No objectivity on Syrian conflict

McClatchy

"... After reviewing more than 38 million Twitter posts about the Syrian conflict, a team of Middle East scholars from The George Washington University and American University concluded that rather than an objective account of what’s taken place, social media posts have been carefully curated to represent a specific view of the war. It said the skewing of the social media view of the conflict has been amplified by the way more traditional news outlets make use of the postings – for example, passing along social media posts written in English over those written in Arabic.."

Nusrah Front, the 'moderate' terrorist organization

"... the US media will now suddenly start peddling articles to the effect that Nusrah Front was unfairly classified as a terrorist organization and that it is in fact a moderate terrorist organization that the US government can do business with."

Why Western “experts” on Hizbullah cannot predict its response

"...And I am equally confident that if any committed observer is asked “will Hizbullah really respond to Israel’s attacks on Monday?” he or she will tell you that as the first such attack since the end of the July War in 2006, Hizbullah has no choice but to respond, irrespective of how deeply mired it is in the Syrian conflict and in safeguarding Lebanon from terrorist infiltration. It has to respond because confronting Israel will always constitute the larger part of its raison d’etre, even if its mission has expanded over the years. And it will respond because to not respond would upset its doctrine of deterrence and “balance-of-terror” with Israel which it painfully earned after two decades of blood and sacrifice. Hizbullah will respond because there is no precedent of Hizbullah not retaliating for an Israeli attack (I am not including assassinations here) and it is highly unlikely that it would want to set a new precedent for its enemies. We just have to wait and see when and how it will do so, because no matter how committed we are as observers we are not privy to Hizbullah’s military strategy. ."

'Regulating' killings & assassinations

"... The fact that we’re witnessing internal debate about the use of indiscriminate violent tactics – which is, of course, a result of jihadis being on the receiving side of suicide bombing – is significant. Several Islamist groups have issued statements condemning Isil’s campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations from an Islamic perspective, pointing out that the religion rejects the killing of innocent people. Some jihadis have gone so far as to call for “Islamic regulations” on such tactics, which might lead to major changes within several groups...."

Al Qaeda's 'rehabilitation'

"... GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- A long-held Saudi captive pleaded guilty Thursday to terror charges for serving as a personal shopper and facilitator for al-Qaida militants plotting suicide bombings of ships in the Arabian Sea.Under the plea deal, Ahmad al Darbi, 39, could go to a Saudi Arabian prison in four years, serve five more years and then get out for good behavior ..."

al-Qaeda going after al Qaeda

"... A Syrian rebel commander, who fought alongside al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and was close to its current chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed by a suicide attack in Aleppo, intensifying in-fighting between rival armed groups.Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said he died along with six others when a fighter from the rival Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group blew himself up at an Ahrar al-Sham post in al-Halq.Al-Suri's death occurred against the backdrop of bloody rebel infighting between an al-Qaeda-breakaway ISIL and an array of armed opposition groups...."

'A sectarian cloak for Middle East wars'

"... The rise in sectarianism does not present an immediate threat to US interests in the Gulf. Sectarianism is deeply embedded in the DNA of Salafi-jihadism and the al-Qaeda worldview. Gulf funding and volunteers in the Syria conflict are creating new strains of al Qaeda-ism that could eventually threaten Gulf regimes and US interests...."

'Epicentre in Syria'

"... “There was a time where we would have been talking about a Syrian conflict with a danger of spillover, and then we talked about a proxy war in Syria and now I think it’s looking more like a regional war with an epicentre in Syria.”

"We will reach reconciliation truces without foreign intervention, we don't have to go to Geneva for this,”

WaPo;

"... The local agreements are at the center of President Bashar al-Assad’s “national reconciliation” efforts and come as his government is accused of derailing talks between the two sides in the Swiss city of Geneva. Although the fine print differs, for the most part the agreements allow the areas to stay in rebel hands and for desperately needed food supplies to enter, as long as heavy weaponry is given up and rebels agree to stop attacks. In some areas, foreign fighters have been asked to leave. The war-weary suburbs that have agreed to the cease-fires have been subject to the Syrian army’s siege tactics for months, cut off by army checkpoints and pummeled with heavy artillery and airstrikes. “This is about saying that we will reach reconciliation truces without foreign intervention, we don't have to go to Geneva for this,” Yezid Sayigh, an analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said of the government effort."..."

Plagiarism in Wall Street Journal??

"Regarding this article in the Wall Street Journal about changes in Saudi Arabia: is it not an English language version of an article that had appeared exclusively the day before in Al-Quds Al-`Arabi?

Framework in Place for P5+1, Iran Final Nuclear Negotiations

"... It is reported in multiple sources (including Fars News), that Catherine Ashton will visit Tehran March 9-10, ahead of the March 17-20 negotiations that will take place in Vienna. It appears thatAshton and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will be holding monthly meetings as the talks progress...."

Robert Malley back at the White House

"... Now, Mr. Malley is coming back to the White House, administration officials said on Tuesday. This time, he will manage the fraying ties between the United States and its allies in the Persian Gulf, a job that says a lot about how America’s role in the Middle East has changed.
As a senior director at the National Security Council, Mr. Malley will help devise American policy from Saudi Arabia to Iran. It is a region on edge, with the Saudis and their Sunni neighbors in the gulf fearful that the United States is tilting away, after decades of close ties with them, toward a nuclear accommodation with Shiite Iran.
With his many contacts throughout the Arab world, Mr. Malley, who has been program director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group, would seem well suited for such a post. But he has also been something of a lightning rod in a field that can be culturally and ideologically treacherous.In 2008, Mr. Malley was forced to sever his ties as an informal adviser to the campaign of Barack Obama when it was reported that he had met with members of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, which the State Department classifies as a terrorist organization.The meeting, Mr. Malley said in a letter to The New York Times, was hardly a secret and came in the course of his work with the I.C.G., a nonprofit group focused on preventing conflict. Still, he felt obliged to distance himself from Mr. Obama to avoid misperceptions of the “candidate’s position regarding the Islamist movement.”Mr. Malley also came under fire for writing an article, with Hussein Agha, that argued that some of the blame for the failure of the Camp David talks lay with the Israeli leader at the time, Ehud Barak, and not just with the uncompromising position of the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, which was the conventional wisdom then...."

Same 'operator'

"... An explosion believed to have been caused by a car bomb tore through a Syrian refugee camp at a border post on the frontier with Turkey on Feb. 20, ...Towns near Bab al-Salameh have also seen sporadic clashes between the rebels fighting Assad and fighters from an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Abu Osama, a camp administrator, said the explosion happened behind his office and at least 20 tents were reduced to rubble. "Some of the bodies and tents melted from the explosion," he said over the phone..."

'Netanyahu, loses the only other Middle East leader ready to publicly sabotage Iran & Syria'

debka.

"... The live wire of the Saudi royal house’s drive against President Barack Obama’s détente with Tehran has been dropped....Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia’s National Security Adviser and Intelligence Director, has not been seen for more than a month....He was reported by debkafile’s US and Saudi sources Wednesday, Feb. 19, to have been removed from the tight policy-making circle in Riyadh.For Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu, this counts significantly as the loss of the only other Middle East leader ready to publicly decry Obama’s policies on Iran and Syria as promoting the negative forces in the region and damaging to America’s own interests. Bandar was widely reported in the Middle East to be in secret ties with Israeli intelligence on Saudi and Israeli moves against Iran...There has been no official word from Riyadh disclosing any change in Bandar’s status....Our sources report that the prince, a long-serving ambassador to the United States, vanished off Saudi and Middle East radar screens in mid-January, shortly before he was scheduled to visit Washington to arrange Obama’s forthcoming trip to Riyadh in the last week of March.Bandar never arrived in Washington and no one in Riyadh was ready to answer questions about his whereabouts....US sources were more forthcoming - although less complimentary....In some reports he was dismissed as “hotheaded” or “erratic.”The Saudi intelligence chief crossed the Americans by supplying weapons and money to Syrian rebels belonging to Islamist militias – though not al Qaeda....He was the driving force behind the formation of the Islamic Front coalition, which last month beat the Free Syrian Army backed by Washington into the ground.Some Gulf sources say he is paying the price for the kingdom’s failure in Syria....Bandar promised King Abdullah that he would take care of getting rid of Bashar Assad....He not only fell down on this task, but he generated a clash between the Obama administration and the Saudi throne on the Syrian issue, say those sources.The most striking evidence of his comedown came from his absence from the secret conclave held recently by Middle East intelligence chiefs to coordinate their positions on Syrian with Washington....Instead of Bandar, his seat was taken by his leading adversary on Syria, the Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.Prince Mohammed is a favorite at the White House and a close friend of Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA Director John Brennan.The Saudi interior minister, by taking Bandar’s place at this important forum, may also be stepping into his shoes as intelligence chief – albeit without the formality of an official notice from Riyadh."

Bandar's out ... again!

The US & minions trying a new hand for a new round of violence. WaPo.

"... The spymasters’ conclave featured Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s minister of the interior, who will now supervise the kingdom’s leading role in the covert-action program. He replaces Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi intelligence chief, who has been suffering from a back ailment and whose leadership of the program was seen as uneven..."

Local law enforcement in Los Angeles are given courses towards 'understanding Shiite extremism & Hezbollah'

AA, here; 

"... The Emergence of Iranian Power: Iran & Hezbollah 

February 18, 2014 - 0800– 1700 HOURS 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This Course examines the emergence of Iranian power 

in the Middle East and its link with Hezbollah. Topics include: Understanding Shiite 

Extremism, Persian and Iranian history and geography, security organizations, 

Hezbollah leadership, operations in the U.S. and emerging threats. 

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES: 

 Develop an understanding of Shiite Extremism 

 Examine Iran as an emerging Mid-East Power 

 Examine Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group & Para-Statal Entity 

 Develop Pre-Incident Indicators of Terrorist and other Threat Activity Related to 

U.S. conflict with Iran and its Lebanese Surrogate ..."

Beirut, Baghdad, Sinai, Libya ... Same perpetrator

... and NO: The reason is NOT Hezbollah's role in Syria!

WSJ: Obama revisting plans to aggress Syria

"... The Obama administration, exasperated by stalled talks over Syria and seeking ways to pressure the regime and its Russian allies, plans to revisit options ranging from expanding efforts to train and equip moderate rebels to setting up no-fly zones, according to officials briefed on the deliberations...."

FSA sacks it's Chief

"... The rebel Free Syrian Army has fired Selim Idriss as its military chief calling him "ineffective" and lacking in experience to lead military operations on the ground....They also said he had bad relations with other rebel forces fighting on the ground...."

'The deal is within grasp'

'Even as he pursues a crowded agenda of top-level meetings in South Korea and China followed by a visit to Indonesia, Secretary of State Kerry is facing calls for urgent action on the rapidly deteriorating situation in Syria. With the UN mediation efforts close to failure and amid reports of the growing influence of the most extreme groups and of a new inflow of sophisticated weaponry to the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) from the Saudis and UAE, Administration officials have come to a crossroads. As he returns to the US via the UAE next week, Kerry will be meeting regional figures to explore options. Our sources report, however, that the SRF leadership will meet with Congressional leaders in Washington next week to put their case for more US support to their efforts.  They will likely to receive a mixed reception, as Congress remains split on this issue. ...  Turning to Iran, a new round of P5+1 talks resumes on February 17^th. US officials close to the talks remain confident that some kind of deal is within grasp. With the annual conference of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee due to be held in Washington in early March and to be addressed by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu the Administration will hear robust criticism of its approach, but the White House has now successfully deflected pressure for new sanctions against Iran and, for the time being, can pursue a deal relatively untroubled by political pressure.'