The Spreaders of Jihad
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He doesn't actually say that Christian villages are amongst those to be wiped off the map, only Shiite and Alawite ones.
Here's another article on this theme — again from the Daily Torygraph. It seems that even some Tories are not happy with the government's policy here. UKIP is opposed too.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10100943/Can-David-Cameron-explain-why-he-has-put-us-on-al-Qaedas-side.htmlThe analysis of what it's really about isn't bad either:
Quote:Certainly, the liberal elite in which the Prime Minister places such hopes was involved at the beginning of the uprising. But armed elements funded and supplied by interested parties in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were also present from the start. Their fundamental aim was nothing to do with human rights and the protection of minorities. It was to destabilise and destroy President Assad, Iran’s closest ally in the region, and therefore assert Saudi dominance.The article also mentions the statement by a disillusioned pro-democracy activist which Alan has already drawn attention to. It's well worth reading.
It is never wise to make comparisons in history but the development in a previously secular Syria towards what is increasingly a sectarian civil war reflects what happened in ex-Yugoslavia where quite suddenly in a fairly tolerant and non-sectarian country religious differences became political weapons for various powers to manipulate. Once again the Telegraph's Peter Osbourne is exposing the Guardian's establishment credentials which is happy to publish Nick Cohen's pro-Cameron war-mongering. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/09/william-hague-syria-policy?CMP=twt_guIn 2003 in advance of the Common's Iraq War debate a mass demonstration was held. Can we expect another in 2013 in advance of the Commons debate on arming the rebels? I somehow doubt it. Has anyone heard anything from Labour Party on Syria?…their silence is deafening.Where does the Palestinian Solidarity Committee stand, now that Hamas and Hezbullah are on opposite sides?I know the FSA did not specifically mention ethnically cleansing christians…call it literary license on my part. I note that the UN declined Russia's offer to man the Syrian/Israel Golan Height ceasefire line, now that the Austrian contingent has been withdrawn.Which now explains Austria's EU very anti-arm the rebel position…their national troops would have been in the weapon sights of French and British supplied arms.
Latest news from Syria:http://news.yahoo.com/teenager-15-executed-islamist-rebels-syria-154751521–abc-news-topstories.htmlMeanwhile in Lebanon, BNP Leader Nick Griffin is praising Hezbollah.
Javier Solana former foreign minister of Spain, and ex-secretary general of NATO, and E.U. High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is a former secretary general of NATO and ex-foreign minister of the Netherlands, in a joint article in the New York Times."Rather than secure humanitarian space and empower a political transition, Western military engagement in Syria is likely to provoke further escalation on all sides, deepening the civil war and strengthening the forces of extremism, sectarianism and criminality gaining strength across the country. The idea that the West can empower and remotely control moderate forces is optimistic at best. Escalation begets escalation…" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/opinion/global/geneva-talks-hold-the-only-key-to-syria.html?_r=0 War always brutalises people and atrocities are committed by all participants.
Robert Fisk says it all:http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e85_1371257368Pity we can't use it as an editorial in next month's Socialist Standard
I will do a short blog post quote and link to it on SOYMB. Fisk is up there with Pilger when it comes to reporting, perhaps even a lot higher, considering he has probably risked his life in war zones much more often than Pilger.I am always surprised that he is not given the broader media coverage he so richly deserves. Jimmy Moir of Edinburgh branch highly recommends Fisk's auto-biography as a good read.
His The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East has recently been remaindered.1,300 pages of Summer reading for ₤4.99 from The Works bookshops.
Thats the one i meant…many thanks for clarifying for others any confusion that might arise ….not technically his auto-biography although he does go on about his dad a bit which makes me associate it with his biography,
The Middle-East Peace Envoy wants to escalate the war.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/15/tony-blair-west-intervene-syriaAssad should not disrupt the balance by using outside forces, presumedly Hezbullah. No mention of the Saudis or Qatar foreign intervention tipping the scales. And all the usual old canards are produced…Iran…nuclear weapons…Saddam Hussein gassing his own people being raised once more …something that UK and US at the time tried to shift the blame on to Iran for. When is this so call International Criminal Court going to charge him instead of going after some obscure African warlord? When is the press going to treat him as the pariah he has proven to be …a failed and discredited …rather than quoting his words as wisdom. Even if we do accept that he was "misled" by "inaccurate" intelligence on Iraq, but now that he is excluded from spy reports and not privy to those sources, why should his claims of knowing things now on Syrian intelligence matters be treated as any more credible than his inept previous analysis of intelligence when he was actually receiving them. Or do MI5 still deliver secret documents to ex-prime ministers!No wonder George Galloway finds these hypocrits such easy meat .
It looks as if Cameron may not be able to get his plan to send arms to fuel the Syrian Civil War through Parliament, with Putin hammering home:
Quote:I believe you will not deny the fact that one should hardly back those who kill their enemies and eat their organs – all that is filmed. Do you want to support these people? Do you want to supply arms to these people?and Boris Johnson saying don't arm these maniacs. See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10124089/Boris-Johnson-Dont-arm-the-Syria-maniacs.htmlIf Labour, Liberal and enough Tory and other MPs vote No then it won't happen, though as this would only be a consultative vote it could if Cameron decided to go ahead anyway. But he seems a weaker, and less opinionated man, than Blair and probably doesn't want to go down in history as a war-monger like him.Ironic (for some) if it turned out that a vote (or threatened vote) in parliament proved more effective in stopping an escalation of violence than a mass street demonstration.
The latest from the Telegraph is that Boris Johnson rejects Cameron's policy of arming "maniacs" and is calling for a ceasefire…When Barmy Boris and the Torygraph become anti-war i may have to switch clubs and suggest Right Unity… it may be more effective than the Left Unity!http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10124089/Boris-Johnson-Dont-arm-the-Syria-maniacs.htmlLord Dannatt, former head of the Army, warned that supplying arms to the Syrian opposition could turn into a “much larger intervention”.
The Emir of Qatar, who seized power from his father in 1995, has graciously handed over power to one of his sons. That's how things work in this dynastic state. Along with Saudi Arabia (where things are even worse), Qatar is the main supplier of finance and arms to the anti-government forces in Syria. And we are supposed to believe the propaganda put out by Cameron that the rebels in Syria are fighting for a liberal democracy. Pull the other one.
Al Jazeera, as if we should be surprised, is full of lick-spittle for their new ruler who was educated at Sherborne public school, Harrow, and, of course, Sandhurst. He is chairman of their sovereign fund worth a $100 billion. And in charge of the 2022 World Cup. I believe the heads of the Syrian government will be used as the footballs…and i do mean the heads.
Sponsor your own terrorist !! “From Persian Gulf cities hundreds of miles from the battlefield, wealthy patrons help decide which of Syria’s hundreds of rebel groups will receive money to pay salaries and buy weapons and supplies for the fight against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. In practice, these donors overwhelmingly back Islamist groups whose ultraconservative views reflect their own, intelligence officials and analysts say….A few have even named themselves after a gulf benefactor, like sports teams that adopt the logo of a corporate sponsor. One rebel group in eastern Syria now calls itself the “Hajjaj al-Ajmi Brigade,” in a tribute to the Kuwaiti sheik. A YouTube video posted by the group opens with a banner emblazoned with the sheik’s name and then shows a dozen masked fighters wearing camouflage fatigues and brandishing assault rifles.” A U.S.-based Middle Eastern diplomat whose country has provided aid to some of the rebel factions opposed to Assad explained, “Non-state actors are now involved in a big way. You see different players looking to create their own militias,” said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss politically sensitive aid to the Syrian opposition. “It is beyond control.” http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-15/world/39993019_1_rebel-groups-united-arab-emirates-sheik
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