War by another name in Syria

(Syria- file photo)

The Obama Administration Prepares a “Marshall Plan” to Reconstruct Syria, But Not for the Syrians

by FRANKLIN LAMB, source

Beirut.

The Group of Eight leaders meeting in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, having called for an international conference on the ongoing crisis in Syria to be held “as soon as possible” could not agree on much else that might end the civil war anytime soon there. The White House now is reportedly in private agreement with Russia and Iran that the Assad government will remain in power until next year’s election.

Consequently, an 18 month old US-led Plan B has been dusted off by the Obama administration according to Washington Congressional and Beirut diplomatic sources. If successful, there is growing confidence among pro-Zionist neocons in Congress that while Syrian regime-change has failed for several reasons that thwarted the Gulf funded military campaign, Syria can still be brought to heel through an economic campaign dressed to look, well, down right “humanitarian.”

The term “equivalent of the Marshall Plan” is being employed by some in the White House and Pentagon this month to describe a proposed large-scale “humanitarian rescue program” being prepared for Syria, according to some Western diplomats based in Lebanon.

However, the 1948 Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program or ERP) was an American program to aid Europe, through which the United States provided $ 13 billion, in today’s monetary terms, approximately 100 billion dollars of economic support, to help rebuild European economies devastated by war.

With respect to Syria, the “ equivalent of the Marshall Plan” currently being finalized is very different from what General George |C. Marshall explained to his Harvard University audience, 66 years ago this month, when he announced the post WW II initiative.

The already project Syria amounts to 19th century economic imperialism as a means to achieve control of Syria by hijacking its economy while shielding Israel from the rising tide of protests in this region, as armed groups across the spectrum are beginning to focus on directly confronting the Zionist theft and continuing occupation of Palestine.

What Washington has in mind constitutes an attempt to gain control over Syria by controlling its economy via contracts for rebuilding the country and “lending” the hoped for post-Assad Syrian government as much as 300 billion dollars to be secured by Syrian assets. IMF economists estimate the value of the public sector in Syria, exceeds half a trillion dollars. Under the US-led pan, creditors can take control of ownership of the public sectior, if Syria accepts the plan for pledges to secure debt. The buyers of the debt will be largely American and indirectly Israeli businessmen as well as from the Gulf. Qatar specifically is gambling on this plan, to work with “international parties”, to immerse Syria in debt, and then drive the country to sell the private sector at a very small fraction of their true values.

Some who are warning against the scheme point out that Syrians are capable of rebuilding their own country and have the labor force and raw materials to do it. Foreign aid will be welcomed by the Syrian government but not at the price of ceding the Arab Syrian Republic to a new western crafted economic order. What is hidden in the war on Syria is reported to be much bigger than has been divulged to date, and involves winding down the military actions in favor of economic aggression against the Syrian population which the layers of US sanctions to date is just a harbinger.

In this context, according to Western Diplomatic sources, the US government and some Gulf countries have tried to bribe Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Syria’s President, to break with the government and leave the country. Some other well-known figues have also been offered large sums of cash to break ranks. Last month, one prominent Syrian nationalist who works with the government told this observer of receiving a $ 50 million dollar offer to defect and leave Syria. The official rejected the bribe and ridiculed the government that made the offer by explaining that as proud Syrian nationalists, no amount of money would break the sacred bond between Syrians and their country.

With respect to Mr. Maklouf, he did not react to being placed on the US Treasury Department’s “Specially Designated Nationals” (SDN) list which blocks assets and prohibits, under severe penalties, U.S. citizens from dealing with them, nor did he dignify an American clemency offer with even a reply. Rather he has maintained his steadfast support for Syria in the face of several attempts to assassinate him as well as targeting him, as a leader of the Syrian business community, with American orchestrated (OFAC) defamatory media campaigns, to pressure Presidenrt Bashar al-Assad to break with him. Rather than rejecting Syria for American offers of protection, Makhlouf channeled much of his assets for the benefit of domestic charities and rehabilitative projects, providing jobs for the unemployed and loans for small investors as well as “at cost” family housing for many of the internally displaced. This initiative continues. Makhlouf has provided his borse shares in the largest telecommunications companies in Syria to charity associations in order to insure financial independence and resources that the Authority can rely upon, to ease somewhat, the devastating effects on the current crisis on the Syrian civil society.

According to analysts among the Western diplomatic corps in Beirut, many wealthy Syrian capitalists fell into the U.S. trap, wherein SDN economic sanctions prompted them to leave Syria and defect from the regime. The United States and its European partners continue to wage an economic war against Syria by imposing crippling sanctions which are affecting the lives of ordinary citizens in many ways from food and fuel costs to medical care.

Why Rami Makhlouf and other strong nationalists in Syria’s business community are being targeted as a prelude to fully launching the US-led “Syrian Marshall Plan” is that their bonds with Syria as well as their business acumen are blocking the Western scheme because they provide the Syrian government with much needed additional financial strength to rebuild Syria, in cooperation with other countries, but without being subject to the economically fatal conditions the US-led plan envisages. Many in the financial and academic community view the proposed SMP plan as nearly certain to hold the Syrian economy hostage to foreigners for scores of years.

The US Treasury Department considers Makhlouf and others like him in the Syrian business community as fully capable, if allowed, of helping Syria’s government to collect huge sums from international investors to help rebuild Syria without being subject to Western domination.

“The anti-Mahhlouf black propaganda campaign, according to a Washington DC source familiar with the intensified preparations, commented that the SMP was designed to include a wide ranging assault in the visual and written media, audio, as well as in the electronic media: “ Almost certainty funded by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, both of which like their western partners who are actually constructing the SMP project, view Makhlouf as a key obstacle to realizing their plans to hijack and control the Syrian economy as part of a soft war, whereby the US and its allies, western and middle eastern, controls Arab economies while keeping US boots off the grounds of Arabia or spending more US treasure in this region.”

Targeting Rami Makhlouf, and other Syrian businessmen by Qatari media and other Arabic paid media outlets, is designed to hit Syria economically, because weakening the Syrian economic security at its core, is a more certain path, than endless military campaigns, to quickly smash the state. Makhlouf and his colleagues are seen as preventing this.

The ultimate goal of Qatar and certain Gulf countries, with US complicity, is not just expanding their investments in this region, as much as Doha is intent on connecting the Arab world to the American-Zionist axis politically and economically. The speed with which Israeli, Gulf, and Western businessmen showed up at the Corinthian, Radisson, and Rixos hotels in Tripoli, Libya, literally within days of the murder of Maoammar Qaddafi, “to help rebuild this country” is instructive on these same interests seeking to control a war damaged country by removing obstacles. Indeed, Russian intelligence reported at the time that the salafists who apprehended Qaddafi in Serte on October 20, 2011, as he attempted to flee, received verbal instructions from a Gulf country (UAE) to kill him in order to eliminate competition for dominating the Libyan economy and to silence those who might torpedo their best laid plans.

The targeting of Mr. Rami Makhlouf and dozens of like-minded Syrian businessmen, who refused to abandon their country, continues. Yet today, like thousands of other Syrian volunteers including the approximately 10,000 who work with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society (SARCS) their time and resources serve their country in order to lessen the suffering of the civilian population. They have stood firm and did not flee, as did some corrupt former supporters and officials of the government.

This week, Syria’s President put the goal of the Marshall Plan for Syria succinctly, without identifying it, “What is happening in Syria is a project for those states to push a non-submissive state towards the brink and to look for a new president who says ‘yes’ (to their orders). They have not found and they will not find in the future,” Assad stressed while adding, “The interference is a blatant violation of international law and the sovereignty of this country; they (western states and their Gulf allies) want to destabilize the country and spread chaos and backwardness.”

South Africa ambassador rejects gift from ‘Israel’, condemns “replication of apartheid”

by Ali Abunimah, EI

outh Africa’s former ambassador in Tel Aviv has publicly rejected a gift from the Israeli government, of 18 trees planted in his name by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), on land violently expropriated from its Palestinian owners.

Ismail Coovadia, a former anti-apartheid activist, and a member of the ruling African National Congress, was presented with a JNF certificate, signed by Rafael Barak, director general of the Israeli foreign ministry, informing him that the trees had been planted in his “honor.”

Coovadia was appalled at the move and, in a letter posted by BDS South Africa, explained:

I have recently completed serving my term as the fifth Ambassador of democratic, non-racial South Africa to the State of Israel.

The racist actions of the Israeli parastatal, the Jewish National Fund, together with various other Israeli state institutions to forcibly remove the Palestinians and Bedouins from their legitimate homes is yet another repeat of the ongoing injustice meted out by the Israeli Defence Forces, etc…

I have had the opportunity to visit both, the “South Africa Forest” and the “Ambassador’s Forest” in Israel where trees are reportedly planted in the name of South Africa. In regard to the latter case, my queries, to the Israeli Foreign Ministry officials, have gone unanswered for over a year.

Regrettably, my permission was not sought to plant a tree/s in my or the name of a South African Ambassador on usurped land, the rightful land of the Palestinians and Bedouins. I reserve the right to the usage of my name with or without my permission.

“Replication of apartheid”

The JNF has planted the so-called “Ambassador’s Forest,” on land violently seized from the Bedouin village of al-Araqib.

This area in the southern Naqab region is at the heart of the Bedouin to struggle to stay on their land in the face of imminent plans for further mass expulsions by the Israeli government to make way for even more Jewish colonization.

Coovadia wrote that the Israeli acts he had seen while in his post amounted to a “replication of apartheid,” the system of violent racial segregation that was abolished in South Africa in 1994.

The JNF certificate “is nothing less than an offence to my dignity and integrity,” Coovadia wrote. “I was not a party to, and never will be, to the planting of ‘18 trees’, in my ‘honor,’ on expropriated and stolen land.”

The ambassador added that he would be returning the certificate and requesting that the trees be removed.

Coovadia’s letter revealing the gift was addressed to Mark Kaplan and Heidi Grunebaum, makers of the recent documentary Village Under the Forest, which explores the role of the JNF in planting the so-called “South Africa Forest” over the Israeli-destroyed Palestinian village of Lubya.

The Village Under The Forest documentary

The JNF, which has fundraising branches in many countries, has been the target of a growing campaign over its involvement in Israel’s land theft from Palestinians.

In response to a formal complaint from the advocacy group Stop the JNF, the UK’s Charity Commission recently began an inquiry into the JNF’s involvement in racist activities.

Palestine: Israeli authorities raze Araqib village for 52nd time, Gaza comes under sea, land gunfire & dog attacks

(File photo)

Israeli authorities raze Araqib village for 52nd time

NEGEV, (PIC)– The Israeli authorities went on the rampage for the 52nd time and razed the entire Bedouin village of Araqib in the Negev on Wednesday.

The Israeli radio said that inspectors at the interior ministry and the land of Israel department destroyed the temporary houses of Araqib village for being “illegal”.

Inhabitants of the village have rebuilt the village, with the help of Negev Bedouins and activists, each time the Israeli authorities flattened it.

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Southern Gaza comes under sea, land gunfire

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired from land and sea positions at the southern Gaza Strip district of Khan Younis late on Tuesday night.

Local sources told the PIC reporter that IOF soldiers in Kissufim outpost fired at fields and residential quarters on the eastern flank of the Khan Younis district before midnight Tuesday.

The sources said that no casualties were suffered in the shooting that targeted Qarara and Deir Al-Balah.

At the same time, Israeli gunboats fired at the western coast of Khan Younis with no human or material losses reported.

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Settlers’ Dogs Attack Palestinians in AL-Khalil

Al Ahed news

A settler in al-Khalil released his dogs on Palestinian villagers in the South Khalil Hills on Wednesday, Palestinian news agency Ma’an quoted a local committee as saying.

The coordinator of the popular committee against settlements in Yatta stated that a settler from Susiya unleashed his dogs near al-Sumu and Haribat al-Nabi.

Settlers in the area often release their sheep onto Palestinian land to damage their agriculture, al-Jabour added.
In March, “Israeli” Knesset member Ahmad Tibi alleged that settlers in the West Bank were training dogs to attack Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Human rights group condemned using dogs to search and attack Palestinians, labeling it “unacceptable and immoral.”

This comes as clashes erupted near the Fawwar refugee camp south of al-Khalil on Monday, after “Israeli” settlers and soldiers attacked Palestinian civilians.

Eyewitnesses revealed that the settlers, guarded by the occupation forces, raided the entrance to the camp and started throwing stones at the citizens, which led to the outbreak of violent clashes during which a number of Palestinians suffered suffocation.

The witnesses added that more than 40 “Israeli” military vehicles were deployed near the camp and on the street leading to the settlement of Njihut, built on Palestinian citizens’ lands south of al-Khalil.

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Zahhar to Al-Manar Website: We Know Nothing about Any ‘Issued Statement’

by Israa Al-Fass, Al Manar

Leader in Hamas Movement Mahmoud Az-Zahhar stressed on Wednesday the movement’s good relation with Hezbollah, as well as with various elements in the Arab and Islamic world.

Speaking to Al-Manar website, Az-Zahhar considered that “differences in opinions does not ruin relations,” indicating that the movement’s branch in Gaza did not know anything about the statement claimed to be issued by Hamas over its relation with the resistance in Lebanon.

In parallel, the Hamas official stated that the movement’s relation with the Islamic Republic of Iran was “stable” despite the internal changes in the Islamic Republic, and refuted media claims about an end in the relations between the two parts.

He said that none of the Iranian officials tackled such an issue, and ruled out that any changes would occur to Iran’s relation with Hamas and the resistance movements after Sheikh Hasan Rouhani’s election.

When asked about some Muslim scholars’ calls for “Jihad in Syria”, he just said: “Those Muslim scholars hold the responsibility of their calls.”

Regarding the Palestinian resistance movement’s stance from the Syrian crisis, Az-Zahhar assured Hamas’s neutral stance on this issue, as well as any internal issue in the Arab world, indicating that its only concern was fighting the Israeli occupation.

“When the Liberation Organization interfered in internal Arab issues it lost and caused losses to the Palestinian cause… and when it left Jordan and took part in the Beirut crisis during the 70s it lost power and abandoned resistance…” he added.

John Kerry called for ‘immediate’ airstrikes on Syria

Press TV

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for “immediate” airstrikes on Syria following the White House’s claim that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against foreign-backed militant groups.

At a White House meeting last Wednesday, Kerry “vociferously” pushed for air strikes on Syrian airfields, Bloomberg reports.

Kerry had postponed a trip to the Middle East to attend the White House meetings where senior U.S. officials discussed “all options” against Syria.

His call for airstrikes was met with resistance as General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that a series of budget cuts known as sequestration had undermined the Pentagon’s ability to implement such a plan.

Gen. Dempsey also said that Kerry’s plan lacked clear entrance and exit strategies, noting that taking out Syrian airfields could not be achieved by simply dropping “a few bombs,” rather it would require more than 700 airstrikes, according to Bloomberg.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama approved military aid for militant groups in Syria.

The decision came after the U.S. intelligence community concluded that the Syrian government had crossed Washington’s “red line” by using chemical weapons against the militants. Damascus has strongly rejected the accusations.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is preparing to deliver the arms through clandestine bases in Turkey and Jordan, both neighbors of Syria.

Meanwhile, U.S. military officials have been sent to Jordan to develop a range of options including the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over parts of Syria.

Members of Congress pressed the Obama administration on Sunday to give the green light to the plan.

Washington’s increasing involvement in Syria comes as a majority of Americans say that the United States should stay out of the conflict. A Gallup poll last month showed that 68 percent of Americans were opposed to any military action in Syria.

Also seventy percent of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center said they were against arming the militant groups in Syria.

Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians protest country’s harsh inequities

Medical chief at Costa Rica state hospital arrested as part of organ trafficking investigation

source

A chief doctor at a Costa Rican government-ran hospital was arrested today on suspicion of being part of an international organ trafficking network which specializes in selling kidneys to patients in Israel, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Attorney General Jorge Chavarria told the press that the arrested is Francisco Mora Palma, head of Nephrology at Calderon Guardia Hospital, one of the largest state medical centers in the country.

“The patients who required the transplants were in Israeli territory, and some of the (trafficking) victims [had their kidney removed] here and others were transported to Israel. We have information that at least one person died after being operated on in Israel,” Chavarria said.

The prosecutor explained that the organization has branches in Israel and Eastern Europe, though did not elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.

Authorities have identified at least three Costa Ricans who were paid in exchange for one of their kidneys.

In addition to Mora Palma, authorities have arrested a police officer identified by the last names Cordero Solano, who collaborated with the doctor to identify possible donors.

Besides the Calderon Guardia Hospital, authorities raided other locations, including two private clinics where transplants were conducted.

“This is extremely serious,” the prosecutor said, urging those who were trafficking victims to come forward to authorities without fear of losing the money they were paid. “What we need is information to dismantle this organization,” he said.

Turkish protests: “Everywhere Taksim, everywhere resistance” & Erdogan says police will get more power

(File photo)

Turkish protests: “Everywhere Taksim, everywhere resistance”

Al Ahed news

Around 5,000 protesters demonstrated in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir all night on Tuesday night, in which police then dispersed the crowd with gas bombs and water cannons.

The police crackdown injured three protesters, a journalist, and a police officer, and managed to eventually disperse the crowd, and clashes lasted until 5 am on Wednesday.

Demonstrators chanted slogans like “everywhere Taksim, everywhere resistance” and “government resign” in Eskibağlar.

On Tuesday, Turkish authorities arrested dozens of people in several cities to stamp out weeks of antigovernment protests.

Moreover, Turkey’s Interior Ministry said more than 70 people had been detained in the sweeps in Istanbul and Ankara on Tuesday.

The Turkish state news agency said antiterrorism units had been deployed during Tuesday’s arrests, however the detainees’ lawyers noted that people were suspected only of illegal gathering, and had no connections to terrorism.

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Turkish PM says police will get more power

Press TV

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced plans to increase the police’s powers to deal with anti-government protests.

In an address to parliament in the capital Ankara on Tuesday, Erdogan said that riot police had acted with restraint against the violent demonstrators and that their powers would be increased.

“Our security forces put up a successful and extremely patient struggle against the acts of violence by remaining within the limits set by democracy and the law,” he stated.

Erdogan’s defiant stance came amid unrelenting demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara…

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‘Police conduct raids across Turkey’

Press TV

Turkish police have carried out multiple raids across the country and detained dozens of anti-government protesters, local media have reported.

Some 25 people were arrested in the capital, Ankara, 13 others in the northwestern city of Eskisehir and “many” in Istanbul, state media TRT said on Tuesday.

NTV television also said that police raids targeted left-wings groups in Ankara and Istanbul, which the government suspects were involved in violent clashes with police during the recent anti-government demonstrations…

Bahraini regime spies on citizens online

Al Ahed news

The Canadian research center Citizen Lab revealed that a number of countries, including Bahrain, spy on their citizens online through the software FinFisher of the Gamma Group.

The report, published by the French Slate daily mentioned that FinFisher spies on people by accessing their personal computers through twisted methods, adding, “The technology is supposed to be sold only to governments and law enforcement agencies for targeting serious criminals such as suspected terrorists. But a growing trove of evidence uncovered by researchers has linked it to attacks on political opponents or activists in a host of countries with poor human rights records, including Ethiopia and Bahrain.”

According to the report, countries that cooperate with FinFisher reached 36, including the US, Canada, Australia, India, China, Japan, Austria, the UK, Holland, Romania, and Serbia, as well as Islamic countries like Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malysia.

FinFisher, sometimes also called FinSpy, is a spy Trojan designed to covertly infiltrate targeted computers, monitor communications, and gather data from a hard drive. It can secretly record audio from a microphone, monitor emails and Skype conversations, and even take over a user’s webcam to conduct “live surveillance,” according to marketing materials.

Fake WMD “intelligence” and Orwellian double-speak

Washington Is Insane

by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, source

In the 21st century the two hundred year-old propaganda that the American people control their government has been completely shattered. Both the Bush and Obama regimes have made it unmistakenly clear that the American people don’t even influence, much less control, the government. As far as Washington is concerned, the people are nothing but chaff in the wind.

Polls demonstrate that 65% of the US population opposes US intervention in Syria. Despite this clear indication of the people’s will, the Obama regime is ramping up a propaganda case for more arming of Washington’s mercenaries sent to overthrow the secular Syrian government and for a “no-fly zone” over Syria, which, if Libya is the example, means US or NATO aircraft attacking the Syrian army on the ground, thus serving as the air force of Washington’s imported mercenaries, euphemistically called “the Syrian rebels.”

Washington declared some time ago that the “red line” that would bring Syria under Washington’s military attack was the Assad government’s use of chemical weapons of mass destruction against Washington’s mercenaries. Once this announcement was made, everyone with a brain immediately knew that Washington would fabricate false intelligence that Assad had used chemical weapons, just as Washington presented to the United Nations the intentional lie via Secretary of State Colin Powell that Saddam Hussein in Iraq had dangerous weapons of mass destruction.

Remember National Security Advisor Condi Rice’s image of a “mushroom cloud over American cities?” Propagandistic lies were Washington’s orders of the day.

And they still are. Now Washington has fabricated the false intelligence, and president obama has announced it with a straight face, that Syria’s Assad has used sarin gas on several occasions and that between 100 and 150 “of his own people,” a euphemism for the US supplied foreign mercenaries, have been killed by the weapon of mass destruction.

Think about that for a minute. As unfortunate as is any death from war, is 100-150 deaths “mass destruction?” According to low-ball estimates, the US-sponsored foreign mercenary invasion of Syria has cost 93,000 lives, of which 150 deaths amounts to0.0016%. If we round up, Washington’s 150 deaths comes to two-thousands of one percent.

In other words, 99.998% of the deaths did not cross the “red line.” But the 0.002 (rounded up) percent did.

Yes, I know. Washington’s position makes no sense. But when has it ever made any sense?

Let’s stretch our minds just a tiny bit farther. Assad knows about Washington’s “red line.” It has been repeated over and over in order to create in the minds of the distracted American public that there is a real, valid reason for attacking Syria. Why would Assad use the proscribed weapons of mass destruction in order to kill a measly 100-150 mercenaries when his army is mopping up the US mercenaries without the use of gas and when Assad knows that the use of gas brings in the US military against him?

As the Russian government made clear, Washington’s accusation is not believable. No informed person could possibly believe it. No doubt, many Americans wearing patriotism on their sleeves will fall for Washington’s latest lie, but no one else in the world will. Even Washington’s NATO puppets calling for attacking Syria know that the justification for the attack is a lie. For the NATO puppets, Washington’s money overwhelms integrity, for which the rewards are low.

The Russians certainly know that Washington is lying. The Russian Foreign Minister Larov said:

“The [Assad] government, as the opposition is saying openly, is enjoying military success on the ground. The [Assad] regime isn’t driven to the wall. What sense is there for the regime to use chemical arms–especially in such small amounts.”

Larov is a relatively civilized person in the role of Russia’s main diplomat. However, other Russian officials can be more pointed in their dismissal of Washington’s latest blatant lies. Yury Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Putin said: “The Americans tried to present us with information on the use of chemical weapons by the [Assad] regime, but frankly we thought that it was not convincing. We wouldn’t like to invoke references to [the infamous lies o] Secretary of State Powell [at the UN alleging Iraqi WMD], but the facts don’t look convincing in our eyes.” Aleksey Pushkov, the chairman of the Russian Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, cut to the chase.

“The data about Assad’s use of chemical weapons is fabricated by the same facility that made up the lies about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Obama is walking George W. Bush’s path.”

Here in America no one will ever hear straight talk like this from the US presstitutes.

Orwellian double-speak is now the language of the United States government. Secretary of State john kerry condemned Assad for harming “peace talks” while the US arms its Syrian mercenaries.

Washington’s double-speak is now obvious to the world. Not only Assad, but also the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, and every US puppet state which includes all of NATO and Japan, are fully aware that Washington is again lying through its teeth. The Russians, Chinese, and Iranians are trying to avoid confrontation with Washington, as war with the modern nuclear weapons would destroy all life on planet earth. What is striking is that despite 24/7 brainwashing by the presstitutes, a large majority of the American population opposes obama’s war on Syria.

This is good news. It means more Americans are developing the ability to think independently of the lies Washington feeds to them.

What the neocon[s], the bush/obama regime, and the presstitute media have made clear is that Washington is going to push its agenda of world hegemony to the point of starting World War III, which, of course, means the end of life on earth.

Russia and China, either one of which can destroy the United States, have learned that the US government is a liar and cannot be trusted. The Libyan “no-fly” policy to which Russia and China agreed turned out to be a NATO air attack on the Libyan army so that the CIA-sponsored mercenaries could prevail.

Russia and China, having learned their lesson, are protesting Washington’s assault on Syria that Washington pretends is a “civil war.” If Syria falls, Russia and China know that Iran is next.

Iran is Russia’s underbelly, and for China Iran is 20% of its energy imports. Both Russian and Chinese governments know that after Iran falls, they are next. There is no other explanation for Washington surrounding Russia with missile bases and surrounding China with naval and air bases.

Both Russia and China are now preparing for the war that they see as inevitable. Washington’s crazed, demented drive for world hegemony is bringing unsuspecting Americans up against two countries with hydrogen bombs whose combined population is five times the US population. In such a conflict everyone dies.

Considering the utterly insane government ruling in Washington, if human life exists in 2020, it will be a miracle. All the worry about future Medicare and Social Security deficits is meaningless. There will be no one here to collect the benefits.

100s protest Yemenis detention at Gitmo

Yemenis protest against the detention of Yemeni nationals at Guantanamo Bay prison outside the US embassy in Sana’a on June 17, 2013.

Press TV

Hundreds of people have gathered outside the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sana’a in protest at the detention of several Yemenis at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison.

The protesters, many of whom were the relatives of Guantanamo inmates, demonstrated outside the US mission on Monday, calling on the US President Barack Obama to free the detainees.

“Freedom, freedom for the detainees!,” shouted the protesters, some dressed in orange clothes similar to detainees’ jumpsuits.

Some American activists also took part in the demonstration.

Eighty-four Yemenis are held in Guantanamo, representing the majority of 166 inmates in the US-run facility in Cuba. Fifty-six Yemeni detainees have been cleared for release.

The majority of Guantanamo prisoners have been held for over a decade without charge, with many experts saying the drop in prosecutions means they will stay in indefinite detention.

On June 7, the White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, as well as Senator John McCain said in a joint statement that they would take the required measures to close the military prison.

Prisoners have complained of abuse and torture, and rights activists and international observers have censured the US government’s use of the detention center.

Over 100 of detainees have been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days in protest against their long confinement without charge or trial, as well as the horrible and degrading conditions at the jail.

Reports say some of the prisoners on hunger strike were being force-fed via tubes snaked up their nose and into their stomach, and five had been hospitalized.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has also urged US President Barack Obama’s administration to mend the situation in Guantanamo that has compelled prisoners to starve themselves, saying that the act of force-feeding is akin to torture.

Palestine: ‘Statehood idea at ‘dead-end’, unrepentant former Israeli commander razed entire villages, demolition orders & arrests

Palestinian statehood idea at ‘dead-end’: Israel minister

Press TV

Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett says that the idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state has reached a dead end.

“The idea that a Palestinian state will be founded within … Israel has reached a dead end,” Bennett said on Monday.

Bennett, who heads the hardline nationalist Jewish Home Party, said the most important thing Israel should do is to build more settler units.

The Israeli minister has consistently voiced opposition to the two-state solution backed by key Israeli ally Washington and the rest of the international community.

Following Bennett’s remarks, Chief Palestinian Authority Negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of officially declaring the death of the two-state solution.

“Several high-ranking Israeli officials have made clear statements regarding their position to actively work against the internationally endorsed two-state solution on the 1967 borders,” Erakat said.

Erekat says the comments by high-ranking Israeli officials against the two-state solution are not isolated events, but a reaffirmation of political platforms and radical beliefs.

A report released last month revealed that the Israeli regime confiscated 1,977 acres of the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank for its settlement activity during 2012.

The settlements, which cover an area roughly equal to 1,035 soccer fields and twice as big as New York’s Central Park, were approved by “military order,” the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on May 27.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

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Former Israeli commander confesses to razing entire villages during Nakba

NAZARETH, (PIC)– A former Israeli army commander has confessed to razing entire Arab villages in the Nakba that led to the creation of Israel on the land of Palestine.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Pundak said in an interview with the Israeli army radio Monday on the occasion of his 100th birthday, “My conscience is at ease with that, because if we hadn’t done so, then there would be no state by now. There would be a million more Arabs.”

Pundak was the commander of the 53rd Battalion of the Givati Brigade during the Nakba and went on to supervise the establishment of the Armored Corps. He was also Ambassador in Tanzania and a founder of Arad.

In reply to a question about his keenness to lecture Israeli soldiers despite his old age, he said: “Israel is in danger today exactly as it was in 1948. If Jews do not fight as they did during the war of independence the state will be in danger.”

“War unites the Jewish people,” he added.

He spoke with pain of the 145 soldiers who were killed under his command over the years, and said that if they woke up miraculously and saw the division in today’s Israel, “they would run back to their graves.”

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Jewish settlers puncture 28 Palestinian cars in OJ

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– A group of fanatic Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian cars in Abu Gush area west of occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday and sprayed racist graffiti on walls.

A statement for the Israeli police spokeswoman said that unknown assailants punctured the tires of 28 cars owned by Arabs that were parked in Abu Gush area.

She added that racist statements were sprayed on nearby walls including that of “Price Tag” and others calling for the departure of Arabs.

Attacks by price tag gangs have recently escalated in occupied Jerusalem amidst lax Israeli security efforts to track down those involved.

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Arrests and demolition orders in Jerusalem

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli police and municipal crews have carried out raid campaign at dawn on Monday in Beit Hanina, Salam and Shufat refugee camp near the city of Jerusalem. A number of arrests were reported.

The Israeli police broke into a Palestinian building in Tel al-Foul and arrested 25 citizens living in it under the pretext of establishing a building without permit, an eyewitness confirmed.

The sources added that a fine of 800 shekels ($225) was imposed against each one of the detainees, pointing out that 80 other citizens were also arrested for the same charge in Salam and Shufat camps.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces stormed Shuafat refugee camp and arrested a number of shopkeepers for “tax evasion”.

The Jerusalem municipality crews along with the Israeli police raided the village of Silwan on Monday morning, and handed out three administrative demolition orders for commercial facilities.

The Israeli authorities have escalated recently its demolition policy against Palestinian properties and escalated settlement constructions in Palestinian neighborhoods within the so-called “Holy Basin”.

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Raids and arrests in al-Khalil

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– An Israeli large force has stormed Dura town south of al-Khalil this morning where they conducted raid and search operations in number of houses.

The Israeli force tightened its military restrictions in Dura and its surrounding villages where they prevented the citizens from performing the Dawn prayer in the mosque.

Three Palestinians were arrested including 2 minors where they were taken to unknown destination in light of Israeli ongoing search operations for the wanted persons who opened fire towards an Israeli military vehicle near Khursa junction 6 days ago.

Meanwhile, the Israeli soldiers raided Durwa area in Halhul north of al-Khalil where they erected military checkpoints. As a result, Palestinian youths stoned the soldiers who, in turn, fired tear gas leading to one injury. No arrests were reported.

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Mother of sick detainee appeals for his life

JENIN, (PIC)– Amena Al-Saadi, the mother of detainee Nahar Al-Saadi, appealed to human rights groups to intervene and save his life in Israeli captivity.

Prisoner Saadi has so far served ten years of his life sentence and his health condition is worsening due to deliberate medical neglect and repeated isolation punishments.

Saadi, 31, is currently held in solitary confinement in Shatta prison and suffers from ulcer, curved spine, and dental problems.

The mother voiced fears for the life of her son since no treatment is being accorded to him, charging that holding her son in isolation ran contrary to human values and ethics.

She said that her son was in need of help of his fellow internees in view of his health condition.

Turkey: Erdogan says conspiracy foiled & Turks hold ‘standing man’ protest

Erdogan: Conspiracy against Us in Trash Now

Al Manar

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan said Tuesday that the conspiracy prepared against his government by the demonstrators – who have blocked the street for more than two weeks – has been “foiled”, thanks to his supporters.

During his weekly address before the MPs of the ruling Justice and Development bloc in the Parliament, Erdogan said “the people foiled the plot via gatherings of hundreds of thousands,” organized by the ruling party in Ankara and Istanbul during the weekend.

“The people and the government of the Justice and Development Party foiled this plot,” Erdogan reiterated, stressing that these gatherings are the “true image” of Turkey, not the demonstrators organized by what he called “foreign traitors and conspirators.”

“This plot has been foiled and this scenario has become in the trash before the start of its implementation,” he said.

On the other hand, Erdogan once again defended the police forces facing severe criticism because of the repression exercised against the protesters, saying they had “succeeded in the test of democracy.”

“We will strengthen our police and will increase its capacity to intervene” against the demonstrators, he stated.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the Justice and Development Party decided to organize new mass gatherings starting from Friday in three other main cities in Turkey under the banner of “Defending the Government.”

Erdogan’s speech comes at a time when anti-government protests enter their nineteenth day, while the cabinet vows to deploy the army to quell the demonstrators.

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Turks hold ‘standing man’ protest

Press TV

Turkish protesters find a new form to express their opposition to the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, standing still and staring straight ahead for hours.

The novel move began on Monday evening after a man, named Erdem Gunduz, started his one-man silent protest in Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square.

He took up his position in the middle of the Square, which has been the scene of heavy clashes between police and protesters over tha past days. After five hours, the man was still there while his hands were in his pockets and a bag at his feet.

Reports about the “standing man” spread quickly on social media. He was then joined by hundreds of people who also stood still at the Square for hours.

Turkish police arrested 500 people during anti-government protests in the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul on Sunday and continued to spray tear gas and water at clusters of demonstrators.

Two of Turkey’s main trade unions began a nationwide strike on Monday in protest at a police raid on a protester camp in Istanbul’s Gezi Park.

The strike by Turkish union confederations, DISK and KESK, comes a day after Erdogan defended his crackdown on an Istanbul park protest.

“Yes, we are funding the occupation,” Swedish minister glibly tells Gaza youth

(File photo)

by Rana Baker, EI

When your hosts arrive late to a meeting then leave you in the middle of the discussion, you might accept the reasons they provide and not get irritated. But when they fail to address the points you raise as though you never even raised them, one cannot but find this behavior very disrespectful, if not downright rude.

On Monday, together with other young Palestinians, I was invited to attend a meeting with Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden’s Minister of International Development Cooperation and vice chairman of the Moderate Party, a center-right political.

We met at a fancy restaurant-cafe overlooking the sea in Gaza City. Although Carlsson was there on time, we could not start before other Swedish officials and at least one journalist joined us about five to ten minutes later. It was difficult to distinguish journalists from officials because pictures were being taken all throughout the meeting.

We were all there to discuss what “they,” the European Union, can do for “us,” the youth of Gaza living under Israeli occupation. Although I am convinced of the uselessness and eurocentrism of this kind of discussion, I did not hesitate to accept the invitation because it is always amusing to hear the hypocrisy firsthand.

Evading Israel’s responsibility

Carlsson, clad in a traditional Palestinian embroidery dress, began by suggesting that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank should be “brought together” noting, with a smirk, that people in the West Bank refer to themselves as “West Bankers,” just as people in Gaza often refer to themselves as “Gazans.” However, she made no mention of Israel’s policy of dividing Palestinians and forcing them into separate bantustans, with municipal powers at best. We told her that bringing Palestinians “together” in the physical sense is impossible due to the Israeli-controlled Erez checkpoint that perches between us.

Carlsson nodded – nodding was the mantra – then went on to blame Hamas for cracking down on cultural activities and youth gatherings, implying that had it not been for the Hamas government and its security apparatus, Gaza would have flourished culturally.

I explained to Carlsson that Israel is the primary actor in the deterioration of the social and cultural life in the Gaza Strip, and that Israel’s missiles neither spare students nor universities. I also gave the example of the recent Palestine Festival of Literature in Gaza, during which members of the Hamas youth, and even some of the group’s high-profile officials, attended a few of the events and participated just like anyone in the audience.

This notion was reiterated more than once by many of us who were in the discussion. Seeing that no one agreed with her complete evasion of Israel’s responsibility for dwindling cultural and social conditions, Carlsson asked: “So you think we should talk to Hamas?” But before anyone could answer she said: “But you know our contact policy in the EU. We are waiting for the Palestinian elections to be held.”

At this point everyone at the table, save the Swedish officials of course, burst out laughing. “Good luck waiting,” commented Yasmeen El-Khoudary, a blogger and co-founder of the Diwan Ghazza cultural forum. I could barely keep silent, and literally had to bite my lip to avoid cracking up.

“Yes, we are funding the occupation”

Carlsson was not impressed. The reaction was perhaps not what she expected. “So how do you think we [in the EU] can help?”

Here the conversation started to sting. Carlsson was obviously expecting us to ask her to supervise an initiative that calls for fighting misogyny under the “Islamist rule” of Hamas or against the “Islamization” of the Gaza Strip.

”You can do a lot,” I answered, “the EU has influence over Israel but it is simply not interested.” Here Carlsson turned her face, talked to the waiter, then an official, as if I was not speaking to her. “For example,” I continued raising my voice a little bit, “the EU decided that settlement products will be labeled as thus but this is taking longer than needed, the EU also upgraded its trade relations with Israel last year.”

Carlsson did not address any of my points. In between her chat with the waiter and official, she nodded and nodded, but being so focused on what the official was telling her, in a low voice of course, I do not think she heard much of what I was saying.

Sameeha Elwan, a blogger and human rights worker, also criticized EU’s policy and double standards. “Yes, we are funding the occupation, you can blame us” Carlsson finally confessed.

“I can ask you to fund a cultural project,” I added, “but this does not address the root cause of the problem which is the Israeli occupation…” Fidgeting and once again chatting with the same official just as I spoke, Carlsson suddenly interrupted me saying that they are late and “have to go” to another meeting.

But she and her crew apparently had a few more minutes to take pictures with us, though definitely not to address or at least listen to what we were saying.

Warmth toward occupiers, threats toward Palestinians

One day after the meeting, Gunilla Carlsson met Yair Lapid, Israel’s finance minister and a so-called “centrist” who is open in his anti-Palestinian views. Tweeting her picture with him, both grinning, she described the meeting as “good.” Of course, Carlsson was not there to discuss the taxes Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority then withholds at the whim of its prime minister.

Gunilla Carlsson, who shamelessly meets with Israeli politicians involved in war crimes and the bloody and brutal occupation of the Palestinian people, comes to Gaza through the Erez crossing — a right Palestinians are denied — with the approval of the same Hamas government which she refuses to recognize, then has the guts to criticize them and behave as though our liberation cannot but come through the European Union’s imperialist and pro-Israel policies.

But Carlsson’s hypocrisy does not end here. On 14 June, she threatened to cut financial aid to the Palestinian Authority should negotiations with Israel not resume. What is most disgusting about this is Carlsson’s failure to voice the same threats to Israel whose relentless land theft and colonization in the West Bank constitute the primary obstacles to the resumption of the “peace process.”

In fact, Carlsson not only failed to criticize Israel’s settlement expansion policy and disinterest in peace but bizarrely praised Yitzhak Molcho, Israel’s chief negotiator, as “committed,” “serious,” and “engaged for peace.”

Our meeting at least served one useful purpose. It was a reminder that liberation, the end of racism, famine, and poverty, do not come through double-faced, disrespectful, and Eurocentric politicians such as Gunilla Carlsson.

President of International War Crimes Tribunal may have worked to shield Israelis from prosecution

by Alison Weir, source

The New York Times reports that an Israeli diplomat turned U.S. citizen – and now president of the war crimes tribunal at the Hague – has been pressuring the court to acquit officials accused of war crimes.

The Times says that the Israeli-American judge, Theodor Meron, “… has led a push for raising the bar for conviction in such cases, prosecutors say, to the point where a conviction has become nearly impossible.”

Some analysts feel that Meron’s motivation may be to protect Israeli political and military leaders from prosecutions that could place them in legal jeopardy.

International attorney and analyst John Whitbeck comments that both Israel and the United States are “world leaders in the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace,” and that their officials “would prefer to see the bar for criminal convictions raised to a level which offers them continued impunity.”

However, Whitbeck points out that the risk to American leaders is relatively insignificant, since the U.S. government would be able to use its UN Security Council veto to protect its leaders.

The situation for Israeli officials, on the other hand, is quite different. According to Whitbeck: “The threat of accountability is potentially imminent and urgent for Israel and Israelis.”

Before immigrating to the U.S., Meron was a member of the Israeli Foreign Service and served as Israeli Ambassador to Canada and to the United Nations in Geneva. He also served as Legal Counsel to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 1967 Meron wrote a secret memorandum of law to Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol stating that creating Israeli settlements on occupied territory would be a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, contrary to international law and, hence, a war crime.

The Israeli government ignored this memo (which neither the government nor Meron made public), and have been creating illegal settlements ever since. In January a UN panel stated that the settlements “contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory and could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).”

Iran, Rouhani: Nuclear program will keep on, Syria gov’t will stay till 2014

Al Manar

The Iranian President-elect Sheikh Hasan Rouhani said on Monday that Tehran will present more transparency in its nuclear program than before, but the Islamic Republic won’t abandon its uranium enrichment process.

During his first press conference, Rouhani stressed that Iran will adopt the doctrine of moderation and not of extremism, noting that recent elections opened another chapter in the country.

Offering thanks to all categories of the Iranian people, Rouhani said that he will fulfill his promises even though they need time to be achieved, but he will arrange files according to their priorities.

The Iranian president called upon the people of Iran for unity, stressing that he will work on reviving economy and constructive cooperation with the world countries.

Fielding a journalist question, Rouhani said that priority will be for boosting the economy, prompting the livelihood and eliminating unemployment.

Regarding the foreign policy, The Iranian president pointed out that the new government will seek friendly relations with all neighboring states, particularly the Saudi Arabia, in accordance with mutual respect and common interests.

On the US-Iran relations, Sheikh Rouhani said that Iran does not seek to increase tensions, but every single step will be in accordance with the then conditions.

“They (the U.S. administration) must not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs, must recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium and must abandon the policy of pressures,” he stated.

“If we feel their good intention, then we are ready to ease the current pressure.”

As for the Syrian crisis, Rouhani said that the Syrian people is the only party who has the right to decide its destiny, noting that Iran rejects terrorism and internal fights, and warning against any kind of foreign intervention in Syria. He also voiced hope that all world and regional states will contribute to restore stability and peace to Syrian Arab Republic.

“The Syrian crisis must be resolved by the people of Syria. We are against terrorism, civil war, and foreign intervention. Hopefully, with the help of all countries of the region and the world, peace and calm will return to Syria,” the cleric said.

“The Syrian crisis must be resolved by a vote by Syrians. We are concerned by the civil war and foreign interference. The government (of President Bashar al-Assad) must be respected by other countries until the next (2014 presidential) elections and then it is up to the people to decide.”

Touching on the Iranian nuclear program, Dr. Rouhani indicated that the sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic are unjust and the Iranians don’t deserve them, believing that the only beneficiary is the Zionist entity, whereas the western countries suffer of them also.

The president reiterated that Iran will be more transparent in its nuclear program, but it won’t halt the uranium enrichment.

“We will move two steps to end the sanctions: firstly we will double our transparency, and secondly we will enforce confidence between Iran and the International community. In other word, we will work upon lifting the embargo by adopting the policy of step-by-step,” sheikh Rouhani stated.

Answering a question of France 24 correspondence about Irans’ readiness to suspend the uranium enrichment, the President-elect indicated that Iran has passed this stage, recalling that he had agreed with the former French president Jack Shirak on the Iranian nuclear program many years ago. However, the Britons didn’t approve it due to the U.S. pressure.