Tuesday, December 27, 2011
'Please bomb my country!'
'Field Marshall Ziadeh'
"... "What's needed is international intervention," Ziadeh explained via telephone. "We need a buffer zone along the Turkish borders where the situation is still escalating. Maybe the UN has to declare some 'safe cities.'"The dissident's call for international military intervention marks a shift in thinking within Syria's increasingly embattled pro-democracy movement; in an interview with Yahoo News in August, Ziadeh said that "none of the Syrian opposition is calling for military intervention."..."
Saddam's allies get pampered by US & UN!
"... A statement from Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said the residents would be moved to Camp Liberty, a former US military base near the Baghdad international airport. At Camp Liberty, the UN's refugee agency will interview the residents to determine their eligibility to get refugee status, before they can eventually be resettled in third countries, Clinton said....The People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran first moved to Camp Ashraf during the rule of Saddam, who saw the group as a convenient ally against Iran. The group is committed to the overthrow of Iran's rulers. The group carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against the Islamic republic in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam's forces in the Iran-Iraq war....Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, "believes that the agreement lays the foundation for a peaceful and durable solution to the situation, respecting both the sovereignty of Iraq and its international humanitarian and human rights obligations", according to a statement released by his spokesperson."The secretary-general reminds all concerned that any violence or attempt at a forcible solution would be unacceptable," the statement said.Officials from the US embassy in Baghdad will also visit regularly, the state department said...."
'Friends of Saddam are also my friends!'
Reuters: 'Taliban liaison office opens in Qatar'
"Afghanistan's High Peace Council, in a note to foreign missions, has set out ground rules for engaging the Taliban after Kabul grew concerned that the United States and Qatar, helped by Germany, had secretly agreed with the Taliban to open an office in the Qatari capital, Doha.
U.S. officials have held about half a dozen meetings mostly in Germany and Doha with representatives of Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban's Quetta Shura, this year to prepare the way for face-to-face talks between the group and the Afghan government...The government would prefer such an office in either Saudi Arabia or Turkey, both of which it is close to, but was not averse to Doha as long as the authority of the Afghan state was not eroded and the office was only established for talks, officials said."We are saying Saudi or Turkey are preferable, we are not saying it has to be there only. The only condition is it should be in an Islamic country," said a government official.President Hamid Karzai's administration recalled its ambassador from Doha last week, apparently angry that it had been kept in the dark about the latest round of contacts with the insurgent group.Officials said Kabul was also deeply concerned about reports that the United States was considering the transfer of a small number of Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo Bay military prison to Doha as a prelude to the talks."We are a sovereign country, we have laws. How can you transfer our prisoners from one country to another. Already it's a violation to have them in Guantanamo Bay," the official said.The Afghan government wanted the prisoners to be returned to its custody, the official said...."
The Guardian: "Assad is right when he says the state is entitled to use force against armed rebels, but wrong to portray all opposition as "terrorist"
"... In one sense Assad is fortunate. The opposition is multifaceted and divided. It includes eminent figures with secular and moderate views who want to protect Syria's complex multicultural society from a takeover by extremist Sunni or Salafi forces. Men like Michel Kilo stand out. He spent three years in prison recently for calling for reform, but since the uprising started continues to warn publicly against sectarianism and armed revolt.The best step for Assad would be to talk with Kilo and others from the internal opposition and the "local co-ordinating committees" who reject violence. As a dramatic sign of change for the vast number of Syrians who support neither the regime nor the uprising, the opposition should be given access to state television for public debates on how to find a peaceful transition to a system of pluralistic democracy. Assad should promptly repeal article 8 of the constitution, which gives his Ba'ath party the "leading role in society and state", publish the draft new constitution that independent consultants have been preparing, and allow political parties to operate freely.Whether Assad can summon the determination to push for real reform in place of the dither and denial that have characterised his response to the protests so far is unclear. He is right when he says the state is entitled to use force against armed rebels, but wrong to portray all opposition to his regime as "terrorist".It is also uncertain whether the US, Turkey and other states who have called on Assad to resign can change course now. The Arab League's plan imposes obligations on the opposition too. Rather than taking sides with the exiles, the west should support the call for dialogue before it becomes too late...."
Monday, December 26, 2011
Arab 'monitor' & Syrian 'activist': 'You do this & we will do that ...deal?'
"... A member of the Arab League mission and before heading to Damascus, met Syrian 'opposition' figures in Egypt and agreed in order to "tighten the noose"the opposition needed to identify the name, number & locations of the Syrian Army's battalions and "we will take your word at face value & report it!"
The oppositionist then asks, "we need a 'war room' type..." to which the 'monitor/ conspirator' answers, "the 'war room' already exists!"Finally, the oppositionist says, "don't waste your time with detention centers ... just document the military deployments and we will give you mass demonstrations!"
Sunday, December 25, 2011
The LATimes on a roll (bankroll that is!): 'Saudi women' promising victory: can now buy lingerie in stores from female salesclerks!'
"... It doesn't sound like much, but in the glacial process of modernization in the tradition-bound kingdom, it's an important step. "This is the beginning of a real social change," Eman Nafjian, one of the new generation of Saudi women's activists, told me over coffee in Riyadh..."
The Lies of al Arabiya: 'THOUSANDS of Iranian prisoners released from Syrian jails!'
"... Thousands of Iranian prisoners serving jail sentences mainly on drugs and riot charges have been released by the Syrian authorities and returned home, said a source that spoke to Al Arabiya on condition of anonymity....According to the source, this unexpected step aims at emptying Syrian prisons that are now ready to receive as many revolutionaries and political activists as possible...."
Saturday, December 24, 2011
'... Duping Neocon Delusionists'
"... One article about Kafranbel on a Syrian-Kurdish website is entitled, "Kafranabel: the Syrian city most famous for its sarcastic signs." The article states, "Kafranabel...has become famous for its signs that have been circulating among Syrians on the pages of the social network Facebook, through which they express with a sarcastic style the misery that the Syrians suffer and the daily killings that they face."
Another article about Kafranabel by Rami Al-Amin described how "this little town...was able to send to the entire world messages that combine humor with severity, a kind of black comedy that the sons of this region use to tell us, 'The worst affliction is what makes you laugh.'"..."
'Riyadh is generous, kind & constructive, whereas Tehran is cynically calculating!'
"... Riyadh is, by and large, driven by humanitarian rather than political considerations. Never had Riyadh exploited the poverty of other countries to find satellite states.
On the other hand, Tehran presents a different model. It is driven by its national interest. Interestingly, tension in the region help Tehran establishes proxy relationship with others....
Iran has dedicated resources for ambitions and dreams that cannot materialize.... Saudi Arabia needs to support neither political parties nor radical terrorist organizations. As Saudi Arabia never suffered from a historical complex, it does not live in the illusion of power..."
'A New Hezbollah in Iraq? Not if the US sows further sedition!'
"...Like Hezbollah, the Sadrist Trend is becoming a well-organized, entrenched part of the Iraqi polity. With the Iraqi government unable to provide adequate security and services, al-Sadr has stepped in with action and rhetoric that resonate with the Shia masses. He is following the same playbook that Hezbollah used to gain strength in Lebanon.
Yet Iraq may not go down the Lebanese path. Unlike Hezbollah, the Sadrist Trend lacks a reliable external patron in Iran. Rising tensions between Moktada al-Sadr and Tehran, together with escalating intra-Shia violence in Iraq, reveal that the group does not always share Iran’s agenda. This creates an opportunity for the United States to capitalize on the intra-Shia cleavages and counterbalance Iran’s destabilizing interference in Iraq. ..."
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