@BillyBoy – the guys who originally put that “S-300 arrived” spin on were from AlAkhbar, a leftish Lebanese paper and website near to the resistance.
It was just a fake to test the waters of who would get nervous over it. The Izzis freaked out over it 🙂 Purpose achieved …

Posted by: b | May 30 2013 19:28 utc | 3

Thanks b. Wishing autonomy for Syria and its’ people.

Posted by: ben | May 30 2013 19:50 utc | 5

Assad was in an extremely good mood!What stroke me was ,as every time I heard him talk,how self-assured reasonable and logical he is .The most extraordinary thing is how cartesian he is in his analysis compared to western so called leaders who are today showing themselves to be more pity full than the fossilized arab sheikhs and presidents who are plaguing the arabs.I never knew I would live long enough to see the world upside down with Brejnev Pravda,la langue de bois,demagogy having emigrated to the so called free world….

Posted by: Nobody | May 30 2013 20:18 utc | 7

@3
“It was just a fake to test the waters of who would get nervous over it. The Izzis freaked out over it 🙂 Purpose achieved …”
I agree to some extent because in fact nobody knows exactly and wont know if s300 is physically there or not but by mentioning it in the press (it was on reuters yahoo dpa ria novosti…)and leting defense misters in russia and israhell talk to the press in this case the russians didnt just test the waters but sent a strong massage (let it be for the reputation of russia as a wappon export champion).And the izzis get the massage and responded(“The S-300 would be the pinnacle of Russian-supplied arms for Syria,” Colonel Zvika Haimovich, a senior Israeli air force officer, told Reuters in an interview. “Though it would impinge on our operations, we are capable of overcoming it.
He said Israel’s “red line” on the S-300 was “between Syria and others”. This was a hint Israel might hold off on bombing the batteries as long they did not appear set on shooting down planes within Israeli airspace, of being transferred to Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas or to Iran – both staunch allies of Assad and enemies of Israel, or of being looted by Islamist rebels.)after freaking out to an extant that it was recevied in russia as a threat and netanyahood had to call his ministers to shut the f.ck up about s300(german:Link )
Link
Link
Link
Link

Posted by: some1 | May 30 2013 20:54 utc | 9

Assad is. . .no dummy
Quite the opposite. He understands what many in the aggressive West fail to understand, which consistently causes them to fail, and that is that there are other factors besides military ones which are paramount in national security. In Assad’s words: “It is not merely a question of opening the front geographically. It is a political, ideological, and social issue.” And, as Assad describes, timing is important when used to consider these factors.
Assad is an intelligent man, and that has enabled him (and his government) to resist the mighty forces arrayed against him, and it has also encouraged his allies — Iran, Russia, Hezbollah — to continue their support for him and his government.
And now the tide has shifted.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 30 2013 21:39 utc | 11

From what b reported so far Assad looks like a very seasoned, prudent and pragmatic man.
As for those S-300 I don’t think that that works as most seem to think it works, i.e. that some day some Russian ship has or will dock at a Syrian port and deliver those systems.
In my minds eye it works very differently.
For one, quite probably syria already *has* some S-300 systems, albeit rather old ones. So, one point is to update those (Remember the scandal of turkey holding a Russian airplane with “military parts” on board?).
Secondly, Russia quite certainly aready has some (modern) S-300 systems at Tartus. The process of “delivery” might actually consist of a) downgrading them somewhat and b) handing them over.
Also there is much mentioning of “rockets” (missiles) having been delivered for Syrian S-300 (which might come down to effectively being upgrades.
Furthermore, again, the Russian flotilla has an unusually high percentage of supply vessels (3). It would be a reasonable assumption that at least one of those supply vessels actually has S-300 on board (and possibly Iskander).
Another factor pointing in that direction is the fact that Russia chose – without factual necessity – to compose that flotilla of 3 fleets, in particular including the Pacific fleet. It should be seen in that context that there are 3 entry points into the mediterranian see, Gibraltar and Bosporus, both de facto under zato control/observation and Suez, the one entry point neutral to friendly for Russians. And the one entry point the pacific fleet would use.
Another point worth noting might be the strategy used by both, Assad now and Putin formertimes. Both were confronted with very bad situations and very little in their hands to do about it. And both seemed to just hold still and eat whatever was served. And, most importantly, at least Putin – and quite probably Assad, too – rather quietly, intelligently, prudently and calmly prepared to turn the situation around and to break free.
On a similar note it might be noteworthy that some high level Russian [defense industry] speaker today (out of the blue, it seems) stated that the Russian side will quite certainly lose the case brought against them by Iran (regarding the non-delivery of S-300). This, in my understanding, basically means that Russia “being forced by law” *will* (and probably rather soon) also deliver S-300 to Iran (the country their fleet payed a friendly visit en route to Syria …)
This all happens to fall, so it seems, along what some call the “Taurus option”, a modus operandi of careful and patient preparations leading to a chessmate situation by having all entries and exits trapped and having all traps snap in an carefully orchestrated way.
Clearly, both Putin and Assad played the Taurus option and, as b pointed out yesterday, we are quite close to the “snap point”, the chessmate.

Posted by: Mr. Pragma | May 30 2013 22:33 utc | 13

At the State Department today, “Matt” took Jennifer Psaki to the woodshed.

QUESTION: Do you know when the last time it was that the Russians were at the table for an international conference on Syria?
MS. PSAKI: I don’t, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.
QUESTION: Well, I believe it was the first Geneva meeting. That was almost a year ago.
MS. PSAKI: You’re right.
QUESTION: So they haven’t been at the – so you haven’t invited them to the table, or they have refused to come?
MS. PSAKI: Well, again, I think —
QUESTION: I mean, you – all you’ve been doing since Geneva 1 is exactly what you said is not productive, which is sitting around the table talking to people who you agree with; correct?
MS. PSAKI: Well, Matt, the – I think there was a – we felt and many other international partners have said that the meetings that the Secretary had in Russia just a few weeks ago did – were effective in breaking a little bit of the stalemate and moving forward on trying to implement Geneva 1. Do we know it’s going to be successful? No. But is it worth making the effort and trying, and trying to bring both sides to the table? Absolutely, and that’s why we’re focused on it.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 30 2013 23:35 utc | 15

ToivoS (16)
It is, of course, a mere coincidence that your “question” is very similar to zionist lies that are being spread …
But don’t worry; while israel will not exactly like that fact but those S-300 systems don’t work like that. It’s not that S-300 missiles are launched and then hunt and kill whatever happens to be within their range.
Sure, it’s a surprise because, after all we all know from our wunderfully democratic media that those pesky Russians have but rusty old junk from Sovjet times …
But somehow the stupid Russians, who with a solid majority voted for an evil dictator, managed to lump together some rusty crap from the junk yard in such a smart way that the S-300 not only can differentiate between large civil airplanes and military planes or missiles, it actually can be programmed to hunt and kill a clearly defined target.
Isn’t that amazing?

Posted by: Mr. Pragma | May 31 2013 0:09 utc | 17

If I was Assad…..sorry….the Syrian government….I’d build a load of dummy S.300s. They’d make cheap targets and probably just as effective as the real thing.

Posted by: dh | May 31 2013 0:42 utc | 19

You’re talking missile guidance systems, which for the S-300 involve the use of Big Bird, Flap Lids and Clam Shells as shown here. (But please don’t quote me, I’m only googling.)

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 31 2013 0:56 utc | 21

news report:
A fighter for Hezbollah, the Lebanese group that’s sent troops to Syria to join Assad loyalist forces, said the group had cleared rebels from most of Qusayr. A spokesman for one of the main rebel groups in the area confirmed the assertion. “We have suffered heavy losses,” said Yazed al Hasan, a spokesman for the rebel Farouq Battalions, which have occupied Qusayr since last year. He also acknowledged that government forces had recaptured the military airport north of the city.
Ms.Psaki, US State Department:
“We demand that Hezbollah withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately.”
In other news, the Taliban has demanded that the US withdraw its fighters from Afghanistan, but not immediately. “We’ll give you until 2014.” They’re nice.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 31 2013 1:10 utc | 23

I apologize for the levity. I can’t say that I haven’t been influenced by Pepe Escobar.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 31 2013 1:28 utc | 25

Assad video interview from Penny:
http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/

Posted by: ben | May 31 2013 5:09 utc | 27

My Goodness!!! Never in the history of the US’s imperial wars have they managed to cobble together an incompetent bunch of fools, all congregated in one place, going by the name SNC blah blah blah. These guys can’t even agree on what to have for breakfast let alone who’s gonna rule.
To make matters worse, their own patron, His Majesty the Turkish FM, Mr “I’ve-got it all figured out” – “We’re creating a new Middle East” – Davutoglu, who attempted to push them into some kind of agreement before the Geneva talks came out with egg on his face by the same group he’s hosting in top Istanbul/Ankara hotels and taking a lot of flak for it at home. I’m actually beginning to think if Assad is winning now, it’s probably because the opposition arrayed against him are a really incompetent, pathetic bunch that can’t sh*t from shinola. They seem to be more interested in lining their collective pockets with Qatari/Saudi money and calling for “weepons/weebons” all the time.
I mean, they make the Iraqi Challabi Inc. look like pros – but then the Challabi Inc. had an Iranian connection 😉 (Wheels whithin wheels)

Posted by: Zico | May 31 2013 6:03 utc | 29

It was just a fake to test the waters of who would get nervous over it. The Izzis freaked out over it 🙂 Purpose achieved …
Posted by: b | May 30, 2013 3:28:29 PM | 3

But the problem with that theory is that just to gain this puny psyop advantage, al-Akhbar gets exposed as unreliable and as a tool of the Assad govt.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | May 31 2013 7:51 utc | 31

must read: events in Turkey clearly orchestrated by turkish regime
DESTROYING THE EVIDENCE
On the day of the incident, which was a Saturday, the Government managed to get the local court of Reyhanli to issue a blanket censorship ban regarding the broadcasting of news about the bombing attacks in Reyhanli. According to this ban, only statements made by senior authorities and police reports would be allowed to be reported on the media and the internet:
“Within the framework of the investigation concerning the blasts in Reyhanli district on 11.05.2013 […] , broadcasting and displaying information concerning the site of the incident, concerning the dead and injured casualties of the incident and concerning the content of the incident on all types of audio-visual, written and visual media and the internet is banned according to Article 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.” [34]
Actually, this blanket ban was mainly targeting the information flow through the Internet considering that Turkey’s mainstream media have been fully complicit in the Government’s constant war propaganda against Syria from April 2011. Nevertheless, the ban on the Internet proved to be somewhat ineffective in the face of an overwhelming sense of indignation towards to Government across the country.
Medical staff in the Hatay province, where Reyhanli is located, was ordered to “limit the death toll to 50”. Local authorities said they ‘were instructed not to give any statement to the press’. [35] Journalist Ferdi Ozmen revealed the actual figure by posting the number of deaths in seven local hospitals with a total of 177. He has been arrested for defying the blanket ban. [36]
Republican People’s Party (CHP) member of parliament Mevlut Dudu explains how the evidence was instantly destroyed after the incident:
“The police officers refused us entry to the site of the attacks on the grounds that they are collecting evidence. Nevertheless, we did [manage] to enter and saw that no evidence was being collected. Quite on the contrary, they were destroying the evidence using heavy construction equipment.” [37]
It transpired that none of the 73 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the town recorded the bombing attacks. Due to a “system error”, they had been out of order four days before the incident. Most of these 73 CCTV cameras were directly viewing the points where the bombing attacks occurred. [38]
CHP member of parliament Aytug Atici revealed that electricity was cut off just five minutes before the bombing attacks. [39] In fact, according to activist Hamide Yigit, cutting off the electricity was a strategy used by Turkey’s authorities in smuggling international mercenaries into Syria:
“Electricity is cut off along the [Harbiye-Yayladagi] itinerary; everywhere, including streets and roads, becomes totally dark. Meanwhile, vehicles carrying military ammunition and armed groups to the border pass by. Once their passage is over, the electricity resumes. The local residents, who are prevented from witnessing this transport, are feeling deeply restless about it.” [40]
On the day of the bombing attacks, the militants who wanted to cross from Syria into Turkey were guided towards the Cilvegozu border gate instead of their habitual point of entry in Reyhanli. [41]
A currently censored video which was posted on Youtube shortly after the bombing attacks was recorded from an angle which oversaw the site of the attacks. Arabic speaking “Free Syrian Army” militants are seen to be recording the blasts in jubilation, shouting “Allah-u Akbar” (God is great) and mentioning the location of the blasts and the date. [42]
Only two days before the bombing attacks in Reyhanli, ABC reported “a secret visit” by the former U.S. Ambassador to Syria (January-October 2011) Robert Ford, who is the mastermind of NATO’s covert war on Syria [43] :
“A U.S. official confirmed [Robert] Ford’s secret visit, which occurred along the Turkey-Syria border. He briefly crossed into Syria to meet with opposition leaders before returning to Turkey.” [44]
In fact, there is a long history of false-flag incidents occurring in Turkey ahead of almost every top level meeting between Turkey’s politicians and their U.S. or Israeli counterparts.
Of all the false-flag operations in Turkey, by far the most devastating was the bombing attacks on 15th and 20th November 2003, which targeted two synagogues, HSBC bank headquarters and the British Embassy in Istanbul, killing 57 people and wounding another 700. The attacks coincided with U.S. President George Bush’s meting with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London. [45]
Baki Yigit was on of the five people who were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment in 2007 for their roles in these attacks. He was released from prison in 2010 and died in 2012 whilst fighting in Aleppo among the ranks of the Free Syrian Army. [46]
Furthermore, foreign intelligence agencies CIA (U.S.), Mossad (Israel), MI6 (Britain) and BND (Germany) have a very prominent presence across Turkey’s border region with Syria. Located some 100 km from Turkey’s border with Syria, NATO’s Incirlik Airbase is being used as the command centre for the covert war on Syria. [47]
etc
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-role-of-turkey-in-the-us-nato-israeli-war-on-syria/5336827

Posted by: brian | May 31 2013 8:58 utc | 33

@dh: In fact there are alot of inflatable dummies out there. Theres even an inflatable S300! http://www.armyrecognition.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7759&sid=8f1a584fa1c98dd649738432f2915d27

Posted by: Kal | May 31 2013 10:26 utc | 35

Sorry all, for the double post, thought one was lost in space.
Hi Penny, b and you do some heavy lifting on Syria, thanks!

Posted by: ben | May 31 2013 13:17 utc | 37

the view from Dubai :-))

If it was not for the struggle of the Syrian people, the war may not have lasted for longer than a year and Assad could have gone on to smash the opposition and avenge himself against the rest of Syria. However, the fact that the Syrian people have been left to act alone will ensure that victory against the Assad regime will be very difficult to achieve. The Syrians are currently confronting armies arriving from Iran, Iraq, Russia and Lebanon (Hezbollah) and it is unjust to expect the people to confront all this alone. The involvement of armed elements from Iraq, and Hezbollah’s interference in particular, means that supporting the Syrian people is a collective responsibility. It is a duty of the international community to deter this evil regime, like it previously did with Milošević in Bosnia. However, the international community seems to be in a stupor. The Syrian people are now only being partially supported by Britain and France and by a few Arab countries that include Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. Other states, including Egypt, Algeria, Sudan and Tunisia are siding with Assad, while the rest of the Arab world are neutral.
The Gulf states, however, are the Syrian people’s true supporters. They have taken brave standpoints despite huge risks, particularly in terms of the first clear political and military disagreement with the United States regarding regional conflicts. Although they are almost the only ones supporting the Syrians, the Gulf states must be aware that the situation has become increasingly clear over the past few weeks, with the arrival of thousands of fighters from Iran and Iraq, as well as Hezbollah, to fight alongside the Assad regime. These developments indicate that the Syrian revolution has become an arena for a regional war, where the only option is to stand by the Syrian people in their battle against injustice and against Assad and his axis of evil.

wow.

Posted by: somebody | May 31 2013 14:13 utc | 39

Got to love the prevalence of Voice of America articles on Google News (though supposedly our great American democracy would never stoop so low as to have state-run television) but funny to see the two US sides bicker over what’s what. I could have SWORN I saw a Fox News piece yesterday about how the missiles were already there…:
Reports: Russian Missiles Unlikely to Reach Syria for Months
Voice of America
Russian media is reporting that an arms industry source says Russia has not yet delivered anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and may not do so for several months.
And also on the front page:
Michigan woman, 33, killed in Syria fight, family says
Fox News
A 33-year-old Michigan woman was killed in Syria while fighting for opposition forces, relatives said. Nicole Lynn Mansfield, of Flint, and two other were fighters for a group opposed to Syria’s government and were killed during a confrontation in Idlib, …
I wonder how many other Americans are there now, just waiting to come home and live peaceful, quiet lives, pledging allegiance to the flag each day and stuff…

Posted by: guest77 | May 31 2013 14:42 utc | 41

@40 Much like those feckless flecks of human feces (er…paid mercenaries) who were shot by the Bolivian Police during their plot to kill Evo Morales (It was a years ago, but Al Jazeera recently had a “human” interest piece about it).
I try not to cheer for the death of anyone (it is soooo hard sometimes, I admit), so I’ll just say… play with fire, get burned…

Posted by: guest77 | May 31 2013 15:33 utc | 43

Looks like Erdogan has more trouble on his hands. To think I used to be impressed with this guy…
mashable DOT com/2013/05/31/istanbul-protests/?cid=Mash-Product-RSS-Pheedo-All-Partial
At least 100 people were injured in Friday’s clashes, per Reuters. Hundreds of peaceful protesters flocked to Istanbul’s historic Gezi Park to protect it from demolition four days ago. The demonstrations have now escalated in size and scope, with thousands of protestors airing a wide array of grievances against Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
http://www.youtube DOT com/watch?v=Z1AJiaYirpY&feature=player_embedded

Posted by: guest77 | May 31 2013 16:26 utc | 45

42) hedging clients/patrons?
Roughly one million Israelis speak Russian. Gazprom recently signed a deal for Israeli gas

Posted by: somebody | May 31 2013 16:39 utc | 47

@45
Of course I have no way of verifying anything like this, but reports are that she had divorced her husband. She may well be a homegrown, committed terrorist. And she’s (was) a white skinned baptist.
“Speelman’s mother, Monica Mansfield Speelman, told the Detroit Free Press that her niece was a convert to Islam who married an Arab immigrant several years ago but later divorced him. The family was not happy about Mansfield’s conversion to Islam, said Monica Speelman and Mansfield’s grandmother, Carole Mansfield.”
I don’t think we should take the quick succession of the Boston bombing and the UK knife attack as coincidence. We can’t ignore the effects of an extended war on the psychological make up of the general population – especially the excluded percentage who, seeing that they are not embraced by the society, will come to define themselves with that society’s declared “enemy”. Now you have children growing up who know nothing other than this war against Islam. And unfortunately for those innocent people who will end up being victims, I definitely believe we will see a lot more of these lone wolf, homegrown terror attacks – certainly through the official “end” of this conflict and probably, in one form or another, for years beyond that. Like a rat passing through the body of a snake, so will the psychological trauma of this long, brutal, war (and the violent outbursts associated with it) have to pass through the Western body politic.
As they are done by “clean skins” and “clean names” they will be impossible to defend against. We’ve been lucky up until now that generally the attackers have not been extremely capable, but if one of them with real brains gets going, they could paralyze the country. We quickly forget about the DC sniper and such events, but those caused incredible disruptions to daily life – much like Boston.
America can go crazy with security all it wants. It can put on a huge production like they did in Boston. That’s all well and good, and even impressive at the beginning. But that is not a sustainable way to fight terrorism (especially when you are feeding it at the same time). You can’t be shutting down whole cities like that often. Eventually all the theater, the disruptions, the feeling of being spied upon will take their toll on the morale of the people and (worst of all for the ruling class) the economy.
I was taught in middle school history class of the Chinese concept of the “mandate of heaven” – simply put: rulers may rule as long as things are going well (a nascent form of non-participatory democracy to be sure). But when there is too much disruption and crisis, their time is through and they may be replaced. We are rapidly reaching that point in the West.
Political events like terrorism and the debilitating response to it (more disruptive than the attacks themselves in some ways), as well as increasing acts of random violence like shootings, plus the never-ending economic scandals and increasing inequality, on top of extreme weather events (though, more importantly are the failed responses to them) all chip away at the governed sense of legitimacy in the government. It is even more simply expressed in the psychology of the master/slave relationship. The master can be the master only so long as he/she protects and respects the slave. All these recent and coming disastrous events – but most importantly the elites failure to prevent or help with the recovery from them – will lead the subjects of the Western countries to the same undeniable conclusion: that those currently in power don’t give a flying f**k about them.
And then the game is up.

Posted by: guest77 | May 31 2013 17:39 utc | 49

“As they are done by “clean skins” and “clean names” they will be impossible to defend against.”
If by “clean skins” you mean anonymous citizens emerging from the population, you are wrong. In both the Boston and Woolwich cases the links between the “terrorists” and the secret police were clear and undeniable.
We can choose our explanations: either these were the actions of men who had slipped out of the control and sight of their police controllers. Or they were part of operations deliberately contrived to keep the public in a state of panic and facilitate the further destruction of civil liberties and legal restraints on executive power. There really isn’t much difference.
In the meantime the actors are being killed or silenced quickly.

Posted by: bevin | May 31 2013 18:42 utc | 51

Don Bacon @ 21.
Thanks for the link on Russian 3D Radar. If the info is/was correct (at the time of publication) it explains a lot about the West’s lame-duck built-to-a-price (but ridiculously expensive) weapons industry. It also explains why no-one has ever seen Uncle Sam’s anti Ballistic Missile Defense System do a verifiable intercept.
Here’s the go-to phrase from your link:
“From this point on, the track data rate is two points per antenna rotation. The cost of this two-coordinate scanning array may be higher than most Western systems, but the advantages in rapid track initiation and doubled data rate are significant.”
Those two sentences, all by themselves, explain why USUK-Fr has become so timid about Iraqi-fying/Libya-ising Syria – assuming the Russians have continued to upgrade the system since the cited report was written.
So … America’s Fake War Mongers really are fucked.
How quickly things change when the ‘facts on the ground’ turn out to be nothing more than piles & puddles of (cheap) bullshit, whimsy and wishful thinking.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 31 2013 19:26 utc | 53

@51
“If by “clean skins” you mean anonymous citizens emerging from the population, you are wrong.”
That is generally what I mean. There is no doubt that the FBI monitors every citizen in the country via social media (possibly through email) but they still have to make a decision on what to do.
I guess I don’t quite mean to equate this “clean skin” idea (and that’s not my phrasing or anything) with “anonymity”. It’s got nothing to do with being under surveillance. We’re all under surveillance to some degree, no doubt. Now it has everything to do with how far the FBI is going to respond to “threats”.
If the basic manner in which the secret police operate is this: gather intelligence, act on the intelligence. Both of these things must, theoretically, be carried out within the confines of the law.
Look, the FBI could have simply taken the elder Tsarnaev and locked him up simply because the Russians called. But that wasn’t politically possible. And the fact that he was a “clean skin” as opposed to a foreign national made it that much harder.
When your set to focus on is foreign nationals, things are easy – it is both a small set of people subject to limitless surveillance, and the legal options for dealing with them (being that they are not citizens) are practically unlimited. When the dangerous set becomes, say, immigrants, it is that much harder to do your job because both your set has expanded in size and the options on cracking down on them are slightly more limited. Keep going up the social hierarchy and you see the problem.

Posted by: guest77 | May 31 2013 21:15 utc | 55

@Don Bacon#23&24:
Some possibly good news from recent State Dept. pressers:
1) Victoria Nuland (AKA Mrs. Robert Kagan) has been replaced as spokes.
2) Ambassador Ford will be leaving the Syria assignment soon.
It may well be that under Secretary Kerry, the US will be drawing back from a neocon/neolib agenda. But then, our multimillionaire Secretary may be substituting an approach of trying to bribe our way out of problems.

Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Jun 1 2013 0:08 utc | 57

Syrians ‘executed in cold blood’ by al-Qaeda group
mr.z
14 days ago
3
Al Qaeda
Blood
cold
executed
group
Syrians
World
PreviousNext
A still from a video showing the men prior to their execution by Al-Nusra rebels in Syria. Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Syrian rebels have been shown on video executing 11 shackled men in cold blood after a sharia court condemned them to death for fighting with the government.
The al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front said it had executed the men, who were shown blindfolded and kneeling as they were shot in the head, for participating in massacres of civilians.
The gunman shouted God is great after firing each shot to the head.
The video is the second in two days to show such executions by fighters who say they are from al Qaeda-linked groups.
“The sharia court for the eastern region in Deir al-Zor has sentenced to death these apostate soldiers that committed massacres against our brothers and families in Syria,” the executioner declared on the video.
Al-Nusra has been designated a terrorist organisation by the US government and moves are on track to designate it as part of al-Qaeda through the United Nations.
A video posted online on Wednesday from the northern province of Raqqa, which is controlled by Islamist rebels, showed three blindfolded men sitting on the curb of a central roundabout before being shot in the head with a pistol. A man speaking in the video said the executions were revenge for killings in the coastal town of Banias two weeks ago.
http://banoosh.com/blog/2013/05/17/syrians-executed-in-cold-blood-by-al-qaeda-group/
‘revenge’?

Posted by: brian | Jun 1 2013 1:30 utc | 59

Posted by: somebody | May 31, 2013 10:13:49 AM | 39
i left them some comments to chew on

Posted by: brian | Jun 1 2013 1:46 utc | 61

@55 you are right re: those two attacks. There are certainly more examples.
My point would be about the difficulty of preventing attacks, yours seems to be that the attacks are not meant to be prevented. I honestly can’t argue with you considering the track record of explicit warnings being ignored until they turn into a quick advantage for the elite and tragedies for the rest of us.
That said, I don’t think the two examples say much other than A) the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and B) options for the police are few.
Having your uncle’s daughter being in the CIA is not the same as being seen to be a imminent threat. In fact, if anything, its entirely possible that the connection allowed the Tsarnaevs brother further cover to fly under.
The same with the man in England. He was clearly a threat, which is why, not being able to arrest him, the M16 tried – apparently – to turn him. That’s my point. The options with dealing with people – even clear threats – are fewer and more difficult for the police as radicalization reaches the core of western societies.
My main point is the only path out of the cycle of violence is the one that will never be taken: do the right thing, start following the rule of law, and begin to treat people with dignity and justice.

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 1 2013 2:08 utc | 63

hardd core terrorists call brit man and american woman’martyrs’!
Keir Simmons @KeirSimmons
American woman and British man ‘martyred in Syria’ according to militant jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra.
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/were-american-nicole-lynn-mansfield-and-a-british-man-part-of-a-gladio-style-stay-behind-terrorist-force-in-syria/
they were with hard core killers Al-Nusra, the worst of islam
how can they be ‘martyrs’?

Posted by: brian | Jun 1 2013 3:06 utc | 65

For a long time the State Department goal was to “change the calculation” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. We haven’t heard that recently.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 1 2013 3:12 utc | 67

@67 I guess she just wanted to murder different people.

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 1 2013 3:27 utc | 69

Posted by: guest77 | May 31, 2013 11:27:51 PM | 68
thats not how it would have been presented: many jihadis see their war on syria as justified by the media reports of Assad atrocities. The reports are lies but people are not able to understand that professional media can and do lie

Posted by: brian | Jun 1 2013 3:33 utc | 71

over at the morally challenged Christian Science Monitor Editorial Board:
‘ Putin’s decision to send sophisticated S-300 antiaircraft missiles to Syria’s embattled regime shows a moral indifference to human suffering and popular demands for democracy’
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35122.htm
this sums up the dead end of western journalism.
‘Embattled regime’? hasnt CSM seen the cannibals the are battling and CSM is supporting?

Posted by: brian | Jun 1 2013 3:59 utc | 73

Time for Russia to Make a Stand
By Prof. Rodney Shakespeare
May 30, 2013 “Information Clearing House” – It’s time for Russia to make a stand. Now or never. Russia’s future is at stake just as much as the future of others
etc
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35121.htm

Posted by: brian | Jun 1 2013 4:03 utc | 75

US senator enters a country illegally and meets with terrorists? No worries says US regime
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/29/1212494/-Idiotic-Sen-McCain-goes-to-Syria-and-meets-with-kidnappers
even Dailykos sees it as only an embarrassment
‘Senator McCain’s blundering has put the US in the same camp as kidnappers in the minds of millions in the Middle East. Like America needs more bad PR in the Middle East. Way to win hearts and minds, Senator Clueless’
US is not in the same camp or league as the kidnappers: the latter are rank amateurs in the field compared to the US war machine

Posted by: brian | Jun 1 2013 4:27 utc | 77

@72
Oh, they’re just natural allies, cannibalism being a key rite in every Christian service. 😉

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 1 2013 4:30 utc | 79

@78
No doubt about it that the events in Syria suit enough of the Democratic leadership just fine. Obama is cooly playing his hand, and Mr. McCain and Ms. Graham are on the other side of that divide.
Though in the big picture they don’t amount to much (meaning, the methods very greatly, but the ends are all the same), there are some very interesting differences in Democrat and Republican policy on foreign policy issues. Making McCain look the fool is important politically. Playing up the cannibal story (it is remarkable and certainly no accident that it had the life it did in the press) is important in keeping the temperature of the war fever down as well.
Seeing as how the Democrats have been much harder on the jihadists than the Republicans were, and seeing as how desperately they are trying to put the Middle East behind them, maybe we should put a little more emphasis on Nasrallah original taunt to the Takfiris – that they we’re being lured into Syria to be slaughtered.
“I warn al-Qaeda: the Americans and the European countries and Arab and Islamic countries have set a trap for you in Syria, and opened for you a battlefield so you come from across the world… to be killed and to kill each other…”
Maybe we will be luck enough to see the Russians and the Americans spring the trap at Geneva. Seal the borders with Turkey and Jordan and let the Syrians kill the jihadis.
A guy can dream…

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 1 2013 4:57 utc | 81

EU allows terrorists to open bank accounts in fortress europe
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/eu-allows-banks-open-accounts-syrian-rebels
imagine if HAMAS or hezbollah were to open accounts there

Posted by: brian | Jun 1 2013 5:30 utc | 83

@55
I don’t want to leave the impression that there isn’t something entirely and completely fucked up about all of this. Especially the shooting of the man in Florida.

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 1 2013 5:43 utc | 85

He certainly took killing Bin Laden more seriously than Bush did. He’s not taking trips to Syria to visit with them. I think there are a few ways in which you can argue – Syria being the most important of them – that Obama sees Al Qaeda less as a useful tool, and more as an enemy.
But like I said, the end result is all the same and so in that case it’s hard to see meaning in differences of methods.

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 1 2013 5:49 utc | 87

Regarding the protests in Istanbul, from yesterday:
https://twitter.com/HSNCML/status/340511409282629632/photo/1
The bosporus bridge was closed to traffic but more are walking from Asia to Europe to join the protests at Taksim square [picture taken early morning]
https://twitter.com/basarcankaya/status/340680728624889857/photo/1
There were impromptu marches all accross the country, some at 2:00 am!
Erdogan better back down quickly, or this will turn real ugly. Rumours are swirling that more policemen are being flown into Istanbul from the rest of the country, as well as busloads of protestors expected to converge on Taksim square later today, 19:00 local time.
Various luxury hotels, businesses have been helping out, giving food to protestors, and there were gas masks handed out to some protestors from the Istanbul Army HQ [down the road from Taksim].

Posted by: kodlu | Jun 1 2013 6:39 utc | 89

I wonder how much Erdo can relay on the army, should the police alone prove unable to crush the demonstrations. Are the Generals now Erdogan’s men? If so is it out of loyalty and ideological compatibility, or just plane fear? And what of the colonels and mid-level officers? It would be ironic, though not at all surprising, if formerly anti-military leftists ally with the military against Islamists.

Posted by: Lysander | Jun 1 2013 8:49 utc | 91

@88 “who knows what Obama really thinks. All we see are public statements. so NO Obama does not take alqaeda more seriously as an enemy”
Obama could easily ramp up the violence in Syria with almost no price to pay at home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he deserves that Peace Prize he got. I’m just saying that he does seem – or at least seems to seem – more aggressive on Al Qaeda with a mind to putting the GWOT behind the United States.
The Democrats are trying to pull itself out of the quicksand GWB got it stuck in – probably so they can focus on attacking Asia (like they are currently doing in Malaysia). Unfortunately, as the US tries to climb out of the quicksand, Israel keeps throwing sandbags into our arms.
All I’m suggesting is that there is a clear difference in tactics. To what degree it has been able to be put into effect is arguable. To the degree that the difference in the goal (preserve the US dominant position and prevent any other power from challenging it, described by both ZBig and PNAC) is not arguable: there is none.

Posted by: guest77 | Jun 1 2013 15:11 utc | 93

U.S. withholds millions pledged to help Syrian opposition

The United States is withholding $63 million that it had pledged to the main Syrian opposition organization because the Obama administration is frustrated with the group’s disarray and is searching for more credible partners to support in the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar Assad, knowledgeable officials said Friday.
The decision not to fund the Syrian Opposition Coalition contrasts sharply with the Obama administration’s continued public expressions of confidence in the group, which has been central to U.S. policy on Syria since last fall and which the administration recognizes as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
But U.S. officials said privately that they are fed up with the group’s inability to organize, appoint a government-in-exile or reach decisions on a wide range of issues. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity so as to more freely discuss sensitive diplomacy.

Kerry’s Syrian Quagmire

Yet the move from the Russians is only the latest signal that peace talks between the Syrian opposition and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which the United States hopes to hold in July, face slim odds at best.
…
“The opposition is in no place tactically or politically to enter into Geneva right now, so they should not be pushed,” said one State Department official, who referred to the timing of the talks as a “mystery.” “It is a long shot to get them there — and if we get them there I think it will further divide the opposition.”
…
“From the administration perspective… the only thing that will work in this situation is the ‘negotiated settlement,’ and so that is where this White House wants to keep it,” said a second State Department official. “There appears to be no interest in doing any next steps, and so this is sort of a fallback because the next step is not something that they are willing to envision.”
No Plan B has emerged in discussions with Washington diplomats about what to do should the peace talks fail to end the savage two-year conflict. The other options before the White House, according to this official, “are all problematic, they are all not easy and from where I sit there really is not interest in being involved. Period.”
…
“The idea is we exhaust every possibility,” said a third State Department official who was not authorized to speak on the record. “We are facing this enormous confluence of bad things happening but a limited arsenal.”
…
“It is a policy of containment, non-intervention at all costs,” said the first State Department official. “Short of sarin gas being lobbed at Tel Aviv, we are not going to intervene.”

Posted by: b | Jun 1 2013 17:38 utc | 95

do the right thing and get sanctioned by US dictatorship
Ukraine Renews Rejection of Foreign Interference in Syria
http://sana.sy/eng/21/2013/06/01/485236.htm
&
US imposes sanctions on Ukrainian and Kyrgyz airlines, Iran’s petrochemical companies
http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_01/U-S-sanctions-Ukrainian-and-Kyrgz-air-carriers-2610/
——————
its time states sanctioned the US…dont let themk get away with mass murder

Posted by: brian | Jun 2 2013 3:30 utc | 97

‘Imagine this: Newspapers and broadcasters in China suddenly start to denounce the British government. They call it a ‘regime’. They say that its treatment of its Muslim minority is cruel and unjust.’
but isnt that what UK is? a ‘regime’? which implies unsavoury and not legitimate, an institution that operates outside pubic oversight and to sinister ends

Posted by: brian | Jun 2 2013 12:52 utc | 99