Syria: NATO Smacks Turkey And Other News

July 6, 2012

Continuing its current offensive the Syrian army took control of the rebel stronghold of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Idlib province. Throughout the last weeks the insurgents have lost ground wherever the army went. It is likely that they will now try to capture some other town and for the chase to continue for a while.

Hillary Clinton is ignoring the sorry state her mercenaries are in and tried to push the other participants of today's "enemies of Syria" conference to make Russia and China "pay a price" for not agreeing to her imperial project in Syria. Those other will nod and silently agree that to ask for 5 cents might be sufficient.

The Syrian brigade general Manaf Tlass has left the country. He has been under the Syrian governments scrutiny for some time and had lost his command in May 2011. His first cousin, Abdul Razak Tlass, is the leader of the infamous Al Farouq brigade in Rastan/Homs. As Manaf Tlass is a former regime stalwart he may not be welcomed by the exile opposition.

In other news:

The Iraqi foreign minister warned that further Al-Qaeda fighters are infiltrating into Syria.

It appears that Turkey had indeed asked for NATO to create a contingency plan for a no-fly zone over Syria after its reconnaissance jet was shot down by the Syrian air-defense. The request was turned down. This NATO smackdown news is another loss of face for Erdogan.

Bashar Assad appears self confident and straight in his interview with the Turkish daily Cumhurieyt: Part 1, 2, 3 and 4.

A new UN Secretary General report on the UN mission and the situation in Syria was published today. The observer mission is currently unable to work and is likely to be downsized. Some details from the report confirm aspects of the opposition that are missing in western reporting:

15. From 8 June, coinciding with the Free Syrian Army’s withdrawal of commitment to the six-point plan, citing lack of progress in its implementation, UNSMIS noted the intensification of armed conflict. The armed opposition and at least some elements of the political opposition, as well as the Government had, it appeared, determined to pursue a military strategy.
…
The opposition escalated and intensified its attacks on Government checkpoints and positions in proximity to opposition locations, bombing of critical infrastructure, and assassinations of Government officials and senior officers.
…
22. Daily shelling of Homs has continued since 25 May. The evacuation of civilians has not yet been possible, as armed opposition groups have not yet agreed to observe the necessary humanitarian pause, despite UNSMIS facilitation.
…
29. UNSMIS also received reports from members of the public as well as of the Government of persons deprived of liberty by armed opposition groups. In most cases, these groups denied to UNSMIS that they had any persons in their custody. In several cases, opposition contacts confirmed to UNSMIS that such persons were in their custody. UNSMIS received reports from pro-Government individuals of demands for payment or ammunition in exchange for release of abductees held by armed opposition groups. Though not able to verify the claim, one reliable source informed UNSMIS that persons deprived of liberty by armed groups are frequently subjected to a quick “trial”, followed by arbitrary executions.

How can anyone suggest it would good for the Syrians to hand over their country to these folks?

Posted by b on July 6, 2012 at 16:42 UTC | Permalink

Comments

I think Assange is the real deal and will continue to think that way until the man himself confesses to being a fraud. Efficient propaganda only needs to divide public opinion enough to prevent a clear consensus emerging and the fact remains that the WikiLeaks attributable to Bradley Manning exposes the USA as an unaccountable criminal entity. A person well known to me knows one of the people who put up his UK bail and has met another member of that group (who had no hesitation in stumping up the bank guarantees required to keep him out of UK jails/remand centres – in which ‘accidents’ have been known to happen).
Posel, on the other hand, is clearly a fraud as the bullshit about Russia and Lavrov in this article clearly demonstrates:
http://occupycorporatism.com/un-bureaucracy-just-a-formality-before-us-military-attack-on-syria/
Does anyone here have a clue about the likely national/tribal origins of the surname Posel? Wishful thinking tells me it could be Swedish. Some of her spelling suggests that English is not her first language. Then again maybe it’s just that her spelling is as sloppy as her research and/or sources.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 9 2012 16:24 utc | 101

Hu Bris, let’s wait for those emails to start flowing to see who stands to gain by their release. The intro promised they would be embarrassing to the Syrian regime and that shouldn’t be too hard to do.

Posted by: www | Jul 9 2012 16:29 utc | 102

Here’s Posel’s line: “The biased research showed that children who were spanked were 2 to 5% more likely to develop mental disorders.”
She then goes on to show why she thinks it’s biased, which is unconvincing to me. The whole story is set up to condemn the “globalist” (from the title of the piece) scientists.
Also, you joined Debs earlier by jumping on me regarding my skepticism regarding Wikileaks. Our first go round involved the dispute about the Maher Arar case which I doubted in part because the story is backstopped by Wikileaks cables.
But whatever, I don’t want to waste time keeping score between posters so I’ll drop it but you have indeed amended your position/attitude slightly . . . . which is a good thing because smart people change their opinion/presentation after seeing contrary arguments.
And the feminazi statement is left by one of the few commentators that seem to be coming from the same right-wing anti-NWO mindset (which I have a lot of sympathy for–just not the part where they make excuses for using violence against children).

Posted by: Walter Wit Man | Jul 9 2012 16:41 utc | 103

If anything, the docs made public by Assange and Wikileaks show ineptitude on the part of various US (W etc.) agencies.
Released are all low level ‘cables’ as no hyper-sensitive matters would ever be treated over the intertubes.
Not only thru canny spy-like caution, but because the whole apparatus of officialdom, a lumbering monolith, the structure on paper and in RL, the millions in jobs, posts, obeying orders, following procedure, in diplo missions, the military, the agencies, even secret ones, the paid contacts, intl orgs, etc. all having links with 100s or 1000s or more others thu their information, etc. – is one level.
A level that obeys the standard script (e.g. nothing about 9/11, about Israel generally, about long term plans, that is understood or imposed, etc.)
Hackable, can be retrieved. What emerges is not disinfo, but lack of pertinent, vital, surprising, info.
What takes place above this official circuit is of another nature, and proceeds thru other channels.
Imho Julian Assange is exactly who he claims to be. An ‘information warrior’, a ‘hacker’, a ‘fighter for transparency.’
Remember when the Guardian thought they had a gold mine and his star rose? A respectable feed in for the MSM? Modern media, all that? Similar to twitter revols. etc?
(Assange has no politics btw, which helps.)
He can be taxed with hubris, an exaggerated self-worth, idiocy, or whatever. Not important. As Debs pointed out, this all takes courage that many have not.
Assange + WL have no sources. He, they, hack the intertubes. It takes some expertise, but is not all that difficult.
If one is keen on ‘conspiracies’ Assange figures as a pink herring, a distraction, someone to make a fuss about, muddy world politics.

Posted by: Noirette | Jul 9 2012 17:14 utc | 104

“Posel, on the other hand, is clearly a fraud as the bullshit about Russia and Lavrov in this article clearly demonstrates:
http://occupycorporatism.com/un-bureaucracy-just-a-formality-before-us-military-attack-on-syria/“
I’m not sure this demonstrates Posel’s ulterior motives. I can’t tell from this story alone but if she is dubious of Russia’s role as Syria’s protector then she is right on.
In fact, I agree with most of what Posel writes about it seems. I’m just dubious she’s another Alex Jones type figure that is allowed to reveal the 90% true information but whose real goal is to spread the 10% disinformation.
Also, I suspect there is an agenda to split the left and right and a spanking article is just the thing to do that.

Posted by: Walter Wit Man | Jul 9 2012 17:26 utc | 105

>>>I think Assange is the real deal and will continue to think that way until the man himself confesses to being a fraud. >>> (Hoarsewhisperer)
That’s a clear-cut opinion of Assange; he’s both a real deal and a fraud at the ame time.
>>> I’m not sure this demonstrates Posel’s ulterior motives. I can’t tell from this story alone but if she is dubious of Russia’s role as Syria’s protector then she is right on.
In fact, I agree with most of what Posel writes about it seems. I’m just dubious she’s another Alex Jones type figure that is allowed to reveal the 90% true information but whose real goal is to spread the 10% disinformation.>>> Walter WM
Another clear-cut opinion that stretches all the way from saying he agrees with most of what Posel says but that spreads 10% disinformation. Not sure about her motives but when about Russia’s role, she’s right on.

Posted by: www | Jul 9 2012 18:36 utc | 106

(Assange has no politics btw, which helps.)
NOT an accurate statement, or not true. I have minimal interest in this guy, but I have certainly read articles where he clearly states political opinions. It would be most surprising if he had “no politics”

Posted by: DM | Jul 9 2012 21:32 utc | 107

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