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January 31, 2014
Open Thread 2014-02
Comments
As U.S. officials Samantha Power and John Kerry have recently mounted the high horse of superior Western values to inveigh against the brutality of the Syrian government, it is important to note their silence regarding the jailing of journalists in Cairo by the military junta.
Why can’t Kerry give a speech saying the free press must be respected, let the Al Jeezera TV reporters go?
Creating a terror infrastructure in Jordan must be a higher priority.
Posted by: Mike Maloney | Jan 31 2014 16:51 utc | 1
– On Ukraine: The Guardian finally takes a step away from supporting colour revolutions. Seumus Milne actually reports on the side of the Ukraine protests that the media don’t present in a piece headlined, “In Ukraine, fascists, oligarchs and Western Expansion”.
EU membership has never been – and very likely never will be – on offer to Ukraine. As in Egypt last year, the president that the protesters want to force out was elected in a poll judged fair by international observers. And many of those on the streets aren’t very keen on democracy at all.
You’d never know from most of the reporting that far-right nationalists and fascists have been at the heart of the protests and attacks on government buildings. One of the three main opposition parties heading the campaign is the hard-right antisemitic Svoboda, whose leader Oleh Tyahnybok claims that a “Moscow-Jewish mafia” controls Ukraine. But US senator John McCain was happy to share a platform with him in Kiev last month. The party, now running the city of Lviv, led a 15,000-strong torchlit march earlier this month in memory of the Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera, whose forces fought with the Nazis in the second world war and took part in massacres of Jews.
– On Turkey: The first news is coming out from Erdogan’s trip to Iran on Tuesday/Wednesday. Al Monitor speaks with some sources about the talks.
In public, it was all about economies, treaties and bilateral relations. Behind closed doors, however, the visit to Iran by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was all about Syria, Syria and Syria.
There are still differences, that’s obvious, but they’re not as crucial as they were before,” a source in Tehran commented to Al-Monitor in discussing Erdogan’s visit. “Almost two years ago, Erdogan came to Iran and insisted on meeting [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei to tell him that Iran’s bet on Assad would not yield any benefit. Back then, the leader told the Turkish guest, review your policies, your strategies, and come back. [Bashar al-] Assad won’t fall.”
Erdogan is back, and he is still in favor of toppling Assad, but according to the source, he is almost convinced that this is only a wish.
The most interesting part for me is this line:
Turkey has its own people in the opposition, and they’ve been isolated by the current backed by Saudi Arabia,” the source explained. “The need for change in Syria can be met by bringing together both the regime and the opposition. [These] talks can be more efficient than the ones taking place in Montreux.
– On Libya: Maybe the war in Libya is not over. Eric Draitser looks at the emerging “Green Resistence” by Pro-Gaddaffi supporters and black Libyans.
The battles currently raging in the South of Libya are no mere tribal clashes. Instead, they represent a possible burgeoning alliance between black Libyan ethnic groups and pro-Gaddafi forces intent upon liberating their country of a neocolonial NATO-installed government.
On Saturday January 18th, a group of heavily armed fighters stormed an air force base outside the city of Sabha in southern Libya, expelling forces loyal to the “government” of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, and occupying the base. At the same time, reports from inside the country began to trickle in that the green flag of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was flying over a number of cities throughout the country.
Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Jan 31 2014 16:57 utc | 2
My impression is that in Egypt you just don’t have a popular basis for the sort of secular, anti-imperialist Leftism that would be so welcome there. What you have a sub-Nasserist and to some extent pseudo-Nasserist, bourgeois nationalism embodied in the Army, and because it’s bourgeois, ie devoted to the joys of large-scale private property, it cannot even be relied upon to be anti-imperialist, whatever it may say. It will end up in the pocket of the big dollar boys, and we know who they are. But the only mass alternative to that is religious dictatorship which is even worse. So, as usual, there are plenty of Leftists in jail, or in the prison camps in the desert that nobody ever talks about but where you can rot away for decades. But Leftists are just inevitably going to end up on the losing end, until one day Egypt has a much higher level of education all round, then it may rear its head again, because it is generally a product of educated minds. Anyway, someone at al-Akhbar has knocked out a really beautiful specimen of sardonic Arab wisdom today, comparing Egypt with Syria: here.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Jan 31 2014 17:03 utc | 3
It occurs to me that in light of the incredible disclosures about the NSA and the Surveillance State (which exceed even the wildest fantasies of the so-called “conspiracy nuts”), that the Occupy movement was not so much stillborn as premature. How can we attain anything whatsoever with Big Brother looking over our shoulders, and actively working against freedom and human rights, and sticking at nothing?
Securing the Internet, et cetera, against this monstrosity should be our highest priority,
Another thought – the very phrases “Big Brother” and “1984” are not only a perfect description of what is happening, but are at the same time, glaringly absent from all mainstream media discussion of the affair.
A Islamist transitional government in Syria?
Tunisia and Egypt went through a similar process under the support by Qatar and Turkey to bring a Moslem Brotherhood leadership and the Sharia as the country law system.
Both got a Moslem Brotherhood ‘elected’ government. Both faced the removal of that government. In the case of Egypt by the powerful army. In the case of Tunisia, in the absence of a powerful army, by the pressure of the people.
The hopes of an Islamic government have faded away in both of this countries. The result is a radicalization of the Islamic extremists who reject secular and democratic system as anti-Islam.
Until now Tunisia has had rare terrorists acts on its territory. Yet many tunisians travelled to Syrian to learn the ropes. I expect both Egypt and Tunisia to face an increase in terrorist acts as they will unable to solve their economical problems, despite the flow of money the Saudi and the GCC are pouring in their economy.
In Syria, Turkey and Qatar have been pushing for a Moslem Brotherhood leadership by creating the SNC composed of “educated” Syrians expats belonging to the movement.
The fall of grace of the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt has been orchestrated by Saudi Arabia and the UAE fearing they would threat their family-ruled system. They went on a collision course with Qatar and Turkey.
In Syria, this has resulted in the weakening of the SNC and a parallel growth of other factions financed by Saudi Arabia, still obsessed by getting the head of the arrogant Bashar Al Assad.
Now we see Louay Safi, a convinced Moslem Brotherhood, retaking the leadership of the only delegation of the opposition present in Geneva.
It seems Qatar and Turkey are pushing for a ‘moderate’ Islamist transitional government similar to Egypt and Tunisia ( favored by Iran). They will claim, like in Tunisia, that this government’s aim would be to ensure end of the violence and elections.
If ever this comes true, they will have to win the trust of the Syrian army and the Syrian population. In view of the little probability of a success in this, this seems to be in the realm of a fantasy.
My view is that the country will be de facto divided and it will take time to get it reunited.
Posted by: Virgile | Jan 31 2014 18:15 utc | 5
#3;The Egyptian Brotherhood was marginalized,imprisoned,demonized etc.for the last 60? years in Egypt.When they acquired that democratic victory in,what was it 09?,they tried to implement their vision of government(Could one blame them?).This religious based change was opposed by the so called intelligentsia,the media,the industrialists and the military.The Brotherhoods mistake was to not use time to put their stamp on the militarists,and change it from the Mubarak era into a more Islamic entity.
I guarantee that the most popular force in Egypt today is Islam,despite serial liar MSM proclamation,and Egypt is in for a long destabilization and so called terror by this catastrophe of Field Marshal Sisi and our state department,as they totally tear the veil of our actual intent of policy in the region,which of course is Israeli security.
What ever happened to “When in Rome,do as the Romans do”attitude by US?Who are we to critique Islam,its customs and laws,when most of US will never set foot there,it has nothing to do with our lives,and do they interfere with our political life here?Your Islamic phobia is up to you,of course,but I just don’t get it at all,I focus on our own issues,which of course to me is,mind our own freakin business,right here at home,and all this international BS will collapse of the lack of American inertia,because I see absolutely no other force in this world today other than Zionism(which without our money would be much lessened),which is threatening anyone outside its own borders.
Posted by: dahoit | Jan 31 2014 18:30 utc | 6
@1 mike – very true and you have started the conversation rolling on what is going on with egypt. i agree with @6 dahoits view on this, which i think serves the usa and israels interests the best – an ongoing military dictatorship in egypt which is the least threatening option according to them. they could give a rats ass about democracy and all the rest of the clap trap that gets said in the msm.. looking at egypt and wondering why you never hear a peep out of the same ones in a rage about ukraine tells anyone paying attention all they need to know about hypocrisy of the highest order.
Posted by: james | Jan 31 2014 18:48 utc | 7
It’s not a matter of islamophobia, it’s a matter of religious government in general. The ‘vision’ of religious government is spurious, wherever it arises. It is the product of fraud, hallucination, and wishful thinking.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Jan 31 2014 18:55 utc | 8
As a relief from the ME & Ukraine, this is sort of amusing in a Schadenfreude kind of way about life in the higher latitudes of Europe:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/27/scandinavian-miracle-brutal-truth-denmark-norway-sweden
Posted by: poltroon | Jan 31 2014 20:18 utc | 9
Now a word from Commander Fidel:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CubaNews/conversations/messages/145175
Here is a conclusion I’ve come to after many years: among all the errors we may have committed, the greatest of them all was that we believed that someone really knew something about socialism, or that someone actually knew how to build socialism. It seemed to be a sure fact, as well-known as the electrical system conceived by those who thought they were experts in electrical systems. Whenever they said: “That’s the formula”, we thought they knew. Just as if someone is a physician. You are not going to debate anemia, or intestinal problems, or any other condition with a physician; nobody argues with the physician. You can think that he is a good doctor or a bad one, you can follow his advice or not, but you won’t argue with him. Which of us would argue with a doctor, or a mathematician, or a historian, or an expert in literature or in any other subject? But we must be idiots if we think, for example, that economy is an exact and eternal science and that it existed since the days of Adam and Eve, and I offer my apologies to the thousands of economists in our country.
Posted by: ruralito | Jan 31 2014 22:02 utc | 10
Maggie Alarcon, who HAS a sense of humo(u)r skewers your boughten “dissidents”
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CubaNews/conversations/messages/145196
The way I see it, if the situation in Cuba is such that dissident organizations feel the need to protest I totally stand behind them in their right to do so. My only quip is when these groups lay back and wait for someone from somewhere else to land on the island in order to help “coordinate dissent”, that part I don’t agree with. That part is called foreign intervention, or in a much less nicer term “being a mercenary” on the part of the Cuban dissent team.
Posted by: ruralito | Jan 31 2014 22:29 utc | 11
After minimizing the threat of terrorism and defending Al Nusra, Turkey is probably the next target of Al Qaeda as they are forced to leave Syria
Ankara alarmed over Qaeda threat in Syria
Ankara has woken up to the threat posed by al-Qaeda in Syria, reportedly taking measures against potential suicide bombing inside Turkey
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ankara-alarmed-over-qaeda-threat-in-syria.aspx?pageID=238&nid=61849&NewsCatID=338
Posted by: Virgile | Jan 31 2014 22:53 utc | 12
@rowan
“But the only mass alternative to that is religious dictatorship which is even worse”
Then on a next comment you say: “The ‘vision’ of religious government is spurious, wherever it arises. It is the product of fraud, hallucination, and wishful thinking”
So according to you, Egypt under Sissi is a secular dictatorship dependent of the West but much preferable to Morsi which was a religious “dictator”.
I clearly can imagine the way your political compass is moving: if a government is Islamic, no matter its independence or being the fruit of a genuine revolution (Iran’s for ex. come to my mind) you will be on the opposite camp.
Clearly, you have an ideological bias against Islam which puts you pretty close to the ex-trotskite neo-cons.
Posted by: ATH | Jan 31 2014 23:21 utc | 13
US, Turkey realizes al-Qaeda threat in Syria – a bit late
Echoing similar concerns, both U.S. and Turkish reports have shown the concerns are growing in Washington and Ankara. But what is missing is the al-Qaeda threat under the very nose of Turkey has been created thanks to the Turkish and U.S. government’s support to the anti-regime forces in Syria.
Just like the Western-created jihadists rulers of Afghanistan, and this later became a host of al-Qaeda and brought a more costly war. With Syria replacing Afghanistan as a new and better host, it has been a little late of a call.
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 1 2014 0:42 utc | 14
Hey, Netanyahu says that he wants to turn the “Internet from a curse into a blessing” by – get this – starting a “UN of the Internet” based – of course – in the apartheid genocidal state of Israel because Bibi sez Israel is the most advanced, yo!!! Can you dig it?!
Going from it being known that the apartheid genocidal state of Israel has a DIRECT tap into raw US Intel courtesy of the NSA etc, now the Israeli scum are going to play the victim card – once again – and try and come off as our cybersaviors?!! Awwwh yeah!
Holy What’s Bigger Than Hutzpah Batman?!!! Oh, I forgot, Pollard’s in jail b/c America is a bunch of neo-Nazis. My bad.
BTW, I wonder where Mr. Snowden falls on this topic?
Speaking of genocidal apartheid, it’s also been leaked that the “Peace Plan” – hold your laughter – will allow – wait for it – 75 PERCENT of the Israel scum settlers to stay in the West Bank!m What a deal!!
Why, it’s a WIN WIN WIN WIN World if you’re an insane Zionist!!!
Posted by: JSorrentine | Feb 1 2014 0:54 utc | 16
Outrageous police brutality in Beijing, or, this clown should be in a circus…
Posted by: estouxim | Feb 1 2014 1:06 utc | 17
churchill and the wahhabis
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/10/03/saudis_waking_up_to_terrorist_threat/
Posted by: brian | Feb 1 2014 1:14 utc | 18
Moscow – Chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Valentina Matviyenko, renewed her country’s support to a peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria through dialogue.
“I pledge to your Beatitude that the Russian policy led by President Vladimir Putin will not allow any foreign intervention in Syria because Russia does not see any solution for the crisis in Syria but through peaceful means,” Matviyenko said during her meeting with Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East John X Yazigi. She stressed that the humanitarian aid will continue to the Syrian people of all their components, expressing regret over kidnapping the two bishops and the nuns by the armed terrorist groups.
Chairwoman of the Federation Council warned that the current events in Syria prove the rising of the serious risks that are facing the region threatening of eliminating a 2000-year civilization, stressing that Russia will not allow of threatening the presence of Christians in the Middle East. For his part, Patriarch Yazigi hailed Russia’s stance in pursuit of bringing peace to the region and the whole world and in contribution to boosting relations between Russia and Syria and the Russian Church and Antioch Church in Syria and Lebanon.
He expressed gratitude for Russia and President Putin for efforts exerted to support truth. The Patriarch reaffirmed adherence to the guarantee of the continuity of the Christians’ presence in the region, pointing out “peace guarantee to the region is represented through the presence of all spectra of the community, Christians, Moslems and others or else nothing is going to be alright.” Earlier, Yazigi said that Syria has always been the land of coexistence and fraternity and that what is taking place in it is far from its history.
During a reception in Moscow on Tuesday attended by senior officials and members of the Syrian community, Yazigi said that Syria was never enslaved by anyone and will not be enslaved by terrorism, takfiri mentality or any other ideological extremism. Patriarch Yazigi expressed gratitude, on behalf of the Syrian people, to the Russian people, adding that the Russian people, Church and leadership have showed a great interest in the Syrian people and provided huge humanitarian aid. He noted that “We are here today in Moscow to pray for peace in Syria and the Middle East, and we hope we will see peace in Syria”.
In the same context, Patriarch Yazigi said, during a joint prayer held by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East, that having prayers in Moscow proves the deep-rooted relations binding the churches and people of Russia and Syria.
Earlier, Patriarch Yazigi delivered a speech at the Conferences Palace in the Kremlin in which he stressed the importance of unconditional political dialogue as to solve the crisis in Syria, adding that the world’s governments should assume responsibility in bringing peace, releasing kidnapped persons, especially Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskenderun, Bishop Paul Yazigi, and the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Bishop John Ibrahim and the Maaloula nuns.
http://breakingnews.sy/en/article/32959.html
Posted by: brian | Feb 1 2014 1:25 utc | 19
pretty good look at American Exceptionalism: Exceptionally Propagandized
Time Magazine covers regarding the olympics:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=467926339980690&set=a.231561786950481.43480.100002899851872&type=1&theater
rest at:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152228694666303&set=a.91091176302.121239.673031302&type=1
Posted by: guest77 | Feb 1 2014 1:51 utc | 20
“… Leftists are just inevitably going to end up on the losing end, until one day Egypt has a much higher level of education all round, then it may rear its head again, because it is generally a product of educated minds…”
You must be very tired to allow this sort of drivel to sully your name, Rowan. You may believe this most bourgeois of nonsenses- political consciousness is a function of academic training-I don’t doubt that you do. But you cannot call yourself a Marxist when you think this way.
ATH @13 is right: your views on Sisi are remarkably similar to Tony Blair’s which were in accord with the neo-cons who claimed to be former Trotskyists, although the truth is that they followed the money quickly enough to have to taken up (well rewarded) positions in the vanguard of the Cold War, at a time when real Trotskyists were still trying to understand the changing world.
The reality is that in Egypt there are 80 million people growing poorer and angrier every day. The good times are already over for Sisi and his fellows: $3 billion here and there buys lots of Swiss real estate but it doesn’t amount to a a day’s rations a year for the poor.
And yet the condition under which the Saudis and the US are bankrolling Sisi include reducing the masses to starvation and stripping them of the power to resist.
Nobody is going to make a revolution to restore the Brotherhood but the Brotherhood, shorn of its illusions and awake at last to reality, will play an important part in popular resistance to a dictatorship which holds the people in utter contempt, regarding its power, derived from the West, as irresistible.
The imperialist ruling class has come to believe its own propaganda and believes its hold over the minds of the “sheeple” or the “swinish multitude” is absolute. Sisi and his ilk-Prince Bandar and Erdogan, for example- believe the same.
The truth is that their power is fragile, dependent essentially on popular apathy and confusion. Neither of which can possibly survive the continued hammer blows at living standards, dignity and the possibility of improvement which the Empire deals out daily and will continue to until it is stopped.
And that will happen long before the world becomes literate and has learned to nod its head, dutifully, over the 1848 (think about that) Manifesto.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 1 2014 2:51 utc | 21
“And that will happen long before the world becomes literate and has learned to nod its head, dutifully, over the 1848 (think about that) Manifesto. “
I agree with this part 100 no make that 200%.
“The reality is that in Egypt there are 80 million people growing poorer and angrier every day. The good times are already over for Sisi and his fellows: $3 billion here and there buys lots of Swiss real estate but it doesn’t amount to a a day’s rations a year for the poor. “
How different do you think Morsi was? Would you prefer the same deal albeit with an islamic aura? or do you think Morsi/Khaitar al shater‘s Islamisim was making him any different?
Because it seems that ATH believes Morsi was somewhat different from Sisi, do you agree with him?
“Nobody is going to make a revolution to restore the Brotherhood but the Brotherhood, shorn of its illusions and awake at last to reality, will play an important part in popular resistance to a dictatorship which holds the people in utter contempt, regarding its power, derived from the West, as irresistible.”
Brotherhood has a history (in fact all forms of political islam do) and it is not separable from that history. The moment it becomes “shorn of its illusions” it will no longer be “brotherhood”!
By the way, what is your opinion bevin, what do you think “Islam” has to say in 21st century? What do you think Islam has to say about the division of working day between the necessary and surplus labour time? What do you think we can find about that division if we read Qoran from head to bottom?
If we find anything relevant to that question, what is it? and if we don’t find anything of relevance why should we persist on “islamicizing” any movement?
Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Feb 1 2014 3:40 utc | 22
“a dictatorship which holds the people in utter contempt, regarding its power, derived from the West, as irresistible.”
By the way bevin, would it make much of a difference if I changed in that sentence the bolded “from the West” part with a “from the GOD”??
Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Feb 1 2014 3:53 utc | 23
@ poltroon
An interesting and probably somewhat accurate account of Scandinavian culture.
I live in a portion of the upper Midwest of the US, which is heavily populated by people of Norwegian descent, and I notice here many of the same cultural attributes as the article points out–the introversion, the reticence, the Lutheran “modesty” (which simultaneously proclaims some moral superiority–go figure) , etc.
Posted by: sleepy | Feb 1 2014 4:17 utc | 24
@16 If Kerry is preparing a “Framework document” for the singular purpose of preventing Abbas from leaving the talks and going to the ICC (and, really, is there anyone who doubts this?) then these leaks make no sense whatsoever.
Think about it: Bibi is already committed to endless, pointless talks. He loves the idea, precisely because endless talks gives him an infinite amount of time to colonize the West Bank.
And, furthermore, Bibi has no Plan B to fall back – at least nothing what *won’t* accelerate his indictment for war crimes at the ICC.
But Abbas does have a Plan B: he already has everything he needs to have Bibi indicted for war crimes under Article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute. He simply needs to get up and take the next flight to The Hague and once the prosecution starts building the case then he knows that he has got Netanyahu cold.
Given those two facts the obvious strategy for Kerry is to….. pander to the guy who *can* get up and walk out (Abbas), not to pander to the dude who *can’t* afford to walk out (Bibi).
Q: So what will Kerry do?
A: Apparently he will pander to the Israels, and stick it to the Palestinians.
That’s stupid, stupid, stupid, because it all-but guarantees the outcome that Kerry wants to avoid i.e. that Abbas calls out this “peace process” as a farce (which it is) and green-lights the Plan B of referring these settlements to the ICC.
What Kerry should be doing is coming up with a framework that
a) is ubber-generous to Abbas while
b) giving Bibi an iron-clad assurance that the talks will have no end date.
Abbas can’t reject such a framework document, but at the same time he knows that Bibi will be empowered to talk, and talk, and talk, and then…. talk some more.
Which, at its core, is exactly what Bibi wants, and exactly what Abbas wants to avoid.
Kerry is getting very bad advice. I guess that’s what happens when you surround yourself with advisors who have names like Indyk, Lowenstein, and Shapiro.
Posted by: Johnboy | Feb 1 2014 4:45 utc | 25
[Apologize for lurking, as a long time MoA reader myself, but my schedule doesn’t allow tapping epistles on a cell. Hardly have time to read post comments as it is, without swerving in traffic.]
PRESS RELEASE: Keystone XL Pipeline Slow-Motion Trade Law Apocalypse
“It’s Not About the Global Warming, Stupid!”
Beware the Warmist-Globalist shape-shifting of the trope for this project, to a ‘global warming’ one!
First, ‘global warming’ is not proven theory, and not embodied into any international law, anywhere. Then by invoking ‘global warming’ as criteria for denying right-of-way access across the entire USA, from north to south, protest will end up in World Court under NAFTA Trade Law, then be overturned.
It’s a Straw God offense! National Petroleum Radio and Huffington Pravda are its chief propagandists!
The Canadians, no friends of the NeoLiberal Elites and Warmist-Globalist Commodity Traitors, were under no illusions about Keystone XL when they first read of TransCanada’s application for that right-of-way. Political pundits cautioned that it was UNLIKELY to be approved, because it VIOLATED NAFTA Trade Law.
NAFTA Trade Law, you will recall, was the Clinton’s Baby, and Hillary, as SecState, was only too aware of the pitfalls waiting her if she approved KXL, in her glacial runup to Empress of the Known Universe. NAFTA specifically PROHIBITS inclusion of NON-NAFTA components into materials traded through NAFTA, in this case, BILLIONS OF BARRELS of Asian-sourced and teratogenic light solvents used to thin Albertan sand-sludge into some pumpable form of ‘oil’. KXL is a DIRECT VIOLATION of NAFTA for this reason.
However, Canadian political pundit observations of this trade law infraction were redacted, and the ‘climate change’ meme quickly substituted into its place, which we recognize as a DELIBERATE SCREED.
NAFTA also prohibits the TRANSIT OF LEAVE-BEHIND POLLUTING SUBSTANCES through signatory nations. The Asian solvents plus MOUNTAINS of fine solvent-saturated sand and the EVEREST of waste coking solids will be left behind in Houston’s upgrade-then-refining process, as future USA taxpayer-looted SUPERFUND PAYOUTS. Those contracts will all go to NO-BID TEXAS MAFIA CRONIES, and be covertly funded by the Feds.
Albertan voters have TWICE DEFEATED their own government’s proposal to build $8B Upgraders, to refine that tar-sludge into cleaner, lighter, pumpable ‘syncrude’, capable of being pumped to either coast. Albertans have SEEN the Tar Sands! They KNOW only too well what those GYNORMOUS oily SLAG HEAPS of waste sludge and contaminated sandy solids and billowing toxic air would do to their own environment.
They DEFEATED IT TWICE!! Instead, in direct violation of NAFTA, PRIVATE CORPORATIONS will be given the Exclusive Security Zone Super-Corridor right-of-way to DIVIDE THE USA IN HALF with a No-Man’s Land, then to pump a never-before-pumped diluted tar-sludge through ordinary thin-wall poorly-welded steel pipeline for thousands of miles, at MANY TIMES THE PRESSURE of the Alaskan pipeline, with the sand suspended in that tar-sludge honing away the pipeline walls, generating so much heat that the illegal Asian light solvents will present a huge HIGH-PRESSURE FLASH RISK AT PUMP STATIONS.
And unlike Alaskans and Canadians, who benefit, L48 American Sheeples get ZERO OIL ROYALTIES!
In the event that KXL pipeline rupture does occur, and it will, and already HAS, this FRANKEN-SLUDGE is a toxic aerosol BMOB over the rupture spill area, and the sludge CANNOT BE CLEANED UP BY TRADITIONAL OIL-SPILL TECHNIQUES. Once again, US taxpayers will be HOSED by NO-BID MAFIA CONTRACTS IN THE BILLIONS to truck oily soils to MAFIA-CONTROLLED HAZMAT INCINERATORS, …then the KXL Ownership will be ‘fined’.
You can’t replace last-remaining productive glacial morraine organic loess farmland with ‘fines’!
Once the MILLION BARRELS A DAY of tar-sludge reaches Houston, which has been building Upgrader process units ahead of their existing refinery stream, Americans can expect all that syn-crude, which has been bottled up in the US MidWest until now, and responsible for keeping gasoline prices artificially low, to be super-tankered right off to China. This is in the original KXL permit application. All of it!
Then Corporate will build up a Super Corridor to siphon off our MidWest Bread Basket food grains to China too! It’s already in the works! Once that right-of-way is approved, THEN IT CAN’T BE RESCINDED.
“It’s not about the Science. The Science doesn’t matter. It’s about Control of Public Policy!” (IPCC)
KXL has NOTHING TO DO WITH GLOBAL WARMING or CLIMATE IMPACT. That’s the SCREED THEY’RE PROPAGANDIZING.
KXL-SUPER CORRIDOR et al IS MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN AND WORLD ‘FREE’ (sic) TRADE LAWS!
WHERE IS OUR TRILLION DOLLAR US MILITARY, DEFENDING OUR BORDERS?! Whoo-ahh! Be all you can be, dudes!!
Hi ho, hi ho.
It’s quid pro quo.
Off to China KXL will go.
Our Mil.Gov’s a buncha ho’s!
Watch the Argentinian Economic Collapse (Memoria Del Saqueo 2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CzS6eHqtnQ
That NeoLiberal Holocaust is what is happening now to USA today.
Posted by: Chip Nihk | Feb 1 2014 5:35 utc | 26
I may be very tired, bevin, but this is still nonsense:
The Brotherhood, shorn of its illusions and awake at last to reality, will play an important part in popular resistance to a dictatorship which holds the people in utter contempt, regarding its power, derived from the West, as irresistible.
The MB is a petty-bourgeois movement financed by landowners, bevin. It dislikes modernisation, but it has no objection to dictatorship. In fact, it thinks ‘democracy’ is a modernist confidence trick, fundamentally of a wile of Iblis, the great Tempter.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Feb 1 2014 8:05 utc | 27
estouxim 17
wow
another intrepid muricun *journo* risking life n limbs to expose china’s underbelly.
from cnn no less .
http://www.globalresearch.ca/western-media-fabrications-regarding-the-tibet-riots/8697
Posted by: denk | Feb 1 2014 8:32 utc | 28
“modernism” is another word for the Western way of living.
Posted by: ATH | Feb 1 2014 15:33 utc | 29
Good summary
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/01/if-everyone-votes-yes-is-it-democracy.html
Posted by: Mina | Feb 1 2014 16:02 utc | 30
This doc is playing on Press TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueap2ncbVYI
About a leather tanning “town” (massive slum) in Bangladesh.
If you want to know why Marx’s little book from 1848 still applies to our world today – perhaps more than ever – you have only to watch this.
Posted by: guest77 | Feb 1 2014 19:16 utc | 32
Inside the Yarmuk mukhayyam (in Arabic)
http://youtu.be/FHtWDFvKOtE
Posted by: Mina | Feb 1 2014 19:34 utc | 33
Same group who is claiming responsibility for the recent Cairo ‘mudiriyya’ bombing and others in Sinai has a role inside the Yarmuk (in using the weakest people as human shields). They are called Bayt al Maqdis and belong to Hamas.
Posted by: Mina | Feb 1 2014 19:53 utc | 34
From the programme refered above, who can also understand that the Yarmuk operation was probably decided by pro MB people who wanted to punish the Palestinians who had participated with Hezbollah and the Syrian army in fighting back the ‘revolutionaries’ attack on the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab and its Shiite population and Iranian pilgrims.
Most of the ‘revolutionaries’ tactics consist in punishing whoever do not side with them, rather than attacking real objectives.
Posted by: Mina | Feb 1 2014 19:56 utc | 35
un vent nouveau–the meaning of Dieudonné
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqZ7uT46T60
Posted by: Cu Chulainn | Feb 1 2014 21:14 utc | 36
This is interesting: “Britain entering first world war was ‘biggest error in modern history'”
Why this sort of revision now? Perhaps statements like “Britain could indeed have lived with a German victory” are intended to help Brits come to terms with what they see happening in Greece and Ukraine. Perhaps they are the intellectual basis for Britain to completely turn their back on Europe and to settle into their role as “Airstrip One”.
Posted by: guest77 | Feb 1 2014 21:27 utc | 37
@Mina#33-35:
Do you know whether there is a version with english subtitles or an english transcript of the program?
Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Feb 1 2014 23:48 utc | 38
Fabrication in BBC Panorama’s ‘Saving Syria’s Children’
Correspondence with the BBC over allegations that the Panorama documentary ‘Saving Syria’s Children’ broadcast on 30 September 2013 included staged sequences purporting to show the aftermath of an alleged incendiary bomb attack on an Aleppo school on 26 August 2013
http://bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.wordpress.com/2014/01/
Syria: ‘Human Rights Watch’, Key Player in the Manufacture of Propaganda for War and Foreign Intervention
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-human-rights-watch-key-player-in-the-manufacture-of-propaganda-for-war-and-foreign-intervention/5366987
Posted by: brian | Feb 2 2014 0:28 utc | 39
RP,
If Arabic media had been offering translations since the beginning of the attack on Syria, we wouldn’t have reached the point where we are. Call it ‘auto-destruction’.
Posted by: Mina | Feb 2 2014 10:25 utc | 40
Same group who is claiming responsibility for the recent Cairo ‘mudiriyya’ bombing and others in Sinai has a role inside the Yarmuk (in using the weakest people as human shields). They are called Bayt al Maqdis and belong to Hamas. Posted by: Mina | Feb 1, 2014 2:53:02 PM | 34
Mina, ‘Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis’ (in my own idiosyncratic way I would translate these people as “Guardians of Jayloomia”) have got to be the ultimate pseudo-gang. I know you would expect me to say that, but I’m not just saying it. They have, as the ‘experts’ would put it, “all the hallmarks of.” They fire silly little soup cans at Eilat and the Israelis shriek in the most satisfying way, although the chances of hitting anything or hurting anybody are minimal. And they shoot videos of themselves firing shoulder-launched missiles of some sort at passing tankers in the Suez Canal, a completely pointless exercise. They would be attacking the Trans-Egypt Pipeline, if they were serious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumed_pipeline
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Feb 2 2014 14:07 utc | 41
I’ve got an item about Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis from today’s DEBKAfile here, which I make fun of: link.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Feb 2 2014 14:20 utc | 42
Qatar’s isolation is increasing
UAE wants Qatar to stop Qaradawi ‘insults’
Shameful that we allow Yousuf Al Qaradawi to continue his insults, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammad Gargash says
Qatar was urged to stop a cleric from continuing to insult the UAE, following a televised Friday prayer sermon in which he accused the UAE of being “against Islamic rule”, Gulf News report states.
The Egyptian-born Yousuf Al Qaradawi, speaking live on Qatari state TV from a Doha mosque, was talking about the developments in Egypt that followed the ouster of former president Mohammad Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, last July by a popular uprising.
He said the new Egyptian administration was “ruling against Allah’s will” and that Mursi must be reinstated to realise a government by Islamic rule. He criticised the UAE for supporting the current Egyptian government claiming the UAE “has always been opposed to Islamic rule”.
According to the report, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammad Gargash condemned the comments. “It is shameful that we allow Al Qaradawi to continue his insults of the UAE and ties [that bind] the peoples of the Arabian Gulf,” he wrote on his official twitter account.
Posted by: virgile | Feb 2 2014 14:40 utc | 43
Qardawi should explain us how Qatar is supposed to host the Soccer World Cup while remaining islamically correct…
Posted by: Mina | Feb 2 2014 14:50 utc | 44
Rowan,
It’s not that easy. In the end, anyone in TA or elsewhere can give the order to operate, it does not change the fact that some airheads happily joined a group or another.
While watching the Lebanese program (which I found the link to on As’ad Abu Khalil’s website), I noticed the mention of one of the groups fighting inside Yarmuk and which is stated by a pro-HB guy as “pro-MB and belonging to Hamas”. The name given in “Bayt al maqdis” (no ‘Ansar’, though).
In Egypt, most of the BIG operations are claimed by “Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis”, with videos etc.
Now, if you consider that the latest Cairo ‘mudiriyya’ operation was very close in intensity to the one in Tur Sinai 4 months ago, while the other mini bombs of 25 January were “kitchen-made”, you see that the MB sympathizers are just illiterate guys, when it come to chemistry.
It makes sense to me that some people deprived of realism at Hamas are angry and play their last card: supporting Morsi/Qatar.
If you think that the Egyptian army is organizing the bombing by itself, well, you join the MBs on the ground. I just came back and the latest rumour (already started months ago to justify the killing of conscripts in Rafah, al Arish, Shaykh Zuwayd etc) has it that it’s the “bad” army guys who are organizing the terror to justify their ends, while many many thousands of “good” army guys, who are all pro-MB, have been put to jail in the latest months (this last segment is the new one… these guys are so good with rumours that they can add to it endlessly, as in a living ‘soap’).
But as it is stated in the New Yorker article I posted above, voters in Egypt can be versatile and pragmatic. The party of the people who are sorry to have voted Morsi is only growing day by day. Even illiterate people understand that it’s not in the interest of the army to cut tourism, which is the immediate and harsh result of these bombings.
No doubt I’ve missed a segment of the rumours where it is explained that causing poverty this way is part of Sissi big plan. We’ve heard that before.
Posted by: Mina | Feb 2 2014 15:03 utc | 45
“The Empire admits: without Al-Jazeera, they could not have bombed Libya.
How did Al-Jazeera, once dubbed the ‘terror network’ by some and whose staff were martyred by US bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, end up becoming the media war propagandist for yet another Western war against a small state of the Global South, Libya? We will not know the full details for some time; perhaps some wikileaks will help us understand later. But this much is already certain: the station is betraying gross political bias against its pan-Arab and pan-Islamic anti-imperialist constituency, reflected by its discriminatory reporting on the region based on Qatar’s interests and its relations and service to the West.”
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/chandan260311.html
Posted by: brian | Feb 2 2014 15:29 utc | 46
who wants islamic rule? not syria…and not egypt…and note this terrorist is in the same state the US has a base in
Posted by: brian | Feb 2 2014 15:33 utc | 48
Thank you Mina, it is always very good to hear from you about what it seems like on the ground. Of course, as I explained when I was defining the term, a pseudo-gang is only consciously pseudo at the top, ie, the guys who run it know it’s pseudo, but the footsoldiers are just useful idiots who think it”s real, though as time goes by they will start to wonder why it unfailingly pursues stupid and self-defeating policies, and they may even get wise to it, in which case a convenient air raid will have to destroy their militant base, with them in it – just missing the leader, who will happen to have left 30 minutes before. And we have seen exactly that scenario, with Godane in Somalia, with whoever runs AQAP in Yemen.
PS: I know ‘guardians of Jayloomia’ is all wrong, though it sounds perfect. ‘Ansar’ actually means helpers. ‘Jayloomia’ is my alternative name for Jerusalem, which is Bayt al-Maqdis, the Holy Sanctuary. If we called these people ‘helpers of Jayloomia’ then maybe that would be better in terms of my theory, because they are helping Jayloomia, as are almost all the Plastelinan resistance groups with their silly rockets and futile raids. (‘Plastelina’ is another of my pet names) .
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Feb 2 2014 16:23 utc | 49
forget iran
David Evans:
“As we will see, Golda Meir (known as “Mother Israel”) once threatened to destroy the world with nuclear weapons during an interview with the BBC. Martin Van Creveld, an Israeli military expert and professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has been quoted as saying: “Most European capitals are targets for our air force … We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.” Amos Rubin, an economic adviser to former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, once said: “If left to its own Israel will have no choice but to fall back on a riskier defense which will endanger itself and the world at large … To enable Israel to abstain from dependence on nuclear arms calls for $2 to 3 billion per year in U.S. aid.” In other words, Americans can either pay billions in confidence money every year, or be wiped out completely.”
http://www.thehypertexts.com/Nakba%20Holocaust%20Palestinians%20Samson%20Option.htm
Posted by: brian | Feb 2 2014 16:33 utc | 50
Qardawi has been in Qatar for many years. In the last 3 years he only went out to give crazy preaches on Tahrir at the invitation of al-jazeera first after Mubarak’s fall and later on at the invitation of the MB (including a preach for friday prayzer at al Azhar where he reminded about the necessity to help “all the brothers in Afghanistan, Chechenia, Syria etc”…
Brian, we will learn more about the role of al jazzara pretty soon. Since last week, Egyptian channels are playing clips of their great role on organizing a total mayhem in the country on 28 January. This helped some HA and Hamas people get to the three main jails and open it, freeing 20,000 people including the dozens who are now facing trial with Morsi. Part of al Jazeera’s tactics was about broadcasting false information such as a massacre at “Carrefour” on Corniche al-Nil, which never happened but probably participated in sending police in wrong directions.
Posted by: Mina | Feb 2 2014 17:45 utc | 51
Or was it 30 th January? Morsi was arrested 28th Jan. according to this page, but some other top guys of the brotherhood were in jail earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Morsi#2011_Political_prisoner
Posted by: Mina | Feb 2 2014 17:49 utc | 52
#50….
Its has been obvious for some time now that any chance of resolving the Isr/Pal issue is a pipe dream, due to Israel’s intransigence, and our unfettered support and subsidation of Israel’s racist treatment of the Palestinians. No matter what Israel does, the whores in Congress are terrified to buck the lobbies. Israel can maim and murder American citizens, attack American warships in false flag operations, cheer terrorist attacks on American interests, ungratefully insult our Presidents while recieving billions in American aid, and blackmail, threaten, bribe, and intimitate our so called “Representatives”, yet still these pathetic sluts in DC can be depended on to don thier kneepads in pursuit of Israeli favor.
There is NO DOUBT that eventually this little shitty racist sandpit, Israel, will set the world aflame with a world war scale event. Iran may well be the accelerant that fans the flames. One thing is for sure, this ridiculous scam that Kerry and Netanyahu are engaging in brings is CLOSER to such a conflageration, because its net result is going to be the widespread realization, globally, that Israel has no intention of “making peace” with the Palestinians, or its immediate neighbors. The end game, that Israel seeks, is ALL the land, and the actual IRRADICATION of the “Palestinian problem”. No one is yet willing to voice this reality, but more and more people are beginning to at least recognize this reality. Kerry’s unsuccessfully convincing charade, in the end, will only serve to drive reality home to those still optimistic about a “solution”, or a Palestinian state. The only difference betweem Netanyahu and Hitler is the marketing, and you can only sell a defective product for so long before people stop buying it. Israel, although dangerous now, will become insanely so when it is finally exposed and cornered for being the rabidly racist and murderous blight on mankind that it has become. These monstrous promises, such as “We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under” are to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, our own leaders are too corrupt, and too politically beholden to the Jewish lobbies, to sever our complicity in Israel’s evil machinations. Its true, they may well take us down when finally they fall.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Feb 2 2014 21:56 utc | 53
The U.S. hypocrisy over Russia’s anti-gay laws
By Ian Ayres and William Eskridge, Published: January 31
Ian Ayres and William Eskridge are law professors at Yale University.
Controversy over a Russian law that prohibits advocacy of homosexuality threatens to overshadow athletic competition at the upcoming Sochi Olympics. Thoughtful world leaders, including President Obama, have criticized Russia for stigmatizing gay identity.
Many of these critics find it hard to believe that in 2014 a modern industrial government would have this kind of medieval language in its statutory code:
●“Materials adopted by a local school board . . . shall . . . comply with state law and state board rules . . . prohibiting instruction . . . in the advocacy of homosexuality.”
●“Propaganda of homosexualism among minors is punishable by an administrative fine.”
●“No district shall include in its course of study instruction which: 1. Promotes a homosexual life-style. 2. Portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style. 3. Suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”
●“[I]nstruction relating to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include . . . emphasis, provided in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense.”
Amid the rush to condemn Russia’s legislation, however, it is useful to recognize that only the second quoted provision comes from the Russian statute.
The other three come from statutes in the United States. It is Utah that prohibits “the advocacy of homosexuality.” Arizona prohibits portrayals of homosexuality as a “positive alternative life-style” and has legislatively determined that it is inappropriate to even suggest to children that there are “safe methods of homosexual sex.” Alabama and Texas mandate that sex-education classes emphasize that homosexuality is “not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public.” Moreover, the Alabama and Texas statutes mandate that children be taught that “homosexual conduct is a criminal offense” even though criminalizing private, consensual homosexual conduct has been unconstitutional since 2003.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-hypocrisy-over-russias-anti-gay-laws/2014/01/31/3df0baf0-8548-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html
Posted by: virgile | Feb 2 2014 22:51 utc | 54
Gee, this controlled demolition of a German skyscraper today sure doesn’t bring to mind anything as an American I can recall. Nope, nothing to see here. Not a thing to remember. Resembles nothing.
Posted by: JSorrentine | Feb 3 2014 1:14 utc | 55
well it is an open thread.. nothing wrong with leaving a link that have no date attached to the info dump that goes with it.. it is a bit like watching someone feed the pet alligators though, lol..
Posted by: james | Feb 3 2014 4:02 utc | 56
Brahimi’s deputy leaves Syria talks team
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/brahimi-39-deputy-leaves-syria-talks-team-sources-151648098.html#QOBAZJ
U.N. sources and Arab diplomats said that the Damascus government had always objected to Kidwa, who was nominated by the Arab League to the joint mediation team.
“The Syrian government has always said, from the beginning, they would prefer Nasser is not there. Mostly because he used to be with Palestinian leadership,” a U.N. source said.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/brahimi-39-deputy-leaves-syria-talks-team-sources-151648098.html#QOBAZJ
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 3 2014 16:33 utc | 57
Erdogan will soon restart a courtship with Israel after his unsuccessful flirt with Sunni Arab neighbours. Will Gulen and the US now stop undermining Erdogan if his relation with Israel becomes normal again?
Israel offers Turkey $20 million compensation for deadly flotilla attack
Published Monday, February 3, 2014
The talks stalled for several months but were revived in December when Israeli negotiators travelled to Istanbul and Turkey lowered its demands for compensation, Haaretz said.
Western diplomats quoted by the paper said Ankara had demanded $30 million, but Israel was initially willing to give only $15 million.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later decided to up Israel’s offer to $20 million, with an extra $3 million available “if necessary to secure and agreement,” the paper said.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israel-offers-turkey-20-million-compensation-deadly-flotilla-attack
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 3 2014 16:41 utc | 58
Last time I heard of Erdogan last week he was meeting the Iranians…
Interesting comment by Landis here,
http://warontherocks.com/2014/01/get-realist-about-the-geneva-talks/
Posted by: Mina | Feb 3 2014 16:47 utc | 59
“The MB is a petty-bourgeois movement financed by landowners, bevin. It dislikes modernisation, but it has no objection to dictatorship. In fact, it thinks ‘democracy’ is a modernist confidence trick, fundamentally of a wile of Iblis, the great Tempter.”
All of which may be, in general terms, true without having the slightest bearing on the fact that the Brotherhood has no alternative but, firstly, to resist those bent on its destruction and, secondly, to ally itself with those social forces which are also driven by necessity ro resist those bent on their enslavement.
Curiously enough the events which led to the temporary eclipse of Mubarak are a graphic example of the way that this works.
As to “democracy” as defined by the “west” and its ideologists, it is a modernist confidence trick. As, of course, is “modernity” itself.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 3 2014 18:00 utc | 60
Landis putting rhetorical questions to Kerry may refer to this
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-03/kerry-tells-members-of-congress-that-obama-needs-new-syria-approach.html
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/02/03/kerry-tells-capitol-hill-that-obamas-syria-policies-have-failed/
Posted by: Mina | Feb 3 2014 19:59 utc | 61
French cartoonists protest for being tricked in an event sponsored by an Israeli company operating from the occupied territories.
http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2014/02/03/tardi-regrette-d-avoir-ete-expose-au-festival-d-angouleme_4359522_3246.html
Posted by: Mina | Feb 3 2014 20:06 utc | 62
Not sure if this has been linked to here
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1390833151#x20F8k3fLfBL00wW.99
the question journalists still refrain to ask is “how come do we see terrorism all over the world if it is so easy to track communications?”
Posted by: Mina | Feb 3 2014 20:27 utc | 63
I wonder how much the DOD pays the NFL to run its propaganda. The Super Bowl is nothing more than a recruiting tool to get more of the GED crowd to give up their life to the government.
‘Hey Joey, if you go to Whateverstan and get your head all shook up, they’ll put you in a TV commercial and give you a pickup truck’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7L5QByvXOQ
Posted by: Cynthia | Feb 3 2014 21:07 utc | 64
For those with time and an interest in the historical origins of the National Security State, this is a very good article:
http://japanfocus.org/-Su_kyoung-Hwang/4069
Posted by: bevin | Feb 3 2014 22:23 utc | 65
@Mina#59&61:
I don’t see anything from Landis at your first link, which is by Hoyt.
What I do see in the later links is evidence that a delegation of 15 congresscritters, accompanied by a few Zionist scribes, like Reserve Corporal Goldberg, apparently were so eager for a private audience with John Kerry that they hopped on a plane (on the taxpayers’ or Israel Lobby’s dime) to Europe to meet with him just hours before he would be returning to DC. Several of those congresscritters are well-known war hawks and front-men for AIPAC authored bills, like John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Elliott Engel (who spearheaded the Syria Accountability Act a decade ago).
Kerry’s rhetoric on Syria has always been more hawkish than Obama’s but not nearly as hawkish as these fundraising congresscritters would like. After their meeting with Kerry, they reported his post-Geneva stance as closer to theirs. Kerry’s spokesperson subsequently denied their interpretation to Goldberg:
Kerry’s Sunday briefing was meant to be private, but the Senate’s two most prominent Syria hawks, Republicans John McCain — the leader of the U.S. delegation to the security conference — and Lindsey Graham provided a readout of the meeting to three journalists who flew with them on a delegation plane back to Washington: Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor of the Washington Post; Josh Rogin, the Daily Beast’s national security reporter; and me.
According to Graham, Kerry gave the clear impression that Syria is slipping out of control. He said Kerry told the delegation that, “the al-Qaeda threat is real, it is getting out of hand.” The secretary, he said, raised the threat of al-Qaeda unprompted. “He acknowledged that the chemical weapons [delivery] is being slow-rolled; the Russians continue to supply arms [and that] we are at a point now where we are going to have to change our strategy. He openly talked about supporting arming the rebels. He openly talked about forming a coalition against al-Qaeda because it’s a direct threat.”
“I would not characterize what he said as a plea for a new policy, but that, in light of recent, dramatic developments, the administration is exploring possible new directions,” said one Democratic House member who was in the meeting. “He wasn’t arguing so much that the administration needs a new policy, but that the administration is considering a range of options based on recent developments.”
The delegation, which included such senators as Republicans Roy Blunt and Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, as well as such high-ranking House members as Michigan’s Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and New York’s Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, met with Kerry for about 45 minutes, immediately before both Kerry and the delegation left on separate planes to Washington.
Late Sunday night, shortly after the delegation plane landed, Hiatt, Rogin and I asked Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, to respond to the senators’ characterization of Kerry’s remarks. She e-mailed the following response: “Like [White House chief of staff] Denis McDonough this morning on the Sunday shows, Secretary Kerry has stated publicly many times that more needs to be done rapidly by the regime to move chemical weapons to the port at Latakia, that we need to continue doing more to end the conflict, and that he has pushed the Russians to help in this effort.”
Psaki’s response continued, “No one in this Administration thinks we’re doing enough until the humanitarian crisis has been solved and the civil war ended. That is no different from the message Secretary Kerry conveyed during the private meeting. The meeting was an opportunity to hear from and engage with members of Congress and it is unfortunate that his comments are being mischaracterized by some participants.”
In a separate e-mail sent Monday morning, Psaki responded to the claim that Kerry is reintroducing the idea of supporting arming certain rebel groups. “It’s no secret that some members of Congress support this approach, but at no point during the meeting did Secretary Kerry raise lethal assistance for the opposition. He was describing a range of options that the Administration has always had at its disposal, including more work within the structure of the international community, and engaging with Congress on their ideas is an important part of that process.”
…
(In her e-mail this morning, the State Department’s Psaki wrote that, “While Secretary Kerry restated what we have said many times publicly about our concern about the growing threat of extremists, he did not draw a direct connection to the threat on the homeland or reference comments made by other Administration officials. This is a case of members [of Congress] projecting what they want to hear and not stating the accurate facts of what was discussed.”)
Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Feb 3 2014 23:03 utc | 66
Possibly related. Suddenly, after three years of conflict and well-known activity by ISIS, a cable purportedly from AQ disavows the group:
Al-Qaeda has disavowed the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), whose members have been locked in deadly clashes with Syrian rebels, according to a statement posted on jihadi websites.
Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri had already ordered the group in May 2013 to disband and return to Iraq, and announced that another jihadi group, the al-Nusra Front, was al-Qaeda’s official branch in war-torn Syria.
The general command of al-Qaeda rammed home the point in its late Sunday statement.
“Al-Qaeda announces it is not linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, as it was not informed of its creation… (and) did not accept it,” the statement said.
ISIS “is not a branch of al-Qaeda, has no links to it, and the (al-Qaeda) group is not responsible for its acts,” it added.
ISIS is a renaming of AQI, which still has Al-Bagdadi as its leader. AQI renamed itself ISIS after its Syrian seedpod took the name of JaN. Odd that after all this time, AQ suddenly disowns ISIS. Maybe it has something to do with recent insurgent efforts to claim that ISIS is supported by Assad.
Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Feb 3 2014 23:15 utc | 67
RP
Landis comment is in the comment section of the article
Posted by: Mina | Feb 4 2014 7:18 utc | 68
Who would figure! Employee of the week is having a tough interview next month
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/93412/World/Region/Obama-to-face-blunt-talk-in-Saudi-Arabia.aspx
Posted by: Mina | Feb 4 2014 7:25 utc | 69
Is Germany re-arming? Japan is too. And this time the US is on the same side, in the middle. Where Italy used to be.
Posted by: john francis lee | Feb 4 2014 11:11 utc | 70
Qardawi getting closer to a travel ban
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypt-calls-qatar-hand-over-brotherhood-fugitives
Posted by: Mina | Feb 4 2014 13:29 utc | 71
Jarba and his supporters are dreaming… He is the one who will be squeezed to deal with terrorism before any other other discussion.
An aide to Jarba said the umbrella opposition group was especially concerned that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem had avoided any discussion of a transitional government that could pave the way for Assad’s removal from power.
“The main subjects of discussion with the Russian foreign minister will be the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Syrian cities, the release of prisoners from Syrian jails, and the formation of a transitional government,” Jarba’s head adviser Monzer Aqbiq told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
“Considering this last point, we have many questions that we will be able to discuss with Moscow,” Aqbiq was quoted as saying.
But Lavrov gave no initial signal on Tuesday that Moscow intended to step up its pressure on Assad.
“I think that today’s conversation will be very, very useful in helping clarify approaches that could help advance the Geneva process,” Lavrov told the Syrian opposition chief.
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 4 2014 15:00 utc | 72
Mina
It seems Saudi Arabia and the UAE are fed up with Qatar. They are using Egypt to put pressure for it to stop hosting MB fugitives.
Qatar is increasingly isolated as for the GCC the Moslem Brotherhood is now history.
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 4 2014 15:05 utc | 73
Virgile, what do you make of this?
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/after_the_sheikhs_an_interview_with_christopher_davidson
Posted by: bevin | Feb 4 2014 15:53 utc | 74
The Syrian Opposition Is Disappearing From Facebook
Social media was one of the first refuges for Syria’s non-violent activists. Now they’re getting kicked off.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/02/the-syrian-opposition-is-disappearing-from-facebook/283562/
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 4 2014 16:41 utc | 75
On the ground, the agreement implemented in Moaddamiya seems to be extended to other places: namely, checkpoints are operated by both SAA and FSA. FSA people who agree the terms of the musalaha keep their weapons but are in charge of the security of the localities and receive a salary from the governement. One common enemy: the foreign djihadists.
Somehow I feel KSA came to the rescue of both Egypt and Asad, while getting a chance of getting free tickets to hell for its own djihadists (without even angering their families… in a tribal context, that counts too!)
Maybe Hollande is the last guy who did not understand.
Posted by: Mina | Feb 4 2014 17:36 utc | 76
@Mina#59&68:
Well, to Landis’ questions, I’d add a seventh:
7. Is it possible to drag these talks out at least until after the AIPAC conference in March (or even until after the mid-terms in November) so that by the time Kerry does give up on the opposition, Democratic congresscritters don’t have to choose between backing their President or angering their biggest donors?
What was Kerry thinking?
1. The opposition can win a war of attrition because there are more Sunnis than Alawites?
2. The opposition cannot deliver a cease-fire thus asking it to deliver one would only have ended in failure and exposed the weakness of the US and its Syrian opposition allies?
3. Kerry knows that to make a deal with Assad would pit the U.S. against its allies – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Gulf Arabs and Turkey – and put it in the camp of its enemies – Iran, Russia, and Assad?
4. The US prefers to take the moral stand of not bowing to the dictator, and thus preserving its ideological commitment to democracy promotion, even if it means continued war and refugee outflow?
5. This was only an opening gambit, meant to remind Assad of his isolation and weakness, before reversing course and accepting a deal with the dictator?
6. Kerry really believes that Assad is the Jihadist magnet and that when he is brought down, Jihadists will return home and cease coming to Syria?
Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Feb 4 2014 19:28 utc | 77
AIPAC is off-side… except for interior nuisance
Zarif ready to accept a peace plan; Abbas calling for NATO troops on the ground. This is the next phase of the Syrian story, aka, ‘what to do with the refugees, both Syrians, and Palestinians’.
http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2014/02/04/obamas-leap-of-faith-is-working/
http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/18505
Posted by: Mina | Feb 4 2014 19:49 utc | 78
Sometime Bhadrakumar can be breathtakingly naive. I mean really, not just pretend, but seriously naive. It’s because, right down to the marrow of his bones, he believes that the US has a Destiny to solve the world’s problems. Don’t ask me why. Maybe he watched too many USAian movies when he was young.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Feb 4 2014 19:56 utc | 79
Well, if you wait until Hollande/Fabius/Cameron/Miliband or the Eurocrats move a finger, you may wait for a very long time.
http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2014/02/01/many-faces-of-syrian-peace-process/
Posted by: Mina | Feb 4 2014 20:12 utc | 80
@Virgile#75:
It looks like, after the State Dept’s pouring tens of millions of dollars into hi-tech and media training for opposition figures, who used those skills and images to hype for Western intervention, the SEA has begun to find ways to use the various systems in the media (in this case facebook user rules), to get some of the war-porn removed.
Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Feb 4 2014 20:40 utc | 81
@80 It looks like the French business community may not be waiting for permission…
http://news.yahoo.com/french-business-push-iran-draws-us-sanctions-warning-201005004.html
Posted by: dh | Feb 4 2014 21:11 utc | 82
@ 82.
It’s hard to ignore the apparent fact that US sanctions are designed to keep oil prices artificially high (imo by a factor of between 2x and 3x) to the increasingly obvious detriment of world trade. It can’t be a coincidence that the “cure” for the US-instigated (and unpunished) sub-prime $scam soaked up/obliterated all the 99%’s financial headroom, is now being used to further impoverish the 99%.
It seems that the only US industries which haven’t been exported to China etc, and still make money, now are Oil, Banking and Weapons manufacturing. Like many other Western economies, the US (high wage) industrial manufacturing base has been gutted. The collapse of Oz’s manufacturing base is accelerating at an alarming pace right now and it is only months before ‘austerity’ for wage-slaves here becomes fashionable.
There is no doubt in my mind that the sub-prime $cam, virtually underwritten by the USG, was designed to wreck the world economy. EVERY US policy since then has been anti-recovery.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 5 2014 0:11 utc | 83
“There is no doubt in my mind that the sub-prime $cam, virtually underwritten by the USG, was designed to wreck the world economy. EVERY US policy since then has been anti-recovery…”
I can see that it looks that way. But why? My vote is still for sheer incompetence on the part of a ruling elite chosen for conformity, fitting in and obedience – idiotic careerists running their governments the way their ancestors (Generals in the First World War) ran the armies on the Western Front (including Gallipoli).
Rowan @79: you’ve got that right!
Posted by: bevin | Feb 5 2014 1:03 utc | 84
@Bevin
If Iran is no more the bogey man that justifies the billions of dollars of weapons ( useless) the USA is selling to the GCC, who will it be?
That’s an urgent question the US weapon industry has to find to keep in business.
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 5 2014 2:22 utc | 85
Regarding the subprime scam:
Ok, so let’s for a moment assume that ANY ONE OF US, is in charge of the Western governments, with full authority to implement any policy we see fit. Do you guys think that you could provided that you had to operate within the parameters of capital and profitability implement better or more competent policies and find a solution to the crisis? I for one can say that I would not be able to do any better than the current policy makers within the parameters of capitalism. The problem is systemic and not related to the incompetence of this or that official and as such has no solutions within the parameters of the system. Productive ventures have little profitability and there is little room for the real growth of capital. When the productive activity brings little profit there is little chance of growth without resorting to scam and accumulation by dispossession. If the pie is not getting bigger, the only way to increase the size of your share is by reducing the share of the others.
Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Feb 5 2014 3:54 utc | 86
Syrians are contributing to Turks well-being
Turkish Hospitals Traffick Injured Syrian Citizens’ Organs
According to a report by the Lebanese al-Safir daily, trafficking the injured Syrian people’s body organs is a phenomenon which has intensified in Turkish governmental hospitals.
Ahmad Abdulkarim Muhammad, a 19-year-old young Syrian, is one of the victims of this phenomenon. He was injured in Syria in January and was transferred to Antakya hospital in Southern Turkey and died after a few days.
Despite being transferred to the hospital for head injuries, a video released after his death shows that his abdomen has gone under surgery operations which indicates stealing of his vital organs, including kidneys, liver, etc.
Earlier reports also said that Turkish authorities are engaged in trafficking body organs of injured Syrians that are taken to Turkey for treatment.
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 5 2014 13:36 utc | 87
Saudi Arabia-Iran: Is this the message that Obama will carry to Saudi Arabia in March?
Iranian Foreign Minister: No need for rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran
Zarif said he acknowledged the need of regional states to feel secure and said “we have to start from our commonalities.”
His comments followed an interview with Reuters on Saturday, in which he said: “I believe Iran and Saudi Arabia share a common interest in a secure environment.”
“Neither one of us will benefit from sectarian divisions, neither one of us will benefit from extremism in this region . . . We can work together in order to have a safer neighborhood. There is no need for rivalry,” he added.
….
On Sunday morning, Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry held an unscheduled one-to-one meeting with no details of the conversation released as of yet.
http://www.aawsat.net/2014/02/article55328435
Posted by: Virgile | Feb 5 2014 13:45 utc | 88
The death of actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman has the American media in a tizzy over a tremendous rise in US heroin use.
One word I haven’t heard though.
Afghanistan.
Posted by: guest77 | Feb 6 2014 3:35 utc | 89
An oldie, but a must watch for Pepe fans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYa7wx2BUkg
As the Obama administration scrambles to salvage a deal with Iran on its nuclear program, the new Saudi-Israeli alliance shows off its muscles in bending politicians and policies to its will.
What makes the potential of the Saudi-Israeli alliance so intimidating is that Saudi Arabia and its oil-rich Arab friends have the petrodollars that can turn the heads of some leaders and even countries, while Israel can snap the whip on other politicians, especially in the U.S. Congress, through its skillful lobbying and propaganda.
How effective will this new alliance be in sabotaging the upcoming Geneva Nuclear Talks?
Tonight we will dig deeper into this issue with our studio Guest Mr. Paul Cochrane journalist and political analyst and from Hong Kong we are also joined by Mr. Pepe Escobar author and journalist via skype. Welcome gentlemen to the show; let us start by watching what the following report has for us.
Posted by: guest77 | Feb 8 2014 3:34 utc | 90
A great but nasty snowslide (vid) starts small but is quite huge.
while I certainly hope diplomacy with Iran moves forward, as a poet I shudder at the execution of of Iranian poet Hashem Shaabani. by signing off on this execution, Rouhani doesn’t appear very moderate, now does he.
Posted by: lizard | Feb 8 2014 14:45 utc | 92
@Lizard –
I find no evidence, but the claims of that guy, that he is a “poet”.
I find some evidence that he is an Arab separatists who wants to split Ahwaz from Iran.
That you quote “freedom house” demolishes your post. Note that there is a list of concrete crimes that Iran lists variously as “against the will of god” or such. Anything that is active violence against the state is in the “Moharebeh” category but the judgements in Iran are not about the category but about the evident crime. Threatening a policeman is Moharebeh just as a terror attack is. Freedom house and others use these category designations as a propaganda tool against Iran. It also lets them avoid to name the real exact crime a person is accused and probably guilty of.
thank you for the perspective, b. the poetry foundation picked this up, which is how it got on my radar. I’m not familiar with Freedom House, so I’ll defer to your judgement on this one.
Posted by: lizard | Feb 9 2014 14:29 utc | 94
@lizard;
Generally the punishment for “bad” poetry in Iran is not death sentence, if you write something “bad” you end up getting harassed or a jail sentence. In the 80’s you would likely be executed for “bad” poetry, in fact you would be sentenced to death in 5-10 min courts for a hell of a lot less, sometimes for nothing at all, but nowadays that is not the case. If the poetry is “bad” you will end up in jail, if it is “really really bad”, you may be assassinated by “unknown people” or mysteriously be lost to never be found again but official execution is not very likely.
So I tend to agree with b, most likely the guy was affiliated with an Arab separatist group. Now whether separatism is a crime or not that is a different issue.
If you are curious about the situation in Iran, I can give you the example of Mr. Raisdana. He is a Marxist economist and a member of the Iranian Writers’ Association. During the subsidy reforms he vehemently opposed the proposed reforms and called Ahmadinejad’s government the most right wing government to have ever come to power in the IR. He got arrested on the grounds that he had “insulted” the president.
Now don’t ask me how being called a right wing government constitutes an insult, but that was the charge. Anyway, he was released on bail until his trial. Now here comes the funny part, by the time that his court date came, Ahmadinejad had become the black sheep in the establishment and was isolated by pretty much all parts of the elite. He was being insulted by the officials on a regular basis, and some of the websites which supported him were being filtered. So when they took Mr. Raisdana to the court the charge of “insulting the president” had lost much of its potency. But since he had to go to jail some charge was needed and so they came up with the charges that he was a member of the illegal association of Iranian writers and that he sympathized with Marxist figures such as Khosrow Golsorkhi (a Marxist activist who was executed by Shah in *1974*!!) and the famous Marxist writer Samad Behrangi (who died under suspicious circumstances in *1967*!!). Interesting to know is that Irans Writers’ Association while being declared “illegal” by the government is a completely open association with all members being well known literary figures in Iran (and all of whom openly declare their membership) and there is nothing which would make Mr. Raisdana any different from the rest of the membership. So it was pretty much a made-up charge on the go just so that they could put him in jail.
One last thing, I don’t think that the office of presidency is responsible for either the pardon of the prisoners (as they attributed to Rohani’s election the release of some of the political prisoners) or for their execution. The office of the president like any other office in Iran could be best described as a “lobby”. Irrespective of the level of support for a president, the level of his authority is determined by the level of support that he has from the various factions within the ruling elite. As such he can “lobby” (to the extent that he has support from within the ruling elite) for the release or harsher punishment of a prisoner, but he is not in a position to authorize executions or releases. Final decision on such matters lies in judiciary under direct control of the supreme leader.
Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Feb 9 2014 15:54 utc | 95
@Lizard
Freedom House is a U.S. para-government organization associated with the NED and is related to various “color revolutions” and uglier things.
In your blogpost you also link to a “report” in the Saudi royal mouthpiece paper Asharq al-Awsat written my one Amir Taheri. That guy also once falsely claimed that Iran order Jews in Iran to wear yellow badges. Taheri is simply a fabricator, not a journalist.
With such “sources” of information the “reports” on Hashem Shaabani have below zero credibility.
Assassinating cell phones. Greenwald and Scahill launch their website with piece on NSA and drone strikes.
Posted by: catlady | Feb 10 2014 17:15 utc | 97
Previous attempt to post here caught in spam trap?
They’re assassinating cell phones, aka Death By Metadata:
Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill have launched their new site, The Intercept, with a lengthy piece on NSA and drone strikes.
Amy Goodman interviews Scahill and Greenwald, here.
Posted by: catlady | Feb 10 2014 19:39 utc | 98
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Looks like Israel has moved into stage 3 regarding BDS.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37610.htm
Posted by: guest77 | Feb 13 2014 4:17 utc | 99
Am I reading this right?
Is Indonesia taking the South Korea (read, protectionist) route to development?
The US must be beside itself. Good for them.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-100214.html
Posted by: guest77 | Feb 13 2014 5:32 utc | 100