerations and the lies, not about the money, do you think if the Swiss banks could`ve get more than that wouldn’t they use it against him in a huge media coverage like what they did to Moubarak, they simply don`t have anything to proof against him, this is why they collect all the money of 23 person together and put his name in the middle.
July 3rd, 2011, 1:10 pm
Norman said:
Yes , i see that now, It is interesting that everybody claims how much corruption in Syria but still Syria has no foreign debt while Lebanon has more than 40 billion dollar debt, you wonder where Hariri got his 16 billion on a teacher salary,
July 3rd, 2011, 1:20 pm
Observer said:
The Syrian Ambassador to Romania has gone on more than 20 trips over the last three months to Lithuania and Beolorussia and other former Soviet Republics with the aim of stashing away billions of dollars.
A high ranking officer of the security services is selling his lands and villas in Syria.
Now these are the rumors that members of my family told me after they left the country for a few days that are circulating in the country.
Once again, these are just rumors so far.
The issue for those defending the regime like JAD and WD is that not a single piastre should go to the President and his cronies without accountability. As an important high ranking official the responsibility is even greater than on a simple official.
Now, my great aunt was the wife of one of Syria’s prime ministers in the 50’s and she had the gal of using the prime minister’s car to go for an errand and her husband realizing that she had used the official car, went after her to the Souk Hamidyeh and asked her to walk home and ordered the driver to go back to the prime minister’s office forbidding him from ever using official car for personal use. He did this in public in front of the shop keepers of the Souk.
Now that is one form of integrity.
As for the 31 million, that must have been the loose change they forgot to transfer in time.
July 3rd, 2011, 2:02 pm
Norman said:
Observor,
I am sure that you agree that your Aunt’s husband is the only Syrian with integrity, at least i hope so,
We all, Jad WD included want transparency and zero corruption and we want to move to a multiparty system where all Syrians can have a chance to provide their services, We just do not want violence as violence will produce more violence ,
About the high ranking security officer, He is just to stay liquid and if he got his money by stealing, he should be prosecuted, not lynched without trial.
The Guilty should be punished individually, not their families or their party or their tribe.
July 3rd, 2011, 2:34 pm
why-discuss said:
I learned that many hotel owners in Damascus are still paying full salaries to their employees despite the absence of tourists.
I find that extraordinary. I also got the confirmation that the government employees are also getting their full salary with no deduction as was mentioned by someone here.
I think solidarity and ethics are still present in Damascus and that is comforting.
July 3rd, 2011, 6:03 pm
why-discuss said:
Lebanon: Another Frame-up?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=lebanon-another-frame-up-2011-07-03
“If Western intelligence agencies played this kind of game over the Lockerbie bombing, what’s to stop them from doing the same over the murder of Hariri? And why would they want to do that? Because Hebollah and its Christian and Druze allies now dominate the Lebanese government, and are seen as a threat to Israeli and American interests. The Middle East runs almost entirely on conspiracy theories, most of them ridiculously implausible. But some of them are real.”
July 3rd, 2011, 6:25 pm
jad said:
Very very depressing:
??? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ???????
http://youtu.be/MwiEccXbcEI
Yet some of the x-opposition deny the existence of those brave Syrian soldiers.
July 4th, 2011, 1:28 am
Gameboy Cases said:
hop you’re having a good vacation. Look forward to having you back. Have a good day!
July 5th, 2011, 6:07 pm