re 1 Zahran Alloush
I see no reason to suppose that any new ‘uniting’ leader is going to be more successful than any other in Syria.

Posted by: alexno | Dec 28 2013 22:05 utc | 4

@1 does that muslim sisterhood also want to wage war on syria?
——————————
Convincing evidence suggests that Egypt’s President Mohammad Morsi was ousted from power in a military coup in part because the Egyptian army feared he was plotting to order them to invade Syria in support of the embattled death squad insurgency against the Assad government there.
The combination of Morsi’s aggressive designs against Syria, together with some trial balloons from presidential circles about a possible conflict with Ethiopia, plus the massive anti-Morsi demonstrations organized by the National Salvation Front and the Tamarod movement, convinced military leaders that the incompetent and erratic Morsi, who had destroyed his own popularity by selling out to the demands of the International Monetary Fund last November, represented an intolerable risk for Egypt.
According to the Washington Post, the dissatisfaction of the Egyptian military with Morsi “peaked in June, when Morsi stood by twice as officials around him called for Egyptian aggression against Ethiopia and Syria, threatening to suck Egypt into conflicts that it could ill afford, former military officials said.” (Michael Birnbaum, “Protests Were the Catalyst for Military’s Move against Morsi,” Washington Post, July 6, 2013)
Morsi’s call for Holy War against Assad came just three days after US Secretary of State John Kerry, at a meeting of the Principals’ Committee of the US Government, tried to ram through an immediate bombing campaign against Damascus, but had to settle for the option of arming the Syrian terrorist opposition, leading many observers to conclude that the Egyptian president was acting as part of a US anti-Syrian strategy.
June 15: Morsi Breaks Diplomatic Relations with Damascus
The beginning of the end for Egypt’s first elected president came in mid-June, when he attended a militant Islamist conference “in support of the Syrian uprising” at a 20,000-seat indoor stadium in Cairo. As the packed hall chanted and applauded deliriously, Morsi announced: “We have decided to close down the Syrian Embassy in Cairo. The Egyptian envoy in Damascus will also be withdrawn. The people of Egypt and its army will not leave Syrians until their rights are granted and the new elected leadership is chosen.” (Al Ahram online, June 15, 2013)
By thus breaking off diplomatic relations with another Arab state, Morsi was joining the dubious company of the NATO-backed puppet regimes in Libya and Tunisia, the only Arabs so far to have called home their envoys from Damascus. And for Cairo, such a move has far greater significance, given that Egypt and Syria were politically united between 1958 and 1961 in a single nation as the United Arab Republic, one of the fruits of President Nasser’s Pan-Arab Socialism. http://tarpley.net/2013/07/09/morsi-ousted-by-generals-to-stop-attack/

Posted by: brian | Dec 28 2013 23:07 utc | 6

If you ever get a chance to see Hunger (2008), the feature-length debut of Steve McQueen, the director whose 12 Years a Slave is still in theaters, make sure to check it out.
Hunger deals with the Provisional Irish Republican Army blanket and dirty protests in H-Block Long Kesh culminating in the hunger strike led by Bobby Sands. It is an art film but one that packs a wallop. I got to see it again Christmas Day, and I have to say that the long dialogue scene between Bobby and his Catholic priest at the center of the movie is like nothing I’ve ever seen in cinema.

Posted by: Mike Maloney | Dec 28 2013 23:52 utc | 8

@ Alexno
Agree, the Israelis have always wanted a united Kurdistan, since it would A) give them a non-arab state in the neighbourhood that it could do business with, and B) since it would balkanise Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran weakening many of Israels historical enemies. Israel has always pushed for Kurdish statehood even while denying Palestinian statehood.
On Zahran Alloush I also agree with you, many have tried to unite the rebel ranks and all have failed, likely Alloush will suffer the same. But he does seem to be Bandar’s man on the ground, which is a big advantage. He also now commands the largest rebel force in Syria, double ISIS and Nusra’s manpower combined (if you believe his numbers).
@ brian
Yeah I remember Morsi’s comments on Syria and I also know the MB has historical back channel ties with the US. Still I’d prefer a Muslim Brotherhood revolutionary government in Egypt, than a General Sisi counter-revolutionary government in Egypt. Two reasons.
For one, it was the Saudi’s that engineered the coup that Sisi led. The Saudi’s hate the Muslim Brotherhood. Having them sweep back into power after the Saudi’s stabbed them in the back would be a huge blow.
Second reason is Israel-Palestine. Hamas needs to have the MB in Egypt to be powerful itself and it would worry the Israeli’s greatly to have a Muslim Brotherhood government leading Egpyt.

Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Dec 29 2013 0:09 utc | 10

Would you say that Russian and Iranian military might is not as good as they claim to be? If it is,, how come they can’t get rid of a bunch of apes with AKs?
Posted by: Shoes | Dec 28, 2013 4:43:37 PM | 2
As ralphieboy says at 5, “”assymetrical warfare” is a way for small bands of lightly armed but flexible combattants to maintain or even prevail over a well equipped, traditional military force.”
The Yankees are utterly hopeless at boots-on-the-ground ‘counterinsurgency’ as they discovered in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq (where the real US death-toll was defined in such a way as to exclude between 80% and 90% of total US deaths from the Official US body count – remember the ban on photographing/counting flag-draped coffins?), and are now discovering in their dumbass Afghan SNAFU.
Russian and Iranian “military might” are irrelevant to the on-the-ground conflict in Syria. It’s illegal for either of them to interfere directly in the ‘civil war’ – unless specifically requested to do so by the Syrian Govt, and even then (if) ONLY at the specific, task by task direction of the Syrian govt.
Russia’s role is to supply anything Assad needs to conduct the fight AND to kill (stone dead) any attempt at direct Western intervention. That will be such a non-problem for the Russian military that no Western leader/military wonk/wanker will even raise the subject intervention again.
I’m not sure what Iran’s role is but it’s a fairly safe bet that they are supplying the SAA with whatever materiel they can spare AND supplying trained personnel to fulfil a role similar to Hezbollah.
The Syrian Fake Civil War will probably continue for at least another 2 years (my guess) unless Russia can dream up a good excuse to wreck some Saudi and/or US infrastructure as an ‘incentive’ to cut off “rebel” funding. If the Russians are thinking this way, a violent event at Sochi could provide a casus belli for some blowback on Saudi assets.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 29 2013 3:14 utc | 12

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-28/new-new-great-game-geography-energy-dollar-and-gold
“Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;
Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island;
Who rules the World Island commands the World.”
hey, maybe this is why NATO always try to pry eastern Europe away from Russia.

Posted by: spiuk1 | Dec 29 2013 4:29 utc | 14

Reports on communication with Shaaban’s office regarding suicide of British Doctor baseless
Dec 26, 2013
Damascus, (SANA)- Office of Presidential Political and Media Advisor, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, categorically denied as baseless anybody contacted them on the accident of the suicide of the British Doctor, Abbas Khan.
“Statements of the doctor ‘s sister Sara Khan to the British BBC channel and what the Lebanese al-Jadeed TV and al-Joumhuria Gazette have circulated are groundless allegations”, the office added.
The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry on December 18 summoned representative of the Czech Embassy in Damascus who is charged with managing British interests section in Syria, submitting to him a tripartite medical report on the death of the British citizens Abbas Khan Shah who had entered Syria illegally and participated in illegal activities.
The report stated that Khan Shah’s death was caused by asphyxiation caused by self-inflicted hanging performed with the intent of committing suicide, with examination of the body’s torso and x-rays showing no sign of violence, struggle or use of force.
Receiving the Czech Embassy official, Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad said that Syria was about to hand over Khan Shah to his mother and UK MP George Gallaway who intervened to pardon him.
H. Zain/ Ghossoun
http://sana.sy/eng/21/2013/12/26/519534.htm

Posted by: brian | Dec 29 2013 6:26 utc | 16

15) They would say that wouldn’t they?

Posted by: somebody | Dec 29 2013 7:51 utc | 18

This most recent post from China Matters has nothing to do with China, but is of some interest for its analysis of the RSA-NSA collusion, which probably coincides with the prevailing views here.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Dec 29 2013 9:22 utc | 20

That’s the UAE National, not the USAian ‘Progressive’ entity, The Nation. And what is interesting is that although the one you link is so to say, the ‘official non-official line,’ author Phil sands wrote another one which they published on the same day, yesterday, which undermines the ‘official non-official’ claims in the first one. Whereas the first one says:

Islamist factions outside of the FSA, including groups aligned to AQ, are not involved with the operations room and do not directly receive weapons or military advice… The US and EU are not supplying munitions to rebels… FSA units also had to pledge they would not transfer weapons to militant Islamist groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra, which has a small but powerful presence on Syria’s southern front…

The second one says:

Islamist rebel units that are not part of the FSA are also key players in Dera’a, and opposition figures said these factions were also supplied directly with weapons from Gulf states and cash from private donors. Some of the direct funding and munitions supplies ends up in the hands of Jabhat al-Nusra, rebels in Dera’a said. Nusra, while small in terms of numbers in Dera’a, is well-equipped and cooperates with the FSA and other Islamist rebel factions in carrying out attacks against regime forces, rebels said.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Dec 29 2013 9:55 utc | 22

from Pussy Riot to gay olympics and Greenpeace shenanigans to this:
‘DEVELOPING: At least 18 people were killed in a blast at a railway station in Russian city of Volgograd, according to the regional government. A female suicide bomber is suspected to have carried out the attack, says the National Anti-terrorism Committee.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lusGwpEPU6E
#gettingserious

Posted by: brian | Dec 29 2013 11:50 utc | 24

Hollande is meeting Hariri “the chief of Lebanon’s Sunnis” (SIC) in Saudi Arabia, “where he has most of his businesses”, while he normally lives in Paris, “for security reasons” (LOL)
http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/12/28/la-france-meilleure-alliee-de-l-arabie-saoudite-au-liban-comme-en-syrie_4340996_3210.html

Posted by: Mina | Dec 29 2013 14:44 utc | 26

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25544352
KSA opens a line for Lebanon’s army funding
http://www.lemonde.fr/moyen-orient/article/2013/12/29/hollande-en-visite-en-arabie-saoudite-ce-dimanche_4341087_1667081.html
Bankrupt France gets a tip
Looks like to exist as the godfather of “Arab” countries, KSA needs Egypt and Lebanon to survive (but no more).

Posted by: Mina | Dec 29 2013 19:21 utc | 28

@ Mina | 27
About KSA funding:
“The king of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is offering this generous and appreciated aid of $3bn to the Lebanese army to strengthen its capabilities,” Mr Sleiman said in his address.
The BBC’s Arab Affairs Editor Sebastian Usher said the president indirectly touched on a dangerous taboo in Lebanon – the unchecked power of the Shia movement, Hezbollah.
So KSA is buying not only Lebanese politicians but army as well now, and in turn Hezbollah will have to be checked, or worse – by Western and KSA definition eventually treated as terrorists.

Posted by: Harry | Dec 29 2013 20:45 utc | 30

Interesting too that the last two weeks activity has been so arrayed along the tectonic plates outside of the Ring of Fire. Don’t think I have ever seen that before.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 29 2013 21:02 utc | 32

32) Something seems to have changed from November

Two weeks have passed since President Michel Suleiman returned from his visit to Saudi Arabia, and the bad news about how it went keeps flowing. It was billed as a critical visit during which the Lebanese president was hoping to get a Saudi nod in favor of forming a government.
In the end, very little was achieved other than a cold reception by the king, who barely had anything to say to Suleiman, other than ordering him to send the army after Hezbollah to prevent it from fighting in Syria.
Worse yet, when the president arrived at the meeting with the king, he was surprised to see former prime minister Saad Hariri sitting by the monarch’s side, as if he were the honored guest.
…
At this point, it was impossible for Suleiman to raise the issue of forming a government – if the Saudis want the Lebanese army to fight Hezbollah, then having a reasonable discussion about a new cabinet seemed impossible.
The president did manage to raise the issue of Syrian refugees and support for the army with other Saudi officials he met. In the end, however, he returned demoralized, with nothing more than promises and a sense that Lebanon will continue to be site of confrontation and violence for the coming months.

Posted by: somebody | Dec 29 2013 21:16 utc | 34

34) This here is Iranian press tv’s interpretation of events :-))
Lebanon needs strong army to confront Israel: Sleiman
Actually, France is desperate to export Rafale fighters
Should be fun.

Posted by: somebody | Dec 29 2013 22:16 utc | 36

Has anyone seen the New Year’s greeting to NATO from the Russian Deputy Premier? It’s really pretty droll. (read the comments below the story for more humor)

Posted by: Copeland | Dec 29 2013 23:09 utc | 38

37 It is Russian humour. Like this

What Russia proposes right now is a common economic and humanitarian space between Lisbon and Vladivostok.

Posted by: somebody | Dec 29 2013 23:22 utc | 40

@40 I would rather Russia didn’t do anything covertly, but I think a simple insult in public e.g. not invite them to the winter Olympics (with the reasoning that they don’t talk to terrorists) might do wonders.

Posted by: simon | Dec 30 2013 2:00 utc | 42

BEIRUT: Syrian children have suffered the “sharpest and most rapid” decline in education standards in the history of the region, UN and aid agencies said in a report published on Friday.
“Nearly three years of brutal conflict in Syria have reversed more than a decade of progress in children’s education,” said the children’s fund UNICEF, refugee agency UNHCR, and the World Vision and Save the Children charities.
While Syria once had one of the Middle East’s best education indicators, the decline has been “the sharpest and most rapid … of anywhere in the region,” it said.
“More than 4,000 Syrian schools have been destroyed, damaged or turned into shelters for displaced people,” said the report, adding that nearly half of Syria’s 4.8 million Syrian children of school age are not in school.
Also, “more than half a million refugee children are not in school outside Syria. The numbers are rising by the day.”
Children “have been forced to quit their education as fighting has destroyed classrooms, left children too terrified to go to school, or seen families flee the country,” said a statement accompanying the report.
“At best, children are getting sporadic education. At worst, they drop out of schools and are forced to work to support their families,” it added.
Teachers have been killed or have fled, schools destroyed or used as military positions, and parents have grown wary of the “risk” of sending their children to class.
Refugee children also face a “different dialect, different curricula, limited or no learning spaces, physical safety, poverty and community tensions.”
In host countries such as Lebanon or Jordan where hundreds of thousands of Syrians have sought refuge, local communities also pay the price of Syria’s conflict as classrooms have become “overcrowded.”
Jordan is expecting a 40 per cent rise in the number of Syrian schoolchildren by the end of 2014, and in Lebanon, the number is expected to double, said the report.
It recommended long-term planning for the education of displaced Syrian children and called for more support to host countries.

– AFP/fl
The West, we are told, at some point emerges from the Age of Religion which supposedly led to the Age of Reason!?!
120.000+ death, destroyed lives and future, billions of dollars of the Arab’s patrimony gone.
An irony of this article is that in the second passage are mentioned the so-called NGOs, self- aggrandized “humanitarian”, which coming from the country that is chief source of the evil and the cause of calamity in Syria. Two of them are Evangelical/Zionist sponsored NGOs, and the UN (as globalist) is trailing them in their mission. Thus we have the worst mixture of the evangelical zeal and the corporate fascism cloaked as a humanitarianism. If I were “somebody” in Damascus I would know what to do with them… “Fear the Greeks bearing gifts”
Seen and witness this before, in another place, in another time. But the story is same. Hope this refuges will stay in its land, and there not going to ask the White Man for asylum.

Posted by: neretva’43 | Dec 30 2013 4:18 utc | 44

http://youtu.be/vc1J4t4t6eo
The White Man with the Hermes ties and the Ferragamo shoes.

Posted by: neretva’43 | Dec 30 2013 4:33 utc | 46

raise you hands if you trust the ‘fairmindedness of the american people’, by which T Friedmann means the US system of justice?
http://www.thecactusland.com/2013/12/vladimir-vladimirovich-and-grey-lady.html
‘Most Americans see Edward Snowden as whistle blower and not a traitor, yet The NY Times star editorialist, Thomas Friedman, isn’t so sure, “The fact is, he dumped his data and fled to countries that are hostile to us,” though he doesn’t elaborate on why Russia is a ‘hostile’ nation and he advises Snowden to come home and face the music if he’s truly a patriot, “It would mean risking a lengthy jail term, but also trusting the fair-mindedness of the American people.”’

Posted by: brian | Dec 30 2013 4:44 utc | 48

@28
Hollande does for ‘socialist’ presidents what Obama does for black ones

Posted by: brian | Dec 30 2013 4:48 utc | 50

Department of State ‏@StateDept 2h
We stand with the #Russian people against terrorism and condemn in strongest terms the attack in #Volgograd http://go.usa.gov/ZRRe

Posted by: brian | Dec 30 2013 8:09 utc | 52

53) Harry, the same logic applies to the perpetrators of terror as to the rulers of the populations sitting at the receiving/backlash end.
Terrorism does not challenge power. It aids power as frightened populations flock to their rulers kissing the sheep dog.
Putin is not worried about Caucasus terrorism by mad religionists. He would be worried by a viable Caucasus nationalist movement claiming indigenous resources.
KSA is safe except from people claiming freedom and their resources.

Posted by: somebody | Dec 30 2013 9:53 utc | 54

One aspect of the Libya and Syria Fake uprisings I still can’t get my head around is the fact that the (Muslim extremist) jihadis are doing exactly the same thing to those two Muslim countries as “Israelis” and Yankees would have done to them – if they had the balls to go there in person.
Maybe the “Israelis” were right all along.
This brand of Islamic Tomfoolery redefines the meaning of the term Useful Idiots.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 30 2013 11:31 utc | 56

murikka owes china more than just money, a lot more…
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2001/04/09/ode-to-wang-wei/
http://www.voltairenet.org/article177116.html
http://english.sina.com/china/p/2009/0707/253947.html
http://www.cctv.com/english/special/tibetriots/17/index.shtml
………………………
these just the tip of the iceberg !

Posted by: denk | Dec 30 2013 16:49 utc | 58

UN Vienna convention is a problem for Uruguay but not for Colorado?
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ee3bc9a-5e76-11e3-8621-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2oym4c0Hm
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/green-wednesday-colorado-prepares-for-over-the-counter-sale-of-recreational-marijuana-9030449.html

Posted by: Mina | Dec 30 2013 17:15 utc | 60

Sibel Edmonds: I will continue to write my commentary and investigative series on our new phony hero Glenn Greenwald. Snowjob and Greenwash?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 31 2013 2:54 utc | 62

Rowan Berkeley 60
i speak too soon,
cant post at wapo now…:-(

Posted by: denk | Dec 31 2013 6:01 utc | 64

The Fetuallah Gulen movement is a CIA front.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/01/islamic_group_is_cia_front_ex-.html
More unrest in Turkey
http://www.phantomreport.com/outside-forces-erdogans-rift-with-cia-backed-cleric-widens
A must read website: “Informed Comment”:
http://www.juancole.com

Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 3 2014 22:52 utc | 66

a rare admission
Conor Friedersdorf: “What good are frequent elections if the people are ignorant as to the actual policies their representatives have put into place?” http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/why-secret-law-is-un-american/282786/

Posted by: brian | Jan 3 2014 23:18 utc | 68

since this has nothing to do with the other topics but is something that shows up from time to time, I thought I would send Bernhard to this site to see if there is anything there that might keep really long urls from breaking the margins.
many thanks for a most excellent site. as many others have offered, should you need equipment or some spare change, just let us know.
dan

Posted by: dan of steele | Jan 4 2014 14:27 utc | 70

bad men make bad laws

Posted by: brian | Jan 5 2014 0:08 utc | 72

Australia’s Northern Territory government is starting to hire out prisoners to businesses.

NT government defends plan to put prisoners to work in abattoir
[…] prisoners would get minimum wages after being trained, although the money will be held by the Territory to pay for their board.
“One of the great things about the Sentenced to a Job program is that it enables training to occur, so that many of these people who have no particular skills at all when they come into custody develop skills and then move into full-time work before they leave prison,” he said. […]

In true Nazi fashion inmates are made to work for the industry, wages garnered to pay for being locked up. Instead of building war machinery however they get to slaughter pigs and cows. Great skill to teach prisoners.

Posted by: Juan Moment | Jan 5 2014 6:14 utc | 74

#75…
Watched a piece on CNN this morning about this, with the commentator prattling on about Kim’s “human rights abuses”, and how despicable it was to give this basketball game to Kim as a birthday present.
Lets see…. Abu Ghraib….Gitmo….500,000 children dead from the 1991 thru 2003 sanctions….how many dead from the actual invasion???
Lets see….Netanyahu, Congress’s butt buddy and our “most valued middle east ally”….
Human rights for Palestinians??? HUH??? They’re human? Who knew?

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Jan 7 2014 15:08 utc | 76

thousands of chinese workers fleeing from the unrest in south sudan !
sounds familiar….iraq, libya, myanmar, pakistan,
sudan ?
robbery in broad daylight.

Posted by: denk | Jan 11 2014 5:23 utc | 78